Stash Report 6.13.10

I actually quilted this week, this is quilt number 2--it's been on the to be quilted pile since January! Is it a bit ironic that I'm quilting baptist fans on a drunkard's path sampler??? Ironic or just plain funny, I'm picking funny. My dear son won't care, he just wants his quilt. I have flannel on the back and it's quilting up very nice. I'm still sewing on my crumb quilt. I need to make a few more 3" blocks for the border. I've decided on my solid border fabric, I just need to cut it and sew it on.

Staying home is great for the stash busting!! Nothing added, 3.5 yards used for a small quilt back. I'm still hoping for positive numbers. Guess I'll use that for this month's goal.

Used this Week: 3.5 yards
Used Year to Date: 125.5 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 130.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: <5>

Check the stash reports of others by visiting Judy L at Patchwork Times.

Marking This One Finished!

I really think binding is my favorite part of the quilting process. I love it when a quilt is finished. Looking back through my blog/journal I see this top shown as my first Design Wall Monday post of 2010 and quilting was finished in May. It had been aging for too long and now it will be folded and put away until it is gifted to it's new owner. I had to explain to Louie that he was not the new owner. He is looking rather sad about that. Don't feel sorry for him, he claims all the quilts. Kind of like another child of mine.

This quilt is one of my new favorites. Everything was from the stash. The thread was the last of a cone with just enough to fill a bobbin for my sewing machine and various bobbins were emptied of 3 different colors within the same color family. I used the very last of the polyester batting-yeah-and tested my new favorite pantograph called Alfresco by Lorien Quilting. (The link will take you to my favorite quilting supply store aka Columbia River Quilting.)

Next up to finish is one of two secret projects I've been working on. One is almost to the quilting stage and one just needs the binding sewn down so it can go in the mail. I have to hurry because sometimes it's really hard for me to keep a fabulous quilt a secret.

Do You Sew Every Day?

I try but it doesn't always happen. I didn't think it would happen today but the new Moose On The Porch Quilt Along Jelly Roll block was posted this morning. I went in to just cut the pieces. Within 30 minutes, the block was finished.

I love this block! It was fun to be able to use strips from the 1 1/2" bag. So far I've only had to use some of my cream background fabric. Every thing else has been from the bags I got at the sale last year. With only 4 more blocks to make, I think I'll have enough. I should start thinking about sashing and borders.

EQ7 arrived in my mailbox today. Yeah! I can't wait to start playing with it but we have a couple days of sunshine and I'm going to take advantage of it. I had to run into town this morning and visit with my friend for a while this afternoon but I got lots of beans planted and staked and did quite a bit weeding. How come the weeds grow so fast when all we've had is rain??? Tomorrow is more beans, corn, zucchini and cucumbers. Today I wondered how many pints of beans I planted.

Design Wall Monday

Hurray, blogger is back working again! I would hate to miss a Design Wall Monday post! I decided yesterday to start putting together some of my 6" crumb blocks. I have them pinned in sets of 10 and the pile was toppling over. I grabbed 2 sets and sewed them into 2 rows. Then 2 more sets until I had 8 rows. It didn't take very long at all. Then I started sewing the 3" blocks for the borders.

A few weeks ago, my friend Sheila gave me a bunch of fabric for borders and backings. I think this quilt can use up some of that. I'll have to hang a piece of it and see.....still in the planning stages for now.

Today my EQ7 arrived in my mailbox.....woe is me. I cannot play with that right now. I just got home from town with a car full of veggie and flower starts that must be planted in the ground today while it isn't raining. It seems we are only allowed one dry day at a time around here.

Hop over to Judy L's and see what everyone is up to.

Stash Report 6.6.10

I spent Wednesday in 4th grade. I know I would never win on the Smarter Than a 5th Grader show because I had trouble with some of the 4th grade questions. The Oregon Trail presentation was very interesting. I even learned a few things. When I finally got home, I collapsed in the chair and sat there absorbing the quiet. 4th graders are very busy people!

Saturday was spent planting in the garden. It turned out to be a beautiful day but the rains are supposed to return so I hope to get some quilting done this week. Not much to report on the stash use this week. I made binding for 2 quilts but neither have been quilted yet. I spent quite a bit of time sewing but I can't tell you about it yet.

Used this Week: 1.25 yards
Used Year to Date: 122 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 130.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: <8.5>

Head over to Judy L's , wish her a happy birthday, check her stash report and the reports of others.

Early Morning Soultion

My Memorial Day Quilt top is finished!

Do you ever wake up early in the morning with the perfect solution to your dilemma? I do, quite often in fact. I talked about being 6" short of fabric for this quilt and thinking maybe I needed to go back into town to get more fabric. Well after thinking about it and thinking about it, I came up with the perfect solution to my corner block dilemma.


4am thought: Paper piece the corner blocks and they will come out perfect. That means I have to draw the block and my whites have to line up and I don't know if I can do it~~alarm rings at 4:30..........finally hubby is out the door just after 5 and I sit down at the computer with my coffee.

Check email and facebook, check my morning reads, open EQ5. I can do this, I can draw a block. I can piece my pieces and they will be fine. Whoever receives this quilt will not hate me because it isn't perfect. Breath in, breath out, draw a block.

As you can see, they came out fine. Block on the left with the center strip pieced isn't near as obvious as it appears in the picture. I love this quilt. Thanks Judy L for designing and sharing.

PS: Judy L's new mystery step 1 has been posted. You know what I'm doing next!!!

What's Happening On The Farm

Today is one of those days when you have to hurry to get anything done outside. We hadn't put anything at all in the garden. It's been too wet and too cold. Today we decided to bite the bullet and put something in. We got 12 tomato plants, a jalapeno pepper, 2 bell peppers and a cucumber plant. It's official, I now have a garden. I have 2 dozen broccoli plants and 10 other tomato plants on my kitchen window sill that will get put outside during the next few days to harden and by the weekend they will also be planted. They will either make it or not!

Miss Oprah is broody. And she is grouchy! She doesn't want to give up the egg but she has to. I left her a lavender golf ball to sit on. Maybe that's why she's grouchy. I thought another hen was going to be broody but she would rather play outside than sit in the house all day.

Here is what I sewed today. The latest Moose on the Porch Jelly Roll Sampler block is done. This is one of the times I say yuk....not my favorite fabrics. These blue pieces were in the bag of 2 1/2" strips and pieces. I usually like wonkieness but this time, not so much. So I'm not sure this block is a keeper. And then there is that seam that won't line up. After 4 times, I called it finished~

Design Wall Monday

I hit a snag on my Memorial Day Quilt. Wouldn't ya know it! I'm short on the medium blue fabric. After looking over my list and comparing it to the receipt, I've come to the conclusion that nothing was cut too short. What I have here is a major shrinkage problem!

So I've decided not to go 20+ miles back into town today but to go ahead with the fabric that I have and piece the pieces. I will only need make 5 of the border blocks this way and if it is too noticeable, then I will not use them. I'll have to wait until I get into town again. It's always something!

Check everyone's design wall by going over to Judy L's and following the links. Don't you love her purple and gold quilt!!!

Stash Report 5.30.10

Whenever I add to my stash, I always have a very good reason (excuse). This week I will blame Judy L. She is having the Memorial Day Challenge and I didn't have any big pieces of red, white or blue. What I did have was a gift card for my birthday from DeeDee and her family. I can't think of any better birthday gift than to make a quilt for a soldier. I am one day behind but I started a day late so technically, in my mind, I'm not behind.

And I needed backing and binding for a friend's quilt. Hopefully that can come off on next weeks report.

Here's my numbers:
Used this Week: 8 yards
Used Year to Date: 120.75 yards
Added this Week: 13 yards
Added Year to Date: 130.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: <9.75>

Visit Judy L's to see her quilt and to check on other stashbusters/reporters.

Quilt Along Progress

Judy L at Patchwork Times is hosting a Memorial Day Quilt Along. She is being very generous with this design and is offering to quilt tops sent to her. Be sure to read the guidelines for having your top quilted and finished by Judy L. The finished quilts will be sent to Alycia of Alycia Quilts and used for Quilts of Valor.

I started a day late and I'm hoping that by tonight I will be caught up with all of the steps. Judy's instructions are very easy to follow. If you have time and stash, you should consider joining the Memorial Day Quilt Along.

I Have A Date

When I got home yesterday and checked my email, I found a very exciting invitation from Taylor:
hey, grandma

i was wondering if you can come to my school for our
OREGON TRAIL FAMILY DAY!

IT'S ON this day, 9:20AM-2:00PM

ROOM:305
IT'S AT her school

THERE WILL BE...
* FOOD
* GAMES
* MUSIC
AND... A COVERED WAGON


You all know I accepted and cannot wait! I haven't been to 4th grade for a very long time.

Design Wall Monday

After several days on the design wall, I am starting to really like the hexagons. I wasn't too sure in the beginning. I think adding a few lights and the bright orange is helping.

I'm thinking I will mix them up instead of setting each design in rows like Julie is showing in the hexagon quilt along. Plus I had to make a few of the cubes. Will I use them? I don't know. Should I or not??? I'm thinking they will make their way into the quilt.

All of my strips are sewn together and cut into triangles. It's nice that I can sit down and make one or 2 then get up and do something else.

Go Monday morning means I need to grab a cup of coffee and head over to Judy L's and check on my friends . I love Monday morning in blogland.....it's a happy place.

Stash Report 5.23.10

Blogger doesn't want to upload my photo this week. Maybe I'll try again later. In the meantime:

I had a very good quilting week. I quilted 3 quilts, including one of my own. I worked on my hexagons when I needed sit down time. I have all my pieces cut for Judy L's soon to start mystery.

I was hoping to find 8 more inches of this fabric for binding but I think I used all of it. You know what, it is a scrap quilt and I hope the person I am giving it to will not care that an 8 inch piece of binding is different from all the rest. (And if she does care, I'll take the quilt away from her.)

My stash report is not too bad. I bought fabric for Judy's mystery and Saturday I visited with friends that were attending a retreat. My friend Sheila reduced her stash by gifting me 15 yards of fabric to use for backing for my string quilts. Bless her generous heart! And a real biggie for me is using the very last piece of poly batting! It worked great in this quilt but I am truly happy not to have any more of it taking up valuable space and you all know it does take up space!

Used this Week: o yards
Used Year to Date: 112.75 yards
Added this Week: 24 yards
Added Year to Date: 117.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: <4.75>


Go to Judy L's to see how others are doing with their stash.

Hexagon Dreams

I spent yesterday quilting my friend Marian's One Block Wonder. She chose a very bright, happy pinata fabric and I've had a blast working on it. (Yeah for the return of the quilting mojo!) Almost a full day of smooth sailing. (There was the time I spent looking for the batteries I bought for my laser light but I'm not counting that. I knew I put them in the safe spot and I checked that stupid spot 3 times before I saw them.)

During my rest times, I sat at my sewing machine and pieced a few more strips for the Hexagon Quilt Along. This morning I had to put a couple blocks together! My design wall was empty and lonely.

While at the library the other day, I checked out 3 One Block Wonder Books. I have so many friends doing these quilts and I am such a follower (babbaaaaaaa). I think I am going to try to make a few cubes to go with my hexagons. And someday I will find the perfect fabric and make my own OBW. After reading the books, I now want them for my own library.

Today I will finish quilting Marian's OBW and load Crystal's quilt that I've had forever and try to get it quilted and make some more hexagons. I think I have planned the perfect rainy day projects. Oh yeah, I have a crockpot cookbook from the library and I will find a recipe for chicken so dinner will be ready when the big guy walks through the door. (Old joke, very old joke!)

Design Wall Monday

This is it! The same blocks I posted about on Thursday. But I've sewn since. I sewed the borders on last Monday's design wall top and the final borders are on the drunkard's path top that I started working on December 14, 2009.

The rains have started here again so it makes my weekly plan easy. Today I am quilting a customer's quilt, next up is Crystal's quilt that will finally get quilted and then the drunkard's path. My goal is to get all 3 quilted this week. At the sewing machine I have some hexagons waiting to be sewn together. That's a lot on my list. Wish me luck!

Stash Report 5.16.10

Last month I became a member of Mr B's Preview Pack Club at Benartex, Inc. Today I got my first preview pack of charms. Very fun fabrics.

I went all week without buying anything and then the day before stash report, it shows up in the mail. That's fine with me, nothing like getting a surprise of fabric instead of bills.

I've concentrated on quilt along blocks and finishing up 2 quilt tops this week. The 2 tops just needed those final borders sewn on and now they are both in the to be quilted pile.

This week's stash report is pretty good.

Used this Week: o yards
Used Year to Date: 112.75 yards
Added this Week: 1 yard
Added Year to Date: 93.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: 19.25

Check out Judy L's page to check on everyone else.

I know next week's report will include some new fabric. Judy is starting a mystery and I need to get some yardage for it. Using up the stash of yardage forces me to shop!!!

More Minutes At The Machine

It's another very nice sunny day today but the morning was very chilly. I'm still waiting for the morning I can sit outside with my first cup of coffee and not freeze to death.

Between laundry loads today, I managed to get all 24 sashing pinwheels done for the Pinwheel Party that we were told about in Week 8. So this is week 11 and I feel good just to get them done.

Now it's time to go outside and do some fun things.

Look What 5 Minutes Can Do

The sun is shining bright here in Southwest Washington state so that means there is no time to sit in front of the sewing machine for long stretches at a time. But with a 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there, I got 3 blocks sewn together today. I had them all cut and ready to sew. This means I am caught up with both the Pinwheels Party and Moose on the Porch quilt alongs.

Next up are the sashing pinwheel blocks and hexagons. But not tonight...

Design Wall Monday

This is what my design wall looked like Friday evening and this is what it still looks like. But today is the big day. The final 2 borders will be sewn on and then it will move to the to be quilted pile.

I started this as a leader/ender project back in January after reading this page on scrap control.
I love how it turned out and when it is finished with it's scrappy back and scrappy binding, it will go into the "I need a quilt for..." pile.

Plans for this week include a new leader/ender project, cutting up a couple more scrap bags and quilting a couple quilts. No plans to go anywhere until Wednesday.

Check out Judy L's latest quilt and then go check on others.

Stash Report 5.9.10

Happy Mother's Day

I got lots done this week, even though I didn't think I did. I spent most of Monday playing with my leader/ender blocks and after a few more short sessions in front of the machine, they are all pieced into a top and have 2 of the 4 borders sewn on--you can see that tomorrow.

I also cleaned out my little crumb basket and made several more blocks. I probably should get them all out and made into a top one of these days.

I have become obsessed with these little redwork blocks from Quilt Happy, Quilt Often. These are for her Free Seasons Sew Along. There is only one more block to go. I have most of mine ready for the borders. I wanted to pick up a couple more fat quarters when I went shopping but I came home with 5. Not bad. My red stash is very low.

Used this Week: 9 yards
Used Year to Date: 112.75 yards
Added this Week: 1.25 yards
Added Year to Date: 92.5 yards
Net Used for 2010: 20.25

Visit Judy L's post to see how everyone else is doing with their stash.