tractor

tractor
At Plum Loco Ranch, Door County, WI.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Stash Report Week 8

A little bit later than usual....

The only thing I have to report about my stash this week is that I was in the thick of it -- cutting strips.

stash strips.jpg
Next week I travel to the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show (Bloomington, IN)and take a Pineapple Blossom class with Bonnie Hunter.  I decided to use up lots of blue and make this a QOV quilt.  So I have strips and squares cut for that project.

When I started to work on Easy Street, several pieces were running low.  That's what happens when you don't count into the hundreds.  So I spent about 2 hours cutting triangles with the Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers.  I think I might be done cutting for this one. This will be my leader/ender project in the workshop.

And in between, I took a teensy quilting break.  Did some super easy SID on part of the sewing machine cover. Thought I would finish this up with some decorative hand stitches with white perle cotton.

machine cover quilting.jpg

And some quilting/applique on the Lollipop wallhanging.  Instructions usually tell us to applique then quilt but this little cutie is constructed a bit differently (quilting before backing is added), and, it's a wallhanging so no one will see the back.

Lollipop stems collage.jpg

In the middle of the week I played with squares, thinking about making a sewing machine cover for my mom.  I have a little drawing on graph paper and need to sew up some more of Grandma's squares.

scrap Collage.jpg

To the numbers:

Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 43.25
Added this week: 0
Added YTD: 19
Net used YTD: 24.25

Check out some more stash reports at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Have a great week!

Friday, February 22, 2013

A Friday Finish

Well, actually, it was a Thursday finish. My son had his first snow day, ever, yesterday. He was not happy - he likes school. DH also stayed home to avoid the predicted sleet and freezing rain.  Sew, I headed down to the sewing corner.

T square top 1.jpg
Too big to get it in a single shot.
I managed to get all the "T" blocks together for my step dad's quilt.  Now to figure out borders (uggh - don't say the "B" word).

T square top 2.jpg
The colors are a bit off in the Ott Lite.
One more top near completion - Whoop Whoop.  Check out some more Friday projects over at Sarah's "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop."

Have a great weekend!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Quick glance at my design wall...

Maybe not so quick....
machine cover collage.jpg
These are pieces of my future sewing machine cover. Charms are from Noteworthy.

lollipop kit collage.jpg
Here's a cute Sandy Gervais wallhanging kit that I started at retreat.  Need to quilt this before moving on to the next step.
applique birds 1
And, this is my applique workshop project.  The applique is all done.  Plans are to put some fusible fleece on the back and embellish with some perle cotton.

Ahhh, yes, what's that quote about "the best laid plans?"

Why are all these projects on my design wall?  Simply because it's the best place to store them since they're a bit small to drape over a hanger and put in the closet.

Click over to Judy's to see more design walls.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

For the Love of Small Projects (Stash Report Week 7)

Hope everyone had a great week.  I'm getting busy with a consulting job so I know my free sewing hours are greatly numbered.  That's why I trudged through all those borders and backs last weekend.  I handed 3 quilts off to quilty friend Cheri for some of her lovely LA action.

In addition to the two big ones, she has DS's batik Dresden plate.  The top was pieced before the new year so it hasn't been counted in my "out" column yet.  Just realized that - 11.5 yards!

Big Dresden top
I had 5 yards of a green Connecting Thread blender earmarked for the back but I needed a tad more than that.  So, I used a cute strip of race care fabric that quilty friend Joyce gave me to bring it up to size.

With all those long seams the past two weekends, I wanted to something small. So, I started 2 projects!  Here's the one that I finished - DS's tablet pouch (approx. 0.75 yards).

Nabi outside.jpg


The Curious George fabric came from Tonya's shop Ozark Fabric & Other Stuff.  Since DS is 6, I'm afraid it won't be long before he decides some of this novelty fabric is "baby-ish."  So, I opted to use George for the lining and use some soccer ball fabric for the outside from the stash.

Nabi collage


DS loves green.  He wanted a green stripe.  However, the green stripe wasn't planned!  I always say that I shouldn't wield a rotary cutter after 9PM.  Yep - I cute the soccer fabric 3 inches smaller than needed - argh! So, DS got his green after all. This is the first quilting I've done in months and months.

The other project is a quilted sewing machine cover using some charm squares.  There's tons of patterns out there, here's the one I am using. I wanted one with closed ends - that will really keep the dust out.  I'm thinking this will be a good Mother's Day gift for my mom, something functional, not decorative.  I will either make another or give her this one and make myself another, maybe with some batiks.

We had our sewing day yesterday and I finished my Fading Charms top - yeah!  I love it!  I only worked on it when we all got together, which was the point of working on the same pattern.

Fading charms top done.jpg

It was so nice to work on, and complete, this small project.  I have tons of 2" squares left.  I will count this one out when I get the backing ready and get it quilted and bound.

Maybe I will make my mom a sewing machine cover with Grandma's scraps - yeah, that's what I'll do, modify the pattern above for 2" squares. Boy! I'm glad I wrote this post this morning, hadn't thought of that until just now.

To the numbers:

Used this week: 12.25
Used YTD: 43.25
Added this week: 0
Added YTD: 19
Net used YTD: 24.25

Check out some more stash reports at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Have a great week!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Calling them "out"! - Stash Report Week 6

That's right!  Two queens size tops and their corresponding backs are ready to go to the quilter - WooHoo!

Luckily, DH held these off the side of the deck for me yesterday, before the rain and thunderstorms moved in.  First, here's the oldest project from 2007 - the Jacob's Ladder quilt.

Jacob's Ladder top done.jpg

The back is from my grandma's stash.  It's only 36" wide.  Any guess as to how old it is?

Jacob's ladder back

And, here is the Marti Michell designed BOM from 2009 using Cider Mill Road fabrics.  I wondered if this one would ever get finished.  I've never put four borders on a quilt before and I must say that these long, sometimes 90", seams are very......B-O-R-I-N-G!  However, I can miter a corner in my sleep!!

Apple Cider BOM top done.jpg

This one has a very boring back - a 108" mottled brown.  And, after washing, it is disappointingly stiff!  Our LQS owner got this for the BOM, but despite being stiff, it's in one piece and there are no more long seams in this one.

Each backing used 7.5-8 yards of fabric according to my Robert Kauffman quilting app.  So, that means each top used about the same.  That must be close to what I used all last year!


Used this week: 31
Used YTD: 31
Added this week: 0
Added YTD: 19
Net added YTD: 12

Check out some more stash reports at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Have a great week!



Sunday, February 3, 2013

Happy February! - Stash Report Week 5

Good morning!  Here's what I woke up to...


Isn't it pretty?  It doesn't get to stick around and make everything cheerful and pretty.  It will be gone by noon CST.

Finally, the Jacob's Ladder top that I started in 2007 is done, all 83x96 of it.  I just put the last border strip on this morning. The side borders are much wider than the top and bottom borders. The quilt police may come get me, but I don't care.  It's now in the "D" for done column!

jacobs ladder borders done.jpg
Do y'all ever have one of those days when you knew that trying to sew was in vain?  I had one of those yesterday.  All the signs pointed to a great afternoon ahead - Pandora with some foot-tappin' music, DH home and DS playing with neighbors, border strips measured and plan set, one wide side border attached.  And then, despite the time to notice what was happening, I sewed the side border to the top!  So, I un-sewed a 7 foot seam.

But I kept going (doh-----should've stopped right there).  The side and bottom border went on fine.  Then it took three attempts to add a stripe section to the top border to make it long enough - uggh.  Then I stopped, got the hint!  Put the last seam on while the coffee brewed this morning.

Now to get the backings ready for this top and for DS's Dresden plate top.  Part of me would like to quilt DS's top myself, but, it will be faster to do it by checkbook.  I may have to do some figuring to see how that fits with the budget.

muffins.jpg
Found a blog with some great muffin recipes.

I made a batch of banana-chocolate chip and a batch of blueberry muffins - YUMMY!  I copied and saved all the recipes that she had for muffins because these were so good and so easy.






The stash numbers finally changed - and not for the positive. Fabric arrived from Tonya's Ozark Fabric & Other Stuff.  It was positive in that we all know how great it feels to open a box of goodies!  The 19 yards that I showed you in this post all goes in the "added" column, which is another reason I was so anxious to get a top done.

What's been happening in your neck of the woods this week?

Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 0
Added this week: 19
Added YTD: 0
Net added YTD: -19

Check out some more stash reports at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Have a great week!