Monochromatic Challenge

The yellow quilt top is finished. I had added another border of the check fabric with the plan to use a black binding. I didn't like it. So I took off that last border.

I will use the check border for the binding.

See other yellow projects at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - week #5 - 1/30/11

Although I have spent a good amount of time in my sewing room this week, I don't have anything to show for it in terms of the Stash report. I will only be considering fabrics used when 1) a top is finished  2) the quilting is done 3) the binding is done. So, the yellow quilt still needs it's final border - to be done tomorrow. And I made 3 mini log cabin blocks. But none of those are at a stage of counting the fabrics.
And I did buy 5 more yards of neutrals for the strip swap. I have to say that several times this week I had fabric in an online shopping cart but when it was time to check out I resisted the temptation and hit delete. It sure is a whole lot easier to add fabric to the stash than it is to use it. hmmmm It's taken me 32 years to figure that out.

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to date: 10 yards

Added this week: 5 yards
Added year to date: 19

Net used in 2011: - 9 yards

Go HERE to see other stash reports.

Warm and Natural

I hit Joanns this morning AT OPENING! Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person so for me to be at the store...at opening...on a Sunday, must mean a good sale. Warm and Natural was on sale from $11.99 down to $6.99. That's 42% off and then I had a 20% off total purchase so that brought it down to $5.59 a yard. That's 53% off. AND I bought NOTHING else. Had a couple of 40% off coupons but didn't even use them. I needed nothing else. Walked out of there thinking, "Did you really buy only batting?". LOL

Quilters With Heart

Friday - 1/28/11
CANCELED! Why? Because we got lots more of this on Thursday (17 inches actually):

Which has caused lots more of this:

And caused lots more of this (all over the kitchen and dining room table which is where we work):

Don't think, though, that I don't still love the snow. I do!!! I just don't love roofers who don't do thorough and honest work.

Tiny Tuesday

As predicted, I was already unable to keep up with a weekly challenge to make the tiny log cabin blocks - missed last week. To make up for it I made two blocks this week.

Aren't they cute? They are 4 1/2". Unfortunately they will look sort of the same every week. So I will show you the progress.

Up to seven blocks now. I have no idea how many I'll make but I'll stop when I just can't make anymore. Maybe they will become a tote, maybe a wall hanging and who knows, maybe a quilt. Doubt it.


Go HERE to see other tiny blocks.

Quilters With Heart

Another "snow day" hit us on a Friday making it difficult for most to participate in our Friday sewing. Susan was the one and only brave soul to take on the challenge of the roads and my driveway. 

The day before Joyce and I had given her a refresher course about the use of my Millenium and we had mounted and quilted the pastel Boxed Squares quilt.

Susan and Joyce

So on Friday, Susan tackled the lavender floral quilt all by herself. She did a wonderful job - I was very proud of her.

We had a great time but let's hope Mother Nature cooperates this coming week so more of us can gather.

Design Wall Monday - 1/24/11

I had hoped to get more sewing done on the yellow/rainbow scrap challenge Friday night for the Friday Night Sew-In, however I petered out sooner than I thought. Thanks to those that voiced their opinion on the cornerstones. Black was the unanimous choice so that's what I've gone with. I have four of the nine rows joined. I'm hoping to get back to it tomorrow. 

Once the top is finished I'll be using the GO Baby to cut squares for a border. I can't wait to get this finished so I can take it outside to take decent pictures - the indoor lighting is annihilating the yellow colors.

Go HERE to see other design walls.

Stash Report - week #4 - 1/23/11

This week I finished "UFO #6" so will add the 4 yards used for the backing and binding. I also spent a lot of time on the yellow rainbow/monochromatic scrap four patch project but won't count that fabric till the top is finished.
Nothing added this week.

Used this week: 4 yards
Used year to date: 10 yards

Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 14

Net used in 2011: - 4 yards

Click HERE to see other Stash Reports for 2011 at PatchworkTimes.

Not too many more of these nights

Last night Patrick went to the "Red and White Charity Ball", a dance founded in 1938 to "promote inter-town friendships, instill social graces, and more importantly, provide support to organizations benefiting adolescents in Fairfield County".  Only the senior prom is left after this. Oh my, I just can't believe it!! Where did the time go?

Patrick, we are very proud of you!

2011 UFO Challenge - #6 finished

Over at Patchwork Times, Judy is running  a 2011 UFO Challenge. This month's project is #6 and mine is finished - DONE, DONE! It's a crumb quilt that I started probably two years ago. It needed quilting and binding. Done. Thank you, Judy, for motivating us to finish these languishing projects.

Because all the blocks had a foundation piece I was afraid it would be too heavy if I quilted it with normal batting and back. So I used a flannel back and no batting. Well, it's pretty flimsy - not quilt-like in my opinion. But it will make a nice lap quilt or maybe a throw for a hospital bed, etc. Anyway, it will be a charity quilt of some sort.

Head over to Thirty Handmade Days to see other projects finished this week.

Friday Night Sew In

Tonight is the Friday Night Sew In! Jill said she was going to participate tonight and I thought it sounded like a great idea. DS, Patrick, has a school dance tonight so after dinner with Joe I am going to sew, sew, sew.




Go HERE to sign up!

I'll have to think about what to work on - so much to choose from now that I've counted my UFOs and PIGS.

Beauty and the Beast

Here in the Northeast we've been hit with a lot of cold and snow. I love it. Especially the peace of a newly fallen snow. And once in a while we get these spectacular icicles. Aren't they beauties?

Behind the garage

Behind the sunroom

But then along with the beauty, you get beastly destruction of ceilings by dripping water. Seven leaks so far.

The family room ceiling

In the dining room the water drips right down the chandelier

And Dante wonders why there is a trash can where the dining room table used to be.

Sigh.

Per Request

I am posting new pictures of granddaughter, Paige. She is seven weeks old now. Florida is too far away from Connecticut. 

Year of the PIGS - 1/20/11

Jill over at Ramblings of a Fabric and Yarn Obsessor, has asked us to consider some stats related to our projects:

"Do you have a list of your PIGS and is it current?" I have been keeping a list of my UFOs but not of my PIGS. I have now made an updated list of both.

How many PIGS and UFOs do you have? My definition of PIGS is fabric bundled together with a specific pattern/project in mind BUT have not been cut into yet. I have 11 of those. I also have many fabrics that have been gathered and stored together with the plan to do "something" with them someday but I don't consider them PIGS because I don't have a specific project in mind yet.

My definition of a UFO is any project that is cut into, with a specific project planned. I have 85 of them. I also have 9 tops from a defunct charity group that I will be machine quilting but I don't consider them to be "my" UFOs.

What is your oldest and how old is it? My oldest PIG is the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat project. My 10 yo son was in a children's play and I was on the costume committee. I got to keep all of the fabulous scrap fabrics and plan to make my son a quilt with the fabrics. That was in 1993!! He is now 26! LOL 

My oldest UFO is The North Wind Doth Blow. I would guess that it is from the mid 90s.

 
















EIGHTY-FIVE UFOs!!!!! Oh my! I had no idea.

Sewing Room cleanup - Stage 3

I am making real progress in my sewing room and I now have the ironing counter cleared off. It is a joy to be in there sewing again.

Before

After

Now don't be too impressed. I did put away a HUGE amount of stuff but all fabrics from the three cleanup stages so far have been piled up.

The fabric cleanup will be the very last project - no sense pulling out all the bins and drawers more than once. So, once I'm sure all of the fabric has been gathered then I'll tackle these piles. My fat quarters are hiding behind the fabric mounds.

Next up - Organize the UFOs and PIGS.

Design Wall Monday - 1/17/11

So I am stuck on my scrappy yellow project. Which cornerstones to use? 

Jewel tones

Obviously these are a little large. I didn't like these as much as I thought I would cuz I loved them in the red quilt.

Black

I was surprised how much I liked the black but is it too much?

Yellow

Subtle but more in keeping with the monochromatic look.


Now I'm thinking maybe I should have gone with just sashings and no cornerstones. That is no longer an option because I've cut up the fabric.

So I am going to make some more burp cloths for my granddaughter, Paige, while I debate. 

Check out more design walls at PatchworkTimes.

Stash Report - week #3 - 1/16/11

I've been working on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and my mini log cabins, I loaded UFO #6 of the LA  and I've continued the cleaning of the dungeon sewing room so I feel good about this past week. However, nothing to put in the "used" column.
I bought 5 yards of neutrals for the 2 1/2 strip swap I am hosting over at the Quiltvilleswap yahoo group. I bought 5 yards of green kona cotton for whenever green comes up for the monochromatic rainbow challenge. With her permission, I plan to copy Ellen's blue quilt over at Little Jewel Quilts. And lastly, I bought 4 yards of yellow for backing for the current challenge. I hope the yellow gets listed as "used" very soon.

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to date: 6 yards

Added this week: 14
Added year to date: 14

Net used in 2011: - 8 yards

Click HERE to see other Stash Reports for 2011 at PatchworkTimes.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge (monochromatic)

I cut out a bazillion 3 1/2" squares from scraps using the GO Baby. I'm going to have to try some different techniques to get better accuracy but these were OK for this project. I then sewed them into four patches as I am making another one of these quilts, but in yellow:

Once I had all the four patches made I had to make a decision on the sashing. I'm using a black and white checkerboard this time instead of the stripe but I couldn't decide between cutting the sashings straight:

or on the bias:

For better or worse, I decided on the bias. I slowly and carefully cut out sashings, meticulously following the diagonal pattern. Hopefully in the next week I'll get the main portion of the quilt top completed.

To see other Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects go to SoScrappy.

Quilters With Heart

The Friday afternoon charity quilters were finally able to meet again. It was wonderful to hear about everyone's holidays and vacations. And Joyce and I got our daily exercise pushing Jeanne's car out of the snow bank. Wish I had a picture of that. :)

 Debbie cutting and Jeanne ironing.

 Susan and Joyce giving their sewing machines a good workout.

This is the second week working on this project. The fabric is very old fabric I had probably gotten at our long gone Joanns/House of Fabrics before that. The white background is an Ikea cotton sheet that I had heard was a cheap nice alternative to Kona Cotton. Hmm, definitely not Kona Cotton but fine for this use. I had cut out the charms without counting and we sewed without counting. We were thrilled to discover that we now have enough rows for two quilts around 50x70 each.

Winter has definitely come

Pretty amazing amount of snowfall in the last 17 days.

December 26, 2010 - "Blizzard" - 15 inches

January 7, 2011 - 7 inches

January 12, 2011 - 14 inches

This is what the top of the driveway looks like after several passes from the plow.

I'm just glad I'm not the one who does the shoveling.

Sewing Room cleanup - Stage 2

 I made progress on cleaning up the sewing room. I finished what I consider to be Stage 2 - cleaning off the cutting table. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Aren't those cabinets great - I got them for free when a neighbor was redoing her kitchen. I should paint them white but I'd rather be sewing.

AT LEAST three more stages to go.

Tiny Tuesday

So what do you do when you have lots of 2 1/2" batik strips from several swaps?

I decided to make a log cabin quilt with kona cotton black. Several others in Common Threads Friends joined in and we had a swap of log cabin blocks. I finally got my top put together this past fall. This picture was taken before the black border was added.

This picture does not do it justice - it is bright and spectacular (in my very biased opinion).  The blocks used 1 1/2" strips so I had cut my 2 1/2" strips down and set aside the remaining 1" strips for "someday". Eventually I decided I would make the same blocks in miniature - 4 1/2" finished. Perfect solution, right? Well, I made four blocks and decided I wasn't feeling that masochistic and put away the project for "someday".  Then today, Jill featured her Midget Mania blocks on what she is calling Tiny Tuesdays. Although I am not making the Midget Mania blocks, she encouraged those making anything "midget-wise" to share what they were working on.  I thought, "OK, I can do one block a week". So I dug out the bin and made one block.

So now I have 5 blocks. 

Can I stick with it? Probably not every week but I am going to give it a try cuz these are sooo cute and would make a great.......something. Not sure what, yet.