It's Done!

I finished my Glacier Star a little bit ago and I'm now tearing away the remaining paper. 

As I'm tearing paper, I realized that there's a lot of piecing in this thing and a fair amount of paper that still needs to be removed. I did tear away some while I was piecing, but most of the outside paper had to remain so you had guidelines for the piecing. Have you ever taken a picture of your quilt from the back? I did on one other quilt, my Weaver Fever, and I thought it would be fun to show you this one from the back too. 

I've torn away the paper from the top right corner and I think you can see what was torn away before. Here's a close up picture of the top left corner.

I'll post a picture of the front when I'm done and the quilt is all pressed and pretty!

Design Wall Monday

Do you ever stop working on a project that's so close to completion you can taste it? I'll admit I do - pretty often, as a matter of fact. (That explains the pile of UFOs, doesn't it?)

Well, I put my Glacier Star back up on the design wall and have pledged to finish it today. I only have 12 more seams. They're Y seams; but still, it's only 12 seams!

Unlike most of my UFOs, I know exactly why this was put away. The final class on this technique of the month class was postponed so I didn't have a deadline staring me in the face. I put it aside to work on the fish projects for Kristen, pillowcases for my Sweet Dreams Project and a couple of other projects. I even did some mending! (A cruel fact of life for quilters is that people think that just because you have a sewing machine and you like to use it, that you enjoy hemming their pants and repairing their shirts. FYI - that's a myth perpetuated by non-quilters!)

Anyway, I'm going to finish the Glacier Star today and leave it on the wall for a little while, just to look at it and ponder my quilting options.

UPDATE: The quilt is DONE!! I'm tearing away the remaining papers. :-)  
Click here to see new pictures.

Even if it's still there next Monday, I'll have other things I'm working on though. My family and I have pledged 12 lap quilts for an area Honor Flight. We're making the 12 quilts in honor of our Dad, Francis J. Schwab, (11/26/1925 - 5/30/2003). That's one quilt for each child. Yep, there are 12 of us and I'm the 9th. We've been blessed to have only lost one parent and one sibling. I hope it stays that way for a VERY long time.

Dad was a veteran of the US Navy, having served as Radio Man First Class on the USS Ingersoll from 1942 - 1946. Seeing as today marks the 8th anniversary of his death, I think it's quite fitting that I spend time today working on those quilts!

Check out what other quilters have on their design wall this Memorial Day by going to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Week 21

I got a little bit done this past week (2 more new projects, done, done and done), so I'm happy about that; but I'm REALLY happy that I can see the 100 net yards used!!! If I can just be careful this next week when I go shopping with a friend......or be really productive. Actually, I haven't counted any of the fabric used for a couple projects so I know that will take me over the edge 100 yards net used. When I'm writing up a pattern for a class or making changes, I often buy what I think I'll need and add 1/4 - 1/2 yards and then keep a tally as I use it. That way I have a more accurate count for the students. Of course if you read one last weeks' post you'll know that that doesn't always work for me and I have to search for more fabric. Maybe I should be adding a yard instead of 1/2. :-) Hope you had a good week of fabric fondling. Here's to the next week!

Here's the report:
Fabric Added This Week: 4.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 80.50 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 18.25yards
Fabric Used to Date: 169.875 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 89.375 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 5
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 12

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

Checking In and Some Pictures

I've been meaning to post some pictures for my friend Kristen of the items I sent her for her fishing tournament fundraiser. Since she's in Minnesota and I'm in Ohio, she has not seen what I've been working on for her, so here are the pictures....
Here's a lap quilt. I had this fabric with lots of fish jargon and I simply layered it and quilted an all-over meander. I figured I didn't want to cut up the fabric and this made an easy and good looking lap quilt!

Here's a wall hanging. The original fabric was a panel but some of the fish were sideways and I just didn't want to use it like that. I cut apart the panel segments and added sashings to "fill in" the empty areas. I like how this turned out, even though I would have liked to use the original blue sashing on the panel. It had lures on it and looked fun, but I just couldn't use it once I segmented the fish blocks. :-(

And finally, here are two pillowcases using fish fabric that I had in my stash. I know that Kristen likes this fabric, so I'm hoping she likes the pillowcases.

I hope these items are successful at bringing in some decent money for the event!

I've worked a little bit on my Glacier Star, and hopefully I'll have it up on the design wall soon so I can get a picture or two. I haven't really done much else quilt-wise but hopefully that'll change soon.

Jack and I went to a Tai Chi class this morning. Stein Hospice offered the class to it's staff and volunteers and when they said spouses could join us, I signed us up! It was soooooooo relaxing! The bad part is that we have to drive to Sandusky to take the class Monday and Friday mornings, but that's ok. I really enjoyed it and can't wait until Monday's class.

I'm teaching a class tomorrow afternoon and I'm looking forward to seeing my students' quilt tops. They should all have them done, and we'll be working on quilting them. Actually, they're going to be learning and practicing on "scrap sandwiches" but hopefully we'll get their quilts layered before the end of class.

I guess that's my cue to get off the computer and make sure I have all of my things ready.

Oh yeah, Lynn and I are having a Fundraiser Pampered Chef book party if you want anything. A portion of the proceeds go to our Breast Cancer 3-Day event so ordering would help a good cause! Just let me know if you want to place an order or go here to place your order on line. (That link should take you right to the catalog, and our page.) They have some really cute May specials. Check out this cake server.

Design Wall Monday

Ok, the Hunter's Star is still on the wall, sort of...

I'm running out of the dark blue fabric so I'm kind of just looking at it trying to decide what to do. I really wanted to make this larger and not just by adding wide borders. The problem is that the fabric is at least six years old so finding it in a quilt shop is a real long shot. I'm beginning the on-line search but I'm not very confident that it'll be found. The manufacturer is Bali Fabrications and it's labeled FB-4 Dark/Blue on the bolt. Yes, I really liked this fabric because I bought the remainder of a bolt and it wasn't cheap. In my defense, I have used it a lot! Of course when I started the Hunter's Star quilt I wasn't expecting to like it so much and want to make it large. I should have known better. Oh well. Here's what the fabric looks like.

If you'd like a reason to fondle your stash and see if you have this, I'd make it worth your while. :-)

Until I either find this fabric or get tired of waiting, I'm back to working on my Glacier Star.

Check out what other quilters have on their design wall today. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Christmas???

Ok, can anyone explain why red and green are considered to be traditional Christmas colors? Even though it may feel like winter today because it's rainy and cold here, I saw this red and green out the back window just a bit ago and it sure makes me think of Spring.

Do you see the two Scarlet Tanagers? Aren't they beautiful? There were three here, along with at least one female. Of course here's how the female is described in the Birds of Ohio Field Guide: "drab, greenish yellow bird with olive wings and tail, whitish wing linings, dark eyes" as compared to the male: "bright scarlet red bird with jet black wings and tail, ivory bill and dark eyes." It's really not fair how so many female birds are pretty plain looking compared to their male counterparts.

I tried to get a picture of the female but she moved before I could get it. :-( Typically these birds arrive in late Spring and leave in early Fall so I'm kind of thinking that maybe they're confused and thinking they should be heading south soon. It sure feels more like early Fall than late Spring.

Enjoy the other pictures of these beautiful creatures. Do you see what I mean about Christmas colors?

Stash Report - Week 20

I got a bit more done on my Hunter's Star this week so the inside is done. I made some changes due to "diminishing fabric on hand" and it's not as big as I wanted, but that's ok. I'm ready to add borders, but I have to do some playing around to see how to use the fabric most efficiently. If I'd recently bought the fabric I could probably just get more, but since this fabric has been in my stash for at least six years, that's not going to happen.

Actually, when I decided to make this quilt, I was going to use this fabric, then I wasn't going to. I even went shopping for new fabric; but while I was shopping, I decided to use what I had and hope for the best. I was afraid the dark blue in my stash had too much "direction" in it, but when I I couldn't find a blue to play well with the light blue I had and I would have to buy ALL new fabric...... Well, I just didn't want to spend the money. :-)

Long story short, I like the fabrics I'm using and even though it'll be a bit smaller than I'd like, all is good!

Here's the report:
Fabric Added This Week: 0.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 76.50 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 8.0yards
Fabric Used to Date: 151.625 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 75.125 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 5
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 10

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

Pictures

I was reminded earlier today that I had not posted final pictures of the four quilts I was binding a couple of weeks ago. Well, I've only taken pictures of two of them so I'll post those and hopefully get the other two pictures taken in the next day or so.

I've called this first quilt Scrap Twist and it's based on Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist. I didn't follow Bonnie's instructions, but I've seen her quilt and feel that I need to give her credit here. I'm happy to say that this project used a lot of small scraps and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Here's my Caffeine Chaos finally done. This is loosely based on Mary Johnson's Twisted 9-Patch so I'm giving her credit also. You probably can't tell, but many of the dark fabrics are coffee-related, and I didn't want to have the background or "twists" all one fabric (especially since I didn't have enough of any one fabric to do that), so I mixed that up a bit and since the blocks are skewed I thought that the title Caffeine Chaos was quite fitting! I quilted it on my friend's HQ16 and continued the chaos theme by quilting jagged lines all over the quilt. I really like this quilt too, especially the striped border. :-)

Hopefully I'll have other pictures to share soon!

Design Wall Monday

It sure feels good to be able to post something this week. It really is amazing how I've become attached to the computer and how virtually lost I feel when I can't check e-mail or my favorite blogs!

Here's what's on the wall right now.

This is a two-color Hunter's Star and I'm using the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star Large Ruler by Deb Tucker. This ruler sure simplifies making this quilt.

Since I didn't get to show you what was on last week's wall because of the electrical/computer issues, I'll post them now.

Here's the Scrappy 4-Patch quilt that I've talked about before. The quilt top is complete and it's ready for quilting! :-)

I really like how this turned out!

Here's the completed Seek and Find quilt that I was working on a couple of weeks ago. I love making these. They are so much fun for kids and adults alike. I make mine so each block has a match, except one. The game can be played two ways - find all the matches or find the "odd man out" block. This is great for entertaining a cranky child!

And here is a Jelly Roll 1600 quilt that was made from a Grand Finale Jelly Roll. I made this one evening when I felt like I was stuck and not being very productive. Making this quilt changed that. Check out the you tube video here on making this. I love this fabric line!

I made a couple of chenille rugs recently - one for Sheryll -

and one for Linda

Speaking of Linda. While she was here, not only did she finish her quilt, but she took some pictures of Sadie's quilt capturing the glow in the dark thread. I think this is soooooo cool!

Check out what's happening with other quilters today by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Weeks 18 and 19

Wow, what a couple of weeks we've had here! The wind storms that happened the week after Easter caused some problems here, including rendering us without power for a couple of days. Power lines had been cut by trees falling on them as well as snapping due to the almost 70mph winds. We lost our phone service as well, which usually stays on during power outages, but not this time. A tree took down a line and with the loss of phone service, we were without internet service. It really is amazing how accustomed we've become to having things work with very little effort on our part! Of course with not power or internet service, there would be no stash reporting or design wall Mondays.

We had no problem with heat or food because we heat mostly with wood anyway and there were only a couple of days that were cold enough to warrant a fire. We've got a gas stove, so cooking was no problem. We were very careful to not open the freezer and only open the refrigerator when absolutely needed and for only brief periods of time.

Even after we had power restored, our phone was down. When we finally had phone service, the internet was still out and after some quality phone time with a tech guy who couldn't figure out the problem her put in an order for a technician to come to our house to figure out what was wrong. Of course the order was placed on a Friday and it was going to be at least Monday before they could get out here. When he finally arrived Monday late afternoon, he was here for well over an hour and not having any luck when he tried something that made him figure out that the problem was not on our end, but the phone company's. There was something broken that required a new part, one that needed to be ordered, so it would be at least another couple of days I was told. Well, by that time, it had been over a week since the storms and the outages and I was getting quite used to not sitting down with my cup of coffee to check my e-mail each morning. (It really is comical how we condition ourselves to a routine and how challenging it can be to break them!) :-)

Of course I was right in the middle of a couple of projects when we lost power, but I did get to them when I didn't have the internet to distract me. I was able to finish up all the bindings that I mentioned in my last Design Wall Monday. YEAH!!! I also worked on the Scrappy 4-Patch quilt and that top is done and ready to quilt.

I've been playing around with a couple of other projects and I haven't taken pictures yet, but I will and post them. I also need to get back to my Glacier Star quilt.

After all that jawing, here's the report for weeks 18 and 19:

Fabric Added: 0.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 76.50 yards
Fabric Used: 12.50yards
Fabric Used to Date: 143.625 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 67.125 yards
UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 5
UFOs Still to Do: ???
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 10

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!

Check out how other quilters are using their stash by going to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

and don't come back for a very long time!

I'm kind of tired of not just the rain, but the fact that our lawn can't really be mowed because of standing water, the fact that the rain had caused problems in our basement, and the fact that a snake has decided that the dehumidifier in our basement is a better home than the wet, soggy mess outside!

Now I can't go downstairs without scanning the entire basement before I do anything! :-(