Still sewing!!

Hello Everyone in cyber space!!!

It is a bright sunny, but cold day here in Maine. I plan on staying in and spending most of my day sewing. I am currantly working on pink/purple/white string blocks. Felt like doing something different.

I just finished trimming some novelty blocks that I finished last month. Trimming is my least favorite part of the process. Since I make large stacks of blocks at a time, my trimming gets done a little at a time.

I am almost done trimming up the red/white/blue blocks I have been working on. Should have those all trimmed and counted by this evening. I started a list on my side bar to tally my string blocks for the year. I like to watch the numbers grow. This will keep me motivated.

Last Saturday I spent the day in NH sewing with a great bunch of women. We had a wonderful day!! So glad I got a chance to meet them all. It is always great to make new quilting friends. Our machines hummed for about 7 hours!!!

I never did get a chance for photos. Camera batteries were dead. (heavy sigh) I really need to make charging batteries habit. I know that lots of photos were posted on the HeartStrings yahoo group. This is where we all met in cyber space. So nice to put faces to names.

Will have photos of some tops soon. Hoping to put together a novelty string top and a r/w/b string top this weekend. Just need to decide how big I am going to set them and if I am using borders or not.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Darlene

Family Photos

I am back. Have not been around recently, so decided it was about time.

We got a chance to go visit my son, Steve, last week. He was able to get his son, Stephen Jr., for the afternoon. We got some cute pictures.

These first two pictures are of my Hubby on the floor playing with Stephen, Jr. and his tool bench. We got him the tool bench for Christmas. We remembered how much Steve liked his when he was that age. We were very glad to find one. He loves it.

In the background of this second picture, you can see my daughter, Lydia and my son, Steve. Lydia just turned 12 last week. Steve is 21 and you may be able to tell by the photo, but he is very tall, 6'4". The long legs give it away. LOL

These next two photos are of Lydia, Steve, and Stephen Jr. on the couch with Boo. Or, as Stephen Jr. calls him, "shitty shat". LOL (Stephen Jr. is 2 and a half) Apparently, he can't make the hard C sound yet. LOL

I have to give Boo lots of credit. She tolerated being chased and picked up and carried around quite well. Especially, given the fact that half the time she was upside down. She never hissed, bit, or clawed at the grandson. She must know that he means no harm and he was being as gentle as he could. She did run away occasionally, but not far. She would lay down in the middle of the floor where he could just pick her up again. What a good "shitty shat"!!!!!!!!!

This last photo is of Stephen Jr. and Lydia coloring together. I have both pictures on my fridge. LOL Even at 12 years old, Lydia stills likes to color. Actually, she is becoming a very good artist. She draws very well. We are hoping to get a scholarship for her to take a week long Cartooning class this summer.

I realized as I was loading the photos, that I did not get one of Summer, my son's financee. Tried to find the one of us at Thanksgiving, but can't find the file it is in. I'm sorry, Summer, my oversight. Summer is a beautiful girl and we welcome her to our family. She and Steve have set a date for the August 9th. We are all looking forward to the wedding.

On a quilting note, I have been working on "Quilt As You Go" blocks to send to JanMac in Australia, to be made into quilts for the bush fire victims. My goal is to send 350 blocks by the middle of summer. I have just about 150 finished and another 50 ready to go. So, well on my way to my goal. I must say, that without the string and batting scrap donations from others on the Heartstrings Group, I wouldn't be able to make this goal. Thanks to all of you!! You are the best group!!!!

What have you all been working on???

Darlene

January's stats

Hi All,

I am a few days late posting my January totals. Here they are...

1. Used 81.5 yards of fabric

2. Spent 75.5 hours doing something quilty

3. Finished and delivered one quilt

4. got several donation quilts to the finished top stage.

This is a picture of a Happy Block top I finished. This measures about 43" by 53". This was made with a stack of 5" squares I had left over from making "I Spy" quilts a few years ago. All the framing fabrics came from stash. A very easy way to use up scraps.

This second quilt is about 36" square and made out of flannel. I have a friend expecting her first baby and she knows it is a boy. I thought this would be great until I finished the top. That is when I noticed the words on the basketball flannel say Varsity Girls!!!! After my husband and I finished laughing, back to my flannel stash I went and this third picture is the top of the baby quilt I will send her.

For the last several days, I have been sub-cutting strips that I sewed last week. Been pinning them into 4 patches while I watch TV. Also, have been squaring up HSTs. Will soon begin constructing the blocks for the pattern, Idaho Beauty, from the book, "More Nickel Quilts".

What have you been doing lately??

Darlene

Tops finished and goals met.

Hello,



I am back again. Sunday, I spent a fun day sewing with some friends. I got three kid's tops done and the blocks for a fourth. Today, I put borders on two of those tops and got the fourth top all done.

This first photo is bright flowers bordered with blue and pink. I purchased the border fabric at a quilt shop that is closing down. Otherwise, all the fabric came from stash. The top measures 41" square. A nice size baby quilt. This will be bound with the pink. I used all the floral fabric and all the blue. Any left over pink fabric got sliced into 2.5" strips and put aside for more Happy Blocks.

This second quilt measures 40" by 48". The center squares are ballet slippers. All the fabric came from stash. This will be bound with the purple fabric. I used all the focus fabric.

This third top has fairy fabric for the center squares and border. The peachy pink and green really compliment the focus fabric. This quilt measures 40" by 48" and was made all from stash. This will be bound with the green. After cutting the binding, there was nothing left of any of these fabrics except a few small scraps.

This fourth top uses the same pink and purple as the ballet top. The focus squares are done with Pink Panther fabric. This quilt will be bound with the pink. It measures 40" by 57".

After cutting the binding strips from the pink and purple fabrics, there was only a small amount of the purple fabric left. I cut that into a 2.5" strip and put that in the project bag for Happy Blocks. I had enough of the pink fabric left to cut into 12 - 2.5" strips. Those have been set aside to be combined with another co-ordinating fabric for another planned top.

Between these four tops, I have used 6.5 yards of fabric. All, but a half yard of that, came from stash.

One of my goals last week was to get the borders on a string quilt. This top is now ready for quilting. Plan on binding it in the green. It measure 84" by 108".

One of my goals two weeks ago was to get the borders on my NYE mystery. I did, but never posted a picture of the finished top, so here it is. I put a thin light green border and then a larger border of the focus fabric. I will bind this one with the dark green.

Well, I think that is all that I have accomplished since the last time. My only goal this week is to make a baby quilt for a friend who I have watched grown up. She is having her first baby.

What have you all been doing??

Darlene

I have been busy.

Hi All,

I have not posted much this week, but I have been sewing. I had a few days that all I wanted to do was mindless sewing. Just feed fabric through the machine. Usually when I feel this way, I end up starting a new UFO, but not this time.

One of my goals for the week was to work on the Idaho Beauty ufo. When, I pulled that project bag, the next step needed was to make light and dark 4 patches. I already had the fabric cut, so I could just sit and sew.

As I was sewing I remembered that several other UFOs started needed the same thing, so I went digging around in my baskets. I pulled out 5 others that needed the same size 4 patch. they all had the fabric cut and ready, so I grabbed all of those pre-cut strips of lights and darks and spent about 5 hours total sewing strips.

Just because I am a bit odd I took a photo of all the strips before pressing. I even counted them. There are 287 strips of all sizes. some are width of fabric, a lot are from FQs. Decided to measure the stack. Ten inches worth of strips, a few are not shown, because I had already started pressing.

I try to keep my scraps tidied up by cutting and sorting them into boxes. I can, at almost any given time, grab a box and start a new quilt. Usually, the only thing I need to cut would be my neutral or lights. This being the case, I can go a long time without having to cut lots of fabric.


Well, after spending a day sewing, I was in the mood to cut fabric. I LOVE to cut fabric. I LOVE to take big pieces of fabric, cut it into smaller pieces, mix it up with other fabrics and then sew it back together.


Problem was, I didn't want to start a new project. I am trying to work on my very large collection of UFOs. What is a gal to do????? I know!!!!! Find a project that needs fabric cut to move onto the next stage!! And, so I did.


I have been working on Happy Blocks to make children's donation quilts. I had plenty of novelty fabrics, but was running out of my framing fabric. So, I spent 4 or 5 hours one day, digging through my stash and finding suitable fabrics that go together. Remember the photo I posted of my nice CLEAN table?? Well, here it is after a day of cutting.


This photo shows some strips that I cut both for the 4 patches I was doing and for the Happy Blocks.

This photo shows piles of fabric sorted for various things. One thing I did during my day of cutting was to kit up several planned Happy Blocks quilts. I have kits that feature fairies, butterflies, Pink Panther, ballet slippers, and bright flowers. I have all the blocks cut and all the framing strips. Yes, I know, all girly quilts. I have some sports fabric that I plan on making some quilts for boys, just haven't got co-ordinating fabrics, yet.

The next time I post, I hope to have a few pictures of some finished tops. I am having a sewing day with a few friends on Sunday. Planning on working on those Happy Block kits I got together.

What have you been up to???

Darlene

Busy Week

Hello Everyone,

This has been a busy week for me. I spent at least 16 hours sewing this week. One thing I did was to put a group of string blocks together that my DH, Rick, has been working on. He made these blocks all out of bright and novelty strings. This will be donated locally to a family crisis center. I am sure it will make some child smile. Here he is with the completed top. It still needs quilting.

This is his first quilting project. He started the blocks last winter when he couldn't get out to his workshop because of snow and ice. He finished them this week and when tried to put the blocks together, his sewing machine kept jamming up and he was getting frustrated. Because the blocks are pieced on a foundation, there is extra bulk. So as to not discourage him from more sewing, I agreed to put the blocks together. He did a wonderful job on the blocks.

Here are some pictures of woodworking projects he has been making. We will have better pictures later. The camera batteries died and needed to be recharged.

This first picture, you cannot really tell what it is, but it is a little wooden toilet that holds a spare roll of toilet paper. It really is cute. I will get another picture at a different angle, later.

This is a picture of a duck planter, painted red, although it looks pink. He can just imagine some red geraniums attracting humming birds in this planter.

Here is another duck planter. This one he stained rather than painted. This was made out of a very lovely cherry wood, so the staining shows the beauty of the wood.

Rick gets a lot of his wood at the recycling center. Brand new wood that people toss out.

I finished the top of the NYE mystery that I was working on. It came out cute. I decided it needed borders, so I have those all cut and ready to put on. When the borders are on, I will post a photo.

I have decide to try and post some weekly goals. I am hoping this will help me stay focused. So this weeks goals are..........

1. put borders on NYE mystery

2. sandwich, quilt and bind Jeff's quilt

3. tidy and organize sewing areas

Okay, that third goal is an ongoing process. It seems I am always trying to tidy and organzie. But, I figure, if I write it down, at least I will spend some time doing it.

I am off for now. Will post again soon.

Keep Sewing!!

Darlene

Fabric used

Good Morning!


On one of my groups, Stashbusters, they have had a challenge the past few years called "100 yard dash from stash". One year I kept track and was amazed at how much I used.

This year I have decided to keep track of all my fabric usage. To be counted, the project must be done with binding or my part is done and it has been passed on to someone else for finishing. For example...I make children's quilts to be donated to a local domestic violence center. I make the top and then pass that on to a friend of mine who has a long arm. She finishes the quilting and binding. So, once the top is out of my house, for my calculations, it is "done."

This being said, I have already used 56 yards of fabric this year. Yesterday, I mailed out three boxes to a friend who makes quilts for homeless shelters. I sent her 210 string blocks, 2 completed quilt tops, 100 log cabin blocks, and 24 chinese coins blocks. Roughly estimated at the 56 yards. All of those blocks and tops had some work that needed to be done. That is what I did the week between Christmas and January 4th.

I am going to try and keep track of the amount of time I spend sewing, also. So far in January I have spent roughly 20 hours sewing. I was working really hard to finish up the things I mentioned previously.

So far this year I am off to a good start. Let's hope I can keep the momentum going.

Keep Sewing!!

Darlene

Happy New Year

Hello Everyone!

I hope your 2009 has started out well. Mine has. I have been very busy working on some mystery quilts. This first picture is called "Mosaic Tiles" and this was a mystery posted on Christmas Day. I got the chance to pop up and get the clues and get some sewing in that day. Finished the top on the 26th. It meausres about 40" square. What looks white in the photo is actually a very light lavender. The focus fabric has butterflies. I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt. The directions were very clear and easy to follow. I shall make more of these. What a perfect size for a baby quilt. And I am very happy to say that ALL my fabrics came from stash!!!!!

This second picture was also a mystery quilt. I bought the fabric before I had the clues. Since this was the very first mystery I was going to do, I decided to just make a lap quilt in case I didn't care for it. Well, I think it came out gorgeous!! Wish I had purchased enough fabric to make it a queen. However, I think this is big enough for a twin bed. Again, the directions were very clear and easy to follow. I want to make another like this with snowman and snowflake fabrics. This is called "Swirling Snowballs".

My friend, Mavie, has recently gotten me hooked on mysteries. She always makes these beautiful quilts and I asked her where she gets the patterns or ideas and she tells me they are mysteries. So I recently signed up for three or four mystery groups. Be on the look out for more pictures.

I have a New Year's Eve mystery that I am still working on. All the clues were posted throughout the day NYE. I got over half the quilt done. It is next on the agenda to finish. Again, I am really pleased how it is coming out.

I had to set that mystery aside to finish some string blocks and two tops for a friend who makes quilts for several homeless shelters. She wanted to make sure she had a quilt for every resident. I enjoy making quilts for others, so today I was able to send her three boxes full of blocks and two tops. There was the equivalent of 9 quilts. This should help her have enough for both shelters.

One goal I have for this year is to be a better blogger. I am going to try and post at least once a week. I also would like to keep track of how much time I spend quilting. I think that would be very interesting. I plan on keeping track of how much fabric I use, also. Here is hoping that I can keep to those goals. I do need to figure out how to do things more on this blog, too.

Have a happy day!!

Darlene

Mystery step 3 completed

Well, I finally finished the third step of Quiltville's mystery.

I have step 4 about half way done and step 5 is all cut and waiting for its turn at the sewing machine.

Yesterday, I started a free BOM from an on-line site, Claudia's Quilt Shoppe. should be all caught up to the current month by next week.

I think I am going to create a list of on-going pojects for Jan/Feb. As tops get completed, I will move them to the UFO - needs quilting list. I want to try and keep myself motivated and moving forward with my many ufos and current projects.

It is a beautiful, bright sunny day here, today. However, it is still -2 degrees. Brrrrrr!!!!!! When my daughter went out to wait for the bus, she immediately went into coughing spasms. Bad time of year for her asthma. As for me, I stay indoors. I look out my windows at the beautiful winter wonderland and stay nice and cozy in my house. In a few days the temps will come up and then out and about I will be.

Darlene

2007 Quilting Stats

Here is a picture of my empty thread spools.

I decided to tally up some stats from 2007 regarding my quilting.

1. I used at least 282 yards of fabric

2. I emptied 57 thread spools, most of which were standard size and full

3. I made and sent 240 string blocks to Heartstrings

4. I made and donated 13 kid's quilts to a Family Crisis Center (quilted by a friend)

5. I finished and gifted 6 projects, from tablerunner size to king sized

6. I made 139 flannel baby bibs

7. I made 33 quilts for homeless shelters (most quilted by a friend)

8. I made and sold 2 baby quilts

9. I made 10 purses

I hope to use at least the same amount of fabric in 2008.

These are some of my rail fence blocks done for the mystery from Quiltville. I went a little overboard and ended up making 200 instead of 100. Guess I will make two quilts instead of one. Now I know how I end up with so many UFOs. I get zooming along with my machine, and before I know it, I have twice what I need. Hence, a new UFO is born.

I am well on my way through step 2 of the mystery. I have been sewing strips and sub-cutting the different units since Thursday. Just counted and have amost all I need for the next block segment. At this rate, I may have them done by next weekend.

While I am working on this mystery, I am using as a leader/ender project some string blocks that I am turning into stars blocks. The string stars will be another quilt for the homeless shelter. No surprise, again, I have two string star quilts in progress at the same time.

I am going to try and figure out how to put lists on the side of this blog, eventually. I would like to list the UFOs that I would like to get done in 2008. I cannot list all my UFOs. There would not be enough space. LOL

Darlene

I took the plunge!!

Well, I have done it. I have created a blog. Bear with me over the next few weeks as I figure out what the heck I am doing.

Started this to keep my progress on the mystery quilt from Quiltville. Along with the mystery progress, I plan on sharing my quilting life, family life and whatever else comes along.

Thanks for stopping by for a look.

Darlene