Design Wall News

The big design wall news here is that I have a design wall!  I planned my new sewing space so that most of one wall is empty, and yesterday my husband and I hung up the flannel-covered insulation board. We used command strips, and so far it is working.   The design wall is made from two 4x8 sheets of pink insulation board, but 12 inches had to be cut off of each to accommodate the molding in the room.

 I pulled out my 2014 Row by Row panels to see how it would work.  I love it!  It is going to be great for doing one block wonders too.  My husband doesn't get why I'm so excited about this, but I think most quilters will understand.

 

I've just started on one of the 2015 rows.  All the fusing is done, but I still need to stitch around each shape.  I think I'll combine rows from both years to make one quilt.

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/10/design-wall-august-10-2015/

Stash Report, Lucky Me!

Used This Week:  4 (POD2)                                  
Used Year to Date: 48.125 yards 
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 53.875 yards
 Net added: 5.75 yards

We spent a lot of July traveling, and I just now realized that I never posted about my quilt winnings.  I won the random drawing  for Block 7 link-up in the Gravity QAL last month.  The prize was a $50 gift certificate toward custom quilting by Crista  at Cotton Berry Quilts.  ( http://cottonberryquilts.com/ )  I just moved all my unquilted tops to the new sewing room, and at last count, I have 19 unquilted tops!  I just need to figure out which one is most deserving of Crista's longarming.

In the same drawing, I also got to choose a PDF pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I picked Promenade.  http://cluckclucksew.bigcartel.com/category/pdf-patterns

Many thanks to Myra from Busy Hands Quilts for organizing this sew along.  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/

Way back in June, I was  the winner of a Colourshott charm pack from Oakshott Fabrics for the June Scraptastic Tuesday Link Up. I got a mini-charm pack of the same fabric as well,

 Thanks to Nicky and Leanne for organizing this link up.  I believe there will be another Scraptastic Tuesday this week.  http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2015/08/scraptastic-tuesday-unpackingmoving.html

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/09/fabric-report-week-32-2015/

 

  

Amanda's Quilt

I've spent most of this week moving my sewing stuff from the master bedroom, attic, playroom and guest room into my new sewing room.  I knew I had a lot of scraps, but I didn't realize I had three tubs of unsorted scraps.  This is in addition to all the bins of scraps that are sorted by color.  One of next year's goals has to be to use up one of the giant bins of scraps, either by sewing them into a quilt or getting them into the color sorted bins.

Our master bedroom is unusually large, so in theory, having my sewing space in the bedroom should work.

 But I'm not a neat quilter. Over the years, I've acquired a lot more fabric, tools, and books than I used to have, so the space isn't really big enough.  I also don't think all the fabric lint is good for my husband's allergies. 

Since two of our children have moved out, I decided to take over one of their bedrooms.  Of course, I took the bigger of the two!  We had the carpet taken out and put in laminate.

 

I'm so happy to have a closet just for quilting stuff.

 

 

 

Right now I'm about 3/4 of the way moved into the new sewing room.  I should finish the job, but I wanted to stop and sew!  This morning I finished Amanda's graduation quilt top:

 

 

 

 

This quilt was a lot of work, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  All the book titles were embroidered by hand.

 

 

 

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-near-finish.html

 

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-carry-all-pin-cushion.html

 

 

 

 

Gravity: Voyage Blocks

These Voyage blocks are the last two colored blocks for the Gravity quilt:

 

I feel like I should confess now that all of my colored blocks for this quilt went together so quickly and easily that they have been done since last May.  The gray background is not going together as fast for me, but I'm determined to get this quilt done in time for Christmas. 

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/gravity-quilt-along-block-9-voyage.html

Project of Doom, Design Floor

I have 31 blocks done for the interior of my POD3.  Since I only need 30, I can either pull one out, or make 5 more and extend the bookcase.  There are going to be more patterns coming out Wednesday for the POD Design Invitational, so I might add more blocks.

 

 

I can't get into picasa web albums to turn this picture, but you get the idea.  There are a couple of blocks that I'm not thrilled with because of my color choices.  I may decide to remake those blocks.

 

I finished the top of POD2 today.

 

 

I think this is an improvement over what I had before:

 

 

I just hope the new top fits!  I made it without knowing how wide POD2 is.  The body of this quilt is in a closet that I can't get to right now. 

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/03/design-wall-august-3-2015/

 

 

 

 

Knowing When to Stop

For the first time since I started Wild & Goosey, I'm getting tired of making blocks.  I could put it away for a while, or I could power through.

 

I laid the whole thing out yesterday and decided I will have a decent sized quilt if I make 9 more W&G blocks.  Then the center of the quilt will be 77"x77".  But that means making 36 more of the 3 1/2 inch units, and right now that feels like a lot.  I was fine when I was just making a bunch of 3 1/2 inch units with no plan in mind.  Now that I have a plan, I just want this quilt done!

 

I'm also feeling the call of other quilts, which I'd need to buy fabric for, just as my yards added are getting close to my yards used.  And I really want to use more than I buy this year!  I think I'm just going to put this quilt away for a few weeks and see if my enthusiasm for it returns.  I have several Project of Doom blocks to complete to be caught up on that quilt.  I lost quite a few sewing days while we went to the beach and to my son's college orientation, so my sewing productivity is down this month.

 

Linking up:  http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2015/08/august-scraptastic-tuesday-link-up.html

Sleepy Hollow Again

My last Sleepy Hollow update was in March.  This is what it looked like then:

 

 I've been working on Sleepy Hollow the past couple of weeks while we watch Twin Peaks, a show we missed the first time around.  I liked the first season.  The second isn't as interesting to me, but I've managed to get in almost 20 hours of stitching time. 

 

Sleepy Hollow is too long now to get a good picture of the whole thing. 

 

 

The good thing about this chart is that there is very little backstitching.  The bad thing is that the color for the house's roof is WDW London Fog, a color that has been discontinued.  I found it online, but if you plan to stitch this, start looking for that color now.  You will need at least 2 skeins of it.

I've also got a Project of Doom block that is appropriate for this post.

 

This pumpkin will go on the top of Amanda's quilt.