Sunday Stash Report

I spent much of the week making hundreds of half square triangle units for Koleen's quilt--560 of them, in fact. It surprised me how much fabric was used in the process. I also cut the strips for the binding and put them in the pile with all the other binding strips waiting for their respective quilts to be finished.

I used to not think about the binding until it was actually time to sew it onto the quilt. Invariably I would discover that I didn't have enough of the fabric left that I wanted to use. Then I'd either wind up using some other fabric that I hadn't even used in the quilt, or I'd have to make another trip to the quilt shop and hope they had some of my fabric left. Testing patterns for my good friend Koleen has changed the way I approach my quiltmaking, and this is certainly a case in point. Her patterns include the information for the binding right in the cutting directions, so now I cut the binding strips right along with all the other bits and pieces for the quilt top and set them aside. Now I just have to remember to buy the extra fabric for the binding.

I wish more people would share the nuts and bolts of how they make their quilts on their blogs. Everyone does things a different way, and I'm always surprised when I learn something new from another quiltmaker. Usually it's something that never occurred to me or something I simply never knew. That's how it was when my good friend Ann demonstrated how she makes binding. I'd struggled with binding for years trying to make it the way the books said, and Ann's method was a light bulb moment for me. Walking through the process of making a quilt with both Bonnie Hunter and Judy Laquidara has also added some new skills to my tool box.

But I digress. I also cut the pieces for two more blocks in the Galaxy of Stars quilt. There are two of Block 3 in the quilt--I have one finished and the second is still in progress, so they'll be in a separate post when the second one is complete.

Here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 5-3/8 yards

Fabric used year to date: 125-3/4 yards

Fabric added this week: 0 yards!!!

Fabric added year to date: 244-5/8 yards

Net year to date: - 118-7/8 yards

Sunday Stash Report

I work part-time for a local retail concern, usually 24 hours a week plus nearly an hour travel time each way. Due to business needs, I've been assigned to work 30 hours a week for the past seven weeks or so, which is cutting into my sewing time significantly. It's also cutting into the time I can devote to reading blogs, and I miss doing that terribly. Right now I'm on Day 4 of an 8-day stretch at work. Thankfully I'll be taking another week off at the end of the month.

Still, I've managed to get in at least a few hours of sewing time each evening, and this week I've put all my efforts into the quilt I'm working on for my good friend Koleen. This is the Christmas one with the 25 12" blocks. I've finished all the blocks now except 3, and I hope to finish those tomorrow evening. I've spent the last two evenings working just on the block that goes in the very center of the quilt. It contains 93 pieces, and I was just overjoyed when I finished it and it measured almost exactly 12-1/2".

Just for a change, I managed to get most of the fabric used for this quilt from my stash. With the blocks I've completed this week, I busted another 2-7/8 yards out of my stash. And for the first time in over a month, I've added ZERO to the stash. Hooray!

On my one day off last week, I shot down to Tony's Sewing Machines in Biddeford to pick up the sewing table I ordered at quilt show in July. The company who makes the tables had some software issues, which delayed the assembly; and I still don't have the plastic template that fits around the base of the sewing machine, but hopefully they shipped it out Friday. In any case, it's a well built table. No vibration when I sew on it, and that was important to me. I ordered the extension too, and I'm so happy to have that extra space. I also bought a chair while I was down there. It is so comfortable, and both the height and back are adjustable, so it's perfect. I really love the new arrangement! Many thanks to Margo--if it hadn't been for her posting a photo of the table she bought on her blog, I might never have known about it.

I've gotten exactly 2 grape tomatoes from my plants so far and will have another tomorrow. The plants are loaded with fruit, but they're ripening so slowly I'm afraid we'll run out of growing season before they all ripen. We've had nice weather lately, but today was supposed to be 86 degrees, which the tomatoes would have liked, but I know it was cooler than that. Well, we'll just have to hope for the best!

Sunday Stash Report

Another week has come and gone, and I finished binding the Road to Many Friendships quilt and put it on my bed. I have some background fabric left over, and I'm going to make a couple of pillowcases with it and use the blue print to trim it, maybe use the red for some piping. I saw this idea in a quilting magazine and thought it was a great alternative to pillow shams, which would take a lot longer for me to make.

Koleen has given me the last pattern I'm going to work on for her this year, and I was overjoyed to find all the fabric I needed for it in my stash, with the exception of the green. I scoured four of the local quilt shops for something that appealed to me and found nothing, so my husband and I made a day of it and drove down to New Hampshire to Keepsake Quilting.

Keepsake Quilting is across the street from a lake; so while I was shopping, my husband entertained himself watching people with big trucks trying to back their boat trailers down the ramp into the water. I guess it was quite a spectacle; and according to my husband, the wives were absolutely useless as directors. I suppose I would probably be in that same boat. No pun intended.

There is the most wonderful little barbecue place about 20 miles away from Keepsake, and it's right on the way, so we stopped there for lunch on the way back. Not only is the barbecue exceptional, but they make great coleslaw and baked beans too. I think that's probably the highlight of the trip for my husband.

Anyway, I really liked the green batik in the picture, but there were less than 2 yards left on the bolt, and I needed close to 4. So I found another Bali batik that has the same colors but no leaf design or anything on it and will use that in the borders. I also picked up some yardage of several other fabrics I intend to use for Gingerbread Jingle, another of Koleen's patterns.

I haven't make a Christmas quilt in a while, so I'm using Christmas fabrics. It's another large quilt, with 25 blocks in the center and a pieced border. I've cut out the pieces for the first 12 blocks, a portion of which you can see in the photo, and have started working on those.

Here's the Sunday Stash Report:

Fabric used this week: 2-1/8 yards
Fabric used year to date: 117-1/2 yards
Fabric added this week: 13-1/2 yards
Fabric added year to date: 244-5/8 yards
Net year to date: - 127-1/8 yards

And look! Yes, we have red tomatoes! Unfortunately it's just these two, which is only a couple of mouthfuls; but more are on the way! The big ones haven't started to turn yet.

Sunday Stash Report

I'm in for another 20-1/2 yards this week, most of which was for JudyL's Star Block of the Month. I realize we were supposed to be getting this out of the stash, but I don't have those yardages available in my stash, so I bought all of it. I also added a couple yards of some other fabrics. I take solace in the fact that Vicky is right there with me. I really love her stash reports.

I used a couple yards from the bolt of muslin I bought to set up a practice quilt. I want to practice a pantograph I borrowed from my good friend Ann, and I want to practice a double loopy meander that looks like bubbles to me.

Last stash report I mentioned that the yardage requirements for my Galaxy of Stars sampler quilt require about 1/6 yard each of a multitude of fabrics required for the blocks. Background and borders are separate. I thought I would use more of each sixth yard cut and started to report it that way, but that is not turning out to be the case. Most, but not all the fabrics, are used in more than one block, and a small piece of every fabric is also used in the center block; but I still don't think I'll need the whole sixth yard for each color. However because I've already started reporting it that way, I'll just keep on with it. After finishing Block 2 this week, I've cut into another half yard of fabrics.

Here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 2-1/2 yards
Fabric used year to date: 115-3/8 yards
Fabric added this week: 20-1/2 yards
Fabric added year to date: 231-1/8 yards
Net year to date: - 115-3/4 yards

Washout!

We've had lots of rain the last week in Maine, and this morning I came across a video on a local news channel's website that shows what happens when a road washes out. It is an amazing piece of video! I couldn't figure out if there was a way to put the video on my blog, so this is the next best thing. Visit this site for a look:

http://www.wmtw.com/video/17144859/index.html

Quiltathon Weekend

This is a Quiltathon weekend, but I have to work tomorrow, so I am only sewing today in between some chores. This morning I sat at the kitchen table with my coffee and finished the binding for Bug Strippy #2, so there's another (small) finish for the year.

The Twisting Star is Block 2 in the Galaxy of Stars quilt, which is a sampler quilt designed by Lynn Dash. There's only one block like this in the quilt. It took me a couple hours to piece it because I was trying to be very precise so all the pieces would fit together nicely.

I foundation pieced the subunits using a method I learned from the Info-EQ list. Because you don't actually sew through the foundation, freezer paper is a requirement for this method in order to anchor the pieces to the paper. Instead of sewing through the paper, the paper is folded on the sewing line, and the seam is sewn next to the paper but not through it. Each piece is then pressed open and adhered to the freezer paper. After the unit is completed, you simply peel off the freezer paper. No little bits of paper to remove later! You can then reuse the same foundation for successive units. I used a single foundation for all eight subunits. It is a method that works exceedingly well.

Star BOM Block 1

I was up late finishing Block 1 for JudyL's Star BOM, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I had a little trouble trying to figure out which way to press those seams. I had more trouble with the flying geese units. Those little suckers give me trouble every time I make them, and that's me, not the directions. I usually have the best luck oversizing them and then squaring them up, but I was too tired to try to figure out where the center mark was for a unit that was supposed to measure 3-5/16" wide, so I just cut the pieces using the dimensions given. Nothing a little fudging couldn't fix!

It looks like the block narrows towards the bottom in the photo, but it doesn't--that just happens to be the angle at which I took the picture.

Credit where credit is due:
The "Rhode Island" block can be found in the EQ6 Block Library and is copyright-free.