3 Months left in the year

I just had the best visit with my Mom. Every time she comes to town we have such a great time sewing, shopping and catching up on all our new projects.

We finished a bunch of tagged blankets, made some fabric appliques, and went to town making placemats and table runners. I wish I had taken some pictures.

I did finish and mail out my Fall Mini Swap to Talia. She requested not cutsey and overtly Halloween and small! I am not sure if it was the heat wave we were having here in NoCal or the fact that the leaves are not starting to change, but I was not feeling in the fall and went with more of a primitive look with fallish type colors. I wasn't feeling fancy, but took my inspiration from antique doll quilts.

Hope she likes it!

3 months left in the year to finish my goals....wonder if I will finish them? Suppose I should go check to see what my goals were?!?

Susan

An Update

So many things have been going on, and blogging has not been getting the attention it deserves! I started writing this so I could have a place that I could record for my self (and any one else reading) my thoughts, inspirations and progress. Now, six months later, I have done next to no sewing in 3 months! It's not that I have not been inspired by things, I have. It is not that I haven't had a lot of time, I could make some more time. I guess it has been a lack of motivation, of get up and go.

What have I been working on....

Well, I did make a few Mini Quilts. The first one, I made for Sophie, for her first birthday. It was her first doll baby quilt. She plays peek a boo with it more often than using it with her dolls, but I love seeing it draped on the little chair in the family room.

I also made a Mini Quilt for a swap that I was involved in with the HGTV message board. In this swap, hosted by Holee, we were to make a quilt that said "Summer" to us. It was up to the maker the pattern/color--summer was our only guideline. My partner, abxkris, made the best mini. The intricacy in the paper pieced star was amazing, and she mimicked the swirl pattern on the fabric in the quilting.


In return, I made my interpretation of the "summer" theme. I am a pretty traditional quilter. I like half square triangles, points matching, flying geese and civil war reproductions. So, I picked a super traditional patter, but made it in bright batiks. I love how it turned out. I think beach ball when I see it, but I think Ryan thinks I am a bit crazy!


What else have I been up to....

I did make a few tissue packs/wallets for hostess gifts, and have been exploring using my Cricut to cut out applique shapes. My mom (Karibbean Quilter) and I have been working on a way for her to be able to cut easily and accurately sealife/island motifs to applique on t-shirts. Still working out the kinks, but getting closer.


I did drop of 3 quilts at the long armer two weeks ago. The first was a top my Mom made with various patriotic fabrics. She did a great job of fussy cutting the sayings and pictures. We decided that it was busy enough and she did not need to add any borders to the quilt.
The second quilt was a top that I had finished up last year. It is a take 3 pattern using doggie fabric. My mom is going to give it to her friends grandson. I think it will be perfect!

The 3rd quilt I dropped of was a Thimbleberries quilt that I started in 2007. My dear friend Doreen, and I were a part of Thimbleberries Club and of course had to make (or start) all of the quilts offered that year. I was so proud how we used our stash for most of the fabrics in this quilt and I think the top only cost me about $15.00 to make. Since we are about to make some housing changes in our lives I thought this would be a good quilt to get quilted.


So, how am I doing stash wise you might ask...
I really have not bought anything. Honestly, I have gone to a few quilt shops but have been so busy, that I have not really done any buying. My mom and I did pick up some fabric at Checker for her business, but seriously, I was good!
What have I used....Not alot, but I'll report anyhow. I am guessing that the two minis used about 1 and 1/2 yards of fabric. I would have guessed less, but there were a ton of half square triangles and those eat up fabric! I'm guessing that the hostess gifts used about 2/3 yard total and the Cricut samples used about 1/3 yard.
To the bigger numbers....
The Take 3 used 2 yards, and the House Quilt used (according to the pattern-this seems like alot though...) 8 yards. Backing fabric was 1.5 yards for the Doggie Quilt, and The TB House Quilt backing used 4 yards.

So that brings my totals to....
Fabric in this period- 0
Fabric in YTD- 32.8 yards
Stash used this period...18 yards!
Stash used YTD- 52.4 yards

Net: -19.6 yards!

Have not reported in a while.

I think the saying "When it rains it pours" just might be true. Luckily for me not everything has been bad, but just things seem to be happening right on top of each other and I have gotten hardly any sewing done. I also have not done alot of buying too so that is a good thing.

I also made a few wallets for her. Not a huge stash buster but .4 yards were used for this!

We also made plans for a few braided table runners and I gave her some fabric to use on another quilt. I think I will allocate about .75 yards for this give or take. Not a ton, but she can use the fabric and I was not. I would much rather see the fabric being used.

I also worked on a table runner for her. It uses .75 yards. I have not finished it yet, so the borders and the backing will add some more. I have this at home so hopefully when I finish I will take a picture. I used left overs from the quilt Mom made me, "Demento Box" (play on Bento Box cause it drove her crazy...see I told you she was creative!). Anyhow it is a gorgeous yellow and blue and green butterfly/willow print Maywood Studios put out a few years ago. It is some of my favorite fabric of all time and I knew this would be perfect for a table runner.

Now the purchasing...

I have to admit I have been pretty good. I did get .5 yards of 1930's prints at a shop on Saturday that was having a sale. Not too bad because the shop was having 20%off all fabric!
And I honestly think that is it for the past few weeks! Amazing!

Now for the report....

Fabric in this week: .5 yards
Fabric in YTD: 32.8 yards

Fabric used this week: 3.4 yards
Fabric used YTD: 34.4 yards

Net Fabric: -1.6 yards

(back in the negatives!)

Stashbusting Report

Ok, so I am several weeks behind.  Honestly, I have not fallen off the band wagon.  Just been super busy.  I have been to Virginia and New York and am headed back to New York tomorrow.

Ok, so in the past few weeks I purchased 31/3 yards of fabric.  Mostly it was for the Bear in Farm House project I am working on.  I needed a bit more in the light gold department and did purchase the dark green batik to use for the border.  The picture of my progress so far is in the post below.

Other than that...I have used up not as much as I would have liked, but some is better than

 nothing.

I made this neat potholder for a dear friend on the HGTV message board.  I over analyzed how to make it, so Ryan drew me a heart and I went from there.  It turned out really cute.  I can not wait to make some more for family and friends.

I did finish my Mini Quilt for the swap hosted by Holee (I will link her blog in a few).  We each had a partner and asked them their favorite colors, but it was pretty much up to us as to what we made.  I made this black and while flying geese mini for my partner, Ali.  I knew she really liked black and whites and I love to make flying geese.  Each of these flying geese measure 1x2 inches!   I was surprised at how fun it was to make.  

Ali made me the prettiest mini that just screamed spring.  I love all of the romantic florals that she used, and accenting it with the birds.    She did such a great job of melding my taste of fabrics into her style of quilting.  Isn't that how quilting friendships should be?

Here are the results...

Fabric in this week: 3 1/3 yards
Fabric in YTD: 32 1/3 yards

Fabric used this week: 4 1/3  yards
Fabric used YTD: 31 yards

Net Fabric: +1 1/3 yards

Bears in Farm House Step 4

Here is my Bear's in the Farm House step 4.

I love how this quilt is coming along and I hope that Daniele and Luke love it too!

I am quickly becoming attached to it.  Most of the fabrics I collected on Ryan and I's vacation to Oregon in the summer of 2006.  We went to several wineries and were even able to see the Sister's Quilt Show.  It was a great trip full of many wonderful memories.

The next step should be the conclusion and I hope to get that finished soon as well.  Only 3 more borders left.  Judy wasn't kidding when she said that she loves borders.  

Bears In Farmhouse Step 3

For Step 3 of Judy L's Bear's in the Farmhouse quilt along we had to use the 192 half square triangles and form 12 blocks.  I finished by 12 blocks tonight.  I did have to purchase a about 1/4 yard total of the light gold to have enough, but the rest was from all from stash.

I hope that Daniele loves her Bear Paw Quilt!

Stashbusting Weeks 8 and 9

This is a two week report because last weekend I went down to my inlaws house in Virginia. Ryan and Sophie left the day before and I went down the next day. I missed them terribly and must have been missing them too much because I cut part of the block in an entire queen size quilt wrong! I was starting to sew the blocks together and I noticed that the particular unit was a half an inch too small! I was besided my self, as the quilt was a kit that my Mom got for me out of the Quilt Shop Sampler Magazine from 2006! Three years ago, and there was no way that I was going to be able to replicate those fabrics. Put the project away for the night and thankfully came up with a creative way to piece the unit so it is not so noticable. I finished 8 blocks so far...
It is a fat quarter quilt that will ultimatly bust 34 fat quarters and 3 yards of borders. I have all of the "b" strips sewn together and hope to get the top completed by next week.

I did get the middle of the leader and ender project completly put together. I had no yardage of anything that went with the quilt to finish it off so I did buy 2 yards of a beautiful brown Thimbleberries print to use as an inner and thicker outer border. I still have to piece a middle border. I will pick up this leader and ender project when I won't get it confused with my current project! I did use a fat quarters worth of fabric to finish up the middle.

Last week I did make a trip out to see my dear friend Doreen while she was working at Crisitina's Quilt Shoppe where I used to work as well. We spent about an hour catching up and I was pretty bad in that I bought 3 yards of Moda Black fabric and two half yard pieces of beautiful orientals to go with my Michelle Obama prayer quilt. My mom is so good hers is already pieced! While I was there though I fell in love with an Alexander Henry print for a One Block wonder print. I was good though and did not buy any....a week later, 4.5 yards arrived at my house. Doreen did not want the fabric to sell out. I did buy her two yards of the Bernina Batik, and need to get that in the mail to her.

I did finish the 192 half square triangles all from stash (1.25 yards!) and did use a quarter of a yard to make fabric labels.

So....

Fabric in this week: 10.5 yards (eek!)
Fabric in YTD: 29 yards

Fabric used this week: 2 yards
Fabric used YTD: 26.67 yards

Net Fabric: +2.34 yards

Bears in the Farmhouse: Part 2

I am working on Judy Laquidara's Quilt-Along. She has designed a Bear Paw Quilt and is providing the steps to those who read her blog and want to follow along.

Step one was picking out our fabrics. I picked fabrics left over from the log cabin quilt that I made commerating Ryan and I's trip to Oregon.

Step two was making 192, yep, 192 half square triangles for the paws.

All 192 triangles are made, just need to square them up.

Thanks Judy!

Judy L's Quilt Along

Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times is sponsoring a Quilt Along. She designed a Bear Paw quilt that I think would be perfect for a wedding present I want to make. So.... the first step required us picking our fabrics.

Instead of following her pattern to a "T" , I hope to put my own twist on it by making it super scrappy with many different fabrics. I have not picked out a final outer border, as I did not have anything in my stash and I like to pick my borders after I finish the inner part. Hope this was ok!

Here is a picture of the fabrics I am using. They are leftovers from Ryan and I's trip to Oregon. I made a scrappy log cabin quilt to remember the trip. Just need to quilt it...

Stashbusting Report Week 8

I was pretty productive this week.

Monday was the best. I made my BOM for the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forum. I decided to do this in 1930's repros in reds, yellow, and blues mixed in with Kona Snow. I am so glad I got a bolt of that when I did!

On Monday I also made a quilt block for a member of the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forum who was collecting blocks for a comfort quilt for a women who has breast cancer. I was glad to be able to help out and used up some scraps from the Quilt Pink Quilt.

I also made Ryan's Valentines Day present on Monday. He had been wanting some new fleece pj pants so I whipped them up on Monday. He was so excited, he could not wait until Saturday to have them. He put them on immediately and wore them all day long.

I did finish the binding on the two ABC quilts for J and Sophie. I know they will love them both. Just need to put a label on them and then get them in the wash.

My leader and ender quilt is progressing right along. I made all of the blocks and have started assembling them together. I have 1/4 of the top put together.

Ok, here is this weeks results...

Fabric in this week: 2 yards

Fabric in YTD: 18.5 yards (eek!)

Stashbusted this week: 4.67 yards

Stashbusted YTD: 24.67 yards

Net: -8.16 yards

Pictures I was supposed to Post Last Week!

Sophie's ABC Quilt (above)

J's ABC Quilt

Stashbusting Week 7

What a week!

I had a great time this week working on the ABC quilts for my neighbor J and Sophie. I made an ABC quilt for J's brother C for his birthday and he absolutely loved it. I have been meaning to finish the one for J but it always seemed to get put to the bottom of the pile. This week I finally took it out and quilted it. While I was at it I made a top for Sophie and also got it quilted tonight. Just need to bind them both and put a label on it.

You might be wondering what an ABC quilt is. An ABC quilt is really quite simple, just a novelty square of fabric for every letter of the alphabet. So, in Sophie's there are Apples, followed by butterflies, cats, ducks, eggs, flowers...etc. I sash them up and put four corner squares with an alphabet print on them and quilt them up. They measure about 40X50 and are perfect for little ones. Sophie's is all purple and girlie and J's is green. Both of these quilts busted a total of 6.67 yards.

I also finished up the four patch squares for the 4 patch plaid leader and ender quilt. Ryan even figured out how many of each type of blocks to make the top simpler to put together. This busted .67 yards.

I also sent Brandyquilter a fat quarter and a .34 yard,cut and Tonya 3 fat quarters of some thirties prints. They were so generous to share with me some 1930's prints. I am working on some goodies for two other very generous ladies. Hope to show these next week! (total busted here is 1.34 yards)

Not a lot in this week I am happy to report. Ryan and I went to a quilt shop here in Saline, The Quilting Season. It is a small shop and I never really gave this shop much attention because I thought it was far from home, but Sophie needed a drive so we went and found a quicker way to get there so I might be visiting it more often. Anyhow I did pick up 3 fat quarters. I picked up two beautiful cheddar Civil War prints and Sophie picked out a new black and white one.

My stashbusting "prize" for the month arrived today. Garden Pat from the HGTV Quilting and Needlework message board motivates and rewards us for using up are stash for a particular month. She and Twostep have all sorts of great prizes and motivations. You should check us out!

Ok, here is this weeks results...
Fabric in this week: 1yard
Fabric in YTD: 16.5 yards (eek!)

Stashbusted this week: 8 and 2/3 yards
Stashbusted YTD: 20 yards

Net: -3.5 yards

Yep! Doing the Happy Dance! Back in the negatives!

(will post pics tomorrow)

Stashbusting Report Week 5

Well what a week! I did great as far as stashbusting, bust did do a bit of shopping. The "Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?" fabric arrived at my local quilt shop. I of course just had to have some. I picked out (gasp) 9 yards of fabric...in my defense though it is for the top and the backing. I think I have picked out a pattern for it, and will post it when I am for sure. We love reading all of the Eric Carle/Bill Martin Jr. books to Sophie and I have the Hungry Caterpillar fabric all waiting to be made into a quilt.


I did finish making all 5 little people bags for Sophie's toys. I made it so that there is plane fabric for the plane and Noah's Ark fabric for the Noah's Ark set and so forth. So far she has really enjoyed playing with the bags more so then the toys themselves this week. I totally over analyzed how to make these bags....they have no exposed seams and have a functional drawstrings. This used 2 and 1/3 yards of fabric.















I did finish the Moda Quilt Pink II quilt top. I am so excited that I finished this top before Valentines Day. The pieced border gave me mild fits, but I think that is simply because I hate putting borders on quilts. Not sure when I will get it quilted, but it is a little bigger than I like to on my machine. Who knows, maybe I will get adventurous. This used 3 more yards of stash!















I also made 56 four patch blocks for the leader/ender quilt that I am working on. I have really enjoyed working on this and seeing the pieces come together. It is really amazing how quickly this quilt is coming together.















Ok, here is this weeks results...


Fabric in this week: 9 yards
Fabric in YTD: 15.5 yards (eek!)



Stashbusted this week: 6 and 1/3 yards
Stashbusted YTD: 11 and 1/3 yards


Net: + 4 and 1/6 yards

Stashbusting Weeks 3 and 4

I am reporting the stashbusting for Weeks 3 and 4. I was in St. Thomas last week for my sisters wedding so I could not report!



I kinda fell off the wagon this week.....well to put it mildly I did buy alot of fabric! I got some fabric to make "Little People" Bags (they are simply drawstring bags to hold all of Sophie's Fisher Price Little People. I wanted to get matching novelty fabric so that Sophie would learn to put her toys away properly! I hope to start on those tomorrow and will show some pictures then.



So...here it goes..



Fabric in Week 3 and 4: 6.5 yards(GASP!!!!)

Fabric in YTD: 6.5 yards



Stashbusted Week 3 and 4: 3.5 yards

Stashbusted YTD: 5 yards

Net: +1.5 yards

Hope to do better next week!

Pics of Wallet for Mom

My mom and I are working on some wallets, I will be back later to edit all the info, but both Mom and I are visual people so I took a few pictures for her!

Back from Sunny St. Thomas!

No stash report last week as on Saturday, Ryan, Sophie, and I were on the wonderful island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. My parents live on island and my sister was getting married. She was a beautiful bride and her husband looked equally dashing in his Navy Dress Whites. While we were down there, my Mom (also a quilter) and I were out shopping and we went to a wonderful little children's boutique featuring local artisans around the island. They were potentially interested in carrying a few of items. Go Mom! We also set up a blog for her so when I get the go ahead I will post a link to it!


So, before I left, I did finish up the 25 quilt pink blocks. They look great and tomorrow while Sophie is sleeping I hope to get them sewn into a top. I need to make the half square triangles for the border, but that might be next weeks goal. I also made quite a few more leader and ender blocks....


While we were away, my machine went into the shop for it's annual cleaning and tension repair. I am pretty hard on my machine and now it is purring like a baby! I love sewing on it right when it gets back from the shop. No major repairs, but I think they did bend my needle threader back into place which makes me super happy.


Today, I made two blocks for 7 quilts that the HGTV quilters are making for the fireman of Gastonia, North Carolina. These gentlemen for the past several years have been drawing the winners for our HGTV raffle quilts. Right now, HGTV Quilters are raffeling off 23 quilts with all of the proceedes going to the Ronald McDonald House in Dallas, Texas. The goal is to raise enough money to sponser a paving stone. The Ronal McDonald House is a wonderful organization and I am proud to be a part of raising money for it.

Some Pictures....

I made six more blocks for the Quilt Pink II quilt. I also finished cutting the entire quilt (except for the borders). Hopefully I will get the remaining 9 blocks made tomorrow and sewn together on Wednesday! All of the half square triangles are cut, but need to be marked and pinned. They should go together fairly easily.

This block is done with the stitch and flip method. So, being the resourceful quilter I am, I sewed another line to produce a "bonus" triangle. This is something I always say I am going to do and then never do. I am so happy I did it this time, and I think I will make a doll quilt for Sophie out of the scraps. As the squares are small, untrimmed about 1.75 inches maybe? I want to keep the pattern pretty simple, but am experimenting with different design possibilities.

I finished all of the A units for the Nickel quilt. The pattern I am doing is in The Nickle Quilt Book by Pat Speth, called Four Patch Plaid. I am amazed how quickly this is coming together just by using this quilt as my leaders and enders. Next I start on the four patch units!

Thats all for now, busted though 1.1 yards of stash today!

Stashbusting Week 2

Well week two was a bit more productive than week one! I managed to bust through a total of 1.5 yards! Yeah!

I worked on my "Quilt Pink II" quilt. I coveted the the pretty rolled up fat quarters last year and my dear friend Doreen got them for me for my birthday. I have just started working on it and completed 10 of the 25 blocks. I also got another 13 cut out from the fat quarter bundle and only have two left to cut out. In case anyone else wants to do this pattern, there is alot of fluff built into the pattern. I have been saving the "bonus" triangles and hope to make a doll quilt for Sophie for her birthday in May. This busted a yard of stash.

Second thing I worked on was one of my goals. I started a leader/ender project using precut Thimbleberries and Civil War Repros. I had accumulated a lot of 5" squares from nickle swaps on line, and am just now getting around to using them. I picked which squares I was going to use and managed to get 24/46 of the first unit made! I can not remember the name of the pattern right now, but will update it when I take pictures. I was amazed how quickly this quilt was growing as all of the cutting was done! This busted 1/2 yard of stash!

I would like to also give some credit to Judy Laquidara. Her blog Patchwork Times is a great resource for all quilters. I have only been following it for a while but she has been a great inspiration for busting through stash. She also has several "Quilt in an Hour" quilts and is currently having her first Quiltathon. Check her out!

So No fabric purchased this week!
No fabric purchased this year!

1.5 yards busted this week
2.0 yards busted this year

I will be back to post some pictures later...

Susan

Christmas String Quilt Finished!

I finished binding my Christmas String Quilt last night. I am so glad to have it finished and no longer a UFO. Ryan washed it for me and I love how the quilt puckered and hid my uneven quilting! After being washed it does not look half bad. I am pretty impressed if I do say so my self. When Ryan and I were talking we think that this is the largest quilt I have ever machine quilted myself. It is not huge, maybe 50x70 inches, but I did it myself. Best news is that I used all stash for this project. It has even been Marcus approved by him hiding under it and Sophie approved by rolling all over it!

Stashbusting Report Week One

For Week Ending Jan 3, 2008

No fabric purchased

1/2 yard stash used

Net -1/2 yard

One Small Step...

Ok, I was really not digging the Christmas String Quilt, but I had made a promise to my self to finish anything I started in 2008: hence the internal guilt to finish the quilt. So, while Ryan and Sophie were in VA I finished putting the top together, layered and basted it, and got the middle quilted. I hit a standstill there. My excuse was it was the holidays and I had company visiting from out of town, but truth be told, I did not want to finish this project.

I had a few moments tonight, so I sat down at the machine and said "I am going to stipple the borders." Mind you my idea of stippling is calling my nearest long armer and seeing how fast she can fit it in her schedule. But in an effort to be a more well rounded quilter and more economical at that, I really wanted to improve my machine quilting skills in 2009. Things started out ok, and then it started sounding like a train was running over a Mac truck. My stitches were fairly even, but I thought to my self this can not be right. So, I ripped out what I had done and retried. Same Mac truck vs train noise.With a new bobbin, cleaned bobbin case, needle and adjusting my speed it only sounded like Mac Truck vs train for only about half of the time. I never noticed this sound with my old darning foot, (it was plastic, but my new one is metal). So, I am guessing I need to work out my speed and hand movements. To be on the safe side though I am going to take my machine in next week while I am out of town and let it get a check up.

But what I am excited about is that I did finish it tonight. It is stippled in the borders and the binding is machine sewed on. It is still a far cry from my favorite quilt ever made and the quilting certainly won't win any awards, but I am proud that I perservered and finished. So, Doreen, there might be hope for me after all!

Once I get the binding sewn on, I will wash it and take a picture and mark it as a UFO finished!

**This was also a GREAT stashbuster! I made all of the blocks I sent in to the swap from stash, my borders, back and binding were completly from stash. The batting was even stash batting! I will only count the binding as stash used for the week, because I started the process earlier, but still I am a half a yard down with no fabric purchased this week!