Winter 2012 *To Sew* List

My Winter 2012 Sewing List...in no particular order:

Personal

• DS birthday gift...January 2nd Birthday!
• grocery bags
• Cher's Sister's Panel Challenge
• place mats:  January, February and March
• Admirals flag
• Scott Valentine's photo album cover
• Admirals Auction quilt and bag
• DH's co-worker Baby quilt A
• DH's co-worker Baby quilt B
• Mr. Hezzie quilt
• Fishi quilt

UFO's

• Cub pals' wall hanging
• red embroidery wall hanging
• blue fq wicked easy quilt
• Everglades panel quilt
• Quilt Expo 2011 kit  
• class quilt~blue ridge beauty
• class quilt~virginia bound

Mix in a few donation quilts here and there and I should stay busy until Spring 2012!

This time I am going to post a list in the sewing room...teehee....

Merry Christmas!

May you have a joyous and peaceful Holiday Season!

Fall 2011 Re-Cap

My Fall 2011 *To Sew* List

Personal

• OQG Ugly Fabric challenge due October 2011:DONE!
• LCQG Paint Chip challenge due December 2011:DONE!
• LCQG Mystery quilt due January 2012:CONTINUING!  new due date: March 2012 
• grocery bags
• hockey lace bracelets :CONTINUING!
• Cher's Sisters' Panel challenge due January 2012~tenative
• place mats w/ table runner: Halloween:DONE!, Christmas:DONE! and January
• assorted Holiday gifts:DONE!
• FAB birthday gift due November 2011 :DONE!
• Packers flag:DONE!
• Admirals flag
• Admirals photo album cover

*OQG=Oconomowoc Quilt Guild
*LCQG=Lake Country Quilt Guild

UFO's

• Cub pals' wall hanging
• red embroidery wall hanging
• blue fq wicked easy quilt
• Everglades panel quilt
• Quilt Expo 2011 kit
• Construction staggered bricks:DONE!
• class quilt~blue ridge beauty
• class quilt~virginia bound

I was wondering *why* I have not been very motivated in the sewing room this quarter...I discovered the *why* last night.  I found my Fall 2011 *To Sew* List under a pile of magazines in the kitchen!  No wonder!  I usually tape it to the cupboard to help me keep track of my progress.

I'm a *LIST CROSS-ER OFF-ER*! 

I actually made progress on my list and also completed a couple of QOV's for Alycia to replenish her cupboard.  So all in all~not too bad.  I'll be back next week with my Winter 2012 *To Sew* List...

The Winter Solstice arrived last night here at Bell Creek Quilts.  I'll be back later with a review of my Fall 2011 *To Sew* List and work up a Winter 2012 *To Sew* List.

graphic google imaged searched here.

Christmas Treasures Finished!

Just in time!

The Christmas Treasures quilt is finished!  This is the fourth in a series of Treasure Quilts I have been making to gift to my family.  The Blue Treasures here.  The Green Treasures here. The Purple Treasures here.

I quilted it with Curly Hearts from Lorien Quilting.

WIP Wednesday

The Christmas Quilt is a flimsy!  woohoo!  Enjoying the familiar *rush* of having completed a flimsy.  :)

These blocks are based loosely on this Chaos Crumb Block tutorial, found here.  There are many different tutorials out in blogland to make this type of crumb block.

A Little More While I Was Away...

...from blogging...I made 17 blue hockey skate lace bracelets.  I also started this *cookie* thing.  I make cookies for the girl,T that escorts the players to the autograph corner and for the players, too.  Each one has the ooportunity to accept a bag of 6 cookies!  Currently, *T* has enjoyed all 6 bags and 4 out of 8 players have taken the cookies.  Robert Slaney was so funny!  He started munching on the cookies right away! He looked very hungry after the game!!




I am merely keeping count on the blog as it is easier to reference written here than anywhere else.  :)

note to self:  108 in lace yields 17~6.5 inch cut lace.  elastic cut at 2 inches

just a little hockey biz...  :)

Oconomowoc Quilt Guild Exchange

Last year I got into trouble at the Oconomowoc Quilt guild because I gave *too nice* of a gift!

This year, I shifted through the sewing room and found 4 fq's of flannels that I will never use and this Santa suit coffee mug. Well, the Santa suit mug was in one of the Christmas boxes. Combined with some candy canes~I can only hope that this is *trashy enough* for the Oconomowoc Quilt Guild.  Perhaps this is another example of *One quilter's trash is another quilter's treasure*?! 





Hope whomever receives it~likes flannel. 

tee-hee and Merry Christmas!  :)

This is the *trash* I picked out!  Trash or Joy?!

We were all asked to bring in a dozen cookies for the snack.  Any leftovers are being donated to the staff at the church where we meet.  Usually this is a very lightly attended meeting but LOADS of fun...  I decided to make my Seven Layer Bars that I traditionally take to our families during the Holidays and and merely *snuck* 12 onto a donation plate.  :)   Now my *treats* are ready to travel!  Check one more thing off the *To Do* List!

 ~SWEET~

Design Wall Monday

The Christmas quilt is starting to come together!  woohoo!

I have errands to run this morning but I really need to get back to the assembly today!

Stash Report Week #51

Nothing in. Nothing out.  Numbers stay the same. 

Motivation stays low.  I did manage to sew a few blocks on the Christmas quilt, though.

Goals for next week:

Finish Christmas quilt~needs to be gifted on Saturday! 

Stash Report Week #50

Well, the little one told me that I needed to update the blog. Our main computer is in for a cleaning and de-virusing so I am running with the tablet! Let's see how I do! My fingers seem a bit large for the keys....lol!

Fabric added this week: +10 yards. Ouch!
Fabric added this year: +243.5 yards

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used this year: -268 yards

Net fabric for the year: -24.5 yards

What I accomplished this week:
Made Lake Country Quilt guild gift...water bottle cover
Made red coiled trivets
Started family Christmas quilt
Made flying geese for Lake Country mystery

Goals for this week:
Continue working on family Christmas quilt

Lake Country Guild Exchange

I made a water bottle cover together with a Thermos stainless steel water bottle. :)

I received this cool stocking filled with all sorts of goodies.  Chocolate caramels, tea, Hersey kisses and candy canes...yum!

This is the snack I shared as suggested by DD, the Dirt Pudding dessert...double yum!

WIP Wednesday

Well, I made it back to the sewing room today.

I made the second coiled trivet for my table.  The red pattern is the same fabric as in this cookies in the jar.  Hardly looks the same, right?!

I also managed to push a few buttons and fabric arrived at my door step. 
+10 yards hockey for backing of two donation quilts~neither of which I have started and both are *due* shortly after the new year!

This week I have been concentrating on making Christmas cards.  I have all the components ready. Next is to address and sign...

Stash Report Week #48 and #49

Very late and a little late so I thought I would combine the two stash reports.  Thanksgiving weekend I was away and last week was a blur~the only thing I accomplished was to finish the binding on my Holiday place mats.

fabric added week #48/49:  0 yards
fabric added year to date:  +233.5 yards

fabric used week #48/49: -7.5 yards
fabric used year to date:  -268 yards

net fabric for the year:  -34.5 yards

What I accomplished (two weeks):

finished and mailed Norma's Birthday Gift~shhhhh....it's a secret!  :)
completed binding on the  Holiday place mats

Goals for this week:

make Lake Country Guild Gift
sew another coil trivet
work on next clue for Lake Country mystery
start family Christmas quilt

Finally a Finish!

Finished my Holiday place mats~just in the nick of time!

We almost have the inside of the house decorated for the Holidays~only my lighted garland is missing. And I would NOT BE surprised if I had tossed it.  It was getting pretty thin after many years of display!

Tall bottle jar pattern found here.

Not Much Sewing Happening Here...

...I did bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  yum. The jar was full to the top but some *cookie* gremlins have been helping themselves!  :)

...I did make 15 skate lace bracelets. 

Note to self: I used black waxed laces, cut at 6.5 inches.  3/8 inch black elastic cut at 2.0 inches.


Not too thrilling...maybe some sewing tomorrow!

Happy US Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating!

Happy Birthday to my friend Norma!  Hope you have a FABulous Day!


birthday banner from Google image search here.

WIP Wednesday

I finished up a few *things* so far this week:

First:  I finished my pal, Norma's birthday giftie!  woohoo!  Next step is to find a box for shipping!

Second:  I made labels and sewed them onto the two QOV's that were here.  Yes! were!  FedEx was open until 9:00 pm last night so after supper, off we went to drop the QOV's.  They are on their journey to their forever homes!  I decided to try stamping on the fabric for a label.  Something a little different~not real sure that I like it.  Always fun to have lots of options for the labeling task.  :)

Third:  I machine sewed the bindings onto my Holiday Jars place mats.  That leaves the hand work that can travel.   woohoo!

Holiday Jar pattern found here.

Stash Update Week #47

I had a finish! but I also added some backing fabric.

fabric added this week:  +4 yards
fabric added this year: +233.5 yards

fabric used this week: -12.5 yards
fabric used this year:  -260.5 yards

net fabric for the year: -27 yards (used)

What I accomplished this week:

quilted and bound Bricks quilt
pieced Holiday Jars
worked on FAB Norma's birthday gift

Goals for this week:

label QOV quilts and send to Alycia
bind Holiday Jars
continue with FAB Norma's birthday gift

Holiday Jar Progress

I am making progress on my next set of placemats.

 A set of Holiday Jars filled with wonderful Holiday *things*!

Tall jar block pattern found here.

A Finish

Hot off the needle~well...this morning I took the final stitches in the binding.  Next it needs a label then will make it's way to Alycia's QOV pantry.
The front of the bricks quilt.

The pieced back. Now I only have the scraps left. 

woo-hoo!

WIP Wednesday

The Back of the Quilt~I thought this would be so much more interesting!  I dug all the strips back out and cut more 6 1/2 inch bricks.  Starting piecing to build the back to width.  Unfortunately, some same fabric landed next to each other.  :(

The popcorn quilting on the back.  This homespun was also in the Land O'Lakes bin so it is only fitting that it is the backing for this Land O'Lakes Bricks quilt.

I still need to hand sew back the binding and label...tomorrow, I hope.


This morning I was sewing on a FAB Birthday giftie.  :)

A Fun Give Away

Connecting Threads is giving away $50 gift certificates.  Hop on over to this page to find out how to enter.

I had fun dropping items in my wish list~they have some yummy fabric but I like to shop for blenders in the clearance section.  Here is my wish list.  :)

Good Luck if you enter!  and I have way more than 50 bucks on my wish list and only visited books and clearance fabric!  :)

Stash Update Week #46

I was dreading this report, put it off but here it is!  I had one finish and I won a Kate Spain 12 Days of Christmas fat quarter tower.  wowza!

fabric added this week:  +12 yards
fabric added this year:  +229.5 yards

fabric used this week:  -8 yards
fabric used this year:  -248 yards

net fabric for the year:  -10.5 yards

What I accomplished this week:

quilt and bound Minnesota Hot Dish~QOV

Goals for next week

quilt and bind Bricks~QOV
work on *secret projects*
work on next step of the Lake Country Quilt Guild mystery

Never Say Never

I was so excited when I found this bag! 

I peeked inside and there was a piece of homespun on the top...I knew I had found the leftovers from this quilt I made with the Land O'Lakes Quilt Guild fabric.  When I moved from Texas to Wisconsin about 5 years ago~I tried to return the fabric but alas, it moved with me.  I thought it would be fun to try and make something with the homespuns that I could send it off to Alycia for her QOV pantry.  Yes, crazy me, I made a rag quilt as a donation~hey it was 2005, I was still a newbie and I thought only rag quilts were made from homespuns!

I'm currently digging in the sewing room to find UFO's to finish and send to Alycia.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the leftovers from this strippy quilt! pattern here. Teals, browns and leaves, oh my!

(DD is my quilt holder...circa 2005)

I removed the leaves, added a few of my *beauties* and made a Bricks quilt.  Most of the strips were already cut at 3.5 inches so I just further chopped them to 6.5 inch bricks.  I tried to alternate between a teal and brown/or navy.  My mind must have wondered as the zig zags are not lining up...but I do kinda like it even though I would not have chosen this color pallet.






I said that I would NEVER make a Bricks Quilt.  Well, my fiends, I learned NEVER SAY NEVER!

Let's save the story of the back for another post...my only hint is that I had to *dig out* the leaves, oh my!  :)

Happy Veteran's Day

11-11-11   Happy Veteran's Day!

THANKS to all who have served our country!   You ROCK!

 a special THANKS to all the current servicemen and women who are serving!  You ROCK!

another THANKS for all who will join the military in the future!  You ROCK!

My post recent finish~ a Quilt of Valor.  This one will be sent to Alycia to help fill her QOV pantry.  :)  I'm still digging into my UFO's for projects to finish and send along to Alycia.

pattern:  Minnesota Hot Dish by Atkinson Designs

panto: popcorn from Willow Leaf Studio

I Am Lucky!

In October, I had linked up with Kate at Swim, Bike Quilt for her 100 Quilts for Kids campaign.  I had sent 5 quilts to Margaret's Hope Chest this past fall.

I was one of the lucky winners!  A FQ bundle from Kate Spain~12 Days of Christmas.  Very Cool.  It's like 100 yards of fabric into the stash this week, right?!  lol.  Seriously, thanks to Kate and her 100 Quilts for Kids campaign and thanks to Kate Spain for such a wonderful gift!

Actually, I feel the kids that receive a quilt are the winners! :)

WIP Wednesday~Late Edition

Well~the snow arrived at Bell Creek Quilts this afternoon.  No accumulation but enough to *know* winter will be here soon!

I started sewing back the binding on the next quilt.  I'm about halfway done...then it was dinner and laundry time.  :)

Design Wall Monday

Well, after looking at my Minnesota Hot Dish on the design wall for two weeks~I decided it really wasn't working for a quilt for me.  So I sewed up a few more blocks, added an inner and outer border and ta-da!

A Quilt of Valor ready to be quilted and bound!  I am much happier with this top now. :)

Did you hear that Alycia's QOV cupboard is bare?  Both JudyL and Vicky are offering prizes for completed quilts sent to Alycia between now and the end of the year!  Judy's prizes here and Vicky's prizes here.  It was just the incentive to turn this quilt I wasn't to crazy about for me into a QOV.




Visit JudyL's Patchwork Times for more inspiration from Design Wall Monday.

Minnesota Hot Dish pattern by Atkinson Designs.

Stash Report Week #45

I did sew this week! fun!  I also added to the stash and had a few small finishes.

fabric added this week: +1.5 yards
fabric added this year: +217.5 yards

fabric used this week:  -1 yard
fabric used this year:  -241 yards

net fabric for the year:  -23.5 yards

What I accomplished this week:

*SS* binder cover
hockey binder cover
Holiday jar blocks

Goals for next week:

work on Minnesota Host Dish  pattern by Atkinson Designs
work on *Super Secret Birthday* project

Hop over to JudyL's Patchwork Times to see other bloggers' stash reports.

The Holidays are Just Around the Corner!

I wanted to make a few place mats for the upcoming Holiday season.

So I purchased +1.5 yards of Holiday fabric.

And it turned into Tall Jar quilt blocks.  Each place mat will have two jars on it.  I'm still thinking about an outer border/sashing fabric.  The choice might be as simple as *what* is in the cupboard! I'm leaning towards beige, I think.  :)  It turned out that I actually had a little Holiday stash that I also used in my jars.


Tall Jar quilt block found here.

Hockey Photo Album

I decided to separate out my quilt guilds from the Milwaukee Admirals in my binder.  So~I purchased another binder...on clearance...and made a cover.

Here it is.  No matter how many times I make these covers and *think* I have the construction down, well, something runs amok!  This one is just a tad short~top to bottom.  It's for me so I can live with it. I was very happy when the Social Studies binder cover fit better.  :)

I used the string heart tutorial from Sophie Junction, found here.  My heart is a little wonkier than Sophie's.  The *I* was free pieced a la Toni Ricucci.

WIP Wednesday

DD's friend asked if I would make her a cover for her Social Studies notebook. Her only requirement was that I use bright fabric! 

The 'SS' looks a little like '55', if you ask me.  When free piecing, I never *know* exactly *what* the letters will turn out exactly.

I used a few of the extra strips to piece the backside of the notebook.  I used black poodles on teal background for the inside...

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all ghosts and goblins out in blogland!  :)



Design Wall Monday

No change to the design wall.

Minnesota Hot Dish by Atkinson Designs.



Stash Update Week #44

No sewing this week!  :(   I did manage to shop a little.

fabric added this week:  +6 yards
fabric added this year:  +216 yards

fabric used this week:  0 yards
fabric used this year: -240 yards

net fabric for the year:  -24 yards

What I accomplished this week:

no sewing   :(   (can you tell I am sad?!)

Goals for next week:

sew :)

My Week...

...and no sewing.  :(

Well! What's been happening?!

Pumpkin carving.

Pumpkin seed roasting.  I'd share the link but these are going to hit the garbage.  :(












The Christmas card mock ups.

DD's

Mine

Chocolate chip cookie making...

...and tasting.  :)   I just drank coffee as I was sampling as they came out of the oven.












In this school district the kids go to *camp* in the 7th grade~this year for DD.  My son went in 5th grade when we lived in Michigan.  The *camp* group is having a bake sale fundraiser on November 1 and 2 in conjunction with the 8th grade play and the 7th grade parents were asked to donate 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies.  Since it has been like forever since I baked a batch~I thought I better have a dry run to *see* what tweaking to the recipe needs to be done!  DD was very surprised that I owned a cookie jar~what does that tell you?!  and it 'HAS COWS! MOM! C'MON!'  Her words not mine...DH has worked in the dairy business for the last 24 or so years...we have lots of stuff with cows on it. :)