Stash Report 2010 - Week 43

The only thing busted was last week's give-away.

I was feeling all righteous because I didn't poke any buttons this week - but yet looky what landed from the prior week's button poking!

French Reel kit and backing - 10.25 yards. I know, I know, there's enough Maison de Garance in my stash room to make fifty of these. But isn't that quilt cute? I'm thinking it'll be quick to put together (and then I won't have to cut into that other luscious yardage that I'm saving for just the right project).



See why my stash room isn't big enough?

Then there were 13 yards of Bliss that landed. I belong to the Moda Layer Cake Club and the Moda Charm Park Club at the Fat Quarter Shop. Mostly I give those away or trade them off with Jane, but I decided to keep these and needed yardage go-withs. Needed? Well, just in case I ever actually make anything out of them.



See why my stash room isn't big enough? Oh, yeah, I already said that.

Well, on second thought, I did poke *one* button this week, so I expect a package next week. The 108" backing of Luna Notte finally arrived at Kimberly's, so I had to get some of that. You know, to go with that Luna Notte that I stocked up on several weeks ago.

I finally figured it out. It's like a domino effect. I buy this one simple little layer cake or something, and then I end up with 986 yards of go-withs - because I never know what I'll need when I decide what to make out of it.

I've said this before, too -- I'm the marketer's dream customer!

Oh oh oh, speaking of Market ... I mean, we were talking about Market, right? ... Jane is there getting all full of inspiration and everything. I can't wait to hear her take on it and all the wonderful designers she's met. All I can say is it's probably a good thing I can't go to Market!

And on a sad note, for those of you who live down in this area, Ginger's husband passed away this weekend. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Year-To-Date:

Busted: 385.455 yards
Purchased: 544.32 yards
Net YTD: (158.865) yards busted :(

Christmas Past Kit Winner!

My modem is working for the moment, so I'd better get this posted quickly!

Penny sort of cooperated tonight.... she is kind of sad because she isn't in Houston at Market with her Aunt Jane! :) Her mommy is kind of sad, too!

Anyway, she pulled a name, but then I had to chase her all around the house to get it from her. Silly dog!

The winner of the Christmas Past kit is -----

Sandie at Crazy 'Bout Quilts!

And a little something extra will be in the packge for Sandie because she had LA Quilter down as a blog she follows in her profile!

Congrats, Sandie! Please email me your mailing address and I'll get this kit right off to you. Enjoy!

I'm going to be having a few more give-aways between now and the end of the year, so check back. Next time there will be something different that I'll be looking for. If the winner has that either in her blog or her comment, she'll get a little something extra in her prize package, too! Hmmmm, I wonder what it could be?

Christmas Past Give-Away

Nothing like doing the weekly stash report to motivate me to move stuff out of the Quilting Condo!



This kit is from the book by Mount Redoubt Designs titled "The Spirit of Christmas." The kit contains 8.535 yards of 36 different and beautiful batiks and the book is included. The quilt finishes at 47 x 56, or can be made into four smaller wallhangings. Instructions for doing it both ways are included.

I bought this in 2007, I think, but decided that I'm not real good at fusible web applique. I know it goes quickly, but I guess I'm just from the old school. (Maybe I'm just old!) I love needleturn applique. So the kit sat untouched.

Perhaps one of you will want to own it and love it! If so, leave a comment here and tell me why you prefer fusible applique over the other methods. I'm open to changing my mind on my preferred method! Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all! The drawing will be random, but you must talk about fusible applique in the comment to be eligible. And don't forget to leave your email address or a link to your blog so that I can get in touch with you if you're the winner.

The drawing will be held on Wednesday, 10/27/10, when I get home from work. Let's say 8:00 p.m. California time. That will give me a chance to walk Penny before she has to pull a name out of the bowl!

Maybe she'll cooperate this time since she seemed VERY interested in this kit!



Tuesday night note: The drawing is tomorrow night, and my modem is acting up again. So if you don't see a winner announced, that means it was out and I'll post the winner when I get to work on Thursday morning. Good luck to everyone!

Stash Report 2010 - Week 42

Well, what can I say? I've totally blown any hope of ending this year even! But, you know, that's okay. The numbers are much better than they were for the past two years, so progress has been made!

The Maison de Garance box came in this week that I blogged about earlier. Also included in there was a half yard of shirting. All total, 49.5 yards in.

There were some fabrics outgoing to friends, so 13.42 yards busted.

Before anyone judges my numbers too harshly, a little history for you.

In 2008, I ended the year 283 yards in the hole.

In 2009, the number was (gasp) 393 yards in the hole.

This year doesn't look so bad after all!

Year-To-Date:

Busted: 376.92 yards
Purchased: 521.01 yards
Net YTD: (144.09) yards busted :(

Pennsylvania Dutch BOM #12 - Winner!

This year working on the Pennsylvania Dutch BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop has been such a joy! Okay, so I'm behind on two of the months. I plan to get those done - maybe today. But first I have to find my sewing table hidden under piles of fabric!

I hope everything who participated found this BOM as much fun as I did! The blocks were beautiful and easy, and they were out of Minick & Simpson fabric! As far as I'm concerned, it just doesn't get much better!

The winner of the final $25 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop is ....

CAROL!

Congrats, Carol. I'll email you in a few minutes.

I see that a few of you have already finished up your quilt tops! I am SO impressed! Good for you!

Again and again this year I've thanked Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop for generously donating the monthly gift certificates! You are so awesome, and you have the absolutely BEST online quilt shop! Your BOMs are perfectly packaged with more than enough fabric, and because you've tested each and every block, we can start sewing with confidence that the instructions are perfect! I have done a ton of BOMs from the Fat Quarter Shop, and each and everyone of them was a delight to sew! Thank you so much!

For those of you who are looking around for a new BOM to start, go check out what the Fat Quarter Shop is now offering in their Blocks of the Month section! There are three new ones I'm going to be doing: Night Before Christmas by Bunnyhill Designs, Paris in the Fall with the gorgeous Maison de Garance fabric by French General, and Civil War Chronicles with Judie Rothermel fabrics. There are several others there that are equally awesome, but I finally realized I can't do them all! LOL

So thank you to everyone who participated this year! I had a blast, and I hope you did, too!

Oh, Good Grief!

Another box arrived today! Maison de Garance. With the exception of one small box arriving next week, I'm pretty much done.



At least until after Market.....

It's time to start sewing up some of this gorgeous stuff!

Pennsylvania Dutch BOM #12

Yes, #12! It's been a whole year since we started this beauty!

I received a reminder tonight that I hadn't posted anything about this yet. Well, I was going to reply, I haven't received my block yet! But then I thought I'd best look in the finishing kit. Yep, there it was!

So the drawing for the $25 gift certificate from the Fat Quarter Shop will be held on Sunday morning, 10/24/10, when I get up and moving, probably around 7:00 California time.

Kimberly and Kevin, the owners of the Fat Quarter Shop, have been just absolutely fabulous to us this year with the monthly gift certificate give-aways. But more than that, they've packaged our monthly blocks beautifully - and they are always so generous with the fabric in each block! Thank you both so much! You've made this year unbelievably fun, and have certainly been a motivating factor to us to get our blocks made in a timely manner! You are THE best!!!!

So you all know the rules by now. Just post a picture of your finished block on your blog and leave a link here so we can go check it out. If you don't have a blog, just email me a picture and you're entered in the drawing!

This has been fun, ladies! Thank you for poking me when I got slow, and understanding when life happened this year.

Stash Report 2010 - Week 41

I have to do some serious moving around of stuff in my sewing room and stash room, so I decided to do my stash report today. Then I can get all of this put away.

Do you know what 100.58 yards look like?



Now you do!



Oops! I forgot to put the bolt of Clermont Farms in the picture. Now it's complete!

This is everything that came in this week, plus that kit that I hadn't counted before.

Starting on the left:

- The Twinkle kit for the Second Annual Fig Tree Club. Love those Fig Tree fabrics! And a layer cake and charm packs of Bliss. I probably need some yardage to go with those. Yes? No? You've got to be kidding?

- Clermont Farms yardage, lots and lots of yardage. One can never have too much Minick & Simpson!! That's my story anyway! And a Hope tower and tons of yardage. I spotted the Hope fabric when you all were listing your favorite fabrics last week in the give-away. You know who you are! Don't deny it! It's all your fault!

- That red, white and blue pail could only mean Minick & Simpson. It's the La Playa kit! I missed it the first time they made some up, so grabbed it pronto when they rekitted it! I just love that pattern! Below that is the finishing kit for the Pennsylvania Dutch BOM that a group of us having been working on all year out of, what else, M&S fabric! Then below that is the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle. This was a quarterly club offered at the Fat Quarter Shop that must be sold out because it's not on there any more. Lots of beautiful Civil War fabrics in that package.

- The last section over is that Robyn Pandolph kit that I finally got counted in, and a few BOMs installments. See those polka dots! That's the Tiny Town BOM by Anne Sutton that was offered by the Fat Quarter Shop. I haven't started it yet, but I'm itching to get stitching on it. I am going to personalize it, putting my old high school name on one of the buildings, probably change out that puppy to a doxie. I can't wait to start!

There's just one more little thing I skipped in the picture. See that lonesome charm pack there with the yellow square on top!



Charlevoix!!

It's official! I just died and went to Heaven!!!

Year-To-Date:

Busted: 363.55 yards
Purchased: 507.59 yards
Net YTD: (144.09) yards busted :(

To see how much better everyone else in the world did, go to Judy's Patchwork Times. Those folks are real stash busters!

I'm Done

For this week, at least. The last box (I think) arrived. 22 yards.

Unfortunately for my stash report, Maison de Garance has hit the shelves at the Fat Quarter Shop, so I had to load up. But that will be on another stash report, probably next week. So for now I'll just pretend I'm Scarlett and worry about it later at Tara!

Yep, I'm done.

For this week.

Until after Market.

:) :)

I Mean B-I-G-G-G-G Time Trouble!

As in Geez Louise!

48.5 yards in today.

Good news is I think there's only one more box winging its way to me.

I think.

But I'm happy as a pig in mud.

Today was a 100% Minick & Simpson kinda day!!!!!!

Can't wait to show you!!!

Pictures Sunday...........

I'm in B-I-G Trouble!

There was a box on my doorstep tonight from the Fat Quarter Shop. Good, one of the two or three I was expecting.

Wrong.

It was a whole big box of various clubs, finishing kits, charms, layer cakes, kits.

Tonight I sat down and figured out the yardage in that Robyn Pandolph kit that came in a few weeks ago, A Charmed Life.



Penny likes it! This is a lousy picture. It's a gorgeous quilt.

Anyway, altogether with that kit plus what came in today - 40.58 yards. And I've still have two or three more boxes coming this week.

What happened?

I'm surely set for life in the fabric category, right?

My retirement stash runneth over!

Oh, geez, I just remembered something else that will probably arrive this week......

I don't know. I just don't know.

Tonight I Scrub the Kitchen

Why, you ask?

Well, I had just taken the ham out of the oven, and sliced up a gigantic sandwich on a hoagie bun with really fresh tomatoes. I grabbed a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge and started popping open the tab. It exploded. Right in my face. And all over the kitchen, the walls, the floor, the cabinets.

I wiped up everything last night and mopped the floor. This morning the floor is sticky, so I obviously didn't do such a good job. The coffee pot is sticky. The canisters are sticky. The stove is sticky. The cabinets are sticky. So I have to scrub down everything tonight.

I had to wash my glasses three times to get the sticky off. Then I got in the shower and just rinsed my hair without shampooing it. This morning, you guessed it, sticky.

Kinda makes me wonder what that stuff is doing to my insides........

Oh, this is funny. When I posted the winner on the 10-10-10 give-away, I just noticed that my post was made at 10:10 a.m. That was purely chance. Reminds me of the time in the early '70s that I ran in the 7-Eleven by my house and grabbed a couple of things. Then I wrote the check, on 7/11 to 7-Eleven for $7.11. I wonder if something strange happened to me on that day, too!

Stash Report 2010 - Week 40

Another neutral week - nothing in, nothing out.

But, boy, do I have a couple of humdinger boxes coming in next week! It's scary!

It's okay. I'll bust them before year end. ROFLOL. I always say that, don't I?



Try taking a picture of a doxie who is so excited that I've been home all weekend. Every time I snapped, she started to jump down! Blurry and on the move - the story of my life with that puppy!

Year-To-Date:

Busted: 363.55 yards
Purchased: 407.01 yards
Net YTD: (43.51) yards busted :(

10-10-10 Winner!

What a fun group of fabric designers and pattern designers you all listed! Some of them were new to me, so I had a blast checking them all out. And, yes, I poked a few buttons in the process. Thanks a lot!! ;)

But the important thing is that, with Penny's help, I've drawn a name from the hat for the $50 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop! Yes, I have!

And the winner -- who I'm taking to Vegas because she's so darn lucky -- is:

DARLENE at Quilting Daze!

Congratulations, Darlene! I'll be emailing you in a little bit.

Thank you to everyone who played along. I'll be having a few more give-aways before the end of the year, so stay tuned!

I've Been Pondering

Uh oh!!!!!

It's okay. You can say it. I know what you're thinking.

Anyway, here's what I was pondering last night... my favorite fabric and pattern designers.

For years it was Robyn Pandolph. I still love her stuff, but her most gorgeous collections, in my opinion, were when she was with Moda. I love Camille Roskelly, Brenda Riddle, Joanne Figueroa, Judie Rothermel, Sandy Klop, Blackbird Designs, French General. These are the ones I search for first when the urge to poke buttons becomes too strong to resist.

But the fabric design team I keep going back to over and over again is Minick & Simpson. I love their colorways in the last several collections and that draws me back again and again.

I always think Prairie Paisley is my all-time favorite line, but then they come out with something else that immediately becomes my favorite. I can't wait for Charlevoix to hit the store shelves in January. I guess it's a good thing it's next year - new stash report and all!

The one pattern designer I follow like a groupie is Anne Sutton at Bunny Hill. I always get her BOMs and have made quite a few of them, and I look forward to stocking up on her new Moda fabrics, too. Anne has just the right touch of whimsy in her patterns to make needleturning such a joy. I smile a lot when working on a Bunny Hill pattern!

Of course, I'd be remiss not to mention Carrie Nelson at Miss Rosie's. Who doesn't love her patterns! And Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times. We all love her designs and her blog!

So here's what I was really thinking. It's time for a give-away. It's an easy one. Just leave a comment with 1) your all-time favorite fabric designer, and 2) your all-time favorite pattern designer, and you'll be in the drawing to win something. ROFLOL. I don't know what yet. I mean, it's 5:50 in the a.m. on a Saturday. I haven't thought it all out. The drawing will be random but you must have the two choices in your comments to be eligible.

Oh, oh, wait -- how about a $50 gift certificate to my favorite store, the Fat Quarter Shop! I adore that store!!
Yeah, that'll work!

This will be a quickie -- tomorrow morning, Sunday 10-10-10 at, when else, 10:00!! I didn't even realize that date until I just glanced at the calendar! Perfect time for a give-away!!

Good luck!! And you can thank Penny for waking me up so early!

Busted!

Me. I'm busted. You all busted me!

I used a gift certificate all right. Okay, so you threw in that caveat that I had to count it as stash if it was a gift cert *I* had purchased.

Sheesh ... give a gal a break, will ya!

As to what I purchased, I'll just say this -- if there's a shortage of Clermont Farms by Minick & Simpson, you'll know why.

It might not arrive this week, so I may have dispensation for another seven days. However, Kimberly emailed me yesterday. She decided just to order me a bolt of one of the fabrics. ROFLOL. Enabler!!!!!!!

But are you sure, really sure, that it really really matters where the gift cert came from? I mean, really?

(sigh) Sticklers!!

Question?

Does it count as stash if you used a gift card?

I'm in deep cah-cah on my next stash report!

240 Thimbles

Or approximately 240. Those things have so much static in them when they come off the cutter that they are hard to count.

I'm done cutting on these until I start sewing them together and figure out how many more I need.

Of course, I know I will have to replace the bottom one that Penny decided she would do a taste test on........

...... I love my dog!

Stash Report 2010 - Week 39

Nothing in; nothing out. But I did sleep away most of the day yesterday, so that must count for something!

Today while laundry is going, I hope to finish up cutting those thimbles/tumblers. Mainly to get a little bust, but also to get that mess off my dining room table.

The next two weeks will prove busy at work with the quarter-end financials, but after that, I plan on getting my negative numbers taken care of - and ending this year in the black.

But, of course, there's this little thing called "Market" between now and the end of the year.......

Year-To-Date:

Busted: 363.55 yards
Purchased: 407.01 yards
Net YTD: (43.51) yards busted :(

Emotional Times

I want to again thank everyone who have emailed me over the past few days with your condolences and prayers for Joe's passing. You all have been such a comfort to me, and your thoughts and prayers have been passed along to his family.

The funeral service yesterday at the Church was so beautiful. It started thundering and raining just as the casket was brought in the Church. Father said that when he was a kid and was scared of the thunder, that the nuns told him not to be scared, that it was just the angels bowling in heaven! (Later I told him that it was really Joe's reaction to finding out we had closed the company for the day!) The reception after had over 100 people there. All in all, everything was as perfect as it could be. This weekend will be spent resting and making order out of my house. I've barely been here for the last three weeks. Please continue to keep Joe's wife in your prayers. They were married for almost 49 years, and I know this period of adjustment to being alone will be difficult for her.

I need to get back to sewing a bit, and I hope to do that maybe tomorrow. I have one or two things that I would like to finish up just to get them off my sewing table. I'm really not going to push myself much. Things will get done when they get done.

Penny is being real clingy now. Bless her heart, she's been alone for what must seem years to her. I think some quality puppy time is in order! And putting away that stack of books next to the sofa that I started organizing!


Belly rubs make her yawn!