A quick project

Look what I made the other day!  It's an iron caddy, so that I can carry my iron to retreats/workshops - and back home again even if it's still hot.


Lined with heat resistant fabric, with a layer of insulbrite inside, it should keep the heat from the iron safely away from everything else.

This was truely a 1-day project.  I decided Thursday night that I needed one, to take to a day retreat on Saturday.  Friday morning I looked up patterns, and found this one.  Made a phone call to make sure I could get the fabric I needed (Yes, Fabricland carries it) and headed out mid-morning.  OK, I'll admit this was not a cheap venture. If I'd waited for a sale day, it might have been better - the heat-resistant fabric & insulbrite & batting cost me $40. But I got enough to make 2 caddies from that.

I came home from my shopping trip, dug a fabric out of my stash for the outside of the bag, and did some cutting. Being one to like shortcuts, I layered all 4 fabrics and cut the overall size through all of them at once. Worked great. A few pins, a quick trip through the sewing machine to stitch the layers together, and it was ready for binding.

Found a nice contrasting fabric in my stash to use for handles and binding. I love the turquoise colour, but I cut this one close. Once I cut the handles out, I had enough left for 2 strips of binding.  They fit - but just barely, and the final join in the binding is a straight join rather than angled. But who's going to know, right?  I won't tell if you won't :)  I also made a minor mistake with the positioning of the elastics for closures.  I may end up moving them later, but for now close counts.

This caddy used a total of 1 yard of fabric. And binding for Allietare, which I cut out and attached before my shopping trip, used 3/4 yards.
total out this week - 1 3/4 yards, and nothing in (not counting the shopping trip since that's not quilting fabric that came home)

2016 totals:
69 3/4 yards in
98 1/4 yards out
Total: 28 1/2 yards out
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports. 

Stash Report - March 6

I don't have much progress to show today, although I have been sewing all weekend. A little bit more of giraffe is done.  I'd love to get to his head, but that is the very last section, if I continue to work in order.

Later today, I am going to load up my Mexican Star on the long arm and see what I can do with this poor old UFO.

Stash usage this week:
backings for quilties - 4 1/2 yards
binding for twister - 1/4 yard
backing for Mexican Star - 1 1/4 yards
Total usage this week - 5 yards out, and nothing in.


2016 totals:
65.25 yards in
83.25 yards out
Total: 18 yards out
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

WIPs be Gone

I have a finish this week, of a fairly old UFO.  I made this quilt a couple of years ago.  I originally designed this pattern back in June of 2011 and made my first top from it.  Eventually, I decided that I wanted to publish the pattern, and that of course required making it a couple of more times, to test the instructions. Two tops were finished in May of 2012. I finished the second quilt in Feb of 2013, but the third has been hanging out in the "to be quilted" pile since it was completed.

Finally last weekend I got it on the longarm. I wanted to play with some new feather techniques, and it seemed like a really good choice for that.  Finished binding it this week, and now it's done!

I particularly love the way the back turned out - almost like a wholecloth quilt in two colours.

And the center of the star came out better than I expected.  It's one of the few places I did not feather - the segments were too small for that to work. So I did a simple curved design following the piecing, and this is what the back ended up like.  A (happy) surprise).

Here's a closeup of some of the feathers around the borders.  And the backside of that. Again, no feathers in the blue sections, but I love what came out. All of this quilt was freehand quilted, with no marking at all.

 My stash report for this week is pretty simple. 
4 yards - backing for Paris
1/2 yard binding for star quilt

4 1/2 yards out this week.  A little bit came in, because I won the draw at guild when I showed this very quilt.  The prize was a little bucket of 6 fat quarters.  So that's 1 1/2 yards in.

2016 totals:
65.25 yards in
68.25 yards out
Total: 3 yards out

And would you look at that - I'm officially in the black!
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

I'm also linking up at WIPs be Gone today.

Stash Report - Feb 14

I finished another of my New Year's mystery quilts this week. Forgot to take a picture after I bound it, so here it is all crinkly and soft from the wash. It is headed off to Victoria's Quilts to keep someone warm.

I had a pretty productive couple of weeks since my last stash report. A few quilts bound, and an old UFO on my longarm, so I can play around with some feathers this weekend.

Bindings - coin stack, yahoo mystery, about.com mystery, scrappy = 2 yards
backing for starburst - 3 yards


2016 totals:
63.75 yards in
63.75 yards out
Total: 0 yards in

And would you look at that - I'm not in the negative any more!  That exact in/out match is kind of amazing, in fact :)
Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.


I'll be linking up with the 2016 Finish Along when the time comes. My Q1 plans can be found here.

Stash Report - Jan 24

I've been putting my focus on one of my UFOs during my hand-stitching clubs recently. This poor top has been a flimsy since 2010, and was just waiting for me to finish handstitching the curves on each corner block. I finally got that done yesterday!  Now it joins the quilting pile, and might even make a finish later this year.

I don't get to count any fabric out for this top, however, since the piecing was done so long ago. However, I even know where the fabric is, so I can put together the binding and figure out a backing for it.

In other news this week, I finished Allietare, my Bonnie Hunter mystery. That's 14 1/2 yards out according to the fabric requirements for the top.  And I just have to post this. I put a picture of the top on Bonnie's Quiltville Facebook group, and Bonnie commented on it - "Wow!!!!". That's a direct quote including the 4 - FOUR! - exclamation points. I think she liked my colours :)

 This week - 14.5 yards out, nothing in

2016 totals:
62 yards in
50.75 yards out
Total: 11.25 yards in

Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports. 

Stash Report - Jan 10

It's been a busy week putting tops together, but I did manage to get 2 more of my New Year's projects bordered.

Thsi one is from Quiltbug.com.  Lots of fun and quick to do, although my colour choices would have been a bit different if I'd known where things were going.  But that's the whole point of a mystery.  This one is bright and fun, and I know someone will love it. It's all set to go to a session of my Victoria's Quilts group and get backing/binding so it can be quilted and donated.

The second one is from quilting.about.com.  This one was more complex for a one-day mystery, but definitely still doable (even if it did take me a week). I decided to set it on point and created the setting triangles on the fly.  And managed to mess up the measurements in one place. Rather than re-doing 6 blocks, I decided I could just trim the sashing strips to make it fit (I lost 1/2" on one edge).

This was a great theory, and worked fine until I started trying to square the quilt up.  Because the blocks were no longer square (I only trimmed 1 edge), my quilt was skewed towards two diagonal corners when I trimmed the edges. Took me a while to figure out what went wrong, and then more time (and several cycles of cut & measure) to make the quilt square (well, rectangular, but you know what I mean).

After all that, I decided it had to have borders, to keep the bias edges stable before it was quilted (and I needed a few extra inches to stretch the quilt back to full size).

And now I get to count some fabric out for the year.


Quiltbug.com mystery - 4.5 yards
quilting.about.com mystery - 10 yards

This week's totals:
nothing in
14.5 yards out

2016 totals:
62 yards in
21.5 yards out
Total: 40.5 yards in

Head over to Patchworks Times today for more stash reports.

Stash Report - Jan 3

A new year, a new stash report. Last year went pretty well. While I didn't avoid purchasing fabric completely, I definitely used more than I brought in over the year.

My final totals for last year were
104 3/4 yards in
217 1/4 yards out
Total: 112 1/2 yards out

This year, every quilt shop in my end of town had a big sale either right after Christmas or right after New Year's Day.  So, I indulged.  I tried to be restrained this year, and was quite proud of myself for staying on budget. Then I looked back and realized I bought almost the same amount of fabric during this year's sales as I did last year.  Oh well, maybe next year.

I did stick to a plan however - I bought neutrals to fill out my stash, so I should be good for a few quilts this year. Aren't they pretty? Lots of lights, and a few darker neutrals for variety.  Trying to find fabric for mysteries showed me that my neutral selection was a bit lacking.  The fat quarters are the part that blew my budget :( but they were pretty, and will go into a quilt that I hope to get to this year.  And the map of Canada I just could not resist.  62 yards in this year.

I also have 2 quilt tops finished for this year, so I'm off to a great start. I finished my two New Year's Eve mystery quilts.

This one is the mystery (without borders - I decided to leave them off so this top is the right size for a donation), and the second one is a revised layout so that I didn't have to sew a bunch of identical 2.5" strips back together into 6.5" blocks.  Each of these used 3.5 yards of fabric.

62 yards in
7 yards out
Total: 55 yards in

Last year I hit the black on April 5th, let's see how I can do this year. I'm linking up with Judy over at Patchworks Times today. Drop by to see how everyone else is starting the year off.

2016 plans

At the end of this post are all my UFOs for this year. Lots of projects to choose from, for my next quilt.  But when I was looking at this list yesterday, none of them jumped out at me.  Bad sign - I'll be starting a new quilt if I don't get a plan in place soon.

Realistically, the 2 embroidery quilts are long term projects, and don't count as "quilting" until I get the embroidery done.  So they will just putter along at the bottom of the list.  Mexican star is also a handquilting project. I should add that to my handquilting bag, and get it done at the next couple of Poole Creek meetings.

Scrappy pineapple is going to remain my leader/ender project for the foreseeable future - it's nice in that I can do one seam and not lose track of where I am and what's next on it.  20 blocks done of 35 planned, so that should keep me in leaders/enders for most of the year.

Stonehenge needs to be finished - it's a submission for a magazine, so I'd better make that top of the list for now, although you won't be able to see it.  And finishing up Reflections and giant swoon are good projects to take along to quilting/sew days.

That should keep me busy for a bit.  I'll get the Kaffe Stripes going before I start anything new. I'd like to get the 2 applique quilts past the lick & stick stage ASAP, but that needs a certain mindset that I just don't have going on right now.  Maybe once my sewing room is cleaned up a bit.

I thought it might also be interesting to take a picture of my stash closet, as a reference so I can see the change over the year. Of course, I'm hoping to have that whole thing moved to a new location soon, but lets put it out there anyway.

Here's the mains stash, in my current closet - crammed full and needing some straightening desperately.

Then we have the storage under my cutting table. This mostly holds backings and flannel. I see now that I made a decent dent in this part of the stash this year. I new that 100 yards must have come from somewhere :)

And, my newly cleaned out closet. I relegated all my kids' stuff into my son's bedroom, including some shelving. Then moved the big white shelf from the main sewing room into the closet. Lots more room in the sewing area now.  This shelf has most of my scraps, fat quarters, and a bunch more flannel on it. Most of my "to be quilted" projects are hanging in here too now.



My project list, as of the end of December.

In progress:

1. Reflections of the North
2. Scrappy pineapple
3. Stonehenge
4. giant scrappy swoon
5. Row by row 2015
6. Edge of 17 shop hop quilt
7. Mexican star (really a UFO)
8. Kaffe stripes
9. Patchwork Year 
10. Gardener's Alphabet

Planned (fabric bought and/or collected)

1. recipe wall hanging
2. drunkards path variation
3. Christmas wreath
4. Christmas reindeer
5. two cityscapes/panels
6. ombre flying geese (leftovers from Spectrum) 
7. Jeans quilt

Mysteries

1. Bonnie Hunter
2. Merry Mayhem
3. About.com
4. Yahoo group (2 versions)
5. quiltbug.com

to be quilted

1. Building Blocks - 2012
2. Easy Street - Bonnie Hunter 2012 mystery
3. Turquoise Trails - 2013
4. Labyrinth - 2013
5. Starburst - 2013
6. Rainbow Explosion - 2014
7. Brights baby quilt - April 2014
8. Tell it to the Stars - Judy Laquidara 2014 mystery
9. Flowers in my Windows - 2014 New Year's Eve mystery
10. Block of the Week
11. turquoise &; brown rectangles
12. turquoise & brown diamonds 
13. turquoise & brown baby quilt
14. One Block Wonder #2
15. Border Creek Station mystery (started Oct 2014)
16. one-fabric quilt
17. Houses
18. Paris
19. baby twister
20. baby reflections

to be bound

1. Chain Reaction
2. snowball/9-patch
3. scrappy quilt - 2013
4. Disappearing hour glass

Sunday projects

While I was assembling a list of my quilty achievements this year, I realized that I neglected to photograph a couple of my projects. These 2 quilts are from a pattern in "Modern Neutrals".  The one on the right was the original, following the directions for placement of the light & dark neutrals. But as I assembled it, I decided I didn't like the arrangement - the illusion that was supposed to come through in the pattern was not working for me. So I decided to cut the second have of my strips in the reverse colour placement, with the light fabrics in the large squares.  I think that (the one on the left) shows the pattern more clearly, for the fabric I chose.

In the meantime, I have been busily working away on Bonnie's latest clue, and have about 1/2 the units assembled for this step.  And, as a bonus today, Merry Mayhem sent a sneak peak for the New Year's Day mystery, so I can get started on that in the next day or so, too.  She says it means we can sleep in on New Year's Day - but in my case it just means I'll have time to get started on my other NYD mysteries first thing :)

And I'm working away on my longarm, quilting houses. This is a quilt made from blocks & fabric I won at a retreat in November. The top was assembled at the retreat, and I hope to have the quilting done before the next guild meeting.  Each house is getting one of 4 slightly different quilting treatments.

Stash Report - Nov 29

I did pick up some fabric this weekend.  2 yards, to fill out some colours/fabrics for my block in a group project.  Now I just have to figure out how to make a steam engine quilt block.  I have a design, but creating it with improve piecing (one of the rules) is going to be a challenge.

I get to count some fabric out, too. This top was made at my retreat a couple of weeks ago.  It was a block I saw online - wrote my own instructions, because I didn't like the way the original was put together (too many fiddly little pieces).  I used pretty much every single scrap of fabric I had, and had just enough to make 24 blocks. I'm still debating whether this needs borders, but I'm leaning towards not.  This is 4.5 yards out.

Backing for this quilt is another 3 yards out.

It's been a while since I wrote a stash report, but here are my totals as of today

This week:
7.5 yards out
2 yards in

Stash totals for the year:
101 3/4 yards in
217 1/4 yards out
Total: 115 1/2 yards out

Sunday Finishes

I've been really good about not adding to my stash for most of this year.  But yesterday I went on a little fabric tour with a friend (hereafter called "Enabler" :) ).  She lives outside of town, so took me out to a couple of shops in that end, which I hadn't been to before.  Needless to say, I could not walk out of them empty handed. In total, I came home with 4 yards of fabric - 2 yards of some of Northcott's new Oh Canada! line, and 2 yards (8 fat quarters) of Stonehenge, just because it was pretty.

To balance that out, I do have a couple of finishes to show you. First, I have my Modern Rainbow quilt.  I finished stitching the binding on it just in time to show it off at my guild Show and Tell last Monday.  4 yards of fabric for backing & lining for this quilt, plus 1/2 yard for binding. 

And I finished my "Sailing the Sunset" quilt. The applique is now stitched down (raw edge applique was the final decision). I really like the way this quilt changed, when I added the sailboat. Definitely a technique I'm going to keep in mind.  Fabric for this one and the next was already reported.

In fact, this quilt, another convergence, might be the next one to get spruced up with some applique.  The colours seem a bit dull, so it would be nice to find something to brighten this one up a bit.  Butterflies and flowers, perhaps, to draw from the floral print in the lower left.

Stash totals for this week:

4 yards in
4.5 yards out

Stash totals for the year:
99 3/4 yards in
209 3/4 yards out
Total: 110 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

Stash Report - Sept 6

I have lots to report out of my stash today.  I've been busily working on a few of my own tops, to get a few finishes under my belt while I have a lull in customer work on my longarm.

I quilted 4 small tops this weekend, and put binding on all of them plus one larger top.  That's 4 yards for backings and 1.75 yards for bindings.  And I have my Modern Rainbow on the longarm now, which used another 2 yards for backing plus 2 for a liner to keep the back from showing through to the front.
That's a total of 9 3/4 yards out this week (I do love counting backs :) )

Stash totals for the year:
95 3/4 yards in
205 1/4 yards out
Total: 109 1/2 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

Stash Report

I missed last week's report, so I have a few little finishes to report.

I made 3 convergence tops - that used a total of 3 yards of fabric. And my double twister top used 4.5 yards.  Plus I have a backing for a quilt that I dropped on the longarm a week ago - 5 1/2 yards there. Nothing in this week, so my totals for the year continue to improve.

Stash totals for the year:
95 3/4 yards in
195 1/2 yards out
Total: 99 3/4 yards out
 
Drop by Patchwork Times for more stash reports today. 

Plus, I have a real live finish to show today!  I finally finished the binding on my Kaffe Fassett quilt.  Made mostly with shot cottons, although the background is a Peppered cotton instead.

Stash Report - August 16th

Can you believe it's already the middle of August?  Kids will be back to school soon, and fall will be here before we know it.

I keep forgetting to share this finish.  This is the companion quilt for my earlier baby boy quilt.  Oops, the picture didn't rotate today. I wish I knew the magic incantation to figure out whether or not it would.  This quilt is a growth chart and baby book panel - an odd choice for a quilt, but tall panels are not popular for donations.  Hopefully someone will like this - it has a nice soft flannel backing..

I've also managed a few more blocks for my scrappy pineapple. Slowly but surely, this is coming together.  I'm sure we'll all be sick of seeing this on my design wall, by the time it's a full quilt :)

On the stash side, I managed to stay out of quilt stores this week, so I have nothing out and nothing in to report.

Stash totals for the year:
95 3/4 yards in
185 1/2 yards out
Total: 89 3/4 yards out
 
Drop by Patchwork Times for more stash reports today. 

Stash Report - Aug 9

I went to a quilt show on Friday, and I caved.  Some pretty fabrics came home with me.  First stop, I picked up this gorgeous city scape, and some coordinating fabrics. No idea what it will become, but I love this panel.

And then I picked up the Northcott Starry Night panels from both this year (reindeer) and last year (wreath) to go with my recently finished Christmas tree panel.  Plus of course some coordinating fabrics, since I used all mine for the tree.

Total yardage in this week - 6 1/2 yards.  And nothing out, as I've been working on the longarm, rather than my quilts this week.

Stash totals for the year:
102 1/4 yards in
185 1/2 yards out
Total: 83 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

Stash Report - Aug 2

I have just a little bit of fabric out this week, but the overall achievement is 4 finishes this week!  I showed 3 of them on Friday, after a binding blitz.  The 4th is a Christmas tree panel that I've had since 2013.  Finally done - at least done to the point I could hang it.  Still trying to decide if it needs some additional embellishment - I bought some thread for bobbin work that I thought might work for tinsel, although it might be too white, rather than silver.  And I haven't decided if I'll add the lights or not. I think the answer is probably yes, but that might depend on the result with the thread.



Stash used this week
Bindings for 3 quilts (see Friday) - 1 yard
Christmas tree binding -  1/2 yard

Nothing in (yet).  This year, Northcott brought out a reindeer, and I've seen it in blue, so I suspect it will be be coming home soon. I wish I could find the wreath from last year, in blue. Maybe a web search is in order.

Stash totals for the year:
95 3/4 yards in
185 1/2 yards out
Total: 89 3/4 yards out
 
Drop by Patchwork Times for more stash reports today.

Stash Report

Not much sewing has been going on this week, but binding did happen, and thus a few finishes.   I finished the binding on my Regatta quilt - one of the New Year's Eve mysteries that I did this year. Also, as shown earlier, Gananoque Stars is now finished and ready for donation.

And, I completed my quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Riley Blake challenge.  I had to buy the binding for this one (1/4 yard in) which means I should stumble across the extra fabric any day now :) but it's now done a whole 5 days before the deadline.


Stash out this week.

binding for quitie and challenge stars - 3/4 yard
binding for Regatta - 1/2 yard
backing for 15 degree MQG challenge - 1 yard
binding for MQG challenge - 1/4 yard

Stash totals for the year:
95 3/4 yards in
184 yards out
Total: 88 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.
 

Stash Report - July 12

I finally broke down. This Paris fabric has been calling my name ever since it arrived at the shop.  I finally broke down yesterday and brought home a  yard of it, plus some friends for it to play with. Not sure what's going to evolve from this pile of fabric, but it sure is pretty.

That purchase adds 4.5 yards to my stash report. But I get to balance it out with 3 finishes this week.
mystery quilt - 7.5 yards
quiltie, top and backing - 1 1/4 yards
1 fabric quilt - 5 yards

In this week - 4 1/2 yards
out this week - 14 1/4 yards

Stash totals for the year:
95 1/2 yards in
181 1/2 yards out
Total: 86 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog to see more stash reports. 

Stash Report

At first I thought I had nothing to report for my stash report today. And then I realized that I've been busily quilting away on the new Bernina longarm, and I have used 3 backings.  Plus, I now have 7 small quilts that need binding - I think I know what's up this week :)

Out this week - 7 yards for backings. And nothing in.

Stash totals for the year:
91 yards in
167 1/4 yards out
Total: 76 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog to see more stash reports.

Stash Report - June 14

I missed my stash report last week, since my computer was in the shop. So here's a combined report for the past 2 weeks.


binding for guild mystery - 1/2 yard
Modern Rainbow - 6 1/2 yards
Modern guild challenge - 1 3/4 yards
baby snowball & 9-patch - 1 yard

Total out the past 2 weeks, 9 3/4 yards

Stash totals for the year:
91 yards in
160 1/4 yards out
Total: 69 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog to see more stash reports.