A Miserable Week All Around and a Stash Report 11-1-15

Ahhhh!  A new month!  I get to start at 0's again!  LOL.

Poor little Hugeaux is doing well after eating all that Halloween chocolate.  Bad bad grand dog.  And
we had Halloween on Saturday moved up to Halloween on Friday because yesterday we had some tornadoes and over 4 inches of rain over the afternoon and night.  I was skeptical about the change but they were right to do it, the weather really was that bad.

I got some things done this week, not much but a few.

I worked on another set of T-Shirt Back blocks for a boy's quilt.  And I got the Raffle quilt for the Swissy Rescue Foundation off to Pat in Florida.  That was just a matter of finishing sewing the binding and mailing it off.

I grabbed some UFO blocks leftover from a dog quilt I made 5 years ago and made them into a small duffel bag for the CAAWS Raffle in December.


I also put together the 9 large blocks for the quilt Paula is donating for the church fair.  I sashed the blocks, put on two borders and will bring it to her to quilt tomorrow.  I previously made 3 (maybe 4) of the large blocks.  Paula and some others made the rest of the blocks.  Although it looks so dark here, the borders and binding are of a wonderful pine needle print that matches the color ranges of the greens inside the quilt blocks.  So that is 1 1/2 yards to declare.

Here is my whine for the week.  I am working on the Egyptian Pyramid and Sphinx piece for the Fiber Group.  I get stuck because I don't really have the creative talent to take it to the next level.  I can put the photos on, and do the backing, but the WOW creativity part is where I am lacking.  I just don't have that.  I have the  idea in my mind, but it rarely translates to the fabric. 

I have also been working on the quad-tych from this small group of friends.  I have trashed this one twice now.  And the current incarnation may not make it far.  See what I mean?  I really need to stick to quilt type stuff........aughhhh!  Must be the weather, nothing seems to be feeling right this week.

I am working on binding the Skele-Biker.  Got that half done, you can see where i started and stopped last night.  At least I can do binding well........

Used this week	-3.58	Used this month	-3.5	Used this year	-172.5
Bought this week	0	Bought this month	0	Bought this year	96.25
Plus or minus	-3.58	Plus or minus	-3.5	Plus or minus	-76.25

Long Arm

I have an Avante, which I love. 

I bought it at the Houston Quilt Show in 2013 and in November 2014 I should  have taken it in for a rehab and spa day to be tweaked and tuned.  I didn't. 

I am doing a freehand scallop design that is fun an easy.  

So I was 93.% done with my Skele-Biker quilt when the Avante decide it would not be available for quilting until it had the Spa Day I kept promising. 

I am so close.  

Not exactly sure what was happening but it seems the foot is lowered and dragging along the quilt top making  it impossible to move the head around to stitch.

So now it is demanding a Spa Day, 


I need a Spa Day........anyone want to come with me?

The Day I Stuck To My Desgn Wall ........and a stash report

Pre-Batting Design Wall

After one of the quilt shows, oh, maybe 5 or 6 years ago, they sold the insulation board for cheap.  My friends Tracy and Linda both wanted some but had no way to get it home.  So my gallant husband, to whom I brought keys to in Belle Chasse, loaded up his van and delivered sheets to each of the ladies houses.

Locked and Loaded

He and I put the foam board up on my wall in the Sewing Room.  I had an overabundance of pins so it as not a big deal to pin blocks to the wall.  Recently, at a Modern Guild meeting at Red Stick Quilt Shop, I was helping hold the Show and Tell quilts when the Shop owner said Just put them up on the design wall.  They will stay.

To my absolute and utter amazement it did!  YES!

I had batting just sitting around in the  room with my long arm.  And oddly enough it was the absolute perfect size for the wall.  Hmmmm wonder why that good fortune happened?  There is that gift horse thing, I shrugged. 

Batting on wall

So I enlisted said husband's help and we cleared the design wall putting all the pins away in a new Altoids box.  i have no idea where the rest of the stuff!

I had him put T Pins to anchor the batting to the top edge of the foam board.  And I sprayed Elmer's adhesive on the foam board, smoothing the batting down over the wall.  It stayed workable allowing us to reposition if we had any ripples in the batting.

About half way down, working in close quarters with two bassets, a small ladder and Frank, I obviously touched the recently sprayed foam board and glued the better part of my hair to the wall.

Locked and Loaded on wall

But you think that was the worst part of the experience?  Not so.

The batting that was so perfect in size and so easily available?  It belongs to the House quilt that is next up on the long arm.  Oh well.

My hair mostly survived, there seems to be significant amounts of it still on the wall.  And it hurt while Frank was pulling it off.  I think if he was not laughing so hard it might have been easier.

Stash report is simple...... Skele-Biker and the Cotton Robin finish.  More this week if I can get a couple on the long arm and count some finishes!

 

Used this week	-6.75	Used this month	-6.75	Used this year	-82.75
Bought this week	0	Bought this month	13	Bought this year	67.25
Plus or minus	-6.75	Plus or minus	6.25	Plus or minus	-15.5