Swap Received!

Wednesday night, I got my swap from Cass at the CMQG meeting.

I got this adorable little doxie pin cushion that is now on my desk at the office to keep me company.



And she made this doxie pillow.



Oh darn! I should have gotten Max's face in the picture since he was being such a good boy to model the pillow!

On the back of the pillow is a Dachshund Christmas fabric!



This is just the best swap gift!! Thanks, Cass!

A bit of sewing

Last night, I made spool blocks for a swap that I signed up for. I am heading to the post office in a few minutes to send them off! The blocks are made from a pattern found here.



I got the pieces all cut and pieced last night and I just needed to press the final seams this morning. And while I was doing that, I pressed and assembled part of Moon Pie - the quilt on my wall.



It was so quick, I can't believe that it took me so long to get it this far!

It's been a while since I have done any sewing and I stayed up late last night getting the blocks done. It felt great!!

Today, I will be working on emptying these boxes!!





But first, I need some food! Happy Saturday!

Stash Report Week 15, 2011

This was an exciting week for the stash reports! There were some purchases and some usage... Very exciting!

First, I was able to get the rest of the flamingo and Maxine quilts cut out. Now they are ready for sewing!



I also cut some strips and FQs for this year's SIS swap. Regina, her sister Sue and I have picked a pattern and are swapping Christmas fabrics. They both had their fabrics ready when they got here, but I had to pick up a few FQs from the show this weekend to add to the fabrics I had on hand. I finally got the strips cut just before Sue left to go home.

And I had a delivery from the Fat Quarter Shop this week! I mentioned that I had poked buttons last weekend and my Bella Solids fabrics arrived on Thursday. I was able to open the box and enjoy the wonderfulness with all the ladies here for the show! This is 28 yards of stone, Hershey, soft finish black, snow, sisters pink, red, natural and purple. And this fabric feels so yummy! I can't wait to start using it on some scrappy quilts!



I did get some fabric at the IQF show and the Fabric Shack, but it's still not organized so it will be added to next week's report. Well, it's not organized and I'm sure it will put me in the negative so I am stopping here. :-D

Fabric added this week: 29.25
Fabric added year-to-date: 42.78

Fabric used this week: 12.43
Fabric used year-to-date: 44.14

Net Fabric Used: 1.36

So very close to a net of zero right now!! Whew!!

Initiation

I am being initiated into an annual quilt swap project! This year, it's being called the Sister Initiation Swap (SIS) and it involves Regina and her Lazy Sister Sue. This is their third year of swapping background fabrics or bright fabrics to make a quilt using the same pattern. In the past, I know that they used a pattern from Quiltville, but this time, we are using a pattern from Mary's pattern site.

I'm very excited about being asked to join in the fun! We had a due date of April 1 to send out all of our fabrics. Mine were sent in early March!

I got Regina's a few weeks ago, but I wanted to wait to post about both sets at the same time. Also, I am not counting these fabrics as fabric in on my stash report because I didn't count the fabric that I sent as fabric out when I sent it. I will count what I use as used on the report once I decide what my main fabric will be and which pieces I will use in the quilt.

Here are the strips from Regina.



And here are the goodies that Sue sent - she included a couple of belated birthday goodies!! I love the little bag!



Regina is going to be secretive of what her main color is, but I know that Sue is using red. I'm tired of not being able to show pictures and since I have started another big project that is going to be a secret until December, I will share my progress on this project. But not until I decide what my color will be. :)

The pups say...


"We wish someone would have sent belly rubs!"

My Secret Valentine

On the Tran-Quilt-ity Yahoo group, we had a Secret Valentine swap. I had so much fun buying little things for my partner and I sent it off without taking a picture of everything. Since she has opened the box already, she will have to post all the goodies that I sent to her. :)

I got my package in the mail today! It came all the way from Malaysia!! Zarina had me as her partner and she sent me a very pretty scarf! (Pardon the clutter in the picture.) This picture is very close to the true color of the scarf. I'm going to have to see if I have something that I can wear this with....



Thanks, Zarina! It's very pretty!!!

The last of Christmas....

The last of the Christmas swap got here yesterday from Heather! It was HEAVY!!! I got the first box last Wednesday, but Heather said I had to wait until I got the big box to open either one of them. Here are the 2 boxes together.



I got the tops open while I waited for Heather to be available for us to chat while I pulled everything out and opened the presents.



And here are all the presents laid out that represent the letters in 'Merry Christmas' and, man, there are some big presents!



And here are the extras that she used to stuff the boxes. I had trouble putting the letter items in line because I was looking at everything else that was sent!



I started opening the letters and was so excited that I didn't take pictures of every individual thing. I also thought that it would make this post too picture heavy.

Here is the list of what Heather sent -

M - a 'man' - a Gingerbread man!

Isn't he just adorable! I'm thinking that he could just be stuck on the kitchen counter and I could change out his vest with the seasons!



E - Elfin slippers

These are too cute!! The dogs loved the pom poms on the front and they are so warm!!! Love them!!



R - R you cold? You won't be after some cocoa. even your mug has a cute sweater
R - Rudolf knee highs aren't they cute?
Y - yarn to make some dish clothes

C - Crochet Hooks
H - Hook Organizer (a Heather original)
R - 'R"elax drinks to relax with (martini's for one)
I - ice cream candy (and cookie dough lip gloss)
S - stretch socks yarn
T - Tool Case To keep everything together
M - Moda Charms and a pattern to go with
A - All Year Long.. a calendar to keep track of your quilt dates
S - Stocking full of all sorts of goodies to help you relax after a long week.

Oh my gosh!!! The box was fantastic!! I was too excited about one thing to move on and open the next one! And the dogs were very excited and walking all over everything trying to smell the chocolate and the scented things. They were going crazy!!

I sorted the goodies to take pictures to show them all off! Here are the food and drink type goodies. And mittens. :)



Here are the holiday type things. The blue socks will work for Valentine's Day, too! They have a coffee mug on them. And Rudolph knee highs!! lol



These are the crafty type items - yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles, a tool caddy and hook and needle holder! I was looking at making myself one of the needle holders so this is very timely!! And I can't wait to use the sock yarn! It looks yummy! And a very cool charm party with charm packs to use with it!



And some bath and miscellaneous items. Facials, pedicure kit, hair wrap and hair band, a pillowcase and lots of chocolate!



Thank you, Heather!!! I love it all!!! I'm so excited to use the things and to just enjoy the goodies. You are the best!!!

Heather's Christmas Swap

Sometime in November, Heather and I decided that we would do a Christmas swap. We discussed our options and decided that we would take the phrase "Merry Christmas" and do a little something that represents each letter. It was a little difficult finding something for all the R's, but I managed! Here is the loot that I sent to her.



I mailed the box on Monday and she got it on Christmas Eve! We were texting back and forth as she opened the presents and I think that she loved everything! I had a good time picking out items for the letters and deciding what to make for her. I'm so happy that she liked everything!

Her box to me is a little late because she got bronchitis and has been under the weather for a couple of weeks now. Hope you feel better soon, Heather! And I can't wait to see my goodies! ;)

Swap Blocks

This week was my last week at work before a week long vacation. It seemed to drag on forever! I'm so happy to be out of the office for the next 9 days and have plans to just stay home with my dogs and relax. I can't believe that I made plans to spend this week anywhere else. And I can't begin to explain how relieved I am to not be packing up the car right now to travel anywhere else to spend the week sewing! Honestly, it's like a weight was lifted 5 months ago, but I am still enjoying the change even now! :)

Anyway, one of the Yahoo groups that I am in had a block swap. I was the hostess so everyone sent their blocks to me and I got some goodies, too! Now that everyone has gotten their packages, I can share my pictures.

Gina - with some extra goodies for me!







Maureen

Zarina

Cheryl

Shellie

Regina

I love all of the blocks and I can't wait to put them into a quilt!

Also, in the process of assembling my blocks, I was working on the dog quilt. As soon as I trimmed up the edges and was working on the binding, I turned and saw this:



They couldn't wait for me to work on the binding! They had to test it out as soon as it touched the floor!

Yarn news

Over the weekend, I took a mini break from fabric. Well, Friday night, I did finish my swap blocks and prepped the packages, but that was all that I did with fabric the whole weekend. I had plans to work on more, but it didn't happen.

Saturday morning, I signed up on Ravelry with the ID of JillQuilts. After that, I ran some errands - post office, grocery, etc - and then got back home around 1. The dogs and I ate and then I ended up ripping the paper off of 5 paper pieced blocks from Heather. Ok, so this was fabric related, but this was it, I promise! LOL

I decided that the bedrooms and sewing area needed a good once over and after a few hours, the dogs told me it was time to nap! But I was too amped up to nap so I picked up my knitting. I ended up knitting and crocheting and watching TV for the rest of the weekend. So relaxing! And great quality time with the dogs! Max was very happy!

Here is what I got done - a dishcloth that I started last Monday night... I think that I got the right side and the wrong side messed up when I did the ending scallop. And my stitches were way tight so it is curling a little. But it is still usable!



And I did a granny square for the afghan. I'm really digging the colors and I liked how quickly this square went together. Unfortunately, it was a little small and I didn't have a larger hook. After a quick stop at Michael's after work, I picked up 2 larger hooks and tried one and it works much better!



Today, I got my H1N1 shot at work. It has made me extremely sleepy all day! In spite of this, I was still able to adjust the pattern that I choose for a super secret quilt so that I can use more of the fat quarters that it calls for and I will have very little waste. Woo hoo! And since Barb and I are shopping this weekend, I will be able to pick up the additional fabric that I need and that won't be supplied from my stash! I am anxious to start this quilt!!

Ok, now it's bedtime! Night!

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