Sunday Stash Report Week 42 - and a giveaway!

Two weeks have passed, and no new fabric has entered my house!  Good thing, I totally overdid this year, and that gift I received pushed me to the limit.  My sister and my friend were thrilled with the bags I gave them and I have finally gone through the last bag.  I have a giveaway at the bottom of this post, read on!

Added since my last report: 0 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 200 metres

 

Used since last report: 3.5 metres

 

Used Year-to-Date: 44.5 metres

 

Net used/Added for 2013: 155.5 metres

 

 

I've started my Christmas sewing and last Saturday, my sister and I got together and made 6 pairs of pyjamas in about 6 hours!  We bought the fabric at the big New Year's Day sale this year with great intentions, and I'm happy to say we did it.

 

 

My sister has four grandsons, and she made them all the one-piece jammies.  We have had a family tradition of new pyjamas to open on Christmas Eve since I was a little girl.  They were always from my great-grandmother, but since my mom is no longer around, I'm keeping it up for my grandbabies.  It's such an ingrained tradition that my adult daughters won't let me drop it, so I end up getting new pyjamas for everyone in the family.

 

I hope to change the used number by the end of today!  I finished the last of my Easy Street blocks yesterday (why do I procrastinate so long?) and laid them out this morning.  In between housework and cooking dinner since the kids are coming over today, I'm going to sneak in some sewing the rows together! 

 

 

This is one big quilt!  Even with all the furniture moved aside, I still ran out of room on my "design floor".

 

 

 

It will measure about 110" x 110" once finished.  At least I won't have to make borders!  My daughter wanted purple so I used darker and lighter purples where Bonnie Hunter had aqua and lime greens where she had her purples.  (I still like the version that is more aqua, but this isn't for me)  I already have the backing and batting, so once it's put together I'm taking it to Quilted Cats Hideaway to be quilted.  No way I am tackling this monster myself!  It will be finished just in time for Bonnie to announce her newest mystery American Thanksgiving weekend.

 

Last weekend my kids went to a cabin in the interior of BC to meet their cousin for Thanksgiving, so I went to my sister's for dinner.  I was thrilled to see how much my great-nephew loves his I-Spy quilt!  He drags it everywhere.

 

 

Now for my giveaway!  Remember those bags of fabrics I was given a few weeks ago?  Are you a Bonnie Hunter fan? When I divvyed up the quilting cottons between my friend and I, I cut a 6" strip off of the larger pieces.  Why did I choose a 6" strip?  If you follow Bonnie's Scrap-user's system, you can easily cut it down into her recommended sizes.  You can get 4 1.5" strips, or 3 2" strips, 1 each of 1.5, 2, 2.5" strips, or any other sizes you want.  If you make I-spy quilts, there are some prints perfect for 5" squares.  Most are quilt shop quality, a few are chain-store prints, but are perfect for scrappy quilts a la Bonnie.

 

I appreciate all your comments, I'm not the best at responding especially the last few months due to work, but things are getting better and I see more free time in my future!  This giveaway is my way of sharing the goodies I've been given and to show my appreciation to fellow bloggers, commenters and everyone who shares so generously in the blogging world.

 

I have about 5 yards of strips to give away to one lucky winner who posts a comment to this post.  That's it - that's all you have to do! I'll use the random generator next Sunday to select a winner.  The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents, and if you are willing to share postage, international as well.

 

 

Thanks for visiting,

Terri in BC

 

 

Crummy Monday!

 

I was fortunate enough to have some extended time in my sewing room yesterday, and of course, that meant I could play with some more crumbs!

 



 

 

More blocks for Maverick Stars!

 

Then I had to try something new (why not have another never-ending project LOL) from this book:

 

 

 

There are 224 blocks in her Pineapple Crazy (not including the border), each one has 45 crummy pieces.  That would use over 10,000 little crumbs - assuming I make it as big as Bonnie's!  I may stop at pillow size, though.

 

 

 

I don't have a lot of neutrals left, after making Orca Bay and Easy Street, so I'm going to make mine in the colours of the rainbow (with a few extras):

 

 

Looking good so far!

 

 

I'm keeping track of the colour order by marking each sector on the foundation:

 

 

 

Wish me luck,

 

Terri in BC

Sunday Stash Report #40 - Overwhelmed with fabric!

 What could be better than being gifted with one bag of fabric?

 

How about 5 bags - these are large Kitchen Catchers stuffed to the gills!

 

I have been working my way through the bags for the last two weeks.  Every night when I get home I pull out a stack and divide it up.  There are yards of quilting cottons - the average size of most pieces is about 2 metres, but some are as large as 4 metres.  Once I pulled them all out, I had a 3-foot high stack!

 

 

There is fleece, linings, knits, poly-blends and satins mixed in.

And even quilt battings, interfacing (both fusible and non-fusible) and quilting frames.

I am sharing the wealth with some of fellow sewists.  My sister is getting 2 bags of the non-quilting related fabrics, with the exception of a few knits I'm holding back.  My best friend is getting one bag full - I'm sharing the quilting cottons with her by dividing them up.

There were a bunch of "scraps"  - some of these totaled a yard or more of leftovers from projects she had made (like aprons,etc.)  I've been working through those, cutting them up Bonnie Hunter-style.

As I'm working through the stacks of fabrics, I am cutting a 6" strip off the end of the larger pieces.  When I'm done, I plan on having a giveaway right here on my blog (hopefully next week)!  Any Bonnie Hunter fan will love these - there is everything from modern to 1970's calicos.  So far, I have 24 strips (4 yards) put aside, but there will be more by next week.

I have lost count of how much came in, but I have estimated that I kept about 25 metres of the quilting cottons for myself and gave about the same to my friend - I am going to make my added-this-year figure an even 200.  So that is what is in, folks!  I better start punching out some of those projects.  I am officially on a fabric diet until the end of the year.

Added since my last report: 28 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 200 metres

 

Used since last report: 11.5 metres

 

Used Year-to-Date: 41 metres

 

Net used/Added for 2013: 159 metres

 

 

Although I had some finishes this week, they weren't enough to offset the very generous gift I received. I finished this Chevron Chenille from this tutorial by Anneliese of aesthiticnest.com!

 

Of course, I didn't get a picture after the many hours of cutting - by that time I had to leave for the baby shower!  This little quilt is deceiving, what I thought would be a quick project took a lot of hours, about 5 hours of stitching every single one of those chevrons and twice as many cutting them.  I used small scissors as it was easier to control. If I'm ever crazy enough to make one of these again, I would use one more layer of flannel in the middle (I used 2).  This project was good for 4 1/2 metres used.

 

And this I-Spy and another one almost the same - these were birthday gifts for my 3-year-old grand-nephews. My twin nieces are so in sync that they managed to have babies 3 weeks apart.  Not only that, they both delivered at the same time of day, on a Saturday, and they weighed exactly the same.  (In a funny coincidence, my grandchildren were also born on Saturdays and weighed the same)

I love making I-Spy quilts for the littles.  I keep them simple, using 99 different 5" squares in a 9x11 layout.  I back them with minkee for a nice warm cuddly quilt and just quilt them with a cross-hatch from corner to corner for the boys (and a petal design for girls).  I plan on making a couple for the friend who gifted me all that fabric, for her grandbabies.

Each I-Spy uses 1.6 metres for the front (finished size approx. 40x60"), the same for the back and .3 for the binding.  Total for both quilts - 7 metres.

 

I seem to work best under pressure, which means I don't have time to take a picture of the finished project before it goes out the door - must get better at that!

This week I need to get started on my Christmas projects.  I'm down to the last few blocks of my Easy Street blocks (after fixing 5 that had pieces turned); so hopefully I can bang those out today and start the assembly.  It needs to get down if the long-armer is going to get it done for Christmas. 

 

And of course, a few grandbaby shots:

 

Yesterday I took Alex to the fire truck displays.  He loved all the tools he could see and touch, but his favourite thing to do was to use the window crank - he had never seen one before!

 

 

 And Zoey has started her first dance class.  I couldn't believe they start them at 2 now, back in the day it was 3 and potty-trained.

 



 

Doesn't she look adorable with her little ballerina bun and tutu!  I love the magic wand that she insisted went with the outfit!

 

Have a wonderful day - make it a sew day if you can - I am!

 

Terri in BC