tractor

tractor
At Plum Loco Ranch, Door County, WI.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Finish-A-Long finish

The end of the first quarter of the Finish-A-Long hosted by Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap is upon us.    I put my quilt show projects on my list of UFOs to finish - I knew I had to get those done!

There are pix of two of my finished projects in previous posts, but I never did post a pic of the Dresden plate wallhanging with its binding complete.  Poor thing!  How could I leave it out?!
Here it is (sorry for the crappy pic).  I washed it after the show with one Shout color catcher, which turned pink.  A teensy bit of one of the red batiks bled into the background.  I really need to remember to wash my FQs before I use them, but with this project I was so excited to get started that pre-washing went out the window!

Click over to see more first quarter Finish-A-Long finishes.


Sunday, March 25, 2012

A week of spring (stash report week 13)

Swaying in the rain!
**Edit: Thought I would try out Blogger's scheduling feature.  Apparently, I did not do it correctly as this should have posted yesterday.

The past week has been mostly lovely.  Temps way above normal and flowers popping out all over.  I love walking the dog this time of year and seeing the  changes that happen overnight.

I spent so much time at our guild's quilt show and I do not have a single photo to share with you.  There were repeated calls for volunteers so I did four shifts in two days.

There were great vendors but I held my own and only purchased one piece of fabric - this lovely panel from Northcott, in dire need of straightening.


There is a smaller guild in the area that sells used quilting/sewing books and magazines.  The first day I got 3 magazines at 50 cents each.  Then, late the next day I got 4 more for 25 cents each.  I wonder how many of these are gifted back to the guild.

With all these magazines, patterns are the last thing I need, but one vendor had all sorts of cute samples made up from this company.  Quick projects always get my attention these days.

Another vendor sold the plexi sewing tables, which I didn't need.  However, they also had polish, a polish to make the table clean and slick for FMQ.

Finally, the author of this book is a founding member of our guild.  Another member gave a demonstration on making watercolor quilts and these books were passed out.  Turns out there were so many that the extras sat on our members' volunteer table.




Then, I've been on a little winning streak, call it March madness.  First, The Green Bag Lady gave away some Organic Free Trade coffee from a Nashville, TN, coffee shop.

However, I think our coffee grinder was in one of the several boxes that went to Goodwill in '11 - LOL!

And Angela, at Anglea at Home, gave away two puzzles.  Check out her blog and groove to some Beyonce' and tap your toes to some other fun songs on her play list.

 I loved puzzles when I was a kid. Everyone in the house put a few pieces in place over a the course of a few weeks.  DH and I did a couple of mystery puzzles before DS came along.  I've not had the courage to put one out until DS gets a little older.




C&T Publishing gave away a few clock kits on its blog to promote this book, Fast, Fun & Easy Creative Fabric Clocks by Lynn Koolish.  It arrived earlier this week and I'm wondering what kind of clock to make and where to hang it.




Then, Nancy at Life Takes a Turn wanted to give away a few FQs. Well, you know how I love FQs.  I was just looking at variations on postage stamp quilts again this week.  I think these 8 FQs would work very well.  May have to get the GO! Baby out soon.





Kathy Schmitz had a giveaway to celebrate her new book and embroidery patterns.  The projects in this book are so cute and they use up scraps.  Gotta love projects that use up scraps!

You can find the book and 11 new patterns in Kathy's Etsy shop.

I've not had the chance to complete any projects or even to work on them.  The yard work has been keeping me busy, busy, busy.  And now I'm in Indiana to start cleaning out my grandma's house.


Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 15.570
Added this week: 2.667
Added year to date: 19.181
Net used for 2012: -3.611

Please click over to Patchwork Times and see other stash reports.

Have a great week!


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Happy Quilting Day! (stash report week 12)

Yesterday was the official day, we'll just extend it.  Just like The Quilt Show is celebrating all weekend by letting us watch the first 9 seasons for free!

There's a lot going on.  Spring has really sprung and I have all kinds of photos that I was going to show you, but, it is also our guild quilt show this weekend and I am tired.  I mean T-A-R-D!!  I was on my feet all day yesterday!  And I go back for more today.

So, here's the report, sort of short and sweet.  Connecting Threads is also celebrating National Quilting Day - all month long.  All the online sales have been so hard to resist that I finally cracked and hit the "submit order" button.  All the fabric was less than $5/yd - most of it was $2.48 yd!

5 yards of peridot mirage for the back of DS's Dresden plate quilt.

2.5 yds of yellows for the T block quilt.  For blocks and for borders and/or binding.

Two 1/2 yd cuts "just because."

These thread sets were 40% off.  Glad thread doesn't count!

So, my new additions say that I need to finish more projects to get back into  positive numbers.

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 15.570
Added this week: 8.5
Added year to date: 16.514
Net used for 2012: -0.944

Please click over to Patchwork Times and see other stash reports.

Did you celebrate National Quilting Day?

Have a great week!



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mid week musings

Here's another glimpse at my early garden.  Usually the bleeding hearts grow to 12-18 inches before blooming.  This one is barely 4 inches above the ground.


My therapy this weekend was finishing up DS's Dresden plates.  I desperately needed some time Sunday afternoon to clear my head.  So, I finally set up the featherweight, since that's that I started them on, and started chain stitching. Also set up the laptop tuned to some old British Miss Marple mysteries on Netflix.


This morning found me cutting about 1,425 raffle tickets!  I had started them but decided to get them all done today - one more thing off the list for the show this weekend. We are raffling a Babylock Sofia 2 sewing/embroidery machine.  Here's a link to our show's flyer.  Please come see us if you are in the area!

Namaste

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Stash Report week 11

Sorry that I missed last week's stash report.  Luckily, I had nothing in or out to report so the numbers remained the same.





This week I received 2 lovely charm packs of Puttin' on the Ritz from Charlotte at Grammie Q's.  She drew my name in her one year blog-iversary giveaway.  She also included these pretty pins that she made.  Don't they just scream, "Spring!?"












This weeks' numbers, still positive:

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 15.570
Added this week: 1.389
Added year to date: 8.014
Net used for 2012: 7.556


Please click over to Patchwork Times and see other stash reports.


Have a great week!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Postal Pick-Me-Up

When the mailman delivered our mail, which had been on hold all week, there were two things to make me smile.  Since we were out of town all week for the sudden death and funeral for my grandma, who taught me how to quilt, these packages were quite a welcome distraction.


First, hexies from Janet in Canada.  Aren't they pretty?!!  These are the first swap hexies that I've received in 2012.


Then, I won a giveaway over at GrammieQ's for her one year blog-iversary.  She sent 2 Puttin' on the Ritz charm packs - very soft and regal - and two pins that she made.  Love these little pins - so springy!!

I missed the week 10 Stash Report but mine was unchanged from week 9.  Obviously, there will be something to report this week.

Namaste