Stash Report and Goal Check

I have nothing to report this week as far as finishes go. I have been busily doing patchwork related stuff all week. I spent the first part of the week getting ready for my patchwork retreat which started on Wednesday, cutting fabric and generall prepping stuff for the time away. Then from Wednesday lunchtime till about 3 PM Sunday I was on the retreat. I did lots of sewing - made a total of 27 Sparkle blocks (from the Missouri Star Quilt Companies tutorial) which I will use in 3 baby quilts. I made all 16 of the paper pieced blocks for the Summer Reading Quilt Along. I made the last 2 blocks for the Amy Gibson 2012 Block of the MOnth on Craftsy. and I did a bit towards a couple of pencil cases but there were no finishes.

I did acquire some fabric at the Retreat. My friend Vicki and I won a quiz on the meanings of various quilting short forms (RR, UFO etc). We won 5 fat quarters that we cut in half so we both got some of each of the blocks. My gift in the mystery gift swap came wrapped in a fat quarter. And then there was the chunk of material I ended up with in the Silent Auction. (I put bids on lots of items just to get things moving. There were some pretty random or should I say ecclectic mixes of things in each lot.) I don't know how much was in the bundle and I won't be counting it as I am going to give it to Handmade with Love as it will make great shirts for boys.

Fabric Tracking Week 24

Fabric Used                 0.00m
Fabric added                0.90m
Weekly net                   -0.90m

Year to date
Used                           39.38m
Added                         36.35m
YTD Net                        3.03m

Since we are almost half way through June, its time for a review of my monthly goals. They have grown from 10 to 12 since I wrote them at the beginning of the month

• Catch up on the Summer Reading QAL that is being run by Pam and Lyn from The Stitch TV Show. Done. (I have done all the blocks.... got a bit keen this weekend)
• Make Hanging Towels for HML - DONE 
• Make Birds in the Air block for Twilters Swap - DONE and posted

That is the good news.

As for the remaining 9 goals. I've made progress on 3

• Assemble the Amy Gibson BOM quilt - I have completed the last 2 blocks for it. Still need to square up the blocks. I have all the sashing cut for it.

• Make 3 baby quilts (This is a late addition. I forgot to put it on at the beginning of the month) - I have the blocks made. Now to assemble them
• Make Pencil Pencil Cases for HML. I have completed 2 and have 6 more started. (this is another late addition to my goals.)

The last 6 haven't been touched

• Make backing for Hexie quilt 
• Pin and Quilt Onya Bike - hope to pin this at Patchwork group this week.
• Complete 3 more casserole covers 
• Quilt Hashtag quilt  
• Backing for My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes. This came to PnP with me and the box did come out from under the table but only so I could raid the fabric in it to use in the Summer Reading QAL wall hanging. 
• Quilt Diamond Dash 2 quilt 

So my ambitious goals for this month aren't looking too good. "Onya Bike" is my priority. I want to get it pinned and quilted this month and the other quilting projects will have to wait. 

Sorry there are no pictures but its got way too late and I need to go to bed. I might come back and add them tomorrow but then again......

Linking up with Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday

I am writing this early as I will be travelling on Wednesday so will write this now and schedule it to go up tomorrow.

I have been busy in my sewing room this week. Early on I was busy making the hanging towels and Pencil Pencil cases that I blogged about on Sunday in my stash report. 

Since then I have been busy getting ready for my quilting retreat that starts tomorrow. I have been busily prepping projects to take with me.

I have sewn some more "pencils" to make more pencil cases... 6 more in fact. I have prepped all the rest of the materials for them too and have them in one box to work on over the 5 days of the retreat (4.5 days actually... how much fun we will have)

I have also prepped the last 2 blocks in the Amy Gibson 2012 BOM Craftsy class to make and the fabric for the sashing as well. I haven't taken fabric to do a border with should I decide I need to add one but I can do that at home if necessary.

I have to make 2  quilts for my nephews' babies. One is due this month and one was due the month after that but came almost 15 weeks early at the beginning of April. Good news is that last week he turned 2 months old and graduated out of his humidcrib to a regular cot in the NICU and is breathing on his own with just some extra oxygen under his nose. Yay. (he's now -5wks corrected time). 

Anyway I am making both babies quits using some of the embroideries that my mum did for me a year or 2 ago when she was still stitching. I am adapting the latest video tutorial put out by Missouri Star Quilting company. Its called the Sparkle Quilt

I am not using a packet of charm squares but selecting from my trimmed up scraps. The centre of the blocks will either be my mum's embroider or a picture fabric. Given that my mum is no longer embroidering (she's 94 and eyesight and the shakes have put paid to that) I am being very careful with the remaining emboideries. Mum has lots of grandchildren and my intention was that one baby from each grandchild would get a quilt featuring some of her work. The rest will still get a quilt but without her embroidery in it. So... only 4 in each of the quilts from now on.

I have the pattern printed out for Reading Challenge being run by The Stitch Tv Show. The pattern is by Daisy of Lazy Daisy Quilts and Reads. Fittingly it is a bookshelf quilt. I have put in a heap of my 1.5" strip scraps and hope that they will be suitable for all the blocks.

I have other projects ready to go as well... backing to make for My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes, some more casserole covers and  other stuff too I am sure. I have each project in its own clip top box which will make it easy for me to find... or at least that is the plan.

I still have to pack my clothes. The sewing stuff is all packed up in the car ready to go... priorities you know.

Sunday Stash Report

We have a stall for Handmade Love today so I decided to get busy and make some more hanging towels as the numbers we had were low. They are fairly popular so wanted to top up the supply. I had bought a good few whilst I was away when I found them on special a couple of times (I use regular hand towels)

By hanging towels I mean the kitchen towels that are common - the ones that hang from door knobs, fridge doors, or tea towel racks. Mostly they are made from towelling tea towels, sometimes cut in half and sometimes folded over and worked double. The tops of most that you see are crocheted but I have a pattern that uses fabric which is much quicker to use and frankly in my opinion looks more modern. Most of the ones that I find that have the crocheted tops are made from cheap and usually not very absorbent tea towels. I don't blame the stall holders. Buying better quality tea towels costs more which cuts into the profits if its a professional seller and costs the volunteers more if its a fundraising or charity stall. 

But I hate them. One wipe and the towels is soggy. They usually have white backgrounds and so get discoloured really quickly.

I made my hanging towels from hand towels and I buy reasonable quality ones. Even if I buy slightly cheaper versions they are still more absorbent than the cheap terry towelling tea towels.

I base my design on one from Fat Quarter Shop. 

This week I knocked out 11 of them in a range of colours. I use Velcro to close the handle (have yet to conquer button holes) but put a decorative button on the closure to snazzy things up. Each handle requires 2 pieces of fabric 9"x10". The first time I made these towels I used different fabrics for the front and back but have since altered my design to use the same back and front... looks neater. It requires a piece of batting the same size. For these towels I used scraps of batting which I joined together to make wide enough. I love using up scraps of  both wadding and fabric

So each towel is not a great user of fabric but when you make 11 of them it adds up nicely. Total fabric used 1.19m

I also made a couple of little pencil cases. I saw the pattern here 

I altered it a bit and may end up writing my own tutorial for it as some of the things she does are a bit tricky and there are easier ways to do it I think. But meantime... I loved the way they turned out. They will be on our stall next week at Tickled Pink markets. I've made 2 and have started a couple more. 

These are the two applique panels I made. I made the pencils longer than in the pattern and a bit fatter.

The first one I finished. I love how it turned out. I forgot to take a photo of the other one when I finished it and have handed it on to our co-ordinator for the stall next week.

Total fabric usage .72m

No fabric purchases this week - whoot so even though my projects were only small its all positive.

Fabric Tracking Week 23

Fabric Used                 1.92m
Fabric added                0.00m
Weekly net                   1.92m

Year to date
Used                           39.38m
Added                         35.45m
YTD Net                        3.93m

Linking up with Patchwork Times