Review of September 2009 Quilting Goals

Another month has gone by, so it's time to review what I accomplished this month.

* Complete remaining 2 sets of blocks for the SBS Brown/Blue Swap

Finished and in the mail by 9/8

* Keep up with the SBS BOW

It was close, but all blocks were made and turned in on time.

* Work on Josh's Quilt - needs to be off the frame by 10/15

3 1/2 blocks hand quilted -- 1 1/2 blocks to go!

* Work on DWR - top needs to be done by 10/15

12 rings added to the quilt and 6 more are partially pieced

* Complete Finishing Instructions for both sizes of Kansas Spirit BOM

Small quilt needs one more correction. Large quilt about 50% done. (the easy 50%) :-)

* Quilt a baby quilt

Ran out of time.

* Keep Scraps Cut Up

Well my scraps were cut up, but my friend's scraps have filled the basket back up!

I also cut the gold fabric for my Ladder to the Stars quilt and I managed to not start anything new. What more can a girl ask for who has more UFOs and Quilt Tops than she can count on her fingers and toes?

Next month will be more of the same. I've got my list ready to go.

SBS Block Due 10/4

L3 - 54-40 Or Fight

This block has a template for the background triangle, but I'm not a big template fan when there are other options. Quilt In A Day has a set of Triangle in a Square rulers which I use, but since this a a six inch block, they were too big.

Then I remembered. I have a set of Tri-Rec Tools. I don't know when I picked these up or why, but they worked great for this block.

What's On My Design Wall? - 9/28

Does this look familiar?

Very little piecing got done this past week. It was a combination of the 5 hours of Dancing With the Stars and then spending the weekend away from my sewing machine. I still think I can meet my self imposed deadline of Oct 15th even if I add a row of rings. Of course if the extra row gets added I needed to finish the quilt 6 weeks ago to give me a week to quilt each ring....

See what others are doing by checking out the links over at Patchwork Times.

SBS Block Due 9/27

C2 - Wedding Ring I

I stumbled upon some 'onion skin' paper this weekend. It made a decent foundation paper.

Stash Report Week # 39

Since I'm focused on my DWR and my nephew's quilt, there seldom is anything outbound except for a tiny bit used for the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block. Well, as I write this, I haven't gotten the SBS block made, but I have prepared part of the fabrics I'll need for the sashings to my 6" Ladder to the Stars quilt. If I travel with my DH to String Romp, while he is rehearsing the youth orchestra, I'll sew on my sashings. I need 80!

Inbound, I purchased nothing. However I won a Halloween Panel and V brought back a FQs from her trip to Idaho.

Fabric Added this Week: .875 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 281.583 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 1.375 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 73.879 yards

Net Stash: +207.704 yards (162.583 was gifted)

See how others are doing with their stash over at Patchwork Times.

The Stash

Judy has done it again. She's challenging us to show our stash and then to make a dent in it by the end of 2010. Between now and January 1 the idea is to get it organized.

Well, mine is organized, so I just need to see about making a dent in it.

Here's the tour:

Top left - Kits. There are 2 or 3 that I bought already kitted up, the rest I've pulled together, but haven't gotten to. I'm doing my best to stay focused on the UFOs and working on a kit would generate a new UFO -- or at least a new top needing to be quilted.

Top Right - Scrap Basket. I have not generated any new scraps from stuff I've worked on since I made such progress this past summer. It's piled high again from my friends' generosity -- and I threw the back of a quilt in on top.

Middle - Music Stash. I started collecting music themed fabric the summer of 2003 to make a quilt for my DH. The quilt top is complete and this is what I have left over. I'm going to piece the quilt back from some of this, but there is more than enough to make several music themed quilts.

Bottom - The Shelves. This is the rest of the stash. On the top of the left shelf are UFOs, the next three shelves is my primary stash -- anything smaller than a yard. The bottom shelf contains the yardage. On the right tops shelf are finished quilt tops and birthday FQs, the next shelf down is thread, stabilizers, some batting and a couple of small finished quilts. The bottom visible shelf contains the precut pieces, baby and Christmas fabrics, panels and the vintage fabric. The bottom shelf holds magazines and books.

So what would I like to see happen in my stash? Reduction of UFOs - preferably into finished quilts and not just tops. Some of the kits worked up and a dent in the music fabric drawers.

We'll have to wait and see what the next 15 months bring.

Won a Prize

Burton over at Quilting Literati ran a contest for finishing UFOs. I was one of two winners. She sent me this pincushion and Halloween panel.

Thanks Burton!

Another Block Finished

I promised I worked on my DWR. I sewed the arcs to nine melon sections and added the corner stones to two of those. Then I quilted. Since this block was so easy, I pushed myself and kept working on it during the news and the first part of the Tonight Show.

Tomorrow I need to work on this week's SBS BOW.

One More Row of Blocks

I got an extra 2 hours of quilting in tonight with the premier of Dancing With the Stars. So, I finished up this block tonight. That leaves just one more row of blocks to quilt and I'm about 1/4 of the way through the first of the last three blocks. The question now is will I get any sewing done on my DWR?

What's On My Design Wall? - 9/21

More rings.

I hope I'll only be showing rings for another week, but if I find I really do have enough fabric to make the quilt bigger, this may go on for two or three more weeks.

Here's a sneak peek of what I've got done so far:



6 x 7 rings. Still need to sew the 4-patches on two sides. Based on the amount of fabric I bought, I was intending the quilt to be 7 x 8 rings. I wouldn't mind it being 8 x 8 or 8 x 9 rings, but I don't know how much extra fabric I'll have when it reaches the original size.

Check out other's design walls over at Judy's blog.

Stash Report Week # 38

I love my friends. I love that they want to give me their scraps and cast off fabric. It enriches my stash both in size and by adding sparkle to my own scraps since our tastes are not the same.

However, I simply can't sew fast enough to keep up!

In the picture above, there is approximately 40 yards. I say approximately, because I weighed the scraps and figured 4 yards = 1 pound, more or less.

On the other hand, I cut the cornerstones for my DWR, pulled and cut pieces for my Monterry Medallion and Milky Way quilt, and made two Jacob Ladder blocks to send off for a charity quilt. It just doesn't add up to make a dent.

Fabric Added this Week: 40.125 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 280.708 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 1.81 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 72.504 yards

Net Stash: +208.204 yards (161.708 was gifted)

Check out Judy's page to see how others are doing in the endeavor.

One Block Closer

It's not like I'm doing any fancy quilting -- just stitching 1/4 inch from each seam. But why does it take me so long to get it done?

I suppose not sitting in front of the quilting frame might be part of it. This week I've stopped whatever I was doing and plopped myself down in front of the quilting frame at 9 PM Central for an hour. Tonight I kept going until I finished this block.

When I 'watch' television, I can't just sit there and do nothing. I'm reading a book during commercials or flipping though quilting magazines. Hand quilting doesn't work for me, unless I can just 'listen' and look up only when it sounds like I need to see what is going on. Jay Leno's new show is perfect for this. I can listen to the monologue and interviews and look up during the sketches.

I probably won't try to quilt with black thread on black fabric again either. There simply isn't enough light to make that easy. But tonight I ran out of my cheap 1/4 inch masking tape and had to pull out the 1/4 Tiger tape. That worked really well on the black dotted fabric - and my stitches are more even -- not that anyone will be able to see that.

Four more blocks to go and then I can pull this quilt off the frame and machine quilt the borders. Surely if I watch Leno for an hour each week night I'll get this finished by the October 15th.

Mid-September Update

September 15th and time to review my goals for the month. Where did the 1st two weeks of September go?

* Complete remaining 2 sets of blocks for the SBS Brown/Blue SwapDone and Mailed
* Keep up with the SBS BOW: 3 of the 4 blocks done
* Work on Josh's Quilt - needs to be off the frame by 10/15 - quilting while watching Leno
* Work on DWR - top needs to be done by 10/15 -- 4 melons completed, 9 more need cornerstones
* Complete Finishing Instructions for both sizes of Kansas Spirit BOM - still tweaking smaller layout instructions
* Quilt a baby quilt - may give this up completely
* Keep Scraps Cut Up - don't look in my scrap bin. I added those scraps I found at the beginning of the month -- but I have 2 more weeks to get to them!

Doesn't seem like I have much done, but I guess I really am halfway through my list. I'll keep plugging away at it.

SBS Block Due 9/20

J7 - Pinwheel 2

I made this block a few weeks ago when I was picking the blocks I was willing to make for the Blue and Brown SBS swap. So, more time for me to work on my DWR this week

What's On My Design Wall? - 9/14

Is anyone surprised?

It's another row to my Double Wedding Ring. Saturday I finally got last week's row sewn together and onto the quilt. I pieced these Sunday.

See what other quilter's have on their design walls following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Diamond Links

I finished this quilt top back in March 2007 with no idea of who it would go to when it was quilted. I now know where it's going and have to figure out how to quilt it -- or if I want to send it out to be quilted. Since I need it mid-January, I guess I best start to figure this out. I'll not be able to work on it until mid-October after I finish the DWR top and the quilting on Joshua's quilt.

Stash Report Week # 37

I'm still bringing in fabric from the pile my friend gave me. Last week it was 11.5 yards. I tell you it adds up fast.


On the other hand, I cut most of the remaining pieces for my DWR. I also made the weekly SBS block and the last of the SBS swap blocks. I used the top piece of fabric in those. It was just perfect.

Fabric Added this Week: 11.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 226.25 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 2.708 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 70.694 yards

Net Stash: +155.556 yards

Check out how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

Some Day Quilts

I have a list of quilts that I want to make. This is different than the pile of kits I have -- obviously I want to make those, not only did I buy the pattern, but I have the fabric. I'm talking about my "some day" quilts -- those quilts when the time is right that I plan to make.


At one point I had a log cabin in the works, but when the power went out the day I was working on it, I got distracted and didn't get back to it. I'm afraid it got wet in a flood and tossed. Maybe I can retrieve the one my mom started when my brother got bunk beds. His son is the same age as he was when Mom started the quilts (and my nephew has the same set of bunk beds).


Earlier this year I tried to make an Irish Chain. That is to say I had fabric that I wanted to use, and I thought it would work in an Irish Chain quilt. I made a sample block, but it simply wasn't speaking to me. So that fabric ended up in a different quilt and I still haven't made an Irish Chain quilt.


Trip Around the World - back in high school, and before I understood copyright, I photocopied the pattern for Trip Around the World from one of my magazines. Who knows what happened to the magazine, or instructions, but I still have the picture (in black and white) and templates I drew on graph paper. I've even have a drawing of what colors are supposed to go where.

My top five "some day" rounds out with the Double Wedding Ring and Lone Star. With the exception of the Double Wedding Ring and some would argue the Lone Star, these are simple to piece quilts. Ironically, it's the Double Wedding Ring and Lone Star that I have in progress.

I'm not sure why I haven't gotten these quilts made, but "some day" will come and I'll get them done.

What quilts are on your "some day" list?

SBS Block Due 9/13

D-7 Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

There are many ways to do this block. I decided to piece mine.

Quilting Studio Tour

This summer one of my e-mail groups did a virtual sewing room tour. Since my area was not presentable, I did not participate. The studio is now presentable, so I'll take you on a tour.

I'm using what the builders called the den or family room as my quilt studio and office. It is in the front of the house and entry into it is via the garage, kitchen and living room.

This first picture is looking diagonally across the room from the living room door. I've created a working/sewing triangle -- my work computer is on the front wall under the quilt, my personal computer is on the garage wall and across from them is my sewing machine. Also on the garage wall is a folding craft table with only one side raised. This is my cutting table. The bookshelf, below the edge of the desk, holds the various computer parts and pieces that I don't need access to on a daily basis.



Moving into the room and toward the front wall, is the view diagonally across to the garage and kitchen doors. The room is a bit deeper, than this picture would lead you to believe, but I've got my large ironing board and a shelving unit temporarily in the corner behind me. The white tables are temporary as well. I had friends over this past weekend to sew and they all needed a space to setup. Also from this view is one of my two main sets of shelves with my fabric in bins.



A better view of the shelves and looking into the living room (where I was standing when I took the first picture). Again I'm not in the corner as now I've got the desks behind me. There is a short bookshelf for my quilting books and to the right of the door is a chest of drawers. This is where the orphan blocks go and I keep my music fabric. The guest chair is in front of the chest of drawers currently, but usually it's closer to the sewing table.



Finally, from the kitchen and garage door corner is a view of the design wall, the big ironing board and a hopefully temporary set of shelves. The ironing board is in front of the design wall so there was room for the extra sewing tables. It's final home will either be up against the front window or along the back side of the sewing tables.



Well, that's the tour. There's still work to be done -- get real window treatments, clear that black shelf off and recover the chair along with a second one currently stored in the garage.

I just hope this clean room doesn't stifle my creativity.

What's On My Design Wall? - 9/7

I'm afraid my design wall looks the same as it did a week ago -- except now I can't really reach it! The room was rearranged to accommodate three additional quilters. This week I hope to get this row of rings onto the quilt.

Check out what other quilters are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

SBS Block Due 9/6

J3 - Farmer's Daughter

I'm cutting it close this week. Paper piecing is not something I necessarily enjoy, but it sure comes in handy when working with odd shapes. I drew the block in EQ6 and printed it off on Monday. Tonight I finally pulled it out to work on.

SBS Swap Block Set #5

L6 - Steps to the Altar

All the sets are now done -- and well ahead of the deadline. I need to make my labels and get them in the mail.

This block went together so much easier than the last one -- none of those 1" finished HST units. The brown fabric is some that came in last week from my friend. The blue with tiny dots was some I picked up to see if it matches a DWR I picked up at an estate sale (it doesn't). Who knows when I picked up the background fabric.

Now to get this week's BOW made!

Stash Report Week # 36

Due to all the cleaning and paper work, very little piecing got done this week. Although I did make a set of 6" blocks. But those blocks just don't use much fabric.

On the other hand, I did get a pile of fabric from my friend washed and brought up stairs, so the count goes the wrong way again. Remind me next year not to count gifts -- I'd only be in the hole by about 50 yards then.

Fabric Added this Week: 46.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 214.75 yards

Fabric Used this Week: .75 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 67.986 yards

Net Stash: +146.764 yards

Check out how others are doing by visiting Judy's blog Patchwork Times.

SBS Swap Block Set # 4

G10 - Arizona

This is the fourth of the five block sets I'm making for the SBS swap. I needed to make 5 to swap and a 6th to keep for myself, but I ran out of the beige fabric. I'll dig around in my stash to find something similar to finish my block -- but not tonight. I haven't made this week's SBS BOW. I've got another 23 hours to get it done and turned in. But first I'm headed to bed.

A Week Without Quilting!

Who knew that a missing ruler could cause a week without sewing? I finally found my missing Easy Angle Ruler in a pile of papers. Apparently when I was clearing (note, not cleaing) my desk it got grabbed up and put on the shelf.

But truth be told, I'm not sure much sewing would have occured this week anyway. Earlier in the week I was working on the finishing instructions for the smaller Kansas Spirit quilt and I've been cleaning the house.

Today and tommorow I'm hosting a couple of my quilting buddies and we are going to sew all weekend. I've got Taco Soup in the crock pot for lunch, and the chicken is marinating in the refrigerator. I've talked my husband into grilling it tonight by making an Italian Wedding Cake to snack on.

Now to pick something from my list to work on this weekend.

What Cleaning Does

I did not set out to clean. However, I received a "ton" of fabric cast offs which needed to be put up. There is still more in the basement waiting to be washed.

When we redid my sewing studio/office, I made the decision that if it didn't fit on the two sets of shelves, I had to find another home for it -- whatever it is. A few weeks ago I looked through all of my quilting magazines and donated a 12" stack. You can't tell by looking my shelves, because I gathered up the magazines that were scattered through out the house.

The fabric is a bit tougher. But, since I've made significatant progress on my DWR, it moved out of the bin it's in and into one of my project bins. I also pulled out the extra fabric from a couple of other quilt tops recently finished and either put it away or dumped it on my table to be cut up into scraps. That's the pile on the right in the picture below.



The pile on the left if what I found when I cleared my cutting table off. I've midplaced my small EZ Angle Ruler. I misplaced the large EZ Angle Ruler at the begining of the year. I didn't even know I had one let alone two, plus the Companion Angle Ruler until I started working on Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush. Now I can't find either!

I guess I keep digging.

September 2009 Quilting Goals

Since it appears that listing my quilting goals here and on a large printout by my computer helped, I'm doing it again.

* Complete remaining 2 sets of blocks for the SBS Brown/Blue Swap

G10 - Arizona

L6 - Steps to the Altar

* Keep up with the SBS BOW

* Work on Josh's Quilt - needs to be off the frame by 10/15

* Work on DWR - top needs to be done by 10/15

* Complete Finishing Instructions for both sizes of Kansas Spirit BOM

* Quilt a baby quilt

* Keep Scraps Cut Up

This is a relatively modest list this month. But I'm itching to start something new and I have several kits so that might happen as well. On the other hand I realized today that I have more quilt tops waiting to be quilted than I do quilts in various stages of progress, so maybe I can talk myself into quilting 2 quilts instead of starting something new.