Fun at the Farm (stash report week 44)

The good weather we've been having is not at all conducive to quilting.  Time has been spent doing other things like visiting a corn maze, playing at the park, attending the last preschool soccer game of the season, and general (and much needed) yard work.

Last weekend we went to a corn maze on a nearby farm by the Big River. It was hot in that cornfield at high noon - whewee! This is shot off into the distance, toward the river.

There was also a bounce house, pony rides,

petting pens.... 

a hay bale slide with tunnel,...

a fun ride,....

a horse swing made from tires,....

, and a corn box.

Fun, fun, fun!!

Here is my lone little hexie flower for this week.  I have done some basting but been too tired at the end of the day to hang onto the needle and put any more together.










There have been additions to the stash numbers, but not by the exchange of money.  The good luck fairy snuck into my computer and left some luck behind on my giveaway comments for a couple of weeks.

Not long after the Moda designer blog hop, Deb Strain had a giveaway on her blog related to her willingness to jump out of a plane.  


Check out this post to see if she did it!


I was the lucky random number and she sent along a layer cake,...

..and a panel from her Christmas collection, Nature's Gift.


Deb Strain doesn't just design fabric.  She also sent a long a lovely box of holiday cards and a photo album organizer.  


Aren't these pretty? Love the birds, love the flowers!

Then, I won another FQ bundle from the Green Bag Lady, who just gave away 200 bags in one evening this weekend for a total of more than 18,000 bags - plastic be gone!


These are organic FQs from Monaluna Fabrics.  I think it will work perfectly for the new Clover and Violet stitch along tote.

Here are some Christmas Block Lotto blocks that were turned in at Tuesday night's guild meeting.  Aren't they pretty?


Next month I should have lots more to sort into groups for the drawings at the December meeting.

I took a day, well, a few hours while DS was at preschool one morning, to put together my Clover & Violet embroidery 101 QAL top.  One reason was because other QAL'ers were finishing up and since we started the QAL in May, well, I was anxious to see what it would like so why drag it out any longer?


The other reason was because it felt so good to sit with a large block of time get something done, just concentrate on one thing for a change - very relaxing.  I took my time and did not "unsew" a single stitch.


I understand it is supposed to be colder next week, so I vow here in blogland, to get the bindings on two quilts.  Hold me to it, will you?!  One quilt is quilted and the other is almost completely quilted.  How hard can it be since I put them on by machine these days?


Here are the numbers:
Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 49.42
Added this Week: 5
Added Year to Date: 114.57
Net Used for 2011:   -65.15
Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times.  Have a great day!!

The Baby has arrived!

A GO! Baby, that is!

Isn't she pretty?!  I won her last week at Connie's blog, Quilting by the River.  (The good luck fairy has apparently visited me these past few weeks.)  If you visit Connie today she will take you on a tour of her sewing room!

The Baby arrived sometime Wednesday afternoon but I didn't find it on the front porch til it was bedtime for DS.  Sew, no playing on the arrival day.  Yesterday, DS was with me all day and finally, at 9PM, I got to open the dies and grab a few scraps.  

From three pieces of scraps I cut 38 two inch squares in about 5 minutes!  WooHoo!!

Then I had to try the hexagon die which cuts pieces for my 1" finished hexies. The smallest ones work with the 1/2" finished hexies.

There's a big 5" hexagon that I may try after the holidays. So here are 24 hexies that I cut in another 5 minutes - love it!!

I also got the 2.5" strip for cutting scraps and binding strips.  I may get to try that one out tonight as I am very close to finishing the archives quilt.

Since I use lots of FQs, there always seems to be little pieces lying about.  Anywhere from a fat eight to 4"x5" rectangles to a single little strip.  I can't wait to get all these little pieces cut into some usable shapes and sorted.

I plan to get the binding onto two quilts this weekend.  What are your plans, sewing or otherwise?

Top finished and win!

Howdy!


I have to share the Clover & Violet Embroidery 101 QAL quilt top.  It is finished! Not finished enough to count in my stash report, not until it is bound.

I was very tempted to let these blocks languish until more pressing projects were done.  However, we started this QAL in May and it just seemed appropo to make the deadline and join my fellow QAL'ers.  It was only 9 blocks, the sashing, cornerstones, and borders were a cinch to cut and I pinned while I watched TV Monday night after a long day of "going, going, going."

At our guild meeting last night I volunteered to be secretary next year.  Then I won the BOM exchange blocks - 5 "Union" blocks (mine makes 5)! 


Charma? Maybe. Aren't they pretty?  

They join these Ohio Stars that I won months ago for a grand total of 10 twelve inch Civil War blocks (won 8, made 2).


Oh - and our guild president is a H-U-G-E Cardinals fan. 


Honestly, she sent out an email last week and before opening it I was convinced that she probably wanted to move our meeting b/c there a conflict with the World Series  --LOL!!  For volunteering to fill the empty positions she gave us all a rally towel, pictured above.

Have a great hump day!

Fall is here and so is the World Series (stash report week 43)

Corydalis - sweet little perennial that blooms til the frost gets it

Hello!!

Once upon a time I followed baseball, especially Cardinal ball, very closely. Then about a decade ago MLB decided to change everything I had learned and added new teams and, well, now that I live here, I can just keep tabs on what's going on by listening to a few minutes of the news.  However, it is exciting to have the Cardinals in the World Series again, and, to have a big win like last night's game.

On to the business at hand - here's the backing to my former boss's quilt.

As DH watches NFL all afternoon, I should be quilting it, as simply as it is pieced.

Here are a couple hexie flowers.  I liked the yellow one that I sent off in the hexie swap so well that I made one for myself.  Of course, here's another polka dot.

The Clover & Violet Embroidery 101 blocks are all done.  WooHoo!!

Jennie has posted that she may do a smaller stitch along before the holidays.  So, if you'd like to try out some embroidery, check her blog.

I may not get this one together for a while, we'll see.  I have lots of UFOs in the quilting queue.

It's almost time for quilt guild meeting so here are my Civil War blocks.  This one is called "Union."

Not wanting the duplicate "Union" in a 6" version, here's "White House" from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog.

This is the first time I've tried to match stripes.  You can tell - lol!  Oh well!

Finally, here are a couple charity blocks for guild called "X's and O's."








In this post I showed my latest stash additions - 11 FQs! I love FQs!!

Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 49.42
Added this Week: 2.75
Added Year to Date: 109.57
Net Used for 2011:   -60.15

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times.  Have a great day!!

At least it wasn't mending...

Dear Son sees all sorts of crafts to make on PBSkids and Nick Jr.  Often he forgets about them before he sees the next one.  Last week he saw the Backyardigans hop scotch board.  When my mom came to visit last weekend she brought me an old flat twin sheet.

After two trips to Joann's, coupons in hand, to get transfer paper (which comes in packs of six and found out that the project called for 11 sheets), here's what we had after printing.

Not a cheap project. We are hosting my husband's family, including DS's two young cousins, so hopefully, this will get some use in December.

[Sorry, I flipped it but Blogger isn't cooperating]

Then to press - on a hard surface, "not an ironing board." Luckily we had scrap drywall pieces in the basement that qualified as something hard and smooth that allowed me to keep the sheet on the floor.  About 30 minutes later, here's the finished hop scotch board.

Head over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for some Whoop Whoop projects!

Postal packages

Howdy!

How about an unusual midweek post?  This week  I received three lovely packages.  The first I purchased.

Quilty friend Renae and I ordered some goodies from Connecting Threads.  Well, my order wasn't much but it put us into the free shipping category.  I so rarely have enough to order from them to qualify for free shipping.

I got a cute sign (very appropriate if you check my stash report numbers),  some 1" hexie paper pieces on sale, and 3 polka dot FQs which were also on sale.  The green dots are barely there - it reads solid.  This is why I don't often buy fabric online without having seen it first.  The great thing about CT is that you can always buy a charm sampler for a tiny investment to preview their fabric.

Monday an envelope arrived with this in it:

I won a drawing at Clover & Violet related to the Embroidery 101 QAL.  Jennie sent this lovely pouch (with an interior pocket and zipper), a cute needle book, and a pack of embroidery needles.  She must have peeked at my stash to see how much brown and golden brown I have - lol.

I can really use the needles as I've started doing another project and I only have one size atm.  I've already put some stitching supplies in the pouch  - just the right size. Jennie has announced that she will do another small stitch before the holidays so check her blog for details.

Then, when I got home yesterday there was a box in the mailbox from Irene at Hilachas.  I won her blogiversary giveaway.  Now, DS always asks when packages arrive if they are for him.  Well, this time I could say, "I think so."  The giveaway had a crayola theme and came with a box  of crayons which DS immediately opened and used to create this:

Creating the masterpiece gave me a little free time to take this lovely pic of the box's contents.  Isn't that table topper pretty?  It now sits on my kitchen table with our spare pumpkin (to be carved closer to Halloween) - a perfect pair.

Aren't the FQs pretty?!  I L-O-V-E batiks!! Irene left the tags on them from CT so that I know what to order if I need more. 

Hhhmmm...I have had my eye out for some bright yellow fabric to use in a quilt for my step dad whose favorite color is yellow.  

The Essential Thread in white is perfect, too.  My white spool in my hexie pouch is almost gone and I used it for basting all the white centers of my hexie flowers as well for some of the petals.

These goodies have a brightened an otherwise dreary and rainy start to this week.  Thank you, Jennie and Irene!

Have a lovely day!

Retreat Recap (stash report week 42)

Better late than never, right?  I love retreats but they always wear me out.  I don't sleep well in a strange bed and after two nights, it usually shows.  As I mentioned in my last post - I forgot my camera!

If the camera had been around I would have taken pictures of our meals - yummy!  First, I should tell you where we were.  We went to the St. Louis Star Inn owned by designer Toby Lischko.  It is a great house with quilts everywhere. Her studio is big, but no too big, and has lots of windows.

Toby cooked all the meals - she obviously does not own one of these aprons that hangs in my kitchen.

With several of our meals there were FQs under our napkins! Quilty friend Joyce gave me a couple of hers, too!  I found a new book that Joyce might like....

Toby was also doing some de-stashing.  I picked up some Valdani thread, an orphan block, a few strips of fabric, larger pieces of Civil War fabrics, and some scraps of Christmas fabric that I used in the setting kit of my Be Merry BOM, which is now ready to be put together [yeah, in between all this quilting that's on my list ;-)].

If you missed my last post, here's the top that I cut Friday evening and completed on Saturday.  It's a retirement gift for my former boss, who is an archivist, and an aging hippie. It's based on the Spinning coins tutorial at Quilt Story.  As soon as I saw it I knew it would work with a gray background, which is the color that my boss painted every room in his first house.

I had no real plans to do anything special with the backing until I saw Etchings by 3 Sisters for Moda.  As soon as I saw these 3 prints, I knew I had to use them on this quilt.  He will probably use the back more than the front - I would, it's an archivist thing - LOL!

Monday morning, after retreat, Lesley of Sew Happy Me emailed that I was the winner of her latest giveaway sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop!  A gift certificate to the FQS and 2 of her adorable patterns: a lovely stitched pillow and a wine waiter.  You know how I love little projects! How is that for timing?!

Lesley is currently doing a Christmas stitch along - the blocks are adorable.  She leaves them up for a week - here is block 4.

Sew, 1 yard each of the 3 "must have" prints arrived Friday from the FQS - I ordered them on Wednesday afternoon (how is that for service?). I like the whole line so I threw in a couple half yard cuts for me,  Just love the reds and couldn't leave the paisley behind.

The architectural drawings look just like the turn of the century drawings that I worked with in my other life - that my former boss hired me to care for.  The Paris map is amazing, too.  The detail is fantastic and legible, just like going to the archives.  Now all I have to do is get it together and quilt it by next month.

Quilty friend Charla brought me some polka dot fabrics to use in my hexies.  This time, however, I restrained myself.  I only cut a few strips and a charm from each fabric.  Aren't they pretty?  I may have to sew one up this week.

Speaking of hexies.  Here's one I did this week.  I completed two more for the Inchy Hexagon Swap and they are currently en route to Australia.  I'll show you those after they reach their destination.

I finally started on my last two blocks for the Clover & Violet QAL.  At retreat I put the final strips on the blocks to make them 17.5" squares.

I did get in some quilting but I didn't get anything finished.  Now for the hard part - figuring all these additional numbers and seeing my "added" column increase some more.  It's not over....but that's for next week.

Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 49.42
Added this Week: 4 + 2 = 6
Added Year to Date: 106.82
Net Used for 2011:   -57.4

Head over the Judy's at Patchwork Times for more stash numbers.
Have a great week!!!

Another top finished

Howdy!

It's a lovely day here and the knockout roses are at it again.  Love those shrubs.  The Japanese beetles eat them, the drought comes, they do not get black spot, and yet they recover and make more pretty roses.

This past weekend some quilty friends and I did our own little retreat, on which I did not take my camera - really? -- I packed everything but the kitchen sink and the camera!

Anyway, this top is for my former boss who will retire next month and begin travelling the country in a 5th wheel.  So, it's a little quilt.

The backing fabric just arrived today.  I will explain the need to order this particular line of fabric in my Sunday post.  Gotta get back to cleaning house - company's a comin'!

Check out more great Whoop Whoop finishes and some 100 Quilts for Kids projects at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Some giveaways to announce:
Happy Quilting has a Fat Quarter Shop sponsored giveaway - 2 Ruby charm packs.  Ends Oct. 20th.

Hilachas has a cute themed giveaway to celebrate her anniversary.  Hurry this one ends tomorrow, the 15th.

Stray Stitches, sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop, is giving away a fat quarter bundle of Family Forever by Benartex.  Ends at 12 noon PDT on Oct. 17th.