2009 in Review

After a little encouragement from my quiting buddy Jennifer, I went through my year to see what all I accomplished. I didn't keep track of 2008 so this will be my baseline year. :)

It was quite an exciting year for me! I upgraded to my Janome 6600P in March, met Bonnie Hunter in August and learned to knit in October! Helped organize the April St Jude Retreat and we had our best turnout in the 3 years since it started and raised a great amount of money!! It was awesome meeting some of my blogger friends in person, too!

Hmmmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something....

OH YEAH!!! Brought home a Judge's Choice Ribbon from the Indy Quilt Show in April!!!

OK, onto the breakdown of quilting/sewing for the year. A small disclaimer - since I seem to have so many projects in differing stages of completeness and there are a few that I only quilted without assembling the top, this is broken down a little more than Jennifer's.

My 2009 accomplishments:

Quilts finished this year (either completely finished or that I have finished my part of) - 21
Binding only - 4 (1 baby, 1 lap, 1 table topper, 1 large quilt)
Quilting only - 2 (1 baby, 1 large - Milky Way)
Quilting and binding - 8 (6 baby, 2 large)
Top and binding - 3 (2 lap, 1 large - Wizard of Oz One Block Wonder)
Top and quilting - 2
Complete quilts - 2 (Cafe Au Lait and commissioned dog quilt)

Quilted for others - 5 (1 baby, 3 lap, 1 twin)
Tops assembled, not quilted - 7 (2 baby, 2 lap, 3 large)
Blocks made for 4 other quilts, but the top assembly has not begun yet. There were also blocks made for 4 comfort quilts throughout the year and 10 blocks for various Guild functions.

Bags - 4
Wall hangings, table runners - 3
Place mats - 15

And Miscellaneous sewing-
Pants - 4 pairs
Pillowcases - 12
Tool Caddy's - 6
Wallets - 7
Rice bags - 23
Coasters - 7 sets
Thread Catcher - 1
Block Butlers - 5
Oven Mitt - 1

Knitted 10 dishcloths and 2 baby caps and crocheted a decorative edging on fleece for a lovely blanket.

Oh and it should be added that of all of this, 8 of the quilts that I completed were for my Guild's Kid Komforts that go to needy children, the 2 baby caps will be donated to a local hospital's NICU unit and the crocheted blanket will go to Project Linus.

Weekend Goals Update

Well, I did pretty well over the weekend on getting some things done. Unfortunately, I think I ran JJ, my machine, too much because she ended up making a crunching noise and stopped sewing around 6:30 Monday night.

1. Finish the last 4 Teal BOM blocks to catch up
2. Sew the 12 to 16 blocks for the Thimbleberries BOM to catch up or get ahead for June, too. I got through May and stopped and saved June for the June class.
3. Prep the Milky Way Binding
4. Quilt a charity quilt to practice my stars before loading Milky Way
5. Red White and Blue blocks to send to Jen for a comfort quilt
6. Make myself a tool caddy
7. Work on my 2008 Red and Cream BOM quilt top
8. Make myself a wallet from the class that I audited. I have fabric cut.
9. Work on the Market Square binding for the shop's sample. I'm still only a third of the way done on this now.
10. Use some fabric!! That stash report is sure looking sorry! I've been doing pretty good on this! I used over 7.5 yards so far! That was for last week's report and now I need to use more for this week.

I still think I got a lot done, but I'm bummed that I had to stop when I did. I'm taking the machine into the shop tonight so I am hoping that I can get it back on Saturday so I can have another productive weekend!

5 out of 10

From my weekend goals list 5 out of 10 items are done. Woo hoo!! Last night, I cleaned my room and put all of my laundry away. It felt really nice waking up to no messes!

This morning, I had a Sewing Machine Basics class at Sew Ezy, the shop where I got my Janome. Pam, the owner, taught the class and I learned so much! I can't wait to take the next class on the machine to learn more about the special stitches that I can do. If anyone in the Cincinnati area is in the market for a machine, I highly recommend going to see Pam!

After class, I ran to Target and found a couple of things I needed. Then, I stopped by the library and went for lunch. By the time I came home, I was so sleepy. I decided to lay down for a nap.... 3 hours later....

Anyway, when I got up and got the dogs situated, I went to the basement and quilted! It took about 3 hours and I was done with Regina's Boy Scout quilt!



The center of the quilt is an appliqued badge that Regina wanted to stand out somehow. I used a greenish brown variegated on the rest of the quilt, but didn't think that it would stand out too well on the red. I switched to a red top thread and did a very dense stipple just on the red. I think it looks pretty good.



Now, though, I am whooped. Nothing else accomplished. I think it's time to hit the sack!

March Accomplishments

My list is a little light on quilty items for the month, but I did go 2 weeks without a sewing machine to piece on. I know that April will be a lot better because of the quilt retreat that starts in 3 weeks. :)

1. Had a session of Ninja Toy ER where I sewed up about 300 (ok, like 10) toys, much to the excitement of the ninjas.
2. Finished loading up the closet with my clothes
3. Cleaned for days and days and days!
4. Hung some hardware and 2 sets of blinds in preparation for my guests this month
5. Prepped 20 kits for the new guild’s friendly block swap
6. Quilted Wagon Wheels and attached the binding. Still waiting to hand sew it down.
7. Had a birthday and got a very cute little cake from KT and Sarah that I didn’t have to share with anyone! Being single ROCKS!!
8. Finished the 4 February teal BOM blocks
9. Finished 4 blocks and assembled a top for a super secret project
10. BOUGHT A NEW MACHINE!!! JJ is a Janome 6600!
11. Made 4 cupcake place mats and a cupcake table runner for the shop.
12. I also finished at least 2 if not 3 books from the iPod. I just can’t remember all of them off the top of my head.
13. Oh, and I received a TON of donations for the quilt retreat!

Weekly Stash report - Week 13

I did a little better this week with finishing a quilt top and using some fabric. Since buying the new machine, JJ, I should be using up a lot more fabric! No more fighting the machine!

Fabric added this week: 0
Fabric added year-to-date: 37.50

Fabric used this week: 2.56
Fabric used year-to-date: 40.78

Net Fabric Used: 3.28

I have quite a few things on my to do list for retreat and I should be getting them started real soon so that will help my numbers too.

Now, I'm off to nap so that I can sew this evening!

It is 1 AM

And I am still awake. I have been sewing all night! JJ and I are getting to know each other. She is lovely!!

We got the cupcakes finished.



All I have left to do is sew a 'cherry' button on 4 for placemats and then sew the other 4 into a table runner and then add their buttons. It's all hand work. And now I'm tired. So I'm going to bed. I have to work tomorrow. *sigh* I will be thinking about JJ all day, I'm sure.

R.I.P. Bubba ... and Introducing...

I tried all morning to get Bubba to replicate the noise it was making. Once it finally did, I changed the thread so that I could take it back to the shop and then it wouldn't sew at all! I messed with it and talked to Jen online a little and decided that I was tired of messing with the hassle that he kept giving me. It's been one thing after another for the last year.

So, I decided to trade him in. It was a tough decision, but I really don't want to start hating to use the machine to do anything!

So..... I went and looked at a machine at a couple of the local shops. One shop gave me a really good price with the trade in. I left and thought about it and when I went back, she gave me an even better deal and threw in a $50 foot!

This is what I got!



It's a Janome 6600 and I think it's a great upgrade! I've decided that since it's an upgrade, this machine is a female and her name is JJ.



As you can see, I've tied her out and I LOVE HER!! Now, I have to get busy and finish my cupcakes for the shop. I should really be able to bust these projects out now!