New Years Resolutions

Anymore I just tend to make resolutions/goals of a general nature and most of them are quilty, can you imagine that!!!

Anyway my goals for 2011 are:

1. to appreciate my family each and every day and be thanksful for our health.

Then on to "quilty" goals.

2. Continue to use up more fabric than I buy during the year, hope to use up 100+ yards.

3. Use up some of those panel quilts I have collected and not made up

4. Continue charity quilting but limit it to only hospice quilts so that I have time to piece some charity quilts myself.

5. Keep up with Judy L's (At patchworktimes) UFO challenge.

A friend of mine that passed away a few years ago always said to be sure and do on New Years Day what you hope to be doing all year. So tomorrow I will be sewing, spending time with my family and absolutely doing NO CHORES.

Kathie

MidWeek Update

Well I didn't post a midweek update yesterday, mainly because I couldn't get out of bed. I came down with some type of cold/flu/whatever bug tuesday night and have been feeling terrible ever since.

A little better today so hopefully will be able to get a few things done.

I did manage to get my batik quilt quilted tuesday morning and also got the binding on. Hopefully tonight I will get more of the binding stitched down. I am looking forward to having this in our bedroom.


It is backed by flannel. I wouldn't think to put flannel with batik but I did a couple of customer quilts with that combination and they quilted up very nice and the backs were so soft and warm.

I also got another charity quilt (this one made by JoAnne) loaded on my frame the other day thinking I would get one more quilted this year. I think instead it will probably be the first one I quilt in 2011. Thats fine, I will have still quilted 29 charity quilts in 2010 and that far exceeded my goal of one to two a month.



Kathie

Design Wall Monday - December 27, 2010

I bought myself the Accuquilt GO cutter as a Christmas present to myself and ordered the large tumbler die at the same time. I was able to pick up the GO on Christmas Eve and cut this quilt out the same day. All rows are sewn but still working on sewing the rows together.

My stash of red/white and blue fabrics is definitely depleated but had enough of 12 different fabrics to make this quilt. I doubt I have anything that will make appropriate borders for this but I don't mind fabric shopping when I have a specific mission.

Though we didn't get dumped on snow wise we did get a respectible amount yesterday, maybe five inches. Since the roads are all covered and there is nowhere that we HAVE to be today it will probably just be a good day to stay in and stay warm.

Kathie

Final Stash Report of 2010

Hard to believe that I have been reporting my stash usage for a whole year!! I definitely like being able to see some room on my shelves and also that some of the really old fabric is gone.

As the holidays were approaching I had extra time so I was sewing like a woman possessed. I think it was partly because it just felt good to have time to do some piecing and also to try and reach my personal goal of having a net usage of fabric of 100 yards in 2010.

I made three backings, finished a quilt top (borders and cut the binding) and made another quilt top from start to finish. This is the Wickedly Easy quilt top that I made out of a stack of FQs that I have had for at least seven years.



All the sewing paid off, here are my end of the year stats:

Fabric used this week: 17.25 yards
Fabric used YTD: 280
Fabric purchased this week: 0
Fabric purchased YTD: 179.75

Net fabric used in 2010: 100.25

I REACHED MY GOAL!!!! Just barely, but hey it is over 100 yards. I have really enjoyed the challenge and am going to do it again. It helps keep my purchases in check and ensures that I am using up the old stuff.

Kathie

A Different Christmas

Every year since I was a kid we always had Turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas, just like thanksgiving. Today when I went to take the turkey out of the bag to get it ready to pop in the oven it had the most terrible smell.

The whole thing ended up in the trash.

I was glad that it was only going to be the three of us for dinner so wasn't hard to come up with a Plan B for dinner.

I ended up thawing out cube steaks to have with our mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce etc.

I missed the turkey and will miss all the left overs but the best part of dinner was just being together and after all thats what counts!!!

Merry Christmas

Kathie

Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is enjoy their Christmas and will have Christmas day with family or friends.

I had a nice surprise. My Accuquilt GO that was suppose to be back ordered till early January came in last night so I was able to pick it up this morning.

It stayed under the tree for a few hours and then I just had to play with it. I cut out a whole tumbler patriotic quilt out of 12 different fabrics in about an hour. How cool is that.

Kathie

Last Charity Quilt of the Year (Maybe)

I quilted the Left Over Roses quilt I made yesterday and trimmed it up so will now be ready to hand off to one of my binding fairies after Christmas. It was fun to both piece and quilt this one.


We are going to be having high winds the next couple of days so doubt that I will put anything else on the frame right now. I don't want to be running my machine if there is a chance of power going out in the wind.

I will have all next week till the end of the year so who knows, I might get another one quilted.

I think today I am going to try and get a backing made for my batik quilt and maybe start sewing together my Wickedly Easy blocks.

I got an email that my Accuquilt GO has shipped so I should be getting that sometime next week. I sure look forward to playing with that.

Kathie

Christmas Bonus??

Do you remember when a lot of companies used to give Christmas bonuses, or maybe a lavish Christmas party? I worked for several companies through the years that did one or the other but not in the last few years thats for sure.

I decided that since I am now self employeed I could declare a Christmas Bonus for myself ...lol. Anyway as my Christmas bonus I put in an order for an Accuquilt GO machine yesterday. I know several people that have them and really enjoy them. They are out of stock until early January but thats ok, I have lots of other projects to work on now anyway.

In an effort to use up stash this is my latest project. It is called Wickedly Easy and was a free on line pattern. I printed it out well over a year ago but never made it. I think it is just perfect for the huge stack of In The Beginnings FQs that I had stashed in a drawer. I am making a total of 16 blocks (16 1/2 inch blocks) so am well on the way to having enough to make a nap quilt top.



I am liking the way this is turning out.

Kathie

Can I Do It?

A few weeks ago I had come to the conclusion that I would not make my personal goal this year of busting 100 yards net of my stash. I was doing well but then hit several great sales on Christmas fabric and my numbers slid back.

I was ok with this. I had some room on my shelf and had also got rid of a fair amount of old fabric both in quilt tops and putting some of that "what did I buy this for" fabric in backings.

My husband and daughter are both off for Christmas starting on thursday so for the last few days I have been sewing like a crazy person to see how close to 100 yards I can get before they are home and I have family distractions. As of sunday I had a net of 83 yards.

Since that number was reported I made backings for a lap quilt and a large wall hanging, finished up another quilt using stash for borders and bindings and now I am in the process of working on a Wickedly Easy quilt that is using up a whole huge stack of fat quarters.

I am now starting to think that I might actually make 100 yards if I keep on this pace, maybe make another backing or something.

I will let you know sunday if I made my goal.

Kathie

Design Wall Monday - December 20, 2010

Boy I am having a hard time believing that Christmas is just around the corner. I am ready, just doesn't seem like it should be so soon.

In the last week I have been concentrating on busting some of my stash, mainly this pale floral pattern and its go with fabrics. I finished a top that will be for craft shows or a gift to have on hand (picture posted yesterday) then instead of putting the rest of the fabric away to age for ANOTHER SIX OR SEVEN YEARS I decided to use it up. I had some extra 4 patch blocks made so made more of those, a few rectangle blocks and cut more solid large blocks and laid it all out on my design wall.


I put this together yesterday and am now working on a pieced backing. I had two rose colored fabrics that would go with the front but not enough of either and I wanted this quilt to be 100% from my stash so am piecing it together.

This quilt will be donated to our local hospice house next year.

Kathie

Sunday Stash Report - December 19, 2010

I was sewing up a storm this week. I spent time going through all my shelves and bins looking for UFOs to report on Judy L's (Patchwork Place) 2011 UFO challenge. (for details on the challenge click on the UFO challenge box at the right). While doing so I found a bundle of fabric that I have had for years. I know the floral fabric I had purchased in Seattle 6 or 7 years ago at In the Beginnings Quilt Shop when my mom was still living out there.

I decided that I definitely had to use that fabric up so made this 4 patch (Vintage Roses) quilt (appx. 52 x 60 inches). This will either be for next years craft shows or just to have a gift in reserve. The Top is totally from stash and I am hoping to find something for the backing from my stash also.



I made some extra 4 patch blocks and had fabrics left over so decided instead of putting everything away to make another top for a charity donation. That quilt top is still in the works.

So with all the sewing and purchasing no fabric this week my stats look pretty good.

Fabric used this week: 9 yards
Fabric used YTD: 262.75 yards
Fabric purchased this week: 0
Fabric purchased YTD: 179.75
Net fabric used in 2010: 83

Glad to be back up over 80 yards again, I had been sliding back there for awhile.

Kathie

Patchwork Times 2011 UFO Challenge - December 17, 2010

Judy L at Patchwork Times is going to be hosting a 2011 UFO challenge. Her idea is at the first of the month she will pick a number and your UFO associated with that number will be what you try and finish that month.

Today is the day we post our list of UFOs on our blogs. I found at least 12, they are not put in any special order, just the order I found them in.

So, these are some of the older and not so old projects I will be working on this year.

UFO #1 – is a floral appliqué wall hanging that I started years ago. I don’t remember when but it was prior to 911 because some of the appliqué was accomplished on a LONG plane ride to Taiwan. I was going to hand quilt this, did a little bit and decided that was not for me. To finish this I am going to take out the hand quilting, add another border or two to make it large enough for a lap quilt and put it on the frame and finally get it quilted.


UFO #2 – Is from a Convergent Quilt workshop I went to a few months ago. Just need to find some backing and get it quilted.


UFO #3 – is a nursey rhyme panel that I only put one border on. This needs a couple more simple borders.


UFO #4 – was made out of left overs from a quilt I made my grandson. It is only about 36 inches square so need to find something to add a couple more borders.


UFO #5 – My batik quilt. Recently finished the top but putting it on the list to make sure I get it done.


UFO #6 – Small Row Robin – these rows were done with a on line group of friends YEARS ago. Need to get this made into a quilt.


UFO #7 – Large Row Robin – this was put together with the same group of on line friends not to long after I started quilting. Think I am going to take the huge outer border off of it, quilt and bind it and it will be a nice sized nap quilt.


UFO #8 – Crazy blocks – I made these crumb blocks to make a table runner out of. This should be a quick and easy finish on this one.


UFO #9 – I made a tropical charity quilt last year and they are the left overs. Hopefully there is enough to make a small charity quilt from this.


UFO #10 – Swap blocks also made with on line group. I think I have 9 of them so should make a small quilt.


UFO #11 – These are some of the twin sister blocks (bonnie hunter pattern) I am working on now with left over 2 ½ strips.


UFO #12 – I made a Split Decision charity quilt last year and donated it to a wounded soldier program at Andrews Air Force Base. I had a bunch of blocks left over. I think with making a few more I should have enough for another quilt.




It should definitely be an interesting year!!

Kathie

Mid Week Update

No pictures today, just didn't have time to take and down load them.

Yesterday I finished up my last customer order before the holidays. I am officially on vacation now!!!

A friend of mine let me borrow a magazine that had a simple Bonnie Hunter block pattern in it called Twin Sister. I cut some fabric for that on saturday and made a few of the blocks yesterday. It is definitely going to be scrappy made out of left over 2 1/2 strip that I keep. I think I am going to make it controlled scrappy using blues, purples, yellow and soft green with some neutrals tossed in. I think this will be one of those projects that I do a few blocks now and then between other projects.

Today we are hosting a holiday lunch for the people that my husband works with. Busy yesterday cleaning, shopping and putting together a lazagna. This morning I need to do all the last minute things, pop the cassarole in the oven and relax.

Since it is only 19 degrees out this morning it is a good morning to stay home.

Kathie

Design Wall Monday - December 13, 2010

I worked on this quilt a few blocks at a time between other things last week. I had purchased and washed the fabric and was getting ready to put it away but decided instead of doing that that I would go ahead and make the top. It was quick and easy and as soon as I get the binding cut I will put it away on my "to be quilted" shelf for later.



I have to get myself an Accuquilt GO machine!!! I used a friend of mines GO on saturday and it was so much fun. I cut out all these units for a scrappy flying Geese quilt in maybe half an hour. Everyone is pretty much out of the machines right now after a Christmas rush so I will wait until after Christmas and Christmas bills are paid and then I am seriously thinking about ordering one.



I don't know if this will be my next project putting these together or not. I have my last customer job to do before Christmas this week. Once that is done, a couple of luncheons out of the way and some last minute errands then I will decide what I want to work on next.

I guess that is the good part about having a stash, the possibilities are endless on what to make next.

kathie

Sunday Stash Report - December 12, 2010

I would like to say that I made progress on busting my stash this week but I can't report that. I did do a lot of sewing including make a Christmas quilt top (pictures tomorrow as it is still on my design wall), and finishing up my batik quilt top. Sounds like a lot of sewing and fabric usage right? I guess it would have been if I had not also had a visit to a quilt shop and did some stash enhancement.

I purchased border/binding fabric for the batik quilt so at least that got used right up, but in addition I purchased some horse fabric and a pretty Christmas wreath type of cheater panel.

So I had a small back slide but at least it doesn't amount to much on the total since I did sew up a storm.

Fabric used this week: 9.5 yards
Fabric used YTD: 253.75 yards
Fabric purchased this week: 10 yards
Fabric purchased YTD: 179.75
Net fabric used in 2010: 74

How did you do this week:

Kathie

Inspired

Are you inspired in this gift giving season to do for others? I hope everyone is from donating to Toys for Tots, food to the local food bank or our charity sewing.

The absolute best gift I have this holiday season is that the three of us are healthy. So many people I know have illness in their family and I know how lucky I am that we don't.

That feeling of thankfulness has inspired me to work on some charity projects this week. The other day I quilted this quilt for hospice. It was made by Kathy V out of a kit I cut last winter from donated fabrics. It will go off to one of my binding fairies later today.


I also took some time to piece backings for two more hospice quilts. Simple one seam backings but still takes time to find a fabric, press and cut and then sew the seam. To bad I couldn't count any of the fabric as stash reduction but found fabrics that would work in one of the charity fabric boxes.

Kathie

Batik Quilt

After weeks of working on this a little at a time I finally got the batik quilt top done. It is about 60 x 72 so a great nap sized quilt. I wish the colors looked better in this picture as the fabrics are a lot prettier than it looks here.



Everything except the borders was from a fat quarter packet that I got when I took our guild bus trip to the PA quilt show. I am so glad I went back and purchased them. Though I have quilted a lot of batik quilts for customers this is the first one I have made for myself. I can see how collecting batiks can become a habit because I really loved working with these.

kathie

Midweek Update

I did manage to get all the blocks for the center of the quilt sewn together yesterday and then took a trip up to the quilt shop for border fabric. Hopefully the borders will be on the quilt by the end of the day.

I would like to say that the fabric for the borders was the only thing I purchased but some other fabrics found their way home in the car with me. I had been looking for some nice horse fabric and they had that and horse shoe fabric to go with it and then I spied a Christmas fabric that looked like appliqued wreaths but it was a cheater fabric so HAD to get a yard of that.

I only get to this shop every few months. They have so much fabric that I always feel like some of it is going to topple over on me but on the flip side of that I have never gone there on a mission and not found what I was looking for.

I also got another small customer quilt done yesterday so all in all I had a productive time.

Kathie

Project of the Day

This was my customer project of the day yesterday. I wasn't sure how to quilt it since the actual pieced part was really small and the borders so large. I decided to use the Pajama Quilter Ziggle Fern to quilt this using a variegated pastel king tut thread. This was the first time I used this pattern on a customer quilt and I like the results, my spacing was a lot better than on my first couple of attempts.

I would quilt a couple of passes across the quilt and then sit down and sew a few of my batik blocks together. I have three rows done and ready to be stitched together. If I can get that done this morning I might take a run to the quilt shop and try and find some border fabric. I have been working on this project off and on for what seems like a long time (probably a couple of months) so would really like to get the top done soon.

I got the remainder of my Christmas shopping done yesterday and most things wrapped last night so I defintely feel a sense of relief that it is all done and I can enjoy the rest of December.

Kathie

Design Wall Monday - December 6, 2010

Well I do have something pinned up on my design wall this monday even if it something that has been on there a couple of times at various stages. I finally finished all the blocks for the batik quilt and got them all trimmed and squared up this weekend.


I need to piece the middle of this together (or a few rows anyway) and then take it to a quilt shop to try and find border fabric. I have never sewn with Batiks before so don't have a stash of them to try and find something.

I am a lot later posting my design wall today than normal. I had to go out fairly early this morning so decided since it was very cold and windy to go ahead and get all my errands run so that when I got home I could stay home for the rest of the day.

I finished up the last of my Christmas shopping, bank errands and a couple of other places. I even took a quick run by JoAnn fabrics and yes, I did purchase fabric. I saw a really cute snowman wall hanging in a current quilt magazine and I want to make that for next year. Since I usually start sewing Christmas things in May, well before Christmas fabric is out I wanted to pick up some snowflake fabric for the wall hanging while it was still in the stores.

Now to warm up, kick my feet up for a few and then go to the quilt room to finish loading the next customer quilt.

kathie

Sunday Stash Report - December 5, 2010

Well no movement this week in trying to bust any stash. I did take a few minutes for "me" sewing and I did get 18 of the batik blocks all trimmed and squared up. Not to much and since I had already counted the fabric used in all of these blocks nothing to report on my weekly stats:

Fabric used this week: 0
Fabric used YTD: 244.25
Fabric purchased this week: 0
Fabric purchased YTD: 169.75
Net fabric used in 2010: 74.5

It was another busy week with customer quilts, a guild Christmas party and yesterday was my last craft show of the season. I am definitely please with how I did yesterday. It was the second biggest show I have ever done (been doing craft shows since 2001). Since the last show was down so much from last year this one made up the difference. Now that most of my lap quilts sold I need to start planning what to make for next year. Baby, Christmas and anything with horses on them seem to sell the best.

Once I get some chores done today I would like to spend some time in the sewing room but it will probably have to be putting things away and not actually sewing. Maybe I can at least get a few more blocks squared up and laid out if nothing else.

Have a great Sunday.

Kathie

A Calmer Month

November was crazy with my daughters wisdom teeth, dance try outs, drivers license etc., settlement on our other house and two craft shows. Even though I work at home I try and put in a few hours every day on the quilt frame working on custmer quilts.

All that and then coming down with a really bad cold I was feeling very stressed out on getting things done and having some time to just rest and relax.

I have decided to do everything I can to make December a more enjoyable and calmer month. The house is decorated, most shopping is done so now it is time to slow down a little bit and enjoy the season.

I have one more craft show to do and I am only going to take on a few more quilts with promises that they will be done for Christmas and then I am going to take a couple of weeks off around Christmas to do what I want.

In the meantime if I don't get all the cards done I want, or if I need to make for dinner whatever is the quickest or even order pizza I am going to try and not sweat it. I want to be able to make time to have lunch with friends, go driving to look at all the pretty Christmas lights and even just sit in front of the TV and watch sappy Christmas movies. Most importantly I want to have time to enjoy my daughters break from school at the holidays. All to soon she will be off on her own and we might not see her every Christmas so I intend to really enjoy them now.

Kathie