October OMG finished!

October was a very successful sewing month for me as is usually the case. I just seem to finish up a lot of overdue projects. I finished 25 projects this month!
My OMG goal was to finish Strip Lash, which I was able to do before attending Gudrun's class at the retreat.

I finished up the 4 blocks for FGV quilt along. I now have two more to work on. I'm loving this sew along because it is slow paced and I can sew other stuff too.

I finished the 6th block for Gudrun's Dangerous BOM. I love this mystery!

I finished up two All Bottled Up bags for gifts.

I finished two purple Charm baskets. I have another 4 cut out! These will just not go away.

I finished the Peek A Boo table runner for a class I plan to teach in January. I have two more cut out to show it in different styles.

Eight hours of testing this month gave me time to work on my EPP. I got 4.5 rows sewn together. Progress! This hand piecing project is going on 6 years.

Yesterday I was able to quilt at dad's. I got Giant Starburst quilted.

I quilted Strip Burst and bound it last night for another finish.

I quilted Strip to be Square and bound it last night.


The best part of the month was taking a class at a retreat with Gudrun Erla of GE Designs. She was one of my "bucket list" teachers I'd wanted to take a class from. I loved every minute of it!





















The kids are loving the beautiful fall weather, so we take lots of pictures before school. Although for the next week it will be dark every morning when we leave at 7:20!


October Stash Report
Fabric bought this month: 8 yards
Fabric bought this year: 84.5 yards
Fabric used this month: 34.5 yards
Fabric used this year: 224 yards
Net Fabric used this year: 139.5 yards!

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.

May Quilting Accomplishments

In May I started out STRONG, then sewing and quilting took a backseat to life. Quilt retreat was phenomenal and I really got a lot done. I made 6 quilt tops and a couple backings, so I am ready to quilt those when I get some time. I ended up doing quite a bit of embroidery which worked out okay too, but it is a lot of work to get set up.
I embroidered my work bag.

I embroidered a sewing bag

I made Mathew a monkey blankie.

I embroidered a tote for Gaila.

I embroidered a hat for Mathew, he probably won't wear until next summer.

I quilted and embroidered pillow shams for my dad for his retirement party. It was interesting learning how to use the software to do this style of embroidery.

I also baked my dad a couple pies for his birthday. I made a lemon meriengue and it failed miserably thanks to too many kids and too much multi-tasking.

I did however do really well with the meriengue on the sour cream raisin. It was awesome.

I spent the majority of the month on my managerial communications graduate class. I finished last night and I am so looking forward to having a month off! I am going to get lots of sewing done, or so I hope anyway.

January Quilting Accomplishments

January was a very productive month for me. I'm really impressed with how much I got done, in addition to being in school. I did about half samples and half stuff for me, so considering the samples are my second job I didn't really do all that much for me, but it's sewing and I'm counting it.
I made the Texas Two Step for a Groovy Girls Sample. It's a quick and easy pattern!

I made the Farmyard Friends quilt for a sample for my Happy Hour class I'm teaching.

The Owl Yellow Brick Road was a sample for Groovy Girls as well.

The Wrenly ribbon blanket was a gift for Emilee's baby shower for her daughter Rosaliee.

I made the Sweet Treats sample quilt for the shop.

I quilted up this cute girls quilt for my friend Cindy for a donation to an auction for a cancer patient.

I made Jen a Winding Ways Schelp bag to match her SBS binder. It was a bit belated as birthday gift for her. She loves it and I think was a bit surprised.

I made this baby quilt for my co-workers new baby. It's called Dippity Daisy.

I quilted up this growth chart for Mikaela.

I used my scraps from the leftovers of my Buggy Barn HST's to make a couple fun blocks.

I made three different friendship blocks I will embroider and quilt for friends as wall hangings.



I made 2 of these quick Valentine blocks and plan to make wall hangings or table toppers.

I made 4 Friendship quilts for my quilting buddies.

I made the Waffle Time Table runner for a Groovy Girls sample.

I am in the process of finishing the binding on the Wave Table Runner made as a sample for Groovy Girls.


So I sewed 102 hours in January, celebrated Mikaela's 1st Birthday, made 5 samples, made lots of blocks out of HST's, used my 1/4" foot (I know what a shock!), quilted a couple quilts, did my first donated quilting, and wrote 2  1500 word papers and 8 300 word discussion posts. Whewww it's been a busy month. Good thing there is that 31 on the month and 2 holiday days off! I also did all 5 weeks worth of WIP Wednesday posts. They may be duplication for some, but they really keep me on track with posting and making sure I take pictures and upload them. I finished all my goals except the quilting binding on the Jim Shore quilt. I sure hope to finish it soon. I also didn't get all the blocks of the Crown Royal quilt done, but I did work on the blocks, so I'm proud of that fact!
I've started two new quilt tops, Little Confetti and Merry Go Round, both using scraps... I know please gasp again, but I've been making a lot of samples and have lots of bits and pieces left, so I'm working on cleaning them up. I also have a stack to cut for 5" charms. If anyone wants my little leftover bits that don't fit 5" charms or 2 1/2" strips let me know and I'd be glad to send them your way. I've just got to reduce the clutter a bit. I'm also so close to making a Winding Ways quilt. To the point that I have pulled all my dark jewel colored batik fat quarters and I'm going to pick up some light colored batiks for the opposite and do a quilt with those colors. I was just going to do a two color one, but I figured that might be kind of boring and I've had about 20 fat quarters in dark purple/green/blue/marroon that I want to use up, so this is the key. I'd like to have them cut out to sew at retreat.
Retreat is coming together awesome!! I have 10 for sure and we may be able to have a few more, so still open to a couple more if anyone is interested. I'm super excited! I'm planning to make the  Winding Ways, the Crown Royal top, the BOM top, a construction baby blanket, a Loralie quilt of my moms, sign language baby quilt, Mocha Meringue top, and who knows what else I will make, but lots of tops out of blocks I already have made with a few Winding Ways blocks for something different.