Monday, January 31, 2011

Design Wall Monday 01/31/11


Here's my design "table" for today.  I prepped a block to work on tonight in class (along with some Dear Jane blocks that I also prepped).  This is going to be a Woven Heart block as shown in this tutorial.  I'm not sure what it will become, but I thought I would make one to start and see if any of the students would be interested in a Valentine's project using it (to be determined). We are getting awfully close to the 14th, so it may not happen, but it will be nice to have one block made.  It also helps that I still have my big bag of pink fabric scraps sitting on my work table.

To see the fabric basket I made from last week's Design Wall Monday, see this post.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's design walls!


Sunday, January 30, 2011

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 5


I finished the basket that I was planning on Monday.  I'm really happy with how it came out.  I had some fabric in my stash that was printed in rows of people working in cubicles.  It was the perfect fit for a birthday gift for one of my husband's co-workers.  I used this for the top part of the basket instead of sewing squares together.  The scale of the printed row was just right.  I filled it with cookies before he brought it and she just loved it!  That's about the extent of my sewing this week.  It doesn't really take much fabric, but it did all come from my stash, so we'll call it 1/4 yard out, and nothing in.  I'm getting there slowly but surely!! 

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Design Wall Monday - 01/24/11


I need to do something about these dark pictures!  You can tell that my lamp is in the left-hand side.  This is my design "table" as of right now.  The little pink four-patch from last week grew into a block. This will be for the Block Lottery program in the class I teach (starting tonight).  The block at the top is part of a demo for the same class.  It will eventually become a basket block. I'll post pictures of the finished class projects soon.  The other fabric shown is one of my favorites.  I got it a few years ago and didn't know what to do with it - I just knew I liked it.  It is rows of people at work cubicles.  Tonight I'm going to use it to make a fabric basket for one of my husband's co-workers using this tried and true tutorial from Pink Penguin.  I've made several of these over the past few years and they are always a hit.  Instead of piecing together squares for the top portion, I will put a solid strip of the novelty fabric.  I think it will be really cute and will take less time than sewing together all of those squares!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on!


Monday, January 17, 2011

Design Wall Monday 01/17/11


Okay, so my design "table" doesn't look like much.  This is about all I got done this weekend.  One lonely four patch and a pile of blue fabric.  But believe it or not, this is what I'm working on right now.  The four patch was to be the beginning of this project - but I decided to make changes and now I'm not sure where it's going at all. At least those four pieces came out of my scrap bin!  As for the blue pile, these also came from my scrap bin.  I was pulling fabrics to make this quilt from Moda Bake Shop.  I thought I'd use all blues from my stash and use a really nice tan fabric for the sashing strips that's been aging in my stash for several years.  The tan (not pictured) is one of those fabrics that I really like - so much that I haven't wanted to cut into it.  Why do we do that?  So even though it looks like a pile of nothing, there are a couple of projects there!

Check out Judy L's blog to see what other people have on their design walls!


Sunday, January 16, 2011

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 3


Well I didn't think I was going to buy fabric so early in the year, but I couldn't pass up a great inventory reduction sale on line recently.  Now I just need to work harder this year!  I got a fat quarter pack of Birdy, a purple fat quarter for my Dear Jane quilt, and a half yard of an orange print.

Check out Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing!

Fabric in this week:  3.00 yards
Fabric out this week:  0.00 yards

Fabric in this year:  3.00 yards
Fabric out this year:  0.50 yards

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Homemade Pressing Spray

Sorry, no picture today because I haven't acutally tried this out yet...  I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Freda's Hive, and today she mentioned that she made her own pressing spray, similar to Best Press. Here is a link to the post and recipe that she used. They say that it works just as well as the name brand at a tiny fraction of the cost.  I may just have to try this out!

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Stash Busting 2011 - Week 2


Well it's a new year, which means I begin anew with my stashbusting efforts.  I fell off with my reporting last year, but I'm pretty confident when I say that I came in about even with my fabric in and fabric out.  I didn't make any big purchases, and I didn't make any big finishes - just small ones on both sides.  I did finish a rather large quilt that I had been working on for well over a year that I made for my in-laws. However, it was a block of the month that I didn't count into the stash.

So I begin again.  No purchases this week.  Above is one of my last fabrics purchases back in November - a Bliss charm pack.  I did use some of it this weekend in a class project.  I finished the mini quilt this evening.  I'm going to call it a half yard used.  Yay!  I busted some stash already!!

Check out Judy L's blog for other stash busters!

Fabric in:  0.00 yards
Fabric out:  .50 yards