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

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 10

This weekend my mom, sister and I went to the San Francisco Quilt Guild's quilt show. The featured guest was the incredibly talented Judy Mathieson. She was there, as well as a wonderful showing of her quilts. Below are two of the ones featured (click to enlarge). It's always great to see famous quilts that you've only seen in pictures in person. We had a really nice day, and I only bought one fat quarter! (I had to -- it had monkeys on it!)

I also got a scrap/stash quilt top finished (minus the borders) this week. I'm estimating the amount of stash used, because a lot of it was smaller scraps that I had cut up into squares. I'm counting out the yardage this week, and I'll count out the borders (from stash) next week, as I'll be putting those on tomorrow night in class. I've got others in progress right now, so hopefully I'll be counting that out soon.

Fabric in this week: .25 yards

Fabric out this week: 5 yards

Fabric in this year: 11.75 yards

Fabric out this year: 8.75 yards

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 9

Above is the sewing area that I have set up in the dining room. We finally had a break in the rain this week, so I was able to get a little sunny sewing time.

Of course today I stood up for just a moment, and my chair became instantly occupied. He always wants the best seat in the house!

Yesterday I took my "know how" class on how to use my new Bernina. It was a long day (6 hours), but I did learn quite a lot of the finer points of the Bernina. And as a bonus, Annie Smith was teaching in the classroom next to ours. Annie is a wonderful quilt teacher and designer from San Jose. She is also the creator of the Quilting Stash, first podcast for quilters. I listen to all of her shows and am a big fan. I popped in after the two classes had ended and introduced myself. It was reallly great to meet her in person -- I feel like I know her already through her podcasts!

I am on the verge of finishing three different projects, but none are completed yet, so I can't count out the stash. So frustrating!! Hopefully this week! When they are finally done, I will hopefully have more out than in for the year so far. Also, I am very proud of myself, because this week I went to THREE quilt shops for various reasons, and did not buy one bit of fabric! Yay me!!! I had my eye on some Simpsons fabric that I had never seen before, but I was strong and didn't buy it. However, I did end up with a store credit at Eddie's Quilting Bee, so it may come home with me yet.

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

Fabric in this year: 11.5 yards
Fabric out this year: 3.75 yard

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 8

Okay, I finally busted some stash!! Unfortunately, I added some, too. But how can you pass up a gift of fabric? I may not have bought it, but it did get added to my stash, so it must be counted. I finished one quilt top today for the next class session, which used the fabric that I bought last week. Yesterday my mom and sister and I had lunch together at a little restaurant which just happened to be near two quilt shops. I picked up some fabric for my Dear Jane project -- which I promise I will be starting soon!

Fabric in this week: 2.5 yards
Fabric out this week: 2.75 yards

Fabric in this year: 11.5 yards
Fabric out this year: 3.75 yard

Mini-Dear Jane completed!

Here's my completed mini-Jane. I got it done last night, just in time for Lance to bring it to his work today. The pieceing was difficult, but do-able. One of the hardest parts was squeezing the whole top out of the small piece of fabric I had left. I really didn't think I'd get the binding done. It has the absolute narrowest binding I've ever made! I cut it 1" wide and made it single fold. There was not a single scrap left! Anywho, it's done and now I can get started on the "real thing"!

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 7

Oops! I took today (Monday) off work, and because yesterday didn't feel like a Sunday, I forgot to make my Stash Busting report. I went backwards just a little, because I need to get my projects done for the next class session, and I couldn't pull the fabrics I needed from my stash :). But I surely did try!! I went through a lot of fabric, but I just couldn't work it out.

Lance and I also worked really hard on re-organizing our dining room area, which seems to have become my permanent sewing area. I had all kinds of sewing "stuff" overflowing the whole area. We had to make way for a table I bought for my new sewing machine, so we dug in and cleared the whole area out. I'm not good at organizing things (I'm good at paperwork and such, but not "things"), so it was somewhat painful for me to have so many things that didn't have places for them. But we made it through and my table was delivered today (it's nice to work for a courier company!!). It was already assembled, so we just had to juggle the tables and I think I'm finally set. Whew! Can I sew now, please???

Fabric in this week: 3 yards
Fabric out this week: 0 yards

Fabric in this year: 9 yards
Fabric out this year: 1 yard

Happy Valentine's Day

Lance and I had our Valentine's Day dinner last weekend, which I decided would double as my birthday dinner. For those keeping track, my birthday was in October... We have always believed that it is not a good idea to eat out on "holidays" like these. The restaurants are too crowded, you get rushed, and the food is never as good as on normal days. So we are content to do it on at our convenience. As far as today goes, I have been planning to give Lance his mini Dear Jane quilt (four blocks) for Valentine's Day, but it is not finished yet. If I put my mind to it, I can get it done today. So today is a sewing day for me. I'll update with a picture when it's done. Wish me luck!

Fat Quarter Month

So here it is the 11th already and I just realized that February is Fat Quarter Month over at Sew, Mama, Sew! They have daily links to tutorials perfect for using fat quarters. I see pillows, handbags, and today they have a link to a tutorial for slippers. Very cool. Which reminds me, I was going to make my own tutorial for book covers. Hmmm. Stay tuned for that -- but not too soon...

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 6

So here's my new pride and joy! Last week I bought a new Bernina with a stitch regulator. So exciting! I've had my eye on this model for quite a while, and there was a big sale that I couldn't pass up. I've really been struggling with my machine quilting technique, and I really think this should help me out. Next to it you can see the latest Dear Jane block that I made. I've also been playing with my Dear Jane software this week, and I really want to ramp up my block production on this quilt.

Unfortunately, a 4 1/2" Dear Jane block does not take very much stash, so nothing used again this week. I do have an entire quilt cut out and ready to sew tomorrow night. I am determined to count this fabric out next week -- even if I'm doing it Saturday night!! :)

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

Fabric in this year: 6 yards
Fabric out this year: 1 yard

Stash Busting 2009 - Week 5

A quick post today for my stashbusting report. We were busy doing lots of things this weekend. I made an exciting purchase that I'll post more about later!

You are all probably tired of the same "nothing in, nothing out" post every week, but it's true again. However, I have been cutting pieces from my stash like mad. I'll count all that yardage out of the stash when the quilt top ("flimsy") is done. Which might even be next week! But in the mean time, here goes:

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

Fabric in this year: 6 yards
Fabric out this year: 1 yard