Stash Report and Design Wall

Life has been chaotic and very busy these last few weeks.  I have managed to do some sewing, but nothing major.  It was more just making string blocks or cutting fabric for future projects, just to get my mind off of stressing things.  I did see a cute tutorial from Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts and I pulled some fabric and started making a few of her Twin Sister blocks. They are a bit addictive.  I have 20 pairs of contrasting strips sewed together and ready to make more blocks.  

Excuse the terrible picture. My design wall is a mess. There are 3 levels of quilt blocks covered with additional flannel to take a quick picture and play with these blocks.  I really do need to get busy and finish the ones underneath so my design wall is fresh again!

We had a wonderful day of quilting this week at my house for Quilts of Valor. Eight ladies came prepared to hand quilt a top in the frame.  We were having so much fun talking and laughing, I forgot to get a picture of all the action.  Here is where we left off when we stopped.  We almost got it all quilted in 1 day!  Just a few more hours with a couple friends will get the job done.

I also quilted a quilt for a friend that will be given to a young person who loves horses. 

Update on stash fabric - Feb. 25, 2018

Fabric added this week - none

Fabric used this week - .75 yds - twin sister blocks and string blocks

Fabric added for 2018 - 0

Fabric used in 2018 - 12.625 yds

Linking up with quilt paint create and Design Wall Monday over at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

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.

Stash Report - Week 3 and Slow Knitting

The stash is leaving my shelves slowly and nothing new has taken it's place this week.  There was lots of sewing every single day, but not all from my stash.  All that I can count this week is 3 pillowcases for upcoming QOV's quilts and helping out a friend who needed a couple yards of flannel for  a backing on a baby quilt.

QoV pillowcases

Kathy over at Kathy's Quilts is adding a new feature to the Slow Sunday Stitching party, a photo challenge.  She wants to see pictures of the hoops you use or are your favorites.  My go to hoops are all empty at the moment, but here is what I use most often - a 12" round, a 10.5" x 21" oval and the half hoop when needed. Of course I have many smaller hoops if I need something tiny.  When I started hand quilting, I used a small rectangle pvc pipe type.  I still have one pvc frame that stands on the floor for multiple people to quilt.

Since this is a slow stitching Sunday and I don't have any handwork in my hoops to work on, it will be a slow Sunday knitting day instead. You all know how slow I am when it comes to finishing my socks.   Maybe I'll get the second sock done soon before the summer heat arrives. lol 

So the numbers for this week are as follows: Week #3

Fabric Added - 0
Fabric Used - 5.5

Added YTD - 0
Used YTD - 9.375

Net used in 2018 -9.375 yds.

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching, quilt,paint,ceate and Life in Pieces. 

Friday Party

Can you believe it's Friday already?   This week has just flown by so quickly.  With Monday being a holiday it made the work week a bit shorter, so maybe that explains it.

We had our first QOV sewing day on Monday and we were a little short of our usual numbers because of snow and freezing temperatures.  The sturdy soles that made it were treated to a wonderful lunch of creamy cheddar soup that had broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes in it.  It was delicious.  They also spoiled us  with dozens of homemade pies.  Since they cooked for 100 people, and we had so few, we all had seconds on everything! Didn't want that good food to go to waste, right?

We were honored to be able to present a beautiful quilt each to three veterans and their family that came.  

Tuesday found me at our monthly meeting with some good friends and two of our members WOW'd us with their beautiful quilts.

Lee Etta with her Bonnie Hunter mystery Allietarie

and Ree with a beautiful Farm Girl sampler

On Wednesday I loaded a customer quilt, cut out blocks for my piecing group, and helped a friend decide how to quilt her baby quilt.   Thursday four of us got together and pieced a complete top for our QOV group to hand quilt.

Road to St. Louis for QOV

And that brings me to today.  I worked on picking out fabric for 3 QOV pillowcases and will finish them up tomorrow.  I am ready to jump on over and do a little Whooping and Dancing with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  and  Myra at Finished or not Friday.

A Snowy Sunday for Stitching

Here we are in the 2nd week of 2018 already and it's starting to snow here.  What do you do when it's so cold outside your nose freezes just sticking your head outside the door?  For me, it's putting on warm sweats and wool sweaters and playing in my sewing room. That doesn't always means I'm sewing, though. lol

Sometimes I'm knitting or cleaning off the cutting table so I can start cutting some fabric, or sorting my scraps by colors and sizes of scraps that I save.  Today,  I whipped up another bowl cozy requested by a friend, put a binding on a quilt and finished one sock, (I still need to do the Kitchener stitch to close the toe)  and started the 2nd one. Oops, it looks like I didn't eyeball the blue yarn very well. There is way more blue left for the 2nd sock, so they will not be twins!  Oh well, my feet will never know; they will be still warm. :)

Pair #14 Scrappy socks

Microwave bowl cozy

No fabric was added this week, but a little fabric went out--a bowl cozy and two fabric gift bags for wrapping presents.  This is a great way to use a little stash and it can be reused by the recipient too.

Fabric Report - Week #2
Added - 0
Used - 0.75yd

Added YTD - 0
Used YTD - 3.875
Net used in 2018 - 3.875 yds.


Linking up with quilt,paint,create for the Sunday Stash report.

Stash Report - Week #1

We continue to have cold, icy weather, so I was very glad to stay inside in my sewing studio where it was much warmer.  There was nothing earth shattering but I did put a couple borders on one QOV quilt along with a coordinating pillowcase and binding, from my first finish HERE. 

So here's the first week's results.

Fabric Added - 0 yards
Fabric Used - 3.125 yards

Net Used for 2018 - 3.125 yards

My focus this year is to sew from my stash. 

Linking up to quiltpaintcreate, where you can see how others have started out their stash busting.

OMG for January

After looking through my UFO list, I've decided to work on my Sapphire Stars flimsy for the January One Monthly Goal challenge.  It should be fun to pull fabrics from my stash to piece the backing and hopefully will find time to quilt, bind and label it before the end of the month. 

 
I'm linking to One Monthly Goal to start the ball rolling.  You can checkout what others are committed to work on this month.

First Friday Finishes for 2018

Since it's been so freezing cold here and it's not conducive to being outside much, I've gotten a good start on my goals list.  Staying in the sewing room more does wonders for finishing up things.

My first QOV top is done -- totally from scraps.  One down and 9 more to go.

#1 QOV top for 2018

The pillowcase in which to present the quilt after it has been hand quilted by our QOV Eastern MO group.

And there has been a little more done on my scrappy sock using leftover yarns from previous finished pairs.  They are not the most beautiful, but very functional and warm; anyway, no one will see these much.  They will be hidden  in my boots on those cold snowy days.

Now if I can drag myself to the cold, cold basement, maybe I can get busy quilting on one of the UFOs.  Wish me luck.

I am linking up with: 
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilt,
Finish it Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts
TGIFF @ Anja Quilts
Confessions of A Fabric Addict

2017 Wrap UP & 2018 Goals

I don't know about you, but this year has flown by so quickly for me.  It amazes me that it is almost 2018 tomorrow!  In looking back at what I accomplished on my goals for the year, I find that it was not as stellar as wished, but I did manage to finish up some of my long list of UFOs.  Here is my Excel spread sheet of my UFOs from last year minus the 6 that I did finish.  Now there are only 70 to go. This list started out with 160 projects  over 10 years ago when I started keeping track of them. There has been progress, but I hope to step it up in 2018.

A recap of sewing goals for 2017.

     Use 200 yards of fabric from stash --- used 155.18 yards

     Finish 1 UFO per month --- finished  quilting 7 

     Not buy any fabric --- bought 1/2 yd. and was gifted 3 fat quarters

     Make 5 QOV - made 8 (3 quilted, 5 tops to be hand quilted by our QOV 

I also made 20 bowl cozies for gifts, a few kennel quilts for animals of the fires in California,  pillowcases for charity and QOV, 3 baby quilts not on the UFO list and several group quilts with friends for QOV.  In addition to quilting, I finished several pairs of knitted socks .

I'm happy with the results for the year, but hope to use more from my stash and lower my UFO list by 12 or more.

Here's a few pictures in review of some of the quilts. 

60" x 80"

75" x 99"

71" x 85"

Back

60" x 78"

Melon Party - Flannel backing

72" x 92"

67" x 78" QOV hand quilted

Back of log cabin

Sapphire Stars - top

 Lucky Stars - top

Final Stash Report - 2017

Fabric Added  YTD- 1.25 yds

Fabric Used  YTD  - 155.18 yds

Net Used from Stash - 153.93 yds

My goals for 2018 include

-- Using 200 yards of stash fabric

-- Donating 5-10 quilt tops for QOV

-- Finishing 12 UFOs from my list - Picking one each month

-- Knitting some hats and mittens from my stash yarn in addition to socks.

-- Trying to blog more often

-- Cleaning out more clutter from closets and drawers

-- Enjoying quilting with friends at least once a month

-- Trying one new recipe each month

Thank you all for sticking with me through 2017 and being there when I needed encouragement and advice.  Although I don't mention it often, I really do love reading your comments when I post and hope to get more involved in blogging activities again.   Happy New Year to all.  I'm going to welcome in the new year with some knitting and hand mending. Take care and stay healthy. 

Linking up to quilt, paint, create for stash reports, Patchwork Times for UFOs,  QuiltingJetGirl, planning party and Slow Stitching Sunday.

Nearing end of Stash usage for 2017

Well, it's almost the end of the year and that means the end of stash reduction for 2017 is getting very close.  I've been busy trying to get those numbers closer to my goal, but may fall a bit short this year.

December has found me trying keep up with Christmas luncheons, parties with all my quilting groups (4 of those), shopping for gifts, replacing a bathroom toilet, having roof inspected for hail damage, putting up inside and outside decorations, cooking and baking for hosting a Christmas party/luncheon.  Of course there was some major house cleaning going on at the same time.  Whew!  I'm ready for the calm between  Christmas and New Year's Day.  How about you? :)

However, I did find some time to get in a little sewing this month.  First the Cave Quilters finished the snake quilt and doing the happy dance. 

I made 15 bowl cozies for friends and family for stocking stuffers.
                      
(forgot to take pictures of the rest before giving away),

a couple of pillowcases and a few kennel quilts for a humane society in California helping with the fires. These are the small sizes they requested and I used some scraps and leftover blocks.

and a QOV top 

Also lots of blocks for another QOV top to be finished in 2018. I did use some of my stash, but there is still one more week left to reach my goal of 200 yards.  I still can't see any difference in my shelves yet.

Fabric Added this week - 0
Fabric Added YTD - 1.25 yds. (none was bought, but I was gifted or won fat qtrs at various times.)

Fabric Used since last report - 11+ yds
Fabric Used in 2017 - 150.68 yds

How are you doing using your stash?  We still have a week to go, you know, so keep on sewing.

We are getting a beautiful soft snowfall today and it looks like a picture postcard out my sewing room window. This year will be a white Christmas for sure
. 
Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Linking up with Quilt,Paint,Create.

A UFO Finish and Stash Busting Countdown

Celtic Solstice is all finished!  I'm happy to say I found a fabric for the last border in my stash that worked, even though I was leaning toward green or blue. The backing is pieced, it's quilted and it's even bound.  Now it only needs the label and a hanging sleeve and it will be ready to be entered into a local quilt show next year.  Yay!!

Celtic Solstice - Bonnie Hunter Mystery 2013

Here is the backing pieced from some leftovers fabrics that were used on the front.  I still need to hand stitch the hanging sleeve down at the top.

I also worked on piecing the backing for my Sapphire Stars quilt (Kevin the Quilter's mystery) that  I hope to get done this month and reach my goals I set for stash busting this year. 

Fabric Report

Fabric Added  - 0

Fabric Used since last report -  4.25 yds

Fabric Added YTD - 0

Fabric Used YTD - 139.68 yds

Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

A Finish and Stash Report

The last week of October found me at a retreat in Illinois at Kinderhook Lodge.  It was so much fun and I even made progress on some of my UFO's.  Celtic Solstice only needs one more border.  I had to wait until I got home to decide on a color for the last border.  It will all depend on what's available in the stash.

Celtic Solstice - Bonnie Hunter 2013 Mystery quilt

I also worked on some very old orphan blocks maybe for a baby quilt, but it needs more borders too.

Since Halloween fell during retreat, we had unexpected treats waiting for us on Tuesday morning.  Two of the ladies planned this little surprise.  A mug rug from Ree and all kinds of "spooky" items in the black pail from Jeanne.  The black pot had a skeleton bone = stiletto, a mini ghost seam ripper, ghostly candies on a necklace and other candy treats to enjoy.  Jeanne even dressed up as the Grim Seam Ripper. 

One night we played Halloween Bingo, which I've never heard of before. I was a lucky winner of one of the games and my prize was Beelzebub's Witch's Brew (Mary Ellen's Best Press). Have you ever seen this before?   Too cute.  I have never seen Best Press packaged for special occasions, but leave it to Jeanne to find it if it's out there!!

Another clever idea from our resident Party Planner was this  Witch's Hand.  Do you see a pattern here??

They said they were "giving me a hand" for organizing this retreat.  I sure hope that was the real reason and not because they think I'm a witch.!! This was popcorn in a plastic glove with candy corn for fingernails.  And of course a witch would be sporting a spider ring. 

Now do you understand why I didn't get a whole lot done.!lol   But we had Fun, Fun Fun.  We played Left, Right, Center for Fat Qtrs, after dinner a couple nights and Jeanne was the winner of all the batiks for both nights.  She should have enough Fall colored fat quarters to make a nice size quilt.  We will be expecting to see that quilt by next year's retreat.! 

To bring my Stash numbers up-to-date:
Fabric Added this week - 0
Fabric Used - 16.50 yds -(Celtic Solstice top & pieced  a back for it). Hope to quilt it by next week.
Fabric Used Year to date - 135.43 yds.


Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate.