Scrappy String Blocks and Stash Report

This week found me playing in my strings trying to use some of my overflowing baskets of strings to make scrappy string blocks for Covered in Love.  Here is a look at a few of what I pieced and they are all in the mail to Kat and Cat in Texas.  It was fun sitting and sewing these strings, and I could have continued longer if the quantity strings were the determining factor, but other matters called.  There are still too many strings occupying space in my sewing room, so  more work is needed in this area throughout the year as an ongoing goal to use them all.  Ha, who am I kidding .... in my lifetime??  No way!

Since we have a major quilt show coming in March - Fanfare of Quilts of Bits 'n Pieces Quilt Guild, I took time to sew hanging sleeves and labels on the quilts that will be in the show, Coming Home and Celtic Solstice.  I really wanted to finish Sapphire Stars for the show, but too much was going on to make it happen.

If you are in the St. Louis area the weekend of March 17 - March 18 at Queeny Park in Ballwin, MO.  Suzanne Marshall will be our Featured Artist.  She is an internationally acclaimed quilter. You can find more information about the show at the link above. 

 

On other goals, OMG for January did not get finished-Sapphire Stars. Maybe

this month I will find time to quilt it. It has been put on the "to be quilted" pile along with 16 others. Since the rush is over to make the show, it may find itself farther back in the pile so the older ones get a chance to come out and play.

I feel badly for the ones that have been waiting soooo long. They deserve a chance to get finished too and out of the the dark closet where they are stored. They need a little attention and love after so many years waiting. and deserve to be finished, don't you think?

Sapphire Stars Mystery 

My stashbusing results from hanging sleeves and pieced string blocks with their fabric foundations resulted in a little more fabrics used this week.

Stash Report:

Added - 0

Used this week - 2.5 yds

Added YTD - none

Used YTD - 11.875 yds  

Net used in 2018 - 11.75 yds

Linking up with quilt, paint, create.

Week 38 Stash Report

This past week has been very busy and lots of fun.  First there was a 4 day retreat where I finished two of the Sept. goals and made some progress on 2 others.  On the way home, I went shopping at Hickory Stick and they were having a great sale; so naturally I had to help out.  I came home with lots of new batiks, a couple of Bali pops (at 1/2 price how could one say no?), two panels, 20 batik FQ and a few one yard cuts of interesting fabrics to add to my stash.  A total of 11 yards was added to my shelves.

I almost fell back into red numbers, but made it by the skin of my teeth to stay in the black.
Fabric Added  - 11 yards
Fabric Added YTD - 84.95 yds
Fabric Used last week - 7 yds - top to challenge quilt, backing and binding
Fabric Used YTD - 85.23 yds
Fabric Busted for 2013 - 0.28 - not much in the black.   Whew, that was close!

One of my projects at retreat was to finish the challenge "brown bag" quilt from one of my guilds.  I blindly drew from a brown paper sack, a fat quarter of Japanese doll fabric.  After spending hours trying to come up with some cute design using small blocks but not really wanting to cut the fat quarters into smaller pieces, I came up with the idea to make a more modern style of stripy baby quilt, and I used the whole fat quarter since the fabric was so cute. The colors are not normally what you might choose for a baby quilt, but these are the colors in the fabric.  I think after it's quilted with some interesting designs in the bigger horizontal lines, it will be cute enough for a charity quilt.  I hope so.  The back is pieced using some of the fabric from the front. I'll show more after I quilt it.

I also finished my Easy Street top - yes!

It measures 100" x 100" before quilting

And the binding on my string quilt. You'll notice the binding is scrappy too.

Sorry about the shadows.

After getting home from retreat, I went to the Round Bobbin Expo for a day.  They had some name teachers - Irena Bluhm, Toby Lischko, Cindy Losekamp (Sew Artfully Yours), Linda McGehee, Anne St. Clair (Needle Nook Fabrics), Pam Damour (The Decorating Diva) and others.  There were lots of other great vendors too.  I bought more toys for my quilting adventures, but stayed away from the fabric vendors because of my purchases above.  Today, we had the pleasure of hosting Irena Bluhm for the day at our local long arm group.  She shared her knowledge and skills and gave us a trunk show of her award winning quilts.  Now I'm all inspired to get back to quilting!!

Stop on by Judy's at Patchwork Times to see what everyone else did last week. 

Get It Done -Results for August and new for September

Since I was a bit over confident in making out and finishing my August Get It Done goals, I'm being a little less aggressive in setting goals for September.  What I didn't finish on August's list, I'll roll over to September.  Here was my progress on August goals.

August Goals
1. Quilt String quilt - Done
2. Piece blocks for Autumn Plume - not done
3. Finish Easy Street top - needs 1 more border
4. Get liturgical quilt done - nope, did work on it though
5. Quilt RWB baby quilt - not done

Now for September Goals
1. Put binding on String quilt
2. Piece blocks for Autumn Plume
3. Work on applique on liturgical quilt
4. Quilt RWB baby quilt
5. Piece 20 QOV flag blocks for Alycia's block drive - New goal added to the rollovers.  It has a deadline, so I know this will get finished.

I have much more success with my goals when they involve other people.  When they are just for my benefit, I tend to procrastinate more often and they get done when they get done.  I guess because there is no penalty if they don't get finished. When others are expecting an end result, we don't want to disappoint.  Oh well, que sera sera.

You can see what what others are working on for their September goals over at Patchwork Times.

Get It Done - August

Well, it's been very quiet here on the blogging front.  It seems like the days roll by so quickly from the weekend to the next weekend and I haven't accomplished a lot in my sewing room.  I totally forgot to post my July Get It Done goals and here it is August already.  To bring you all up-to-date, here's my July list and the results and what I hope to accomplish in August.

August Goals
1. Quilt String quilt
2. Piece blocks for Autumn Plume
3. Finish Easy Street top
4. Get liturgical quilt done
5. Quilt RWB baby quilt

July Goals
1. Continue working on Autumn Plume - did not do anything on this project.
2. Finish Easy Street top - not yet
3. Quilt a charity Quilt - yes
4. Finish putting string blocks into a top - Done

I'm linking up with Judy's Get It Done.  Check it out to see what everyone else is up to.

Stash Report - Week 28

I finally have some good numbers to report.  At this week's retreat I finished putting all the rows of my Easy Steet together and adding the first inner border; completed a baby quilt top; my UFO string quilt and made some progress on the borders of the liturgical quilt.  I also gave some fabric to a friend to help her finish a child's quilt.  All-in-all I am happy with what I accomplished in the stashbusting area. I still haven't broken even with the starting point in January, but getting real close!

Used this Week: 6.43 yards
Used year to Date: 65.54 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date:  73.95 yards
Net Added in 2013:  8.3 yards
Check at Judy's. to see what others have accomplished with their stashes.

Back from Retreat with almost finished projects

Hi all.  I just got back from a fun sewing retreat with some good friends and even though I didn't get a quilt totally finished, I do have several tops done and made great progress on several others.

The first "almost finished" is a baby quilt that was started in June at another retreat.  This quilt was started from a few of the blocks given to me from Janet.  She had them leftover from a baby quilt that she was making.

Remember these string blocks? They were started a few years ago as leader/ender blocks and they worked well to use up partially filled bobbins and for stress-free sewing when I'm too tired to use my brain to think, but want to sew anyway. 

This is what they look like now. I finished putting them together and the top is ready to be quilted. 

I also made good progress on my Easy Street and the liturgical quilt.  I'm linking up with Michelle's Romantic Tangle.  Take a look there to see what others are working on.

March Get It Done w/Pictures

Here as I promised are pictures of my completed goals *and those not done) on the Get It Done for March.

1. Assemble Easy Street - not done.  They are still in blocks sitting on my design wall waiting to be put into rows.

2. Cut sashing and cornerstones for Joan's Stars -  not done.  They are still in blocks on another design wall.

Joan's Stars

3.Quilt 1 or 2 Quilts of Valor -  YES 1 done -  This was donated for our QOV drive to reach 100 by mid-June.  I quilted an E2E stars and loops.  There are still more to be quilted (April's list).

Top by Nancy P. 

4. Make 4 pillow cases. - YES - made 8 in the month - another NewFO

5. Make 10 string blocks - Actually made 20 - so April is done too.

6. Finish prepping applique block - Edyta Sitar's Botanical Bounty - not done. only have stems and 1  leaf done. 

7. Put together Disappearing 9-patch blocks into a top. - Done

Disappearing 9-Patch

The disappearing 9-patch was to be my NewFO for January, but I didn't get my blocks from our exchange group until Feb.  Then I actually didn't get started on this until March at my retreat, so I'm going to link up with Cat Patches March NewFO linky for March.  

This brings me up-to-date on my GID, I hope.  I plan to be busy quilting a few other tops that were donated to help the hand quilters get them all finished by our deadline.

Get It Done

March has come and gone.  Boy, where did the month go?  It's time again to see what was accomplished on my Get It Done list for Judy's Challenge.

1.       Assemble Easy Street into a top with borders - not done.  These are still on my design wall waiting to be put into rows.

2.       Cut sashing & cornerstones for Joan’s stars - nope. I had good intentions, but still haven't got all the pieces cut yet.

3.       Quilt 1 or 2 QOV - finished one 

4.      Make 4 pillowcases - done.  Actually made 8 in March. 

5.     Make 10 string blocks - did 20 (so Apr. is covered too)  

6.    Finish prep on applique block - not quite done

7.    Put together D9P blocks into a top - done 

Four out of 7 isn't stellar, but it is some progress at least.  Maybe I should limit my list to fewer things so I could get them all done!  But that would not be as challenging nor as much fun.    Pictures later today.

P

So here's what I hope to get done in April in the sewing arena 

1. Finish Easy Street top

2. Finish Joan's Stars top

3. Quilt the D9P quilt

4. Bind the D9P

5. Make 4 pillowcases for the St.LCH kids

6. Make 10 string blocks -oh yeah, I already did April's back in March!!  yipee - Done

Stop by Judy's at Patchwork Times to see how others made out on their Get It Done goals. 

Get it Done

Well, here it is the last day in February and time to take a look at my GID list for February and how did I do?   You can see my specific list for February here.

I finished 3 of the five listed,  made some progress on two and one went untouched.  My Easy Street blocks are all finished, but didn't quite get them all into rows for a completed top.  I finished up my string blocks from January (needed 5 more) and did 10 more for Feb. I'm making 10 string blocks/month.  

Here are my 10 for February.








This is what a stack of 70 string blocks looks like.  With the 10 from above, I'm now at 80 total.  Only 40 more to go for this quilt.  You would think my string bins would be getting somewhat empty, wouldn't you.  Not even close.  I do believe they multiply at night!





Here's my GID list for March

1.       Assemble Easy Street into a top with borders

2.       Cut sashing & cornerstones for Joan’s stars – from Jan.

3.       Quilt 1or 2 QOV

4.       Make 4 pillowcases for St.Louis Children's Hospital

5.       Make 10 more string blocks

6.    Finish prep on applique block

7.    Put together D9P blocks into a top

Check out Judy's GID to see how others did in February.

Back from a Retreat

Today was my first day back from retreat and I was dragging!  I try to squeeze way too much sewing, eating, laughing and fun into a couple days retreat.  Did I mention that I don't get very much sleep!.  I think I got a total of 9 or 10 hours for 3 days worth of fun, fun, fun.  Maybe I'll catch up on my sleep this weekend.

Since my UFO list is so long, it was difficult to decide what to take to work on.  Knowing that our retreats are wild and crazy, it can be hard to concentrate and stay focused on one thing; so I took several ongoing projects to work on.  I always take more than I will get done, but you just never know.

I didn't finish any UFO, but I did finish 3 more pillowcases.  They are so much fun to make. My running total is now 13, only 39 to go.!

Another project that I usually take along to retreats is my scrap string blocks.  When it's hard to concentrate on specific patterns or instructions because of all the laughing and getting up to see someone giving a demo or telling a joke and everyone is talking at once, I pull out my trusty no-thinking string blocks.  I sometimes go around and check the trash bags for more strings to add to my blocks for more variety.  You know the saying about turning trash into treasure, or something like that.

Here is what they look like when you just grab and sew them in no particular order.

Before trimming

After trimming

And here's the progress so far.  I'm aiming for a large twin.  Right now it's only about 45" x 58" so I've got a ways to go.

After I get my pictures organized, I'll show you a few of the other wonderful projects that were completed by the other gals.

Design Wall Monday

My design wall looks similar to last week, but I've added more string blocks, started piecing a border for Winter Friendship Stars, tried a light blue for the background of the fishy stack 'n whack blocks and made more 9-patch blocks for a baby quilt - which is cut off from the picture.  Not enough room on the wall for all my ongoing projects.  I need to get some finishes soon or I'll run out of space up there!

I also have a QOV top to turn in this week for our hand quilting day.  We are meeting at the American Legion Hall in Wentzville on Mar. 28 if any local quilters want to join us.

Sorry it's turned sideways.

Check in with Judy to see more Design Walls.

Design Wall Monday

My design wall hasn't changed too much since I last posted on it.  The stack & whack blocks are still there -- no fairies came to finish them up and I did more string blocks at the retreat.  This weekend was our quilt show and I had to put on hanging sleeves and labels on 2 quilts from last year to be in the show.  Did finish up a couple customer quilts here and there throughout the week.

Here's a shot of one of my quilts that was in our guild show this weekend.  It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern that was done with all scraps and some blocks from friends' stash. .  I named it Mocha Latte because I asked them to use colors that reminded them of coffee (with and without cream), cappuccinos, teas, hot chocolate and other fancy drinks at the coffee houses these days.

Mocha Latte  (click to enlarge)

Check out others design walls over at Judy's.