Sunday Stash report

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I really did have a blow out last weekend. Not intentionally but I ended up with sooo much fabric

Firstly I stopped at Spotlight on my way through Rockhampton to go to the Patch'n'Peace retreat. I needed some more reds for my Black and White with a touch of red. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted but got a few different reds that I thought would work for the centre of the quilt and some more for the binding and borders. I also got some more white with black on it. 4 metres all up

I used up two of the white with back in my half square triangles before I took a photo. I didn't end up using this one as the white was a bit too creamy (3 lots of .2 m total .6m)

The reds that I got for the quilt, some for the blocks and other for the binding and borders 3 metre lengths and 2 x .2 m (one lot got used up before the photography took place) total of 3.2

Then at the retreat itself one of the ladies had brought along the Stash and UFOs of her sister in law who had died in the last year or so. The stuff was for sale, very cheaply with all money raised going to the Cancer Council. I found some black and white fabrics that I thought would go in the quilt I am making either on the front or in the backing. There was a metre of black and white gingham and 3.2m of some that was white with checkerboards on it. I needed some royal blue for the Disappearing 9 Patch with a twist blocks I was working on and there was a metre of it amongst the fabrics that I grabbed for it. There was 2.46m of a beige fabric that I thought would be good for a swap we have coming up for PnP next year. We are making bullseye blocks to swap and raggy hearts. Both require 10" square neutral backgrounds so this will be perfect for that. (I hope. I've not done bullseye quilts before)

Blue fabric I bought from the stall. 1m of the darker blue and 2 each of the pale blue spot and pale blue floral

One of the activities at PnP is a Silent Auction. Donated items are arranged around the room and each item has a sheet of paper next to it. The auction runs for an hour and during that time you can bid on the items. To bid you write your name and how much you are willing to pay for the item. The next person who wants to "bid" on that item writes their name below yours and then writes how much they will pay for the item. The amount has to be at least 50c more that the previous amount. At the end of the bidding time who ever has written their name down last on the paper (with the highest bid amount) gets the item (once they pay that amount) We all bring along items to go in the auction. People bring all sorts of things and frankly a lot of it is pretty junky. The lady who organises the items puts things together in groups so that their is usually something desirable in amongst the junk. I actually think that they would get more money for stuff if they didn't heap it together. A lot of people just didn't want to have to deal with the rubbish stuff. Then again... one woman's trash can be another woman's treasure. I always try to bid on everything at least once to push the prices along a little bit. Inevitably it means I get stuck with some stuff I don't want as well as some stuff that I do. I missed out on one piece of fabric I would have dearly liked (black and white) cause I had to go have my massage before the end of proceedings but I did "win" a number of lots. As well as fabric I ended up with quite a few patterns, books and old magazines

The beige/grey on right I bought from the stall, the other two I ended up with at the auction

The white and the red on white I won in the auction. They were fabric I was going after. The two black and white ones I bought at the stall

 And then there were the gifts. On Saturday night we had our retreat dinner and all got dressed up to fit the theme "Bedazzled" We sure sparkled. There was a gift exchange too and I ended up with a parcel containing 2 fat quarters of very sparkly fabric and 3 lovely cotton fat quarters. And lastly on our last day the organisers presented us each with a little gift bag containing one more fat quarter.

The rolled up fat quarter was my gift from the organisers of the retreat. The other fabrics were my gift from the exchange

All up I took in a whopping 27.23 metres of fabric. Ouch

Then there was the rest of my loot!

                                                      

The books and magazines that I scored in my auction wins. I have given Fangirl the book of fairy tale cross stitches

Some of these patterns I bid on deliberately, some were part of a bundle and some were given to me by other participants who ended up with patterns they didn't want in their bundles

Apparently you can knit this stuff into scarves. I don't knit. I wonder if I could crotchet it?

This was my most intriguing purchase. Apparently it was so you could do quilting on your machine without a walking foot. I have never seen anything like it but will investigate it some more and report back

4 glass dishes I bought cause I like all things apple. 

As to Fabric out report. I washed all the fabric I got from the stall or the auction and the white with the red print on it ran terribly. I washed it again with run remover but then some of the red went orangey. I gave it another soak in hot water and no more dye came out so its probably safe but have decided not to risk it but to give it to Op shop

Then the grape pattern fabric is just too unsuitable for quilting... too light and flimsy and I just don't think I'll use it so that is off to the Op Shop and someone else might be able to use it. So that is 4.6m gone for a start

I have used about half a metre of the dark blue fabric in the Disappearing 9 Patch with a Twist. I have also used up .4m of the white in the half square triangles along with a about 1/4 of the red fabric I bought... maybe a bit more. The white and checker board fabric will go into the back of the Black and White with a Touch of red quilt and I have ear marked the beige so a lot of it will go... but I just have to get a few quilts finished to be able to count them

I have had a couple of finishes this last fortnight. I participated in two one day workshops with my own local group and finished off a gorgeous little bag with Tumbling Blocks Block. I love it although I haven't worked out what I shall actually use it for! Total fabric used .66m

My other finish has been the Not So Sombre Stars for Derek. I got it quilted yesterday and finished off the binding and the label today. I'm not overly pleased with the quilting. Having pieced back as well as front... having two important sides - two tops really it was hard to quilt. I decided to just ignore the signature squares and to quilt the Stars side. Probably should have just done an all over design but instead I quilted each star individually, choosing different designs. My style is not sophisticated... naive might be a polite way of describing it. Anyway... done is better than perfect and I just wanted to get it done. Not sure when or how I will give it to Derek. Not sure if I should do a presentation at church next week so everyone gets to see the finished article or give it to him privately. Will think about it. Dimensions of this quilt 192cm x 192cm Total fabric used 8.46m

Not So Sombre Stars for Derek - Stars

Messages for Derek Side

Continuous stars for the border and 

So my stats for this last fortnight

Added this week                                                27.36m
Used this week/given away                                13.72m


Year to Date Used                     79.37
Year to Date added                   65.67
Net Used                                     13.70

Linking up with Stash Report @Patchwork Times

Friday Fitness

Been a while since I updated my fitness report. I  have been working hard at making sure I make my 10 000 steps each day and haven't missed this last week and possibly not this fortnight... might have had one day when I only got to 8000 steps. Have had a couple of days where I have made it to over 15 000 steps which has been awesome.

Today my 7 day total on fitbit is just over 91 000 and we have yet to go on our afternoon walk. I am top of my friends which is making me smile. (Still waiting for Terje to recover from her broken leg. She is the queen of the fitbit stats when she is healthy. Currently working out on a scooter board so still active)

Weight wise I have been hovering around 87kgs. Have dipped under it a few days but this morning I was plum on it. I would like to get to 80 so still have a way to go but have currently lost 13kgs so am smiling. I am fitting into jeans and shorts that have been too small for a few years now and some I things I have bought in the last 12 months are getting a bit loose... bring out the belts.

Haven't done much running. Well have run but not long distance. I have started the c210k and am now up to week 2 as I have been so slack. Some days I run the whole lot, just run harder on the run parts but some days I just run the run parts. I like to mix it up :)

I was away at a quilting retreat last weekend but I was very determined to keep up my steps and did so by going for a walk first thing in the morning. My local walking buddy was spending the long weekend nearby to where my retreat was so 2 mornings I was able to meet up with her and we had a walk along the beach in Yeppoon. The other two mornings I walked by myself, once along the lake and the other time along a nearby Kinka Beach. Made a change from my usual riverside walks, or walks around the streets here.

sunrise over Causeway Lake

Instead of sulphur crested cockatoos galahs and ibis my birds were pelicans and seagulls

The bridge over The Causeway, looking out to sea

Kinka Beach

Tuseday Museday... My Patch'n'Peace Retreat report

Home again after a great weekend at a quilting retreat I have been going to for the last 12 years. Well except for the years that I don't go. Have missed it 4 times over the years. Whenever we go overseas it seems to include this June long weekend. (Airfares to Europe and the US go up over the summer months but if you go before the end of May you get shoulder fares... a bit cheaper than the summer ones)

Anyway. I had a great time and will try to get some photos up of the quilts I saw and the ones I made (well worked on anyway) Suffice to say it was a lovely creative time. Some of the ladies there I knew before I started to attend and others I have known since I started and a couple I met this weekend for the first time. We all had a really lovely time.

I didn't get to do a Stash Report this week since I was away over the weekend so will catch up next week. Its going to be quite a blowout. I stopped on my way through Rockhampton and bought some fabric for my black and white quilt. Then my gift at our gift exchange on the Saturday night included 5 fat quarters. The organisers gave us all a fat quarter and then there was the stall at the retreat. One of the ladies had bought her SIL's stash. Her SIL had died during the last year and had a huge stash and heaps of UFOs. They were selling it off quite cheaply with the money going to breast cancer research. I haven't actually measure the fabric I bought but it was at least 4 bundles and they were all a metre plus. We also had a silent auction and I ended up with a number of wins there which included more fabric. Oh dear. Maybe by next Sunday I will have measured all the fabric I got plus have had a finish or two and will be able to claw myself out of the hole I am digging myself into.

What did I work on over the weekend?

Well I got 7 more  "Disappearing 9 Patch with a twist" blocks made to bring my total to 12 and I put them together. It needs a border. Wondering about using more of the dark blue or perhaps a green and then the blue. What do you think?

I finished off the quilt that I had on my design wall last week with the embroidered Teddies on it. I think I will call it "Pinwheel Bears" I made up a lot of the pieces in the quilt using them as leaders and enders - first time I've ever really needed to do that and it sure got the blocks done in a hurry. My machine would unthread if I didn't have something under the needle for some reason so I really had to do it. I got the centre of it finished as well but still have to do the borders.

I made all the half square triangles for my Black and White with a Touch of Red Trip Around the World quilt. I'd cut a lot of the 7" squares I needed for it before I left. 2 of the 7" squares would make 4" finished half square triangle blocks. Also I had cut fabric too small for the 7" squares into 5" squares. I still had to cut up the fabric I bought on my way through to the retreat. I'd gotten some more red and a bit more white. I made over 280 (I think... I did calculate it but didn't actually count them individually)

 I haven't yet squared up the hst blocks or ironed them as I am waiting on a special ruler that I only just got ordered. Its by Quilt in a Day. I first read about it on  Amy Smart's Diary of a Quilter's blog. She gave this link to it but I couldn't order it from there as they don't let Australian's shop there... have to use the Australian Amazon site. I found it on some other US websites but they were going to charge so much for shipping I wasn't impressed ($15 to send something which was small enough to go in letter envelope) I also found it on some Australian websites but they were sooooo expensive (try 5 times the price).  I asked one of my US friends if I could order it from a US site, have it shipped to her and have her ship it to me and she was happy to do that (Thanks Sandi of Quilt Cabana Patterns) When I went online to find it to order an Australian website came up in my search that had it on 60% off special with free shipping. So I didn't need to take her up on my offer. Now I have to wait a few weeks for it to get here... cause they are shipping it from the US!!)

Lastly I did a little bit of applique on Derek's quilt - stitching on some butterflies to the Emmaus block to represent Chrysalis. (see here for an explanation of Emmaus and here for Chrysalis)

It was at this retreat last year that we started the shirt challenge that I called the SOMB, Shirt off my Back, challenge. I was in a group with 4 other quilters Betty, Karin, Sandy and  Susanne.  Only Betty and I had our quilts there on the weekend. Karin and Sandy hadn't finished theirs and Susanne had hers with her. She is off on a 6 month trip around Australia. There were a couple of other groups too. We had the reveal at the retreat. Some of the other quilters didn't add any other fabrics and others added just a little. There were some amazing awesome quilts. The ladies at the retreat were so creative. We hung the quilts around the room after the reveal and got to enjoy them all weekend.

Betty's quilt. She was in the same group as me. Her largest blocks were 12", the medium 8" and the smallest 6".

 The 4 quilts below were from the same group of swappers

These two were from another group. There was a 3rd one from this quilt that I didn't get to photograph.

We always have a theme for our weekend, a charity to which any fundraising goes, some swaps to participate in and a gift exchange (based on the theme usually). We decide on the theme and the swaps for the next year at a meeting we hold during the weekend (usually straight after the special dinner that we have and at which we have our gift exchange). This year's theme was Bedazzled. We dressed up in our most glittery gear.

Sandy shows us her very sparkly bedazzling jeans

My table at the dinner. You can see our sewing area behind us.

I wore a beaded top and heaps of rings and necklaces and sparkly earrings. I also gave the fur that I inherited from my Aunt its first outing since I've owned it. Not sure how old it is but probably at least 60 years old.

Next year the theme is going to be based on the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign  Because we thought that the fashions from back then might be a bit hard to replicate easily we have extended it to a war theme to include both world wars. We have incorporated the "Mend and Make Do" theme and so our outfits can be recycled ie bought at Op Shops. Our gifts too we have decided have to be recycled or repurposed so can be something we already own, something we have bought at an op shop OR made from something we have bought.

I am quite excited about the theme as it was my suggestion. I had 2 great uncles who were killed in the Gallipoli campaign, within days of each other. It fills me with horror and such sadness to think of losing two of my sons within only a few days. One brother survived long enough to bury the other one before he too was killed. We are going to have a memorabilia display and I am going to take photos of my great uncles as well as a photo of my Dad from WW11 and any other bits and pieces I can find from my family history.

Saturday ramblings about nothing

I have been re reading some of my recent blogs. I have to read them. Not many others do. I think every time I read my own blog it counts as a visit. Have to bump my stats up some how. I know it doesn't count for anything but it makes me feel better when I check my page views. (Yes I am a sad little blogger. Now the 15 people who do regularly read this are rethinking their plans realising what a weird little person I am)

Having re read some of them I squirm over some of the phrasing and some of the errors I have made in them. I have gone back in and fixed up some of them. Really I should edit them more carefully when I write them before I post them however then I think... meh... its just a mummy blog. I am not expecting to reach great heights of blogdom - to attract a following of thousands, to become known in the blogosphere. If I fuss over it too much it might lose its natural flow. I want it to speak with my voice. However - I should edit it a bit more and make sure it at least makes sense. Usually it does. Sometimes when I go back in and edit I reword something but then I forget to take out the old wording. Oops. How many people go back and read old blogs though anyway? I seem to get the most hits (loving using all these blog related words he he he) the day I post it and only occasional additional page reads over the next few days.

I've been going to lots of linky parties. I'm becoming a bit of a linky tart... you can see the different ones I link up to regularly from the buttons on my side bar. I try to visit at least 5 other links from the party and to comment on them as well. I particularly like to comment on ones that have no other comments or only a few. I know how much I love to get comments on my blog. (Hint hint) However I have realized that it is hard to comment on my blog... or impossible unless you have a Google ID or one of a number of other options. But you can't comment unless you are signed in. Don't think I can change that. Early on when I was having some hassles with Blogger a fellow twilter suggested I change to a different blog platform and I just about had a heart attack. As a pretty new blogger (a few random posts a few years ago but only consistently posting since January this year)) that was just way too scary.

This is a pretty boring blog entry. No pretty pictures. lots of dreary self reflection. No lovely quilty news. No cute dog pictures. No photos of the gorgeous sunset , the lovely river that is near by or even my fabric purchases. I should delete it but i won't. Can't bare to waste all my creative drivel

Saturday Thoughts - My quilty word

For 2014 the word I chose for the year was Renew. Not sure why I chose that. - wasn't writing my blog at the time so don't have a post on the subject  - so no longwinded self indulgent naval gazing post to go back to in order to check it out. Yeah I know it was only a little under 4 months ago... but still I got old lady brain going here.(You've seen the grey hair I got going now)

So far for me it has largely centred around using fabric that I have in my stash that has a previous use - fabric that wasn't designed to be part of a quilt. This has been the theme behind 3 of the quilts 2 have finished this year and 2 more that I have as works in progress.

In January I completed making a crazy patch tie quilt that I was making for my cousin Syd who turned 70 last month. I gave him the quilt at a family reunion in January (to see the blog post about it visit here) I got a real kick out of making the quilt. I have a pile of ties left - ones that didn't fit into the blue and red spectrum I chose for Syd's quilt. I'll make another one day

I have also been working on my SOMB quilts. Shirt Off My Back quilts that I am making using 2nd hand men's shirts for a challenge that I am involved with. To find out more about this challenge just search my blog for SOMB. Added to the challenge of using the fabric from the shirts we had swapped i added the challenge of only using recycled fabric in the whole of the quilt and with the 3rd quilt in the series completed  I have one more quilt in the series to complete. The top has been made completely using recycled fabric and I am still working on the backing. Its going to be a gift for a friend currently undergoing chemo. I have cut 6.5" squares out of light coloured fabrics- mostly old sheets but some calico whose origins I am not sure of. Friends and family have been signing these squares with messages of love and support. Still thinking about how I will incorporate these into the backing... depends how many I get back. I may just alternate them with coloured squares or then again... might make them into blocks. Will see.

I also want to renew my sewing area. I want to get it all sorted out and freshened up, go through my projects and fabric and decide what I am going to do. I have already started on this by going through my fabric and sorting out the little bits and cutting and sorting these according to size. Larger pieces of fabric have already been sorted by colour. It will be good to have it all tidied up and renewed. Apart from anything else it will bring to mind what things I have - what gadgets, fabric, patterns etc which in turn will help generate creativity and help me to work out what projects I want to work on next.

How are you going with your quilty word for 2014?

WIP Wednesday

This week I have made great progress with the 4th and final quilt in my SOMB series. (Shirt off my Back quilts that used fabric from recycled men's shirts from a challenge at an annual retreat I go to)

My last one I have called Not So Sombre Stars and featured the ninepatch in the centre using the shirt fabrics. All 4 of the quilts had these 9 patches in them.

I didn't get to start to put the blocks together till Friday or Saturday. I completed all the blocks by Sunday and completed the top on Monday. It went together pretty quickly as it was all chain piecing. 

The work wasn't without incident. I had a number of errors along the way and several times when I got to spend lots of one on one time with my unpicker

I sewed the flying geese uints to the wrong side

I sewed the flying geese to the flying geese

I sewed the square flying geese square units the wrong way around

I did this more than once 

I used the wrong colour corner squares... I made all the mistakes I could I reckon

I did get one finished correctly

 I even got 6 done

And then I had the whole quilt's worth done

The top has 25 star blocks in 5 rows of 5 with no sashing. I was hoping to get away with no borders but, foolishly posted a photo on twitter and asked for opinions and my twilter friends obliged and the universal consensus was for borders.

 Another challenge I have set myself is that all the fabric used in these quilts have to be recycled fabrics, fabrics that have been used for another purpose or vintage fabric, bought for another purpose many years ago and repurposed. So had to find the border fabric from within my stash. I had some red and white striped fabric that my mother-in-law had used as covers for beds that weren't made up, to protect them from dust. The stripes are very wide - 2.75". I cut the fabric so that the red stripe was full width but the white stripe was 1.5". It would have been good to have been able to cut the white stripe in half and then could have saved myself more cutting but the measurement was too tricky... too many decimal places. I am going to use the red for binding as well I think. Will see how it looks when I've quilted the top. I should probably have done some cutting and sewing and tricky stuff to get the white to go right around... or done corner stones or something but I haven't and so the white border doesn't go right around but... you get that.

Still working out what to do for the backing. I have decided to make it a gift for a friend who is currently in hospital waiting diagnosis for what may well turn out to be cancer. I have cut a heap of white and cream repurposed fabric into 6.5" squares which I will get friends and family to sign and then make it up decoratively in some way. He likes fishing and I have a length of fabric that has underwater scenes from the Great Barrier Reef. Will work that into it some how. Not sure where I inherited that fabric from. It counts as repurposed for my challenge in that it was probably bought originally to be curtaining. 

I didn't work on my Disappearing Into the Blue quilt at all this week as I didn't go up to Patchwork to sew today. I went up for morning tea and took some scones up with me to share but only stayed for an hour or so.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly pieced