Quilt Class - Week 4

This past Sunday was week #4 for my quilting class.  Its hard to believe that there's only 2 more classes left.  I think I will miss going to class every Sunday.  While its a little bit of a pain to pack up the sewing machine and take everything with me, its fun going and sewing/chatting with the other women.

So this past class we learned three different techniques on how to make Flying Geese blocks.  The first two ways were traditional methods.  One was cutting the triangles before hand and sewing all the pieces together.  The second was cutting rectangles and squares and sewing the diagonal lines and trimming away the excess after the block is sewn.

The last method, which is more modern, uses a ruler by Eleanor Burns.  Its a bit different, but you actually end up with flying geese blocks that are the correct size and it only requires sewing 4 seams in order to do it.  Its a bit labor intensive with the final cutting and pressing seams open, but its definitely worth it.

I had made flying geese blocks a while ago using the traditional methods. See my post here.  I ended up making lots more flying geese than I needed because half of them were the wrong size.

So here's the final blocks made with the flying geese from class:

 

The picture isn't great.  I took it late last night in a room with a CFL light bulb (yuck!).  Also, because the background fabric is close to the carpet color, I had to put my dark green sweater underneath the blocks so you could actually see them.  Not all the points are perfect, but they are pretty darn close.

Stashbusting 2011 - Week 13

This past week was somewhat productive.  Not a lot of fabric used, but some.  Mainly it was  for the quilting class (0.65 yards) and for the scrappy quilt (0.42 yards).

My quilting machine did get fixed this week, but not until Saturday morning.  Thankfully, it was just thread caught in the bobbin that had caused the timing to get off.  That will teach me to use cheap Sulky thread instead of good quality thread.  I was trying to get the quilt quilted, so I wasn't picky with my thread and didn't want to wait for Superior to ship.  Serves me right...If I had just ordered the good thread and waited, I probably would have gotten the quilt done this past week anyway and wouldn't have broken the machine.  oh well...live and learn.

I also ended up buying fabric last week.  My cousin is having a baby this summer, so I picked out some nice, bright-colored fabric for the baby quilt.  Damages....5.25 yards.  There's 2 yards for background material and 13 fat quarters.  I only need about half of each fat quarter, but I wanted to get a good variety of colors..so I'll have some left over for another project.

So here's the numbers for this week:
Added This Week:       5.25 yards
Added Year to Date:    37.64 yards
Used This Week:         1.11 yards
Used Year to Date:      16.17 yards
Net Year to Date:        21.47 yards

Still haven't used as much as I have bought.  I find that I always buy about 1/4 yard extra for fabrics and then I count only what I actually use.  So even when I buy fabric for a quilt and make the quilt, I still have added to the "stash".  I have to really get moving on the scrap quilt to use up some of the excess! :-)

Quilt Class - Week 3

This past week was the 3rd week of class.  This week the main technique was strip piecing to create nine-patch blocks.  I've never cared for strip piecing just because its so hard to get the entire length of the seam exactly straight.  I always end up with little "wavies" in the seam...no matter how careful I am.

I think the reason I've had problems in the past was that my strip piecing used really long strip sets (full width of fabric).  In class, we cut the strip in half, so it was only 22" long.  This made it a bit easier and my seams didn't seam to waver as much.

Along with 4 nine-patch blocks, we had to make 4 friendship star blocks.  I was able to complete all the blocks between time in class and a few hours at home on Sunday evening.  I don't have pictures yet, but I plan to post some pictures later this evening.

As with the past few classes, I haven't really learned anything new, but its nice to get out of the house for a few hours and spend some time with other ladies who quilt.  I'm enjoying the class and I think I may take another class there after we're done with this one....one a little bit more advanced. ;-)

Updated with picture

Stashbusting 2011 - Week 11

This week was a very productive week on the quilting front.  I did have to add some fabric to the stash this week, but its for a commission quilt and will be used up fairly quickly (at least most of it).

I finished the log cabin blocks for my quilt class.  Here they are laid out the pattern that they will be used.

I also used some fabric for the 2nd week of the quilt class to complete 4 pinwheel blocks.  The instructor was also able to show me how to do the "twirl" thing with the seams on the back of the pinwheel blocks.  I've wanted to do it, but never could quite figure it out.

I was also able to cut ALL the fabric for a commission quilt on Friday evening and got a whole bunch of square-in-square blocks done along with prepping the applique pieces for the child's name.  The "requirements" of the quilt were that it was super soft & cuddly, used Dora and Diego in it somewhere, and that the child's name was on the quilt somehow.  The left the design and fabric choices completely up to me.  I'm not going to show the entire plan just yet, but I'll hopefully get the entire top done this week so there will probably be pictures next week.

So for me...I was actually able to use a lot of fabric this week, which is unusual.  Here's the numbers:
Added This Week:       5.75 yards
Added Year to Date:    30.64 yards
Used This Week:         4.40 yards
Used Year to Date:      12.83 yards
Net Year to Date:        17.81 yards


I think I need to start making some more blocks for my scrappy quilt to use up some stash. ;-)

Stashbusting 2011 - Week 9

I fell off the bandwagon a little bit this week.  I had to buy fabric for a quilt top.  Earlier this week I signed up for my first ever quilting class at a local quilt shop.  I've been quilting for 4 years, but have never taken a class (just self-taught).  I figured it would be good to take a class at some point and this one seemed to fit in my schedule really well.  Here's the fabrics that I bought:

You'll have to wait to see what the top looks like though. ;-)  It does have some things that I haven't tried yet (like curved piecing), so I'm hoping that I'll learn some things from this class.

I did end up  using some stash this week though making some baby bibs.  I used about 2/3rds of a yard to make 6 bibs.  My MIL is taking them to a local co-op that sells people's hand-made items and I'm going to see if any of them sell.  My co-worker who has a 2.5 year old said that they were better than the "cheap" things carried in stores and that the ones in the stores cost $6.  Each bib cost me about $2, so the material cost is pretty cheap.  I'm hoping these will sell and help fund future fabric purchases. ;-)

So overall, I'm still in the red.  Hopefully my numbers will start to improve at some point! ;-)


Added This Week:       10.4 yards
Added Year to Date:    24.9 yards
Used This Week:         0.67 yards
Used Year to Date:      8.23 yards
Net Year to Date:        16.65 yards