Sunday, August 28, 2011

Stash report week 35

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 60.85 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 57.8 yards
Net Used for 2011: 3.05 yards

I have some hope of reporting more used soon - I finished a top for TMOTH, and have two tiny journal quilts that should be done soon.

Damage in our yard from Hurricane Irene

Lid off the trash can:
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Small limbs off the trees:
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This is the biggest limb TMOTH could find in the driveway:
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Pine needles on the road in front of the house:
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All in all, we were very lucky.

I need a kick in the butt

Or at least a nudge.

I have this small top for a haiku quilt:
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My problem: I really like it, and I'm worried that I will screw it up when I quilt it. This hasn't been a big problem for me in the past, so I'm not sure what my issue is right now.

Any suggestions, either specific to quilting, or just how to get over this block?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Vacation fun

We're at my mom and brother's house in Florida, leaving tomorrow.

The Lovely Daughter and I went thrift shopping one day, and she found lots of clothes (of course!) and I even found a few - some nice jeans, new shorts, a shirt, and a couple of dresses. I found a big lot of paintbrushes for $1.98; turns out there were 36 brushes and two palette knives (and one pathetic yellow pencil). All but one or two of them are really nice paintbrushes. I found a new-in-box Scrabble game from the 70s; it's not clear if I can sell it on Ebay for more than that or not! The boys joined us for a while and found some games - a Lord of the Rings Risk game and a travel Etch-a-Sketch. Four quilting books for less than a dollar each; one was one of Carol Doak's paper piecing pattern books WITH the CD. Maybe it's a nudge from the Universe to try paper piecing.

We celebrated the Karate Kid's 13th birthday; now there are TWO teenagers in my house.
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Since there are deserted roads, The Lovely Daughter has been practicing driving. I took her out in the van once, and my brother took her out in his little truck.
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We went to the beach on Friday. We got there fairly in the morning, and had the beach pretty much to ourselves for a while.
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I love the beach, and I DID use sunscreen, but wound up with a burned back anyway :(
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Lots of nature - bunches of conchs in the sand, most alive.
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And at one point, a small pod of manatees off the beach! You don't actually see any part of the manatees, just the people watching them. As soon as I would give up and put the camera away, they'd stick up a head or a tail!
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And just for gratuitous cuteness, Toffee, who is away at puppy camp for the week.
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Stash report week 34

Used this Week: 0 yards (on vacation!)
Used year to Date: 60.85 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 57.8 yards
Net Used for 2011: 3.05 yards

I did *look* at a couple of antique quilts while antiqueing with Mom and TMOTH yesterday. And I bought some bobbins and feet and buttons at the antique stores. And Mom gave me a Seminole jacket she's had for years (since the 80s, I think, so not an actual antique).

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Stash report week 33

THUMP. I fell off the wagon again, pretty heavily this time. I was looking for asphalt fabric for a challenge quilt. One trip to Pins and Needles in Frederick: One fat quarter (mottled black, although The Lovely Daughter swears that it's blue) and 2 yards of blue that may work as borders for The Lovely Daughter's Quilt. One trip to G street: One fat quarter (mottled black) and a scrap bag (1.4 yards). One trip to Hancock's: One yard of grey Kona cotton (I was thinking of painting it to look like asphalt at this point) and another two yards of blue to audition for borders. Finally, one trip to JoAnn's: A half yard of material that looks like ASPHALT. The top is pieced (and painted), but not quilted.

Used this Week: 0 yards (sigh. I have worked on TMOTH's quilt this weekend.)
Used year to Date: 60.85 yards
Added this Week: 7.4 yards
Added Year to Date: 57.8 yards
Net Used for 2011: 3.05 yards

Clearly, I need to get busy :)

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Stash report week 32

Another boring week this week :)

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 60.85 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 50.4 yards
Net Used for 2011: 10.45 yards

I've been working on my two "sewing areas" - the playroom and the dining room. Most of my stash resides in the playroom, and I mostly sew on the dining room table. BUT, the playroom's really gotten out of hand, and I need to get in there and get the floor cleared off (mostly my junk, not TMOTH's or the kids) so we can move the TV from the living room to the playroom, since I finally let TMOTH buy a flatscreen. AND I now apparently need to shift priority to the dining room - which has EVERYBODY's stuff in it - because TMOTH will need access to the wall that has the pipes in in so he can replumb the downstairs bathroom and kitchen. Whew.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Great deal on a birthday present!

Unfortunately, it's for The Lovely Daughter, whose birthday is in November, and not for the Karate Kid, whose birthday is coming up in a little more than a week.

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"Regular" price at Michael's is $199.99 - but this week sets were on sale at 50% off. SO down to $99.99. That's better...but wait! Michael's sends me a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase, EVEN SALE ITEMS. Now it's $79.99! YAY! So I buy the set, and then remember that one of the online sites I was checking prices on (Blick - I LOVE Blick) had a note about a $10 rebate. SO I went to the Prismacolor website, downloaded the rebate form, and have it ready to go in the mail. WOOHOO!

This will duplicate some of the colors she already has, but most of "her" pencils are actually the family set of 48 that we scored at the Blick outlet for $10 a couple of years ago, so the bonus is that the family set moves out of her room!