Two pictures today.  First, up on my actual design wall is my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler swap block quilt.  I’m not quite halfway done with piecing it together.  I ran out of steam and decided some thing absolutely had to be done in my sewing room.

Normally (and I really would like to have a new normal) there are two milk crates, two file boxes and a basket sitting on the hearth which only allows me to use a bit over half of my design wall.  So, when I put this up, everything got shifted on to the floor.  Then I wanted a picture, so I had to unstack everything, so it was wall to wall boxes.

Then, I wanted to take a picture of the quilt top Boxy Stars.  This is a group project using Bonnie Hunter’s pattern.

In order to get this picture, I had to shove the ironing board out of the way and all of the boxes got shifted around again.  Needless to say I have a mess.

But all is not bad.  I’ve hauled a suitcase out of here (ok, it’s sitting by the basement door, as is an empty box which is too good to put out with the recycling); I’ve shifted the ironing board around to the far side of the sewing table (will be farther to walk by 5 steps – and every step counts); I’ve dug out all the stuff that fell off the end of the sewing table and can now put the huge suitcase w/my Hancock Star BOM there clearing up more floor space.

As much as I really wanted to finish the sampler, I think cleaning my having a clean sewing space will give me just as much pleasure.  Who knows, I might actually get something else finished.

Hop over to Patchwork Times to see what others have been up to lately.

It’s been a while since I bought fabric just to buy fabric.  What can I say.  I drove a bit to buy the iron and they had a FQ sale 10 for $15.  I don’t have many batiks which explains the pile on the left.  I have an idea for the tone on tones in the middle.  Later in the day I was at Savers and found a book of the Mountain Mist patterns.  Who can pass up a collection of patterns for $1.99?  Finally I bought the thread I’m going to use to quilt the purple Boxy Stars.

So, what did I use this week?  Not much.  It’s hard retreating for 4 days.  I counted a bit more fabric for the border of my SBS Swap Blocks and I have two rows sewn together.  I also finished the Boxy Star quilt last night, but since the border fabric was given to me expressly for this project I didn’t count it in or out.

So here are the numbers.

Fabric Added Last Week: 2.75 yards
Fabric Added to Date:  37.463 yards

Fabric Used Last Week: .593 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 32.562 yards

Net Used for the year -4.901 yards

I seem to be going the wrong way, but I have a few quilts ready to quilt, so that will use up fabric.  Don’t forget to hop over to Patchwork Times for other usage reports

It’s sunny outside and it’s still cool, so I took Ocean Waves outside to photograph it.  The color is still off.  I grabbed this swatch off the Northcott website.  It’s a more accurate color depiction.

If you click on the picture you can see a bit of the quilting.  The whole thing is covered in flowers.

I quilted it on a HQ18 Avante machine at Rocking Chair Quilts in Butler, Missouri.  I used nearly a 500 yards of King Tut #901 – Nefertiti thread in the top and just over two bobbins of Bottom Line #603 Red.  The batting is Warm and Natural.  That spool laying down was brand new when I started.  The other spool is was left over when I quilted No Blue Geese in my Tropical Garden.

Now that the quilt is washed it measures approximately 80 x 90.

I pieced the top using Bonnie Hunter’s instructions for the Ocean Wave quilt which she has posted on her blog.  I started this quilt with 320 HST squares left over from other projects on October 27, 2011.  I finished the top on March 23, 2012. Quilted it on April 7th and finally got it bound on April 18th.

Oh, there’s a pillow case too.

Finally some thoughts on the fabric in those HST units.  There are scraps from the first shirt I made my nieces’ oldest brother when he was born, scraps from the both quilts I made my mother, scraps from jackets I made my MIL, my blouses, probably every quilt I’ve made to date, including some I made before I really got bit by the quilting bug.  I have scraps from my friends stashes as they know to pass their scraps to me and not throw them out.  This is such a wonderful memory quilt for me, if I hadn’t promised it to my niece, I would be tempted to keep it myself.

I think I like this arrangement better than what I showed earlier today.

In the past, regardless of the number of projects I take to retreat, I usually work on most of them.  That’s not the case this year.

My primary focus was my Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Swap setting blocks.  It takes a lot longer to sew together 1 1/2″ squares than it does 2 1/2″ squares.  Or perhaps it is more accurate to say it takes more 1 1/2″ squares to cover the same space.

For the most part, I worked on these blocks from after supper Thursday night, all day Friday, most of Saturday (we did a shop run which took about 5 hours) and Sunday until dinner.  After dinner a group of us took over a ping-pong table and worked on the block arrangement.

I think I’m going to stare at this one for a while until I decide the blocks are in the right order.  I still have a border to add to another quilt.  I had time Sunday night, but the math wasn’t working for me and I don’t have any extra fabric if I make a mistake.

As for the rest of the projects — they stayed in my bag.  Note to self — if it doesn’t fit in the sewing machine case or accessory bag, it can’t go.

Today I can reveal the table runner I designed for this past weekend’s retreat.  I hoped to have this autopost yesterday, but I didn’t get the post written before I left town.  I really need to figure out better lighting if I’m going to photograph indoors.

Five ladies made the mystery quilt — that pink and green one is my second one that I made while testing the pattern.  Once the runners are quilted, they’ll be trimmed so there are only 6 corners to turn in the binding.  Although I suppose if one is adventurous they could bind it without trimming.

My friend Mary was one of the testers.  I’ll update this LINK when she posts her table runner.

There are more great quilts to see via the links over at Patchwork Times.

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.