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March 13th, 2022 - I’m Back

It’s been a long time since I posted. I read everyone else’s posts but never seem to take the time to make my own post. Oh well, that’s life!

A lot has happened since I last posted. My mom passed away at the end of September and I have been getting her house ready to sell. I hope to be done soon. And just when I thought things were going along smoothly, my hubby slips off the porch and breaks his back, and injures his neck. That was the first weekend in January and then in February, the neuro-surgeon fused his neck from C2 to C7. Now he is recovering from that. No treatment for the broken back, just rest and meds for pain. The neck was an issue, the doctor didn’t know how he wasn’t a parapeligic and if he had another fall, he wasn’t sure if he could fix it. I seem to remember either last year or the year before, he had some kind of neck issue and there was talk of surgery then. He is on the mend and hopefully will be able to start some therapy soon.

On the quilting front, I have been busy. I was asked to teach classes for the Arts and Cultural Council of Windsor/Essex and I accepted. Every Wednesday morning I teach seniors how to quilt. It’s a lot of fun and I love being able to get others passionate about quilting. I do a lot of the prep work for the class, such as cutting out the patterns, and the seniors just have to do the sewing. We have made a few quilts, table runners, wall hangings, and mug rugs. The plan is to sell the quilts to get money for more classes. That’s not my department so I can’t say how that is coming along.

This will be the next project for the group. One of the quilters in my class wanted a sailboat pattern and I dug out the blocks and decided to assemble the top to show her the quilt. I have cut out all the blocks for my class and they will begin assembling it on Wednesdy. The original quilt was a block exchange from a retreat I went to a few years ago. Never assembled until last week. And that’s another UFO off my list! Now to get it quilted.

I was contemplating showing the group how to do curved piecing. So I made this top up.

I brought it to class and was showing the quilters. They all thought it was a really cool quilt top but way too intimidating for them. So we settled on the sailboats. At least there are lots of HSTs for them to practice their skills on. I don’t think I learned curved piecing for quite a few years after I started quilting.

As for my stash, I have added a few yards this year, mostly Minky for backings and yardage to go with some baby panels I bought last year at a sale. I am really trying to use up fabric in my stash but I like to match up the backings to the front of the quilts. I know it’s just the back but that’s the way I roll. One good thing about teaching this class is that I have made samples and kits from my stash. Not that you can tell that there is less fabric in my stash.

Fabric used this report: 53.88 yards

Fabric used year to date: 53.88 yards

Fabric added this report: 29.31 yards

Fabric added year to date: 29.31 yards

Net fabric busted: 24.57 yards

Most of the yardage added has been Minky. I found this store in Chatham, Len’s Mills, and the first Monday of the month is seniors day and you get 10% off your entire purchase. Plus if you finish the bolt you get 15% off that cut. So, might as well buy the bolt and get both discounts. Right!

As for my longarm, I have to find a new home for it. Right now it’s in my mom’s basement and once I sell her house, I need to move it. We have been looking at moving but we really do not want to go into that much debt just to have a place for the machine. Housing proces are through the roof right now. We did put a bid in on a house and were outbid by over $100,000. Kind of shocking! So our best bet is to enlarge our garage by rebuilding it with heated floors and insulation. We also toyed with adding on to our house but doing the garage first seems to be the most economical option. With hubby’s injuries and unsettled future, we are not making any major decisions regarding moving right now. Best plan in my books.

Linking up with Donna at QuiltPaintCreate for my stash report. Check it out to see how others are doing with their stash.

i hope to see you next time. Ciao!

May 16th, 2021 - Long Time No Post

I can’t remember the last time I posted here. I spend most of my time reading blogs and looking at Instagram and Facebook, checking out everyone’s quilting photos. Sucked in to the social media vortex! I joined a few quilt related FB groups and I really like watching and learning, especially stuff about the Gammill. I actually tried double batting on some pillow shams for a client and that gave me the idea to use all these pieces of batting that I was going to join together. I bought some flannel sheets in red and black buffalo plaid that I was going to use as a backing. I prewashed the sheets and they ran too much to use with a quilt th a lot of white in it. So now what to do with them. I decided to quilt them with snowflakes using the double batting. I think they will look awesome.

This is one of 3 quilts I am making for my 2 sisters and myself. I was going to use that buffalo plaid for backing but I found a nice black and white one that looks great. One down, 2 to go.

I have been quilting for others, making masks and doing a lot of cross stitch. Nothing is finished. One day I will get something completely done.

In the fabric usage, I seem to buy faster than I can sew. I think a lot of us have that problem. I decided that May is the month of no quilting purchases and I already bought 2 spools of thread. Not for the stash but to go with a client’s quilts. Let’s see how I manage for the rest of the month.

Fabric used year to date: 23.23 yds

Fabric purchased year to date: 57.26 yds

Net fabric busted: -34.03 yds

I guess those numbers seem terrible. I plan on using it. Really!

I’m linking up with Donna at quiltpaintcreate for this stash report.

See you next time.

July 26th, 2020 - Everyone Needs A Little SISU

Remember last week when I posted this picture

I also posted on FaceBook in the SISU group I belong to. Well, I can’t believe how many people liked the mask and wanted one. So I have been very busy these last couple of days making these masks.

I had both my embroidery machines running. It was actually pretty neat how it all worked out. Lots of jump stitches to cut. And then all that trimming and turning right side out. But I have them all done, ready to be shipped out tomorrow.

So here is my stash report.

Fabric used this week: 5.87 yds

Fabric used YTD: 177.29 yds

Fabric added this week: 3.25 yds

Fabric added YTD: 140.5 yds

Net fabric busted: 36.79 yds

The only reason I bought fabric was for the lining of the masks. I wanted it to match the stitching. If I was just making one or two masks, I would have used bits from the stash. I do have another possible order for custom embroidered masks and I will have to purchase fabric for them as it’s a specific colour and a solid. But that’s next week.

In the 15 Minutes To Stitch challenge, I did pretty good this week. I longarm quilted a quilt for a friend on Tuesday but can’t show it yet as she hasn’t seen it. Worked on a little bit of cross stitch on Wednesday. Then I have been making masks non-stop since Thursday, 8 to 12 hours per day. I already have more orders today so that will keep me busy for a few hours.

I’m linking up to Kate at Life inPieces for the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge and with Donna at quiltpaintcreate for the stash report.

Have a great week and enjoy the beautiful weather!

July 19th, 2020 - I’ve Been Busy

Really! Busy being cooped up! This COVID-19 business is getting to me. It seemed to be pretty well contained here. But lately there has been an increase in the number of community transmissions as more places are opened back up. I couldn’t imagine going out other than for necessities and risk getting the virus. My brother, who had a heart transplant in Dec 2018, was in hospital for shingles, which led to siezures, encephalitis and a stroke, and then contracted COVID-19. What a nightmare that was! He is finally in the clear after being hospitalized for 4.5 months, with 2 negatives and is doing rehab in London ON at Parkwood Hospital. He still has a long way to go. And it’s not just like the normal flu regardless of what people say.

On the quilting front, I have quilted 18 quilts since my last post. I can’t believe that I haven’t posted since January. I love my Gammill Statler stitch, it’s perfect curves and circles. No jerky stitching at all. It plows over the thick seam allowances with no problems.

Northcott’s Time to Quilt blocks released this past spring, quilted with Daisy Fast, a free pattern in the Gammill .

Disappearing 4-patch, quilted with Hockey Stick Meander from Urban Elementz.
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Made from scraps and quilted with Lil Feet from Urban Elementz.
On Ringo Lake quilted with Windswept from Urban Elementz.

I have too many quilts done and it takes me forever to load the pictures. I really should post more often. Maybe I will get better at this too.

Now for a Stash Report which will be my year to date totals

Fabric used year to date:171.42 yds( 50 yards was donated for masks)

Fabric added year to date: 137.25 yds

Net fabric busted: 34.17 yds

Finally in the good. That was a lot of quilt backings and a lot of mask making.

In the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge, I have not being doing all that great. Some days I just can’t seem to get motivated to sew at all. But I still manage to get a lot done. I was up sewing at 8:00 this morning for a few hours. I made some embroidered masks. I have wanted to make a few more since I made this one.


Posted in a MINI group and a few MINIacs liked it and then ……

A MINI convertible

Welsh MINIac friend.

I have the Floriani embroidery software so I was able to add the words. Then I remembered I saw a video from Floriani on word play and I had to give it a try and came up with this.

Nothing like a little SISU. All us Finns have lots of SISU which kind of translates to grit and determination.

Anyway, this puts me up to date. Keep safe and stitch on! There’s another word for word play embroidery.

January 12th, 2020 - It’s A New Year

Happy New Year to all! I hope everyone had a great holiday. I certainly did. My favourite part was how much time I got to spend quilting. Oh and my grandkids and family! My family celebrates Christmas usually on the Saturday after Christmas. So my sister and family came down on the 27th and she ended up staying until Jan 5. After all the family get togethers were over, we started quilting.

My sister brought down 8 tops to be quilted and we got them all done! No pictures but we learned just what this machine can do. The first quilt we loaded was a repair quilt. I thought for the first quilt my sister is going to do, this had to be the worst one. But we made it look like a million bucks. My nephew’s girlfriend was really happy with how it turned out. She thought it was just getting a patch on the back. I took the back completely off, removed all the batting and got rid of all the tied pieces. We used a sheet for the backing with new batting and quilted the heck out of it. New binding and it was done in 2 days. Another quilt top saved!

What I figured out was how to make the Edge2Egde design bigger, less or more rows and how to draw a trim box around applique parts. I knew how to draw trim out the end part but not in the middle of a block. We used many different backings beside quilting fabric. Flannel, polar fleece and Minky. I love Minky! I was always nervous to use it, thinking it would stretch. Now it’s no problem. And since I love it so much, I bought some similar fabric at Joann’s and quilted 5 tops with it.

Here are few of my quilts I did in the last week.

I’ve had this quilt kit for a few years and never got around to making it. Finally made it up last year and quilted it this year. Another one completely done.

This is my third Urban Abacus and I backed with that soft cuddly fabric. I think I have enough of the Jane Sassman fabric left to make another one. I don’t really care for her fabrics, I find the colours kind of muddy but I really love these ones.The colours are so vibrant!

I made 3 of these quilts with panels i got at a great sale. All with the cozy fabric backing!
Sheep quilt from a panel.

I made 3 of the Sheep Quilts from panels I got at a store closing sale. I loaded all three on the longarm, side by side by side and then quilted them right across using the Windswept E2E. Ever since I got this machine and 14′ table, I’ve wanted to try loading a couple of quilts at the same time. And because the machine throat is a huge 36″, it can do 2 passes before you have to roll the quilt. I think it’s pretty cool! I think I love my Gammill!

This manly flannel comfort quilt was made with donation fabric from Northcott. I have 3 more tops cut out and ready to sew up. My quilting group, The Quilter’s Three, have been on a break of sorts as we didn’t have a longarm available for a couple of months. Now with 2 of us having longarms, we can pump out the quilts. I have 9 comfort quilt tops that need quilting. besides the other 25 or so of my own that I have hanging around.

Now for the Stash numbers. Let’s say, I am glad it’s a new year. Clean slate and all that. Right? Last year I ended up being 12.53 yards in the hole. Not where I would like to be but I’m okay with that. Overall since I started keeping track in 2009, I’m in the hole 242.5 yards. That’s about 24 yards a year that I’ve added to my stash. I must say that I do have an impressive stash. But I need to start using it up. So I went and bought some more fabric. Thirty yards of it! Can you believe that? I have used 32.29 yards this week. Backings use lots of fabric. I purchased 3 layer cakes of Primtive Gatherings flannel for a queen sized quilt for my brother. He wants a manly quilt, no flowers or girly stuff. Okay, I can do that. I will get working on that on the days it’s too cold to go over to my mom’s to use the longarm.

Fabric used this week: 32.29 yds

Fabric used YTD: 32.29 yds

Fabric added this week: 30 yds

Fabric added YTD: 30 yds

Net fabric busted: 2.29 yds



In the 15 Minutes to Stitch department, I have managed to stitch every day this week but last Sunday for a total of 23.5 hours. I seem to average around the same amount of time every week.

I’m linking up with Kate at Life In Pieces for the 15 Minutes to Stitch and with Donna at quiltpaintcreate for the Stash Report. I hope you have a great week!



December 1st, 2019 - Long Time, No Post

It’s been a while since I posted, 8 weeks to be exact. A lot has been going on but not much in the sewing department.

My longarm is up and running. Finally!!!! What a big relief that was. We weren’t sure if it was going to run but the service guys assured us it was worth the time and effort. And they were spot on! It hasn’t been used all that much and it’s a work horse, made to pump out quilts. Well, that’s exactly what it’s going to be doing. Between my sister and I, there are about 50 quilt tops in the queue. That’s a lot of batting. I better find a great sale.

Now with this machine being in my mom’s basement and it looking like a dungeon, we started renovating the whole basement. Wooden panelling in 2 rooms with no insulation was ripped out 2 years ago after a flood. The longarm room had drywall that was cut up 2′ from the floor but strapped with 2 x 2’s instead of 2 x 4’s, so there is no room for electrical boxes. So my husband and I ripped everything out down to the cement walls. We replaced the window in the longarm room and are currently working on the lights and plugs. Once this is all done, it will be a really nice space for quilting and for anyone who is over to come and visit in. My mom only has her upstairs for visitors and we are a rather large family.

Today will be my first try at longarming on the Gammill, now named Margaret, aka Maggie. Kind of like the Iron Lady. I have watched enough YouTube videos on the basics that I think I’m ready to give it a shot.

I finished this quilt top. What a pain in the butt! Lesson learned, never make a double/queen sized tumbling block quilt. Every seam/point has to be matched perfectly. That was a lot of pinning. And the one time I decide to measure the top before adding the borders, I get one side that’s all wafflely. I will have to rework that side and get it to lay flat before I quilt it. This is a customer quilt so it better be perfect!

In the stash department, it’s not moving that much. I was kind of waiting to make backs in case this machine was a dud. Now I will be using up so much fabric that maybe I will end up in the good! Here are my numbers.

Fabric used since the last report: 17.51 yds

Fabric used YTD: 156.96 yds

Fabric added since the last report: 12.3 yds

Fabric added YTD: 183.06 yds

Net fabric busted: -26.1 yds

Now how many backs is that? If I used 3.77 yds for a lap quilt, that would be about 7 quilt backings. Some are bigger, some are only baby quilts. Now to start cutting.

And here’s the 15 Minutes to Stitch review.

Since I last posted, I have managed to sew almost every day except this last week. I only sewed for 5 hours and that was yesterday. I just had to sew something. The rest of this week was renovations. I would have felt guilty if I sewed while my hubby did renos at my mothers house. The other weeks, I sewed most days. I lost a few days with travel time to a retreat in northern Michigan. Anyway, I stitched an average of 18.7 hours per week. Not bad when you consider I only stitched for 5 hours this last week. Retreating makes for good numbers.

I’m linking up to Kate at Life in Pieces for the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge and with Donna at quiltpaintcreate for the Stash Report. I hope everyone has a great week!

October 6th, 2019 - The Machine

Guess what? I finally bought a long arm. Woo Hoo!!!! But it’s not completely reassembled yet. It’s a Gammill Statler Stitch Supreme and it is gigantic. A 14′ table and a 36″ throat. Completely computerized too! And I don’t have a clue how to use it but I can’t wait to give it a whirl. I bought it from a lady who is going out of business for health reasons and I got the greatest deal on it. It needs a new updated computer with Windows 10 and to be professionally serviced. I had to put it in my mom’s basement as it doesn’t fit in my house and our garage needs to be fixed up before it goes in there. Maybe we will get it moved next year.

In the fabric useage department, I am terrible. I was really trying to get my numbers in to the positives but stores lured me in with new fabrics. Quilt instructions got me with incorrect fabric requirements. I just had to buy fabric. On a good note, I cancelled my Stash Builders Box that came in monthly with 2.77 yards of fabric. I was thinking it would be cool to get fabric outside of my normal colours but in the end, I don’t really like what I was sent. Now I need to use it up and get rid of it.

I was going through my stash and found a few panels ready to sew up. I had 3 of these with the coordinating fabric. Now they are in the “To Be Quilted” pile.

I also bought a layer cake, jelly roll and fat 8th bundle in all the same fabric and cut out 2 quilt tops. I sewed up one and saved the other for a quilt retreat.

Now for some numbers

Fabric used this week: 32.5 yds

Fabric used YTD: 139.45 yds

Fabric added this week: 40.49 yds

Fabric added YTD: 170.76 yds

Net fabric busted: -31.31 yds

I am sure once we get the long arm up and running, I can start quilting my big pile of tops. Most needs backs so I’m hoping that my numbers will be in the positives by the year end.

I also took a class put on by the Erie Shores Quilt Guild which I joined last year. It was taught by Melanie McDonald, a certified Jacqueline DeJong teacher. The quilts in the Be Colourful line are awesome. All paper pieced.

This is Chasing Dreams. I worked on it until it was done which took me the whole week after the class. I didn’t want to forget anything I learned in the classes. I even watched a few videos as refreshers. I don’t think I would ever make another one as it was really an intense paper pieced project.

I also rented time on a long arm, which I don’t need to do anymore, and quilted up a quilt for my grandkids. It’s a Holly Bunch pattern, Moving Day, which uses up 12 fat quarters, a Holly Bunch, from Hearts to Holly quilt Shop in Charlevoix MI. I bought it last year and wanted to make sure it was done before Christmas.

I don’t know why I don’t have a picture of the entire quilt and it’s already folded up and put away for Christmas. I made some pillowcases last year or the year before with this mitten print on the cuff so now they have a matching quilt. One usually makes the quilt first. I’m just a little backwards.

In the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge, I have stitched or tinkered in my sewing room every day in the last 5 weeks except for 1 day. I have managed to sew on average for 30 hours per week. I am not watching my grandkids during the week anymore as they are both in school which equals more sewing time. They come on the weekends and their dad is here, so he gets to do the dad thing. I usually only watch them if he works or goes out. They are growing up so fast!

I’m linking up with Donna for the Stash Report at quiltpaintcreate and with Kate at Life in Pieces for the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge.

Have a great week and enjoy this cooler weather. I love fall!

September 1st, 2019 - What’s New?

Nothing is new here at The Quilting Junkie. Oh but wait. Something finally happened. My mom was finally able to go home from the hospital. She has been there since April 12 2019 with a broken ankle. It’s all healed up and she did a couple of weeks of rehab and now she is back in her own home where parking is free. We (my brothers and sisters) will see how she does by herself before we make any decisions about whether she can manage. She has personal support worker that comes in 5 times a week, a physiotherapist once a week and a wound care nurse every 2 days. She does not want to go live anywhere else which makes any other decision we make all that harder. But safety first!

In the sewing department, I have managed to sew quite a bit. Of course, none of it was using my fabrics. I was sitting here one night and I just had to sew something. I didn’t want to start something new as I would have to spend time picking out fabric and a pattern. So I grabbed a donation quilt The Quilters Three was working on.Two weeks later, it’s finally done and put away. I didn’t even take a picture of it finished but I do have a picture of the blocks as I laid them out.

There are 3 borders, a 2.5″ black, a 2.5″ dark blue and then a 8″ floral on black. The finished size is 82 by 100. But what a mess it made in my room. Solid black fabric threads everywhere! Black lint in my machine, everywhere! It took me a couple of hours to get it all vacuumed up. I put the top in a large zipper bag where it will stay until it’s time to send it off to be quilted and that’s not happening here. Now I can start on something else. I spray basted 8 baby quilts while I was sewing with the black. I hope I didn’t get any stray threads on the baby quilts. I was careful.

No stash used up here at all. All fabric has been previously accounted for or it wasn’t mine to start with, so my numbers remain the same. I hope it stays that way for a while. Here are my numbers.

Fabric used YTD: 106.95 yds

Fabric added this week: 2.77 yds (I forgot the Stash Builders Box came in)

Fabric added YTD: 130.27 yds

Net fabric busted: -23.32 yds

And today, my sister, who is a new quilter, wants to go visit the lady who is destashing. I hope she hasn’t put out any new stuff as I really don’t need any more fabric. I won’t bring any money as she only accepts cash. No will power here at all! I have enough fabric and thread to last a few lifetimes.

Speaking of threads. I was looking through FB Marketplace and I scored a great find. I spent $280 and got thread valued at over $3300. I wanted just the Isacord embroidery threads (Bernina recommended threads) but had to buy the whole lot. I have enough thread that I probably shouldn’t need any for the rest of my life. Well, except that one specific colour. You know how it goes!

These are the Isacord embroidery threads, boxes included. I still can’t believe the lady who had them just didn’t have time to sew any more. She was practically giving the stuff away. I cleaned up all the boxes, labelled them and organized by number. This is only about a third of the colours available from Isacord. Do I need the rest of the colours? I think I have enough threads that I should be able to embroider anything.

Aurifil 50 weight threads, boxes included. Quite a bit of thread still has the plastic wrap on it. There is Aurifil cotton in 28, 30 and 50 weight and a couple of spools of wool/acrylic blends, Presencia 50 weight cotton, Wonderfil embroidery, Mettler 40 weight embroidery and 50 weight cotton, Sulky 40 weight embroidery, Superior King Tut, Bottom Line and So Fine and a variety of YLI threads. I already have quite the collection of thread but hardly any of these colours or brands. I better start sewing up a storm with all these fantastic colours. The Aurifil boxes are so bright. I can hardly wait to create something!

In the 15 Minutes To Stitch department, I think I’m over the summer vacation lull. In Week #1, I managed to sew for 18 hours and last week, iIgot in 22 hours with 8 of them happening yesterday. I included all the time I spend sewing, cleaning and organizing in my sewing room.

I’m linking up with Donna at quiltpaintcreate for the Stash Report and with Kate at Life In Pieces for the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge. I hope everyone has a great week and watch out for the kiddos as they are back to school on Tuesday here in Ontario. Yippeeeeee! More time to sew! Sorry kids!

August 19th, 2019 - I tried

To not buy any more fabric. But I couldn’t do it. A lady on FB Marketplace was getting rid of fabric and I went to look and guess what? I bought about 28 yards of it at a great price.

There are dots and chevrons and more dots. I know there is a quilt I want to make using dots and now I have them. Eleven FQs of the same size dots and the same colours of chevrons in FQs. Now to just find that pattern.

On the 15 Minutes to Stitch front, well let’s say that it hasn’t been happening here. Barely stitching in some weeks since I last posted.In the last 6 weeks, I’ve only averaged 13.6 hours per week and if you know me, I usually stitch around 25 hours per week. I think I didn’t stitch for one week at all. Shame! Anyway, now I’m back in the groove of things.

I bought a new machine in March and finally figured out a table for it. My hubby talked me into one of those ‘sit/stand’ tables that computer people use. Both him and my son use one at their workplaces. So we checked around the office furniture stores and boy they are expensive. When we got home, I started looking around on the internet and found just the frame for $299- CAD and ordered it. Once it came, it was a cinch to assemble, no arguments during this process at all. Then it sat in my sewing room with no top while we tried to decide on which top would work. The machine I have, Bernina 770, is quite heavy and from all I have read, you have to make sure your table doesn’t bow or the embroidery module won’t work. Hubby found a 30″ by 60″ by 3/4″, finished on all sides, table top at Home Depot for $36-. Now it’s all set up and I can sew at any height. I have gotten used to sewing at table top height and this is not good for your body. Now with the table lower and at the correct height, I feel like it’s too low. But it works and that’s all good!

Now for some numbers

Fabric used since the last time(7 weeks ago): 14.04 yds

Fabric used YTD: 106.95

Fabric added since the last time: 32 yds

Fabric added YTD: 127.5 yds

Net fabric busted: -20.55 yds

If only I didn’t buy any fabric! Oh well, that is life and I just love the fabric!

In the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge, most weeks I stitched around 10 hours except last week. I managed to get 23 hours of stitching done. That included a few hours at The Mercantile in Chatham ON using their longarm machine. This week I go back on Thursday to quilt another quilt. I need one of these machines but sadly have no space for one.

I hope everyone enjoys these last few weeks of summer. It has gone by all to quickly to actually enjoy. But I love the fall with cooler temperatures and it’s just around the corner.

Have a great week!

June 23rd, 2019 - What’s New

There is a lot going on here at The Quilting Junkie lab. I’ve been busy, made 5 wallets and 2 retreat bags. The large retreat bag is huge!

Canada wallet, small and large retreat bags.

All the wallets are listed in my Etsy shop, The Quilting Junkie.

My stash was getting used up. I count it as I cut it up. I kitted up all the flannel I received from Northcott for comfort quilts. One down, 3 more to sew up and get quilted.

My friend and I went to Quilt Canada in Ottawa ON, 2 weeks ago, and it was great. I really liked all the quilts, lots of inspiration. I didn’t take one picture because there are tons already posted on social media. We met quilters from all over Canada. Very cool! And I didn’t buy any fabric and I didn’t even take the free fabric from the Trend Tex booth. My best purchase was the embroidery module for my Bernina 770. I got the absolute best deal ever! Now I need to finish up a few things and get that monster out and give it a whirl. It’s at least twice the size of my old one.

In the stash department, I was doing really good. Almost back into the positive numbers but then I won a stack of fat quarters at the guild meeting. Check out these numbers.

Fabric used this week: 25.94 yds

Fabric used YTD: 92.91 yds

Fabric added this week: 2 yds(8 fqs I won)

Fabric added YTD: 95.5 yds

Net fabric busted: -2.59 yds

I know it wont take long to get back in to the positive numbers. I have a dress or two to make for my grand-daughter. Maybe this week I will get that done.

As for the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge, that’s a different story. The first week, I stitched every day for a total of 31.5 hours. Not bad right? Well the next week which was Quilt Canada week, I managed to stitch for only13 hours, missing 3 days of stitching. Last week, I stitched 15 hours, again missing 3 days. But I made 5 wallets and 2 retreat bags,so I did get a few things accomplished.

I’m linking up with Donna for the stash report at quiltpaintcreate and with Kate for the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces.

I hope everyone has a great week!