Quilt for an Hour

The quilt for an hour quilt is coming along.  This week - borders!  And lots of them apparently.   Thanks to my smaller quilt size, I have to recalculate a couple of the borders to make it all fit.

Looks like that's going to a be a good thing, because apparently my blocks didn't come out quite the size that Judy was expecting.  I don't think my 1/4" is quite a quarter (or, in fact, it's a bit more than a quarter - my blocks are a teensy bit small).

But, it will all work out.  New border strips are calculated, and ready to cut.  That's the plan for tomorrow night.

This is all that's on my design wall for this week.  And with a visitor and a trip in my future, it's going to stay like this for a couple of weeks.  Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters are up to this week.

Stash Report - Nov 22

It's been a busy week in the sewing room, but not much stash busting to show for it.  I put together (except the borders) a new quilt - that fabric was counted last week.  And I stayed caught up on the quilt for an hour.  OK, in reality I sewed all day Saturday catching up on the quilt for an hour.  But, it used another yard of fabric.  That's it for fabric busted this week.

In: none
Out: 1yard

Totals for this year:
Used YTD: 54.0 yards
Added YTD: 41.75 yards
Net: 12.25 yards out this year

Design Wall Monday - Nov 16

My design wall looks a lot like it did on Friday's post.   I did work ahead a bit on the quilt for an hour, and started sewing together the rows.  And according to Judy's instructions this morning, I guessed correctly :)  OK, it wasn't much of a stretch to figure out that this was next.

I also started a new quilt, but it's not on my design wall yet (no room up there).  More of a design pile this morning.  Here's a sneak peak.

Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters are up to this week.

Stash Report - Nov 15

I finished 2 quilts this week (labels on).   This one is "Starburst" and is my next quilty for donation to the children's hospital.  100% stash, including the backing (but that was all counted weeks ago, during the construction phases).  The other is still a secret, but I should be able to get it mailed out this week, and then I'll be able to post a picture.

I was dreading reporting on my stash this week.  5.25 yards purchased on Monday took my yardage out in the wrong direction.  But it turned out to be a great week in my sewing room. Wednesday was a holiday, and I spent most of it sewing, and then yesterday I managed to spend another day with my fabric.  Overall, a net bust for the week!

Bought: 5.25 yards
Used: 2.75 yards for new quilt
          1 yard for quilt for an hour
          3 yards for Christmas napkins
          1 yard for a kitty bed

Totals for this year:
Used YTD: 53.0 yards
Added YTD: 41.75 yards
Net: 11.25 yards out this year

Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters have been up to this week.

All Caught Up

I had the day off work today, and I spent  it enjoying time for myself.  That meant quilting, shopping, and later I'll go out dancing.  Weekday holidays are the best!

First, I spent this morning catching up on Judy's quilt for an hour.   All caught up now to the end of Day #7, and the quilt is starting to come together.  I put up some of the partial blocks on my wall in addition to the completed blocks and corners, so that I could see the overall effect.  I see now I got two pieces backwards.  Good thing they are in the unfinished sections.

I'm really liking this design from Judy.  I thought I'd try a smaller size, even though the instructions weren't provided for that.   Seemed easy enough - just drop some of the blocks and shrink the borders to fit.  So I guesstimated the new fabric requirements.  Incorrectly it turns out.  Despite almost running out of my colours (just barely squeezed out the final 2 pieces), and now getting pretty low on background fabric (about 3" left) I will persevere.   Apparently we are done cutting from the colours, and the background looks like we're almost done too.  So, I shall keep my fingers crossed and continue on.

After catching up on quilting, I headed out shopping.  I actually had a non-quilting goal in mind - my computer crashed on Monday, so it is off to the repair shop for some TLC.  After I dropped it off, I realized I was half-way to the quilt shop.  So, onward ho!   I pondered several options, and finally left with fabric for a new quilt, and a couple more colours to go with some fabric I bought earlier.  The more I thought about that one as a 2-colour quilt, the less I liked it.  And lucky me, the store had the fabric I already bought, so finding 2 colours to add to the set was easy (or as easy as picking colours ever is for me).

On my way out of the parking lot, I performed a random act of kindness.  I noticed a car with the spare tire lying on the ground, and the driver looked like she was pondering instructions.  So I stopped to give her a hand.  Changed a tire for a fellow quilter, and we were both on our way in about 10 minutes.  That brings my lifetime total tires changed up to 3 - all in the last 3.5 years of my 25 year driving career.  And now I'm home, and planning some more quilting time before I head out dancing tonight.   I guess at some point I should consider making dinner for 2 hungry teenagers, too.

Design Wall Monday - Nov 9

What's on my design wall?  Something old and something new this week.   My Irish Chain from last week is still up there.  Haven't made a decision about this one yet, and it'll probably stew a bit longer before I do anything.   Actually, when I was sewing yesterday, all but one of the blocks fell off the wall.  I wonder if that is a sign.

The other blocks above that are part of my quilt-for-an-hour project from Judy.   I got lucky with this one, and managed to squeeze out just enough fabric from my 4 colours to cut the rest of pieces for this quilt.  Now as long as the gold holds out, I'm set for the rest of the project.

Off the design wall I've finished, or almost finished, 3 projects this week.  My queen-size quilt had the last stitch put into the binding last night.   All it needs is a label and I can send it off to its new home.  In addition, I have one quilty mostly bound, and my tumbling block quilt is ready to have the binding turned.   All in all a productive week.   I'll post pictures of the quilty and tumbling block as soon as the bindings are done. The queen quilt will wait until it arrives at its destination, since it is (somewhat at least) a surprise.

Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters have on their design walls this week.

One step forward ...

And two steps back.

I've been working this week on my Quilt-for-an-Hour project from Judy's blog.  That and the Christmas napkins in my previous post were all I managed this week, until yesterday.  But, that's one step forward.  I used 1 yard for the Christmas napkins, and 1.5 yards for the Quilt-for-an-Hour project.  I have a dilemma with that one.  I apparently miscalculated my yardage, and I am going to be a bit short of a couple of colours.  I"ll have to figure out how to take care of that once I see the rest of the instructions.  The 2 fabrics I'm short of were gifted to me, so I haven't been able to find more in town.

Yesterday, after I caught up on my quilt for an hour, I pulled out my tumbling block quilt and basted it.  And that means I used another 1.5 yaards for the backing.   Maybe this was a better week than I thought.  I hope to finish that quilt this weekend, so that I can start my 2 new projects.  

Yes, that's right.  I said 2 new projects.   AKA, 2 steps back. I spent a bit of time in a quilt shop on Monday, and came home with fabric for another quilty.  I'm not supposed to be buying fabric for those, but the frogs were too cute to resist.  The other fabrics in this pic are my purchases from last week.

So, this week's stash report - still on the positive side for usage for the year (since August, because that's when I started tracking).

Total for this year:
Used YTD: 45.25 yards
Added YTD: 36.5 yards
Net: 8.75 yards out this year

Check out Judy's blog to see stash reports from other quilters this week.

Christmas napkins

I found this link for making Christmas Tree napkins the other day, while I was browsing blogs.  They seemed easy, and kind of cute, so I thought I'd try it out.  After all, I have a bunch of Christmas fabric sitting around, and it needs to find a useful purpose in life.

So, after I finished my Quit for an Hour yesterday - which didn't take an hour, since I'm making a smaller version of the quilt - I pulled out my Christmas fabric.   The "good stuff" needed washing, so I tossed it in the machine and decided to make up some samples with some of my less-favourite fabrics.

Now I have some cute Christmas-y napkins - my kids thought they were cute, anyway.  And it didn't take very long at all.  I only made 2 changes to the directions - I top-stitched around the outside, after turning the napkins. Because I don't slip-stitch if I can avoid it :)  Plus I adjusted the fold lines a bit, to make a taller tree with broader stripes than on the original page.

I always like to give credit where due, but when I first posted this, I couldn't find the blog post that led me to the pattern link.  Well, here it is.

Design Wall Monday - Nov 2

First, let's examine what is not on my design wall this week.  The green bargello quilt is gone - and the good news is that this means that all the pieces are attached.  The quilt will probably make a reappearance, as I still have to figure out borders. But for this week I am basking in its absence.

As for what is on my design wall.  I fear that this one is a disaster in the making.  It is supposed to be an irish chain for a baby quilt.  But the turtle fabric is pretty busy, and I'm not too sure about the overall look I'm getting from this.  Sigh.   Quilt and learn, I guess.

Now to decide whether to abandon this concept all together, or to try the turtles with a different (darker) fabric that might be more likely to hold its own.  I really desperately want to use up this fabric, but maybe it is destined for backing.

Let's try this.   Ah.  Much better.  The dark blocks at the bottom are a much better choice for my irish chain. Perhaps it's not a lost cause after all.   The green checkerboard is debatable (or maybe just a disaster without debate), but the purple gives me hope.  I'll hold onto those blocks for a bit.  Unfortunately, the purple is my accent colour for my Quilt for an Hour - so no more cutting into it until I see how much I need there.

This week I get to start Judy's Quilt for an Hour, and I am really looking forward to that.  Check out Judy's blog to see what everyone else has on their design walls this week.

Stash Report - Nov 1

Wow!  November already.  I can't believe we're closing in on the end of the year.  I made some good quilting progress the past few months, thanks to some new-found inspiration with this blog.  It is amazing much I'm encouraged to quilt when I have a place to tell people about it.

I added a bit to my stash this weekend.   As mentioned yesterday, I went shopping for 1/4 yard of gold for my quilt for an hour project - I finally found the right colour.  I decided to leave the pink alone, as nothing else worked as well as that one.   I also added 3 yards of fabric for a new quilt project.  Net purchased:  3.25 yards.

1/4 yard out - binding for a small quilt. Not much else happening this week - work and Hallowe'en kept me from my quilting.

Total for this year:
Used YTD: 41.25 yards
Added YTD: 33.5 yards
Net: 7.75 yards out this year

Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters have to say.