January NewFO Challenge

So I had a lot of fun with Barbara's NewFO Challenge in January!  I love the freedom of not having to finish something, to just go with the creative flow and start something new that is buzzing around begging to be started!


Here are some of the quilt projects I had fun with in January-----------


I started the Quilts in Progress wall hanging and got quite a lot done, thanks to spending several days at retreat.  I still have to sandwich & quilt the main quilt, and then make the 3 mini-quilts that hang from the bottom. You can see more details about this quilt here.

I also completed TWO Calendar quilts!  The February quilt - Keep the Heart Truth Growing ..... is quilted and ready for hanging.

The March Calendar Quilt is a completed top, needing only to be sandwiched & quilted to be called done.  I really, really love this little quilt!

I also started a wonderful little stitchery BOM from Jenny Elefantz called Promises and Borders.  

I didn't get as much done on that as I would have liked because I had a few guild projects that took up a lot of my time this month.  I feel pretty confident I will be able to catch up in February.  We'll see =^..^=


One other project that I have not even had a chance to share with you yet is a Rainbow Pineapple quilt.  I've always wanted to make a pineapple quilt using paper-piecing, and I got the idea from SoScrappy's Rainbow Challenge, so I decided at the last minute to make 2 red ones for January and then several pineapples of each color throughout the year.  These blocks finish at only 3.5 inches - aren't they so cute!!!  I'm really excited about this one!  And I used only reds I found in my crumb box too!  Woohoo!!! Even the black is left over from a previous project, so I'm happy to be using it up.

So, what have you started new in January?  What are you just bubbling over to start?  Get busy and start a NewFO in February and then tell us about it over at Cat Patches!  It's not too late!  You can learn more about the 2012 NewFO Challenge by clicking on Barbara's button on the right side of my blog page.


Thanks Barbara for such a fun Challenge!!!


Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
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Sunday Stash Report – Week #5

Yep, I did it!  I went into the RED this week!  But I have a very good excuse, honestly I do!!!

First, let's start with what I used this week.  Not much!!!  I worked on a lot of projects while at retreat, but only finished the top for one - my March Calendar Quilt.  It took about 1.5 yards total.

So, what did I purchase?  Well, while on the way to retreat, we stopped at our usual quilt shop, only to find a sign in the window – “Going out of Business Sale!”  Oh no!!!!  We were devastated to see yet another shop going out of business.  But we are also no fools, so we hurried inside and took full advantage of the special deals =^..^=

I bought these fabrics at 60% off – most of them were $8.95 regularly, so less than $4 a yard!  I got 1 yard cuts of all of these great stash fillers .....

And look - batiks too!

I finished off the bolt of this - about 1.5 yards.  It's a much darker red than this, not even pink at all.

And then these were in the remnant basket, and I felt sorry for them, so.....

All in all, I was very happy with my purchases.  As I stated at the beginning of the year, I don't want to deplete my stash, just move it around regularly, adding new things in and moving the old things out.  And I want to have a better idea of how I'm doing at that.

In addition to fabric, all their threads were 50% off!  I got these wonderful King Tut variegated threads which I just love for quilting and buttonhole applique - $4 a spool!!!!

And then I got these amazing metallics in all different colors.  They ended up being about $2 a spool.  Aren't they pretty?  Yes, I was a very happy camper indeed!  Good thing I don't have to report thread purchases in my Stash Report huh?!?

So my Stash Report for this week is:

Used this week: 1.5 yards

Used YTD 2012:  18.75 yards

Added this week: 12.0 yards

Added YTD 2012:  21.0 yards

Net Used for 2012:  -2.25 yards

To see how others are busting/using their stash, click here to go to Patchwork Times.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Home from the Rooster!

Nine of us packed up half our sewing rooms (and whatever else we could fit into our vehicles!) and headed off to the Red Rooster for 4 days of sewing fun!  Here are some fun pictures of what we accomplished….

This is me just chillin' and reading my blogs... now you see why I didn't get a lot done!!!  LOL!

I did manage to get my March Calendar quilt top completed – doesn’t it make you wish for spring!!!  I’m not real happy with the tree limb, I think I maybe should have chosen a darker brown, but I loved the texture, and I guess it’s too late now ;*)

I also got this far on my Quilts in Progress top.  All the appliqué is done and I hope to finish assembling & quilting it this weekend in time for the NewFO Challenge reveal.  We’ll see….  Going to see One for the Money movie this afternoon, so not much sewing will get done today.

I did a little work on my Promises & Borders stitchery but not enough to show, and I never got to touch Forever Autumn (**sigh**) – poor thing, it just gets shuffled around like an orphan.  I’ve determined that it is coming out of the closet & moving up on my To Do list.  Where it will land I’m not sure, but it’s time to get ‘er done!!!

So what did my fellow retreaters work on?

Here is Barbara with her totally awesome Orca Bay! 

 She finished the top while we were there, but I didn’t get a picture – bummer!!!!  You can see though that it just sparkles!  I didn’t start this Quiltville mystery because I had too much going on at the time, but I’ve saved the clues and I’m thinking it might show up on a NewFO list soon!

And then here’s Donna (left) with her red creation!  I never got the name of this quilt, but I know that it was a BOM at a LQS, Quilters Attic, several years ago.  It is one of the most beautiful BOM’s I’ve seen ever, wouldn’t you agree!!!

Norma Jean our Dancing Queen worked on her Pat Speth Nickel Quilts blocks.  She had so much fun matching up her fabrics, and they turned out just great!  She added a lot of plaids which really added interest.  Can’t wait to see the completed quilt!  

She also bought a new sewing machine at a Decatur fabric shop that was going out of business – for HALF PRICE!!!  She’s happy that her chicken has found a new home!

This is our Mother Hen, Mary!  She worked on Sewn-N-Love quilts like this one most of her time there.  

Pat also worked on this blue winter scene Sewn-N-Love quilt below, as well as a new one in batiks.  I guess I didn't get a picture of Pat because she had to leave a day early.

For the curious, Sewn-N-Love is a local charity started by Sandy Wilson, a lady whose husband died of cancer.  She said he got so cold while in chemo that she made him a quilt.  Others having chemo saw it and said what a wonderful idea, and the idea was born and took root.  You can read more about Sewn-N-Love here.  Sandy's been making quilts and quilt kits for others to make from donated fabric for quite a while now, and she can’t keep up with the demand! 

Poor Joanne (left) got sick before she even got there, so she didn’t get a lot accomplished except for some string blocks for her Orca Bay.  And then Rosie (right) had some health issues too.  But not before she completed this cuddly flannel treasure! 

By the end of the trip, Dee also succumbed (before I could get her picture darn it!).  We're pretty sure it was breathing in all that Fairy Dust that got to her! =^..^=  Since she was the 3rd one to get sick, the rest of us were all holding our breath and hoping & praying that it would stop there – which fortunately it did – whew!!!!

So I’ll end with some eye candy from the Red Rooster for your delight…. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Design Wall Monday!

Hi-Ho!  Hi-Ho!  It’s off to Retreat I go…. *Whistling merrily*!!!! 

Red Rooster Retreats (RRR) in Cullman, Alabama, is the most wonderful place to go and just sew, sew, sew.  Eye candy everywhere!  The food is delicious – that Jennifer is some cook!  And time with friends away from all the pressures of everyday life is just amazing!

I’m taking more projects than I probably need with me – I always do!  Ask anyone who sews with me and they’ll tell you very quickly!  These are the projects I am working on right now…..

#1 – Quilts in Progress wall-hanging.  (Go here to see more.)  I have all these little pieces traced and fused to my fabrics.  I’ll enjoy a day of cutting and fusing them all to the background one day at retreat.  Sure doesn’t look like much right now, right?  This is supposed to be my NewFOChallenge quilt, but I substituted my Hearts quilts instead so I could be sure to have a Valentine quilt for my calendar wall.  

#2 – Forever Autumn – Pardon the ball of light in the middle - I am obviously not a photographer!  This is an old UFO from my first year of quilting.  I purchased the kit from a magazine, and then realized that it was really above my beginner level of expertise when I began reading over the instructions – all those half-square triangles - YIKES!!!  So it got put away for a while – a long while.  I’m not really sure why because I love the quilt, I just think I’ve been so busy on other projects that it’s number just never got called.

#3 – March Calendar Quilt.  I got all the pieces cut to assemble the pieced background, and have traced all the pieces for fusing.  Isn’t this one just adorable?  That Kim Schaeffer is just so darned talented!

#4 – New Project Alert!!!  This is the new embroidery project I hinted about yesterday in my Stash Report.  It will be my handwork for downtime at RRR.  Barbara at CatPatches blogged about starting this beautiful new Borders and Promises BOM stitchery by Jenny of Elefantz, and of course I fell in love!  Who wouldn’t?  Lovely stitches and birds and Scripture all rolled into one?  It’s a no-brainer!!!  I've even got half my friends joining up LOL!!!  Thanks Barbara for helping me find Jenny!

You can see my focus fabric behind the stitchery in the picture.  And the background I am using has a sweet little embossed polka dot on it - just lovely!  I wasn't sure how it would handle stitching; sometimes embossed fabrics don't like needles!  So I got some cream Kona just in case.  But this is stitching up like a dream.  I'm so glad that it is too, because I just love the look.

#5 – One new thing I’m taking to retreat this time is my new Sewing Chair!!! 

The actual chair is not new – I bought it at Goodwill about 5 years ago.  But this is what it used to look like....

Do you love the animal print?  I didn’t!  But figured for $9.99 I could deal with it, right?  And someday I would recover it, right?  Well, that someday finally came!  My sweet friend Amie gave me this lovely Laurel Burch Cats upholstery fabric just because she knows I love LB and I love cats.  Little did she know that I was trying to decide what to use to recover my chair!  My long-suffering sweet husband helped me disassemble, unstaple, cut, staple, reassemble……and now I’m so happy with my “new” chair – thanks Amie & Don!!!

I sure wish you could all come with us!  I will not be able to blog from there, but when I return I’ll post lots of pictures of the RRR – you’ll love it!


And to see what's on other Design Walls, head over to see Judy's blog at Patchwork Times!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Sunday Stash Report - Week #4

Movement in the Stash this week!!!

Here is a sneak peek at a completed project that I will talk more about later in the week.  I just LOVE those colors!!!

I used up about 4.5 yards for the backing on this quilt.  I’ve worked on several other projects, but nothing else completed so I can’t count that yardage as used quite yet.

For additions to the stash, I remembered that I purchased a few fabrics last week that were not included in last week's report - uh oh!!!  Those fabrics were mostly stripes to add to my stash, but I also bought a wonderful blue-gray batik with white spots that looks like snow for a future snowman project.  I believe the total yardage was about 5 yards.

And this week I purchased 4 yards of Cream Kona to be used as the background fabric for a new embroidery project.  I’ve actually changed my mind since and am using something else on that project, but Kona is always a welcome addition to the Stash, right?  I’ll introduce the embroidery project tomorrow on my Design Wall!

So my Stash Report for this week is:

Used this week: 4.5 yards

Used YTD 2012:  17.25 yards

Added this week: 9.0 yards

Added YTD 2012:  9.0 yards

Net Used for 2012:  8.25 yards

Not looking quite as good as last week, huh?  But still in the black!

To see how others are busting/using their stash, click here to go to Patchwork Times. The linkup will start bright and early Sunday morning!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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It's a Pincushion Parade!

Over at Love Laugh Quilt, Beth is hosting a Pincushion Parade!  How fun!!!  Even a relatively newbie like me has a few pincushions I can show off!
Here are two of my favorites:  

I made the turtle as part of a challenge we held at our Guild one year.  Our program chair split some donated fabrics into paper lunch sacks, stapled them shut and sold each sack for $1.  At the end of a specified period, we each brought back what we had made with the fabrics to compete for a lovely prize.  I didn't win, but I got this pincushion out of the bargain - how can that be anything but a win??? 

The small round one is just perfect for my applique basket to take with me when I want a little something to work on.  It is wool too!  I paid a fortune for it at an AQS show, but I've never regretted it - it's just too dang cute to regret!!!

This pincushion sits by my chair in the living room where I sew and watch TV.  I purchased it on sale at Joann's several years ago.  It's perfect for holding all the little things I need inside and out of the way!

Doesn't everyone have a chicken pincushion?  If not, they should!!!!  I used to keep him in a little china bowl, but it fell and broke at retreat and I never found another one the right size to replace it.  Poor little thing!

These are hand-made wool gifts that were given to me at one of my favorite retreat spots - Red Rooster Retreats in Alabama.  When all of us get together in October, we bring each other a little "favor" to share.  These have become staples in my sewing room! Thanks girlfriends!!!

The year I served as president at Music City Quilt Guild, my VP and I made these little "cupcake" pincushions for the ladies who had served on our committees throughout the year.  Of course, I had to make one for myself ;*D  You can't really notice because of the way it is sitting, but there are musical notes on the fabric.

And last but not least, is this ancient lady.... she's beat up and I think she's lost a lot of her stuffing, but she's still unique and has a favored spot on my shelf.  I won her as a doorprize at one of our guild meetings.  (You notice that I snuck in included my mini-wool pincushion again?!?)

So that's it for me.  I bet you have lots of pincushions!  You can link up to Beth's page and show them there.  We'd love to see them!!!

Hugs & Blessings,

Teresa

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