Too much to write about....

There is so much to write about from the last 3 nights! This may be a picture heavy post, but it really all relates. :)

Wednesday night was the last Beginning Knitting class. I've already shown the progress of the current dish cloth in this post, but I can assure you that it is coming along beautifully! I can't wait to finish this one! But I do have pictures to share of the baby cap that I started on double pointed needles. The yarn is so thin and soft! It's Dreambaby D.K.



Last night, I finished the binding on the dog quilt and found buttons to sew onto the two dog face blocks. OK, when I say found, I mean that I cut them off of a blazer because I didn't realize until 10:30 that I forgot to pick them up and I didn't want to be rushing this morning. I can always replace the buttons on the blazer!



I had to take the pictures at work and didn't want to draw attention to the quilt by asking someone else to hold it up so I sort of pinned it to my bulletin board and draped it. It doesn't look too different from the last picture of it. Oh and my co-worker loves it! I can't wait to hear what her daughter thinks of it!



Since I took the first knitting class, I have been surfing the net for free patterns. I found an awesome pattern for a crocheted afghan on the Lion website and I just have to make it! Luckily, the yarn that I choose to use for it was on sale at Michael's this week! And once I got the balance that was owed for making the dog quilt, I headed straight there!!!



I substituted a less expensive brand of yarn for the pattern, but I think that these colors are still true to the pattern. And of course, while I was at Michael's I looked around and found a few things that I had to have!



The Sugar 'N Cream is still on sale so I picked up a few more skeins to add to last week's purchases. I have knitting needles in size 7 and 9 so I picked up 8's and another skein on sale of a soft yarn for baby caps and more practice. The dish cloth book was on sale, too, and the patterns are very neat!

After all of the excitement at Michael's, I came home and finished the rest of the swap blocks, packaged up everything to be mailed out and straightened the bedroom up. Quite a productive few nights!

Progress this week

The eveings so far this week have been spent working on the binding for the dog quilt. I have to take the finished quilt with me to work on Friday and I have 1 evening and 1 long side left of binding. I think I can get it done! And I have plenty of TV shows to watch so the night should go relatively fast! Wish me luck! I think it is turning out so cute!

I also finished a couple of blocks tonight to mail tomorrow to international locations. I will finish the rest of the blocks and send them off on Saturday. The blocks are for the Tran-Quilt-ity yahoo group's first swap! Our theme for the swap was Favorite Block/Thing. Of course, I had to use my favorite novelty fabric - the dogs - and constrasting color - the pink - to make an Ohio star block! It also has my favorite piecing technique - triangles!



Tonight was the last Beginner Knitting class and we actually had the shop owner, Christina, with us tonight. Linda and the other student and her granddaughter were just a joy to be in class with. The other student, also a Linda, mentioned how she was going to miss us having class together and knitting. We have plans to take the sock class in January! And because we wanted to learn socks, Christina had us get very soft and thin yarn and double sided needles to practice the technique we would need for the socks so we both started baby caps. All I can say is that using 3 needles at the same time is AWKWARD!! But after a couple of rounds, we acclimated and were sailing through until it was time to leave.

And I leave you with the beginnings of another dishcloth. It's from a pattern that I got at the last class and there is 14 rows done so far. It is a very neat pattern and I had to learn 2 new stitches for it which I did Monday! And the yarn is just yummy! I love the soft colors and how the changes are grouped together in the rows. I hope that this continues! I think that Knitting and I are getting along FABULOUSLY!!



Watch out sock patterns.... Here I come! LOl

Stash Report Week 45

In spite of my semi-break down this week about the stash reporting, I decided to continue reporting my numbers. Partly because I didn't buy any fabric except for the needed border strip and partly because I busted a backing! lol

Fabric added this week: 0.15
Fabric added year-to-date: 299.25

Fabric used this week: 4.40
Fabric used year-to-date: 175.57

Net Fabric Used: -123.68

Now, I'm off to quilt this dang dog quilt so that I can finish it! Then, I'm off to try and bust more stash!

A couple of things done

And crossed off of the November Goals!

This first thing wasn't on the goals, but I figured that since I have a large quilt to quilt that I would work this small one up quickly just to check the machine.



Now, I can attach the binding and have that to work on as needed.



On Thursday night, I finished the dog quilt top, but I waited until today to get a good picture since I was going to be at the shop and could hang it on the wall. I'm going to quilt it with a black and white variegated thread.



And last night, I got the borders on the Radiant Star quilt and I got a picture of it while I was at the shop today, too. Looks good!



Tonight, after my nap when I got home from the shop, I loaded the dog quilt on the frame. I will get it quilted tomorrow and start working on the binding. I can't wait to finish this quilt!

Damn you, Stash Report!

I started quilting in January 2007. Almost three years ago. When I started quilting, I was never sure about my fabric choices, so I always looked at and purchased kits. It was just easy! A table runner here, a baby quilt there… Before you know it though, those kits start piling up waiting to be worked on and they add up to a lot of fabric purchased!

 

Once I started getting comfortable with picking my own fabrics for projects, I was in big trouble! I was buying fabric when it was on sale and without a specific project in mind! My spare bedroom was no longer the "spare" bedroom … it became the STASH room. I needed tubs to put kits in, shelves to store the tubs and the fabric, drawers to stuff smaller things in. I needed to start organizing my … gasp …. STASH!

 

I realized at the beginning of this year, that I needed to stop and take stock! I thought that the weekly Stash Reports and the support that comes with the reporting would be just the ticket. It worked for a couple of months. I did start the year off with a negative 6.75 yards, but I pulled that out and had a net busted number until March 8. Through March, I wobbled a little and I was doing pretty well until the quilt retreat weekend at the end of April. There was some shop hopping and I won some fabric at the quilt retreat and… Well, there was never a big chance of me having a net busted number for the rest of the year.

 

For the most part, reporting the stash every week has made me more conscious of what I am looking at in shops and whether I really need to buy any of it. I ask myself, "Do I really need this? Do I have a specific project in mind? Do I have something at home in the Stash Room that would work just as well?" Most of the time, I can admire the fabric from afar and make a mental note of it in case a project comes up that would fit the fabric.

 

I think that I have been doing well – using a fair amount of fabric and not buying everything in sight, but still buying for projects that I plan on working on in the near future.

 

Something happened this week, though, that brought back a memory from August and a new thought occurred to me. Are my stash busting efforts effecting the completion of current projects? Or even UFOs? Am I taking the stash busting mentality to a different extreme?

 

In August, I was putting the binding on the Milky Way quilt and, as I got to the third side, I kept thinking, "There doesn't seem to be enough binding." Sure enough, I only had about 5 inches when I finished the third side. And I know that I had used all of the binding fabric that I purchased in April. I remember calculating the yardage I would need myself. I was two strips short. Two strips!!!

 

At the time, I didn't worry too much about it. I just chalked it up to a miscalculation. Nothing more.

 

BUT!!!

 

Wednesday night, I was sewing along on the dog quilt. I got to the last side and the strip was short! I ran out of border fabric! I have one side left to add a border to and I am one strip short!! I had a flashback to the Milky Way quilt and immediately thought of the stash reports. I think that this stash reporting is causing me to try and stretch fabric as far as I can and sometimes it's just not far enough!

 

It gets better! Last night, I ran to the shop and got the fabric that I needed to finish the top. I knew that I had batting in the basement and I had been saving it for this quilt so I was good on the batting, right? (Do you see where this is heading?)

 

After getting the fabric, I ran back to the house, threw the last border on, raced to the basement with thoughts of loading the quilt and making a few passes before dropping into bed exhausted. When I got to the basement and picked up the batting, I knew that I was in trouble. It was half the size that I needed. Thank God for Joann's and 40% off coupons!!!

 

Damn you, Stash Reports! I will no longer allow you to ruin my quilting plans!

 

Wait…. This sounds like a good chant!

 

Stash Reports be damned! Buy all the fabric you want!

 

Who's with me?

November Goals

I have been trying to manage my time a little better by making monthly goals. I make a list of things that I need to get done during the month and then a couple of things that I would like to do if I get some free time. In October, I made the list up early and it kept me on track for the month, but I didn't post the goals on my blog.

For November, I have made up my list and it is now written on my white board and hanging out in my sewing room. I thought that I would share the white board with you.



The big things that are on the list are to finish the dog quilt, finish another comfort quilt, finish the shop quilt and work on some things that could be Christmas presents if they are done in time.

I can't wait to start marking things off the list as I get them done!

Dog blocks and dog tired

My dad is in town this week and my granma had dinner for the whole family so that everyone could see him. I met up with him for brunch at IHOP and, after running some errands, we came back to my house and got my little dogs. They were very excited to see him and remembered him from the last time they saw him more than 2 years ago! The dogs were happy to see everyone at Granma's house, too, and the kids were tickled pink to have small dogs to chase after. Ethan, my 4 year old nephew, kept chasing Max around saying, "Hey, you! Come here, guys!" And all the kids had a blast playing fetch with Max and tug of war with Maisy. I wish I had my camera to get some shots. Before we left the house, the dogs were crashed on Granma's couch.

When I got home, I started working on assembling the last blocks for the dog quilt. I realized that I was not being watched while I sewed.

Max barely opened his eyes when I turned the camera on.

And this look just says, "Why ... WHY must you bother me????"

And after two and a half hours, I finished all the blocks. I have the sashing, cornerstones and border already cut so I can start assembling the top tomorrow or Wednesday night.



Soon I can move onto something else! And I already have the next 3 projects or so lined up! :)

October Accomplishments

This should be a very good list! It was a great month!

1. Got a great package from Heather in California!
2. Finished a baby quilt top for the shop
3. Had dinner with Barb, her aunt and Lucy at IHOP. Barb and I also hopped on a different day and I had the pumpkin pancakes. Yum!!
4. Completely finished the On the Way to Oz quilt
5. Got a box of books and a purse to donate to the Guild for fund raising
6. Assembled the center of a Radiant Star quilt for the shop
7. Started taking knitting classes
8. Won a Judge's Choice ribbon on Lover's Lane at the Indianapolis Quilt Show
9. Finally started the dog sampler quilt. Made 4 blocks and cut the fabric for the rest of the quilt.
10. Made a knitted dish cloth

Ok, it may not look like a lot and there are a couple of things in there that aren't craft related, but I got some very big things done!

Books finished

1. 5th Horseman by James Patterson
2. 6th Target by James Patterson
3. 7th Heaven by James Patterson
4. 8th Confession by James Patterson - the most recent book in this series and I enjoyed all of them. I'm moving on to another of his series.
5. The Parting by Beverly Lewis
6. The Forbidden by Beverly Lewis - The first 2 books in the Nellie Fisher series. Very enjoyable!

Now, it's bedtime!

Stash Report - Week 44

I started working on the dog quilt this week! This means that I busted stash!! I got the binding, border, sashing and blocks cut out and used over 8.5 yards doing this!

I bought yardage for a border for a different comfort quilt that I am helping with. And while I was adding these items to my spreadsheet, I saw that I had a small error from last week and I corrected it in this week's report.


Fabric added this week: 2.71
Fabric added year-to-date: 299.10

Fabric used this week: 8.57
Fabric used year-to-date: 171.17

Net Fabric Used: -127.93


Pretty good! I'm hoping to just keep using as much as I am bringing in for the rest of the year. And I am making great progress on the blocks for the dog quilt so I will have new pictures to show by the end of the day! I'm going to try to get them all finished today!

Dish cloth... DONE!

This morning, I just couldn't take it anymore and I had to finish the last 10 or so rows to finish this dish cloth.



Once I got it done, I saw that the yarn was 60% cotton/40& acrylic and dish cloths should be done with 100% cotton. So I am not sure how this will fare or what the outcome will be for its use. I have tried to find some information online about what the yarn composition should be various types of things, but I haven't been able to find anything.

Oh well, at least this is done! :)

And I have gotten most of the fabric cut for the dog quilt and now I have to start sewing! I'm hoping to have it done fairly quickly so that I can move onto something else!