Crumb along Reveal

Way back in September, (how is it possible that it's 7 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

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

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....

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

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.....

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

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.