Archive for the 'Stashbusting 2010' Category
December 26th, 2010 - The Final Stash Report
Well it’s the last report of the year already. Here are the numbers.
Fabric used this week: .974 yds
Fabric used YTD: 183.75 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 yds
Fabric added YTD: 181.985 yds
Net fabric busted: 1.765 yds
 At least I’m not in the negatives. I had hoped to have a better finish but I guess I buy way too much fabric. I’ve been good these last couple of weeks but that’s because I’ve been stymied by one thing or another. Hopefully the new year will bring all good things and lots of finished quilts. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a healthy, happy New Year.
December 5th, 2010 - The Stash
Well it’s week #49 and you know what that means. Only 3 weeks left to get to our goals. Oh no!  But there’s always next year to start all over again. If you wish, that is. I’m starting to re-think my goals for next year and maybe my whole quilting hobby. Not that I want to stop but maybe really slow it down and persue other interests. But that’s for next year. On to some numbers.
Fabric used this week: 2.125 yds
Fabric used YTD: 182.776 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 yds
Fabric added YTD: 181.985 yds
Net fabric busted: 0.791 yds
 Looks like I’m just breaking even. At least I’m in the positives. I did some sewing but forgot to take pictures. On Thursday, my husband’s aunt took us out to dinner and to see Celtic Thunder, which was very good. I made her a Christmas table topper as a thank you and I didn’t even get all the binding sewed on before I gave it to her. She said she would finish it. I felt kind of bad but you know how it goes. When you’re in a hurry to complete something, everything goes wrong. My new machine was skipping stitches and pulling the top thread down in to the bobbin area. I was getting really frustrated. I had no time to do all that unpicking but I had to do it. Needless to say, it still turned out okay. Not my greatest work but it was very pretty anyway. She liked it and I even gave her a hand made card too. Lucky for me, I have a stack of cards all made up and ready to go. Â
That’s it for this week. Later! M-K
November 28th, 2010 - The Stash Week #48
I’ve actually been sewing this past week but haven’t used all that much fabric. I joined a “12 Days of Christmas” exchange with some artsy crafters. I needed to make something flat and fairly small that could go through the mail. So I decided to make some Inchie quilts. I got the instructions from Nadine Ruggles book “Inchie Quilts” and they are 1 inch size. You don’t use much fabric even when you make 12 of them.
 Here are a few of the ones I made. I used the same fabric but different thread for the satin stitching around each one. I added rivets, beads and some fancy threads to hang down. I guess they could be used as an ornament or a bookmark. I mounted them on cards for ease of mailing. I think they look pretty cool but that’s because I made them.Â
 I also finished up “Asian Grace”, a pattern from Joy Hansen at Joy Quilts, a local quilt shop. I’m not really keen on oriental fabrics but I liked the way this looked. Almost all of the body of this quilt is cut from one fabric. I liked it so much that I bought it in another colour too and no, I haven’t made it yet. Soon.
 Now for some numbers. Apparently last week, I made a mistake in my calculations. I’ve corrected it on the previous post, so this week’s numbers are correct, I hope. Where’s my dad when you need him?  He would have spotted that error immediatley. Oh well, it was an error in my favour so now all is good.
Fabric used this week: 3.4 yds
Fabric used YTD: 180.651 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 yds
Fabric added YTD: 181.985 yds
Net fabric busted: -1.334 yds
 So, I only have 1.334 yards to use to get out of the negatives and then it’s all positvely going to be good. Right? I certainly hope so. I’d like to be able to use up a bit of fabric in the coming weeks and I have no plans to buy any either. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Have a great week and keep on sewing.
Mary-Kay
November 21st, 2010 - Stash Report
 I should really get my butt in gear and do a little sewing. I have the perfect set-up but just can’t get into the swing of it. I’m not a total lost cause as I do a lot of stitching on my Over The River project. Maybe this week I’ll get some sewing and stash busting done. I enhanced the stash a little bit when the lqs had their anniversary sale. Everything I bought has a purpose not just because I liked it. No pics though because I’m lazy. It’s not fabric that will make you go “Oh I like that” or anything like that. Just some filler kind of stuff, if you get my drift. I guess I don’t really like it and I only bought it to go with some fabric that I have to make some “man” quilts. Now on to my report.
Fabric used these past weeks: 6.596 yds
Fabric used YTD: 177.251 yds
Fabric added these past weeks: 16.125 yds
Fabric added YTD: 181.985 yds
Net fabric busted: -4.734 yds
 So once again I’m in the negatives. Oh well, there’s always next week. See you then.
Mary-Kay
October 31st, 2010 - The Stash
Only 8 more weeks to go and then we can start all over again. Yipee! Maybe I’ll do a better job next year. Right?! I’ve sewn this past week but I’m still waiting to get my table finished. I’d like to sew even more now with the cooler weather. Maybe this week it will be done, I hope.
Fabric used this week: 4.55 yds
Fabric used YTD: 170.655 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 again
Fabric added YTD: 165.86 yds
Net fabric busted: 4.795 yds
 I never got around to cutting out all the bindings and backings I needed. Maybe this week I’ll get that done. I started a comfort quilt for my neighbour and I’ve been working on 3 other quilts. All in various staged of completion. The tops that is. I need that table to do some serious quilting. Come on guys, get a move on. Do you think I could say that to them? I think not! Lucky for me they don’t read my blog. Anyway, one of the local quilt shops, Quilting Confections, is having an anniversary sale, starting next week. I received a special invite for the Friday night, so I could get first dibs on fabric. I don’t need any fabric and I don’t really have any desire to buy fabric. I just might go to see what’s new and hopefully not buy anything. Notions are always a good thing.
Speaking of notions, I bought a new iron and I’m taking it back too. It’s the Oliso Pro-series and it doesn’t do what it claims to do. There was a lady doing demos at Costco and it looked like a good iron. So I bought 2 of them, one for me and one as a gift. I’m taking both back. It doesn’t get hot enough to take the wrinkles out of fabric, even with the steam. My friend and I did a trial with it and my old Rowenta does a better job. The Oliso has 1600 watss and the Rowenta has 1750 watts. I don’t know if that’s the difference but what a piece of crap. I’m glad I bought them here in Canada and not at the sewing show in Novi Mi. I would have been really irritated if it didn’t perform up to their claims and I couldn’t take it back. I don’t know what they do to the fabric for the demo but this iron didn’t get wrinkles out. We even ironed a crease in the fabric and we couldn’t get it out. We had to keep going over and over the fabric. And those feet things pop out all the time especially when you iron really slow, which you have to do to try to get the wrinkles out. Junk, junk junk!!! I guess I’ll have to stick with the Rowenta iron I have. Actually I have 2 of them but one leaks so bad, I don’t use it anymore. It was my favourite iron. That’s too bad that Rowenta can’t fix the leak issues with their irons. I think they are the best irons I’ve ever had. Have a great week.
Mary-Kay
October 24th, 2010 - The Stash
 Hey everybody, it’s week 42 and do you know what that means? Only 10 more weeks until the new year! How time flies when you’re having fun. It also means I better use a whole lot of fabric up if I want to meet my goal of 100 yards busted. At least I’m out of the negatives this week and I have no real plans on buying any fabric either. No fabric, no fabric, no fabric will be my mantra for the next 10 weeks. Okay, so I’m a week behind. Just checking to see if anyone noticed. Apparently it’s week 43.
Fabric used this week: 2.405 yds
Fabric used YTD: 166.05 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 yds
Fabric added YTD: 165.86 yds
Net fabric busted: 0.245 yds
 This week I’m planning on cutting some bindings and backings for a few quilts. I have 8 quilts that need to be quilted, of those 3 need binding and 3 need backing. So if I get these done, that will eat up a lot of fabric. Yeah!
  I’m waiting to get my table finished for my new machine. My neighbour came over to look at the old table and we discussed what I would like for the revamped version. He can’t start it until tomorrow and then I have to paint it up so it might not be done until next weekend. Then I’ll be ready to quilt some of the smaller tops I have on hand. Right now the new machine is upstairs in the dining room and everything else is down 2 levels in the basement. Once I have everything set up the way I would like it, I’ll be ready to sew. I can’t wait!
October 17th, 2010 - The Stash
 Hi everyone, I’m back! I thought I’d do a stash report even though there’s not much going on at this house. I’ve been a little busy doing some non-quilting sewing.
 My mother-in-law had some leftover polar fleece and decided to make some hats and scarves for her church bazaar. She asked me to help her out and we made a dozen sets. This colourway has mittens to match. We only made 3 pairs of the mittens. I thought that the mittens were not all that great so we abandoned them and just made hats and scarves. Much easier too!
 And here’s all of them. Some of the fabrics are really cute. It was fun matching up the colours. Easy to sew. Only one set of seams to match up and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t a perfect match because you plopped a tassle right on top of it. No fraying fabric either, just a lot of fuzz. My kind of sewing.
So it got me thinking of all the polar fleece I had in bags in my sewing room. So I made 10 blankets for the homeless shelter downtown and boy did that use up quite a bit of fabric. Gone in one day! Yeah! And I counted too!
Fabric used this week: 22.04 yds
Fabric used YTD: 163.7 yds
Fabric added this week: 0
Fabric added YTD: 165.86 yds
Net fabric busted: -2.16 yds
 I’m also working on 2 quilt tops. I don’t have my machine inserted in to the table yet. Maybe this week it will get done. And then I can do some actual quilting. Until then I’m just going to work on piecing a few tops together. I can’t wait to experiment with the BSR on my machine. Until next week, tata!
Mary-Kay
October 3rd, 2010 - The Stash
So, it’s week #40 or something like that. I haven’t been doing much of anything these weeks. Why? I don’t feel like it I guess. I have big plans but they never seem to happen. I’ve been cleaning out my sewing room a bit and I can’t believe how many patterns I have. I’m giving all the ones I know I’ll never make to my sister and she can either keep them or give them to her quilty friends. The same applies to all my cross-stitch patterns. I got rid of the cross-stitch magazines to a friend at work but she didn’t want the patterns. Oh well, it’s her loss! Now to just start sewing.
 The stash remains the same, nothing in and nothing out. Maybe in the next week I’ll feel like sewing. I have a few quilts to bind and quite a few to start. I can’t even get the ambition to cut something out. I went to a sewing show in Novi last week and no inspiration there. I even went to a quilt show on Friday and again, nothing. Must be the weather or something.
  Yesterday I went to a Zumba class that I won in a silent auction . What a gas! I really enjoyed it and I’m going back next week. I’m a little sore but nothing that would stop me from doing anything.
 Fabric used this week: 0 yds
Fabric used YTD: 141.66 yds
Fabric added this week: 0 yds
Fabric added YTD:165.86 yds
Net fabric busted: -24.2 yds
 Okay, I need to get busy and do some sewing. I’ll keep repeating this to myself and maybe it will happen. I sound sad but I’m not, I’m just not in to sewing lately. Lots of beautiful things to make but no ambition. Actually as I type this, I remembered that I worked on a Crabapple Hill stitchery this week, That counts as something. Now I don’t feel so bad. Have a great week and get some sewing done.
M-KÂ Â the quilting junkie….not!
Mary-Kay
September 19th, 2010 - Stash Report Week #38
I really should change the name of my blog to Fabric Junkie. All I seem to do is buy fabric. Who has time to sew? Or should I say who has time to sew using their own fabric?
 I worked on this baby quilt for my niece’s friend all week. It’s almost done. It needs a little more quilting and the binding, then it’s out of here. I quilted it on my new machine and I think there’s a learning curve here. It isn’t as great as I thought it would be but it’s okay. That BSR thing is a little different than regular free-motion quilting. It takes some getting used to. Practice, practice, practice!
 And here’s some fabric I picked up this week. Why? I don’t even like Asian prints but I just love these ones. The shop owner made up a quilt pattern using these fabrics and it’s just beautiful. The gold flowers make the outside border. This needs another brown print that I have in my stash and maybe this week I’ll get it sewn up and ready to quilt. Yeah right!
 And because I had some other prints in my stash that will work, I bought this colourway too. The big blue flowers on the left is from my stash. I don’t even remember buying it but it was there. It’s even washed, all ready to go. I’m only have enough for a twin. It’s a really easy pattern and maybe I can get 2 done in one week.
 Now for some numbers.
Fabric used this week: 0 yds
Fabric used YTD: 141.66 yds
Fabric added this week: 13.21 yds
Fabric added YTD: 165.86 yds
Net fabric busted: -24.2 yds
 So I’m not getting any closer to my goal this year but I’m going to keep on trying. At least the fabric I’ve bought is for a planned quilt not just for the stash. There’s some thinking involved here, not much though.
September 12th, 2010 - The Stash
 Hey are you guys trying to fool with my mind? I could have swore this is week 37, not 36 or 38. I just went back to a few posts and I think I’m right. This is week 37 and I’m not crazy. Whew! Now that I have your attention elsewhere I can begin my stash report. I bought way too much fabric last weekend and I still have not used anything from my stash that I could count. I worked on a few BOMs that I didn’t count as fabric in so again I can’t count them as fabric out. I’m also working on a baby quilt for my niece’s friend. It’s her fabric and she asked me if I would make it for her. Sure, why not! I’ve made this quilt before for her friend but I didn’t cut it out. What a pain in the a….! Seventeen different blocks, some plain and some with a little stitchery in them. I think I did a pretty good job distributing the different fabrics around the quilt. So without further ado, here’s my stash report.
Fabric used this week: 0 yds again
Fabric used YTD: 141.66 yds
Fabric added this week: 26 yds
Fabric added YTD: 152.65 yds
Net fabric busted: -10.99 yds
 Now I’m in the negatives and the sewing show is coming and a quilt show and……. I better get busy and start sewing something that can be counted. Have a great week.
Mary-Kay