Merry Christmas 2009

The gifts are made and purchased and wrapped and we are off to my sister's house for the family Christmas celebration. I hope to be posting more regularly now that the rush is over.

I have been wanting to let everyone know about what I heard Alex Anderson is up to right now! Beginning today, December 25th, she is posting a free redwork pattern each day for 12 days on her website. I'm not sure how long each pattern will be available, so stop by daily for the free pattern.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe holiday! Merry Christmas everyone!

Sale at Connecting Threads!

I got an e-mail today from Connecting Threads with news of a big sale going through 12/15/09. All of their fabrics, which are pretty inexpensive already, are 40% off!! This is an awesome deal! I picked up 4 yards of fabric to be used for backing a quilt I'm making right now, and it cost me less than $15.00!! I also got a half yard of another fabric for less than $2.00. Yes, I know I'm trying to bust my stash. If you are doing the same, then this is a dangerous website. But $3.58 per yard is too good to pass up!! No affiliation or compensation on my part -- I just want to spread the news...

Blog Hopping

There's a neat little blog hop going on right now amongst 12 quilt designers -- 12 days of recipes, memories, and free project ideas called the Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop. It is being hosted by Gudrun of GE Designs. I've been having fun checking in with each blog daily. Today is Terry Atkinson's day to post a project (see picture above pilfered from her blog). It is for Molten Chocolate Cake Mugs. I LOVE this idea for a quick(ish) and inexpensive gift. It would be a good idea to have some of these made up and at the ready in December. There are prizes for commenting on all of the blogs and lots of ideas. Hop on over and check it out!!

Dear Jane L4

I finally got another Dear Jane block done! I have a ton of projects that I should be working on, but I didn't want to have to do a bunch of designing and figuring. So I printed out L4 and got to it. The real thing looks pretty good. The picture above is a scan than got a little crooked. Cropping it makes it look pretty far off. Oh well. One more down!

Okay, Break Time's Over!

Sorry for not announcing my little blogging break in advance, but it actually it wasn't planned at first. Things got very busy for a bit and then all of a sudden I had lost a whole month! I have lots of things to share from the summer, vacation news, and two quilt shows! I'll try to get the pictures organized for posting soon.

In the mean time, it's November, and we all know what that means... Handmade Holidays is back on at the Sew, Mama, Sew! website. This is the third year for Handmade Holidays. Every day of the month they post a whole slew of tutorial links related to the topic of the day. They also have daily recipes, and giveaways for commenting. I have found many great ideas and tutorials for quick gift items in the past two years. It's fun to check in daily to see what new things await us. Pop over and check it out!

Scrap Buster Month

October is Scrap Buster Month on Sew Mama Sew! Lots of tutorials, pictures and ideas for using up those fabric scraps! They had a little poll recently asking what kind of theme month readers wanted and I voted for scrap busting (of course). Apparently others were of a like mind because here it is. I'm assuming that next month will be my favorite -- Handmade Holidays. I've gotten a lot of great ideas from this blog. Go over and check it out...

Stashbusting - Week 39

No news on the stashbusting front! It was a busy week just back from vacation, and our cat, Bear, had surgery last Monday. My sewing machine has been neglected! I got all of my patterns written for class, which starts tonight! I was very good and didn't buy any fabric at Quilting in the Garden yesterday. I'll post pictures soon -- wonderful quilts, but too hot for me!

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

Fabric in this year: 33.16 yards
Fabric out this year: 33.00 yards

Quilting in the Garden 2009

Quilting in the Garden is coming up this weekend. This is such a wonderful quilt show. It is held at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, California. They hang the quilts from the trees and buildings. You wander through the plants and trees looking at the great quilts. And they have great featured artists there, too. This year is fusing wonder, Laura Wasilowski, as well as Joanna Figueroa, who owns and operates Fig Tree Quilts. I love Joanna's style and the colors she works with. Of course, Alex Anderson will also be there, which is always a treat! Admission is free, which makes this event even better. See you there!

Stash Busting - Week 38

Sorry I've been absent from the blog for so long! I've been on vacation and preparing for the new quilt class session. The only fabric added to stash in all this time was one yard I bought yesterday for the binding on a class sample. I haven't put it on yet, so I have to call it stash for the time being. I never counted out the fabric I used for two other class samples, so I get to count it out today!

In vacation news, I'll be posting about that soon. I'm still enjoying the last few hours of my vacation before going back to work tomorrow morning. Pictures and everything!

In class news, I'll also be posting about that soon. Pictures and everything! :)

Fabric in this week: 1.00 yard
Fabric out this week: 3.50 yards

Fabric in this year: 33.16 yards
Fabric out this year: 33.00 yards

Needle Little Inspiration??

Needle little inspiration? Then go over to this website! Oh you will be SO glad you did!! Right now she's having an Open House of sorts, with all kinds of giveaways from her site sponsors. A lot of times inspiration is just what I'm looking for when I run through my favorite blogs, and this is practically custom-made for me! Check it out when you can!!

Quilt Along with Quilt Dad

I was perusing the Moda Bake Shop site today, and found a great blog called Quilt Dad. I went back a little ways and read a bunch of posts. This dad's passion for quilting is an inspiration. I love his style and his tutorials are superb. Right now he is in the middle of hosting a quilt along on wonky log cabins. Hop over there right now (I mean it, click the link already!) and scroll down to get to the beginning. I long to jump in on this project, but I have too many things going right now. First and foremost, getting my class projects, supply lists, and patterns completed before the preview on September 14.

200th Post!

I was just going to make a quick post before I go to bed, and I see that this is my 200th post. Wow. If only I could have worked it to coincide with my blogoversary, that would have been something! Oh well. Too late in the day for a party!

Anyhow, I just wanted to say that I found this nice article/interview about Eddie's Quilting Bee over on Craftster.org. I got my Bernina there this year and I have been very happy with the service there. Nice to see them get some exposure on Craftster!

Giveaways

In my travels around Blogland, I find that a lot of bloggers have giveaways for various reasons. Usually all you need to do is post a comment on their blog to be entered. If I had been on the ball, I could have done this for my Blogiversary, but that came and went. Maybe next year!

However, I wanted to clue you all in to two giveaways that are going on right now:

Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka's Treasures is having a giveaway for her Blogiversary, and this is a great one! The grand prize is a quilt from one of her books. Hop over to her post to get the details.

Next (and I'm sure you are getting tired of me mentioning this one) The Fat Quarter Shop is also having a giveaway. They are debuting a new block of the month program called Pennsylvania Dutch using a new line of Moda fabric. Link over to their post to enter a chance at winning some of that fabric.

I'll keep my eyes open and try to let you know if I see any more!!

Stash Busting - Week 34

Well, as promised, I'm confessing my fabric purchase this week. Although I try to use lots of different types of prints, my usual color pallette seems to be darker, fall colors. But I've been seeing quilters posting pictures of their creations using these new, brighter colors, and they've really been growing on me. When I saw the Hopscotch collection at the Fat Quarter Shop, I just couldn't resist. In the past, fabrics that I've seen and was interested in ended up not being available when I wanted to purchase them, so I decided to just go for it this time. I already have a project in mind for them, too! I'm thinking that once class starts, this will be the next project that I work on. I have two other quilts in my head just waiting to be made, too! The bundle had 14 fat quarters, which is 3 1/2 yards of fabric. Yikes!

I did finish the second quilt top for class, which was all made from scraps and stash. I need to plug it into EQ so that I can calculate how much yardage I used, but I won't have time to do that for a couple of days. I'll count that yardage out next week.

Fabric in this week: 3.50 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 32.16 yards
Fabric out this year: 29.50 yards

Website Find: True Up

I ran across a great blog today called True Up . They have interviews and links and all things fabric. I'll be adding this to my list of blogs to read daily. They are also having a giveaway for a $75.00 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop on the post where they interviewed the owner of that online fabric shop. And speaking of that, The Fat Quarter Shop is an awesome shop for the newest fabrics. I, ahem, bought some recently... I'll be confessing that in my Stashbusting report this weekend.

Project Runway is back!!

Yay!! Project Runway is finally back on tv after some legal troubles. It starts again Thursday night, August 20 on the Lifetime network. For those who don't know, this is a competition reality show where clothing designers complete crazy designing challenges to create runway fashions. It's a lot of fun to watch, and as a sewer I find it particularly interesting. Even though I've been hearing a lot of hype for the premiere, I think a lot of people still don't know it's back. Can't wait!

Blogoversary!

It's my 3 year blogoversary today!! It's hard to believe I've been doing this since 2006. It's been fun and it seems like I'm getting a little more traffic lately, too. I still want to do more -- maybe post a pattern or tutorial, but there never seems to be enough time in the day. Maybe when I retire (in 25 years)!

I busted a little stash this week. I had a class project quilted this weekend, and I intended to use my scraps for the project for the backing, but I didn't have nearly enough. I picked up a couple of yards of one of the prints from the front and I still had to do some creative piecing to have enough. Other than that, not much sewing done as we were out of town this weekend. Next weekend seems to be free (so far), so I plan to get a lot of sewing done to prepare for class, which is coming up fast.

Fabric in this week: 2.00 yards

Fabric out this week: 4.50 yards

Fabric in this year: 28.66 yards

Fabric out this year: 29.50 yards

Piece O' Cake & Alz Contest

I was blog surfing recently and found out that Becky Goldsmith from Piece O' Cake designs has a blog. I read through a month or two of posts and was riveted. She has an eye for color and design that I find fascinating. I've been a fan of the Piece O' Cake style for years, although the majority of their patterns revolve around applique, which I had been horrible at until recently. I read a lot of blogs regularly, mostly of regular home quilters like myself, but I do find some the blogs by the "pros" to be interesting and insightful. A lot of times you get to hear the inside scoop on designing, teaching and publishing. I think Becky's blog is a jewel and I look forward to reading it regularly.

One thing I found interesting is that Becky, John Flynn, Sue Nickels, and Hollis Chatalain (all quilting powerhouses) challenged each other to a fundraising showdown by creating small quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, which was founded by Ami Simms. It sounds like some good-natured, albeit competitive, fun all for a very good cause. For those of you not keeping detailed notes on my life :), I posted about Ami and my contribution to her cause here. You can read about their progress on these quilts on their blogs. I can't wait to see the finished products!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 31

I know I'm starting to sound like an advertisement, and I swear I have no affiliation with the website, but Sew, Mama, Sew! has started their month of hand sewing this month. I'm looking forward to it. They will have tutorials and pictures of various hand-sewing projects all month long.

I didn't get much sewing done other than my block-a-day nine patches this week. My new sewing machine was not sounding well as I made these blocks, so I decided to drop it off for servicing. I know it has only been six months, but I didn't like the rough sound (like something was out of alignment) and I certainly did not want to make it worse. So on Saturday we brought it in to Eddie's Quilting Bee (where I got my machine) and it was pretty busy in there. Drew told me that they were a little backed up on machine servicing, but he would take a quick look at it on the spot to see if it was something simple. I'm so glad he did because we set it up and wouldn't you know it -- it sounded just fine. Fortunately my husband was there to corroborate my claim, otherwise I would have felt very silly. So I went ahead and brought it back home, and told them I'd bring it back if it sounded off again. I haven't had a chance to sew on that machine since then (yes, I'm a day behind on my nine-patches), so we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I had a sewing day with my sister and mom. We worked on a project that my sister and I had been wanting to make for (literally) years! Tiny tulips with a pretty floral border wall quilt. We all brought tons of fabric to share, and ended up only using the tiniest of pieces for the project, so nothing of any size to count out of my stash. However, when I was pulling fabrics I came across a lot of pieces that were very old and I knew I would never use them, so I washed and ironed them and donated them to a charity that makes clothes and quilts for those in need. It felt great to bust some stash and donate to a good cause. I'll have to do some more rooting around in my bins and get rid of more fabric that I know I'll never use. The oldest piece said 1982 on the selvege!!! And now I get to count 7.5 yards out of my stash!

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 7.50 yards

Fabric in this year: 26.66 yards
Fabric out this year: 25.00 yards

Christmas in July

One of my favorite websites is Sew, Mama, Sew! and they are having a Christmas in July theme this week. Head over there to find holiday tutorials each day this week. I'm in love with the advent calendar already!

Dear Jane C1

Here's my latest Dear Jane block: C1. A fairly easy foundation-pieced block. I needed one of those!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 30

Last Monday I started a "block-a-day" quilt along hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts. Pretty simple, really. Just make a 9-patch block every day for 70 days. In about 2 1/2 months you have enough blocks to make a quilt. I have PLENTY of scraps, and I figure I can make one in about 10 minutes. And so I started Monday and so far have 7 blocks. At first I pulled colors that I am comfortable with -- a dark and a light with high contrast (see the blocks on the top left). However, when I took another look Crazy Mom's finished quilt (this is her second go around with this program), I realized that my light lights were not going to work. It's very hard for me to use prints with other prints and to use colors the might blend together, or ones that I think do not go together. So in the interest of expanding my horizons, I started pulling medium value scraps and just put them together. You can see the blocks on the bottom row are much more colorful as I loosen up! I'm having fun with these and it gets me to sew a little every day, which I like.

I didn't make a stash report last week. Somehow time got away from me. Or maybe it was because I bought fabric again! I bought 3 yards of bleached muslin for a project I have in mind and a half yard of a print for another project that's in my head waiting to be put to fabric. In the two weeks I did make three Dear Jane blocks and the 7 nine-patches, so I'm going to call that 1/2 yard out.

Fabric in this week: 3.50 yards

Fabric out this week: 0.50 yards

Fabric in this year: 26.66 yards

Fabric out this year: 17.50 yards

Dear Jane G9

Here's the other block I made today, G9. This one took me hours! It didn't help that I kept making stupid mistakes. Pulling tiny stitches out of a paper foundation pieced block is sheer misery! And I had to do it several times. It's not perfect, but I think it looks pretty good.

Dear Jane A6

I got a couple of Dear Jane blocks done today. I've been wanting to fussy cut some pieces, but the blocks are so small (4 1/2" finished) that I knew it would be difficult. So I chose to do an easy block for my first attempt. I got the center motif pretty close to the center on this one. I suppose I could have fussy cut the corners, too, but I didn't think of it until after it was done. This one went fast -- unlike the other one I made today. That one is coming up next...

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 28

I'm a day late on my stash busting report. We were out of town this weekend -- off to Clovis to visit family. In addition to family in Clovis is my favorite quilt shop, Quilter's Paradise. I just can't go in there an not buy something. I picked up a few fat quarters and a roll of fat eighths for my Dear Jane quilt, a purse pattern, and a larger piece of fabric of a print that I just liked. So unfortunately, I bought a little over 3 yards of fabric this week. But it just can't be avoided when I go to Clovis. I think I was pretty good considering!

Fabric in this week: 3.33 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 23.16 yards
Fabric out this year: 17.00 yards

Dear Jane A1

I finally got A1 done for my Dear Jane quilt! I think I started this one three weeks ago. I've only had small snippets of time to work on it, and I finished it tonight. However, when I was going through my blocks (all 3 of them!), I realized that I made one in the wrong color. Argh! That didn't take long! I considered switching it with another block, but I think I want it to be right, so I'll re-make that block. Fortunately, it was the easiest one I've made so far. It will probably happen again, so maybe I'll keep a pile of castaways for another project!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 27

Here's another report that's a week old already! Last week was the summer class session that I wasn't able to help teach due to work constraints. But because it was Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I was able to join the gang on Saturday and do a little sewing. The class is usually a mixture of students from the afternoon class and the evening class, so some people I only get to see once a year, and others I haven't seen in only a week or two. This session was held at a local quilt shop, and you can see some of their class samples hanging on the walls. I took some pictures of the ladies working. You can see my mom on the right and Erna Koch on the left working away in the first picture. Erna used to teach the class that I teach now.

And here's a few of the evening students working and chatting. Left to right is Karina, Susan, Joan and also Cece from the afternoon class.

I was finally able to get some sewing done today, even though I had a three day weekend. I put the borders on the quilt that I've been working on most recently, so the 1 1/3 yards I bought last week are now officially "out". No purchases this week!

Fabric in this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric out this week: 1.33 yards

Fabric in this year: 19.83 yards

Fabric out this year: 17.00 yards

Moda Bake Shop

Have you all heard about the Moda Bake Shop website? As you probably know, Moda Fabrics sells their fabrics is precise pre-cut sizes/shapes in addition to yardage. They name these pre-cuts after sweet treats, such as Jelly Rolls (2 1/2" strips), Layer Cakes (10" squares), and Turnovers (pre-cut triangles). Moda Bake Shop is a website they created to promote these pre-cuts and they have tons of patterns and tutorials all done by fellow quilters and sewers. The tutorials are for quilts as well as clothing, accessories, and all sorts of other fabric crafts. Go check out the site -- you'll probably end up spending much more time there than you anticipate, like I did!!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 26

This news is only a week late, but Matthew and Lily got married last weekend. They had a wonderful ceremony in the redwood grove at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens. Lance officiated the ceremony and I thought it went really nicely. Lily was just beautiful.

Here's a picture of the ceremony. We were concerned because there was no sound amplification allowed, and we thought maybe people wouldn't be able to hear Lance speaking, but he had everyone sit as close as possible (why do people always sit towards the back first?), and it turned out just fine.

Last Saturday (the day before the wedding), my friend Lori had invited the ladies from class to go up to her house to sew. She has a wonderful house with lots of light and room to sew. We sewed and ate and chatted for hours. I had a great time. I did all the cutting on a quilt for the next class session and was able to make all of the blocks. Yesterday I was able to put all of the blocks together, and I picked up some fabric for the borders. I really wanted to put those borders on today, but wasn't able to get to it. I think I'll count the stash out for the body of the quilt, and I'll count out the borders next week (provided I get them on the quilt by then).

Fabric in this week: 1.33 yards
Fabric out this week: 3.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 19.83 yards
Fabric out this year: 15.75 yards

Class Show & Tell

Here are some more pictures from the last quilting class a couple of weeks ago. First up is a quilt that was made by Laurie, a new recruit to the class. She brought this project, and boy was she organized! She had each block pre-cut and each packed into its own baggie with the corresponding pattern. The blocks are small (maybe 8" each??) and all different. Each block has a special meaning and they all relate to her life story. Her piecing was superb. There is a lot of detail in the blocks. I didn't compress the picture, so you should be able to click the picture to make it bigger.


Next is Irene showing her finished (except binding) Buzz Saw quilt that she made from the project that I presented last summer. Looks great!! Irene is on a UFO finishing binge!

Here's another top that Irene finished. I had presented this project last year, but some of the newer students hadn't seen it, so I brought it back as a bonus project and a few people made it. This one looks great - the medium color in each block is a ladybug print and she pulled all of the colors from that fabric. She is thinking of appliqueing some small ladybugs in the border. Can't wait to see how that turns out!

There were lots of great projects completed this time around but unfortuately I didn't get pictures of all of them. I need to remember to bring my camera to all of the classes and not just the last one!!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 25

I've never really tried to add a lot of pictures to any of my posts, and it looks like I'm limited to a certain number. I'll add more pictures to the next post.

Last week was the final class for the spring sewing session that I teach. We're off for the summer now and it's always a little sad to know that we won't be seeing each other for a few months, but the last class is always fun with lots of show and tell and a pot luck. I have door prizes and we draw for quilt blocks that we have made. I think this was my best session yet -- a good time was had by all. Here are some pictures of quilts (mostly tops or "flimsys") that people brought to show. Below is Lori with a project that she put together from a pattern she got through a program at one of the local quilt shops. I can't remember the name of it, but it is just wonderful.


Next she showed her version of one of the quilts that I presented this session. I called it Novelty Boxes. Very fast and easy.


Oh dear, here she is again with another project that I presented this time around. String pieced green squares alternated with applique flowers. Very pretty!

Here's one of my new students, Tippy, basting a quilt to be hand quilted over the summer. She quilted years ago and is getting back into it. It's been a while - she had never seen a rotary cutter!!

Here's Susan's quilt that she made for a challenge that one of the local quilt shops was having last year. We had never seen the final product, so she brought it in to show us. Nicely done, Susan!

I have more pictures for the next post, too.

On the stash busting front, I did pull a piece of fabric out of my stash to use as the focus fabric for a quilt for class in the fall. Unfortunately I had to buy two pieces to go with it. I did get all of the blocks made, but not put together yet. I'll have to count it all out when it's done, which will be soon -- maybe next week???

Fabric in this week: 4.00 yards

Fabric out this week: 0.00 yards

Fabric in this year: 18.50 yards

Fabric out this year: 12.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 24

One more block on my Dear Jane quilt done this week -- M12. This was a pretty easy block. I could have pieced it in the normal fashion, but I went ahead and foundation pieced it so that I would be sure that everything would fit on the first shot. It looks like a little blip in the middle seam line, but that's just a pressing issue.

I had ordered some freezer paper sheets that can go through my printer, and I saw the fabric below at the on-line shop. I thought this was too adorable to pass up, so I got a fat quarter as an impulse buy. Oh well, I guess I just can't help it. So that's just one quarter yard added this week. On the bright side, however, I pulled four coordinating fat quarters out of my stash as a giveaway at tomorrow night's class. It is the last class of the session, and due to my new job and time constraints, I will not be teaching a summer class. So no more classes until September! Sad that I won't see my friends for a few months, but nice to have a little break and time to prepare for the next session.

Fabric in this week: .25 yards
Fabric out this week: 1 yards

Fabric in this year: 14.50 yards
Fabric out this year: 12.75 yards

Dear Jane E5

I finished my second Dear Jane block! It was a fairly easy one. I foundation pieced the strips and appliqued the center. I was able to get it done in a couple of hours at class on Monday night. I must not have put it square in the scanner -- everything really does line up nicely in the real thing! I wonder which one I'll work on next...

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 23

Edited to correct the block name (J3)...

Yay me! I got my first Dear Jane block done this weekend (not including the practice ones I made a few months ago...)! This is block J3, and it has a little piecing and a little applique. I cropped it so you can see what it will look like after the seam allowances are gone. I like it a lot and it wasn't too difficult. I'm on my way! Only 224 blocks to go. Hmm. I'm guessing I won't be as excited after 100 blocks or so.

Unfortunately for my stash busting efforts, I did buy some fabric this weekend. However, it was for the Dear Jane quilt! I got a few fat quarters to add some variety to the colors I have chosen and mapped out for the quilt. I got five fat quarters total, so 1.25 yards added.

Fabric in this week: 1.25 yards

Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 14.25 yards

Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 22

I finally worked out the color chart for my Dear Jane quilt. Because I will not be making the blocks in any particular order, I needed to know what color each block will be before I start. For some reason this has really been a road block for me. People have been asking me how the quilt is going and it was getting pretty embarrassing to say that I hadn't even started yet. But now I'm all set and have the first few patterns printed as well. There is a wonderful blog called "That Quilt" that gives incredible instructions on how to make each block, with step by step instructions and pictures too. She features two blocks a week. If I had been following along, I'd have half the quilt done already!

Below is the bolt of background fabric that I got for this project. It's the first bolt of fabric I have ever bought! Now I need to crack it open and start using it. Let's see how long it takes me to do that! It's so nice and pristine right now...

On the stashbusting front, still no busts. I have so many things from stash that are partially finished, but I can't count them out until the tops are done. So, same old story from me -- nothing out, nothing in. At least I'm not going backwards in these "non-productive" weeks. For now, anyway.

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 13.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 20

We celebrated Mother's Day this weekend because last weekend was too busy for us. Today my Mom, sister and I had a wonderful sewing day and we all got very far on our respective projects. A fun time was had by all. We had a tasty lunch including mimosa's. Yum! Above, my mom is working away on a challenge project, while my sister Cindy is doing the hand work on the binding of a small wall hanging she finished today -- the finished product is shown below. Nice job!!

I'm still working on the same projects with no finishes, so I can't count any stash out yet. Work is still busy, so I don't get a lot of sewing time in during the week. But I did get half of the blocks done on the project that I'm currently working on for class, which is a lot farther than I thought I'd get!

Fabric in this week: 0 yards

Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 13.00 yards

Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 19

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Sister and all the other mothers out there! I was finally able to get some good sewing time this weekend. Yay me! It is a secret project, but I can say that I was able to bust out my 30's repro stash.

My old job is finally winding down. I'll be working there a few hours here and there, but no more 12 hour days for me. I need to focus my full attention on my new job now. And have time for myself. This weekend was wonderful. I got to sew, go on a hike and see a movie. All I can say is, Star Trek is an AWESOME movie!! No spoilers from me, except to say that it was great and well worth the crowd on opening weekend!

Nothing out, nothing in again, but I have several projects in the works. Once I start finishing those, I hope to see my numbers skyrocket!

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 13.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 18

This is not the laptop I need to make a blog post!! There is always a war for my lap, and Bear usually wins.


This past week was another busy one for me -- this was the busiest yet. I start out at my old job for about an hour in the early morning, then full day training everyday at my new job, then back over to my old job to finish up some things. The majority of the company has been laid off now, so there should only be another couple weeks of tying up loose ends. This work schedule is killing me, though. I'll be happy when I can finally settle into my new job once and for all.

No sewing for me other than a little in class last Monday, and one block today. I've been making lots and lots of half-square triangles for a quilt I am going to present in the fall. I have over 150 and a bunch more to go. It's easy to work on them little by little and they are all coming from stash!!

However, nothing has been completed. But nothing bought either!

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 13.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Amador Valley Quilt Show

Here's the slideshow I made from the pictures I took at the Amador Valley Quilt Show this weekend:

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 17

Okay, I missed last week's Stash Busting report again. Life is still really hectic for me, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! My old job finally hit the transition of all operations being outsourced to another company. This finally happened yesterday. I was there for a good part of the day today processing the layoff checks. There are still a number of employees who will remain there for a while. I'll be helping out here and there with accounting and paroll duties for a while. I hope to be more at my new job and less at my old job from now on. Next week I have all day training everyday at my new job on their computer system. I'm looking forward to this because I'm really trodding through my duties slowly not knowing the computer system.

On a more fun note, my sister, mom and I went to the Amador Valley Quilter's Quilt show yesterday. It was a really nice show and they had some great activities for kids, so my nephews had a good time, too. I took a lot of pictures, which I'm putting into a slide show.

I didn't buy too much. I picked up a few fat quarters of neutral prints because I found myself getting low while pulling together fabrics for my current project. I bought a couple of items for door prizes for my class, and one redwork pattern. No stash out for this week, and just a little bit in from the show.

Fabric in this week: 1.25 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 13.00 yards
Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 15

Looks like I missed a post last week. Things are still very hectic for me. My old job is still hanging in there. The "transition" date keeps getting pushed out further and further. Meanwhile I'm working at my new job as much as I can. My brief training is over and I am trying to hold my own as best as I can. I had another dentist appointment this week -- five shots of Novocain and three hours later, my two crowns were in. I had to go back yesterday for an adjustment, but now I'm free and clear of the dental work! I don't think I've talked about how difficult these appointments have been, but let's just say it's a major relief to be done with them. Lastly (boy this sure sounds like a complaining session!) I was called in to jury duty on Friday. I was very surprised. I thought for sure they wouldn't need anyone on Good Friday, but I was sure wrong about that! There were about 100 of us that had to show up, and right away 80 of us were called into a court room for the beginnings of jury selection. They told us it would be a two and a half week trial. About half of the prospetive jurors were excused due to hardship. I told them about all of the things I've got going on right now, and so rather than being excused, they had me reschedule for another date. So hello jury duty in July!

My life is usually pretty mellow, so all of this action is different for me. I'm looking forward to a few months from now when I can finally relax again. Needless to say, I did not get much sewing done. I actually did put together the block shown above for the Block Lottery in my class. This weekend I wrote all of my patterns and made the block, so I feel like I got quite a lot accomplished.

I never counted out the fabric (all stash) that I used for one of my class projects, so I'm going to count that out this week (gotta keep motivated!).

Fabric in this week: 0 yards

Fabric out this week: 2 yards

Fabric in this year: 11.75 yards

Fabric out this year: 11.75 yards

Oh look! I'm even!!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 13

Things have been rather hectic in my life lately. I found out a few weeks ago that I would be losing my job, which was quite a shock to me. The company that I work for is completely restructuring, and all of the operational and most administrative jobs are going away next month. I did have some time to look for a new job while still working, so I put out some feelers. Also, my boss told me about an opening at his friend's company. After a couple of interviews, I did get the job at this company. However, my other job hasn't ended yet. So we worked it out that I would work both jobs until the original one ended. On top of two jobs, I've had extensive dental work and an ear infection! Needless to say, no sewing has gone on for a while. But then, no buying either!

Here's a picture of my nephew Max with my dad from this weekend. They were busy reading (and apparently writing in) a magazine and it was very cute!

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 11.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 9.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 12

Lots going on in my life right now, but that news is for another post. Right now I only have the energy for a quick stash busting report. I must have been busy -- I totally forgot that it was National Quilting Day yesterday! I was finally able to finish a quilt in class that came completely from my stash!!! So exciting. I counted out some of the fabric a week or two ago even thought it didn't have borders then. So I'll count the borders out this week. I was able to get that done in class on Monday night, but I didn't do any other sewing for the rest of the week. I'm hoping to get some done this week, but this things don't really look any lighter for me, so we'll see...

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 1 yard

Fabric in this year: 11.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 9.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 11

Well if the spring flowers don't want to come out, I'll just have to make some of my own! I finished a small quilt that I designed for the next class, which has a bunch of these fused applique flowers. It is a very happy and springy quilt and I really like how it turned out, however, I'm thinking I want to add some borders now. We'll let it lie right now and I'll decide later. Really, it will probably come down to how much time I have before class starts. I think I only have three weeks left!

On the stashbusting front, despite all of the sewing I did, I didn't buy any fabric this week (yay!). I did finish the flower quilt, but I might still add borders. I think I'll count it out later -- mainly because it's late and I haven't calculated how much fabric I used. So we'll say no fabric in, no fabric out.

Fabric in this week: 0 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 11.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 8.75 yards