What happens in a month...

It's been a big month here. I've gotten my new sewing space settled. It's amazing what a difference having a dedicated space can make! AND all my beautiful fabric out of the totes and closet and where I can SEE it... and more importantly USE it!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to me from TMOMD. This is a great 'for now' sewing table. It was not too expensive (because it's likely to be moved a few times) and will do a great job until we settle in our Forever house one day and I get a fancy table with an air lift and all the other bells and whistles. You might not notice but I even have a small design area behind my machine. And I'm working on a wall hanging.

My 'cutting' table. Yeah, this could use work but the motto (well, one of them) of an Army Wife is 'Semper Gumby'... 'Always Flexible'! Most important to me is that I can put it all away in about ten minutes when we need to have the wide open space of an extra room for guest or whatever.

Quilt #4 from some stash fabric. Actually it's from a kit I decided I was never going to use. Pretty darn cute, if I say so myself.

#5: Bunnies in the Garden

I made this quilt at the request of my mother-in-law for a baby gift. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

See the bunnies hopping around the garden?

And the CUTEST selvage I've ever seen. 

I'm also in love with the Bernina Stitch Regulator!!! Suddenly my least favorite part of making a quilt is no longer the actual quilting (it's the basting process now). This is not perfect but as my wonderful husband says, "It's a quilt. It's handmade. It's not suppose to be perfect." I love that man so much. 

Pieced that back with an extra block I had - just love that little surprise.

And after the wash. Do you wash your quilts before you give them away? I always do... mainly because I like the crinkled up look they get when the batting does that "3% shrink" the package warns of. It helps to hide any quilting imperfections. And lastly, but also pretty important, is that I can see if I have missed anything. Like with this quilt - I missed a whole seam.

And in other news...

When TMOMD gets in from the field I believe we are going to officially start a business. My goal is to be at the Arts and Craft show the post puts on in the fall and maybe have an online store front carrying things I have made. Hence, all the baby/toddler quilts. They come together pretty quickly. I also have some other things I hope are unique to our military community in mind to make. With that in mind I've been picking up a good bit of fabric on sale when I see something I like. And I have not kept up with how much... exactly. Sooo, I'm calling it quits from doing a stash report. Especially since I've been working a lot with precuts and I'm not sure what the yardage on that is. And maybe since I'm actually going through a bit of fabric (I pulled out all my batting and backing and have quilts those first four quilts all bundled together to get finished) I don't feel like I need to do it anymore. So I am taking a break. 

And now my sick child is calling. No, I don't think she's actually sick any more - but she was sick all night long. I'm so thankful the light of morning brought the end of her nocturnal projection. Too much junk yesterday perhaps. But I think I will go read to her while she enjoys a warm bath. 

Stitch on, my friends.

Quilt #3 and a Name

Here is top #3 for 2013. It gives me no end of satisfaction to be able to say I've got three quilt tops out of the way. It makes me happy.

While I was quilting this on my new machine I thought, "This will be my first Bernie quilt."

And just like that she had a name.

Bernie, my first Bernina.

I am not so naive to think that this could be my last new sewing machine, Bernina or not.

I also had to go back to the LQS today to drop off an extra foot that ended up in my box. And while I meant to only pick up a couple more fat quarters of Owlivia (humm, don't think I added that last week) for a new lap quilt for my little girl I ended up with four yards of Deb Strain's Meadow Friends. 

~ Week 7 WRAP-UP ~

In this Week: 7 yards

In year to date: 27 yards

Out this Week: 1.5 yards

Out 2013: 5 yards

Net totals for 2013: -22 yards
Net totals 2011-2013: -37.5 yards

IT'S HERE!

After patiently waiting for almost three months my new sewing machine has arrived! 

It took two gals and a cart to get it in the back of my car.

I might have been able to get it out of my car alone but waited for the hubby because... well why chance it. The box is almost as big as my dog!

I've been a little silly all day squealing like a teenager at a New Kids on the Block concert.

This machine is a monster - it weighs 31.5 pounds - twice as much as my workhorse industrial Singer. And it's about twice as big!

She's a beauty... and very intimidating. I am thankful my LQS offers mastery classes but I am bummed I won't be able to get in one for a month. Stupid job. I don't think I can wait a month to play though... 

Next step - new sewing table. The folding table I have right now is not going to take the weight.

In other news... I'm back in the red. I could not resist this stack of loverlys....

Simply Color by Vanessa Christenson. She has a new line coming out this year, Simply Style that looks like it's going to coordinate nicely. I might put off cutting this up until I can get my hands on that too. Anyway, I have been lusting this fabric for a while so when I saw a deal I got it. 

~ Week 6 WRAP-UP ~

In this Week: 20 yards

In year to date: 20 yards

Out this Week: 0 yards

Out 2013: 3.5 yards

Net totals for 2013: -16.5

Net totals 2011-2013: -32 yards

I am thinking a lot about doing the local craft fair this fall... That should help my numbers.

Hit 2013 Sewing!

My new machine is still MIA... probably in pieces waiting to be put together. Bernina did send a gift certificate to offset the wait for the 750s. Guess I'm in a popular club.

So I did some work on my hand sewn hexies. I had to put the grey border on so I had a start/stopping place and was not dealing with a infinitely growing thing anymore. I plan to put a big border all the way around so the hexies are sorta floating on it. And, as I've started to say, it MIGHT be finished by the time we leave Ft. Bragg... which might be in a year and a half. I can only take hexies for a while before I need a break. The Hubs pointed out when I had all this laid out, "Wow. You have a long way to go!!!" Gee, thanks. So I put down my hexies and was going to work on a Project Life scrapbook of our time in Europe while I wait for my new beauty (LQS said March...) to arrive and demand to be used! And I've started...

*BUT*

I just could not stay away, especially when the nice ladies at the LQS told me about this super quick jelly roll pattern. I actually split an older jelly roll into 'boy' and 'girl' colors and went to town on two toddler size quilts. Not sure I *LOVE* it and I think had I kept the roll together (40 strips verses 20 per quilt) it might have turned out better.

I have a hard time being 'random' and in my effort to do that better like colors 'randomly' gravitated towards each other. And the blue border is just a shade off the perfect color blue. 

Added the little turtle similar to one of the prints to balance things...

Girl colors... my daughter who is VERY into owls right now was convinced I made this for her. It's not nearly big enough for her! You can see the owl on this one pretty good!

A nice thing about these quilts - other than I have *TWO* tops done two weeks into the new year (eeekkkk!!) - is that every bit came out of my stash (except new fusible web for the applique). Which leads me to...

 

~ Week 2 WRAP-UP ~

In this Week: 0 yards

In year to date: 0 yards

Out this Week: 3.5 yards

Out 2013: 3.5 yards

Net totals for 2013: 3.5

Net totals 2011-2013: -12 yards

2012 Wrap Up

Once again I'm sad at how little was finished this year but I guess when you spend a large portion of the last two years in boxes and moving the rest of the time has to be spent getting out of boxes and settling. Which for me means less sewing. I have been steadily pecking away at my hexies. The cutest owl costume ever (according to my husband, the family and our neighborhood). Made a queen size quilt for our bed. And a very girly baby quilt for a new family member. So it's not a complete bust. In hind sight the 12 in 2012 was ambitious for a moving year but I hope to do better this year. 

Especially with my new machine coming to live with us... eventually. There is apparently such demand that it's back ordered until MARCH!!! *SIGH* I guess that means I have plenty of time to find the right, temporary, sewing table. It's a monster so I need to find something that can handle the weight and survive the possible moves we might have left before retirement. The table I REALLY want is WAY too nice to invest in with the possibility of movers damaging it. We have realized over the last 13 years that some things were just never made to be moved as often as we have to move.  

So, I hope your 2013 is wonderful. Happy new year!

~ 2012 WRAP-UP ~

In this Week: 2 yards

In year to date: 31 yards

Out this Week: 0 yards

Out 2012: 22.75 yards

Net totals for 2012: -8.25

Net totals 2011-2012: -15.5 yards

So Behind... BUT!

I've been terrible since the move about getting on here. I hope that 2013 brings balance and a miraculous ability to schedule my time better. (And eat better. And exercise more... and a reality check.)

It better, because I bought THIS last week.

Yep - I'm moving on up in the world of sewing. Let's hope this is not too much machine for me. I did a lot of research but never actually laid hands on one. THAT might have been pretty darn stupid of me. Part of the reason I took the plunge was because my LQS (Loving Stitches) has mastery classes so I SHOULD be able to learn how to use all those new bells and whistles before the Army picks us up to move again. And I've been thinking about this for a couple of years. I love my industrial Singer... it's a workhorse... but I've proved to myself that this quilting thing is no passing hobby (unlike the two shelves of unused scrapbook supplies to my left suggests about OTHER hobbies I've picked up and put down).  

As for other projects...

My hexies are coming along. I think I've figured out what I'm going to do as far as a top so I can make some sort of end to the endless adding of flowers. I have this idea in my head - we will see if it translates or not.

I was also going to make this Advent calendar by Sweetwater but it didn't happen either. I had grand plans of good little candy treats or small toys mixed in with notes saying we were going to watch the Polar Express or go look at the lights in the Botanical Gardens but as December 1st came and went and I had not even started cutting fabric I reluctantly let that plan go. Maybe next year. Mostly importantly Boogie is happy with the $5 calendar from Walgreens. Maybe next year.

I think it's a good month to try to make things easier - not more complicated. Happy holidays to you and yours!

Report Day - Week.... ?

Well, I'm not going to count weeks at this point. Between the move and the job and life in general AND the fact that the end of the year is coming on pretty fast I give up.

So, what I've been up to other than organization....

I finally got all the hexi's made and then sewn into flowers... 

I decided on a layout and got some fabric to add to it. I saw this layout at Sew Inspired and loved the way the solid hexis popped (you should see my hubby talk - sarcastically - about how it "pops"... so funny).

So now I am sewing them together. I am using the Quilt Patis, which are GREAT, but I think I have 100 (two packs) so I have to sew all these (that's 90 hexis there), take out the forms and then start all over again. Yes, it's getting easier with practice but it's sad to think that this is only about 13.5" by 16". Some quick math (hang on... not so quick with the math... who said you would never use algebra and geometry again after high school?!?) indicates I will need to make 20 more of these units to get a decent sized throw blanket. Sigh. I am resisting the urge to just make it a wall hanging. Maybe once I get this part done I will take a break to work on the Christmas quilt I want to make. 

~ WEEK ??? WRAP-UP ~

In this Week: .5 yards

In year to date: 29 yards

Out this Week: 0 yards

Out 2012: 22.75 yards

Net totals 2011-2012: -12.5 yards

OH! And the other thing I've been up to lately...

Working on an owl costume for Boogie...

Almost done - there are wings with "real" feathers and of course you can't have an owl without the little horn looking part on the top of the head.