Monthly Archives: July 2014

WIP Wednesday: 1,100 Miles

WIP Wednesdays

RetirementIt’s time to retire my running shoes. I have run over 1,100 miles in them, which I think is well over the recommended distance.

So rather than post a picture of some in-between projects, here’s Fred looking pensive about the entire affair, and wondering if I’m going to take him out for a run, too. He might also be concerned about my fashion choices since my new running shoes are bright teal.

In other news, Row 4 of the Diamonds in the Sky EPP project is attached and I’m gearing up to assemble row 5.

Sunday Stash - Purse-suant

Sunday Stash

WBaby's first knitted dishcloth!ell, I made a purse this week to donate as a raffle prize and forgot to take a picture of it. Instead, here’s the first knitted project I completed: a dishcloth from cotton yarn! I gave it to my friend Judy. It only took 2 false starts before I didn’t drop so many stitches it wasn’t recoverable and didn’t look like a hot mess. Yikes. Learning new things is hard!

  • Used this Week: 2 yards
    • 2 yd for Arabesque bag and small zippy pouch
  • Used year to Date: 240.75 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2014: 162 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 91.5 yards (38% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!

Edited to add: Random bowling picture of me and the kids.  We were asked to “meow” for the photo since it was a fundraiser for Good Mews. My daughter was not sure about those instructions.

IMG_1743-L

HtbaS - Episode 190

A bit rambly as I discourse on specialty rulers, sewing for charity, and cats.

    • Tiny Stitches’ video on making the Mum Medallion block I got a lot of questions on. In the podcast, I said they were made of 3″ finished units in the block, but it’s a 12″ block, so they are actually 4″ finished units in the block.  Whoops!

    • Sharon Schamber’s basting method

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS | More

Blue & Tan Quilt of Valor - Finished!

Finished Projects

ValorousI dodged the raindrops this weekend to take pictures of the Blue & Tan Quilt of Valor.  I drew the palette from one of the fabrics - the lighter blue of the stripe, and brought in creams and tans and a darker blue to round it out. And I’ve just realized I don’t have a close up picture to show the fabric. Oh well.

It’s a decent sized quilt, around 60×80″.  The label is pieced into the back, which uses a plaid fabric I had in my stash in the same colors. Of course, not enough of the plaid to make the whole back, hence the tan stripe in the back!

I’ll get my destination for the quilts in the next couple weeks, and it will get shipped off to a deserving service person.
Valorous

Sunday Stash - Quiltish

Sunday Stash

The big finish this week is the blue and tan quilt for Quilts of Valor, along with the presentation bag for it. I also started on the next round for the Twilters Round Robin and made my class sample for the totebag class I was teaching. The class ended up getting cancelled due to lack of sign-ups, but we’re going to try rescheduling it for the fall.

I also picked up my blocks for this month for Tiny Stitches.  The Mum Medallion block had some poor lighting due to the sun diving behind a cloud like it had all been all weekend, on and off.  The Bonnie & Camille blocks will be set on point, so I tried photographing it that way for interest.

Mum Medallion Block 7 Untitled

  • Used this Week: 13 yards
    • 1 yd for Tabby Stripe bag
    • 8 yd for Blue/Tan Quilt of Valor
    • 1 yd for QoV bag
    • 1 yd for Round Robin
    • 2 yd for totebag sample
  • Used year to Date: 238.75 yards
  • Added this Week: 0 yards
    • Woohoo!
  • Net Used for 2014: 160 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 89.5 yards (37% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!

Mega List of Scrapideux Giveaway Entries!

Community

By popular demand, here’s the list of entries for the Scrapideux giveaway (minus the last names, because that’s the courtesy I’d want!).  There are some missing because the macro I wrote in Excel (*cough* NERD! *cough*) to code the HTML of the entries threw some out for improper link protocol (like it didn’t start with “http…”, etc.).

Edited to add: some people submitted their entire blog as an entry. As long as there was a picture of a quilt on the front page, I counted that entry.

Here’s the randomly picked winner of the quilt itself, Janet:

149

Here’s the 1st special award winner from Jen:

Amy

As noted in episode 189, I’ll post the 2nd special winner’s entry if I get permission!

HtbaS - Episode 189

I talk about the Scrapideux giveaway, learning to knit, and finishing some charity quilts.

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS | More

WIP Whoopsday - The Forgotten Post

WIP Wednesdays

Knitting!I really did think about creating my post for WIP Wednesday yesterday, but I was actually in an office for work and didn’t have a photo ready. And then I did take a picture when I got home and uploaded it but forgot to write the post.  Whoops.

Anywho, this is what I’ve been working on: KNITTING.

Now, that picture is not terribly impressive, I know.  But rest assured that I’ve knitted that same amount about three times and then ripped it out prior to taking the picture.  I also experimented with knitting with a cotton yarn, which I’m not quite ready for yet since it’s not as stretchy or forgiving as the wool.  Anywho, I’ve learned to knit, but not yet to purl.  That lesson is this coming Saturday, along with intentional increasing and decreasing (as opposed to the accidental sort that was happening to my classmates- I kept counting my stitches to make sure I had 10 on there at all times!).

So right now, I have the equivalent of a nubbin cozy for Fred.  Nina has also been intent on helping, and I’m sure you can imagine how well that is working.

Sewing-wise, I finished up the blue and tan Quilt of Valor and I’ve been making the special prizes for the Scrapideux giveaway as I decided there were two worthy entries.  I’m also working on my totebag sample for the class I’m teaching on Sunday for my guild. No shortage of stuff to do!

Tabby Stripe Quilt - Finished!

Finished Projects

Tabby Stripe quilt for Good MewsI’m pleased to show the finished Tabby Stripe quilt!

It measures about 65″ square.  I picked the patchwork colors based on the colors found in the focus fabric, and realized in putting it together that it’s pretty much the colors of my cats - orange, brown, black, white, etc. A friend astutely pointed out that those are the colors of most cats, so the good news it will hide a multitude of cat hair! Definitely a must given that it’s being donated to the Good Mews Animal Foundation, a no-kill cage-free cat shelter I volunteer for, for their annual silent auction in October.

Tabby Stripe quilt for Good MewsHere’s a better shot of the focus fabric.  The quilt pattern was inspired by the pattern Georgia’s Garden in the book Scraps Plus One! The original pattern called for over a thousand 2″ HSTs, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to do that. I ended up using 3.5″ and 5″ squares from my scrap stash in the right colors to use in the patchwork columns instead.

I also used the focus fabric to pick the quilting motifs.  I ended up using the flower shape from some of the cats for the focus fabric columns.  While I’ve not not heard of a cat with a flower pattern on it, I’m willing to suspend disbelief for a quilting tie-in.

Tabby Stripe quilt for Good MewsThe back is pieced with a big spot for a label pieced into it, surround by 2″ squares of the same colors from the focus fabric.

It’s all washed and folded and placed into a storage bag to keep my cats’ hair off of it. Nina, of course, has accepted this challenge!

Sunday Stash - Birfday Edition

Sunday Stash

This week I finished up a couple charity projects - the Tabby Stripe quilt for Good Mews, and the blocks for Quilt of Valor.  I also received fabric as a gift from a couple people this week, so a little balance of the in-and-our scales!

  • Used this Week: 9.75 yards
    • 0.5 yd for QoV blocks
    • 6.5 yd for Tabby Stripe quilt
    • 2.75 yd for group project
  • Used year to Date: 225.75 yards
  • Added this Week: 4.75 yards
    • 4.75 yd for various fabric gifts this week!
  • Net Used for 2014: 147 yards
  • YTD Used for Charity: 79.5 yards (35% of total used)

See more stash reports at Patchwork Times!