Stash Busting - 11/15/2009

Wow its been a long time since I did a stash busting post. Heck....its been a while since I posted at all. Its been pretty hectic here and with spending my entire day at work on the computer, I haven't wanted to be on it much when I get home. I have however been doing some quilting.

I was able to get the quilting done on Rainbow Skies. I don't have the pictures of it quilted yet since I had to put marks on the top and haven't taken them off yet. I did however give this baby quilt to a co-worker after his son was born.

This past week, we had Veteran's Day off from work...so I spent most of the day sewing. I hemmed some new leaders for the quilting frame that I bought (I'm waiting for the velcro to arrive from Amazon) and I got a new quilt top about 90% done. I finished it up on Thursday evening. This one is from a kit called Purple Squared from Keepsake Quilting.

The photo makes it look a little washed out, but the colors in person are amazing. This picture shows the colors a little better:

I also have another baby quilt that I quilted and put binding onto it. I just started the hand sewing last night, so no pictures of that one yet. Once the binding's done, I'll have some pictures. All in all, I've had a pretty good stash busting session lately. ;-) The only bad part is that I did have to buy some more fabric for a baby due in January, to test out sewing on my quilting frame and to make a new quilt that I designed. The new quilt is going to use some charm squares that I bought last year and here's the yardage to go along with it:

(sorry about the picture being a little fuzzy)

So all in all I bought 15.5 yards of fabric (yikes) and only used 4 yards in the past few weeks. Here's the full stash report:

Fabric Added this Week: 15.50 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 131 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 4.00 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 39 yards

Net Fabric: <92> yards

Quilting Book

I've been a very poor blogger lately. Things have been so hectic and busy here lately. Plus with work being CRAZY busy, I spend all day staring at the computer and the last thing I want to do when I come home is to look at the computer more. However, I thought I'd post about a good book I just finished reading. Its called "A Thread of Truth" by Marie Bostwick.

The story is about a young woman who runs away with her two children from her abusive husband. She was content to live with the lies she told herself that the father was good man until he started beating her young daughter, then she knew she had to leave with the kids. She ended up in a woman's shelter and befriended a group of quilters that helped her back on her feet. The quilt shop she starts working at was fortunate to have a quilting tv show filmed at the shop and unfortunately her husband sees a glimpse of her on the TV and of course comes to get her. I don't want to spoil the story...but its truly a good book about a young woman who went through a lot of bad stuff to find confidence in herself with the help of others and to overcome the abuse she's endured.

Anyway - I have been doing quilting stuff, but as usual, I don't have any photos. Eventually I'll get some more photos on here!

Quilty Things

It always seems like the more stressful work gets, the less I seem to post blogs....so as you can tell work has been very stressful. I'm hoping things will slow down a bit, but we'll just have to wait and see. I've been pretty stressed out the past few weeks and a little more than a week ago, a cold started to take hold. By Thursday of last week, I just had enough and went home early. Slept all evening Thursday, went to bed at 9pm and slept until 10am the next morning. Then slept off and on all Friday afternoon. I felt much better Saturday morning, so I think the rest was what my body needed to recharge itself and get back to "normal".

So quilty stuff....

There's a local quilt shop near me that will teach a one-on-one 3 hour class for using their Husqvarna MegaQuilter. I signed up for the class a few weeks ago, so I was able to go up there today and play on their MegaQuilter. I learned all the ins and outs of the machine and how to load the quilt on the frame. So hopefully I'll remember how to do it on my own frame. ;-) By the end of the 3 hours, my motion on the machine was much better and I was able to write out my name very well along with forming stars, hearts, and loops. I tried some feathers, and while they need some work, its getting better.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to order some velcro for the new leaders I got for my frame. The woman who had it before me cut the leaders down the middle so she could setup the frame for a 5' length. The problem is...she didn't hem any of the cut edges and they're raveling pretty good. So I picked up some leaders at Joann's the other weekend, but they didn't come with any velcro. So I'll have to get some off eBay and then hem the leaders and get the velcro attached...THEN I can try out my own quilting machine! ;-)

Anyway - I didn't mean for this post to be long since its already 9:30pm and almost bedtime. Have a good week!

Stash Busting - 9/27/2009

We've had a lot of things happening lately. Still trying to sell the house....

Earlier this year we joked that we didn't want to be selling the house, buying another house and buying a new car at the same time. A few weeks ago, R's car started really acting up. We took it to the mechanic and the clutch along with the transmission were bad. So we ended up getting a new car. R really wanted a blue car (he's always had a blue car) but since we wanted a 2009 model and they're hard to come by now, we ended up with a dark grey metallic. The paint has little flecks of metal in it that reflects the light around it. Its also fun to drive! ;-)

I also got a finish done this past week. The Sweet Dreams quilt for a co-worker was finished and its even washed already.

I've been also making progress on the Rainbow Skies quilt. Its about 1/3 to 1/2 quilted. Its been taking a while to mark it and then actually do the sewing. Plus, my cat, Ellie, has insisted on helping. ;-)

So onto the report.... Just a little bit bought this week so that I can test out my new toy. Nothing used as I've already counted binding for Sweet Dreams and the backing for Rainbow Skies.

Fabric Added this Week: 6.0 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 115.5 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 35 yards

Net Fabric: <80.5> yards

New Quilting Toy

I'm so excited...I'm getting a new toy this weekend. :-) I've been toying with the idea of getting a frame for my Bernina sewing machine so that I could do machine quilting a bit easier. I researched the frames a bunch and found a frame I liked, but then after reading some other things about machine quilting realized that at most I'd only be able to quilt a maximum path of 4" using my Bernina. :-( Sigh.

So I happened to go onto Craig's List for my area and found someone selling a lightly used Husqvarna MegaQuilter. This other quilter was upgrading her machine quilting system and decided to sell her old one. While the MegaQuilter doesn't have a HUGE amount of throat space, it is 9"x6" so its almost double what mine is on the Bernina. It also comes with the Inspira frame that can be setup in either a 5' length or a 10' length. Here's some pictures from the Craig's list posting....

So on Saturday morning, the woman is coming over to drop it off. She was very kind in driving over to our place as she has a van to transport the frame and machine in while I only have a small car. We were pretty confident that it would fit in the car, but just in case it was easier for her to drive over since its not too far (about 10 miles). I know what I'll be doing over the next few weeks...Playing!! ;-)

I also signed up for a class at a local quilt shop that teaches you how to use their MegaQuilter. I think its the same frame even. So for $25 I get a 3 hour class up there on how to use the machine, set it up and actually use the machine. It will definitely be good to use their machine to learn the really basic stuff and then use mine to get better at my quilting and to get some quilts quitlted.

Stash Busting - 9/13/2009

Once again...its been a while since I posted. I really am getting some sewing done though! ;-) I just haven't posted about it since everything else in life has been super busy.

I don't have pictures right now, but I did get the binding put onto the Sweet Dreams quilt that I posted about here. I also finished all the quilting on the Stars & Hearts quilt that I posted here. Finally, I started quilting the Rainbow Skies quilt. Its only about 1/16th quilted at this point as it takes me a while to mark the pattern and then take it over to my little sewing machine and start sewing. I have my eye on a used Viking MegaQuilter on Craig's list that I might purchase. It might make the quilting go a little faster, but I'm not convinced I want to spend the money on it yet or if its worth it.

Anyway...for the report!! Nothing bought...lots used (at least lots for me)!

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 109.5 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 6.5 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 35 yards

Net Fabric: <74.5> yards

Sweet Dreams Quilt

It seems odd to be posting twice in a few days when it had been a month since my previous post. Maybe things are settling down a little so that I feel like I have the time to post stuff. At least that's what I'm hoping. :-)

I finished the quilting on the center part of the Sweet Dreams quilt last night and tonight I just finished the quilting on the border. I had originally sketched some "swoops" in the border, but then decided I hated it. So I ended up using Power Point to create some stars and moons in the size I wanted, cut them out and traced them onto the quilt border at semi-equal intervals and just free-handed some loops between them. I'm completely surprised how appropriate it looks on the quilt...and how good (at least to me).

Here's some pictures of the quilting on the borders and a little bit on the edges of the center. Sorry about the colors being off a little...since its 9:45pm right now, there's absolutely no natural light so the flash was all I had. Once I get the binding made and onto the quilt, I'll be able to wash it so all the chalk marks come off. I ended up using a combination of Fons & Porters chalk pencils and some tailors chalk. I like the tailors chalk, but it doesn't keep a crisp line very long...and it doesn't show up on white. I'm going to have to experiment with some marking methods. Enjoy the pictures!

Stash Busting - 8/24/2009

It has been a few weeks since I last posted. Things have been EXTREMELY busy between work, vacation and personal stuff. Work was insanely busy with not one, but two design reviews in late July. They were both within a week of each other which meant a lot of long hours at work to prepare for the reviews. Once those reviews were done, I was finally able to take a vacation. It was about a month overdue at that point! Vacation was good, but we didn't go anywhere special. I went to visit my Grandmother who's health was in very poor condition, and we went to visit my husband's Grandmother. We also spent a few days at my husband's parents as they have a cabin on a lake in the Adirondack Park and its very peaceful and quiet there...especially during the work week.

However, vacation ended on a bit of a sad note. My Grandmother whom I had just visited passed away on Friday, July 31st. While it wasn't unexpected has her health had been declining and she was 93, it was still sad to lose her. It was a very difficult few days and even now I run across photos of her and it makes me sad. She was a wonderful woman though and she spent the last 75 years of her life putting her family first. She was always there for all of us (4 kids, 15 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren and too many neices and nephews to count). I do have very fond memories of her and she will always be an example for me to follow.

So back to the present....

I've finished up two quilt tops in the past few weeks. The first quilt top is for a co-worker who is expecting boy this fall. I've called this one Sweet Dreams. While I don't have any pictures of it while I was piecing it, I do have a few pictures of it about 75% quilted. I still have to outline stitch the yellow stars and put something into the center of the white blocks. The border also needs to be finished up, too. The best thing is....this quilt is 100% stash!! :-)

The second quilt top I've put together is from a pattern. The pattern is by Tammy Tadd and I posted about it here. I don't have any of it quilted yet, but here's the completed top along with a close-up of the appliques. This was my first time doing appliques and I think they came out really well for the first time of doing them.

So here's my stash report for the past few weeks(since I've been pretty delinquent):
Fabric Added this Week: 0.5 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 109.5 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 5.38 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 28.4 yards

Net Fabric: <81.1> yards

Stash Busting - 7/19/2009

Surprisingly, I was able to get a fair amount accomplished this week despite work being insanely busy. Here's a picture of the quilt that I finished last weekend and never got a picture of:

This is a closeup of the quilting...sorry its a little fuzzy.

Here's the quilting on the back of the quilt.

This week, I was able to finish up the quilt top for Rainbow Skies. At this point, I'll have to put it on the shelf for a little while because I have 3 baby quilts to make (babies due in October, November and January). So I'll be making little quilts for a while, which may be nice after the last few being larger. Here's the Rainbow Skies with borders on it....the colors aren't as good in the picture as they are in real life. I'm not sure why the colors are off a bit in the picture. The variation in colors comes across really well in person.

Some of my stash used this week was for the borders on Rainbow Skies. They're 3.5" wide borders (finished) so it used a fair amount of fabric with very little sewing! ;-) The rest of my stash that I used this week was for one of the three baby quilts. Here's a picture from the book that I'm making it from. Its called "A Star is Born" by Tammy Tadd. Its a very cute quilt and it will be my first foray into applique.

Here are my numbers this week:

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added YTD: 109 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.50 yards
Fabric Used YTD: 20.54 yards

Net Fabric: <85.96> yards

I'm slowly whittling down the stash. One of the baby quilts already has fabric bought and it was added to the stash back in May. Another of the baby quilts will be completely made from stash (not buying a stitch of fabric), but the third one will most likely involve some fabric purchases. I'm also hoping I can get a few other stash busting quilts done, but it will highly depend upon work and how busy it gets over the next few months.

So how did everyone else do with their reports??

Almost......

.....Done!

I'm so close to being done with making the quilt top for my Rainbow Skies quilt. I finished putting the entire quilt top together tonight with the exception of adding the borders. The material is pressed, but I need to cut it and piece some strips together to make the pieces long enough for the quilt top.

My handy quilt holder, Rich, was kind enough to hold this up for me...with a little bit of convincing from me. :-) High maintenance is not having to hold a quilt top for someone! The flash made the colors a little washed out in the first picture. The colors are very vibrant and the darker colors are in the "jewel tone" family.

Here the colors come out a little bit better since the flash isn't directly facing the quilt. You can see Ellie, my cat, thinking about walking across the quilt. She's learned that if a quilt is on the floor and she walks on it, she gets yelled at. Once its folded up sitting on the back of the couch, or the sewing table, or the ironing board...its fair game! :-)

Enjoy!