Design Wall Monday - March 7, 2011

It was a great weekend, a little laundry, a little housework and a little sewing all got accomplished.  Actually, quite a bit of sewing got done this weekend, but there is not much up on my design wall to show for it.   

Block 12 from the Buck-a-Block BOM is done.  Now I have to decide on a final layout before I can finish up this quilt. 

Also finished Block 9 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along.

I spent a lot of sewing time putting away left over yardage and cutting up the fabric scraps for the 2008 BOM quilt, which I finished binding last weekend.  I did also manage to find enough carpet space to lay out the quilt to take it's "finished" picture.

I'm not really into pink, but I like this quilt.  It does look a bit old fashioned with it's faded pinks and greens. Trudy Lindemann did the quilting.  I love the swirly look of the loops and feathers, it really fits the quilt.  

So this quilt project is now all done.  The label is on, the quilt is folded up and stacked in the closet till I figure out where it's going.  

That's it for me this week.  Check out Patchwork Times to see what other cool projects are in the works.    

Stash Report - March 6, 2010

No new fabric this week.  I'm back on my "no fabric" diet, for the time being anyway.  Not much sewing this week, after being so good about sewing for 15 minutes every day the last couple of weeks, I completely blew that this week.  A few unexpected events came up.  I did manage to get a couple of blocks sewn together.  Here are this week's numbers:

Used this week:  0.3 yards
Added this week:  0 yards

Used year to date:  5.11 yards
Added year to date:  1.5 yards

Net used for 2011:  3.61 yards

Fabric Budget:  10 yards for Jan to March
Bought/Budget:  1.5/10 yards

I'm still in the black, just not as much as I'd like to be.  Check out Judy's blog over at Patchwork Times for the rest of this week's reports. 

Foto Finish - Stripes

Last week's Foto Finish was dots, this week's is stripes.  In keeping with the nature theme from last week's post, here's my version of "stripes"

It always amazes me the colors and textures that show up in nature if you look for them.  I don't remember what plant this leaf is from, I'm not much of a gardener.  However,  my mother has this giant green thumb.  Her backyard is an oasis of greens and colors in the spring and summer.  When we visit during that time of year, Mom and I usually end up on her back porch.  As we talk, I'll start framing photos in my head.  I usually end up going back in for my camera, then we walk around the yard with me taking pictures and Mom doing some pruning or picking up while we continue our conversation.   I have a lot of pictures from Mom's garden, I hope they'll remind me of all the conversations since it's hard to capture those shared times in megabytes. 

That's it for me this week.  Check out Cat Patches to see what other stripes have been posted. 

Favorite Things Friday - March 4th

TGIF!  This week I'm definitely ready for Friday.  For the first time in I don't know how long, we don't have to be anywhere for the weekend.  No basketball games, no swim meets, no anything!   None of this, gulp down a cup of coffee, while madly looking for Kiddo's swim bag to see if that's where she left her team sweats.  No speed reading of blogs while I'm eating a quick bowl of cereal.  Yeah, I'm ready for this weekend.  Mainly because I'll get to spend some significant time with one of my favorite things......

my sewing machine. My Bernina has been with me since 2003.  I had been sewing on an inexpensive New Home machine which would not allow me to lower the feed dogs for free motion quilting (didn't find that out till I took the class).  After that experience, I decided a new machine was really necessary.  The 153 was not top of the line, but it was set up for what I wanted to do - quilt.  I know a lot of you have Berninas, did you gasp the first time you looked at the sticker price?  I still remember being amazed that a sewing machine could cost that much.  But the Bernina has been worth every penny!   I'm sure it has saved me thousands of dollars by allowing me to avoid those expensive therapy sessions and by reducing my stress has also reduced my medical bills.  So it's probably paid for itself by now.   

Another favorite is Foot #37, the 1/4 inch foot.  It's pretty much the only foot I use and I love it.  Using this foot made a big difference in my seam accuracy.  Now if the block is supposed to be 12.5" when it's pieced, I can pretty much get a 12.5" block without having to unsew a couple of seams.  And since my seam ripper is not one of my favorite things, that's a really good thing. 

I don't have a name for my machine, it's just the "Bernina".  Last year I bought a new Bernina 830.  I wanted to be able to use the stitch regulator and I wanted to try some embroidery as well.  The 830 has spent a lot of time in the shop recently, so the older Bernina has been back on my sewing table. In terms of piecing, I'm finding that the 153 is much better at that than the 830 is even with all it's wonderful capabilities.  I wish I had room to keep both machines out, then maybe I'd actually do some embroidery! 

That's it for FTF for me this week.  Hop over to Quilting in My Pyjamas for more favorite things. 

Final Day of the 15 Minute Challenge - Day 12

The 15 minute challenge was a success.  For the last 12 days I've managed to find 15 minutes to sew some time during the day.  Last night Kiddo and I had to go shopping for shoes and jewelry to finish off her outfit for the school Mardi Gras party on Friday night.  We were gone a lot longer than I thought we'd be.  So my planned hour or so of sewing ended up being only 15 minutes right before I went to bed.  But in that time, I did manage to get the pieces cut out for Block 9 of the Layer Cake Quilt Along. 

I started this personal challenge after realizing that I'd gone a whole week without finding the time to sew.  In the last 12 days, I've finished a 3 year old UFO, come close to finishing all the blocks for the Buck-a-Block PIGS, finished block 8 and cut out block 9 for the Layer cake Quilt Along.  I'd have done all those things without the 15 minute challenge, but they are done sooner because I made the effort to get upstairs to sew. 

I did learn a few things:
1.  I have to put limits on computer time and be willing to shut it down at a specified time some evenings.
2.  No matter how tired I am, 15 minutes in the sewing room is doable. 
3.  Knowing that I had to write a blog the next day about my success (or actually lack there of) was a strong motivator to get upstairs whenever my motivation was wavering. 
4.  On days with tight schedules, a bit of preplanning helps. Knowing that I had something simple to do upstairs made it easier to get upstairs and not collapse directly into bed. 
5.  Getting into the sewing room is most of the battle.  Even if I feel tired a few minutes of sewing will usually energize me, so what was supposed to be 15 minutes becomes an hour or more. 

What am I going to do with all this new found knowledge?  I'm going to continue to challenge myself to do at least 15 minutes of sewing every day.  There will be days that it just doesn't happen, but that's OK.  The point is to make the best use of the time I do have, to make that conscious decision to sew when I'm just playing on the computer or think I'm too tired to do anything.  I am going to continue to blog about my progress, since having to report failure is a key motivator for me.  But I'll post an update just once a week, probably on Tuesday to avoid overlapping with the Stash Report and Design Wall Monday. 

Is anyone interested in starting their own personal 15 minute challenge?   Let me know.  If there is enough interest,  I'll set up a Mr. Linky on the Tuesday report and we can all encourage each other.