Mug Rug Swap

I recently participated in a mug rug swap. What's a mug rug you ask? Well, it's a big coaster for your coffee mug - basically a mini quilt that you stitch up - be as creative as you want and it's all the rage lately. Just google Mug Rugs and see what you get or go to flickr and check out some there. I was assigned a swap partner through The Quilting Gallery Mug Rug Swap. Below are the two mug rugs I created for my swap partner. One has machine embroidery and applique, the other just a simple 4-patch design.

And these were the mug rugs I received in the swap from my swap partner, Judith in the UK. She has a great blog too! http://www.needlesandlemons.com/

Modern Bricks Quilt Top

I was able to put this together this weekend - Yeah - I feel so good that I actually am getting things done... need to keep the momentum going. Still trying to decide if I want to add a border on this one or keep it simple. I did add a two inch white border after I took this picture today. I guess I"ll have to audition some borders and see if anything works.

Week 6 Stash Report

I busted this week! Yeah Finally! Made a new quilt top this weekend out of some modern 5" strips of fabric I got from a swap along with some white fabric for sashing and borders...

Added this week: 0
Added this year: 27.5
Used this week : 3.875
Used this year : 4.375

Net this year : 23.125 yet to be busted! :(

I'm an Evernote! Winner

I can't believe it but February is off to a great start - I won a year's premium subscription to Evernote! from The Quilting Gallery. Yeah - I hope this will help me organize my life, my lists, my tasks, my oodles of patterns, downloads and inspirations I have collected in tons of different folders on my computer, and that's just for my sewing/quilting/embroidery world .... I need to do the same with my photography business world.... I might just have to purchase a second premium subscription just for that if I like how this works. Does anyone else use Evernote? Got any tips or suggestions on best way to get things organized?

Week 5 Stash Report

I don't know how it happened but another 4 yards jumped into my shopping basket online and arrived this past week. I really got to get going on some projects. Where does all the time go!

Added this week: 4
Added this year: 27.5
Used this week : 0.5
Used this year : 0.5
Net this year : 27 more yards needed to bust now!

Design Wall Monday - how about a design wall itself

I've decided to join in on Judy's Design Wall Mondays but there was only one problem, I don't have a design wall. So I carried myself over to The Home Depot today among other places that I needed to run to today, and I bought some pvc pipes and elbows and stuff. Didn't spend but $20 on all of it and I have enough for two design walls, one big one and one smaller one. I only made the bigger one because I needed that first, the smaller is for traveling to retreats and sew days. I bought five 10 foot lengths of 3/4 inch pvc pipes - four 90 degree elbows, four 3-way split/connectors, 4 end caps and some reducers to make it all fit. I cut, with a hacksaw, one 10 foot pcv lenght in half, so I have two 5 foot lenghts. I cut two of the 10 foot lenghts to 7 feet each, leaving two 3 foot lengths for the base. I loosely fit it all together and whalla, I have a frame for some flannel fabric and I'll have a design wall. Total time to cut and put these suckers together, maybe 1/2 hour. EDITED: I did not use glue, so I can take this apart and get it out of the way in the multi-purpose room where is lives now and also to take on retreat so we can have an easy vertical design space. I sewed up the flannel rather quickly too - I cut a lenght of flannel I had in half and serged it together in the middle; then I measured the design wall and added 4.5 inches all the way around to give me the rod pockets I would sew. I then cut my flannel to size, measured in 4.5 inches all the way around, folded the raw edges in to that 4.5 in mark, zig-zagged a rod-pocket in each side, cut the corners and reinforced the corners with some exta zig zag stitches and whalla, it was done. As I said, constructions maybe 1/2 hour, measuring, sewing and putting it all together, maybe 1 hour or 1.5 hours total, there was dinner somewhere in between some of the steps this evening.

And here it is in use this evening. I dug out some 5" strips of modern fabrics from a swap I participated in on Swapbot.com - I want to create a modern brick pattern quilt - I just need to decide on sashing between each 5x6.75 block or not... i'm envisioning a smoky gray sashing... tbd.

Week 4 Stash Report

Well we're at week 4 and guess what, I fell off the wagon already. I couldn't resist... they just jumped into my arms at the quilt shop - they screamed at me that they needed a home, to be loved and amongst all those other loverly fabrics so neatly and orderly stacked together. They wanted to be placed into a new project. They wanted to be a part of a family. So, here we are --- adding once again and not using a darn inch this past week. All is about to change.... I'm telling you it is!!!

Added this week: 23.483
Used this week : 0

Net this year : 23.483 more to bust!

Week 3 Stash Report

Not much stitching going on this past week here in New Orleans.... other than some blocks that needed to be completed for our guild, but it was their fabric, so it don't count! I had intentions of getting at least one new project started this weekend but I wound up rearranging our living room furniture, realizing we need to pain the walls soon and I want to sew some new window treatments too, at least the last one will use up some fabric from the stash! But that will be later on this year.

Anyways, nothing in, nothing out this week!

Added this week: 0
Added this year: 0
Used this week : 0
Used this year : 0
Net this year : 0

Check out this great BOM - I really like it!

I met Sheryl, who runs the Quilting Tizzy Blog, last year at the GSQA Seminar in Baton Rouge - she just so happened to be a friend of Judy Laquidara. Sheryl created a new block of the month program - you need to remember to come to her blog on the 3rd Saturday each month to download the monthly blocks, they will be posted for 2 months only, so don't forget - setup a reminder in your outlook or online calendar or on your iPhone. You can get to the Garden Party BOM by clicking the link here or just click the Garden Party BOM button in the right-hand column. Hope you all join in too!

2011 - Week 2 Stash Report

The first week of 2011 has come and gone! WOW, is this year going to move just as fast as 2010 -- I hope not! Now that all the holiday decorations are packed up and back in the attic, I feel like a refresh is do in this house and I want to rearrange furniture, paint, sew new pillows, curtains etc...

So we start week 2 with putting some binding on the frolic quilt today -- wow, it's finished but I didn't take a picture yet... later this week I will. Not much more sewing going on. No buying either - i'm am going to try and be real good this year and keep the purchased fabric down to a minimum.

Added this week: 0
Added this year: 0
Used this week : 0
Used this year : 0
Net this year : 0

New Delivery

I got a new delivery today! My mom recently bought a Bernina 830 so she offered me her old Bernina 200E/730. YEAH - so now I have two wonderful Bernina 200E/730s! YEAH! I plan to keep one of the machines setup for embroidery all the time and the other will be used mostly for piecing, sewing and quilting since it has that nifty little BSR - Bernina Stitch Regulator. With a little fiddling about late this afternoon, I got everything setup and tested the newly arrived Bernina - nothing sews like a Bernina!

2010 Final Stash Report

OK, I was supposed to report this stash thing monthly, wasn't I - or at least I think that's the way it was supposed to work.... well, at least I kept up some sort of spreadsheet on the stash in 2010, which in a sense, seems very OCB/OCD but it was fun just to see the numbers and well, as I run on here, NOT GOOD. Way more came in than went out. But I know I'm not alone in that department... plus I'm a fairly new quilter so I need to have a plentiful stash for all the projects, right! Too many great sales, one quilt shop store closing sale, a couple quilt shows and whalla, you amass over 400 yards of fabric in 12 months! Really, YOU DO! So here it is folks:

2010 Yards Added to the Stash: 487.586
2010 Yard Used from the Stash: 68.875
2010 Net: 418.711 in the stash that need to be used in 2011

YIKES!

New Year - New You - New What?

OK - first off, I have neglected my blog for MONTHS it seems and well, I have no excuse other than life just gets in the way -- seems like a theme for me in 2010. I hope to change that in 2011 and be a little more selfish I think; what's wrong with being a little selfish? Nothing, I say!

So what's been going on in my life you ask? Well not much but plenty enough. Business is way down, WAY DOWN for 2010 so that took a priority to many project and efforts in the last half of 2010. 2011 I hope will bring a renewed life to the world, or at least that is my hope and desire. I know I am not the only one here going through a downturn in the economy and business. Sometimes being self employed is a blessing and a curse at the same time. I am in a planning funk right now and hope to twist that around and get on the priority train real soon and make some new things happen. When you run your own business it's up to no one but YOU to make things happen! Not a big realization but certainly one that needs to be reinforced from time to time, so that's what I have been doing lately. Refocusing, strategizing, prioritizing, planning, eliminating, simplifying...

Where am I with quilting, sewing and embroidery. OUT OF TIME! I'm sure you've heard that before. I didn't get to a tenth of the things I wanted to get to in 2010. I hope 2011 will be different. Let's plan on it. I reorganized a few things in the sewing room so that things are more "in my face" so that it will be a bit more obvious that I need to be working on things.

I'll have a new stash report/update to post as well - it's pathetic really - I had MUCH more come in than go out in 2010. No excuse other than HOARDING! But I like to look at it all organized and ready to go --- now, that's pathetic, I might need to call that A&E Show "Hoarders" perhaps, but it's not that bad really! Honest!