A Go Slow week!

Not really much achieved at my place over the past week - due to internet woes and  tendonitis in my right wrist.  Top of my list was to take the plunge and wash my Fractured quilt - if you're not familiar with my saga of the dyed fabric run in the quilt check out this post. The results of the wash (with the addition of about 14 dye catcher sheets) is below. 

 

So the sheets did a good job, there was only one fabric which really changed colour, the grey which is the top centre block changed to a soft pink/grey and the white rings are a definite pink now.

 I can live with that, the quilt is over the fold down bed and looks really nice. Some of the other fabrics also had white in there but they didn't take up any of the dye.
Before my hand began to play up (probably helped to bring it on) I was cutting 6" strips off  my Jinny Beyer Colour Palette fabrics, all 150! Also was able to bind this
 small  8" square piece.

I now need to catch up on reading all the blog posts which I wasn't able to access over the past three days so that will keep me out of trouble for a little while! Also I see that there are new fabrics out for KF, PJ and BM (no time to type in full) and I need to put in an order  - sadly this action may get me run out of Fabriholics Annonymous as it's not fabric considered essential for finishing anything - I just need some!!
Enjoy the week

Catching up

I should be at my machine sewing more 9 patches for my MATO quilt "Desert Rose" or more 16 patch blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014 (waiting for the colour for next month) or sewing the crib quilt for our youngest grandson or  even quilting my Fractured quilt but I decided to do something which had been bugging me for ages, my large crate of scraps was becoming so full that I could only just pull it from under my sewing table to add more pieces to it, time to make the choice on what to keep.

The photos above really don't do the amount of material justice. Some of these fabrics have been hanging around for a good 15 years or more and what you see is only part of the problem,  yesterday evening was spent on this and after all the time it is taking I am seriously considering just pulling the special pieces and putting the rest into a huge bag and asking the local primary school if they would be able to make use of them it's just going to take me too long to sort every bit out into colour families.

One  task to cross of my list though is the binding on the Bento style quilt for my daughter, 

I decided I just couldn't face hand stitching the odd 400"  or so on the back of the quilt so bit the bullet and after carefully pressing the binding over I machine stitched from the front - I couldn't quite believe that the stitching didn't show - although it's a different matter on the back side, not quite a straight line of stitching but I'm not stressing about it.

On the subject of scraps there will be more scraps in the future because part of my order of batiks arrived yesterday, absolutely gorgeous! Can't wait for the other package to arrive. These were ordered before January 1st so I am not going to get into trouble from  Fabriholics Anonymous.

Back to the scrap heap and then I think some work on Desert Rose tomorrow, DH arrives back from the UK  in the morning so it will be an early start collecting him from the airport.

Maureen

Back Home

Yes the quilt for my daughter has arrived back home!

Thanks to Linda at  RazzleDazzleQuilter for all the lovely quilting,

I now have to stitch on around 400" of binding - not looking forward to that one bit.

No quilting done at all this week unfortunately, Christmas preparations seemed to take most of my time,  but tomorrow the family are all getting together for a Christmas meal and I am looking forward to catching up with children and grandchildren.

I am conscious that on 1st January 2014 all of us who have pledged no fabric buying for six months will be working our way through our "to do lists" and our "want to do" lists using up the fabrics from our stash with NO more fabric buying for six months. I am seriously considering putting in an order today and even though the parcel would arrive after the 1st, technically it will still count as stash as it was ordered before the 1st!!

If you would like to know more about Fabriholics Anonymous click below



We have rain forecast here in New Zealand for Christmas Day, shame as we have had a run of super sunny weather but it sounds like we will all be indoors for the day!
Usually the Pohutakawa trees are blooming merrily at this time of year but they are a little late, known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree down here  they are a sight to behold when full of blooms. We managed to take a photo of one just flowering

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Peaceful New Year
Maureen

Fabriholics Anonymous

This morning a post from Jess of The Elven Garden came up in the list on my dashboard

which detailed a scheme with Rebecca about not buying more fabrics and using what we have in our stash - brilliant idea!!

I have been quilting and buying fabric for around 30 years now, had numerous sales at our Guild to reduce stash and books but still my shelves and baskets are overflowing, so I bit the bullet and will be joining 

FABRIHOLICS ANONYMOUS

read below

GOALS:

- To use the Stash I already have!

- Finish UFOs without distraction by shifting to other new beautiful fabric.

- Stop the insanity of constantly buying the latest and greatest fabric.

- Save the $$ I spend on stashing.

- Destash the fabrics that I realize I am never going to use.

FABRIC FAST RULES:

1) No fabric purchases for 6 months beginning January 1, 2014.   

2) At 6 months reevaluate status and decide whether to keep going for full year.  Evaluation July 1, 2014.

3) Create a UFO list and complete them!

4) Exceptions

• Backing: purchasing a backing to finish a quilt top is permissible.  However, attempting to use fabric in your possession for a backing is preferable.
• Books and Magazine purchases are allowed as they are not fabric.  Notions acceptable too.
• Swap Mama Fabric: if hosting a swap you are permitted to by fabric to execute swap duties, but you may not join a swap simply for the sake of being able to buy fabric!
• Quilts for Publication: if you are making a quilt for a publication and need certain fabric to execute it correctly then that is a major exception - who can blame you?

The button is on my right hand side bar so click there or the links to Jess and Rebecca above and find out all the details.

I now feel rather smug that I have a lot of new fabrics bought over the past month to sort and put away, plus I am expecting another order from Glorious Colour, hopefully sometime next week - do I feel guilty? No - fabrics below some from Glorious Color and others from BryerPatch

OK time to get some serious sorting in my quilting room

Maureen