Easy Street, part 1

I finished my four patches yesterday.  I'm not using all black and white prints because I don't want to cut into my fat quarters unless I have too.  I'm trying to use up scraps.  My neutral is any fabric lighter than a paper bag.  I've used white tone on tones, cream with prints, black and white.  Some of my neutrals have red, blue, orange, pink or green in them.

My constant isn't constant either.  I think I have 6 shades of gray, with one of the grays leaning towards dark green.  If I had more grays, I'd use more, but I don't want to have to buy any fabric for this quilt except for the backing. 

 

 

 

That's also how I chose my quilt colors.  I don't have enough aqua blues without cutting into fat quarters, and I don't have enough yellow-greens, so my colors are orange, green and purple.  I don't agonize over colors for any mystery quilt. I use what I have, and if I don't really like it, I can donate it.  The best part is I'm using what I have.  This is a free quilt for me.

 

 

To see other Easy Street progress:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/11/easy-street-monday-link-up-1.html

 

Request for help:  I started this blog a year ago, and now it seems I've used up all the storage in my Picassa web album.  Do most of you pay for photo storage?  I'd like to keep it free if I can, so I've been deleting photos from my old blog posts.  If you have some technical advice for me, please let me know.  Thanks!

Four Day Weekend

I've had no fabric in or out this week.  Since I bought a boatload of it last week, I didn't even hit the 3 quilt stores in my area that were having sales this weekend.  I took a quilt to the longarmer, but it may not be done before the new year.  I may have  already posted my last fabric usage for the year.

Used this week: 0  yards

Used Year to Date: 80.5 yards

Added this week: 0  yards

Added year to date: 60.25 yards

Net Used: 20.25 yards

 

For more stash reports: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/11/25/stash-report-week-47-2012/

 

This has been a fun Thanksgiving break.  The big kids were home for a while.  We had 2 Thanksgiving celebrations (one here one on Friday at a friend's house).  We went to see 'Lincoln', which was very good.  We went out to lunch with friends from college that we hadn't seen in over 10 years.  I gave a knitting lesson to a friend who is making a hat. I sewed a little, and we still have today to play.

 

I'm working on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street.  This week's clue is to make 4 patches.  I've got about 100 of them done already.  My goal is to buy no new fabric for this quilt.  I'm trying to use up a bunch of scraps.  Some of my scraps just won't die.  I'm getting tired of seeing the same old fabrics in all my scrap quilts.

 

 

Forty-two people came for Thanksgiving this year.  We set up tables in every room downstairs.  We had only 36 seats at tables, but the kids decided to eat on the back porch, so all the adults had a seat.     Here are my parents' grandchildren, in order from oldest (almost 23) to youngest (6).

 

Lotsa Fabric

I bought 8.5 yards of fabric at the quilt shop last week and 6 yards for backing at JoAnn's.  That's a lot of fabric!  Then I went back today and got 7 more yards for backing another quilt.  That's a total of 21.5 yards, which is probably the most I've  bought in a week this whole year.

Used this week: 2.25 yards

Used Year to Date: 80.5 yards

Added this week: 21.5 yards

Added year to date: 60.25 yards

Net Used: 20.25 yards

 

I'm hoping to get a quilt to the longarmer this week, so my numbers should get better soon!

 

I splurged this week on fabric for another one block wonder.  I saw two fabrics that I really liked when I was picking out fabric in August, but used some restraint and only bought one of them.  When I went back this week, the other one I liked was 1/2 price, so I bought the rest of the bolt. I have enough to make the one block wonder quilt and can use it for the border too.

 

A lot of fabrics that work best for one block wonder quilts are big florals.  Most fabric like that is too feminine for teenage boys.  I think this one might work, though.  It has khaki-green palm leaves on a cream background.  There are splashes of red and yellow with a light design of blue too.  I think this would look great with some red cubes too.  I can't wait to get started on this one, but it is a project for 2013.

 

 

To see more stash reports

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/11/18/stash-report-week-46-2012/

 

Grinch in the Window

I'm participating in the 3rd Annual Neighborhood Party hosted by Beth of Laugh Love Quilt.  http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-neighborhood-party.html   To join, you make a 12 1/2 inch house block and send it to Beth.  She will group the blocks into sets of 9-12, and the winners of the drawings will get the blocks.   Beth has offered to make a charity quilt if she gets extra blocks, so I've made her an extra house  block.

 

I also finished a couple more pillowcases for my uncle.

 

 

Why I Love Marigolds

Several years ago I received some marigold seeds in the mail.  I tossed them into the flower bed out back.  Since then, they have volunteered every year.  They start blooming in July and usually bloom until Thanksgiving.  This past week has been colder than usual, and the foliage is starting to droop and turn brown.  But they are still blooming their little heads off.

UFO DONE, Stash Report

I got a top completed today.  These were blocks that I started about a year ago.  My plan was to make 2 baby quilts for a friend who was expecting twin girls.  The original pattern came from one of Bonnie Hunter's books,  but I can't find it right now, so I can't tell you which one.  I had the blocks made, but when I went to sew them together, I found that the seams weren't pressed so that they would nest, and when I tried to sew them together, I had bulky seams and sloppy points.

I ended up finishing 2 different quilts for the babies, and put these blocks aside.  http://sewingoutofmycomfortzone.blogspot.com/2012/02/baby-quilts-complete.html

This week I pulled the blocks  out and realized I could fix the bulky seam problem by putting sashing between the blocks.  I used one of the oldest pieces of fabric I have in my stash, a blue calico circa 1988.  All the fabric came from my stash or was given to me by my friend Holly.

 I ended up making one twin sized quilt instead of 2 baby quilts.  I think the blue gray of the sashing helps it look less like a baby quilt than it would with just pastels.  Now I think I could finish it and use it in the playroom (blue couch, yellow walls) or give it to a niece for a high school graduation gift.  I'm not sure who gets this one, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

Best of all, I have something to report in the Used category this week!

 

Used this week: 4 yards

Used Year to Date: 78.25 yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date: 38.75 yards

Net Used: 39.5 yards

 

For more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/11/04/stash-report-week-44-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PatchworkTimes+%28Patchwork+Times+by+Judy+Laquidara%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

 

Big Needlework Give Away

The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a big December give away.  You have to be a follower to enter.  Here's the link:

http://victorianmottosamplershoppe.blogspot.ie/2012/11/25-days-of-christmas-and-25-give-aways.html