Stash Report - June 26, 2016

Where has the month gone?  I am certainly enjoying these summer days with my kiddos, but it is moving on by!  They left yesterday to spend a few days with their grandparents, so I am trying to get caught up.  Since my last post, I've had some drastic stash movement, but not in a positive way.

I agreed to make my oldest son a new bag to carry at church.  Since he will be entering the youth group in a few months, he and I decided he needed a "cooler" bag.  I did a little surfing, and came up with a messenger style bag.  I used the Connor Messenger Bag pattern from punkinpatterns.com as my inspiration.  Since he is a little bigger than the pattern writer's son, I needed to make some adjustments.  My son also asked for some things that were not in the original design, like a zipper, pen loops, and snaps.  For the outside of the bag, I am using some old uniform pants I had.  I wore holes in several pairs, and I was saving them to use as backing for a denim quilt I want to make one day.  Since it is a heavier fabric than regular cotton, it should hold up and wear nicely.  He also wanted it lined, so we went shopping and he picked out the celestial star fabric.  We didn't know which color carabiners we would be able to find, so we bought a yard of each of the three colors they had.

We found carabiners in red and green, and he chose the red.  Since I wasn't sure about the modifications I wanted to make for the bag, I used the green to make a mock up that we will give to his little brother.  It turned out ok, but I definitely learned some things that will come in handy for making the finished bag for my older son.

I'll be working on the older son's bag later this week.  Tonight, I would like to finish a purse for a friend who has a birthday this week.

At the end of the week, I will be taking 2 classes with Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.com  I'm excited about the class, but I wonder if I am the only person who has to buy fabric to take her class?  She's known mostly for her use of scraps, but I don't seem to have many.  I guess that means I am a judicious cutter, I don't sew enough, or a little of both. I'm still excited about taking her classes.

The first is one of her free patterns called Boxy Stars.   My husband claimed this quilt, and asked me to make it in blues/blue-greens.  I plan to use the white with blue rings as the background, and the blue/greens as pieces.  I bought extra of the blue with gray, so I could use it for a border and binding.   I'll also be increasing the size of this quilt, so he can use it on the couch.  I'll need to get some of the pieces cut before the class on Friday.

The second class will be Bricks in the Barnyard from her book Scraps & Shirttails II.  I'll be using the gray strip roll as my light pieces, the black strip roll as my dark pieces, and the yellow/green as my accent pieces.  Each of these strip rolls have 50 2.5" strips, which is equal to about 3 1/2 yards of fabric each.  I'll be making this quilt larger than is in the book, and I'll have to cut them down this week too.  I have some other blacks/grays I may toss in the bag in case I need them.

My numbers are taking a nosedive, since I purchased so much fabric for these 2 classes.  I have the one messenger bag finish to offset a little, but it would really help if I could get my last quilt top quilted and bound.  My free-motion machine and I have had a disagreement about the top, and so far the machine is winning.  It is looping really badly on the back, regardless of where I set the tension.  It seems to be piecing just fine.  I am going to try buying a different thread for the top, before I throw in the towel and take it to the repair man.

So my number are:

                                   This Week             This Year

Used                                     1.0                   22.75

Added                                  25.25                  67.5

Net Used / Added                     24.25                  44.75

Check out how others are managing their stashes and what they have been up to at Patchwork Times.

Have a Blessed week,

Joy :)

Stash Report - May 22, 2016

This week, I have mostly been busy helping a friend move.  Actually, that friend is a local quilt shop owner, and she was moving her personal studio.  She isn't "set up" in the new space, but at least all of her belongings are in the new space.  I'll be helping her over the next few months to get everything in place.  Along the way, she found a couple of things to give to me.

First is a Koala chair.  It is an older model that she used as a shop demo many years ago when she sold Koala furniture.  It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of more modern chairs, but it should be more comfortable than the straight chair I use now.

She also gave me a large cutting mat, that is 35 x 71.  It should fit the top of my cutting table, but I don't currently have all of the leaves up on it, so I didn't take a picture of it.

And finally, she gave me what remained on a bolt of fabric.  It is 5 yards of space fabric, which happens to be the theme I picked for this summer with the boys.  I'll be making pillowcase bags, and other bags for them out of it to use on our many adventures this summer.

On the actual sewing front, I did finish the top of the Chained Nine Patch by Cathy Bush I was working on.  I've selected the coral color at the top for my backing and binding, and I'm proud to say I had it in my stash.

I don't have pictures of my actual stash, because it is buried behind my cutting table.  However, I did want to share how I label and fold my fabric.  I start by measuring all of the fabric that comes in.  Any piece that is 1/2 yard or more, gets wrapped around my 6" x 24" ruler, and then folded in half.  I then stick a label on it with the yardage and width.  This way, I don't have to unfold it to figure out how much I have, and whether or not it will work for the current project.

I have been doing this for many years now, so it isn't a burden on me.  When I first started, I spent most of a New Year's night wrapping and labeling fabric.  When I finished, it was amazing how much space it saved by being uniform.  I've managed to fill up that extra space now.

I went the wrong direction this week, but it was worth it!

                                   This Week             This Year

Used                                      .0                   21.75

Added                                  5.00                  42.25

Net Used / Added                     5.00                  20.50

The rest of the day will be to baste and quilt the Chained Nine Patch.  Maybe I'll have a finish today, or at least later this week!  I'll also wash the space fabric, so I can use it later this week if I get the time.

Linking up with Patchwork Times for more updates from StashSmashers!

Tata for now,
Joy :)

Stash Report - May 15, 2016

You know those times in life when you just seem to live in "Crisis Mode"?  That is an accurate description of me for the last month.  I knew I would be traveling, but then to insert things like a surprise visit from my parents, my son's broken arm, a quick move by a friend of quilt shop proportions, and all of the end of year school activities, it has just been a busy month.

Hubby at the Fort in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Little One, who looks a little too happy to have a cast.

The Big One, who earned his first medal at Solo & Ensemble.

Why did I share all of that?  Because I haven't been in the sewing room much this month.  Actually, I had to clean it up when I found out Mom and Dad were on their way, because my sewing room is also my guest room.  I had to take everything off the "Design Bed", so they had a place to sleep!  Along the way, I did manage to finish a couple of my Ca$h and Carry bags by Atkinson Designs.  This will replace one I lost a few years ago when my purse was stolen.

Ca$h and Carry by Atkinson Designs

I also managed to complete a Farm Girl Vintage block by Lori Holt.  This one is called Baking Day.  This was fun, and I plan to do more...as time permits.  These will just be individual blocks for now.  

Baking Day from Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt

In the last month, I not only celebrated Mother's Day, but also my birthday.  All of my boy's were very sweet, and in addition to flowers, both cut and potted, I also received...

A pneumatic staple gun for tuffet making, and an air compressor to go with it.

A 17-inch rotating mat.

When I was finally able to work in my sewing room for an extended period of time, I was working on April's UFO.  I wasn't too far from completion, so I chose to keep going on it, rather than move to this month's UFO.  I now have all of my blocks made for Chained Nine Patch by Cathy Bush.  I will hopefully finish stitching the rows together later today, and have a completed top.  I haven't selected my backing or binding yet, but I'm hoping it can all come from my stash.  I think I have a piece of batting that will fit inside as well.

Chained Nine Patch by Cathy Bush

Chained Nine Patch by Cathy Bush

Yesterday at guild, we also worked on Floating Hexagons by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  To prepare, I purchased 2 yards of the background, and 2 charm packs.

Paradiso by Kate Spain for Moda

When I got home and started cutting, I realized the requirements for the background were incorrect.  Since I had purchased the end of the bolt, I selected a different background to finish the pieces I needed, and also purchased the cornerstone (the paint swipes) and the border (the multi floral print) fabrics.  I don't normally select most of the quilt from the same line, but since I was using the charm packs, this just seemed appropriate.

Paradiso yardage by Kate Spain for Moda

I managed to get a few blocks complete during guild.  I'll return to this project once I finish my UFO for the month.

Floating Hexagons in progress

With all of that said, I definitely went the wrong direction this week.  Hopefully by next week, I will have a finish to reverse part of it.

                                 This Week            This Year

Used                                    .25                  21.75

Added                                  8.50                  37.25

Net Used / Added                     8.25                  15.50

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.  Have a magnificent week!

Stash Report - April 3, 2016

I hope everyone had a nice Easter last week.  I was busy preparing the meal, so I missed my post.  Just as well...I really didn't have anything to report.  I haven't really been in the sewing room much the last couple of weeks.  It seems life has happened when I wasn't paying attention.  Hopefully, with the ushering in of Spring, I will be able to return to my room regularly.

Last week, I took my machine in for service.  I couldn't just leave the shop without looking around, especially since it was a shop I hadn't been in before.  I found this great tone on tone neutral.  I like it because it doesn't have flowers on it.  It makes it more versatile for me when my boys want something made from it.  I bought a yard.

I also bought some quilt basting spray for a minkee project I am noodling in my head, and several little scissors sets.  The one with hearts has a clip that clips to your clothes, so I don't lose them while I am watching TV.  The other two have pigs on them, and are gifts for my Mom and Sister.  They help each year on the Swine Livestock Show during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  (If they say something to me about them, we'll know if they read my blog.)

It is only the first few days of April, and I have already managed to complete a couple of my goals.  First, I was able to complete the stitching down of my hexagons on my Buttercream Summer block.  That will complete this block, and now I am ready to prepare the 7th of 8 blocks for embroidering.  I won't get to count anything out of stash this week for it, but I am one step closer to completing the quilt.

Second, I was able to finish the pillowcase bags for my boys.  I did not pick the fabrics out...they did. Unlike me, they don't enjoy shopping for fabric, so I'm sure they picked the first thing they saw without flowers.  These are really cute bags, and I am thinking about making some more with Star Wars fabric.  My plan is to use these when we travel to put the kids blankets, pillow pets, and stuffed animals in.  Last time we traveled, one of my boys dropped their blanket in a puddle as we were going into the hotel.  This will hopefully prevent that, and make it easier to carry.  I think they would also be great for a sleepover or a laundry bag at camp.  If you would like the pattern, you can find it on allpeoplequilt.com.  Total used for these two pillowcase bags is 2 3/4 yards.

                                      This Week          This Year
Used                                      2.75               21.5
Added                                    1.00               28.75
Net Used / Added                 1.75                  7.25

This certainly has things moving in the right direction, but I have more to do. I am linking up to Patchwork Times, and you can see how others are using these stash.

Blessings,
Joy