Stash & Quilting Report

• Incoming Yardage to date: 75 yds.
• Outgoing Yardage to date:  56.25 yds.
• Total Stash Busted to date: -18.75 yds.

Ok, so my time in the positive was short lived.  But I love my new batiks! (see previous post for the full disclosure with photos you will drool over) So, I’m not feeling too bad about it.  Ok, not bad at all.   I don’t think I will, either, as long as there is movement going through my stash.  Some in, some out…just not all in, in, in.

During my lunch hours, or while I’m cooking something for dinner, and I’m waiting, I’ve been sitting down at the sewing machine and working on the pieced borders for my Boston Commons.

I also got labels made for my friend’s comfort quilt.  I haven’t finished trimming the jump threads, so just ignore them. It took me right at an hour to get the first one all programmed into the machine.  The stitchout was 74 minutes, and that did not include the time it took me to change thread colors.  I thought I was never going to get done with it.  I started on it after work one evening, so I was already tired, but it was worth it.  I also made a small label to go beside it, just stating that I made the quilt.  Couldn’t fit it on the other label.  A more experienced embroiderer might have been able to, but this was the best I could do.  I don’t have any embroidery software yet, so I have to sit at the machine and program each letter in one by one, and it will only let me put so many characters on a line.  So the machine stops after each line of stitching, and even if I’m not changing colors, I have to be close by to restart the machine.  I hate to invest a bunch of money in embroidery software that I’m not sure I will use that much.  There is a lot about the embroidery that still confuses me.  I may address some of that in a future post.  Maybe some of you embroidery gurus can clear up a question or two for me.

I started working on Joanna’s quilt a couple of days ago, but until today, I didn’t have anything to show for my efforts, except SID (stitch in the ditch).  I’m sure she is anxious to see how it’s coming, so if you can stand a dose of cuteness, I’ll show you a peek!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week, y’all!

One Block Wondering

Ok, so I’ve told y’all that I’m supposed to take a One Block Wonder class with the quilt guild, but it isn’t til April 18th.  Who can wait that long, once they have the book already? Not me! I had to go ahead and do some playing.  I finally felt like fondling some fabric again, and instead of working on one of the gazillion projects I already have started, I wanted to do something new.  Maybe it’s spring fever.  Since we are doing the octagon version at guild, I pulled out the original fabric from my stash, that I wanted to use, but didn’t have enough for the eight repeats needed.  Since the hexagon version doesn’t use as much fabric, I have enough for it.

The fabric, with my new rotary cutter laying on it, just because I noticed that it matches…lol!

The first set of blocks:

This is so hard to stop working on, once you start.  Each block is a little surprise.  I can’t wait to see how the next row of blocks turns out, and how they look added into these.  Not only are the blocks a surprise, but you don’t know what the quilt will look like, either, till you get all the blocks together, and start playing with them.  Too much fun!

What Have I Been Doing?

It would seem that I’ve been really, really busy…given the obvious lack of blogging, but I don’t have much to show for where my time is going.  I have been being much more faithful about squeezing in some time on the Treadclimber, after I get home from work, before I prepare supper, and have lost ten lbs. since the first of the year.  I’m very happy about that, but I’m also where I was when I got stuck last year, and then discouraged.  I’m trying not to do that this year, no matter how slow it is coming off.

The dinner I am cooking tonight might not be conducive to weight loss.  Here it is before going in the oven.  Yum. I like some homemade pizza.

I have been trying to prepare more of our meals in the evenings.  That eats up a chunk of my free time, along with the workout beforehand. It seems when I add a new activity, something else is sure to fall behind.  Right now, it’s the housework and quilting.  Isn’t is always the housework, though?  Dust…where does it all come from??

I have been doing some reading.  Even though I haven’t taken a single stitch in about a week, I’ve been reading about quilting.  My Quilter’s Home issue came, and my OBW book, for the upcoming class at guild.

Mark has a pattern for a mini iron & crystal wand keeper, that I really want to try to make.  I’d like to make one larger, also, for my curling iron or flat iron.  There’s also a great scissor review in this issue.

I bought fabric for the OBW quilt.  I mentioned it in my last stash report, but here’s a pic.  I bought it from Knot & Bolts.  I think it will make a cool OBW.

We aren’t supposed to start any of it til the class.  At the class we are doing the octagon version.  And once I break down and buy some new fabric, for any reason, that seems to be all it takes to get me started.  I will have confessions for this week’s stash report.  I bought another fabric that I thought would make a good OBW, but now that I have it in my possession, the pattern isn’t as large as I thought, so I’m doubtful that it will be successful, but I’m going to try it anyway.  And I’ll try the hexagon version with it.  I hope to work on it before I go to class.  After reading over the book yesterday, I was One Block Wondering in my dreams last night.

And when I went to checkout, my cart told me I could get XX more yards for the same shipping price. (I’ll not tell how many yards til Sunday!) Well, I had already seen this cutie, and, promptly went back and added those XX yards of it to my cart!

Love those funky little chickens!

I also read a book that I loved…Same Kind Of Different As Me.  I read it, then read it aloud for my DH.  He loved it, too.  It was a very emotional read, for me.

April will be an even busier month for me.  I have to travel to Austin, with my boss, for a few days, for the Texas Probation Association annual conference.  When I get home, I have some special company coming for the Easter weekend.  The next week, we are off to Lubbock for my son’s district golf tournament, and while we are there, my DH has an appointment with another doctor for his ankle.  Then, depending on how the team does at District, I could possibly be traveling back to Lubbock the next week, for regionals.  I am taking a short break from customer work, til my life slows back down a bit.  I have some quilts in queue, but they aren’t in my possession yet, and I think I will leave it that way til later in May, or possibly June. I haven’t even started the quilting on my 9P & Stripe quilt I have ready.  I have to find my limitations, and learn to work within them, or I might implode.

Stash Quilting Report, 2-8-09

I used 2.75 yds adding the borders to my 2nd 9P & stripe quilt.  I had zero yards come in.

• Incoming Yardage to date: 0 yds.
• Outgoing Yardage to date:  20.5 yds.
• Total Stash Busted to date: 20.5 yds.

This will be the next top of my own to go on the longarm.  I have some customer work coming this week, that will go first, however. I think I am seeing some crosshatching & some feather.  Not sure what else.  What do you think?  I even toyed with the idea of just doing a panto on this one, but I think I’ll stick with custom.  I intend to use this quilt in our bedroom, as our fall quilt.

Stash Report, 1-25-09

This week my fabric busted is gifted fabric.  3 yards for a birthday gift to a guild member, the one who gave me that awesome reindeer ornament, and another 3/4 yds. to another recipient, and another 1.5 yds to another recipient.  But the last two don’t know it yet, so I won’t say who.  I did start that little applique block of the month, but I haven’t figured out how to count that yet.  I had to use bits of two fat quarters, but the rest I am using scraps.  I have a feeling I will be using the rest of those two fat quarters in the project, but will know more when we get the next block.  If I use more of them, then I will count them as busted, in a later report.  At least they are off the shelf.

So my report for this week is:

• 0 yds. in this week
• 5.25 yds out this week
• 0 yds. in ytd
• 17.5 yds. out ytd
• total busted ytd is 17.5 yds

I have made some more progress on the stash projects I started right after Christmas.  I cut up some more of the fat quarters for my Gracie’s Star, and they are all ready to sew into blocks.

I have these left to cut up.

I cut my Kona white into these.

Started sewing them onto these.

I had to go ahead and sew one corner together, just to make sure it was going to work.

I’m really enjoying my time spent working with these fabrics.  I love them!  I hope to enter this quilt in some shows.  At least some smaller, local area shows.  And I may even get brave and send it somewhere like MQS next year, to get some judge’s comments.  We’ll see.

The First Stash Report of 2009

• Incoming Yardage to date: 0 yds.
• Outgoing Yardage to date:  9 yds.
• Total Stash Busted to date: 9 yds.

And we’re off! A whole new year of busting that  stash has begun.  I’ve been working away on some new projects, and preparing to do some more work on some older WIPS. 

Stash busted that I am counting for this week is as follows:

5.25 yards finishing up the commissioned memorial t-shirt top, preparing the backing, and the binding. 

3.75 yard in 30′s repros. for the Boston Commons quilt.

I also got 4 more stars made for Gracie’s Star today.  I am not going to add this to my totals til the stars are all made.  This is a queen size top, but when I had the stars laid out on the bed today, I realized that I could easily make it big enough for my kingsize bed by adding a border.  So, I may do just that.  This one is going to use up some stash!

I got quite a lot of pressing done this weekend, too. In addition to pressing the fabric for the t-shirt top, and the fabric for my star blocks as I go along, I pressed 10 yards of backing for one of my 9P & stripes, I pressed 5 yards of Kona white for my Boston Commons, and I pressed the border fabric for the other 9P & stripe quilt.

The white is a fabric I will likely restock in my stash after I use it.  It’s a good staple to have on hand, because when you need it, you need it now…and it’s not like I can just run out to a fabric shop and pick some more up. I try to keep some of both white and black. 

I ended up with 15 finishes for 2008.

1. Jill’s fleece blanket (customer job)
2. Julie’s fleece blanket (customer job)
3. Wild Onion Jacket for Mom
4. Megan’s fleece blanket (wedding gift)
5. Harold fleece blanket (thank you gift)
6. Commissioned Full-size log cabin for Parkers
7. Carrie’s Pillow Shams
8. Ribbon Taffy
9. Greg’s Courthouse Steps quilt
10. Teresa & Rick’s fleece blanket (wedding gift)
11. Betty’s fleece blanket for Doug (customer job)
12. Commissioned memorial quilt #1 for the Martinez family
13. Pillow cases for my aunt
14. Betty’s bleece blanket for Howard (customer job)
15. Daddy’s Log Cabin

And my final stash reporting for 2008 was:

• Incoming Yardage to date: 200 yds.
• Outgoing Yardage to date:  120 yds.
• Total Stash Busted to date: <80> yds.

I’m already having fun quilting away in 2009.  I guess that’s it for this week.  Can’t think of anything else!  Tomorrow will start my first full week back at work since the holidays and my vacation started.  It’s going to be hard to get back in the groove.  Have a good one!

A New Backyard Visitor!

What a cutie!

We have lived here just over eleven years and this is the first time we have seen a squirrel in the yard, or the neighborhood, for that matter.  I quickly put some of Bunbun’s leftover food in the bird feeders for it, but as soon as it thought it was safe, it scampered away and over the fence next door.  Darn! I wanted to watch it gobble up the goodies I put out for it. 

21 more stars to go! I timed myself on the last two and it took me 35 minutes to get them done.  I should have between 5 & 6 more hours of star sewing left to have all the blocks done.  Then I can decide on the final layout and start getting those rows together.

I'm seeing stars!

Small Change = Big Difference

Ok, so I really like these fabrics together.

I really like the individual stars I’ve been making with them.

However, I  wasn’t liking them together. It just wasn’t working for me.  I was feeling like I was really messing up a lot of pretty fabric.

And then I rearranged them…again.  But I used a different approach.  Instead of trying to alternate lighter star/darker background blocks, I quit paying attention to that, and laid them out according to backgrounds only.  Much better!  Now, it’s working for me. 

Only 29 more to go!

Stash Busting BUSTED Report

Right here at the end, when I was doing so well…I busted it big.  And I’m not a bit sorry.  As I stated in a previous post, the fabric store, that my Mom & I like to visit together, is going out of business.  Everything was 50% off.  I love that fabric store and it was my last ever shopping trip there.  I bought big, but I think I made wise choices.  Things that will be very useful when shopping the stash.

Here is the sack.  It reminded me of Santa’s.

My shopping spoils.

Mmmmm….68 yards of yummy fabric goodness.  Love it!

My final totals for 2008:

• Incoming Yardage to date: 152 yds.
• Outgoing Yardage to date:  120 yds.
• Total Stash Busted to date: <32> yds.

Today I have been in a piecing frenzy, but I will save those pictures for later this week.  Maybe my Wednesday WIP post.  My new  header will give you a tiny sneak peek. I’ve been working on three projects at one time!  2009 may be the year of project-itis. I have two days of vacation left.  I am enjoying it so, so very much.  I wish it didn’t have to end.

Lots of Stitching Going On

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a very nice, laid back day around here.  It was just my husband, son and me.  Then yesterday, we went to Pampa to spend the day after Christmas with my parents.  We had a wonderful day with them.  We waited til the day after because the fabric store there is having a going out of business sale, and it was open on Friday.  I am sad it is closing.  Mom & I really enjoyed our little outings there together.  So of course, we had to have one last hoorah there :-)  There will be more about that in my Sunday stash report…hehehehe.

Today was a great day, as well.  I finished up the quilting on my customer quilt, and I am pleased with it.  I hope she will be.  I sure had fun working on it.

After I finished this, I felt like just doing some piecing.  Piecing for the sheer fun of watching the pretty blocks come together.  Remember these fabrics I purchased earlier this year?

I couldn’t stand just looking at it any longer.  I had to start cutting it up and sewing it back together.

These blocks are FUN to sew together.  I also washed some white fabric and some 30′s repros that I want to use in another quilt.  And I’ve done some sewing on the leaders/enders scrap quilt I’m making for my Mom.  I’ll put pics of that in tomorrow’s post. 

I am truly grateful for days like this.  They are like a little gift.  I hope you are enjoying your weekend and doing something you love!