Stash reports: May 30 - June 5 & June 6-12

When I work downstairs in my quilting room, I always have my "Mom's Quilting notebook" dutifully at my side. YES, it needs to be labeled with strict rules that it is MOM'S NOTEBOOK, otherwise three little sets of hands will snatch it to make pretty pictures in....or be used as a waitress' notepad....or as a scientist's field guide......{{You get the picture}}

This is where I keep track of all my yardage/strips/scraps used...

...or notes on blocks I've seen that don't come with a pattern. {Thanks again, Angela, for sharing some basics of the Scrap Block....so CUTE!}

I had been kinda dieing to know what the verdict of these past two weeks would be after slicing and sewing so much fabric for With Heart and Hostess with Heart.

Stash Report: May 30 - June 5
Used/week: 5.382 yds
Purch/week: 0.0 yds

Used/year: 68.257 yds
Purch/year: 11.0 yds

Net Used: 57.257 yds


Stash Report: June 6-12
Used/week: 18.076 yds {not bad}
Purch/week: 22.0 yds

Used/year: 86.333 yds
Purch/year: 33.0 yds

Net Used: 53.333 yds

Alright, time to get busy to double that usage by the end of summer :0)

Rainbow scraps; With heart quilting; blue finds

This morning, I had to finish tidying up since there were scraps strewn all over the ironing and cutting boards from last night's cleaning. I was all set to work on yellow, but once the tidying and cutting and trimming was through, I really didn't have many yellow "scraps." I have some yellow fabrics, but no scraps, so I'll have to put yellow aside for now. Instead, I had a pile of oranges, browns and pinks, so those were made up.

The next few hours were used to prepare a backing for With Heart, loading it to the frame and almost half of the quilting has been completed.


Last night while sitting with my feet up, thumbing through my stack of quilting magazines, this pattern caught my eye. I knew I had some left over fabric from Hostess with Heart, so when I took a break from the quilting frame, I searched through my shelves to see what I had that could work. I am/was mostly set with all the farbics, but the blues were hard to come by in my stash. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to sift through another box of donations from my mother last summer (or was it the summer before???) Anyway, another box emptied and another partial box restacked, ready for re-donation (NOTHING quilt-worthy). However, a blue caught my eye, so I pulled it out, and LOOK!.....

All these pre-cut, pre-sewn pieces were folded up in the fabrics, all set to be made into some hour-glass blocks. I'll have to play with those later on.....

Time to prepare dinner; BBQ ribs have been cooking at 225 for the last three hours (the last hour with sauce) and milk-rice needs to be made (one of my favorite 'german' sidedishes).

Happy Saturday

Before & After - Sewing area

Feeling ambitious, I headed downstairs after prepping dinner (BBQ Pork Chops - trying a new recipe tonight) with all intentions of loading With Heart onto the frame and get some quilting in.

BUT.....I decided it was TIME to deal with THIS!

Everytime I walk to my sewing room in the background, I always had to step over this MESS!

Two hours later, three donation boxes later, and two garbage bags later.... ahhhhhhhhh. There IS something about tidiness, isn't there!!??!?!!? I was just saying this to Angela with her lovely Before/After pictures of her longarm/sewing area.

And as most of you know, when you clean, you find/see things. Ooooohhhh...my mind was just hummmming when I came across the left over Morning Run fabrics.

Cassie would LOVE a quilt made out of these, so I pulled some fabrics amidst the cleaning time and laid them out. I haven't thought much more about this yet, so if any of you "see" a pattern for the center, feel free to share. It will most like be third, no wait, FOURTH on my to-do list.

Weekly Goals by next Friday:
1) Finish With Heart
2) Finish Hopscotch
3) Finish Maltese Star

A few loose ends...

I eventually made my way downstairs after a 10:00 brunch of french toast and pork sausage.

I didn't feel in the quilting frame mood, so I dropped the backing fabric off on it and headed to my quilting room. Looking around, I saw a heap of binding strips that have sat since I was gung-ho on finishing up Red Blossoms and Blue Ridge Beauty back in March. The binding of BRB was finished, but I never got around to RB.

Binding complete. Sadly, this quilt nor BRB made their way to the Japan Earthquake relief, therefore I think Alycia will be receiving a package soon (once I finish Maltese Star quilting).

I saw this little crib quilt that was tossed in the same corner (back from March 23); was never finished either. A few more 2.5" binding strips created and another quilt to check off the list. WHY didn't I just spend the 30 minutes to do this back in March????

My 2.5" square scrap box was organized into piles of like-colors....

Angela's post the other day was still teasing my creative side, so I played. She shared with me that the squares were 2.5" and the white strips were 1.5"...."...and the rest of the math is pretty easy." Psht! It was, BUT, don't you people realize that it's summer vacation!?!? And on summer vacation I like to turn off my "math mind." ;0)

Fabrics of all sorts...

My quilt shop visit for the backing of With Heart was successful. Five yards found in the 20% discount room, in addition to another spool, lighter color, of Aurifil thread. I really am sold on this thread!!!

I was drawn to a few more fabrics in the 20% off room. I have no project specificially in mind; you fabric-hoarders understand, I'm sure :0) However, Hopscotch is in the back of my mind because that'll be the next project (I think) once I finish With Heart.

I didn't spend any more time in the quilting room yesterday; took the early afternoon off to relax and look through all my old quilting magazines.

I met up with Jody yesterday afternoon to deliver the quilt. She insisted that "it was perfect!" And, boy! I wish Jody would come over to my house to organize/clean/decorate to match her house. It was BEAUTIFUL! Clean, uncluttered. Gosh---will I ever reach that stage? Maybe when MY children are two days away from their wedding?
Speaking of which, her daughter and fiance' were sitting at the kitchen table with the laptop doing some final wedding preparations. I was tickled that he was dutifully by her side AND that he moved his head to the side when Erica (daughter) showed me a picture of the cake topper, which showed the bride wearing a replica of her wedding dress. Erica excitingly explained that the topper was completely made out of paper; it was quite amazing, and I think she was saddened that she couldn't show it to me in person, but alas....it was at 'the other place' (his parents' house, which is hosting the reception.)

Anyway, so after we left Jody's we headed to Rice Lake for some shopping of fabric in a different form. For whatever reason, Candace has turned into a dress-wearing little girl and has worn a dress every day this week. And CAITLYN has been pouty because SHE didn't have any "pretty dresses" in her closet anymore. {{Cassie wasn't a dress-wearing girl, so there aren't any dresses in the hand-me-down boxes that fit Caitlyn}}. So, we went shopping for Caitlyn and found three cute summery dresses.....and THEN some! Each of them came home with 4-5 pairs of shorts; sadly I couldn't find many shirts, so that still remains on my shopping list to restock their summer clothes. Even *I* came away with a new item: a swimming suit! I only have bikinis----e-gats! I need to get backing running something serious if I plan to wear a bikini in public, so I needed a one-piece for the boating excursions we are planning over the summer.

I slept in this morning. I was awake at 5:00, but closed my eyes again, and AMAZINGLY I fell back asleep. I woke again at 6:00, but said.....nah. Not yet. So, at 6:45, I finally decided it was time for me to start my day. Paul is around today; a vacation-day of sorts for him. The weather is a bit dreary; overcast, gray, slight drizzle. I'll see what I can do together with him today, otherwise, I'll head downstairs to see about finishing With Heart.

Hope your day has great plans :0)

The Finale - Hostess with Heart wrapup

Bound

Labeled

Hostess with Heart (64" x 84")

Total time invested: 14-15 hours piecing and quilting
Pattern: "Cottage Lane"; March/April 2008 Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting (with modified borders)
Quilting thread: Aurifil

And since I had a bit more time....
I finished piecing and sewing the borders of With Heart

This top measures just a wee bit smaller at 64"x84" before quilting. So, shortly here I plan to head out to the quilt shop in search for some backing fabric for this quilt. Jody insists on purchasing this quilt as well....."... as it is a reminder of the fun story of these past few days." I'm just thrilled that I will be setting a new "Amy-Record" because of these past few days. ;0) Two complete quilts in under a week.

79 to 47 in 24

No, this isn't a new song title by the band Chicago. (GOODNESS, you remember those songs?? I LOVE Chicago!!! 25 or 6 to 4 is the song; debuted in 1970--a bit before my time being born in 1975, but they were still big in the 80's. LOVED those 80's hairbands!!! Guns-n-Roses...Brett Michael...Def Leapard...)

But no....
79 degrees (F) yesterday morning at 4:46 AM
47 degrees (F) this morning at 5:15 AM

SOOOooooo thankful that muggy, HOT, HUMID weather broke yesterday. I can handle THIS weather...throw some thin knit "comfy" pants on and I'm all good. But when it's 90 and HUMID with a heat index over 100.....UGH! There is only SO MUCH that you can legally "take off" in order to cool down. :0)
Windows are still open despite being 47 degrees; this house needs the airing out.

NOTHING on my schedule today that requires me to head away from the house (yet). After my morning coffee and blog reading, I will finish up Hostess with Heart's binding and label. After Cassie's game last night, I watched a movie with the family and never headed back downstairs. Watching the movie with the family actually looked more like: All were awake at the start - Dad fell asleep after 10 minutes (I don't blame him! Working in this weather would knock me out too!); Candace followed in about 5 minutes; we paused the movie after another 20 minutes to take Cassie to a friend's house for a sleepover; and then Caitlyn and I finished the movie, ending at 10:00 pm.

I was in email conversation with Jody last night. We are trying to work out a time for me to deliver the quilt this afternoon so she can check it off her list. I can only imagine what the Mother of the Bride's Friday looks like. Yikes! I didn't want to add to the chaotic Friday schedule, so.....

Okay....off to catch up on some blogs. Not a lot was posted between the hours of 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM, though. I need to find more Aussie and Europe bloggers ;D

Quilted

Still crack-a-lackin' along! (the girls watched Madagascar the other day). My mid-morning break last all the way through lunch. At 12:30, I headed back downstairs for another 2.5 hours and was able to finish quilting Hostess with Heart. The pantograph used is what I call "elegant feathers." There is no specific name as it is a sample pattern in Cheryl Barnes' Dot-to-dot quilting book.

The backing also ended up being centered quite nicely. Whew! OH!!! And let me tell ya! Aurifil thread is AMAZING!!!! This is the first time I've used it; Deb (quilt shop owner) recommended the color for the quilting and I didn't even pay any attention to what brand it was. I just assumed it was Gutermann since that is what I've bought from her before. It allowed me to quilt FAST without worrying about breaking thread. (I suppose that might also have something to do with the fact that I just installed a new needle at the start of this project??). I was able to use only 6 bobbins for this quilt. Nice! Very little linting. Two thumbs up and all 5 stars!!!

All the while I was quilting after lunch, the girls decided to celebrate a little Christmas in June in the form of crafting some ginger bread houses. I spent some time just a bit ago helping Candace put some details to her house. Poor thing; sometimes her two older sisters leave her behind in the dust.
I can't believe they crafted for the WHOLE time without getting side-tracked. I'm so thankful they are starting to become more independent for a decent length of time.

I need to jump in the shower and make myself at least a LITTLE presentable to go to Cassie's softball game. I volunteered to work the concession stand tonight. So much for allowing my math skills to rest for the summer :0)

Tonight, I hope to put the binding on (by machine) and maybe even the finishing touch in the form of the label.