UFO number for June

Judy has drawn #8 for June. My #8 is my Shakespeare in the Park. Right now, I have all the blocks made for the twin size that is the way the pattern is presented in the book. I put it away at that point when I decided that I like it well enough to want to put this on my bed. So now I need to cut out and piece a lot more blocks. The good news is I have a week's vacation coming up later this month with only one day committed to something else. It would be really great to have most of the piecing done so this could be quilted that week. If DH really goes out riding somewhere for the weekend, I might get a start on that. Pulling those fabrics will also give me a chance to cut squares for my friend Marianne's ivory charms. That will follow putting the trimming, making the binding and putting it on to finish the Mexican Cross.

A good day

I finally got home from Pennsylvania around noon today.  On the way back, I stopped at a new-to-me quilt shop - Shenandoah Sew n Vac in Woodstock.  It was small, but had some nice fabrics.  I resisted getting any.  I also stopped at Patchwork Plus as I got home, thinking I'd like to get a jelly roll to have a head start on making something else out of the Scrap Basket books, but then decided I really didn't need to buy anything there, either.

Cindy Carter is running a mystery quilt this weekend, so I decided I'd make that one.  The scrappy version uses lots of 5" squares, plus a background fabric.  I pulled a white-on-white from the stash as background, and a bunch of red, yellow and orange nickels from the drawer.  This is going to be one bright quilt.  Right now, the mystery is through clue 3, and I'm caught up.  I'm making the baby/lap size. 

In between steps, I've been working on my Judy Martin swap blocks UFO - #1 on my list.  It was to the point of needing the long horizontal sashing.  That's never one of my favorite parts of a quilt, but I've got it all put together now.  I'm trying to decide if it needs an outside border or not.  It's currently about 93 inches square. 

While I sewed this afternoon, I listed to the JMU women's basketball team beat VCU to advance to the finals of the CAA tournament.  I could have watched the game on TV, but prefer to listen to David.  Way to go, Dukes!  Listening to the finals will keep me company while I do some sewing tomorrow, as well.

Stash report - week 7, February 13

I decided to start a new quilt yesterday, and used all stash for the top, so I my numbers are moving in the right direction.  I got Kim Brackett's new book, Scrap Basket Sensations - I like all the quilts in it.  The "Flowers for Nana Girl" reminded me of pansies - so I cut that from all purples for the flowers, and added yellow centers.  I used leftover sage greens for the background, and a dark green for the leaves.  All of the cutting was finished yesterday, and I got the blocks put together.  This morning I made the pieced sashing, and got the top put together.  Now I need to look in the stash to see what I can find for a border.  I have a top of pretty Johnny Jump-Ups.

My report for this week:

In this week:                    0 yds
Used this week:          2.78 yds

In YTD:                           9 yds
Used YTD:               12.67 yds

Net YTD:                   3.67 yds OUT

Stash report - 9 Jan - wk 2

It's Week 2 of the new year for stash reporting.  It's been a good week for me.  I went to the LQS to buy thread, and saw the cutest print with the "Spot's Colors" group that would make a backing for the NYE mystery, but decided not to get that since I have enough left-overs from the front to piece a back.  I finished quilting my Quilt Bug New Years (2008?) mystery.  And I quilted and have the binding applied to my TQP Challenge quilt.  Today's sewing will be hand stitching the binding on the TQP Challenge quilt, and some applique hearts that are also on the UFO list - nice handwork for in the car.

So this week's report:
Purchased this week:                   0 yds
Used this week:                           1.79 yds
Purchased (gift in)YTD:               8 yds
Used YTD:                                   6.23 yds
Net for 2011:                                1.79 yds in


Go check with Judy L at Patchwork Times to see how everyone else is doing this week.

Stash Report - 2 Jan 2011 - wk 1

The first week of 2011, and I have some stashbusting to report.  Used yardage is for the backing for the Quilt Bug New Year's Mystery from 2008.  I finally got that loaded on the longarm.  Quilting is not quite done yet, but I count my yardage as I use it. 
Editing my original post - I forgot to add in the backing fabric my mom gave me for  Christmas yesterday.

In this week:           0 yds
Out this week:      4.4 yds
In YTD:                  8 yds
Out YTD:             4.4 yds
Net for 2011:        3.6 yds

I don't plan to NOT buy fabric this year, but I am going to make an effort to use the fabric I already have - I liked it when I bought it, so I ought to use it!

Stay at home retreat

I've been having a solo stay-at-home quilt retreat this weekend.  I took Friday as a vacation day and have been quilting all weekend.

On Friday, I pulled out a set of swap blocks from the "Romp in the Swamp" with The Quilting Post friends.  Because we had a retreat in Louisiana, our swaps were Southern or Louisiana themed.  The set I worked with this weekend was stars in Mardi Gras colors - green, gold and purple.   Sashing, backing, and binding are all from stash.  The quilting on this one is a freehand ribbon meander - sort of like streamers.  I even had a batt and thread in the stash that worked for this one

I'm calling this Mardi Gras.  The binding is sewn on the front, but still needs to be turned and hand stitched to the back.















I just took off the machine another quilt from swap blocks, also through TQP.  This is a from a swap of 6" blocks in 30's reproduction prints.  I got some half-circle templates yesterday, and quilted this with Baptist fans. 
This also has the binding applied, but still needing to be stitched to the back.

The next set of blocks I"m working on is much older - these are from a 1995 swap, on Genie, I think.  We had a group of 25, each of us picked a focus fabric and a Judy Martin block pattern.  We sent a piece of our focus fabric to each person, and we all made our selected block in the different fabrics.  My focus fabric was a teal background with wheat-brown flowers and purple leaves.  I've put my blocks up on the design wall (looks like I did not make my own block in my focus fabric....)

I want this to be a bed-size quilt, so I'm going to do some type of sashing, and maybe a series of borders - narrow inner border, then a pieced border of some sort, then maybe a final narrow border.  I went to the LQS yesterday and found to pieces of brown that go well with the brown in my focus fabric, and one piece of wine that matches one of the leaf colors, so I've got something to work with.  I think I'll play with some designs in EQ before I start cutting anything.

Oh, and all of the pictures today are from my new camera.  I was having a lot of trouble getting clear pictures with my old camera, so I got a new Canon PowerShot SD1300IS.  I like it so far.

Time to find some lunch.   DH will be back from his mini-vacation in a little while, so I'll probably stay out of the sewing room this evening. 

Stash report - week 2

Well, I haven't posted since my last stash report.  Not much sewing going on here.  I have started piecing a few swap blocks, but won't count that as out of the stash until they're done.  Plans had been to sew all weekend, but we ended up babysitting the grandchildren yesterday morning, and that took most of the day before we got home.  It was great to see the kids, so it's worth giving up a day of sewing. 

Today I went by Michaels and bought some supplies to make cards.  I think I need some pretty papers to go with these, but I'll start with what I got.  This looks like fun.

So my stashbusting numbers:

Used this week:    0 yards
Used YTD:           0 yds

In this week:         0 yds
In YTD:           13.5 yds

Net this year :  13.4 yds gained

Stop by Judy L's blog to see what everyone else has gotten accomplished this week.

Stash report

I decided I will track my quilting stash use this year along with Judy L. 
I started as of January 1, rather than a full week.  I've added 13.5 yards of 90" wide fabric this week - this is a Christmas gift from my mother.  Nothing used since Jan 1.  I started my NYE mystery quilt, but I'm going to wait to have the top put together to count that yardage.

Added this week:  13.5 yds
Added YTD:         13.5 yds

Used this week:       0
Used YTD:              0

NET for 2010:     +13.5 yds

Looking ahead to 2010

I'm thinking about quilting goals for next year already. Do I want to try to concentrate on completing UFOs? Do I want to focus on stashbusting? Is that really a goal for me? Do I want to set a number of yards to use? Should I at least try to use more than I buy? I know I don't want to do a "no buy" challenge - I like to get some new fabric now and again at least. I have been finding that I'll go into the LQS and come out without buying anything as often as not anymore. I will tend to buy at least something when I go to a quilt shop that isn't my usual store. Maybe since I see things that are different than what my local store carries.

Back to my original question:
I like to plan to work on UFOs. It makes me feel good to finish something that's in the stack. And I have so many things that just need quilting, or borders and quilting - they're almost done. I at least want to focus on those things. And I want to make sure that anything new I start gets finished.

Maybe my first goal should be to try to carve more hours out of every day.....hmmmm.