It's Friday. Hooray!

This week has seemed very long to me. I guess that's because last week I only worked three days. And next week, too!!! :) Gotta love it when the boss declares a four-day weekend!

I've been pondering what I'm going to work on over the long holiday. The Civil War patriotic tumbler quilt will be finished. I just need to complete the assembly of the rows. BTW, I figured out if I iron the seams open, it reduces the bulk on those tiny things. Probably everyone in the world already knew that, but it took me a bit of pressing on those seams before that dawned on me. Sheesh, I'm such a doofus!

Then I think I'll spend a day cutting out the Brrrrr Park quilt by Minick & Simpson. I love that quilt! I'm going to enlarge it, but I hope to get it cut and then start assembling. No way will it be on my bed this Christmas, but at least I want the top done. Well, on second thought, maybe I can get it finished and have it quilted by then! Yeah, it's doable! I already have my Christmas bedroom envisioned! It's going to be so beautiful!



Ahhhh, Christmas when it's cool and pleasant. I can't wait! Not like this 4th of July when it's supposed to be blisteringly hot. Penny and I have a date with the A/C all weekend!

Off to work here. It's quarter end. I was able to get inventory priced yesterday, so I'm already ahead of the game. The WIP is what gets me, though. ROFLOL. See? I can't escape WIPs, even at work!!

Tired but Happy

I spent a few days sewing with a group of lovely ladies. It sure was good to be away but it was hard to get back into the routine of work-home-work, etc.

I only brought applique to work on, and I won't do that again. My wrist was hurting so badly after a day and a half of stitching.

I did one Dutch Treat block, one called Time Warp. Isn't that how you feel when you're away from it all and immersed in just sewing?



And I did 75 drunkard's path blocks. Should have prepped more as these sew up so easily.



I only did one and a half basket blocks. I found out I couldn't talk and stitch on those at the same time! :)

Didn't think I would, but I missed my little Penny. She was SO glad to see me when I got home. OMG, you would have thought she had been abandoned for months on end. And then when Jane left, she stood at the door whining for 30 minutes .... guess that shows where I stand with her!

The good news is that we're off next Monday AND Tuesday for a long Independence Day holiday. I was so motivated this past weekend. I think I'm going to spend a couple of those days off doing nothing but sewing! Get ready, Miss Bernina!

Sleep Poking

You've heard of sleep walking, right? Well, I may have a case of sleep poking!

There was a box from Keepsake Quilting on my doorstep tonight. I opened it up and it has some really neat notions and gadgets in it.

The only problem -- I didn't order it.

At least I don't think I ordered it.

Unless I've been poking buy buttons in my sleep again!

Or Penny has once again gotten ahold of my debit card!

I just sent them an email so they'll know that someone's order came to me by mistake. Darn, I'm going to hate to return this box! LOL.

I tell you, I get in trouble without even trying!

There's never a dull moment around this joint!

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

MYSTERY SOLVED!!! It WAS for me!! Seems Keepsake forgot to include the gift card! A sweet sweet very dear friend sent this package to me! Wow, I've had more fun tonight trying to figure this out!! I love you G!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!

Stash Report 2011 - Week 25

I hang my head in shame ... I slid backwards ... I tried to be strong ... it's all the Fat Quarter Shop's fault! (Hee-hee, I love blaming Kimberly!) Actually, both of these have been on my list ever since I first glimpsed them in the Coming Soon section months ago. Well, they've come now. What can I say?



The first is the 2011 Designer Mystery Block of the Month from the FQS. The first block arrived along with the finishing kit and backing. I love it that Kimberly sends those at the beginning of the BOM! Anyway, that was 14.75 yards. A lot of gorgeous Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree.

The second b-i-g box was FaLaLaLaLa by French General, a couple of jelly rolls and some yardage including a backing. That was 21.5 yards. I know that seems like a lot, but I already have a tower. I should be able to get a couple of quilts out of this.

The give-away last week helped some with 35.875 yards gone. Guess I need to have another give-away or sew faster!!

Year to Date:

Busted: 290.68 yards
Purchased: 350.025 yards
Net YTD: (59.345) yards busted :(

I'll miss next week's Stash Report as I'm taking a few days of R&R. Hopefully I'll come home refreshed and ready to rumble -- er, sew!

Plodding Along

I prepped a lot this week, so nothing to show in that regard. Well, I guess I could show it, but that would be boring!

However, there has been a teeny bit of sewing going on. Teeny as in teeny quilts!

Kathie truly has inspired me with these mini quilts. They go together quickly, and I've had so much fun piddling with them. When I only have a few minutes to sew, great headway is made!



This one was put together a couple of weeks ago. Isn't it darling? Kathie was, again, the force behind this quilt. Penny was feeling neglected, so when I put it down to photo, she crawled up next to it and rolled over so I could rub her belly!

She's not used to me sitting at the machine. I got her when life was starting to get complicated, and I just didn't want to sew much. Now when I sit at the machine, she's constantly trying to distract me. Silly dog!

The little patriotic tumblers are a work in progress.



Kathie and I have been swapping fabrics. I sent her a charm pack of this older Judie Rothermel fabric, and while she was cutting hers, she cut some tumblers for me! These are so much fun, and will give me good practice to sew those big tumblers of '30s fabrics that I cut with the Go cutter. No, I haven't forgotten about those! I love patriotics, and this will be one of my favorite mini quilts!

I say "one of my favorites" because this one is my absolute favorite!



In one of the exchange boxes, Kathie tucked in this little beauty! Oh, my, I was so surprised! Doesn't it make you want to get out some buttons and challenge someone to a game of checkers? It's adorable, Kathie! Thank you so much!

I had previously made this little quilt ...



... so now I have four that will hang on that wall in my future studio!

If you haven't made a mini quilt, I'd say give it a whirl! They're quick and fun and you'll love every second of the process!

Give-Away Winner

Sorry to be so late. I was in a meeting this morning and my glasses totally fell apart on me! The only way I could fix them was with a rubber band wound around the middle of the lens to hold the broken frame together. Talk about stupid looking! And to make matters worse, I had a second meeting with only an hour break between the two. Needless to say, I hightailed it over to Lenscrafters tonight to get new glasses and waited for them to be made. This time I got two pairs! I guess I now have a stash of eyeglasses!

It's always something .... I tell ya, sometimes it's not fun being me!

So enough of that. Who won the Maywood Simpatico almost yard cut tower?

After printing all the replies and putting them in a bag, and then shaking thoroughly, the name pulled is ---------

MARY LOU of CHEAPER THAN THERAPY QUILTING!

Congratulations, Mary Lou! Please email me your snail mail address, and I'll get these off to you this week. Hope you enjoy working with them!

Thank you to everyone who entered. As always, I wish I had a hundred and whatever prizes to give away. We'll just have to do this again soon, okay?

Maywood Simpatico Give-Away

Since I totally missed my 1000th blog post, and to celebrate my stash report looking so good compared to prior years, it's time for a give-away! :)



I have this stack of Simpatico line from Maywood. I thought they were one-yard cuts, but I measured one and they're just short of a yard. So I'll call them 7/8 yard cuts. Close enough! There are 41 fabrics in this stack.

I've tried to use these several times on quilts and I couldn't get the mix I wanted. So hopefully the lucky winner will be able to do so. I think they would make up into dynamite charity quilts.

Let's keep this a short give-away. I'll do the drawing on Tuesday 6/14 when I get home from work. That might be around 7:00ish CA time.

No special gimmicks for this give-away. Just leave a comment, and if you aren't linked to a blog, be sure to leave your contact info so I can get in touch with you if you're the winner.

And remember that I have comment moderation turned on. So if you don't see your post immediately, hang in there. I'll be checking in several times a day next week to get those comments up. Just bear with me on that! Also, judging from the number of folks who leave comments on the give-aways, I won't be able to respond to each person. Just know that your name will be in the hat for the drawing!!

Good luck to everyone!!!!

Stash Report 2011 - Week 24

I've been a cutting fiend this week! I'm not counting any of this just yet, but every once in a while I need to justify my quilting existence by taking pictures of what has been happening around the joint!

Strips - 1.5" - lots and lots of them. A friend sent me a pile, and I've been cutting a strip off of every piece of Civil War fabric I'm pulling per a suggestion of Kathie at Inspired by Antique Quilts. Wow, that works! Look at that pile of strips! I can sew up lots of little nine patches now without having to stop and cut more.



Also cut and prepped lots of small drunkard's path blocks. I'll have way over 150 of those done when I stitch these up. Probably closer to 200. Lots and lots more to go on this project!



While I'm prepping drunkard's paths, I'm also tidying up by going ahead and cutting the 1.5" scrap squares from the leftover "bowties." It really feels good to do that!



And last but not least, I've been prepping and stitching more baskets. Pictured are 115 completed baskets! 176 more to go. I feel like the old tortoise on this project, but finish line is getting closer and closer.



Oh, yeah, incoming fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop .... there's always a box from there! That Grace was just too beautiful to pass up! I have an applique project all picked out for this fabric. Since I already had the FQ tower, I picked some yardage of go-withs. I'm going to use any leftovers for the backing. At least that's my plan for now. So that was 9.5 yards that landed.

It'll be interesting to see how much fabric is used when I finish the Civil War projects I'm working on. I'd wager it will take a big hunk out of my negative numbers. But I have to admit, that teeny negative doesn't bother me one iota! It's just a smidgeon of what has been negative in years past! :)

Year to Date:

Busted: 254.805 yards
Purchased: 313.775 yards
Net YTD: (58.97) yards busted :(

This week I want to get up another stash give-away. They are one yard cuts of a pretty line of fabric that I'm positive I won't use. So check back later!

Bored, Bored ... Boring

I have absolutely zero to report these days. Nothing. Zilch. Can't figure out how someone as boring as I am decided to blog!

Let's see. I finished the 113th basket block. No speed records there but have taken a slow and steady pace on them. I need to prep more, which means I have to dig around for more black and cream shirtings. They're here somewhere. Probably up in the black hole -- uh, the stash room.

I started prepping more drunkard's path blocks this week. I think Kathie told me I needed like over 600 or some such absurd number. ROFLOL. Okay, so they applique up very quickly. Seriously, it takes longer to cut the squares than to applique them. Of course, I'd be further along if she'd quit tempting me with new projects! It's all her fault! :)

While looking for something this morning, I found this.



Many years ago I purchased some antique quilt blocks off of eBay, and the seller tossed this cutter quilt in the box. She had already cut into it, and thought I might be able to use the rest of it. There are five or six blocks left. Most of them are stained or tattered, but I thought I'd pick the best one, cut it out, and have it framed. It wouldn't matter if it was in poor shape, and it would make an interesting item to hang on the wall in my future absolutely gorgeous quilting studio! You know the studio I'm talking about. It's the one that's been hiding in my brain for the last 11 years. Yeah, that one! Oh, my, it's gorgeous!

Anyway, that got me to thinking about a lot of the antique blocks I have tubbed up and stashed away in the (where else?) stash room. I'm going to be pulling some of those out to see if I can't do something with them. Well, I'm going to be pulling them out someday soon. It's way high up on my list of things-to-do.

In the meantime, there is a lot of prepping to do on other projects. I'll be spending some time sewing with a few ladies later this month, and I've decided I'll only be doing applique. So I need to prep now and not wait until the last minute to decide what to work on during the sew-in. I usually do that, wait until the last minute. This time I hope to be better organized. We'll see how THAT goes!

A very dear friend sent me the Civil War Bride pattern by Threadbear, www.threadbear.com.au. That thing is gorgeous. The link is to a blog about this quilt. I won't be starting this any time soon, but it sure is fun to read the pattern and dream about it. I hope my friend gets started on it immediately!

There IS one vintage reproduction applique quilt that I'd like to start soon, though. I'll probably hold off for a bit, but I'm already envisioning it on my bed. It's the 1854 McLean Album Quilt. Isn't that gorgeous? I'm going to be doing it in solids, and those are collected and ready to go. I just need to get my game face on and start cutting the background squares. That usually spurs me on to prep the applique. Anyway, that's another inspiration I've been pondering.

There are so many things I need to be doing today, but I think I'll go take a nap. That ought to cure the need-to-dos!

Waste Not, Want Not

Cutting up Civil War fat quarters is a ton of fun.

Here's a question for you all. At what point do you throw away the scrap?

After cutting up a fat quarter for basket blocks, nine patches, and both backgrounds and quarter circles for the drunkard's paths, this is what I'm left with.



I can't throw that away! So I figure I can get two 1.5" charms out of it.



Those little slivers of left-over fabric now go in the garbage, NOT the scrap bin!

I've totally used up a fat quarter!! ROFLOL.

I crack myself up sometimes!

Stash Report 2011- Week 23

Short week at work, long hours, little time to sew ... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I did make up eight more basket blocks.



108 done - 183 to go! It's the elephant/one-bite-at-a-time thing. I'm slowly getting there. Defintely my grab & go project. Three were done Friday night while sitting at Ginger's Quilt Shoppe chatting with friends.

This little beauty was sewn up last Sunday, and I will be reverse stitching a little bit today on it. Didn't realize I had flipped some rows around until I took the picture. Those three blue cornerstones all lined up are bugging me. It'll be a quick fix and I'll be happier for doing it.



Kathie and I have swapped out some fabrics, and she sent along this little kit in a package. I've totally fallen in love with little quilts! Thank you, Kathie, for the inspiration and gentle nudges back to the Civil War fabrics.

Rooting around in my Civil War stash has been so much fun. I've discovered a few jewels up there! I found some old Civil Wars that I'm about to pop to start into a Christmas quilt. I've been cutting and cutting for drunkard's paths and baskets and little nine patches. I guess there will be blog posts about these for quite a while because they're what I'm excited about working on now.

This week I had six yards of wide backing that arrived. That's backing for two quilts. I love it when the Fat Quarter Shop gets those in. I try to order early because they sell quickly. Ask me how I know!! :)

18.355 yards were used up, cut, swapped ... finally a week with more out than in!

Year to Date:

Busted: 254.805 yards
Purchased: 304.275 yards
Net YTD: (49.47) yards busted :(

Visit Judy at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing on their stash busting! And if you haven't already done so, please consider a contribution to the Help Joplin Project. There's a tab at the top of Judy's blog with all the information on how we can all get involved.