Stash Report

January 22, 2011 11:42 pm ⋅ Pam

This past week the border fabric for my UFO#6 – Sister Choice blocks came in. Just in time so I can finish this quilt top, meeting January’s UFO goal. The purchased fabric was off set by the fabric I used in the mystery quilt. I’m about halfway through writing those instructions. That’s something else I need to get done by the end of the month so I have time to test them. Good thing there’s another weekend in this month.

Fabric Added this Week: 2 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 2.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.347 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 6.997 yards

Net Stash for 2010: -4.727 yards

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

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Return of the Leaders/Enders

January 22, 2011 11:58 am ⋅ Pam

Or, how I solved two problems at once.

I’m a big fan of Bonnie Hunter and her Scrap User’s System. I really like Leaders & Enders. I’ve used these two systems to get rid of my scrap basket, waste less thread and make more quilt tops. I have one quirk (ok, many, but only one I want to talk about today) which I haven’t been able to overcome — I don’t like sewing leader/enders unless I know where the patches will end up. I haven’t been able to just make light/dark 4-patches and throw them in a box to be used in some quilt yet to be identified. As a result, when the new year started, I didn’t have any leader/enders sitting by my sewing machine when I started working on UFO #6.

Although I have a lengthy list of UFOs which are still in the piecing stage, there is nothing which mindlessly lends itself to Leaders & Enders. So, as I worked on my Sister Choice blocks for the UFO Challenge, I tried to keep the chain going. It wasn’t entirely successful, but I wasn’t clipping thread tails every 6 or 12 inches either.

Now I’m sewing the blocks together into rows.

There’s no getting around it, I’ve got thread tails much more frequently and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve got to find a Leader & Ender project.

I pulled out my 2″ Brick and Block box. It’s stuffed.

Look at all of these 2″ x 3 1/2″ bricks.

Next, I visited Quiltville.com to look for a pattern.

I found Fun with Bricks! It uses 2″ strips sewn together and subcut into 3 1/2″ squares. I’ll just sew two bricks together — and worry about the 3 1/2″ light square later.

So there is just one question left.

When do I count my Leader/Enders as a new start?

Posted in: Bonnie Hunter, Fun with Bricks, scraps

Mystery Quilt Top Done

January 20, 2011 11:27 pm ⋅ Pam

Just a peek. Over the last couple of nights I’ve been working on a baby quilt that I’m writing a pattern for. It will be the retreat mystery quilt in April, so I can’t show it until then. Now off to type up the instructions.

Posted in: 2011 Mystery Quilt

The Year of the PIGS – Question # 2

January 19, 2011 6:00 am ⋅ Pam

Jill’s Year of the PIGS Question #2 is:

Give some stats on your PIGS!

What is your oldest and how old is it?

Light Up The Holidays – a kit for a table topper that I purchased in October 2007. I think this is one of those “What was I thinking?” purchases. One of these days I’ll get it put together. It is not high on my priority list.

Do you have a list of your PIGS and is it current?

Yes. I have a spreadsheet which lists all of my UFOs/WIPs, PIGs, Quilt Tops, Purchases, and Fabric Usage. There are 11 PIGS on it.

Light Up the Holidays
Cotton Theory Table Runner
Maypole Charm Purse and wallet
Tulips baby quilt
Wildflower Serande Gallery of Stars
Cranberry Wishes Bag
Janelle Turning Twenty (or Crazy 8s)
KTS 4-Patch Stacked Posies
The Night Before Christmas
Magnolia Table Topper
Laurel Burch Christmas Wall Hanging

How many PIGS and UFOs do you have?

11 “true” PIGS – projects I haven’t started.

36 UFO/WIP – 9 of them are inherited, found at estate sales, or otherwise not started by me. Click HERE for the full listing. Pictures and more information about my three oldest UFOs can be found in this post.

39 Quilt Tops – only one of these was found at an estate sale. Click HERE for a listing with links to pictures of the tops. My oldest pieced quilt top waiting to be quilted was completed in September 2006. It is my Christmas Crazy 8. I have the backing and binding fabric, so it’s just a case of getting in gear and getting it quilted.

Posted in: PIGS, UFOs

The Blocks are Finished

January 18, 2011 10:58 pm ⋅ Pam

This will stay up until this weekend to let it simmer. I keep swapping blocks around to try and distribute the dark blocks and keep the 5/4 peach pattern. I really hope the dark border fabric I ordered doesn’t overwhelm it.

Posted in: Charm Challenge, UFO Challenge 2011

A Solution

January 18, 2011 2:32 am ⋅ Pam

: 1

: 2

: 3

: 4

: 5

: 6

All month I’ve been working on UFO # 6 for Judy’s UFO Challenge. This quilt was started back in 2008. One of the reasons it got set aside was because I made two wrong cuts – messing up 4 of the 9-patches. Normally this would not be a big deal, but since I was working with a charm pack and had no more fabric it brought me to a screeching halt.

When I resumed working on the quilt, I had to figure out how to deal with my bad cuts. My first attempt to resolve the problem was to rip out my original piecing and take narrower seams. I even double stitched them for added security. But the more I thought about it the more I got concerned that it would rip out. The narrow seam allowance can be seen in picture 1.

So I came up with another solution. I ripped the stitching out – again. Picture 2 shows how much smaller the pieces are from what they are supposed to be. Then I put a piece of Lite Steam-A-Seam2 on the edges (3). The fabric was then fused to a thin piece of muslin (4) and trimmed to the correct size (5). 1 5/8 inches by 1 5/8 inches. Picture 6 shows how I’ll sew the block back together.

I’ll sew the block back together with 1/4 inch seams, but only 1/8 inch of fabric will be caught on some edges. I hope that the extra layer of fabric, along with the fusible will keep fabric from unraveling.

Posted in: Charm Challenge, UFO Challenge 2011

What’s on my Design Wall

January 17, 2011 2:22 am ⋅ Pam

Eight more blocks and I’ll have all 96 blocks done. Then I can start sewing them into rows and ultimately a quilt top. I’m going to have to temporarily clear the hearth off so I can get the last two rows up on the design wall. Those blocks on the right really go on the bottom of the quilt.

For a border I’ve decided on three narrow inner borders – 3/4- inch green, 1/2 – inch peach, and 3/4 inch green — this will use up the remaining peach and green fabric. The final outer border and binding will be a 4 to 5 inch wide brown print. I finally found two different brown prints from the collection on-line and ordered one of them last night. Since Shangri-La is an older collection (2008), I’m thrilled that I can find anything in stock.

Since I’m off from work, I’ll spend a good bit of time working on this, hopefully finishing it up – well as much as I can with out the border fabric — and then get started on my next project.

Follow the links over at Judy’s to see if others are making progress on their UFOs or working on something new.

Posted in: Charm Challenge, designwall, UFO Challenge 2011

Stash Report

January 16, 2011 1:13 am ⋅ Pam

I’ve spent the week sewing Sister’s Choice blocks from my previously counted fabric, so no new fabric out. No stops at quilt shops this week, although I did search the web for border fabric. Nothing like making a quilt from a single line of fabric which is 3 years old. I’m going to have to make a decision soon about the border.

Fabric Added this Week: .25 yards (FQ prize)
Fabric Added to Date: 0 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 4.38 yards

Net Stash for 2010: -4.38 yards

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

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Fun Mail

January 10, 2011 4:42 pm ⋅ Pam

Last week I participated in the Final Countdown Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts. I took my 3 oldest UFOs and have a plan for them (including ignoring one until a later time), I cleared ALL the flat surfaces in my sewing room (not that they stayed that way, but that’s another story) and I dealt with the scraps uncovered by clearing the flat surfaces. My name was drawn as the winner for day one.

So, today even though there’s snow on the ground (and it’s been coming down all day), my mailman delivered this wonderful package from Shelly. Right now I’m looking for a place to hang/set the Quilting Queen sign. I think I’m going to hang it. I’m out of flat surfaces…..

Posted in: Challenges

What’s on my Design Wall

January 10, 2011 12:44 am ⋅ Pam

Today’s wall contains UFO # 6 – the 2008 Charm Challenge. I found out the name of the charm pack is Shangra-La. It is a Moda line by 3 Sisters. I spent most of Friday evening cutting the light fabrics and part of Saturday cutting the green squares for the star points. I ‘batched’ up 9 kits of 8 blocks each and it looks like I have a few more light pieces to cut and definitely more green squares to cut. At the moment the plan is to make the quilt 8 blocks by 12 blocks.

This is the first time in a long time I’ve worked on just one project at a time. I don’t have a leader/ender project going. I’m not sure if that a good thing or a bad thing.

I hope to get this top finished by next weekend. I have a couple of current projects which I need to make progress on this month.

See if others are working on their UFO challenges or something else by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Charm Challenge, designwall, UFO Challenge 2011