June Stashbusting Report

June Stash Report

Fabric used:  1 5/8 yards

Fabric purchased (acquired):  9 1/2 yards

Net fabric ADDED to stash: 7 7/8 yards

YEAR

Year to date fabric used: 29 1/4 yards

Year to date fabric purchased: 48 1/4 yards

Net Year to Date Acquired : 19  yards

I knew this was going to be a bad month!  And, honestly, I was really good at the NQA show -- I didn't buy any fabric.  Well, except that less than fat quarter of quilted fabric in a kit and I'm not counting it.  (note to self, don't count it as a finish when done...) But over the retreat weekend we hit two quilt stores.  And, I've actually used a bit of one of the fabrics... just not as much as I thought I would use. 

I'm already making good progress on my goals for this week.  Several are completed.  Today I'll need to review so I know what I should be working on. (Stay focused!) I'll end this short blog with a picture of Sophia and I.  I like to try to take self portraits with Sophia and me.  Jenny usually says, give me your camera and I'll take it.  So here are my attempts at a self portrait and Jenny's picture of us.   And, the kids are visiting on Tuesday on their way down to a business trip for Jenny.  We'll keep Kona for a few days and I'll get to see Sophia!  Yippee! 

Happy Quilting! 

Mail Call!

Here's the quilt I received from the latest Doll Quilt Swap I participated in:

 You can't really see the wonderful embroidery Sandy did on this... try clicking on it to see if it will enlarge.  Sandy lives on a cattle station in NSW, Australia.  We had several emails going back and forth to get to know each other better.  It was a lot of fun to learn about each other's life.  Of course, the biggest job for me was to figure out where she lives.  It is a really small town and far from the beaten path, so to speak. 




She also sent a couple of stuffed animals representative of the animals in the area.  And, really neat fabric that shows many of the animals native to Australia.  Way too cool! You can see a bit of the fabric behind the animals.


You can visit Sandy's blog ShiraleeStitches.




Just in case you think I am not multi-dimensional -- Here's my patio tomato plant with a tomato nearly ready to pick. I was afraid we'd only have these few tomatoes but figured out there are several little ones just starting out.  Yum!  I love tomatoes.  

Today I hope to finish the spring quilt I showed last post.  Heck, it's the end of the month and I only have one doll quilt as a finish. So if I can get that quilt done at least it will give me a little more of a finish.  (Hum, seems like I bought a bit of fabric this month too....) 

I'm off for a long walk with the dog.  It's not too hot out yet and I'd like to get some exercise without going over to the Y today.  Poor Raggs will come back panting but he'll sleep the rest of the day!  Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 6-27-11

A finished flimsie (quilt top but not quilted...) on the design wall today... 

These old swap blocks are taking on a new life.  I added the little basket on the right bottom to go with the rest of them.  And, I used the soft pink with the jumping bunnies for the border.  I hope I have enough of that left to bind it with also.  Go to Patchwork Times to visit other design walls around the internet. 


Next are some of my purchases from the NQA show last weekend.


The back three are cones of thread for Ruthie.  The center one is red not orange! 


And, I bought a new ruler to use with her.  This will allow me to make half circles on a lot of squares.  Isn't it a weird ruler?  Hopefully it will be great to work with although I don't do ruler work all that much. 

I bought a couple of patterns to use.  Sorry about not showing all of them ... they might be presents for the future.  Or maybe not.  Bloomin' goes on a metal triptych.  It's not very big but I have a great place to put it.  I'd like to get something on it for the 4th of July but that may not happen.  We'll see.







I am a ruler junkie.  And, I have absolutely fallen in love with all my Deb Tucker rulers.  I was thrilled to be able to meet her at her booth.  I had both of these rulers on my list.  Square2 (pronounced Square Squared) is just what it shows a square within a square but without any waste.  V Block is used in lots of quilts but what comes to my mind is 54 40 or Fight.  I'm going to find myself a block or two to make some quilt using these rulers.  I love my Tucker Wing Clipper and Tucker Trimmer.  Check out her web site for all her rulers.  

Here are a few photos from the shower for Aimee.  We did a craft instead of playing games.  And, it was a hit!  Everybody got to make wine charms.  Very fun and easy to do.  And, some of us used ours right off to mark our wine glasses. 

Here's Miss Aimee opening her presents.  She loved all her new goodies including 5 new trash cans!  It was so funny as she opened all of the trash cans.  And she really needed them. Good thing I didn't buy a couple for her -- I thought about it. 

Miss Sophia was right in the middle of the party looking just as cute as Aimee.  (Sorry Aimee, I think I got more photos of Sophie than you during the party!) 

She finally fell asleep after just about  every one left.  Grand babies are wonderful! 


I didn't get a shot of the cupcakes and the cupcake tree so I'll take a photo from Facebook one of these days to show you how great they looked.  They were gobbled up quickly!  Yum.

Goals for week of 6/20/11

Finish quilting, put the binding on and mail the doll quilt swap quilt. √ all but the mailing part… almost there

Get organized for Aimee’s shower. √

Put last border on Easter Quilt. √

Make the rest of the broken dishes blocks. A few more were made but not all…

Unpack from trip. √

Housework???? (really, a goal of housework?) Not that much done but a little bit… 

Goals for week of 6/27/11

Wash and then mail doll quilt.

Quilt and bind Easter Quilt.

Finish the rest of the broken dishes blocks.

Make the 2^nd Quilts for Kids quilt.

Get invites out for July 4 picnic.

Quilt something on Ruthie. 

Make Onesie dress for Sophia.

Hopefully this week won't be as busy as the last few weeks.  And, I hope I get more time in the studio. Happy Quilting Everyone! 

Cooking not Quilting

Today Jen and I are hostessing a bridal shower for Aimee.  I volunteered to do cupcakes for the event.  (Hey, I live next door to a former bakery owner, I'm no dummy!) This morning I went over to Jennie's house for lessons in baking and decorating cupcakes. (yes, it is very confusing having a daughter, Jen or Jenny and a next door neighbor Jennie!)  The chosen flavor is lemon.  Here's what we did. 


 We started with a Duncan Hines lemon cake mix.  Yum! 

Here they are just out of the oven.  


Jennie put in some wonderful lemon filling in them before they were frosted.

Jennie is showing me how to frost them with a bit of panache. 

How many cupcakes? 

Jennie then put a little yelllow dab in the middle.  Very nice looking cupcakes.  (And, almost professional looking!) 

All done and ready to take home. I let Pat sample one last night.  Well, my idea was to split one between us but before I knew what happened the cupcake I gave him was gone.  I got my own cupcake and cut it in half and the second half vanished somewhere near Pat also.  My half was fabulous, if I do say so myself.  


A big thank you to Jennie for teaching me how to frost cupcakes with quite a professional look.  Notice I'm not letting you have a close up view! (honest, I just forgot to take a closeup.  Maybe I'll get one at the shower tomorrow.)


On the quilt front I did get all the hand quilting done on the doll quilt.  Tomorrow I hope to get the binding on and sewn down.  Then I can put it in the mail to Australia on Monday. Then I need to do some serious work on getting a quilt or two done as the month is almost over and I will have to share my fabric ins and outs.  


Happy Quilting All (and baking too!) 

Not Quite Over the NQA Show

For the last several days I've been doing almost nothing.  Well, except hand quilting on a doll quilt.  I'm more than half way finished, barely.  But hope springs eternal that I will get it finished sometime before Monday.  I've spent time reading, moving furniture (well, mostly Pat) and shopping a little.  Today I finally uploaded pictures from my camera. Here are some of my favorites at the NQA show.  Often I was taking pictures of interesting quilting ideas rather than the whole quilt.  I have no pictures of Sharon and I doing anything.  (how did that happen?) 




Here's a stunning setting of Bunny Hill's 2009 block of the month.  Hum, will I ever finish mine? 












And an upclose with wonderful cross-hatching. 





















I really like the use of black and red (hot pink? magenta?) on this quilt.  I've got a nice roll of 5" by width of fabric blacks and whites that Jenny gave me for Christmas recently.  And, I think I might do a mystery that is starting at Fabricholics Annonymous (yahoo chat group) using the fabrics with white and some color that I haven't picked out yet.  

This photo was more about the lovely quiting. I liked the way the quilter changed the direction of the parallel lines in different spaces. Top left and bottom right the lines were horizontal. The other two corners were vertical.  The center was cross-hatched.  The quilting was great on this.  And, it was pretty mind boggling that it didn't win anything.  Sigh. 

Here again was some stunning quilting with an interesting pieced top.  The two went together so well it was inspiring.

Here's a close up of the quilting.  I wasn't trying to get the names of the quiltmakers/quilters but I'm happy I did for most of these.  They deserve much credit for their wonderful work.  


You should be able to click on the pictures to enlarge them and thus be able to read the information given. I would love to know which of these were computer quilted and which were hand guided.  


Today I need to move in to a higher gear.  I'm getting ready for a shower for Aimee this weekend.  So, I need to get the fun little craft we're doing organized.  And, I have to figure out what stuff I need to take.  Jenny and I are the hostesses but Aimee is providing the house.  So I'll drive up early Saturday morning to set it up.  Plus, I think Pat and I are going to host a 4th of July barbecue for a few of the neighbors to "christen" the new deck.  (note to self, show some finished deck pictures soon.) 


It's darn hot and especially humid here in Central Virginia so not much is being done outside.  I need to take Raggs for a walk soon before it gets too hot.  And, then on with organizing for the shower. 


Happy Quilting. 

Design Wall Monday 6-20-11 Or Not

Nope, no pictures at all today.  I got back home last night late and have spent the morning catching up on all my emails.  Yikes... I should have put some groups on digest version.  I did want to do my goals as this really helps me to stay focused. 

Goals for week of 6/12/11  

Mail those SoCal Girl charity blocks... √

Maybe get the other two borders on the Easter quilt.

Pack and drive to Maryland...√

Join Sharon and drive to OHIO to the NQA show. √

Take some classes, view quilts √

BUY a couple of the new rulers, some thread for Ruthie and what ever calls my name! √

Put a few more stitches in the Doll quilt for the swap! (it's going with me...) oops….. Too bad I didn't put knit on socks on the goal list as I finished the one that was in the middle of the sole and got the top 2 to 3 inches done on the next one!

Goals for week of 6/20/11

Finish quilting, put the binding on and mail the doll quilt swap quilt.

Get organized for Aimee’s shower.

Put last border on Easter Quilt.

Make the rest of the broken dishes blocks.

Unpack from trip.

Housework???? (really, a goal of housework?)

If you really want a picture of the design wall click here to go to last week's post. Honestly, I haven't touched a thing! I have to go back to cooking and cleaning along with quilting this week.  And, Saturday Jenny and I are giving a shower for Aimee so I won't be able to just quilt this week.  

Don't forget to visit Judy's blog to see what's on design walls across the internet! 
Happy Quilting All!  

Sneak Peak At NQA Show

Prize winning quilt by Susan Cleveland.

 

 

 

 

 

Does this look familiar?  I took at class from Susan Cleveland arlier this year.  The  two curved pieces were the sample for Piping Hot Curves.  This gal made it into this very cute little quilt and donated it to the NQA small quilt auction.  Hum, I wonder where my blocks are?

 We saw lots of these twister quilts.  I finally bought the little tool so I can make some too!  This was another quilt donated to the Small Quilt Auction.

Sharon and I are having a great time.  We have been doing some heavy duty shopping.  Tomorrow we have an afternoon class and will see the last few rows of quilts and vendors. 

I probably won't post again until I get home as this little e-computer is a pain to work on!  Happy Quilting!  Bonnie