I Did It!

I'm no longer a long-arm (actually a mid-arm) quilting machine virgin!!! I used one of my BFF's Handi Quilter 16 yesterday and finished quilting the blue quilt that was posted earlier this month. The binding is sewn on and ready to be hand-stitched down. I was going to do it last night but decided to wait and do it tonight while I relax after our volleyball game.

Here is Kare getting the machine ready for me. She sure is a trusting friend to let me take the controls here!



Here's the quilt in progress. This was a lot of fun and after I quit being worried that it wasn't going to look just right, it had a blast and the quilting went really fast. I simply did an allover meander.



I didn't get much done on the black and white Weaver Fever quilt. I got involved in some projects for work and then Lynn (my youngest daughter), invited me to dinner and how could I say no?

Design Wall Monday

Here it is Monday already and another Design Wall day!

I am in the process of making the strip sets (14 needed, 8 complete) for a five-fabric Weaver Fever quilt. I had a lot of black and white fabric in my stash and decided to use it here. To "kick it up a bit", I'm using purple as the background and in the borders, along with lime green. I'm hoping this turns out as fun in reality as it is in my head! Of course, the picture isn't the greatest since it's on a white background, but I think you get the idea.



Here's the pattern:



What are you working on this Monday? Check out Judy L's Patchwork Times (see link on my sidebar) to see what everyone else has on their design wall.

Stash Report - Week 2 and A Question

I've been finishing up a lot of loose ends this week so, with one exception, all of my yardage used this week was pretty small. I had been putting off adding binding to three large quilts because I didn't know what fabric to use. Of course, since all three quilts were pieced a LONG time ago (one was pieced in 2005 or 2006 and the other two were pieced early last year!), I didn't have fabric that was used in the quilt to be used for binding. Trying to get into the spirit of stashbusting, I decided to raid my bins and find binding fabric. I was successful on all three counts! YEAH!!!!

Trying to clean up things around here, I've pulled some tops that I made and am ready to quilt. One of the older tops is at one of my BFF's house ready to be quilted on her HQ. It has a pieced backing and I already have the binding for that quilt so it won't count on any stashbusting report, but I'll be thrilled to have it done. I took my blue quilt to her also and it is loaded and waiting for me to get over there and quilt it. This will be my first attempt at using the machine and I'm a bit nervous but what's the worst thing that can happen - I have to take out the stitches?!? I have a couple of smaller quilts that I will quilt here and they shouldn't take long. It's just a matter of sandwiching them and making the time to do it.

I decided that I can't start a new project until I finish one and so far that's been working. Since I finished three quilts, I started working on a Weaver Fever quilt that's using quite a bit of fabric. I did buy some backing fabric for it and I have a question for you all. Since this fabric is wide (108"), do I count the 3 yards I bought as 3 yards, or do I count it as more since everything else is being counted based on 40" WOF? I know this is a technicality, but I plan to finish A LOT of projects this year and I know this will come up again.

Besides busting stash, I am also trying really hard to keep at least part of my work area clean and organized.



I know it's only been since Christmas, but that's a long time for me to have my pressing/cutting area cleaned up and have only the current project on it. It sure has made getting some work done easier. Now I can just run in and start working rather than having to take time to clean off the table, figure out where I'm going to put the stuff so I'll remember where it is, etc. I'm finding that I'll run in and sewing for even just a few minutes now because everything is ready and the task of cleaning up is not so daunting.

Ok, here's the report:

Fabric Used This Week: 10.125

Fabric Used to Date: 34.0

Fabric Added This Week: 3.0

Fabric Added to Date: 26.625

Net Used for 2010: 7.375

Work and Meetings Mean No Sewing For Me

Between work, meetings and grocery shopping, I didn't have a chance to sew at all today! I thought about going to the sewing room tonight and do just a little bit, but I know that I'd end up getting involved in something and staying there way too long. Hopefully tomorrow will be more "quilter-friendly!"

Change Is Good

Ok, so I was going to add two more borders to the quilt that I posted yesterday but I changed my mind. I realized that I wasn't thrilled with the look of the additional borders because I thought that they were distracting attention from the center of the quilt. Besides, I really like the fabric that I was going to use for the large border and found another pattern that I wanted to use it in. Also, I realized that I was really only adding borders to make the quilt larger. I hadn't decided if we were going to keep this quilt or not and with the first two borders on, it was only 60" x 80". Well, I made my decision. This quilt will have a different home (not sure what yet, but I do have two options), and the size is perfect for both of the options. Here's the quilt, ready to layer, quilt and bind. Hopefully that will happen by the end of the week.




The decision-making process that I went through with this quilt was pretty funny. I was actually having a conversation with myself about this. (Not out loud, just in my head!) Anyway, I had to chuckle when I remembered something that Nikki and Lynn gave me for Christmas.


Even though I hadn't made a mistake, I plan to continue to live by this saying!



Here's the back side, and I like this saying just as much as the front.



Here's the quilt that I finished binding today. Do you notice that this quilt is the same pattern as the blue one? This one has bigger blocks, no borders, and a lot more contrast in the blocks. It's actually the same size as the blue one also (60" x 80").



I like this pattern and it's quick to throw together. I'll have to remember this when I need a quick gift!

Design Wall Monday

I guess it's better to be late than never, right? I had to work today and didn't get home until late so here is what's on the design wall (or in my case, ironing table) today . This quilt is from a set of charm squares that I received in a swap A LONG TIME AGO (at least 6 or 7 years I think). Included in the package were some triangles that had been cut from the 5" squares. I had no idea what to do with these pieces of fabric so they just got put into a tub to "rest" until I gained a bit more confidence and just started sewing!

That moment of confidence occurred Dec. 31st when I played around and decided what to do. I started sewing that afternoon and by 6:00 I had the inside done. Of course I had no blue to match the fabrics in the body of the quilt so I went shopping Saturday and Sunday. As you can see, the red border is on and I have 2 more borders to add (a blue and a multi-colored). My goal is to get that done tomorrow so I can quilt this baby. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the completed top as well as the quilt that I began Jan 1st and finished binding yesterday!

Be sure to see what others have on their design walls by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times. (See the link to her blog on my sidebar.)

Stash Report: Week 1

Ok, I've decided that if I participate in Judy L.'s Weekly Stash Report and Design Wall Monday it will force me to update my blog regularly. I know that I used a lot of stash last year (since I hardly went to any fabric shops and bought anything) so I figure that it would be fun to see how much stash I actually use.

Of course after making this decision, I went to two, yes 2 shops in the last 2 days and walked away with fabric. On the positive side of things though, I have actually been sewing and am binding one quilt (started 1/1/2010) and I am putting the borders on another that I cut out on Dec. 31st. I did have to get some border fabric for this one so part of today's purchase is for that.

Also, today I picked up the remaining fabric needed for our annual guild retreat mystery which is held in February. Out of the 9.75 total yards needed I was able to get 6.25 yards from my stash. I needed more background fabric (isn't that what I always need?) and a couple of cuts to round out the medium/dark fabrics. I have begun my cutting and will begin the pre-retreat sewing later this week.

Ok, here's the report:

Fabric Used This Week: 23.875

Fabric Used to Date: 23.875

Fabric Added This Week: 23.625

Fabric Added to Date: 23.625

Net Used for 2010: .25 (WOW. That was close.)