Design Wall Monday

When Stack 'n Whack quilts were in vogue I jumped on the bandwagan and bought some fabrics that would lend themselves to this technique.  Well, I got ahead of myself and didn't get them all finished.   This fabric was bright tropical fish and it made great blocks when putting them in a circle.  My problem was I couldn't decide what background to put them against except black.  I wanted to make it for a small child and thought maybe black wasn't the right overall color for a bright cheery look.  What color background would you use to put these together?  Here's 4 of the blocks.  There are 8 total and they are all bright like these.

Stash Report - Week 5

Well, here it is Sunday again and time to report all that fabric I've used from my stash.  Even though I did some sewing during the week, and put the binding on my January UFO, there is nothing new to add to last week's totals.  Normally I would hurry up and make a pillowcase or two for QOV or one of the charity groups so I could post some fabric busted, but the week flew by too fast. and I ran out of time. .
So, my results stayed the same.
Used this Week:  0 yds
Used year to Date:  6.958 yds
Added this Week: 0 yds
Added Year to Date: 0 yds
Net Used for 2012: 6.958 yds

Skip on over to Judy's and check on other's progress.

Twelve in 2012

At the beginning of 2012, I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this year (in the hobbies category). They basically are the same things every year, only this year I am really going to try harder to accomplish them. So far in January I'm on track in every category.
They were:
(1) to read a book a month; check - Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich
(2) complete 1 UFO per month; check - Twist and Shout
(3) finish a QOV per month and - see below (2 checks)
(4) try at least one new recipe every month - check - Cheeseburger soup

Here are the QOV quilts that were finished this month.

This top was pieced by Judy H.  It is made from mostly homespuns and is very soft and warm. I quilted a curly panto and put on the binding.  I'll make a pillowcase to match before it is given to our local QOV Chapter.












 The quilt below was pieced by Dusty P. using the Yellow Brick Road pattern. It has such cute fabrics in it --
Black bears, elk, fabric with fishing rods and fish, deer, moose, musical instruments and potting tools. I quilted a swirly pattern and bound it. Dusty made a matching pillowcase to put with it.

Thank you ladies for these great quilts.

This is an example of the labels we put on our Quilts of Valor quilts.  

Label on back of homespun quilt

Where did the day go?

Have you ever wondered where the day went? Or the week?  It seems like just yesterday was Monday and here it is almost Thursday.  I swear the days are getting shorter as I get older. 

Last night was the final wrap-up of our UFO challenge for one of my local guilds.  I was chairman for the 2011 year, so I planned a short program for the prize winners. The top winner (Mary Lou M. finished 22 UFO's out of 27 for the year.  That's an 81% completion rate.  Her quilts are beautiful and she does both hand quilting and machine. I'll try to get some pictures of her work at our upcoming quilt show in March.  Darla G was the second runner up with 19 finishes!   I feel like such a slacker with only 2 UFO's for the year.  Of course, I did quilt a lot of quilts -- just not mine or I started and finished a few in the same year -- these do not count as UFOs   Darn!

Things will be different this year.

  

Design Wall Monday

This is the first time I've posted on Design Wall Monday and all the blocks on it are for other friends.   Two of them are in my monthly block exchange group - the little nine patches for Julie, the two houses for Anne and the long 6" x 55" strip is for the Selvege Blog's group strip quilt.  I'm working on getting something of my own on the design wall soon.  It's still in pieces in a pizza box!  Jump on over to check out other design walls at Patchwork Times.

Blocks for Pieces of Friendship and Selvege Blog

Stash Report - Week 4

I didn't use much from my stash this week ... but I didn't buy anything either!!  My small usage this week was 2 blocks for friends, and one big string block for Karen for her group string quilt project.

Fabric In  - 0
Fabric Used  - .333 yds
Fabric  In YTD - 0
Fabric Used YTD - 6.958 yds
Net Used for 2012 - 6.958 yds

Prize Winner

I just found out that I've won a black velvet and leopard shawl/wrap from Lindsley at ladiesinthepink.  I can't wait to see it in person!.  It looks really cool on her website. Lindsley gives away really neat things every Friday.  Her site is very interesting reading too.  I'll tell you more about it when I receive it.

Hectic Day

Yesterday was a very busy day for me.  First a new customer dropped off a quilt to be finished, then off to work for a few hours, then to a local quilt group meeting, where the hostess (Barb) served some yummy food, saw great show and tell and had a few laughs, Then had to go back to work until closing.  After dinner I finished up a customer quilt on my longarm, did some stitching on a binding and went to bed at 2 am.!  Today I'm almost too tired to do anything but rest.  I don't even want to eat, and that is NOT like me at all.  Maybe this afternoon I will get going on my quilting projects. :)  There's always tomorrow, right?

Stash Report - Week #3

My numbers are better for this week's stash report -   yeaaah
Fabric In - 0
Fabric Used - 4.625 yds
Fabric In YTD - 0
Fabric Used YTD - 6.625 yds

I "almost" finished my 1st UFO of the year - a baby quilt.  I'm going to name it "Twist and Shout" because of the pinwheels twisting and the bright, loud colors shouting.  I still have the binding to attach, but that will get put on today and finished for sure tomorrow.  I'm feeling good about finishing something so early in the year.  Let's hope I can keep this going throughout 2012.

Hop on over to Judy's to see how others are doing.

1st QOV finished

Yesterday I finished quilting the 1st of many QOV tops given to me by friends.  This one was pieced by Kathy W using the Buggy Barn stars pattern.  It's made with mostly homespuns from the scrap bin.  I quilted it on my longarm using an E2E pattern by EQ called Stars and Loops, then I made a matching pillowcase with the left over scraps, bound it and put the QOV label on the back.  Now it's all ready to go to one of our brave returning service men.  Nice quilt Kathy.

Today is the first snow of the year for us here.  It is beautiful, but cold and very windy.  Our temps are only supposed to get to mid-20's and since we had 55 - 70 degree temps a few days ago, it really seems bitterly cold.  Guess we should be thankful it didn't come until now.  We are only 2 1/2 months away from Spring!  :)  Today is a perfect day for sewing, quilting or reading.  I'm off to do some of each!!!

Applique

I'm a member of an small applique group.  We call ourselves the "A-Team".  Our exercise was to make bias strips to use in creating Celtic designs or the lead in stain glass on quilting projects.  There were several methods shown to make your bias strips:  One you sewed a tub and inserted metal or plastic bias bars to press it flat, then center the seam line in the middle of the back of your bias strip; another used the Clover bias strip maker, which folds the 2 sides in toward the middle and as you pull it through you iron the folded fabric and the last method demo was using Clover's prepared fusible bias binding ready to apply.  This is the one I tried.  It worked great.  I finished my sample and it's now ready to hand or machine stitch to the background.  I might try to use this as part of a label on a quilt of the future.

Picture posting

Tonight I am going to learn how to post pictures on my blog.  First it might be a good idea to take some pictures, right??   Oh wait, I have lots of quilt pictures just waiting to be seen.  I might even capture one of my kids (i.e. kitties) if I'm fast enough.  We'll see what I can come up with.

Lucky testing my denium/flannel quilt

Stash Report - Week 2

I did not do much sewing this week, but I did make a set of pillowcases for a friend.
My totals are:
Fabric Added:  0
Fabric Used -   2 yards
YTD Added - 0
YTD Used - 2 yards

Check Judy's site www.Patchworktimes.com see how others have done.

Movie Goers

I love to go to movies, but it's been a while since we've done that.  This weekend we took in the new Matt Damon movie "I Bought A Zoo" and it was good.  We thoroughly enjoyed this light hearted, funny and entertaining look at a family who ends up running their own zoo.  It is based on a true family that still owns this zoo.  If you get a chance to see it, take the kids and go.  I needed a couple of kleenex tissues, but that's because I'm such a sentimental fool. :)

QOV fabric

Today I met with a friend who has recently cleaned her fabric closet.  She gave me 2 boxes of fabric to be used for making Quilts of Valor quilts.  It was so much fun to look through her stash and pick out fabric for these quilts.   The QOV quilt I'm working on now is almost finished.  Just a bit more on the binding. Then I can concentrate on some of this fabric and start planning another quilt.  I love going through stashes and trying to create a pretty pallete with what we have.   Thank you Tina.

UFO's for 2012

Here's my list for the UFO Challenge at Judy's Patchwork Times.
1. QOV - My Country Tis of Thee - needs quilting
2. Sudoku Symphony - needs quilting
3. Black & White wall hanging - needs quilting
4. Star-Crossed Christmas - needs quilting
5. Serengetti Sunset - pieced background + applique
6. Watercolor Easter Cross - blocks done
7. MTC quilt - top started
8. Noah's Ark baby quilt - blocks done
9. Blue/white 2 block quilt - need more blocks
10 Green selvage - started blocks
11. Bright Pinwheels - top done
12 Row Quilt - rows partically finished

Still trying

Well, it's another beautiful day and I'm still trying to learn this blogging thing.   I love to learn new things, so I'll keep trying.  I'm much better at activities dealing with quilt making than setting up blogs, so I'm off to work to play with fabric and create quilts, things I am passionate about.   Hope you have a great day!

First post - Jan. 2, 2012

Happy New Year to everyone.  I'm fulfilling one of my resolutions for the new year by setting up and learning to blog.  Wish me success in this new endeavor.   I've been a lurker for way too long and finally got the nerve to get into the swing of things.  My hope is that this will encourage others to make the leap and have fun too.
Here we go!!!