Stash Report, Chemo Caps

I'm headed in the right direction now.  I used 6 yards this week as backing and binding for Orca Bay.  I also worked on Easy Street yesterday, but it isn't quite done yet.  My DH gave me a gift card for my birthday to get a quilt longarmed, but I'll have to buy backing for that first.

Used this week: 6 yards

Used Year to Date: 6 yards

Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date:11.25 yards

Net Added: 5.25 yards 

 

To see more stash reports:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/13/stash-report-week-2-2013/

 

As far as my personal goals, I walked the dogs 5 times last week (10 miles total) and got to the gym 3 times (cardio twice, weights once).  I'm still sore from the weights. Not so good about eating less sugar.  We had birthday cake left over as well as chocolate from Christmas. 

 

I  finished another chemo cap this week.  Since December I've made 4 caps.

 

 

I'm a self-taught knitter with poor technique, but they only take me about 4 hours to do.  So far I'm using yarn left over from the caps I made my sister.  She preferred cotton yarn because the soft acrylic yarns made her head sweat, especially when she went to the gym.  I made one hat last year for knots of love (http://knotsoflove.org/), but they are very fussy about the kind of yarn they will accept.  I'm going to see if my oncologist's office knows of chemo patients who could use the ones I make instead.  My goal is to donate 45 to charity, but not necessarily all this year. 

Orca Bay, Bound at Last

I finally got Orca Bay bound yesterday.  I had some issues with the binding because I used the same corduroy for the binding that I used for the backing.  The next time I make a corduroy binding, I need to remember to add a little to the width of the binding to adjust for the corduroy's thickness.  The next time I make a quilt with a pieced border, I need to remember to add a thin outer border.  I think binding would be neater if I weren't working around so many seam allowances.

 

 

 

 

If this quilt were a gift, I'd go back and neaten things up a little more.  I like gift quilts to be as perfect as I can make them.  This quilt is super warm because of all the seam allowances and the corduroy backing.  Done just in time for our 70 degree weekend!

Easy Street Progress

I've finished sewing all the blocks, but they aren't stitched together yet.  Every bit of this quilt came from my stash.

 

It's really hard to get a good picture because the quilt is so big, and I don't have a design wall.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed seeing it come together, but sometimes I felt like the piecing would never end.  It will take a while to get the rows together, I think, since there are so many seams to match.  Right now, about 80% of my intersections nest.  Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for this mystery pattern!  I'd never attempt something this complicated on my own.

 

To see more Easy Street progress:

 

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-05:00&max-results=19

2013 Goals

I don't usually make resolutions on Jan. 1. I wait and set goals until after my birthday.  My birthday is just too close to Jan. 1.  I don't want to make some big diet resolution and then blow it 6 days later  by eating birthday cake.  I don't care what my diet goals are, I will eat cake (specifically pineapple cake with whipped cream) and ice cream (always butter pecan) on my birthday.

So here are my goals for 2013:

Eat less sugar.  Eat at least 3 fruits/vegs a day.  I know 5 would be better, but lets be realistic about this:  5 rarely happens in my world.

Walk the dogs 2 miles, 5 times a week.  Get to the gym 3 times a week for cardio.  Weight lift once a week. Again, twice would be better, but I hate weights.  Once is better than I'm doing now.

Knit chemo caps for charity in celebration of my sister's remission.  She is going to be 45 this year, so I'd like to get 45 caps done.  This will not all happen in 2013, but I can get started.  I'd also like to learn how to knit socks.

Cross stitch Valentine's exchange piece.  Work on Bent Creek's Sleepy Hollow.  It won't be done for this Halloween, but I can have it done by 2014.  Think about stitching all the Partridge in a Pear tree ornaments I have, at last count 9 charts by nine different designers. 

Quilting:
 2011 was the year of the scrap quilt.
2012 was a  UFO finishing frenzy.

 This year I want  to learn to paper piece. I also want to learn to like paper piecing.  Just from the tutorials I've seen, it looks slow.  Slow is not my thing in quilting.  If I want slow, I cross stitch.

I bought fabric last fall for another One Block Wonder Quilt.  Time to pull it out and get moving it.  I also need to complete the Easy Street top, my selvage quilt, and the batik sampler quilt.

I'd like to make a quilt entirely from recycled fabric.  I have some home dec samples I'd like to do something with too (bags, pillows).

I'd like to use more fabric than I buy in 2013.

That's enough, I think.  In 2011 (The Year of the Scrap Quilt), I broke my wrist in Feb. and didn't complete all that I wanted to.  I know I need to be realistic in 2013, so if I complete 75% of my goals, I will be satisfied.

New Year's Stash Report

Last year, I added 60.25 yards and used 80.5 yards, so my net used was 20.25 yards.  I've never 'kept score' before, so I really didn't know what to expect or what would be a good net used number. I am satisfied with it because I used more that I added. 

This year I'm starting off with a bang.  I added a bunch of fabric this week because I'm planning a new project. 

Used this week: none

Used Year to Date: none

Added this week: 11.25 yards

Added year to date:11.25 yards

Net Used:  none

As soon as I complete my Easy Street top, I want to start working on the Project of Doom Quilt. http://sewhooked.com/harry-potter/

 I want to learn to paper piece,  I know a young lady who would love this quilt, and she is graduating from college this May.  I am new to paper piecing, so it may be a stretch to finish the quilt by then for her.  Also, if I decide I absolutely HATE to paper piece, I am giving myself permission to give up on this project.  The fabric I bought won't go to waste, in any event.

I anticipate that my numbers will look better soon because Easy Street top will be completed in the next couple of weeks, and I have another quilt ready to bind.

I can't get the photo uploader to work today, so no pictures. Sorry!

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2013/01/06/stash-report-week-1-2013/

Fourth Quarter, FAL Goals

I didn't do a great job on my FAL goals this quarter.  I wanted to get this quilt done, but I didn't feel like working on it.

 

Same thing with this one:  no progress.

 

 

I did a little better with my cross stitching.

 

 

Went to

 

And

 

 

Went to

 

 

I completed the finishing on this one too.

 

 

 

But I misplaced these others and didn't find them until after Easy Street started, so I didn't work on them.

 

 

 

My biggest  'completion' wont even count because it didn't get quilted. It went from a bunch of blocks:

 

 

To a completed top:

 

 

I think belonging to a FAL this year  helped me get more completed than I would have gotten done on my own.  I am going to join Crafty Garden Mom's FAL in 2013 because she counts craft projects in her finishes.  http://www.craftygardenmom.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy Street, Part 6 et. al.

I completed Easy Street, Part 6 today:

 

I've been doing some other sewing too.  Before Christmas, I made gift bags:

 

 

The light blue bags are humbug bags made of pre-quilted fabric.  The dark blue bag was made out of diaper cover material so that it would be waterproof.  That one is for a friend of mine to carry dog treats in.  The orange one was a cold kit that had hand sanitizer and tissue packets in it.

 

 

 

 

Today I made 6 rice  bags out of left over flannel.  I also made 2 pillowcases that are birthday gifts.