February Accomplishments

This was a great month for my accomplishments. I started it out sick with the nasty bug that was going around, but when I found my groove I accomplished quite a bit.
I made the Tudor Bag from Sew Sweetness as a work bag for a trip to Brookings this month. It's an awesome bag for work! I love the size, durability, and structure.

I'm teaching the Ellipse quilt in April, so I made this sample. It turned out really cute and I think it will be very loved.

On my work trip, I finally finished sewing all the green blocks for a  5-yard quilt. It's my hope to finish this one yet this year. I think all the blocks are done now.

I also pieced the top of Mathew's quilt on my trip so I could quilt it when I got home. I was able to finish it this month and he loves it.

I also quilted Dangerous BOM. It's still awaiting binding, but I'm so glad I could spend the holiday at my dad's quilting on these two quilts.

I quilted and bound Metro Hoops as well. It feels so good to have this one done and not hanging over me any longer.

Winding Ways is another UFO that was hanging over my head way too long. I'm so proud of finishing it.

These were the last 4 blocks for FGV and I finally got them done. It feels so good to have all of the FGV blocks done.

I also had a 3-hour block of testing that I was able to stitch during. I spent quite a few breaks as well stitching on this Ahhhh's quilt top. This is how I laid it out, but now that I look at it, I think I really want it to be a hexagon. I have plenty of the Ahhhh's left, so I'll pull out 8 more and continue working on them. I'm really proud of how far I came on this in just two months. At the start of the year they were just the hexies!


My Stash Report is doing well. I would be doing even better if I didn't take my kids to the quilt shop. I've literally only bought 4 yards for myself. The rest is for the kids (17 yards) and samples.
Yards In this Month: 13
Yards Out this Month: 35.5
Yards In this Year: 26.25
Yards Out this Year: 42.5

I was able to stop at Chamberlain on my way home from my work trip to see Destiny, the new statue overlooking the Missouri River. She's amazing and even more so in person!











My husband and his co-workers won an award for their work on the new Orchard Meadows Common Cents. He did some amazing work and I am so proud of him for winning this award.

September Accomplishments

I keep thinking I didn't do much because I don't have many finishes, but I did quite a bit of sewing.
I finished the Good Night Irene top II as a baby quilt. I plan to get it quilted this weekend.

I finished the Dangerous BOM Block 5. I've loved this BOM so much that I love to do the block right away each month.

I started working on my FGV blocks and screwed up the kettle block, trying to rush to get it sewn one morning before work.

I ripped and finished it that evening.

I have the first five blocks of the Dangerous BOM - all scraps, except for the white.

I was getting antsy for a finish, so I made this Riviera bag. It was super easy and I was disappointed I had waited so long to make it. I love the purse!

I'm taking a Gudrun Erla class next month, so I wanted to take a quilt to show her. I took out the extra blocks I had left and made a throw quilt with them. It's beautiful! I can't wait to quilt it this weekend.

I had a lot of white/light blue blocks left, so I whipped up a table runner as well. I might get it quilted this weekend too.

I bought this fabric to make a raglan shirt to wear to the retreat. I love how it turned out.

My college friend Angie wanted a drawstring backpack, so I found a pattern and this fun Wizard of Oz fabric, which is one of her favorites.

This week I finished up the Autumn Star block. I love the FGV blocks.

The best part of the month was meeting my blogging friend Rhoda Mejeur from Michigan. She was visiting the area and we were able to meet up and say hi in person.

Mikaela is loving Kindergarten and we had a great trip to Spearfish Canyon last weekend.


August Stash Report
Fabric bought this month: 8.75 yards
Fabric bought this year: 76.5 yards
Fabric used this month: 5.5 yards
Fabric used this year: 189.5 yards
Net Fabric used this year: 113 yards!

Darn! my numbers are going backward! I hope to have at least 3 big finishes in October, so I think my numbers will go back up.
Funny story... I had 16 green HST's that were 9.5" and I needed just a few more yellow ones to make the pattern again. I bought 1.5 yards of fabric to make more HST's to use up those blocks... Only I miscalculated and made 8 extra HST's! So now I have extras after trying to use up extras! I hope to finish that quilt top up next month as well. It's all laid out and ready to be sewn.

Starting Strong in July & June stash report

July is starting strong for me, at least in the block building. I cut out the 4 FGV blocks while we were camping, so when the kids went to bed early on the 4th, I was able to sew them up. I can get so much accomplished when I pre-cut and don't do it at home.

I was anxious to sew the Dangerous Block 3 Jesse James but didn't have enough time to get it cut out at work, so Wednesday night I cut all the pieces out and started sewing. Last night I finished it up. I'm loving how this fabric is using up my brights and most of the small pieces.

These are my 3 blocks so far. If you're interested in joining the free block of the month, join Gudrun's Crew Facebook page. They are released on the 5th of the month and we're only 3 blocks in, so easy to catch up.

Back in January, I made these blocks partially to show step by step how to make them. They were returned to me and I've been using them as leader/enders while sewing blocks to put them together. Now they are all done and I'm going to put them into a table topper or runner. I'm not sure which one yet.

I want it for my desk at work, so I'm also considering the table runner that could drape over.

Last night Paul took the kids to the races for a special event. I was tired from work and didn't really want to go, so I stayed home. Oh boy! I had so much time to sew! I cooked, cleaned, and got the kitchen shaped up, watched the news, and it was only 6PM! So off to the studio I went. I finished up the Dangerous block, two of the granny square blocks, and cut out the interfacing and fused it on the professional tote I am making. The cutting and fusing seemed to take forever, but I did get the front pocket made. It's a start. I feel like I made so much progress last night. This weekend I hope to sew more on the professional tote, but I also have to get the bags packed for a week of camping at Hart Ranch. We'll be staycationing there and doing some fun activities. We'll have electricity, so I plan to do a bit of sewing!
My stash report for June is pathetic! I only finished 2 minkee blankets for the cousins kids and nothing else... I did do a few FGV and Dangerous blocks, but won't count them until I am done. I really hope to get a couple finishes this month, if I schedule a quilting day at dad's, I might get the chance.

Fabric bought this month: 7 yards
Fabric bought this year: 55.75 yards
Fabric used this month: 2.5 yards
Fabric used this year: 141.5 yards
Net Fabric used this year: 85.75 yards!

OMG: March Goal Completed!

My March OMG was to finish my mom and grandma's Wall Quilt Guild Friendship quilts and donate them back to the guild at their Quilting Weekend. I was successful! It came down to the wire, but I got them both done. I think my mom would be happy they are both made into quilts.

After quilting at dad's I got this picture. I spent one afternoon out there quilting them both up.

Mikaela and I went to the Bed Turning with my Aunt Jane and my dad's wife Ann. Mikaela took her own quilts to show and talk about. She was so adorable.

Grandma's finished quilt

Mom's finished quilt.

I've been participating in a bi-weekly Farm Girl Vintage BOW and this is the first block, Simple Star

Two weeks ago was Milking Pail. I like the pace of this and so far have been keeping up.

I made this Loralie Quilts quilt to use up mom's stash. I think it will go to my friend who's had a lot of health issues in the past year. She was also a friend of my moms.

I've been busily making scrappy trip around the world blocks. I'm planning to teach a class in June. I just love making these. The technique is so awesome and they use up a lot of stash scraps.




Our Family at Easter. We're celebrating the life of my husband's grandpa this week, so a new suit was in order and the kids got new outfits as well, so we were really dressed up for mass on Easter Sunday morning. I got a new dress for our graduation next month, but it will work for all three events.

Mid August Quilting Accomplishments - 13/13

This month I am staying very busy sewing. I have a lot of mid-done projects, but at least I am making progress. I started my amish rubic star that a bunch of us are working on in my hexie group. I wanted to make sure I liked my colors so I did one blue diamond. I also have a green one done. I had to replace a couple diamonds in the green because I didn't like them. I have all the diamonds basted and am working on the purple squares.


These are the threads I have pulled. A good collection of Aurifil threads to sew the diamonds together with and they all fit in one of my Keep on Sewing Plastic bags. I may have to make a few more just for keeping my thread together for travel.


I've been busy this month finishing up a couple projects for my Scrap Swap I am doing with a bunch of sewing friends. I made this project from Emilee's leftovers and hope to get a couple more little things done in the next couple weeks. I just need to put binding on so I can put it in the fair.

I also worked on this swoon block. It actually took me 3 nights to complete compared to 1 since i only worked on a step at a time and for an hour or less each night. I'd like to get one more done yet this month.

This is one of my older UFO's and one I don't really care for anymore, so I'm so glad it is completely finished! Last week I got 3 quilts ready and quilted them up really quick so I could get them out of my way. I need some more finishes for the UFO challenge. I need to go back and check how many/much I finished in July, but it wasn't nearly enough. I'm trying to balance new and old so I don't get too bored. I pulled out a couple extremely old/challenging ones last night when I cleaned that I would like to make progress on too.

This is one of mom's UFO's. It's called friendship stars I think and she made the top as a sample for a class, but I don't know if she even taught the class. It's going to be a table topper when I get the binding on. I'm not sure if I will keep it or gift it, but I just want it done. The top was done, I just pieced the back and batting and quilted/bond it.

The major project for me this month is called Diamond Hexie's. It's for the Hexie Queen blog hop coming up next week. I just have to finish the binding and I'll be ready for the blog hop. I've also been working hard on gather and preparing my quilts for the county fair this week. I received a 1st and 2 2nd's on my quilts at the Custer county fair last weekend. Ann submitted them for me. This week I have 17 to enter in the quilt division and 4 for the sewing division. Tonight I plan to make sure they are all ready, measured and I have all the information written down.
My graduate class is going well. I'm done with the 3rd LP which means I only have 2 left, or 4 weeks. I'm getting so close to being done with the program that I can almost taste it. Two classes left.