Yesterday I had great plans to power piece my stack of pre-cut JT2 blocks.  Surely I could make significant progress on the stack of blocks in a couple of hours.

Ha!  After about 30 minutes of piecing HSTs and strips together I realized everything I had stitched had to be ripped out due to tension issues.  Fortunately those tension issues allow the ripping to be done rather quickly.

At the end of the day I only completed three blocks:

But all the HST are done.

I wonder how much progress I’ll make this evening?

I’m so far behind on my Just Takes Two quilt it’s not funny.  And I just realized new blocks were released today.  So, I’m further behind than I thought.

My sewing machine still won’t do a zigzag, blind hem or any basic stitch other than a straight stitch so I can’t work on Eeyore.  I suppose I could bind the KTS 1600 quilt.  The binding has been ready for a few days, but since I’m scheduled to quilt Fun with Bricks on Saturday morning, I’ll bind both over the weekend.  Have to have something finished for Show ‘n Tell at the Guild meeting Monday night.

Anyway, last night I prepped pieces for 8 Just Takes Two blocks.  I’ve taken them out-of-order and I’m going for mindless piecing.  I’ve also cut my pieces for this week’s Tetris-Quilt-A-Long block to use as my leader/ender. Those pieces are 1 1/4″ square.

I wonder how long it will take to get these blocks done?  I guess I need to look at today’s release to see if there are any mindless blocks I can add to my stack as well.

Not much.  I finally finished the Tetris blocks for the past two weeks.

July 31st

August 7th

There are two more blocks and then I’ll have to decide how to finish them.  I can’t decide between a white sashing or a black sashing.

The other thing I got done this weekend was prepping Fun With Bricks to quilt.  The zippers are on (the top has the pink border the section on top is the backing) and I just need to cut a length of batting and make the appointment.

Finally, I made the binding for my KTS 1600 Jelly Roll quilt.  Now now to get it put on the quilt.

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

I’m also linking up to the Tetris-Quilt-a-Long for July 31st and August 7th.

Finally got my machine back Friday afternoon.  I still need a new A1 Stitch card to be able to do zigzag or any other basic stitch besides a straight stitch,  but I can do straight stitching and all the other stitches on my other cards.  Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of piecing done.

Friday night I went to stitch and chat and ended up doing more chatting that stitching.  But I did get a backing pieced together for my Fun with Bricks quilt which I’ll quilt as soon as I get an appointment setup.

No new fabric came into the house — so I’m good on that score.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  85.885 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 4.604 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 63.335 yards

Net Used for the year -22.55 yards

Hop over to Judy’s to see how others are doing with their stash.

I finally trimmed my KTQ 1600 quilt, but it’s hard to show that.  It still needs binding.  Perhaps later this week.

What you see above is what my young friend has done.  I’m not sure the “right way” to teach quilting to a 12 year old, but I was pretty certain that if I made her rip everything that wasn’t to my standard she wasn’t going to enjoy the process.  A serious pressing got the top section flat and I don’t think anything will pull out.

Yesterday she worked on the next section, but when she went to sew two rows together she  came to me and said “I don’t like quilting any more.” — the sections weren’t lining up.   — Her quarter-inch seam wasn’t consistent and then when the pieces were to wide, she had trimmed them — with scissors — I told her she can’t use the rotary cutter.

Anyway, at that point we had another lesson on the quarter inch seam, why it’s so important and the math that makes it work.  She started over with more 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 rectangles from my box and made the three blocks on the bottom.

I am impressed.  I think I’ve lost my box of rectangles (but I can cut more!) and my backup sewing machine.

Check out other what others are up to by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

This week my machine went into the shop, my back up machine was used by a young friend and I helped move my sister and her husband to their new home.  Needless to say, there wasn’t much sewing going on.  I finished one Christmas BOM block and my friend completed one section of her first quilt – all from my stash.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  85.885 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0.522 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 58.731 yards

Net Used for the year -27.154 yards

I think I’ll take my KTQ 1600 quilt outside while it’s still relatively cool and trim it so it will be ready to bind when I get my machine back from the shop.

Check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing with the fabric usage.

I had every intention of leaving my backup sewing machine in the case.  I definitely have enough I can work on without a machine.  But a young friend was over and she asked me to show her how to quilt.

I pulled my 2 1/2″  x 4 1/2″ pre-cut box off the shelf, showed her how to stitch a couple rectangles together and then let her go.  I ripped out a couple of pieces for her, but then she did her own ripping.

After a couple of hours she had this:

After she went home, since I had the machine out, I pieced Memory one of August’s blocks.

The pattern called for all HSTs, but I made flying geese instead.  I do tend to have trouble following a pattern…

Last month I was supposed to finish this Christmas Star and the Evergreen blocks for my Christmas BOM quilt.  Given that I just picked the fabrics out over the weekend. I’m surprised that I got this far.  I like how the fabric are playing together, but when I took a few seams out, I seem to have messed the size up.

My plan was to write this post even later this evening after finishing this block and the trees — ok, the trees would probably be pushing it.  But a friend asked me to repair a pair of pajama pants.  I wanted to use a narrow zig zag due to the fabric, but I couldn’t set my machine to that stitch 🙁 .

It was right at 6 and the shop closed at 7, so I dropped everything and hauled the machine in.  Hopefully I’ll get it back before too long. While it’s there I’ve asked that it be cleaned.  I just looked at my notes and it’s been 16 months since it was last cleaned professionally.

So what’s up for this month?

Judy pulled # 7. For me that means the applique block Noah and the pieced block Memory.

I suppose I could pull my backup machine out, but there is plenty I can do without my machine.  For example:

• prep the pieces for last month’s Evergreen block
• prep the pieces for this month’s Noah block
• hand quilt on the DWR
• put the grommets in the quilted purse
• prep the applique pieces for the Eeyore quilt
• rip out the bad quilting on Diamond Links
• trim and square up the KTQ 1600 quilt for binding
• pre-cut pieces for either a few SBS blocks or the Just Takes Two blocks – I’m behind on both

I think I can keep busy without the machine.

Don’t forget to check out the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing on their UFOs.

This is really more thrown over my design ‘chair’ this morning.  Saturday I quilted my Kansas Troubles 1600 quilt with feathers, feathers and more feathers.  I really haven’t looked at it closely yet.  I’ll do that after I wash it.  But before I can do that, I have to hide the threads and bind it.   This quilt needs some serious squaring up and the only place big enough is our newly cleaned patio — but when the temperature is 100+, I’m not going outside.  The quilt can wait.

Even inside where it’s cool, I didn’t get a whole lot done.  Pardon the blurry pictures.

I finally picked the fabric for this month’s UFO blocks.  Even started piecing one of them.

I now have all 4 feet for Eeyore cut out.

And I did a little bit of quilting on my DWR.  The graphic on my side bar shows how far along I am now.

Stop by Judy’s page to see what others have on their design wall.

Hello, it’s been 3 weeks since I last reported on my stash…

Last night I finally sat down and updated my spreadsheet.  I think I got everything added and subtracted right.

Inbound there is fabric for a dust ruffle &  backing which I purchased and a pile of scraps and a few FQs that I was given. Outbound is the fabric for the stained glass quilt, the give-a-way from a couple of weeks ago, a couple of Tetris blocks, a few 6″ blocks, the backing for the 1600 quilt and a pile of 2 1/2″ squares.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 15.2 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  85.885 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 11.589 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 58.209yards

Net Used for the year -27.676 yards

I seem to be going backwards, but hopefully, I’ll get a few more quilts quilted and that will help my usage.  Judy has the link up today.