Stash Report Week 34

Fabric Added: 3 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 79 1/2 yards
Fabric Used Last several weeks: 25 1/2 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 73 5/8 yards



I'm so excited the stash was used this last few weeks, my sister and her daughter's visited for summer vacation and slaved me to the sewing machine. I did not mind it as the house was clean, dinner cooked and laundry done by the time I came back from work so it was a good trade of skills. I just wish we lived closer to each other, I can get used to having my housework done for me in exchange of fun, play time, I mean, work.
My niece made three tote bags, two pillows and a throw blanket for her bed. I made two crib sheets, a child's apron, 2 fabric baskets and I cut 10 1/2 yards of fabric (mostly scraps, except for the 5 1/2 yards of white background) for Ann Smith's Summer Mystery. These are the units I've done so far Not much progress for a one day mystery, in my defense, I got sidetracked by the little triangles from the flying geese corners. These little gems were so cute that I just started playing with them instead of the main units. I have trimmed about 300 of these into 1.75" squares with about that many more still to be made and or trimmed. Now for the added fabric report, my daughter requested an apron with the stipulation that it be "funky" I don't know if these fabrics are funky enough for a teenager, but I liked them.


Overall, a nice dent in the stash. I have intentions to keep it up this week.

Another month gone

This last few weeks have been busy.

I help a friend select fabrics for a new project, she had done great on her own already but just needed a little confidence boost.

Taught a very enthusiastic and eager 14 year old niece how to sew.

There is great untapped talent here, she designed this little raw edge applique for her tote. Unfortunately she lives in a foreign country and won't be visiting soon, but I'm excited to had opened her mind and creativity to the world of sewing.

My sister made me make her curtains for her bedroom.

Celebrated a birthday with my big, loud, fun and very much appreciated family

Best of all, spent time with the little peanut
Although it was a fast paced month, the stash was used more in this short time than it did since the beginning of the year, I just didn't have the time, energy or frame of mind to kept tabs. Now that everyone is gone back home and the household is getting back to normal, I'll tally it up for the next report. It will be good! curtains, pillow cases, tote bags and crib sheets do take a nice chuck of yardage. Yeah!!!

Stash Report Week 28

It has been a hectic week at home, the little peanut developed a staph infection and had to go to the ER. A trip to one or another doctor was made almost everyday so no time for any sewing or energy at all. Needless to say, there is no change on the stash from last week . The Saturday class was also cancelled at the last minute and the group won't get together again until August 17th. I did spend sometime yesterday at Sandie's place, she bought a new Janome DC2010 and asked me to help her learn the machine feature's since I own a Janome myself. At least I got my sewing fix by playing with the machine and Sandie's material. Did not take pictures, but we will get together again next Saturday, I'll make up for it then.

Plans for today: if time permits, I'll work on a crayon roll (found the tutorial here ) and an apron for a little girl's birthday present.

I got the blues

Last week I mentioned I should probably start using blue since my last few projects have been red & green combos. Here is proof that I kept my word for once!

I found this and this tutorials for the little basket, there were techniques on each tutorial that I liked so I combined the two with great results.
I even tried a decorative stich on the little handles just to make the basket "my own".

This little top is 42" x 42" and I plan to free motion quilt it on my John Flynn frame. I bought the frame on the Road to California show about 3 years ago, tried it once and it worked out ok, It deserves another chance.

I'm guesstimating these projects only used about 1 yard of stash since most of the strips used were given to me as scraps, I pulled a couple of 1/2 yard pieces for the linning of the baskets and the borders on the top. I did manage to find a 3 1/2 yard green piece for my Rectangles, a Gudrun Erla pattern from Fon's & Porter's Love of quilting Easy Quilts magazine

With that said, here is the stash report for week 27

Fabric Added Week 27: 0 yardsFabric

Added Year to Date: 76 1/2 yards

Fabric Used Week 27: 4 1/2 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date: 48 1 /8 yards

Stash Report Week 26

Fabric Added Week 26: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 76 1/2 yards

Fabric Used Week 26: 5 1/2 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 42 5 /8 yards

I AM HAPPY to report there has been some stash busting going on around here. Finally! I used 1/2 yard for Sandie's Quilt binding. The other usage happened while I worked on and off for the last few weeks to turn this twenty fat quarters Into this top:I'm having a hard time finding a suitable backing in my stash, hopefully I'll find (decide) something soon, the binding has already been prepared from left over strips, so it will be just the backing on next week's report. It seems like I'm stuck on those red and green combinations, this one has a little brown and yellow but still the red and green are louder. The next project will be either purple or blue, something more male orientated.

On the Saturday class, it's going well. Here is Mickey reading our schedule for the next two months, we managed to secure our meeting place for the summer, although, we had to exchange Saturday mornings for Friday evenings on some dates, but overall I think it will work out just fine.
I was wondering... How does a group became a guild? I suppose I'll be doing some research on it, as it seems like it will the next obvious step for our group. Thank God for this great resource known as the Internet.

To close and just because, here are a couple of pictures on my two favorite beings, little peanut, my favorite grandbaby:And Swiffer my furbaby:
Edited: I still haven't figure out how to respond to comments, so I'm responding here. Sheila asked about the pattern for Sandie's Quilt, it's called Dandelion wishes on the American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, issue April 2008.

Like Giving Away a Child, Almost

About two years ago, I bought a lovely teal & brown fat quarter bundle. It lived in my stash for a few months waiting for the perfect pattern..... it showed up in a American Patchwork & Quilting magazine about the same time my friend Sandie moved into a new house. Perfect timing! It was to be a housewarming gift, the color were perfect for Sandie's decor and I was excited to work on a new project. The original pattern was done in a softer color palette with minimal contrast, it had applique flowers and leaves and either no border or a one fabric border (too lazy, I mean, busy to dig out the magazine). I got rotary cutter happy and cut too many squares, but they worked perfect as a pieced border. Then..... This is where it becomes the same old story, once the top was done, the stars misaligned and it was put away in a closet to be finished at a later time. Since then, Sandie moved again, went through some major medical treatments and the top still waited for its chance to come out of the closet.

Now in the present, I've been so excited and motivated by my last finish , the sewing machine was already setup for free motion quilting, I could use way more practice on the machine quilting, and most importantly it was time for this baby to go live with its rightful owner. The top made it out of the closet and is now finished! The binding will be hand sewn tonight and this child is ready to meet Sandie next Monday.

I'm getting better at regulating my stitches and the puckers and tucks are minimal, still sticking with meandering though.

I love it, love it, LOVE IT!. It will be painful to give it away! I want to keep it, but I already opened my big mouth and the entire world knows who this baby belongs to, so I'll just have to chin up and pass it on. Maybe I'll make another for myself, if I do, I'll try not to take two years the second time around. Great opportunity to reduce stash.

Right, almost forgot, Stash report: Nothing in, nothing out. Oh wait, yes I used 18 inches of white fabric for the binding, I'll add it up on next week's report.

Saturday Morning Quilters

Our first Sewing Saturday as an 'unofficial' sewing group. Luz lives in an apartment complex and booked the Rec Room for our first meeting. It started a little rough as the facilities manager was MIA and did not open the doors until almost 9:00am instead of 8:00am. The beautiful room made up for the wait, there is a spacious open room with a kitchenette and media rooms off to the side (forgot to take pictures), we see quilting videos viewing and potlucks in the future!. I did take pictures of some of the ladies hard at work:
Here is Ann sewing strips for a lap quilt backing:
These two ladies are new members and beginner quilters, they had just signed up a week before our class was cancelled and Mickey, our instructor, did not turn them away, instead is teaching them on a volunteer basis.

This is Gloria, she is working on an applique Sun Bonnet Sue.

Sara, concentrating on cutting fabric

There are a few logistic matters that we need to work out as we now have to haul in sewing machines, extension cords, ironing boards, irons, etc, these items except for the sewing machines were always available in the class room and we now have to get used to bringing them with us, but we'll eventually get it going smooth. Overall, it went well, and although our next meeting is still not confirmed, I am looking forward to it.