stash report

WEEK 22 

This is a customer quilt that I got to quilt this week. Quick and fast since it was a graduation gift.

I think this is the first week since I started blogging that I haven't posted. I have several good reasons;

• sick; running a fever for 2 days-sinus and bladder infection :)
• doubled my family size by adding 2 grandsons, a daughter and her 11 month old

Our daughter in law is very ill so we're keeping their 2 boys for a while. One is 3 and the other is 5 and although they are sweethearts they are ....3 and 5.  I feel like a freight train hit me by the end of the day! The 3 year old goes up to his uncle and says; 'Will you hold me?' and he gets held. Jeffrey (13 1/2) did say that he would need a break from them sometime...but not yet.  The 5 year old makes amazing things out of the gears and plays for hours with them; I'm so glad we did not get rid of our toys. (We put the legos away since the under 1 would try to eat them for lunch!) 

No fabric bought

No fabric used----surprise, surprise!

totals for the year:

in:18 yards 

out: 83.91

contact me

Sarah asked for my e-mail address. If you go to 'see my complete profile' in the side bar my address is there. but it is here too; 'myname'atgmaildotcom

Stash Report

May 22, 2009

I've decided who gets the lovely zippered bag; Laramie's comment won. " I would give the bag to Katherine, who would love it to death. It would pair very nicely with her lovely pink birthday quilt. Well, Katherine would try to stick in a book, so she could carry it to the tree, sit in the branch, and read it....." 

It sounds like Katherine will get a lot of use out of it. Laramie needs to e-mail me his street address so I can get it mailed soon.

My stash report is the same as last week; I spent almost all of my sewing time working on the charity quilt for our congregation. I got the twin put together to show the women at church today; hoping it will excite 1 or 2 of them to get a few more blocks done for the full size one.

Who wouldn't want a 'color block' quilt on their bed?

Week 21

Stash report

in: 0 yards

Out: 0 yards

totals for the year

in:18 yards 

out: 83.91 

zippered bag

I made this as a gift for a loved one. It's bigger than most of my zippered bags since I didn't want to cut the 9" zipper; also the quilted fabric made it bulkier so it needed to be bigger.  I twisted my mind around many patterns for the bag but went with very simple finally. Of course it is late; but I hope the recipient will enjoy it and use it for many years. I have it on good authority that yellow is her favorite color so I gave up all of one of my favorite yellow prints for this.  Talk about difficult decisions.... I worried that yellow would get dirty to fast; I worried that the yellow was too light; I worried it was to dark! I worried that the green I used to back the quilting would show. I worried that I'd break a needle quilting and sewing the bag. I worried it would be too big. I worried it would be too small. I couldn't believe how difficult it was to make the decisions concerning this bag; then it took so little time to actually make it! It was one of those weeks!

Rainbow Quilt; my OPAM

edit (May 31,2009) I decided to edit this post since this is my WISP or OPAM for the month of May. since this was taken the quilt has been washed and the glue came out and the binding is lovely. So try Sharon's method if you'd like a different technique up your sleeve.

I finished another quilt. (I KNOW you are SO surprised!) My rainbow 'Trip Around the World'. This is an exchange I did with friends in Lynchburg, VA (1996?). We exchanged very short tubes of squares in the order I'd written down for them. I love the way it turned out. I AM unhappy with the back I chose, green plaid homespun; I don't like the feel or the look of it.

I experimented with the binding. I'd seen Sharon Schamber free video of how she does binding and although the video put me to sleep I decided to use her method for attaching the binding before sewing the back. If you have a big quilt find a way to sit to do the ironing but since this was small I just stood. I really thought I'd never do it again but it is so relaxing to do the hand stitching on the back of the binding now with no pins and no holding and no tension that I'll do it again.

Week 20

Stash report

in; 7/12 of a yard (2 1/8's and 1-1/3 yard) a very odd measurement/this is getting rounded down to 1/2 yard,

Out; 8 yards

totals for the year

in;18 yards (I rounded this up a tiny bit to loose the fraction)

out; 83.91 How long will it take to get to 100 yards?

zippers

I fell off the bandwagon yesterday. I have a favorite re-sale shop I go to and yesterday they had a bunch of zippers. Instead of buying them all I first eliminated all invisible zips, then all nylon teeth (I love the old tiny metal teeth.) then anything over 9" long... so I have to add 7 zippers to my sidebar; although 1 zip is so short it should only count as a half. That means more bags. :) And I won't have to cut down 22" zippers to get 6 inches, at least for awhile.

I'm practically back where I started! 

my sister's happy dance

This will cause my sister to have a happy dance; me not so much. THIS is the second mug to be broken. 

I went shopping at Tuesday morning 2 years ago and bought myself a beautiful yellow mug; yellow with pink flowers. It got broken. Months later I was again shopping at Tuesday Morning and found the same patterned mug and bought it for myself. It got broken. Again. 

I save my broken dishes for my little sister; I keep a bin in the garage and put the broken dishes in and the pretty ones I find at garage sales for her. She makes beautiful mosaics out of them and then sells them; I have been lucky enough to receive several on her angels. 

I will be going to Tuesday Morning soon and see if they have another yellow mug.

stash report

nothing in.... (well the charity quilt I'm working on got 3 yards of black but it didn't go in MY stash)

nothing out.... (I've had my small rainbow trip around the world on the long arm all week and I'm only half done; cause I'm a slacker. I also had people over for 2 quilting meetings where I taught my log cabin for the charity quilt I'm working on)

I've used about 75 yards of fabric this year

SO I've used 58.48 more yards than I've purchased.

baking....

My Cub Scouts are having a cub cake auction tonight so I baked.

finished:

• raspberry pecan brownies
• apricot oat squares

still to glaze;

• lemon pound cake

I wish I could figure out great names for these cakes. The 'sock-it-to-me cake' is always a big winner and it is a great cake but it's name influences the bidders to. So quick what should I name these?

my son suggested

• superb brownies
• chocolate brownies

My idea;

• past your prime apricot oat squares
• 8 lemon cake

Roger's

• lascivious lemon cake
• delight in fatness lemon cake

edited;

I looked up lascivious and it's not a good choice for a church activity. I decided 'Pucker-Up Lemon Cake' would be a good name for one. It sold for $50. I got a call on Mother's Day from the recipient prasing the great lemon cake. I won't make the apricot oat bars again or the raspberry brownies....well if I make the brownies I'll up the raspberry presence to a layer of jam under the frosting.

relaxed log cabin tutorial

There are several names for these log cabin blocks; Gwen Marston calls them Liberated log cabin, others call them Wonky log cabins, I've been calling them Relaxed log cabins. Maybe we should call them Falling down log cabins.... I used them in both of Austin's quilts. I also used them in my Texas Flag quilt pictured in my header. Sample blocks of this charity quilt are laid out here.

I have sorted my fabric scraps into different color bins. There is a purple, brown, black, pink, green, blue, yellow/orange, red, white and turquoise bin or bag. Most (nearly 100%) of my scraps are 100% cotton but if you find one that clearly isn't don't use it-I found a scrap of Melissa's prom dress with the blues. I am working with green since I need 11 green blocks.

Choose your first 2 fabrics.

I do not repeat a fabric within a block and try to use the small pieces in the center of the block, (instead of choosing a large piece and cutting it smaller).

Lay the two fabric, right sides together, with two edges together.

Stitch 1/4" from edge of fabric. I am using a 1/4" foot so I try to keep the edge of the fabric at the edge of the foot. YOU MUST HAVE EACH SEAM 1/4" OR LARGER. Smaller seams can be re-sewn easily before more logs are added; Quilts need to be sturdy and 1/8-1/16 inch seam will not hold up to heavy use. Use a slightly smaller stitch than normal so there is NO need to backstitch since every seam will be locked in place when the next seam is sewn over it. Notice the frayed bit of fabric on the left side of the top fabric; the frayed bit is not fabric and should not count as part of a 1/4 inch seam when it is eventually sewn; trim that before sewing so you do not use part of it for the 1/4 inch seam.

Press seams to one side. I use starch and the patch that the seams are pressed away from will be your center patch. (It does NOT have to be square; rectangles and even triangles can be used.)

Square it up. That does not necessarily mean cut it into a square; just cut the edges straight; so the next 'log' is easier to sew straight.

Choose your next fabric.

Sew it, right side against the right side of the previous 2 'logs'. Again 1/4 inch seam.

Here I've finger pressed the seam away from the center log (the stripe).

Here I've chosen fabric #4.

Here I've laid fabric #4 on top of the center section and you can see that the fabric doesn't line up. As long as I lay the straight piece on top of the crocked one I have a straight line (fabric #4) to follow and the seam will be fine. I will trim that piece off after I press.
Here's my block after sewing #5 on. At this stage I usually starch, press and straighten again.

Here you can see the center (stripe) and see that the seams are pressed away from the center. You can also see the extra fabric in 2 of the seams.

It's important to trim the selvages off.

Here I've straightened the edges again. Continue doing this after every 4 logs or more often if you prefer.

After sewing fabrics down look at it to figure out where the next fabric goes. The edge with the most seams is the one that gets sewn next (should be 2, if there is a mistake don't worry about it just keep going forward.) Continue going around until your block is at least 10.5 inches across.

Trim any loose threads on the surface and on the back of the block and trim it to the desired size; in this case 10.5 inches. It is easiest to use a large square ruler.

When making these it is better to have wider pieces on the edge of the block; if there is just 1/2 " of fabric after it is trimmed it will not lay as flat after it is sewn into a quilt.

notes: I just use the next fabric that comes to hand.. sort of; I have to dig to get the right size and sometimes a long piece is patched out of 2 or 3 fabrics, but I don't worry about color since all greens go together, it's called a monochromatic color scheme.

plans

I'm working on a charity quilt that I mentioned here. I was recently asked to donate a twin and a double; 112 blocks. I have about 50. I am supposed to get others in my church group to help which means I am teaching some of the willing women to sew their first ever item. So I decided a tutorial would be good for them to look at if they want to do some at home. 

I just finished looking around the web for a tutorial on 'my' log cabin blocks. Nobody does it quite like I do. So I will try to do a tutorial in the next few days. 

give away

I realized last night that I'd left the give-away slightly open ended. When does it end? I don't know. I'm toying with 2 weeks but then maybe a bit more.... I'll let you know; but it won't be less than 2 weeks (a few of my readers only get on once a week so I'll give them a chance.) If you are overseas don't worry I'll mail it overseas also. 

I thought I'd explain about the design. Some of us get magazines and then NEVER use any of the ideas in them (that wouldn't be anyone you know, could it?). Anyway I often buy Quilting Arts Magazine but rarely do any of the stuff in it. In 2006? I think There were directions for a quilt using silk flowers and rainbow tulle that was pretty, so the next time I was in Walmart I saw the tulle and bought 1/4 yard. Then experimented with some silk flowers I had here. It was fun, easy and I thought rather pretty so I made cards out of them. Many of the cards are still on the recipient's refrigerator (I attached it to a magnet to make it easy). I went back and bought a yard of the tulle which I still have most of. I made a card drawer and put all the supplies together to make it easier to make another card...then left it alone for 3 years. :)

Yesterday I was playing with an idea I got from looking at these quilts by Kelli.  I thought I could cut out a flower and do a little something similar; it's harder than I thought and I will be buying the pattern if I ever decide to do so again. Then I got out my card making stuff out and put the flowers I'd cut out with a silk flower and liked the combination... then decided to use a zipper...in fact I chose pink fabric for the flowers since I had a pink zipper.

birthday giveaway

In 2006 I decided to make my birthday cards. I have no idea how many of my family actually received a version of this card. If those that did or didn't would let me know I could fill in gaps.

May is our birthday month; 4 birthdays.

Sooo what would you put in this adaptation of the birthday card?

The best answer wins and I'll mail it to YOU.

*Laramie's comment won. I hope Catherine is enjoying her pouch.

One more zipper down and only 62 to go.

key lime cupcakes

If you are inspired to make the luscious lime cupcakes I posted about weeks ago be warned that you NEED 2 pieces of equipment;

• The lime squeezer and the 
• microplaner.

With out these 2 'key' items I would never have tackled getting the zest off of 8 limes.

FYI I did not use key limes... you get more juice from regular limes and the taste is the same (according to Cook's Illustrated Magazine.)

The Junior High band is having a bake sale tomorrow night so I'm staying up late to get the cupcakes done tonight... I wonder what the boys will be eating for breakfast tomorrow?

If I ever get around to having an open house guess what I'll be serving?

quilt guild

25 years ago I started attending a small Quilt guild. I was so shy I could only go because I had a friend who would go with me; Ann. Today was their 25th anniversary celebration and I went. I recognized many people from the 12 years I attended. We moved away 13 years ago and I recently decided to attend again. I commute once a month back to the Baytown Quilt Guild and I feel welcomed and among friends. I was also recognized as a charter member and as a past president. I did not win the raffle quilt..:(  but;

I WON A DOOR PRIZE! a charm pack of Moda fabric, 6 fat quarters, AND a pack of 5 rotary blades (what a great idea; that fits everyone's tastes!).

The pictures are of my 2 favorite quilts displayed there. The second one I wasn't initially crazy about but it was at the far end of the hall from my lunch table and it was so impressive and showed so well at a distance that I liked it more the more I looked at it. (It was made of many 16?" blocks not just the one.)

Week # 18

My stash report does not inclued my door prize because I do not count fabric given to me; I have no control over that!

I finished a table runner this week. 21 x 68. I estimate that it took 2.5 yards of fabric.

in 17.43

out 75.91

 

I've used 58.48 yards more than I've purchased during 2009.

I am sorely tempted to go buy some new nice bright cheerful fabrics for a project I have in mind that I really shouldn't start....I'm hanging in there week by week to keep from shopping/buying.

gardening

Last Saturday and today I helped the boys fill a flower pot with flowers. They were given a choice of colors and we bought plants to fit the color scheme. Andrew's was lime green and purple (he looks particularly intense because I took the picture while he was moving his pot.) Jeffrey chose the red hot pot; red, orange and yellow. Hopefully all the flowers like the same amount of water and they will look even better in a couple of weeks. They also planted some vegetables in our old rose bed. We have a few more seeds to plant then we can just sit back and watch them grow...... right?