Miscellany

1. Stash Report Week 43 boxes have landed, all 140 something yards of it. OMG, this stuff is gorgeous! The Rouenneries bag in the top left of the picture is this quilt kit. I love the bag it's packaged in! Love it!

2. Penny scared me at the vet on Saturday. After she had her well puppy check-up, I was standing at the counter to pay and noticed that she felt really really hot. The vet took her back into the examining room, and she had 104.2 fever. She was fine when I got there. So we waited 10 minutes and took her temp again; 104. Ten minutes to wait again, and it's down to 103.2. The diagnosis: stress fever! She got herself all worked up just being there. Sheesh .... scared the peewally out of me!

3. I spent all day yesterday up in the stash room and made the biggest mess. But I have a plan and it's coming together.

4. My stomach hurts. Might have to go pet some fabric.

5. Do you ever go back and read your old blog posts? I was looking for something that I posted earlier in the year. Okay, I'll tell you what I was looking for. I wanted to know when my stash report showed my totals in the black. Week 10! Yikes! It's been all negative since then. Anyway, I don't know what made me poke on one of the posts to read comments. There was this horrible pornographic thing there which I deleted. Guess I'll have to periodically check for those. I'd hate for someone in my family to run across an old blog post that I haven't looked at in 10 months and see that trash!

6. Penny weighed 10.2 lbs. She's 8.5 months old.

7. My brother is feeling a lot better, although still a ways to go. It did my heart good to talk to him yesterday.

8. The person at work finds out tomorrow the results of some testing last week. I'm going to pray hard tonight.

9. I think we should all go harass Kimberly to get some pictures posted of the little twins and Miss Emma. I keep checking Jolly Jabber for pictures.

10. I'm done.

Stash Report Week 43

I've kept up doing the stash report that Judy has hosted for the third year, and my numbers are awful. As bad as they are, though, the purchases have been more thoughtful since I've been keeping track, and not buying willy-nilly any more. That said, 142 yards were purchased this week of Wiscasset, Rouenneries and Celebration. Haven't received the last two boxes yet, but I expect those in on Monday so they're reported this week.

There are a couple of lines I have my eye on for next year, but I'm going to limit myself to one or two from each market - plus anything by Minick & Simpson as long as they keep doing the patriotic colors I adore.

While organizing fabric the past couple of weeks, a few conclusions were reached about what I have. I've decided that I've fallen out of love with the fabric by one designer so I won't be purchasing any in the future. I found that I have a very healthy stash of batiks which I rarely use any more. The Civil War stash is also healthy. No more polka dots until I use some of these up. I guess I'm heading back to my roots. I did make an exception to my hard and fast $10/yard rule to get some of Brenda Riddle's Celebration by Lecien which I linked above. A momentary dispensation.

At least *someone* I know bought more than I did this week. We'll hold hands and bust yardage together next year!

Year-to-Date Totals:

Busted: 176.25 yards
Purchased: 711.45 yards
Net YTD: <535.20> yards

Penny Vs. the Octopus

I'd call it a draw!

Pennsylvania Dutch BOM

In November I am starting the Pennsylvania Dutch BOM at the Fat Quarter Shop (yes, I know, another BOM)! They have offered another great BOM (out of my favorite Wiscasset fabric), and I can't wait for this one to start.

Did you all see the sign-up bonus for this BOM? Yep, you've read that right!

"All BOM members will receive a $25 gift certificate along with their first block!"

I'm sure I'll find something at The Fat Quarter Shop on which to spend it! We all will!

But that's not all!

So many of you expressed how much fun you had doing the Simply Sophisticated BOM, and that you were motivated to get the blocks done to be entered in the monthly drawing!

Would you like to do that again?

Kimberly and Kevin have offered once again to donate a $25 gift certificate every month for a drawing! Each month I will post a blog with the entry information and, like before, all you have to do is comment on that post and link us back to your blog with a picture of your Pennsylvania Dutch finished block, or email me a picture of the block, to get your name in the drawing for the month!

Don't forget to order your backing set, too! The fabric won't be around a year from now when you've finished your BOM.

A huge THANK YOU to The Fat Quarter Shop! I love you guys!

This is going to be SO much fun!

Stash Report Week 42 and More ...

There's always more ...

I'm still organizing here. You should see the downstairs! Well, okay, against my better judgment I'll go ahead and show you two snapshots. These shots are not my sewing room nor my stash room. Fooled ya, didn't I?

What I did first was took everything that was piled up along a half wall in my sewing area and moved it out of the way. That's the fold-up table and the tubs of BOMs and WIPs. The table is going in the garage. I moved an etagere that was in my breakfast room into the sewing room. Everything that was on the etagere is now on my breakfast table in boxes. (sigh)



Then I moved *almost* all of the fabric out of my sewing room and off the bookshelves and tubbed it. But I ran out of tubs, so it's piled on the dining room table until later today. The quilts piled in that chair came off the bookshelves.



Why is it that everything gets worse before it gets better? That's where I am right now. Penny is all discombobulated.

I did pawn off a book, panel and 44 matching fat quarters to Jane, so those are in my car to give to her this week. Hey, a gal's gotta bust stash wherever she can! Eleven yards out of here.

I opened the door to my stash room yesterday, walked in, looked around, walked out and shut the door behind me. I went in to make a plan to move what's on the shelves up there into tubs, and the stuff in the tubs in the dining room to those shelves. But you know what? That's overwhelming right now. I did peek in the closet door in there and it's stacked with wire baskets of Civil War, batiks, brushed cottons, and bolts and flat folds of backing fabric. I don't even want to think about dealing with that for now.

I said it before ..... it seems all I'm doing is moving mass. Hopefully by January 1st I'll have pictures to show of organized stash. You're laughing again! I can hear you! Yes, this coming January!

In the meantime, all that came in this week was backing for Bespoke Blooms BOM, three yards. (I don't count the fabric in the BOM packages either in or out, just the finishing kits and backings.) So what that it was 108" wide? It's still just three yards, right?

********** Oh, oh, oh, if you've ordered Pennsylvania Dutch BOM - or are considering ordering it - stay tuned for an exciting post about that later today! :) **********

Okay, I'm done.

Year-to-Date Totals:

Busted: 176.25 yards
Purchased: 569.45 yards
Net YTD: <393.20> yards

Stash Report Week 41

I started in on the organization process yesterday. I have about 100 quilt magazines piled up to be discarded. I moved 19 quilts off of display shelves and about half filled those with books. I've got a long row to hoe here, but am just taking baby steps to organize this joint. I want to be ready to get back to guilt-free quilting come January 1st. I WILL NOT END UP 2010 WITH NEGATIVE NUMBERS! Just watch me!

A reserved kit landed on my doorstep, Many Blessings. This one will be quick and easy to do, and with the backing totaled 8.75 yards. I've made a couple of G.E. Designs quilts, and I really had fun making them. Very nicely written patterns.

Are you all watching Quilt Market reports on the various blogs? I am. I'm pleased to say that so far I haven't been too tempted. We'll see how I feel as more pictures are posted of the booths. So far there have been mostly meet-and-greet pictures, but I expect the fabrics and quilts will be showing up today.

A confession: Jane caught me pulling bolts of Somerset Cottage this week at a local quilt shop. She stopped me with the reminder that I have already signed up for the Bespoke Blooms BOM at The Fat Quarter Shop. "But it's Robyn Pandolph fabric," I whined. She replied, "If you want to make an RP quilt, go upstairs and open up your RP closet. You have enough there to make 50 quilts." Sigh. I love Jane. She's so smart!

I have eight or ten quilts to bind which I'll start on next weekend. I think most of the bindings are already made, so there won't be much, if any, stashbusting going on. But at least it's forward progress here at the Quilting Condo.

Year-to-Date Totals:

Busted: 165.25 yards
Purchased: 566.45 yards
Net YTD: <401.20> yards

Penny Likes Gingerbread Men

Got this back last night from a local quilter. I think this makes five or six quilts that need bindings, and there are two more on the way from Judy. I have my work cut out for me for the rest of the year.

Penny approves!

EDIT: Because a couple of you asked, I went back through my blog and found the pattern source. This is from the Possibilities book, "More Joy to the World."

Been Out of the Loop

This week has been one of those that I would never wish on anyone.

My brother, following his back surgery in New Orleans on the 1st, had to be admitted to the local hospital in the town where he lives for pain management. After given morphine, he tanked and was put in ICU. Numbers kept dropping so he was intubated, and it was touch and go for a while. I'm happy to report that although he is still in ICU, he seems to be doing much better and should make a complete recovery. Needless to say, I was glued to the phone and on stand-by with a packed bag.

A person at work who is very important to me has cancer, and their battle has been one of ups and downs. While I was in Louisiana, they had emergency surgery. Things are looking better now, and I hope that keeps improving. ("They" is gender neutral here for confidentiality reasons.)

And while all this was going on, I was frantically trying to finish up quarter-end financials in case I had to fly out.

One thing I've realized in all of this -- I need to go home more than once a year. I'm going to try to schedule a week in Louisiana in the spring as well as the fall. Don't know how that's going to work out since I'm snowed in through mid July, but surely I can find a few days strung together to visit with my brother. Life is too darn short.

Quilting? No. But after my haircut this morning, I'm spending the remainder of the weekend organizing the sewing room and stash room. I truly can't remember what I have any more.

The Selvage Queen

Penny's favorite place to sit is on the staircase. She's in a position to see me at the computer or in most of the downstairs. And she never goes up there without a ball or a toy or a piece of selvage. I found out the hard way that I have to remember to move any balls before I go upstairs at night. Good thing I have plenty of padding on which to bounce down!

The picture is blurry. I need to check the settings on my camera.

This "Moi?" look just slays me.

She'll be 8 months old next week. Hard to believe. I'm think I'm going to miss her puppy antics.

This picture was posted only to push my stash report down the page! :) :) :)

Stash Report Weeks 38, 39 and 40

I was totally confused over not reporting for weeks, but then I remembered I was traveling for two weekends. I confused myself again! Go ahead and laugh. I laugh at myself all the time, at my brunette-ness!

A package arrived this week. I had Mill House Inn charms and layer cakes, so I needed the complimentary yardage. "Needed"? Well, actually, no, but I think in sets; can't have one without the other. This stuff is all being put away to sew on next year or some year. I don't want to wish I had gotten it while it was available. Therein lies my problem. A dessert roll, inside and outside borders and backing, 12.33 yards.

I have two more lines to get yardage on when it comes out, Wiscasset and Rouenneries. Then I think I'm done for this year. At least I think I am. I know I have a small kit on reserve with Kimberly at The Fat Quarter Shop, so I'm sure I'll get the backing for that. And I have finishing kits for BOMs on reserve, although I can't remember when those start. I'm worry about that tomorrow at Tara.

Fall Market is just around the corner. I'm always like a kid with my nose pressed up against the window at a candy store waiting for pictures from Market to get posted. We'll see how strong my resolve is! My plan is to pick one or two lines from Fall Market and one or two lines from Spring Market, and that's it. I have more fabric than a dozen quilters could use in a lifetime, and the thought of moving that all in a couple of years is daunting. I've been trying to organize it a bit and tub it up, but I gave up frustrated last night. So I need to keep that in mind while my nose is pressed against that window.

That said, bans on Minick & Simpson fabric will probably never happen. I have Bar Harbor on reserve. Totally my favorite colors and totally awesome fabric with which to work. Think Prairie Paisley, Flag Day Farm, Wiscasset. Honestly, I could be a walking advertisement for those ladies! Here I go again, posting my resolutions with caveats.

A lot of talking to distract you from my numbers. Did it work?

Year-to-Date Totals:

Busted: 165.25 yards
Purchased: 557.695 yards
Net YTD: <392.445> yards

Simply Sophisticated BOM - Winners!

Simply Sophisticated drawing winner for the $25 gift certificate from The Fat Quarter Shop is ............

LORETTA from Louisiana!!

Congratulations, Loretta! I will be emailing your gift certificate to you in a few minutes.

I hope everyone takes a moment to thank Kimberly and Kevin (and Miss Emma, Will and Peyton!) for their generosity this year in providing the monthly gift certificates! You can drop Kimberly a note at kimberly@fatquartershop.com

Although we won't be having any more monthly drawings, I hope everyone stays in touch and shares their finished Simply Sophisticated quilts (or quilt tops)! There are some beautiful new BOMs at the Fat Quarter Shop. I can't wait to finish up these I have going so I can get started on the new ones! Okay, I admit. I'm a BOM junky! :)

The second $25 gift certificate drawing is from Penny and me as a thank you to everyone who participated this year and made doing the BOM so much fun! Thank you for pushing and prodding me to get the blocks done, and the reminders when I failed to post about them. You all are truly awesome quilters and dynamite ladies!

The winner of the second drawing is Julia of Scrap Happy Quilter blog! Congratulations, Julia! I'll be checking in to watch for your finished quilt!

Thank you all, again! I had a grand time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remember -- this evening is the drawing for the last gift certificate from The Fat Quarter Shop for those of you working on the Simply Sophisticated BOM!

I know the last package had a LOT of sewing in it! Don't panic! Please just leave a comment HERE on your progress, even if you haven't finished it! Give us a link back to your blog showing what you've done - or even the untouched package like *some* of us have! Or email me a picture. Either way will get you in the drawing!

The drawing will be this evening around 6:00 Pacific time.

But here's another surprise!

I will also be giving away a $25 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop. So that's TWO chances to win! There are SO many gorgeous new fabrics and projects on their site. I'm sure you won't have any trouble at all finding something to spend them on!! LOL

That's my way of thanking everyone for participating this year. I feel like I've made a ton of new friends among you and I have enjoyed visiting your blogs - even though I didn't always leave comments.

Good luck to all the Simply Sophisticated participants!!