Sunday Stash Report, Week 16 - Where have I been?

I haven't been anywhere - just in blah-land.  My oldest daughter, son-in-law and grandson (who live in a 2-bdrm suite in my home) were gone to New Zealand for 5 weeks, and although I had great plans, the poor weather and work kept me down.  Since they got home, I have been in my sewing room every day, listening to the sounds of a full house again and enjoying spending time with them!

An pre-order I placed in January finally arrived. I couldn't resist this fun print "Burly Beavers" being Canadian and all!

Of course, while I was at the shop, Dinkydoo Fabrics, I had to buy a few more things - so I stocked up on mini-Pearl Bracelets, and a new book, Quilt Lab - using math and science in quilts. It is a brand-new shop in Pitt Meadows, BC, having an online presence for about 6 months and now it has a bricks-and-mortar store. The downside is that it sells it fabrics in yards, not metres, so I have to remember that when comparing their pricing and buying fabrics.  Otherwise, it's a nice little shop, focused on modern fabrics.

I bought 6 yds of flannel to make pyjama pants for my sons-in-law and grandson for Christmas, and some cotton versions for the stash.  Love the thermos and woodgrain. 6 fat quarters of pearl bracelets and a 1/2 yd bundle of free Christmas prints (opening special) rounded out my purchase of 9.75 yards. Converted to metres, I've added 8.9 metres to the stash.

Added this week: 8.9 metres

Added this year: 28.7 metres

Used this week: 1.5 metres

Used this year: 18.5 metres

Added/Used this year: 10.2 metres

My daughter wanted her quilt queen-size, so I added another 4-patch border to my En Provence quilt. This used up another 1.25 metres of aqua/teal and white and I am finally running out of aqua and teals.

I'm hoping to make another good dent in the stash next week. I'm working on 3 quilts celebrating Canada's Sesquicentennial (150 years), on for each of my grandchildren. I'm using the Falling Charms pattern by MSQC. It's simple and makes good use of the charm packs that I was able to get. I still have a jelly roll that I'll probably make myself something with.

And I have this big bin of scraps to trim down, so while I'm doing that, I'm going to cut strips for Scrappy Trips by Bonnie Hunter and this pretty quilt by Brooklyn Quilts.

Her version used Anna Horner prints and small rectangles 2"x3", but then I saw this version which inspired me to use up my 2 1/2" strips.  My rectangles are 2 1/2" x 4 1/2", which will finish at 2 x 4 and make quick and perfect quilts for the kids' campers.

Sunday Stash Report, Week 37

 

Nothing in or out this week, but I've finally been playing in my sewing room.

 

Added: 0 metres

 

Added Year to Date: 26.35 metres 

 

Used/Given away: 0 metres

 

Used/Given away Year to Date: -23.0

 

Added for 2015: 3.35

 

I finally finished Step 1 of Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion, all 100 units. (This is no longer available, but should appear in her next book.)

 

 

 

I got all of Step Two cut now, filling a mini-basket at my fingertips and I've started sewing, using these as leaders & enders. This step will create 200 bonus HST that will finish at 1 1/2".  Those could make a cute mini-quilt.

 

I pulled out my Birdie Stitches again, and I'm working on finishing the borders on the blocks.

 

 

(Another old picture, March block before I finished embroidering it)

 

I keep a series of baskets by my sewing machine filled with stages of various projects to use as leaders and enders.  This one has been sitting there far too long, and I want the basket for something else, so time to get 'er done!

 

I also worked on the Super Mario quilt, up to the point where I realized I didn't have the right orange for the Fire Flower, and I needed to cut more squares.  At least 3 blocks of six are finished now and the fourth one is half-way done! These blocks are huge at 27" each.

 

 

Last but not least, I made this cute little mini 9-patches:

 

 

The smallest scraps I keep are 1" squares and strips.  The bowl I keep them in was starting to get too full, so I made these 9-patches that finish at just 1 1/2" (unfinished 2").

 

 

 

I may try Sue Garman's Omigosh quilt someday, so 30 are a start - only about 850 more to go!

 

 

 

Sunday Stash Report, Week #21 - Major changes coming

Another week without a finish, but progress was made on the Super Mario quilt. 

 At least I didn't add to the stash.

 

Added this Week: 0 metres

 Added Year to Date: 64.1 metres 

 

Destashed this Week: 0 metres

 Destashed year to Date: 22.55 metres

 Added for 2014: 41.55 metres

 

Total spent  YTD $294.20 = $4.59/metre

 

 

I did some string blocks for future quilts, I want to make Zuckerwatte by Bonnie Hunter.  This one will probably be gifted to Zoey - she loves purple and pink.

 

(and a blue one for fun)

 

I've also been making Boxy Stars, a free pattern from Bonnie as well.  These are perfect for using up those 2 1/2" strips that have been accumulating.

 

 

Then I tried a few using 2" strips!  I love little blocks and think these would be perfect for a baby quilt.

 

I put the larger ones beside them for comparison - they are so cute!!

 

In case you aren't familiar with Bonnie, check her out on the Quilt Show from the Quilt Show.  Today is the last day you can view it for free, if you don't have a paid subscription.  For details how to view it, click this link to Bonnie's website.  It is a great introduction to Bonnie and her method of using every bit of stash.

 

I have an even bigger project looming in the next year. My daughter and I have been talking, and we have decided to convert my home to an up-and-down duplex, and her family is going to move into the basement.  They want a place with a yard for a garden (currently they are living in a townhouse about a block away) but with house prices here on the West Coast of BC so high, it could never be in their budget.  I was talking about downsizing and eliminating yard work, but really hated the idea of sharing walls with a neighbour and leaving the wonderful area I live in.  It seemed to be a perfect solution to our needs to combine households.  Of course, now that means I have to condense 2000 sq feet of living into about 1200, and they have to condense 1600 into 1000.  Some renovations are required as well.

 

I'll be moving the contents of my sewing room, my scrapbooking room  (I'm also a Close to My Heart consultant) and my spare room into what is now the grandkids bedroom.  That's 520 sq feet that is going into a room of 144 sq feet (12x12). 

 

This weekend I started decluttering - the new quilt cave is almost empty and ready for paint.  I'm thinking a nice Caribbean blue for the walls.  I'm stuck with the pink carpet (mainly for noise reduction as my daughter and her husband's bedroom will be below, and it's a thick carpet with top-of-the-line underlay) but most of the time I probably won't see it anyway!   ;o)

 

 

Now what do I do with the kids toys?

 

Sunday Stash Report, Week #9 - and it begins!

March is my birthday month, and all bets are off this month that I won't buy fabric!  Yesterday, I made a stop at Hamels after I met with the "Modern Coffee Clutch" girls (a new sub-group of the FV Modern Quilt Guild I belong to).  I needed some solids for a Super Mario quilt I'm making for my nephew's 7th birthday, and of course that meant rummaging through the 99c bin.

 

This amount to 1 1/2 metres added.

 

Then I realized I forgot to add my guild challenge fabric to my totals last week(another 1 1/2 metres):

 

 

 

Plus I also purchased my first metre of linen:

 

 

Here I've put the challenge fabric together with last fall's challenge and it coordinates beautifully - now I have to come up with a plan! I'm thinking a bag with lots of pockets.

 

That meant I better get some yardage out to balance it:

 

 

(You have to pardon the lighting, we have a dull, snowy day again  today)

 

In less than 3 hours, I came up with a plan for scraps and knocked out a top!  I amazed myself and think this will make a great go-to pattern for all those babies coming this year (I know of 5 expected so far this year, all of which will need quilts).

 

 

 

The top started with about 2 metres of scraps (plus a few strips cut from stash) with a metre of white, and I made a modified rail fence.  So simple, but so cute (and modern, I think).

 

I'm going to add it to this stack of tops ready to baste - once the roads are clear, I'm heading up to my best friend's - she has a perfect big space that is great for spray-basting!

 

 

 

 

Added this Week: 4 metres

 Added Year to Date: 31.5 metres 

Destashed this Week: 3 metres

 Destashed year to Date: 22.05 metres

 Added for 2014: 9.45 metres

Total spent  YTD $70 = $2.22 cents/metre

 

I've gotten word that my box of fabric from Hillbilly Tonya is on its way and its more than I expected.  Good thing it's my birthday month!

Scrappy Saturday

Day 1 of the Olympics and Canada already has one of each medal!  Go, Canada! 

While I was watching the women's moguls, I started clearing out some of the scrap buckets.  Each time I came across pink, I made a Boxy Star.

 

I actually made some practice ones last night, these go so fast.  Four of the large ones together make an 12" block:

 

 

Excuse the bottom right one - it's upside down!  I also re-calculated the design to make use of 2" strips, I couldn't waste those!

 

Of course, this is another Bonnie Hunter pattern - she has scads of them on her website for free.

 

Cutting my scraps into The Scrap User System meant I also generated strings.  Since I'm working with pink this month for So Scrappy's Rainbow Challenge, instead of adding my pink strings to the bulging bag, I made string blocks that will eventually become another Bonnie Hunter quilt, Zuckerwatte from her book, String Fling.

 

 

I just can't seem to get enough of her patterns.

 

I'll probably make baby quilts with these blocks, it seems there's an awful lot of babies being born this year, including a set of twins to friends of my daughters in June.

 

This is a long weekend in BC.  Last year, we got a new statutory holiday called "Family Day".  I'll probably spend it sewing since we might get snow or freezing rain.  Today the front moved in from the south quite dramatically.

 

 

Linking up to So Scrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge - see what everyone else is doing with their scraps.

Sunday Stash Report 2014, Week 3

 

In the fall, I finally joined a guild (Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild) and last week they had a destash event - apparently they do this every January!  I got sick over the Christmas break, so I didn't have a lot of time to destash, but I took a few things and brought home just a few more.

Big news, too!  We are having Happy Zombie (Monica Solorio-Snow) coming in April!  I'm planning on attending her workshop, plus we are going to have a shopping day in Vancouver with her!

 

I actually brought my additions home last week, but since it was still in the bag and unsorted, I didn't count it.  Now that it has been sorted, some washed and measured I can count it in. 

 

There were two pieces of about 3 metres each, perfect for backings:

 

 

I think I'm going to use the one on the left called "Cowpokes" as part of the backing of Celtic Solstice.

 

I'm going to use this panel to practice Free Motion Quilting, then donate it.

 

 

I even have that pink plaid in my stash for a binding!  I might cut the elephants off, and use them in a different project.

 

Then I picked up the pieces of someone else's UFO.

 

 

It's made up of 5 layers of fabric, which have a heavily-stitched design, then various layers are cut out creating a reverse applique.  I think it was abandoned because the last block doesn't look the same as the others, a line may have been missed.  I have a plan to finish it, and call it "One of these things is not like the others".

 

And I finished a flimsy this week:

 

 

This table topper is made from the leftovers from my Butler.  Including the white, it only used .65 of a metre, but all those little bits would normally have been thrown out, so I'm quite happy with it.

 

 

I'll use these fabrics to create a faux-piping (solid), binding (stripe) and the backing will be floral.  The stripe and backing are from Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade line, which coordinate beautifully with their Vintage Modern line that I used for my Butler.

 

I like using traditional patterns mixed with modern fabrics.  This is the pattern I used for my table topper:

 

 

From this pattern by Lori Smith.

 

 

It looks totally different with an on-point setting with plain blocks.  I'm going to make a template of the flower from the backing and either embroider it or FMQ it with a heavier thread. 

 

So, I'm not doing so good on my fabric diet this year, but so far, I have only spent $5 on my acquistions, so at less than 24c per metre, I'm okay with it!

 

 Added this Week: 11 metres

 Added Year to Date: 21.5 metres 

 

Destashed this Week: 0.65 metres

 Destashed year to Date: 6.25 metres

 Added for 2014: 15.25 metres

Now I'm back to the Celtic Solstice grindstone, once that flimsy is finished, that'll knock these numbers back in the positive.

 

Happy Sewing!

 

Terri in BC

Pulling for Celtic Solstice!

Since it's only 4 days until Bonnie releases her first clue for this year's mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice, I figured it was about time I pulled my fabrics.  This is the third year I done her mystery and love the stress relief it brings me over this busy time of year.  I also suffer from SADS (Seasonal Affective Depression Syndrome), so having something to look forward to gets me through the dark days of winter north of the 49th parallel.

 

 

I joined a group on Facebook of fellow mystery quilters that grew so quickly they had to close the membership after it reached over 2,000 members.  There has been a lot of discussion of what to pull so I thought I would share my thought processes here.  If you came here from the group, welcome!  I hope you enjoy it and maybe learn something.

 

Before I talk about my selections, I'll show how I organize my fabrics. I have followed Bonnie's Scrap-User system for about 3 years now, and the top row of my bins collects my strips as I cut them, plus strings and selvedges.

 

 

The second shelf of bins holds fat quarters and fat eighths, sorted by colour (under the shelves are my bins of zippers, bias tape and misc. notions).  PS: I hacked my ironing board/shelves out of an IKEA shelf - you can read more here.

 

 

Off to my right, I have started organizing my yardage on comic book cardboards (this is anything that is full width-of-fabric (WOF) over about 1/3 of a yard.

 

Finally, when I have time (or I'm looking for specific colours of strips like I was tonight!) I sort the strips I have cut into these drawers:

 

 

I cut my scraps into strips of 1 1/2", 2" 2 1/2" and 5" (which I can cut down if Bonnie calls for 3 1/2" or other size strips).  Each bin holds a specific colour from top to bottom: Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aquas and Teals, Blues, Purples, Light Neutrals (including whites and creams) and Dark Neutrals (including brown, gray and black).  Ideally each drawer looks like this:

 

 

(with leftover HSTs from other projects), but in reality most look like this:

 

 

These are the neutrals I'll be using for Celtic Solstice ( I may pull out the darker cream ones).

 

So far, I have only gone through the drawers and bins of precut strips:

 

Blues

 

 

Greens

 

 

Oranges and Yellows

 

 

I may need to pick up some more bright yellows, but I'll wait until I've seen the clues to do that.  I surprised myself with the number of oranges I had.

 

And here are all the colours together (the oranges decided to hide) :

 

 

Next up, I'll start digging into my fat quarters and fat eighths, but again, I do that as I review the clues and look for more variety. 

 

Is it bad that I want to skip my work Christmas party Friday night so I can sew instead?  I probably won't be able to it until Sunday, but I'll be thinking about it all weekend. 

 

Have a great week,

 

Terri in BC

Sunday Stash Report, Week #44 - and a winner for my giveaway!

 

First up, I'd like to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my last post!  Unfortunately, life got in the way and I wasn't able to reply to everyone nor even do the draw last week like I was supposed.  On a positive note, I got through those bags of fabric (it was a great stress reliever!) and have 5 + yards of 6" strips to give away to:

 

 

 

 

#10 - Debbie. 

 

I hope you are reading, Debbie, because you don't have a reply-email set up.  I'll wait until Wednesday, then draw another number if I don't hear from you.

 

And today, I assembled the remaining rows of Easy Street:

 

 

This quilt is assembled on the diagonal - the longest row is over 12 feet long! 

 

 

Most people use quilt racks to display quilts - me, I use them to assemble all my pieces on! Here are all eleven rows and two corner pieces ready to go.

 

 

And here it is!  All sewn up and ready to go to the long-arm quilter's.  I have draped it over the kidlets' bunk bed, what you can't see is two more rows at the top.  This quilt is huge!  I'm keeping it here until I can drop it off, no wrinkles that way.

 

(Sorry for the washed-out colours, but our winter rains have started and it's hard to get a good shot. The colours in the middle picture are the closest to actual.)

 

Now, a drumroll please.... this is 20 yards out!  Talk about making a major dent in my numbers.  Adding in the 5 yards of my giveaway and that is more than half of my used total for the year.  Nice to see some progress, finally.

 

Added since my last report: 0 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 200 metres

 

Used since last report: 25 metres

 

Used Year-to-Date: 69.5 metres

 

Net used/Added for 2013: 130.5 metres

 

It's been roughly three years since I discovered quilting blogs, and one of the first sites I can across when I was trying to deal with my scraps was Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville.  I became a firm believer in her Scrap-User's System and started using Leaders and Enders for all my sewing.  Mostly, I use parts from various stages of one quilt project (for example, when working on a mystery quilt such as Easy Street, as soon as Bonnie released Week Two's clue, I would start that one, and use Week One as my Leader and Ender).  But when I didn't have any parts on hand, I would reach into a small bucket of 2" squares and assemble 4-patches.

 

 

I got a lot of 4-patches done while I was making Easy Street!  In fact, I have enough to finish what I call my first Bonnie Hunter project.

 

 

This is where I left off the last time I emptied the bucket.  The center square is 16x16 1.5" squares, with a 1.5" white sashing, then a ring of 1.5" squares, 8 squares high.  Maybe I'll get this one done next week! Other projects call, and Christmas is fast approaching.

 

Thanks for visiting,

Terri in BC