Sunday Stash - 01/29/17

Today is the last stash report for January and I'm happy to say that we made great progress this month. We had good numbers, but Sharla pushed to finish her January UFO yesterday, so the numbers got even better. So lets get to the numbers

Fabric Used this Week: 6 1/4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 25 1/4 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 25 1/4 yards used

Yes you read that right we have used just over 25 yards in January. I'm impressed. This week the adds to used are made up of two bee blocks, I showed one earlier this month but never counted the fabric used and the second one is my final block for Bee Hive 2016. Here is the second block.

Next I finished binding Sharla's Flirt/Jelly Roll'n quilt and that used just over 1/2 of yard of fabric. It was a bit of a challenge to bind because my new sewing area doesn't have much space to the right of my machine, but I got it done.  I will have to move things around when I bind larger quilts.

And lastly Sharla's Ticklish/City Streets used 5 yards. It used most of a layer cake and then sashing. I think this one was picked out before Hollywood joined our lives, why else would she pick one that had so much white (hehehe). I'm only going to show a small section of it because the big reveal will be done next Friday.

I have been working on my February goal which is my Cross quilt, and Sharla pulled her February project last night to start working on it.  I'm not sure we will finish either of them next week, but I'm hoping both will be finished soon. I really had hoped to get Mecca's quilt on the frame, but I'm still waiting on the narrower side clamps. So I'm not sure what is going on the long arm this week, but hopefully something. I will be linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times Sunday Stash. And I hope each of you has a wonderful week.

Friday Finish - 01/27/17

Well lookie here, I have another finish to report...yeah!!!!. I worked hard and finished quilting Sharla's Flirt/Jelly Roll'n quilt last Saturday. Then I got it bound on Monday. It felt good to get another quilt done. I rushed to get it washed so I could photograph on Tuesday before a cold front was supposed to hit.

I didn't get a chance to photograph it until I went to pick Sharla up from work, so the sun was just about to set. I wish I had some better places to photograph my quilts, but I've not found any place really fun.  I love the colors in this one. Sharla bought the kit at the Dallas Quilt show in 2013, but didn't work on it until 2015. I laughed because when I went to label it, I checked and we had printed a label for it last year, saying it was quilted in 2016. We just called it the lying label. No one will really know or care, but it makes us giggle.

As I was quilting it I realized that she most likely sewed this one while her eyes were bad. There were some definitely wonky spots, but I think I was able to work around them. And once it was washed and shrank up some, you don't notice them at all.  I think she will use this one in her chair for a while, as her TV quilt.

This was one of my 2017 Finish-A-Long goals for Quarter 1. So I'm making progress. I had hoped to put Mecca's quilt on the machine next, but I had to order some narrower side clamps because the quilt is so large and they are back ordered.  Not sure what will be next, but I hope to get something on the machine next week.

Today and I am linking up my finish with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Sunday Stash 01/22/17

Well I thought my numbers wouldn't change this week, until I read Judy's post. She counts her fabric like this

1. Fabric for the top when the top is finished.
2. Fabric for the back after the top is quilted.
3. Fabric for the binding after the quilt is bound.

Using this method, I get to count the fabric for the top and the backing for Sharla's Flirt/Jelly Roll'n quilt. I never counted the top fabric when it was completed and I finished quilting it late yesterday. And I finished piecing my Big and Bold quilt this week. Woohoo!!!!

Fabric Used this Week: 15 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 19.25 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 19.25 yards used

I like this way of tracking so much more, because I don't have to wait until the quilt is totally finished and it lets me see more progress at different points. And since the fabric has been converted into a quilt top, then it really isn't usable for another project.

The breakdown for this week is 5 7/8 yards for Big and Bold, 4 5/8 for Flirt top and 4 1/2 yards for Flirt backing.  There will just a little more used next week when I bind Flirt.

My plan is to bind and label Flirt this week and then continue putting together my cross blocks into groups of 4, 8 and 16.  There are 280+ blocks, so I think grouping them together will make it easier to work with rather than doing long rows.

Now since I hate posts without pictures, and I've not gotten any of Flirt or Big and Bold since the one I showed on Friday, I will end this post with a picture of Marley. He and Sharla have been using his quilt a lot. Which makes me ohhh so happy.

Today I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times Sunday Stash. And I'm very very happy to say that I'm making progress. Which is part of the reason I wanted to start reporting my usage, to give me some sort of measure. I do better when I can measure my progress (it is a left brain thing).

Friday Finish - 01/20/17

I have been making progress, slow progress, but I will take it. This week I finished my OMG for January...yeah I finished it on Monday, so almost by the 15th. The pattern is Big and Bold and the fabric line is Soho Chic. The weather has been crappy all week, but the sun peeked out this morning and I grabbed a quick shot before work. I love the dark rich colors of this one, and I can't wait to get it quilted so that I can use it.

I will be linking up my finish at Elm Street Quilts. I can't even begin to say how happy I am to have completed this top. I am hoping it sets the right tone for the rest of the year and I get lots and lots done.

I also got Sharla's Flirt quilt onto the long arm and began quilting it. But I only got a couple of rows done. I'm hoping to get more done this weekend. I am just happy to be quilting again.

If all goes well I will have another finish next week. So for me it was a very good week considering I didn't get to spend much time sewing or quilting. Today and I am linking up my finish with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

Sunday Stash Report - 01/15/17

It was a real bummer week.  I had great plans of piecing the back for Sharla's monkey quilt and getting it on the long arm along with finishing piecing my big and bold top. Well that all went awry big time. But before I tell you that story, let's get to my report.

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 4.25 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 4.25 yards used

So I finished nothing this week and I put the blame fully on one Hollywood. Yes I am blaming my dog for nothing getting done. Don't be fooled by that sad face, he is a big pain in my buttocks.

I know he looks cute, but he is a major brat, well at least this week he was. Last weekend I went to pull the fabric for the back of the monkey quilt, it was to be pieced with some sock monkey fabric and the solid red fabric she used for the sashing. I grabbed the sock monkey fabric and began to look for the solid red fabric. I looked on Saturday, somewhat, but thought I had moved it to the sewing room and would easily find it on Sunday. We had several things going on, so I didn't look too hard. On Sunday I checked out the sewing room, no red fabric. So on Monday (my day off) I double checked the sewing room, my office area, the family room, the sewing room again, and so on. But I couldn't find the fabric. I couldn't remember where I cut the fabric, but found some scraps on my desk, so I tore through that area. When Sharla got home she went through her sewing table and sewing area, no luck. By the time we finished dinner I was tired and frustrated so I didn't do any sewing at all.

Tuesday (my second day off), I went back through everything again and no fabric. I was frustrated, and couldn't figure out what happened. I decided that we didn't buy enough to use in the backing and the few strips we found were all that were left. I decided to piece the rows on my big and bold just to get my mind off of that fabric. But it was really bugging me. My house isn't that big, and it shouldn't be hard too find fabric that I had my hands on in November.

Wednesday while driving Sharla to work she suggested we look behind the bookcase by my chair. I agreed that I would, but I told her I thought we hadn't bought as much fabric as we were thinking. She felt that we had bought plenty.  Since I was working on Wednesday I had less time to look, but I work from home, so in the slow moments I could try. The first thing I did was go back and look to find where we ordered the fabric and yes there should be plenty for the backing. Then I went to see if anything had fallen behind my bookcase. No nothing there, but the bookcase is close to the back door which has a window in it. And as I backed up from looking behind the bookcase something caught my eye on the back porch. I opened the door to find red fabric wrapped around an outside table. Strung out, damp and a little dirty, I had found the fabric.

Now why do I think it was Hollywood, well I know it wasn't my sister or I, my nephew knew nothing of it and Marley is to small to carry it out there. That leaves the one and only brat dog Hollywood. Who became very lovey when I picked up the fabric, because he knew he was in trouble. He has never bothered any fabric before, I have tons of it around my house and he mostly ignores it. Why he did it, I don't know, but now I have a mass of red fabric and it will have to be washed before I can use it. Nothing else on the quilt is washed, so I'm not sure how that is going to work. I think I may wash it but not dry it. And let it hang dry and then iron it.

I was very glad to have found the fabric, because I was going nuts, but still felt so frustrated that I just didn't want to sew.  I did iron the rows for big and bold and hope to get it pieced this weekend. For now I'm moving on to another quilt to quilt, while the red is washed and dried. I had really hoped to have another finish, but sometimes life happens.

And for those worried, Hollywood was not punished or harmed in any way. I love that stinking brat too much. As I'm writing this post he is sleeping with his head on my foot. We joked that he wanted a superman cape and this fabric would be perfect. I had him sit and I draped the fabric around him. He wasn't very happy about it, he is smart enough to know that something was wrong. He kept moving closer and closer to me, because he wanted to give me "kisses". He is a brat, but I love him.

So that is sad tale of my life this week. I will be linking up with Judy @ Patchwork Times even if I have nothing to show.

2017 Finish-A-Long - Quarter 1 Goals

I didn't participate in the Finish-A-Long last year as much last year, and I missed it. So this year I'm going to try again. I'm listing all the projects I want to get done over the first quarter of this year. Now I know I won't get all of these done, but I'm hoping to at least get some of them done. And I wanted to give myself a variety of projects so that I don't only have large ones on my list. And all of these are in some stage of completion at this point.

1. Sharla's Flirt Quilt. This one is a fairly small quilt that Sharla finished quite a while ago, but has never made it on to the long arm. I want to do another small quilt before starting on Mecca's king sized quilt and this one has worked it's way to the top of the list.

2. Mecca's Courtyard Tiles Quilt. I finished the top before Christmas, but not the quilting, and since it was a Christmas present, it needs to get done. It will be the largest quilt I've ever quilted, and that makes me a little nervous. But it has to get done. Here is what I showed Mecca at Christmas.

3. Sharla's Juggling Summer Quilt. This is another big quilt, not quite king size, but very close. And Sharla wants it done before winter is over. I'm not sure it will get done right after Mecca's because it is so big, but hopefully not too far behind it.

4. Shauna's Big and Bold Quilt. Yeah one for me. I'm working on piecing the top as my January project and it is almost done, so I would like to get it quilted so it can become my chair quilt. It is twin size, so large but not too big. Here is half of one row.

5. Sharla's City Streets Quilt. She is piecing this one as her January project and it is another one that is about a twin size. I am hoping it is one that I can get done quickly, just to get some things off of my list. She has the four big rows completed.

6. Shauna's Cross Quilt. I've been working on this one since January 2015. I've finished all the blocks but need to get them assembled into a top and quilted. This is a queen sized top, so it is going to take some time, but I would really love to finish it, I love all the blocks in this one, they just make me happy.

7. Sharla's Summerset Quilt. She started this one before her eye surgery and then it went into a box and hasn't seen the light of day since. It is on her list to complete in March and if she finishes it early enough I would love to get it quilted. It is beautiful spring colors and would be great to use on her bed.

8. Shauna's Flying Geese Quilt. This is my Stash Bee quilt from 2015 and I love it. It is not super big, so it would be a great one to fit in between some of the bigger quilts. I adore flying geese quilts and this one is just great. I think I love it because of all the wonderful bright colors against the low volume back ground.

9. Sharla's Monkey Quilt. I was supposed to do this one before Mecca's quilt, but we thought we had lost the part of the backing, only to find that Hollywood had drug it out to the back porch. I have to see if it is usable or not. I'm hoping it will be OK if we just wash it.

10. Sharla's Batik Table Runner. This one has been finished for over 2 years and should be easy enough to quilt since it is only a table runner, but somehow I never seem to get it loaded and quilted. Hopefully putting it on the list will help spur me to get it done. I still need to dig this one out to photograph, but once I do I'll modify this post.

OK that is where I'm stopping, I have a ton more I could list, but I don't think I can get all of these done. But I have a good variety of sizes and some for me, some for Sharla and even one for Mecca. I will be linking up with Finish-A-Long at Rhonda's [Quilt] Ramblings, and she is just one of the many hostesses this year.

Sunday Stash Report - 01/08/17

I made progress last week, I actually completed a quilt. Yes, it was a small one, but I will take any progress at this point. It is funny how much finishing one little quilt spurred me to want to do more. I think I worked on something quilty every night this week, except Friday.  And Friday I spent 4 hours driving to get Sharla and Hollywood and get home, so I was pretty tired.

Fabric Used this Week: 4.25 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 4.25 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 4.25 yards used

I really need to get a couple of photos of my Big and Bold quilt. I've made all the 1/2 blocks, and matched them up into pairs for the blocks. There will be 20 blocks total on the quilt and I hope to get most of them done this week.  I also hope to get the backing made for Sharla's Monkey quilt so that I can get it onto my long arm.  I want to do one more before loading Mecca's king sized quilt.

Overall, I'm very happy with my progress so far this year. And since I don't like posts without pictures. Here is a picture of Marley on his new quilt.

Friday Finish - 01/06/17

I have my first finish for 2017 and the first completed quilt in way way too long. Now before I show it to you, let me tell you the quilt is for Marley, my dog. So I didn't go back and fix things that I would normally fix. I have had this quilt on the frame for months, but just never got around to quilting it.

It has been over 6 months since I quilted, and I thought it would be a good idea to use a meandering panto-graph to get me back in the groove. I was wrong, very very wrong. I was so stiff using the machine and I just couldn't relax working from the back of the machine.  I just don't like working like where I can't see what is being stitched. So what I found is I crossed over stitches, my flow was very jumpy and jagged, but I continued until I finished it.

From the back it doesn't look back, because the thread blends into the busy background. I love a nice busy background. I realized after completing the binding I didn't even label it.

However when you see the front, you can see all the mistakes and jagged moves. Normally I would have picked these all out and redone it, but I know that Marley could care less about the quilting, so I just decided to be done with it.

It is a fun little quilt and right now it is sitting on Sharla's chair and she and Marley cover up with it while watching TV at night. No pictures of Marley and the quilt yet, but I'll work on it. Most importantly it is off the machine so I can load something else. My plan had been to load Mecca's quilt next, but I think I want to do another quilt before that to get my groove back. So I think Sharla's monkey quilt will be next. It is larger than this one, but still relatively small, so it shouldn't be too hard to complete and will let me get back in practice quilting from the front of the machine.

I also got my bee block done for Stash Bee Hive #9 this week. So I am on a roll. I love this house block and it is appropriate for Tanyia because she just moved into a new home.

Lastly I made progress on my Big and Bold quilt top, but no photos of that yet, maybe by next week I will have photos of my progress. But that is it for today and I am linking up my finish with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

One Monthly Goal - January Goal

I got out of the habit of setting goals for myself last year and as a result very little got done. I always have a list of things I want to do, but I stopped throwing them out to the world. Which meant I had less accountability. I know none of you are going to knock on my door and ask what I got done, but once I put it out there, I feel more accountable to myself. Plus Sharla normally tracks me to see how well I do. So I'm going to try and be more vigilant about posting my goals and results each month with others at Elm Street Quilts.

In the past I've had a hard time keeping myself to one goal, but I'm changing that this year. I will only list one goal for the month. If I get more things done, great, but by listing only one thing I'm hoping to stay on track.

My goal for January is Big and Bold in Soho Chic. I bought the kit for this in 2014 and I love the dark rich colors. The pattern is easy and I've gotten it cut and started sewing on it on the first. Here is a mock up of it in EQ7.

My goal is to have the top finished by the end of the month. Which I think is very possible to do. I also have some projects I want to get quilted this month, but for now this is my One Monthly Goal and I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts.

And as an added bonus I'm posting Sharla's goal for January as well. She is doing City Streets using Ticklish. It is a fun pattern and fun fabrics. I couldn't figure out how to get this one into EQ7, so here is a picture of the pattern and the fabric line. The quilt is designed by Sandy Brawner who used to own the local quilt shop. We laughed when I was cutting these that our projects couldn't be much different, mine is dark and rich, while hers is bright and cheery.

So those are our goals for January. If you want to see others are working on this month, check out the link up page at Elm Street Quilts.

Stash Report - 01/01/17

In another attempt to a better handle on my fabric, I am going to try use from my stash more this year. I'll be  following along with Judy at Patchwork Times. The idea isn't to inventory how much fabric you have, but to report what you use and what you purchase. She reports it like this

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards

Fabric Used year to Date: 0 yards

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards

Net Fabric for 2017: 0 yards used

And since it is the first day of the year, that is my totals so far. It is reported every Sunday, and I hope to at least have input a couple of times a month. Now I did do some sewing yesterday, I made a journal cover for Mecca and actually delivered it yesterday as well.  It was a very fast project. She saw the ones I made for Sharla and I and commented that it must have been an oversight that there wasn't a red one in the mix, so I whipped up a red one. But that was 2016, so it doesn't count. However, I thought I would show it anyway. 

I also started cutting a quilt called Big and Bold using Soho Chic for me and Sharla started working on City Streets using Ticklish. So hopefully we will have things to show in the coming weeks. I also have to get Marley's top quilted so I can get Mecca's onto the machine.  I'm hoping for a much more productive 2017, so time to get off this computer and get some work done. So far the year is starting off great.