First of October~~

Well it is the first of October already, hard to believe fall has arrived. It is so beautiful here in Ohio with all of the leaves changing, cooler days, and all the fall decor. I didn't get the quilt top from last week finished like I'd hope to have. :( but I did make some progress got the the backing on and the batting floating. At least it was further along then when I started it. My plans is for Friday to spend the whole day finishing it up. Life has been a little busy. Caleb has homecoming the weekend of his 16th Birthday which is hard to believe my baby is 16 already. He still hasn't shown an interest in getting his license yet, but I' sure that will change before long. I don't know if the accident his brother Josh was in almost 3 years ago still haunts him or when he was with me last year around this time and the deer came into the windshield of the van. I don't want to rush him until he is ready. I still believe driving is one of the most dangerous things can do in life. I've been selling on eBay and in my etsy shop. Which I'm getting ready to put some items up there this weekend. I love making all of these little blocks, helps me distress from the day. I'm still trying to downsize all of my quilting/sewing stuff. Last year when my oldest son Josh moved into his own house, I decided to take his room as my sewing room. My "old" sewing room was the 2nd garage on my property converted over after my sweet husband put up all new walls, ceiling, insulated, put in heat, air conditioning and nice lighting. So now my husband took that over, and I moved inside. But I still have quite a bit of stuff out there that I need to decide what to do with it. What do you do with all of your unwanted fabric or craft items that you've lost interest in or no longer love????

I was thinking of a way to get some of the project/quilt done. So I'm going to pick a project for the week to complete or work on and post my progress. So I picked a quilt that has been on my quilting frame for over 3 weeks now, I know pretty sad that it has been sitting there that long waiting to be quilted. I just couldn't get any motivation to do so. So I want to get it quilted and off the frame. Here is the one I picked. 

The pattern I believe is called Fire Escape, done in assorted blue batiks. It is a large lap size. I found some really pretty variegated YLI thread which I think would be perfect on it, now to decide on what to do in the large strips. I might do just an overall too with some swirls or flowers. So this is Monday lets see how the rest of the week goes.

Here are some pictures of the Quilts I want to finish and complete before April I hope. :) This isn't half of my pile of want/need to do.

 Jelly Belly Quilt, all snowball blocks.

 Americana Quilt Done in Kansas Troubles

 Indian Summer Flower Quilt

 Clyde's Deer Quilt #2

 Online Mystery Quilt

 Double Duty Quilt in Kansas Trouble Scraps

 Got this out of the Quilt Shop Magazine & was from Quilts Plus online Shop, can't think of the name of it.

 Buzz Saw Quilt

 Split Decision by the Teacher's Pet

 Raspberry Truffle Quilt was a kit from Quilts Plus and online swap with Ohioquilters

 Clyde's Deer Quilt #2

 1600 Quilt done in Batiks

 Frost Bite needs finished and bound

 Snowman Top

Spider Quilt done in Kansas Troubles fabric scraps.

 hand pieced 2" 1930's reproduction fabric quilt, on going

 BOM of Kansas Trouble Sampler

 Pinwheel quilt, have this for over 8 years, i know that is sad

 Bible Quilt done in sayings, not sure how I'm going to finish this.

Bits & Pieces taken out of magazine.

 

Gosh it has been 9 months since I last posted. Life has been so busy. Went to a Quilt retreat in Feburary, April, a week long one in July, and just got home from another one. It has been such a busy year, but so much fun~~~
At this last retreat a few of us were talking about our stashes. So my friend Bianca & I came up with a "plan" to reduce our stashes, get motivated at getting our tops done, and our UFO's done. Well here is what we've come up with.
 No buying Fabric Challenge~~~

  going to go on a No Buying Fabric Diet~~~ ( ok I just broke out in a sweat typing that)

here are the "rules":

No buying fabric unless it can justified as in a backing, background to finish out a partial done quilt etc.

If you purchase fabric you need to post it, how much & why you bought it.

You need to post pictures of unfinished quilt tops before and after they are finished if your wanting to get motivated to get those tops into quilts.

Work completely out of your stash to complete new projects if possible use 100% of your stash.

Dates are today September 15, 2013 to the Date of the April Retreat. Post pictures of the quilts made with your stash only.

 Anyone want to join us?? We've got a few joining us at the Ohioquilters FB Page, the private one. :)

I hope I can stick with it. 

New Years Quilt Retreat

I got to live a quilters dream, getting snowed in a quilt retreat!! How awesome is that?? Since I live in Ohio the weather is always, always changing they were calling for snow, no biggie, but we ended up getting around 7" of it. I couldn't leave, I know so sad I had to stay another night. Which was fine, I mean I had a fire if needed, fabric, sewing machine, a few projects, friends and some good food, so I was set. We had such a wonderful time, I didn't stay to ring in the New Year with my friends. I ventured home to celebrate with my husband. I did get a couple of tablerunner/toppers made including quilting them, just didn't get around the binding part. I know a big surprise to those who know me, not so much a surprise. I also got 3/4 a top completed all I need to do is add a couple of borders to it, then it will go to my "to be quilted" pile.

I love attending these retreats with a great group of ladies, we just have made so many wonderful friendships with almost no drama~~ I know I get asked what do you do at these retreats. Well we sew, laugh, share stories, sew some more, make/eat some wonderful food, and even throw in a puzzle or two to put together too. We also nap if we want, shop if we want, and basically relax. So if you can go to one, GO, I mean RUN!!!! 

Sewing Room Organization

Well it is that time of year already. Get your Sewing room in tip top shape, LOL  here are few tips to get you jump started. 

 Sewing storage doesn't have to be boring! Dress up boring drawers with
pieces of punchy wallpaper. Stash buttons, ribbons, and other sewing
notions in candy dishes or small bowls for easy-to-rifle-through
storage.
Sort your precut fabrics in clear-plastic storage boxes so you can
always find the right size you need. These boxes stack easier so you can
hide them under a bed or in a closet. Label the boxes for true
efficiency.  Get those plastic drawers that you put your smaller squares in from say 2" and up. Cut those scraps into sizes you sew with the most.
Clear, resealable bags can hold a pattern, fabric, and supplies for a
project you're working on. If you need to stop the project before you're
done, just stick it in the bag and store it away for another day. Make your own kits so when you need a quick project or heading to a retreat makes packing a lot easier. You could even go as far as already have everything cut out.
Take old shoe boxes fix them up on the outside. Then cut a piece of fabric of a specific color
and gluing it to the outside. Put all your scraps of that color into the
shoebox for easy storage, and easy to find that great "red" to make your project Pop..
Plastic over the door shoe organizers are a great option for storing your patterns by say size of the quilt, all purses together etc plus Keep your ribbon and rickrack in line by winding them around
uniform-size cards. Store them in a pocketed, over-the-door hanger meant
to hold shoes or toiletries. This technique works great for keeping
leftoever embroidery floss untangled, too. Back of the door is such a space that doesn't get used quite as much.
You know those wooden divided shoe holders, you could store rolled up fusibles, all kinds of notions in those cubby holes. Fat quarters could be stacked in them. Pieces of leftover batting rolled up and labeled as in the size. 

Have fun with it
Carolyn ~~~