Stash Reduction Report

It's only been 5 days for this new year,,, but WHOO HOO - I got thru the weekend ( and a holiday weekend to boot! ) without,, yes WITHOUT ,,, buying any fabric!! That is a big step for me! ( yes, I am a Fabricaholic and my name is Beth )

So my stash report is pretty dismal
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Fabric Used this Week: 0.0 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 0.0 yards

It's not that I haven't been sewing,,, but that what I have worked on is a kit,, so I'm not going to count that. I also have been working on my Judy Niemeyer quilt so I think I'll see what I have on that since I never counted it last year. Also have a Turning Twenty that wasn't counted. Hey! I can fudge on things that were started last year, right?

But my biggest accomplishment is NOT BUYING FABRIC!!!

REDUCTION

Yes, Reduction -- both in pounds and STASH!! I am determined to use up what I have, make the quilts that are in my head and stay out of the stores!! My enabler friends ( and you know who you are! LOL ) are just going to have to understand !!

So, guess I will keep a thingy on the side of my blog to keep track of it.

Judy Laquidara has a great blog for helping with this http://www.patchworktimes.com/stashbusting-in-2009/ and she even has a pledge that I printed out and will hang right next to my sexy guy picture ( we can go into THAT later! ). But, I have to use it... I have no desire to win the prize for having the most fabric! Guess I'll start thinking about what my rules are going to be --

Want to join me?

My Weekend Sewing

I hope everyone is having a great New Year's Weekend! I am enjoying the 4 days off from work - doing lots of sleeping, television watching ( husband has the remote, so there is more television surfing ! ) but not much sewing! Four days off and I'm NOT getting anything done - or at least not what I think I should get done. I was going to do a mystery quilt that was being done by one of my Yahoo groups, FabricaholicsAnonymous and also start on the Quiltville mystery. I have fabrics pulled for both of them ( and no trip to the store for anything! ) but I haven't cut a single thing. The Quiltville mystery is sort of an ongoing one, and her patterns will use up lots of stash! The Fabricaholics is a New Years Eve mystery,,, think I will print out the pattern and make it later.

All is not lost though,,, I have been working on the quilt that I started at retreat the first of December. I never showed anything that I did when there, but now all the blocks are finished ( all 120 of them ). This was a kit that I picked up at the local quilt shop by our retreat place,,, I wasn't so crazy about the pattern but loved the colors of the fabrics used. This is it laid out on the living room floor - color could be a little better in the picture - the lights are all different neutrals, its a very scrappy quilt. There is a great floral that will be the border and pulls all the colors together. You can see my Schnoodle, walking across the layout. GEE, thanks Webster!!! as I'm taking pictures, he decides that this is just the best place to roll around, LOL guess he likes the quilt already! Silly puppy,,, ( I couldn't help but laugh at him,,, he looked at me as if to say " What's the problem?"

Well, I put it all back together and the rows are all ready to be put together.

I WILL GET THIS DONE THIS WEEKEND!!! (( see my resolve??!! ))

The Final Saga

Well, Christmas is over and I'm full of turkey and ham - just the thought of those two meats makes me go 'EEWWW"... what we have left is going in the trash... I'm thinking a good greasy burger would be wonderful!

We had a wonderful time at my son's house - it's big and roomy and everyone has room to move around and -- most important -- since The Most Amazing Grandson and The Most Precious Granddaughter live there, they don't have to completely be on their best behaviour! They are at home and it makes it SO much easier!

I won't go blow-by-blow of the gifts but the quilts for these two were big hits! The Most Precious Granddaughter fell in love with hers and I got a great big hug and kiss! Everyone oohhed and aahhhed when she opened it and she looked really really happy! See her pose!
The Most Amazing Grandson was so cute when he opened his... he reached into the big bag and pulled out the quilt and just hugged it to him saying "My turtule quilt!" brought tears to my eyes ( most things do nowadays ) I think he was very happy to have his quilt all done and he could wrap up in it... See the missing teeth!
Yes, they are truly amazing kids....
OH, I did put labels on both quilts, too! and I even named the quilts! Gee, I did good this time!
I printed them on Printed Treasure fabric sheets and sewed them to the backs. The labels were like these but a little different. I didn't like the purple background but couldn't figure out how to change it - the Turtle Quilt is named "Have you seen my turtle" and of course the other is Precious Little Princess. Thanks tirane for the name!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that Santa was good to all of you. New Year's is coming and there are a couple of mystery quilts I'm thinking of following - no nono no,,, I will not get them sewed this weekend, but I could start them I guess. Hey! what's one more unfinished project, hey?

till later


aka The Wonderful Grandmother

RETREAT TIME!!

gee, it's been a while since I have posted anything -- ya'll might think I was either REALLLLLYY busy or just nothing was fun and frivilous in my life. -- Well, we did have Thanksgiving ( which was great, by the way ) and then there is that thing called 'work' that I have to attend to on a daily basis but I did get to go to RETREAT!! I just love retreats!!

I belong to a pretty large bee - guess there is about 20 of us,, might be more but I haven't counted lately - and we are so lucky,,, yes, so very lucky,,, to have our own special retreat house! One of our founding members decided that her life calling was to open a retreat house,,, just about an hour away from where we all live, out in the country ( you can even see cows in the pasture sometimes! ). Well,,, it's called CREATE-AWAY COTTAGE -- click on the link and see what we get to go visit! It is just the most perfect place I know of to get with friends and relax and just escape from the daily life grind.

Ok,,, the retreat is Friday thru Sunday,,, I get lucky and take Friday off - (( that in itself is enough to make me jump with joy !! )),,, I have a hair appointment at 8, figure that takes about 2 hours, then the drive up to retreat,, aahh I should be there about 11. Great timing! AND I have ALL DAY to sew, nap, read eat,, whatever I want to do!
Well, to get there from the beauty shop,,, I decided to take a toll road. Now,,, I don't every have to drive a toll road, can count on one hand the times I have been on a toll road,,, I didn't know you have to pay money to GET ON the toll road!! I thought you paid when you got off!!

Oh MY,,, I screech to a stop at the little booth,,, no attendant,,, GADS do I have any change ??? OMG what do I do ??
Well, I found some change ( only needed 40 cents,,, had dollars but change was scarce ) SO,, found a quarter, two dimes,,, ok, that's too much but who cares,,, throw it in the basket -- DO YOU THINK I CAN HIT THE BASKET ??? NO BLOOMING WAY does it go in the basket !! AARRRGGHHH
by this time I have someone behind me,,, then this BELL starts making noise... can you see my frustration!! I NEED MORE CHANGE ( and thoughts of "what happens if I just drive thru this @@**#&# thing?" ) what a way to start off my perfect weekend!

ok,, I found some more change,,, feed that darn basket, light turns green, bell quits ringing,,, I"M OFF!!!

there were several more toll booths, they all had attendants,, my dollar bills worked just fine,, I got to retreat!!

I think that we had 16 total show up... one member came to visit and crochet and take us on a field trip to her new OMG cabin by the lake and see the OMG boat that they have,,, gee,,, talk about a RETREAT!! How much fun to have a place to go and sit by the lake, take the boat out,, aahhh,,, what a life!

There were lots of projects that were finished, worked on, started. Thought I would share some pictures



This is a pattern called "FRACTIONS" I think, done in batiks,,, this is a wall hanging that was made for a contest PAIR/PEAR,,, if you look closely, it is an outline of her daughters faces... now how cool and creative is this!

I just love this wall hanging,, I think the pattern was a Patrick Lose ( is that the right spelling?) raw edge machine applique,, she put some special stitches in places, you will have to look close to see. But she started it at retreat, finished it, quilted it and I think even got the binding on! Speedy Gonzales!
This one is made for a purple contest,,, I just love foundation piecing - and the book that this came from was something I would like to add to my library... This one is being made for someone who has an interest in space,,, cool focus fabric I didn't get a shot of the borders that she is going to use,,, we picked colors and laid some different things out ( a big design wall is great to work on! ) I think the layout of colors sorta looks like "day going into night"...
these two are great, aren't they!! and this one is made with batiks that have shots of gold in them,,, BEAUTIFUL! I like this one,,, I can see so many different color combinations -- gotta get that pattern OH and look at this one!!! Have you seen the Braid quilts?? this one is a little miniture ( is that how you spell it?),, so cool! This is one that was just started,,, I love the colors.. and this one is very spring'y... it was a jelly roll pattern and she finished the top on this -- why can't I sew that fast?? and this one was already finished and it is pinned for quilting - isn't it wonderful?? I just love the colors that she used - send it my way! I'm sure I missed some of the other great stuff that was being created... these are only shots of the things I saw on the design walls, or that was being displayed. I didn't even put in the one quilt I was working on! I had a kit that I bought at the local quilt shop at the last retreat, cut it out before I left, and spent all weekend sewing pieces together... almost all the blocks are finished - almost - but there is nothing yet to share.


One of our ladies decided that we all needed FRESH BAKED SUGAR COOKIES!! yyuuummmm !!! so she got the flour, sugar and all that stuff ( no manufactured roll cookies for us! ) and even made icing!! I think everyone had a hand in the decorating... well, fiddlesticks,,, I had these in the right order, then messed with them, now they are out of order, but you get the idea! We had some little bitty gingerbread men too,,, that were 'anatomically correct',,, but I thought I had better not post those! (( hehehe,,, little gingerbread men with little gingerbread thingys !! cute! )

We also had our annual Christmas gift exchange. We were given a name and we had to buy a gift that started with the letter of the person's first name... I saw this somewhere on the web, I think, and it was really fun. Like, if the name you get is Martha,,, buy something for Martha that starts with the letter "M"... it was a big hit.

Lots of fun was had by all,, we talked, sewed, ate, ate, sewed, talked, ate some more... I hope that when you go to retreat you have a great group to go with and that you have as much fun as we do!

When is the next one ????