Busy Sunday

My job does not give me the option of two days off in a row. There are pros and cons to that. I like being off  during the week to schedule appointments. But when I am on a sewing roll, I hate having Sunday and Tuesday off. And now we are starting mandatory overtime. Ten hours a week of your choice. Lots of incentives. But again I would rather be sewing. So now I am trying to figure when I want to do my overtime so that I can still sew. I have another Kid's Komfort I want to finish before our meeting, the first Monday in February. Weather permitting. I have a panel that I am going to FMQ.

Sunday, Tina came down and sewed on her dog scarves. We had an oops and some of the scarves' openings were not big enough. I told her not to worry I would fix those for her. There were a bunch cut but now sewn that needed an extension to make the opening big enough. I cut and sewed them to each scarf before she got here. She is a new sewer and I did not want overwhelm her with all the jerry riggin I had to do. I was able to get the Valentine ones fixed (all 25) for her and now she is on track to finish the rest of them. She is big on supporting rescue dogs so all the proceeds from the sale of the scarves will go to the dog rescues where she got her dogs.

I did bind my scrappy kid's komfort but the camera is here with my computer and the quilt is upstairs. I will get it together and post a picture so.

Time to do some laundry and get ready to log in to the work's system. I am taking calls this week. I am rusty on calls, but I am getting quicker. And for that I am glad.

In stitches,
Judy

Stash Report, Week 4

So far my stash number for 2014 are looking pretty good. I have been stuck in my house by cold weather and snow. I have been doing some sewing, using my stash and working overtime.

Used this Week:  2.5 yards
Used year to Date: 4.5  yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2014: 4.5 yards

Check out Patchwork Times to see how others are doing on their stashes!

In stitches,
Judy

Grow Your Blog!!

 This is my first time doing anything like this and I want to thank Vicki for putting together this wonderful party. Welcome to the party!! There will be a giveaway at the end of the blog. You do not have to follow me in order to be entered in the giveaway.

My name is Judy and I have been quilting for about 20 years.Why do I blog. It is a way for me to stay connected to others who share the same passion I do for quilting. Also it lets my faraway friends keep tabs on me and what I am doing. When I first started this journey, I was under the impression that true quilters could machine piece but never machine quilt. Needless to say, I did not get much done in the early days.

But I have wised up and now I am happily machine quilting on my Bernina in my dining room. I do have most of my fabric in the basement, but enjoy being upstairs to sew. I live alone and work from home and have been known to set up my sewing machine next to my desk to sew in between calls.

My favorite kind of quilts are scrap quilts. I have been a fabric magnet for years. People seem to want to give me fabric. And I gladly accept it all. I am working thru the ugly fabric in my stash. I have decided that if I cut it up small enough, it won't be so ugly.

Here are a few examples of the kinds of quilts and things I do. 

 This is a quilt made entirely out of ribbons. A gal had it made for her daughter who showed horses when she a teenager.

This is my biggest quilt to date. It is Confederate flag quilt that was 120" square for my brother in law for Christmas several years back.

This is a triple shot. I made the quilt on the bed for my son and daughter in law, I made the baby blanket 30+ years ago for my son and this is my only granddaughter, Elly.

This is a barter quilt. I  bartered with my sister and she came and did yard work and I made this quilt for her to give to a co worker.

This is my beach houses quilt. The fabric screamed summer! I need to dig it out now that is 14 degrees and we are expecting more snow tonight.

This quilt was for a friend who just became a grandmother. The fabric was a sheet that matched the bedding for the baby's room and I added sashing and borders.

 

    
This is a Kid's Komfort quilt. This is a charity that our guild supports. My goal this year is to make 12 quilts one for each month. A good way to use up my stash. Or at least put a dent in it!

This is a quilt I designed and entered in JoAnn's quilt challenge a few years ago. It was not a winner by their standards but it sure got me out of my box.

 

 This is Elly's baby quilt. It was machine pieced but I did hand quilt it for her. She was a premie so I did not have the quilt done in time for her arrival. 

 

 This was my art quilt phase. My sister suggested I make an art quilt and so I did. Her husband thinks it looks like a fancy car mat. 

This is lamp I made. I covered styrofoam balls with fabric, small wooden spools with floss and covered the shade. It matches my dining room.

 This quilt started out as my original Joann's challenge quilt. I did not like it, so I redid it as the quilt from the picture above. I doubled the amount of circles and added a border. Then I  shipped to my son and daughter in law. They love it!!

 

 
     I made this quilt for a co worker's daughter. It is a memory/matching quilt. The backing is skull and cross bones with pink ribbons on their skulls.

If you have read all the way down to the end, I would like to reward you with a giveaway. The only problem is that there is no picture of it. I was going to the local quilt shop this week to pick out something special for this occasion. But it snowed and got very cold and I have not ventured out of my house since Monday expect for a quick trip to the grocery. So there will be a prize for the drawing on February 15th and I will post the picture as soon as I can get out. There is nothing you have to do to enter. You do not have to become a follower. You can answer the question "Machine quilting or hand quilting, which is your favorite?"

In stitches,
Judy

Homebound

It is certainly winter in my part of Ohio. It is  below zero this morning and fresh snow from yesterday. And I am not leaving my house for anything. So I am alternating between sewing and working overtime. I am doing 2 hours each day this week either before or after my shift. So far today I have put the binding on a Kid's Komfort quilt and will start my overtime in about 20 minutes. I am at home and don't have to get dressed if I don't want to. But I am dressed in layers and will be able to do some more sewing this evening. Yeah!!

In stitches,
Judy

Stash Report, Week 3

I have been sewing this week, but my goal is to completely finish a project before I count it in my report. So I need to spend some time with the sewing machine this week and next week my numbers will be even better.

Used this Week:  0 yards
Used year to Date: 2  yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2014:  2 yards

Please stop by Patchwork Times to see how everyone else is doing with their stash journey.

In stitches,
Judy

Moving right along!

This is what I have been working on. I am trying to work on my stash and make 12 charity quilts for our guild's Kids Komfort project. It is just the top today but I am hoping to start machine quilting it after work today. I need to rummage thru my stash and see if there is anything I can use for the backing.  The option for a pieced back is always on the table.

In stitches,
Judy

Grow Your Blog

I have decided to try something new and join Vicki at 2 Bags Full for her grow your blog party.

Please click on the image on my sidebar to play along.

In stitches,
Judy

Cown

This is a picture of Cown. Last year my girlfriend, Barb, asked if I could re do her daughter's favorite stuffed animal. I said yes and away I went with a picture of her daughter and her Cown. There was not much left of Cown, two legs, a part of the body, the head and an arm. I reconstructed a body out of double knit and her mom still had this outfit partially done. So in December I went to her house and we put Cown together. Let's just say there was not a dry eye in the house on Christmas morning.

I was at Barb's house today and I got to take a picture of Cown.

In stitches,
Judy

My day off!!

 

How come I seem to try and stuff as much as I can into my day off. I have been up and sewing. My courthouse steps blocks are done. They need to be pressed and sewn into a quilt. Next I am off to the auto mechanic for a car check up. Then I am hanging out with a co worker, who also works from home. She will be working and I will be shadowing her and taking notes. Then we are going out for lunch. And to end my day, I have a meeting to attend. Once I get home tonight, I hope to get the pressing done on my blocks and start sewing them together.

In stitches,
Judy

Simply Sewing

 

I have been busy sewing today. I am working on blocks for a baby quilt. I need 42 blocks for a baby quilt according to my calculations. I am chain piecing them. I have 42 blocks to the almost done stage. I am hoping to get back to the sewing machine and get them all the way done before I go to bed.

My neighbor, Tina, came back today for additional help with her sewing. She has sewn before but it has been a while ago. She made three dogs scarves all by herself today. Of course, the sewing machine did misbehave a bit, but a mini clean up, new needle, and a dab of oil had the machine humming along just fine.

In stitches,
Judy

Stash Report, Week 2

So far so good. I have been doing a little sewing and no shopping. It has been bitter cold here earlier in the week. I did not leave the house. But I did do a little bit of sewing and my numbers reflect that.

Used this Week:  2 yards
Used year to Date: 2  yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2014:  2 yards

Please stop by Patchwork Times and see how others fared the second week of the year!

In stitches,
Judy

Styling at the Grocery Store

I really like using my own bags at the grocery store. I hate having all the plastic bags around the house that I have to take back to the store at a later date. I forget and then they pile up and are terribly messy.  I have made grocery bags in the past and I seem to give them away to family and friends. This year I am making a much better effort to make and keep some for myself. These are the first two of many. All from my stash!!

In stitches,
Judy

Stash report, Week 1

I am starting my second year of a no buy fabric diet. I did not buy much fabric last year but I also did not get much finished or used up. This will be a better year for using my stash. I have been looking at my scraps and can see a distinct pattern forming. I have what I call my ugly fabric that has been cut into 2.5" strips and now are sub cut into squares. This is fabric from my dark, country phase. It won't seem so ugly when it has been cut into much smaller pieces. Bigger pieces of my ugly fabric will work wonders as pieced backs.

I am using my bright, happy scraps to make baby quilts for our guild's charity project, Kid's Komforts. I want to make one quilt a month. I have decided on the pattern and I need 504 blocks to make 12 quilts.

I have decided that I will not count fabric in my totals until the project is completed finished. So this week's numbers are really good.

Used this Week:  0 yards
Used year to Date:  0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2014:  0 yards

Please check out Patchwork Times  to see how everyone else is fairing this early in the year.

In stitches,
Judy