February NewFO

The last day of February, already?  I know it's a short month, but still it seems like the first was just yesterday.  The end of February it is, so it's time to link up with Cat Patches and show off this month's NewFO.



I only started one new project in February.  I have deadlines on many of the projects I'm working on, so could only really fit in one new project.  It is a project that was on my 2013 NewFO list, the OSU quilt. I only manged to get three of the blocks done, but at least that's a start.   

Pattern is A Day at the Spa
Designed by Carolyn S. Vagts
found in the February 2013 issue of Quilter's World

My Guy and I met at Oklahoma State while we were both in school there.  It's the "other" college with a football team in the state of Oklahoma.  Drama Teen spent her early years in TX which has it's own orange and red rivalry.  We didn't think anything about that till one day she came home from school not long after we moved back to Oklahoma and asked, "What color are we?"  She was in first grade at the time and we were a bit puzzled about what she was really asking.  Then she clarified, "Are we orange or are we red?"  Then we got it.  When she was little DT wanted to be a vet, and OSU has the vet school, so her plan was to attend school there.  She wanted an OSU quilt for her room, so I started collecting fabrics.  She has long since picked another career path which would be best pursued at one of the smaller regional colleges  but since I still have all the fabric, it was time to pull it all out and do something with it.  

Orange isn't really one of my favorite colors, so I've not sewn with it much.  This is going to be a really orange quilt, something way outside of my comfort zone.  But that's good for me right?    Since DT has switched up her career plans, this quilt is going to be a thank you gift for a family friend who is a big time OSU fan.  

So just the one new project this month.  I have a couple more that I'd really like to start, but with a busy schedule and deadlines on most of the in progress projects, starting a bunch of new stuff was just not in the cards this month.  Hopefully, March will be more accommodating   Check out all the other new quilting ventures over at Cat Patches.  

15 Minute Challenge - February Wrap Up

It's already the last Tuesday in February, March arrives on Thursday.  I'm definitely ready for warmer weather.  We had snow last night, but not the blizzard that was forecast.  Still the winds are pretty strong and the lights are flickering, I'm hoping I can get this post in before the power goes out.  

The fostering creativity theme for February was "have a dedicated work space".  Most everyone seems to have a either a sewing room or a corner set up somewhere in the house for their sewing.  It seems we are all challenged by storage issues, no matter how big the space is we sew in.  If you checked out the links in last week's post, you saw some gorgeous sewing spaces and some unique storage solutions.  I'm still experimenting with the "filing" of fat quarters idea.  So far, I'm liking how it's working out, but I haven't filed very many fat quarters yet.  

If you looking for some additional storage ideas.  "Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter" by Carolyn Woods has a number of suggestions.

She covers the basics of getting organized then offers specific chapters on how to store fabric, thread, notions, UFOs, etc.  Another reference is Dream Sewing Spaces by Lynette Ranney Black.

This book was originally published in 1996, but was revised and updated in 2010.  Lynette is an interior designer and that is reflected in her book.  She really covers the basic of sewing room design, including how to incorporate ergonomics into your set ups. If you are lucky enough to get to design a sewing space from scratch, you could get a lot of good ideas from this resource.  There is also a chapter that covers creating dedicated sewing spaces in closets and in other nooks and crannies that might be available.  

The fostering creativity theme has really been motivating for me.  Looking back at the last 7 days, I managed to find time to sew some during each one of them. 

That makes the third week in a row that I've managed 7 days!  That has to be a record for me. 

So how did you do this week on finding time to get in a few stitches?  Did you find an organization tip that you want to try or did try?  Link up below and share your thoughts on the time and space continuum surrounding your quilting life (Sorry,  I'm married to a physicist,  the lingo rubs off on you after a while).   

1. Julie in GA 2. Amanda

3. Susanne 4. Marti

5. Thea

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Design Wall Monday - Feb 25th

It was a nice, relaxing weekend.  Drama Teen was much improved on Sunday, she's had a cold since Friday.  She still has a nasty sounding cough, but she was a lot more lively yesterday.  She's hoping that this is the last thing she can catch for a while.  

Most of Sunday was spent in the sewing room.  One of the goals this weekend was to get the binding made and sewn onto Evening Star.

I did get that far.  Trudy Lindemann did the quilting and it's gorgeous. More on that when the binding is done.  

Borders 1 and most of 2 were added to The Sofa Quilt. 

The Sofa Quilt

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

The farther along this one gets, the more I like it.  So just 4.25 borders more before it's a finished flimsy.

Mon Ami has been a leaders and enders project for most of February.  A couple more blocks have been finished.    

Quilt of Valor
Modified from Mon Ami
by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

Whoops, I didn't notice that I had that first blue block in the third row turned wrong.  I'll have to watch that when I start sewing these together.  That may be a while, I've got deadlines on several other quilts, so this one isn't taking priority at that moment.  

So that's what is up on my design wall this week.  See what else is in progress over at Judy's Patchwork Times.  

Stash Report - Week 8

This is weekend 2 of "no running".  It's been really nice to not have to race out the door and head someplace.  The only down side to the weekend is that Drama Teen is sick again.  School called Friday afternoon, she was running a slight fever, had a nasty cough and a perpetual runny nose. She'd caught a cold apparently.  Poor kid was miserable Friday and most of Saturday. She appeared to be somewhat better last night.  I'm hoping she'll be greatly improved today.  It's no fun to spend your weekend being miserable.  

Being home has made it easy to spend time in the sewing room.  I've been doing quite a bit of stitching.  I've been working steadily on 5 projects the last week or so.  No finishes, but I've made the binding and trimmed up the Evening Star quilt so it's ready to have it sewn on.  I hope to get to that today.  So I should have my first finish of the year in the next couple of weeks.  Overall it's been a good week for stash busting.

Used last week:  1.33 yards
Added last week: 2 yards

Used for 2013: 12.09 yards
Added for 2013: 3.75 yards

Net busted for 2013: 8.34 yards

The 2 yards added are for a specific project.  I had pulled fabric to participate in Patchwork Time's "Back to Square One" quilt along.  But when I started prepping the fabric for cutting, realized I had misread the fabric amounts and didn't have enough of any dark purple in my stash to substitute for what I had pulled originally.

So I ordered two yards of this purple:

I think it's going to work just as well as the original purple I had planned to use.  I'm almost 2 months behind on the quilt along, but hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up next month.  

Next week won't be as nice because I pushed a few buttons this week.  But if I can get all the borders on The Sofa Quilt, I may just have another back pieced so that I can at least stay in the black.  

For more stash stories, check out Patchwork Times.  

Favorite Things Friday

It's been a long week, so I'm so glad to see Friday arrive.  Work has been busy, but things at home have been a bit calmer.  That's my favorite thing this week, having some down time.

No volleyball tournaments for 3 weekends in a row.  Which means I can sleep in a bit because we don't have to be out the door before dawn.  Drama Teen doesn't have anything else going during the week, other than volleyball practice. Which means I can actually wrangle more than 15 minutes in the sewing room each evening.  Laundry is under control, I can see the top of the dining room table, the bills are all paid and mailed.  All advantages of having a weekend at home last weekend.  

Early March is going to be really hectic.  So I'm planning on enjoying the next 2 weekends and making the most of the down time by being in my sewing room as much as possible.  That's definitely a favorite thing.  

Cruise over to Quilting in My Pyjamas for more fun favorites.   

15 Minute Challenge - Reinventing Your Creative Space

It's Tuesday, so it's time for another look at how well we did on finding time to quilt (or enjoy your craft of choice) this week.  Plus this month, I'm fostering my creativity (and hopefully at least inspiring yours) by examining the concept of having a  "dedicated sewing space".  Last week we shared our sewing spaces.  After looking at everyone's spaces, I have a major case of window envy.  That's one drawback to my sewing space, it only has one small window set back away from most of the room in a small nook.  On a more positive note,  as part of my "homework" for this post, I did find a solution to a couple of my organizational problems I mentioned last week.  

I have several boxes where I store fat quarters, there are the 2 on the wire rack and I have a whole other set in the fabric closet.  I don't like them as they take up valuable shelf space, plus they are hard to get into when I'm looking for fabric for projects.  I end up with them spread out all over the place. I also mentioned that I had tried storing yardage in the file cabinet, but that hadn't worked out really well.  I found a way to solve both problems.  Karen at Sew Many Ways files her fabric.  I bought a box of Pendaflex hanging folders (they are acid free according to the Pendaflex site) and gave it a go. 

First you cut the hanging file folder in half.  I also decided to add a piece of acid free tissue paper between the file folder and the fabric just as added insurance against color transfer.  The fat quarter was folded in half, then folded again over the file folder.  I didn't get very far, but I think this is going to work for me. 

So now I can get all my fat quarters, as well as half yard cuts,  into a space where I can easily find and choose what I want.  Karen uses this approach for yardage as well, but for me I think just storing my fat quarters this way is going to make things a lot easier, plus make best use of the storage space I already have.  

Other places you may want to check out for storage ideas include Jo Connolly's Pinterest site (lots of sewing room eye candy) and Carol's Real Sewing Rooms which has links to various posts about storage solutions for sewing spaces.  

I did actually get some stitching worked in around my sewing room reorganization.  

I managed to find 15 minutes for 7 out of the last 7 days, so it was an exceptional week.  I'm making progress on many of my projects, so the time has been well spent.  Some nights it's hard to make myself go upstairs after a busy day, but working in just 30 minutes has made a big difference on how much I've gotten done this year, versus last year.  I'm hopeful of having my first finish before the end of the month.  

So did you find time to sew this week or have you been busy organizing your space?  Either way, link up and share how things are going in your part of the world.  

1. Deb @ asimplelifequilts 2. Marti 3. Kate

4. Amanda 5. Susanne 6. Julie in GA

7. Lesley A

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Design Wall Monday - February 18th

It was a  long, relaxing weekend. Some things got done around the house and there was time left over to get some sewing done.  A few other sewing room chores got done too.  I washed some fabric, pressed some other fabric and moved a few things so I could try out a new to me way to store fat quarters.  More on that tomorrow.  I also worked on my NewFO for February.  I've got the pattern worked out, some of the fabric cut, but didn't get enough of it cut so that I could make the first block.  Hopefully that will happen sometime this week.  

My big goal for February is to get The Sofa Quilt to the finished flimsy stage.  All the blocks are sewn together now and I can start adding on the 6 borders.  

The Sofa Quilt

Started June 27, 2012

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

I'm really happy with how this one is turning out.  Though I'm a bit less thrilled with the the task of adding all those borders.  Looking at the practical side, that will burn up a lot of fabric.  OK maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Progress was also made on Calico Cats.

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Block 5 is done and block 6 has been started.  So I'm a quarter of the way along, only 15 more blocks to make.  It's been fun to see how each fabric works in the block. 

That's what's on my design wall.  To see others, check out Patchwork Times.  

Stash Report - Week 7

We've been home all weekend, with no place to go except for church on Saturday.  It's been absolutely heavenly!  I'm slowly digging out from what seems like weeks of being on the go.  I may actually get caught up on laundry and we can actually see the top of the dining room table for a change.  

There has been sewing going on this weekend, along with some sewing room clean up.  Though more clean up stuff than sewing.  I also spent most of yesterday working on the layout and fabric selection for a new project.  I've been assembling the blocks for The Sofa Quilt and that fabric has already been accounted for in the stash report.  So this weeks report looks a bit anemic considering all the sewing that has been going on.  

Used last week:  0.32 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013:  10.76 yards
Added for 2013:  1.75 yards

Net busted for 2013:  9.01 yards

I'm still in the black.  Definitely doing much better than last year. I'm hoping to get the The Sofa Quilt assembled and get the back made before the end of the month.  That would really help the outgoing numbers.  

That's it for me this week.  Grab a cup of coffee and wander over to Patchwork Times for more tales of the stash.  

Favorite Things Friday - Winter Wonder

We've had a lot more of the "in sickness" than the "in health" stuff going on at my house.  All three of us have had various illnesses with varying degrees of severity.  The hardest hit has been Drama Teen.  In the space of three weeks she's had the flu that knocked her flat.  She had the sinus crud last weekend that resulted in her completely losing her voice on Sunday.  Monday morning, her face was so swollen and sore that she begged to stay home from school.  So off we went to the doctor who proclaimed that yes, DT did indeed have a sinus infection.  But in a case of adding insult to injury, DT also had pink eye (Something we are pretty sure she picked up after being loved on by all the pre-K kids at school who missed her when she was out with the flu).  

She's been listless and tired for most of the last few weeks.  Or at least she was until Tuesday night.  She wandered down from her bedroom after being home all day to realize it was snowing.  She couldn't find her coat and fasten her boots fast enough.  "Mom where's my camera? Oh never mind, I found it."  Then she was out the door.  I followed to find her outside giggling, laughing, and  

quickly being covered in snow.  

The snow was coming down pretty quickly, coating the ground

and the rose bushes.  This was the liveliest I'd seen DT in weeks.  She snapped a few shots, then being the ever practical mom, I made her come in since she was out there without her gloves or a hat.  She raced upstairs to upload her photos onto the computer so she could share her photos with the girls from her writing group that live in the far south US.  

The snow was pretty much gone by ten the next morning.  But it was fun while it lasted.  It was also nice to see DT getting back to normal.  She's had a rough few weeks.

For more fun faves, check out the links over at Quilting in My Pyjamas   

15 Minute Challenge - Share Your Space

It's been a whirlwind week, way more activities packed into 7 days than I'm comfortable with.  But that seems to be how my life is these days.  So I'm trying hard to just go with the flow and and remember that it won't last forever.  It probably won't come as a surprise if I confess that I'm a bit behind in my "homework" for this month's fostering creativity theme of "have a dedicated space".  After some consideration, it seems like a good idea to start with what your space looks like and the challenges that creates, then use the rest of the month to talk about solutions.  

I'm lucky in that I have a spare bedroom as my dedicated space.  I was pretty adamant when we moved 7 years ago that a house with a place for me to sew was a nonnegotiable requirement in our new digs.  

This is most of room.  At the opposite end of the room (behind the camera) is a narrow space that leads to a window seat. I'm lucky in that I have space for two design walls.  The wicker hamper next to the sewing machine contains what's left of a few other crafting hobbies that have come and gone over the years (like my glue gun, some crewel embroidery frames, etc).   

On top of the wicker hamper are all the instructions for in progress projects.  I put all the instructions in plastic sleeves and use a safety pin to hold the pages together.  I like to work on multiple projects at a time, so it's nice to have all the instructions, EQ mock ups, etc. all in one place so I can reach them from the sewing machine if I have a question.  At the very edge of the hamper are the squares for Mon Ami.  It's a leaders and enders project at the moment, so I can just reach over and grab two squares, move a bit to the left and draw my line, then place them in the line up for stitching.  

Just to the left of the hamper and to the right of the machine is my sandpaper surface that works pretty well for holding the fabric in place during marking.  The two piles of squares are for the Scrappy Stars blocks.  I've also been use this space to lay those out as they are assembled.  In the white basket are all the background pieces for the Calico Cats blocks.  As a block is made, I pull out each background piece as I need it.  The black wire turntable contains my pencils, seam ripper, ruler and seam gauge. 

My sewing desk is actually a computer desk we bought years ago from Ikea.  I use the keyboard tray as a flat space to store my extra cutting mats, as well as a place to stage blocks.  This white basket contains the pieces needed to make the Scrappy Stars block.  I' keep a pile of paired star and background pieces here, so when I finish one star, I can just pull the parts for the next one without having to pull out the whole project box that contains all the cut pieces. 

To the left of the machine is my cutting table, which has a thermal cover on it so it's also my pressing surface.  Under the cutting table I stack the fabrics for the projects in progress.

I'm not patient enough to cut out all my pieces at once. So I've learned how to fold the fabric so I can unroll sections, press it, then cut as I'm ready.  This is an area I'd like to do a better job of organizing and utilizing the space better.  Another place that needs some work is the wire rack across the room.

This is the corner to the left of the big design wall.  The door leads to the fabric closet (we aren't going there in this post as I'm sure it needs a whole post of it's own).  I have my project boxes stacked to the ceiling.  I'm not sure what's in all those boxes, I probably need to go through those and see whats been finished.  Below those is the stack of fabric for in progress projects that hasn't been pressed yet (another step that I prefer to do just in time).  The boxes contain fat quarters that I'd really like to find another place to store.  The bottom shelf has printer paper and other miscellaneous items stored there.  At the very right edge of the picture is a file cabinet that I attempted to store yardage in, but it didn't work out very well.  

So that's my sewing space. I've learned to work with what I have, but I could definitely do better.   I did mange to spend at least 15 minutes out of the last 7 days in this space.  

I've noted a number of quilting bloggers are in the middle of sewing room reorgs or complete relocation of their sewing spaces (early spring cleaning?).  What does your sewing space look like.  What would you like to improve on?  Link up below and share your spaces (as well as how you did in finding some time to actually occupy your sewing space).  

1. Marti 2. Julie in GA 3. Thea

4. Amanda 5. Kate 6. Lynette

7. Lesley A 8. Susanne

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Design Wall Monday

It was a busy weekend.  Drama Teen's volleyball team played some real nail biters this weekend.  DT had a great time in spite of the fact she had no voice on Sunday.  She's been fighting the same sinus crude that I am, except she has a lot more drainage and I'm having sinus headaches.  The little bit of rain we've had here was enough to dramatically up the pollen count.  It's supposed to get cold and maybe snow tomorrow, hopefully that will take some of the pollen out of the air.  

I did a bit of sewing yesterday, but was feeling so out of it that I ended up doing a bit of sewing room clean up and not a whole lot of sewing.  Most of my projects are pretty much where they were last week.  I'm still squaring up The Sofa Quilt blocks and have three rows sewn together.  I've been making steady progress on the Mon Ami blocks.  

Mon Ami
Pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company

I've also been working on layouts for a new project as well.  I'm thinking that Friday will be my 19/30 day for the month and as we have nothing that will need to be done that day, I'm hoping to get a new project started.  I'll worry about housework on Saturday.  Sounds like a plan to me.  Hopefully My Guy will agree.  

Check out who has what up on their design wall over at Patchwork Times.  

Stash Report - Week 6

It was cold and rainy here yesterday.  We really needed the rain, it's been so dry for the last year.  We really didn't notice the rain as we were cooped up all day in a gym watching volleyball.  Drama Teen's team played really well.  They ended up in a playoff for 2nd place and those games were real nail biters.  They ended up in third place, losing the playoff game by just one point.  Still it was a really good day for them.   

Unfortunately, not a lot of sewing got done once we got home.  I've either caught a cold or the increased pollen count (the one downside to all the rain) has played havoc with my sinuses.  The sinus headache made it hard to want to do anything.  So no great gains on the out column, but it's still not a bad report. 

Used last week:  0.33 yards
Added last week:  0.25 yards

Used for 2013:  10.44 yards
Added for 2013:  1.75 yards

Net busted for 2013:  8.69 yards

So still in the black at week 6.  The quarter yard that came in was a fat quarter that arrived in a fun squishy from Denise over at Count It All Joy.  

  
I had at some point mentioned my collection of butterfly fabric and she thought this colorful piece would make a great addition.  It certainly does.  Thanks Denise!  I love the card with the two little girls, they are so cute.  

That's it for my stash report this week.  Hop over to Patchwork Times to check on the state of stashes.  

Kats with Kates - Late Friday Edition

Kate (of Katie Mae Quilts) and I are working on Kitty Kwilts.  Not the same pattern, we both had Kitty projects on our bucket list for this year and decided to start them at the same time.  

You should check out her purrfect blocks (here).  She already has enough blocks done to come up with 2 layouts.  Me, well I suppose I could do a bit of shuffling of what I've gotten done to date.

Calico Cats
Pattern is Fat Cats from the
The Quilter Magazine (July 2006)
by Lucy A. Fazely and Micheal L. Burns

Number 4 lies in pieces next to the sewing machine, it may make it to being a full fledged Kitty by the end of the weekend.  Then I only have 16 more to do!  

Favorite Things Friday

It's not quite Friday here, but close.  It's actually past my normal bed time, but I wanted to write a short post about my favorite thing this week.  It's a pretty simple thing.  

It rained today, not great buckets of it, just 0.04 inch.  Still I was able to watch the rain clouds from my office and watch the water run down the office windows.  

Even better, it didn't start raining until after I got into work and it had quit by the time I had to leave.  So I just got to watch it, but didn't have to get wet.  Definitely another favorite thing. 

So what's your favorite thing?  Link up with Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas to share your most favorite thing for the week.  

February -2013 Year of the Finished Project

It's the first Thursday in February.  Time to check in with Lynn over at Never Too Hot to Stitch on my progress with making 2013 the Year of the Finished Project.

For January, I had goals for three of my projects.

1.  Scrappy Stars (my oldest UFO)

• make 5 more star blocks      Done

2. Evening Star 

• Add borders             Done
• Make backing          Done
• Ship out for quilting  Done

3.  The Sofa Quilt

• Finish making all the "B" blocks     Done

All of January goals are done.  So not a bad month at all, especially considering how busy we've been.  I like setting monthly goals, it's easier to focus your efforts and prioritize your projects when you limit yourself to working on just a few things during the month.  

So what's on the list for February?

1.  Scrappy Stars

• make 5 more blocks

2.  Evening Star

• bind

3.  The Sofa Quilt

• sew all the blocks together
• add borders
• make backing
• ship off for quilting

4.  Calico Cats

• Make 18 cat blocks

5.  OSU Quilt (NewFO)

• decide on pattern
• cut fabrics
• make first block  

That's a pretty ambitious list for the shortest month of the year.  We'll have to see how it goes.  To see what got done last month and what's in the works for February, check out all the links over at Never Too Hot To Stitch.

15 Minute Challenge - February Already?

A new month, a new chance to improve your productivity by making time to sew (or whatever creative needle craft you pursue) and a new theme for fostering creativity.  February's theme for fostering creativity is "have a dedicated work space".  Having your own dedicated space helps eliminate distractions and allows you to separate your hobby stuff from the other house stuff.  Plus having a dedicated space allows you to make maximum use of those 15 minutes each week since you don't have to clean a space, then haul all your stuff out.  In my case, quilting is my sanity break.  It's nice to be able to go to my sewing room (I don't think my space aspires to the label of studio), shut the door, turn on some music and be able get away from all the other stuff crowding my life and just stitch away.   Maybe you don't have a room, maybe it's a corner of the dining room or just a table.  This month we'll look into how to make the most of the space you do have (studio, room, or shared table top) and maybe even share what our spaces look like.  

I promised a give away for those who undertook the 15 minute challenge last month.  

A copy of "My Runners Keep Going" by Adis Erla and a layer cake of Connecting Threads Batiks.  The winner is:

Number 12 according to my list of January participants is Lesley of Quilt-a-Daisy.  So congratulations Lesley!  Thanks to everyone one who links up regularly.  It's comforting to know I'm not the only one who struggles with time management.  

So how did last week go?  I manged to find at least 15 minutes to sew 6 out of the last 7 days.  

With the weekends so full lately, I've not had any big blocks of sewing time, but I've been managing about an hour in the evenings and about as much both weekend days.  Still I've made a lot of progress the last month.  One flimsy off being quilted and a second one at the assembly stage.  Not a bad start for 2013.  

So how well did you mange your sewing time last week?  

1. Julie in GA 2. Thea

3. Kate 4. Amanda

5. Lesley A 6. Susanne

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Design Wall Monday - February 4th

Sunday was definitely a day of rest around here.  All three of us took naps in the afternoon.  My Guy is recovering from the flu (poor guy got sick when he was on a business trip last week).  Drama Teen is still working on getting back to full strength after her bout with the flu.  All three of us were involved with the Science fair this weekend, My Guy and I as judges and Drama Teen as a contestant. Then we had school auction which kept all of us out late, (DT babysat).  I signed on for clean up duty after the auction which kept me out late and then up early on Sunday.  After a morning spent breaking down tables and hauling chairs, I wasn't able to stay awake once I sat down.  

Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of sewing going on this weekend. I did pretty well during the week at getting in some sewing time.  I finally finished all the "B" blocks for The Sofa Quilt. 

Pattern is Nicole's Sofa Quilt by Judy Laquidara

(available here)

I like how this one is working out.  One of February's goals is to get this quilt to the finished flimsy stage.  I started squaring up the blocks this weekend, hopefully I'll get them all sewn together this week.  

I'm hoping for a slow, quite week where I have some time to take a peek at the other design walls posted over at Patchwork Times.   

Stash Report - Week 5

It's been a busy, but good weekend.  Science Fair is over.  Drama Teen did very well, winning first in Biological Sciences in the junior division.  She's also been selected to attend the state science fair, which was her goal for this year.  She was one happy girl yesterday evening as she headed out to babysit and we headed out to the school auction.  I'm part of the auction clean up committee  so I have to head back to school in bit to finish that up this morning.  I do hope to get some sewing in this afternoon. 

Even though I didn't get in a lot of sewing this weekend, the stash report still looks pretty good.  

Used last week:  2.90 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used for 2013:  10.11 yards
Added for 2013:  1.5 yards

Net busted for 2013:  8.61 yards

The biggest part of the outgoing this week wasn't due to being used, I passed along some yardage that had been purchased for a special project when Drama Teen was about 4.  At 14 she's not really thrilled with the idea of having a quilt made from it.  So, I passed it along to someone who has a grandson who would be thrilled to have something made from it.  I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with.  

That's it for me this weekend.  Check out all the other stash reports over at Patchwork Times.  

Favorite Things Friday - The Things We Keep

It's Friday.  It's a good thing Favorite Things Friday is back because I'm going to need some fun stuff to carry me into this weekend.  We've got a busy weekend starting with me being a judge for the elementary division of the district Science Fair tonight, My Guy judges the junior/senior division tomorrow.  Drama Teen has a project entered, so she'll have to up and out by 7:00 AM tomorrow.  Then tomorrow night there is the school auction which means dressing up, heels and all.  Somehow back at the beginning of the school year  I decided that I needed to volunteer for auction clean up duty on Sunday.  Well at least I won't have much of a chance to get into trouble this weekend.  

OK enough whining and on to the fun, favorite stuff.  Drama Teen's school has been celebrating all week.  Each day has a different dress up theme.  DT missed the first 2 days because she was out with the flu.  But she was back for "twinkie day" and "Dress Like the 80's day".  I'd forgotten about the 80's day until we both got home Wednesday night and she was asking what was she going to wear Thursday in case we needed to make a quick trip to the Good Will store.  I really didn't want to go back out.  If I have to run errands, I prefer to do that before I get home.  Once I'm home, I really want to stay there.  Add in that it was below freezing and more than a bit breezy, I really didn't want to go back out.  So in racking my brain for what might be had at home, I remembered stashing a few beloved T-shirts from college in the cedar chest a number of years back. 

So we both start de-cluttering the top of the cedar chest (Which My Guy apparently uses as a secondary closet, I found all of the new slacks and shirts he got for Christmas piled under his discarded sweaters?).  Once we got the top opened, we had to dig through DTs entire school art portfolio (She was heard to say several times, "Mom, I can't believe you kept that!").  By this point I'm starting to wonder if maybe my memory wasn't what I thought it was, but after digging out a few of my school scrap books, we hit the mother load. 

I don't remember the last time I pulled those T-shirts out and looked at what was stashed there.  There were several shirts from my sorority days and then there was this one.  

DT was gracious enough to actually model the shirt.  I do remember this shirt, it's from the taco place I worked at when I was in high school and college.  I'm not entirely sure why this one was worth preserving  I believe it was given to me as an employee of the month thing.  There is also a vague memory of wearing this shirt and being photographed with a fellow employee (also female) for an add for the local paper. Or maybe it was for the high school newspaper?

Then we unfolded this one.

It's my senior class T-shirt from high school.  To be honest, I have very vague memories of wearing this shirt (high school was a long time ago).  It doesn't show a lot of wear, so maybe I didn't wear it much. This is the one she picked to wear yesterday.  She told me last night that she told all her teachers that it was a vintage T-shirt.  Well at least she didn't call it an old T-shirt.  

I really thought that I'd kept my French Club t-shirt (not that I could read what it said now).  I just remember loving that particular shirt. It's possible it's still there buried under some college scrap books that we didn't haul out.  

It was a fun half hour digging through the layers in that cedar chest. Both DT and I had a good laugh.  Probably the best part was that she actually thought the T-shirts were cool and has actually appropriated that first T-shirt to wear around the house.  I guess that's why we set aside these random items, so you have something for your kids to wear when they have dress up days at school.  Had I known, I'd need that type of stuff, maybe I'd have kept more.  

Check out Quilting in My Pyjamas for more fun favorites.