Sunday Stitching and Stash Report, week 1, 2014

Here we are, a brand new year, and as many have said, the slate is wiped clean, as far as the stash is concerned. This is my fourth year keeping track, and the first time in those years that I haven't had a huge influx of fabric due to year end sales. I am actually starting off the year with more fabric used than added, because nothing has been added. I didn't expect it to feel this good.

Used this week:                                          1.6 yards
Used this year:                                            1.6 yards
Added this week:                                      0
Added this year:                                       0
Balance:                                         +1.6 yards used.

I'm changing how I count, just a little bit. I used to count fabric as used once it was cut for a project. But I have discovered that I sometimes have fabric left over at the end of a project that will have to be added back in. So, I am going to count as blocks are made, for the most part. And it's easy to figure out the amount used, just by figuring out the square inches of the individual block units, and then multiplying it out. Most of the above use was for the Three of a Kind blocks. Each block uses 4.2 inches, so it's really easy to figure out, as I make blocks, how much fabric is used. I'll do the same for the rest of my projects, whenever possible.
I've also decided that this is the year I want to get My Tweets finished, and spend some time doing the hand stitching for it. I'd been procrastinating on this one, which is block 8 out of 12, because I was at the stage of needing to do the tiny top knots for the birds, and the circles for the flower centers, neither of which are exactly my favourite part of this process. Well, today was the day. I got as far on the hand stitching as I could get without those things being done. So, I spent a couple of hours preparing those shapes and getting them glue basted on. And here she is, ready to be finished. Another hour or two should do it, and then I can start block nine. I'm linking up to Judy's Stash Report and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. Lots of fun stuff to read and look at in both places.

Scrappy Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014

This, being the first Scrappy Saturday, hosted by So Scrappy, has produced all kind of anxiety and indecision for me. Well, maybe not the anxiety, but certainly the indecision. There are so many projects I want to do, and I'll never be able to fit them all in. And then there is the decision, do I work on one per week, or do I do a little of each each week? I've finally narrowed it down to 3 different projects, but I reserve the right to add more, depending on how these go. One is a continuation from the one I started last year, the double four patch blocks, where I'm doing 8 blocks out of each colour. The original plan had been to do 2 blocks per week. That was before I found a couple more projects I wanted to do. You see, the idea is to use up scraps. But because I wanted all of the fabrics in each of the double four patch blocks to be the same,
I was cutting from fat quarters, rather than scraps. And then, because I already had the fat quarter out, I continued to cut it down into various strip sizes. That created the situation that, instead of using scraps, I was actually adding to them. So, I have picked 2 more projects that will last at least all year long, to actually use the scraps. One is a quilt from one of my books that I've been eying as long as I've had the book. It will use 3 1/2 inch squares and 2 inch squares. It will end up being a bow tie medallion.  This is from the book Quick Quilts From Your Scrap Bag. I've figured out that, if I do it in the year of different colours, I'll need 13 of the 6 inch bow ties and 10 of the 3 inch bow ties per month.

And the other is going to be 3 different sizes of pinwheels, which will use up 3 1/2, 21/2 and 2 inch scrap strips, when cutting with the Easy Angle ruler. And then, inspired by Cat Patches scrappy sewing machines, and her idea of using the complementary colours for her accents, I'll use the complementary colour for the outer strips and the dark squares. These will finish at 14 inches. Thirty of them will give me a decent sized quilt. This is just a mock up from EQ7. The blues will be much more varied in the actual piece. I think once all the different colours are done, and set side by side, it will be quite striking. So, after making those decisions, all I now need to  decide is, one project per week, or little bits of each per week? Right now, I'm leaning towards one per week. It might be less confusing that way. I'm linking up to ScrapHappy Saturday, and then I'm going to play with some more bright blues.

On the Needles, Jan. 3, 2014

I'm back to working on my Pinery Sweater. I am really enjoying this particular project. The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted, and the colour in this picture is pretty much bang on for accuracy. What it doesn't show, though, is the occasional splash of a subtle pink in with the rust. I am really liking the way the cables are forming. This is a top down knit. There will be ribbing on the top, once it is done, which will help the beginning of the cables lay a little bit better. Right now, they keep curling to the front. I think I'm one round away from splitting off the arms, at which point it should start to go much faster.

I just realized that I didn't show a picture of the finished Truck Sweater that I did for Avery for Christmas. I didn't manage to get a picture of him wearing it, though, so I'm not sure if it fit. I modified the truck design in the pattern considerably, in order to make it easier, and also because his Daddy has a white pick up truck. I actually didn't get this finished until 30 minutes before they got here. I sewed it up the day before, but still had to do the ribbing around the neck. That's what I get for procrastinating. LOL!
I'm linking up with Judy's On the Needles.

Happy New Year...

I've decided this year that I need to get back into setting some goals for myself for getting some projects finished. I have more UFO's around here than I care to count, and I really don't want to know just how many there really are. I've listed 10 on my side bar that I would like to get finished, at least to the flimsy stage, this year, and hopefully to the quilted and bound stage. I am finding that, as a long arm quilter for other people, my own projects get shunted to the side. So, this year, I am going to actually book in my own quilts. I'm going to make a loose schedule of which quilts get done when, and add my own in.
For January, my finish it goal is this poor neglected quilt. It is a Judy Martin design called Thanksgiving, from her book Patchwork Among Friends. It has been hanging like this on my design wall since the November sew-in day for the guild. I would like to get this quilt finished to at least the flimsy stage by the end of the month. There are 60 more leaf blocks needed to finish the borders. I think I have about 20 of them done, so getting it to the flimsy stage is do-able.

And I did make my goal of starting a new project for the new year, a January Newfo.

These are the first five blocks for the quilt Three of a Kind, a pattern by Judy Martin in her book Scraps. This is actually the third quilt I've started from this book. One of them is finished, the other is on my UFO list for finishing this year. I'm going to continue on this for the rest of today, using parts of the leaf blocks as leaders and enders when needed. I think I am going to set myself another goal, that before I start another Newfo, I finish the first one I started. The exception to that is going to be in the Soscrappy rainbow scrap challenge I'm thinking of adding a couple more scrap using projects that get done a bit at a time, in order to meet another of my goals for this year, which is using up my overflowing boxes of scraps. I started last year on these blocks and I am going to continue with these blocks. But they end up not really using scraps, but have to be cut from fat quarters. So, I think I am going to do some churn dash blocks, that will finish at 6 inches, and some bow tie blocks in 2 sizes, 3 inch finished and six inch finished. I've seen a couple of quilts made from these units in one of my books, and doing them just a few at a time, shouldn't be that bad. I still have to figure out how many of each colour I will need in order to end the year with finished tops. And that's it.... my goals for this month, and the coming year. I'm linking up to the goal setting party for A Lovely Year of Finishes. I'm hoping this will give me the added oomph I need to get this done.

Design Wall Monday, Dec. 30, 2013

Once again, I don't have anything new on my wall. But I have plans...... oh boy, do I have plans. I've finally decided on the project that I'm going to celebrate the New Year by starting. In fact, I might start it tomorrow, and celebrate the end of the old and the beginning of the new with a new quilt.

 This is the project, It's in a book by.... can you guess....
Judy Martin, and the book is called Scraps. I have tons of 1 1/2 inch strips left over from various projects that will work in this quilt. I'll be using Kona Ash as the background, which is what these strips below are draped over.
This should get me well on the way to using up some of the overflowing bins of scraps I have hanging around here. The picture of the quilt shown here is only 52 by 52. I will, of course, be doing a bigger version, probably the queen sized. This might end up belonging to Matt and Becca, since they painted their bedroom grey not long ago, and have dark grey curtains in there, as well.

But as for the rest of today, this darling little boy is visiting us. He's down for a nap right now, which is why I have the time to write this. But once he wakes up, we'll be heading out to an indoor play place.
I'm hoping, by this time next week, there will actually be something to show on one very neglected design wall.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday

Stash report, week 52, 2013

The last stash report of the year. A time for reflection and comparisons on years past, and plans for the year to come. That sounded rather profound, didn't it?

Used this week:                         .8 yards
Used this year:                       125.95 yards
Added this week:                     0 yards
Added this year:                    180.55 yards
Balance:                                   54.6 more yards in than out.

I've been keeping track of the stash for 3 full years now, and it is kinda fun to compare from year to year.

                           2011                                            2012                                       2013
Used                  154 yards                                  130.8 yards                           125.95 yards
Added               162.5 yards                                164.75 yards                        180.55 yards
Balance          + 8.5 yards                                  +33.95 yards                        +54.6 yards

So, it would seem that my usage numbers are going down, while my added numbers are going up. However, the overall goal for the next year, is to use what I have. The exception to that will be, if I need background fabric for a specific quilt that can't be done with amounts I have on hand. The other exception will be for sales that are too good to pass up in order to refresh elements of the stash. I'm not going to make a firm no other buying commitment, because quilting is something I love, and I don't want to take any of the joy or fun from it by putting unrealistic expectations on it. But, I do know that, since both my husband and I are retired, the amount of cash I have for fabric has gone down, so I will have to be very careful and thoughtful about what I do buy. All of the quilts that I have listed in my side bar for wanting to do this year, can mostly be done from stash. And, I have so far resisted all of the very tempting year end sales of fabric. So, that means, I'll start off the New Year with a negative balance.
And now, I'm going to link this up to Judy's Stash Report, and then I have stuff for Avery for Christmas that I have to finish. And, considering they are coming today.... yippee!..... I had better get a move on.

Year end Summary

So, here it is, the time to look back and see what exactly got accomplished this year. The first thing I noticed on looking back, was my disregard for proper post labels. I didn't put "finish 2013" labels on my finishes. So I had to go through my label list and find the things I finished this year. Sadly, there weren't all that many complete finishes. But, I guess with the move, and all the chaos attending that, it was amazing that I got anything finished. I started lots of things, but only finished five.

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Orca Bay, from a Bonnie Hunter mystery a couple of years ago 

Road to Brenham, a free pattern quilt along from Patchwork Times.

 

My Dresden Plate, from a quilt along from several years ago.

Disappearing Nine Patch

Endless Chain, a pattern by Emilie Richards.

My plan for the coming year, is to have a year of finishes. I'm going to make a couple of lists for the right hand side bar of the blog. One will be for quilt top UFO's that need to be finished. The other will be for quilt tops that are waiting for quilting. Maybe with these lists staring at me, and reminding me, I'll be able to get them done. I'm also going to join in on the 2014 Lovely Year of Finishes sponsored by the blog Sew BitterSweet Designs. I found that, in the years before when I've joined in a UFO finish challenge, I've done much better in getting things done. The other thing I think I'll do, is schedule my own quilts in with the customer quilts, maybe one a month, or every other month, so that they can get done. So, that's it. Now, to get those side bar lists done.