A Quilty Christmas December 27, 2013

This is the quilt that Syd pieced for her brother and I quilted. He was thrilled to get it.  Next up is a black, red and white quilt for her cousin Samantha. The fabrics are piled on my cutting table and Syd has a rough idea of what she wants to do.  But it needs refined so the fabric can be cut.

Once that is done, she’ll be able to piece the top on her new-to-her sewing machine.

It’s a Singer Genie just like the one she’s been sewing on here at our house.  Now she’ll be able to sew at home too.  We found it locally on Ebay. If I had to guess, I’d say it was an estate find as the original book and feet were with the machine.

DH got two sets of pillowcases.

My wonderful husband replaced my favorite rotary cutter since the one I have died. He also gave me the The Loyal Union Sampler and tote bag and the great LED light for my lamp. Ever practical he also gave me a set of wiper blades for my car and new knives for the kitchen. Who knew that I needed 3 different sizes (two on the front a one on the back window)! Syd gave me the silicon mat for my iron so I can set it off the ironing board and on the sewing table when I’m pressing large pieces of fabric.

Today, now that the festivities are over at our house, there’s Taco Soup in the slow cooker and I’m going to work on a quilt while the house is still quiet.

Overtime for the Elves December 26, 2013

Earlier this week when I changed the sheets on the bed, I changed out my quilt and put a matching pillowcase one of my pillows. A day or two later my DH cracked a joke about me having pillowcase which matched my quilt.  Between the comment, the fact that I  hadn’t made him a pillowcase to go with his music quilt that I gave him 3 years ago and there was just one gift for him under the tree (a cell phone he had been wanting for several months), I started rooting around in my fabric to see what I could come up with in the way of pillowcases.

7 PM Christmas night that can be a challenge in my stash.

First off, I don’t buy “yards” of fabric. Most of it is FQs or maybe half yards. However, sometimes, I did buy 1 – 1/4 yards of the music theme fabric — but then cut a tie out on the bias rendering it useless for a pillowcase.

I have two drawers full of music fabric and did find several pieces which were either 28″ long (for two cuffs) or 46″ long (for two bodies) — not that the music cuffs worked with the music bodies. So the next step was to find cuffs or bodies in my main stash.

Luck was with me. For some reason I have a length of lime green Patrick Loose Handspray that went well with the tossed music symbols. Then I found a nice soft bleached muslin which must have come from my mom’s stash. One set down.

For the orchestra cuff, I pulled out the remnants of a wide backing which must have been used on a narrow quilt as there was easily 44″ in width left and plenty of length. The accent fabric was cut from the length of a remnant of another backing. Now I had what I needed for a second set of cases.

Mad sewing and wrapping and two more gifts were under the tree.  Now if the the gifts I ordered for DH’s birthday will just get here in time. I don’t think I have another set of pillowcases in me — but perhaps the valances he wants for his office/music room?

What’s On My Design Wall December 23, 2013

It’s another Cat and Quilt picture!

There’s nothing on my design wall at the moment. That’s because I finished quilting Syd’s quilt for her and putting the binding on.  I thought I was finished and ready to toss it into the washing machine then remembered I only had the label fused down and needed to stitch it down.

I sat down with the one corner in my lap to do the hand stitching and when I finished, discovered that Seven had given the quilt her approval!

Better picture to come later in the week.

Hop over to Patchwork Times to see what others have been working on.

Stash Report December 22, 2013

The only thing which came into the house this week for quilting was a can of spray baste.

And it was an adventure.  Stopped in at my local Jo-Ann’s and not a can of spray baste to be found. So, while standing in the store, I called the Jo-Ann’s which is little further away from me. None there either. Ran next door to Walmart, doubting I’d find any because it was a smaller store and didn’t. Before I left the parking lot I called Hancock Fabrics and they said they had some. Yeah!  I wasn’t looking forward going to the other side of town.

It’s been 2 1/2 years since I bought any and the darn stuff is more expensive than I remember.  Fortunately I had a 50% off coupon.

But regardless, I finally got the quilt basted and I’m just over halfway through quilting it.

Fabric added since the last report: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 177.962 yards
Fabric used since the last report: 14.273 yards
Fabric used to date: 136.289 yards
Net stash: -41.673

There may be one more report this year, but I suspect it will not change.  See how others are doing with their stashes over at Patchwork Times.

Boo Claimed the Quilt December 16, 2013

My receipt says I shipped the quilt off at 3:44 Saturday afternoon.  Today about Noon I received a call saying the quilt had arrived!  My friend was speechless. They put it under the tree and Boo has claimed it — for now.

What’s On My Design Wall December 16, 2013

At the moment I personally have nothing on my design wall. In fact I haven’t figured out which one of my projects I’m going to work on next.  Of course now that I’ve typed that sentence I know it needs to be the frog quilt.  But first, I need to get this quilt top Syd made quilted.

Check out what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Stash Report December 15, 2013

Woo Hoo!  This is the week I get to count the backing, binding and pillowcases for the Spool Quilt and the fabric used in the Red, White and Blue top. To top that off, the only purchases I made this week was thread and batting for the Spool Quilt. So the numbers are only going down.

Fabric added since the last report: 0 yards
Fabric added year to date: 177.962 yards
Fabric used since the last report: 14.273 yards
Fabric used to date: 136.289 yards
Net stash: -41.673

As much as I would love to break even for the year, with only two more reports, I’m thinking I have a better chance at winning the lottery and I haven’t bought a ticket yet. 🙂

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

Spool Challenge Is Complete December 14, 2013

Back in July 2012, Bonnie Hunter issued a 3″ spool leader/ender challenge. I started the challenge in August and one year later I had 334 spools. Earlier this week I quilted it. It is now bound, labeled and washed.

Stats:  a smige over 9 yards used in the top. Batting Unbleached Hobbs 80/20.  Honey Gold thread in the needles by cairo-quit and Bottom Line in the bobbin. I used the pantograph “A Little Bit of Fluff”. After washing the quilt measures 64″ x 78″.

While I was at it, I made a couple of matching pillowcases.  The body of the case is the same fabric I used as the backing of the quilt.

With the exception of the backing, all of the fabric came from my stash.  The border fabric I purchased – well I’m not sure now, but it was a couple of years ago.  It’s no longer on the Andover or Makower UK websites. The backing fabric was purchased Thanksgiving weekend.  It is from the Autumn on Whidbey collection by M’Liss.

Binding Complete December 13, 2013

The binding is complete on the spool quilt.

I have one more pillowcase to make then I’ll wash all three pieces and get a good picture of the quilt.

Binding in Progress December 12, 2013

Tuesday I quilted my spool top, but it was late last night before I started the binding. I’ll finish it tonight.