Stash Report Week 19, 2010

What a relief!! I'm back in the black today!! I finished cutting out the 2009 Thimbleberries quilt and the pieces for the SIS quilt this week! Woo hoo!!

And in spite of plans to go to a couple of quilt shops yesterday with Amy, there was nothing brought in this week! Double Woo hoo!!

I have one more kit that I want to cut and I should be able to get that done today. Then, I will have to decide which kit to work on. :)

Fabric added this week: 0.00
Fabric added year-to-date: 75.81

Fabric used this week: 11.63
Fabric used year-to-date: 76.80

Net Fabric Used: +0.99

Maxie says...

"You could knit a little today, too...."

A bit of fabric and a bit of yarn

Today, I am heading up to Dayton to pick up Amy so we can do a little shop hopping! She is in town for the weekend and is ditching her hubby for a few hours so we can meet and go to a couple of yarn shops and a quilt shop!

Last night, I was working on things to take with me to show Amy and a list of things to look for and I was straightening up my sewing area. I realized that I hadn't shared my accomplishment from Sunday.

I finished cutting all of the fabric for the 2009 Thimbleberries quilt. Months 6 through 12 and all the borders and assembly pieces. Awesome!!!



I also have fabric ready to cut for my SIS quilt, but I haven't gotten around to cutting it yet.

Because of all the sock yarn that I have gotten, I decided that I should pull it all out and see if there is an overabundance of 1 color so that I can make sure to not buy anymore of that color.



I think it is a good mix. If anything, I wear a lot of pink and purple so I could use more of those. IF there are any that are a good deal on sale!

It's not quite as many as I had expected to see. :)

Maisy says...

"You could use more!"

July Accomplishments

With a three day weekend at the beginning of the month, I had a great start to a productive month! Although, some of the productivity involved purchasing a bit of fabric!

Quilty accomplishments

1. Bound the fairy quilt for the shop
2. Assembled a green and brown yellow brick road top for the shop (Both 1 and 2 can be seen here.)
3. Made the June Thimbleberries blocks - 4 total
4. Made 2 blocks for the the Guild's Sew to Win (Both 3 and 4 can be seen here.)
5. Spent a lot of time cutting and organizing scraps
6. Pieced a backing and turned a quilt into the shop to be quilted. I can't wait to see what they do with it!
7. Finished my Jitterbug blocks!
8. Won a giveaway!
9. Went shopping with a peep!
10. Assembled the 2008 quilt shop BOM top
11. Quilted the Milky Way quilt!!!

Non-quilty Accomplishments

1. Saw "Up" in the theater with some great company!
2. Got flowers from a co-worker that brightened up my office for a week!
3. Got my new crocs and happy feet!
4. Watched the first 4 Harry Potter movies - very enjoyable!!

Books read

1. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer - very enjoyable!
2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - made me cry
3. Where are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark - very quick read and good like all of her books
4. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien - awesome! Very interesting look into an owl's life. I liked this one as much as A Lion Called Christian by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall!
5. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith and
6. Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith - I am enjoying the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series! I am almost done with the next one, too!

Now, I need to work on my August Goals. And get some sleep!

Weekend Goals - Updated

I had a great weekend sewing and watching movies!! I was so productive even though I didn't get all of my items done. Here's what I did get done:

1. Binding on fairy quilt - Done!
2. Finish lap size Yellow Brick Road for the shop - Done!
3. Table runner for the shop - not started
4. Thimbleberries blocks for June - 4 blocks - Done!
5. Load Milky Way onto the frame - Done!
6. Cut fabric for a Courier bag - not started
7. Make 2 Guild blocks - Done!
8. Work on the outer pieced border for the 2008 BOM quilt - Done! I actually assembled the center of the quilt and finished the pieced border.
9. Work on the first border for the Wizard of Oz OBW quilt - not even touched
10. Stitchin' Chix bag - not touched
11. Jitterbug Yellow Brick Road - made great progress

Here is the center of the 2008 BOM with the pieced border pieces, too.

And the partial blocks for the Jitterbug Yellow Brick Road.

I'm in good shape for everything I got done. At least, I think so!

And I finished all 4 of the Harry Potter movies. I definitely enjoyed the Goblet of Fire! I think it was my favorite of the 4, but I enjoyed the rest, too!

Saturday accomplishments

Today, I worked on a few things simultaneously. I laid out the center of my 2008 BOM quilt and pieced and cut the Jitterbug Yellow Brick Road strips. I feel like I was more productive with my new set up in the family room than I have been with the machine in my bedroom/sewing room.

I finished my June Thimbleberries blocks.



And the sew to win blocks for the Guild.



I also watched the first 3 Harry Potter movies. Now, while the movies were good and the special effects were awesome, I was a bit let down because there was so much that was left out of the books. I know that they can't add everything to the movies, but they basically skipped over the entire first year! I guess I shouldn't be surprised - they did cut out 2 of Scarlett's children from the Gone with the Wind movie!

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!

Weekend update

I got a lot accomplished yesterday! So far today, not so much. I am still trying to get into my groove.

I finished my March Thimbleberries blocks - 4 total. I have 3 more months prepped and ready to sew - 12 blocks total.



And the 4 May BOM blocks. Just 4 blocks left and I have all of the blocks done. Now, I just need the shop to get on the ball about getting the finishing kit finished.



I finished the tool caddy. It holds different tools to carry along so that you can work on projects on the go. I still need to get a small ruler and square to put in it and the fill it up with a pencil and maybe a couple of other things. I made some of these for a couple of the peeps for retreat.




Here are some of the new Jitterbug fabrics that I got. With the fabrics that I have, I believe that I'm going to make a queen size Yellow Brick Road quilt. :)



And the backing that I got. All of these were $3 a yard fabrics!



And these are the fabrics that I picked up for the One Block Wonder.



And I decided to make myself homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner. It was very yummy!!



OK, now I'm going to try and get some more done!

February Accomplishments

Well, I definitely did not get as much accomplished in February, but I did pick up more hours at the shop. A little more money in the pocket is nice considering the shop hopping that will be happening in April!

1. Finished the Milky Way top
2. Continued working on the binding for Lover’s Lane
3. Finished the Brand X Backpack
4. Pieced the backing for the Milky Way quilt
5. Sewed a little more on the purple log cabin blocks
6. 2 pillowcases for the shop
7. 4 blocks for Thimbleberries BOM
8. Sewed up some HSTs for some blocks for the shop
9. Taught my first class at the shop
10. Began receiving donations for the Quilt Retreat in April for St Jude Children's Research Hospital
11. Ended the month with 15.53 yards used for the year, but it was a bust month because I am lower than I started the month out at. It is NOT supposed to happen that way! Jen - STOP sending me fabric! :)

Oh, and I finished a few books, but I can't remember which ones. And I should be off of extra hours at the shop for a while now so maybe I can get something else done this month. Maybe.

Teaching quilt class

I have my first class under my belt! Woo hoo! Last night, I got to the shop just before the class started to find that the kits for 2 of the students hadn't been cut last December. No worries, I whipped those out real quick and we were on way.

The class is for this wall hanging. It's Vacation Houses by Thimbleberries.



There were 3 ladies taking the class - my dear friend Jeanette and 2 other regular customers in the shop that I have gotten to know while working there. I got them set to the task of cutting their fabric. There was a bit of cutting, but with it being a small wall hanging and only a two part class.

The ladies attending the class had a good time with me, but there was an issue that I probably should not discuss here. I need to try and get the shop owner to deal with the issue because Jeanette mentioned that it made her uncomfortable, although sitting through the class, I could tell that what was going on was making Jeanette uncomfortable. Hopefully, it will be remedied.

All in all, it was a good class and I believe that the ladies will have their wall hangings done next Tuesday. I will post pictures if they let me take them. I'm sure Jeanette will! :)

Quiltathon Part 2

I am heading to bed, but I made more progress and just couldn't to post the pictures and my weekend goals update.

I finished up my Thimbleberries blocks! Since the class was Thursday, I got them done way earlier than last month!



I sewed up a bunch of HSTs for the different blocks that I am making. I still have to iron them and trim them up, but they are sewn and cut apart and the papers have been removed. Awesome!



Tomorrow, I will tackle the ironing.

Goals update:

1. Clean house for sewing guests
2. Make cupcakes for shop
3. Make blocks for sampler for shop - started
4. Finish Thimbleberries blocks
5. February's BOM blocks - started
6. Pillowcases for shop
7. Prep for class on Tuesday night
8. Work on binding on Lover's Lane

I really need to get on those cupcakes, too. I am nervous to do them because they are applique and not a pieced pattern. I just need to force myself to sit down and get them done!

But I feel great because I have been busting some stash! Woo hoo!

January Accomplishments

With the Waun-A-Quilt challenge, I really got a lot done! I have also been doing what I can to fit quilting in at any given time - at work during lunch, in the mornings before getting ready for work and, even when I get home from work around 8 and am very tired, I usually have binding that I can sit and work on. It would have been interesting to see how much time I accumulated this month while quilting.

1. Finished the binding and attached the label to the red and cream log cabin
2. Made a rice bag to help in healing me of my Cold That Would Not Leave.
3. Finished the binding on the green and orange table topper which I still need to ship off
4. Worked a little more on the purple Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin
5. Began tracking my net fabric used - to date it is 18.02
6. Quilted and bound 3 Kid Komforts quilt for the Guild
7. Took a machine applique class and loved it! Now, I have to finish a sample for the shop...
8. Made 8 pillowcases entirely from stash!
9. Completed the Cafe au Lait in Every Pot quilt which included finishing the top, quilting, binding and adding the label! Have I mentioned how much I love having Lenny and Squiggy, the machine frame and Mega Quilter? giggle
10. Made 24 criss cross coasters
11. Finished three 6.5" blocks and one 12.5" blocks for the Thimbleberries Club
12. Helped Linda quilt a Nickel quilt on Lenny and Squiggy
13. Made a top for a shop sample
14. Worked on the final pieced border for my Milky Way quilt - more than halfway done! woo hoo!
15. Made 4 coffee placemats
16. Quilted and attached the binding on Lover's Lane. I also have the label ready to be hand sewn down, too.
17. Made 4 blocks for the Teal and Brown $2 a block BOM

Wow! That is a lot!

Wait a minute... I feel like I'm missing something here....

Oh, yeah! I beat Jen in the untweaked version of Waun-A-Quilt! Woo hoo!! But we were even in the tweaked version, so I am still calling it a tie! :)

OK, I am off to try and finish my Milky Way top tonight! I don't have too much farther to go!

Weekend Update

Well, I guess that making my list kept me on task and I was fairly productive. I didn’t get everything finished, but I got enough done to make me happy.

I already showed the cutting that I finished. Here are the placemats for my aunt who hosted Christmas.



And my Thimbleberries blocks for the BOM. I made one 12.5” and three 6.5”. Check out those points! It certainly pays to take my time.





And presenting a labeled and freshly washed Café au Lait in Every Pot. Ninja approved!



And I loaded Lover’s Lane on the frame and made a couple of passes so far. I decided against doing hearts because I was still not comfortable doing them on a real quilt. And I think that the close loops looks great so far!




I’m using a pink and brown variegated Lava thread by Superior. It is just lovely! And it really pops on the dark brown inner border!

For a final recap, my goals were:

1. 4 Thimbleberries blocks - DONE
2. 4 blocks for Teal BOM - not done
3. Quilt Lover's Lane including label - Well, the label has been made, but it is going to be hand stitched to the quilt. The quilt has been loaded and a couple of passes have been made. I should finish it tonight.
4. Cut pieces for Thangles Milky Way's last border - DONE
5. 4 placemats - DONE
6. Attach binding to umbrella quilt - not done, but the binding is ready
7. Cut pieces and begin assembly on a sample for the shop - Well, the pieces have been cut. And I will start drawing my lines at lunch today for the HST blocks.

I am calling this a successful weekend even though 1 item was not started and 3 items are not completed. I still got a lot done and some things finished that weren't even on the list. And I feel relaxed and refreshed today. Now, let's see if that holds up once I get to work.

Sooo Productive!

Well, I am giving up for the night. I got a lot done today and I have a little bit of time in the morning before going to work to finish up some blocks, but right now, my eyes are starting to burn.

Let's see, I cut fabric for a quilt for the shop and for a final pieced border for another quilt. I finished 4 placemats. I made 2 labels for quilts. I pieced a backing for my Lover's Lane quilt. I cut binding for a Kid Komfort quilt and I started working on finishing all of the Thimbleberries blocks for the BOM.

I think that my labels look good and they just need to be hand stitched to the quilts. And I am happy to have the placemats done and out of the way.

For now, I am off to bed. The ninjas are giving me the eye to let me know they are tired. I guess all the sleeping that they did today while I sewed really wore them out. :)

Weekend Goals

I am off of work tomorrow and I have been planning on my sewing goals for the weekend since, oh about Tuesday! Tonight, I am going to my sister's for my nephew's birthday party. He loves the movie Cars and Lightning McQueen so I have some things for him from that. I'm sure he will love them!

Anyway, back to the subject. As soon as I leave there tonight, I am a free woman until 11:45 AM on Sunday when I have to be at the shop to work. I have snacks at the house, a fairly full TiVo, an iron ready to steam away and Squiggy ready to sew some more hearts!

My goals -

1. 4 Thimbleberries BOM blocks
2. 4 blocks for the Teal and brown BOM quilt from the shop
3. Quilt Lover's Lane which will include preparing a label so that it can be quilted into the quilt instead of sewn on after the fact
4. Cut pieces for the Thangles Milky Way's last border
5. 4 placemats
6. Attach binding to the umbrella quilt quilted last night
7. Cut pieces and begin assembly on a sample for the shop

Hmmmm, too lofty? I don't think so. I guess we will see by around 2 PM tomorrow how well I am doing. Check back! I hope to have a pretty good stash report on Sunday!

Stash Report Week 3

Well, this past week was beginning of the BOMs so I had some fabric coming in, but it all relates to the $2 a block BOM and the Thimbleberries BOM through the shop. I was hoping to have the blocks done so that the fabric could be counted as a bust in the same week, but it just didn't happen. Maybe this week. That's a mini-goal for me for the week.

Fabric added this week: 3.06
Fabric added year-to-date: 10.56

Fabric used this week: 6.53
Fabric used year-to-date: 19.85
Net Fabric Used: 10.04

I'm still doing well here. I wonder how much longer this will last....

Thursday Waun-A-Quilt Update

First things first - here are the standing for the challenge between me and Jen.

Me - 7920.8
Jen - 7918.4

That's right! I am in the lead! Woo hoo!! I'm sure this will change real soon, but I'm happy to post that I'm in the lead right now!

OK, onto the pictures.

I have done a bit of sewing this week. I had a quilt on the frame ready to be quilted. Then, I had some major issues with the bobbin thread constantly breaking. I think that I have determined that I had 2 different types of bobbins. I received 4 with the Mega Quilter, Squiggy, and I got another 6 or 7 from the shop where I bought the machine and frame, Lenny. Then, I bought 30 from eBay. The problem is that some of the bobbins that I have used recently are slightly different. I guess that using bobbins that were smidgen too big tweaked the bobbin's tension and everything was out of whack. I spent some time on Monday night trying to get things working, but I gave up. Last night, I was finally able to get Squiggy working well enough to get the Kid Komfort quilt done and off the frame. But there was a lot of irritation and a few curses. I was very upset!



I practiced with a fairly dense stipple because that is what I want to do on the Chicken quilt. Except for the tension issues, I think it turned out well. I used a Superior Lava variegated pink on top and various Bottom Lines on the bottom.



Once I was done with the quilting, I worked on a couple of coasters - I Love Lucy fabric and some Califon.



And tonight, I had my first meeting of the Thimbleberries Club at the shop. For you non-quilters, Thimbleberries is a line of fabrics that has a country/rustic feel to it. I had a good time, but I didn't get a lot finished because I wasn't used to the format. I did get to use the Eleanor Burns flying geese ruler and my geese turned out marvelously! I think I have a new tool!



I should be able to get the rest of this block and the other 3 put together this weekend so expect more pictures.

Oh, and I took my bobbins and the case with me because I was sure that there would be ladies there who could help with the tension issue. We fiddled with the case and bobbins and wasted a lot of thread by pulling it through and having it break. When I got home, I loaded some muslin on the frame and tested it out and it works great again. And I realized that it was the 6 or 7 bobbins that I got from the shop that were bad. It's a good thing that I didn't pay for them! I should have realized when the sales lady was trying to get me to buy regular sewing machine needles for the Mega Quilter when it takes HLx5 needles, or something like that, that are more industrial needles. Sheesh! Well, it's working and that is what counts!