Stash Report 073116

X Marks the Spot Blocks are Done!!

My school responsibilities are done for the summer so I have about 2 weeks left of vacation to do my own thing.   Before getting into anything more serious I sewed. I was close enough to done on this Leader & Ender project that I just finished the blocks.   I have enjoyed the process of just working away at something without a real plan.  I love the finished product.   One day I'll lay all the blocks out on the LR floor and get them arranged and then joined together.

Pretty sure I'll add borders to finish it up.


Fabric Used/Out This Week: 4.83 yards X marks the Spot blocks
Fabric Used/Out in 2016: 50.52 yards

Fabric In This Week:  0  yards

Fabric In 2016: 31.54 yards
 
Net Used 2016:  18.98 yards

Staying accountable with Judy over at Patchwork Times.

Leader & Ender Finish

This started as Leader & Enders a few years ago with no plan.  First joining 2" squares into twosies.  Then since I had no plan I joined them into 4-patches.  Still no plan but the idea of a 16-patch was appealing so that was the next step.

Sorry - no way to show all the blocks together yet.

By then I had seen the X kind of design and I liked it so I made some calculations and started on the neutral X blocks.  Then joined the blocks together.   

This week is the Grand Reconfiguring of the upstairs and the sewing room will be taken apart and put back together in a modified version - in a slightly larger room, but also serving as living space for Little S.  I had enough of the blocks done or partially pieced that I made a final plan (24 blocks in a 4x6 layout) and just went ahead and made the last 4 blocks.  I'd rather my next step be put the flimsy together then start all over on the design wall in the other room.  Now I can put it away for a rainy day waiting to get its final layout and sewn together. Done is good.  

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict to show off finishes.

Stash Report 072416

I didn't get to sew this week but fabric went out. Woo hoo! It's a long story.

Grown Up R has not been able to find a job despite submitting over 100 applications since January.  She had 2 summer internships after graduation, a part time job, and shared housing near the college (which is 8 hours away.) But all that is coming to an end in less than 2 weeks.   Note  - She's a super talented bilingual Graphic Designer with 3 years of experience outside the classroom if you know of any openings.

Plan Z is to come back home.  Not a bad option, but certainly not what she had hoped for.  Since she worked on campus through all the college summers we rarely saw her so really we are happy to have her back again.  But her room has long since been taken over by Little S.  

So this week is the Grand Reconfiguring of the upstairs.  The goal is for R to take her old room, so Little S's stuff has been sorted and compacted into the smallest amount of space possible. Middle E will give up the room she desperately wanted for so long and we'll switch her with sewing room - again!  She says the morning light comes in too brightly on that side and she is happy to move.  She changes things up about every 6 months, so she is actually overdue for a change.  Then the sewing room will again be in the room that is slightly larger and Little S will function out of there and hopefully I'll still be able to sew and R will find an amazing job and move out again. 

In anticipation of this Grand Reconfiguring I am cleaning and sorting the sewing room.  It was easy to give away the stack of odd fleece that I thought I couldn't live without.  I have someone who will take nearly any crafty stuff and either use it or pass it on so that makes it much easier to give stuff up.  I also gave her some yarns and crochet thread so that bin is not overflowing. 

So it was a good week for numbers despite the lack of sewing.  

Fabric Used/Out This Week: 5.53 yards - 4 pieces of odd fleece
Fabric Used/Out in 2016: 45.69 yards

Fabric In This Week:  0.79 yards odd piece of light blue found in the felt at work

Fabric In 2016: 31.54 yards
 
Net Used 2016:  14.15 yards

Staying accountable with Judy over at Patchwork Times.

Felt Food

My class loves felt food.  We have had quite a bit donated so I never felt the need to make any although there are some super cute ideas out there.

Well, all that changed when I was preparing for Fiesta Camp and saw felt tacos.  No sewing required which made it doable on a large scale.  I loved the Mexican  Restaurant idea but I also wanted 45 kids to be able to take home their own set. 

First up - tomatoes.   Red circles seemed appropriate.   But the longer I looked at all those red circles the less I liked them.   They needed something more but there was no way I was hand painting 200 tomatoes.  

Then something clicked!  That's the way my brain works.  I never get the whole plan all at once.   I lightly painted the end of a thread spool pink and then pressed it onto the felt circle.

Now that's a tomato!!

Then I just HAD to paint the other side to make it more realistic. It was worth it!

An army of tomatoes!

Tortilla - 6" circle, cream color for flour tortillas, goldenrod color for corn tortillas

Onion - 2" circle, fold in half & cut like a rainbow to get 3 concentric rings

Cheese - various yellows cut in tapering rectangles about 1.5" long

Lettuce - various light greens cut in wavy strips about 3" long 

Meat - brown blobs roughly 1" squares

Green pepper - christmas green 1/2" squares (I ran out of oomph before I got these cut!)

Stash Report 071716

I never thought I'd have fabric out this week but I did.  I made an apron ....

 ... and burp cloths for vacation bible school.  

I had just enough of the batik to make a small and large burp cloth with NO leftovers - woohoo!

For the burp cloths I was inspired by these turtles and rays that I cut for VBS decorations. 

Once again it was a little bit of therapeutic sewing.  I don't realize how much I miss sewing until I'm back at the machine again.  

Fabric Used/Out This Week: 1 yard
Fabric Used/Out in 2016: 40.16 yards

Fabric In This Week:  0 yards

Fabric In 2016: 30.75 yards
 
Net Used 2016:  9.41 yards

Staying accountable with Judy over at Patchwork Times.

Fishy Finish

This week was Vacation Bible School at our church and I was in charge of crafts. Once all the crafts were prepped I got serious and made myself an apron.

I cannot do crafts with kids without an apron.  At work I use my old standby apron which is getting old and faded but still does the job.  I actually have 2 because my first disappeared one summer, so I made myself another. Then the original turned up a year later with another teacher.  Strange but 2 work aprons works for me.  

One year I made Dr Seuss aprons.  Another year it was super heros.  So a fish apron for the Submerged VBS seemed like the thing to do.  I'll also wear it during ocean week at school. 

I had recently been given a box of random bias tape and a good color was on hand so the apron went together quickly.  I forgot that I don't like bias tape ties on aprons until after it was done, but for the week it was fine.

I really need a pocket in my apron but I did not want to cover up any of the fish.  As usual I was working with scraps, but I was able to fussy cut the same fish that was on the apron front and turn it into a pocket.  Next time I would do the pocket before the hem but this was fine. 

After I finished the apron I decided to make fishy burp cloths for my boss' grandson who was such a good sport during all the decoration and getting set up. He's only 3 months old so he didn't have much choice but he needed a consolation prize.  

He reminded me so much of my girls when we were in full time ministry and they patiently did whatever the situation required.  

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict to show off finishes.

Design Floor

I needed something mindless to sew a few weeks ago and these spiderweb blocks did the trick just fine.  They are on-going project.  I have figured out that I don't really like string piecing, but I do like this quilt by Bonnie Hunter so I will work away at it.

11 of the 16.5 blocks 

I was aiming for 16 blocks, but ended up with 16.5.  I thought I made the 14 more triangles needed, but apparently in my mindlessness I made 16.  So now I am thinking to just bite the bullet and make 14 more triangles for a total of 20 blocks.  With borders I'll end up with a twin size quilt.  That is in the future though.  For now I am just happy to have had an opportunity to sew and to have made progress.

Update: In the Grand Reconfiguring of the upstairs I found the original "kite" pattern and some already cut red kites.  I went ahead and prepped everything else I needed for the last 14 triangles.  So I am ready for some mindless sewing in the future.  

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see what other folks are working on.

Stash Report 061016

I took two half days for me last weekend!!  They were very therapeutic and much needed.

I got the borders done on my red, white and blue quilt which was a much larger chunk out of the stash that I would have guessed, but then it turned out much larger than I planned also.  I am determined to get the backing out of stash as well, but that will be a few weeks down the road.  Lots of work related stuff coming up and no spare time in the foreseeable future.

Fabric Used/Out This Week: 2.66 yards
Fabric Used/Out in 2016: 39.16 yards

Fabric In This Week:  0 yards

Fabric In 2016: 30.75 yards
 
Net Used 2016:  8.41 yards


Staying accountable with Judy over at Patchwork Times

Surprise UFO Progress

I was trying to finish Middle E's Quinceanos quilt but the border I put on just didn't work. So I unsewed and set the quilt aside.  Then I tried the border on this quilt.  TaaaDaaa.  I had always envisioned the quilt with a red border but this blue just worked.  

A few test photos and I had a plan.  

I liked the blue a lot, but it needed a little oomph.

Red was my initial idea several years ago and it is PERFECT with this blue.

I have not sewn for pleasure in a long time so I just rolled with the fact that I had a plan and a good book on CD and an afternoon off.  

The dark blue had been given to me in long strips last year so it was a puzzle to make the existing measurements work.   I came up 2" short on the very last border.  Luckily there was a little scrap that I could add on.  I'm sure when it is all done even I won't even remember it's pieced there.  

The left quarter....

I am super pleased with the borders.  It was worth the wait to get it just right.

My problem is that somehow with the changes I made to the original quilt pattern and the extra blue chain blocks I added and now the double border - this quilt is huge!!!  116" x 108" more or less. I don't even have a big enough space to lay it out.   It is way too big for my little frame and domestic machine.  I think I am going to have to send it out for quilting.  That's okay though.  

and the right quarter.

I always wanted a red, white and blue quilt and I love how it turned out so I don't mind investing in a keeper.

Showing off finishes with Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Design Bed

This quilt turned out way bigger than I planned.  But I love it and it fits MY bed and that makes me happy.

Now the challenge is to come up with a backing.  I am determined to work with stash and potentially deplete my patriotic fabrics.  I used to save them for tablecloths but now I have my mothers red checked tablecloth so I don't use them anymore.  Realizing that really freed me to use these up.  

I think I can do it.  I'm sure I have something else that will fit in that last hole.   I love a good puzzle!

Linking up to patchwork times on this glorious Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day

My Red, White & Blue top is done!

Perfect timing!!

There is a blue border after the red border but with the blue dust ruffle it is very hard to see in the photo.

Stash Report 070316

My coworker gave me more fabric.  It was actually given to her by a friend who is cleaning out a bit and she passed it on to me.

Cute flannel and ....

some circles with an unusual marking in the middle of some and just a dot in the middle of the rest.   And some other add scraps. 

The circles are gone already to my boss's daughter who just bought a sewing machine and needs scraps to practice on.

I tried really hard to finish something this week but with work and all it just didn't happen.  I did get a paid sewing job done.  Altered a wedding dress to be a princess dress - changing the sleeves and hem - but that didn't use any of my fabric.  Maybe next week. 
 

Fabric Used/Out This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used/Out in 2016: 36.5 yards

Fabric In This Week:  1.75 yards

Fabric In 2016: 30.75 yards
 
Net Used 2016:  5.75 yards


Staying accountable with Judy over at Patchwork Times