Stash Report, Nov. 18, 2012

We had a quilt 'til you wilt day yesterday, sponsored by the London Friendship Quilters' Guild. It started at 9 am, although I didn't get there until about 9:45 or so. And it went until 9 o'clock at night. A couple of the guild ladies looked after getting supplies for lunch and supper, and putting the food out, and cleaning up afterwards. What a treat! They did such a fabulous job so that the rest of us could just kick back and enjoy a day with nothing to do except for eat and sew, not necessarily in that order. I think I'm a convert. I have been a solitary quilter for years, mostly due to shyness, and insecurity about being in groups. Well, no longer. I had a fabulous time, and will definitely doing it again.
In the morning. I worked on getting the center part of Jack's Celebration quilt all sewn together. I have the border blocks to do, and it will be done. That is on today's to do list. Then, in the afternoon, I got a start on Nathan's quilt, and I now have 15 out of 22 blocks done. It was so much fun to have collaboration on which colours to pick, and to be able to talk and laugh while working on quilts. I'll have pictures by tomorrow.

Used this week:                                           3.8 yards
Used this year:                                        115.5 yards
Purchased this week:                                     0 yards
Purchased this year:                                 159.5 yards
Balance:                                                         44 yards more in than out.

My goal for the rest of the year is to work from stash on hand as much as possible. The renovations to our new place start tomorrow, and are projected to last 4 weeks. I have no desire to move over the Christmas holidays, so we'll probably be moving during January sometime. It makes no sense to me to be buying fabric, only to have to pack and move it. Packing what I have is going to be challenging enough, although compared to some I've seen, my stash of yardage is rather small.  The boxes and drawers of scraps and strips..... well that's another story entirely. LOL!!
If you are interested in other stash reports, I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times.

Stash Report, Nov. 11, 2012

 I'm working this afternoon. It's always a busy day at work, on Remembrance Day. For the Veterans that I work with, this is their day. It is actually bigger for them than any of the other special days of the year. All of them are up and out of bed today, dressed in their legion uniforms- with shirts, ties, and jackets or sweaters. Some of them wear their berets on their heads. Some of them have their medals. A small number of them from our unit go downtown to the cenotaph for the services there, but most of them are too frail to go out. So the honours come to them. We gather them into one of the larger lounges and they watch the local service on TV. Some of them sing along to the old songs, some of them weep while watching the service and hearing the music, as the memories return. Then they are honoured with an afternoon tea/lunch of cake and other goodies. I think I can honestly say that this is the first time in all the years that I have been working with them, that I have looked at it other than a day with a whole lot of extra work and hassle. But we were talking about it at work last night, and one of the ladies I was working with was talking about it from this perspective - of honouring them as Veterans. And it hit me like a brick on the side of the head that she was right. It isn't about the extra work, or the shortage of staff. Not today. Today we honour them for the fight they fought for us, and the horrors they endured, and the strength they had to survive. I am blessed to be able to serve them, and I pray that God will continue to give me the strength and patience and love needed to do His service to them, not only today, but for the rest of my days working for them.

I've been doing some hand stitching, but It's been on Laurie's stocking, so I can't show a picture of it. I've also been using stash, working on Jack's Celebrations quilt.

Used this week:                            2.4 yards
Used this year:                          111.7 yards
Added this week:                            0 yards
Added this year:                         159.5. yards
Balance:                                        47.8 more yards in than out.

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

Finish it friday

I have 3 finishes this week, which actually sounds better than it really is. I did indeed get Becca's cold, (thanks for sharing that, sweetie), and it has knocked me off my feet for the past 4 days. However, while surfing around blogland yesterday, I came upon this post from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville, giving information about a quilt drive for survivors of hurricane Sandy. I have had 3 quilts sitting on a shelf in the cupboard for the last 2 or 3 years almost finished. Two of them had the binding sewn on, but needed the binding turned and sewn to the other side. The third needed to have the binding completely put on.
The first one is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Bricks and Stepping Stones.
The second is a half hexagon.
The third is a Kansas Troubles or Delectable Mountains, variation. I'm going to get labels put on them, and then hopefully have time to get them shipped off, if not today, then Monday.  I'm linking up to Amandajean's Finish it up Friday .

Design Wall Monday, Nov. 5, 2012

This is the beginnings of another quilt by Judy Martin, called Celebrations. I actually showed this exact same picture last week, and there hasn't been any change to it. I have lots more of the three-sies of novelty fabrics sewn, since I've been using them as leaders and enders. But I'm not sure how much more sewing there will be done in the next little while. My lovely, generous daughter may have shared her head cold with me.  My head had been filling up all day, and I'm starting to get chills. Wasn't that wonderful of her..... NOT! I was supposed to be going back to work tomorrow after being off sick for the last 2 weeks, but if this keeps up, that won't be happening. Ah well, this too shall pass.
I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times and her design wall Monday listing. I think maybe I'll cuddle under a quilt with a cup of tea, and look at all the fun stuff.

Stash and Stitching report, Nov. 4, 2012

I finished another Promises and Borders block. That makes 3 out of 10 done.
All it needs is the textile medium added to the coloured areas to make them colour fast. I'm enjoying the added dimension the colouring adds to the stitchery.
And there has been stash used, as well. I had a Quilt of Valour from the guild to do up, and it needed a backing, so that used some stash. And then I've started another quilt for one of our grandsons for Christmas, so that's used some, as well.

Used this week:                                5.4 yards
Used this year:                               109.3 yards
Added this week:                               0 yards
Added this year:                             159.5 yards
Balance:                                            50.1 yards more in than out.

I'm linking up to Judy's Patchwork Times stash reports and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.

Saturday news

Matt and his cousin Seth came to the house today to do some repair work today. the area under our kitchen window was open to the outdoors.  That area from the door where it juts out, all the way over to the side of the house. It originally had particle board under there, that had rotted out. 
Consequently, it has also been open to mice. (yuck!!!). So they came today and sealed up that open area, and then got most of the front porch re-floored as well. What a relief to finally have that done. The warmth in the kitchen is noticeable already. The floor in there has been cold for years, and it is cold no longer. Woohoo!! They are such great guys, to help us this way.

I had planned on sewing all day while they worked, but I ended up babysitting Seth's son Noah, instead. He is such a sweet boy. Very active, and very talkative, and his favourite word is "why". But he is obedient, listens when asked to do something, or not touch something. I had a great time with him today. It's been a long time since I had an excuse to read The Cat In The Hat. I wish I had thought to get a picture of him. Seth and Noah were here until about 5 pm, when they had to head back home, but Matt stayed later, until it got too dark to work safely. So, I did get some sewing time in. I worked on the last 2 weeks' worth of Grandmother's Choice blocks. they are done, and the sashings added to them.
I'm not quite caught up with these squares. I've skipped one that was a rerun variation of one of the other squares. The square on the left that I did today was supposed to be an American flag, although I didn't have any star fabrics. But I'm thinking of substituting in a Canadian flag block, if I can find one that fits. And that's it for today.

We're getting there......

We're making progress with the new apartment plans. The financing is in place, and the contracts are signed with the contractor. We meet with all the people involved on Monday to look at the space and nail down some details. The projected start date is in 3 weeks.
This is what the space looks like right now. I'm standing at the back wall when taking this picture. It's 35 feet long from where this picture is taken, down to those glass doors.  There is a bedroom to the right of those doors, and also a bathroom. I'm looking forward to posting an after picture, hopefully in a couple of months. We'll probably be moving in January.
I've decided that the chances are really good that, other than customer quilts and the 4 quilts for the grandsons, I won't be getting any other tops quilted. So then I decided today that I may as well pack up the ones that are waiting to be quilted. I had no idea I had this many. There are 16 of them, all bed sized quilts, waiting to be quilted. Yikes!! Guess what I'll be doing after we move? But then that means that there will be 16 more finished quilts to find space for, in a smaller space than we have now. Double yikes!! I think it might be time to do some quilt redistribution to some charities in our area.