Farm Girl Transplanted

A Garden Post

2012-02-27T08:54:00.003-06:00

It was too nice yesterday afternoon to do anything quilt related. So, I finally went for a little walk in my teensy backyard. Those are my three crocus in bloom. All of my other bulbs are up but I no buds yet.

Then I noticed that my butterfly bushes, all 5 of them, have lots of new growth. Now this is very unusual as by St. Patrick's Day, under normal weather conditions, they are still dormant or just beginning to grow some leaf buds. This year, however, their leaves have stayed green - no dormancy (i.e. rest) this year.

After the crocuses bloom, then one of the earliest plants to bloom in my yard are my bleeding hearts. They have reseeded themselves over the years and I can't tell you how many are in the yard. Sure enough, there they are, those little purple tips just coming out of the ground.
This is still February! They shouldn't be up until after St. Patty's Day!

The day lilies are up! Even more than the bleeding hearts, b/c they get more sun! These are not early spring plants, they don't bloom until June.

So, one good frost after all these plants are up and my garden may done before it really gets started this spring.

Here's the things that really "bugs" me about all this warm weather. (Wonder if bugs will be another problem later on)

W-E-E-D-S!!!!!!

This little weed in particular is EVERYWHERE - the yard, the patios, the walkways, around almost every plant in my beds!!!!! There was no significant freeze to make it go dormant either - it's been bright green, and growing rapidly, since fall.

I think it's called chickweed. It spreads by runners and becomes thick like carpet. I already pulled a ton of it a few weeks ago (who in the midwest pulls weeds in January?). Our temps are supposed to stay so warm this week that I will have to hit the garden shop and get some Roundup!

What's growing in your garden?

Another pretty day (stash report week 9)

2012-02-26T09:11:00.002-06:00

..that's what the weather man says. We're supposed to hit 60 degrees again today. The birds must agree because our cardinals are singing and the chickadees and titmice are chirping away.

Quilting has taken a bit of a back seat. I wish I could've kept the momentum going but in my small space it's tough to get another top readied for quilting while I still have my first three out being finished. Only one still needs its hanging sleeve and label, which is ready to go. (I might have done it yesterday but I chose instead to lie down and read. The more I quilt, the less I read!)

Oh, and this is something that we did as a Christmas present for my father in law. I saw it on Sew Many Ways. Grab a frame and repurpose it by replacing the glass with duct sheeting, which is metal and magnet friendly. I made the magnets last fall, also a project from Sew Many Ways. Anyway, from the sheet we bought before the holidays, we made one 8x10 as a gift, one 10x14 to hang in DS's room, and two small ones for me to use around my sewing space. I say "we" because DH cut the sheet metal for me. I'm thinking about doing a few for Mother's Day gifts as well but I may learn to cut those myself.

On the sewing front, I decided to cut the black and white fabrics for the "T" blocks that I showed you last week.

The pattern is from Fat Quarter Fun (by Karen Snyder) but I'm only using a few FQs. Several pieces are scraps from previous projects, including backings. Makes me feel good to use up fabric!

I've been using the Easy Angle ruler that Bonnie Hunter, and her followers, rave about. It is very nice, not any slower than cutting squares. The first two blocks are right on size wise. And, since I do a lot of piecing with the featherweight, which uses a screw in seam guide for that 1/4" seam, it's much easier to feed triangles under the presser foot than squares.

Each FQ makes 4 blocks, not 2 as I had originally convinced myself. Sew, after cutting Friday evening I had to go back and cut some more! Since several pieces aren't FQs, then there a few smaller pieces that will give me only 2 blocks. I'd like to get this project all cut and the triangles paired up to make for some fast piecing, since I don't intend to do much piecing at home. I'm going to try to get this done while out on sew days with my quilty friends.

This leads me to my one fabric purchase this week. I ordered 3 yards of batiks for less than $4/yd from an online store. $3.68/yd for 1895s! At one point I had 8 yards in my cart and then I asked myself what I was going to do with all that. And, I thought of the previous stash report with two finishes on it and of my quilting expenses for the month. My cart shrank down to 3 yards! What's that quote? Something like, "A bargain's not a bargain if you don't need it."

It took the store one week to mail out my order so I received 2 yards of fabric as one was sold out. That's ok! It was a "just because" design from McKenna Ryan. Some of the 2 yards I got are going into the "T" quilt so a few strips from Blond Ale (Hoffman 1895) have already been cut.

Since it's way too hard for me to figure out how much I've cut out and then remember not to count it next week when I've cut more, I only count fabric once the project is done. I will count the 3/4 yd that I used in making hanging sleeves and the 2.67 yards that I used to finish up Aunt Caroline's Rose Garden. I did not include the blocks in the quilt since I didn't count them "in" and since I didn't make them. I just counted the sashing, cornerstones, binding and backing and it finishes at 39x52, so it's not a large quilt at all.

Used this week: 3.42
Used year to date: 15.570
Added this week: 2.0
Added year to date: 6.625
Net used for 2012: 8.945

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

Have a great week!

Another finish

2012-02-24T08:03:00.000-06:00

Woo Hoo! I sat down last Sunday evening and finished the binding on "Aunt Caroline's Rose Garden."

So, now all 3 of my entries for my guild's show are completed. And 2 of them are ready to hang with sleeves and labels all attached. You know what I'll be doing this weekend... getting #3 ready to hang.

Click over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see some more fun projects! And, to enter Sarah's giveaway (winners chosen on Feb. 29th)! Whoop Whoop!

One flower Wednesday

2012-02-22T13:07:00.000-06:00

Hello!

The sun is not out here but the temps are close to 60! What a crazy winter!

Here are a couple hexies that I did last night. Some hand sewing therapy was necessary and "I Love Lucy" made me smile. Thought I'd link up with One Flower Wednesday.

A New Project (stash report week 8)

2012-02-19T12:13:00.002-06:00

After diligently working on my quilt show projects, I needed a break! While I still have plenty to do - get the binding and label on one quilt, get the label on another, and get hanging sleeves on all three - well, it just didn't sound like much fun.

Yesterday some quilty friends and I went back to the St. Louis Star Inn for a day of sewing and a great lunch made by designer Toby Lischko. It's such a pretty place out in the woods and the studio is large, well lit, has a design wall, and two stations each for pressing and cutting.

And cutting is what I did! DS told me last spring when I was piecing the large Dresden plate block that he wanted a "flower quilt." So he helped pick out about 12 batik fat quarters from my stash and we laid them out on top of the 3 yards of Hoffman 1895 #360 ("Waikiki"). The Waikiki will be the centers and background for each block.

**Aside: As all my quilty friends know, Waikiki is my favorite fabric ever! It is just the right shade of blue - no green, no brown, just blue. It makes me happy!! Once we decided to use the 3 yards from my stash, I used a coupon and bought 3 more yards - ya know, just to have on hand. Thinking seriously about buying a bolt, if I'm a good little quilter and get lots of UFOs finished!

Not only did I get all 126 blades cut for the plate, but I got two stitched together, thanks to the nice big design wall in the studio.

And here's why DS calls them "flowers." Forget about plates, they look like daisies!

And, I decided to start another project that I've had in mind for some time now. I've made quilts for pretty much everyone (that wants one) except my step dad. Well, his favorite color is yellow and we all know how hard it is to find yellows, and then to find prints that would work for a man. So, when we've travelled I've collected yellow batiks.

We have a some shops in our area with great batik selections but yellow - boy! it's hard to find. There is a shop in downtown Sturgeon Bay, WI, that had the best selection of yellow batiks ever! The owner said they tried to stock hard-to-find colors.

So, I'm using black and white prints, which I've been stockpiling for the past year or so, plus some scraps from previous projects, like the bowling balls and tires.

It will be a traditional "T" block using a pattern in one of my FQ books. Each FQ yields 2 blocks and I need 14 FQs each of B&W's and yellow. Well, I'm just using 2-3 pieces of yardage for the yellow.

I figure sewing the HSTs together could be my leaders/enders while I finish piecing DS's "flowers." Of course, first I have to get back to my quilt show projects!

Here's a great, big meat tray I got at Aldi a few days ago. It's perfect for holding some leader/ender pieces. And, well, just about anything.

Got in a couple of hexies, too.

Quitly friend Karen shared a couple of polka dot strips from her Berenstain Bears jelly roll. And, Toby always has a big bin of scraps - I restrained myself and picked up this delicate green print and the pretty yellow (kinda have yellow on the brain this week).

My numbers haven't changed much. Better get that last show project bound!

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 12.150
Added this week: 0.125
Added year to date: 4.625
Net used for 2012: 7.525

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

Have a great week!

Finishes!! (stash report week 7)

2012-02-12T12:33:00.000-06:00

My first 2012 finish!!

It used 7 5/8 yards of fabric - all out of my stash, didn't buy a single piece for this quilt! I have enjoyed immersing myself in FMQ. It seems that I found a rhythm and confidence that's been missing in previous quilting efforts. There are more pics here on Thursday's post.

Then, I got the binding strips on the Dresden wall hanging. I need to print out my label so I can attach it at two sides with the binding, which I do by machine.

This one came entirely from my batik stash. It was so much fun to play with the colors in this one. The top used 6 ten inch squares and about yard of background - and I mean every teensy bit of that yard, had to piece the binding strips! The total comes to about 2 3/8 yards.

Last Sunday - after the stash report was published - I went to the Super Bowl sale at the LQS. That was the place to be - it was hoppin'!

Everything was 20% off but I didn't really need anything except maybe some neutrals for my Inchy flower garden. So, I came home with 4 half yard cuts. Not bad!

I had to buy some batiks, of course. And the black on white was so dainty - had to get some "just because." I think it's new from P&B.

I cut a few strips off the neutral and got out the GO! Baby and cut bunches of hexies from the new and scraps.

In getting my garden together I found that I have some hexies missing.

In the Inchy Hexagon Swap each person sends out 2 hexies and is supposed to get 2 back. Well, after 6 months I have 9 hexies - 2 each from four people and 1 from the administrator as a welcome. I will pay a bit more attention this go round. My January swap partner is expecting a baby anytime, so I know she'll be really busy!!

I'm getting ready to go to a sew day this Saturday and yesterday I tried to figure out what to work on. After concentrating on my quilting, thinking about the different piecing projects that are strewn about my space gave me the quilter's ADD - lol! Had to hit an early morning yoga class today to help get me balanced again!!

Strips for hanging sleeves

For my peace of mind, I need to focus. Sew, I have decided to get out the batiks that DS helped pick our for his Dresden plate quilt, which will be 6 blocks just like the one above. I may not sew a stitch next weekend, I may just cut all 126 fan blades and yammer the day away. Oh - but wait, I have to get hanging sleeves made to put on these finishes for the guild quilt show.

Here are the numbers! WooHoo!

Used this week: 10
Used year to date: 12.15
Added this week: 2
Added year to date: 4.50
Net used for 2012: 7.65

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

My quilting journey

2012-02-09T20:05:00.000-06:00

WooHoo! My first finish of 2012!

I really fell in love with this little quilt. Maybe it's due to all the time we spent together on our journey to the finish. Maybe all the time spent changing thread colors and fiddling with the tension to get good FMQ stitches. Maybe it's how the quilting transformed my simple little quilt. Maybe it's all the firsts that it represents in my little quilting hobby:

(1) my first hand embroidery project (thanks to Clover & Violet)

(2) first time I used an old full size sheet as a back (a tight weave for FMQ but a real saver of $$ and time)

(3) first time I stitched in the ditch with my darning foot (over by the purple triangle -- another time saver)

(4) first time to turn the backing to the front as binding, just like my grandma always did (the decorative feather stitch seemed appropriate)

And on that last point - I liked it!!! Followed the directions out of Better Homes & Gardens Complete Guide to Quilting, which is my favorite quilting reference book.

It was so nice not to mess with those binding strips. I may have to be more careful of my backing choices in the future so that I can do this more often.

This post is linked to Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Whoop Whoop Friday post. Click over and check out some more projects!

Namaste.

Snow!

2012-02-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

Here's what we awoke to this morning! Isn't it pretty?

I snapped this pic before leaving for yoga this morning. Good thing, too, because it all melted away by about 2pm.

I watched free motion quilting videos from The Quilt Show blog that inspired me to finish the sashing on Aunt Caroline's Rose Garden. Now all three of my guild show quilts are quilted and ready to bind!

Have you heard of ReNae Merrill? You can watch her on The Quilt Show for free til the 12th (there's a link from her web page). She demonstrates her spiral, or mandala, quilt technique and how you can design your own. If you sign up for her newsletter, she sends you a free spiral pattern. It's paper piecing - just to warn you.

Here's what I hope to get done tomorrow...

...it's the binding on the Embroidery 101 quilt that I'm turning from the back. It looks so cool pinned that I can't wait to see how it stitches out.

Namaste

Daddy Time (stash report week 6)

2012-02-05T07:49:00.000-06:00

...Equals quilting time!!!

Yes, DH was out of town this week and to make it up he took DS to practice his swimming yesterday afternoon. Then they went to lunch and shopped for socks. That left me home alone to quilt and get ready for the next step...binding.

This one is trimmed and first in line for some binding.

And this one is all quilted, finished late Friday night, thanks to some words of wisdom from a blog (again, don't recall which one) that said, "it's easier to quilt wavy lines than straight lines."

As mentioned before, I plan to turn the backing to the front so I spent about 1.5 hours marking the seam line, cutting the batting, then cutting the backing.

Then, I got this one off the back of the chair and put it under the needle - "just keep quilting, just keep quilting."

Even after the boys got home, they left me alone in my sewing corner and I echoed all 12 blocks. Then, I stopped and did a bit of yoga to stretch out. Still have the sashing, cornerstones, and borders to go.

I still didn't buy any fabric this week, however, I did buy a new die and 2 books from Anita over at The Other Side of Me.

The ladies in my quilt guild who do those beautiful applique quilts say that the Piece of Cake Ladies are the best. So, now I have one of their books. Don't expect to see one of these any time soon.

The embroidery book is great - all nature scenes - I am a farm girl, after all.

The die was a great price and I see this spicing up a border sometime in my quilting future.

There was also a hexie die in the box for a quilty friend Charla. When we met at our LQS yesterday, I almost bought a couple FQs but decided to wait and reward myself after I finish my show quilts.

The only piecing I've done is my hexies. It's raining here for second day in a row - uggh, sorry about the pix! The one on the left is black with pink and the other is purple with white dots.

There are usually two machines set up - one for quilting and one for piecing, but the piecing machine is off the table to make way for the quilts while quilting. "Just keep quilting,...."

We have a great public library here with regional branches. However, our branch is teeny and browsing the shelves doesn't usually yield anything new. One has to request titles from the catalog and then pick them up. Imagine my surprise when I found these 3 books on the shelf a few days ago.

Nothing added to the stash this week and I've been to 2 shops. However, later I am going to a Super Bowl sale at the LQS that boasts more batiks than any other shop in the area. I will buy something - I know it - to celebrate my near finishes!!

To the numbers...
Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 2.15
Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 2.50
Net used for 2012: -0.35

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

Just keep quilting, just keep quilting (stash report week 5)

2012-01-29T13:13:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday!

The sun is finally shining here and I think we're off to the park soon. It rained so much this week. Is there anything more depressing than rain in the middle of winter?!

DS and I watched Finding Nemo and that "just keep swimming" tune that Dory sings has been in my head. However, I changed it to "just keep quilting." Our quilt show entry forms were turned in at Tuesday's guild meeting. I am now committed to my three entries - must stay focussed! One is sandwiched and stabilized with SID, one is quilted, and one is in progress - and giving me fits!!

see that big ol' stitch on the left?
there's a needle hole under it

Free motion quilting is not my forte', however, I keep trying. I'm not a big stippler or meander-er. Instead, I use stencils and mark, mark, mark.

I've got some firsts in this quilt that are probably great reasons why it should not be intended for our guild show:
(1) using a sheet as backing = tight weave => fmq skipped stitches
(2) the quilting design is placed over 2 blocks elements which means quilting over seams, endlessly => also a possible explanation for fmq skipped stitches
(3) thinking quite seriously about doing my grandma's method of turning the backing to the front for binding

after the unquilting

Numbers 1 and 2 are driving me crazy! We'll see about #3. I have had more stops and starts with skipped stitches and breaking thread. I've re-threaded, re-bobbin'ed (is that word?), changed needles from a universal 90 to a top stitch 90 to a quilting 90, played with the tension over and over. That's why I now blame the seams and the sheet, thanks to a google search and some quilting forums!

Last night I spent about 2.5 hours unquilting one block. First, I did not like the purple thread on the yellow fabric and will try the gold variegated thread already used in several blocks. Secondly, the tension was tight on top when I switched to the purple thread. Finally, the King Tut seemed to show every uneven curve - almost as bad as quilting with Isacord. Thicker thread is much more forgiving.

Luckily, I have one block that has not been quilted and since I am trying to stay out of the shops, which do not have a great selection of quilting thread anyhow, I will try out some green 28 wt Aurifil that I won last month that happens to match. (an aside: there are tons of LA's on our area, maybe that's why the shops don't carry lots of thread)

Since "just keep quilting" is my motto, there isn't much to show atm. Last night I got one neutral hexie done. Beside it is a FQ that I won at our guild meeting in our UFO Challenge drawing.

Hhmm....there seems to be a purple theme this week, doesn't there?

To the numbers...
Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 2.15
Added this week: 0.25
Added year to date: 2.50
Net used for 2012: -0.35

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

Have a great week!!

More organizing (and Stash Report week 4)

2012-01-22T10:08:00.000-06:00

Top o' the morning!

We aren't Irish, but isn't it a catchy, fun greeting? How was your week? Did you get a long weekend? We started our MLK Day at the pediatric dentist, went to the gym, tried a hamburger joint, and made about three shopping stops. My son called it our "family day."

I was under the weather most of this week, thanks to enjoying our unseasonable 70 degree weather on MLK Day. And I am feeling better, much better, and have the urge to get some things done.

Let's work backwards through my week. After going to Chuck E Cheese yesterday afternoon to use up about 80 tokens left over from DS's birthday party, I got to hang out in my sewing space while DS did some Daddy time watching the Power Rangers and trying out some moves. (Ugh - of all the stuff my son watches, along with almost everything on the Cartoon Network, this is one of the silliest shows I've ever seen.)

this is what's in it this morning

In my organizing mode of action, I came across this Large Flat Rate Box of fabric - again. I won it at a blog that is no longer active, which is too bad b/c it was a fun one from another farm girl. This box arrived at least a year ago and I had every intention to take a few things out and send it along to someone else. Some of the fabric was a little thin - and I knew that when I entered to win it. Over the past year, I've used it here and there.

In my niece's doll quilts.

The flannel above and then all the fabric in this small one.

There were some nice Civil War fabric pieces that went into my guild's BOM blocks throughout the year.

Friday evening and yesterday I pressed pieces and discovered for the first time that there were lots of FQs. I love FQs for small projects and for use in FQ quilts. However they were not really in my style so I cut them into strips. This is what lots of scrap quilters advise doing, especially with fabrics that you do not like -- "if it's still ugly, you haven't cut it small enough yet." (think I heard at that a LQS once upon a time)

These fabrics weren't ugly but they work together nicely. There are at least 15 blue FQs and a few green and neutral ones. The red pieces were all about 6-7 inches wide.

There are lots of widths you might cut the strips and squares and I think this is what has delayed me from cutting in the past - indecision. Since most of these, and my scraps, are smaller pieces, I decided to stick with 2.5", 2", and 1.5". I had very little waste from my week of cutting. If nothing else, I can make 9 patches and 4 patches til my heart's content. I'm thinking a postage stamp quilt variation would be a cool, and easily organized, scrap project.

Not feeling like sitting at the sewing machine with a headache, I was content to work on the hexies. Some of this came from cutting the scraps b/c there were strips that lent themselves to cutting for hexies.

As we start the next 6 month round of the Inchy Hexagon Swap, I wondered what I was going to do with the 1" hexies. This week I saw a photo on a blog, the fact that I cannot recall which one tells us that I read too many blogs, that caught my eye. It was simple - alternate flowers with neutral petals between the fun, scrappy flowers. Now I need more neutrals!

Then, of course, I had to do another polka dot 3/4" hexie.

Back to organizing, I sat in my chair and watched Netflix while DS was at preschool with a brush in my hand.

Yes, I went to Joann's last Sunday afternoon and got 2 more yards of polka fabric (and 8 yds of tying tape for drawstring bags) for covering those beer boxes.

And I wanted to get them finished! Now all those projects that were cluttering up my armoir in various bags are contained in these cute little boxes.

Oh - almost forgot...Dee Dee at Dee Dee Quilts showed these cute little panels on her blog and offered to send them to anyone who wanted them. I asked for one. It measures about 22"x23".

Why give them away? You can see the ABC's but what you cannot see is that the picture labels are in Italian!

One more thing....I bought another stackable organizer at Joann's for my perle cotton. Isn't it cute?

Okay - two more things...must share this link with you about cleaning your sewing machine. Don't use canned air!!! My mom uses this vacuum attachment.

To the numbers...
Used this week: 1.00
Used year to date: 2.15
Added this week: 2.25
Added year to date: 2.25
Net used for 2012: -0.10

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

Have a great week!!

Stash report week 3

2012-01-15T09:08:00.002-06:00

It is the 3rd week of 2012 and I still have no fabric purchase to report!!!

Usually I wait til the end of the post to say this, but I'm rather excited about it!
(As DH jokingly says to me, "it's the little things.")

However, this will be short-lived. In yesterday's organizing post I mentioned that I need some black polka dot fabric to cover 4 more beer boxes. My mom asked, "Don't you have anything you can use out of all the estate sale fabric?" To which I replied, "But it's ugly. I want my boxes to match." This conversation is typical of the ones we had while I was growing up!

Sew, today I will be at Joann's getting some Keepsake Calico black polka dot at 40% off. As I recall, 1 yard did three small boxes and one large one. Maybe I should get 2 yards at these prices.

I've been to Joann's once this week, in keeping with my organization theme. I've decided that if I'm not buying fabric I should spruce up my little sewing corner with some useful organizational buys.

Here's the first one. Quilty friend Karen has one of these stackable tray sets and it has a small foot print for something that can hold so much. The latch on my old Kaboodle from the 1980's broke at a retreat - uh, hmm - that's been 2 years ago almost to the day. I've been looking at tool boxes and tackle boxes and nothing really screamed "take me home, I'll carry your notions for you."

There are smaller square stackables that might work well for my growing perle cotton/embroidery hobby. I have bags that are great for current projects but it is so nice to have everything in one place, and visible.

The morning sun really highlights the quiltitng.

I have been doing a bit of quilting. I had forgotten all about this DS9 table topper. It is all stabilized with SID between the blocks and I had even drawn the pattern onto the blocks. I truly do not remember why I stuck it on the closet shelf.

I have no plans to put this in the guild quilt show, we'll see how it turns out - need to add some filler and do the sashing. It really is my "warm up to FMQ" quilt, before I tackle the quilts that I really want to put in the show. My stitches are awfully uneven to hang up and let people see up close.

I have a finish! Forgot all about this little wall hanging from the Sew Lux Fabrics QAL last spring. It only finishes 16x21, used 24 charms, and it was quilted ages ago, just never got around to doing the binding. I did something I haven't done in ages - used continuous binding, a single layer. It was much faster on this little guy and not nearly so bulky.

Here's a block I did last week. It's from a BOM program that my LQS ran before I knew it existed. At the summer clearance/garage sale a few years ago, there was a whole plastic tub of 1930s block kits for $.25 each. I rummaged around and found about 10 blocks and then picked up 2 duplicates for a total of 12 blocks for $3.

This is one of those projects that's always on my "to do" list and never gets done. This year I just might get the blocks put together if I treat it like a BOM. And this block has a duplicate - even easier!

To the numbers...

Used this week: 0.65
Used year to date: 1.15
Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 0
Net used for 2012: 1.15

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

Have a great week!!

A wee bit of organizing

2012-01-14T11:33:00.000-06:00

Winter hit us Thursday but that didn't keep this on-a-budget-housewife from going to the grocery store for $10 off a $50 purchase - oh no!

Driving on the snow is an adventure, especially if one can stay off the interstates with their four lanes of traffic - uggh. I take the the long way around so I might be one of only 2-3 cars on the road - then, it's fun. Actually, the hardest thing about Thursday was the cold blowing wind - bbrrr.

Friday it was still cold and DS was home all day. We just stayed in. It was one of those rare days where he was content to watch TV and glue felt and other little items onto paper while I looked at my sewing corner.

Remember these boxes?

I don't have any shelves so I knew I had to make some room for them. I wanted to put some of my "ready-to-cut"projects in them. You know, the ones where the fabric is all together with the pattern and you're waiting until you have the time to cut into it?

Yesterday revealed that there are more of these in my little sewing corner than I remembered. I used an old hard plastic sewing machine cover to turn the large shelf in the armoir (background of the photo above) into two shelves covered with plastic bags of projects. Sorry, didn't think to get a before photo.

So I started taking stuff off the shelf and opening bags.

Here's some fabric and my written directions for a Bridle Path quilt. It's a quilt block in my perpetual quilt calendar made up of 8 small 9 patches and HSTs that make a star pattern. I'll have to get some pix for tomorrow.

Then, here's more fabric...

...and more fabric.

Luckily I leave myself notes and, after reading them and the receipts, realized that the top photo is borders and binding, the second is assorted fabric for the blocks, and the last photo is scraps that I picked up from the LQS sale scrap bags that might also work in the blocks. This quilt has lots of options. There's a lot of fabric there!

It didn't all fit into the large box, either, but I left myself note as to where I put the rest!

The boxes needed labels and the only fast thing I had were some business cards, a hole punch, and some red yarn. Since the beer boxes have handles there's a bit of cardboard that turns up inside the box to protect your hands - perfect for looping the yarn around!

Here they are in place. This is after I tried a few other options and before I put the other project bags on top of them again. Oh - I should point out that one small box holds my mod podge supplies. Appropriate, huh?

I'll be hitting Joann's tomorrow to get some more cheap fabric for the 4 beer boxes that I have saved, waiting to be upcycled. I have requested of DH that he buy a couple more large boxes, too. He said, "No problem!"

Check out some more WHOOP WHOOP! fun stuff at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Winter in the midwest (stash report week 2)

2012-01-08T08:50:00.001-06:00

This can't be winter. Mother Nature is all confused! We were out in T-shirts at the park in 70 degree weather just a few days ago.

You will all think I am crazy, but I like to feel the cold air on my face when I walk the dog - it's invigorating! Shores up the constitution and all that. LOL - I've been watching some British murder mysteries on Netflix, can you tell?

Guess what! I got to the machine two days this week - Sunday afternoon and Friday night. Here's what I did last Sunday as DS pulled out his new toys.

There's another little bag but it must be in his room and I'm not willing to risk waking a sleeping child at this time of the morning!

All the fabric is from my stash. I just couldn't bring myself to use too much of that estate sale fabric for his bags - just too ugly. However, he liked the green. The rest came out of the stash box. They are all slightly different sizes so I'll guess that the larger ones each averaged about a fat eighth while the two smaller ones together make up another fat eighth.

This is the reason I haven't gone through and cut up all my scraps Bonnie Hunter style. I like to make little bags, pouches, etc. "One of these days" I will cut up the ugly stuff first and leave the novelties as they are for a while longer.

That same day, I did .... -mending-. Uggh - that dreaded word. "Well, you sew, can't you fix my jeans?" Aye, aye, aye! "I don't sew, I quilt!"

Then I fix them b/c it's so much cheaper than taking them to someone else to alter. I think I'm getting it down after about 5 years. It's really not so hard. It's just time at the machine that's not spent making something, something that's not on my long of projects that are in some state of "unfinishedness."

The most annoying part was running out of of the gold jeans thread after the first pair. That means there's another pair waiting for me!

However, my mom does sew, not quilt. For Christmas she made me this jacket using silk that my in-laws gave me last year. My FIL brought it home to his mother after he'd been on Okinawa when he was in the Marines circa 1959.

Here's a close up. The details range from reds to pinks. The fabric had been sitting in someone's cedar chest for all those years. Nice to see it being used. Now, where will hubby take me so I can wear it?!

Have you made out your UFO list? I have a notebook where I jot down lists of projects "to quilt," "tops to finish," "blocks to finish for tops," and then all those projects that are sitting with fabric and pattern together waiting "to be cut." I won't bore you with my list except to say that I have 7 projects to quilt and bind and about 10 to cut.

Friday night I got a great start on one of them:

I wanted to echo the circle of the Dresden pattern and found that large circles are quite easy with the walking foot and one of its guides. One more lesson learned - woo hoo!

During the Christmas madness in our house, we had one day "off" and I put 3 of these hexies together after a long session at the gym.

Sometime since the New Year, two more joined them. I need to cut and baste more petals. I also need to get hexies made and mailed for my January swap partner.

Here are the ones I did in December for the Inchy Hexagon Swap.

I assume they made their way to England around the holidays.

A great effort has been made on my part to stay out of quilt shops right now. I have unsubscribed to many shop e-newsletters and deleted others without looking. If I need to buy fabric fabric it will probably be neutrals or others needed to specifically finish a project. My mantra is, "do you need that fabric to finish a project, do you need that fabric to finish a project, ..."

Used this week: 0.5
Used year to date: 0
Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 0
Net used for 2012: 0.5

Voila'! I'm on the plus side!! (it's the little things, isn't it?)

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

Have a great week!!

Finish-a-long!!

2012-01-02T17:47:00.002-06:00

What a great idea! Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap is hosting a Finish-A-Long. Each quarter we post UFO's we plan to finish and link up. At the end of the quarter, we show what we finished.

Here are the 3 projects I hope to get quilted and bound for my guild's quilt show in March:

1. Dresden plate wall hanging from the Lily's Quilts QAL.

2. The Embroidery 101 lap quilt from the Clover & Violet QAL.

3. "Aunt Caroline's Rose Garden" made from my great aunt's embroidery blocks.

Check out other UFO's on this post. Better yet, join in - there's still time!

Have a great day!

A new year, a clean stash report (week 1)

2012-01-01T09:46:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to you all!

Doing the weekly stash reports has been quite an eye opener for me. Who knew FQs could add up so quickly?! It has been very helpful to count just how much fabric comes in and goes out of my stash.

In 2011, I won several giveaways in blogland that included fabric, approximately 16.25 yards. They were lovely wins including a layer cake, lots of FQs, and even some half yard cuts.

And quilty friend Joyce donated some polka dots to my recently found hexie habit! Even by cutting larger pieces into smaller pieces, I still came home with about 9 yards of lovely fabric.

Then, Joyce generously brought another bag of lovelies to our retreat and I came home with another 3 to 4 yards, including a jelly roll!

Then my mom gave me about 49 yards of fabric that she bought at an estate sale. I started off really well just taking a few pieces or cuttings but ended up taking almost all of it last week!

While I didn't have separate categories for the "in" source - at least I can say that I didn't buy all of the almost 170 yards that came into my house in 2011! That's about 67 yards that I did not purchase. That makes me feel better - lol - but I did purchase about 100 yards! WOW! I would never have dreamed that I could purchase 100 yards of fabric in one year. I mean, I'm not a prolific quilter and I rarely spend more than $25 at the LQS but I did a bit of online buying of Civil War fabrics, which were new to me. (Guess I should start DH's CW quilt, huh? Now that I have the fabric.)

So for 2012, I plan to buy less than 100 yards of fabric! Counting the yards as it comes and goes really changes one's perspective!

That said, here's my purchase this week - 10 FQs. However, since it was purchased in 2011, I'm not counting it in this report, it's part of the 170 yards.

Counting the yards also helps me to look at what I have and try to fill deficiencies when I shop, so that when I start a project I do not have to go buy more fabric. It is much easier to select fabrics at home on my work table than it is to do so it in the shops. Fewer opinions and time to let the selections "stew" together and see the colors in different lights. I love playing with the colors and scales. It's amazing how I can put together a bundle of fabrics one morning and change them around the next morning and then again in the evening.

Without further ado, here is my first stash report of 2012:

Used this week: 0
Used year to date: 0
Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 0
Net used for 2012: 0

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

Have a wonderful New Year!!

A day to myself...

2011-12-29T20:25:00.001-06:00

..no chores, no cooking. Well, no chores after I did about an hour's worth this morning. DH gave me a free afternoon!

He picked DS up from preschool and took him to see "Puss in Boots" at the cheap theatre and then to ToysRUs to spend more of his Christmas money. Then, we had pizza for dinner.

Sew, after picking up one of my machines that went in for a cleaning (and, boy!, does that bobbin case look clean now), and buying this cute mug on clearance at Joann's, I got to sew.

Here's my two Civil War blocks for the January meeting, "Blockade."

I'm about done with HST's for a while!

And here's last month's Civil War block - all fixed!

Here's "Aunt Caroline's Garden." I squared up the blocks, cut the sashing and cornerstones, and put it all together today.

I used the Baby to cut the 2.5" sashing strips and binding - what a time saver.

The best part is that it was so enjoyable with no interruptions, no schedule to keep, just sewing along at my own pace, which is kinda slow. It was like my own little retreat - and I enjoyed it!

This is project number 3 for the guild's show in March. So, this may be my last piecing project for a few months. I've got to get quilting!

Namaste

Holiday wrap up (last 2011 stash report)

2011-12-28T13:06:00.001-06:00

I must apologize for being MIA. The week of Christmas took it out of me: cleaning the house, DS's birthday party, arrival of in-laws, arrival of SIL's family, arrival of my mom....all while poor ol' DH was under the weather in bed for 2 days and then sluggish, well, he's still that way. Ugghh!

After my in-laws left on Monday morning, I had hoped to get some time to decompress. And I did to a degree. However, DH spent Monday in bed so I took DS to Target.

DS had been fascinated by the nutcrackers so he bought one himself with some of the birthday and Christmas money while they were on sale. There were only a few left, luckily one of them was green, his favorite color.

I told you how I had to rearrange the house for the holidays. Well, now that they are over, it has to be put back - another uggh! Of course, I started with my sewing area. I figure DH can take care of the rest - after I remind him of it a few times, of course.

From this:

I got two more GO! dies as gifts - a 3.5" square and 4.5" hst. We had a little cutting demo on Sunday.

Everything is crammed under the window and stacked on top of my cabinet, which is behind the table.

To this, so far:

The design wall is back up and I've decided to do a quick quilt with my Aunt Caroline's embroidery blocks for our guild's quilt show in March. The blocks aren't completely spot free. A soak in OxiClean helped tremendously but there are still a few brown spots here and there. Any advice on getting rid of the last brown spots?

So, I bought 2 yards of brown floral, which I'm sure is too much, for sashing and binding and 1/4 yd of green for cornerstones.

Can't let those LQS coupons go to waste!

There's my Dresden plate, too. Need to quilt that for the show as well.

I realized last week that I do not have a holiday table runner for my little credenza behind the sofa. So, the snow man panel would work nicely for a quickie table runner.

I even cut some fabric for my last Civil War BOM blocks for the guild. I just might get a machine out and sew those together this afternoon.

Here's the biggy --- my mom brought more of that fabric with her, that she bought at an estate sale. I just took most of it and may use a few pieces to make some drawstring bags for DS's new marbles, a geometric building set, and his dice.

In toto, there are about 29.5 yards! At least I didn't buy it, right? I intend to cut up what won't work for backings or bags and then give it away.

Once I looked at it all I've found that one large piece is 65% poly and has some flaws. Two of the prints are actually home dec weight and width - good bag candidates. Two more of the florals are sheets. There's almost 8 yards of the brown floral on the right, which would be perfect for a queen size back.

Remember what I said about the LQS coupons? I think part of my decompression activities will be to go get 10 FQs for $15 this week. What's 3 more yards, right?! Stash reports start with a clean slate on Sunday.

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 70.72

Added this Week: 31.75
Added Year to Date: 167.945

Net Used for 2011: -97.225

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

It's quiet....

2011-12-22T08:27:00.000-06:00

We are in between guests atm so here I am on the computer, feet propped up and the news on. DS is still asleep and may be for a few more hours. He had a ball with his cousins the past two days.

It's been a tough 2 days b/c DH got sick. All plans really hinge on the two of us playing host. He was sidelined by an ear infection with pain so bad that we had to go to the urgent care center Tuesday morning. He then spent the whole day in bed. The crockpot was full but gifts had to be wrapped, a few groceries picked up, bread baked... I think I brushed my teeth around noon!

He was still in bed all day yesterday while we were all out being tourists at the St. Louis Science Center and going up in the Arch. Now he's up and seems to be better this morning now that SIL and her family, including Kiko the dog, are on the road home.

I'm pooped and have shoulder pain that I am sure is totally stress-related. I don't even have any photos to show you - didn't even think of grabbing the camera - no time. My plans today include a yoga class this evening and maybe even some time in the hot tub at the gym!

How are your holiday plans going?

Almost done cleaning (stash report week 51)

2011-12-18T08:22:00.002-06:00

Howdy!

Well, my house is almost all clean, cleaner than it has been in a long time. I've been climbing on the step ladder so much to reach and clean shelves and put up decorations that my knees hurt. DH took pity and cleaned the frig last night - I mean took everything out and washed it down while I went to the gym to regain my balance! I think I will keep him!!!

Here's our first house guest, Kiko (in the foreground). He's a labradoodle - we think with more "doodle" than "labra." DH's sister and her family dropped him by on their way to Indiana. They will be back here in a few days.

As you can see he and Ruby are about the same height. They run and chase and play and Ruby reminds him that DS is her boy. However, Kiko has a problem that I've never encountered in a dog - he's underweight!

We've gotten him to eat while he's here but we either have to feed him from our hand or drop his food on the floor. We think it's his food bowl - so small it looks like a cat's dish. We're going to try letting him use Ruby's bowl or a maybe a plate.

Yesterday we had DS's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. The kids had Fun and I got to sit at the table and watch jackets and things - just to sit in one place for more than 5 minutes - it was so nice.

This week I had a fun package arrive. Vanessa from Whirling Butterfly was my partner in the Holiday Fabric Swap at Leona's Quilting Adventure. It was meant to be a little swap - 3 fat eighths of holiday fabric and some tea and/or chocolate.

Isn't that fabric pretty? In my big bag of scraps and 1/2 drawer of yardage, I don't have any like it. See that chocolate bar? Well, I opened the package after I had been running errands and wanted a cup of coffee. So, I had chocolate with my coffee! I love milk chocolate made in other counties, the formula is slightly different than it is here.

And Leona sent a Christmas card with a couple of eye spy squares in it. Thank you, Leona!

DS loved this fabric!

I have been too pooped to do anything in the evenings but Monday or Tuesday I still had energy to do one little hexie. Maybe next week I can make another - we'll see.

We still have all of our gifts to wrap and we both agreed that we were too tired to do it last night.

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 70.72

Added this Week: 0.125

Added Year to Date: 136.195

Net Used for 2011: -65.475

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Have a great week!!

A busy week...(stash report week 50)

2011-12-11T07:43:00.001-06:00

Cleaning has been the word in our house. For the first time in two years we are having all of our family, on two different days, in next week for Christmas. Since we don't live near any of our family - the closest are 4 hours away, everyone stays overnight. We go from no guests to 24 hour guests for 7 days - quite an adjustment!

I knew I needed to clean the kitchen and since I was busy this spring with a consulting job, spring cleaning did not happen. When I looked around the room I noticed how dusty everything was that was on top of the cabinets. In our little house, with no dining room, that is the only place I have to display anything (doesn't seem so little now that I'm in cleaning mode). So yesterday I climbed on top of the countertop and cleaned everything. Rearranged a few of the top cabinets while I was up there. Boy! did my legs and knees ache last night.

Oh yeah - and there are now 2 pans of lasagna in the freezer. Loving my freezer!! Gonna put a couple quiche in there today.

I posted about my guild's Christmas party on Tuesday. Once again, here are the blocks in the groups as I arranged them for our lottery drawing.

I failed to take my camera to the meeting. They looked much prettier hanging in the meeting room pinned onto the big pieces of background fabric that went with each group.

...and the final group.

Here is one of the finished Green Bag Lady bags that I made for our winners to carry their loot in. I counted this fabric "out" last week.

Here are my Civil War blocks for our BOM program.

While eating my dessert, I noticed that my block didn't look like the other four hanging on the board. See it, top right?

Our BOM coordinator didn't notice either. Oops! - so I decided I would have to get it back from whoever own the block and fix it for her.

Well, I won the blocks!

Then, I won the Civil War FQ!

Then our president handed those of us on committees a little gift - scissors. Aren't they cute?

Let me explain, we have two BOM drawings. One for people who make a block from fabric of their choice which they will keep. The other for members who made a block out of CW fabric and wish to put in the "pot" to win more blocks. I've been entering both this year.

After all the drawings, we played a sewing trivia game. Do you know who invented the sewing machine? Well, luckily we had one of the guild's founders at our table who was also a whiz at trivia.

We answered 20 out of 24 questions correctly and each won a FQ. Each table was decorated with rolls of 12" fabric squares that we could take home, too. Surprised that I selected the batiks?

Today I pack up my Viking that I use for quilting so that it can go in for an overdue cleaning. What are your plans for today?

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 70.72

Added this Week: 0.5

Added Year to Date: 136.07

Net Used for 2011: -65.35

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Have a great week!!

A busy little elf.

2011-12-06T12:40:00.001-06:00

Howdy!

It has been a busy, busy, busy morning in my basement sewing corner. Our guild's Christmas party is tonight - and I still need to get my appetizer in the crock pot (love my crockpot, check out A Year of Slow Cooking).

I had to get the holidays blocks grouped together for the big drawing tonight. We had about 24 members turn in one or more blocks for a total of 29. I put them into 3 groups and each winner will get an equal share of the remaining background fabric, 2.3 yards each.

Here's 9 blocks that work on-point.

Sorry for the picture quality. It's cloudy so my basement windows are no help today. Although, we did get some teensy snowflakes - hurray!

Here's the first group of 10.

Here's the second group of 10.

Remember all that fabric my mom bought at an estate sale? Well, I finished making 4 Green Bag Lady shopping bags today. I thought these 3 could go to our winners tonight so they would have something to carry their spoils in.

Just in case they would like to make some of their own.

It's only been 2 weeks since our last guild meeting so tonight kind of snuck up on me. Last night I put together my Civil War BOM blocks. This is one is called Yankee Puzzle.

*edit*
I almost forgot to share my latest win. These variety packs came from an Aurifil Facebook giveaway. I guessed that one of their 20 boxes was empty and they sent these as a "consolation" prize. Some consolation, huh?!

Tomorrow I must focus on cleaning the house and taking my machines in for a good cleaning!

Namaste

A Christmas Finish (stash report week 49)

2011-12-04T17:23:00.001-06:00

WooHoo - a finish! And it only took about 3 years!

This is the panel that I showed you a few days ago. All that fretting about free motion quilting! It measures about 36x55 so there's about 3.3 yards all together. I had hoped to hang it on DS's bedroom door but it's too wide. Hopefully I can find a spot upstairs since we put our real Christmas tree downstairs. Check more great home decor ideas at the Sew Darn Crafty party at Sew Many Ways.

Here's "Nells' New World" also all finished. It was completed a couple weeks ago .

Here are some in-progress Green Bag Lady shopping bags. I have now used all the green and gold print and some of the green solid that I brought from my mom's house.

That adds up to about 2 yards. Only a few more days 'til I pack up my sewing space so I've been trying to get a few things out of the way.

What is about the holidays that makes me want to watch these cheesy Christmas movies on Lifetime and Hallmark? Yes, that's what I'm doing right now. I should probably be stitching up my Civil War blocks for our guild meeting Tuesday night but you can't sew all the time!

Used this Week: 5.3

Used year to Date: 70.72

Added this Week: 0

Added Year to Date: 135.57

Net Used for 2011: -64.85

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Have a great week!!

Fitting it in....

2011-12-02T10:28:00.001-06:00

Since my sewing corner has to be packed away soon, 'til after Christmas, I have been trying to finish up a few things. I decided after last year that I would not be sewing Christmas presents this year. Turns out that we are hosting the DH's family this year a few days before Christmas, dog sitting, and then will be hosting the big day meal with both sets of parents.

Sewing deadlines are not looming, however, I have to get the house in order, etc. All that stuff stresses me out. Well, this afternoon DS gets his birthday pictures taken and we usually do a couple family shots, too. After running around yesterday getting everything in order and hemming DS's black pants, he and I are taking it easy. DS is watching Curious George on Netflix and I cut out some stuff for one last sewing stint this Sunday.

Here's a panel that I bought years ago from Hancock's. It's a door hanging. Then I realized that I didn't know how to free motion quilt and I knew it wouldn't look as good if I just straight lined it. Sew, it sat on the shelf - for another year, maybe two. I know it was basted last year and I just didn't get to it with all the other projects and holiday traveling. I need to put some loops on with the binding for hanging - better go cut those before I forget!

The secret to getting started on FMQ project seems to be if I tell myself, "it's OK, it doesn't have to be perfect, just get going, it will look fine."

This one was lots of fun to quilt trying to make things stand out a little bit more. My stitches aren't noticeable since the print is the focus and it isn't a quilt so it won't fall apart. I'll put up a better picture when it's done. Why didn't I do this earlier?!

This morning I got the binding cut and ready.

Also on the table are the pieces for 4 Green Bag Lady shopping bags that I cut from some of that fabric I brought home from my mom.

On the right are strips cut from 5 FQs for the Clover & Violet Tote. I am so behind! I decided that rather than cutting 4" squares from the strips, I will leave mine as strips. Fewer pieces, fewer seams, faster project!

For the body of the bag I need a 20x44 pieced top. Yes, I am going to use pre-made binding for the ties and the binding. It matches. And, it is a market tote bag, about the size of a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods paper shopping bag.

It's like I read on another blog a few weeks ago, "who told us we have to make our binding?" My grandma didn't make binding, she usually folded her backing over. Or, she used this premade stuff. Now, don't get me wrong, I usually do make my binding, like for the door hanging, but I could just as easily have purchased some premade in red. It's just the point, we don't have to make it for every project. The quilt police will not come knocking.

Well, I'm off to cut those hanging strips! Check out some more great Whoop Whoop! projects at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Namaste

Tried something new...

2011-12-01T18:42:00.001-06:00

I finally tried a bit of the wool batting that I have had lying around the house since purchasing it at last year's Black Friday sale at Joanns. Well, actually I used one of the 18" square samples that I bought in Paducah at the Hobbs booth.

This pretty pillow top measured 16.5" before quilting. The blocks were made by quilty friend Joyce - aren't they pretty? They are leftovers from a pattern that used charm squares and turnovers.

I love the feel of the wool - talk about light! What a nice difference from the weight of 100% cotton Warm & Natural. I have 4 yards waiting to go into our first bed size quilt which will be backed in flannel, another reason to love the weight difference.

This is the first time I used the waffle muslin from Joanns. I have always wanted to try it and I'm glad I did on a small project. It won't be going on the back of my quilts.

The pillow is also the first time I've done free motion meandering without a template. Yes, there are templates and I am quite attached to my templates. The pretty little rose is from a template that should be in every beginning free motion quilter's library.

I've spent my day selling old toddler toys at the children's resale shop and then buying a shirt and sweater vest for DS's birthday pictures tomorrow. I paid 57 cents! Then off to Target for a pair of black dress shoes (there were none at the resale shop). As soon as I take a break, then it's off to the sewing machine to hem DS's black pants. Really, I'm not usually so unprepared!

I am linking up with Happy Quilting for TNT Thursday. Check out the cute bag tutorial while you're there.

Namaste

Thanksgiving shopping (stash report week 48)

2011-11-27T07:57:00.001-06:00

How-Dee!
(channeling Minnie Pearl, Tonya over at Hillbilly Handiworks has me remembering my childhood by watching HeeHaw reruns on Sunday evenings - lol)

Hope ya'll had a Happy Thanksgiving. We had a nice, uneventful road trip and DS had fun playing games with "Papa and the two grammies," as he calls my mom, grandma and step dad. Even Ruby had a good time running at top speed around Grandma's house - it's a big yard.

It was nice to get home and sleep in our own beds. And DH and I both went to the gym yesterday. That is after I went to Joanns and picked up a few things.

Sorry for the pix quality - very cloudy here today.

I am making a pillow from the blocks that quilty friend Joyce gave me - may even bind it to give it that extra pizzazz! So I got a pillow form and 1 yard of waffle weave muslin, which I've not worked with before, for the back.

Then, I got the two rulers that Bonnie Hunter swears by for working with strips - the Easy Angle and the Companion Angle.

There's also 10 yds of fusbile interfacing and a bit of wonder under. All at 50% off, thanks to the flyer and my iPod app, plus 25% off the eligible total.

I didn't feel the need to brave any stores on Friday. Especially after my mom shared some of her buys with me Thursday. At an estate sale she picked up 2 bundles of fabric with mostly huge cuts. None of them are quilt shop quality and one was really bad, but most of them are okay - they're from the box stores - even some old sheets like that blue floral on the right.

The pink floral I thought would make two nice panels for charity kids quilts. I'm sorry that you see the colors well. The polka dot is navy. and the solid on the left is dark green. The burgundy in the middle is a good backing candidate while the light will probably be cut p into strips for scrap quilts.

With everything I've brought into my house this year, there just isn't much that I needed. Some of the pieces had been cut lengthwise so there's was this great long piece about 18" wide by 10 feet! I really don't know what my mom will do with it. She mentioned that there's a group in the county that makes quilts for the homeless so she may take it there.

These are some pieces I took for bags. The red, white, and blue is ugly but it's already cut to about shopping bag size. All I have to do is stitch up the sides and cut a couple strips for the handles - voila!

The green and gold isn't all cotton. It was the longest piece of the day! Maybe it was used to make drapes. I thought it would also make nice Green Bag Lady shopping bags.

The brown floral was practically an entire bolt. I took about 1 yard.

Not to be outdone, my grandma gave me some blocks that her sister had embroidered. Aunt Caroline passed away over 15 years ago and these were with my Aunt Mary for some years. Then Aunt Mary gave them to Grandma.

Anyway, they were quite brown and bit musty so I soaked them on OxiClean. That brightened them up but there are still some spots.

I may some simple sashing and cornerstones so they can finally be finished.

Oh - and my mom is always picking up quilting books. Doesn't matter what they are as long as they aren't torn, musty, or falling apart. They are still fun to look at.

Yesterday was a busy day! The crockpot is working overtime this weekend and will be for the next 2 weeks while I clean and maybe sew before I have to dismantle my sewing corner to make way for the Christmas tree and guests. I made some cranberry relish and put it in the freezer. Also made some bread dough that will eventually go to the freezer. I really do like my freezer!! Love planning ahead and being able to take some action rather than just think about it, you know what I mean?

Oh - here are some things I worked on while we were away.

First, I finally started embroidering the pocket for the Clover & Violet tote sew along. Got a lot done while DS watched "Horton Hears a Who" Thursday night.

Then I did hexies, of course, while in the car.

However, I had only two white centers. Sew, I did lots of basting.

The larger one uses pieces leftover from making flowers for the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap a couple months ago.

Well, the numbers took a big hit and on some of these pieces I am guess-timating, on the low side, of course. LOL!!!

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 65.42

Added this Week: 20

Added Year to Date: 135.57

Net Used for 2011: -70.15

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Have a great week!!

Best wishes for a safe holiday

2011-11-23T07:21:00.001-06:00

Sending good thoughts out to you all for a Happy Thanksgiving!

We are celebrating at my grandma's this year and I thought I would take along a few books I picked up at last night's guild meeting. The price was right - they were on the "Free" table!

The Jinny Beyer book is from 1979 but she deconstructs the blocks so you can make your own patterns. I love that - I love understanding how my quilts go together.

Look what I found in the scrap book - a possibility for my hexie flowers. While I love doing the flowers, I have never kidded myself about making a traditional grandmother's flower garden - too many white pieces for me! Plus, it's always nice to be a little bit different.

This book is from 1985 but it actually a book with text - a product of the author's research - a bit of history. I may leave this one with Grandma 'til Christmas so she can read it.

How many of you are braving the crowds to hit Joanns doorbuster sales? There's nothing on their list that cannot wait til later in the day for me.

Have a great holiday!!

Nell's New World and my space (stash report week 47)

2011-11-20T08:52:00.001-06:00

Here's what I've done this week:


approx 12x15 inches

It's called Nell's New World and it is based on the first book we read (Lover's Knot by Clare O'Donahue) at the Quilters, Books, and Bindings blog. You can read more details here.

It isn't finished. Still needs quilting and some embellishing but with our holiday schedule, well, things may not get done 'til New Year's. To keep my sanity this holiday season, I will be making more trips to the gym rather than sitting on my duff at the sewing machine trying to meet deadlines that I've made up in my head.

Why Blogger? It is saved in the correct orientation!!

Speaking of the holidays, we are expecting my husband's family. Our closest relatives are two states away. They will all be here together for 2 nights about 3 days before Christmas - 5 adults and 2 kiddos under 8 - in our 3 bedroom ranch. We go from having no visitors to being filled to the rafters!

To make it easier, well to make life easier, we got a chest freezer this week. I mentioned cleaning the basement in anticipation of it s deliver last week. It has arrived! It holds a turkey and a ham and soon will have a couple trays of lasagna that I can pull out when we are filled with guests.

That is all I have accomplished this week. Yesterday was DH's birthday so I made him a chocolate cake from scratch. I once thought "from scratch" meant it was difficult. I have everything here to make a cake from scratch. When was the last time you read the ingredients on a cake mix box? I couldn't find one without partially hydrogenated oil, i.e. trans fat, in it. Unless of course, it was organic and cost from $4 to $7 - then we're back to using what's already in the pantry.

We went out Friday night to a steak dinner and a comedy club with friends. So, after our fun and paying the babysitter, a cake from scratch made sense - LOL!!

Here's why I won't be getting anything done as the holidays approach, in addition to just being busy cleaning and planning DS's birthday party and fretting (yes, a visit from my MIL does that to me - can we say "Marie Baronne?"). My sewing space is a corner of our basement family room. I have two machines set up, the 2nd one is under the dresden plate that I had to move from the design wall.

To make room for the Christmas tree, which we put down here so we can set up my 6 foot table upstairs for family meals, I have to condense all this stuff. The old computer armoire that makes a great storage cabinet must be closed, the ironing board comes down and gets tucked away, the machine in the cabinet gets closed and pushed under the window, and the table gets pushed in front of it. The machine on the table will be stored in the armoire in the space where the CPU sat, bottom right. Oh and the design wall will be taken down.

This is the view from the design wall. The tree goes where the train table is - who knows where that will go. Maybe the loveseat will be put in front of my smushed sewing table so the train table can be pushed toward the patio door.

There's my 6 foot table all folded up behind the loveseat. Even when I have it up, it's in the way!

When I started sewing down here the space was just right. Now that I've become addicted, well, it's a little cramped. It doesn't help that when the machine cabinet is open, I cannot walk around the table from the ironing board to the armoire - about 4 steps. Instead I walk around the other side of the table. Hhhmm...will have to come up with a s lightly better arrangement for the New Year.

On to the numbers - no change for me! I would like to increase the "out" column but keeping the "in" column from growing is a good reason to celebrate as well.

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 65.42

Added this Week: 0

Added Year to Date: 115.57

Net Used for 2011: -50.15

Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Have a great week!!

It's bird weather (stash report week 46)

2011-11-13T15:30:00.001-06:00

The winter bird feeders are out and the birds are all over our back yard. We had one cold, rainy day last week that even brought bluebirds (our state bird) to our backyard. We have a wooded ravine behind our house so we don't usually get bluebirds as they prefer open spaces. The red berries on the Nandina seemed to be their reason for paying us a visit.

See that Cardinal in the background
waiting his turn?

With all this temperate weather, my allergies are ever present. A constant, dull headache greets me each morning - uggh. Each morning except Friday morning, when we woke to temps below 30 and frost on the ground. I felt great!! I love winter!!

Today we are back in the 60s. So, after a dose of Advil, I headed out to clean out pots, fill the compost bins, and and arrange things in the shed for the winter. Cleaning the plants led me to cleaning the basement so I would have a place to put the plants for the next 4-5 months.

We are also cleaning the basement for the delivery of a small chest freezer. Never thought I would be excited about a chest freezer. We're expecting 5 adults and 2 kids for a few days before Christmas and I hope to do some cooking ahead of their arrival. Need to make room and the unfinished portion of the basement really needed a general cleaning, reorganization, and vacuuming with the shop vac.

So, no sewing or quilting today.

However, quilty friend Charla hosted us for a sew day at her house yesterday because she is an "opening-weekend-of-deer-season" widow. I think we all ate way too much but had a great time!

Here's the archives quilt with the binding on. Love the back with the Etchings map, handwriting, and architectural drawings!!

I got my Civil War blocks done for this month's guild meeting.

It's called Lincoln's Platform, but I call it a churn dash variation. Hopefully next month's block will be as easy - love 9 patches!

At retreat last month, I got my "Be Merry" Christmas BOM blocks done and laid out in sections. Last night I got 5 of the 7 sections together.

Oops - there's a little more work to do on the church. The blue applique needs to be stitched down.

On the hexie front, I made two this week but they are for the Inchy Hexagon Flower swap and I don't want to ruin the surprise.

I've been basting lots of polka dot petals so maybe next week I will have one or two to show.

DH brought home some more Boulevard boxes so I can use the last of the black polka dot that I bought last week!

Next - to make some muslin linings so I can use them to store sewing projects.

And - I did not add anything to my stash this week! I didn't use up anything either, but that's ok!

Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 65.42
Added this Week: 0
Added Year to Date: 115.57
Net Used for 2011: -50.15
Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

New project - the Ruby Tote

2011-11-09T13:31:00.000-06:00

Have you heard about the new sew along at Clover & Violet?

Here are my FQs - monaluna fabrics and a 12" square of green polka dot. Help me decide which side of the green I should use - the polka dot side or the wrong side? The green is the fabric for the embroidery design.

Still need to pull out my threads to see if I need some new colors for this project.

I wish I could figure out how to load a page from my new My Memories album. I won the software from Jess at Quilty Habit. All those pix that I showed you Sunday are now in a digital album! Love it! Even bought it over the weekend for my sister-in-law - what a great gift!!

Bindings are on!! (stash report week 45)

2011-11-06T08:37:00.004-06:00

Our week here started out very lovely. On Monday DS and I went to the pumpkin patch/farmer's market for the last time. All through the month of October they open "Fort Spooky" for the kids. It's quite a destination for field trip for the smaller kids. Most of it is geared toward the under 10 age bracket. There's a little corn maze, a haunted house, an old fashioned metal slide (which DS loved), a big wooden playground set with 4 slides.

On Tuesday, the Magic House (St. Louis' Children's Museum) offered free admission to anyone wearing red to celebrate the Cardinals' World Series win. Can't pass up free! So, after a morning at preschool, DS and I made our way there.

We had only been there on weekends, especially for the Target Free Family nights, and it was always packed to the rafters. Well, Tuesday it was not crowded at all. DS had a great time doing anything he wanted to do without waiting (and then having some impolite kid run in front if him).

Usually, the "bubble room" is so full you cannot turn around. Tuesday, we were in there alone! Even I got to do the bubble curtain - lol.

The Magic House is in an old Victorian house to which multiple additions have been added over the years. Here is a shot of one corner of the house section, complete with a 3 story slide.

After two hours and a full morning of preschool, DS was worn out and fell asleep on our 15 minute ride home!

So, there's two days that I didn't get to my sewing corner in the basement.

However I did get the bindings on two quilts and will count them in the "out" column - they're just not on all the way! I will finish those today so that I can move on to other projects with a clear conscience.

Speaking of bindings, check out this tutorial at The BunkHouse for using a fleece binding.

I did one, lone little hexie this week.

Then, I got distracted a bit - had that kind of week - my mind was racing everywhere thinking about the in-laws coming for the holidays. And of all weeks, I missed my Wednesday yoga class so I made some time to hit the gym Thursday and yesterday. When I'm all over the place, I need to workout and find my balance again.

One of the things distracting me is the pile of boxes that I've saved for some mod podge projects. So, Wednesday evening, before the cold front moved in I did a bit of Christmas shopping and ran to Joann's to get black fabric for some more beer boxes. Fabric is so much easier to work with than paper.

One yard covered these 4 boxes with one strip left over which will cover another small box. It won't be long before DH brings home another 6 pack of Boulevard. The lids of the little boxes actually close together completely (can you see it on the 2nd box from the left?) - awesome!

To use these as quilting project boxes I will have to line them with some muslin.

One more package arrived in the mail. I won a book at Blushing Rose. Clare O'Donohue's books are fun, cozy mysteries set around a group of quilters in a small town. I don't buy many books to keep as DS and I make weekly trips to the library, but I do buy hers and this is her most recent.

Look at the pretty book mark and cute notecard. When I was younger I loved to receive pretty little notecards like these in the mail.

Here are a couple additions from the LQS that I had forgotten to show you. I picked up the smallest twister by Primitive Gatherings thinking it would be a great way use left over jelly roll tails and binding ends.

The YLI soft touch was 50% off - can't beat that. I love to use soft touch when I'm doing blocks with lots of seams like log cabins or pineapples or such.

Finally, something significant in the used column! Here are the numbers:
Used this Week: 16
Used year to Date: 65.42
Added this Week: 1
Added Year to Date: 115.57
Net Used for 2011: -50.15
Check out more Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Fixin' this and fixin' that

2011-11-01T11:43:00.001-05:00

Oh what a morning! Are you ever just not in the mood to do what needs to be done to finish a project? Happens to me all the time. That's probably why I have so many UFO's.

Since I wasn't in the mood to put binding on, I decided to do some odds n ends. Completely unrelated to sewing was the bathroom sink. DS unscrewed the knob so many times that it finally stopped going back together.

It's been this way for weeks. DH said he didn't know where to find my glue. This was our "suitcase." If anyone ever watched "Everybody Loves Raymond," you know what I mean - Debra and Raymond each thought the other should put the suitcase sitting on the staircase away so it sat for weeks. Since watching that episode, DH and I recognize our "suitcases" more easily now.

Then, DS showed me his shoe - the sole was coming off! Well, while I had the glue out, right?

Here it is in the vice! Like that thing!

Then, still in repair mode - here's my mending projects. Guess what! They're all mine - LOL!

For some company I turned on Pat Sloan's radio show and listend to Bonnie Hunter, who introduced her new scrappy mystery quilt today.

A pair of jeans that's needed the knee reinforced since spring. Why so long? Well, it was soon shorts weather and, well, I hate mending!

ack a thread - how long will it take me to get that cut?

This one gets me where I live - my workout capris. That industrial seam came loose on the inseam in several places. That one really called to me b/c I wear these at the gym and the exposure possibilities were kinda high!

Of course, my mending "ain't purty," but it's done!

While I had a machine set up for piecing, I decided to finish my Dresden plate from the QAL at Lily's Quilts from the spring. It's looked like this on my design wall for months and months.

Sunday afternoon I put the color border on and today I got out the GO! Baby and cut four 2.5" strips to put on the outer border.

Love it! I think it will go in our guild's quilt show next spring.

Here's my Archives Quilt all quilted. I did simple line quilting, keeping it modern.

I also didn't want to distort the backing too much - ya'll know how much I love the backing fabric. So, the map, handwriting, and architectural drawings are still legible.

And then, while clicking pix for this post, I went upstairs just before I left the bread in the oven too long. WHEWWEE - disaster averted because that's gonna be part of my lunch!

Have a great day!!

Fun at the Farm (stash report week 44)

2011-10-30T08:27:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-10-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-10-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

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)

2011-10-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-10-21T08:23:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

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)

2011-10-16T13:44:00.000-05:00

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

2011-10-14T13:57:00.000-05:00

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.

A sewing weekend! (stash report week 41)

2011-10-09T22:04:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

I got in tons of sewing this weekend! That is why I am so late with my weekly post/stash report. During the week I will try to get some nice sunny day pix of my accomplishments. There was one little finish, which for me means a completely done project.

Fatigue is taking over so I have few stash additions to show you. I saw my quilty friend, Joyce, and she had more fabric to give away - 5 and 2/3 yards!

The pretty cuts on the left range from 1/4 yd to 1/2 yd. The pretty snow scene is 2.5 yds that I plan to use as backing for my Be Merry BOM.

Here's a Moda Marbles jelly roll, just the colors that DH likes! The packets are silk pieces that I'm thinking would be great for pillows.

Some left over blocks that are just too cute - maybe another pillow.

Here's my little finishes:

Two more Sweet Treat Bags to finish up the honey bun that I opened before Mother's Day. I finished two and have had these two lying around waiting to be finished so that I can count the yardage as "out."

Maybe with healthier days ahead, and bit more coffee in the evenings, I can finish some projects. Especially since the "in" column just breached 100 yards - unbelievable!

Used this Week: 1.67
Used year to Date: 49.42
Added this Week: 5.67
Added Year to Date: 100.82
Net Used for 2011: -51.4

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

Postponed plans (stash report week 40)

2011-10-02T08:43:00.000-05:00

Hello again,

As you know, if you read my last 2 posts, I've been a bit under the weather. Nothing major, a seasonal virus that really knocked me on my keester for a couple of days. This always seems to happen when I have big plans.

This week I was going to put the garden "to bed" for the winter. There are hollyhocks, hostas, columbine, and purple cone flowers growing where they should not be growing, such as pathways and in the middle of other plants. And there is a large clump of variegated Japanese grass that needs to be dug up and thinned out. And there are always weeds to be pulled.

For most of this all I need is a small shovel and a watering can and maybe a bit of assistance from DS, the 4 yr old that needs to learn to help with chores around the house. In about 10 years, I will not be mowing the grass while my teenager is sleeping or playing video games. I saw 2 teenagers mowing grass this summer - only 2! Really!! There's that farm girl coming up - where I come from we had chores to do because there was more to do. We didn't have all this idle time to sit and do nothing. Hhmm, now I know why DH, a "city boy" from the 'burbs doesn't want to move to the country. Ok - there's my first rave in some time - it has now passed.....I'm sure no one wants to hear it.

I did get a few things accomplished this week. I discovered a few weeks ago that stitching while lying down isn't too difficult. Here are two more hexies for my own little garden.

There are two hexie beds in my garden: a 1" and a 3/4". Usually the 3/4" is polk dot but this week they both are, due to some mishap in cutting while using the wrong template. Check out more pretty flowers at Pigtales and Quilts.

Yesterday you saw Block 7 from the embroidery QAL.

While lying down, I caught up on reading blogs. There are several cute projects out there from the Moda County Fair blog hop. Of course, I love all things about the county fair, even the smell of the barns. And since we live in an area where there isn't even any 4-H clubs so kids could learn to cook and sew - oops, there it is again, that farm girl thing that no one here understands. May have to call my mom today....

Anyway, since hand sewing in my bedroom was the order of business, this little project from Primitive Gatherings caught my eye. A teeny thread catcher for hand sewing. It has no interfacing to make it stiff. It is simply a portable pouch to put your thread ends in while hand sewing. It slips into your bag and goes with you.

NOTE: The pattern is no longer available on the Primitive Gatherings blog link. Contact me.

Monday was a good day. My throat was dry and scratchy, nothing that a stick of gum couldn't help, but it was a beautiful day and I was determined to get out and enjoy. So, after taking the dog and DS to the park, and then taking just DS to the library, and the grocery, and the playground at another park, we hit the LQS. I had a coupon for 25% off batiks.

Only 3 cuts came home with me for a total of 2 yards.

Aren't those trees pretty?!

So the new numbers - with no finishes - I must remedy that soon!

Used this Week: 0.125
Used year to Date: 47.75
Added this Week: 2
Added Year to Date: 95.15
Net Used for 2011: -47.4

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

A Whoop Whoop finish

2011-10-01T15:19:00.002-05:00

It's small, but considering that I was in bed with some kind of bug for almost 2 days, it's still a finish. My head didn't want to be vertical but I have discovered that I can still stitch while lying down.

This is block 7 from the Clover & Violet beginning embroidery quilt along. What's really enjoyable about this QAL is that we do at least one, usually two, new stitches in each block. The blocks aren't large so it's a nice introduction without taking up too much time.

Check out more Whoop Whoop projects....

Illness humor

2011-09-28T19:03:00.004-05:00

As I sit here, rather than lying here which I have done for the better part of the past 2 days, watching Netflix this line from The Dick Van Dyke Show caught my attention and I just have to share it with you:

Buddy: Do you know how to keep a head cold form moving to your chest?

Sally: No

Buddy: Tie a knot in your throat.

Now, why didn't he tell me that yesterday?!!

And the winner is.....

2011-09-27T22:16:00.002-05:00

#2 - BillieBee! A new follower - welcome!

Please check out BillieBee's blog and give her a hearty "congrats."

Cool nights and perfect days! (stash report week 39)

2011-09-25T11:54:00.000-05:00

What a great week! The temps are below-normal-cool in the daytime and overnight. The sun has been out most of the time - perfect weather for being out walking the dog and watching the little ones play soccer. Which, by the way,is one of the most entertaining ways to spend an hour on a Saturday morning - I laugh so much!

All this wonderful weather means that it is very difficult to sit in the house and quilt those quilts that need to be quilted. The hot, hot, hot weather kept me in the house for so long this summer that I cannot ignore mother nature trying to make amends!

That leads to feelings of frustration for not being more productive in finishing projects. And that, to feeling overwhelmed with how much I have to do! Arrgghh -- then, I remind myself that this a hobby. I am allowed to have other interests. I do not have to churn out quilts like a one woman assembly line. After all, I'm not sewing for any reason other than my own enjoyment and it is supposed to be fun! Whew! That felt good!! (now, to remember it)

Sew, that is why I've not been doing too much handwork. Daytimes outside enjoying the weather and evenings spent at the machine trying to finish up things. However, I did get one lonely little hexie done this week.

Head over the Pigtales & Quilts for more Garden additions. There are some lovelies to check out.

It's not like I've not gotten anything done. While watching, well listening actually, to a Rolling Stones documentary by Martin Scorcese called Shine the Light, I cut 43 blocks for the guild's holiday block exchange. There's still lots of fabric left on that bolt!

Then I thought, "Gee, what am I going to carry all this in?" I have the baggies of squares and directions, a money pouch, a member list. Hhmm, "oh yeah," DH had a Sam Adams 12 pack box with handles that was slated for the recycling bin.

So, a little Joann's fabric and some mod podge and here's my new box, with handles! Thanks to Karen at Sew Many Ways for the intro to mod podge and it's versatility. Had to use black to cover the colors on the box. The fabric is easier to work with than wrapping paper, less creasing and fewer air bubbles. Check out all the pretty stuff at this week's Crafty Party.

This just might be handy when members turn in completed blocks next month. A little muslin and we're good to go.

Off Topic Aside -- Speaking of versatile, Stray Stitches and Hilachas passed along the Versatile Blogger Award to me this week. If you want to learn 7 things about me, well, check out this post. Linda and Irene have fun blogs - click the links to check them out.

Then, I figured it might help to have some sample blocks to show members what we're doing. Most of the members are old hats at this stuff by now, but we do have a few new members who have never done this before.

Here's a dark colorway, very traditional, not too Christmas-y.

oops - you get the idea

This one is a lesson on why we are told to read all directions before we begin. See, I cut my two 7" squares for the center and looked at the picture and, after making the Ohio Star, thought, "oh, another quarter square triangle block." And proceeded on.

HA!! WRONG! The center square, starting with 7" squares, isn't big enough, you see. I was supposed to cut each square in half and then use the four pieces to create a 9" center. Two orphan blocks.

Now, what I love about this exchange is the opportunity to use some scraps. Our LQS that got us the bolt has coordinating fabric but I'm not going to buy more fabric to make one 12" block (note how much new fabric has come into the house so far this year)!

I have made three lap size Christmas quilts and have another to finish but somehow I have a bag full of Christmas fabric scraps from friends and scrap bag purchases.

However, when you mess up, there is not always enough scrap fabric for a do-over. I do not have another 7" piece of light blue. I used the darker blue and, of course, it doesn't offer enough contrast - another orphan block.

Sew, I got out my binder and found an Ohio Star variation pattern from the spring shop hop that will work with my smaller scraps of the light blue so that the other block will be brighter and have some blue in it. A project for this afternoon.

A mini tutorial:

Here's mine!

Here's a little thing I made to try out the "no binding" method that Ricky Tims explained on The Quilt Show (this particular episode was free via Fairfield). You do not have to pay to enjoy The Quilt Show, they have free episodes and a blog, just sign up if you haven't already done so. This weekend there is a free episode of Why Quilts Matter - hurry, it ends tonight!

I've made a mug rug and hope to do more wall hangings and I do not like putting a bulky binding on things so small. So, I made myself a mug rug using a 4.5" square and my scraps and selvedges.

Then, I grabbed a piece of flannel, also from a scrap bag purchase, and cut a rectangle for the back. Then, cut about 3" off one end. Here's the goofy part - sew the ends back together! LOL!

However, it's also the ingenious part. This is where you leave a hole in the center for turning when sewing the ends back together. Use a seam allowance slightly larger than 1/4".

Press the seam open.

With right sides together and using a 1/4" seam sew the back to the top, after baste stitching the batting to the top piece or fusing/spraying it to the top.

Trim. Turn it, and then quilt.

As you can see, there's a teeny gap on mine - put some fabric glue on the batting to hold it together while quilting.

You can see where this would be great for wall hangings or for pieces that you might frame, as the back will never be seen. Ricky also suggested putting a border around the edge that makes the lack of binding less obvious. For my mug rug - i.e. a "glorified coaster"- this will do - I really like it, fast and simple!

GIVEAWAY:
If you would like to give this method a try - leave me a comment by Tuesday evening (9/27/11), 9PM CST, and Mr. Random Number Generator will choose one person to whom I will send a Lapel Stick and a scrappy mug rug (another project for this afternoon).

Rules:
1. You must leave me way to contact you either in your comment or in your blogger profile. No-reply bloggers will be disqualified.
2. You do not have to be a follower - my own blog list is way too long from this requirement.
3. One comment, one entry. Multiple comments will not be considered.

The Stash Numbers:

Used this Week: 0.375
Used year to Date: 47.625
Added this Week: 0
Added Year to Date: 93.15
Net Used for 2011: -45.525

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

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-09-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

Linda at Stray Stitches and Irene at Hilachas passed the Versatile Blogger award to me. Finally, I have some quiet time to sit down and thank them for the award!

There are rules to this award...
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself on the post.
3. Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.
4. Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you've picked for the award.

Hhhmmm...7 things, huh? Well, here goes:

1. I love blues music. Before DS came along I could talk my husband into taking a long weekend and attending a midwest blues festival. We've travelled to Kalamazoo, MI, and Henderson, KY.

2. Yoga keeps me centered. Well, all kinds of workouts keep me centered, but it only takes a few yoga poses to put me back on course and help me get a good night's sleep. I've had a gym membership for about 14 years and have attended classes at yoga studios off and on.

3. Biggest pet peeve is improper grammar, especially placing prepositions at the end of sentences and using adjectives in place of adverbs. TV personalities, esp in sports, do it ALL THE TIME!

4. I don't mind doing routine housework but I need a little help to get motivated, so, I listen to Ray Stevens' Greatest Hits. You know, "The Streak," "It's Me Again Margaret." A little laughter goes a long way.

5. Love taking my 4 yr old to the park and pointing out nature to him - like the grasshopper that stayed on our SUV a few days ago, despite driving to and from pre school twice and running errands. While we live here in metro land, I try to instill in him an appreciation for nature that I got growing up in the country with a pond to swim and fish in, horses, cattle, and...

6. a pet pig named Sally. She really liked to have her ears scratched. She was the runt of the litter but she grew to be a big ol' sow. Eventually, she wanted to be with other pigs so she went to live with our neighbor's hogs.

7. Part of living on the farm, I have milked a cow, helped churn homemade butter, and helped clean the pasteurizer after the milk came out. I never did like whole milk, however.

Now, here are the bloggers to whom I am passing the award:

Miki's Fabric Creations

Michelles' Romantic Triangle

Les Quilts

Kayla K's Thrifty Ways

I hope you have time to click over and visit them. Thanks again to Stray Stitches and Hilachas!

A jacket?!! (stash report week 38)

2011-09-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello, hello!

Now I understand why people talk so much about the weather. Since that nasty heat has left us and been replaced by cooler nights/days, I have more energy, I'm a nicer person - not so crabby, and I am getting a bit more done inside and especially outside! Hhhmmm...maybe I should start playing the lotto again so we can get a summer house in a cool climate - lol!

Isn't it funny how we decide what we feel inspired to do? For example, in my free evening time, rather than quilt the quilts that are ready to quilt - 3 of them!, I chose to make more hexie flowers! Check out more pretty flowers at Pigtales & Quilts.

I also did not choose to start my next Clover & Violet QAL embroidery block after I'd caught up a couple weeks ago. I did not choose to square up all those hand pieced 9 patch blocks that I finally finished. I did not choose to cut my setting kit for the Victory quilt.

I did choose to work with my scraps and selvedges this week and make a few gifties, that, unfortunately, I cannot show you atm. I spent about one hour making my first ever crumb blocks, which I talked about yesterday.

Here's a bolt of fabric that is in my house. Never had a brand new bolt in my house before. It is not mine!

It's for my guild's Christmas block exchange. I am in charge this year and must cut who-knows-how-many 13.5" squares that members purchase for $1, they use it to make a block, then their name goes into a drawing to win a selection of blocks. The more blocks we get, the more names we can draw. Guess I should make up a sample block, huh?

It was late night at the LQS last night and I had plans to start cutting there. It was 9pm and thought to myself, "maybe now's not a good time to wield a rotary cutter."

Since it was late night, I did my guild Civil War BOM block in a 6" and 12" version.

It's called Clay's Choice.

I also did two X's and O's blocks for the guild charity committee. Taking the time to draw the diagonal lines might have helped because these did not come out well for being such a simple block - thank goodness for starch. When I picked them up the lady at the table told me that people either love 'em of hate 'em, so I'm not the only that doesn't like the way they sew up!

The handles for my larger Green Lady bag are on - it is really nice to sling this one over my shoulder. It's what I carried my projects in last night. I put some batting scraps in there because no matter what some pattern may tell you, you always want a little padding in your shoulder straps.

(can you see the rain on the patio? we've gotten a nice amount this week. that's my diffenbachia creating the shadow - had to bring in the house plants)

Oh-I had a little win from Amy Bradley.

Isn't this pattern cute? I just happened to be on Google reader when her birthday post came up. This would mighty cute to do for my son's birthday.

This week I made one run to a LQS and bought 1/2 yd of this Hoffman batik - rasberry, I believe - at 20% off.

I also bought some more Heat Press Batting Together - love that stuff. And two more spools of Isacord thread, one of which matched this quilt perfectly.

Since Isacord is thinner than 40 wt cotton, it really shows when I flatten a heart! practice, practice, practice.....

And a little story about presentation. This LQS has been in business for over 20 years. I had no idea it had this thread. You see, the spools hang on posts on the wall - when you look at the wall you see the ends of the spools. I happened to be walking along the wall and needing thread.

In contrast, the newest quilt shop displays the spools sitting upright against the wall. This gives the viewer a wall of color that really catches the eye. Quite a difference!

Used this Week: 0.25
Used year to Date: 47.25
Added this Week: 0.5
Added Year to Date: 93.15
Net Used for 2011: -45.9

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

Crumbing along

2011-09-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

As if I need one more thing to do, right? I have 3 UFO's waiting to be quilted - all sandwiched, quilting started - and here I am playing with my scraps. Well, I couldn't resist. I always talk about how it's my mom's genes to keep everything - well, after paying what we pay for fabric I hate to throw any of it away.

Sew, when Jo of Jo's Country Junction decided to host a crumb along. Well, I have to try it! I mean, this isn't something I'm gonna learn at my LQS!!!

I was tired last night after doing some rearranging in my son's room (which, btw, moved all of his art supplies, shelf, and table into his room and OUT of the living room/great room - what a difference less clutter makes - I can breathe deeply again. Oh - and I have enough space to lay out my yoga mat - lol!) and did not feel like sitting at the sewing machine. Sew, I rested a while with a nice cider and a couple cookies while DH and DS played outside, watched a Masterpiece Mystery episode on Netflix, and decided to grab some scraps.

6.5" blocks

I have plenty of green, blue, and khaki solid strips left over from the bean bag quilts. I decided that the green might be a better zinger than the blue - maybe, maybe not. Definitely need to make the green geese bigger as they get a little lost in there. I can see how these are like potato chips, as Jo says, very addicting to sit and play with all those scraps!

Check out more projects at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Have a great day!

Fall, is that you? (stash report week 37)

2011-09-11T10:08:00.002-05:00

Taking a turn at goalie in his first soccer game.

Our windows have been open for days now! It's cool at night, comfortable during the day, some trees are losing their leaves (though this might be due to drought stress), and we had a bit of rain. Fall seems to have arrived.

After the last two, I can say that summer is my least favorite season. I get so tired of being so hot and sticky ALL the TIME. Remember, I'm one of the crazy people that loves snow, too!

With the wether came lots of time outdoors. It just is not the time to be siting at the sewing machine. Sew, no new finishes for me.

www.colts.com

That may change a bit today. Because this is the first of 16 NFL Sundays. Yes, our weekends have now been dwindled down to one free day as we must watch the Sunday Ticket (after all, we're paying for it!). During the season we spend our afternoons in the basement family room where I have my sewing corner. I can sort of watch along as I quilt or if I'm not interested in the game, I can turn off the ceiling speaker above my head.

Usually I am excited, too. My team has had a set back. Peyton Manning had surgery this week so he won't be starting QB for the Colts. I also get much more excited about football when it's a bit colder - think about the games late in the season in Chicago and Green Bay - now there's some football!

Last weekend I was a bit under the weather with some sinus issues. Lots of Advil and Aleve and my ears and throat felt better. However, in my horizontal position I could still stitch up a hexie!

Then, once I got one done, why not do two more? Check out more flowers at How Does Your Graden Grow.

The quilts I showed you last week are all stabilized by stitching in the ditch (SID) between the blocks and are ready for some FMQ. I always SID between the blocks since I read Harriet Hargrave's books about how important it is to anchor the layers to prevent shifting while quilting on your domestic machine. She suggests that if you don't want the quilting to remain there, well, just use the wash away thread. I L-O-V-E this book - it's my go-to reference book for quilting.

Sew, that's it for me on the sewing front. I went to one new LQS and bought thread, Isacord thread as Leah Day mentioned on her blog. The other LQS that our guild newsletter said was supposed to be opening on the 10th, was not quite ready. Quilt friend Karen and I did see some pretty fabric and lots of solids up on the wall.

I bought 1/4 yard of canvas to make some longer handles for my latest Green Lady bag. It's such a nice large bag, I can see myself carrying it to quilt shows to put my purchases in but it needs some shoulder straps.

Used this Week: 0

Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 0.25
Added Year to Date: 92.65
Net Used for 2011: -45.675

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

Binding for wall hangings/art quilts

2011-09-07T12:16:00.000-05:00

Hello!

A quicky little post to share something fun. On episode #905 of The Quilt Show, which is free this week from Fairfield, Ricky Tims shows a great alternative to binding those small art quilts and wall hangings - LOVE IT! And, it's at the very beginning of the show.

Check it out if you have the time. You can sign up as a free member and watch a handful of shows and see what else the site has to offer. When you click the link above you will have to login to The Quilt Show website.

Embroidery 101 Quilt Along

2011-09-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one day...as crazy as the weather and having 2 new quilt shops open in the same week!

The embroidery quilt along at Clover & Violet has been a lot of fun. We move rather slowly - a new block about every 2 weeks. For me, it's just about the right amount of time to get blocks done without feeling rushed.

Here all six of my blocks. Please pardon the quality but it is very cloudy here so the flash has to be on.

If you would like to join in, please see the index link on the sidebar. All the block patterns are there as are links to all the stitch tutorials.

A little heat wave (stash report week 36)

2011-09-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

reminiscing

Greetings!!

How was your week? Mine was mostly slow. I took the week off from intense, catch up housework and just did the daily chores. Tuesday morning was mine - Pandora playing, the boys out of the house, and me crawling around on the floor with my tailor's mat measuring quilt backs. I got 2 backs together and one small topper spray basted.

Then I hit my usual snag. I stabilized my quilts with some SID. It has been so long, since early June, I think, since I did any FMQ. Once I get started I will be fine but it's the getting started that is difficult.

Then, the heat came back, highs hit 102, and my time was spent watering - uggh. We had a break from the humidity but the hot breeze just dried out my shrubs and plants. Even the ornamental grass looks pathetic. Good news is that it is currently cooler and cloudy so I am keeping my fingers crossed for some much needed rain.

I did not get too much hand work done this week. No hexies added to my garden but here's a shot of what it looks like so far.

There are more than I thought. If you would like to give English paper piecing a try head over to Paper Pieces. They are celebrating National Sewing Month with free shipping this week. Check out more flower gardens at Pigtales & Quilts.

I am now all caught with with the Embroidery 101 QAL hosted by Clover & Violet. Here are blocks #5 and #6. Three more to go.

With an allergy headache all day yesterday, nothing was better than sitting in the recliner and stitching.

I forgot to show you the pretty bag I won a couple weeks ago from the Green Bag Lady blog. It's home dec weight fabric and the bag is larger than most GBL bags.

It is number 17, 177! Isn't that something?! Teresa has given away more than 17,000 bags to help save the environment. I love my little shopping bags. It seems that those plastic bags multiply overnight. I never remember to take them to the grocery store with me to put them in the recycle bin so we have bunches of them in the garage.

Here are my in progress quilting projects.

This one is a disappearing 9 patch from Moda Bake Shop that I pieced at retreat back in January. I will use it as a table topper in my living room.

This one is a simple pattern that used 9 FQs. I was planning to make it for charity but my mom gushed over the fabric so I figured it will be her birthday present.

This is the first time I've used flannel as a back and it seems to be fine so far. I have a larger quilt in the queue that will also have a flannel back.

This week it wasn't fabric that got my attention. It was a sale on these McKenna Ryan "In Full Bloom" patterns that was just too good to pass up. They usually sell for $11 each. I got them as a set from Dakota Cabin Quilts for $37 - eight patterns - that's less than $5 each!

Don't look for these on my work table any time soon. I have to many UFOs to finish up. Maybe after the holidays I can play with the pretty flowers.

That's it for my week! I haven't been in a shop for a couple weeks. We'll see about next week. One LQS is having a sale to celebrate 24 years in business while the first of two new area shops opens Tuesday. The second new shop, a modern quilt shop, opens on Saturday. It will be a high risk week!

My numbers remain the same.

Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 9.25
Added Year to Date: 92.425
Net Used for 2011: -45.425

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

Favorite batting?

2011-08-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

HOWDY!

Just a quickie post to say - I'm a quilter again!! I have spent the whole morning getting 2 UFOs ready to quilt. Since I didn't want to go out and have to get something, I am combining a pretty good size scrap of Hobbs 80/20 with a twin package of it that's been on my shelf for a while - can you say Heat Press Batting Together - love that stuff.

I opened the package - and YUCK!! Glad that isn't what people feel when they hug my quilts. It's scratchy and stiff. I often buy W&N by the yard. From now when I need a cheap bat, I'll stick to Fairfield's cotton - at least it is soft to touch.

What's your favorite batting?

High Hopes... (stash report week 35)

2011-08-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

...for this week! For the first time since spring, I can concentrate on some quilting projects. Since I've been doing the stash report, DH has been asking questions like, "so, how many quilts do you think you could make with the fabric you already have?" Hhhmmm...a hint?

Also, hoping that my step brother and his family in Virginia are ok. He lives near the coast and the Potomac River. We just had dinner with him this week when he was in town for business and he got home just in time to prepare for Irene. I've been searching for news of his town/county.

back to some quilty things....

Here's my flower garden addition. Next week it may not be all alone, we'll see. Stop over at Pigtales & Quilts to see some lovely flower garden additions this week.

One thing I got done this week was some cutting. If you remember all the fabric my friend, Joyce, gave me last weekend, well DS gave me a break one afternoon this week and I started cutting.

I think there are over 100 charms here. This includes most of the fabric from Joyce and from my polka dot FQs.

I also cut a few 2" strips for my flower garden. From the strips I cut rectangles 2.5" long.

Then I grabbed my scissors and sat down with my hexie template. Yes, I can use squares but I don't like the looks of the squares on the back so I trim off the corners.

Now I have quite a pile of hexies to baste.

Our early morning sun does not help my photos.

I also got a start on my Clover & Violet QAL block #5 after spending about 4.5 hours at the pool yesterday. (For $23 admission we meant to get our money's worth. Plus, DS was having a ball and tried a little swimming on his own!)

Once home, I needed to prop my feet up and relax - all that pool time wore us all out!

We have a new quilt shop opening in our area on Sept. 6th, "Merrily We Sew Along." The owner already has a shop in Springfield, MO, that I've visited so I also have high hopes for a new personality as far as LQS's go.
Here are the numbers for this week - no change whatsoever! At least I didn't buy anything!

This week's numbers:
Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 9.25
Added Year to Date: 92.425
Net Used for 2011: -45.425

Head over the Judy's at Patchwork Times for more stash numbers.

Lots of work (and Stash Report week 34)

2011-08-21T11:26:00.002-05:00

I'm running a little late today. Last night was sew down night at my LQS. The owner had afternoon plans but left us a key so we could open up and start without her, wasn't that nice?!

As a result of an unusually late night, I got up a bit late so my quiet morning time before DH and DS woke up was cut short, very short! That means no time to compose a blog post.

All of my free time this week has been spent working - for money, that is. Sew, not much has happened in my sewing space or in the gym. I have been walking the dog so at least some physical activity took place. This afternoon, after a little family time, I'm heading to the gym to get the adrenaline flowing and stretch out.

In the evenings, too tired to do anything else, I managed to kick my feet up in the recliner and do a few hexies. I finished up the hexies for my Inchy Swap Partner, which I will show you next week after she gets them.

And here's one for my little flower garden. I also ordered some more 3/4" paper pieces. Check out more pretty flowers at Pigtales & Quilts.

Look at all these dots! My quilty friend Joyce brought some polka dots for me to select from her stash last night. There were some big pieces in her bag! I cut some 1/4 yards or FQs of most but check out that white with purple dots near the top - it measures 1.75 yards. There's 9 yards of fabric there! THANK YOU, Joyce! Hhmmm...Santa may visit Joyce a little early this year!!

I will make hexies from these prints but I will also use them to make this pretty, and huge, 24" block from Lily's Quilts.

Earlier this summer I joined a polka dot charm swap. I have 80 charms which will make 5 blocks. 16 more charms will do another block. There will also be a scrappy dot border on the sides to make it a bit wider. This is one of those long range plans - I have lots of quilting to do before I piece this top!

Here are my Civil Was BOM blocks that I got done last night. The pattern is called Rolling Stone.

These are some blocks for our guild's charity committee. I have no idea what they're called but we were instructed not to trim them.

My other evening activty continues to be embroidery. I haven't worked at all on block #5 of the Clover & Violet QAL but I did work on this sampler. It's from a new blog called We Love French Knots by Bari J. She has included how-to videos - woohoo!

Check out more fun crafts at Sew Many Ways.

Love my little origami bag for holding my stitchin' stuff!

There's a new blog for quilting readers begun by Miki Willa - Quilters, Books and Bindings. The idea is we read a book, discuss it on the blog, and create a quilt inspired by the book that we also share on the blog.
Years ago I belonged to a reading group and enjoyed reading new things, reaching outside my comfort zone. Please check it out and join in the fun!

This week's numbers:
Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 9.25
Added Year to Date: 92.425
Net Used for 2011: -45.425

Next weekend I start quilting!!!!!!!!

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports. Have a great week!!

At it again... (stash report week 33)

2011-08-14T08:29:00.001-05:00

Hollyhocks survived the heat and bloomed, too.

First off - we had lovely weather this week. Mother Nature turned the tables in our neck of the woods. We even turned the AC off for a few days and enjoyed nightly lows in the 60s - in August!

So, to celebrate the cool temps, the high today predicted to be about 83 degrees, we will be staining our deck. We didn't get it done this spring since it was so wet. DH isn't very happy about it, but, it has to be done. DS, who is 4, can't wait to help. I just hope he doesn't get more stain on himself than on the wood - yeah, right!

With life and other events, I didn't personally add to my flower garden this week. However, I did receive one flower and some paper templates from Jane of Want It, Need It, Quilt It as a "welcome" package to the Inchy Hexagon Swap.

I've been working on flowers for my partner in the swap - one down, one to go. I'll show them to you after they arrive at their destination. Head over to Pigtales and Quilts for more flower gardens.

The fates are conspiring against me! A new Joann's opened near me and the Grand Opening was this week. Then, there are lots of sales and I've been able to resist the online sales, but my LQS had it's annual FQ coupon - 20 FQs for $25 (can't pass that up, right?!). So...I added a lot of fabric this week.

I tried to fill some gaps in my stash by getting yellows and oranges. Let's not forget the polka dots - even a dot batik. The large batik cuts are actually half yards, substituted for 2 FQs. Apparently a FQ got dropped somewhere b/c at checkout we counted 16 and here there are 15 - oh well, still a great deal.

One advantage of a metro area, I live within 15 miles of three quilt shops, two Joanns, and two Hancocks. With the Joanns Grand Opening I stood in line 3 days and twice was among the first 100 in line and got two $10 gift cards.

One of those days I met a local artist who does photography and painting, especially nature but also portraits. We had a great conversation passing the time and exchanged blog addresses - please take a moment to check out Barabara's blog and her web site and say "hi."

With coupons, etc., I paid about $2.85 for a king size Mountain Mist Cream Rose batting (102x120), in anticipation of some big finishes once my consulting gig slows down in a couple weeks.

I felt and judged and bought some cuts of fabric at Joanns. The 2 yards of brown will be border and binding fabric for the Scrappy Friendship Quilt (most of which is Joanns fabric).

Of course, the gray and navy polka dots 1/2 yards are for hexies. They are also to get me 16 more charm squares for a project I will do "one of these days" with the dotty charms I received in a recent swap.

Sew, here's the damage!!!!

This week's numbers:
Used this Week: 0
Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 7.75
Added Year to Date: 83.175
Net Used for 2011: -36.175

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports. Have a great week!!

Friday - Whoop Whoop!

2011-08-12T07:47:00.001-05:00

Here's block #4 of the Clover & Violet embroidery 101 QAL. I think there are 6 different stitches in this one. It needs a little button for a perch on the birdhouse but I will do that later. Now to trace block #5!

If you like embroidery, or want to learn some more about it check out a new blog called We Love French Knots. There are free patterns and there's a giveaway, just follow the title link!

Speaking of giveaways, here's another:

Stray Stitches is celebrating her blogiversary by giving away thread, buttons, a quilt pattern, an applique book and some Ty Pennington fabric. Ends Aug. 14th at 8PM PST.

Head over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see more Whoop Whoop finishes.

Have a great Friday! Our weather has done a "360" - we turned the AC off two days ago. It's about 70 degrees right now!

Where am I? (stash report week 32)

2011-08-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

The excessive heat advisory left us Friday. We went to the park for the first time in weeks with real temps below 95 degrees and the heat index below 110 degrees. It was still hot but not AS hot. Then it rained! WooHoo! I haven't watered the garden in 2 days now and the rain barrel has been refilled.

The heat is coming up again today. If the above pic is any indication, it will be a steamy one. Where do I live - the rain forest? There is condensation on the outside of all the windows. The dew point is 77 degrees. Can you say "steam bath?"

Glad we did most of our tax free shopping yesterday. Missouri has a 3 day state sales tax holiday to "celebrate" back to school. Not everything is tax free and not every municipality in the state chooses to waive its local sales tax and the state lists all these communities who opt out of the tax free holiday on a web site, so we know where to save money. It includes shoes, clothing, computers. So, I am now composing on a MacBook Air that my husband bought on sale and sales tax free, saving about $200 buying it this weekend as opposed to buying it last weekend at the Apple store in the mall.

We've had two PC laptops in the past 6 years, which I use for my consulting, and which have both lasted about 3 years before giving out - batteries quit working (even new ones), wireless connections going haywire. DH assures me that this one will last more than 3 years. It's so cute - I have FQs pulled for a laptop sleeve.

Well, you're not here for a weather report or for a new computer update, are you? On to the quilting stuff!!

Here are my little flowers for this week. Receiving 4 hexies in the mail from the Inchy Swap got me motivated (this post). I've been cutting and basting and digging in my scraps/stash and getting a these little cuties together.

Head over to Pigtales and Quilts for more pretty flowers (and they aren't just hexies).

Are you signed up for the Wantobe Quilter campaign over at Stash Manicure, 5 days of prizes this week through October?

If you are a blogging quilter, you just leave a comment on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you are not a blogging quilter, or if you are just starting out on your quilter adventure, here's what to do.

Yesterday afternoon my de-cluttered sewing space was calling my name. I made an origami bag to hold my embroidery threads for the Clover & Violet QAL. After all that folding of 18" squares my bag turned out to be mighty small, about 6".

There are tutorials for these little bags everywhere, but here's the one that I used because it had nice step by step pix.

The only thing I need to do is add the cording - I don't even have any ribbon in the house to use. Isn't that always the way? We have all this "stuff" in the house but the one little thing you need to finish a project you don't have!

As soon as I feel like cluttering up my newly tidied sewing space, and wrestling with 4 yd and 6.5 yd cuts of fabric, I will start getting the setting kit ready for my Victory Quilt. I finished the last 2 blocks this week, finally (this post).

Nothing was added to my stash this week - WooHoo!

This week's numbers:
Used this Week: 0.5
Used year to Date: 47
Added this Week: 0
Added Year to Date: 75.425
Net Used for 2011: -29.425

Head over to Judy's blog for more stash busting reports. Have a great week!!