Sunday, June 26, 2011

Stash Report - Week 26

I didn't sew like gangbusters this week, but I did finish two - yes, count them - two UFOs. Ok, they were small projects (4 pot holders and the quilting and binding on a small quilt), but they are done! I really want to post pictures, but we're having some trouble connecting to the internet with the computer I usually use and I haven't downloaded the pictures to this computer yet. Maybe I'll get to that later today. (Remember, I said maybe. No promises.)

I spent the better part of this past week getting ready and working our anual fundraiser garage sale, and hoping that the rain would stop. (It finally did Saturday.) We gets lots of items donated and sell them to help raise the $4600 we need for our 3-Day Breast Cancer walk. This has become an annual event, so besides having the same people donate items, we often see the same shoppers and it's always nice to spend time chatting with them. It kind of reminds me of my internet friends. There's a darn good chance that I'll never actually meet Sally who lives in Iowa (Hi Sally!), but we're friends nonetheless. We've been "talking" for almost three years now and I feel like I've known her my entire life. It's chatting with Sally that makes me love technology, but when I can't get the internet to work on the other computer, I hate it. I know, I'm fickle!

Anyway, here's the report:
Fabric Added This Week: 0 yards

Fabric Added to Date: 97.0 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 5.25yards
Fabric Used to Date: 214.875 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 117.875 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 7
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 12
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound: 16

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times

Monday, June 20, 2011

Design Wall Monday

I have a couple of projects up on the wall today. First of all I've gone back to working on my Stepping Stones quilt (another Judy Niemeyer quilt). I have 24 of the 36 blocks pieced. Here they are randomly placed in the approximate position they will be on the finished project.
I'm happy to be working on this again!

As I've mentioned before, I'm working on 12 lap quilts for the Honor Flight program and I hit a bit of a snag tonight with the seventh quilt. Each quilt will be a different pattern and some of them are the result of me just playing around with EQ and liking what I draw. Well, every so often I draw something or mix and match various blocks in EQ and just fall in love with how it looks. Of course that means I stop what I'm doing and get busy on the new project. (I've just erased all doubt as to why I have a bunch of UFOs, haven't I?)

Well, usually it works well and I like my fabric choices along with the overall design. Unfortunately that's not always the case. :-(    Yesterday I began playing around with a Courthouse Steps block variation and liked how it looked but when I started sewing, I began to fall out of love with it. I don't know if it's the fabrics I chose or the layout, but I'm just not loving it! I took a couple of pictures of possible layouts and will make a decision this afternoon as to which one I like best.

Here are the two layouts. What do you think?I'm open to all opinion and thoughts!!

Because these quilt must finish 36" x 48", there will be no borders added to this; and I was thinking of a gold binding - the same gold that is in the center of each of the blocks.

Like I said, I'll make a decision later today so that means I can work on my Stepping Stones quilt until then. YEAH!!

If you didn't get a chance to see the quilt that we're raffling off, click here! I'm really excited about this quilt. I loved piecing it and when I gave it to my friend Rachel to quilt it, I just knew that no matter what design she used, I would love it! Click on the picture to get a close up of the quilting. I LOVE it! Thanks Rachel!!

My sewing is going to be a bit limited this week because we're holding our annual fundraiser garage sale this weekend and I have quite a bit of work to do in order to get ready. I'm sure I can sneak a few minutes though. Afterall, sewing/quilting relaxes me!

Check out what other quilters have on their design wall today by going to Judy L's Patchwork Times. Who knows, you might just get inspired!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Stash Report - Weeks 24 and 25

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I finally finished the Hunter's Star quilt top. I'd been looking for more of the dark blue bali and when I finally accepted the fact that it just wasn't going to happen, I found something else that I think works well and even though it's not as large as I wanted, it's ok and I'm happy with it.

I've been working on a few of the Honor Flight quilts and am happy to say that six of the tops are done and ready for quilting. I've just started the seventh top, and I hope to finish that one today or tomorrow. It's really been fun to work on these. As a matter of fact, a couple of my sisters and nieces helped with some of these while we were away at the annual sisters'/family retreat this past week. I'll post pictures of the quilts soon.

On the stash usage front, I finally broke the 100 net yards used! Dare I set another goal? If so, what should it be? Since I broke the 100 yard mark in June (halfway through the year), is it feasible to think that I can use another 100 yards? I'll have to give this some serious thought.

Here's the report:
Fabric Added This Week: 2.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 97.0 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 16.5yards
Fabric Used to Date: 209.6255 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 112.625 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 5
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 12
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound:  15

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Raffles



Lynn and I are walking in the Cleveland Susan G. Komen for the Cure 3-Day again this year and we're still a bit short of our required $2300 each.
This cool bench, donated by Cody Fishbaugh, is being raffled off Fourth of July weekend. 
Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5.
Can't you just taste the iced tea (or drink of your choice) you'd be enjoying as you relax in this bench?

  
Here's the quilt that will be raffled off Aug. 7th.
It's BIG (84" x 104")!!
Tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5
This would make a great summer bed quilt, don't you think?
Let me know if you are interested in tickets for either of these items.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Design Wall Monday

Looking at what's on the wall today may seem a bit anti-climatic after last week's post about finishing the Glacier Star top,  but that's far from the truth. I have a much greater emotional attachment to this quilt and the 11 other similar-themed quilts to come, because they're the ones being made for the Honor Flight participants in September. You can read more about that here, if you'd like.
 Of course the picture isn't very good because I didn't think about the fact that I'm using cream fabric and placing them on an off-white design wall. I considered taking a new picture but decided you can figure it out. (In other words; I'm too lazy to take another picture.)

Do you see the mistake that I made? It's at the top left corner. I've rotated one of the four patch units that make up the blue chain. This is one of the reasons I like taking pictures of my works in progress. For some reason I see the mistakes once they're in a picture (and posted on my blog), and not while they're up on the wall. The mistake is now fixed! :-) 

I hope to have this top done before I leave on the annual Sisters' Weekend this Thursday - along with about four other things :-).  Anyway, I'll keep you updated with pictures as each of the Honor Flight quilts are done.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls by going to Judy L's
Patchwork Times.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Stash Reports - Weeks 22 and 23

I didn't do a lot of sewing, but my report shows a lot of fabric out because I'm finally reporting the Glacier Star fabric amount used. I waited to do this because I bought extra and included that in an earlier report but I wanted to keep track of what I actually used and report the amount used accurately. Well, the top is done and it ended using a little over 15 yards! YEAH!!! If you didn't see the picture, you can click here.

I bought some fabric these past two weeks and even though some of it was out as fast as it was in (a swap), I decided to count it. I wasn't going to, but figured if I'm keeping track, I might as well keep track of it all. I also bought some fabric for the Honor Flight lap quilts that I'm making so that fabric should go out pretty quickly. So, buying 14 yards of fabric doesn't bother - this time.  :-)

I added a new category to my report - quilts ready to be quilted. Some of these had been pulled for the UFO challenge, but not all of them.  I decided to list them separately so I would be more inclined to work on them. When they're listed with the UFOs, they aren't staring me in the face saying "All you need to do is get me quilted and bound." Well, now they are. Let's hope it works.

Here's the report:
Fabric Added This Week: 14.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 94.50 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 23.25yards
Fabric Used to Date: 193.125 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 98.625 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 5
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 12
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound:  9

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.