Slow Stitching & Stash Enhancement

It's a beautiful new Sunday, and you know what that means....  a wonderful day to reflect on our many blessings and spend some sweet time with the Lord =^..^=  Today I am especially grateful for the rain we are getting here in Nashville - boy did we need it!!!

For me, Sunday also means a lot of sports on TV which I love!  Today on the agenda is the Golf Playoffs and maybe some preseason football.  One of the things I love about Sundays & sports is that I usually get a lot of relaxing hand work done :*)  

Here is my progress on the 8th block for Promises & Borders BOM.  Jenny  just released the latest block pattern today, so I am now officially 2 blocks behind :*)  There is only one more block to be released - it's unbelievable how quickly time has flown this year!

Please go by and visit Kathy at Kathy's Quilts to see her gorgeous Slow Stitching finish!!!  And you can link up to show us the slow hand work you been doing also =^..^=

Yesterday was a great day for Stash Enhancement!!!  I was invited to join a couple of great friends on a day trip to Franklin & we had so much fun!!!  It had been quite a while since I was able to visit some of the quilt shops there, so I jumped at the chance to go :*)

In my last post I shared my dilemma about what to start for my September NewFO (you can read about it HERE).   So I’ve made a decision…. ****Drum Roll***     I’m going to do BOTH!!!  Well, at least I’m going to start both LOL!!! Yep, I can’t help it – they’re both calling my name =^..^=  And of course, the objective of the NewFO Challenge is just that you START a project, you don't have to get any further than that.  Just sayin' :*)

Several blog friends are either already working on Hawaiian Sunset or plan to start soon, and it will be great fun doing it together! 

Besides, I have the perfect dark blue on my shelf for the sashing – is that a great omen or what?!? This is a Jenny Beyer fabric.  The blue is a bit more navy than this picture shows.  I will have to fill out some of the other colors, especially the pinks, so I can’t work on it too much right away. But I can start playing with the flying geese and the four patches for the fun of it, right?  They will make great leaders-n-enders!

And then I simply have to start this Butterflies quilt! I’ve been in love with them since I first saw them a few months ago. The patterns are ordered and should arrive later in the week.

I picked up these batiks yesterday for backgrounds and sashing/borders – aren’t they just scrumptious??? YUM!!!  The deep blue fabric on the bottom of the stack is for the sashing & perhaps an outer border.  The others are backgrounds for the various butterflies.  The black & white dot is PERFECT for the Monarch’s wings ....

                                              ............  am I right???

A few readers have questioned whether the Butterflies are applique or panels. They are applique! The designer is Debra Gabel of Zebra Patterns. You should click on her name and check out her site sometime – oh my does she have some amazing patterns!!! I plan to do these using Beth Ferrier’s Hand Applique by Machine technique. She came to the Music City Guild a few years ago and taught us this technique, and this project will give me the perfect opportunity to practice it. Hopefully I’ll be able to share some of that with you as I work them.

As for the Stash Report – I have a HUGE amount of fabric to count in my “Used” column from all the destashing I did this past week - YOOHOO!!!  You can read more about that process HERE. I was frankly shocked when I added it all up and saw the totals…... Wow! So here’s my report for this week:

Stash Enhancement Report - September 2, 2012 

Used/Destashed this week: 93.00 yards

Used/Destashed YTD 2012: 195.75 yards

Stashed this week: 12.50 yards

Stashed YTD 2012: 192.00 yards

Net Used for 2012: 3.75 yards

Woohoo - finally in the black!  And even though I did not sew up all that fabric, I did accomplish a much needed reorganization of my stash to make it more workable for me and the projects I want to focus on in the future.  I'm a happy camper!!!  Have you done any stash enhancing or destashing? Share it with us by linking up with Patchwork Times!

Happy Labor Day holiday everyone! Stay safe & keep a lookout for flying geese :*)

Also linking up with the following really fun blogs! ......

Hugs & Blessings,
Teresa
=^..^=