Stashbusting 2011 - Week 44

Thankfully the storm that was predicted to hit us hard ended up being a little easier.  Places to the east of us in the mountains got hammered!  The ski resorts will be happy though. :-)

We ended up with about 2 inches of the white stuff.  This is a picture out my sewing "area" windows early this morning (around 8am).  The snow was very pretty.  At this point (1:30pm), the snow is pretty much gone.  It will definitely be gone later this week since we're supposed to have several days at 50F.

I also got some sewing done.  That's one good thing about storms...it makes us stay in and I don't feel guilty about spending an afternoon sewing. :-)

I was able to put two borders onto the Labyrinth quilt top.  I still have one more border to go, so I'll have some more stash busted for next week.  Here are my numbers:


Added This Week:       0 yards
Added Year to Date:    43.89 yards
Used This Week:         3.66 yards
Used Year to Date:      33.91 yards
Net Year to Date:        9.98 yards

So close to breaking even this year!  Just another 10 yards!

Wait just one minute.....

Its not even November yet and we've had 1.6" of snow on October 27th and we're forecast to get another 2-4" on October 29th!

I need to get my snow tires on ASAP!  Who would have thought that we'd potentially get 6" of snow before Halloween.  This is insane.  I guess its going to be a snowy winter...too bad we will have a 700 ft driveway to clear. :-(

Snow!

We actually did get some snow yesterday.  This graphic from News 13 in Albany is as of 11pm last night.  I think we actually got a little more than 1.0" in our area.  I'm located a little bit above the 1 in the 1.0" and a little to the left of it.  We probably had close to 2" of snow on the ground this morning.

I wasn't happy about having to scrape my car off either.  At least I was able to find the scraper and my gloves this morning.  I even started my car about 5 minutes before I actually was ready to leave...hoping that it would warm up enough that I wouldn't have to scrape.  Not so...but it did help loosen up the ice on the windows.

For the 8 years I've been in Albany, this is the earliest I've seen it snow and actually stick.  Usually we'll get some snow flakes in the air before Halloween, but nothing that actually accumulates on the ground.

We're also expecting another storm to come up the coast tomorrow and depending on its track, we could get even more snow.  I have a feeling its going to be a snowy winter!

Four letter word in the forecast....

Yuck....a big four letter word is in our forecast this week....

SNOW!!!!

We're located in one of the 1-3" ranges, but still....snow before October?

We've had enough rain this year...if this keeps up, its going to be a VERY snowy winter.

Recent Quilt Pattern Purchases

A few weeks ago, I received the latest and greatest catalog from Keepsake Quilting.  It has a beautiful Block of the Month (BOM) program for a quilt pattern called "Taos".  I loved the quilt!  However, I didn't love the ideal of spending close to $300 on a BOM program.  While the colors are fabulous, I just didn't want to spend that much on fabric when I know I could get the fabric cheaper at other locations.  The problem was...the catalog only sold the BOM with the fabric.  No pattern only option! :-(

So what's a girl to do?

Yay for the internet!  I was able to find the designer for the pattern (Chris Hoover) and was able to contact her directly.  She works with a quilt shop local to her and they were going to be selling her pattern by itself (no fabric with it).  Yay!  It took a few hours for them to update their online store, but update it they did and I know have my very own copy of the pattern.

Here's the pattern called "Taos" and if you're interested, please go to Gruber's Quilt Shop and you can purchase it there.

 

Of course, while I was on the site I couldn't help but notice a few other patterns. ;-)  Since I was purchasing patterns anyway, I might as well get an extra or two since I was paying for shipping anyway.  So the others I picked out are....

Blueberry Hill

Stacks3

Walden Woods

I'm thinking I should have also done this one...Texas Star, but I guess that will wait until next time.

So I have lots of quilt patterns to make (somehow that's never a problem), and not enough time to make the quilts...nor places to put them.

I won't be doing a ton of sewing over the next few weeks as its 3 weeks and 3 days to closing on the new house.  I'm hoping to get a few projects semi-wrapped up in the next two weeks (finishing the flimsy for Labyrinth and pin basting the beginner sampler quilt I made earlier this year).  After November 11th, I think the sewing is going to be on hiatus until we move, which is November 21st. 

I'll still be doing some needlepoint, but it will take a little while to get the sewing room packed up and then unpacked once we get to the new house.  Plus, there will be all the other unpacking to do, so it may be a while before I can get back to sewing.  Hopefully I'll be able to get some done during December as it tends to help relieve stress for me.

Kids Toys for Sale

To anyone who is interested, I have some kids blocks that are for sale.  They are hand-made with flannel fabrics and washable stuffing.  The larger blocks are approximately 3" and the smaller blocks are approximately 2".  They are soft and easy for kids to grab and play with.  They are also light enough that a small child can toss them without hurting anyone or anything. ;-)

For the three blocks (2 large and 1 small) I'm charging $7.

For the two blocks (both large) I'm charging $5.

If you are interested in them, please leave a comment with your email and I can contact you.

4 Weeks to Go!

Exactly 4 weeks to go until we can move into our house.  We're really psyched about it and can't wait.  There's still a fair amount of work to do, but its mostly detail work.  The granite countertops are getting cut this week and should be installed in the next week or two.  The oak wood floors are supposed to get sanded and stained over the next few days.  All the painting is done with the exception of the kitchen/family room.  Lights have to be installed, but we're dropping those off this weekend, so they should be put in next week.

I can't wait to get moved in and settled.  I'm sure it will take a while to get settled in there and to unpack items.  Initially, we'll just need to unpack the necessities (clothes, toiletries, cooking items, dishes...sewing machine).  The rest will slowly get unpacked as we get used to the house.

The other day I drove from work directly to the house and timed how long it would take.  I was at rush hour and behind some slow vehicles and it only took 20 minutes to get from work to the house.  That's less time than it takes to go from our rental to work!  Its pretty much a straight shot, so it should be an easy drive.


On the quilting/sewing front, I haven't been able to get much time to quilt.  I have the fabric cut and ready to be sewn into rows for the last two rows of the Labyrinth quilt, but I haven't had a chance to touch the fabric.  I was able to press and trim up some HST's on Wednesday morning, but that's about it.  I definitely need to get that finished up before the move as it will be easier to pack up a completed flimsy versus pieces of a top.  I also need to pin baste a quilt top before the move.  I'd like to pin baste it and then at least do the "in the ditch" quilting before the move, although that means I have to pretty much get it done in the next two weeks.  I'm thinking that I may have to commandeer Sunday as a quilting day. :-)

Updates...

After being in training (for work) for a week and sick last week, I was finally able to get back to the gym yesterday.  I've been trying to go to the gym 4-5 times a week and I spent about 30-40 minutes on an elliptical or if I'm feeling really tired, I'll use a bike.

I was happy though when I stepped on the scale yesterday and found that I've lost a total of 5.5 pounds since I started going to the gym about a month ago.  Its definitely going in the right direction...I just need to keep it going in that direction (especially with the holidays coming up).

The house is moving right along.  There are a lot of things partially finished, but no real completions lately.  I think the stonework around the fireplace will be finished up this week.  Its about 1/2 done now, but they still have to place stone between the fireplace and mantle and then under the hearth.  It should get finished up this week though.

We're still waiting for our flooring from the mill.  At this point its been very frustrating with the guy who is drying and milling the wood as he was supposed to have it done about 3 weeks ago, and we still don't have it.  Plus, the wood needs to sit in the house for at least a week before they can install it. 

All the painting is done now, with the exception of final touch ups and painting the kitchen/family rooms.  We also have electricity hooked up to the house...yay!   Here's some pictures of the progress....

 Master bath tile

 Paint color in formal living room (the red behind is the dining room)

 

Stone work on the fireplace...yum! ;-)

We can't wait to see the place finished.  We're still on-target for November 18th...so exactly 1 month to go!!!

Stashbusting 2011 - Week 43

Its been another few weeks since I did a stash post, but I've actually done some sewing...some how. ;-)

I took a class last weekend for a pattern called Labyrinth by Debbie Maddy.  I've modified the "super twin" size a bit as I don't really want a quilt to be 70 x 110".  I've "cut off" the two and bottom two rows such that my quilt will end up being 70 x 90".  Here's a picture of what I have so far....and its COMPLETELY from the stash!  ;-)



I also went to the Empire QuiltFest yesterday.  Its a local quilt show that is held every 2 years.  I really should enter a quilt into it the next time they have it (2013).  There were a ton of spectacular quilts and some not-so-spectacular.  Overall, it was good to go see it and I have a lot of new ideas now.

By far, my favorite was a Hawaiian type quilt.  It won 2nd place overall in the show and won the prize for super large applique.  It was a king sized quilt that was all done by hand (applique and quilting).  It was the quilter's own original pattern.

I took a ton of pictures at the show, but I'm not going to put them all in this post...since this is stash busting after all. :-) 

So here's my numbers:

Added This Week:       0 yards
Added Year to Date:    43.89 yards
Used This Week:         1.76 yards
Used Year to Date:      30.25 yards
Net Year to Date:        13.64 yards

House Update - 14October2011

It's been a while since I've done a house update post.  Progress has been made!! :-) 

Things were going slowly for a while there, but its definitely picking up now.  Every day we go over to the house there's something new.

Last week they were able to finish the tile in the foyer.  The picture is about 1.5 weeks old now, but the tile is all grouted and we have molding up everywhere in the foyer.  They also cut in around the molding for paint such that they only have to go back through with rollers.  We also have the handrail on the stairs now, so we don't have to worry about "falling" over the edge.

Our cabinets are all installed, too now.  Here's one of the cabinet sections for the kitchen island.  That's a 36" wide drawer and there's another 24" wide drawer next to it.  Its in a dark chocolate color, which is different from the rest of the cabinets in the kitchen.  I thought it would look nice to have the dark color for the island and then a somewhat lighter color for the rest of the kitchen.

Here's the rest of the kitchen cabinets.  They have more installed now, but since it gets dark so early, I can really only get pictures of the cabinets on weekends when we can get there during the day.

Here are the cabinets in the master bath.  Again, we went with dark chocolate in here.  The tile and the counters are all lighter in color, so the dark wood will look nice in there.

These next pictures are from last night (October 13th).  They started putting the stone up around the fireplace.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It looks REALLY good in person.  Sometimes colors just don't show up well in the photos.

And now for paint!  ;-)

The entire foyer isn't painted yet, but it will be the same color as the hallway upstairs.  The color is a little darker than the sample, but we had them paint the entire hallway before doing the foyer so that we could see what it looks like.  Its not as "mustardy" in real life as it shows in the picture.  It has a bit more tan to the color than the photo shows.

 

 The dining room is this lovely shade of red.  It looks spectacular!  Eventually, we will do molding boxes in white around the room, so it will break up the red a bit on the walls.  However, there's enough white on the ceiling and in the tray that its not too dark in the room.

 

The room adjacent to the dining room is where we plan to put a pool table.  Yes...its green and you see and red room right behind it.  It doesn't look quite so "Christmasy" in person as it does in the picture.  The green is a good shade of green, too.  A little washed out by the flash, but its a very good, traditional green color.

This next one is the study.  We went with a very traditional blue color, which will work really well in the room.

This next picture is the bedroom colors upstairs.  It was supposed to be a little less yellow, but we're actually happy with it.  It makes the trim molding really stand out and makes the rooms seem "happy".

I don't have a picture of the room that will be my sewing room because it doesn't have a light in it right now.  I plan on taking some better pictures this weekend that will show the colors in natural light.  The sewing room is much more yellow than the other bedrooms.  Its a good yellow though...something you would find in nature.  I always wanted my sewing room to be yellow and now that I'll actually have a room completely for me, I can have it yellow!

Its exciting at this point.  I almost feel like a little kid saying "are we there yet??!!" but saying "are we done yet?!"  I can't wait to move in and be in OUR house.

I may need some reminding of this when we have feet of snow and have a 700 foot long driveway!  :-)

Stashbusting 2011 - Week 40

Its been another few weeks since I posted for stash busting.  I've been able to do a little bit of sewing here and there.  Work and the new house have been taking up a lot of time lately, which is why I haven't posted often.  I don't have any new pictures for this post, but there's some pictures of the house progress on other posts.

Added This Week:       0 yards
Added Year to Date:    43.89 yards
Used This Week:         3.16 yards
Used Year to Date:      28.5 yards
Net Year to Date:        15.39 yards

Hope everyone else has had lots of sewing time now that its fall and getting a bit cooler throughout most of the country.