String quilt with stars; Twin quilt #1

I decided that I am working in a series! The blue is not the first in this but it is the latest, I have at least 4 in mind for this 'series'.
It HAS been awhile....I have been sewing though so I have a top to show you.

Here is a charity top we (our Women's church group) got to this point. I LOVE it...we just sorted fabric into light and dark piles and sewed them together. Here is the EQ7 version;

I planned it with 7 x 12" blocks, but really? I cut the width to 7.5 and then just straightened the bottom and top pieces and left them ....however long they came out. Did I tell you I LOVE this top? (It would be bordered and quilted BUT I purchased a dark blue for the outer border, washed it, ironed it! and lost it.) The mix of mediums across the dark and light rows I really like.....SO...
A niece was put in the hospital to wait out the birth of her high risk twins and I decided those babies needed a quilt and so started out to make this:

I added the stars for fun....Each of the stars take 1.5 - 2 hours to make

but the rest? EASY, Easy, Easy.

Each block is 6 x 6 but, again, I just straightened the edges of the length. A friend donated some of her pink scraps to the mix so I had plenty of variety for the pink blocks.

So it looked like this;

Clearly I had plenty of scraps....this just scratched the surface so I changed it to this;

With the outer border being pieced. BUT not just piano keys I decided to work some curved seams and some tiny inserts of fabric.

These are cut 4.5 inches wide. So now it is at this stage;

And the twins were born 2 weeks ago and a doing really well for 2 lbs 7 oz and 1 lb 13 oz. babies. I plan to have this (and the twin of it) done by their due date in July.
41 x 51

Vicki has a linky group of others working in a series...here.

Block of the month - Contrary Wife

I am the coordinator of our Guild's block of the month. I love the block I chose for March; I found it in EQ7. Although it is called Contrary Wife I did eliminate 4 seams that seemed extra to me; so it is

Modified Contrary Wife

Here is a bad photo of my block;

Finally an EQ7 version of a quilt made with this block;

I think it looks great!
I am just the coordinator, each month someone else is designing the block.
I have the April block now and will be playing with that another day.

Kaleidoscope Workshop

Maggie Ball came to our quilt guild and taught us a workshop on Kaleidoscopes. Really fun....not so easy. i finally used the hand dyed pink (I used a man's shirt and dyed it years ago-so have no idea how, so there is no more of it. The pink gingham is also a man's shirt. Yeah finally using some of my shirt wall. Here are a couple of my designs;

My first design, I could see the pink cross and didn't like it...so then I did this;

Better...

I like the pink star and the blue square....I still need to cut more....and play more.... A Texas wildflower quilt is in the works! HA HA I have no time to finish it for awhile. I did sew one block...the center. vbg. Love, love, love this but I will need to get a bit more fabric to make it throw size. This will make my 4th unfinished TEXAS quilt. (I do have 2 finished and 2 are at the quilting stage.)

I'm program chair for my guild and so I get to actually talk to the speaker and Maggie was a treat to talk to. Since we had a Saturday workshop My husband got to take Maggie for a 'bird walk' in the rain Sunday morning. They had great fun; I stayed in the car picking threads off scraps of fabric :). getting ready to sew them into my, yet unseen, project.

now back to the long arm....

Design Wall

Our Local Quilt Shop has a 'Third Tuesday'. Every month for a year we will be getting the pattern and fabric for 4 six inch blocks. Each month will be different reproductions fabrics and each combination will be 2 positive and 2 negative blocks.Here are 2 of May's. NOT easy. Cutting accurately is crucial.
Since the cutting is so easy I pulled a black print and a cheddar print from my shelves and layered the 4 fabrics when I cut. At this rate though my stash will never get seriously reduced; 2 pieces in, 2 pieces out will not have a large impact. If I get finished I will have 8-6 inch blocks each month. Here I've started and it isn't even the day before it is due!
I did a wee bit of muttering while sewing, convinced that the directions were wrong...NO, MY head just wasn't thinking straight. Sorry Vickie.

Here is one of my 'tricks' to sewing 1/4" inch seams. A magnetic seam guide. I use it all the time.
My Bernina is still in the shop! Since April 11th. I like the Singer Featherweight and the Elna is adequate but I love my Bernina.

Visit Judy's blog to see other design wall.

Christmas Strings-my virtual design wall

This is what I decided to do with my left-over 1 1/2 inch strips. I sewed them together with a 45 degree angle and sewed until they were all in one strip. That strip was 992 inches long. Then I pressed it....yes I really did. Then sewed it end to end. Then cut it in half. Repeat. I did that until it was 82 X 15.75 (I can tell my seams were too wide since it should have been 16 inches.) I decided to cut that into 8th's and use them as blocks. Framing that with a dark green brought the quilt up to a more useful size.
I am working on this quilt when I need to rest from quilting. Here's a picture of the top third of the quilt:Hey, it looks like a table runner; I could stop here.
It is truly a stash quilt, I'm using what I have; trying to whittle down my Christmas fabric collection....
The back will be a collection of 1/4 yard cuts that I've had for years....maybe I'll sew them the same way I did the blocks...but with 90 degree angles. This will be the third Christmas back pieced from stash. I might see a reduction in the pile with this. :)
(Can you tell I love experimenting with my EQ7?)

Visiting other's design walls is fun, go over to Judy's to get a list of them.

stash report week or weak?

It is with a sad voice that I admit to buying more fabric. That would be lying; with a glad voice I announce that I FOUND A SALE and bought some fabric to celebrate. I found an ad in my e-mail that I forwarded to 3 friends. Then 2 of them met me Tuesday and we drove to a Quilt shop that is closing so was selling their fabric at 50% off. Fortunately they did not have everything I was looking for and their books were NOT on sale so it was easy to not even look at them. I still managed to purchase the sashing for one project, the backs for 3 others and a few pieces for the border quilt that I'm working on. Of course the sashing is for a quilt that I am NOT planning on doing soon; but I have the blocks and had spent some time playing with EQ7 to figure out the fabric....What do you think? A good spring time quilt? Each butterfly has 2 batiks, an exchange so I still have very few batiks in my stash. Now I've purchased sashing, a batik, and I'll keep a sample in my purse until I found the border...then maybe it will move up in my to do list.
This is my addition...except for the batik it's already in it's bin. From the bottom;

• a smidgen of the Christmas log cabin quilt showing
• a red shirt of Rogers that he doesn't want anymore :)
  
• blue Marsha McCloskey's print, enough for a small quilt back or front; I may use it with my small 9-patches.
• red Marsha McCloskey...see above only use with red and white 9-patches
• green Marsha McCloskey; can you tell I like this print? Enough for the back of the border quilt I'm working on this quarter.
• the 6 top ones are to use in the border quilt.
  

net out for 2011: 22.38
used this year: 7 yards
used this week:0 yard
purchased year to date: 24.87 yards
purchased this week: 19.87 yards
donated this year: 40.75 yards
donated this week:35 yards

I had to get rid of the fabric that I've had in a pile since Christmas so I would have a positive on my net out still. ;)

Check and see how Judy and the gang did this week....

Stash report week 4 of 2011

I mentioned 2 weeks ago my plan to make a navy skirt, but first I had to waste hours hunting for a ready made skirt. I went to 7 different stores in 2 different shopping trips and found 1, 1! navy skirt and it was a slinky knit that I didn't think would work with my sweater (or my body.) So I checked out the local fabric store and their navy had too much blue in it. So I drug my son to High Fashion Fabrics yesterday thinking I would find the perfect fabric. I DID! It was on sale 50% off! Wow! The end of the bolt said it was dark navy 100% wool imported from Italy. Perfect. Regular price $77.00. Even at half price it was too steep for me. So I looked at a polyester and bought some that will work but just not quite my VISION.
Jeffrey found a couple of black and white fabrics he loved and decided that he needed a pillowcase made out of one of them. I picked out a music fabric for the border of it. He is sewing it but until I get him to sew (maybe this afternoon) it is in my stash.I finished 2 pages for my 2 of my grandson's quiet books, blogged here. I'm counting it as 1 yard which seems high to me even but there are many layers there...8 in places, 4 in the thinnest areas.

net out for 2011: 7.25
used this year: 7 yards
used this week: 1 yard
purchased year to date: 5 yards
purchased this week: 3.5 yards
donated this year: 5.25 yards
donated this week:0 yards

Judy has kept up the good work; go here to see.

Stash busting week 3 2011

I HAD to buy 1 1/2 yards of fabric to finish a project I started last week-end...Did I finish it this week? No. Did I only buy 1 1/2 yards of needed fabric? No. I found a fabulous net with snowflakes that was on sale and bought enough for a tablecloth. Is it finished? Yes! I also put together 2 tops for our guild charity quilts. I also cut up an old skirt and whipped up 3 Christmas bags and made the snowflake tablecloth.Doesn't this look like a tablecloth? It WAS a skirt. It is now 3 'wrapping paper' bags for next Christmas.

net out for 2011: 9.75
used this week: 6 yards
purchased year to date: 1.5 yards
purchased this week: 1.5 yards
donated this year: 5.25 yards
donated this week: 5.25 yards

Judy has a list of others trying to use up their fabric here.

Stash report

No purchased fabric! (See, Melissa that is why I couldn't buy your fabric for you.)
One zipper pouch made that really uses so little fabric; 1/4 yard.
Melissa gave me some fabric but I don't count gifted fabric.
Melissa had a pattern for an Irish chain quilt. The alternate plain blocks have a red-work embroidery design. She almost finished one block 10 years ago. I think it's lovely; I probably bought it for her. Now it's back in my project pile. :)

The only thing that changed is the pile of fabric that I got to Goodwill.
I'm really going to have to hustle if I'm going to use 19 yards this month. wouldn't it be nice if I used the same amount that I purchased this year?

used, changed: 172 yards
purchased, same: 191 yards
donated, changed: 78 yards

I can see that our numbers are down this week; everyone is busy with the holidays. Go over and check out Judy's blog and see how everyone is doing.

Stash Report

I used ....1/4 yard of my own fabric! I replaced the straps on the bag I carry. I attended Market, Festival and a couple band big deals for my child in the last 2 weeks since I posted. No time to sew for myself with Christmas coming.
It's a good thing that we're not counting all sewing purchases....although I purchased NO fabric I did manage to make a dent in the pocket book with rulers... I'm trying one of them out now and will post the results next week. I'm excited about the possibilities.....I'm sure it will help me use up some stash!


used, changed: 171.75 yards
purchased, same: 191 yards
donated, same: 71 yards

Check out how the rest of Judy's friends are doing with their stash busting here.

Dresden Plate quilt

In a land far far away..., (Colorado is along ways from Texas) and a long time ago (about 1952-56 years ago) a young woman, my Mother, visited an old woman. She lived in a one room house with a wood burning stove in Animas City, Colorado. (Animas City is now part of Durango.) Through Mother's high school years she regularly visited her. After her marriage she continued to visit when she visited her own mother who lived near by. One time she was given some Dresden Plate plates that the old woman had pieced previously. Mother gave the blocks to her Mother. My Grandmother gave them to me about 20 years ago. I appliqued them down to muslin then and got them sewn into a top about 10 years ago.
YESTERDAY I FINISHED THE QUILT!(19.5 yards of fabric.)

(To see the back go here.)

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 171.5 yards
purchased, changed: 191 yards

I was very disappointed in myself; I can't believe I was so naive. I expected to be able to go to the store and get the same reproduction 'nile' green that I bought 10 years ago. Although the shop had about 5 solid reproduction greens they ALL looked horrible with the green in the sashing. Fortunately I had the quilt with me and was able to find a print to use for binding; 3/4's of a yard.

For quilt retreat I contacted our local quilt shops for donations for door prizes. One of the shops; Fabric Etc. in Webster gave us a $10.00 coupon for EACH participate. I was eager to use it (use it before I loose it) so came up with an experiment I wanted to try and bought the last of her solid black fabric; 5 yards. I use it to sash the charity quilts the ward does each year so I'll have a use for it even if my 'experiment ' fails. (I'll blog about the experiment at another time.) So my numbers went up.

Judy has a list of all the mighty stash busters if you're interested in visiting others crazy enough to do this. Sometimes it would just be easier to declare the 'wall of fabric' ART and never touch it. Touching it is WORK. What you don't use has to be put back; pulling it out causes the fabric above to fall out, then using it is work and cleaning up afterwords is definitely work; I should just watch some television! I'd be entertained and not have a mess to clean up... but then I wouldn't have lovely quilts to look at either.

I left it large so you can click on it and see the quilting better. Yes, I'm touting my own horn; who else will do it? Yes, I know the picture is sideways, if I turn it it will be smaller and you may not be able to see the quilting. My daughter is the expert at cropping so if she would I'd love it. Please?
This is also my OPAM of month for October! yes, I know it's not the 31st yet.

stash report

Does this look familiar? I posted about a different one last year here. The ladies at church are getting better at making these and I have one friend who bound all 5 quilts for us. They were donated yesterday. I did a free-motion loops and leaves on this one. Scraps from many projects; Melissa's quilt, Liz's kindergarten dress, some of my maternity clothes, scraps from my Grandmother, Mother and sister. I really want one of these for myself cause the memories are wonderful.
Close-up of the previous quilt. If y'all look close you will find a scrap of Dad's Halloween costume
I experimented with free-motion baptist fan; it is a bit wonky but I'm happy with the way it looks.

With no shopping and just a bit of additions to report I did pretty good; with a little help from my friends. all the fabric for these 2 quilts came from my stash except for the binding on the large one.

• I won a door prize at Quilt Guild-5 fat quarters! They don't count since I didn't ask for them...
• I figured I added 4 yards when I bought the ocean wave quilt blocks.
• I used 15.5 yards in the above larger quilt. (74 x 98)
• I used 10.5 for the smaller quilt above. (58 x 80)

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 171.5 yards
purchased, changed: 126 yards

So if I add donated to used and then subtract purchased I have a net decrease of 116.5 yards!

Once again Judy has a list of other's trying to USE their stash.

Stash Report

It's been 2 weeks since I reported on my stash; I'm sure y'all missed me last week.

• I finished a Disappearing 4-patch charity quilt since I reported;13 yards out!
  
• I also made name tags for the Quilt Guild; 1 yard in; 2 yards out
• Found the back for Liz's wedding quilt; 9 yards in
• Purchased 2 1/2 yards for a gift and made the gift; 2.5 in, 2.5 out
• 1/4 yard in for the I-Spy quilt I'm making in about 2024 (for Jeffrey's family)
• 11.75 yards gifted; I was given a gift of many fat quarters for doing the retreat for my guild. I don't count gifts as yardage added though.
  

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 145.5 yards
purchased, changed: 122 yards

Next week I should get 2 more charity quilts finished so my numbers will bet even better.

Judy has posted her stash report and a list of many others.

Stash Report!

Finally! I get to count the fabric used in my Triangle Madness. I 'drew' it in EQ7 and it said I used 35 yards just for the top-that would be 44 yards for the whole quilt. After reading some in the EQ7 manual I found out that the shapes in the quilt have a square drawn around then are figured into the yardage. So I recolored the quilt so all the triangles were one color and the rectangles another. Then I halved the triangle amount; it is 15 yards for the triangles. 6 yards for the other pieces. 9 yards for the back. So that makes it 30 yards! It is a very heavy quilt. Here it is in just 2 colors.....

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 128 yards
purchased, same: 109.25 yards

Judy has others that are trying to use their stash; so go on over there and check them out.
I'm still taking names for my give away; learn about it here.

If you are interested in this quilt I have posted my process in lots of places.
The antique from 2009 Quilt show is posted here and here.
I did a bunch of design wall progress posts over the year I worked on it, here, here, and here.
I'm binding it here.
A finish post on my other blog here.

Stash Report

I was supposed to be able to put down the yardage for this quilt today. As you can see I'm not finished binding it. I'm close to the 2nd corner; half done. 100" per side takes awhile to bind. I Got EQ7 this summer and over a period of days I put this quilt in. After working hard to get an approximation of the right colors I looked at the print preview page for yardage requirements. Two pages of fractions to add....so I recolored every patch a bright blue. Now it says that I need 35 yards of blue fabric to piece this! I do not think that is right. So I'll have to do it the old fashioned way. I think it is strange that this is the only quilt in the history of quiltdom (my quiltdom anyway) that the label for the quilt is finished before the quilt.

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 98 yards
purchased, changed: 109.25 yards

Very sad, not! At the quilt guild auction I got a stack of green fabric; 17 yards, for $.37 @yard. I also had to purchase 1/4 yard to finish the binding for Triangle Madness.

If you want to get in on my 900th post give away go to this post.

Go over to Judy's and see how the other stash busters are doing.

Stash report

I managed to use a bit up this week; 3 yards for a new set of headers for the longarm and 1/2 yard to make a monitor cover...what you don't have one of those? To remind our kids that the computer is not to be used until chores are done I made a cover and with buttonholes underneath and a lock threaded through we hope to get them to obey the rule!

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 97.75 yards
purchased, same: 92 yards

Judy has more stashbusters listed here!

I've made some design/quilting choices on my triangle madness; 7 decisions done;

6-8 more to make. I have questions like; should I quilt in the 1 inch triangles? Should I pick out that which I'm no longer crazy about? and do something else in that border? What to do in the Puss in the Corner? the 9-patch? the 4-patch? the inner outside border? And finally the outermost border?
Slowly but surely decisions are made then I can go ahead with the quilting! Luckily I have lots of time to just think about what to do since children, even teenagers, need some attention. Not to mention housework and cooking and exercising....(Friday I increased my pool workout by 1/3 and I am SO SORE!)

stash report

I actually used some fabric in the last 2 weeks instead of just storing it plus I was gone for a week with NO sewing; I knitted 1 dishrag.

• made 2 zipper pouches and had some requests for more. But how much fabric does it take? I just lay the zipper on it and make it a bit longer and then a pleasing depth...maybe a natural 'golden rectangle?' But since it is lined I'll say 1/4 yard each. Pictures are here and here.
• I had a finish! Quilt-wise that is. A small wall-hanging good for -6.75 yards. It is pictured here. I started the quilt in '95 so it only took 15 years to make!

donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 94.25 yards
purchased, same: 92 yards

It looks like I'll make it to 100 yards used...but that purchased amount kind of sticks out; it should be used 100 yards more than purchased so that would mean I need to use 97.75 yards in the next 5 months!

It looks like some of us are really on the ball this week; check out the other stash busters at Judy's blog.

Stash report

I'm in charge of a our congregation making and donating quilts; have been for several years. This year I have a lady that actually also quilts and she has been helping me. She has put together 3 of the tops and I've gotten 1 of them quilted. She is also binding them! A couple of weeks ago I handed her the quilt and the fabric for the binding. The thing about this is that I get to count it against my stash without actually doing any work; how great is that?
Sooo...I 'used' .66667 yards for the 1/2" binding for this quilt (you've seen it before, but the rule in blogger land is: write whatever you want but include a picture....)
donated, same: 71 yards
used, changed: 87 yards
purchased, same: 92 yards

Another week with NO purchases; I mean no fabric purchases.

Check out Judy's blog to see what the other stash busters are doing.

stash busting

Although I have no stash busted I also do not have any stash builder news. I visited 2 new quilt shops and came out empty handed.

The good news is that I figured out how much fabric I need to back the triangle madness; 9 YARDS! AND I have the fabric in my stash. Years ago I decided to make drapes for my dining room and since I worked for a week during Quilt festival at a quilt shop I got paid and got a discount sooo I spent it on fabric for drapes. 11 yards of a reproduction fabric and 11 yards of muslin for the lining. My plan was to make them and when/if I moved I'd be able to use the fabric in a quilt. Well...the drapes never got made and the dining room is now an office AND I got new china so they wouldn't go at all anyway.

What do you think? A good back?

donated, same: 71 yards
used, same: 86.4 yards
purchased, same: 92 yards

Check out Judy's blog to see what the other stash busters are doing.

stash busting

Can you believe it? No change in 2 weeks....

Oops, I'm wrong, I finished a Quilt! how did that slip my mind? One I-spy quilt finished used 16 yards; that's according to EQ7; seems like a lot of fabric for a quilt that is 57 x 67.

donated, same: 71 yards

used, changed: 86.4 yards

purchased, same: 92 yards

slowly inching up to 100!

As always Judy has a list of fellow stash busters.