Birthday Giveaway (and Stash Report Week 18)

In two days I will be another year older.  To celebrate, I will give one of you a gift (more details below).

I've reached both Lucy Ricardo's age (29) and Jack Benny's age (39) and have to decide which to go with - I'm leaning towards Lucy.  Although, the first time I helped in my son's kindergarten class this spring one of his classmates told me that I looked like his grandma, not his mom!



On a happier note: The birthday celebration started a bit early with a great package from my April swap partner in the Flickr Monthly Fabric Swap Group.

Pretty batiks, yummy chocolate and a pretty Villa Rose pattern from Christine in Washington state!

Our weather here was so nice most of this week that I've been outside, not inside sewing a single stitch.  The only additions are the pretty 1/4 yd cuts of extra fabric that my partner sent me.  So, my numbers are practically unchanged from last week.

Here's what I've pulled out for one of you! There will be a few little goodies added to the bundle.

Four FQs and a charm pack of 45 different dot fabrics.  The lemon, lettuce, and blue floral fabrics are from Paintbrush Studios.  The neutral is a Lori Holt design for Riley Blake.  The 5" charms are cut by moi from the various dots I've used in my 3/4" hexie flowers, which I've gotten away from recently.

This will be a quick giveaway, open to all.  Please leave one comment on this post telling me if you do hand sewing and, if so, what your most recent hand project is.

Rules and such:  A winner will be determined by the Random Number Generator on Tuesday evening (May 7th) at 9PM CST.  Any comment after 9M on Tuesday will not be included in the giveaway.  All "no reply" comments will also be discarded.  Please, if you are not sure if you are a "no reply" blogger, then leave your email address in the comment so that I can reach you.  If the prize is not claimed via email response by Thursday evening (May 9th) at 9PM, then I will draw another winner.

I know it is annoying, but the word verification is still on.  I tried removing it and still got spam, so it is there to stay.

Good Luck!

To the numbers:
Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 57.125
Added this week: 0.5
Added YTD: 47.5
Net used YTD: 9.625

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

Another finish! (Stash Report Week 17)

Love the Bleeding Hearts.  They bloom for weeks!

It's raining again!  The April showers will eventually bring out all my spring showers.  My lilac bushes are so close to blooming.  They are next to the front door so we will smell them every time we open the door.



It's been a busy week!  First, I finished the binding on DS's batik Dresden plate on Tuesday afternoon before the guild meeting.  That's one more UFO completely done and checked off my list!

I used washable Elmer's school glue along with my iron to hold the binding down on the back of the quilt while I used a decorative stitch from the front.  It was so great not getting stuck by pins and I did it as one continuous seam.  Here's a link to a Sharon Schamber YouTube videos about using school glue for binding.

After visiting the podiatrist, being diagnosed with bursitis in my foot (yeah, my foot), and getting treatment which included some new insoles, I have a spring in my step again.  Oh - it feels so good.  And, it spurred me on to get the T Block quilt to Cheri for some of her long arm magic.


Yesterday, quilty friends Joyce and Shannon and I traveled to Paducah for the AQS show.  Well, we traveled to see all the vendors and our first stop was Hancock's of Paducah, which was soooooo crowded that we could hardly bare to shop.

We managed to do a little bit.  I grabbed a Moda scrap bag comprised of 33 strips from the 3 Sisters line called Etchings. They're all selvage ends and seem to be about 2"-3" wide (about 2 yds?).  I have a few cuts from this line so maybe a small project or two will come from this scrap bag.

And, the store must have received a lot of the Mini Tonga Treats (charm packs) in Pomegranate because these were $5.98.  That's like 2 for 1 - so I bought two (about 2 1/4 yds total).

Since my queen bed quilt projects are getting finished this year, I have discovered how much heavier a cotton batted quilt is than a wool batted quilt! As in, my moving them around to finish the bindings.

So, I bought a Quilter's Dream Select Poly batt to try on yet another queen UFO that needs to get finished and out of my project boxes.  I've heard that Quilter's Dream is like the Cadillac of battings. Have any of you used this?

At the show, we didn't buy much either.  Last year I almost bought a pre-cut kit from John Flynn's booth.  This year I did!

I got the Storm at Sea kit in blue, green, and purple 9" blocks to finish at 22x30.  It's not the miniature kit.  I'm calling this a half yard in stash report.


To the numbers:
Used this week: 0.5
Used YTD: 57.125
Added this week: 4.75
Added YTD: 47
Net used YTD: 10.125

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

Have a great week!

Some QOV's (Stash Report Week 16)

DS's dreamcatcher in the school district art show - he's very proud!

Hello!

It's spring here, again, a little chilly but we didn't float away in all the rains that came a few days ago.  Some communities in our region cannot say that between rising waters on the Mississippi and the flash flooding of smaller creeks.

A correction from last week:  From memory (that says it all!), I wrote that Bonnie Hunter's method for calculating scrappy quilt top yardage was to multiply the backing yardage by 1.5.  Wrong --- she multiplies it by .25 (or 25%) and adds that to the backing yardage.  So, my QOV from last week actually used 4.5 (.25) = 1.125 + 4.5 = 5.625 (top) + 4.5 (back) = 10.125 total. The numbers are adjusted!

Quilty friend Cheri donated her quilting prowess to my scrappy Pineapple Blossom QOV.

And I finished the pillow case quickly one evening this week.  All three fabrics in the case are from Tonya's shop at Ozark Fabric. You can see two of them in the quilt - the red border and the white background.










Cheri also gave me two more QOVs that she and quilty friend Gale pieced. Yes, these are rather feminine, as Cheri says, "women serve, too." These three quilts will be delivered to Dar at our guild meeting Tuesday night.








Other fun finishes include the cute table runner that did not get put away in one of my drawers to languish for years after the shop hop.


It's adorable, I think!  I used the thermore batting from Hobbs so it's super thin and I can set something on it without fear of it being wobbly.

I also used Marti Michell's method of pillow turning that I stumbled upon in one of her Marti & Me class patterns rather than binding it.  When I've turned quilted things I've always put all three layers together, then turned.

Marti instructs us to piece the back so that there is a whole for turning in the center (make it the same size as the top), much like the method that Ricky Tims uses.  Press and stitch the top and back together first (right sides together) using a 1/4" seam and pinning well.  Then, add batting that is the same size as the top and back. Clip the batting in the corners so that it is just out of the corner seams.  Stitch the batting to the other pieces with an 1/8" seam, clip the corners a bit, turn, and press.

At no spot on this runner did the back want to show to the front, as often happens when stitching all 3 payers at once.  However, it's still a good idea to pin and then topstitch around the edge.  I used a bit of Stitch Witch fusible web under the turning seam on the back to hold it together while quilting.  Marti suggested pin basting the remainder of the project, which I did, and finally, quilt as desired.



Another little finish for this week is my bird applique wall hanging.  I took this class last fall and it had been hand appliqued for a good while.

I added some embellishing stitches during a car trip last month and finally quilted it using 50 wt aurifil thread and wool batting.  LOVE the wool batting!




There are 3 quilts I've not shown you since Cheri them quilted for me.  I have the binding on DS's Dresden plate but not stitched on the back and need to get cracking on the two queen size quilts, Apple Cider BOM and Uncle Sam's Jacob's Ladder.  I used wool batting in the Apple Cider BOM and it is so light - love it.  Seriously, if anyone around here carried it, I would put wool in all my quilts.  Guess I'll be stocking up at Connecting Threads' next batting sale


To the numbers:
Used this week: 2.5
Used YTD: 56.625
Added this week: 0
Added YTD: 42.25
Net used YTD: 13.405

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

Have a great week!

Another Finish (stash report week 15)

Okay - it's almost finished! Quilty friend Cheri is quilting the QOV for me.  After Dar got so many quilt tops at our last guild meeting for a returning Missouri unit, I took Cheri up on her offer to quilt this one. The QOV group must really be busy getting quilts ready for June.

It took a about a week for me to decide whether to add another border.  It measures 55x73, the minimum width.  However, with several UFOs in my pile that require borders, I'm discovering that borders aren't so much fun! So, this one stops at two borders.

I usually just double the backing fabric and call that my total yardage for a scrappy quilt. In one of her books, Bonnie Hunter determines yardage for scrap quilt tops by taking the backing fabric and multiplying it by 1.5, taking all the seams and such into consideration.  That calculates to 4.5 (1.5) = 6.75 (top) + 4.5 (back) = 11.25 total.  Hhhmm, I like Bonnie's equation! (correction on next post, total is 10.125 yds)

I especially like it since I added more to my stash.  After going to 10 shops last weekend on the shop hop, no one had any of my favorite fabric in the whole wide world, Waikiki (Hoffman 1895 #360), or any Transfer-eze.  So, when I got home an online shop had their 1895's on sale and there was Waikiki for $7/yd - I got 4 yards. I'll look for the Tansfer-eze in Paducah or order it.

I picked up this, too.

Yesterday, quilty friend Joyce and I went to a shop that is closing.  She found some solids that she needed.  Then we went to a new shop in our area, Janie Lou, and we both found fabric!

Joyce is fun to shop with because she usually shops for a specific project.  Yesterday she had her pattern with her and needed 12 FQs.  So, if I don't find anything, I can at least help Joyce find some goodies.  If I shopped with a purpose, maybe I wouldn't have so much fabric lying around!

I was shopping for a swap and instead of doing FQs on two of the four fabrics, I did 1/2 yards.  So, I added 2 FQs to my stash on this trip.  I will show you the fats after I mail them out - want to surprise my partner!








Oh - and another near-finish - hopefully later today.

How many times do you buy a cute project at a shop and then get home and get caught up in all the parenting/housework duties and in your current sewing projects?  Happens to me all the time!  Then, those cute little projects get put in a drawer.  Well, I needed a little therapy earlier this week and decided to do the table runner that Cheri gave me on the shop hop.

Just happened to have some Fig Tree scraps that Joyce had given me last year that worked perfectly for the border.  Now to get it quilted and put it on the credenza behind our sofa for spring.

BOM block 1

April is quite the quilty month around my house.  The shop hop was the first weekend, got in some spur-of-the-moment fabric shopping yesterday, this coming weekend is the BOM at the LQS (pity the poor non-quilter who tries to decipher this blog, lol!) where I won a gift certificate on the shop hop, and then the last weekend is the Paducah show.  Whew!!

However, Mother Nature has been working against me this weekend.  I cannot sew/quilt when the birds are singing and the sun is out and there are too many outdoor chores to do.  I may have to take the featherweight out on the patio this afternoon.  Have you ever sewn outdoors?

To the numbers:
Used this week: 11.25 (10.125)
Used YTD: 55.25 (54.125)
Added this week: 4.5
Added YTD: 42.25
Net used YTD: 13 (11.875)


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

Have a great week!

Local Shop Hop (stash report week 14)

Yesterday was tons o' fun!

Five of us piled into my husband's new-to-him, used SUV and took off to visit 7 quilt shops, with me driving it for almost the first time.  We got to all the shops and shared two meals and lots of laughs along the way.  



And, my stash only grew slightly - 1 charm pack, 4 mini charms packs, and 5 FQs.  Quilty friend Cheri got me the charm pack and the cute This & That table runner pattern for driving, wasn't that nice?  I've been wanting to get to my machine all day!


To the numbers:
Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 44.00
Added this week: 3.5
Added YTD: 37.75
Net used YTD: 5.25

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

Have a great week!

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First Spring Break (stash report week 12)

And, it's snowing again, non-stop since about 8am!  Crazy, huh?  Today the last of the 50 lb. bag of sunflower seeds went into the bird feeders.  That was bag number two.  We've fed the birds, and squirrels, 100 lbs. of sunflower seeds this season!

Fortunately, we had plenty of warning as we had to go get DS from Grandma and Papa's a day earlier than planned.  Yes, that is how I survived our first spring break - my mom came to the rescue Thursday!

During part of the travel I got to stop at a quilt shop.  And, yes, I did more damage to the stash numbers.  I stopped in Effingham, Illinois, at The Wooden Spool (formerly Angie's Nine Patch). I had been here once before a few years ago.  We travel through Effingham all the time on our way to Indiana but usually the timing isn't right for the shop hours or we just don't have the time.

I stopped to look for perle cotton.  There must be some little stitching shop in St. Louis that sells perle cotton in more colors than I can get at Joann's but I've not found it.  And only one LQS carries any hand embroidery supplies and that is floss.  I don't care for floss.  It tangles so easily when I'm not using it.

Anyway, I found my three colors to work on my bird applique project from last fall.  That's what I did while DH drove yesterday.  More to go but it was so nice to relax with some handwork.

The Wooden Spool has lots of needlework and quilting supplies and the prices on their fabric are great.  I saw a bolt of Kaffe for $7.99/yd regular price.  The most expensive batik I saw was Timeless Treasures for $9.99/yd.


Of course, what caught my eye were these sale fabrics at $3.99/yd.  That dainty blue print will work well with an April Cornell jelly roll that I bought years ago thinking I would make something for my mother-in-law. Now, I'm thinking about another Pineapple Blossom for her.

The pretty floral - well, I love pretty florals and this should work well for a pattern called the "Quilt Camp Tote" that has been sitting in a drawer for ages.

I also got this cute wool kit for less than $17. One shop here had some of these kits and I almost bought one but resisted.  This kit was marked down and has everything I need.  I've already put the background together and am anxious to see how the wool works.

First, I must get the Pineapple Blossom top together.  The blocks are all in one piece and I'm working on the bonus triangle border.  So, today is a border day.  Not a bad thing to do when the snow is coming down.


To the numbers:
Used this week: 0
Used YTD: 44.00
Added this week: 5
Added YTD: 34.25
Net used YTD: 8.75

Okay - seriously - no more additions til more projects are finished, and started! I'm almost back in the red!!

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

Have a great week!