Stash Report 1.31.10

There has been a whole lot of nothing going on in my sewing room most of this past week. I think there were a couple days I didn't even go in there. I was in sitting and knitting mode. You know you are going to have that kind of a day when at 6:45 a.m. you are checking the Lifetime and Hallmark movie channels to see what is coming on next. Really, I shouldn't watch those movies first thing in the morning.....you know the kind, cry your eyes out, blow your nose all the way through movie. Yeah, that kind.

Saturday afternoon I finally sat at my machine. I pieced crumb blocks and string blocks and I put together a scrappy 9 patch from bits that were at the bottom of the bin. I think I ended up with 16 blocks total so I'm saying I used 2 yards. Guestimating counts in stash report, right???

Here is my pitiful stash report.

Used this Week: 2 yards
Used Year to Date: 27 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 23.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: 3.5

Check how everyone is doing at stashbusting by visiting our hostess with the mostess, Judy L at Patchwork Times.

Happy Feet

I've got new socks to keep my toes toasty. I can't believe how fast I got this pair finished. Only 2 weeks--that's pretty fast for me. I only work on them at night, mostly--there were those days when I just sat and knitted for a bit.

This is my first time using Patons Kroy Sock yarn. I think it knitted up nice. It think I did pretty good getting my stripes almost even.

Next on my agenda is a sweater for me. Or another pair of socks.

Say Cheese!

I am a huge fan of Suzanne McMinn's Chickens In The Road blog. I read it first thing in the morning--every morning--while I have my coffee. One morning she wrote about making a cheese press and I thought hmmmm, that's interesting-I could make that. Then a few days later, she wrote about making farmhouse cheddar. The wheels were already turning and then I started to wonder if I could make cheese. So I read a few articles on the web. Not too hard, I should seriously think about this.

Then Judy L made a comment on Facebook that she had ordered supplies to make cheese. I relied that I had been thinking about it and she invited me to join her. It didn't take much and I am now patiently waiting on my order so we can get the first cheese aging.

I went to Goodwill today looking for a big pot and didn't find one but when I found this fabulous cheese dish, I had to have it~~it was a sign~~I have cheese in my future. The funny thing is that I hate mice--with a passion. But these are cheese mice so they don't count. That's what I'm sayin'! Cheese!

It's Monday-That Means Share Your Design Wall

Here it is! I have made very little progress on Leland's cowboy quilt. These blocks were just put on the wall to show me what it could look like but I think I need to work a little harder on it. There will be several more blocks for this one. Pieced and not pieced. But it's progress and that's what I needed.

I started quilting my January UFO. I'm doing a feather border......I hope my feather technique improves today. It takes practice-that's what I keep saying. And that was one of my goals for the month so I'll keep working on it.

I have a few home chores to do this morning after being a slug most of yesterday. Then I am going to make some more feathers.

Grab yourself a cup of something and enjoy seeing what is on other design walls. See Judy L's tip about taping the block up in front of her, that's a good tip. My leader/ender block is taped up in front of me. It's so easy to get the little triangles turned the wrong way.

Stash Report 1.24.10

Gramma needs to show off Taylor's self portrait. It reminds me of when she was little and we watched Monsters, Inc. all the time. She would run around yelling "I've got my eye on you!" Someone needed to keep an eye on me this week.

I haven't spent much time in the sewing room after last weekend's Quiltathon. Just a few minutes here and there. I did finish the back for my Floral Freeze Frame quilt and it is now loaded and the quilting is started.

I've spent lots of time knitting this week and putzing around accomplishing not much of anything. I had my 2nd sock ready to do the heel flap and had to rip it all out and start over. My pattern called for 52 stitches, I for some reason had cast on 64. Maybe I should count more often instead of waiting until I'm ready to divide stitches. Now the 2nd sock is almost complete and then I'm going to start my sweater.

Here's my stash report:
Used this Week: 7 yards
Used Year to Date: 25 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 23.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: 1.5

Visit Judy L to see how awesome she is doing and check the links to other quilter's stash reports.

Happy Birthday today to my Mom.

Farm Fun

Since I don't have much to show in the way of sewing, quilting or knitting, I thought I'd share some of 10 year old Taylor's farm photos. She loves to take pictures and I think she is very good at it.

I can't believe she got Tony Dog to stand still long enough to get this shot. He is the guardian of the girls. He likes to play games with them and when they have had enough, they peck at him and he moves on to someone else.

Thanks for all the kind words and good thought for Jonah. He is doing fine now and I'm sure driving his poor momma crazy. Little boys shouldn't have to have their tonsils out and be confined to the couch. But he has his quilt and "Hey Doug, my snugglie has hugs in it."

Today I am going to spend the rest of the day in the sewing room. I have to have something for my stash report and design wall posts. ;-)

Design Wall Monday

Here is a quick design wall post. I did my small online group BOM late Saturday night. The new block is the one on the top left.

I am using 2 background white on white fabrics and the colors are brights that I pull from my scrap bin only. No cutting into new fat quarters or yardage.

Now that I am sitting here looking at the blocks, the pink and green one bothers me a bit. But before I make another one, I'll wait to see what the other 6 end up looking like. Who knows, after 6 more months, I might like it. ;)

Head over to Patchwork Times and check out everyone else's design walls. Get a snack and something to drink first...you may be here a while.

Quiltathon Day 2

I had goals for this Quiltathon weekend that Judy L of Patchwork Times hosted. I wanted to finish Jonah's quilt, I wanted to finish the Freeze Frame quilt, but first had to piece the back. 2 out of 3 goals is pretty good. All I have left to do to the Freeze Frame is cut the batting off the roll, load it, wind bobbins and get quilting. I'll have hubby help me with the batting roll after his show is over (can't interrupt Ax Men) and hopefully can quilt it on Tuesday.


While I was sewing my backing blocks together, I kept feeding half square triangles as my leader/ender. I have a pile of lights and colors right in front of the machine for easy pick up. When a row of backing blocks was finished, I had enough HSTs for one quarter of my l/e block. With 9 rows of blocks, I have enough HSTs to make 2 complete blocks. I'll start putting some of the quarter blocks together when this basket is full so I have a good variety. My 2 1/2" strip drawer is overflowing so I've been picking through that to cut pieces from.

So I will consider my Quiltathon weekend a success. I sewed, I spent time with my family, ate pretty darn good and didn't have to go anywhere. Now Taylor and I are going to make Grampa some chocolate chip cookies.

Stash Report

With all of the time I spent sewing this week, the only numbers I'm using are for this quilt. The other projects is on hold and I'll use those numbers when that quilt is done.
This week I had to get the solids for this quilt. So here's my report:

Used this Week: 10 yards
Used Year to Date: 18 yards
Added this Week: 4.5 yards
Added Year to Date: 23.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: <5.5>

Should be in the black next week, she says all hopeful.

Quiltathon Saturday

Judy L at Patchwork Times is hosting a Quiltathon this weekend and I couldn't pass up this event! I had a plan but you know how plans go sometimes. Among other things, I planned to finish this Warm Wishes quilt for Jonah. He is getting his tonsils out on Monday and I needed to make him a quilt--with motorcycles! I don't know how I managed it but the quilt is finished and he loves it.

While loading it on the frame, he had lots of questions.
Jonah: "What's that?"
Me: "That's called batting?"
J: "What's if for?"
Me: "It holds the hugs."
I started to meander.
J: "Why are you doing that?"
Me: "Because."

Off he goes to find other people that might answer his questions. Taylor was beading a necklace so she kept him entertained. I got the quilt quilted and I'm sewing on the binding and here he comes again.
J: "What's that?"
Me: "It's called binding."
J: "Why is it there?"
Me: "It keeps the hugs from falling out."
J: "Oh."

Off he goes.......As you can see, he likes it. He said he is going to sleep with it all the time. That makes my heart swell.

My other plans are still plans---maybe I can get a couple of them done tomorrow but tonight I need to spend time with with my kidlets.

2 More Finishes

January is looking good with finishes. It feels good to mark projects off the list. One more important project to do and then I can be picky with what I work on.

This is a diaper bag for my niece Anna. Her baby is due any day and I put this off until the last minute. I am not a fan of camo, especially for babies, but it's what she wanted so it's what I did. I used the Miranda Bag Pattern from Lazy Girl Designs. I love Lazy Girl Designs. I added the pocket to the front with a velcro closure inside the pocket and on the flap. There are lots of pockets inside. I hope she likes it and uses it. I think next time one of the girls wants a camo diaper bag, I'm going to tell them to borrow Anna's. I'm not sewing on camo any more.

Here are my socks that I finished tonight. I told hubby that I was going to stay up until I finished them. I only had the last 3 colors and the kitchener stitch to close the toes. I always have to get out my paper and read the directions out loud when I do it.

Edited to add yarn info: Felici self striping sock yarn from Knit Picks. And it looks like they are having a sale!!! I love wearing my socks made from this yarn!

I started another pair yesterday and when those are finished, I'm starting my sweater. And maybe another pair of socks.

Finished Projects

Last week at our Wednesday sewing group was Marian's birthday party. Me, being me, had it written on the wrong week so I didn't take her birthday gift. Marian had asked for blocks that were roller skating related. She was an award winning artistic roller dancer in her younger years. So I thought I would do an applique block. It was so horrid, it ripped, sewed, ripped and wadded it up and threw it in the fire! Then I got a brain storm and decided to make blocks with words that mean something to Marian. After talking with another friend, I had a list of dances that Marian did. After I got started, I just kept making them and ended up with 12 6" blocks. Today I took her the blocks. She loved them. Yeah!

Here is my fabulous hat model. She wasn't in the mood to model her latest hat, instead she put it on her foot. Then it became a game until.........

Peek A Boo!!

I really do have the cutest hat model ever.
Now I'll go back to my unfinished project........

What's On My Little Design Wall?

It's time for a new leader/ender project. Yesterday in the Stashbuster emails, someone posted a link to Merry Mayhem's page with an article written about scrap control. I had to go take a look! She has some very useful ideas but what really stuck with me was the photo of a quilt block.

On the left of my little design wall is 1/4th of the block she shows. It's an excellent long term leader/ender. Make 4 of these, join with the dark square in the center and you have a 12" block. It's going to take lots of these for a quilt top. Good thing I have lots of little fabrics. I need to fill my little basket with some light and med/dark HSTs to have beside my machine for easy picking/stitching. Do you know the name of this block?

The block on the right is based on Judy L's Out of the Bag quilt. You can find her free pattern in the side bar on her blog. My friend gave me a stack of 9" x 12" fabrics a couple years ago--before the layer cakes were all the rage. It's all cute western prints. So I resized Judy's block to fit my fabrics. So far this is as far as I've gotten. I need to get working on this before Leland is a teenager--you all know how fast time is going for us now!!

My agenda for the week is pretty full--I have to finish putting the last border on my drunkard's path sampler, finish a diaper bag and make a quilt for Jonah before next Monday. (He is having his tonsils out and needs a quilt from Gramma.) Hopefully I can get all this finished and have time to quilt the DP too.

Grab yourself a cup of something tasty and visit Judy L's Design Wall Monday and her friends to see what's on their design walls. Monday is my favorite blog day but I'll have to wait until later to visit everyone, I need to get to work.

Stash Report

I knew this was going to happen. I needed to buy fabric for 2 specific projects. And then I found a couple pieces at JoAnn's for 70% off and I couldn't leave them on the shelf!

The blue snowflake batik will go to a friend and the snowmen are part of a book panel. The motorcycle fabric will be for Jonah's quilt and the greens and brown are for the drunkard's path sampler. And there are a couple other pieces that I can't show just yet. So everything I bought has a purpose!
Even the 4 skeins of sock yarn. winkawinka!!

My stash report is:
Used this Week: 5 yards
Used Year to Date: 8 yards
Added this Week: 19 yards
Added Year to Date: 19 yards
Net Used for 2010: <11>

How NOT To Start Your Day

I had such great plans for today....finish the borders on my drunkard's path quilt so I can get started on the next project. I have a rolling tool chest that is to my left at the sewing table. I have a 16" square ironing board on top to that and that is where I do all of my pressing while sewing.

First thing this morning, I turn to press and CRASH, I sent the whole thing over! And you know that sent other things falling. My iron landed right smack on top of a project bag!

Here is my blatant product endorsement. Dritz Iron-Off Hot Iron Cleaner. If you don't have any, run out right now and buy yourself a tube or 2. Or wait until you are at the quilt/fabric store and remember to get some before you need it. If you are clumsy like me or if you work with fusibles, you want some in your tool box.

Now I need to get some more, so it is already on my list. It's one of the items I don't mind paying full price for because you know if I'm out of it, I'm going to need it.

Back to my borders.

Are You A List Maker?

I am! I need my lists to get things done. Truth is I like to mark things off my list. It shows me that I do get things done during the day.

This morning my list includes laundry (I keep track of how many loads I do), dancing with the vacuum , finishing this quilt top, make binding and make progress on the drunkard's path top.

So far I have marked 2 loads of laundry done, the quilt top finished and the binding made. I'll also mark on my list that I updated my blog.

I use Google calendar (you can get your own when you have a google account) to make my dinner menu for a week or 2 at a time...makes it easy to take what I need out of the freezer. I don't write that on my list but I used to, now I just check my calendar. When I took out the pork chops for tonight, I also took out a package of pumpkin puree and a package of pie crust so I better write make pie on my list!

This photo shows an awesome cloud formation from yesterday. I was fixing dinner, looked out the window and saw that so grabbed the camera and went out on the deck to get the picture. I love God Moments like this.

Now I must fold that load of clothes while I watch my favorite local morning show and then get back to the sewing room.

WaaHoo

I have a list of goals for January and now I get to mark one of them off! WaaHoo!

It's the little moments in my life that sometimes get me through the day. I mean silly, little moments. Like achieving a small goal that I set for myself. I have been sewing for a kabillion years and quilting for almost that long and I have never made a mitered corner! That is until today.

Next time I'll be a bit more careful with the fabric I choose but I decided to do the miters after the fabric was picked from the stash and cut. That's what happens when you use the design wall and pictures, you get to make different choices. Well I do anyhow!

So now that I have marked on my goal list, I need to get out of here and head to JoAnns to see what's on sale and what I can't live without--I need needles and then go to the quilt shop to buy special fabric for a special little boy. And hopefully get it used so I can stay in the + column on my stash report. I tell myself it isn't about the + or -, it's about how much fabric I use is a year. OK, whatever, it's about the winning the game with myself and that's means it's about the +.

Design Wall Monday

I love Design Wall Monday! It's my favorite blog day of the week.

This was my design wall as of last night--then I took it down to sew the borders on this morning. This has been my leader/ender project on and off for the last few weeks. My 2 1/2" bin was overflowing. Now I can shut it.

I saw a quilt almost like this at Quilting and Stuff by Knitnoid and bookmarked it knowing that someday......this is a perfect 9 patch and 4 patch quilt. After emailing and asking if she minded if I copied, I printed her picture to use as a guide. When the 4 and 9 patches were made, it went together really fast.

After seeing the picture, I don't like the 9 patch in the corner and I don't like the way the fabrics meet on the other corner. I think I am going to try may hand at mitered corners. And then to the yardage bin for some backing fabric. I am going to try freehand baptist fans like Mary does on this quilt.

Grab a cup of something to drink, head over to Judy L's at Patchwork Times and see what everyone else has on their design wall. I love Mondays in blogland.

Stash Report

I think Judy L at Patchwork Times has been doing the Stash Report for a couple years now. I love to read how everyone is doing and decided it's time to my to keep track of my stash. I think it will be fun to see exactly (or close to) how much fabric I use this year. I don't have a big stash of yardage but I have a big stash of scraps and small pieces. I don't usually buy fabric without a purpose but sometimes I just have to!

Bonnie at Quiltville has a great page of Misc. Stuff that will help me figure out how much yardage my scraps total.

This week I've been working on my leader/ender Sister's Choice quilt. The blocks are finished and sashing has been started. Today will be a great quilting day.

My first stash report beginning January 1 is :

Used this Week: 3 yards
Used year to Date: 3 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2010: 3 yards

The photo shows what I saw yesterday morning from the computer desk. I don't remember what was on OPB but whatever it was Maemae was talking to Papa about it and Elliot was concerned. How stinkin' cute is that!