TRICK or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone that is going out trick-or-treating or to a party has fun and stays warm and safe.

For us, we got a trick today. This afternoon I noticed it was getting kinda cool in the house so I went to turn up the thermostat. Nothing happened. The furnace is broke...again. We just had a board replaced in March or April. The thing is only 9 years old. So we're going to wait it out until Monday so we don't have to pay the "emergency" fee. Hopefully the wind dies down and it warms up tomorrow like the weatherman forecasted. Until then, good thing I have all these quilts and a hubby to snuggle under/with!

Weekend Goals

I'd like to say "Weekend Sewing Goals", but hubby has other plans again.

• First and foremost....enlarge the goat pen and get the partition finished in their new house. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.
• Trip to the dump to drop off recyclables.
• Finish the "C" log cabin blocks.
• Finish loading Nature's Chorus to the quilting frame.
• Check out a new BBQ restaurant (Saturday night).
• Laundry
• Sunday go to MIL's house to watch the Packers game.

There's more that could be done, but I think I'll start with this.

Log Cabin Progress

28 blocks are done. 28 Block "Cs" are almost done.

Practice Scarf

I'm slowly making progress on my practice scarf. When I can, I do several rows during lunch at work or when we're watching TV at night.

Morning Splash - Option 2

I pulled a different green and a red. I think I like the other green from the previous post. I still have some time to decide. Plus I have a box of fabric coming tomorrow.

Morning Splash Quilt-Along

Judy L. is going to be starting another quilt-along of her Morning Splash quilt. Since I really, really need to use some stash because I have a huge box of fabric arriving on Friday, I started pulling fabrics for mine. I don't want mine to look exactly like Judy's so I pulled out some orange that I want to use up. After looking at the picture of my fabrics I'm wondering if I should swap out the light green for a red to have another "cool" color? What do you think?

If You Build It, They Will Come

This past weekend and the last two nights we have been working on building a new goat house/storage shed. Now that we have three goats, their old house is no longer big enough. We bought a kit from Menards and "beefed" it up a little bit since the sheet metal was pretty flimsy. The goat area is 5 ft x 10 ft and the rest will be used for storing their food and hay and hubby's go-karts. We put all of it together in the (heated) garage except for the roof.

Here is Little Miss Zoey checking out hubby's carpentry skills for their door which he had to cut out of the sheet metal.

Here is Buddy checking out their area inside the house. We still need to put fence up to keep the goats on their side.

The front of the shed.

The back with the goat door.

If it doesn't rain, this weekend we'll work on making their "grazing" area bigger and build a little wall around the goat door to block the wind/snow.

Did You See????

Did you see the newest BOM at Fat Quarter Shop?!?! It's called Vintage Memories, a pattern by Sherri Falls of This & That (the same designer of the Cobblestone Lane pattern) and uses Moda 3 Sisters' Martinique fabric collection.

It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm already signed up. Now I have to wait until APRIL! Good thing Cobblestone Lane will keep me busy until then (if it ever gets here!!).

Week #43 Stash Report

The Devil made me do it! No, that will never work. I was hoardinggathering fabric because I believe we're in for a long, cold winter. Oh heck, who am I kidding. I went to the quilt shop that closed today and bought 30 yards of fabric. There I said it. I feel no remorse or guilt, I had a GREAT time and most of the fabric is for a project. Plus, how could I pass up $4/yd?!?!? On a positive note, it took 43 weeks before my net usage was a positive number. I also heard that there were some other stashbusters who had S.E.X. (get your mind out of the gutter...it stands for Stash Enhancing eXperience) this week. I couldn't let them have all the fun, could I?

Left pile, front brown fabric is for the Gobble Gobble backing, the next two browns are batiks for two new patterns I bought, and the R/W/B squares will probably be backing for a future QOV. The red, pink and stripes are to go along with some FQ bundles that I have. The green floral is for Winter White Schnibbles pattern that I'm going to make with Shangri-la fabric and the other fabrics are "just because".


I did use some stash again this week to help my numbers a little. I made the backing for Nature's Chorus which was 3.25 yards and cut another 3 yards for the log cabin blocks. I have two more fabrics to cut for the log cabin blocks, plus the stripe for the border.

Here are my numbers to date:

• Fabric Added: +30 yards
• Fabric Added to Date: +149.50 yards
• Fabric Used: -6.25 yards
• Fabric Used to Date (goal 150): -141.00 yards
• Net Used: -8.50 yards

Goals this Week:

• Continue working on He Loves My Daisies
• Finish loading Natures Chorus onto quilting frame

News Bulletin

We interrupt your sewing plans today because we need to work on this (see below) this weekend. That's what I heard from hubby yesterday when I got home early from work. "This" is the beginning of the new house for the goats. Now that we have three goats and Buddy keeps growing, we needed to build something bigger. It's "small" enough that we could start it in the nice, heated garage since it's cold and rainy outside. We got the base and the framing for the building done.

First thing this morning we started on the walls. We have plenty of work left to do on it. The metal is pretty flimsy so we need to reinforce it on the inside some. Half of it will be for the goats and the other half will be storage. The roof will be put on outside or else we won't get it out of the garage.

There was a little bit of sewing today though. Hubby's friend came over and they worked on the race car they're restoring. So I got to SEW!! I finished the 24 "A" log cabin blocks (below). Only 30 more blocks to go. I'll be glad when these are done. I'm ready for something different.

Halloween Giveaway!!!

Brenda at Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shop is giving away these gorgeous fat quarters! They remind me of the Snow Wonderland quilt I made last year for a friend. Yummy!

Waiting

I'm still patiently waiting for my first Cobblestone Lane BOM block. :0(

I emailed the shop the other day asking when they anticipated shipping the first block. I got an email back saying they're still waiting for the fabric to arrive. I was afraid of that. I hadn't seen any Aster Manor yardage when I was on the shop hop at the beginning of October so I figured it was going to be a while. They said they'll send out an email if the first block won't go out this month. My fingers are crossed that it'll be soon. I've been waiting since July for this fabric to come out!

Another Finish

Yesterday I finished loading Hot Cross to the quilting frame and within 1/2 hour it was quilted. I finished the binding late afternoon. That's two finishes in a week. I knew once it got colder out that I'd start getting that flimsie piled knocked down!

The pattern is called Hot Cross. It's a Schnibbles pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. The fabric is Patisserie by Fig Tree Quilts.

Week #42 Stash Report

I'm back on track this week. No new fabric this week. I cut the last pink fabric for He Loves My Daisies and I quilted and bound Hot Cross to use 2.75 yards. I have cut quite a bit of fabric already for He Loves My Daisies, but I still have the star and cream fabrics to go. No wonder it took up so much space in the closet! I have two more "logs" to add and then Block A will be complete.

Although November will be very busy at work, I definitely think I can reach my goal of 150 yards used this year. I don't think I'm going to make my goal of net used though, may even end up with more added (but it'll be close). See, I won a gift certificate from an online shop, and I need to use it by the end of the year. I haven't place an order yet, but I have been looking at my options! ;0)

Here are my numbers to date:

• Fabric Added: 0 yards
• Fabric Added to Date: 119.50 yards
• Fabric Used: 2.75 yards
• Fabric Used to Date (goal 150): 134.75 yards
• Net Used: 15.25 yards

Goals this Week:

• Continue working on He Loves My Daisies
• Make backing for Natures Chorus top and load onto quilting frame

A Finish!!!

Snapshots in the Pink is finished and Samoyed approved. It feels great to finally have another finish. Update: I forgot to give credit to the designer of the pattern. The pattern is called Snapshots and it's from the Happy Hour book by Atkinson Designs. The fabric for the blocks was from an In The Pink FQ bundle. I used stash fabric for the border.

The backing is ready for Hot Cross, it just needs to be loaded on the frame. It's pretty small so it should quilt up quickly.

Week #41 Stash Report

I'm starting a trend here.....lucky number 7! I added another 7 yards this week when I went to a local quilt shop that will be closing in a couple of weeks. How could I pass up 40% off on books, patterns and 40-50% off on fabric (but only if you bought 2 yard cuts)?!?! Last year I would have probably brought home 30 yards. Not to say that I won't go back the final week, but we'll see.

I cut 3 more yards of fabric for He Loves My Daisies. I finally quilted a top yesterday! I looked at my notes and I loaded the backing for this top in March! I was worried that my Voyager would be mad for ignoring it for so long, but apparently it liked having the spring/summer off because it worked like a dream! 3/4 of a yard was cut for binding.

Here are my numbers to date:

• Fabric Added: 7.00 yards
• Fabric Added to Date: 119.50 yards
• Fabric Used: 3.75 yards
• Fabric Used to Date (goal 150): 132.00 yards
• Net Used: 12.50 yards

Goals this Week: Continue working on He Loves My Daisies, finish binding Snapshots in the Pink, and load another top for quilting.

Show 'N Tell - 10/10

We've skipped fall and gone right to winter! I can't believe we have flurries today!!! Yuck! But on a bright note, look at my bright red tree and the little orangish one! I absolutely love them. Hopefully in spring we'll get more planted.

After finishing my hat (which hubby thought it was for the Travelocity gnome...grrrr), I was going to start on a sweater. That was until I realized that I wasn't doing the ribbing right. So I began to play which has turned into this. I goofed up the third row, but now have gotten into a rhythm. I'm planning on making it into a scarf. I'm liking it!

I decided today I had to get some quilting done too. Last night I got the batting ready and bobbins wound so I could get going first thing this morning. So I finally got my Voyager going and we zipped this top out in record time. Of course the boys had to help me out. Here's Riley lying right in front of the frame....reminding me when I was almost to the end. Now to get the binding made.

Week #40 Stash Report

It was a pretty good week! Let me start by saying I went shop hopping this week, and I added 4 yards of Animal Party fabric which will be a quilt for my nephew. That may seem like a lot but in the past I would have bought 20 or 30 yards so I think I did a great job! My monthly FQ bundle (Aster Manor!!!!) came which added another 3 yards.

I also used 4.75 yards of fabric this week for the borders on Alpha Buddies, a little bag, and the center and round 1 of He Loves My Daisies. So like I said it was a good week!

Here are my numbers to date:

Fabric Added: 7.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 112.50 yards
Fabric Used: 4.75 yards
Fabric Used to Date (goal 150): 128.25 yards
Net Used: 15.75 yards

My goal for the week is to continue cutting fabric for He Loves My Daisies and sew round 2 on.

Round 1 Done

Round 1 (all 54 centers) of the He Loves My Daisies log cabin blocks is complete.

Today I drove to The Quilted Basket, Patched Works, and Bigby's Sewing Center. I'm glad I don't live closer to the first two because I'd be broke. Although I wanted to buy more, I behaved myself and only bought a couple patterns and some 1/2 yards of Animal Party to go along with the kit I bought the other day. I couldn't remember what colors were in the kit. I see I have quite a bit of green so I'll need to get another cream and maybe a gold to go with it.

A Completion & A Finish

The Alpha Buddies is now a completed top. I decided to start Please Don't Eat the Daisies made from the He Loves Me collection, both from Animas Quilts (Jackie Robinson). It freed up a bit of space in the closet!!! According to the receipt, I bought it in March 2007. So it's about time I worked on it.

I also completed my "no longer a secret project"....my knit hat. It makes me look like I have a conehead. The actual pattern calls for a tassle at the top which I didn't do and ribbing at the bottom. I didn't pay attention when I was sewing the piece together because my "lines" don't match up....but for my first project I think it's alright. It's finished after all!!! I am planning on starting a sweater next but I have a couple questions about the instructions so I need to get some help first. But I also saw a pattern for some gloves that look tempting too.

Let the Shop Hop Begin

Tonight I started quilt shop hopping. I only went to one shop, and I only bought two patterns. Tomorrow I'll go to a couple more. I don't plan on going to all of the shops that are participating because some don't carry the type of fabrics/style that I like.

The topic of insurance came up the other day regarding your stash/quilting stuff. Whether all of your fabric, etc. would be covered under your regular home owner's insurance or if you need to have a list/photos. So I started taking inventory of my patterns and books so I can be more organized (and also so I do not end up buying two of something).

I also did some sewing. I finished sewing the rows together on Alpha Buddies. Only two borders and it can join the huge pile of tops to be quilted. ;0) Have I said before how dang cute these blocks are? The only thing I thought was interesting was for the letter "N" they have a Narwhal. Am I the only person who has never heard of a Narwhal before?