Tiny Tuesday

This week I made blocks 14, 15, and 16. Each block is 4".

I now have enough blocks for one side of a tote or a small wallhanging or a pillow. I must say that I'm thinking tote. I just love totes.

Check out Jill's blog to see other tinies.

Design Wall Monday - 3/7/11

This weekend my ds #2 (29 yo) "totaled* his girl friend's car. They are both OK, some stitches, very sore but mostly grateful to be alive. Neither air bag deployed which puts into question the honesty of used car sales. Was this car in a previous accident and the airbags never replaced? I wonder if they will be able to track down the truth. I wonder if any of you can guess how he totaled the car? I will send a large stack of my remaining green nickels to the first person to guess correctly. If you choose to guess, be sure I can reach you.

Update: For those interested, you can read HERE about how Brian totaled the car .

I have several things in the works right now. But on my design floor (<g>) is the project for the green scrappy challenge. The blocks are now surrounded by white. I will next use the solid green for the sashing. I yet need to decide on a border.

I also have the brown tote ready to assemble. I had to borrow a walking foot from my friend while mine is off at Bernina, hopefully, getting repaired.

I also now am working on my crayon box quilt as my UFO #1. I have more than enough blocks made but need to come up with a layout and assemble the top. I haven't decided if it will have borders or not.

Stash Report - week #10 - 3/6/11

No change from last week on my stash report. I had hoped to get my UFO #1 quilted yesterday (then I could have counted the top and backing) but my dla, Olga, must go to the APQS hospital.

She is a very sick girl. After spending a long time on the phone with a very patient and helpful Dawn in the nursing (service) department, it was decided that the ole girl needed some major tinkering back at the birthing center. This past summer I spent about $500 getting her a spa treatment (overhaul) from a local medicine man but poor Olga didn't feel a whole lot better when she returned. It could be early April before they release her back into my care to fully convalesce. It will be very quiet here without her. We have been BFFs for 10 years.

I made great progress on a new tote for Judy's brown monochromatic challenge, I made 3 mini log cabin blocks so I'd finally have something to report for Jill's Tiny Tuesday and I made lots of four patches for Angela's green Rainbow challenge. But since none of these projects are finished, I don't count them. It certainly is an incentive to get things finished. Hopefully this week. I also plan to trade numbers on my UFO list. I can't work on #1 (it is already a finished top) without Olga so I might as well work on #2 as it needs piecing.

Stash Report

Used this week: 0 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 Patchwork Times to see other stash reports.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Today is Scrap Happy Saturday over at SoScappy. I haven't been able to properly participate since the start of the year but hope to do so from here on. The color for March is appropriately green. I have pulled my stack of green nickels, cut some of them into quarters and made four patches.

I am going to have to make many more quilts to put a dent in these nickels. The tone on tones are in front and the ones with added colors are behind. My specialty nickels (batiks, 1930s, flannels, patriotic, fall, etc) are in drawers.

Next I think I will border them with white and then a solid green. I got the idea from Ellen at Little Jewel Quilts. I loved her Blue Eyes quilt as she was piecing it and thought I would copy it (which she said would be fine). I decided to use a four patch center instead of the crumbs because of all of those nickels.

But a week later I saw her final quilt with it's fantastic border and I knew I would not be copying that. I just don't have the patience for that. Isn't it great? Mine will have a much more simple border.

 

Check out more green scrappy projects at SoScrappy.

Customer Service

My new favorite company is Fiskars. A while back I mentioned to my Friday quilting friends that I was frustrated because all of my Fiskars rotary cutters would collapse if I pushed down too hard on them. I could get them to work if I held down the opening button while I cut but the locking mechanism wouldn't hold. One of the gals (hi Joyce) told me to go to the Fiskars site to get the information about getting the cutters replaced. Really? I had three of them and they were all many years old. "Doesn't matter", she said. I was skeptical but I said I would check it out.

Sure enough!!!! I read to email them a picture of my cutters.

Check.
The next day I received an email back that they would be replacing my cutters. What!?!
This is what arrived a few days later.

They were all brand new, in packaging, but I forgot to take a picture before I excitedly opened the package. Even an extra blade.
Fiskars is my new favorite company. Great customer service. And I love my new cutters.

February Accomplishments

Not a great month for accomplishments, actually pretty sad. I know, February was a short month but I don't think 2 or 3 more days would have made a huge difference.

Quilting:

1. Denim Rag (Judy's UFO Challenge #10) - Done 

2. Mini Log Cabins - Jill's Tiny Tuesday - 6 blocks made

 3. Sewing Room - No progress. Still need to tackle this and more

Stash Report:
Used this month: 12 yards
Used year to date: 25 yards

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

Net used in 2011: 6 yards

Crochet:

Dishrags made this month: 9
Dishrags made year to date: 11 of 60

Scrapbooking:

none

Stash Report - week #9 - 2/27/11

No changes this week. Being on vacation was wonderful and I didn't even look up quilt shops in the area. WOW, that's a big step in the right direction.

Used this week: 0 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 Patchwork Times to see other stash reports.

Home Again

Marco Island proved to be the perfect vacation spot for us. Everyone was totally happy enjoying.........

the pool

relaxing

good food and drink

catching air

and holding the most adorable baby in the world

(in my very unbiased opinion <g>)

And it was nice to get away from this

Need some time with granddaughter

Heading to Florida in the morning to spend a week holding my dgd. Can't get there soon enough. :)

The Friday Quilters with Heart worked again at increasing their proficiency on Olga the Millennium. They quilted the Homespun Red/White/Blue Star quilt. They used the R/W/B variegated thread and it turned out beautifully. Forgot to take a picture. I'll share one once it is bound.

UFO Challenge - #10 Finished

When Judy at Patchwork Times announced the UFO to work on for February would be #10, I have to admit that I was so uninspired that I considered cheating and switching out my list with something else. The Denim Rag quilt. Yuck. I really didn't want to work on this project. But wasn't that why I put it on the list in the first place? My list consists of some UFOs I really want to work on, some that I really need to work on and then a couple that I just want finished and out of here. Yup, the denim rag quilt is the latter of those. I bit the bullet and dug it out. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all the blocks had already been X stitched.

Oh, OK, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. I spent a couple of afternoons heaving this heavy monster thru the machine to get it all pieced. Almost done. Then two evenings clipping. No fun and sooo messy. But done. Well, almost. Do I now take it to a laundramat as so many suggest to save my pipes? Ya know, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't pass on my problem to their pipes. So I washed it in a pillowcase in my own washer. Then I dried it in my dryer, setting a timer for every 4 minutes to empty the lint tray. Wow, impressive amounts of lint and threads. When it was dry I shook it out and it still shed so I washed and dried it a second time. Seems good to be enjoyed now. Phew, DONE!

I still don't love it and can't remember why I started it but it is done. It may become a dog bed for the back of the car. It certainly is sturdy enough for my Rottweiler and Alaskan Huskie.

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.