Stash Report - Jan 31

Wow, the last day of January.  Where did this month go?  I know where this last week went - it was spent sewing.  I got lots done, and made great dents in my stash.

First, I made some pillow cases for KonKerr Cancer.  Quick and easy, and a great way to use of some of the kiddie prints that I have.  They are just too bold for using in quilts (except maybe as backings), but they made wonderful bright pillow cases when paired up with some of my bright tone-on-tone fabrics.

They were a lot of fun, and quick to make, so I made some more.

I also worked hard on my son's quilt this week.  I just have the final border to finish to complete that top.  No pictures yet, though.

Totals for this week:
Out:
8 yards - pillow cases
.75 yard - lotto blocks
1 3/4 yard - baby quilt
2 1/4 yard - Grant's quilt
1/2 yard - cat pillow
Total out this week:  13 1/4 yards

In this week - nothing.  Once again I've managed to stay out of quilt shops this week.

Total in this year - 37 yards
Total out this year - 37 1/4 yards

Net this year: 1/4 yard OUT
Yay!! I've made it into the black this week.  And I've only cut the fabric for one of the 2 quilts I bought for earlier this month.

Check out Judy's blog to see how other quilter's have done this week.

Bits and pieces

I read on another blog recently, how the author made cat pillows from the scraps created at her cutting table.  It sounded like a great idea, so I tried it myself.  I cut a piece of fabric about 15" x 40", and stitched 2 sides closed.  Then I tossed in all the scraps from my cutting table.

The pillow filled up pretty quickly, and it made me feel a lot less guilty about throwing out those little pieces that I'm sure someone could make into a cute little quilt.  I, however, am not a miniature quilter, so when I save them they just make me feel bad for not using them.  And they clutter up my scrap boxes so that I can't get to anything.  Here's the first pillow - already in use.

Of course, this is the cat who will sleep just about anywhere ... including inside a backpack filled with books.  So it's hard to say if that means much.

Happy Dance!

It's done!!!  I'm doing a happy dance, because I am so glad to have this quilt finished.  5 years is way too long - especially for a UFO that's out in plain sight, and not hiding quietly in a box somewhere. 

This poor little quilt sat out for so long, the colour in the background faded from off-white to white.  I was going to do a skinny binding with the same fabric as the background, but the colour difference in the quilt and the leftover fabric was really noticeable.   Oddly, the dark blue hardly faded at all, and fortunately I had some leftover.

I decided, as I hunted for a suitable binding, that I had looked at this quilt long enough, and rather than being a wall hanging, it is going to be donated to the local children's hospital.   They want quilts about 24" square, so I added a wide binding to bring this one up to size.  That was an adventure in itself.  I've only ever done 1/4" bindings in the past.   Now I understand better the logic and math behind the mitred corners on continuous binding.  And I only had to rip it out once to get it right.

It's done.  I am happy with the outcome.  But I do wish it hadn't taken me so long to finish that I was sick of seeing it around.  Maybe I'll try another one - and endeavor to finish it in a reasonable length of time.

I've entered this quilt in the Weekly Themed quilt contest (two colour quilts, this week) at quiltinggallery.com.  On Friday voting will open for this week - please drop by to check out the quilts.   And vote for me :)

Edited to add link.  Go here to vote, between now and Sunday Jan 31!

An Empty Frame

Look at this!!   The hoop is empty.  That means that I made progress on the Hawaiian quilt, and was finally able to take  it off the frame.  The waves of guilt it was sending out, coupled with a request by my son to join him in watching a movie, finally combined to get the quilting finished on this wall hanging.

Cari isn't quite sure what to make of this, however.  She and the other kitties loved jumping up on top of the quilt.

In addition to that, I have a finish for this week, as posted yesterday.  Morning Splash is now complete.

I'm definitely making progress on my quilt list - this accountability challenge is a big help.  Without the pressure of knowing I had to post something today, I probably would have continued to ignore that Hawaiian quilt.


Here's the UFO list:
- a Hawaiian wall-quilt that's been on my frame since 2005 (Just needs binding now)
- a picture quilt from my 2005 trip to Mexico
- a set of 3 wall quilts (need final embroidery and to be hung) (started in 2008)
- a stained glass dragon (started in 2009)
- tumbling blocks (started in 2009)
- reversible quilt (started in 2009)
- kaleidoscope quilt (started in 2009)
- bargello quilt (Sept 2009)
- Star mystery quilt (needs quilting binding) (Sept 2009)
- Morning Splash (needs quilting binding) (Nov 2009)

Pop over to Bari's blog to see what other quilters have been up to this week.

Morning Splash

Morning Splash is Done!  I put the final stitches in to the binding last night, and attached a label.  I really like this quilt that Judy designed.  The quilting doesn't show in this picture (I'm going to have to learn how to take better quilt pictures, I guess).  I used a variegated thread in purple, and a green backing to match the background/accent colours in the quilt.

The quilt's about 50x70, and the perfect size for cuddling under while watching TV.

Making progress

I worked on my son's quilt this weekend.  I made quite a bit of progress, and the quilt is really starting to come together.  I brought my son in to see the quilt as it stood at noon, as shown at left, because I wanted to make sure he was going to like the colours.   He liked the colours, but was a little concerned that the quilt was going to end up this funny shape :)   I reassured him that it would not, and went back to work on the outer rows.

The pattern called for full blocks in these outer rows, which would then be trimmed by 1/2 to make the quilt.  But that seemed like  a lot of waste to me.  So I made a series of partial blocks, to minimize the waste (and to minimize the number of those annoying split-triangle pieces that I would have to make).

Now his quilt has all of these funny edges around it.

This is my what's on my design wall for this week.  By next week it should have all the rows sewn together and the edges squared up.  Check out Judy's blog to see what other quilters have on their walls this week.

Stash Report - Jan 24

I managed to stay out of the quilt shops again this week.   Actually, that's not quite true.  I picked up some rules yesterday for my next quilt,  and an OTT-lite so I can see what I'm doing at night.  But I did manage to escape without buying any new fabric.

I've made some good progress on the current quilt, and thus made a nice dent in the stash this week.

5.5 yards used for my son's quilt
1.5 yards used for backing on a baby quilt

Total this week
7 yards out
0 yards in

Total this year: 13 yards in

Slowly edging my way in the right direction.   Check out Judy's blog to see other stash reports this week.