Eagles' Wings Quilts

Design Wall Monday Feb 13, 2012

2012-02-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

In between all the shifts I've been working this past week, I've been sewing on my February UFO. It has been giving me some trouble, though. I am really glad I didn't do all the string blocks, because no matter how careful I was, their edges stretched. And while the blocks measure the right size, the stretched edges don't. So there has been lots of pinning, which I don't usually do, and lots of easing the fullness in, which means some of the squares are rather poofy. But, I still like the way it looks, so it will be worth it, I hope, in the end. Once I get the centre of the top finished, I'll do the pieced border. Then, I'll measure the 2 of them, and put in the needed spacer border to make it fit. Another day should see the rest of it sewn together, and then I can start on the borders. Looking at it right now, I'm thinking that the spacer border is going to be blue, but I'll have to check my stash, once I get to that point, and see what's there, and what I have enough of to do the job. Any more red would just over power it, I think. Anyway, that's it for me for today. I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday over at her blog, Patchwork Times. There looks like there is all kinds of wonderful eye candy to see over there.

Stash Report Week 7, 2012

2012-02-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

I haven't done anything with writing in this blog since last Monday, But I have a good reason, honest I do. I've been working, with only one day off at a time, and then back to work again. That's the down side to having taken 12 days off a couple of weeks ago. I have to cram all the shifts in at once, if I want to keep our bills happy. Oh well.........
On the good side, I've been sewing during my time off, since there really isn't anything else to do, except housework and laundry, which is part of today's plans, or I won't have any clean uniforms to wear when I go back to work again tomorrow. (sigh) My February UFO is my Roll Roll Cotton Boll, and I've made good progress on it. All the pieced blocks are done, and the hour glass units are cut, and waiting to be sewn together. I just might have all the block components made today, and ready to start sewing the top together. I hope to have a picture for tomorrow's design wall post. I am really determined to get these UFO's done, so I am focused on it, and haven't even started anything new. But I must confess that I hope next month's number is an easy one, so I can start one of those many quilts on my want to do list. And get some time to quilt some of those quilt tops waiting on the to-be-quilted list. Anyway, on to the numbers.......

Used this week: 2 yards
Used this year: 15.8 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 57 yards
Balance: 41.2 more yards in than out.

I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times Sunday Stash report linky

Design Wall Monday Feb 6, 2012

2012-02-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

I've got a couple of things going at the moment. Well, if I'm being totally honest, more than a couple........ Anyway, to be more accurate, a couple of things on my wall. After finishing Endless Chain last week, I wanted to work on something fun, and relatively non complex. So I've been sewing Scrappy Dresden Plates for the Quilt Along from Bunny Hill Designs Twelve are pieced together, but I have 8 more to do, because I want mine bigger than the instructions call for. I like to make quilts that will fit double or Queen size beds. They would then also work on a twin, but would hang all the way to the floor on the twin, depending on the height of the mattress. I think I am going to do different coloured solids or tone on tones for the centers.
The other thing I'm working on is my February UFO which is Bonnie Hunter's mystery from Last year, Roll Roll Cotton Boll. But I'm putting my own personal twist into it, since I really don't want to make any more of the 8 1/2 inch string squares. So I'm substituting a red fabric for half of them.

It doesn't look like much on the wall, as yet. But I did up a virtual quilt in EQ7 using this layout, and it looks quite good. From a distance there is almost a curvy look to it with this layout. Once the borders go on, I thing it will work quite nicely. To see other walls. head on over to where I'm linking up, at Patchwork Times And now, I'm going to see if I can get some piecing done on this baby before I have to go in to work this afternoon.

Stash report Week 6, 2012

2012-02-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

Nothing to report this week. Not because I didn't do anything, but because it's already been counted. If all goes according to plan, though, I should have more used numbers next week. I've been working on the Scrappy Dresden Plate quilt along sponsored by Bunny Hill Designs, and I have 12 of the plates made. Now, if I were working according to instructions, I'd be done with them. But, I want my quilt bigger than the stated 62" x 78", so I'm making 20 instead of 12. I notice the next step is up today, which is to sew on the centre circles.
I also pulled my February UFO out of its box, and took a look at it. My #1 UFO is listed as Bonnie Hunter's Roll Roll Cotton Boll, and it still has a lot to do on it, so I think I'm going to set the Dresden Plates aside for a while, although I will put up a picture of them tomorrow, and start on finishing up this UFO, and see how far I can get.
Now for the numbers, which are unchanged from last week. I exercised some restraint this week, by the way. The store Thousands of Bolts is having a sale on their fat quarters and I am resisting. There is no room in my fat quarters drawer for any more. So sometime, I'm going to have to do something about using some of them up. Anyway........

Used this week: 0 yards
Used this year: 13.8 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 57 yards
Balance: 43.2 more yards in than out

I'm linking up to Judy Laquidara's Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

January UFO status........

2012-02-01T11:11:00.002-05:00

I DID IT!!! Woohoo, yippee, hurrah...... With ten hours to spare before the end of January 31st, Endless Chain became a finished flimsy on Tuesday. And, if I do say so myself, she is beautiful.I think, of all the UFO's I had listed, this was the one that was both the most challenging, and the most work. So, in theory, all the rest should be a lot easier. This month's number is 1, which on my list, is Bonnie Hunter's Roll Roll Cotton Boll. There is still a lot to do on it, but, unlike Endless Chain, there will be no set in "Y" seams. Each and every one of the 81 hexagons in that quilt were done with set in seams. What on earth was I thinking? That makes finishing RRCB child's play in comparison. I was going to substitute for an easier one, but on reconsidering, I thought it would be a good idea to get the intense ones out of the way before spring and summer, and spending lots of time outdoors, and going to various provincial parks. Although I have been known to take my sewing machine with me, on occasion, which causes my husband to just stand and shake his head at me. Anyway.......
Here's a close up of a section of the quilt, and a good shot of not only some of those "Y" seams, but also of the variety of the fabrics in this quilt. I love the little mouse face peeking out. It was a lot of fun to do, in spite of being so challenging. However, I don't think there will be another like it from me. According to past posts on my blog, this quilt was started in March of 2010, so it's taken 2 years to get it to this point. Granted, there was no work done it it during a large part of those 2 years. It feels so GOOD to have it done to this stage.
I'm linking up to Patchwork Times, and the linky party that Judy is hosting for those of us who met our goal of finishing our January UFOs. And this also means that I also have something to enter for the Finish it up Friday hosted by AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts. Oh, one more thing, if anyone has any suggestions on how to quilt this thing, I would be very grateful because at the moment I am totally stumped.

Crumb along Reveal

2012-01-31T11:28:00.000-05:00

Way back in September, (how is it possible that it's 5 months ago already?), I was dragged by my tendency to start and get caught up in too many projects, into a Crumb Along that I had decided was a good idea, but not at that time, but I ended up doing it anyway, and I'm glad I did. It was a lot of fun, and used up a lot of bits and pieces that would either have sat littering my sewing room, or would have ended in the garbage. I've already shown pictures of it here on the blog, but this post is for the linky party where all of us who were playing in the Crumb Along reveal our quilts, at whatever stage they happen to be in now. Mine was finished back in December, because it was destined to be a Christmas present.
The quilt ended up being about 62"x64"

There is so much going on in the quilt, that any detailed or fancy quilted would have been lost. So it got a very simple overall meander.

The final recipient of the quilt was our well beloved grand doggie Shelby, who had her very own Christmas gift to unwrap. There are other crumb quilts to see over at the reveal party at Jo's Country Junction. These things are quite fun to do, and there just might be some more of them in my future.........

Design Wall Monday Jan 30

2012-01-30T12:23:00.002-05:00

There is nothing new on my wall. I am continuing to work on getting Endless Chain finished before the end of the month. There are 5 rows sewn together and pressed, with 4 more to go. I am hoping to have this thing done by tomorrow, which means I will meet my goal of having this UFO finished in January. If I do, there will be a picture of the finished quilt on the reveal for the January UFO projects that Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times will be hosting in a couple of days. Although, obviously, there is no way it will get quilted in that time. So it will go and join all its other friends on the growing mountain of unquilted tops. Since I have yet to come up with a plan for how to quilt it, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. And it sure won't be lonely on that mountain of quilts. Although the picture of the quilt is an older one, I do have some new, fun grandbaby pictures, of Avery eating Greek yogurt with bananas in it. He loved it. He couldn't get it fast enough. But his aim was a bit off. LOL!! He is very independant, and wants nothing to do with someone else putting that spoon in his mouth. He has to do it himself, and it sure is a whole lot of fun to watch. I'm linking up to Judy's Design wall Monday linky at Patchwork Times

Stash report Week 5, 2012

2012-01-29T10:15:00.000-05:00

My name is Cathy and I'm a fabri-holic. I ordered some bolts of fabric this past week, and they arrived on Thursday morning, right before we left to come visit Noel and Laurie and Avery, so it has done some fun damage to my intake numbers. We were in too much of a hurry to get on the road to take pictures of it though. But I do have a couple of thumbnails of what they look like.

But it's not as bad as it could have been. I ordered 3 bolts, but only got 2 because one was back ordered, darn. And it was a really pretty one, too. But these will do for starters. They are intended as backings for some of the 14, or maybe even more at this point, quilt tops of my own that are waiting for quilting. The autumn leaves one would be perfect for Double Duty, and for a couple of others that are currently just floating around in my head, based on Autumn colours. And the other floral one would be perfect for some of the feminine florally quilt tops I have in the ever growing piles. All of the fabric usage was from the string pieced wedges for Endless Chain. My scrap drawer finally closes. Anyway, here's the numbers for the past week:

Used this week: 1.9 yards
Used this year: 13.8 yards
Purchased this week: 30 yards
Purchased this year: 57 yards
Balance: 43.2 yards more in than out.

I think maybe I'd better get working on getting some of those tops quilted. I'm, linking up to Judy's weekly Stash Report linky at Patchwork Times

Warning....... proud Grammy post....

2012-01-28T18:16:00.001-05:00

We are having a wonderful visit here with Noel and Laurie and Avery this weekend. Avery is so smart, and so much fun and so cute. (I did warn you about the proud Grammy stuff) We had a lot of fun watching him have his first taste of peas on Thursday night. The expressions on his face were priceless.

What are these things, Grammy?

They're called peas, angel boy.

OK, I'll try them....

Grammy, I don't think I like this.....

Eeeuuuwww........ it's stuck on my tongue, Grammy....

How do I get rid of it??

Somehow, I don't think peas were a hit.

I love the internet

2012-01-26T13:42:00.000-05:00

I love having the internet, have I ever said that before? It is so much fun to be able to meet new people, and explore new places, talk to people hundreds or even thousands of miles away, either through Skype, or chats or emails.I find that it suits my basically shy and reserved nature, because there are no face to face meetings to be anxious over. And I find that I like blogging, because it is basically me talking to myself, with other people listening in. I get to visit with my dear friend Susan, in Edmonton and have "chats" with her at least once or twice a week. I can visit with Laurie and Avery on Skype, and talk to them, and see them. And while it's not the same as being there, it is still great to be able to do. I can talk by email to a friend in Alabama, or another in Washington state, or another that I am getting to know in Alaska, and so many more. All of that is fabulous.
And then there is the ability to shop, and order stuff and have it delivered right to my door. (Unless I'm not there, or am still sleeping when the postman comes, in which case there is a trip to the small postal outlet involved) I received Judy Martin's latest book in the mail today, called Patchwork Among Friends. I have only briefly looked at it, but what I have seen so far is fabulous. The quilts are all so nice, that I think I want to start at the beginning of the book, and do all of them. (I have no affiliation with her, by the way, just a happy customer). And then there were the 2 bolts of fabric that came today as well, although I didn't have time to get pictures of them before we left home. They are destined to be used for quilt backings, and are going to do some fun stuff to my stash report numbers.
And finally, there is the ability to do all of this as I sit in the passenger seat of the car, right now, as we are driving up to have a Noel and Laurie and Avery weekend. Yep, it's for sure, I love the internet, and the 21st century, and all this really cool technology that has so expanded and enriched this particular lady's world.

It's not my fault.....

2012-01-24T11:50:00.000-05:00

Really it isn't my fault, at all. I had some lovely fun stuff come in the mail that I ordered, but really, it's not my fault. LOL! And I'll show you why. Last year, well really, just last month, Debbie who writes the blog And Sew Forth, posted these pictures of what she calls her "Christmas stocking obsession". They got me rather intrigued, to say the least. But then, she started showing pictures of how the latest stocking she had purchased was going together here, here, another, and one more. She has other pictures as well about different stockings. So you can see how it is all her fault that I HAD to order some of these. LOL!! Curiosity got the better of me and I went looking for the Bucilla stockings. It seems, actually to be that curiosity and the going looking that is actually the problem, although it sure is fun. Anyway, after seeing Debbie's posts before Christmas, I got to thinking, which can be a dangerous thing to do. I thought, wouldn't it be fun if every member of the family had a stocking specifically geared towards something about them. So, when we got home from our New Years Christmas with the family, I started browsing, looking for stockings that would fit each member of the family and that's what came in the mail... the beginnings of that process. Matt is an avid golfer, so I thought this one would be perfect for him

Noel loves to do woodworking, so I thought one of Santa in his workshop would be good for him, and there is a companion set of ornaments to go with it.

I can't show the one I got for Laurie, since she reads my blog, and I want them to be a surprise.

And then for Becca, I got one with a nativity on it, since she loves Christmas, and especially the reason for it

And lastly, just so I can figure out this whole process, and how these things work, there is a set of ornaments that would go with Matt and Becca's decorations for there tree. They look like an easy, basic place to start learning how to do this.

I think I'll start with the trees, and go from there. If I start working on them now, I figure I can have them done by next year. Maybe............. And all these pictures came from the website Anita's Arts. So, now all I have to do, in between knitting, and working on My Tweets, is make time for doing these as well. LOL

Design Wall Monday Jan 23

2012-01-23T12:36:00.000-05:00

My design wall has the same thing on it as it has the last week, or so. Endless Chain, by Emilie Richards. I've been working on this quilt, to the exclusion of all others for the past week. I really, really want to get it done by the end of the month, since I am so in love with it, and because it is January's UFO, and I would like to get it done in time to meet the challenge. This is actually the same picture I put up on Saturday, after the Friday night sew in. It needs 3 more rows to finish it, which means 23 more full hexagons, and 8 half hexagons. And that means I need to do about 98 more string pieced wedges to finish up all the pieces needed. I think, depending on what plans my husband has for the next few days, it just might be doable, even with a trip to see Noel and Laurie and Avery over the weekend, depending on the weather, of course. I am sticking to the not doing anything else until this one is done, even though there are dozens of quilts in my head, just screaming to get out. I found another one today, while looking at Teaquilts design wall over at Judy's Patchwork Times, from the Moda Bake Shop people called Flying in Squares. Whenever I get this quilt done, it just might advance to the head of my scrap quilts want to do list. And now, for my second cup of coffee, while browsing a few more design walls. Maybe I'll find some more for that want-to-do list. And of course, I'm linking up to the previously mentioned Patchwork times linky.

Stash report Week 4, 2012

2012-01-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

With the Friday night sew-in, and all the work I managed to finish on Endless Chain, I used up a bit more fabric. And, As I was cleaning out the chaos (I can never use that word without thinking of the Get Smart TV series villainous organization CHAOS) in my sewing room, I came across block #7 of My Tweets, partially prepped, and partially sewn, before I had to quit working on it due to the cataracts. So, I threw it into its carrying case and put it into my bag to take to work, for my breaks. I am ecstatic to report that I can work on these again. I had forgotten how much I love doing the hand sewing on the applique. It so completely takes me away from the stress at work and into another world while I'm on my breaks. So, this is now back into the official WIP list. If I manage to get all the rows of the Endless Chain quilt labeled tomorrow, I might put up the progress I have so far on Tweets up onto the wall. It will be fun to visit that quilt again. Anyway, this is supposed to be about numbers:

Used this week: 3.4 yards
Used this year: 11.9 yards
Purchased this week: 0
Purchased this year: 27 yards
Balance: 15.1 more yards in than out. And this number is about to go way up, because I just ordered 4 bolts of fabrics to use for backings. So as soon as they are delivered, the purchased number is going to sky rocket. So much fun.
I'm linking up to the Sunday stash report over at Judy's Patchwork Times. Then I'm off to get some lunch and maybe piece a few string wedges before going in to work this afternoon.

The day after the night before......

2012-01-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

when I sewed my brains out, well, not quite. I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted. I received a call from a customer wanting to bring some quilts over for quilting today, at 1 pm. I said sure, no problem. Then I went upstairs and looked at the remaining mess in my sewing room, and decided it would be way to embarrassing to have her see it that way. So, the floor is now visible. all that remains is to clear off the table of the long arm, and the mess will be almost tamed.

But, I did get sewing time in, from 8 pm until midnight, 4 hours straight. I've used up all the string pieced wedges I had, and made over 15 more of the hexagon units for Endless Chain by Emilie Richards Three of the rows are actually sewn together, and the rest are just sitting there. I've arranged them so that the fabrics at the intersections have some contrast between them. The tricky part is not getting them mixed up once I take them down to sew. I've stated putting painters tape on the top of each block, with its number, so that I know where they go, and which is top and bottom of the hexagon. There are all kinds of fun fabrics in this quilt, and could make for a bit of an "I Spy" type. There are flip flops, and beach toys, and hockey equipments, fishing lures and all kinds of other fun stuff in it. I had a blast playing in last nights' sew along, but alas, fun has to end and real life intrude. I'm back to work, 3-11 both today and tomorrow. I might be able to get a few more string wedges done up, but not a lot more than that.

Friday night sew in

2012-01-20T11:50:00.000-05:00

I have the day off today, so I'm going to join in with a whole pile of other people, from all over the world in a Friday Night Sew-in. The idea is that we sign up on the very long list today, sew our brains out tonight, and then post tomorrow what we got accomplished tonight. I'm going to continue to work on my Endless Chain, which is what I've been doing for the last 2 days, off and on, as well. So, unless my hubby has other ideas, I'll have a Friday afternoon and night sew-in. It's cold and snowy outside, and I have no desire whatsoever to go out in it. So staying in to play with putting a quilt together is, to me at least, a perfect way to spend the day. And maybe, later this afternoon, I'll reward myself with a tea break, made in a lovely china tea pot, and a pretty cup and saucer. It doesn't take much to make this girl happy. Oh, and of course, there has to be music. My daughter made me up some CD's, so I'll be listening to the group Mercy Me this afternoon and evening while I play. Ah bliss........

More dangerous blog hopping......

2012-01-19T15:48:00.002-05:00

I was reading one of the blogs I follow, Kathy's Quilts, a lo and behold, in her post was a listing of some of the free quilting projects that are available out in blogland. I made the mistake of checking it out, and found another project that I have fallen in love with. It is called Promises and Borders. Now, there is only one snag, well, more than one, but the biggest is that it is embroidered, and I'm not a huge fan of embroidery. But, if I can figure out a way to do it that doesn't involve embroidery........... Maybe permanent fabric markers? Maybe the coloured pencil faux applique I was playing with, combined with markers for the lettering and the narrow lines?
This picture is from the blog Jenny of Elefantz, the designer of this particular BOM. There has to be a way to adapt this from embroidery to something else, because I love it. Hmmmmmmm.................
Any ideas anyone?

UFO progress report

2012-01-19T12:38:00.000-05:00

I've spent part of the last couple of days working on my UFO for January, the Endless Chain, pattern by Emilie Richards. I have made some good progress on it, considering it is all inset seams. I tried, without success, to figure out a way to do it without the inset seams. It was a good thing that I let this sit for a while, since in the time between starting it, and now, I leaned the technique of using starch and no melt plastic templates to finish the edges of applique pieces. And that technique has made the circles that go in the centre of the hexagons so much easier to do. And rather than using a regular foot to sew the circles on, and starting and stopping as I try to go around the circles, I used my free motion foot, with the feed dogs lowered, which made that job ever so much easier and faster, not to mention much less frustrating. There are now 3 rows, all sewn together, although I still need to add the partial blocks to the top and bottom of the middle row. And I have enough hexagon units which still need the circles applied, to add a fourth row. And that is today's job. I am so enjoying working on this quilt. I love the colours, and the movement in it. I love the way the individual blocks completely vanish, and leave one wondering, how on earth is this put together, which was one of the things that caused me to order the pattern book for it in the first place. This one is definitely a keeper at my house.

Design Wall Monday Jan 16

2012-01-16T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well, I must say that was an interesting, not in a good way, morning. I had to be at the city courthouse bright and early this morning, at 9 AM. Not a good start for me, not being a morning person, to begin with. Then through the courthouse security, body scan with those hand wand thingies, and metal detector, and purse search. Good thing I didn't take my knitting, since that would have counted as "sharp objects" Upstairs to the 14th floor to a very crowded courtroom. Have I mentioned before I don't do well with crowds, let alone crowds where I don't know a single person? Then they brought in the people being put on trial, suffice to say a violent one, although not murder, and read off all the charges, and they all pleaded "not guilty" Then, we were all broken into groups of 20, and sent off to wait in small jury rooms to wait, and wait, and wait.......... Then, finally called into the courtroom, put up into the witness box, in front of all kinds of people to answer the lawyers' one question. I guess I flunked, because they sent me home, at about 12:30. That has to have been one of the creepiest experiences of my life. Really, really glad that is done.
So, I came home and decided to do a little fun sewing, and made up another Dresden Plate for the Scrappy Dresden Plate quilt along and now I have 2, and I'm liking what I'm seeing, so far.

The other thing that I'm supposed to be working on is my UFO for January. It is a quilt pattern called Endless Chain. A number of years ago I found a really good series of books by Emilie Richards. If you've never read her stuff, I recommend it highly. The Shenandoah Series follows a group of friends in small community, and, of course, quilting figures strongly in the books. All of the books in this series are named after quilts. One of them, named "Endless Chain", caught my eye, and it got added to the list of quilts I have fallen in love with, and had to make. So, I sent away for the instruction book, and got to work. The quilt in the book uses a stripe fabric in the wedges, and I really liked the effect, but didn't want to use a stripe, so I decided to make my own by piecing the wedges. Whenever I feel like sewing, but without thinking about it, I pull out my odds and ends scraps and piece up a bunch of wedges, on paper, kind of like string piecing, or crumb piecing, but with a regulated shape and size. I'm getting close now to having enough of the wedges pieced, and am ready to start sewing it together. I had originally planned on just starting to take the blocks off the wall and start sewing them together. But when I thought about it, I realized that if I did that, I'd be sewing all the center circles on when it is really large, and difficult to maneuver under the machine. So, I think the next step is going to be adding the center appliqued circles to each of the hexagons, and then I can start sewing it together. So, that is what I am going to start to do today.
I'm linking up to the Design wall Monday linky at Patchwork Times. And, I don't know why, but the type size in this post keeps changing. Very strange......

Stash Report Week 3

2012-01-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

I haven't done any blogging this week. Every minute that I had to spare, outside of working, has been spent getting Orca Bay sewn together. When I looked at it on the design wall last Monday, it didn't seem like it would take that long to get it together. WRONG!! Finally, Saturday afternoon, all the blocks were sewn together. It still needs the borders. But, I'm rewarding myself with a change of pace. I cut 34 different fabrics, all very "girly", for the Scrappy Plate Club. My Dresden plate ruler came in the mail on Friday, along with a tumbler ruler. So, all 34 fabrics had a 5 inch strip cut from them. Each strip has yielded 12 blades for the plates, and anywhere from 3 to 5 tumblers for another quilt. I'm making my Dresden quilt bigger then the instructions, since I want mine bigger than the 62" x 71" given in the instructions. So mine will be 4 squares by 5 squares, rather than 3 x 4. And of course, I had to make one up, just to see what it would look like. Since I count my stash once it has been cut for a specific quilt, I can count all that stuff. I don't know when I'll get a chance to start sewing more of them, though. Today I work 3-11, and then Monday, I have to go down to the city courthouse, to stand for a jury pool. Doesn't mean I'll have to actually do jury duty, but just be part of a large crowd of potentials. I better make sure my ereader is charged, and that I have some knitting with me as well. And then Tuesday, unless I have to go back to the jury thing, I work 3-11 again. I also want to get some work done on the endless Chain quilt that is this months' UFO, so I think I'm going to pack the Orca up for a bit, and bring it back out during a less challenging UFO month. I think I'll add it to #4, which is a quilt that only needs borders added to it. So it will probably be Wednesday before there can be more serious sewing done. Anyway..... on to the numbers:

Used this week: 5.7 yards
Used this year: 8.5 yards
Added this week: 0
Added this year: 27 yards
Balance: 18.5 more yards purchased than used.

I'm linking, as usual, to the Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times

Design Wall Monday Jan 9

2012-01-09T12:52:00.000-05:00

Like a lot of others today, Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay is occupying my design wall. While browsing though the other design wall posts, I noticed that there are quite a few other Orca's posted today. I love seeing how variation in fabric choices and layouts can change the feeling of the same quilt pattern. I think that is one of the many things I love about quilting, how personal a quilt pattern can be made, if so chosen by the person making a particular pattern. I stuck to the colours given by Bonnie, but I changed mine by not doing the string piecing, and I'm happy with the way it is looking. All of the stars are done, and about half of the red/black geese units are finished. I'm hoping to get the rest of those done, and then start assembling the quilt today. I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times, as usual, where there is lots to see, on top of all the Orca's

Stash Report Week 2

2012-01-08T11:11:00.000-05:00

I received my first package of fabric in the mail yesterday. Lovely, lovely stuff, that I'm looking forward to using. I make no vows of not purchasing fabric, because I know there is no way I will keep that kind of vow. I love buying fabric, and using it to make wonderful quilts, so there will be no guilt felt here. I do this report to keep track of my fabric coming in and going out, just to know how much I use, rather than as a control on what I buy.
I had a fairly good sewing week, considering I've worked 3-11 for 4 days, including today, this week. I've been working on Orca Bay and on my UFO #5 on alternate days.
So, on to the numbers:

Fabric out this week: 2.8 yards
Fabric out this year: 2.8 yards
Fabric in this week: 27 yards
Fabric in this Year: 27 yards
Balance: 24.2 yards more in than out.

I'm linking up to Stash report Sunday at Patchwork Times. Than, I'm going to finish my coffe while I browse through some other reports. Then, I'm going to work some more on Orca Bay until I have to go to work this afternoon. I'd like to get a substantial amount done on it to post for tomorrow's linkys.

My first package of the year.....

2012-01-07T13:28:00.001-05:00

I picked up a box of fabric that I ordered from Thousands of Bolts from the post office today. It's been a couple of weeks since I ordered it, from their end of the year sale, and I've forgotten most of what I've ordered, except that I know that I ordered blacks. I find it totally amazing just how much fabric they can pack into one of these boxes. When I was doing the ordering, and into the checkout section, a message came up and told me that I could fit 6 more yards of fabric into the box they would be using, so of course I took them up on it. I went back and added 6 yards of cream solid fabric so I would have it here for when a particular UFO comes up that needs it. Then, there were wonderful fat quarters, mostly in fall colours. Now I remember what I ordered them for, too. I have a fall colour themed quilt on my want-to-do list that I'd forgotten about. And then there was some yardage. There are
3 different striped fabrics there, where the strip is printed on the bias. They make wonderful bindings. And lastly, some yardage of pretty, feminine colours. I haven't added the totals up, yet. That's for tomorrow to do. Now, I get to go fondle and pet them, (sounds rather perverted, doesn't it?), and put them away.

Blog Hopping is dangerous........

2012-01-05T11:44:00.000-05:00

As I said, blog hopping is extremely dangerous. You want to do it carefully, and judiciously, and definitely at your own risk. Why, you may ask???? Well, because it may do terrible things to well laid plans. My plan for January was to work on getting Orca Bay, designed by Bonnie Hunter, to a finished flimsey stage. It might be 30 percent finished at this point. Then, there is Endless Chain my UFO #5 that I would like to get finished. But, while reading the blogs that I follow, I saw in this post that Vicki was talking about a new project that a friend of hers was starting, so being the curious type, I went and checked it out. Oh oh, big mistake!! It's another quilt along, sponsored by Bunny Hill Designs for scrappy Dresden Plates. I LOVE Dresden Plates. It was the first quilt I ever made, over 27 years ago, and have long wanted to do another. Just look at this picture of one of the plates that the lovely person at Bunny Hill made that she had posted on the Bunny Hill blog. It is wonderful. All I need is 20 to 30 different pieces of scraps that measure 4 inches by 12 inches, which is no problem with that ~~mess~~ treasure trove upstairs. Finding that many fabrics that go together, so much fun, and makes such a huge mess on my oh so nicely cleaned work area. (sigh) So the question is, will I or won't I? And we all know how well I resist a good quilt along...............

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T11:58:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, we were able to go up to see Noel and Laurie and Avery over New Years for our family Christmas celebration. Becca and Matt came up as well. It was wonderful to see everyone, and went by way too fast. (sigh) As usual, there were home made gifts from Grammy.

Becca and Laurie got scarves and thrummed mittens each in their favourite colours, blue for Becca and purple for Laurie.

Noel received his Batman quilt and he really liked it. It's a perfect size for naps on the couch.

And here is Shelby on her very own crumb quilt. She curled up on it as soon as it hit the floor, so I think she likes it. But then, she'll curl up on any quilt that happens to be on the floor. I think she's part cat in the way she loves quilts.

And than there is Avery, who had his really big stocking. He seemed to enjoy getting stuff out of it, and ripping at the paper.

Living in the top of Avery's stocking was a stuffed bear, who is baby friendly. His bear's fabric was pre washed before it was put together. And the bear's face was embroidered on, although the bear's face isn't visible here.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and ideas, so Matt and Scott were left out of the home made goodness this year. But, I have ideas already for next year.

Progress..... Before and after...

2012-01-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I've made some progress at the sewing station end of my room, and have a couple of before and after pics, just to prove that it can be done.

In addition to getting these 2 areas cleaned up, I did some scrap taming, as well. I put on Michael Card's "Joy in the Journey" album, which has 18 songs on it, all of which I love, all of which I was happily singing along to this afternoon. While this album played, I gave myself the task of cutting down scraps into various sized squares and strips, mostly 2 1/2 inch, 2 inch and 1 1/2 inch. Whatever didn't fit into those sizes went into crumbs, strings, or garbage. When the album was done, I was done, and able to go onto something else. So I now have a lot more squares to use as leaders and enders, and strips to make into other quilts. Then, this evening, I dug into those crumbs, and strings, and as yet untrimmed scraps, and started making more string pieced wedges for UFO #5. There will be a more detailed post about that sometime soon. As long as I don't turn around and look at the other end of the room, I can pretend that all is neat and tidy. But not so, there is a lot left to do, but it's a start.

2012-01-02T20:48:00.000-05:00

Part of getting my sewing stuff organized is going to be the beginning of a couple of new leader and ender projects, since I finished my last one last year in December. I've decided on this one here, to the right. for the mounds of 2 1/2 inch squares I have kicking around. I already have a few of these blocks made. And then for the never ending amount of 2 inch squares, and strips, I really like the looks of this version of the Irish Chain pattern. Both of these quilts were done in the EQ7 software I bought a couple of months ago, but haven't yet had a lot of time to play with. The other one I rather like a this version of the Irish Chain quilt for the never ending pile of 2 inch squares and strips I have also hanging around. I like the alternating of the colours and the white squares. Between these 2, that should get a start on taming the scraps.

Design Wall Monday Week 1

2012-01-02T14:14:00.002-05:00

I have given myself 4 assignments for today, well, actually 5. Number one is to write this post.
Number 2 is to dig out my UFO #5, get it on the wall, and maybe take a new pic of it.I have figured out that I have 24 of the hexagons finished, and I need a minimum of 75 to get it in the area of 80 inches by 90 inches. So, I need 51 more finished hexagon units, which will require 308 string pieced wedges. I have 125 wedges already pieced, so I need 183 more, at least. That should tame some of my scraps and crumbs.
Number 3 is to dig out what I have done so far on Orca Bay, and get some of it arranged the way it is supposed to be, on the wall. I am waiting on an order of fabric that has more blacks in it, in order to do the black background Ohio stars. I like it with these fabrics, though, so I don't need to order any special red for it.
Number 4 is to do something about cooking something for supper. Some beef is out of the freezer, and will probably get done into some Swiss Steak.
And number 5 is to start in on creating order out of chaos in my sewing room. The only possible way to do it is in sections, so, today I concentrate on my actual sewing table. And then, if I want to be able to actually cut some fabrics, so that I can work on something, I guess I'll have to do something about my cutting table too. The corner of the cutting board is just visible under that mess. Why, oh why do I ever let it get this bad? So, I guess I'd better get off the computer, go plug my ipod into its new dock that my wonderful husband got me for Christmas, once I find a place for it, that is, and begin the process of cleaning up. I'm linking this post up to Judy's Design wall Monday at Patchwork Times and also to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday linkup on her Quiltville blog.

Stash report Week 1 and UFO number 5

2012-01-01T21:46:00.000-05:00

Well, we just got home from visiting with Noel and Laurie and Avery over New Years, along with Matt and Becca as well. It was a really good time, but way too rushed. Three days just isn't enough time to fit it all in, but it was all that was available, and I'm so happy we had it. This grammy got to get in lots and lots of Avery snuggles, including one extra.
We were about half an hour away from their place, on our way home, when Scott asked me if I could check to see if the cell phone was turned on, just in case Matt and Becca needed to get in touch with us, as they were on their way home too. I said sure, as soon as I find my purse. Turns out, my purse wasn't in the car, but was back at Noel and Laurie's. in the downstairs hall, behind a box, which is where I had dropped it when we first arrived and were unloading the car. Somehow, it stayed there, and didn't get moved up to the room where we were staying. So, we have the first "oops" of the year. I read somewhere that what you are doing on New Year's day, is what you will do for the rest of the year. Does that mean I'm going to be scatter brained for the rest of the year? LOL. But, there was also lots of Avery snuggles today, and knitting today, and some travelling, and some blog reading, to catch up with all I missed over the crazily busy last couple of weeks. So that's lots of nice stuff to look forward to in the coming year, in addition to being scatter brained.

What I haven't done yet today, is any sewing. And there won't be any until I do something about that endless pit of chaos of my sewing room, beginning tomorrow. There isn't a flat surface that isn't covered with something, and the floor is starting to shrink, as it gets covered with stuff that no longer fits on any of the other flat surfaces. I can stand a lot of mess, as anyone who has seen my house and my sewing room can testify to. But, it has come to the point where I walk in there and immediately become paralysed due to the mess. So, my goal for the first couple of days of the New Year, is to try and at least begin to tame the mess. My UFO #5 might help with that. It is the Endless Chain quilt that I started a couple of years ago. The coloured sections in this quilt are actually string pieced from scraps, and that is one of the main things about my room up there that is so chaotic. I have to find a way to tame them, and the best way would be to use them up. So, I figure, once I get that place to the point where I can breathe, I'll sew a bit, clean a bit and sew some more. Anyway, this was originally supposed to be a stash report, wasn't it? It's an easy one:

Fabric in: 0
Fabric out: 0

I'm linking up to the first stash report linky of the New Year, at Judy's Patchwork Times, where there are others doing the same thing. I haven't looked yet to see what their numbers are like.

Design Wall Monday Dec 26

2011-12-26T13:32:00.000-05:00

I just have a couple of things on my wall. I'm Participating in the Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay mystery. I have a few of the step 6 Ohio stars done, and I took them to my wall, and started playing around with the elements we have so far, and I like what I see. I don't know if this is what Bonnie has planned, but the elements arranged this way fit together, and I like the way it looks. This is a short post, since I have to work this afternoon, and I want to get a little bit of sewing time in before I have to go. I'm linking up with Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Monday and Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday

Sunday Stash Report

2011-12-25T12:36:00.000-05:00

The last stash report of the year. Wow. I must say that keeping track like this has been quite fun, and quite educational. I've been wavering back and forth about whether to continue it next year, and I think I will. I'll have some big added numbers for the first or second report of the new year though, since I took advantage of the end of the year sale at Thousands of Bolts But it isn't likely to show up at my door for a couple of weeks.
I'm sitting here having a bit of a pity party for myself. One of the big downsides to the health care profession is having to work the holidays. And this year, both Scott and I are working over Christmas. He's working 7-3 and I'm working 3-11. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely grateful for our jobs, but It's Christmas day, and I'm sitting here alone with my computer, feeling lonely and very sorry for myself. (sigh) The good news is that we have celebrating with our family still to look forward to over the New Years weekend. Maybe I'll do a Little more on Orca Bay. Anyways, enough of feeling sorry for myself, especially since there are a lot of people in worse situations than this. On to the numbers:

Used this week: 2.7 yards
Used this year: 154 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards, since it isn't actually at my house yet
Purchased this year: 162.5 yards.
Balance: 8.5 more yards in than out.

Close, so close to breaking even. Funny how that wasn't even the idea behind why I started to keep track, but it became something that I was interested in aiming for, over time. I was just curious to see how much I bought, and how much I used over the course of a year. The size of the numbers on both sides surprised me. I had no idea that I bought that much, or used that much in the course of a year.
I'm linking to the weekly stash report at Patchwork Times, and then I'm going to go put a few more pieces together for Orca Bay.

Merry Christmas, everyone

2011-12-24T12:18:00.000-05:00

I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas. I hope you have a blessed and happy time with family and friends, and that, most of all, you celebrate the birth of our Saviour and KIng.

One day when heaven was filled with his praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin—
Dwelt amongst men, my example is he!

Living, he loved me; dying, he saved me;
Buried, he carried my sins far away;
Rising, he justified freely, for ever:
One day he's coming—O, glorious day!

UFO challenge 2012

2011-12-21T13:40:00.001-05:00

Well, I've gone through my lists of UFO's, and thought seriously of what I want to do in the coming year. I think last years list had too many complex, labour intensive quilts on it, and it wasn't anywhere near realistic. So for next year I'm going to change it up a bit. I'm putting in 6 that need to have the actual piecing work finished, and 6 that need to be quilted and bound. But the 6 that I've chosen that need to be quilted aren't simple pantograph, or meandering type quilts. They are samplers, most of them, and need custom work of some sort, which is where the challenge comes in. I've been putting off doing them for that very reason. I'm going to put this list on my side bar as well, so I can have a visual list that I can cross off when they are done.

1. Roll Roll Cotton Boll. This one has all the units ready to go together, But it needs more of the string pieced neutrals made. I think I'm halfway done with them. I was thinking of cutting some light colour plaids and substituting those for half of the string units, but I haven't auditioned it out yet.

2. Cactus Rose I love this quilt, but it finishes at such an odd size, 67 x 67 which is too big for any of my walls, and too small for a bed. And it wouldn't be very easy to add an extra border because, if memory serves me correctly, the edges are scalloped. or there are curved sections. I am seriously considering not doing the rest of the borders the pattern calls for, but simply adding a plain border, and let the center of the piece be the star of the show. If I do that, I think it will fit on the wall at the top of the stairs.

3. Grandmothers Diamond Ring I started putting this one together, and didn't like the quality of the muslin I was using, and never got any further with it. So, I'll have to rip out what is done and start over. I might have to order in some cream or muslin type coloured fabric for it, since I don't think white will work. Of course, I suppose I could get adventurous, and try tea or coffee dying some of the 20 some odd yards of white I have hanging around here.

4. Log Cabin Sampler It is a very dark and dreary day today, so the colours in this picture aren't quite accurate, but it's close enough. This one only needs borders, and I have enough of the reds and blues I used in it to do it.

5. Endless Chain. I would really like to get back at this one, if only to get the drawer of odd size bits and pieces and strings to be able to close.

6. Disappearing 9 Patch this pile of blocks needs to be arranged, and then sewn together. There are enough here for a twin sized quilt.

7. Spring swap, which was hosted by Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter a couple of years ago. There is a block in here from Australia, I think. This one needs quilting and binding, but it was waiting for my skills to grow. I think I'm finally ready.

8. Double Duty, needs quilting and binding. It's been waiting because I really don't know how I want to quilt this. I love feathers, but this quilt has a more masculine feel and I don't think feathers would fit it. I would gladly take suggestions on this one, if anyone has an idea......

9. Pieceful Kwilter BOM from 2010 needs quilting and binding. This is another one that was waiting for my skills to grow, and is going to be a huge challenge to do.

10. The Rose Log Cabin that I put together this past year, needs quilting and binding. I'm not sure yet what to do with it, but the might be a feather or 2 involved somewhere.

11. Another Sampler that was sponsored by the Midnight Oil website/blog, that seems to be no longer functioning. Again, it has been sitting waiting for ideas and skills. There will probably be a lot of continuous curves involved with this one.

12. The Round Robin in the Window that was done more years ago than I can count, through the online yahoo group Canadian Quilt Swappers. They used to be really active with lots of swaps and stuff, but it seems to have dropped off in the last couple of years. And again, this one was waiting for me to grow up. I haven't a clue what to do with it. Any ideas.............??

Wow, that is quite the lengthy list, and quite the long post, too. If you stuck with me through the whole thing, I want to thank you, very much. It will be fun to see, come this time next year, (wasn't there a movie by that name with Alan Alda in it? Sorry, I got side tracked), how much of this list is finished. I'm linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times 2012 UFO Challenge list. There are lots of other lists over there to read, Maybe even some as long as mine LOL!!

UFO challenge results.

2011-12-20T23:23:00.001-05:00

So, this is my UFO list from last year

1. Hexagon Baby Quilt ............... finished
2. Double Wedding Ring ............ some work done on it, but not a whole lot.
3. Grandmother's Diamond Ring, from Judy Martin's Creative.... (I can't remember the rest of the title, off the top of my head, and the book has temporarily gone missing in the disaster zone of my sewing room) I've been working on this as a leader and ender project, and it is ready to start going together................ didn't get touched
4. Freeze Frame ............ top finished, still needs to be quilted and bound.
5. Endless Chain ............... not much done on this one.
6. Card Trick Swap ............. finished
7.Roll Roll Cotton Boll ................ lots of work done on it, but needs lots more.
8. Cactus Rose ........... I haven't touched it. Mostly, I think it is because once it is finished, it is a really weird size, too small for a bed, but too big for any walls we have here. I am seriously thinking of putting some kind of plain border on it and calling it done.
9. Disappearing nine patch .................... half of the blocks have been made into a top, which still needs to be quilted and bound. The other half still need to be sewn together yet.
10. Crazy Curves ............. finished
11. Kitchen Sink .............. hasn't been touched
12. Cosmati Stars, this is only going to end up table topper size. I actually haven't had this one out of its box in quite a few years, so it could probably come in as the oldest of my UFO's.................................... hasn't been touched.

So, out of 12 projects on the list 3 got completely finished, and 1 1/2 got to the finished flimsy stage. Five of them didn't get touched at all. Yikes!!! The year started out well with the UFO's, but then just kind of fizzled into nothing. I think it had something to do with a little baby boy named Avery, and his HUGE distraction factor. LOL However, I may not have gotten a lot of the UFO's done, but I did get a lot of other stuff done, for a total of 12 quilts completely done, which does add up to one a month, just not the ones I had on my list. *giggle* Now, if I add in the tops that got to flimsy stage this past year, there are 5 of those. And this is all starting to make me feel better, since I've only added 3 to the UFO list this past year and 2 of those are more accurately works in progress, rather than the longer term UFO. So, overall, I came out even.

Design Wall Monday Dec 19

2011-12-19T16:37:00.003-05:00

I'm late posting this today, but I wanted to get some work done on Orca Bay part 5. I have a selection of the various steps, except for the red string squares, which, at the moment, at least, I am planning on cutting from yardage of some sort. When Bonnie gave the instructions for step 2, which involved 3.5 inch squares made from blue strings, she mentioned that "the direction of the strings adds so much play and motion!" Well, I found in my stash some large scale leaf fabric has lots of shades of blue, and lots of motion in it, so I'm planning on using that. I have found in the quilts that I've done lately, that I seem to make, for the most part, feminine, girly quilts, with some exceptions, of course. I am trying in this quilt to stay as gender neutral as I can. I was thinking, originally, that some of the border prints that are out there these days, would work in the place of the paper pieced stripes, but most of them are florally. I'm hoping to be able to find some sort of red stripe, to use in the place of the step 4 red strings. I'm linking this up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times design wall Monday linky, and also to Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday linky., where there are lots of other people participating in this mystery. And now, I'm going back upstairs to play with some more triangles. I have lots more to do.

Stash report Dec. 18

2011-12-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

I've used up a little more stash in cutting for the half square triangles for Orca Bay part 3, but I haven't had a whole lot of sewing time lately, although there are 105 out of 350 of the half square triangles done. I stopped procrastinating yesterday, and got that customer quilt loaded, and finished, and she just picked it up. That left me with some time to start on sewing some Christmas stuff for Avery, to help fill up that enormous stocking. I'm stuck on that, though, until I can get out to a store, and there is no way I'm going anywhere near a store today. On sort of the same subject, there was a family Christmas with Laurie's side of the family last weekend, and they got the cutest picture of Avery, wearing reindeer horns.
I think today I'm going to take some time today to work on more half square triangles, and maybe even move on to Orca Bay step 5. I'm running low on blacks, though, so I'm going to have to move on to deep browns and blues, which will add more to it, so that's OK. Now, for the numbers:

Used this week: 1.4 yards
Used this year: 151.3 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 11.2 more yards in than out.

Hey, I didn't realize until just now that I'm over 150 yards used. That is sooooooooo cool. A little bit more of Orca Bay, and another quilt back, and I could actually be in positive numbers. Too bad I'm running out of time. But, then again, if I get the back made, and even loaded onto the machine, it counts as out, even if the quilting doesn't actually get done. And, oh yeah, I could make the binding too, couldn't I? I would love to get Make Your Point loaded and quilted. And really, I don't have to get any gifts wrapped until after Christmas, since we are celebrating our Lords birth with family over New Years weekend, since both Scott and I are working over Christmas. In fact, I still have to get wrapping paper, but I figure that may as well wait until the 27th, when I can get it for half price, or even less. So, it is possible that I could at least get it started. I just want to do an all over feather again, which I could work on little bits at a time............... I think I'm starting to talk myself into it. And then, there is the added bonus that, if I get into negative numbers with the fabric, I can purchase more without any guilt. I think I am going to do more thinking about that list of quilts I'd like to make, and see if I need anything for them. Hmmmmmmmmm.............. the wheels are turning, this could be dangerous, but a whole lot of fun. I'll keep you posted. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I'm linking up to Judy's' Patchwork Times stash report linky.

I'm procratinating.........

2011-12-17T13:11:00.000-05:00

I have a customer quilt here, waiting for me to do it. She wants it before Christmas, and I really should get it onto the machine, and done today, so she can pick it up tomorrow. Instead, I'm blog hopping and pinteresting. I found a wonderful site called Design Seeds which has all kinds of different colour palettes, based on different photographs. Some of them would make fabulous colours for quilts. So, I've been going through those, dreaming of future quilts rather than doing what I should be doing.

These are just 2 examples of all the wonderful colour combinations. Judy Laquidara of Patchwork times and Vicki Welsh of Field trips in Fiber are hosting a colour palette challenge starting in January, I am assuming that it will be a similar idea to the pictures and colour isolations from the pictures like these. I think it would be a really fun thing to do. Maybe not every month, but when one grabs my attention. And, If I understand what I read on Vicki's blog, she'll have hand dyed fabric available in the palette colours. I just might have to start checking out patterns on EQ7 that use 5 to 6 colours. Oh, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be doing a customer quilt.
On another note, the shift I did last night was infinitely better than the last 2. We were full staffed, and thus able to give the care and attention the patients deserved. Such a relief. And now, I'm off to do that quilt.

Lots and lots of fudge

2011-12-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

Well, It's been a few days since my rant. Part of me can't believe I did that. I am not an outwardly show your emotions type person. Most of the time, unless someone knows me really well, it is difficult to even tell if I am angry. Well, it all came to a head the next night, which was, if possible even worse than the one I ranted about, and I came home sat down, and had a major, lots of tears involved, meltdown, which is something that has never happened before. I shocked my poor husband, who was totally floored at the meltdown. But, that's over, and I had a couple of relaxing days off, and I'm back into work this afternoon. I am really hoping it is a better shift.

But, on a happier note, I managed to get 105 of the step 3 Orca Bay triangles sewn. And there are now 4 different kinds of fudge in the fridge, to give as Christmas gifts. These are just 2 of them, Oreo cookie fudge and S'mores fudge. I found these recipes, and quite a few more on moms crazy cooking. If you have a thing for chocolate, and most of us do, go on over and take a look.
I'm not going to be able to link up to the Crazy Mom Quilts finish it Friday this week, since I didn't have a finish. Too much working, and too much stuff to do for Christmas. But there are still lots of fun things to look at, if you are interested. I'm hoping to get back into getting lots of stuff finished come the new year. I've been making myself lists of UFO's and WIP's and also Bucket lists. I'm planning, at some point, of putting these lists on the side bars of the blog, so they remain front and center and visual, so that I can cross them off as they are done. There is something so satisfying about crossing things off lists as they are finished.
But, now I have to get ready for work, so I can cross this shift off my list as "done". I sure hope it is better than the last 2. I'm praying for calm and patience and strength, both physical and emotional.

Warning...... this is a rant!!!

2011-12-13T13:28:00.001-05:00

I am so angry I could spit, just like a cat. It all started at work last night. When I got there at 3, I was told our staffing had been cut back from 7 to 6 because our census was down 1 patient, who is in the hospital. There are now 27 instead of 28 total care residents there, 25 of whom require total feeding at supper time. And they are not easy feeds, either. They have swallowing problems, need to be reminded of what they are doing, because they have forgotten what eating and swallowing even is. The first supper trays come at 4:30, and the second set come at 4:45. We finished feeing at 6:15 pm. That means that someone's supper sat for an hour and a half to and hour and three quarters before they finally got fed. Would you want that for your father or mother, or grandmother or grandfather? I sure wouldn't. I talked to our head person and was told a bunch of nonsense about statistics, and national averages for staff to patient care hours, and how there is no money for bringing back the 7th staff member. But, when the one patient returns there will be???? How on earth does this even begin to make sense??? Would she/he want this for her/his parent or grandparent? This head person isn't even a nurse, but is managing a nursing unit, and has absolutely no clue what goes on from day to day, and shift to shift. The head person then made the suggestion that the trays could be delivered earlier. How would that make a difference in the fact that there are 25 people to feed, and that it would take just as long? The moral at our workplace is the lowest I have ever seen it, and it is partly because of stuff like this. There is no reasoning with them. Money and statistics are the bottom line, even though the organization, which I cannot name, talks all kinds of nonsense about it promoting "patient focused care". They aren't the ones who have to deal with the family members who, quite rightly, complain when their father or mother are sitting in a soaking wet chair, or are waiting for a cold, congealed meal. WE are, and WE are absolutely powerless to change it. Like I said, I am so mad, I could spit. There has recently been stories on the news talking about the salaries of the CEO's of the various hospitals......... up to $700,000 per year, before travel allowances and all kinds of other benefits and perks. But there is no money to pay for a staff for even 4 hours so the someone doesn't have to eat a cold meal. GRRRROOOOOOWWWWWWLLL!!!!

Sunday Stash Report

2011-12-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

I finished up Make Your Point this past week, and made a giant stocking for Avery. Both of those project used up some yardage. I was really hoping to get to the 4th step of the Orca Bay mystery, and get some 2 inch strips cut and subtracted, but that didn't happen. But, I'm on my 3rd day of a 5 day stretch at work. My first day off after this stretch is going to be declared a do for myself day. And then, since I have a quick turn around, since she wants it for Christmas, customer quilt coming today, I'll have to do that. And then there are a few things I have to finished up for Christmas. Maybe, just maybe, I'll actually be in the black by the end of the year. That would be rather cool, since that was nowhere even close to being in the plan. Also, sometime between now and the end of the year, I want to set up some lists in the side bars of quilts that I want to do and also WIPs and UFOs and quilts waiting to be quilted. I did participate, for a while, in Judy Laquidara's UFO challenge, and got a few of them done. But I dropped off around the same time that our gorgeous grandson Avery was born. Speaking of Avery, wouldn't this be a good opportunity to sneak in another picture of him? And isn't that a great looking Santa? We didn't do the Santa thing with our children, but concentrated on the birthday of Christ, instead. But still, that is a great looking Santa. I like the real beard, or at least it sure looks real. Anyway...... on to the numbers.

Used this week: 5 yards
Used this year: 149.9 yards
Purchased this week: 0
Purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 12.6 more yards in than out

As usual, I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and the weekly stash report linky.

Two more finishes

2011-12-09T12:23:00.001-05:00

I haven't written a blog post all week, since it has been really frantic around here, trying to get a bunch of stuff done. I had 2 customer quilts to do, and they are done, except for tying in the ends of thread on one of them, which will be today's job before going in to work. I was trying to get all these things done, since my work schedule over the next 4 weeks frankly stinks. Today is the first of 5 3-11 shifts in a row. I know for all the people who work full time, this is nothing, but I'm supposed to be part time. But over Christmas, the part time people end up working full time hours so that the full time people can get their time off over Christmas. There is something slightly wrong with that picture, but oh well.
Anyway, back to fun stuff. I finished the Make Your Point top. It is now a flimsy, and has joined the pile of flimsies waiting to be quilted.
I am 13 quarter square triangles away from having the 1st step of Orca Bay Mystery done. Considering she released step 4 today, I'm not doing that great. But, the good news is that step 4 is string piecing reds and since I decided right at the beginning of this mystery that I was going to substitute plain squares in the colours of the strings, that gives me a week to catch up and get the 350 half square triangles of step 3 at least started. I'm debating with myself whether I should go ahead and cut the plain squares, or wait a while and see how the mystery develops. I would like to at least semi keep up with this, so that it doesn't turn into another UFO. Or, if I don't keep up, just keep going until it is done.
And finally, I managed to get a Christmas stocking made up for Avery. It is huge. This year Grampy and I will have the fun of filling it, but after that, it will live at their home, and his parents will have to fill it. *wicked giggle*. Well, maybe we'll help a little then, too. There are a few other things I want to make up for Christmas, some of which can be done at work on breaks. But those are mostly secrets, so I can't talk about them, yet.
There hasn't been a whole lot of decorating here this year, since both Scott and I are working Christmas, and opposite shifts, at that. We'll be going up to Noel and Laurie's to celebrate Christ's birth with family for 3 days, starting on the 30th. Becca and Matt will be coming up then too.
I'm linking this post up to AmandaJean's Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. What a great motivational tool that is.
And now, I'm off to tie in thread ends, and then maybe finish those quarter square triangles, and maybe even get a start on the half square triangles before I have to go in to work this afternoon. See ya........

Design Wall Monday Dec 5

2011-12-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

I still have Make Your Point on my wall, same as the past few weeks. But it is slowly making progress. Since the last picture of this quilt, the triangle borders have been actually sewn on, and there is another narrow border sewn on.

The original pattern called for these narrow borders to be pieced from random lengths of scraps, the same as the inner narrow borders. But I wanted something with a bit more oomph and definition to it, to set off both the triangle border and the checker board that are next to it. So I went for the black with the multicolour dots. It certainly achieved that, and looking at it in these pictures, it almost looks too much. But it is staying. The pattern also calls for an additional 2 1/2 inch border on the other side of the checker board. But to my eye right now, it looks like it is finished with the 4 patch border, and maybe the black multicoloured dots as also the binding. With the 4 patch border added on, it is 72" x 86", which is a nice generous single bed size. Any opinions? Finishing up the last of the 4 patches is my job for today, I hope. And maybe even sewing them into the borders and getting them onto the quilt. But that could be pushing it, just a bit. I'm linking up, as usual, to the design wall linky at Patchwork Times

Stash Report Dec. 4

2011-12-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

I was hoping for some sewing yesterday, in order to finish up step 1 of the Orca Bay mystery, and start cutting for step 3, but life got in the way, but in a good way. Our daughter, Becca and her husband Matt have an apartment less than a 5 minute drive from us, and the regularly come over to our place to do their laundry, rather than pay the horrible prices to use the machines in the apartment laundry room. Usually they put in a load, go do a few errands, and come back to do more. But yesterday they stayed and visited. They are about a year away from being able to do anything about buying their own home, but Becca and I still had some fun sitting and looking at real estate on the computer in what will be their price range. We've discovered we have different criteria in what constitutes a good house. Mine is that it is a five minute walk away from us. Somehow, I don't understand why, she doesn't seem to see that as being the top of the list. LOL!!! So, the only stash that got used this past week was for the backing and binding for the Crunbs quilt And there won't be a whole lot done today either, since I have to work this afternoon and evening. Anyway, here's the numbers:

Used this week: 3 yards
Used this year: 144.9 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 17.6 more yards in than used.

That balance number is getting better. It might not get to zero, and that isn't my goal, anyway, but it is fun to see it shrink, just the same. I'm linking up to the Sunday Stash Report over at Patchwork Times And now, time for lunch and maybe a teeny bit of sewing and then work. See ya......

Crumbs quilt is finished

2011-12-01T14:25:00.004-05:00

Wow, am I ever on a roll. I have another finish. Of course, it isn't a very big quilt, measuring about 60 x 62, and it is quilted with a very simple overall meander. I figured that, since there is so much going on in the quilt itself, complex quilting wouldn't show. Even with the close up, the quilting is difficult to see. For the backing, I found some leftover pieces that were crying to be used up, and to be put into a quilt so they could be loved. I really like the splash of orange tulips down the middle. I hope Shelby likes it, when she gets it for Christmas. I wonder how I'll know if she does, considering she's our chocolate labrador retriever grand-doggy. And now, I'm off to work. See ya....

Friday edit: Once again, I'm going to link up to AmandaJean's Crazy Mom's Quilts for her Finish it up Friday. And I just found a new linky party that looks like it has a lot of fun stuff to look at, called the Rock 'n Share Party hosted buy a blog called The Shady Porch. Looks Like I'll be spending some time on her front porch.

Design Wall Monday Nov. 28

2011-11-28T16:50:00.000-05:00

I had all kinds of plans for today. I had to get up really early this morning, like 6:30 am early, which for anyone who knows me, just doesn't happen. But, I figured since I had to be up, and out for an appointment for my husband at that time, I could make a good thing out of it, and get lots done once we got home. Uh huh, yeah right, didn't happen. Here it is, 4:30 in the afternoon, and other than a little Christmas shopping, nothing has happened. Or at least, not yet. I think it is going to be a put in a DVD and watch a movie or something and knit until I can go back to bed tonight. Once again it is confirmed, mornings and I are deadly enemies.

On the good news side, I did get some more work done on Make Your Point over the weekend. The narrow inner borders are on, and the triangle borders are all sewn together, and one of them sewn on. I still have quite a few of the 4 patches for the checkerboard border left to do yet, but there are a few up there just to give an impression of the final product. I like it. Will it be done this week? I'd like to think so, but realistically, probably not. I want to get the Crumbs quilt loaded and quilted and bound this week, as well, so I think I'll be giving that priority. I'm still doing the Orca Bay Mystery but I'm going to wait and see on the 2nd step, which is the blue strings for 3 1/2 inch squares, and see if I can use plain blue 3 1/2 inch squares instead. I think, going by the hints Bonnie's been giving, that there will be some red string squares, as well, so I'll wait and see for those as well. This gives me lots of time to get the last 150 hour glass units done.

There are lots of fun design wall posts over at Patchwork times I'm going to link up there, and then maybe do some blog surfing.

Stash Report Nov. 27

2011-11-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

November 27, how on earth did that happen so fast? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were waiting for our grandson to be born, and he's a little over 6 months old already. He's such a handsome little boy. I am so thankful for the technology of the internet. It makes keeping in touch, and being able to see him so much more possible. He had his first taste of banana a couple of weeks ago, and Laurie called me on Skype, and put her laptop in front of Avery while he was having his first taste of it, and I was able to participate in the experience, even from 4 hours away. So cool. But, this is supposed to be a stash report, not an Avery report. Somehow, I seem to have gotten a bit side tracked. So, on to the numbers:

Fabric used this week: 2.9 yards
Fabric used this year: 141.9 yards
Fabric purchased this week: 0
Fabric purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 20.6 more yards in than out.

Hmmmmmmm, looks like I just might make the 150 yards used mark. I wonder if I'll actually get down to a zero balance? With only one month left to the year, probably not, but I'll get close. I'm linking up with Judy's stash report where there are other quilters also keeping track of there fabric ins and outs. And now, I'm going to go sew for a while, before I have to go in to work this afternoon.

Sweet Treats finished

2011-11-25T16:50:00.001-05:00

Sweet Treats, aka Swoon, is finished, quilted, bound and washed, and she is so soft and cuddly and delicious to look at.She is quilted with continuous curves in the pieced sections, and swirling feathers in the white backgrounds. I used a variegated thread from Superior threads, a Rainbows thread called Seashells, and an off white thread in the bobbin.

While browsing through the webstore Thousands of Bolts a few weeks ago, I found a fabric that was absolutely perfect for the backing, showing more Sweet Treats. And at the same time I found a striped fabric that was printed on the diagonal for the binding. I love the way it makes it look as if I slaved over doing bias binding. *giggle*. And, of course, I used the Faux piped binding technique, found here which enabled me to do the binding completely by machine, so much faster and easier, and looks pretty good too. I'm linking this Friday finish to the Finish it up Friday linky found over at Crazy Mom Quilts. Go take a look, if you have some free time, at some more finishes.

"Resistance is futile"

2011-11-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

As the borg say, in the Star Trek series, "resistance is futile". I tried, and tried and tried, to resist, but as everyone knew, including me, I caved in. I've started doing the Orca Bay Mystery. After all, how can all those other people playing along be wrong. So, here they are, 92 quarter square triangles, in blacks and creams, with a navy blue one, thrown in just for kicks. Actually, it was my test square, and it worked, so I'll keep it in. I've also gotten the quilting done on Sweet Treats and the binding made. So tonight's job is to get the binding sewn on, and the quilt into its first wash and dry, so that it's all soft and comfy. See ya later.......

Design Wall Monday Nov. 21

2011-11-21T12:46:00.000-05:00

I've been working on getting the centre portion of Make Your Point all sewn together, and ready for the multiple borders this quilt requires. So far, I have 3 out of 4 sections pieced together. The last one will be done today, I hope, and then I can begin with the borders. I am liking the way this one is looking. I want to keep going on this, and get it finished, but I am seriously being distracted by the latest Bonnie Hunter Orca Bay mystery quilt. I have lots of leftover blacks and neutrals sitting on my cutting table that are yelling their pretty selves silly. They talked me into measuring them yesterday, to see if there were enough of them, and to see how many of the itty bitty quarter square triangles I could get across the width of a fat quarter. I figured any where from 10 to 12 across, so I have enough. But I'm not sure I really want to start this, but I suspect I'm going to be drawn in. It's not as if I have any other plans for these fabrics. They are just sitting on the top of my cutting table, taking up space, getting moved from one spot to another as I work on other things. They need to be used, don't they? I think I'm in trouble....................
To see other walls, go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times where there are lots of other tempting walls, some of which have the first step of this mystery going.

Stash Report Nov. 19

2011-11-19T12:59:00.002-05:00

Not a lot of sewing going on this week. As I've said to a couple of people already today, working gets in the way of so many fun things. I did get some cutting and a little bit of sewing done on Make Your Point and am hoping to get a bit more done before going in to work this afternoon. Most of my time this past week was spent on quilting Sweet Treats I am having a blast, now that I've figured out how to do them, with doing the background fills with feathers. I'm hoping to have it finished this coming week. And I am having a really hard time resisting the pull of the newest mystery floating around blog land. I have a bunch of leftover blacks and neutral bits of fat quarters sitting on my cutting table, crying out "use us, please use us, please cut us into 1 1/2 inch strips and use us" So far, I'm ignoring them. LOL!!! Now, for the numbers:

Used this week: 4.3 yards
Used this year: 139 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 23.5 yards

There are other stash reports over at Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times
Hmmmmmmmm, if I did the mystery, that would use up more yardage............. must resist........ must resist...............must resist............. must resist................... HELP!!!!!!!!

Trying new things part 3

2011-11-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

And here it is, the coloured finish. I'm going to look at it for a while, and decide if I want to add any more to it. The next step is to embroider all around the coloured shapes. There are a couple of ways to do it, either by hand, or by machine. Also, the book says that the colours fade if the stitching is done before putting the textile medium on. But, the stitching acts as a barrier to prevent the colour bleeding when the textile medium is applied. So, I'm going to do a bit of quilting and let things simmer in my brain for a while before I decide what to do next.

Trying new things part 2

2011-11-16T14:15:00.002-05:00

This will probably a post heavy day, depending on how far I get on this Faux Applique. I'm going to try and do step by step of what I'm doing here.
First, I traced the design onto the freezer paper. The book says to do it onto a regular piece of paper, and trace from there, but since there is no problem with the design getting reversed, I skipped a step and did it directly onto the freezer paper, which then got fused to the wrong side of my white fabric.
Then, I laid the whole thing over my light box, and lightly traced the design onto the fabric using a mechanical pencil. With the design traced onto the freezer paper, there were no issues with the fabric moving off the design.

And here it is, all traced, and ready for colouring.
I'm going to set myself up at the kitchen table with a pot of Cherry-Amaretto tea, and start colouring. The hardest part will be deciding on which colours. The book shows red, but I think I want to be different. Stay tuned..............

Trying new things

2011-11-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a post at Denise's Count it All Joy blog about a book she had received in the mail. It's about Faux Applique and the idea immediately intrigued me, especially after seeing the graphics on the cover of the book. So, I took a little time then, to see if I could find out more information about what was actually involved in Faux Applique, and found this tutorial on the authors' blog. I was immediately hooked. Applique, using coloured pencils, and a textile medium to make the coloured pencils permanent. So, I sent away for the book, some coloured pencils and the textile medium. Denise and I have decided that we'll work through the projects in the book sort of at the same time. The first project in the book is a neck pillow with a fairly simple design on it. I'm going to try and get a start on it today. My fabric is washed, and needs to be ironed, and then I can get a start. In between, there is also laundry to do, and I want to get a bit of quilting done on Sweet Treats as well, and maybe some sewing on Make Your Point. I think I'll do bits of time on each, and see how far I get.

Crumbs is a flimsy

2011-11-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

I have the top for the Crumb Along finished. It still needs quilting, but at least the top is done. It was one of the things I finished up last week before going back to work. A couple of months ago, Laurie, my lovely daughter-in-law, asked for a quilt for their chocolate lab, Shelby. Apparently the dog has taken a liking to sleeping on Averys' quilts, and so would benefit from one of her own. And actually, Shelby is the only member of the family without her own quilt. So, this one is hers. I had a lot of fun doing this quilt. The whole concept of not having to have accurate seams, just working in a free form way was intriguing, and rather liberating. I'll probably keep this concept in my pocket, and bring it out to use in other quilts, maybe as the centre of stars, and that kind of thing, and replace the boring plain fabric squares, with crumbs. I'm linking up to the Crumb along reveal where, as the week goes by, there will be more fun crumb quilts to see.

Design Wall Monday Nov.14

2011-11-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of things up on the wall today. My leaders and enders project which is well on its way to becoming a real quilt. It's a pattern from this book which I bought for the quilt on the cover. They have named the quilt "Make Your Point", and since I'm terrible at coming up with quilt names, I'll use that one. I have enough of the 16 patches now made up to do the entire centre of the quilt, and a couple of the borders. I think I'll do the remainder out of strips, so I can get this one done. Here's what I have so far: It's a bit different from some 16 patch and pinwheels I've seen, due to the changing direction of the pinwheels. I love the secondary pattern that the pinwheel blocks form, almost like the 16 patch blocks are framed by the triangles. I'm planning on focusing on this quilt until I get it done, except, of course, that I need to find another leader and ender project. And then, there are the Fat quarter stars quilt along blocks. I'm a bit behind on these. The 3rd block is still in pieces. If I have a bit of time after writing this, before I have to head to work, I'm going to see if I can't it at least partially sewn together.
There are lots more design walls to see over at Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times If you have a few minutes, go on over for a visit.

Sunday Stash Report

2011-11-13T13:13:00.001-05:00

I haven't done any posts since last Monday. I've been madly sewing and quilting all week, trying to get as much as possible done before going back to work yesterday, after 5 weeks off. Man, that had to be the fastest 5 weeks of my life. And, after going back to work yesterday, lets just say I was right about not wanting to go back, and leave it there. Otherwise this will turn into a rant about work, and I don't want to do that; I'd rather talk about fun stuff, like everything I was able to get done last week. I managed to get the Summer Rental finished. There were 2 customer baby quilts to do, and both of those are done, and returned to their rightful owner. I finished the Crumb along quilt. And then, I found the Disappearing Nine Patch blocks that I had started a couple of years ago, and threw them up on the wall, rearranged them, and sewed them together. There are enough left for another quilt. And then, I had another leader and ender project that was ready to go to the next stage, so I started to take it there. And then I made the backing for, and loaded onto the machine, the Sweet Treats quilt. Whew, no wonder there was no time for blogging in there. I'm tired just reading that list. The good news from all that , especially since I didn't do a stash report last week, is some fairly significant fabric out numbers.

Fabric used last 2 weeks: 15 yards
Fabric used this year: 134.7 yards
Fabric purchased last 2 weeks: 6 yards
Fabric purchased this year: 162.5 yards
Balance: 37.8 more yards purchased than used.

I'm linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times Stash report, and then I have to get something to eat, maybe spend 15 minutes or a little more sewing, and then it will be time for work.

Design Wall Monday Nov.7

2011-11-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on Summer Rental, by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.
I had hoped to have this done by the weekend, but the corners are a bit tricky to get sewn on correctly. My design wall isn't in the same room as my sewing machine, so it is quite time consuming to go between the rooms for only a couple of blocks at a time. And there have been a couple of times when by the time I got to my sewing room and sat down at the machine, the orientation of the blocks got turned, so I ended up having to rip out. Still, I am really liking it, and am quite happy with how it has turned out. There are 2 corners left to sew together, and put onto the main body of the quilt, and then I can call it done, and that is what is planned for today. I have a couple of customer baby quilts to do, which is also on the list for today and tomorrow. I'm linking this post to Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Monday where there are lots of other walls to peak at.

Beach Cottage quilt finished

2011-11-04T18:15:00.002-04:00

As well as working for the past week on the quilt
Summer Rental, I've been doing the quilting on
Beach Cottage. It is now finished, and bound, and can
be added to my list of finishes for the year. WOOHOO!! I have been studying this tutorial for doing an overall feather meander for quite a while, and decided that this was the quilt to try it on. I am so pleased with the results. I absolutely love the effect, especially when combined with these fabrics. They seem to fit each other perfectly.

This is one of the fabrics that I bought earlier this year, intended as quilt backing. I didn't have a specific quilt in mind for it, but it fits this one. I love the way the feathers show up so well on the backing. And now, I'm off to get something to eat, and go back and do some more on Summer Rental.

Time for a tea break............

2011-11-03T16:25:00.000-04:00

Time for a break, and a progress report. The quilt Summer Rental, (I have no idea why the author named it that), by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, is coming along quite nicely, and I'm really happy with the way it is looking. I almost always start working from the centre of a quilt and work outwards, when beginning a new quilt, and assemble enough of the elements to be able to see what it looks like. I'm too impatient to to all the block elements first, and the sew them into blocks. I like working a few blocks at a time. So, I cut a bit, sew a bit, press a bit, and repeat. The exception this time was all the star points in this quilt, which is what all those triangles off to the side are. Considering this was only started this past week, not bad, not bad at all. I'm hoping to have this to at least a finished top stage before I go back to work on the 12th. Unless I come up with a sudden inspiration on how to quilt this, (any suggestions gratefully received, by the way), I don't imagine it will get quilted before then. And now, tea break is over, and I'm going back upstairs to sew.

Design Wall Monday Oct. 31

2011-10-31T14:01:00.000-04:00

I must confess to totally enjoying this time off work. I have managed to get soooooooooo much done, both finishing a couple of older projects, and starting a couple of new. Beach Cottage, from the book Scrap Basket Sensations is now a flimsy. It is actually off the "design line" and onto the longarm for quilting. I'm going to try a free hand meandering feather on it. On my actual wall are a couple of things. The crumb quilt for the Crumb along is almost done. I need to finish off a few more letters, and then some squares for the last side.

Then, I succumbed to the temptation to start a new quilt. It's a pattern I've had for quite some time, called Summer Rental by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. I'm using the fat quarter bundle of Etchings to make it. I've just started to get into using fabric lines when doing quilts. Beach Cottage was the first time I'd ever used a complete fabric line, in a jelly roll. This is the second time I've done this. So far, I'm happy with the results. These are some of the alternate chain blocks for the quilt. I'm hoping to get started on some of the star blocks today. It's looking rather Christmassy right now, but it won't stay that way. I go back to work on the 12th of November, and would like to see if I can get this one done before then.

I'm linking this post up to the Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times where there are lots more sights to see.

Stash Report October 30

2011-10-30T15:23:00.001-04:00

Well, my purchase numbers went way up this week. That bolt of white that I ordered arrived. Fifteen yards at one swipe. Yikes. Good thing I'm not doing this in order to reduce stash, but just for curiosity, or I'd really be mad at myself right now. I've been doing a fair amount of sewing this past week, and also had a couple of finishes. One completely quilted and bound, and another to flimsy stage (pics tomorrow). I've picked out a fabric for backing, and am going to try and get that done this afternoon, but it will show up in next weeks numbers.

Used this week: 5.6 yards
Used this year: 119.7 yards
Purchased this week: 20.5 yards
Purchased this year: 156.5 yards
Balance: 36.8 more yards in than out.

There is more fabric coming this week, as well. I found a perfect fabric for the backing for Sweet Treats and couldn't resist. And that's it for today. Time to go make that backing. I'm linking up to Patchwork Times for the weely stash report.

Bloggers' Quilt Festival

2011-10-29T14:10:00.001-04:00

There is a festival of quilts happening over at Amy's Creative Side I've spent some time over there this afternoon, and there is a LOT to see. I've decided to jump in, and add one of my own. When I was over there grabbing the link, there were a whopping 271 entries, so far. That is a lot of quilts!!! We can go to a quilt show, and never leave the house. And, with the wonderful Pinterest boards, there is a great way to save the favourites of them all.

So, to my entry: it's a quilt I did 3 or 4 years ago, before I started blogging, called New England Beauty. It is from a book by Judy Martin called The Block Book. I actually received this book as a Christmas present from my parents shortly after the book came out in 1998. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it in the book, but had to wait a large number of years before my skills were up to it. I've mentioned before that I love Judy Martin's patterns. They are well written and easy to follow. I particularly love patterns that create secondary designs, and this one definitely does that. The individual blocks disappear into the overall effect of the quilt. I'd had my longarm for a few years by the time I did this quilt, and so was confident enough to be able to do some custom quilting on it.

There are feathers in the backgrounds of the eight pointed stars, as well as feathers in the points of the 4 pointed stars. This is one of my favourite quilts, and it has place of honour on my bed. If you get a chance, go over and browse through some of those quilts, but be prepared to get caught up in all those quilts, and lose track of time. I think I'll try to portion them out to something like 20 at a time.

Another finish.....

2011-10-28T14:41:00.002-04:00

I have another finish!! Yippee, woohoo, hurray!! Finished as in quilted, bound and first wash so that it is in its soft and cuddly self. It's a pattern from Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times site called Connect the Dots. She offered it as a mystery I'm not sure how long ago, but I must confess to having cheated. I saw a picture of some one's partially finished quilt, and so I had a good idea of what the finished product would be, before I selected my fabrics. I am extremely happy with the way it turned out. It is quilted with a curvy spiral pantograph that I adapted from a border stencil. I like the way the diagonal lines of the quilt are reproduced in the spiral, but the curves soften the angles a bit. I used my favourite binding technique of faux piping, which I first saw demonstrated here It is a nice way to do binding completely by machine, and have it look really good. I had bought a large amount of the blue fabric, and so I was able to use it in the top, binding and backing. It was a purchase from Len's Mills when they had one of their 50% off the lowest ticketed price sales a few years ago. The quilting design is quite visible on the back. I'm linking

this post up to a blog I started following recently, called Crazy Mom Quilts She has a linky party specifically for finishes accomplished during the week. It is actually a good motivator. There is also a linky over at Amylouwho show and tell friday that I'm going to link to as well. It's worth while checking out both of these. I have a couple more that I want to see if I can get finished before next week. It's a great way to establish a goal, and a timeline to work towards. And now, I'm off to go work on one of those quilts.

Design wall Monday Oct 24

2011-10-24T12:56:00.000-04:00

I've made some progress on the Beach Cottage quilt, using the Charlevoix jelly roll I had in my stash. I have the first 4 rows sewn together. And the bonus triangle units are all sewn together into a partial pieced border, to go on opposite corners of the quilt. I am thinking, at this point, that I will do up the same number of four patches per side, as the triangle units, to go on the other corners, to balance it off. I'm not sure what I'll do to make up the distance left between the four patches and the triangles. I think there will be another green border, and then I have a whole pile of 2 1/2 inch squares left from the jelly roll to make another pieced border. At that point, it will measure somewhere around 63 x 75. Does that classify as a twin sized quilt? Hmmmmmmm..........
I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times for her design wall monday linky party, where there is always lots to see.

Stash Report October 23

2011-10-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

There has been sewing happening here. Lots of sewing, so there is fabric usage to report.

Fabric used this week: 4.7 yards
Fabric used this year: 114.1 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 136 yards
Balance: 21.9 more yards in than out

I'm planning on getting a couple of quilts onto the longarm this week, which means next weeks numbers should be good, for usage. There is fabric on order that is in transit, so I suppose I should at least try to even it out. We were supposed to get the trailer put to bed for the winter yesterday, and the fabric part of the gazebo taken down as well. But the best laid plans can get all changed when a phone call from Scott's brother comes and he needs help getting to a doctor. So, we'll try again today, since it is bright and sunny out. Maybe there will be some more sewing done later on this evening. I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork times where she hosts a linky for stash reports.

The day after the night before......

2011-10-22T13:29:00.001-04:00

I decided yesterday to participate in the Friday Night Sew-in along with, at last count, 198 other bloggers. It is going to take a long time to go through all those posts to see what they were working on last night. I could ration them out....... maybe 10 or 20 at a time? It is so much fun to be able to see what other people are working on, and find new blogs to read. Anyway, I sewed yesterday like a mad woman. I had a leaders and enders project that was ready to go to the next stage. And then this weeks assignment for the Crumb along which was to sew the centre blocks together and add a border.

The first thing I started working on was the leader and ender quilt that I was working on, using the Charlevoix jelly roll that I ordered from the fat quarter shop quite a while ago. As soon as it came in the house, I cut it up, and started on it. Yesterday's job was to finish adding the triangles to the corners of the blocks. It took twice as long to do, since I double sewed them in order to be able to use the triangles that otherwise would have been discarded.
It is going to have a narrow border of some sort added to this, probably a green of some sort, which might mean a trip to the fabric store, depending on what I can find in my stash.. Then, I am going to use those bonus triangles as a border, and I have some 2 1/2 inch squares left of all the fabrics to use as another pieced border. And I just now noticed, looking at the picture, that one of the squares in the bottom row is turned the wrong way. It's not sewn together yet, so that's an easy fix. This is a pattern from the book Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett called Beach Cottage.

Then there is the crumb along quilt. The centre is now all sewn together, and is waiting for a border of some sort. I haven't quite decided which fabric to use for it, other than I think it needs to be something fairly light. There seems to be a lot of darks in the centre of this, and I think it needs some lightening up. I'm also supposed to be working on the outer border blocks, of whatever kind I decide to use. Stars seem to be a popular choice, as are letters, either as an alphabet, or a name. I have a few ideas perking around in my brain, but nothing solidified as yet. I would love to keep working on these today, as well, but there are things around here needing doing. We have to put the trailer to bed for the year, and there is a gazebo in the back yard that needs its fabric taken down and stored. I'm limited by not being able to lift in what I can do to help in these tasks, but I'll do what I can. Which means, I'd best get off the computer, get some clothes on and do something.

"Sweet Treats" is a flimsy

2011-10-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

I spent most of yesterday in my sewing room, and finished up "Sweet Treats". It is wonderful being able to see again. The second cataract surgery on Wednesday went well, and I now have the vision that I had a a teenager. Woohoo!!!!! Anyway, now that Sweet Treats is done, I'm going to work on a leaders and enders project that is ready to go to the next stage, and also on my Crumbs quilt. I'm going to link this post up to Finish it up Friday , where there are other pictures from people who have managed a finish in the past week. There is also a Friday Night Sew-in happening tonight with all kinds of people from all over blog land participating. When I was over there just a minute ago grabbing the link, there were already 172 people signed up. We all work on our various projects to night, and then go back tomorrow to check out what everyone accomplished. Kind of like a virtual quilting/sewing retreat. It's a fun thought, to think of all those people, all sewing and crafting along. So, I'm going to post this, and then go get a head start on my evening, and start this afternoon.

An "oops" moment, and how a pin saved me $800.00

2011-10-18T11:28:00.000-04:00

I'm working on my second block for the Fat Quarters Star Quilt Along . It's a fairly easy one. Large pieces, and not a lot of them. Easy, peasy, done in the proverbial shake of the stick. Hah, that's what I thought, but I should know better by now, than to think something is easy to do, which means I don't pay close attention to what I'm doing. I got everything cut, and all the individual components sewn, and took them to the ironing board for pressing. And that's when I discovered it, an oops moment.

I'd sewn a couple of the units together wrong. Drat, some ripping to be done. But, not to worry, I have a ripping tool that reduced the task down to, literally, seconds. It is my handy, dandy $10.00 Walmart mustache trimmer. Someone showed this to me at a quilt show once, and my jaw dropped with being so impressed with the simplicity and the speed of it. All it takes is to gently pull the two pieces apart, and gently touch the blades of the trimmer to the threads, and presto, it quickly cuts those threads, without getting close enough to the fabric to cut it. I had 2 of these to rip out, and it literally took less than 30 seconds. So, I was able to get that done, the pieces sewn together the correct way, and finish my second quilt along star.

I've noticed lately, that my sewing machine hasn't been working the way it should. It wasn't doing its part in the "let your sewing machine do the work" for feeding pieces through the feed dogs and presser foot. I was reading on someone's blog that they were researching for purchasing anew sewing machine, and asked if she could pass the info on, since it looked like I'd be needing a new one. The last time I was in a store that carries machines, I was looking at a Bernina, on sale for $800.00. I clean my machine, and get all the dusties out fairly frequently, because we sew together, a lot. I use a small paint brush to get at the places that are hard to reach. Last night, as I was sewing away, and getting more and more frustrated because the fabric wasn't feeding through properly, I had one of those sudded "aha" moments. I took the throat plate off of my machine and looked at the feed dogs. Where there should have been space in between them for them to come up into the throat plate to grab the fabric, there was lint. So much lint, that the paint brush I use to clean them with, couldn't budge it. I had to use a pin to get in there and get the lint out. Then, I put the throat plate back on, started to sew, and worked....... the feed dogs grab the way they should, it's not getting snagged in the seams, and it's working the way it should. Phew!!!!!

Design wall Monday Oct 17

2011-10-17T13:11:00.000-04:00

This must be what it feels like to be retired. Days and days of nothing to do but enjoy the fact that it is cold and rainy and damp outside, so what else is a girl to do but sew. (Lets not mention the house cleaning that needs to be done, shall we) In addition to all the crumbs I've been working on the past week, I've also been working on my Swoon quilt, which is going to get renamed Sweet Treats. My goal for yesterday was to get 3 more blocks sewn together. I almost made it........ 2 1/2 done. For today, I would love to get the next 3 at least cut out, and hopefully some of them sewn together. So far, there are donuts and muffins, jelly beans and those hearts shaped candies with words on them, and cupcakes and ice cream treats, in this quilt. I have 2 more sweets fabric, so I'm going to have to repeat one of them. Either that, or I have a fun cell phone fabric I can put in, just for fun. I'll have to see how the colours work out, once the next 2 sweets squares are done. And now, come on over to Judy's Patchwork Times with me and browse through some other design walls

Stash Report Week 43

2011-10-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

It would appear that I have missed a few weeks in reporting, here. Oh well, I've been keeping track of incomings and outgoings, and there has been more in than out the last few weeks. I've been doing a fair amount of cutting and sewing in the last couple of days. A lot of that has been crumbs, which by their very nature, take a long time to use up any appreciable amount of yardage. I've done 27 of the 6.5 inch crumb squares in the last couple of weeks, which roughly works out to about 42 inches of fabric. It sounds like a lot, but the drawers and boxes that it came out of don't look any emptier. I suppose it could have something to do with how tightly packed it all was in the drawer. In my travels around the blogs of the other people participating in the crumb along, they all seem to express the same thing. I also cut out 3 more swoon blocks on Saturday, that I'm hoping to sew up today. Each one of those blocks take 21 inches of fabric. Now, on to the totals:

Fabric used since week 40: 3.7 yards
Fabric used this year: 109.4 yards
Fabric purchased since week 40: 7 yards
Fabric purchased this year: 136 yards
Balance: 26.6 more yards in than out.

I've discovered in the process of cutting out for Swoon, that I'm running out of white fabric. I've been using a lovely Kona Snow, and there is only about a yard and a half left of it. So, there will shortly be a large influx of more of that. It is a staple for every quilters sewing needs, sort of like flour, or sugar for a kitchen. I'll probably get a bolt of it, which will bump those in numbers up by 20 yards. But there are so many quilts on my want-to-do list that all will use it, so it will go out fairly quickly. (That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. giggle) This bolt that I'm currently finishing was actually ordered before my daughter's wedding. We looked all over the place for something that would look good as the white runner down the aisle. But everything that we saw in the stores that was purposed for that was a really cheap, thin, ugly plastic, that was priced way too high, and was useless for anything else afterwards. So I had the bright idea to order the bolt of white fabric, use it for the runner down the aisle, and then use it for quilts afterwards. Using that timeline, since they were married a year on June 12th, I've used 19 yards of white fabric in 16 months. Not bad, not bad at all.
And now, I'm going to link up with Judy's stash report linky at Patchwork Times and check out what some other quilters have been up to this past week, while I finish off my coffee. And then, it's time to sew Swoon blocks together.

Knitting up a storm

2011-10-15T13:16:00.000-04:00

Every few years, I seem to get caught in the craving to do some knitting. It's great while it lasts, but for some reason, it doesn't last. I've also discovered that I do the same thing with knitting that I do with quilts. I can't seem to work on just one thing at a time, but have multiple projects going at once.I've had a few requests for pictures of what I'm working on, so here goes. First off, a scarf, done in the drop stitch pattern. It is basically finished, except for weaving in the ends. Then there are, or should I say will be, a pair of mittens, with roving knitted in to them, to make them extra, extra warm for this coming winter. The green roving peeking out of the top of the mitt, reminds me of those Troll dolls I used to play with as a kid. Then there is that wonderfully soft and silky feeling blue scarf, that is almost done. I really like the basket weave pattern in it. This way there is no right or wrong side to try and get facing out. And lastly, a really sweet looking baby sweater. Not that there is a need for it, but just because the yarn is pretty and soft, and I felt like knitting.
The pattern is from a great book I found, while I was in the shop where I bought the lovely blue yarn. It has charts in the book that detail how to make baby cardigans from the top down, using any yarn that you happen to have. Check the tension information on the yarn wrapper, and match it to the chart, and it will give the amount of stitches needed to cast on, and the rest of the instructions needed to finish the sweater. It has sizes 3 months to 18 months. Best yet, they are knitted on circular needles, and there are no seams to sew up afterwards. The sleeves are done on double pointed needles. It's called Need a Baby Cardigan I have no affiliation with this company, but really like this book. I'm finding that I like having knitting sitting beside my chair in the living room, to pick up when watching/listening to TV. It's replacing the applique that I used to do, and is actually more relaxing than the applique. I have lots of different yarns sitting around the house, some of which I can use for more sweaters.

Crumbing along quite nicely

2011-10-14T13:13:00.000-04:00

I spent all of yesterday, except for food breaks, and computer breaks, playing with crumbs. This week's assignment was log cabin blocks. I did six of them, for in the regular manner, and 2 as courthouse steps variation. I had thought, when I started them, these will be so cool, I'll love them.......... nope. They're OK, but they aren't my favourites. I went on and just started pulling stuff from the crumbs and strings drawer/box/plastic tote beside my sewing table, and I've decided that, so far, I like the free form, add whatever fits in the space style best. Between the log cabin blocks, and the free form, I've done 21 more crumb blocks.
Jo, at Jo's Country Junction, who is guiding us along on this Crumb Along challenged us to take all our blocks and lay them out, to get an idea of how they play together, what colours or block styles need more or less. So, I gathered my courage, and laid them all out.
She said to look to see if we needed to add more of the accent colour. I don't think I have an accent colour, not a planned one, at least. But I do see a fair amount of red poking through, and there is a fair amount of a blue background, with red hearts fabric in it too. Does that count? Anyway, I'm going to leave these where they are, for now. We're supposed to have 42 finished for next week, and there are 45 here, so we'll see where we go from here. I'm linking up with the rest of the group that are crumbing along. They are at that link that I put in earlier. Go take a look, if you have a few minutes. The variety is fascinating. I'm going to try today to see if I can get the Swoon blocks I have cut out, sewn together.

Design wall Monday Oct 10

2011-10-10T14:46:00.000-04:00

There are a few more crumb blocks up on my wall today, and I've arranged them all up there, and put them all together as if they were going to be sewn together. There are 24 of them up there, and it so far measures 36" x 24". Not really big enough to do much with, just yet. But, there are lots more crumbs left from where these came from. So, as soon as I can see better, I'll get back at them.

I went and visited my sewing machine last night, after we got home from our Thanksgiving weekend. She was looking rather lonely, so I decided to sit down and figure out what, if anything, I could do with her. I quickly found out
that any kind of precision sewing would definitely
not be happening. But then I remember a project
I started last year, using crumbs and scraps and
stings to piece together some wedge shapes in order to get an Endless Chain quilt going. I can see well enough to know when a piece of fabric is big enough to cover the needed space, and well enough to aim for the black line to sew on. So I can play some with these when the sewing bug bites. I need 336 of these wedges, and I have 247 of them done already. Trimming will obviously have to wait. But, the added bonus will be to help shrink the amount of stuff in my odd shapes and crumbs scrap drawer. I've been thinking I should sit down sometime and go through this drawer and sort of sort it out. Well, doing these wedges will do that. And, if I get these done, I might start one of Bonnie Hunter's quilts called Out on a String. I made one of these shortly after she published the pattern, and would like to do another.

And now, I'm going to link up to Judy's Patchwork times and then go out and do some knitting on the porch, and enjoy the fabulous, record breaking warm weather.

Thanksgiving weekend Part 2

2011-10-08T22:59:00.000-04:00

One of the things I love best about our family thanksgivings, besides being with family, of course, is how the work load is shared. Noel generally does the turkey and the vegetables. He makes a fabulous sweet potato casserole. I do the pies and the stuffing. Scott will peel and chop all the potatoes and sweet potatoes. And Matt and Becca generally do the clean up of the pots and pans. Laurie looks after the organizing of everything, and Becca also looks after the table setting. So no one is swamped with all the work. This leaves plenty of time for everyone to be able to visit, and especially to have fun with Avery and his newly discovered Jolly Jumper. I couldn't resist taking a video of him in it. He's looking at and talking to one of his favourite people, his Grandma Jan, Laurie's mom. They live here in the same town with Noel and Laurie and Avery, and get to see him almost every day. It is so nice that they are here, and able to be a close source of love and support. But, I must confess to just a teeny bit of envy. (sigh) But, I will enjoy the time we have with him, and take as many of this kind of thing as possible, to remember him with when we can't be there. He is just sooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving weekend

2011-10-07T22:03:00.000-04:00

Well, this is rather fun. I'm typing on biggie sized pages so I can sort of see what I am doing. I have one sort of OK eye, the one they fixed on Wednesday, and then the other one that is pretty bad. Therefore I am rather unbalanced at the moment. (I know, so what else is new. I walked, or in this case, typed, right into that one. giggle) My depth perception is rather off, and so is my perception of where things are on this keyboard. But the next surgery is less than 2 weeks away, and that should make the world of difference. There is a HUGE improvement in the one that was fixed this week.

We are up seeing 3 of our favourite people this weekend for the Canadian thanksgiving...... Noel, Laurie, and that super cutie, Avery. And then 2 more of our favourite people are coming tomorrow, Matt and Becca. Rather than camping this time round, we are actually staying with them at their house, so there is a lot more Avery time to enjoy. He's doing lots of fun new stuff, playing in his exersaucer and play table
and his swing. And this Grammie is having a terrible time remembering that I can't pick him up. But there is lots of fun stuff to do with him, without picking him up. He has discovered the joys of the Jolly Jumper. We took a video of him in it, and Laurie has some more on her blog It takes me a while to figure out how to do the youtube stuff, so you can gets lots of cute Avery in the Jolly Jumper over at Laurie's.

Crumb along

2011-10-04T23:47:00.000-04:00

I've been playing with crumbs this evening, and having a blast. This weeks assignment from Jo who is hosting the "Crumb Along", and where there is a linky party that I'm going to hook up with, showing other people's crumb blocks, was to use triangles in the squares. I think these are my favourites, so far, and will probably do the bulk of the rest of my blocks using them in various ways. I think the constant colour in these squares is going to be the greens. I have tons of these little green triangles left from trimming the Rose Log Cabin quilt I did a few months ago. I am hoping to be able to do a lot more of these next week. Jo says we need at least 50 blocks for what she is guiding us to.But, that is going to depend on the results of the cataract surgery tomorrow, and if I can find a pair of drug store reading glasses that will work for me. I suspect the two eyes are going to need different strengths. So, I'm seriously thinking of buying a pair of each of the strengths I need, both pairs having the same frames. Then I can hopefully pop out, and exchange the lenses to the ones I need to make a pair that will work. It's worth a try, anyway. And now, since it is 11:45 pm, and I can't have anything to eat of drink after midnight, I'd better go and have a drink and a snack while I can.

Design wall Monday Oct 3

2011-10-03T13:21:00.003-04:00

There isn't anything new on my design wall, but there are all kinds of walls to see over at Judy's Patchwork Times I do have pictures of the almost finished Batman quilt. All it needs now is to be bound, which is this afternoon's job, and then run through the washer and dryer. I've used a thicker batt than I usually do, because it was a request that the quilt be "thick and soft", just the way my son likes them. I designed an overall meander pantograph just for this quilt, using the fight words from the Batman series of the 60's and also from the comic books. The words show up quite nicely on the solid colour sections of the quilt using a Rainbows variegated black to white thread. I think Noel is going to like this, a lot. It was a lot of fun to do. After I get this done, I think I'm going to play with crumb blocks. I don't think I'll be able to get many more done for the next 3 weeks, due to the coming cataract surgery on Wednesday on the right eye, and then the left eye on the 19th. I am looking forward to being able to see again, without the shadows and ghosts around everything. That is the thought I am trying to hold onto, when I start to think of the scary thought of someone coming at my eyes with a laser, or whatever it is that they use. But, I know both in my head and in my heart that God is in control, and I will trust Him to guide the surgeons hands.

Stash Report Week 40

2011-10-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

Now that is a scary number.....40 weeks of the year have gone by already. That means that there are only 12 weeks left in the year. How on earth did that happen so quickly? I haven't managed a whole lot of stash reduction this week. But I did manage some enhancement. One of the packages of fabric arrived this week, from the Fat Quarter Shop. It contained 7.5 yards of fabric. There were 5 half yard cuts of fun food fabrics for the Swoon quilt
paired up here with their coordinates. Then, I acted on impulse and purchased a layer cake, (40 10 inch squares) of Flurry, since I am in love with the Christmas Present quilt, and a jelly roll, (40 2 1/2 inch strips) of Flora, for another quilt I want to make, called Avignon Picnic I have no idea when these will get done, but the stuff is gorgeous. So, on to the numbers

Used this week: 6 inches for the Fat quarter stars block
Used this year: 105.7 yards
Purchased this week: 7.5 yards
Purchased this year: 129 yards
Balance: 23.3 more yards in than out.

I'm linking up to Patchwork times where there are other stash reports to read. Some, like Judy, who hosts the stash reports, have used quite a bit of fabric this past week.

Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along

2011-09-30T13:23:00.000-04:00

Well, I put that unexpected free day yesterday to very good use. The Batman quilt was loaded onto the machine, and, if I hadn't goofed on the backing, it would have been done. But, when I got to the end of the top, I'd run out of backing about 3 inches too soon. Oops. Now I have to take it off the machine, (am I ever glad have have zippers on it), sew up another strip of batman fabrics to add to the bottom of the backing, load it back on, (did I already say I'm glad I have zippers on it) and do the last bit of the quilting. (sigh) While I was waiting for the batting to relax after taking it out of the bag, I pieced together the first square of the Fat quarter stars quilt along
and I like it. I like the way the small star seems to float in the centre of the large one. If all the stars are like this one, it will be quite a lovely quilt. And now, I have to run and get ready for work.

Almost did a rant....

2011-09-29T12:45:00.002-04:00

I was just about to do a rant about the differences in prices between the States and Canada, but then I decided I'd better check my facts first. Yesterday I went out in search of a specific yarn to make this scarf Somehow I had it in my mind that I could order it online for about $20.00. So when I got to the store and found out that they wanted $38.00 for it, I nearly choked and fell over in a dead faint. However, I was wrong about the $20.00 online. It is $30.00 online, so it isn't a huge gap, but it is still way too up there in price for me. So I settled on a sort of more economical choice. It's a 50% merino wool and 50% silk and it is just so soft and will feel so nice on my neck come the winter cold. I got home, and started in on making that drop stitch pattern, only to decide that it looked really blah in the plain colour, so I ripped it out. I only had maybe 4 inches done, so it wasn't that big of a deal to rip out. But then I had to come up with another pattern. I got to thinking about how textures always look better with a plain coloured yarn, so that's what I started looking for, and I have this
done so far. I am quite liking it. I have 3 balls of this stuff, so we'll see how long it will be after all of them have been used. Hopefully long enough to fold in half, and then put it on with the 2 ends pulled through the folded part. I like wearing scarves like that. And it is so soft, that I'm stopping and petting it every so often as I knit. (giggle)
Anyway, enough of that. I didn't get any of my quilty goals done yesterday, so I'm going to try again today to get Noel's Batman quilt loaded and started, and the Fat Quarters Star quilt along block done. Somehow I had it down on my calender that I had to work today, but it turns out that I don't. I feel like I have a bonus day off, so I'm going to go and have some fun with it. And, even better, I don't have to cook today, either, because I made Chicken and Dumplings yesterday, (thanks Denise), and there is more than enough for leftovers today. Bonus!!!

Surgery Date set.....

2011-09-28T12:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I saw the eye surgeon yesterday, and received quite a sort of pleasant surprise. Although the wait time to get in to see the eye surgeon was six months, the wait time for the surgery is one week. So, I am booked for the right eye to be done October 5th, and the left eye on October 19th. The doctors says, that with the new lens implant, I should be able to go without glasses, except for reading and close work. That boggles my mind! I've worn glasses since I was 13 years old, although there were a few years in there that I went without. I might get them to make me a pair that I can keep on all the time, though, just so I don't become one of those people who are always searching for their glasses, which would definitely be me. He had to warn me, though, that because I'm quite far sighted, my vision in between to 2 surgeries could get wonky, because the 2 eyes will be very different, and I won't be able to see out of my current glasses with the eye that has already been done. Something tells me there won't be a lot of sewing or quilting done until the second eye is done. That means, I have to find something else to do with my hands in the meantime. I think that will involve some knitting, which is going to involve a trip to a yarn/fabric store later on today. There is a really cool, easy scarf pattern that I really like, and I love the yarn it has been done with in the picture. The yarn shop I want to go to carries it, so I'm off there after I finish this. Then, I think there is some quilty stuff I should get done before the surgery, Noel's quilt should get done, and I have a couple of customer baby gifts to do. And the first block for the Fat quarters stars quilt along has been posted, so I'd like to do that. And do some more crumbs. But, if I'm going to get anything done, I'd best get moving.

Design wall Monday Sept 26

2011-09-26T13:41:00.001-04:00

Monday again, and lots of inspirational, fun, and wonderful eye candy to be found over at Judy's Patchwork times I'm linking this post up there, as well. I mentioned last week that I was contemplating starting a new project, not because I need another, but because I wanted to. Well, I did it, and now have one Swoon block sewn together, and 2 more cut out, and ready to go together. I had some fun novelty food fabrics hanging around, and I'm liking the way this is looking so much, that I've ordered more. It will end up being a really fun quilt, I think. The pieces in this quilt are a perfect size for showcasing this type of fabric, 3 inches finished, and the centre block of the star is 6 inches. So it goes together quite quickly. I'm still working on the RRCB, and am up to 36 or 37 of the string squares done, a couple more than what I had yesterday. After I finish here, I'm going to go do some more of the strings, until I have to go to work this afternoon. Tomorrow is my appointment with the eye specialist to find out about surgery for the cataracts. Here's hoping that the wait time isn't too long.

Stash Report Week 39

2011-09-25T13:44:00.002-04:00

I did some major internet fabric shopping button pushing last week. But, since the packages won't arrive for a week or two, I don't have to count them yet. I'm having a lot of fun working on my novelty food fabrics Swoon blocks. That's why I have new fabric coming in. I liked the big print fun food thing so much, that I ordered more of them. And of course, each food print needed it's own coordinate, so that added up to more........ (giggle) These blocks are actually quite a lot of fun to do. It takes longer to cut the fabrics out than it does to sew them together. I can fully understand why there are so many version of this floating around blog land. Here's a sneak peak:
Each one of these squares uses up 21 inches of fabric, and pretty quickly, too. It takes longer to cut them out, than to sew them together. And then there are the crumb blocks. I've decided that I'm going to count them as each using 63.4 squares inches of fabric each. That's taking the size of them, 6.5 inches, and adding 50% to allow for seams and trimming. Anyway, on to the numbers:

Used this week: 2.8 yards
Used this year: 105.5 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 121.5 yards
Balance: 16 yards more purchased than used.

I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times where there are a bunch of other people keeping track of there ins and outs.

Crumb Along....... I'm hooked

2011-09-20T19:47:00.000-04:00

The instructions for the second part of the Crumb along went up today, and I felt like playing today. These things are a blast to make. I'm totally hooked. I've done 5 of the stars, and still need to do the hearts. But I had all kinds of stuff there to do regular crumbs with, so I've made a bunch of 3 1/2 inch crumb squares, that I've sewn together to make up 6 1/2 inch squares to go with the geese and the stars. I have no idea where this is going, but it sure is a lot of fun, and is making a teeny dent in my crumb and string pile. I'm figuring out the stash usage for these by figuring out the number of square inches for each of these squares at 6.5 x6.5 to equal 42.25 square inches each. Then I'm adding 50% to allow for all the seams and the trimmings, for a total of 63.5 square inches each. Figuring that out for 14 squares, gives me approximately 2/3 of a yard used up. It sure doesn't look like I've used up that much fabric. And now, I think I'll go back and play some more, and make up some crumb hearts this time. Fun, fun, fun.......

Design Wall Monday Sept 19

2011-09-19T13:55:00.000-04:00

I have a couple of things up on my wall right now. Most of it is components for Roll roll cotton boll. The black and purple half square triangles on the right side are parts of the churn dash squares for RRCB. ANd under those are the 5 crumb blocks. But, I'm stalled. I want to start something new. But I'm not sure just what. I've been watching different quilts in the 36 patch quilt along for the last while, and have totally fallen in love with Kathy's I really, really want to do one of these. And then there is a collection of fall themed fabrics, for one of the quilts out of Judy's book Weekend Quilts, that I want to do. ANd then there is Swoon I've seen all kinds of different versions of it, and it is loudly calling my name. I have some novelty fabrics that I've been looking to do something with, a lot of them leftover from making Matt and Becca's Wedding quilt. Here's a pic of some of them, paired up with some
coordinates. The more I look at them, the more I think this might be it. There are others that are a bit more girly and pastels, as well, but I'm not sure if they will work with what I've got so far. To see other design walls, hop on over to Judy's patchwork times where there is lots and lots to see, and cause temptation to quilters wanting ideas and inspiration for new projects, even when not needing ideas and inspiration for new projects. (giggle)

Stash Report Week 38

2011-09-18T13:53:00.000-04:00

This is another 2 week report, since we were up visiting the kids and grandkid last weekend. And there is a big WOOHOO in this one. I have broken the 100 yards used mark. And I'm only 18.8 yards away from breaking even. I've been working rather steadily on the Roll roll cotton boll quilt mystery from Bonnie Hunter, which is no longer a mystery because she published it last year. I've been doing the string pieced neutral setting squares, and they eat up a lot of fabric. I'm not really sure how to figure out exactly how much, though, so I've taken the finished size of the squares, and added 40% to allow for all the seams, and all the trimmings that get hacked off, and thrown away, because they are too small to use for anything else. I'd be interested to know how anyone else figures out amounts for string pieced and crumb blocks.

Fabric used in 2 weeks: 4.9 yards
Fabric used this year: 102.7 yards
Purchased in 2 weeks: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 121.5 yards
Balance: 18.8 yards more purchased than used.

To read more stash reports, check out Patchwork Times.

A Crumb Along

2011-09-15T11:56:00.000-04:00

I've been reading posts about this Crumb Along for a couple of weeks now. I thought to myself, "this looks like fun, but not right now". Then, last night I was looking at the posts of various people who have finished some of the crumb blocks, and thought to myself, "this looks like a lot of fun, but not right now". Then, I went upstairs, took a look at my cutting table, and saw some trimmings from blocks that were red, and already had a triangle sewn on one side and thought that they looked like the flying geese for the first step of the crumb along, if only they had another triangle sewn on them. And the next thing I knew, I was sewing on the second triangles, and digging through my crumbs and strings and leftovers. The result......... 5 crumb blocks that I wasn't going to do.
They measure 6 1/2 inches square. The funny part, or maybe the expected part, is when I finished them, and went back and looked at the posts again, the instructions said to make 2 blocks. As you can see, I read instructions really well.......... not. (giggle). I'm not sure what these will end up as, but they sure are fun. And now, after I finish my second cup of coffee, I'm off to see if I can get the last row of Shakespeare in the Park quilted, and get him off the frame. In the meantime, I'm linking up to Jo's Country Junction where there are a bunch of others also doing the crumb along.

W.I.P Wednesday Sept 14

2011-09-14T15:18:00.000-04:00

Since my last W.I.P. post I have had 2 starts and 2 finishes. The Batman quilt top and pieced back for my son. And I'm actively working on one of my UFO's, the Bonnie Hunter Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery from last year. There has been a lot of good progress on it. The individual components are almost all done and ready to sew together. All I have left to do is 30 more of the neutral string pieced blocks. Here's a W.I.P. picture of what is put together so far.

Starts in the last 2 weeks: 2
Finishes: 2
Leaders and enders in progress: 2
Active WIP's 1
Being quilted: Still working on Shakespeare. Only 1 1/2 rows left to do.
Waiting for quilting: 10, Batman got added to the list.
Waiting for binding: 4, no progress there.
Ufo's: 7, RRCB got taken off this list, but My Tweets has been added to it, so the number remains the same.
Nearly deads: 13. There were 11, but I've found a couple more. A Grandmother's Flower Garden that I started years and years ago, and the year 2000 Piecemaker's calender quilt. So, all in all, not bad. At least there is some progress being made. I had promised myself last week, that if I got up to step 4 of the RRCB quilt done, I'd reward myself with a new start. However, I'm having fun with this one, so I'll keep going while the desire to work on it lasts.
I'm going to link up to the other Work in Progress posts over at Freshly Pieced, where there are a few with lists as long as mine.

Too cute not to share.

2011-09-14T12:22:00.000-04:00

I might actually be doing a couple of posts today, one family related, and the other quilt related. While we were away visiting Noel, Laurie and Avery, I took a couple of videos of Avery using the camera. All well and good, until I tried uploading one of them to my blog. Do you think I could get it to work? Nope, wouldn't do it. Of course, not having a clue about what I was doing didn't help. Then, I found out that it should be uploaded to Youtube first. Sure, OK, I can do that........... not. I couldn't get it to upload, and when I finally figured out how to do that, it said it would take 138 minutes to complete. Huh????? We just started a new internet provider, and it hasn't been going well so far. The blistering speeds we were led to expect haven't happened. In fact, for a while it was slower than the old dial up. Anyway, fast forward a couple of days, and much troubleshooting later, and the speeds are better. It only took 38 minutes to upload a little over a minute worth of the videos from my camera to youtube. So, without further delay here he is, his first video performance on my blog, my wonderful oh so adorable grandson Avery.....

Design Wall Monday Sept 12

2011-09-12T14:25:00.000-04:00

There isn't anything too terribly exciting on my wall today. The backing for the Batman quilt is done. I managed to use up the last of the fat quarters that came in the collection, and some of the leftovers from cutting the pieces for the top.

We were on vacation for a few days and over the weekend, so not a lot of sewing got done. We went up to see Noel and Laurie and Avery and had a wonderful time. He's smiling and laughing and cooing and is just soooo cute. I took a couple of videos of him, thinking I could upload them onto my blog. Unfortunately, it seems like it isn't that simple. There seems to be some converting over to youtube videos, and for the life of me, I can't seem to figure out how to do that. It's probably something simple that I'm missing, But, for now, no videos. But I do have a picture on Noel and Avery chillin' at the campsite.
While we were there we did another spot of baby sitting, and can you believe it, but this Grammie forgot her camera at the campsite. I couldn't! There was so much I wanted to photograph, and I forgot the camera. grrrrr. I was so mad at myself. Oh well. This trip out to the campsite made for 4 all together for Avery. Three with us, and one with Becca and Matt. He loves being outside, and is fascinated with watching the leaves blow in the breeze. I think we may have a potential camper here. They came out for supper on Saturday. Scott cooked up some Atlantic salmon over the fire, and then we had some rice and salad. Pretty classy food for camping out. It was really tasty. I'm hoping to get one more camping trip in over our Thanksgiving weekend, in early October. But that will totally depend on the weather. Early October can be gorgeous, especially up there with all the fall colours. If not, we'll stay with Noel and Laurie.

There are lots of pictures of quilts that are a lot more exciting than mine over at Judy's Patchwork Times Go take a look, if you have a few minutes.

Design Wall Monday Sept 5

2011-09-05T12:38:00.000-04:00

Ah bliss........ this is the first of 11 days off. There is going to be blog surfing, and quilting, and sewing, and best of all, a trip to visit Noel and Laurie and Avery later this week, and time spent outdoors at the campground, cooking burgers over a fire, and marshmallows, and watching and listening to the waves on the shore. It is going to be soooo good.
On a quilty note, I think I have found my "go to" pattern for fast, easy but effective quilts. This Batman quilt was cut out Wednesday night. It has been sewn in the hours before work on the last 3 days. The blocks are all finished, and just need to be sewn together. I am going to use the leftovers from the top and the fat quarters packs to piece the back. And the back will probably take longer to make than the top did. I am sure that Noel is going to love it. It's a good thing I know that he doesn't read my blog. And now, I'm going to make myself another coffee, and surf some design walls over at Judy's Patchwork Times. And then, it will be sewing and quilting time. I want to see if I can't get a little bit more done on Shakespeare, and then get Batman all sewn together. Then the questing is, do I start on Batman's back, do I work on Roll roll cotton boll, or do I start something else new. Ah temptation, even though I had made myself a mental promise not to start anything new until I finished step 4 of RRCB. Hmmmmmmmm....... Oh, I know.... I'll work on stuff I already have going until we leave to go see the kids, and then work on new stuff when we get back. That sounds like a good deal. I wonder if I'll keep it. LOL.

Stash Report Week 36

2011-09-04T12:56:00.000-04:00

I have more stash used up this week. I finished the Rose Log Cabin and started a new project. I'm making a Batman themed quilt for my son, using the Big Quilt pattern from Maple Island quilts I had ordered 2 Batman themed fabrics from The Fat Quarter shop I'm using the red, navy and black solids where the black fabric is shown in this picture, and the Batman prints are going into the large fabric sections. I found out when I was cutting though, that I didn't have enough of the solids in the fat quarters that came with the fat quarter packs to do the whole quilt. I had wanted the quilt to be 3 squares wide and 4 squares long, which would be 4 squares from each solid fabric. I had enough for 3 squares from each. That meant I had to find something in stash to make up the 4th. I discovered that I do not do solids, not a one. I do prints and textureds, but not solids. One of the many things I love about my husband is his willingness to give his opinions on what I am working on, when I ask him. I had this green fabric in my stash, the same greens as are in the batman fabrics.
I wanted his opinion if I could get away with mixing a textured fabric in with the solids. Now, to understand my husband, he is an abstract artist, among his many hats, and he never gives just a yes or no. He looked at the fabric in question, gave a yes, and then went on to give his reason pointing out that the shapes in the green fabric, picked up and mirrored the Batman logo shapes in the fabrics. And once I looked, and I mean really looked, I could sort of see what he meant. So to cut short a very long story, the green is going in. Now, after all that, on to the numbers for this past week:

Used this week: 3.6 yards
Used this year: 95.6 yards
Purchased this week: 0 yards
Purchased this year: 121.5 yards
Balance: 25.9 more yards in than out.

I'm almost up to 100 yards used. Wow!! When I started this stash report thing out of curiosity, I had no idea that I could use that much fabric in only 8 months. And now, I'm off to use more fabric before I go in to work this afternoon. To see how much others are using and buying, check out Judy's Patchwork Times

Work in Progress Wednesday Aug. 31

2011-08-31T19:30:00.001-04:00

I need to give a loud WOOHOO!!! here. I just finished my Rose Log Cabin quilt. The border is on, and it is ready for quilting. Now all I have to do is finish the quilt that is currently on the machine. That is going to take some more time. But, for at least the next day or 2, my WIP list is one shorter, but my lists still look pretty grim, and there is a lot of work to do to get them finished.

Finishes: 1
Active WIP's, 3, My Tweets, RRCB, and Shakespeare in the Park
Leaders and ender projects: 2
Waiting to be quilted: 10
Waiting to be bound: 4
UFOs: 6
Hopelessly UFO: 9

Yikes, that's still a lot of projects waiting to be finished. Oh well, at least it is now 1 shorter. However, I have another project that is going to get started sometime in the next week, so it isn't likely to get any shorter anytime soon. The Batman fabric is all washed. So, after doing the ironing of all that fabric, I can start the Batman quilt for my son for Christmas. So much fun!! I'm going to link this post to the Freshly Pieced blog which hosts a linky party for work in progress reports. My numbers are big, but it is a relief to know that I'm not the only one.

I've joined a Quilt along

2011-08-30T12:47:00.000-04:00

After much dithering, and back and forth, should I or shouldn't I, I've decided to play along with the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt along hosted by Moose on the Porch Quilts. And after a lot more dithering, and pulling of fat quarters and making a mess of my cutting table with them, these are the fabrics I've decided on. I really wanted to do something other than white or off white for the background, but nothing else I pulled really worked. It all really competed with the colours, rather than be a real background for them. And since I want to do this from stash, this textured white/ecru is going to have to do. Anything else really didn't show up the colours in the fat quarters, but made them look blah and sick. The actual work on this quilt doesn't start until the end of September, so, for all of you including myself who have seen that very long list of works yet to be finished, it gives me time to get some more done. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. My daughter and I are having a girls night out tonight. Dinner and a movie, and maybe some shoe shopping afterwards, all of which sounds like a whole lot of fun. So, If I'm going to get anything at all done, I'd best get moving.

Design Wall Monday August 29

2011-08-29T13:59:00.000-04:00

The blocks are all finished!!! Woohoo!! I can start sewing it all together. And I'll give another woohoo!! I got the last of the dark green triangles sewn on yesterday, at 2:15, 25 minutes before I had to go to work. Plenty of time left over for getting changed into uniform, making my large coffee to go to work with me, and taking out a frozen leftover meal to take for supper. Depending on traffic, it is only a 5 minute drive, so lots of time to spare. I am really looking forward to getting this all sewn together. And that is what I am planning for the rest of today. For more design walls, hop on over to Judy's Patchwork Times I'm making this a short post, so I can get to sewing.

Stash Report Week 35

2011-08-28T13:37:00.000-04:00

I missed last weeks' stash report, so I'll have to do 2 weeks worth today, which isn't a bad thing, since there will be bigger numbers for 2 weeks, than one. I've been working on 2 different projects these last 2 weeks, the Rose Log Cabin, and Roll, Roll Cotton Boll. My Rose log cabin is 10 squares needing the last of the green triangles sewn on from being finished, and ready to sew together. I am hoping that there is enough of the dark green that I've been using for these corner triangle left to do a border. It's an old print, and I'd love to be able to use it, since it has roses in it. Hmmmm, I should do an online search to see it I can find it anywhere. If not, there might be another fabric acquisition trip to Len's Mills, or some other fabric store to be able to finish this quilt. I think that I only want one border on it, and that a dark green, but I'll decide that once it is all together and on the wall. I am hoping to get a little bit of sewing time in today, before I head in to work at 3, to get the last of the corner triangles on. So, on to the numbers:

Fabric used in 2 weeks: 5.6 yards
Fabric used this year: 92 yards
Fabric purchased in 2 weeks: 0 yards
Fabric purchased this year: 121.5 yards
Balance: 29.5 more yards purchased than used.

If you are interested in any other stash reports, Judy has a linky up for them on her Patchwork Times Tomorrow should see the full Rose quilt up on the wall, providing I get off this computer, and go do a bit of sewing, after I get something to eat. Type at you more tomorrow.

Almost there............

2011-08-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

I only have 10 of the green and cream log cabin blocks for the Rose log cabin quilt left to finish. And 2 of the 4 rounds on those 10 squares are done. WOOHOO!! Another day or 2, and I can start putting it all together.
I've been distracted for the last couple of days, though. I've bought myself a new toy, an e-reader. I've done a lot of research, and comparing of them. I know a lot of people who have Kindles, and they seem like a great product, but I didn't like their price, or the fact that they are limited to Amazon products. Our library here has a huge digital ebook section, and I wanted to be able to access that resource. So, I finally decided on a Kobo. I've only had it for a day, and took it to work to read yesterday. I REALLY like it. It is light weight, and I can change the size of the print to make it easier to read. I've already got a couple of books from the library on it. The lending period on them is the same as a real book, 3 weeks, at which point they have some sort of mechanism where they are "returned" to the library. And that's the thing that has been really eating up the time, sitting in the comfort of my own living room, browsing through all the titles available, and adding them to an ever growing wish list in my library digital account. Enough to keep me reading for months, if not longer. And I'm only up to the letter "K". The other thing I discovered on our library web page was a fairly large selection of audio books, that can be down loaded onto my computer, and from there, to my ipod. They are only good for 2 weeks. But, it is still a nice way to read and sew at the same time. The ultimate in multi tasking. Have I mentioned before that I love technology?

Work in Progress Wednesday August 24

2011-08-24T14:05:00.001-04:00

I've made a small amount of progress in my active projects. I have more of the July My Tweets prepped and glue basted down. Unfortunately, I'm really starting to notice difficulties doing these blocks, and the tiny stitching due to the advancing of my cataracts. I can't work on them at work on my breaks any more, since I can't see well enough to do them. I'm going to have to dig out my magnifier that hangs around my neck and hope that makes a difference. I don't get to see the specialist about them until the end of September, and that is only the consultation appointment. (sigh)

Roll Roll Cotton Boll is still on step 3, but I'm up to 274 of the red/cream half square triangles.

Rose Log Cabin has had a little bit done on it, but not enough to photograph.

Shakespeare in the Park is one third of the way quilted, so there was good progress on that this past week.

No progress on any of the other WIP's hanging around. But, I'm hoping to get lots done today and tomorrow, on the Roses and on Shakespeare. I've had to move my big lamp that has a magnifier on it up to my sewing room. I find that if I put it right by my machine, with the magnifier in front of the needle area, I can see much better. This will be the modus operandi until the cataracts can be fixed. I'm linking up to the blog Freshly Pieced which hosts the linky party for Work in Progress Wednesday. Check out other WIP lists.

Play before work

2011-08-23T11:55:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, the saying is supposed to be work before play, but somehow I never seem to work it that way, especially when it comes to playing with my fabrics. Today is the last day of that horrible schedule six week period at work. After this I am back to my 4 to 6 shifts every 2 weeks. What a long, and exhausting time it has been. I ended up having to take a sick day on Sunday, due to a headache that simply wouldn't quit, but, it is done, and I made it, more or less intact. What a relief.
I think for diversion, before going in today, I'm going to take this pile of red and cream 2 inch strips

and turn them into more of these 2 inch half square triangles. I want to see if I can't get closer to getting Bonnie Hunter's Roll Roll Cotton Boll finished, so that I can cross it of that UFO list.

And, just because I realized that I haven't included a picture of our wonderful grandson Avery lately, here he is at 3 months old. Growing like a weed, holding his head up like every strong boy should, and generally melting this Grammy's heart to mush.
I miss him so much. But, we're going to see them on September 7th for a long weekend, and will just have to cram in as much cuddle and play time as we can, as well as tons and tons of pictures.

Making progress

2011-08-18T12:04:00.001-04:00

After I wrote yesterday's post about my pile of UFO's. I went upstairs and started to work on one of them. I pulled out the box with Bonnie Hunter's Roll Roll Cotton Boll in it, and started to try to figure out exactly where I was with it. I discovered that I had all the strip sets for step 1 sewn together, but not cut into units. Now they are all cut.
Step 2, 120 3 1/2 inch half square triangles were 90% sewn together, but not de-dog-eared. Now they are done.
Step 3, 600 2 inch half square triangles, I had 40 of them, and more needing to be trimmed. Now I have around 180 of them. So, progress was made on it.
The added bonus is that I have a pile of 2 inch red strips left from cutting out the Rose Log Cabin quilt, so they are going to get used up with the rest of the 420 half square triangles left to go. It sounds daunting, but I was able to get about 80 of them done in a little over an hour last night. So, Tuesday I worked on the Rose log cabin. Yesterday, was spent on figuring out my large list of waiting to be finished projects, and then working on one of them. Today will be spent on working on quilting Shakespeare. In the times I need to rest my legs from standing at the longarm, I'll sit and work on my projects. I think I'm going to try maintaining this kind of pattern, assigning a day to work on a specific task, and see if I can't be a bit more organized, and therefore get more done.

Work in progress Wednesday

2011-08-17T12:12:00.000-04:00

In my travels around blog land lately, I've been noticing posts labeled Work in Progress Wednesday where people keep track of their various projects, in various categories, from actively working on, to not touched in years, or at least I have those categories. LOL! It seemed like a useful, if slightly daunting thing to do. So I've spent the last hour or so up in my studio rummaging around in boxes and drawers, taking inventory, trying to come up with an accurate picture of just what is up there. It's pretty bad, but not as bad as I had thought. I like the way Lee organizes her posts on the subject, so I'm going to loosely follow her format.

New projects started this week: none.

Ongoing projects:
My Tweets, a BOM hosted by Erin Russek. I'm a little behind on it, but not by much. This is July's block, and she hasn't posted August's yet. There is still quite a bit to do on this one though, and the new block is expected on Friday. The Rose Log Cabin is making good progress. I have the last ten of the green and cream squares started, and then there are 16 more rose blocks to do before this can be put together. Considering I only started it back in July, that's not bad.

Ongoing Leaders and Ender Quilts:

-16 patch and pinwheels. This one, if I make it exactly like the pattern, needs almost 400 4 patch squares. I'm up to almost 300 of them. It will shortly be time to move it into the active list.
-Beach Cottage from the Scrap Sensations book

Top being quilted:

Shakespeare in the Park

Tops waiting for quilting:

Round Robin in the Window
Spring Swap
Peas in a Pod
Double Duty
Dot to dot mystery quilt
Burning the Midnight Oil BOM
Pieceful Kwilter BOM
Orphan blocks
Buckeye Beauty. These last 2 are older than my blog, so I don't have pictures of them.

Tops waiting for binding: 4

Active UFO's: I'm not going to do any more links with these. Most are listed over in the labels, if anyone is interested.

Double Wedding Ring
Cactus Rose
Roll, Roll Cotton Boll
Log Cabin Sampler
Endless Chain
Disappearing Nine Patch
100 block challenge squares

Nearly Dead UFO's these all pre-date this blog, so there aren't pictures of them.
Cosmati Stars
Double sided quilt as you go. The blocks are all done, and just need to be sewn together.
Pansies and Butterflies. This might end up as a table topper, so it might get added to the pile that needs to be quilted.
Hand pieced and Quilted compasses
Antique Rose Sampler. This one needs to have a lot of applique done on the borders.
In Bloom
Baltimore Applique. I have a lot of applique squares, of various sizes that need to go into a quilt. But I've had difficulty with a layout for them, so they sit in a box.
Stained Glass squares
Jacob's ladder.

Wow, that's quite the list, but it has been an extremely helpful and eye opening exercise.

There have also been so far this year, 8 complete finishes. That adds up to one per month, which is encouraging. So, now that I've spent a fair amount of time composing these lists, I can make an effort to finish some of these things, and keep track of where I have been, and where I am going. I would like to be able to say, and mean it, that I'll get one UFO a month done, but I know that isn't realistic. So instead, I'll do a current project and a UFO at the same time. I think I'll get back at Roll roll cotton boll, and see where I can get with it, also while working on the current project. I think I'm going to dedicate wednesdays, if I don't have to work, to UFO's. S, after I finish this extremely lengthy post, I'm off to drag out RRCB's box.