Design Wall Monday - Memorial Day 2014

A great Memorial Day to wall who served or are currently serving.  Since I live in a military town just about everyone has some connection to the military.  

My design wall actually has something on it.  I went to an all day sew in and did major sewing and saved the cutting and ironing till I got home as the cutting/ironing table was really short and crowded and my back just couldn't handle it.  

I cut the strip sets into blocks yesterday for a Warm Wishes quilt using horse fabric.  Glad I have the barbed wire fabric, I think it added a lot to this.  

Last night I cut out the remainder of the blocks so think I will now neatly stack them up and save sewing them for my next sewing group.  

I have a 3 1/2 day retreat coming up in June so I need to start cutting out projects for that.  I have one quilt cut and ready to go but I don't know about you but when I go to a retreat I need 3 or 4 things to work on so I can rotate if I get tired of sewing on one project.

Sunday Stash Report - May 25, 2014

Not as much yardage used this week as I had hoped because I spent a lot of my sewing time quilting a couple customer items.  I did mange to quilt up some table runners so I was able to claim the backing and also made a patriotic wall hanging just waiting for the binding to get done.    This is Northcott's new Stonehenge panel just recently available (I got my bolt about 2 weeks ago).

I also spent all day yesterday at a sew in.  Worked on three projects but finished nothing so that yardage will be claimed in coming weeks.  

Current stats are:

Fabric purchased this week:  2.75 yards (patriotic panel and 2 yards Christmas red)

Fabric used this week:  8 yards

Fabric purchased YTD:  57.50 yards

Fabric used YTD:  147.25 yards

Net used in 2014:  89.75 yards  (not as much as I had hoped so far but churning along)

Patriotic

With Memorial Day coming up I figured I would take one of the new Stonehenge panels I got in,  add a couple of borders and get it quilted.  Won't be ready to put in my foyer by Memorial Day but should be up well before the 4th of July.  Will make a nice hanging for my foyer maybe through Labor Day.

My goal is to have a different wall hanging to put up for each season.

Design Wall Monday - May 19, 2014

There is actually NOTHING currently on my design wall.  I finished the table runner tops I was working on so those are put away waiting on quilting.  I have a couple of project cut out but didn't want to show just strips of fabric so I will show you my most recently finished project.  

I took a class about three years ago and made this quilt top.  I finally quilted it a couple of weeks ago and my friend Jane just finished sewing down the binding for me.  I love this one and think it will have to be a keeper.  I think it will fit on a wall in my bedroom so will have to measure and get a hanging sleeve on it before another 3 years go by!

I did quilt two table runners yesterday and loaded a small customer quilt on the frame so I have been spending time every day in the sewing room.  

This week I hope to:

1.  Get two customer quilts quilted (both really small)

2.  Quilt two more runners

3.  Work on Patriotic wall hanging

4.  Start sewing on Warm Wishes horse quilt

DD gets home from college wednesday evening so I don't know how much sewing I will get done for a couple of days but I am sure she will be visiting friends and doing shopping for clothes for her summer internship so am sure I will still have lots of time in the sewing room.  

Sunday Stash Report - May 18, 2014

Made one fabric purchase this week of 1.25 yards of patriotic fabric to make a couple of table runners and added 1.75 yards of fabric from my in home shop (fabric left from when we had a quilt shop) to back a couple of table runners so not bad.  

Will be going to Lancaster next month with hubby so trying to save any purchases until then.

I gave some small pieces of Christmas fabric away, made backings for a couple of table runners and pieced several other table runners this week.

I made two of these runners and a couple of others.

The other runner I made a Gingerbread version and a nautical version of the same pattern.

My current stats are:

Fabric purchased/added this week:  3 yards
Fabric used this week:                     9.25 yards

Fabric purchased/added YTD:         54.75 yards
Fabric used YTD                            139.25 yards

Net fabric used YTD:                       85 yards

Celebration Panel

Isn't this a beautiful patriotic panel by Northcott.  I just love their fabrics, they feel practically like silk.  Anyway I got a bolt of these panels in yesterday (I sell them on etsy) and trying to figure out how I am going to use one.  I have a big foyer so would like to make one of these into a wall hanging, just trying to decide if I want to keep it simple with a couple of plan borders or make some kind of a pieced border.

Cutting Along

Still have not been in the mood to machine quilt anything or even piece much so I have been cutting along.  I found some Christmas fabrics in my stash to give a friend that is making Angels for the church Christmas tree, I cut out two patriotic table runners and the fabric to make a Warm Wishes Horse quilt.  If you have never made the Warm Wishes quilt I guess you check it out on like.  It is a very simple pattern that turns out looking great.  Now I have all sorts of self made kits ready to sew.

The only piecing I have done so far this week is finish two Christmas table runner tops that I had in process.

I do like how the fabrics look on these.  One will have a gold binding and the other green as I didn't have enough of either fabric left to make both bindings the same.

Design Wall Monday - May 12, 2014

Didn't get to see my daughter for Mother's Day so that was kind of a bummer but with two days left in the college semester and end of term projects due today it wasn't possible for her to come home, she was where she needed to be.  Looking forward to seeing her for a few days after finals before she starts an internship in DC.

The only thing I have on my design wall right now is this one little test block.  It sure looks lonely!

This is my test block.  I will be making these blocks out of a Moda Highstreet charm pack and layer cake.  Once all the blocks are done they will have white sashing and hot pink corner stones.  After making the test block I sorted the fabrics to make nice combinations and then got all the pieces for the blocks cut out.  They are pinned together and in a bag waiting for a sew in or retreat to work on them.

Try to set quilting goals for myself every week but between being in a little bit of a quilting funk and several appointments and activities this week I will just set my goal to spend at least an hour a day in the quilt room and forget about trying to figure out what projects I want to work on.  Whether I am cleaning the quilt room, picking out fabric for the next project or actually sewing something it all needs to be done.

Have a wonderful week and hope you get in plenty of quilting time!

Sunday Stash Report - Mother's Day 2014

First of all Happy Mother's day to all the Moms, grandmas and step-moms out there.  Hope you have a wonderful day.  

I don't know what happened this week but have very little to report.  I did get a couple of tops quilted so guess that is where my quilting time went.  The only fabric I can claim used is one quilt backing and a table runner.  

I made this table runner out of left over 1 1/2 inch strips from a layer cake quilt I made recently.  Usually pieces that small I just toss but decided to use these because I liked them so much.  Don't think I will do that again, seemed to take forever to sew them all together but made a cute summer runner.

This was also my sewing buddy yesterday.  I turned around from my machine and she was right up at the sliding glass door watching me.  I think we stared at each other for a good 10 minutes before she finally walked off.  

My stats for the week are:

Fabric purchased this week:  3.5 yards (for baby quilt backing)

Fabric used this week:  5 yards (purple backing and summer runner)

Fabric purchased YTD:  51.75

Fabric used YTD:  130

Net fabric used this year:  78.25

Design Wall Monday - May 5, 2014

I actually have a big nothing on my design wall this Monday.  The last thing I was working on was a backing and I didn't think showing a huge piece of purple fabric would be very interesting.  Instead I will show you the two kids quilt tops that I completed last week.

This first quilt was made out of a Moda Celebration Jr. Jelly Roll.  Someone said the blocks look kind of like hinges. It was fun and easy to make.

The second quilt is another simple quilt using only strips of fabric (recently purchased at Hobby Lobby) with a simple checkerboard.  The Orange is a little more "in your face" than I had planned but thats ok.

I do really like the animal print, here is a close up.   I think I have a yard of the fabric left so it will find its way into another project SOMEDAY.

I don't think I will set many specific goals this week.  Quilt a customer order and then just to make sure and sew a little something most days.  That will get a lot done and since I don't know what I will be in the mood to sew on this week and I don't have any deadlines, that will work.

Sunday Stash Report - May 4, 2014

Had a great week for fabric usage.  I made a backing for a quilt, used yardage for a table runner and got two baby/kids quilt tops finished that I had been working on.  

No sewing the last couple of days so need to try and fix that today.  Always errands and chores to do and then yesterday spent half of the day having a yard sale and the other half of the day travelling back and forth to my daughter's college to spend part of her 20th birthday with her.  Oh my gosh, where have the years gone!!  Loved being able to see her even if it was just a couple of hours for dinner.

My current stats are:  

Fabric purchased this week:  5.5 yards (most for backings)

Fabric used this week:  10 yards (thanks to backings and sewing at a sew in)

Fabric purchased YTD:  48.25 yards

Fabric used YTD:  125 yards