Stash Report - Sept 16

I put the binding on 3 quilts this week, which used 1.5 yards of fabric.  And, I cut all the pieces for my next quilt - 4 1/4 yards. Plus the backing for my lone star, which was 3 1/2 yards.  So total used this week is 9 1/4 yards of fabric.  A good week!

Of course, those who read my blog yesterday know that I completely blew my stashbusting efforts, by bringing home a pile of pretties.  About 30 yards worth (but it was all on sale, Mom!). Lots of lovely batiks on the sale shelves yesterday - can you believe it?  I'm in heaven, but I have no firm plans for any of this fabric.  So I guess I'd better get going on the current quilt, so I can plan a batik beauty from all this new stash.

Total out this week: 9 1/4 yards out

Stash usage this year: 143 yards out

Hop over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone else has been up to. 

Quiltathon day 3

Not much sewing got done today.  I went out this morning to catch a sale at a quilt shop across town.  I don't go there very often, but 55% off was too good to resist.  And then of course there was the trip out past the other end of town, to try to get bobbins for my long arm (unsuccessful).  And I can't pass my favourite quilt shop without stopping in to say hi.  That's a lot of shopping, for someone who really isn't a shopper.  The result of that shopping trip was, let's just say, major stash enhancement.

By the time I got home at 2, all I wanted to do was put my feet up, so I did.  I did manage to sew about 60" of binding on my lone star while I watched a movie.  And then I felt guilty so I headed into my sewing room, finally.  I cleaned up from the binding activities of the last couple days, found my cutting table, and pulled out the fabric for my next quilt.  There's always a sense of trepidation as I make that first cut.  Do I have enough fabric? Will I like the end result? Is the pattern correct?

I cut, and cut, and cut some more, and now I have this.  And a pattern that is NOT correct.  Sigh.  A bit of wasted fabric, but hopefully not a critical amount for the whole quilt.  Now I guess it's time to thread up the machine for piecing and get to it.  Tomorrow.  Right now it's time to go and get some groceries (which I avoided after my morning shopping excursion) and make dinner.

Drop by Judy's to see what everyone else had accomplished today.

Day 2

Home alone this evening, made for good quilting time.  I finished the quilt on my long arm, and managed to attach binding to the front of it and 2 other quilts. 

This is my lone star, made for the July colour challenge.  There's a border on the top of the quilt too - it's just hanging on the other side of the banister to keep the quilt in place.

Here's a closeup of the quilting on the star. The purple background is quilted in dark thread, with flowers and leaves.

Now, some dedicated chair time with needle and thread to finish the binding process and get these 3 quilts off the UFO list.  Of course, that will require removing the cats from my chair :)

Quilt-a-thon day 1

I didn't think I'd get to join in the quiltathon this month, until tomorrow night at the earliest.  But I had a rough week at work, and a couple of hours of quilting was just what I needed before dinner.  Good thing my son doesn't mind eating late.

I came home and got to work on my lone star again.  Almost done - I had only 2 rolls left to go when I started today.  Of course, I didn't take any pictures of the center of this quilt while I was doing it, so you'll have to wait for the big reveal for that :)  I'm on the last border now - it's going better than the first, so even in this short time I think I've improved my skills.

I had to pull out my camera to remember exactly what the last purple border looked like.  I think I still managed to get it a bit wrong (the direction of the leaves), but it should be close enough, given that the 2 borders are separated by about 80" of quilt.

Judy's linking up here quilt-a-thon over here, if you want to drop by and see what everyone else was up to today.

Pincushion / Thead catcher

I've been wanting to make myself a thread catcher to have near my long arm, and I found this pattern online.  The bonus is the little pockets for all the tools.  Now I can stop losing my scissors, and marker, and seam ripper, and everything else. 

Over the weekend, I pulled out a couple of fat quarters and got to work. Of course, the first thing I did was redesign the pattern :)  I didn't have any felt for the pincushion, so I just made the top a solid piece.  And I  had to shorten some parts (the pattern calls for 23", but I was using fat quarters) so I made the pocket out of 2 colours rather than one piece.  And I wanted more pockets, so I made that section wider (almost too wide, once I realized that it was supposed to fit under the pin cushion). And then by the time I got to doing the bag, I didn't have enough fabric to cut the facing as big as the pattern called for, so it's a narrow 1/4".

Even with all the redesigns, this was pretty simple to put together.  I adjusted as I went and didn't run into any snags. I did discover after it was done that the pincushion is s bit squishy.  It probably should have been stuffed more - I may go back in there and add some stuffing later, but for now this is all setup by my longarm, so I can stop losing stuff and stop collecting thread piles on the table.  The removable bag is a nice feature - should make it easy to empty.

A Lucky Day

I dropped by my LQS on Sunday.  They aren't usually open on Sunday, but it was their annual BBQ and sale.  So, I dropped by for lunch (and to support Ovarian Cancer Research), and headed in to see what I might want to pick up on sale.  Since I just finished my checkerboard quilt (see picture), I thought I'd pick up a batting for it (it needs King and all I have are Queen).  And maybe some backing if they had something that would work.  I walked in and was greeted with "I wondered where you were yesterday".  I think it's a sign that you spend too much time in the quilt shop, if the staff misses you when you don't show up on a Saturday :)

I found the perfect backing, picked up a balloon to pop for my discount, and headed to the cash.  35% discount!  Yipee!  But oh, #*$, I forgot about the batting.  And of course, adding to my purchase and expecting the same 35% discount was not going to fly with the store owner.  So I headed home with my backing, and figured I'd go back another day for the batting.

Of course, I knew that I would forever wonder what I might have gotten as a discount if I'd gone back. So,  when I got home I decided that my son needed to get out driving (he has his learners permit, but we've only been out twice since he got it in July).  He's not really keen on the whole concept, but I am determined that he will learn to drive before he leaves home. Then, if he never drives again, that's his choice.  But I think everyone should know how.  We headed out, and I told him if things were going OK, he was going to drive me back to the quilt store.  And he did.  Just a couple of "Please stop!" moments, but overall not too bad for the his first time on the roads in traffic.

When we arrived, the store was completely empty (quite a switch from the morning, when it was packed).  I told my son to pick me a good balloon, and I headed in the "Batt Cave" to get what I needed.  I decided to get 2, since I'm trying desperately to catch up on quilts.  Headed to the cash, and low and behold, my son is a GREAT picker.  40% discount, whoo hoo!!  I should have bought a lottery ticket :)

Now I have backing, and batting, and a finished quilt.  But first, I have to quilt my lone start.  And then a baby quilt for a friend.  Then we'll see if I'm brave enough to load a 95" square quilt.

Design Wall Monday - Sept 10

Busy, busy, busy.  I accomplished a couple of things yesterday.  And even some non-quilting activities :)  My design wall has the final stages of my twister on it.  I decided to add a gold bow, mostly to disguise one block that has a bit too much green in it, in the "red" section.  This bow will be attached (I can't even say appliqued) as a 3-D ornament after it is quilted.

I also have a pieced backing to go with it.  I guess "go with" is a bit of a stretch.  I wanted to do something interesting and use up some pretty ugly Christmas fabric I had in my stash.  Ugly fabric does not lead to a nice result, but if you ignore the fabric choices, I'm pretty pleased with the design of the present and bow.  Next time I'll plan ahead a bit more - the horizontal ribbon should have gone up higher on the parcel.  And I'll actually make a paper pieced pattern for the bow.  This one was done ad-hoc, with lots of cutting and wasted fabric.

I finished the top border today on my lone star quilt.  It is another adventure - using a ruler with my long arm for the first time.  The picture isn't great - lighting is really bad in the basement.  But if you look closely you can see the straight line quilting in the diamonds, and the flower & leaf pattern in the dark purple border.  Next up - the star and those great big empty squares.  Hopefully I can fill them with reasonable quilting.

Drop by Judy's blog to see what everyone else has on their design walls today.