Using up Stash

I always feel a sense of accomplishment mixed with a little sadness when I make a quilt that uses up some of my stash.  I'm happy to reduce the amount of fabric lining my shelves.  That's a good thing.  Really.  At the same time, when I finish off a piece of fabric, I always get this niggling little thought of 'what if I need that exact fabric in the future?'

I have to continually fight this feeling when I make a quilt from stash, because truly, there will always be something similar or the same on the market in the future.  I have to get over that contrary need to hoard my stash.

In this effort, I have finally made a stash quilt that didn't leave me feeling a little sad.  Maybe because it isn't made from colors I tend to feel territorial about.  Made mostly from beiges, creams, yellows and peaches, it definitely came from a portion of my stash I don't feel proprietary with.

This is the quilt I made from stash.  Even the bright orange pumpkins which are bamboo felt rather than cotton (used because I am allergic to wool - though I would have preferred a more subtle color of wool for those pumpkins) were leftovers from another quilt.  The only piece I bought for the quilt was the outer border (the beige leaf fabric).  I couldn't find anything in my stash that worked for that final element of the quilt, and even Stashbusters allows border and backgrounds to be purchased, asking us only to use the rest of the fabrics from our stash.  So, that said, all the background as well as quilt elements were made from stash on this one.

I was actually a little surprised I found so many beiges, creams and yellows in my stash that all blended and worked together so well. 

The quilting was done by Stovers, who did an excellent job highlighting the Autumn theme of the quilt.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with it.  I'd like to hang it in the fall, but I don't have a large enough wall.

I am working on two block-of-the-month projects, one by mail, one at my LQS.  Time to plan another quilt I can make from my stash.

Here's a couple of the latest BOM projects as works in progress:

This is the apple basket block from 'Autumn Joy'  

and the bunny block from Woodland Creatures.

I don't have to worry about using stash or not on any of these, as the fabrics are provided with the patterns each month.  Just have to get them done.

However, right now it's too hot to think much about quilting.  100+ degrees is definitely NOT quilting weather.  And the humidity is killer, making it seem much hotter than it is, even.  Hope it's cooler wherever you are.

Happy quilting, y'all, and use that stash!!!  It's uplifting!

Finishing Touches

Finally done with Midnight Garden, a sampler quilt I began as a block of the month some two years or so ago in a class.  Got the binding and sleeve on in the past two days, and it's ready for the county fair. 

Done in my favorite colors of purple green and orange.  I have another quilt for the fair as well, but I didn't get the binding on in time, so it will have to wait for next year.  I will be putting one of my kimono quilts into the fair this year also.  Since the brightly coloured one is hanging in the local quilt shop, I will put in the indigo kimono quilt, though I'm not quite happy with the cherry blossom embellishments.

I may also put my wolf quilt in, but only if it can go in a different category from the kimonos.  I will have to check on that before I make a decision.

Tomorrow I have to run the quilts out to the fair.  I will take my husband with me to share the drive.  It will be a fun day regardless of the looming deadline.  I hate deadlines.  

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

I drove up to Sisters Oregon for the quilt show the whole town puts on every July.  I came up with two dear friends, Debbie and Marlyn.  We spent our first night in Redding, CA on our way up, and arrived in Bend the afternoon before the show.  We visited a couple of quilt shops in Bend, then returned to the hotel.  I was very good and didn't buy any fabric.

After a relaxing evening, we woke early and drove to Sisters at 5:30 am.  We had an early breakfast at the Ski Inn in Sisters, then relaxed in the car a bit while they hung the quilts around town.  Finally we walked up and down the main street, Cascade Ave.  I separated from them for a bit to walk to the town library to meet up with other Stashbusters.  That was wonderful to put faces to names and meet all the lovely ladies.  We had a nice chat, took a group photo, then split up again to view more quilts.  I met up with my friends for lunch at the Agave Grill.  Lunch was yummy and we drove to the other end of town to visit the quilt store, which had been too crowded to get into in the morning.  The Stitchin' Post was a very nice quilt shop with a lot of cute things, but I was very good and didn't buy anything except a tote bag with the logo of the Sisters Quilt Show on it.

We decided we were tuckered out and headed back to our hotel in Bend.  On the way, Debbie spotted a sign that read 'Quilter's Sale' on the side of the road.  We decided to check it out and found a lovely and sweet lady who was selling off her collection of kits and fabrics and machines and miscellany from the B&B from which she used to run quilt retreats.  I made my first real purchases of the trip - a kit to make a dragon quilt and a couple of pieces of fabric, all at great savings.

We got back on the road to Bend, visited Bend's third, and final, quilt shop before returning to our hotel.  We've been watching movies and relaxing, since then, recovering from the long walk this morning. 

Tomorrow we visit the Quilt Expo in Redmond, Or, a new show the same weekend as the Sisters show, except it is an indoor show with vendors.  We'll spend one more night in Bend before heading home, again stopping in Redding, CA on the way.

I love the Marriott in Redding because they have a hotel cat named Jack, who makes me feel more at home and miss my own kitties a little less.

I have been having a glorious time, traveling and chatting with my friends along the way, and we have been great support for each other not buying unnecessary things, though I did buy a little gift for my secret pal in one of the cute little gift shops in Sisters.  At least I haven't bought a bunch of unnecessary fabric... and believe me when I say there was a lot of fabric that we saw that I REALLY wanted!!!  I was strong and resisted...  Hopefully I will be as strong when we hit the vendor's booths tomorrow at the show in Redmond!

Love that Aurifil Thread!!! part 2

So, someone asked for pics of all that Aurifil thread.  I couldn't even fit all 6 drawers of thread into a single picture, but I did take a couple of pics of the box and the drawers.

 This is the box, all closed up and waiting to be opened... and used!!!

I opened up all three drawers to reveal as much thread as I could get in a single picture. 

I wanted to lay all 6 drawers out and take a picture of all the spools, but my husband said he couldn't get them all in one picture.  Oh well... we took the pictures we could.   The thread is wonderful stuff and I can't wait to get started using it.  I have that appliqued block I posted a picture of in my last post, and that is the one I will be doing the machine stitching on next.  I will probably get around to actually sewing it and getting into the thread when I return from my trip to Sisters, OR on the 15th. 

Yes, I am going to the quilt show in Sisters, my first trip there.  I've heard it's a wonderful show, and there is a show the following day not far away, and my friends and I will be attending that show as well... I look forward to them both! 

And when I return, I will get to sew sew sew with my new Aurifil thread!!!

New Finishes...

Two quilts are 'almost done'.  They just need binding, but I don't have the right colors in my stash to bind them with - so it's off to the quilt store for me (oh horrors, whatever shall I do?  lol). 

This quilt is called 'Paris Cats' because the focus fabric has cats in Paris on it.  The whole quilt is a little too pink for my tastes, so perhaps I will gift it to someone who likes cats AND pink.  It will make a nice table-topper for someone with a large round or square table (mine is rectangular, unfortunately),  

'Pumpkin Hill' was designed by Bunny Hill Designs, and has squirrels on it, so I HAD to do it (I just love squirrels - almost as much as I love cats).  Anyway, I made this quilt and it's now ready for binding... Hopefully it will be done in time to get it into the County Fair this year.

Love that Aurifil Thread!!!

So I've been buying Aurifil 50 wt thread one spool at a time for my applique - often waiting days for a spool to be delivered so I can complete some bit of applique top stitching.  I decided I was wasting a ton of money on shipping and such.  I discovered that Aurifil has this awesome treasure Chest of Drawers... Filled with their small spools of every color thread they make!!! 

I simply HAD to order it right away.  It arrived about a week ago.  It's WONDERFul, but it has no handles to carry it to classes/retreats/and the like.

I learned there is a wonderful place in Australia that was offering a pattern for a carrier bag to fit the chest of drawers if you ordered from them.  Unfortunately, I couldn't afford the shipping from Oz to the US, but I contacted the shop in Australia anyway, and they very sweetly sent me the pattern anyway.  They are called Always Quilting and I highly recommend them, not only as a wonderful and well-stocked online shop, but as wonderful people too.

I made the bag for my thread and it fits perfectly, though I did have to do a little finagling to convert from metric to inches, it still sewed up quick and easy and with no problems, even though I am a novice at making bags.

Here are some pics of my new bag:

Here's the bag just standing up looking all spiffy with the box of thread inside.  I used a prequilted fabric because I was too lazy to quilt my own, lol... though I'm sure it would have been better to use up some stash.  I saw this green and purple and cream print, and I just LOVE green and purple together and I had to use it.

Here's the bag laying down with the box of thread inside.  You can JUST make out the Aurifil logo on the right side of the box.

Here's a view showing the inside of the bag, more green and purple fabric... *love it!* but I wanted the stripe on the outside, I thought it would be more interesting.

I posted some pictures of the actual box of thread and the drawers here.


Anyway, that's what I've been doing with my quilting time.  Not very productive of late, but I am gearing up for my trip to Sisters, OR for the quilt show there, and haven't been doing a lot of quilting.  I did make another Woodland Creatures block, but I haven't done the edge stitching or embroidery on the block yet.

The new block is a bluejay, with some flowers, leaves and praying mantis... that little brown blob at the bottom left is a beetle, which will have legs and antennae after I do the hand embroidery.  Right now, it's just a brown blob though, lol...

Anyway, that's my quilting journey of late... Hope yours is alive and well.

The Joy of Little Quilts

So I've become a bit obsessed with those little card holders and now I've made four of them, with a few more ready to cut and sew.  I just can't seem to stop.  I haven't decided yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 

It's keeping me somewhat busy - though not too much, since they are SO quick to make - but I really only had use for three - one for me and one each for friends having birthdays soon.  I suppose I can save them for other gifts or something... but really, how many do I REALLY need to make???

I suppose I could find something else to do - like layer and start quilting on a couple of raw edge applique quilts that I have backs all ready for, but that sounds like too much work - having to cut the batting!  Woe is me.   Actually, I'm just being overdramatic - it's not that big a deal to cut the batting for them, I'm being lazy though. 

I have lots of quilts that need backs made too, but that DOES sound like a lot of work to me.  I simply detest making backs... I usually piece them out of scraps, so my backs are as pieced as my fronts sometimes.  But I also have large pieces for making single-fabric backs, so the piecing is not an excuse... I just really hate working with that much fabric at once.   I guess that's one of the reasons I love making blocks, but hate putting them together.  Also one of the reasons I've stopped making huge (like King and Queen sized) quilts.

I notice a definite trend on my part lately to make wall-hangings or lap quilts.  I think I'm just 'over' bed quilts.  I hate wrestling with that much fabric - and I don't mean just for the quilting process, I mean for piecing too.  I like little quilts.  They are fun.  They are fast. 

Hope you are having a quilty day.