Hexies in my Future

This week is starting out great. A week ago I participated in a Hexie Quilt Blog Hop and Day 1 was hosted by Karen Griska at the Selvage Blog.  Her giveaway was a signed copy of Quick and Easy Hexie Quilts by Dr. Peggy Rhodes and Julia C. Wood.  I'm thrilled that I was the lucky winner.   Thank you so much Karen for such a great giveaway.  I've been wanting to make something with hexies for a long time, and now I have no excuse.  

I can't wait to learn their secret of how they make their hexies with no paper, plastic or basting.!  This will probably be a new FO for next month.  Those old UFO's will just have to wait a bit longer to get finished.  The hexies are calling me now.

Stash Report with Pictures

Today has been a very rainy day here and I've been trying to catch up on a few things.  First the stash report.  I didn't add anything and only used small amounts for some string blocks.  So the numbers remain the same as last week.

But I did make progress on some of the backlog of quilts needing to be finished.  The first one is a QOV that was pieced by Susan C. and I quilted and bound it.  I wanted to do something more than an E2E, so I drafted a border of anchors to add to the outside border since some of the fabric was nautical themed.

 
Next up was this Yellow Brick Road scrap quilt which has been waiting patiently to be quilted.  This weekend was it's turn on the machine.  It looked so fresh and Springy that I thought some young girl would love to cuddle under it when the cold weather returns.   It has a matching pillowcase and was  quilted with big dragonflies flying all around in swoops and swirls. It is so happy to be almost finished (only needs it's binding put on and hand stitched.)  That will be a retreat project for next week.

This last quilt was one our hand quilters finished at QOV.   Isn't it beautiful?  I just love this pattern.  They quilted in the ditch between all the red and white stripes and outlined the stars.  Our leader thought an eagle in the middle would be just the thing to make it special.

 To see how others did on their stash management this week, check over at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Quilts for the Troops

We had a great time this week at our Quilts of Valor meeting.  Our numbers were down a bit -- only 85 in attendance; but we have exceeded our goal of 100 quilts for our Missouri troops.  I promised more show and tell of the quilts I received from our Bits 'n Pieces Quilt Guild plus a few more.

These 3 were pieced by a group that live west of St.Louis in and around Washington, MO.

Chinese coins with brown borders & sashing

Chinese coins with blue borders & sashing

Chinese coins with red borders & sashing

Now some of you may recognize the next 3 quilts.  They were made by my new friend, Kevin, the Quilter.  He contacted me awhile back saying he would like to make some tops for QOV, and naturally I said "wonderful, we'd love them".  Well, he was good to his word.  Aren't these just beautiful??  He also made 3 pillowcases with backings and bindings for each of them.  Thank you so much Kevin!  Your quilts are great, love the bright colors and as you know, scrappy quilts are where it's at in my book!!

Made by Kevin

Made by Kevin

 

Made by Kevin

If you want to see more of Kevin's talents, check out his blog and see his cute quilt he made for the Blogger's Quilt Festival this year.  It's definitely a winner. 

This next one I had a hard time parting with.  I've always wanted to make a blue & white quilt.  Do you think they'd notice if one little quilt didn't make it?? LOL  Just teasing.  It went to the quilters too.

Made by Bernedette D

Made by Mary Lou M.

Happy stitching until next time. :)

New Adventures in the Kitchen

I've been so buy with all my QOV projects currently that I've neglected trying new recipes much this year.  My herb garden is very limited this year (too busy quilting), but I do have a few favorites that I use a lot -- basil, chives, dill; so when I saw what my friend at Cat Patches had done with her chives, I thought I'd give it a try.  Of course my little patch is not very big, but it was enough to make one pretty container of chive blossom vinegar to use for making salad dressings or marinades.  Now I just have to strain it and it will be ready to use.  Hope it tastes as good as it looks. I love the color.

Next I'm making a delicious recipe with grapefruits that were brought back from Arizona by a good friend who winters there.  Will have the results of that adventure soon.

Stash Report and May New FO

Although I've played with and used lots of fabric this week, I really didn't reduce my stash very much.  Most of the bindings and quilt backings that I made were from fabrics given to me for that purpose, so it doesn't count against my "used" numbers. Darn!!  However, I did use a little from my stash in making these star blocks for one member of our piecing group. She wanted non-bright stars with neutral backgrounds.

My numbers for the week:

Fabric Added - 0

Fabric Added YTD - 71.95 yds

Fabric Used - .25 (guesstimate)

Fabric Used YTD - 57.71 yds

Net added in 2013 - 14.24 yds

I'm still hopeful the net number will be in the black before the end of June. I still have my eye on a goal of using at least 200 yards this year.

But the reason my stash is not dwindling down is that I started another new FO in May.  It was planned to be a gift in May, but I ran out of time:  So now it will have be a future gift for someone. lol.

It was a kit from Timeless Treasures called Autumn Plume and the fabrics were so pretty.  I didn't get imuch done on it.  In fact, I only got as far as taking it out of the wrapper, admiring and petting the beautiful fabrics and drawing up my template to cut the diamonds, but it was started in May.  Maybe I can get the top finished at an upcoming retreat!.

I am linking up with Patchwork Times for the Stash Report and Cat Patches for the May New FO.  Go check them out to see what others are up to. 

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GID Results and What's Keeping me Busy

Tomorrow (oops, it's after midnight) Today is the first day of June already.  In just 30 days we will be half way through 2013. It's going by too fast for me. Since May is over, it's now time to see how I did on my goals for May.  Here were my goals and the progress I made.

May Goals
1. Cut, piece & quilt a wedding present - did not happen
2. Make 10 more string blocks - made 6 
3. Quilt 1 QOV - actually quilted 4 QOV
4. Finish knitting scarf - made progress, but it's still on the needles
5. Make some progress on putting rows together on Easy Street.- 3 rows completed
6  Extra this month - Made 10 pillowcases for St.Louis Children's Hospital
                               Quilted 5 customer quilts
                               Made 55 yards of bindings for QOV quilts
                               Pieced 6 backings together for QOV quilts
It was very busy this month, that's for sure.  Tuesday night at my Bits 'n Pieces Quilt Guild, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of quilts turned in for QOV.  This group is so prolific and generous!  They donated 7 finished quilts and 7 pieced tops & backings.  Just take a look at some of the wonderful quilts and tops that I received this week.

From Suzanne G.

From Dusty P.

 

From Debbie S.

 

From Kris P.

From Katie F.

From Cherie V.

From Gale S.

I'll post more after I've taken more pictures.  We made our goal with some to spare for the Missouri troops returning from Afghanistan.  We've heard they are back in the states and we are anxious to find out when we can present their quilts to them.

To see how others did on their GID goals, check at Judy's here.

Stash Report and More - Week 21

Here it is another beautiful Sunday and time for checking on my fabric usage.  This week was busy with lots of fun things.  I met with the QoV group -103 attended and we are ever so close to fulfilling our goals.  There were more tops turned in to be quilted and some finished ones too.  But I can't claim any fabric usage here this week.

This quilt was made for QOV by Polly K.  She named it Patriotic Wonky Crosses. She quilted it with stars and loops.

Back

These 3 lovely tops were made by Lynn D. for the women soldiers serving in combat.

Then I finished 5 more pillowcases for St. Louis Children's Hospital - I can count fabric used here! yea

New York, NY

My numbers for Stash Report are:
Fabric Added this week - 0
Fabric Added YTD -  71.95 yds
Fabric Used this week - 3 yds (two of these pillowcases were counted on last week's report).
Fabric Used YTD - 57.46 yds
Net added in 2013 - 14.49

To see other stash reports, visit Judy at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Week 20

It seems like forever since I've had time to post to my blog.  Major car problems that took 3 weeks to correct, customer quilt deadlines, our wonderful Spring weather causing me to work outside till dark has left me so little time and too tired to get it all done.  I've also been very busy the last few weeks trying to get all the QOV tops matched up with backings and bindings.  I am getting close to the end of the big stack of tops that I received earlier.  In light of that, my stash numbers are looking better, but I'm still not out of the woods yet with my buying spree in Paducah and earlier.  I have a few pillowcases pinned and ready to sew later today or next week, and they are not in this week's count, so that will help next week's numbers. :)  Hopefully by next report, I'll be back to using more stash fabrics and catching up on my projects and getting something finished to share.  I'm off to pick up more quilts for QoV, so there will be pictures later.

Two week's totals:
Fabric Added - 0
Fabric Added YTD - 71.95 yards
Fabric Used -  9.50 yards ( Wk. 19 = 3.875 + Wk 20 = 5.625)
Fabric Used YTD - 54.46 yards
Net fabric added in 2013 - 17.49 yards

Check out Patchwork TImes to see more stash reports.

Stash Report with Pictures

Today has been a dreary, cold day, which was a good day for some sewing. I spent a good part of the day making bindings and piecing a backing for more QOV quilts that came in the last week of April while I was in Paducah.  I also made another pillowcase for the St.Louis Children's hospital - bringing my total to 25.

All 25 in mulitples of 5/stack

My numbers for the week:
Fabric Added - 0
Fabric Added YTD - 71.95 yds
Fabric Used - 5.5 yds
Net enhanced stash -26.99 yds.  Still trying to get to a black figure here.

My local quilt guild, Bits 'n Pieces, has just been amazing with all the tops they have made and donated.  Here are a few more for your viewing pleasure.  Sorry it's sideways.  I can't figure out how to re-orient it correctly in Blogger.

from Nancy S.

Another one from Nancy S.

Wendy R.sent 3 red, white and blue string pieced tops with all different backings and matching bindings.  Thank you so much for the extra attention to detail that you provided. It sure helps and saves me time looking for the perfect backing and binding fabric.

from Wendy R.

from Laurie S.

Laurie S. pieced, quilted and bound her quilt, so this one is ready to go.  Thanks so much Laurie.

Isn't this a cute one? Lynn will have all the guys fighting over this cute little number and it's guaranteed to keep you warm!
 

from Lynn D

You can see more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Get It Done & UFO Challenge

Where did April go so fast.  It seems like just a short time ago I was planning my Get It Done goals for the month.  What did I get done during the month, you ask?  Take a look-see, if you haven't been keeping up with my progress.
April Goals
1. Assemble Easy Street into a flimsy - Nope.  Still waiting patiently on the design wall.. 
2. Make 10 string blocks - yes - here
3. Quilt 1 QOV - yes - quilted 2 in April. picture here and here  
4. Quilt one of my UFOs -  yes - Winter Friendship Stars quilted and bound- picture
5. Make 4 pillowcases - yes
6. Finish prep on applique block - nada.  Can't get my mojo moving on this one.

I've changed a few priorities for next month and tried to be more realistic about some of my older goals.  With the warmer weather and the outside calling, it will be tougher to get sewing done. 


May Goals
1. Cut, piece & quilt a wedding quilt - This will also be a NewFO for May.
2. Make 10 more string blocks - only need 20 more then I can start designing a quilt layout.
3. Quilt another QOV or two
4. Finish knitting scarf
5. Make some progress on putting rows together on Easy Street.  You notice I am breaking this down into smaller steps to see if it helps at all.

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times and Carrie at A Passion for Applique..   Spend some time and check them out.

Stash Report #17 & A UFO Finish

I have returned from the AQS Festival in Paducah and so my stash report took a hit again. It was impossible to pass up the perfect fabric I was looking for to make a wedding quilt in "their colors" with  a pattern to boot.  And it should be a fast project too. There were great prices on name brand fabrics, lots of interesting tools and gadgets that asked to come home and play in my sewing room and of course many, amazing, unbelievable quilts. I was on stimulation overload by the 4th day and could not take in any more.  Everything started to blue together and I just wanted to get home and start sewing and playing with the things I bought.

I did manage to finish he hand stitching on my Winter Friendship Star quilt that I took to do in Paducah  (if I wasn't too pooped in the evenings).  Got it done!!  My first UFO for 2013.

Winter Friendship Star

E2E - Agave

Here the week's numbers.
Fabric Used this week:  0
Fabric Used YTD -  40.45 yds
Fabric Added this week:  12.5 yds
Fabric Added YTD -  71.95 yds
Net Added for 2013 -  +31.59 yds

To check out other stash reports, go to Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Week 16

Even though I missed two weeks of reporting my stash, the numbers have not changed much, unless you count an additional 10 yards added!  I went to a Shop Hop you know and helped stimulate the economy.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here are my totals since the first of the month.
Fabric Added in April - 9.75 yds
Fabric Added YTD -  59.45 yds

Fabric Used in April -  .625 yds
Fabric Used YTD -   40.46 yds

Net added for 2013 - 18.99 yds

My only sewing this month has been to make and sew a binding on my Winter Friendship Stars quilt.  This was a UFO started last year and I finally got it quilted. I'm taking it along to Paducah to finish the hand stitching in the evenings so I'll have my first finished UFO.

If you have time, drop on by Judy's Patchwork TImes and see what others have done this week.