Monday, December 31, 2012

January, 2013 Getting It Done

Midnight will be the start of a new year. In the new year, I plan to participate in the 2013 "Getting It Done" at the Patchwork Times website. On the last day of the month we are to list four things we would like to get done during the next month.

For January 2013 I have listed five items I hope to complete:

  • Machine quilt Brenda's quilt
  • Complete Easy Street pieced top
  • Piece and quilt the NY Sit & Sew QOV quilt 
  • Complete black & white Nancy Crow class project (this will fulfill my Crossing Borders challenge for January).
  • Pine Tree table runner 
Hop over to Patchwork Times to see what others have decided to work on:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/31/january-2013-getting-it-done/


Have a "Quilty" New Year!!

Beth

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Last Stash Report for 2012


Used since last report:        0.00 yards
Used year to Date:              80.545 yards
Added since last report:     25.75 yards
Added Year to Date:           101.375 yards
Net Used for 2012:             -20.83 yards

Well, I did not end the year in the black but I think I didn't do just too bad compared to other years. "Thousands of Bolts" web site did me in with the great prices. Most of the fabrics that I purchased are designated for projects, not just impulse buying.  Course, if I had completely completed more projects so I could count the yardage used, they would have put me in the black. Oh well, that should help me in 2013!!  LOL

The white with the squiggles, is three yards of an extra wide fabric for the back of my "Dotty Dresden Plate" quilt. The red is five yards of a wonderful Moda Bella Solid that I wanted for several of Bonnie Hunter's quilts that are in the planning stage. I added the white on black dots and black on white dots (not shown) for another quilt using dots. I thought the blue would work for my "Blue Ridge Beauty" but --  does't do the trick.. It will work great for a future QOV quilt since it has a generic design
.

I have completed all parts for Easy Street and am impatiently waiting for the next step.



Hop over and check out the rest of the stash reporters at Patchwork Times: 
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/29/stash-report-week-52-2012/


Beth

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Journal Focus

Another Christmas has passed and soon a new year will arrive. It has been a fun year of starting a blog and following other blogs. It has also been so easy to spend a lot of time looking at so many wonderful blogs that are on the internet. Now it is time for me to get back to my original purpose of blogging. I have not done a very good job of keeping a journal or diary of my quilting journey or of taking pictures of early quilts. When I have tried hand writing a journal, it ends up being messy with erasing and scribbling, which drives me batty!!  ;>)  Writing on the computer is so much easier. I can just delete if it gets too messy and rewrite.  LOL

The first quilt that I am going to feature is one that I made 30+ years ago. It is a crazy patch, foundation pieced on old pieces of sheets, had a polyester batting, flannel backing, tied, and is queen size. Some of the fabrics are from my Grandmother and were probably from the 30's. They did not stand up to the constant use this quilt had. The quilt is getting quite raggedy and the polyester batting has migrated out until there is no longer any batting left in it. My children liked looking at this quilt as they were growing up because it featured fabrics from clothing that I made for them, as well as, myself. There is even fabric from maternity tops that I wore. Some fabric scraps were also from a local sewing factory where they sewed sleepwear.
I really enjoy seeing new quilters using many of the old techniques but I also love many of the new ideas that are being presented. Since many quilters are now going green, they are also bringing back many of the old practices.

My mother-in-law was practicing going green long before anyone knew what that was. Being raised in the depression I am sure had a huge impact on her. She used to bring home the old wool suits left over from the church rummage sales. She would then take them all apart, hand wash the wool, and sew them into either crazy patch or log cabin quilts. The quilts were warm and heavy. Some had feather stitching on them. My husband still remembers the weight of the quilts that he slept under while he was growing up, especially since there was no heat in the upstairs bedrooms during the cold Minnesota winters.

My mother-in-law's quilts saved my life (at least I firmly believe this). When my husband and I were engaged, I used to come up from Minneapolis to the farm on the weekends. I slept on the fold-down couch in the living room. During an extremely cold weekend (30 degrees F. below zero), the front door to the living room blew open. The heat always died down during the night in the wood furnace, so it would get very cold in the house and was even more cold with the door open. Since I was cold, I just burrowed down under those wool quilts a little further and went back to sleep. Sometime during the morning when my mother-in-law got up, she closed the door, and started the wood furnace. Then she packed jars of warm water around me to warm me up. I never woke up for any of this activity. Hypothermia may have already started to set in but all those wool quilts piled on me I firmly believe saved me. This happened 45 years ago. This incident started my appreciation for quilts. I am only sorry that I do not have one of those old wool quilts.

The end of every year starts a thought process of what do I want to accomplish in the coming year. The last year did not have a strong focus and I ended up going in a lot of different directions. UFO's will be part of my focus, but I would like to focus also on the challenges that our contemporary quilt group, Crossing Borders, has identified for the coming year. Stash reduction is also a focus. Well, still thinking!!

Beth


Monday, December 17, 2012

Design Wall Monday

I am so impatiently waiting for my copy of  Victoria Findlay Wolfe's book "15 MINUTES OF PLAY". I received a card and a note from Victoria today, informing me that C&T will be sending me a copy. Since I have been following her blog for a while, it is doubly thrilling to win her book. Yippee!!!!

Well, my Dotty Dresden Plate quilt has progressed to the last border. Oh sigh --- I had to go buy some fabric for the last border. Originally, it was going to be a pieced border alternating between white on black, and black on white with dresden plates in the corners. It just did not look right, so Iaid it out with just a black on white fabric and it looked much better. The two black borders with the colorful squares has been sewn on since this picture was taken (the quilt is folded in quarters since it is so large). I found a white on black fabric that repeats one of the fabrics used in the background of the dresden blocks and will work very well for the outer border. Now I just need to cut the border pieces and sew them on. It is such a happy quilt but quite large. 
Easy Street is progressing quite nicely. I have completed part two, have half of part three sewn, and all of part four cut. We have Sew-Sew Monday at a quilt shop in St. Cloud and I hope to catch up with all the parts. Can't wait for part five!!  Getting a little impatient and I should be doing other things. 

We will be having our family Christmas on Sunday, so I need to get the shopping, cooking, and cleaning done. Oh how we set ourselves up!!  Procrastination has done it's job so well again. LOL

Check out Judy's Patchwork Times,  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/17/design-wall-december-17-2012/ to see what others are working on.


Merry Christmas to all!!
Beth

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Stash Report


Used since last report:        4.15 yards
Used year to Date:              80.545 yards
Added since last report:     6.92 yards
Added Year to Date:           75.625 yards
Net Used for 2012:               4.92 yards

WooHoo!!! I am still in the black and hopefully I will be able to end the year in the black. Course, there are all those sales that come up for New Years!!!  Guess we will just have to wait and see. Maybe I'll get a large size quilt quilted and bound, then I will be able to report a large number of yards used --- then I can add to my stash and still be in the black. Sounds like a plan to me --  Very very big grin.  ;>)

If I reported yarn, I used a couple of skeins making a Christmas present. I managed to actually start and finish a knit project in one month. Wow --- that is a record and should be marked on the calendar. The project is a circular cowl scarf that can be worn around the neck like a necklace or pulled up over the head like a hood in cold weather and the yarn is so nice and soft. I think I need to knit one for myself. The colors are much prettier in person and the pattern is lovely.

My youngest granddaughter, Hannah, had a birthday this month and I made her some pillowcases. She likes blue and purple and it would have been nice if I could have found a cute novelty fabric in those colors. I hope she likes the fabric I used. The colors in the pillowcases are close to the colors being used in Bonnie Hunter's "Easy Street" mystery. I have a sneaking hunch that the Easy Street quilt will make a great graduation quilt for Hannah.

Finally finished a table runner for my daughter, Natalie, and her husband for a housewarming gift. They moved last May and the top was completed at Spring retreat, but I didn't get it quilted until now. Is that procrastination or what ???? The pattern is by a good friend of mine. It is a long table runner - 70" and the colors are perfect for Natalie and Norm's house.

Last Sunday, my youngest daughter, Brenda, had a cookie party. Due to the incoming snow storm, I traveled down to Minneapolis on Saturday. Good thing because I would not have been able to drive the distance on Sunday. The party was a lot of fun and I met two more of her friends.. Due to the all the snow, there were only six of us all totaled. Brenda coordinates all the baking recipes and supplies and others contribute some money, snacks and/or drink. 
Jason is decorating the lemon bells and Sarah Jo (in the background and below) is making pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate and Heath brickle. They are called "Crack Sticks" and are extremely addicting.  (I love Brenda's blue cabinet in the back. She bought it just this fall and it is adorable in her condo.) 

Sarah Pierce is mixing up pumpkin cookies and Bart is holding down the fort in between cookie jobs. I did not get a picture of Brenda - Duh!!

The freeways on Monday were horrible coming out of Minneapolis and most of the rest of the way home. The snow had built up into rough ice conditions and some of the crazy drivers didn't help the situation.  Since it was the first large snowfall of the season (over 12"), people have not been practicing their winter driving skills. Oh well!! I just took my time and left plenty of space between me and the vehicle ahead of me. When I arrived home, it was so beautiful and a regular winter wonderland. I love winter (except for some of the driving).

Hop over and check out the rest of the stash reporters at Patchwork Times: 
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/12/16/stash-report-week-50-2012/


Beth

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

I'm A Winner

Wow!!  I just found out that I have won a copy of Victoria Findlay Wolfe's book "15 MINUTES OF PLAY". That is absolutely awesome. I never win anything in drawings, so it is great to win something that I will actually enjoy. Thank you Victoria!

Beth