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?

Two blocks for Joseph's Coat

An update on my slow progress on my Joseph's Coat blocks. I have only completed two blocks so far. The first I did using the instructions as written by Kellie at Don't Look Now using glue stick to prepare the appliqué shapes. I think that perhaps my glue stick was old as it did not stick well. I found a newer one but I have found that the glue is still a bit sticky even after more than a week.

Since I was not able to find a local supplier of the Floriani Stitch and Wash Fusible nor a reasonably priced mail order source to Canada, I have had to resort to using freezer paper which I have in abundance. I decided to experiment with spray starch for prepping the shapes and found I liked it a bit better. I am able to get nice sharp points without any trouble.

Using freezer paper means that it must be removed at some point. I am stitching down one side of the 'petals' in the center of the block then removing the paper just prior to stitching the second side down. I took them out of the outer edge petals on the first block after stitching down the one side but soon discovered that they should be left in until after the blocks are joined as the outer edges have not stayed turned under. I was trying to make the block look nice to photograph and when I hit it with the iron, all those edges kinda got messed up. As a result of this lesson, the block on the left may not make the final cut unless I am able to do needle-turn on those edges. That will be determined when we get the block joining instructions.

Happy stitching!!

Here I go.. making adjustments to Joseph's Coat

I spent most of Sunday doing the prep work for Joseph's Coat but not without a few problems.

My first problem was my compass. It would only open to a maximum size of just over 4.5 inches and the instructions call for a compass set to 5.5 inches. I decided to just go with the 4.5 inches which should make my blocks for this quilt finish about 9 inches which I think (hope) will be ok.

When I began drawing the circles, I discovered that it made a difference in how I held my cheapo compass. The difference in the circles could be as much as 1/8 inch off. I used some tape to secure the shaft of my pencil to the arm of the compass to keep it from wiggling and managed to draw my basic pattern.

I created the template and drew some petal shapes onto freezer paper as I have plenty of it on hand. I did do a trick to make lots of petals at once. I layered more sheets of freezer paper underneath the top one with the drawn petals. Then, I put a staple into each petal to secure all the layers.

I also used my Clover mini iron to heat bond the layers together BETWEEN the petals. You have to be sure not to get the petals bonded or they won't come apart. (Lesson learned) I then rough cut rows of petal shapes and continued to staple the next rows until all were cut. I took these to my comfy chair and spent an hour watching quilt shows on video while I cut all the petals out.
Once all the petals were cut precisely, I removed the staples and separated them. (This is when I discovered that some of my stacks were accidentally welded together when I did the iron tacking trick.. so I lost a few.)I've decided to just use scraps for this project so I got out all my strips and ironed the freezer paper petal shapes onto the wrong sides. I cut out enough to make one block and proceeded to glue the edges. This is when I discovered that glue sticks can get old and become useless. The edges would not stick down. I went digging and found another glue stick and it worked better although those pointy ends are VERY fiddly and difficult to get precise. I found that it was a bit easier if I also used the Clover mini iron to heat set the glue especially on the points.  (I may experiment using spray starch to prep my petals to see if it works better for me.) I had 12 petals prepared and the whole day was gone. Next, I need to decide just how big I am going to make this so I can find some background fabric to use. Right now, I am thinking perhaps crib or lap size....

Don't Look Now...

Photo is from Don't Look Now.

Kellie has a wonderful, happy color filled blog called Don't Look Now. She is currently hosting a quilt-along doing a design she calls Joseph's Quilt. Everything about this quilt (and Kellies site and other patterns for that matter) says HAPPY to me... 

I was debating on whether or not I would commit myself to another long-term hand project right now but this is Oh-So-Tempting! When I was checking out some of the links to others' sites, I found many that didn't seem to connect so... in a moment of abandon, I posted a comment letting Kellie know. Seems now, I am the quilt-along police...  LOL  No worries but, I figure I had better jump in and start one of my own now! I posted my link to her Mr. Linky and... wouldn't you know it... it is going to an old post, not to this one...  I feel so silly...

I best be off to find some fabrics. I am thinking that I may just do this like the original Joseph's Coat and make it of many colors - scraps! Guess I better get a wiggle on....

Out of order and maybe a new embroidery machine...

Today, I finally broke down and took my trusty sewing machine to be serviced and repaired. 

I was sewing the binding on to a small table center-piece and it was making a terrible clacking  noise whenever I went faster than just barely moving... so, I guess it was time.

While I was at the sewing machine store, I looked at an embroidery machine. My machine is an older top of the line model with embroidery but the maximum design size is only 4" x 4". I have been seeing lots of designs now that are larger than that and have collected some freebies on various embroidery sites. Now I really want a machine with a larger design field.

I still want to keep my current machine as I love it and I think I have every foot that is available for it so, I think the way to go might be to get a stand alone embroidery machine. I'm just starting to look and would be thrilled if anyone had suggestions for me. Do you own an embroidery machine? What do you like about it and what do you wish it had? I would really love to hear your recommendations.

Why is it that, when you know its not sitting in there patiently waiting, you come up with all kinds of ideas for things you could sew right now? I probably could put my time to very good use by cleaning up the sewing room so everything is tidy when it gets home. 

The Beginnings of My Journey in Quilts

*** Looking for my Joseph's Coat posts??  I goofed setting my link up (insert red face here)! Please click HERE ***

Robyn at Daisy Quilts has issued an invitation for everyone to tell about their first quilts and how we began. Click on the "Where did we Begin?" button above to go to her page. But, before you leave, here is my story.
The very first quilt I can remember working on was in 1969 or 1970. It was a tradition at that time, especially in rural areas, that young ladies had a "hope chest" to take with them when they married. For my family, this was basically a collection of linens such as tea towels, pillowcases, doilies and at least one quilt. There may have been more, but those are the only items I can really remember.
I have been sewing since I was a child. I also learned the fine art of embroidery on tea towels and pillowcases. I have always loved any kind of needlework and it seemed to come very easily to me. At about 11 years of age, I joined a 4-H Sewing Club where I learned dressmaking skills along with other stitching arts.
When my mother decided it was time to get a quilt into my hope chest (I was 17 after all), I was already a fairly competent seamstress. I found a pattern for a quilt in a magazine and we set out to make the quilt. The pattern I picked was the bow-tie. These were the days BEFORE rotary cutters and fast techniques... so every piece for every block was traced and cut with scissors. I can still remember mom getting frustrated with the "Y" seams so she passed it over to me to sew the blocks. Once I had the top put together, the ladies from our church came to the house and helped hand quilt using pearl cottons - everyone around one frame.
So here it is... my first quilt (or what is left of it). It has been a part of my family for all these years.

I've only recently rescued it from my youngest daughter when she told me that it needed a "few" repairs. I almost fainted when I heard that it was being put through the laundry almost weekly...
Since all the fabrics used for the bows were scraps, this quilt holds many memories in those fabrics.
My mothers dresses and aprons from the 40's and 50's. Scraps from my sister's clothing

Remnants from a blouse I made in either 4-H or home-EC and a skirt which I sewed.


And my favorite piece is a bit of paisley fabric left from a coat and dress I made to wear on my first airplane trip when I went to Expo 1967 in Montreal. (That was when I decided I wanted to be an airline stewardess.. unfortunately at 5' 10", I was too tall.)Remnants from baby clothing made for my nephew Neil who was born when I was only 10.My second quilt didn't happen until the late 1980s. This time a chose an appliqué pattern, again from a magazine. The fabric I used was given to me by my mom again... FORTREL from used clothing and leftover yard goods. This stuff wears like iron (and feels much the same - not at all cuddly) and she felt it was a great fabric for quilts as they would not easily wear out. At the time it never occurred to me that I could go buy fabric just to cut up to make quilts so I used what I had been given.
This quilt is so heavy and warm you can hardly sleep under it! No fear of it ever wearing out! It is a long, double size, machine appliqued (before I knew about fusibles) and then finished by tying as there was no way you could actually do a quilting stitch through this heavy stuff!
I took a beginners quilting course shortly after doing this quilt in order to learn how to use "the newest thing in quilting" at the time... a rotary cutter with an acrylic ruler and self healing mat. I made a simple log cabin quilt all in pastel pinks and blues during that class. I think my daughter has passed it on to my granddaughter who is still using it!

OK, now you can go to Robyn's blog and check out everyone else's first quilts and their stories! Add yours too!

Wild Flower Pincushion

Wild Flower Pincushion

I saw this pincushion on Linda's blog and fell in love... I had to go find the directions for it so I could make one too and thought it would be nice to share the link for anyone else who is interested. I'm going to find my funkiest fabric and put one of these together this weekend!!

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