STASH REPORT - Week 52, 2013

Used this Period: 22 yards
Added this Period: 16.5 yards

Used year to Date:  137.2 yards
Added Year to Date: 18 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 119.2 yards

 

The "Period" referred to above includes weeks 30-52; that's one long week, isn't it?!  This has been a year plagued with health issues for me--which meant that I didn't spend as much time in my quilting studio or working on any other craft projects.  So, I'm just checking in to report my stash shrinkage; it's not what I wanted but I'm ready to start 2014!  My goal for the new year is a decrease of 150 yards (200 would be nice!).  I currently have 2 scrappy quilts in progress and 3 pieced tops that need backing and binding made--my January report may be really good!

Wishing everyone a blessed New Year!

STASH REPORT - Week 29, 2013

Used this Week: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards

Used year to Date:  115.2 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.5 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 113.7 yards

 

Nothing new this week.  I did start cleaning up my studio and putting away fabric scraps used in the S/P 2013 Challenge quilt.

STASH REPORT - Week 27-28, 2013

Used this Week: 7.5 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards

Used year to Date:  115.2 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.5 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 113.7 yards

Finally, something to report!  I finished the S/P Challenge Quilt--I'm so glad it's done.  I ran out of 3 fabrics, so adjusted the borders--hazards of working from stash, especially stash that is old!

Having 2 blocks that were 12x24 caused some problems--had to add a row of "snowballs" to each to make the window sashing come out right.  Then, figured I had taken care of the problem--wrong, had to add a strip when I added the dark strip on the window sashing because that threw it off again.  Next time maybe I'll read the pattern a bit better and enlarge the blocks to the right size!  I made both sides of the window sashing out of the same fabric--I saw a quilt that was made that way and they did straight stitching down to the diagonal and then turned and went to the other end--and liked the effect--so no "shadow" on mine.

My quilt turned out to be 74x74.  It would be nice if I would embroider or applique some snowflakes in that last border, but I think I am tired of it.  (That fabric actually has snowflakes on it.)  I may do snowflakes when I quilt it.  My favorite block is the mitten block--you can barely see the "yarn/thread" unraveling on the top mitten and you can't see the silver cord connecting the two mittens or the pintucked material on the cuffs.  I think my next favorites are the flying geese blocks--I really like the embroidered trees on those.  Those trees, the snowflake block (I couldn't face applique snowflakes!), and the feathers on the stellar jay block are the embroidered blocks--plus the snowmen's features and the machine applique cabin & tree.  The block with three poinsettia rounds was really "reaching" as those were the only 3 squares I could find in my cut scraps--glad there were three!!  The texture is as follows:  snowmen are made from "crinkled" fabric; snowballs are made similar to blocks on a puff quilt but with less fabric and no batting; cuffs on mittens are pintucked, the pinwheel blocks are 3D, the mittens are connected with a silver cord, and there is piping around the circle/oval blocks.

 

I still have the backing and binding to make, but...life got in the way!  I was thinking "Oh, good, I'll get the backing/binding made and have some good numbers to report!"--and then my husband took me to the ER on the night of the 3rd (long 35 miles) and we got home after 5 am; did a rerun on the 4th and my doctor was on ER duty, said it was classic gall bladder, ordered ultrasound, admitted me; had surgery the next morning--part of it was dead, remainder very inflamed, completely blocked & had been for a long time, 2 stones about the diameter of a quarter + some smaller ones, scoped it but had to make the bottom incision larger because of the size of the stones, kept me 2 nights in hospital, am now home doing nothing except walking...  And that was probably more than anyone wanted to know!

Anyway, the best laid plans...  I've not been back in my sewing room since all this happened.  I feel a bit better each day, but it's a long road.  Thanks for "listening."

 

 

 

 

GET IT DONE 2013 - JULY GOALS & Status of JUNE Goals

GET IT DONE 2013 - JULY Goals
1) Make June & July blocks on Craftsy 2013 BOM (NewFO). 

2) Machine quilt/bind 4 quilts from my LA-UFO stack.  

3) Finish piecing top of Annual S/P Challenge Quilt (NewFO).  All the blocks are made, but I have to make 2 more strips of filler before I add sashing and borders.   

4) Piece scrappy quilt using 2.5-inch squares.  I started on this on June 29.  I have the center block done.




GET IT DONE 2013 - Status of JUNE Goals
1) Make June block on Craftsy 2013 BOM (NewFO).  As soon as I complete the June block, I will be current!  It's "Y Seams" this month.

2) Machine quilt/bind 4 quilts from my LA-UFO stack.  And again!  After next week, I am going to shanghai my DH and get PV added to my longarm.  I plan to finish my Gingerbread quilt as my first project (it's started!), and then do 3 more.  It may mean that I won't be piecing for awhile--but that is all right, too.

DONE     3) Make 4 blocks on Annual S/P Challenge Quilt (NewFO).  (The S/P stands for Sandi/Pat; Sandi is my long-distance quilting buddy.  We started our sewing/quilting friendship before I moved to "the mountain.")  I need to "just do it" and get this finished.  Sandi said she didn't enjoy doing this quilt (she's quilting her pieced top already!), and I'm not enjoying it either.  I'm enlarging the block size in addition to changing the ones I don't care for--and that seems to be a lot. 

STASH REPORT - Week 26, 2013

Used this Week: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards

Used year to Date:  107.7 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.5 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 106.2 yards

 

Nothing to report--again!  I think this will change next week--I will be assembling the Sandi-Pat challenge quilt for 2013!  It is currently laid out on the floor as I'm making a decision about sashing.  I think our next challenge quilt will have to be different as we're both tired of appliquing a myriad of small pieces.  When we talked the other day, Sandi did ask me if I had followed the pattern on any of it!!  We both changed one of the pieced blocks that appears twice in the quilt.  And she knows how my "storyboards" will often eliminate some of the more tedious applique.  A few years back our challenge was a BOM and the September block included a schoolbus with a driver and 3 children appearing in the windows.  Sandi's block contained all the people--however, my block only showed the driver because "the children had already gotten off the bus and entered the school building."  I think I made at least a third of the blocks of this quilt similar to the original pattern--with a few variations like the storyboard mentioned above.

 

In the meantime, I pulled out a container of 2.5-inch square scraps and started making a scrappy quilt--just couldn't wait!  I finished embroidering all the small towels I had in my to-do basket (picture shown), so I did accomplish a bit this week.  That task has been waiting for me for a few years.  

And I made a good piecrust!!  That has been on my bucket list for several years.  Ellen, who is one of our wonderful cooks at the Senior Center, gave a few of us a short lesson on making piecrusts a couple of months ago.  This is my third attempt, and I finally got it right!  Now I'll have to make another one just to see if this was a fluke!  Anyway, my sister (who has been making piecrusts forever) always says that the ability to make a good piecrust is the mark of a good baker/cook.  I have always resorted to the cooler in the grocery store for my piecrusts--now, maybe I can join the rank of "good cooks."

We went to Brenthoven's, a gourmet restaurant/B&B that is tucked away on the outskirts of our little community, with friends for dinner last night.  What a great evening!  It has been family operated since 1949, and is only open 4 months a year as the owners spend time in New Zealand.  The pumpkin bisque is superb--I could make an entire meal of the pumpkin bisque and freshly-baked bread!  The Cod Parmesan is another staple of the menu that is simply outstanding. 

 

And that was my week in review.  Happy stashbusting!

STASH REPORT - Week 25, 2013

Used this Week: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards

Used year to Date:  107.7 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.5 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 106.2 yards

 

Oh, where did those 2 weeks go?!  No blogging, no stash busting, no time spent in front of the sewing or quilting machines!  Nothing to report on a stash-busting site. 

 

We drove down to the far corner of the State one week/weekend--looked at a few houses and spent an afternoon with relatives who had driven up from Colorado.  Didn't find any houses that we fell in love with, so we won't be spending time closer to relatives any time soon.  It was good to visit with nephews (plus wife & fiancee), brothers- and sister-in-law.  I really would like to live closer so we could share more time together--if it happens, it will be good.  Otherwise, we'll continue to let our "fingers do the walkin'."  We visited Rose's Lariat in Rawlins, WY on the recommendation of a friend--the Mexican food was delicious.  We'll stop there again when we are in the vicinity!

 

We went to a few garage/moving sales last Friday (before getting ill that afternoon--a continuing saga of health issues).  Unfortunately, my "mother" came out in me and I brought several dishes home.  My mother loved pretty dishes--having been a newly-wed during the Depression, in her later years she surrounded herself with "pretty dishes" and took great pleasure in looking at them and using them.  I could not resist the siren call of beautiful pieces marked $1 and $2!  I only wish she were alive so I could give them to her!  Anyway, I often make birthday cakes for the seniors in our little town--they always look like they have fallen in the middle because I put them on a regular dinner plate.  So, while we were in Cheyenne, I bought a cake plate at GoodWill for $2.  Then there was a cake plate at the moving sale (the couple had sold their resort home and are going to reside in southern Utah full-time)--and it was only marked $1--so it came home with me, with about 12 other pieces of glassware!  You know what came next--I had to find a place to put all of those pretty dishes so it was time to clean/organize my cabinets.  In doing so, I found 2 other cake plates that I had forgotten I had--I think one of them was my mother's.  So now I need to bake a cake--after all, I have 4 cake plates to choose from!

 

And, as if that was not enough, I was trying to do a mini-organization in the pantry and spilled a package of bread cubes--which necessitated a major cleaning of the pantry.  I'll probably never find anything again--which is usually what happens when I reorganize.  

 

But, in between episodes in the kitchen, I did get down to my sewing studio for short bouts of stitching.  The current annual Sandi-Pat quilting project is a bit nearer completion.  I might even have fabric I can count as used by next week!!  It is interesting that neither Sandi nor I liked one of the blocks in the pattern, and we both substituted for that block!  There were other blocks I wasn't enthralled by, so my quilt will really be different--in fact, I'm not sure anyone would recognize the original pattern!  I have 2 applique blocks that are ready for fusing onto the background and then 2 more blocks that I am going to incorporate machine embroidery into--then it will be ready to assemble and add borders.  I may be a little ambitious in thinking I will finish by the next stash report--there's still quite a bit left to do.  I am trying to incorporate as much texture into the quilt as possible, so I used a cording foot to make the cuffs on the mittens--I really like the effect.  I made 3D pinwheels for the block neither Sandi nor I liked.  I'm so ready for this quilt to be done!!  Sandi has her quilt completed and quilted--and she doesn't like it!  She showed it to her quilting group and they loved it!  I was sure they would after looking at the picture she sent me.  The same thing happened when we did the Elepinks by Nancy Barrett--she got so many compliments on it that she also likes it!

 

I need to get some more work done on my flower beds and on the "thicket" that provides privacy from the neighboring cabin.  And we plan to get some more trees from a friend (who has them coming up volunteer) to plant on the perimeter of the yard--perhaps this week.  My DH's garden/green houses are looking good, but require care (by him, thank goodness).  And I need to get a cake made so I can choose among the 4 cake plates!!

STASH REPORT - Week 22, 2013

Used this Week: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards

Used year to Date:  107.7 yards
Added Year to Date: 1.5 yards 

Net Stash Decrease for 2013: 106.2 yards

 

Nothing in, nothing out--broken record here!