Wednesday's progress

Judy's good idea

When I was surfing around the Maverick ring yesterday, I was inspired by Judy's posts about using up her stash, especially about why we buy fabric that we LOVE and then can't bear to cut into it! Judy's February challenge to us is to go cut into that favorite piece and USE IT! This summer I dyed a pile of fat quarters. And then I dyed an even larger pile when Nines and I had our quilting retreat in Tennessee. These have been sitting there in a box, staring at me, begging to be used. But I couldn't bear to use them up. What am I saving them for? I was waiting for some divine intervention I guess.

So this morning I went and dug the box of my hand-dyed fabrics out of my closet and found a couple yards of black in the stash and set to work. I have been oohing and aahhhing over this quilt for some time. Sorry I can't remember whose quilt this is - if it is yours, leave a comment and I will add a link to your blog!

This morning I started working on the flying geese. As you can see, I got quite a few done. I haven't decided if this going to turn into a wall hanging or a lap quilt. Time will tell! Judy - thanks for the inspiration to finally use our prized fabrics!

Success

Yesterday was the baby shower. I got up and made the diaper cake. So far all the diaper cakes I have made have been for baby girls, so this blue one was a new twist. I love the turquoise and brown together. After a wonderful brunch of egg and sausage casserole, sausage balls, three kinds of cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, quiche, and cute little Petit Fores, it was time to open the gifts. The mommy to be received lots of goodies, including some of the Pottery Barn bedding I was trying to match. She received the crib dust ruffle and a baby pillow sham. Finally came the quilt. She loved it - but I was worried it wouldn't match. But it went perfectly! The fabrics were different but the colors were almost exact matches. Not too shabby considering I was working from a two inch by three inch picture I had printed off the computer!

I have started working on another UFO. This one is going to be a surprise present for someone so I can't show any pictures of the work in progress. I finished up the blocks yesterday and got the rows put together. I have got four of the rows sewn together - 5 more to go.

DS was sick last week but we thought he was on the mend. DD woke up this morning with a fever and a sore throat. Now DS is complaining that his throat hurts again too. I guess we will go see the pediatrician tomorrow. DD gets strep throat at the drop of a hat. Fun times!

Babies, babies every where!

My mom was kind enough to do the handwork on the binding for me! All that is left to do is the label. The baby shower is Saturday. I am also in charge of making one of my world famous diaper cakes, this time in blue.

My family left a day early. Ian woke up in the middle of the night with a belly ache and then had a sore throat this morning. My nephews and niece are not good sleepers when away from their own beds. So all of this added up to them packing up and leaving this morning. Me and Ian have had a very lazy day. Watching TV, surfing the net, taking a nap. DH is bringing home pizza for dinner.

I also came to the realization this afternoon that I do not want to get into the habit of making a quilt for each of the kid's teachers for the next twelve years. Maybe for exceptional teachers - we will see. That will be two less quilts hanging over my head. I want to quilt for fun, not because I feel like I have to. Is that too much to ask?

Better go get the drinks ready. Pizza will be here in a minute!

Mom's bones are done!

I concentrated this afternoon on finishing the quilting on my mom's bones quilt and got it done right before dinner. I tried a new-to-me batting called Hobbs Heirloom Premium cotton batting. It is actually a 80/20 blend. I really liked it - it is a little puffier than 100% cotton. Had to adjust the top tension on my machine a little bit. When I emailed my mom the finished picture, her reply was "But the binding isn't on it yet!" Ha ha ha!

Now tomorrow I can concentrate on getting my house back to its formerly clean state before my parents, sister, and her kids all arrive at about 2:30. Right now I think it is bed time!

A Saturday spent sewing

Today I had big hopes of getting the house all cleaned up again. Then my better sense (or my lazy sense) took over and I decided to take a nap and then sew some. I finished quilting the lime green quilt and then got my mom's bones quilt loaded on the machine. I need to get her quilt done before they get here on Tuesday afternoon - so she can take it home with her - and so I can sweet talk her into doing the hand sewing on the binding of the baby quilt!

I wanted to work on something new and exciting. OK, maybe older and exciting again! So I dug out a UFO that is made from the scraps of a top I made for the owner of the quilt store Nines works at. Here is the original quilt.

And here is what I did with the leftovers! Nines - don't tell Tonya that there were that many leftovers! This wall hanging is about 60 by 30. I used almost every last scrap. Can you see on the two side outer borders where I had to add a piece of an alternate color to get enough to make the border long enough? I have got maybe a square foot of fabric left over. This was a quick little project. I already had the two main blocks done. I just added the sashing between the two blocks and then put on the outer border. Now - how to quilt it? I need my mom and Nina to lay down before they read this next sentence. Yes, i am considering hand quilting it. With those big stitches I saw over on another Maverick's blog. What do you think? Can I do this?

Quilting away...

I have had fun this week - quilting away. So far I have gotten two and a half tops done. The baby quilt is done. The Denyse Schmidt top that Susan sent me is done. The loud lime green top I made last summer is about half done. Maybe tomorrow I will even get my mom's bones quilt loaded on.

The only problem with getting all these tops quilted is that I will have a pile of quilts that need to have the binding put on them. As Nina will testify - binding is my least favorite part. I have got to at least get the baby quilt bound before next Saturday. Surely I can do it in a week!

A soggy Tuesday

DH has had a bad cold for the past few days. The only time he ever snores is when he is congested. Last night it was so bad that I finally got up and went and slept with Ian in his twin sized bed. Not much better. I had to sleep on the outside for fear of pushing Ian right off the edge. I should have just slept with Maddie in her double bed, but I was afraid Ian would complain because I had slept with her last time daddy was snoring! This is all to explain why I didn't get much sleep last night and why I felt the need for a nap at 9:30 this morning!

Yesterday I got the baby quilt top all put together and even found a cute blue striped fabric in the stash to use for the backing. That's three yards down - 1000 to go! After my refreshing nap, I got everything loaded onto my quilting machine. Quilting on baby quilts always goes so nice and fast. I just did a simple little meander with little loopy-loops. Very delicate looking.

I was so inspired by getting the baby quilt done that I went in search of a backing for the beautiful quilt top that Susan sent me. I found a huge piece of a green on green print that will do just fine. Kind of a grassy green color. Another 4 yards out of the stash! I got the backing pieced and pinned onto the machine this afternoon. My goal for tomorrow is getting this one quilted.

When I was rearranging my stash a few weeks ago, I cleaned out the cabinets over the washer and dryer. Any piece of fabric over about two yards went up in this cabinet. That way I don't have to dig through the regular stash for a piece big enough to make a backing out of.

Hhhmmm....what to work on next? Maybe, while I am in the mood, I should work on quilting all the tops I have sitting here.

No more complaining!

I got tired of looking at my own whining! So I erased it! I agree with all of you about that if you give a quilt as a gift - it is up to the receiver how they choose to use it. I want the quilts to be loved and used - even to the point of being worn out.

The in-laws left this afternoon. My house is still relatively clean. Tomorrow I am going to pick up a few small messes and then give myself the rest of the day to sew! The baby shower is less than two weeks away.

How is everyone's no-buying resolutions going? So far I don't think I have even stepped foot in a fabric store. Safer that way, no?

New things in the new year

See this lovely quilt top? My fellow maverick, Susan, had this top languishing in her UFO pile, unloved and guilt inducing. When Susan read my recent post about the Denyse Schmidt wall hanging I made my sister for Christmas (with fabric from Susan's store), she mailed this top to me!!! I am so in love with it! I can't wait to get it quilted and start snuggling up under it! My sister is trying to talk me out of it. Not going to happen, my friend!

This is the progress I have made on the baby quilt that needs to be done by the end of January. It is the same pattern as the Christmas one my mom made for me. The blocks are made from three different sub-units - a one patch (the light yellow in the pic) and a two-patch (kind of a rail fence) and a four patch. Then the two big blocks are nine-patches - one made from the 4-patches and the one patches - and one made from the two-patches and the four patches. Ends up being a very random look. I am liking it - and I hope the mommy-to-be will like it too!

I have gotten to sew more these past two days than I have in the last several months. Nice and relaxing. Definitely need to make more time to sew some each day.

What have you all been up to this new year?

It is a small, small world

In the continuing effort to get the sewing room organized, tonight I sat down and cleaned out my notions box. Lots of odd things were lurking in there. A single, lonely knitting needle. Bias tape from long-ago abandoned apron project. Several pieces of red felt from a x-mas class project 2 years ago. And the two AQS show books from the two shows I had quilts in.

I opened up the Paducah 2004 book and pulled out the judges' comments sheet. I read through it and glanced down at the judges' names. Julie Powell. Libby Lehman. And Gabrielle Swain, whose blog I often read when surfing around Melody Johnson's blog. How did I miss that before? Then when I was looking at the actual show book, I found the page my quilt was listed on and started reading down the list of quilts that were close by. Who should I run across but Deb R from over at Red Show Ramblings.

If you are interested in seeing the quilts I had in the shows, you can go read this post.

One of my x-mas quilts

I finally got around to taking a picture of the christmas quilt my mom made me. It is the perfect size to hang above my sewing table. So what if it is christmasy colors and it is already January? I gave mom the olive colored fabric with the polka dots on it. She was oohing and ahhing over it at Hobby Lobby one day and I managed to get a half yard of it for her without her noticing. Mom hand quilted it using Tonya's free-hand baptist fans. Thanks again Mom - I love it!

I worked some more today on reorganizing the sewing room. Getting rid of lots of scraps. Now I can't wait to get my new sewing table into the room.

I have had several funny comments about not buying any fabric this year. I consider my fabric stash to be a reasonable size. It all fits inside of a normal size bedroom dresser. But this is still way more fabric than I could use up in several years! I have already told my mom that she needs to call me before she goes shopping at JoAnn's. I also told my sister that she needs to take up quilting in a big way - so that she too can help use up this fabric! It is not that I don't love buying new fabric - but why buy fabric if I am never going to use it? I want to try and make several more Quilts of Valor this year. Does anyone know of any other charities that collect quilts for adults? Most of my fabric is more adult oriented.

Happy quilting!

New Year's resolution

Today is being spent reorganizing all my quilting stuff. My MIL is bringing me an old library table (36wide x 70 long x 30 high) that she used to have in her bedroom. After trying to decide where this table could go, I figured out that with a little reorganization, it would fit in my sewing room. The sad part is that it will have to replace the table my dad built me. I am hoping that the two side pieces (which the large shoe-box size plastic boxes fit perfectly in) will fit underneath the new table. I use the shoe boxes to organize current projects and notions.

Anyway.... in the process, I am reorganizing my closet, where the majority of my fabric is stored. Then that led to reorganizing the fabric in the cabinet above the dryer and I am sure that will lead to reorganizing the bottom of the pie safe!

I tell you all this in order to announce (again!) .....
NO FABRIC BUYING FOR ME THIS YEAR!!!

Who is going to join me?