Stash Report

November 8, 2015 9:17 am ⋅ Pam

Friday was day 2 of my vacation. It was also the first day of the Great Plains Sew-down a mini shop hop. It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a shop hop as I’m not buying fabric unless I need it to finish something specific. But this one the grand prize is a Featherweight sewing machine and 3 of the 6 shops I had not been to before. To top it off my husband offered to drive. Well who can turn that down?

The plan was 1 FQ per shop, picking up fabrics for Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt starting after Thanksgiving. I may have bought a tiny bit more, but they are all for the mystery quilt. In addition to hitting the quilt shops, we stopped at several thrift shops where my husband found plenty of CDs to add to his collection. The good news was we stayed in our budget.

So, to make up for the fabric purchases, I worked on Sew Scrappy, hoping to complete the quilt top. But I hit a wall. I finished the first set of 10 alternate blocks, threw them up on the wall with the plan to start sewing the first section together, and realized I need to finish all the blocks so I can spread out the really light lights. It took the wind out of my sails. But I don’t think it’s as bad as I thought, so hopefully I’ll finish the top in the next day or two.

Here’s the report.

Fabric Added Since Last Report 2.583 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 196.221 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 126.348 yards

INCREASE in Stash to Date: 66.873 yards

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

UFO Busting Report

November 6, 2015 7:40 pm ⋅ Pam

It’s the first Friday of the month and time to report in on October’s UFO Busting progress. I’m thrilled to say that I finished 4 UFOs. The Blue & Brown Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler Swap from August 2009; Aiming for Accuracy from August 2013, Orange Crush from Spring 2008 and the Green Disappearing 9-Patch from May 2015 — hardly able to classify it as a UFO.

In addition to finishing these 4 quilts, I started and completed a quilt top.

The UFO Busting Report.

Projects In Process October 1 – 59
Projects Completed – 4
New Projects started – 1
UFOs re-purposed – 0
Projects in Process October 31 – 56

If the weather is as nice tomorrow as it was today, I hope to get “good” pictures of the last two quilts I finished.

Posted in: Challenges, UFO Busting - 2015

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 4

November 4, 2015 8:06 am ⋅ Pam

Last month I said that on Tuesdays until Thanksgiving I am working on my Sew Scrappy quilt as part of Jo’s “finish a UFO before Bonnie’s mystery quilt starts challenge”. Sew Scrappy is from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I don’t think I have any Bonnie Hunter quilts in pieces, but I want/need to finish this one and I’ve been stalling for 3 years.

There was no baseball game to distract me, but distracted I was. Our cat Butterscotch occasionally likes to go out into the garage and ‘hunt’. Yesterday afternoon she asked to be let out and our other cat Gracie decided to go out with her. About 4 hours later, I heard Butterscotch at the door so I let them back in the house — only Gracie wasn’t with her. Called her. Got the laser light out — both cats come running to the sound of the key chain rattling on it, no matter how careful we are picking it up. Flapped the feather, as Gracie will come to the flapping noise. Got a container of instant Rice-A-Roni out and shook it. Nothing. Didn’t hear any rustling noises or meowing.

We were confident she couldn’t get out of the garage, but she’s our baby and we wanted her inside. So every 10 or 15 minutes one of us would go out into the garage and call her. Finally I just sat out there and finally heard her. That resulted in us moving a file cabinet thinking she might be behind it. Nope.

Moved more boxes and called to her. She was talking back now, but still couldn’t find her. Gave up. Went inside. Then we heard her by the door. Except she wasn’t. But when I called her, I saw her run from one side of the garage to the other, so I knew she wasn’t hurt. That’s when I was finally able to sit down and work on Sew Scrappy.

I managed to get a few strip sets sewn together and pressed. That’s all I accomplished on the quilt. I have high hopes for next Tuesday, as I’ll have the entire day to sew.

Oh, and Gracie? She meowed one more time at the door and this time was ready to come in.

Pop over to Jo’s Country Junction to see how others are doing the UFO they’ve picked to finish before the mystery starts.

Posted in: Challenges, goals

Washing Instructions

November 3, 2015 5:09 pm ⋅ Pam

Would you believe I didn’t touch the sewing machine once last night? I can’t blame baseball, the Royals won the World Series on Sunday!

But all was not lost. I was doing quilting related stuff. A quilt needed to be boxed up and sent off and I needed to include washing instructions. So, I made a hang tag.

In our stash of cardstock, my husband found a folding ‘business’ card. We’ve not used them in part because there is not a template in our word processing software and the website listed on the packaging is defunct. But I figured it out.

Each gift quilt this year will get one of these tags pinned to the corner of the quilt.

Now, if I can remember to weigh the box and use the tare function on my scale in the future. The box and quilt weighed more than my little 5 lb postal scale could handle, so there were two trips to the post office — one to weigh the box and one to drop it off. I saved $12 by coming home to buy and print my postage over what it would have cost at the post office. I could have arranged for pick up, but not knowing which carrier was on our route today, I simply ran it back during lunch.

Posted in: Uncategorized

What’s On My Design Wall

November 2, 2015 12:45 am ⋅ Pam

With the finishes Saturday, it’s time to pull the next quilt out that’s on my Crazy Challenge II list. It’s the Green and Cream Swap Blocks that I’m doing Quilt As You Go. Two of the 5 rows were done when I put it away a while back.

These are the blocks for the next row — the blocks were quilted, but I needed to quilt the sashings & cornerstones.

This is the rest of the quilt.

Here’s this month’s to-do list:

Finish Red Disappearing 9-Patch
Finish Green & Cream Swap
Complete Sew Scrappy Top
Pillowcases for Green Disappearing 9-Patch, Red Disappearing 9-Patch, Nifty Thrifty, Green & Cream Swap
Make backing for Hardware
Prep Black & Bright Swap: Make batting, backing, figure out quilting design, attach to zippers

Bonus: 10 more pillowcases; Progress on Compass Lone Star, prep/quilt Sew Scrappy, prep/quilt Hardware

Oh — and just for fun I looked to see if I have enough fabric for Bonnie Hunter’s Mystery Quilt, Allietare.

Looks like I do. The turquoise fabric is because I didn’t think I had a length of gray in my stash and was going to need to pick new colors.

I best get a move on it if I’m thinking about doing the mystery quilt. I have a long to-do list before the end of the year.

Check out what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: designwall, goals

Stash Report

November 1, 2015 12:29 am ⋅ Pam

When you finish 3 quilts and 3 pillowcases, it makes an impact on your stash numbers — even if you did pass though a quilt shop and pick up a couple of fat quarters..

Fabric Added Since Last Report 0.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 193.638 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 9.132 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 126.348 yards

INCREASE in Stash to Date: 67.29 yards

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

Pictures to come soon, along with the goals for November.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Aiming for Accuracy is Finished!

October 28, 2015 4:59 pm ⋅ Pam

Yes, Aiming for Accuracy is out of the wash. I love how it crinkled up. I made this as part of a quilt along in 2013 – then modified it slightly making it a tad wider. I started with the pink fabric and then used florals from my stash. Originally, I was going to just cut squares of the floral fabrics to make the backing, but I got a wild idea.

Starting with the pink and purple butterfly fabric, I combed through my Orphan Block Box for pink, purple and floral blocks and block parts. I made tons of pinwheels using bonus HST and I still have bonus HST left over.

Top Started: 8/4/2013
Top Completed: 10/21/2013
Quilt Completed: 10/28/2013
Batting: Hobbs Tuscany 100% Bleached Cotton
Top Thread: Superior Omni Thread in “Verbena”
Bobbin Thread: SuperBob in a light lavender – 1 + and I ran out at the end of a row!
Used Curly-Q pantograph by Aimee Mahan /Splendid Stitches
Susie’s Magic Binding
Measures 61″ x 76″ after washing

This quilt is on my list for the 4th Quarter Finish Along – I’m sending it to Aunt Marti for the UFO Parade. It’s also being sent in for the 2015 UFO Busting over at Field Trips in Fiber. It is part of the Crazy Challenge II which started August 15th.

Posted in: Aiming for Accuracy, Challenges, Finish-A-Long - 2015, goals, UFO Busting, UFO Parade - 2015

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 3

October 28, 2015 8:09 am ⋅ Pam

Earlier this month I said that on Tuesdays between now and Thanksgiving I am working on my Sew Scrappy quilt as part of Jo’s “finish a UFO before Bonnie’s mystery quilt starts challenge”. Sew Scrappy is from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I don’t think I have any Bonnie Hunter quilts in pieces, but I want/need to finish this one and I’ve been stalling for 3 years.

Well…last night was the first night of the World Series and I have 3 quilts I want finished and photographed by Saturday.

That’s not to say I didn’t do anything with Sew Scrappy. See — I have strips sets paired up and ready to stitch.

As for the progress on the 3 quilts? Finished Aiming for Accuracy. Did the binding during the 7th & 8th innings and listened to the game on the radio.

I may stay in my sewing room and just listen to the game tonight. It the game goes into extra innings again there won’t be anytime to sew after the game.

Pop over to Jo’s Country Junction to see how others are doing the UFO they’ve picked to finish before the mystery starts.

Posted in: UFOs

A Long Day of Quilting

October 27, 2015 12:30 am ⋅ Pam

I took the day off from work to do a bit of quilting. As I mentioned yesterday, today was going to be full day of quilting. At 10 AM I was standing on the doorstep of the quilt shop.

First up was Aiming for Accuracy, a quilt along from August 2013.

After it came off the frame, I stopped to eat the sandwich I brought for lunch, then I was back at it, loading Orange Crush, a mystery quilt from 2008. I used the same pantograph for both quilts.

I got home shortly after 5 PM and quickly ate dinner that I picked up on the way home, then it was back into the sewing room to trim the quilts. Now I have three ready to bind.Binding strips were cut – I’m using Susie’s Magic Binding on two of the quilts.

Poor lighting, but binding for 2 of the quilts is made. I still need to finish the Orange Crush binding, but I’ve run out of steam.Game 1 of the World Series is tonight and I said Tuesday is the day I work on Sew Scrappy, so who knows what I’ll get done.