I hope you got to do some quilting this weekend.

My friend Judy from Patchwork Times hosted a virtual retreat this weekend. If you get a chance go and visit her site. You will be able to see lots of great projects that were completed this weekend. I had a few other obligations so wasn't able to quilt for the entire weekend but I did get quite a bit done. This picture shows the sashings for a quilt that I am making as a gift, actually 2 for twin grandsons. I got a good start on quilting them this weekend and will share pictures of the finished quilts after I give them to the new Mommy and Daddy. This week is our Samp Camp, a camp for 13 members of our Quilt Guild. Because of health issues with both my Mom and I we have decided that we will be day campers this year. Steve and I took my sewing machine, chair and projects to the camp today. Eleven of the campers were there, set up and sewing. I will be glad to share a few camp pictures and stories in the next few days.

I am not a loser, I am not a loser, I am not a loser

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! A fews posts ago I stated that this is my year to use up my huge fabric stash and make some scrappy quilts. But I also stated that I had found a pattern (Jewel Box) and knew that a piece of polka dot batik I have would be perfect for the quilt. Of course I have 2 yards and need 3 yards to make the quilt. Although I stated that I was not going to buy any more fabric I did crack on the 15th day and bought enough to make the quilt. Actually I needed to buy 1 yard and I had decided to buy 1 1/2 yard to be on the safe side. My husband suggested that I buy 2 yards (I love him!!!) to really be safe. When I got to the store they had 1 yard and 17 inches of that particular fabric so it came home with me. I am blaming my blogger friends as they strongly urged me to buy the fabric!!!!!!

Scrappy Quilt Day at Guild

Today was Scrappy Quilt Day #2 at our Guild. We had several ladies there with sewing machine humming, all working on their own projects. Once again I took my Singer Featherweight and my Trail Mix Quilt. The pattern is broken down into 7 steps. Last month I finished Step #1. Today I got 1/2 of Step #2 done. Either I talked to much (not me!!!) or Step #2 is a bit more involved.
Lenore was working on a pineapple type block and put everyone to shame with her organizational skills. All of her strips were lined up nice and neat and she was able to just pick up each strip and do the paper piecing. Quilter's Retreat staff member Karen was working on a full size quilt using some odd sized shapes. Both she and Lenore were working on some Edyta Sitar patterns. Speaking of Karen, have you had a chance to check out her winter edition of The Quilted Elk newsletter? JoEllen is also a staff member but is very camera shy.

Am I The Only One Who .........?

I only have two television shows that I like to watch on a regular basis. One is the Dr. Phil show and the other is The Biggest Loser. Usually Steve falls asleep while watching a hunting show with the remote in his hand. I enjoy doing some hand sewing, quilting or lately crocheting and dreaming about future projects so it doesn't really matter to me. Dr. Phil fits into my schedule right after work and before I start dinner and I like the way he "tells it like it is." Last week he had an episode titled "Am I the only one....." Guests had several questions ranging from relationships, quirky habits, wierd likes and dislikes, etc. So I started thinking -
Am I the only one who still has her Christmas tree up? Our 4 year old grandson London was over about 2 weeks ago and gently reminded me "Christmas is over, Nana." I started taking down some of our decorations yesterday and hope to finish that job today. Steve and I both love Christmas and we do a lot of decorating.
Am I the only one who sits at the sewing machine sewing on a quilt and dreaming about the next 3, 4, 5 or even 6 projects that I want to work on?
Am I the only one who wishes she was sitting at home in front of her sewing machine right now and not in the office in front of the computer? Oops, maybe I shouldn't be thinking (or typing) that!!!!

Send me a comment and answer the questions, Am I the only one ..........?

What's a girl to do?

MY STORY As I posted yesterday I am on a quest to use up my stash, make 5 scrappy quilts this year and not buy any fabric. Last night I pulled out a magazine that had a scrap quilt pattern that I am interested in making. While looking through the magazine I found another pattern that I really liked and then thought of a piece of fabric that I had just bought in December "just because".
MY PROBLEM Of course I bought 2 yards and fabric and the pattern calls for 3 yards.
MY SOLUTION Would it still count against me if I had someone else buy a yard of fabric for me? Or does it make sense to buy one yard of fabric so I can use 4 yards from my stash? What's a girl to do?

No pictures today but I do have a plan!!

I have a plan to help clean up my sewing room. I am telling all of you about this so you can help "hold my feet to the fire." I learned many years ago that there is no sense in trying to make New Year's Resolutions, I just don't seem to keep them. In past years I have set goals to try to finish up some of my quilts. I have managed to do quite well but I do have some to finish yet. I have decided to set a goal this year of trying to use the fabrics in my stash and make some scrappy quilts. I love scrappy quilts and have lots of patterns. So I am going to try to be realistic and set a goal of making 5 scrappy quilt tops this year. I am hoping for more but will set 5 as my goal right now. And I am also going to try not to buy any fabric and that will be very hard. When I went to the Resort office on Wednesday there was a Connecting Threads catalog on my desk showing lots of beautiful fabrics - TEMPTATION. Then yesterday I had to stop at Wal-Mart so decided to buy a couple of spools of thread and the young girl working at the cutting tables asked if I was going to have any fabric cut - another TEMPTATION. I managed to resist. Thanks to my friend Sandi for telling me about Judy's Patchwork Times website and blog. I have only been following the blog for a short time but it looks like she is challenging quilters to use up their stashes. She has even gone to the extent of making up a spread sheet listing all of her fabrics and measurements. Then she keeps track of fabrics added to her stash and fabrics used. It is quite impressive. I don't have yardage, just small pieces and I don't plan to go to that extent. Perhaps I will count the totes that I use up. I have a couple of scrappy quilts in the works and am anxious to get back to them. While cuttting my scraps I was thinking that I wish I could cut for more than one quilt at a time. But I am afraid that the quilts would all look alike. Stay tuned for the progress.

More Sewing Room Pictures

After yesterday's terrible picture I decided that I had better do a bit of a clarification. I do keep my cutting table (this is the small one, my bigger one is currently being used for my Christmas village) and my sewing machine table cleaned off. That way when I do have that 15 or 20 minutes now and then to cut and/or sew I have room to do it. That is what I did this morning before work, I had a few minutes to do a little sewing and I loved it. I plan to go back to that project later this afternoon. Sorry that I can't share the project yet, it is a gift. Actually I am making 2 gift quilts for twin grandsons that we are expecting early this spring. We are so excited. Once the quilts are done and have been given at the baby shower (hopefully they will be done in time) I will post pictures.