Favorite Things Friday

This week's favorite thing is a tradition.  When kiddo was about a year old, I switched jobs.  It was one of those things where I had to take the transfer or I didn't have a job.  The new job required a 2 hour/day commute (an hour each way), plus I often had to work long hours.  Sometimes 12 hours a day and often 6 days a week.  It was not one of the more fun times in my life.  Thankfully, my guy's job was not nearly as demanding as mine and he could pick up the slack with kiddo.  But after about a year of working those kind of hours, my toddler didn't want anything to do with Mom.  That hurt.

So I started "Girls Night Out".  One night a week, I would get home in time to pick kiddo up from day care.  Just us girls would go out for dinner (usually pizza, tacos or IHOP), then we'd go to Target for some serious shopping.  It allowed me to take care of some errands, but we'd schedule a significant amount of time to hang out in the toy section or look at the books.  It wasn't always the same night of the week, but I made it a point that we did it once each week.  It became a time we both looked forward to, because we just hung out.  It's amazing the conversations you can have with a 2, 3, 4 year old at dinner or while they sit in the shopping cart.

I have had several different positions since that time, none that required quite so many hours per week.  Even so, we've kept up the tradition. We've moved so Target has now become Walgreen's.  But we still do pizza a lot, but we go to the little Italian restaurant in town, not CeCe's.  Now that kiddo is 11, Girls Night Out is our night to talk girl stuff like clothes, boys, and growing up.  We also talk politics, religion and sometimes a lot of the time we just get silly.  So this one night is something we both try hard to keep on the schedule each week even with our busy lives.  I try to take pictures sometimes, kiddo is not always cooperative.  But I think those are often the most fun photos. 

Do you have a favorite family tradition?  Something that you do each week?  Check out other Favorite Things over at Quilting in My Pyjamas.

Making a Layer Cake to Bust Some Stash

Only in quilting can you talk about making a layer cake to reduce something!   I decided to participate in the Layer Cake Quilt Along being sponsored over on the Moose on a Porch's blog.  So I spent some time last night rummaging through my fabric tote bins looking for the accent and border fabric.  I bought a layer cake a couple of years ago to make a quilt for kiddo's school auction.  I had quite a number of squares left over after the quilt was done.  Turns out I had bought some yardage from the same collection, so that will be the border.  Finding the accent was hard.  Nothing really seemed to work well.  I'm going to try white as the accent and hope it's not too stark against the darker fabrics.  The layer cake and border fabric are a from a fabric collection called Patti Paisley. 

So that's one new project that will run into May of next year.  I have two BOMs that should finish up at the end of the year, so it will be nice to have something else already started.  Everything for this project will from the stash, which if you've been looking at my weekly stash reports is definitely a step in the right direction.

Design Wall Monday - October 4th

I'm still working on the 2008 BOM that I posted last Monday (Design Wall 9/27).  We had a lot going on this weekend.  Kiddo had two volleyball games in Tulsa.  Afterwards my guy and kiddo wanted to hang around the book store for a while (I did get in a quick trip to one of the quilt shops as yesterday's stash report showed).  So we didn't get home until very late afternoon.  Then I had to do a lot of laundry on Sunday.  So I didn't get as much sewing done as I would have liked.  I did finish sewing all the 2008 BOM blocks into rows and have some of the rows sewn together, but I still have a lot to do before I can put borders on that quilt. So no picture this week as it looks pretty much like it did last week. 

I did finish two more blocks for the purple and yellow scrap quilt that I posted a couple of weeks ago (Design Wall 9/13).  They are up on my design wall, so that's my photo this week.   I'm really beginning to like how the blocks for that quilt are coming together.

I may not have much on my design wall, but I am working on the layouts for a couple of quilts in EQ.  I was working on those a lot in the evenings after work last week, which is one more reason I didn't get much sewing done.  I'm off this Friday as kiddo is out of school.  Maybe I can sneak in some sewing before she gets up.   

Hop over to Judy's Patchwork Times to see what everyone else has on their design walls.  It's probably a lot more than I have!

Stash Report - October 2nd

I've been recording my stash additions and subtractions all year.  But I guess I haven't really been paying attention to the numbers.  This is my third publicly published stash report and in all three there have been additions to my stash, with only very minor withdrawals.  It's time for a ban on fabric purchases, at least till the end of the year.  

Moving on, here is this week's stash report:

Used this week   =  0 yards
Added this week =  18 yards
Used Year to Date =  34.68 yards
Added Year to Date = 345 yards
Net used for 2010 = -310.5 yards

What did I add?   A set of 14 gold fat quarters.  I have this idea for a black and gold quilt.  Not sure when I'll get to it, but I have this really beautiful black and gold fabric that is just begging to be used. 

Last is a set of Asian prints. 

My niece loves Japanese and Chinese art and culture. I found this beautiful geisha fabric (below) a couple of years ago (the color is a bit bright in this photo, it does match the blue in the blue floral above)

I've been trying to design a setting to use this panel, but everything I came up with wasn't "fun" enough (based on my daughter's input).  About 2 months ago I finally came up with a concept the appears to meet the "fun" requirement, but I need a number of Asian prints which will coordinate with the panel.  Not sure this is going to work.   We'll have to see how the full mock up in EQ comes out.  

Check out Judy's Patchwork Times to see how everyone else is doing with their stash reports. 

October Objectives (A Quilty To Do List)

About this time last year, I realized that I'd only completed a grand total of 2 quilts for 2007 and 2008 combined.  And if I stayed on the same track, I wouldn't do much more for 2009.  After thinking about it a bit, I came to a couple of conclusions.  First there was no thought being given to what I really wanted to do in terms of quilting and second I wasn't taking enough quilting classes   To address the first I started making a monthly "to do" list.  Putting the list together helps me think about what I really want to get done in my sewing room.  I rarely finish the list, but it seems to have helped my productivity.  I finished 3 quilts last year and 6 so far this year. 
So what are my objectives for October? 

1.  Complete October blocks for Seeing Stars and Texas Blue Bonnet BOMs
2.  Finish the 2008 BOM top
3.  Piece the back for the 2008 BOM project
4.  Decide on design for school auction quilt
5.  Cut fabrics and start piecing the school auction quilt
6.  Bind the pink mystery quilt
7.  Use "leaders and enders" technique to work on the purple/yellow scrap quilt
8.  Decide if I want to participate in the "Layer Cake Quilt Along" being sponsored by Moose on the Porch Quilts

A "to do" list seems pretty logical way to get more done, so why the thought about taking more quilting classes?  If I look back, I finished more quilts in 2005 and 2006.  At that time I lived near a very "quilter with a day job" friendly quilt shop.  They offered a lot of classes that I could attend and I attended a lot.  So I was starting a lot of new projects.  We moved a few years ago and no I don't have a local quilt shop where I can easily take classes (the closest is about an hour away).  I realized that I wasn't starting very many new projects since I wasn't taking any classes.   So  I've been looking ways to take "classes" on line.  This year I'm doing a BOM sponsored by Country Junction and I did a mystery quilt sponsored by Planet Patchwork back in July.  It's a way for me to get interested in starting new projects, plus I get to see what everyone else is making.  My favorite part of he quilting classes is to see what everyone starts out with and how a project turns out with all the different fabric choices.  So I like those on-line projects where everyone shares photographs of their progress. 

So back to the "Layer Cake Quilt Along".  I have a layer cake that I bought for a school auction project, I used some of it, but still have a lot of squares left.  How do you think this would work for the "Layer Cake Quilt Along"?

There are other fabrics, but this shows the color range and type of patterns that are in the layer cake.  Not sure what I would use for an accent, beige maybe?  Dark brown?  Any thoughts?