What Have I Been Up To??

Well, here's a short list of what's been keeping me busy this week.  First off, finished two more pillowcases - one for the kids at Children's Hospital and one for QOV.

Then on Wednesday, we set a record at our monthly Quilts of Valor meeting.  We had 129 ladies come and sew all day.  We have now presented 987 quilts to our Veterans since this group first got together.  It has sure grown in 7 or 8 years of existence.  I was so busy sewing on bindings as they were being finished and taken off the quilting frames, that I forgot to take pictures of our finished ones for the day.  We completed a bunch.  I was pooped when I got home and had to take a nap.!

Next I finished quilting a couple customer quilts that have been waiting patiently for attention --

I quilted this with hot pink thread using a pantograph called Featheration.  My customer was pleased with the thread choice because her granddaughter just loves the color -- hot pink. 

I also baked 6 dozen cookies, but didn't take pictures of those !  Instead they were taste tested by friends and DH and have vanished very quickly.  I tried a new recipe for one batch Peanut Butter, chocolate chips, oatmeal cookies.  I love them and they must be healthy because they have oatmeal in them, right?  I'll put the recipe on my 'recipe page' if you are interested in trying them.  They are yummy.

That about brings me up to speed for the week.  Hope you are having a fun and productive week too.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those in Hurricane Sandy's path and hope that they are getting their lives put back together.

Design Wall - Monday Oct. 26

Here's my design wall today.  I finished the side blocks and am starting the auditioning process for the background of the center portion.   I love picking out fabrics for quilts, but I must confess it is sometimes frustrating and slow.  I keep changing my mind and seeing new possibilities and then it's hard to decide which way to go!

For more ideas and to see what everyone else is working on, take a look at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Oct. 28, 2012

I was looking forward to this week's Stash Report.  Since the weather has gotten cooler, it's motivated me into doing more sewing and I'm using my stash. Being in a hurry and working into the wee hours of the night has it's drawbacks though. I  miscut and ruined the only fabric I had bought this week. Ugh. Now I will have to rebuy that piece again, or be creative in trying to selvage the pieces.

Fabric Added this week - .3/4 yards 

Fabric Added Year To Date - 29.5 yards

Fabric Used this week - 6. 25 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date - 76.83 yards

I finished piecing the back for the QOV Tilted Stars.  I decided to use up so many smaller pieces and cut 10.5" blocks.  I tried to keep them somewhat organized into a pattern, if I had enough of a color to do so.  I did pretty well, I think -- only ran 1 block short on one color.  Does it stand out too much?

The other sewing I did was on my 25-patch stain glass blocks.  I added setting triangles on all 8 of them.  They are now ready to have leading added to them; and then decide what fabrics to use for the next phase of the project.

Drop by Patchwork Times to see more Stash reports.

Recent Audio Book

Lately I've been behind on reading books because of being too busy with other things, so I've gone back to renting audio books from the library.  I do enjoy listening to books while I sew or quilt.

Since I'm a Janet Evanovich fan, I quickly grabbed several of her audio books from the shelf without reading the covers.  I loaded my long arm, popped the disc into the player and got to work. Thinking it was going to be about Stephanie, Ranger, Lulu and Joe Morelli, I was surprised to find out the characters in this story were Lizzy, Diesel and Gerwulf, nickname Wolf, and Glo.  Lizzy is a pastry chef recently transplanted to Boston from NY City and has inherited an old house from her aunt.  She encounters two men with unusual talents and strange powers, a monkey that seems human and a ninja cat.  It has fast paced action, mystery and many humorous situations throughout.  This crew was as entertaining as Stephanie's gang and kept me in stitches -- laughing wise, that is!

If you want a lighthearted, comical and a bit far-fetched story line to entertain you for a few hours, "Wicked Appetite" should do the trick.

Now on to another book and another quilted quilt!!

Stash Report - Week 43

Whew!  I'm glad this week is coming to an end.  It was so busy with lots of running around town doing errands and trying to finish up some prior commitments.  While I was out and about yesterday, I accidently found myself in a quilt shop - imagine that! :)  I've pulled every possible batik from my stash to audition for different parts of the current project and some of them worked, but I needed more, so I was forced to see if the local quilt shops had something that worked better.  Well as luck would have it, they had several possibilities and I couldn't decide or remember just which color might look best or go with what I already had -- so you know what I did, right??   I bought them all.  I've been influenced by my friend over at A Quilt & A Prayer.   Thanks Teresa!

Here's what I picked up for future consideration in my project of the liturgical quilt I'm working on in between the other 5 projects!!.

These are all batiks and most of them
are Hoffman 1895s which give the impression of a marbled stained glass.






Some of these look similar, but there is a slight subtle variation in tones and hues.

So, my stash has grown a little bit.
Fabric Added - 2.0 yards
Fabric Used - 0 yds
YTD Added - 28.75 yds
YTD Used - 70.58 yds
Net busted for 2012 - 41.83 yds

Drop by Patchwork Times to check on other stash reports.

Design Wall Monday

 From last week's design wall, I finished the eight 25-patch batik blocks, and am ready for the next step in the process of making this liturgical quilt.  The original was made by Joanne Wietgrefe for her church in Ithaca, NY.  She actually designed and made 4 different quilts to hang throughout the year.  They are beautiful in print, so I can imagine in person that are stunning. Hers are 7 ft x 10 feet.  Of course mine will be for me and will not hang in a church nor will it be 7 ft by 10 feet.!!  The story of how she made them and the original picture can be found in the Winter 2006 issue of American Quilter.  I tried to take a picture in the magazine of the one I'm doing, but it didn't turn out too well.  May try later.  You will just have to "wait and see" as mine progresses.

To catch up with pillowcases, here are 4 that I finished last week.   I'm a far cry from the number I agreed to, but slowly I'll get there.

For more inspiration, if you need it, check out all the other design walls posted at Patchwork Times. 

Stash Busting Report - Week 42

Well here it is another "Fess Up Sunday".  It was a pretty good week for depleting some of my stash.   I whipped up 2 more pillowcases (always good for a quick yard or two) and gifted a baby quilt top and backing to a friend who was in a time crunch to make a quick present for a new baby.

Fabric Added - 1.0 yard
Fabric Used - 4.5 yds.
YTD Added - 26.75 yds
YTD Used - 70.58 yds
Net busted for 2012 - 43.83 yds

Today is an annual fried chicken dinner and craft festival celebration at a local church, so when I get home, I'll take pictures to post of my finished pillowcases I've made recently.

Are the leaves starting to change in your area?  Here they are starting to turning some beautiful colors deep reds, gold, still some greens of all shades and the drive to the church will take us through the winding woods and forests, so I'm looking forward to the ride, and of course the delicious fried chicken!

Hop on over and see other Stash Reports at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday - October 8, 2012

Today I'm recuperating from two days at our local quilt show and I'm on "eye candy overload".  I now have at least 10 more quilts on my "Want to do Bucket List." ha.

But, those UFOs are calling me and a few new projects are already on my design wall this morning.
The red, blue/grey blocks are orphans from another friend that are waiting to be made into a charity quilt, the colorful batik checkerboard squares are the start of a liturgical banner and the 2 colorful blocks at the bottom are my "Bingo Blocks" for our Christmas party.

What's on your design wall this beautiful Monday morning?  Stop by Judy's and see more.

Stash Report - Week 41

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm going back to our local quilt show today and most likely will come home with more fabric, so I'm getting my report in early enough to keep from having to add any more amounts in the ADDED Column.  :)  I posted pictures yesterday of what I bought so far.  My usage was only a small amount for these two blocks for Nancy M in our block exchange group.

This week's numbers:
Fabric Added - 5.5 yards
Fabric Used - .25 ( 2 blocks below)
YTD Fabric added - 25.75 yards
YTD Used -  66.08yards
Net Busted - 40.33 yds.

Check out the other stash reports over at Patchwork Times.

Weekend Quilt Show

This weekend is Loose Threads Quilt Show in St. Peters, MO.  I spent the whole day at the show contributing to the vendors and helping the economy recover more quickly.  Thank goodness I was volunteering as a "white glove" helper answering questions and showing backsides of quilts, which kept me away from the vendors for a few hours. There were some great new out-of-state vendors plus many of our great local shops and businesses represented.  It was difficult to pass up fabric that was priced right and so beautifully displayed.  I did find a few fabrics needed for the sashing and border on Joan's star blocks I recently received.    I'm going back tomorrow to work and might find more "have to have" fabrics -- you know just fabrics needed to finish up some of my many UFO's, right?

Outer Border stripe, blue sashing, lime cornerstones

I'm not looking forward to my stash report tomorrow.  Maybe I'll send my report before I go to the show, then what I bring home won't count for a whole week.    Maybe I can use it quickly and it will go right back out!!  Whew!, I feel much better. I'll take my camera and try to get a few shots of the winners.

  

Design Wall Monday - Oct. 1, 2012

Here are the blocks I mentioned in my Stash Report that I received but were not yet counted.

They are from a friend whose eyes are getting worse and she has difficulty seeing well enough to enjoy piecing any more.  She was looking for a home for them and I loved the colors and the star pattern, so I am going to finish this quilt for a donation or perhaps me! lol  It might be the closest I'll ever come to having someone make me a quilt.  I guess when you are a quilter most people never think of making the quilter a quilt.   She ran out of the 2 original background fabrics, so substituted to get 12 blocks.  The background fabrics are homespun in a heather pattern.  Anyone have any extra of these homespuns hiding in their stash??

Now to find suitable sashing and maybe cornerstones, plus a border or two and I'll be on my way to getting this finished..

To see other design walls, stop by Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Week 40

Hi! I'm back.  Finally, I'm up and running again.  I hope some of you missed me.  It was so frustrating not to be able to read my favorite blogs or even log into my own the last two weeks because of a computer glitch.  Hopefully it is all cleared up and things are back to running smoothly.

Because I spent less time on the computer, my sewing machine saw more of me.  Having said that you might think I'd have a bunch of busted fabrics, right??  Well I wish that were true, but I don't have a lot I can count in my report this week. However, I did make a few pillowcases plus some progress on several UFO's -- fabric to be counted later.

My numbers for this week are:

Fabric Added - none - unless I count some gifted blocks - will count when top is finished

Fabric Used - 3 yards - pillowcases -2 kid ones (watch out Sandy) and 1 QOV 

Fabric Added YTD - 20.25 yds

Fabric Busted YTD - 65.83 yds

Net used in 2012 - 45.58 yds

Check back tomorrow to see what is on my design wall.  In the meantime, run on over to Judy's and be inspired by what others have done this week.