New Favorite Crochet Tool

I crocheted a lot in high school - granny afghans, shawls, capes. But eventually I moved on to other crafts. For the first time in at least 30 years I picked up the crochet hook again to make a bazillion dish rags for Christmas. I was thrilled that the stitches rolled off the hook again as if I had never put it down. However, I hold the hook like a knife and the outer edge of the palm of my hand was getting soooo sore. I have only used the commonly available Boye hooks in the past and have one of each size. I decided to look for a longer hook, one that the end of the handle would be beyond my hand. I didn't find one at Joann's but I found one by Bates with a handle made of Bamboo. It fits comfortably in my hand and crocheting with it is like a dream come true. I can't tell you how comfortable this hook is to use.

My plan is to make a red, green and white dish rag for friends, coworkers, etc on my Christmas list. So I bought 3 spools of cotton yarn in each color. I have completed the first spool of green and got 7 dish rags out of it. Good start for it being February. With the yarn I have I will be able to make 21 dish rags in each color. I may need to make more friends. LOL

Stash Report - week #7 - 2/13/11

Not a lot of sewing/quilting done this week. I was happy to make 3 mini log cabins (not counting them in stash reports until they are used in a project) and finished the clipping on the Denim Rag. I thought I would do some sewing in the evenings but always found myself too fatigued (dang fibro) but I did get several dish rags crocheted.

I am able to report 5 yards used/out. I gifted it to a Jeanne for a backing.
And I added nothing.

Used this week: 5 yards
Used year to date: 25 yards

Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 19

Net used in 2011: 6 yards

Go over to PatchworkTimes to see other stash reports.

Counting the Days...

to see granddaughter, Paige, again.

Having some Daddy time.

Quilters With Heart

Another lovely Friday of friendship. Susan, Debbie and Joyce worked on quilting one of the Crumb quilts. Great job ladies.

Jeanne, Amy and I worked on the Block Wall (quiltintia.com). Not a finish yet but close.

The best part of the day was lunch - Susan treated us to her homemade Chicken and Noodles. OMGoodness. Talk about total deliciousness. It was a cross between a soup and a chicken pot pie. We were all swooning. (Amber, the cat, desperately wanted some but no one would share.) Thank you, Susan, for sharing all of your hard work with us. And please thank Kim also.

No Fabric Added

My Bernina walking foot quit working this week while I was working on the denim rag quilt. It kept going up and down but wasn't advancing, if that makes sense. I wrote to customer support at Bernina and they told it might be fixable and to bring it to my local dealer. So I did as I was told and forced myself (yeah right) to visit The Quilt Shop which is the closest Bernina dealer to me. They were surprised that Bernina had told me to bring it to them because they were just going to send it to Bernina. OK, now I wait. I have a Millenium so don't often need my walking foot but when I make totes or work with flannel or denim it is nice to have. And these feet are not cheap so I hope it is fixable. Please be fixable.

I was sooo proud of myself because I did not buy any fabric. None. And this was tough because The Quilt Shop focuses on the "modern" fabrics by Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, etc. Yummy, yummy fabrics that I still don't have enough of. LOL

The only thing I bought was this Atkinson pattern: Stand and Stow. It is sturdy with peltex sides but is collapsible because the peltex is compartmented. Hmmm, difficult to explain but trust me, the store sample was pretty cool.

I am a tote hoarder. I buy them, I make them and I love using them. My favorite tote made by me is the Chubby Charmer by Quilts Illustrated. It is a great tote. I have made several and gifted several. As patterned it is quite a large tote and I use mine as a Carry On when traveling.

Tiny Tuesday

Blocks 11, 12 and 13 made this week.

Definitely leaning toward a tote bag at this point.

Go HERE to see other tiny/midget blocks.

Stash Report - week #6 - 2/6/11

The "Yellow Taxi Cab" top is finished so that gets counted.  I am hoping to get that quilted this afternoon but then I'll count the backing next week. UFO #10 top is finished so the front and back get counted because it's a rag quilt. It's been about 2/3 clipped then to the washer.  I made some mini log cabins but those won't be counted till the top is assembled and complete - a long way off.

The good news is I added nothing. So I am back in the positives. One yard net used. Woohoo!

Used this week: 10 yards
Used year to date: 20 yards

Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 19

Net used in 2011: 1 yard

Go HERE to see other stash reports.

Quilters With Heart

I canceled sewing on Friday this week because of the leaking ceilings. But despite an ice covered driveway, the gals that are learning to play on Olga the Millenium, came over to play in the basement. Debbie had her first lesson and did spectacularly - she is a natural. Susan finished up the quilting after Debbie left and is definitely ready to fly solo on her own quilts whenever she wants. I'm proud of the ladies. And I think they are having fun.
This week we did the quilting on the stunning Fabric Fling (pattern by Ginny Murphy) top. It's a real beauty.

Joyce came over for a little visit after her painters went home. It is always wonderful to get a Joyce visit and hug. :) We enjoyed her delicious "Kale Crap" soup, a name given by her dh because Joyce throws in whatever crap she has gotten from the cooperative garden that week. Whatever the crap was, Joyce sure turned it into delicious soup.

Year of the PIGS - 2/2/11

Jill has asked us to dig deep into our souls to honestly answer the question: "Why you put PIGS and UFOs to the side?".

I would have to say that there are many reasons:

1. Swaps - This by far the number #1 reason. I love participating in block swaps and have a wonderful online group of friends that frequently swaps blocks. I often agree to participate in the swap even though I know I shouldn't because of current projects or the knowledge that these blocks will become part of the UFO pile.
2.  Excitement - New projects are just more exciting than old ones. And surfing blogs exposes me to way too many new ideas.
3.  Special Occasions - birthdays, weddings, babies, etc.
4.  Boredom -Especially when I get to the parts that I find most tedious - borders and quilting.
5.  Shopping - I used to get sucked into the appeal of kits but I have never made one of those kits. They were convenient but they were never completely me.

I can't think of any other reasons. I'm sure a "shrink" would say we all have A.D.D. and put us on ritalin.

Check out other responses HERE.

Tiny Tuesday, a day late

I took Mary's advice and decided to sew more than one block a week. And she was so right, the sewing table setup is completely different when doing paper piecing so once I've got everything set up I may as well do a few. Plus I never thought I could "chain piece" paper pieced blocks but I have been. I just pull each block out of the way but don't cut the threads. It does speed things up. So, this week I made 3 blocks.

Ten made, ? to go.

Go HERE to see other tiny/midget blocks.

January Accomplishments

Judy is doing a monthly report of her completions. I thought it was a great idea but I will be doing a monthly report of my accomplishments. Progress is the goal.

Quilting:

1: Freeze Frame - done

2: Amy's Strings - done

3. Crumb - done

 4. Yellow monochromatic challenge - top finished

 5. Mini Log Cabins - 6 blocks made

 6. Sewing Room - major progress in cleanup

Stash Report:

Used this month: 13 yards
Used year to date: 13 yards

Added this month: 19 yards
Added year to date: 19

Net used in 2011: - 6 yards

Crochet:

2 of 60 dishrags made

Scrapbooking:

none

2011 UFO Challenge - #10

The Denim and Flannel Rag quilt - UGH!! I really don't want to work on this project but that's why I put it on the list. I'll never want to work on this project so this is the only way to get it done. Fine, I'll finish it but you can't make me enjoy doing it. HaHa