September 07, 2008

Quilts of Valor, the stash and a list.....

 Sep 7 - Reversible QOV Front The project that possessed me the most during Craft Week was the reversible quilt. I started it as a class sample when I taught the class at the LQS. I purposely designed one side in patriotic colors so that it might someday become a Quilt of Valor. Sep 7 - Reversible QOV Christmas  The reverse side is made from Christmas-themed fabric.

I had about half of the blocks done when I left for Craft Week and had everything completed except the binding when I came home. I did the binding today. My Mom and I took this class from Sharon Pederson about 6 or 8 years ago.  The bookis excellent if this technique is of interest to you. It's an easy quilt-as-you-go technique. I've made at least 6 of these and my Mom has probably made 10 or 15 of them. I'm so glad to have this one done and I can send it out with 3 other QOV quilts.

Sep 7 - Wanda's QOV front

Sep 7 - Wanda's QOV close up

Here's another QOV. This one was made by Wanda. I quilted it and Mom did the binding. I've had this one back for a few weeks but had not photographed it yet.

Now I just need to add labels and make the pillowcases and I will have 4 QOV quilts out the door! These will likely be the last QOV quilts for a while - at least until I figure out this new project at work and see what kind of time it's going to take.

My list for the week includes:

  • Pillowcases and labels for the QOV quilts and get them mailed
  • Make the 3 blocks for Judy's BOM project
  • Finish the mini-log cabin blocks and start putting the quilt together
  • Load Mom's star quilt for quilting
  • Start the MQResource postcards

As for the stash: 
I bought 4 yards of fabric while on vacation but I alsofinished the reversible QOV. According to EQ, each side of the QOV is 9 yards. I also have about 2 yards of strips left over that I am going to send to Alycia for other QOV quilts.

  • This week IN: 4
  • This week OUT: 20
  • YTD IN: 159.5 yards
  • YTD out: 202.5 yards
  • NET OUT: 43 yards (Goal 100 yards)
  • We survived Craft Week

    and that's no small statement!

    Sep 7 - the first sunset For the most part Craft Week was a great time. We had lots of food and beverages, great weather and great company. I picked up Denise late Friday night at the airport. We arrived at Anne's river house after midnight. The next morning we had a great breakfast and set up the sewing machine to commence sewing. Kim arrived later Saturday. This is a photo of the first sunset and we had beautiful sunsets like this every night. Kim took some great scenery photos during the week and I'll share some of those in the next post.

    Sep 7 - DeniseThings started getting dicey the next day. During the night Denise fell. She's not sure if she tripped or if she was sleep walking or what happened. Regardless, she fell hard. Chris took her to the hospital Sunday morning where she was diagnosed with 2 breaks in her arm. They just put on a brace until the swelling went down and recommended a cast when she got home Thursday. Her sewing came to an end. She read a book, relaxed and enjoyed this bag of fine frozen veggies. Frozen veggies make the best ice pack!

    The really bad news is that after she got home she went to another doctor and she actually had a acute fracture - the bone was shattered. It was a mistake for the doctor here to not put her in a cast and now she may have to have surgery. Her husband will probably never allow her to visit me again. When she was here for work a few months ago she stayed with me and was complaining of foot pain. That turned out to be a broken bone too and she only recently got the boot removed.

    Sep 7 - tie dye girlsMonday was looking good. We were sewing and my Chris (we had 2 there mine and Anne's) was cooking some great meals. For dessert Monday her prepared Bananas Foster - one with butter for the normal people and a dairy free one for me and Denise. Unfortunately there was a little contamination of dairy into the non-dairy. 5 hours and 15 Benadryl later and I was over the worst of it but I wasn't much use for my birthday Tuesday. Have you ever had a Benedryl hangover? A scotch hangover is much more pleasant!

    Sep 7 - Anne and Chris tie dye We did go out for a little shopping though. I had decided that I wanted to bring something for everyone and you know that meant tie dye! I made a lot fo shirts before the trip and took them for everyone to pick their own shirt. Sep 7 - Chris and Vicki tie dyeWe declared Tuesday as "Tie Dye Tuesday" and dressed for our trip "to town". Do you know that NO ONE commented on our beautiful shirts! Crazy locals. They don't know fashion when they see it.

    Here are the photos showing the shirts that everyone picked, including the Chrises. Keep an eye on the blog for the next few weeks to see what I'm doing with the ones they did not choose.

    Fortunately the bad vibes left on Tuesday and the rest of the week was incident free.

    Sep 7 - Vicki's log cabins I worked on my reversible quilt and it's all done except for the binding. I'll share photos later this week when it's totally complete. I also got another 40 4" log cabin blocks done. There are 352 in the quilt and I have less than 80 left to make. I vow to get this done so that it's not the craft week project for next year too!

    Sep 7 - Kim's quilt

    Kim worked on this quilt top that she is piecing for a friend. She was ON A MISSION! She arrived with about 16 blocks complete and she left with it about 90% complete. This photo was from early in the week. She was working on sashing and borders when she went home yesterday. I'm pretty sure that she is absolutely sick of these fabrics since it wasn't anythigng that she selected. It was a kit that her friend purchased and the finished quilt will be beautiful. I bet that her next quilt will actually have some value contrast to it. 

    Sep 7 - Anne's fishAnne worked on 3 projects. One was a lot of time wasted trying to get audiobooks to work on a new MP3 player. We finally gave up on that one and she got these huge fish appliques fused and bordered. This is another project like my log cabins. She was working on this one last year at craft week and also wants to have it done before the next one. I think she spent about a million hours cutting out the large appliques. She's saving the fisuble backing paper so we can try to use it for sunprinting. She needs to be able to get some extra value from all of that work.

    Sep 7 - Anne's monkeys The next project she started were these monkey blocks. She bought the 5 Funky Monkeys panel a couple of years ago and we had a great time planning these wonky borders. This is going to be a really cute quilt!

    Sep 7 - my purchases Here are my purchases from the week. I got the yellow and dandelion fabrics on our Tuesday shopping trip and I picked up the yarns at the local yarn store. I like to go there to check out their great sale yarns. All of these were between $1 and half price.

    Early yesterday Hanna came through. By the time it reached Virginia there was very little wind and some much needed rain. I snapped this photo just before I left to come home. Hanna and I left at about the same time. The sun was shining at home by the time I arrived.

    Sep 7 - Hanna passes by

    I hope I will be able to do craft week next year but with this new project starting I'm not placing any bets. I'm pretty sure though that Denise will decline the invitation!

    September 06, 2008

    Field Tripping the Web – Issue 14

    I'm back! I have lots to post about Craft Week but I was too tired this evening to upload and edit the photos. I promise a Craft Week report tomorrow. Meanwhile I relaxed at the computer to see what you all have been up to and you were busy! I had about 1500 post in my reader. A few hundred are news posts but most are all of you. I've got the reader list down to about 800 and here's part of what I have to share. If you have posted a cool project and it's not included there are 3 possible reasons. Either I haven't gotten to it yet, or I got distracted and forgot to add it to the Field Trip or you posted some political comment. I figure that any political comment offends approximately 50% of the readers so I've decided not to include any post here that has any sort of political reference. I love politics. I watch and read politics like a sport but I decided at the beginning that this blog would never have political content and I've decided not to link to political commentary either. I hope no one is bothered by that. There's still loads of cool stuff to see! Check it out:

    Eye Candy – Projects people have recently completed

    Longarm –specific Eye Candy

    Fiber Art

    Garment Sewing

    Tutorials and On-line Projects

    Other Interesting Stuff

    August 29, 2008

    See ya!

    We're off to Craft Week. I'll be back next Sunday!

    August 27, 2008

    Handwork Wednesday

    Aug 20 - maggie Aug 27 - MaggieLast week on the left, this week on the right. You have to look close because I've only gotten outlining done. I feel like I've been outline stitching for a year and I'm still not done! Just in this section there are 3 colors of outlining. The corners of the frame have about 6 stitches of black and the rest is brown. Ugh.

    It really does make a difference though, just look at the top of the sewing basket and the strawberry pincushion. I will have this Aug 27 - Maggie next section done by my next post (in 2 weeks). After this outlining is done I will be moving to the bottom left.

    Aug 27 - Mom's embroidery

    On the right is another piece that Ive' made. This is really the type of embroidery that I most love doing. I bought this as a kit and I'm pretty sure that I bought it in Woodland Hills, CA when I was working on an acquisition project there. We bought that company in 1999 and I worked there for almost a year. That's where I met my friend, Denise. I worked on this in the hotel and completed it in April 1999. I made it for my Mom and got a photo of it while I was at her house this past weekend.

    My Aunt is home from the hospital and recovering very well! Thanks for all of your well wishes.

    My Photo

    Projects Underway

    • Gone With The Wind Postcard
    • Fresh Squeezed Quilt
    • Reversible QOV
    • 2 QOV tops from Wanda to quilt
    • "Doubles" QOV quilts
    • Mom's Feather S&W to quilt
    • Kim's Pink/Brown Churn Dash Quilt
    • Bright Baby Snails Trail Quilt
    • Pine Tree Miniature Quilt
    • Cathedral Window Quilt
    • Mini Log Cabin Quilt

    Projects Completed 2008

    • Jul 27 - Quilt 3 baby quilts for Anne
    • Jul 25 - Neely's Monkey Baby Quilt
    • Jul 20 - Batik Stars QFAH quilt
    • Jun 8 - Kim's quilt
    • May 26 - Recycle and Pets postcards
    • Apr 26 - Guild charity baby quilt
    • Apr 5 - Anne's baby quilt
    • Mar 30 - 30's repro coins baby quilt
    • Mar 30 - 3 pc scrubs outfit for class sample
    • Mar 21 - Blue/Brown Coins QOV
    • Mar 12 - 2 of Flora's quilts
    • Mar 16 - Wanda's Hearts and Stars QOV
    • Mar 2 - Wanda's pinwheel QOV quilted
    • Feb 5 - February birthday postcards
    • Feb 2 - 3 aprons for class samples
    • Jan 27 - January TIF Challenge
    • Jan 19 - eBay Star quilt
    • Jan 16 - hooked rug for the bathroom
    Blog powered by TypePad