Adding, adding, adding..... (stash report week 26)

More of this...

leads to more of this...

Yep - more fabric has been added to the stash!  There are 5 yards of Dear Stella and 1 yd of Moda and one FQ lollipop that I got at our guild meeting Tuesday.  The 3 yds of fabric on the right is going into a project box with a Midwinter Reds layer cake.  The other two cuts are slated for two swaps happening next month.

I cannot tell you if this fabric is still available because I am not looking at the Hancock's of Paducah web site for a while.  Why tempt myself?!

On the strange weather front, cold air has moved in and it 66 degrees here as I type!  That's crazy low, lovin' it, windows open, a/c off, birds singing - WooHoo!!  Our high today is supposed to be 78 - one year ago the weatherman says our high was 105.

I have some yard work to do before more rain comes in this afternoon.  Can anyone say, "sewing time?!"  Looking forward to the best of both worlds today.

We caught this pic yesterday as we waited out a brief thunderstorm under a steel bridge in a paddleboat in Forest Park (yeah - that was smart, huh?)  Most of the storm was a downpour, very little thunder or lightening.

That is the St. Louis Art Museum on the hill.  Our goal was to paddle around the fountains in the Grand Basin at the base of Art Hill, which is from the 1904 World's Fair, as is the oldest section of the Art Museum.  The rain lasted just long enough that we decided to the get to the Grand Basin another day.





Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 66.58
Added this week: 6
Gifted this week: 0.25
Added YTD: 76
Net used YTD: -9.42

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

Have a great week!

100 miles later (stash report week 25)

Since we live in the metro St. Louis area, I rarely "have" to drive more than 5 miles from home to get to the grocery store, the gym, drugstore, etc.  Now, the LQS's are about an 8-12 mile drive from home.

In the midst of summer vacation, DS and I made three trips to local libraries to patronize the weekly summer reading program weekly events.  We saw two science shows and live animals this week.  Then, I had two appointments that also took us out of the house.  Imagine my surprise when I got gas and realized that we had traveled 100 miles in three days and never left the southern half of the county.

With all this travelling, very little happened in the ol' sewing corner this week.  Yesterday, while the boys went to see Monsters University, I started sewing the Pineapple Blossom blocks for my MIL's quilt.  I really started it b/c everything was cut, ready to go, and it's such mindless sewing.  That's what I needed, mindless sewing.

With DS and his friend playing in the basement the past few days, I had more time to check Flickr for more fabric swaps.  There is a Flickr Group called "Fabric Swap Finder."

So,  I have fabric out to two swaps and three more groups to send in the next few weeks.  Two of the swaps are neutrals/low volume (charms & F8's), one is 2.5" squares, one is 2.5" strips, and one next month is a "paper" themed F8 swap.  Fun!





That leads right into my purchases!  Yes, my Hancock's of Paducah order came in.  Geesh!  I love getting packages!

Truly, I was not going to order fabric --- until I came across the swaps.  And then noticed that I could get fabric for said swaps at $2.98 - $6.98 per yard.  There are quite a few prints, including neutrals, from Dear Stella in the $2.98 category.  I have read about the company but to my knowledge, I'd not seen any of it in person.  So, I ordered 5 one yard cuts.  (The newsprint cut is from Wilmington.)  The Dear Stella feels great!

Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 66.58
Added this week: 6
Gifted this week: 0
Added YTD: 69.75
Net used YTD: -3.17

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

Have a great week!

A Pretty Week (Stash Report Week 24)

We had another great week weather-wise.  It got summer hot only 2 or 3 days.  The days were perfect for DS and his neighborhood buddies to be outside playing.

We had DS's 1/2 birthday party last weekend and we did a bit of Father's Day shopping this week.  After a late brunch this morning at O'Charley's, we settled in for a day of relaxation, DH took a nap. Even DS wanted a day to relax at home after playing so hard all week.




I went to the basement and sewed some more on the 4th of July quilt.  Yes, it has been on the design wall all week and I hadn't sewn a stitch on it.

Friday I got ready for the Saturday Sew Day with friends by getting my 3rd block done in the LQS BOM program.  We got the 4th block Saturday.











Then yesterday I got to do something I had been looking forward to for weeks - I started putting the pieces of Easy Street (no longer available, will be in Bonnie's next book) together.  I followed the steps as Bonnie presented them, so I did all the setting triangles first and then got one of each block done.

Easy Street was the only project I worked on yesterday.  My quilty friends asked how many pieces were in each block.  I have no idea!  After doing the Apple Cider quilt, I thought I'd never do a block with more than 50 pieces ever again.  Well, here I am...and enjoying it!







I really do need a finish to help my numbers a bit.  Here's a tiny one (1 yd).  I put this together ages ago and tried to bind it using Sharon Schamber's YouTube videos on binding with washable Elmer's glue.  Well, it didn't go too well and I cut more binding strips and showed my quilty buds how I use glue and a hot iron in place of pins when I fold the binding to the back.  So, I learned a bit about using glue from YouTube.






Here's why I need help.  A package from Ozark Fabric arrived with only 5 yards in it! Then, I ordered neutrals from Hancock's of Paducah to use in another swap next month.  I must stop!

The package also had a Clover needle threader, a sewline glue pen, a Frixon highlighter, and  this cute book with embroidery patterns.

I've joined two fabric swaps and mailed out two yards of 5" charms squares and two yards of 2.5" strips. So, I'm gonna count it out and then I'll count it back in when my packages arrive in the next few weeks.

Used this week: 5 (1 used, 4 swapped)
Used YTD: 66.58
Added this week: 5
Gifted this week: 0
Added YTD: 63.75
Net used YTD: 2.83

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

Have a great week!

Nothing Accomplished... (stash report week 23)

Yep - once DS got home, the sewing decreased significantly!  It took two days to get back in the groove of having him back.  Then, I spent 2 hours each day waiting wile he took two of his summer fun classes.

I read, and went to the library (checked about 5 quilting books and found 3 more patterns for ol' "to do" list), and got last week's blog post published, and did a teensy bit of stitching.  We've had fantastic weather this week, unusually cool and non-humid, so I enjoyed sitting outside and relaxing.  We also found the Orange Leaf frozen yogurt franchise - yummy!

Friday evening, while DS rode his bike (finally!), I laid out the 80 Fourth of July blocks that I finished last weekend.  Then, after dinner, I actually had the time to sew them into pairs, webbing those pairs into 4 patches. No sewing quilt tops in rows for this gal, it's short seams for me.

Wheww!  Always makes me feel better to get them together in some manner before they fall off the "wall." This is a super simple pattern and would make a slightly larger quilt if the size of each component was increased by 1/2".

My mom brought my featherweight back Sunday with DS.  I had given it to her to have her repairman to clean and to discover the cause of the thread breaking.

I've discussed my mom's "collection" before.  The man that did all of her repairs for years sold his sewing machine repair shop and retired.  So, now he comes to her house twice a year and cleans/repairs about 10-12 machines in one day.

It was a simple bobbin case alignment problem caused when I took the face plate off to vacuum out the lint.  Now I know!

I love this little machine. I'd rather piece on it than either of my Vikings.  It's the feed dogs, they are so close together on these straight stitch-only machines, the 1/4" seam is so straight. On my Vikings, with the needle moved over to the right, the fabric barely runs over the inner most feed dog.

That's it!  I am expecting a shipment from Ozark Fabric tomorrow but it's not all fabric.  There are some marking pens, a book, a glue pen, and a needle threader in addition to a few yards of fabric. --- I love mail!!

Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 61.58
Added this week: 0
Gifted this week: 0
Added YTD: 58.75
Net used YTD: 2.83

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

Have a great week!

Quick catch-up

With DS home with me all summer, except for a few camps here and there, I have a feeling the sewing machine will be quite lonely til school starts in August.

This is a quick post to show you some things I'd forgotten about.  First, in April I bought myself a cute tote for my GO! Baby.  I don't really take it anywhere but the tote holds the Baby and about 3 dies and 3 mats.  This clears up a teensy bit of shelf space and makes it easier to grab the cutter and use it.

Then, I joined a "low volume" charm swap on Flickr.  I must say that I love fabric swaps.  Making blocks and bags and such for others stresses me out, but grabbing some FQs or cutting charms is just so easy and adds such variety to my stash so quickly.




I have to laugh at the term "low volume."  It's what the ladies in my guild call "neutrals."

Seriously, neutrals are just the hardest fabrics for me to acquire a good selection.  I have no plan for these charms.  They will definitely go into a scrap quilt but whether it will be as 5" squares or as 2.5" squares or bricks, well, who knows.

The better part is that I did not have to go shopping.  Grabbed these two prints from the stash, both purchased because they were on sale, and started cutting.

Have you checked Hancock's of Paducah's web site lately?  They have lots of Moda marked down and several pages of fabric at $3.98-$6.98.

Happy shopping!!  Have a great weekend!!

What a week! (stash report week 21)

It's been sort of like a vacation for me this week.  DS went to my mom's the day after school was out - that was last Friday.  He got home yesterday evening.  It was "sort of" like a vacation because DH couldn't get any time off, so I was home alone most of the week.

I did hit the quilting.  However, without someone else here doing the same, no major house cleaning happened.  I am a great believer in "misery loves company" and without someone here to keep me on track, I had no motivation to get any deep cleaning done.

Three UFO's got completed this week, binding-binding-binding - WooHoo!






First, the T-block quilt for my step-dad, which is going home with him tomorrow with a note not to open until Father's Day.

And, then the very first quilt that is being used on our bed - Uncle Sam's Jacob's Ladder. Cheri quilted Baptist fans and I used the blue print for binding that I rejected as a border - knew I'd use it eventually, plus some was already cut.  This is our summer quilt, 100% Cream Rose Mountain Mist batting (very flat and not too warm for summer).






Finally, here' the Apple Cider quilt, the Marti Michell BOM.  I turned the back to the front as binding and I do not like it!  However, my not liking it does NOT outweigh my wanting to rip it out and do it over again!  The backing was a bit stretchy to me - not sure why - and it just didn't work as well for self binding as other backs that I've used.  This is our fall quilt with wool batting, oh so light.

I had hoped to get some other quilting done but instead I turned to my next UFO that is closest to being done - the Scrappy Friendship quilt.  It is now in one piece instead of three!  I haven't worked on this one since at least November.

I used Marti Michell's method of quilting in sections (book = Machine Quilting in Sections) and currently need to finish covering the seams via hand stitching the  strips over the seams.  I left a few quilting lines unquilted to finish once it was all in one piece, so I have those left to do.  Then, I plan to self bind it - yes, I really like this method when the backing cooperates, and I know this one will.

I finished the blocks for the 4th of July quilt.  I'm in no hurry to get this one done but thought it would be an easy top to finish at a sew day.  And, the piecing was easy while watching a couple of Mathew McConaughey movies this week (love that Texas drawl).

Since cutting is sometime the hardest part of starting a project,  I finished cutting the fabric for the 1930s Darlene Zimmerman pattern using feedsacks.  I had cut the charms but not the yardage.  Now this one is ready to be chain pieced at a sew day.









After doing the Pineapple Blossom workshop with Bonnie Hunter, I loved it so much I decided to make it for my mother-in-law.  I've an April Cornell Nature's Chorus jelly roll on my shelf for years.  I bought to make a quilt for my MIL b/c it's so springy and floral, very cheerful, her colors.  I needed to find the right pattern for it.

When I found this pretty little shirting (top) earlier this year, I knew I could use the jelly roll in the Pineapple Blossom pattern.  So, yesterday, I cut it all out with about 6 strips from the jelly roll to spare.  The original pattern uses 2" strips but Bonnie gives instructions for 2.5" strips as well to make 12" blocks. A jelly roll is just enough for 20 blocks.

So, my numbers only show binding, but I feel that I've accomplished a lot this week!

Used this week: 1.08
Used YTD: 61.58
Added this week: 0
Gifted this week: 0
Added YTD: 58.75
Net used YTD: 2.83

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