A Sad Demise

Apparently this is what happens when you continue to drop your seam ripper on the floor. I've always been an advocate of solid floors in a sewing room,  rather than carpet. But I do suspect that this would not have happened if I had been dropping the silly thing on carpet.

Now I have to interrupt my sewing to hunt for one of the other seam rippers which I know is hiding in my sewing room.

A New Project

Look at all this prettiness!  I just picked up a new project to work on.  This will be a sample for a local shop,  and a block of the month class.

Maybe this will be the inspiration I need to get back into my sewing room. I might have to clean up a bit first,  though. I'm not sure I could find space to cut anything or right now.

Q3 Finish Along Plans

Ah, more plans.  Q2 didn't go so well, but I'm hopefully for Q3. I'm trying to reserve a few slots for myself to get some quilts out of the closet and onto the longarm.  So, what do I want to do this quarter?  Keep in mind this list is going to be overly optimistic, so that when I pull some long-forgotten quilt out of the closet it still counts :)

First, my in-progress projects - these are ones that have not yet reached the quilting/binding stages, so they are the biggest stretch for finishing this quarter. I'd really like to at least get these to the "ready to quilt" stage this quarter. Of course, that doesn't count as a finish but at least it would be progress.

1. Winding Ways - this is for a colour challenge, and is due at guild in May, so there is incentive to get it done.
2. Blackford's Beauty   - my block of the month.  I should get my blocks back in April, so finishing the top & quilting it this quarter should be do-able
3. Merry Mayhem New Year's Day mystery
4. Star - 1/2 of the "Downtown" paper pieced quilt I've been working on 

From my "to be quilted" list, I want to finish at least 2 per month which would be 6 this quarter.  I'm putting a bunch on the list though - some are quick & easy, others want more time/detailed quilting. Which ones I do will depend on my attitude of the day when my quilting day rolls around :)  And if the world smiles on me, they might all get done.

1. turquoise &; brown rectangles
2. turquoise & brown diamonds 
3. turquoise & brown baby quilt 
4. Building Blocks
5. Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter 2012 mystery
6. Brights baby quilt
7. Tell it to the Stars - Judy Laquidara 2014 mystery
8. One Block Wonder 
9. Giant Scrappy Swoon 
10. disappearing hour glass #3
11. Baby Reflections
12. Houses - 1/2 of the "Downtown" paper pieced quilt
13. Reflections of the North 
14. 3 "Plus" quilts

Photos below are in the order listed.

   
And my binding projects:

1. 2 disappearing hour glass quilties
2. Kaffe stripes quilty
3. Turquoise and brown baby quilt

Winding Along

A couple of hours in my sewing room,  and another row of winding way blocks has made it onto the wall. Just ignore that out of place block towards the lower left corner - it spun around while being attached and is going have to be spoken to about proper placement.

Onwards we go.  Once the next 2 rows are sewn,  I'll have room to place the final two sections.

Q2 Finish Along summary

I did not do very well with all my goals for this quarter's finish along. But I did manage to get 2 things completed.  Glorious and Free was shown earlier on here , but I can't believe I never actually posted a complete photo of Ascension.  That little wall hanging was completed on time for the quilt show, but never appeared on my blog with binding completed. So here it is.

And that, unfortunately, is it. For all my grand plans I finished 2 quilts this quarter. Well, better luck next time, right?

Baby Giraffe!

Woohoo!  Gertrude is complete!  I finished up my baby Giraffe Abstractions today (well, the top, anyway).  In the photo, you can't tell the size - it's 1/2 the original size, so it finished at 22x30".

I have no real idea how much fabric this took - I pulled from stash, and didn't measure as I used it.  I'm going to ballpark that it took about 10" (on average) of each of 8 colours, so that's 80", or 2 1/4 yards of fabric.

I also have my 2 plus quilts (seen here) to add to my stash report today.  4 1/4 yards for the black and white, and 4 1/4 yards for the grey.

and I guess I should own up to some fabric purchases recently.  Over the past couple of months a few bits & pieces have come home:
1. Paris fabric, to replace a quilt I sold  - 8 yards
2. Some greys and backings from a new shop I discovered close to home - 10 yards
3. and some impulse purchases from hours 6-8 at Quilt Canada - 15 yards

So, a sorry state for my stash report today after a couple of months off.
11 1/4 yards out, 33 yards in.

2016 totals:
108 1/4 yards in
117 1/2 yards out
Total: 9 1/4 yards out
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

UFO Challenge - July

I wonder how many new UFOs I've managed to create since last time I checked in with Vicki's monthly UFO challenge.  Despite not spending a lot of time in the sewing room, I'm pretty sure there are some new projects that didn't show up last time I reported.  I think my biggest problem is that nothing on the "in progress" list is inspiring me.  I need a fun project, that will keep me going back there, because my longarm is pretty much full up with customer quilts, so getting my own off the 'to be quilted' list is not happening these days.

It's time for this month's UFO roundup, so here goes.  The pictures are two of the new starts, which are ready for quilting. They'll be heading off to Victoria's Quilts in the fall, so that should ensure they get some time on the longarm over the summer.

At the beginning of April I had the following projects:
12 in progress (oops, that's a step backwards)
7 planned but not started
18 to be quilted
5 to be bound

I did manage 4 finishes, despite my lack of entry into the sewing room (year to date - 20 finishes).  And also created a few more UFOs in training.  Now I seem to have:
12 in progress
7 planned but not started
21 to be quilted
3 to be bound


The detailed list for the past 2 months, so I can keep track of where I am :)

In progress:

1. Scrappy pineapple
2. Row by row 2015
3. Edge of 17 shop hop quilt
4. Kaffe stripes
5. Patchwork Year 
6. Gardener's Alphabet
7. Merry Mayhem
8. Stars 
9. WindingWays
10. Blackford's Beauty (Block Party)
11. baby giraffe (mini Giraffe Abstractions)
12. dashes (Block of the Month win)

Planned (fabric bought and/or collected)

1. recipe wall hanging
2. drunkards path variation
3. Christmas wreath
4. Christmas reindeer
5. two cityscapes/panels
6. ombre flying geese (leftovers from Spectrum) 
7. Jeans quilt

to be quilted

1. Building Blocks - 2012
2. Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter 2012 mystery
3. Turquoise Trails - 2013
4. Labyrinth - 2013
5. Rainbow Explosion - 2014
6. Brights baby quilt - April 2014
7. Tell it to the Stars - Judy Laquidara 2014 mystery
8. Block of the Week
9. turquoise &; brown rectangles
10. turquoise & brown diamonds 
11. One Block Wonder #2
12. Border Creek Station mystery (started Oct 2014)
13. one-fabric quilt
14. baby reflections 
15. giant scrappy swoon
16. Disappearing hour glass #3 
17. 2.5" plus quilt
18. 5" plus quilt
19. Modern plus quilt
20. Houses
21. Reflections of the North

to be bound

1. turquoise & brown baby quilt
2. 2 disappearing hour glass quilties
3. Kaffe stripes quilty

Finished since last report

1. Ascension 
2. Allietare - Bonnie Hunter 2015
3. Missouri Star drunkard's path
4. Glorious and Free