quilts and such

Long time no see!!

2010-09-27T08:55:00.002-06:00

Its sure has been a long time since I posted on here. Most of that was due to the move and the fact that my quilting time has been severly curtailed. We are all settled in at mom's and so far its working out pretty well. The kids are enjoying school and their new gymnastics and dance teachers. Since i've got so much less space here than i did at the old house i've picked up a smaller hobby-beading/jewlery making. I've added pics here so you can see a few. As always there are baby quilts to be made. My list of pending babys is only 3 right now, i've gotten a butterfly one started and have dug out the fall leaf top i have and a Nebraska Huskers one to fill out the list.

swap runner

2010-05-12T08:20:00.002-06:00

I made thie little runner for a "spring swap" and i discovered that if i use a 12 inch block a fat quarter is not quite big enough for the setting triangles but if i can find a 10 or 11 inch block i'll have a great way to use up all those cutsy or large print FQs that i've bought and could not think of a use for. It wont work as well with a directional print which is too bad but still gives me good ideas!

And for those who were wondering about the move, hubby is going away for a year(Air Force) and I'm not up for another deployment so the kids and I are moving back to mom's for the year. This is a good news bad news situation. Bad news: he's gonna be gone, and mom and I have had our share of differences over the years. Good news: Cheap Rent, lots of relatives to help(both me helping them and them helping me), and maybe mom and I will both remember that i'm not a teenager anymore.

off the design wall

2010-05-10T12:54:00.003-06:00

I've been busy getting some block sets into tops. We are moving at the end of june and i thought i"m more likely to loose parts if they are not sewn together so i've "topped" 8 sets of blocks. First is a set of swap blocks that turned into a baby quilt-that picture is pretty washed out, the background is kona black. Then a Valentines swap, that one is going to be a table cloth. The 3 tops from a set of leaf blocks. A baby quilt, a table runner and a bitty wall hanging all came out of that set. Then a set of vegetable blocks that i made. This one still needs borders. Its about 73 inches square, but i'm kinda thinking it could go up to 95 or so square and go on my bed. Any suggestions for borders? I've got a multi print with all the veggies on it but i dont think i want a 12 in plain border. How bout Brown(2in?) then more of the green(2in?4 in?) then the veggie print(8 in?) Then the last pic is a mutilation of Bonnie Hunter's "Strip Twist". I've got 2 of those but i'm sure one pic is enough.

stash report

2010-05-09T18:44:00.002-06:00

yards in this week: 0
Yards used this week:31

yards in year to date:22.75
Yards used year to date:151.25

Net year to date: 128.5

design wall monday(sort of)

2010-05-04T10:53:00.002-06:00

Ok so i'm a day late. This is what i've been working on lately. The browns are the start of my little brother's wedding quilt. I've got all the big blocks done, 24 of them. I've still got 48 little stars to do for the alternate blocks. They are only 6in so it takes longer than i want it to. The Green top is a baby quilt in the making using up a bunch of 2 1/2 strips. I've got 2 of these ready for borders.

stash report

2010-05-02T10:20:00.002-06:00

Geez have i been slacking off on this!!
total in for the year: 22.75
Total out year to date: 120.25

Net year to date: 97.5 out

This is pretty approximate cause i was not paying much attention for a while but its close enough to go on with. Next week will be better!

Two more finished

2010-04-19T11:38:00.004-06:00

Not the best quilt i've ever made-can you say wavy? this one waves more than any i've finished. I basically quilted it into submission!

This one is a replacement. My mom gave the other bugs quilt to the wrong baby and was too embarrased to ask for it back so i had to start over.

more finishes

2010-04-19T11:21:00.002-06:00

This first finish is a round robin from a while back-so its a ufo off the list. The Hearts quilt is #3 from a set of swap blocks from last year i think. So thats another UFO down!

I made 3 of these little blue and white baby quilts. The goal was to have a couple extras around since i've got a whole stack of girly baby quilts but they have all been claimed already! Not ufos, darn it!

These last 2 have been given to a couple cousins who are expecting their baby boys this summer. Both asked for blue and brown quilts so i had a hard time making 2 the same colors but making sure they did nto look alike!

baby quilts

2010-04-14T16:04:00.002-06:00

Just some baby quilts from swap blocks i've recieved in the last couple years. i've been busy finishing things the last few weeks.

finally photos

2010-03-23T13:07:00.003-06:00

I've finally gotten photos of the 2 twin sized quilts i finished back in early Feb. One is my take on one of Judy L's patterns. The other was a way to use up a big focus print. The backgrounds show how much of a disater my sewing room is. If the weather would ever clear up i'd go outside to take pics!

suggestions?

2010-03-15T06:50:00.002-06:00

what would you put in the corners of this project? its going to go on an occasional table as a ta

ble cloth but it will hang quite a ways down. Choices are: plain white, more of the center print, or some sort of pieced block. These are swap blocks that i recieved a few weeks ago and i'm stuck on this one.

design wall

2010-01-26T07:25:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was a really good day in the sewing room. I got all the blocks from last time's design wall into the first 2 Christmas tops, now i need to make a few more blocks to get twin size quilts out of them. Then I finished the baby quilt that I showed in the last post. I also made these 9patch's and snowballs out of some more of the Christmas fabrics. And last but not least I started the quilting on another twin size UFO. All in all I think I got more sewing done yesterday than I have since Christmas. Today the only goal is to finish the quilting on that twin, which may be more difficult than I want it to be since Tuesdays are my crazy days. On Tuesdays I leave the house at 8:30 am and don't get home till 8:30 pm. When you add to that getting kids ready for school before and ready for bed after, there just is not a lot of day left.

first finish of 2010!

2010-01-25T20:25:00.002-07:00

This is my new niece's baby quilt. She was born in early november while my machine was down, but now the machine is home so i was able to finish this today.

stash report

2010-01-25T20:21:00.002-07:00

I missed the stash report last week beacuse we were out of town so this is 2 weeks in one.
this week:
yards in: 2.75
yards used: 4.75
net this week: -2yds

Year to date:
yards in:2.75
yards used 45.25
Net year to date:- 42.5yds

mystery quilt tops

2010-01-22T13:33:00.002-07:00

These are 2 of the mystery quilt tops I started New Years Eve. I started one more but its a long term mystery so pics of that will have to wait. They were both a lot of fun and went together well even on the baby machine. I am so glad my Pfaff is home and I can start quilting again instead of just pieceing. Especially since the plan is to get rid of the UFO's not start new ones!

actually ahead of schedule

2010-01-22T12:36:00.003-07:00

I've been too busy crocheting to really quilt lately. And since my good machine has been in the shop for so long its been good to have another hobby close by and ready to go. These gals will adorn the top of the curio cabinet in the living room when their holiday comes around. I'm looking for a twig tree to set up there with them and decorate too, but so far no luck. I was going to just go find an appropriate branch outside but with the weather this winter I don't think that's going to work anytime soon either. Ms St Pats still needs her "tam o'shanter" hat attached but I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do that. Ms Valentines needs a heart or itty bitty stuffed critter to hold i think too. And I need to remember to get a couple more stands for them since I prefer to attach the stands permanently. I'm hoping to put Ms Valentine up this afternoon-I think i've still got one stand unused hanging around here somewhere!

design wall monday...already late

2010-01-12T08:07:00.002-07:00

I took this picture last night hoping to post it for design wall Monday over at Judy L's blog. But Someone was on the computer until way late last night so this morning has to be close enough. This is the first few blocks of one of my resolution quilts. The resolution was to empty out a cubby full of Christmas fabrics, so I've cut up about 3.5 yards of Christmas and white fabrics to start this quilt. I'm starting with any Christmas fabric that is cut width of fabric(as opposed to true scraps and fq) and less than 1/2 yard.

I seem to have lots of non traditional Christmas colors in my Christmas prints. Would you split them into a separate quilt? Or just toss them all in together? By non traditional i mean hot pink, lime green, purple, yellow, and i think there is a turquoise one in there too. I've probably got enough fabric to do 4-6 twin size quilts so i sure could split them up. I could even split off the blue snowflake/snowman ones and make a January quilt. What do you think? Mix them all up or make 3 disticnt sets?

stash report week #2

2010-01-10T07:24:00.002-07:00

I had help this week. Hubby helped me baste 3 lap/twin size quilts so my yards used are pretty impressive until you realize that I STILL dont have my good machine back from the repair place. Its been there since Thanksgiving. Its ready to come home, but its 200 miles away and with the weather we have been having so far this winter I have nto been able to manage that trip. I'm either working or its blizzarding!

With out that machine I have a hard time quilting. My back up machine is good for piecing and making clothing but i'm no good at quilting on it. I can do in the ditch quilting on little things is about it until that machine comes home.

here's the report for the week:
yards in: 0
yards used:13

net for the year:
yards in: 0
yards used: 32

no power

2010-01-06T20:25:00.002-07:00

This is what happens at my house when the power goes out. There are 3 dogs, 2 kids and a husband all sprawled out sleeping in the living room. This photo was taken at about 3pm today right after our power came back on after being out for about 4 hours. The power outage seems to have been caused by a line down the street since our whole street was out. With a High temp of about 12f and winds in the 40mph range it could not have been fun fixing it! Since we have electric heat it got a little chilly. We thankfully have a gas stove so we were able to cook some lunch and then we made 3 types of fudge to keep the burner on hoping to keep at least one room warm. It worked sort of but not real well. Blankets and pillows seemed to be the better choice, at least according to the picture!

Plan b? or maybe plan c?

2010-01-06T06:55:00.002-07:00

My good sewing machine went in for repairs back on Thanksgiving monday. I got a call on the tuesday before Christmas that is was ready to come home. The shop that specializes in Pfaff machines is about 250 miles away, so going to pick it up is not just a short trip. I've planned to go get it about 3 times since that phone call and so far it has not happened. The first attempt was Christmas week-we had a blizzard so no travel. Next attempt was New Years day, but the shop was closed for the holiday. Boy am I glad I called first! Today was attepmt number 3. We woke up to white out conditions and closed interstates. Guess what? I'm not going to go get the machine today either! Thank goodness Sami has a machine i can use or i'd be going more than a little crazy!

design wall monday

2010-01-04T23:00:00.002-07:00

This is perfect timing since i'm in need of a little advice. Can you tell the difference in the layouts? Do you like one better than the others? I'm not partial to any particular layout so i'm hoping for some suggestions. Next bit of advice I need is for the borders. There are only 12 of the 48 blocks up on the design wall but I need to decide on borders. I was thinking skinny green or yellow then wide border of the inspiration print-black background with M&M characters on it. What do you think? Green or Yellow? Or do you have a better idea?

Stash report #1

2010-01-03T13:33:00.002-07:00

Let's see....
I started 3 new quilts this week, all mysterys. The first one is already a flimsy, the second is almost in blocks, and the 3rd is just cut out. All 3 are completly from stash so i've done good so far. Thats not saying much since this is just the first stash report of the year.

Yards used: 19
Yards Bought: 0
Net this week: -19
Net year to date: -19

New Years Goals

2010-01-02T18:13:00.003-07:00

Last years summary:

2009

120 finished quilty things most of them runners and other small projects
72 pillowcases
23 clothing items sewn
19 assorted bags

This years goals:
2010

60 finished quilty things-I'm planning on more big finished this year and fewer little ones

Use up and empty out the fabrics in the Easter, Music, Ballet, Christmas, Civil War, and 30's Repros cubbys. Some of those will be easier said than done. Civil war cubby has about one big quilt in it but the Music cubby is really almost 2 full cubes.

Sort out the bookcase and put the books i want to keep in the filing cabinet so i can get rid of the book case(or at least move it somewhere else!)

Consolidate my other crafts(scrapbooking and crochet) into the newly empty cubbys.

Snow Pillar

2009-12-30T23:07:00.004-07:00

I quilt in a basically unfinished basement. There are some thorw rugs down and quilts up on the walls to cover the cement blocks so its pretty basic downstairs. In the corner where my ironing board is we have a window that is supposed to be able to be used as an emergency escape if needed but its got a cover on the top of the window well so i'm not sure how that would work. Anyway, after the blizzard this is what I saw out that window. When the wind blows as hard as it did we always get some snow blown in under the cover but this was new. It was kinda pretty in an impressionistic sort of way.

sami's stuff

2009-12-30T22:56:00.002-07:00

These are the mini notebooks Sami and I made. The first pic shows one open and then the second shows a stack of them. We made 12 of these during the blizzard. The ones with crayons on them will go to the teachers at her school at either valentines or the end of they year. It will depend on how long she can wait to give them. She loves to give presents so gettign her to wait might be harder than it sounds.

This is what 50 pillowcases looks like. 32 made from Christmas fabric and 18 made from assorted novelty prints.

This is what the other covered notebooks look like. I only took a pic of one open and closed and an uncovered one to show what we started with. We did 15 of these, and will probably do more if and when i can find the composition books on sale. We gave one of these to the dance teacher and it was a big hit. Of course the one we gave away had dance fabric on it not weddings.

Mystery quilts

2009-12-30T22:48:00.003-07:00

Two of the yahoo groups I belong to do New Years mystery quilts. One on new years eve and one on new years day. New Years eve mystery quilt calls for a focus fabric, a dark, 2 mediums and a light. Thats this set: It will be a lap/twin size and its going to be for me! I give away a lot of quilts but if its got M&Ms on it then its mine!
The one for New Years Day calls for a background and 2 pairs of fabrics. This one is smaller, its going to be a runner/wall hanging size. The M&M fabric in this set is for borders and probably backing.

Stashbusting with Sami

2009-12-27T15:51:00.003-07:00

things finished this week:
50 pillowcases
9 hemmed flannel baby blankets
2 rag quilts
12 covered mini notebooks
12 covered notebooks
9 covered binders
2 snowman runner tops for grandma
1 tree skirt Top for uncle B
36 swap blocks
1 tote bag for sami

approx total fabric used: 117 yards!
total fabric purchased: 6 yards
Net fabric for this week: 111 yards!!!!

Net total for the year? no idea

I was doing really well keeping track of what i used last winter and spring and even early summer. But then i got sick with an autoimmune thing that i'm still having issues with so quilting and record keeping and even a lot of the regular house keeping kinda went by the wayside. I'm feeling almost back to normal most days and I decided to try to go out with a bang as far as stash busting goes.
This weeks totals are huge but thats partly because we were snowed in for several days so lots got done, and I had Sami sewing while i cut and pinned. She's learning fast and did all the sewing on almost all of what got done this week. Except the swap blocks, she's not quite ready for those yet. Its been discovered that she likes smaller projects, like totes and pillows and so on because she has a hard time controlling the bigger parts, like sewing rows of squares together for the rag quilts. I need to think of some more projects for her to work on so she keeps sewing. I'm out of ideas right now so she's going to have to let me sew for the next day or 2 until we can get to the repair place that still has my good sewing machine. Then we can really double team my stash. I can't wait to see what happens when we both are sewing full speed ahead!

look what I found

2009-12-26T22:32:00.002-07:00

See that empty space? That was full of Christmas fabrics until a couple days ago! Sami and I have been making Pillowcases, 50 of them, and 9 flannel baby blankets and we managed to empty 3 of those cubbys of fabric. The Christmas cubby, a flannel cubby and a novelty cubby, but then I rearranged and "relaxed" the overstuffed cubbys and now they are full again but its still nice to see this space for a little while.

i'm stuck

2009-12-25T12:23:00.002-07:00

Not just from the weather either! We have blizzard conditions with 45 mph winds and lots of snow. The drift in the driveway is about 4 feet deep already. I don't mind being snowed in at all. We have lots to eat, movies to watch, and games to play so we will be just fine. The only bad part is my good sewing machine is off at the repair shop and the back up is really DD's. I've been using hers for the last couple weeks but right now its set up to do the rag quilt she's working on and I don't want to mess with that to work on my projects. So, I've cut out a new quilt top to start as soon as she's done with the rag quilt. And now I'm not sure what to do for the next few hours that its going to take for her to finish assembling. I need to find fabrics for a couple of mystery tops i want to do over new years, and i've got a couple tops i can baste so i guess that will keep me moving in the right direction.

Frozen Fog

2009-12-24T07:28:00.002-07:00

This is what happens when you have 2 days of fog and below freezing temps. The fog freezes on everything. Those spiky bits are almost 2 inches long in places, but there are super fine and feathery and fall apart at the slightest touch. I've only seen this phenomenon once before that i can recall. One Halloween weekend back when i was in high school-almost 20 years ago. The 3rd picture is of my little bird feeder. I'm not sure the birds can even find it with as much icy stuff as is on it.

stocking swap

2009-12-23T14:22:00.002-07:00

I participated in a stocking swap again this year with the #quiltchat channel. The first pic is the fun part of what I recieved-beautiful fat quarters and a whole bunch of thread colors to play with. I also got some very useful and practical things like a first aid kit, antibacterial wipes, tylenol, and hand lotion. All of which are great to have extras around this time of year.
I sent out this table mat and stocking to my partner and have heard back that she likes them a lot. I also sent along some local syrups and some of the fancy appy'd hand towels I did a while back.

multiples

2009-12-07T11:06:00.002-07:00

I seem to have a thing for multiples of my projects lately. There are swap blocks that come in multiples of 12, candle mats that i made 9 of in this color way and have 10 more 1/2 finished in another colorway, then 3 bags all made from the same pattern in different colors. The candle mats are door prizes for our Christmas party this Friday. The 2 bags that have coffee mugs on them are mom's Christmas gifts. Since i'm pretty sure she does not read this I feel pretty safe posting these pictures. And if she does read it then i've just spoiled the surprise. Oh well! The bag with stripes is for me i think. The tote i'm using now is too white/light for winter so i'll switch over to this one till it warms up again.

Little projects

2009-12-03T10:51:00.002-07:00

These count as finished projects but they sure did not use much stash. There are 24 tea towels in the first picture covering almost every holiday. I think they will be good gifts and i'm very glad they are done. My Applique skills sure improved from the first to the last one! The little angel ornaments go on the tree at hubby's work. I made 52 of those! I did have help cutting out the angels thank goodness or i'd still be working on them. I just fused them-no sewing so they went pretty fast. They were my first use of Peltex/Timtex double sided fusible and I dont really like it. It did not want to fuse very well even with a really hot iron and the steam that it called for.

more finishes

2009-11-29T06:41:00.003-07:00

Some more of my recently finished things. The red white and blue angel was made with a 6 inch cookie cutter and is the proper size. The Christmas one is made with a 3 1/2 cookie cutter and is the same pattern. Apparently I crochet very tightly. I made the little one first not realizing how far off my gauge is so i had to remake her. So now i have 3 angels, one little one and 2 big ones even if i did not get a picture of the Christmas big one.

The first one of these 2 quilts is made from swap blocks from about a year ago i think. I need to post pics of the quilting i did-my first ever feathers! The other one is a combination of rows from 2 different row robins also from last year. I've got another top made from the rest of the rows but have not found a back for it yet.

opening night

2009-11-29T06:33:00.002-07:00

We did it! We made it to opening night! I watched the preformance friday night and was really impressed with all the kids. And the grownups too of course! It was a lot of fun to watch but i'm glad that today is the last show, cause i'm wiped out! Sami is in the first 2 pictures as a porcealian doll. She's the one in the brown dress. And Jason is the only mouse with long pants cause he's the only boy.

Catching up

2009-11-25T07:22:00.006-07:00

I'm so far behind I think i'm ahead! This is going to be mostly a picture post so I can catch myself up on what i've gotten done lately and what's next. So from the top: black and white churn dash quilt from a swap last year, 2 tote bags that will be donated to the dance team as door prizes, 2 pairs of flannel sleep pants for ds, one stack of swap blocks, 4 fancy towels for Christmas gifts, 3 runners/table toppers from the "Holly Jolly" charm packs that I started last year, and one not so impressed model for the 14 soldier costumes I altered and added new trim to for the Nutcracker Ballet that will finally be over next weekend!

Finished by friday

2009-11-06T07:50:00.005-07:00

I promised myself that I'd finish at least one small crafty project every day for the rest of the year. Now I am sure that I am probably not going to be able to keep it up but so far I'm doing good. Some of the projects I've got lined up are 10 or 20 minute projects, but that's OK. Its still something i want to do and hopefully this list will keep me on track. So far I've finished 5 off the list of 17. I'll keep adding to the list as i think of things. The list has projects from across the spectrum on it, everything from swap blocks, sleep pants, baby quilts, towels to applique all the way to the candle decorations I've already finished and crochet doll clothes. So here's pictures of the first 5. Two afghans, the red white and blue one will probably get donated to the women's shelter or something similar. The multi colored one that i obviously used differing dye lots on is for the dog's kennel. The candles were just gussied up by adding vellum and some peel and stick rhinestones. I made up several more for christmas but since i only have 3 candles i'll have to wait to use them. And since the christmas ones are still flat they will stay nice and not get crumpled. The hand towels just got some ribbon added to store bought towels. I've made up 4 that match and have 2 more pairs in different colors to do still. All 8 of those will end up as christmas gifts for neighbors or coworkers i think. I made 2 of the runner and they have been sitting for quite a while in the finished pile even though they really weren't. I had never done the blanket stitching around those stars. And now i can't even remember why?

not quilting

2009-10-25T17:29:00.002-06:00

This is what i've been working on lately. She's not done yet-she needs a hat and a cape, and maybe if i have enough black thread left a cauldron. I promised dd that she'd be done by Halloween but its going to be cutting it close. The hat wont take long but the cape might. I've been working on the cape today.

This was my other project today. Banana bread! Yes, i know the one little loaf is upside down. It broke when i took it out of the pan and i left it upside down to remind me to let the kids eat it. I love to bake, but banana bread is probably my least favorite thing to make. I cannot stand the smell of it baking so for me to make this much and have enough bananas to make about the same amount more tomorrow is pretty much torture to me. My husband's work is having a bake sale this week so this will all go to them along with at least a couple batches of cookies, some brownies, some other quick breads, and the rest of the banana bread.

Quilts of Valor

2009-10-13T08:10:00.003-06:00

I'm mailing off these 5 tops this week to my old guild in Germany to be finished for the wounded soldiers/marines/airmen/ect that arrive at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center(LRMC). When I lived in Germany and was a member of the guild I made bunches of Quilts of Valor(QOV) but when we moved here to South Dakota I could not find a group to work with on them so I kind of let that project go. However, this past year has been more difficult for the base and for me. We have had 2 active duty suicides, 1 war death, one major war injury and one or two other active duty deaths. I knew one of the suicides and one of the others so its been wierd/hard to just go on like nothing happened. This has been my outlet. After I pieced these and 2 more I quilted a while back I decided i needed to find a way to get them to the men and women who needed them. So, I emailed back to my old guild and they will take these and finish them. Then they will go off to LRMC for those who need them. Patterns are from: an oline mystery, alicia's not so top secret#1, my head, Judy L's most recent quilt for an hour, and my head again. I've got 3 or 4 more tops started from my various sized scraps but this box is full and the others will have to wait a while before they get sent on.

runner swap

2009-10-05T15:04:00.002-06:00

I participated in a fall/halloween runner swap that was a bit unusual lately. The rules were to send FQs to one person, then they would make a runner out of them and send it back. The top runner is the one that I sent away the fabrics for and recieved back. I LOVE it. Its been patiently waiting for me to get the kids healthy enough to have time to clear off the table and set it out. Today that finally happened! The second one is the one that i made and had to send back. That was the hardest part! I loved this one too and really wanted to keep it here for us. But its been recieved and is being enjoyed by the recipient.

pictures? what pictures?

2009-09-28T20:02:00.004-06:00

I've got 4 finished projects that i want to share pictures of but due to life, I can't seem to get those pictures actually taken! I finished 3 QOV tops this week and I finished a king size quilt for myself weeks ago. Between windy or rainy weather, dance classes, work and school there is just too much going on to go outside in the daylight and take the pictures. Of course it does not help that if we are home with some down time the kids think they need to run down the street to the park. It would take about 5 minutes to go out and take these pictures but they seem to be off before i can even make the request. Oh well, done is done and pictures will have to wait another day or 2. Maybe wednesday after school?

A change of pace

2009-09-14T20:49:00.003-06:00

Since dance and gymnastics classes for the kids have started for the year I now find myself with a LOT of time to just sit during those classes. Something like 6 hours a week! I know that some of those night will be full of errands and stuff like that but the first few weeks I wanted to sit and watch, so I brought along some thread crochet. I have not made doilys in probably 5 years! My crochet has been easy stuff-potholders, afgans, Edgings on flannel for baby blankets and stuff like that. Nothing in thread since we moved from Germany 3 years ago! So when i went back to the thread books and patterns I really had to think about it. The white doily was a royal PITA. I dont know if i had the wrong hook, a bad pattern or if i was just that far out of practice but I truly did not expect it to block flat. The Pineapples were pulled tight and the edges were ruffled! But with a lot of work and some starch it is flat and looks way better than I expected it to. If you are wondering about the slightly off color, the thread has a metallic red/green thread in with the white so its going to be a Christmas decoration. Its about 15 inches across at the widest point.

This one was MUCH easier! I have no idea what possesed me to buy this thread, varigateds are hard to use on doilys and thats about all I do in thread crochet but its kinda neat...maybe under a candle on the table with a blue table cloth?

Now that these 2 are done I need to find another travel project. I've got a neat pattern for a thread crochet angel using a cookie cutter as a body/base. Should I use red/white/blue (patriotic style) or red/white/green(Christmas)? Or should i jump on the homemade socks bandwagon and start a pair for myself? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

bag lady

2009-09-14T12:58:00.002-06:00

I've been making bags this weekend. The first 2 are for teacher and neighbor gifts. I made 13 total of those little ones. They are about 6x8 or so and will hold a little Halloween Gifty of some sort for "Boo-ing" the neighbors. Boo-ing is just hanging the bag on the doorknob, ringing the bell and running as fast as you can so they dont see you! The kids are really looking forward to doing this again this year.

The next one is pretty big, when i took the picture it had 5 skeins of Christmas yarn in it and you can barley tell its got anything in it. The Kitty one is for Sami's yarn since Grandma taught her to crochet this summer. The last one is the only one that has any sort of closure on it. I put a zipper in it and plan on using it for my afgan project. The theory is the zipper will keep most of the dog hair out of the yarn. I got dinged at the fair this year for dog hair in my yarn projects, so i want to avoid that next year!

I've got 4 more bags waiting for me to get the handles done. Two Christmas ones and two ballet/dance ones. I think i'm going to donate the dance ones for raffle prizes at the dance school's Christmas show.

Question: if i quilt the fabric for a bag, does it count as a quilty project? I if counts then I need to update my ticker up top! It kinda seems like i'm cheating if i count it tho......

blog giveaway

2009-09-02T07:06:00.003-06:00

Usually I dont do this but I want to make Sami a bag out of the fabrics Piwacket is giving away so i'm posting about them and linking here http://piwacketquilts.blogspot.com/ so I have a better chance of winning!

september goals

2009-09-01T08:13:00.003-06:00

I think I need a list to keep me on track. Quilter's ADD has hit again and i'm bouncing from project to project and not getting done what I should be getting done. So, 10 finishes and a set of swap blocks for Sept are the goals.

Batik swap blocks
Quilt ladies lap finished
30's RWB RR finished
Leaves lap finished
B&W lap finished
Hearts lap finished
30's sampler lap finished
Music twin finished
Bearpaw twin finished
M&M rows full/queen finished
one 30's baby quilt finished

If it says i'm supposed to finish the project, i've got the blocks made and in some cases even sashed together and maybe even basted. I'll quilt all these myself probably mostly random meanders for simplicity's sake. I'll let you know onthe first of october how close i got and i'll post a new list then too!

new tops

2009-08-31T20:15:00.003-06:00

Since i was digging in my swap boxes I decided to set these blocks together. I ended up with 5 baby quilt tops that will need to be finished eventually. I found several more sets of blocks to set into tops. At least 3 lap size and 3 that will be at least twin when i get them set together. And thats before the 3 swaps i'm in now come back to me!

finish it in August part 2

2009-08-30T21:00:00.003-06:00

I got more stuff done! I got the 2 with checker boards done first.

Then this one.

And 3 like this! All of them are going into the wedding shower stack to wait for new owners. Next up for tomorrow, quilting a king size jewel box on my regular machine. I'm going to do an easy meander which is about all i can handle on a big quilt like that. When the king is done it goes on MY bed! I've gotten 2 quilts for me done already this summer, this will be the 3rd. I feel a little selfish making things for me but I've been quilting for 8 years and did not make any for our bed till about a year ago. I guess it was about time!

Meet Mike the PIG

2009-08-26T18:41:00.003-06:00

This is Mike the pig. He started life as a set of split 9patch blocks from a swap a while back. I think he was born about 2 years ago? I love the blocks and had them set together within weeks of recieving them. But then the project stalled-he wanted to be bigger but I did not want to make more scrappy blocks. So he sat on the shelf waiting for me to decide if i was going to work on him or find him a new home. Now he's participating in the Stashbusters piggy exchange and will be finished up for charity.

finish it in August

2009-08-24T11:37:00.005-06:00

I finally got around to finishing up something to the point of done! i've got 4 Valentine's runners done now to put away in my stack of bridal shower gifts. There are 2 each of both colorways. I dont know if those swap blocks count or not since the project is not done but its as doen as it can get until october or so. Either way its nice to have them all ready to go to the post office this afternoon! Next up is to quilt and bind 6 Halloween runners.

swap blocks

2009-08-23T14:56:00.004-06:00

They are done!! And they will be in the mail by lunch time tomorrow. I can't wait to see what comes back to me in a few weeks. Swaps can be so much fun to play with, you never quite know what the end result will be.

running ragged

2009-08-21T20:20:00.004-06:00

Where is this month going? I cannot believe the kids start school on monday already! It feels like we have been running full speed since the kids got home from mom's almost 3 weeks ago. We did all the school shopping, went through closets, and cleaned house the first week. The secong week has been fair prep-baking a ton of cookies/cakes/breads, sewing a few small projects, printing and mounting photos, and all sorts of "domestic stuff". I put 3 quilty projects in the fair too, which is fewer than usual for me but it seems i've given away more this year or something because I did not find many to take in the stack. And in between all that i've been working dilligently on 4 swaps too! The first is 2 sets of 12 blocks in red/white/black. One set is done the other is 1/2 done with a mail no later than date of sept 1-i'm pushing this one! Swap 2 is apple blocks-4 sets of 6 blocks. These are almost done, I just need to finish the buttonhole stitch on the leaves and stems. These need to be mailed by sept 15 i think. The last set is 6 in batik blocks, 3 sets of 12. I have nto started these yet but i've got till nov 1 to mail them. I also need to make a halloween table runner for a swap to be mailed by oct 1 i think.

The good news is that the fair started today! So that big pressure is off. The kids are mostly settled back into the school bedtime so as soon as i quit hearing wiggles from upstairs i'm headed down to work on those swap blocks. I only have a pic of the one but it gives an idea of what i've been working on.

summer finishes

2009-08-07T19:42:00.003-06:00

Now that my quilt holders are home I finally got pictures taken of a few of the bigger quilts I finished while they were gone. The top 2 are from a block swap I was in a few months back. Remarkably quick turnaround dont you think? Usually swap blocks lay around my house for a long time! The bottom 2 are going to the QOV project as soon as i can talk to the Chaplain here on base to see if he has a contact or if i need to get in touch with someone else.

These last 3 are BIG! the Valentines one's are 102x110 i think. One is for me, the other does not have a home yet. The St. Patrick's one is 98x104 if i remember right. It is also for me! Sorry about the lousy pictures-the wind was blowing again but it was nto raining this evening so I took them anyway.

finish it in August!

2009-08-07T14:54:00.002-06:00

Kim has issued a challenge for whoever wants to join in to finish things in august. Sounds like a good excuse to see what i can do with those swap blocks sitting in that big basket! I'm not sure if she has a real classification for UFO's or if finished just means finished. I'm going to count everything that gets finished nomatter when i started it. So here goes the list:

M&M king size jacob's ladder(basted and ready to quilt)
Valentine runners(4 or 5)-ready to baste
Halloween runners(4 or 5)-ready to baste
heart swap blocks-need to be sashed together
pink and brown swap blocks-need to be sashed together
30's round robin-basted
quilty ladies-basted
at least 3 row robins-still in rows
stack and slash hearts-need squaring and set together
stack and slash shamrocks-need LOTS of work
black and white swap blocks-need to be sashed together
christmas runners-3 ready to baste

This is not a complete list of my ufo's nor do i expect to get all these done in August but it is all i can think of off the top of my head. And in my case done means bound and ready to use even though Kim says tops count on big projects. Here's Kim's blog if you want to read the rules: http://kimsbigquiltingadventure.blogspot.com/2009/08/da-rulz.html

back to normal?

2009-08-06T09:10:00.003-06:00

Although i'm not sure what normal is anymore. This summer has been anything but normal but i think we are on our way back to it. The kids and the dog spent 9 weeks at mom's so i was home alone-WIERD! They are home now, and in 48 hours have completely trashed the house. Yep! thats normal! We went to get groceries and they begged and we spent a ton. Yep! thats normal! I'm now back to hearing "hannah montana" and "pheneas and ferb" on the tv(yuk!). Yep! thats normal! i've had to change my diet because of a medical issue. Not normal, and really not fun!

But since the kids are back i have quilt holders again! I've got 6 that need to be held up and photographed but since its raining (normal for Sturgis week). We will have to wait for this afternoon and hope for the best.

summertime

2009-07-09T13:15:00.004-06:00

At the risk of sounding and looking like a total country hick I"m showing pictures of what we did at mom's last weekend.
My sister bought one of those "Topsy-Turvys" and put strawberries in it early this spring. Apparently, strawberries like being in there and threw out LOTS of runners. Since she did not want the runners to root in the front yard she cut them all off and brought them out to mom's house. After some discussion about the best place to put them, dad and Sami went to go find an old tractor tire that we filled with dirt and planted the runners right by mom's front door. The mobile tire swing did not impress the mothers watching (me, my mom, and my sis) but the kids and the boys(dad and BIL) thought it was a great idea.

The kids are having a great time at mom's this summer. Dad has put Sami in charge of the animals. So she and Jason have been getting eggs and feeding calves. They missed a several nests tho-see those half grown chicks? There are probably close to 100 baby chickens from this summer running loose on the farm. Some just hatched out this weekend(13 i think we counted in the newest nest) all the way up to the ones you see in the picture that are about 1/2 grown already. This fall dad will butcher almost all the roosters and put them in the freezer. The hens get left alone mostly because the whole exteded family likes truly fresh eggs all spring and summer. Now I realize that it sounds kind of like i'm trying to have it both ways-chicks and eggs. And in a way I suppose we do, but we can't find all the nests in time to get those eggs for our use because the hens are not penned in any way so there are nests all over the farm. Mom's front flowerbed(that nest was left on purpose), the barn, the hay shed, behind the calf pens, just about anywhere they can hide from dad.

These calves are still in their baby pen because they are still being bottle fed. They will graduate to a larger outside pen probably in september when dad weans them.

last of the runners

2009-06-27T22:23:00.004-06:00

I think i've got all the runners pictured now. And if i forgot any its because they are all starting to blur together!

more runners

2009-06-27T14:17:00.004-06:00

Here are 5 more of the runners i've finished this week. The first 2 are made with Laurel Birch christmas cat fabric, the next is from one of the "quilt for the Cure" lines. And the last 2 are easter ones that i'm hoping to sell.

runners

2009-06-27T08:05:00.003-06:00

These are some of the runners i've been finishing lately. The pink and brown one will go to my sis in law, the patriotic one will go into the wedding gift box with the christmas cookie and snoopy easter ones to wait on the next weddings. The green/pink/gold one is from leftover bits from a big quilt. The big quilt and this runner will go intothe closet together to wait for a gift opportunity i think. Maybe Mia's big bed in a year or so?

quilting again

2009-06-26T21:41:00.004-06:00

I've finally gotten back down to the sewing room! i've managed to fininsh a TON of stuff but since i can only upload 5 pics at a time thats what you will get to see. First up: 3 baby quilts and 2 candle mats/potholders from left over blocks.

recital!

2009-05-22T07:24:00.003-06:00

Its over! Thank Goodness! This house has been nuts for the last couple weeks getting ready for this. I'm so glad its over-it was great to watch but I'm really glad that recital only happens once a year! Big sis was a vampire bat-why were we doing Halloween in may?

She did a great job. She's finally starting to look like a ballerina on stage as opposed to a little girl playing dress up.

Little brother got to be a scare crow. He was hilarious! Definitely a scene stealer. He gets so spoiled by being the only boy in the studio.

This is big Sam. My kids' favorite of the big girls. She was amazing, at least in my uneducated eyes. I sent her a copy of this pic and she kinda flipped-she was wondering who took it and was amazed that it was just me and not a pro. I think she's gonna have me enlarge it for her. She said she was hoping we were still here for her senior recital in 2 years so because she wants photos like this for part of her senior pics. Talk about a compliment and ego boost!

mother's day

2009-05-11T07:43:00.003-06:00

We decided to do a little bit of an unconventional mothers day here. So we went to Custer state park where we saw this little fellow eating a cracker tossed from the car in front of us. He got as close as i've ever seen a wild prarie dog-about 3 feet from our car. Now i'm not going to say he's truly wild, because he knows that food often comes from the cars that drive past his home.

This guy and his family were stopping traffic also, they look pretty raggety this time of year but all 8 that we saw last year are all still there after the hard winter we had.

Talk about your beggars! We had 5 of these friendly fellows trying to climb into the car with us. Did you know they like dill pickles? They ate the last couple from our picnic lunch.

And we went to Bear Country. These 2 were acting like mine-sneak attack as soon as somebody turned their back.

And we went to Reptile Gardens. Not as exciting as usual because its still too cool for most of the reptiles to be outside.

I have not sewn for a month, things here kinda blew up after easter. Randy got shipped to Afganistan, recital stuff is taking up a lot of time, all the typical end of the school year stuff, getting the kids ready to spend most of the summer at Grandma's, and trying to decide if i'm staying here or joining the kids(i'm staying). Just too much to think about for a while. But, not that Randy's gone and recital will be over this coming weekend I am hoping things will slow down soon.

Just in Time

2009-04-09T11:59:00.002-06:00

I got these 2 runner finished just in time to use for Easter. The Second one came from the pattern we got at the monthly "Sunday Brunch" at the quilt shop. The first one is from the leftovers of the second. That sounds kinda backwards but thats the way I ended up loading the pictures.

TKO

2009-04-05T13:05:00.002-06:00

The Snowblower is broken...can I declare a TKO and just stay home till about july? We had another storm hit Friday evening and last until about an hour or so ago. I'm supposed to be at work but I don't think i'll be able to get out for at least another couple hours. Even after the driveway is clear, we still have to wait for the road plow to get through the new drifts in the road.

Tops..AKA what i've been doing on the snow days

2009-04-05T12:03:00.002-06:00

Table runners using Laurel Burch's chrsitmas cats line.

QOV #2...I'm still working on #3.

John Deere Baby quilt top. No baby in mind for this one yet, but i'm sure I will by the time i get it finished.

Stars baby quilt. Again, no baby in mind yet but its not done yet either.

Swap blocks from the yahoo group "feedsack friends" This is also baby quilt sized. I'll be ready for the next baby boom!

Easter swap

2009-04-03T08:03:00.002-06:00

Lookee what came in the mail yesterday! These are my goodies from the Easter swap on the "quilted table" group. The candle was not included but it looks pretty darn good right there. I have wanted one of these dresden plate centerpieces for a long time but have been too chicken to actually make one. But now that I have this one-i want more! i'll have to see if i can figure them out now. Maybe a red/white/blue one for fourth of july?

The candy is already gone...the kids are FAST!

Second Verse

2009-04-02T14:56:00.002-06:00

Same as the First! remember that song? thats what it feels like areound here. This set of photos was taken after our 2nd blizzard of march-last monday/tues. I'm a little tired of snow. And they are predicting more for friday(tomorrow) and saturday. Yuk

Another blizzard

2009-03-26T10:12:00.002-06:00

This was the view out my garage door at about 10 am on Tuesday morning. See the house across the street? Nope? i couldn't even see the street! This is the third big blizzard we have had in the 2 1/2 years we have lived in South Dakota. Last May was the first, last november was the second(and the worst of the 3).

Isn't this drift neat? Hubby thought the pic looked like I was in a Helicopter flying over the desert. He would know, he's been there!

Sunset Tuesday evening. I love this picture!

This is facing our house after the storm. I climbed over the drift to take pics and see how bad it was once we got away from the house.

How tall are yield signs? 8-9 feet? They completely buried that sign when they were digging out the road that Sami is standing by.

Now you would think that with all this snow i'd have spent some time sewing, right? nope! There are gaps in the basement walls caused by poor craftmanship when building this house, so we had snow and wind in the basement while the storm was raging. And by the time the storm quit we still had 40 + MPH winds so that basement was COLD!! Thanks goodness the rest of the house hold heat well. I did however cut out several scrubs tops for my mom and perhaps my SIL to wear to work at their hospitals. And I cut out some more summer dresses and sleep pants for the little people I know, like my neices and nephews and a neighbor girl.

Stash report week #12

2009-03-23T17:04:00.002-06:00

I missed a week so here goes for the last 2 weeks:

Fabric in: 10 yds
Fabric used: 22 yds
Finishes: 3 bags

I also worked on a bunch of tops-i need to start finishing stuff again!

Year to date:
Fabric in: 67 1/2yds
Faric out: 199 1/2 yds
Net fabric used: 132 yds

Total quilty finishes YTD: 48

Easter runners and stash quilt

2009-03-21T13:20:00.004-06:00

I was following Judy L's stash quilt instructions and got a music quilt this week. This is bigger than she wrote the instructions and I ended up with a long narrow quilt. Not quite what i wanted so i added large side borders and then an all around smaller border and it ended up 66x86. Perfect for a Twin bed even if i dotn know whose twin bed that will be!

This is the pattern from our once a month "sunday brunch" at the LQS. We get together and eat and then she hands out a runner pattern. I have not had a chance to make any of the other runners but this one seemed to need to be done before easter. This is not the colors the teacher used-she used greens and purples which was very cute but in the intrest of being a Stashbuster I used fabrics i had at home-except the dark purple which will be the binding too.

This runner was from the leftover bits from the first one-much smaller but still fun. I'll use the dark purple i used in the other runner for binding.

candy cakes

2009-03-20T10:35:00.003-06:00

I've been a follower of "the poineer woman" http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ for a while and i've learned a bunch from her. But now she's helped me go a little crazy. She had "bakerella"http://http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ over to visit and made what she called cakepops. Very cool! So I decided to give it a go.

Here's the shredded cake mixed with frosting and rolled into balls.

And dropped into melted white chocolate......Or Regular chocolate....These were supposed to look like pots of gold for St. Patricks day.

And these were green in honor of St Patricks day too. They are a lot of work..but a lot of fun. The kids love them and so do my co-workers. The most amazing thing is-I dont like them! And I like just about anything made with this much sugar! Very wierd.

this, that, and the other thing

2009-03-20T09:46:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged in much too long so I have lots to show and its easier if i just lump them all together. This Easter snoopy runner is just a top and will go in to the gift stash probably as soon as i get it finished.

Qov #1-i've got about 4 more in the works. When i've got them all lined up i'll tell the story of why i'm doing so many all of a sudden.

Judy L's quilt along-i'm behind again as usual! but i love this quilt so far!

This is for a swap. The gal i'm sending to collects vintage fashions and the fabrics have old pattern covers on it. I'm pretty sure she does not read my blog but if she does i'm busted.

And miss sami modeling the bag she made mostly by herself. And her too big pj's too!

Bags

2009-03-13T13:26:00.003-06:00

No, not the kind under my eyes....tote bags! I went to a new monthly class at my favorite LQS on Tuesday night and made this bright bag to use in the fundrasier for Sami's dance school. Now I need to dig around to find the fabrics for next month's bag. Since I got such rave reviews of this bag at dance class, i'll probably use more dance fabrics and make more bags for the raffle. And best part of using dance fabrics? I have a TON of them!

This bag is a slight variation from one of this month's magazines. I cut the top shorter than the magazine did but this size actually worked better for me than anything bigger. If you look close you can see the binder that fits perfectly with a skein of yarn to keep in the car for a travel project.

stash report week #10

2009-03-08T19:00:00.003-06:00

this week:
Fabric in: 9yds
fabric out: 14yds
Finishes: 5 dresses, sami's bag, and an apron

Year to date:
Fabric in: 57 1/2yds
Fabric out: 177 1/2
net fabric out: 120 yds
quilty finishes: 48 ufos and new projects combined

Stripe Runner Tutorial

2009-03-06T12:03:00.004-07:00

Several years ago I saw a magazine that used a border stripe to make a cute table runner. I still have that magazine somewhere but 2 houses and 4 or 5 years later makes it really hard to remember which one it is and where to look for it. So, going off memory and good guesses I've been making them since last fall. I've shown lots of different ones on this blog and I still have several pieces of stripe fabric left to make more. I was asked how I made these and my written explanation with out pictures was less than helpful. This is not a "cut this size and sew this way" tutorial, this is more like a "point me in the right direction" tutorial and I hope it helps!

This is the fabric i'm using in its uncut state(Hobby Lobby Easter rack).

This is after the first cut was made. One complete repeat of the fabric. This fabric was printed with the stripe running width of fabric so it limited how large the runner could be, if the print ran the other way you could make a really big runner! I cut 3 repeats so that i had 2 for the sides and the 3rd to make the ends of the runner.

Using a 60 degree triangle or the 60 degree line on your regular ruler, cut 4 triangles for the ends and angle the long pieces to match.

This is the pieces laid out before sewing.

Here's the top half sewn together. If you sew 2 triangles to the long piece you dont have to use set in seams.

And here is the completed top! This top took me less than an hour to assemble and press. Usually when I quilt these I stitch in the ditch and then I follow any obvious lines around. In this case, I'll quilt along the edge of the green/pink line, on both sides of the yellow line and probably on the outside of the last orange stripe.

These are leftover bits cut off from the pieces i cut off to make the 60 degree angles on the big runner. This ends up being a great size for a candle mat or centerpiece. It needs a good pressing but you still get the general idea.

bears at grandma's house

2009-03-06T11:44:00.002-07:00

Here's one of my bearpaw blocks for Judy's http://www.patchworktimes.com/ Quiltalong. I've got them all done and am waiting on further instructions. Judy calls hers "Bears in the Farmhouse" but I'm calling my version "Bears at Grandma's" because it will go wonderfully in the little bedroom my daughter uses when we visit my mom.

Waiting on Summer

2009-03-05T10:47:00.002-07:00

These little summer dresses are for my 16 month old niece. Her mom(my sis) wanted some summer dresses but was not happy with what was in the stores-either too fancy or too expensive! Or Both! The stripe and patriotic dresses are from a pattern I used back when my 10 yr old was little. I can practically make that one in my sleep! The other 3 are a new pattern that took a little more effort but they are way cute! Now I can't wait for it to warm up so I can see her wearing them. I have another new pattern, and 3 more pieces of fabric that I may use and make her some more dresses but I need to talk to sis first and see how many dresses she's gonna want/need.

Stash report week #9

2009-03-01T19:59:00.002-07:00

this week:
Fabric in:3yds
fabric out: 7 1/2
Finishes:12 centerpieces/candlemats new for this year!

Year to date:
Fabric in: 48 1/2yds
Fabric out: 163 1/2
net fabric out: 117 yds
finishes: 48 ufos and new projects combined

spring has sprung...

2009-03-01T16:22:00.003-07:00

at least in the sewing room! All of these are now finished-12 of them! Two will go to new homes soon for spring/Easter swaps. Which would you pick if I were sending to you?

one more post tonight

2009-02-22T20:41:00.002-07:00

These are for Judy L's Quiltalong. I finally got them all finished tonight right before supper. 192 purple and white HST to make the Bearpaw quilt she designed. I had intended to do 1/2 purple and 1/2 pink but since they took less fabric than I had figured I just am using the one color. I'll put the pinks I pulled into the border HST.

easter swaps

2009-02-22T20:32:00.004-07:00

Two of these will go to lucky recipients as soon as they are finished for Easter swaps. The others are for the "just in case" stash. Which is soon to be the "for sale" stash! As soon as the paperwork goes thru for it, i'll become an independant contractor sewing on all the patches and stuff for the military uniforms. As part of the agreement i've also been given a space to display and sell some quilts and other crafts. I'm really excited about this oppourtunity, i'll be able to either sew at the shop or i can take things home to work on them so i'll be able to earn a little money at home on my own time. The only bad part is trying to figure out an accounting system so I can actually get paid!

swap blocks

2009-02-22T20:30:00.003-07:00

I joined 2 swaps t

i
s month. One swap is for these 3 sets, the other one was for heart blocks using florals. I'm going to mail these probably on tuesday when I head into town.

Stash report week #8

2009-02-22T19:27:00.003-07:00

This week:
Fabric in: 2 yds
Fabric used: 5 yds
quilts finished : 0

Year to date:
Fabric in: 45 1/2 yds
Fabric used: 156 yds total
net fabric used year to date: 111 1/2 yds
total quilts finished:36

Edit: Lori caught me-I have used 156 yds to date-not just 56! thanks lori!

As usual....

2009-02-18T07:55:00.002-07:00

I'm a day late and a dollar short. Well, only a day late. Judy L over at Patchwork Times is doing a "quiltalong" and I'm joining in. I was supposed to have these fabrics posted before today but i am hoping she'll forgive me! The stripe is a border and the paws to the bear paw blocks, the pinks and purples are "toes", the yellow is sashings and the turquoise will be cornerstones and another border.

stash report week 7

2009-02-17T08:09:00.002-07:00

This week:
fabric in: 1/2 yd
Fabric out: 7 1/2 yds(swap blocks & back for baby quilt))
Quilts finished: 1(aprils baby quilt)

Year to date:
Fabric in: 42 1/2yds
Fabric used(total): 151 yds
Net Fabric used: 108 1/2 yds
Finished quilts YTD: 36
New projects started YTD: 1 (april's babyquilt)

First new Project of the year

2009-02-11T21:03:00.002-07:00

This is the First start to finish new project of 2009. My cousin's baby is due on or near St Patricks day and this is the quilt for that little gal. I had 3 or 4 baby quilts that I could have given her but since we have called my cousin "Ape" forever this fabric seemed to jump at me. I used the Dissapering 9-patch pattern to make it quickly since i was hoping to go to the baby shower this weekend. But the weather is not supposed to co-operate for the trip so into the mail it goes.

Stash Rport week 6

2009-02-10T07:34:00.002-07:00

This week:
fabric in: 9yds(king size back)
Fabric out: 2 1/2 yds
Quilts finished: none

Year to date:
Fabric in: 42 yds
Fabric used(total): 143 1/2 yds
Net Fabric used: 101 1/2 yds
Finished quilts YTD: 35
New projects started YTD: 1 (april's babyquilt)

flimsy tops

2009-02-01T17:28:00.004-07:00

There are now only 7 hangers left holding flimsys. I have accomplished way more in the month of January than I ever thought I could. So, in order starting on the left side:

Split 9-patch-i don't know what to do with this one, i was planning on making it bigger and finishing it myself, but the longer it hangs there the more likely I'll donate it to the local guild for charity

Antique #1-given to me when we lived in Cheyenne, this one needs repair and hand quilting

Antique #2-from the same source as #1, needs repair and hand quilting

King size valentine-needs a back

King size M & M-needs custom quilting

30's round robin-needs basted and quilted

Pants hanger full of runners-i think there are still about 15-20 runners here

I also have 3 quilts basted that should be my next few finishes. After i get them done i'm going to start a NEW project, a baby quilt for my cousin.

Thats all the ufos i have at the flimsy stage-i've been counting those ufos still in pieces and i'm already past 25 which is way more than i thought i had.

stash report #5

2009-02-01T17:24:00.002-07:00

This week:
fabric in: 5yds(3 for a backing and 2 just for fun)
Fabric out: 5 yds
Quilts finished: 21(17 were runners)

Year to date:
Fabric in: 33 yds
Fabric used(total): 141 yds
Net Fabric used: 108 yds
Finished quilts YTD: 35
New projects started YTD: none!

random projects

2009-01-30T13:44:00.003-07:00

Since i've been getting so many big projects finished this month, I decided I should see what was on my cutting table in the towering stacks of "to-do". First, my Dala horses, there are 6 blocks in this set-3 blue, 2 yellow and 1 red. I dont know how i'm going to set and finish them. The original plan was to make more blocks and make either one big wall hanging or 2-3 smaller ones. Now I dont know.

Next is a set of stack and whack style circles from Christmas fabric. Enough for 8 blocks. Original plan was runners-probably 2. One with 5 blocks and one with 3.

Then my stack of veggie/fruit blocks. I think there are enough there for a twin/full size quilt. They need to be trimmed and sashed together.

The ballet slippers are multiples of one I did last summer. I've got 2, one white background and one black background sitting there. These will be finished as small wall hangings and donated as raffle prizes to the kids dance school.

Believe it or not-thats only 4 of the 13 projects that I found. There are also: scrub tops for my SIL the xray tech, dresses for my neice, aprons, 2 other quilty ufos that i'm not sure i still have the instructions for, and at least 3 baby quilts in pieces.

I've still got 3 big quilts basted but i think that I am going to start working on some of these projects just for something different to do.

This is the whole table with everything spread out instead of stacked up like usual.

Intentional UFO's?

2009-01-30T07:27:00.002-07:00

On stashbusters yahoo group anything that is not finished at the end of the calendar year automatically becomes a UFO for the following year-so all these count even tho I started them in November of last year and already have all 17 of this go around finished. I have 14 more bigger ones still to finish. There are: 4 snowmen, 3 halloween, 9 nutcracker, and just 1 gingerbread toppers. I stacked the same size multiples to make it easier to take pics. Most of these will be set aside until later this year when i'm hoping my friend will agree to share a table at the craft fair, otherwise they will be teacher gifts and co-worker gifts for next Christmas.

#17 & #18

2009-01-30T07:20:00.002-07:00

I was having a hard time getting these pics taken but here they are finally! These quilts were finished several days ago. First is a halloween quilt that got started in December, the second one was started back in Germany, probably in 2005? Both quailfy as oversize twins or just about full size.

#15 & #16

2009-01-27T21:08:00.002-07:00

Here are 2 more finished quilts! The black and yellow one is something like 82x86. I think its going to be used as a comforter on our bed-top quilt for extra cold nights!

The heart quilt was a mystery from a while back. I think its the only mystery i've ever been dissapointed in because i picked Christmas fabrics for something that really should have been a Valentines quilt. Oh well, done is done. This one is about 75x90.

stash report #4

2009-01-25T07:45:00.003-07:00

I've been doing really great quilting and finishing quilts this month but this week I had a slow down sort of. I got 5 quilts basted, 4 of them quilted, and none of them bound! So i'm adding all 5 backings to this report, 4 of the tops(the 5th was counted last year) and none of the bindings. So here goes:

This week:
fabric in:8yds for aprils baby quilt and bindings
Fabric out: 55 yds!
Quilts finished: none(but i'm darn close on 5!)

Year to date:
Fabric in: 28 yds
Fabric used(total): 136 yds
Net Fabric used: 108 yds
Finished quilts YTD: 14
New projects started YTD: none!

#13 & #14

2009-01-21T19:05:00.003-07:00

I finished these 2 last week before we went to mom's but could not get my quilt holders to help me take pics. I finally got a substitute and Sami to hold them up for me. The tree skirt was started last fall-it is about 60 in across, and the Blue and Yellow one was a mystery in 2007-its almost 70 in square. Thats a total of 14 ufo finishes for 2009 and i've got 3 more basted and ready to quilt!

stash report week #3

2009-01-20T08:51:00.002-07:00

This week:
fabric in: 0 yds
Fabric used: 35 yds
quilts finished: 7

Year to date:
Fabric in: 20 yds
Fabric used(total): 81 yds
Net Fabric used: 61 yds
Finished quilts YTD: 14
New projects started YTD: none!

Decision time

2009-01-15T07:07:00.003-07:00

My quilt holders had time to hold up one more before they left for school this morning. This wildlife quilt was started new year eve 2006. I put the borders on it last summer and finished it Tuesday(Jan 13). This one has a decision attached to it. I had originally planned to send it to a friend who was having some health issues at the time of piecing but now those problems have been taken care of and I don't know if he still needs a quilt. The other place it could go is on OUR couch since the one that is there is 30's prints and the rest of the room is wolves and horses. Decisions, decisions!

This one finishes at 72x87 and was a mystery online.

Batting issues and finished quilts

2009-01-13T14:16:00.003-07:00

I've about run out of batting-again. In December I was down to the last bits from my bolt of warm and natural batting, so when Hancocks had batting 1/2 price over new year I bought a new roll 20 yards-90 in wide. I'm now down to 3 pieces ready for 3 big quilts and the roll is already gone. I've still got some bits that i can use for small projects like runners and such but my big quilts are going to have to wait until I can find a way to buy another roll of batting. Joann's has it on 50% off this week and they have the 40 yd rolls...so now i need to find about $200 laying around.

These 4 quilts were finished last night and I pulled them out of the dryer this morning. The first is a 45x45 baby quilt made with the "dissapearing 9-patch" pattern. Then next 2 are from a line called "under the influence of fabric." The square one is about 50x 50 and the other one is about 30x50. The yellow and blue one is 45x60 and made from left over blocks and fabric from the quilt I made one of my brothers for his wedding. He and his wife may get this to use as a wall hanging over thier bed, or it may go to the next baby that needs one.

stash reports

2009-01-12T08:07:00.002-07:00

Stash report for week 2:

Used 46.5 yards(this counts old tops from before I started keeping count of yardage used)
Bought: 20 yards(6 backs and some stuff for swap blocks)
Net used this week: 26.5 yds
Net used ytd:26.5 yds
Finished:7 quilts(all ufos)
Started: nothing new!

mysterys solved

2009-01-10T21:30:00.002-07:00

I got 2 more quilts done friday(yesterday). Both are old mysterys about 60x60. It feels really good to get all these off my ufo list! I went and bought backs for 5 more quilts friday night-4 that qualify as baby size and one thats a big twin/almost full. Now the challenge is to get them basted tonight or tomorrow so I can sew all week again while the kids are at school.

on the line

2009-01-08T20:07:00.003-07:00

I had a request to see what my storage for ufos, so here's my tops waiting for quilting. There are 17 baby or bigger tops each on thier own hanger, and 35 or so runner tops which are all sharing a pants hanger. If I have the binding and backing for a specific quilt its hanging with the top but only 6 of these have thier backs figured out. I am guessing that if I quilt 2-3 a month and buy 1-2 backs a month I should run out of tops well before the end of the year, not counting the runners. There are also 2 hand pieced antique quilts hanging here and counted in the 17 but I do not believe that I will even attempt to do anything with them, mostly because they need some repair work that I dont think i'm qualified for and also because I dont think that I have the time or patience that hand quilting them would require.