January 2013 "Get It Done"

I have so many unfinished projects that I decided to join Judy's monthly "Get It Done" challenge.

January's 4 goals are:
1)

To make a donation quilt top out of these 25 9 patch blocks. It will be something easy like just adding sashing. I made these blocks from left over bits from a quilt I made my niece when she got married almost 6.5 years ago.  This might go to Ronald's House for a teen.

2)

To sew down the rick rack on all these blocks - around 35-40 of them. I did sew them down the center, then decided that I had better sew them down along each side as I didn't want it to curl up when washed. This quit has been waiting for 5+ years. I saw the quilt at a county fair and loved it so much that I searched all over for  the fabric so I could make one. Not sure if I still like it, but I hope to finish it this year. Not sure where it will end up. Maybe I will fall in love with it again.

3)

Sew two rows on my scrappy apple core quilt, I only have two rows sewn together so far. I have all the pieces cut out. I have made a few lap size donation apple core quilts in the past and my mother asked if I would make one for her bed. Maybe this will be finished in time for Christmas.

4)

I was in a swap a few years back and never did anything with the blocks. I am going to put them together with sashing and call it finished. I think there are either 25 or 30 blocks. This quilt will be a donation.

I  think I feel more comfortable only having three items on my list, but I will try for the 4 as Judy suggested for the first month and see how it goes.

Dec 30th 2012 Stash Report

Happy New Year!

Hope this New Year brings you and your family much joy and happiness.

I came across this blog last Sunday. You really need to check it out. I am so inspired by Janeen. Her quilts are just my style, "beautifully simple".  If you read through her posts you will find some pretty great places to donate quilts to. I couldn't find any place to post a reply or a place to email her, so if you are visiting her blog and find an email, please let me know.

I finished these quilts for Sarah's quilt ministry. The first quilt used 2 charm packs and some yardage, for a total of 7.5 yards. It finished at 72x63 before washing. It went together easily. The charm squares and border are from Moda's Rooftop Garden.

This scrappy star quilt finished at about 77x92 before washing and used about 13 yards

I save all my extra charms and the charms I make from scraps in a shoebox and when there is a lot of variety I make a charming star quilt. Easy to piece.

I saw this quilt on Alycia's blog and knew I wanted to make one. Friday I made it....

It is about 52 inches square and used almost 6 yards of fabric. Fast and quick. Here is the pattern...

Bill got me another quilt rack for Christmas....I really love these racks.

You can order one from Deanna's dad.  I am thinking I need one more to put near the living room to hang lap quilts on.

This past year all my donation quilts that didn't go to QOV or Ronald's House went to  Sarah's Ministry.
In 2013 all my extra donation quilts will be going to Margaret's Hope Chest.

Finally decided on my 2013 Goals:

1) I am planning on staying out of quilt shops - there is not one thing I need. No patterns, no thread, no batting, no fabric, no rotary blades, no rulers, no gadgets, nothing. If I don't have it then I do not need it. There isn't any reason for me to visit a shop in town or online. I guesstimated how much fabric I have and I will never come close to using it all. The folks who get my quilts don't know if the fabric is brand new or 6 years old, they only know that someone out there in the world cares enough about them to make them a quilt. I will be unsubscribing to all emails from quilt stores, if I don't see it I won't be tempted.

2) make 12 QOVs

3) make 12 Ronald McDonald's quilts

4) finish 5 quilts I have already begun

5) learn to paper piece

I think these goals are very doable and am looking forward to getting started.

2012.......

Used - 474.78 yards

Added -155 yards 

Net Used YTD - 319.78 yards

Quilts finished in 2012 - 50

My goals for 2012 are simple~

1 - make one QOV each month. 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Yippee!!!!!

2 - make one quilt for Ronald McDonald's House each month

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec plus 3

3 - finish one already started quilt each month 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

4 - if I complete the above 3 goals each month I can start one new quilt 

 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15

See how others are busting their stash over at Patchwork Times.

December 23, 2012 Stash Report and Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

One more stash report to go for this year.

On Tuesdays my mother's caregiver comes and I have to opportunity to go out, alone, by myself! This week I went to the bank, the post office, got tags for the car, got my fingerprints taken (2nd time) for my gun permit, and that was the end of my errands but I wasn't ready to go home. The only logical place for me to go was the quilt store. I bought 29 yards of fabric for $103! Wow, so glad I went.

The orange (9 yards) is backing for a quilt, not yet planned.

The star fabrics (6 yards each) are for backs of QOVs.

The red with the sheep (2 yards) was too cute not to buy. Only the sheep fabric wasn't on sale.

I am going to wrap it and put it under the tree. Bill hates shopping so I always buy my present and this way I am guaranteed to love it. Bill is always surprised with what he bought me.

I used two yards making two pillow cases. They are for our friend who is a truck driver.

I received a box of fabric from a dear friend on Wednesday.

12 yards of this super cute flannel. Enough for a backing for my bed and for a donation quilt. The colors are so bright and happy.

There are three yards of this sweet heart fabric. The hearts remind me of clouds. I will have to think about the best way to use this on the front of a quilt as it is just too cute to go on the back.




This is how I measure how much fabric a quilt has in it.

Width X Length = A (I add five inches per side for seams)

Divide A by 144 = B

Divide B by 9 = yards used and add amount for binding = total fabric used

I don't go by the amount of fabric the pattern calls for as there is usually little bits of left overs that get used in other quilts and then I wouldn't know what to count or how to count it. This way is much simpler for me.

Used - 447.16 yards

Added -155 yards 

Net Used YTD - 292.16 yards

Quilts finished in 2012 - 47

My goals for 2012 are simple~

1 - make one QOV each month. 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Yippee!!!!!

2 - make one quilt for Ronald McDonald's House each month

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec plus 3

3 - finish one already started quilt each month 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

4 - if I complete the above 3 goals each month I can start one new quilt 

 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12

See how others are busting their stash over at Patchwork Times.

December 16th Stash Report

My granddaughter, Elizabeth, is in the 7th grade this year. Her math teacher, Mr Benton, recently adopted a baby. While on his family's Thanksgiving vacation he died of a heart attack on the plane, he was only 34.

Elizabeth's first thought was that his family needed a quilt. As he was a NY Mets fan, she wanted it blue and orange. Mets fabric is hard to find. I found some for $14 a fat quarter, too expensive so we went with blue and orange fabrics.

We cut out  5.5 inch blocks that she took to school for everyone to sign. Then we made the blocks using the Puzzle Box pattern by Tracey Brookshier.

We also made a NY Mets fleece throw so the mom and baby could snuggle together. Didn't count the fleece in or out.

We took the quilt to the school so it could be on display for a few days before it is given to the family.

I am so very proud of Elizabeth for wanting to honor her teacher's memory with a quilt.

I have come up with my quilting goals for 1013 - pretty similar to this year's goals.

1 - make 12 quilts for QOV
2 - make 12 quilts for Ronald's House
3 - finish some UFOs

Even though I haven't met all my goals for this year, I am really pleased with what I accomplished.

Used - 445.16 yards

Added -111 yards 

Net Used YTD - 334.16 yards

Quilts finished in 2012 - 47

My goals for 2012 are simple~

1 - make one QOV each month. 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Yippee!!!!!

2 - make one quilt for Ronald McDonald's House each month

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec plus 3

3 - finish one already started quilt each month 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

4 - if I complete the above 3 goals each month I can start one new quilt

 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12

See how others are busting their stash over at Patchwork Times.

December 9, 2012 Stash Report

Not a lot of finishes in the past few weeks. I was given an ipad and played on it for hours and hours, downloading different apps, deleting the ones that didn't work. I am not the best with computer skills and had to call the grandgirls for their help and advise. I have got to admit we enjoyed using facetime, once I figured it out. Any apps you think I might want/need?

I did purchase 17 yards of fabric - 12 yards of handed dyed fabric from Vicki for a quilt that will be finished in January or February.

 I sent Vicki a picture of the above rendering of a quilt I wanted to make and she helped me choose the perfect colors I needed to make my quilt sing. I made my quilt with 11 columns to fit our bed and picked a brown for the background. I do have the quilt top made and will be sending it to Alycia for some custom quilting in January. So I won't count the fabric as used until I get the binding on it next year.

I also purchased 5 yards of this fabric, just couldn't resist it.

This fabric went on the back of my 12th and last QOV for 2012.

My granddaughter was here for a few days and wanted to help make a quilt. She picked the pattern and fabrics. I did the cutting and she did the piecing, which had to be redone each evening after she went home. She came back today and with her mother's help, quilted it. I put on the binding. It measures 71 inches square before washing. It is going to Alycia.

Does anyone else think it looks like a giant Swoon block?

I got my new quilt rack. Deanna's dad made it for me (and for a bunch of other folks). I love it! My quilt rack is holding 4 - 100 square inch quilts. It is so sturdy and looks great and is really well made. I was worried that it wouldn't hold 4 large quilts but it does and I couldn't be happier. I am ordering another one.

The heart quilt in the above picture is the 5th quilt I made. I gave it to Bill for Valentine's Day and named it "With All My Hearts". Each heart is made from heart fabric, which was really hard to find in 1996. Bought most of them at the Ben Franklin store.

I feel pretty good about accomplishing most of my goals for this year. I still have a few weeks left and maybe I can check off a few more finished quilts.

Used - 434.16 yards

Added -111 yards 

Net Used YTD - 323.16 yards

Quilts finished in 2012 - 46

My goals for 2012 are simple~

1 - make one QOV each month. 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Yippee!!!!!

2 - make one quilt for Ronald McDonald's House each month

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec plus 3

3 - finish one already started quilt each month 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

4 - if I complete the above 3 goals each month I can start one new quilt

 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11

See how others are busting their stash over at Patchwork Times.

November 18, 2012 Stash Report

First, I bought and used 1 yard of fabric to recover my ironing board. I love it. Since the fabric was bought and ued on the same day I didn't count it in or out.

This QOV is going to Alycia.

It is from the Love of Quilting magazine Sept/Oct 2012, name of pattern is Stars and Stripes. I made the stripes using 1/2 square triangles, the pattern called for curved piecing of the stripes. I really like it. It is 66x80 before washing.

This next quilt is going to Sarah's Ministry.

I have some 1/4 yards of floral fabric, don't know why I bought them. Decided to try the zig zag pattern and the florals were perfect for it. I wanted to make it wider so added a zig zag to each side. I used a soft Kona yellow for the background. This quilt measures 63x68 before washing.

Used - 424.56 yards

Added - 94 yards 

Net Used YTD - 330.56 yards

Quilts finished in 2012 - 45

My goals for 2012 are simple~

1 - make one QOV each month. 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

2 - make one quilt for Ronald McDonald's House each month

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec plus 3

3 - finish one already started quilt each month 

Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec

4 - if I complete the above 3 goals each month I can start one new quilt

 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11

See how others are busting their stash over at Patchwork Times.