Catching up with Hazel

Yesterday seemed like as good a day as any to catch up with the steps for Hazel's Diary Quiltalong. I am now right up to Feb 8th! Considering that I had not even started cutting until yesterday and I also had to spend time ironing all my fabrics, it didn't take long to get up to speed. Here's my first block and setting block.

 

I am working on the smaller option and some of these pieces are a bit tiny so you need to be careful with seam allowances. So, if you haven't joined in yet, there is still time to grab some fabric and get caught up. Should only take about 3 hours.

Sunday Stash Report

Yet another week of not much sewing happening. I have been prepping more pieces for my Joseph's Coat project so I have a little to report as used anyways!

Week 6 Stash Report

Used this week: .5 M
Used Year to Date: 10.6 M
Added this week: 0 M
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 9.7 M

Update

Thought a post on the continuing saga of the Yellow & Pink Double Four Patch might be in order. There is not a lot to show but I have managed to sew a few of the blocks together again! Here is a shot of them on my design wall. I think I am going to like this "less scrappy" look better as the chains in the blocks will be more defined.

I have totally neglected my Joseph's Coat blocks. I have just 4 done so I have a loooong way to go yet. I need to take some time to prepare the applique pieces so I can easily pick up a block to work on in the evening while watching TV. I find the task of turning all those little seam allowances on the little melons quite arduous especially the points on the ends! Those points give me no end of trouble.

I'm still bogged down most of the time with year-end books. Its turning out to be a larger task than I had thought it would be.  I will be REALLY glad when this task is behind me so I can get back to doing some FUN things!

Forgot to show this!

Here is a photo of my completely finished Star Table Topper. It was an online project offered by CD Designs. This project was completed ENTIRELY by hand. I blogged here about the troubles I had when I was trying to hand quilt. I guess my stitching did improve through the project as I can see a real difference in the first quilting stitches to the last. I also stopped breaking needles quite as often!

  

Not much sewing or quilting happening here this week. I have been too busy doing year-end books to have the time or energy for much else. Hopefully, I will be all caught up and finished by next week!

Week 5 Stash Report

Used this week: 0 M
Used Year to Date: 10.1 M
Added this week: 0 M
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 9.2 M

Just Another Sunday

I seem to remember that line from a song but I don't remember the actual song. I think it was a female singer..  Anyone remember??

Here is my finish for this week, all quilted and bound!! It's the Framed Four Patch Table Runner and is the first finish for the PhD challenge. I just did stitch in the ditch by machine so it went quickly. I pieced the backing to give it a bit more interest.

Week 4 STASH REPORT

Used this week: .75 M
Used Year to Date: 10.1 M
Added this week: 0 M
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 9.2 M

Be sure to go to Judy's site and check out how everyone else is doing this week with their stash busting efforts. Also, if anyone would like a copy of the spreadsheet I use (it keeps track of totals automatically), please let me know. I'd be happy to share it with you.

Winter Storm

Today will be a good day to stay inside where it is warm as we are experiencing a winter snow storm. It is quite the change after 3 weeks of above freezing temperatures which had melted any snow we had previously.

I have finally finished taking apart all of the pink and yellow quilt. I will spend the day putting blocks back together with closer attention to contrast in fabrics and also making each block from only 3 fabrics to get a more cohesive look.

Stash Report

This is the latest project I have been working on. It is a table runner made from charm squares. Its rather difficult to say how much fabric was actually used in this so I am estimating about 1/2 M so far. The fabrics on the left are my choices for the binding. Not sure which one I like the best yet. First though, I need to find something in the stash to use for a backing...

Oh, almost forgot to count the fabric used in the rag tote I made this week...  .6 M

WEEK 3 Stash Report 

Used this week: 1.1 M

Used Year to Date: 9.35 M
Added this week: 0 M

Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 8.45 M

My Friday Night Sew-In

I started doing laundry late last night... Now, what does that have to do with the Friday Night Sew-In?? Well, this is why.

I had started sewing this purse together earlier this week and made a total mess of joining the back section which has 3 pockets on the inside. I got the pockets in upside-down. So, I began the night by doing some un-sewing. (It seems I am doing that a lot lately.) Then, I managed to get it put back together again, added the handles and closing tab. I figured it wouldn't take long to snip the seams as its just a small purse.... OK so, 2 hours later it was all sniped. I threw it in the washer with some jeans and started my second project.

This table runner (on left) had been laid out a while back onto the back of a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth. It had been rolled up and put away. I got it out and transferred it to my design wall. Of course, I couldn't just leave it the way it had been. I started messing around with the layout and settled on this which I like a bit more. Becasue of different lighting condition, the colors look slightly different. The color on the left are closer to the true colors. This was a charm set but I must have tossed the band telling me the line of fabric. (I still might play with this new lay-out a little since seeing here. Might need to balance out the dark browns more from one end to the other.)

Ran downstairs and put purse (and jeans) in the dryer. By then it was midnight. Where did the time go?

Hope you had as much fun as I did with your Friday Night Sew-In!!

Count Me In

Ok, I am jumping in for the friday night sew-in. What will I work on?? My choices are:

• Charm square table runner
• Paper piecing more for Briar Patch

These will probably more than use up the evening!

Working on my PhD's

Myra at Tactile Pleasures is hosting a PhD Challenge! What is a PhD?? It is a Project Half Done that needs to be completed. I have LOTS of those!! In an effort to play along and get something accomplished for myself at the same time, I have decided to join in with all the others who are joining this challenge. I am going to set a certain time either daily or weekly that I will spend on PhD's.


Now, I'm not sure if this pink and yellow disaster I was working on is a PhD yet or if it is still my current project but, I have decided that the blocks are all to be unsewn and then remade paying closer attention to the contrast within each block. What a lot of work but... I am stubborn and determined. It would be easier to scrap it all and start again but... thats where my frugal nature kicks in. Worked all afternoon yesterday and managed to get 15 of the 72 blocks unsewn. It better be worth it....

Pink & Yellow Disappointment OR The Importance of Contrast

Finally, I decided that enough is enough. I NEED a design wall. Off I went to our local fabric store and there I found some 274cm wide flannel in a natural color. Knowing I wanted to mount the flannel directly to the wall above my sewing machine, I needed only 1.6 M to do the job. I straightened both ends of the cuts and hemmed all sides. With help from a friend, we pulled all the stuff away from the wall and stapled the flannel to the wall under my magazine shelf. FINALLY, I have a design wall!!!! It cost me all of  $15.00.

First things up on the wall are the blocks for my pink and yellow quilt. Well, a bit more than half of them. I knew my wall would not have enough room to accommodate a full size quilt all at once. BUT, seeing those blocks up there... I am feeling quite disappointed with this quilt. The inspiration for doing this design and color choice came from Hanne's Quilt Corner and a quilt she made . I loved her quilt the moment I saw it!

When I made my first 4 blocks, I had used just two fabrics for each block. I decided I wanted it to be more scrappy (like Hanne's) so I took those apart then went right ahead and made ALL the blocks mixing up all the fabrics. When I look at it on the wall now, it looks like a scrambled mess to me. The chains through the blocks are not showing up because of the lack of contrast in the blocks. MAJOR disappointment. I am thinking now I should have gone with the original blocks using 2 fabrics per block and making sure there was a good contrast between the colors in each block. I am unsure now if I even want to finish this quilt. Picking out 72 blocks would be a HUGE task but, it would be one way to salvage this mess.

Stash Report for Week 2

Used this week: 0 M (Not counting the fabric to make my design wall)
Used Year to Date: 8.25 M
Added this week: 0 M (Again, not counting the fabric for my design wall)
Added Year to Date: .9 M
Net used for 2010: 7.35 M

Stash Report - Week 1

Thought that this might be a good way for me to audit the fabric ins and outs here at my house. Here is my first ever Stash Report:

Used this week: 8.25 M

Used Year to Date: 8.25 M

Added this week: .9 M

Added Year to Date: .9 M

Net used for 2010: 7.35 M

One of the quilts that are using up this fabric is a pink and yellow Double Four Patch quilt for my guest bed. I saw this color combination a while back and have wanted to do a quilt ever since! It just happens to be perfect for the guest bed as it has a yellow bed skirt. Since this bed is rather tall, I had to add an extra bit across the bottom to lengthen it. I had just a little of the fabric left to use in the quilt so hopefully it will all co-ordinate. Sure can't look any worse than that old comforter that is on there right now!


The rest of the fabric is for the mystery quilt-along called Hazels Diary.  I've had this butterfly print sitting around for a few years already. Originally, it was supposed to be used in a challenge quilt for our local guild. Think it may be a bit late to enter?

Catching Up

So, for the Final Countdown at Prairie Moon Quilts, Dec 30th, Shelly assigned Task Four "Clean up the area around your sewing machine". I had already pretty much done that on day one because I didn't have a quilt ready for binding. I put the extra Ott Lite away and all the extra thread that had collected, gave everything a good wipe down and I was done. Woo Hoo... a free day to work on my new project!

Went to the quilt store and picked up 3 strips of pink that I was short for the blocks. I've decided too that I want this quilt to look scrappier so I am going to take apart the first four blocks I made. The blocks made from here on will have all different yellows and pinks in them. Hopefully, that will spread out the one yellow print that I wanted to use as it matches the bed skirt in the guest room. Wouldn't you know it, but now, I don't really like that print with the other fabrics. It seems to demand too much attention.

Day five of the Final Countdown was New Years Eve. Shelly's Task Five was "Pampering and Dreaming". As a reward I bought myself a new quilting magazine to read and dream over. Thanks Shelly for coming up with this idea. Everyone who participated has won because we all have clean and organized sewing spaces to start the new year!!

Too many books!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hoping this year is a whole lot better than the last!

For the Final Countdown at Prairie Moon Quilts, the task for day three was  "Straighten up your stacks of magazines and/or your quilting book shelf". How did she know that this was something that I REALLY needed to do? It took me about 4 hours to do this and, I discovered, I have a LOT of books and magazines.

Here is the bookshelf. These are reference books and pattern books. I wish I could say I have made something out of each but, sadly, I have not.

Here is the shelf that is high on the wall above my sewing machine. This is used to store magazines. Most of the magazines up there have little tags sticking out the top of them marking projects I thought I wanted to make. I probably need to revisit a lot of those magazines and get rid of some of them, if I can. I seem to have this thing for acquiring them and it is difficult for me to let them go. I realize that this behavior could ultimately become a problem so it is something I need to work on. It won't be done in a day, however.

I am not adding to my magazine collection like I used to. A few years back, I would buy every quilting magazine that came on the news stand. I decided that I would only buy a magazine if there was a quilt pattern in it that I really, really loved and thought I might actually make. So many of the patterns that are in magazines are just a rehash of older patterns with new fabrics. So during 2009, I bought only 7 magazines. Quite the difference from previous years.

 

Preparing for the New Year

Thought that it may be a good idea to join in with Shelly at Prairie Moon Quilts in her "Final Countdown" to the end of the year. She will be setting out a task for us each day until the last day of the year. Of course, there is a prize for doing all five tasks which is a bonus!

I have already completed the first two tasks. Day one was to finish sewing a binding on a quilt. I didn't have anything in the works to the point of doing a binding so, instead I decided to make sure that any tops I have done have the bindings cut and stored with the top so that I don't use the fabric for something else. Since I usually do cut the binding right away, this didn't take very long and I spent some time tidying up the sewing room.

I also started to pull out some fabric for a new quilt I want to make for on my guest bed. I saw a quilt I loved on Hanne's Quilt Corner and decided it was just what I wanted to do. I pulled out all the pink and yellow fabrics I could find to audition for the new quilt. I think its going to be a good quilt to work on because of the happy colors.

Day two task was to put away any stray fabric. Since I had already done a tidy-up yesterday, I didn't have a lot to put away other than what I rejected for the new quilt. I spent a few hours ironing fabrics and cutting for the quilt. Then, I sewed up four blocks just to see how they looked!

I went back and looked at the pattern on Mary's blog and saw that she did her red and cream Double Four Patch all scrappy. Now I am wondering if I should just mix up all my fabrics for a scrappier look or if I should just continue going on the way I have started? What do you think?