Friday Finish - 03/31/17

Well Sharla finished her Strip Box - Summerfest flimsy last Sunday. So that makes three finishes for her so far this year. She is even planning on trying for 2 in May since she will have a long weekend. Strip Box is a pattern by Frivolous Necessity and is a jelly roll pattern. But she didn't exactly follow the pattern. It is supposed to be random strips framing a rail fence, but she had in her mind it was supposed to all of the same fabric framing. So it doesn't really match the pattern, but it is still really pretty.

We had an added issue that she started this quilt before her eyes were fixed and although she didn't have to re-sew any seams, we found that she was taking a larger 1/4" seam before than she is now. So once all the blocks were made I squared them up for her. She love Fig Tree & Co. fabric and we laugh about this one being from her orange phase.

The fabrics are very pretty and she loves it.  The quilt is supposed to be 84" x 96", but since I had to trim about 1/4" off of each block, I'm guessing it is about two inches shorter all around.  I forgot to measure it to know the exact size. We carried it in the car for a week waiting for the wind to die down or it to not be raining, and it took until yesterday for that to happen. We had a couple of pretty big storms this week, in fact Sunday night we had some major hail. Enough that we will most likely need a new roof. And so we avoided laying the quilt on the ground for as long as possible so it could dry up some and even then we had to deal with some wind issues. But it wasn't as bad as last week.

We've already pulled Sharla's April project, that we call Big Blue Flowers. It is the only fabric that Hollywood has ever really reacted too, and for some reason he loves the backing fabric for the project. Every time we have it out he is all over it.  So I think in the end it will end up being his quilt, but maybe she won't share (hahah...he has her eating out of his paw). I made some progress already on my April project, so I might even get two projects done (I know wishful thinking, but I believe in dreaming big. For now I'm linking up with  Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts.

Sunday Stash - 03/26/17

I had another flimsy finish this week, so that means more fabric used. I also bought several kits this week on Craftsy, but they haven't arrived just yet. Well I bought one and Sharla bought two, but they were good deals.  Luckily I don't have to count them until they actually arrive.

My City Streets - 2wenty Thr3e is the only finish this week.  Sharla is close on her Strip Box - Summerset, but it will be late today at the earliest, and maybe even next week before it is done. But we both have been doing well on completing on flimsy a month so far this year.

If you didn't read my post on Friday, we had a hard time photographing the City Streets quilt because of the wind. Here is the best shot I have. I was hoping to get some more photos of it this weekend, but that just hasn't happened. I hate when life gets in the way of quilting...hehehe.  This is a fun easy pattern that uses a layer cake and goes together so quickly.

I'm very happy with the way it looks, the grey was the perfect choice, it really highlights the other colors. It will be a while before it is quilted because I have several in front of it that I really need to do first. Plus I think I want to find some dark grey thread to use for the quilting.

So now for my numbers this week.

Fabric Used this Week: 5 yard
Fabric Used year to Date: 81 3/4 yard
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 10 1/2 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 71 1/4 yard USED

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - Sunday Stash. I hope you have a wonderful week and get lots and lots accomplished.

Friday Finish - 03/24/17

I have finished my City Streets - 2wenty Thr3e flimsy. It is a very simple pattern and the quilt goes together so fast. I should have been finished a week ago, but I was busy getting other things done. I love this quilt, however Sharla isn't as pleased with it as I am. It popped her in the face yesterday as we were trying to get photos of it.  The wind was blowing like mad, and I couldn't even get it on the ground.

We tried several times, but it just wouldn't lay down. So then I tried to hold it up and that was even worse. That is when it got sassy with Sharla and popped her.

I really like how the grey works with the other colors. The grey is Bella Solids Etchings Slate and is a nice deep grey. The quilt measures 72 x 83 1/2, so it will be a great snuggle quilt. I am going to try and get some better pictures of it this weekend, but I just couldn't wait to show it off to everyone.

Over all this makes the 3rd flimsy I've completed this year, and so I'm on track to make my goal of finishing at least 12 flimsy in 2017. I've already started working on the next one, but haven't made much progress this week.  It was one of those where on my days off I was forced to do life things like oil changes, car inspections, getting the car tags and lots of fun other fun things. I do hope to make more progress next week.

For now I'm linking up with  Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts.  And I am linking to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal Finish March Linkup since was my OMG for March.

Sunday Stash - 03/19/17

Before I tell you about my week I have to wish a very Happy Birthday to my favorite niece, the one and only Callie!!!! I remember the day she was born and I can't believe it was 29 years ago. Wait how is that possible I'm only twenty nine...well maybe I'm just a little older than that. She is silly, smart, beautiful, kind and I couldn't ask for a better niece.  I love you Callie!!!! Here is 29 years compressed into one photo collage.

Now on to this week's stash report. I told you last week that I finished Mecca's Courtyard Tiles and even tried to deliver before I did my report so I could count the last of everything on it. But she wasn't home when we went by her house. She called not to long after we got back and was home so we head over with the quilt in tow. She loves it!!!  Yeah!!!! I have already counted the front and backing fabrics for the quilt, but I haven't counted the front of the pillow shams, the inside backing of the shams, the envelope backing of the shams or the binding of the quilt. So I have some good numbers used this week.

Fabric Used this Week: 8 1/8 yard
Fabric Used year to Date: 76 3/4 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 10 1/2 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 66 1/4 yard USED

We are on a roll this year!!! I have been working on my City Street's quilt and hope to have the flimsy finished by Friday. Sharla has been working on her Somerset Strip Box flimsy and should have it finished soon. I've pulled Callie and Beau's Wedding quilt and am starting to piece it. If I can work it in before April 18th, then it would be ready for there 2nd anniversary. I've also got a couple of other projects that I'm working on slowly in the background, with the goal of finishing as many projects as possible this year.  Now if you didn't see all of the photos of Mecca's Courtyard Tiles quilt, here is a couple more.

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - Sunday Stash. I hope you have a great week and have a wonderful start to Spring tomorrow!!!

Friday Finish - 03/17/17 (A Little Early)

First I know it is not Friday just yet, but I am so very happy to have this all finished and gifted that I just couldn't wait until Friday. Plus I've been teasing it for so long, I know several of you have been waiting to see the final results. It was a little late for Christmas, but I got it too her before her birthday...Mecca's Courtyard Tiles quilt....tada!!!!

So before I start the big picture fest, let me tell you a little about this quilt. The pattern is Courtyard Tiles by My Quilt Infatuation. I bought the pattern last May during May is for Makers and when my sister-in-law saw it she asked if I would make it for her. I said yes. And then we had to choose fabric, and I had to modify the pattern because she wanted a king sized quilt. I started working on it in July or August, hoping to have it finished by Christmas, but only had the top done then. So she received a photo of the top at Christmas. But now it is quilted and matching shams are done.

This puppy is big, it was 108 x 108 before washing and I forgot to measure it when I took it out of the dryer. The fabric line is Bread 'n Butter by American Jane for Moda and the colors are just so pretty. I did do some calculations on this baby, the top has 1296 pieces in it and matching shams have 270, with the backing and binding it comes to 1580 pieces. Lots and lots of pieces, but each one sewn with love. I couldn't get a great picture of it all spread out, so here are some of my favorites in smaller sections.

I made matching shams, but I don't really like them. I was smart enough to make them, quilt them and wash them before piecing them. But I wasn't smart enough to realize the pattern wouldn't match the way I did it. Mecca doesn't mind, but it is one of those things I see. I am working hard on giving myself a break on things like this, so as long as Mecca is happy, I'm happy.

It is hard to see the quilting but it is just an all over meander in a white thread. Sharla and I took it out Sunday to photograph and deliver, but when we got to Mecca and Tom's house no one was home. So we decided to tease them a little and took a picture of it on a little bridge Tom built in the front yard.

This is by far the largest quilt I've ever done and it stretched my machine and me to the max, but it was so worth it. The pattern is really well written and I will make another one of these in the future for sure, just maybe not king sized. It is far from perfect, but it is just so pretty that I can ignore the flaws.

I used a red polka dot for the back and red diamond grid fabric for the binding, both of which look really great. I even remembered to label it.

We found this great gazebo just down the road from us. It is outside of a small church and was a perfect spot to photograph the quilt.  I'm sure we will use it again in the future. Someday I would love to have a gazebo like this one. Going through the photos I realized I didn't get a picture of the whole gazebo, but here is one of the bottom part.

I'm so happy this one is done, and I'm so happy that Mecca loves it. Now it is time for me to get working on more projects. My list is slowing getting done. This is the second quilt on my 2017 Finish-A-Long Quarter 1 list, and I hope to get at least one more done before the quarter is done. I'm making lots of progress on tops, but not as much as finished quilts, but I happy with where I stand.

I will be linking up 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 - 03/12/17

I would have lots to report this week, but since I've not gifted the quilt/shams and I've not photographed them or blogged about them, I will wait until next week to report them. But let me say that my numbers are looking good. With the fabric for the binding and shams I used a little over 8 yards.

I did try and deliver the quilt and shams today, but alas no one was home.  So just to taunt my sister-in-law just a little, here is a picture of the quilt at her house. I will blog about it on Friday, because I hope to have it delivered by then.

I did also made progress on my City Streets quilt. If I get to spend some time on it this week, I think I can finish the flimsy. And I am also designing a word quilt using the Spell It With Fabric alpha that Moda put out a couple of years ago. I've picked my phrase, and the even the fabric for the letters, but I'm struggling to decide on the background fabric. If I get the background picked out, I will start it as soon as I finish City Streets.

Since I'm not counting anything this week, my numbers remain the same as last week.

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 68 5/8 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 10 1/2 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 58 1/8 yards used

I'm going to link up with Judy at Patchwork Times - Sunday Stash. And I hope you have a wonderful week...and that you get lots accomplished.

Friday Finish...Not Quite

I do have a finish this week, the binding is on the Courtyard Tiles quilt and it just needs to be washed and photographed. The sham fabric has been quilted, trimmed and the edges sewn down so that it can be washed before I sew them together (don't want it to shrink after it is sewn). But since my sister-in-law reads this blog and I want the reveal to be a little special I'm not showing any photos today...sorry Mecca!!!

This is the biggest quilt I've made to date and will be the biggest I make for a long time. I have a 10 foot table on my Avante and I learned some real lessons with this one.  In my head I thought 10 foot table meant I had 120 inches to work, but I forgot to take into account the carriage where the machine sits, which is about 6 inches wide, which means I have to take 12 inches off of the 120 (6 inches each side). So that leave 108 inches needle area, and this quilt is 108 inches. Now that means I had no wiggle room at all, and it also meant I needed to purchase some narrow side clamps, to allow for the backing being larger than 108 inches.

All in all this quilt taught me several things. First I learned what my machine can and can't do, I had never pushed the limits before this quilt. I learned how to move furniture around so that when I was piecing and binding to give me enough table space to work with such a large quilt and now I have a plan when I have to do this in the future. I learned that king sized quilts are just plain heavy, it is surprising how heavy. I learned I don't mind working with lots and lot of little pieces, but I'm not fast when doing so. And lastly I learned that while not easy, I can make really big quilts.

My goal is to wash the quilt and shams tomorrow morning. I don't want them to sit wet in the washer just in case some of the reds run. Since Sharla and I will both be home we can wash them and check them before putting them into the dryer. It will take both of us to check it since it is so big. Then I just have to cut and piece the shams, which shouldn't be too hard. And if all goes well I should be able to gift it late this weekend or early next week.

I have started working on my City Streets quilt and hope to have the flimsy done on it soon as well. I think the next quilt to go on the machine will be Sharla's City Street quilt because it isn't too big and I need a break from really big quilts. I would like to get at least one more flimsy quilted this quarter, and if possible two more. But for now I'm happy with where I stand.

I won't be linking up with any of the Friday Finishes linky parties, because although the quilt is finished I'm not showing it just yet. And because I hate post without pictures, here is Marley snuggled up in his quilt and Hollywood trying to look innocent.

Hollywood will be very glad when Mecca's quilt leaves the house, I have to bar him from the quilt room because his black hair gets everywhere and I've been trying to avoid it getting on/in the quilt since it has so much white.

Sunday Stash - 03/05/17

Does fabric you win count as bought? Part of me says it was free so it shouldn't count, but part of me says that it was acquired whether I paid for it or not. That was the big question for me this week because I was lucky enough to win some fabric from a giveaway at Brights On White. Lauren has a cool YouTube channel and I subscribed to her channel and won approximately 2 yard so fabric. The fabric is from Kate Spain's Jingle line and I think it will be perfect for some Christmas table runners.

Now I might have fought harder against counting free fabric, but I also have a number for my used column that out weighs what I received. I blogged about it on Friday. Sharla finished her Summerfest flimsy, so we get to count the fabric for that this week. It turned out beautifully, bright and cheerful which was exactly what she wanted. She is very happy with it.

So here are my totals for the week and year to date

Fabric Used this Week: 7 1/2 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 68 5/8 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 2 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 10 1/2 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 58 1/8 yards used

I actually used a little more because I finished the front for Mecca's pillow shams, but I've not calculated the fabric usage yet, so I will leave that for next week. Her quilt is trimmed and the binding is pieced and I hope to work on it tomorrow and Tuesday. I've also started cutting my City Streets, so lots of things in the works around here. Today I'm linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times - Sunday Stash.  I hope you have a week filled with joy and love!!!!

Friday Finish - 03/03/17

I'm happy to say we have another finish. Sharla finished her Summerfest flimsy on Sunday afternoon and we finally got some photos of it yesterday. There is no real pattern it is simply layer cake squares sewn in columns with sashing between the columns.

The bright cheerful colors were hard to photograph in the afternoon sun, but we kept trying until we got at least a few good pictures. I know she is anxiously awaiting this one being quilted because it's spring colors will be perfect on her bed. The flimsy is 94 x 99 and used almost all of two layer cakes. I think she had 4 squares she didn't use.

For Sharla is doing so well finishing one quilt a month, I've told her I'm going to start pushing her to do 1 1/2 or 2 a month.  I'm not sure it will work, but I love pushing her just for the fun of it. We have also been looking for spots to get better photographs of the quilts, but since most of the time we are doing the photo sessions after work, we've not found any great spots. But we did stumble on a cute rusted fence yesterday and snapped a couple there.

As much as she wants this one quilted, I think it is going to be a little while. I have to finish binding Mecca's, then quilting the shams, then I want to do a couple that are not quite this large. But hopefully I will get this one done before Spring is over. 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 - March Goal

It is time to set my March goal (and Sharla's). We've both done well so far this year in completing our goals within the month time frame. You will see Sharla's February quilt top tomorrow and I showed mine earlier this month.

For March my goal is to complete my 2wenty-Thr3e City Street flimsy. I've had the layer cake since 2013 and had planned to use it in a completely different way. But when I pulled it out last month I changed my mind and decided to make the pattern City Streets with it. I've ordered and received the background/sashing fabric so I'm all ready to start. It is a fairly easy quilt so I'm hoping not to have any issues with it. Here is the mock up of what it should look like when it is completed.

Sharla is going to work on her Somerset Strip Box quilt. She started this quilt before her eye surgery and was really afraid she would have to undo most of what she had done. But when she checked out the pieces they weren't that bad, so she is moving forward with it as is. The quilt is made with 2 jelly rolls of Somerset by Fig Tree and she has had it since 2014.

Both of these are achievable goals, unless life goes wacky. I have to cut mine, but Sharla's pieces are already cut and partially sewn.  Now time to get cutting and sewing. I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts.