It’s been over a week since I last posted.  I’ve been to my Quilt Guild meeting and a quilt retreat, so there is lots to report.

Susan Cleveland was our guest speaker.  She is funny and makes wonderful quilts.  I left the meeting with ideas floating around in my head for future quilts, her Prairie Pointer tool and her new book Precision & Panache.

Then it was a mad dash to get everything situated at work so I could take off for 5 days and pack for the retreat.  A retreat report will be later.

Naturally there was quilt shop hopping on the way down at and on the way back from the  retreat.  Not to mention this year we had a vendor at the retreat!

Dollar FQs, a charm pack, a sweatshirt book and the pattern Stella Blue came home with me from the retreat vendor.  At one shop I purchased the braided fabric to use as the backing to my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Swap blocks and the Teddy Bear border fabric.  Another stop resulted in the shirting fabric, another FQ and the brush.

On the flip side, I did use some fabric.  I made the pillow case, had to cut one more strip of binding fabric for Ocean Waves and made all the alternate blocks for the SBS Swap quilt.

So, here are the damages:

Fabric Added Last Week: 12.98 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  34.713 yards

Fabric Used Last Week: 3.622 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 31.968 yards

Net Used for the year -2.744 yards

Hop on over to Patchwork Times for other usage reports

As I mentioned, I’ve been swamped.  But I did knock a few things out over the weekend.  The Antique Tile blocks are for the retreat block drawing.  Your name goes into the pot for each block you bring.   The two 6″ blocks are my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks for this month.  Finally there is the pillow case to go with the  Ocean Waves quilt.  I still need to bind it, not to mention clean up loose threads, make and attach a label and then wash it.

Check out other design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

After not spending any time at the sewing machine all week due to work, taxes, doctor appointments and who knows what else, I decided I had to piece.  I pulled out the kit I made up from my retreat bag and pieced these two Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks.  I-2 Winding Ways and I-9 Yankee Puzzle.

That brings my total to 77 of 140.

Fabric Added Last Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 21.733 yards

Fabric Used Last Week: 1.282 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 28.347 yards

Net Used for the year 6.614 yards

Hop on over to Patchwork Times for other usage reports.

This afternoon I took this section of my Just Takes 2 quilt top outside into the bright sunlight.  By golly, the colors finally look good in my photos.  Of course colors can vary by monitor, but they have been horrible until now.

In case the colors are off on your monitor, I would describe the blue/turquoise as the turquoise in turquoise and white gingham.  The manufacturer of the background fabric calls the color “concrete” and  I can see why.  That’s the patio and not a narrow border!

If it stays nice again tomorrow, I’ll take Ocean Waves out and see if I have similar luck with the colors.

Today it’s my design ironing board.

The apple print is the backing for the retreat mystery quilt.  It’s quilted & trimmed and the binding is ready to go.

The other is the Ocean Waves quilt.  It is trimmed and the binding is made.  I’ve also cut accent strips for the pillowcase and dug out those extra pinwheels I made.

I still don’t know what it is about the color in the pics.  The apple print looks right on, but the turquoise is more green in person.  I’ve about decided it’s like taking a picture of the moon when it is low on the horizon.  Looking at the sky you’d swear the moon was huge, but when you take a picture of it, it looks tiny in comparison.

Anyway, don’t forget to check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see what others are working on.

Saturday was the day to quilt Ocean Waves.  Would you believe its quilted SIX weeks before I need it?  Of course, it still needs binding, a label, pillowcase and washing.

While DH was making a new network connector for my computer after my 4 or 5, maybe six failed attempts, I trimmed the quilt.  This picture is before I trimmed and that’s all the backing and batting I had when I got the bottom of the quilt.  Note to self — buy 1/4 yard more that I think I need when buying wide backing and cut the batting 5 inches longer.

Once it was trimmed, I started thinking about the pillowcase.  Ignore the quilting — there won’t be any on the pillowcase — but what do you think about this idea?

The pink was used as the backing and will be the same width on both sides of the pinwheels — I think I’m leaning toward the narrow width.

This week’s report covers two weeks since I was having computer troubles last week.

Week before last I purchased the background fabric for the alternative blocks to the Blue & Brown Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Swap blocks and fabric to finish up Candy Sunflower Seeds.  This week I purchased the FQs pictured above. I also won a Impressions of Kyoto Charm Pack.

As for fabric used it was all backing. Week before last I quilted my Red, White & Blue Mystery Quilt Tablerunner (I’ll show it on the Design Wall on 4/23). This past week it was backing for Ocean Waves. Yes, it is quilted and even trimmed. I used a wide backing and counted it in as 2 1/2 yards, so I’m counting it out as 2 1/2 yards.

Fabric Added 2 Weeks ago: 7  yards
Fabric Added Last Week: 1.65 yards

Fabric Added to Date: 21.733

Fabric Used 2 Weeks ago: 1.235 yards
Fabric Used Last Week: 2.5

Fabric Used to Date: 27.065 yards

Net Used for 5.332 yards

It’s a good thing Judy is doing the weekly stash reports — I almost bought more FQs, but decided to work from my stash for the next couple of blocks I need to make. See if it’s helping anyone else by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

The monthly UFO Progress report is late.  First it was computer issues and then it was procrastination, thinking I’d get the two blocks finished.  It hasn’t happened yet, so here’s my report.

The March # was 8.  That was the Ohio Star that I finished early on and the bells, which I did get fused in place — after midnight on April 1st.  So, I’m only halfway there for the month of March. I did get two Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks made, but I did no quilting on my Double Wedding Ring.   March apparently wasn’t a good month.

So, onward to this month’s UFO #.  It is 10, which is the Holly Wreath.  So far so good.  I’ve cut out all of the leaves and picked my background fabric.  I still need to find fabric for the bow and cut out the berries.  Once I get these pieces fused into place, I’ll stitch down the applique on both blocks.

The links over at Patchwork Times will show how others are doing on their UFOs.

I’m having computer troubles, so dealing with that is taking away from my quilting time.  Last night about 7, I remembered that the April 1st JT2 blocks and assembly were out.  So to get something “new” done, I quickly sewed the blocks I have done together.  I’m still struggling with Grandma’s Favorite Compass and we won’t even talk about the large needle turn applique block from this month.  I’m all for stretching my limits, but those two blocks back to back are pressing all of my buttons.

Check out what others have on their design wall over at Patchwork Times and I’ll be back later with my UFO report and Stash Report.