Traveling Stash Box Arrives

Yesterday was a rainy, windy day, but receiving the Two Sister's Traveling Stash Box from Sharon V at Vroomans Quilts made the day fun in spite of the weather.  The box is filled to the top with mostly fabrics, but there are a few books and patterns and some very useful notions including zippers.

I removed one 2 yard piece of yardage and well as 2 Tapestry charm packs.

I put in one quilt pattern.

1 Moda panel.

A one yard piece of Mermaid fabric, 4 half yard cuts of Moda fabric, one 3/4 yard piece of black and white fabric, and 3 fat quarters.

Due to the high cost of postage, only US residents are eligible to receive the box.  You can check all of the rules and guidelines governing the Traveling Stash Box at . Sewingly Along.  If you would like to receive the box, please leave a comment stating your favorite pre-cut.  I will draw a name on Tuesday, March 5th and notify the winner by email.

In spite of great intentions, I did not finish even one UFO this month.  I did however start 2 New FOs that I am linking to Cat Patches Newfo Linky party.  I really love the crumb  Sawtooth blocks I started in February.  I will be using them for donation quilts later in the year.

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I also started work on the blocks for the 2013 Wiggly Whimsy Quilt Along at Terry's Treasures.  I really liked this quilt when I saw it at the Moda Bake Shop, but I probably would not have started it if it wasn't for Terry and her quiltalong.

Stop over at Cat Patches blog and see all of the new projects that were started in February.

Making Up For Lost Time

I was really excited about my daughter coming home for President's Weekend, but the time went very fast and we didn't get to spend much of it together.  Plans were changed on that Saturday morning when my future daughter in law called and asked if I would go to David's Bridal Shop and give my opinion on the gown she chose.  No one from her family was able to go with her so I tagged along.  I'm sure the day was difficult for her.  Most women would prefer to have their mother or a close female relative, but she made the best of it and it turned out to be a lovely experience.

 The dress is a size 6 and fits perfectly so the only alterations she will need will be to add a loop to pull up the train.

 This shows the back detail without the halter tie hanging down.

After the bride chooses her dress, she rings a bell so everyone can see her.  Some of the women were very excited about it.  Our bride was not.  The frothy thing on the mannequin to the left is one of the gowns Kim Kardashian wore during her wedding festivities.  It looks like a float made of toilet paper that high school kids would make for home coming.  The bridal consultant told us that almost every bride that comes in tries it on.  We passed on the opportunity.

I pulled out my purple scraps and continued to make blocks for the  Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 and linked up over at So Scrappy.  Unfortunately, the colors look a bit off and are showing up as blue.  They really are a dark purple.  I'm using leftover strips of white on white (at least 3 different kinds) and strips and charm squares of purple.

I continued to use my crumb squares to make more Saw Tooth Star blocks.  I have been using pieces of tone on tone and solid fabrics from my stash to make the star points.  This will be an ongoing project for me.  I don't plan on sewing them into tops until later in the year.

I finished sewing all of the blocks for the Wiggly Whimsy Sew Along over at Terry's Treasures.  Now that my blocks are sewn, I can slow down and sew the rows together a bit at a time.  I did not use Rebecca Silbaugh's method from her recipe over at the Moda Bake Shop.  She uses a white jelly roll for the background and a charm pack cut into 2.5 inch charms.  I cut yardage into 5 inch squares and matched each with a charm and after sewing on 2 sides I cut them in quarters which gave me 4 blocks with 1 charm square and 1 background square. I sewed some of the 2 piece combos on one side and cut it in quarters resulting in 2 two patch blocks., 2 unsewn background squares and 2 unsewn charm squares that I could attach to the sewn 2 patch blocks to make a 3 patch block.  The original quilt finishes at 56.5 square.  I like rectangles so I added one and a half extra blocks. You might notice that the bottom row has one block in the wrong position.  When I sew them, it will be corrected.

I am determined to finish my chosen UFO this month.  Time is running out, but hopefully I will get it done by midnight Thursday.

Snow Bound Stitching

Last weekend we were snowbound.  The storm that blanketed the northeast turned out to be less of a disaster than originally predicted for our area.  The original forecast was for 12 to 18 inches and as the storm approached, the numbers ratcheted up to 20 to 22 inches.  Luckily, the storm moved closer to the coast and we only saw 12 inches.  My daughter is in graduate school outside of Boston where they received 27 inches.

In the background of this photo, you can see some of the trees that were knocked down during Super Storm Sandy back in October.

By late Saturday, our driveway was plowed, but the surrounding roads were treacherous and so we hunkered down near the wood burning stove and didn't venture out until Monday.

 Last week I was the lucky winner of some scraps from the cutting table of Stephanie at Spontaneous Threads.  I apologize for not taking a picture before I dived into the pile, but they arrived just as the snow started to fall and they inspired me to play. There were lots of strings and strips in Stephanie's box that I wanted to use right away.   I had a large pile of crumb blocks in various sizes that I immediately pulled out to play with.

The scraps are lovely (the fussy cut typewriter is super), but it really made me question my own sanity.  I have LOTS of beautiful uncut yardage, precuts of all kinds, a pile of UFOs that rivals Mt. McKinley,  and TONS of scraps, so why am I excited about using Stephanie's scraps.  I know I am not the only one who falls into this category.  I have curbed my participation in blogs hops and limited commenting on every giveaway post I find, but there is something magical about receiving a package in the mail from someone you have never met.

I pushed aside the UFO list I planned to work from and instead made some scrappy Saw Tooth Star blocks with a white on cream background that was buried in my stash.

I have a dozen more ready to sew today and they are starting to take over the family room floor.

One of the quilt alongs I am taking part in this year is the 2013 Wiggly Whimsy Sew-Along at Terry's Treasures.   I'm already behind, but yesterday I bought my background fabric at Joann's and this morning I chose the charm squares I will use from Lovely by Sandy Gervais.

The quilt only requires 37 charm squares, but I eliminated everything with a white background, plaids, and stripes so I needed 2 charm packs.

It's a very easy quilt, so I should be able to catch up over the weekend.  Terry has a wonderful blog with lots of beautiful projects to look at.  It really is worth stopping by and taking a look.
Have a wonderful President's Day weekend.  I'm all excited because my sweet baby girl (even though she is 24 she is still the baby of the family) will be home for the weekend.  She will also be bringing a ton of wash and empty plastic containers that she will expect us to fill with all of her favorite foods.  I can't wait.

Close But No Cigar

Even the best of intentions can fall by the wayside.  I was determined to finish at least one UFO in January.  Unfortunately, that never happened.  I did manage to work on 2 of my projects and start a new one.
I will be linking up to Cat Patches January New FO Party with the block I made for So Scrappy's  Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I cut apart and resewed the blocks for my Twister Wreath table topper.  It went from this.

To this.

Although I was less than successful in January, I hope to complete a few more of  UFOs.  This wreath table topper will be at the top of the list.  It will be my UFO for February for A Lovely Year of Finishes at Bitter Sweet Designs.

A Drop in the Bucket

With piles of UFOs filling the sewing room, it was very satisfying to finally get a start towards finishing one of them.  I completed the  rest of the blocks for the quilt I started as part of the Tetris Quilt along at Happy Quilting.  Tomorrow I start auditioning sashing to complete the top.

I also found some bright pink 2.5 inch strips to make a block for the 2013 Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy.  The blocks finish at 16 inches so at the end of the year, 12 blocks will make a good size quilt.  This will also be my NewFO for January as part of Cat Patches 2013 NewFO Challenge.

After 2 weeks of the flu it felt good to get back to may sewing machine and play with some fabric.

How Did It Get to Be 2013 So Fast?

Since it's been 5 months since I last posted, I'm not sure there is still anyone checking my blog.  Thank you to anyone who has stopped by.  After my last post in August, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue blogging.  My projects were not unique and I didn't have any tutorials or quilting tips to share.  Unfortunately, this lack of motivation carried over to my quilting and I found that without the accountability of a blog, I wasn't finishing my UFOs or starting many new projects.  When I finally  decided that I wanted to blog again, Hurricane Sandy hit.

Unlike coastal communities in New York and New Jersey, our area of northern Westchester was mostly menaced by downed trees and was without electricity for 8 days. Even though our electric power was restored, we experienced problems with our internet and landline telephone service caused by software problems that Verizon was not able to remedy for about 7 weeks.

It took me quite a while to catch up with my favorite blogs.  Seeing all of the UFO challenge posts starting off for 2013 has really inspired me to open up the sewing room and allow my UFOs to see the light of day.

As you can see by the buttons on the right of the blog, I'll try and use the inspiration from a few blogs including:  A Lovely Year of Finishes at  Sew Bittersweet Designs, 2013 the Year of the Finished Project at Never Too Hot to Stitch, 2013 Finish Along with Leanne at She Can Quilt, Judy at Patchwork Times' Getting it Done Challenge,  and Nothing But UFOs in 2013 at A Passion for Applique.  I don't plan on limiting myself to UFOs.  I think I would get discouraged if I couldn't start anything new so I'll also be participating in Barbara's 2013 NewUFO Challenge at Cat Patches.

Some of the UFOs I'll be tackling were on my list last year and never managed to surface to the top. A number of them are tops that need to have backings put together and quilting.

1.   Disappearing 9 patch.

2.  This bright quilt was made during Marcia's scrappy challenge last winter.

3.  The tutorial for this quilt is available on Sharon's blog at Vroomans Quilts.  I'm sorry I couldn't find the link to the tutorial.  I will try to provide in a future post.

4.  These paper pieced blocks were the reason I started to blog.  They were part of the "Too Good to Cut" challenge.  The pattern is Jambalaya.

5.  This top was also part of Marcia's Scrappy Challenge last winter.

6.  I made the "Little Twister" center for this quilt as part of a charity round robin.  The borders created by the other 3 quilters are gorgeous.

7.  These blocks were made in response to a Veteran's Quilt challenge on Debra's blog.

8.  These blocks were made from an Eleanor Burns pattern in a class at a LQS.  They are for a table runner.

9.  Strips of 2.5 inch charms and the central block ready to be made into "Fading Charms"  a tutorial available at Wedding Dress Blue.  

10.  The Tetris quilt along last summer used 5 inch squares for each of the 6 blocks.  I decided to use 2.5 inch squares and make 4 blocks each week.  The blocks for weeks 5 and 6 are still undone.  Melissa still has the tutorial  available at her blog Happy Quilting.

11. These blocks will be cut and reassembled as Twister blocks.  The pattern is from a video tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Shop.

12.  This Little Twister table topper wanna be was made for the Cyber Quilters' Bucket List Challenge.

13.  This star quilt featuring 3.5 inch square novelty blocks was part of a The Made in Cherry quilt along at Pins and Bobbins.  I experienced some problems with the white setting squares.  Hopefully, I can find a way to resolve the problem.

I have 6 more projects in various stages of abandonment.  It's exhausting just thinking about all of these UFOS so they will have to wait for another time.  My goal is to finish quilts, 2, 5, 11, and 12 in January and 1, 4, and 10 finished by March.  Hopefully, the UFO challenges will keep me focused on the finish line,

How Lucky Can You Get?

I really enjoy participating in all of the blog hops that Madame Samm comes up with.  I have only made blocks for 2 of them, but I always visit the blogs on the hop and see what everyone is doing.  It's a great way to get ideas and to find blogs you might enjoy reading.  Sometimes when I stop to make a comment, I notice other comments that sound interesting and I check out the blogs of the quilters who wrote them.  That's how I found The Slow Quilter.  I liked a comment that she made on my favorite blog Vroomans Quilts.  The rest is history.  I enjoy The Slow Quilter's warm, friendly style.  I always feel like she is bringing her quilts and lovely bags to my house and sharing a cup of tea with me.  Obviously, many other people enjoy reading her blog because she is almost at 100 followers.  I won the R/W/B blog hop giveaway at the Slow Quilter's blog.

It included some beautiful batik fabrics.

The Slow Quilter collects turtles and sent a beautifully carved wood turtle from Malawi, Africa to guard the fabric and make sure it got to its destination.     It has a bottle opener on the under side.  When I was a nursery school teacher at the Nature Center, we had many animals who were injured and could not be released into the wild.  My favorite was a one eyed Eastern Box turtle named Willi.  Although this turtle has 2 perfectly good eyes, he is now called Willi.

Included in the package was a special surprise.  This wallet is made in Ghana from recycled water containers.  It has a velcro closing so it is not only environmental sensible, it's also very practical.

Thank you Slow Quilter for the lovely giveaway and for sharing your work and wry sense of humor on your blog.  Stop by and have a visit with The Slow Quilter.  You'll be glad you did.  Just don't read her post on Underwear Dust if you have a mouth full of liquid, it may end up on your key board.