Before I go on a rant … here’s my stash report.  Nothing in, Nothing used.  I’ve done a lot though working on my various projects.

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 20.5 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 54.5 yards
Net Added for 2014: 34 yards

see more stash reports at  

On to my ramblings about yesterday…

From yesterday morning until this morning a drastic change in plans occured.  I can’t tell you why other than I got lazy!  Very Lazy!  The piano teach came a little late but that wasn’t a big deal.  I had it planned out that I would quilt until she came, work while she was here and then at 11am leave for yoga.  Well, that was going well but at 10:45 my niece came and she was actually nice to me!  So I couldn’t leave.  She was just too cuddly.  Or maybe I didn’t want to go to Yoga… I think it was a mixture of both. ha!  Anyways I told myself that I could go to the quilt shop and do all the things I wanted to do.  The game didn’t start until 7:30 so I had plenty of time.  It wasn’t until 2:45 that I made it out the door to go to the quilt shop with my daughter and at that time the freeway was jam packed!  I was surprised and dismayed.  There was no way I wanted to spend an hour or more to go to the quilt shop just for binding. So we went to Nothing Bundt Cakes and got bundtinis, which I’ve been craving for the past two weeks.  That was very bad – I didn’t go to Yoga AND we got Bundtinis!  By the time I got home, it was 4pm and I finished up this month’s block for Tell It To the Stars.  I realized as I was going through the process that I have a little process. I thought I’d share it with you today.

#1 – Print the instructions

#2 – Sort the fabric so I remember which fabric is which.  Every month I tell myself to put labels on them to make it easier next month and I always forget.  Maybe now that I’ve mentioned this to the online community I may actually do it next month. 🙂

Tell It To The Stars
Step #2 – Sorting the fabric

#3 – Press and Cut

Tell It To The Stars
Step #3 – Press and cut

#4 – Follow the instructions and piece, press, cut as instructed

and I forgot to take a picture for this step…

#5 – Waalllaaahhh – Done!

Tell It To The Stars
May Block
5/4/2014

And here’s all the blocks on the design wall:

Tell It To The Stars
Design Wall
All blocks so far
5/4/14

Sorry for the bad lighting, The design wall is not located in a very lighted area… I don’t really use it to design but to display my finished blocks! 🙂

I think that’s all I’ve got this weekend.  The block actually took longer than I had anticipated. There were more pieces than normal and I was working slower than normal.  I wanted the points to be precise.  This is actually my favorite block so far for this BOM.  The family and I are still heading over to Berkeley this morning and I’m hoping to run into a quilt shop or knitting shop somewhere.  We are taking BART to enhance the experience so I don’t know if I’ll walk by any such shops.  If so, my stash will take a bump next week.

~ being a tourist in Berkeley!

Melanie

For this weekend’s line up, I ended up finishing block 2 of Raining Cats and Dogs!  I can’t take a picture yet because the sun is not out.  But as soon as it is, I’ll take one and edit this post.

Here’s what it looked like the last time I posted a picture.

Raining Cats and Dogs
Block 2
as of 3/16/14

UPDATE – here’s a picture of the finished block

Raining Cats and Dogs
Block 2
Finished
4/26/14

By yesterday, I was finished applique’ing almost everything but the dog on the lower right.  I finished that and finished all the hand stitching.  Normally I do not do so much hand work in one sitting but I wanted it done and it was so close.  So I powered on.  And now it’s done.  YAY!  I’ve only got one more block to do for Raining Cats and Dogs – Block 7.  And then all the blocks are done.  In previous posts, I mentioned that I was thinking about quilting it the QAYG method because I wanted to be more careful with my quilting and with the quilt all pieced together it makes it harder to handle.  However, since I pulled the last block out, I took a look at the finishing kit.  I’m not sure it will work with that method.  I have time to think and examine it more while I finish block 7 so the option is still there while I consider the situation.  If I do end up FMQ’ing with the quilt all put together, it might be okay.  I’m getting a ton of FMQ practice on Easy Street!  🙂  And I’m watching Machine Quilting the Home Sweet Home Quilt with Frieda Andersen on Craftsy.  I’m not actually quilting anything but simply watching the class.  I’ve only watched the first few lessons but she has some great Glue Basting ideas.  I’ve only tried glue basting once with Ammabel’s Quilt.  I liked it because I didn’t have to pin and stuff.  I still had to do it on the floor because the only table I have is a folding table and the sides of it are too big to clamp down the quilt.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be but it was all my fault for not taping it down well.  So, Frieda Andersen suggested these huge clamps from Home Depot or any hardware store.  I’m definitely going to use this method when I get around to basting the Flowers and Baskets quilt.  When I first learned to baste, I was at my LQS in LA and we used big binder clips on a table.  We taped where the quilt didn’t reach all the way to the side.  First the backing wrong side up, batting, and the top right side up.  At each point we smoothed and smoothed until it was nice and flat.  Then we went through it with a long needle and CHEAP thread.  It took quite a few hours on my hand quilt.  Then at my next quilting class for Jacob’s quilt we pin basted.  We did almost the exact same method except we were told to use the floor if we didn’t have a table.  So I taped the quilt on the floor and pinned to my heart’s content.  When I was doing this, I didn’t care about scratching the floor and Jacob’s quilt was just slightly bigger than a crib quilt.  I used this method for awhile but by the time I got to Ammabel’s quilt I didn’t want to pin baste on my mom’s nice new floors.  I just started watching Craftsy classes and one of the classes I took suggested glue basting.  I can’t remember which one but it was one of the early classes (for me).  Even though I’ve been quilting for 8 years I still feel like such a noob at things.   But I’m always looking for better ways to do stuff.  Sometimes I buy things (ie. rulers, seam rippers, needles, scissors) that I think will make something go faster and sometimes it does.  But sometimes it doesn’t and it feels like a big waste of money.  However, that’s the quest of learning.

The plan for today is to work a little and then head over to sheep shearing day at Ardenwood, and hopefully we can get back home to catch the last half of the Clipper/Warrior game.  I’ll have to shift my quilting time to later this afternoon/early evening but the plan is to get my block of Easy Street quilted for today and then get started on the block I’ve got for Moon Glow.  It’s already waiting for me laid out on my sewing table.  🙂

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 20.5 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 54.5 yards
Net Added for 2014: 34 yards

see more stash reports at  

~gone quilting!

Melanie