Sunday Stash, 2/27/2011

Well, the postie decided to show up today. Yay! But oh, what I did... Sale + free shipping + a weak moment? Many thanks to Clint and Judy of Green Fairy Quilts for this box of lovelies!


A Basic Gray Origins layer cake...




Prayer Flag by April Cornwell jelly roll, plus one in white and one cream--I really love the solids precuts--they make for very speedy quilts! (PS, a little birdy told me that GFQ is also carrying lots of other Bella Solid precuts, like charm packs, layer cakes, and fat quarter bundles. Ok, I saw it on their site, and I thought I should enable you. You're welcome!)




I saw this great kit full of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas, and since I have a couple of charm packs but not enough to make what I'd been thinking of making, I snapped this up--more for the yardage than the cute pattern. I do love the little canvas bag, though. :)





And finally, some charm packs. 2 Chrysalis, 2 City Weekend, and one each of Hoopla and Clermont Farms.



I have some secret-like sewing going on this weekend, so there should be outage to report next week. (Don't I always have an excuse?) But the numbers this week? Oy vey...

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 22.5 yards
Added Year to Date: 46.25 yards
Net Used for 2011: -42.75 yards

*Edited to add: GFQ is not a sponsor. I just really love their shop!

Sneak Peaks...

Working hard on my main swap project for the Urban Home Goods swap over on Flickr.

Wanna see?


Essex Linen blend in Natural, some Amy Butler Love hexies, lots of straight line quilting...



One down, two to go...

Wordy Wednesday

I think sometimes as bloggers we forget that readers don't really "know" us. I mean, you know I'm a UFO queen, and the slowest quilter on the planet, but what do you know beyond that?

Here are a few things you may not know about me...

1) My first job was at a video rental store. I was 15, and worked there until I went to college. (That's right, pre-dvds, folks.)

2) I hate eggplant. I knew I'd met my soulmate in the madman when I learned he also hates it. :)

3) I'm a cat person who was raised by dog people. (My brother is also a cat person.)

4) I snore.

5) I sleep with earplugs, because the madman also snores. So do three of my cats! (er, the snoring, not the earplugs.)

6) My favorite comfort food is spaghetti marinara.

7) I love to cook, but never use recipes except as a "jumping off" point. As a result, we never have the exact same thing twice.

8) I cannot bake bread to save my life.

9) I played clarinet for 4 years. That was more than long enough to realize I have no musical abilities!

10) I have 15 tattoos. You cannot see any of them unless I'm wearing a tank top or no socks.

11) I used to have 11 piercings. I've let most of them close up. (I was young, what can I say?)

12) I've been wearing glasses since I was 5 year old.

13) I would live in jeans, if I could.

14) I consider purses necessary evils. Cute and evil go together well.

15) I'm allergic to kiwi.

16) I've never broken a bone. *knock on wood*

17) I'm totally a glass-half-full kind of girl. To a fault.

18) I set my alarm clock forward by 10 minutes, and have it set for 7:01. I know this, and still manage to fool myself.

19) I am chronically early. I've been known to sit and read in my car if I'm more than 10 minutes early somewhere. Being late makes me super stressed.

20) I took French for 10 years. It's now only useful for yelling at my cats. Makes the neighbors wonder!


So, if all's fair in love and blogs, tell me something more about you!

Sunday Stash

On Monday, again.

The past week or so has been all about evolution. I've sorted, ironed, folded, shifted.

I started out with my office/sewing room looking like this.

(If you are sensitive to photos of wanton stacks of fabric, unsorted, haphazardly folded in various sizes, you might want to scroll past the next few photos. They may shock you. You've been warned!)


Pulled out of my closet and onto my sewing table. No room to work! No wonder I can't get anything done in here!



The stash in flux. Some neatly folded and put away. Some waiting for the royal treatment. God, what a sty.



More stacks, pre color sorting, ironing and folding.




Soon to be happy fabric, posing with the new love of my life, comic book boards.


Did you make it? Are you ok? It's over. I promise.

Let me show you what all of the stacks and mess has turned into...


Warm and neutrals. See the issue here? Yeah, no room for orange. I'm working on that...


Altogether now. A spot for oranges. On the bottom left, you're looking at FQs in the front, with a project bin, all 3 purple fabrics I own, plus my FMF and AB Love stashes.

Off to finish with the oranges, and see if I can get my solids organized! (Thank goodness for Presidents' Day!)

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 2.75 yard (Found a couple of great deals on Etsy. I need to stay off of that site!!)
Added Year to Date: 23.75 yards
Net Used for 2011: -23 yards

Erk. Need to finish cleaning so I can get sewing!

Sunday Stash (on Monday!)

This is going to be a bit of a drive-by posting. You see, with winter receding a bit (52 degrees outside--the warmest it has been in my neck of the woods since...October?), I've rediscovered my social life! Sushi with a former co-worker, movie-night with the madman, dinner out with friends--on a Friday night?! I know, crazy talk! It has been really lovely to reconnect and go out and be social.

However, it has made for NO sewing. None. Not one bit. I managed to do a little stash culling and reorganization over the weekend, but I'm mid-project and would rather show off when it's done...maybe next week?

In the meantime, since I worked on Sunday and came home too knackered to do more than plop on the couch with a book, here's my belated stash report!

Used this Week: 0 yards (I have grand plans for some stash-busting, but then, don't I always??)
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 1 yard (A kind bloggy friend sent me some of her scraps--lots of strings for my string-quilt-to-be!)
Added Year to Date: 23.75 yards
Net Used for 2011: -20.25 yards

Here's to hoping for more time, and more productivity! (I know, right?!)

No sewing...

But lots of cutting.

I've been a little braindead lately. Well, moreso than usual. I'm suffering hugely from cabin fever this last week. Our front steps are an icy mess. And after an inch of rain and a brief thaw, so is our driveway. It took me four running starts on Saturday night to wind up kitty-corner halfway up the incline of our driveway. I slipped and slid my way to the garage door and called my husband, who was on his way home, to warn him. Poor guy spent a half hour in the drizzle and the dark when he got home trying to at least get both cars in the driveway. What an ugly mess. Add to that the thaw means that we have water coming in through one window in our living room and seeping in one ceiling corner in my sewing room (ugh!), and you can begin to see where my head is at, yes?

So there hasn't been any sewing for about a week. I've mostly been sorting scraps, ironing and cutting some of them, and making pretty little stacks...




I've long admired the Strips and Bricks pattern by Malka Dubrawsky, and the versions made up by Rita of Red Pepper Quilts, shown here and here. When Malka revamped her pattern and made it available for pdf purchase a few months ago, I leaped on it, having missed it in its originally published magazine in 2009. I've finally started sifting through my "low volume" fabrics, and have started putting together the soothing, gorgeous palette used in the original, as well as Rita's two incarnations. Sewing is a ways off yet, as there's a lot of cutting yet to do, but I can handle that.

Just don't ask me about our weather. Deal?

Sunday Stash, 2/6/11

The confession edition.

Well, two giant boxes showed up at my house this past week--snow, ice and rain still (mostly) can't deter the postal service.

The first contained the damages from my stop over at Aunt Bea's online store closing sale. I'm so sad to see that shop close up, they really had some amazing stuff. I say had, because apparently, I bought it all! (PS--Totally blaming Ashley over at Film in the Fridge for posting about the sale when I was having a weak moment. Just saying...)

On to the carnage!



First, some super-cute fabrics for little boy quilts. I come across boy-appropriate fabrics fairly infrequently, so I tend to stock up when I find something I like. From the left, Michael Miller Plaidsportation, Alexander Henry elephants, and the last 4 are from Robots by David Walker for Free Spirit. I actually have one of the other focus prints from the Robots line, and I think they're adorable. Now I just need more friends to have boys... *crickets*

Moving on...


Adding to my AMH Good Folks stash. I LOVE this print.



Weekends, Mingle, and Meadowsweet in sort of a pink/orange/white trio.

And finally...



A couple of yards of Japanese imports. Top is Isso Ecco for Lecien of Japan, and the bottom is Kei Honeycomb. I have SUCH a love affair with honeycomb dots. Did you know that until a couple of years ago, I hated polka dots and owned none? Scary, I know. Apparently, I am now making up for the error of my ways--with interest.

Which brings me to package #2. Are you tired of fabric yet? Me either!

The second package came from the lovely Kerri's Etsy shop, Sew Deerly Loved.



At the top, 6 yards (I KNOW) of Kona solid in Medium Gray. This is going to be the background for my Single Girl Quilt-Along quilt. I'm still pulling fabrics for the rings, but you can get a tiny peek if you look at the left side of the first photo in this post.

Don't worry, I'll wait...


...


I'm thinking prints of mostly white, turquoise and aqua with navy and lime accents on a gray background would be stunning, but we'll see what happens when I get into that.

Back to the goodies Kerri sent. There's also a yard of Essex Cotton/Linen blend in Natural for part of my Urban Home Goods Swap project. Then *looks down* a few other things jumped in my cart. Like the cute little elephants. And the cool Alice Kennedy red and white leaf print. And more Honeycomb dots, this time in orange. I SAID I have a problem!!

So where does this leave me in the realm of stash busting? Are there awards for "reverse" busting? No? Crud.

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 3.5 yards
Added this Week: 22 yards (OMG)
Added Year to Date: 22.75 yards
Net Used for 2011: -19.25 yards

Looks like I have my work cut out for me--literally!