Catching up and Finished UFO's

I've been way too quiet lately as I've been dealing with continued unemployment and the job hunt as I try to find a job as an IT Business Analyst. Not to mention trying to sell my house in a depressed housing market. None of which is fun. Thankfully I do know that no matter what God will provide all I need according to His will - including the next job and a buyer for this house.

Getting the house back on the market has meant that i have been decluttering it and getting rid of a lot of stuff that I moved out here and never had time to deal with before. Lots of stuff has been given away on Freecycle. And I'm still pulling more stuff to be gotten rid of. Have a pile of boxes in the garage that are already packed and out the house. Need to do more so that I can declutter more. Have been thinking about what else I'd get rid of in the way of furniture if I end up having to put a lot of this into storage which is a very real possibility or even have to down size. Hard to believe but most of what is in my 3000+ sq foot house was in my little bitty 800 sq ft apartment just a couple of years ago.

Meanwhile, to help keep the stress level down I've been quilting a lot. I'm in a crazy quilt round robin with 4 friends. I finished up what I added to the first one I worked on this week. The picture below shows the work I added to her block.

I also put together a table topper that is going to be a BD present for one of my best friends. Her BD is in April so I won't post a picture of it till then. Am also planning on writing a pattern for it and submitting it to see if I can get it published in a quilt magazine. I've also been working on getting some of the many swap blocks I've had stashed away for years into quilt tops. I'll post in the next post about these.

Gratitudes -

1. That I know God is a loving God and will always supply my needs, in spite of how my circumstances appear to me.

2. That there has been a lot of activity in the job search this past week.

Quilty Finishes for the year

I've managed to finish three more quilts during the month of December and 4 Christmas gifts. Still have one Christmas gift to make, but didn't bring the right stuff with me to make it. The quilts that I finished up are my nieces quilt. I forgot to get a picture of the finished quilt, but to the right you can see a pic of the finished quilt top. I also finished my pineapple quilt and it will be going on my bed once I make it back to Texas next week. And I finished a quilt that is for a friend. It will be going to her this week so I'll post a pic of it later.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Stashbusting in 2009

Back in 2007 I had decided to really focus on finishing UFO's and to work from my stash as much as I could. Being without a FT job made the latter part of that a necessity. So far this yr I've finished up 21 UFOs, have one more ready to bind, and have about 20 more that will be going into next year.

I've also managed to use a hefty amount of fabric from my stash so far with over 500 yds gone. I had approximately 100 yds come back in for about a 400 yd usage so far this yr. That usage came from using it in my quilting and through donations to others. The sad thing is that I'm just now starting to see a small difference in how many totes and boxes of fabrics that I have. So I will be continuing to work down on my stash next yr.

Working to finish up UFO's and using my stash really feels good and I'm looking forward to making a visible difference next year!

Gratitudes -
1. I'm thankful for the 'pallette' that I have in my stash and that I'm still able to quilt even though I don't have a big income at this time.
2. I'm thankful for all that I do have and for the many blessings that God has given me.

Falling Leaves......

Things have been hectic the last few weeks with work and everything else that has been going on for me. The latter included tangling with road debris 2 1/2 wks ago, which by the grace of God, only did relatively minor (tho still expensive) damage to my car. Damage included a broken left front fender liner and damaged left front tire (had an ugly bump in the sidewall - not safe to drive on...). But other than that no damage to the car. It could have been much worse, because the traffic was heavy the night I tangled with the debris, and could so easily have been in a bad car accident. As it was, the car was completely driveable, and the tire did not blow out when I drove to/from Temple Tx to see my parents a couple of weeks ago. Getting it fixed wasn't in my budget........but $700 is way cheaper than buying another car or a hospital bill.

I have finally been able to get some quilting done in the last week. Finished up another UFO. I've added a picture to the right of the finished quilt as it looks hanging in my living room. =) This quilt used the last of the blocks i had from a long ago swap from the Quiltersbee list that I used to be a part of. They were probably 6 or so yrs old. The border print is a directional print that had the perfect colors to go with the leaf blocks. However I didn't think about the directional print when I bought and the fact that the borders had to be cut differently because of it. Result was that I didn't have enough length after cutting the strips I needed for the "alternate blocks" in the setting. So I ended up having to piece the borders in order to have enough fabric for it...... Moral of the story - think about the fabric and how it needs to be cut when buying it!

I've also finished up the top for another quilt. This one started with an old, embroidered tablecloth that my friend Susan gave me several yrs ago when she and her DH Paul were getting ready to retire. I used various smaller pieces of 30's fabrics and scraps to make the three borders. I'm not sure yet where I'll be donating it.......it may be going to Wrap-A-Smile to be used for an auction quilt to raise funds for more surgeries.

My pineapple quilt is back from the quilter and is beautiful. Vicki did a great job. The top for Bekah's quilt is finished. The back is pieced and ready to be pinned to my quilt frame. It will be the next one to be quilted........Lord, willing it will be done before Thanksgiving. =) Pictures will be coming of these projects as they are finished. Altho I'll probably wait on posting Bekah's finished quilt because I want her to be surprised at the final, finished project.

Gratitudes -

1. That the road debris only did minor damage to my car and for safety in traveling afterwards.

2. For my current contract even tho it drives me crazy at times.

Pineapple Quilt is finished!

Woohoo........I'm happy dancing here in TX because I finished the top for my batik pineapple quilt tonite (well actually very early this morning). =) The pic to the right shows the top layed out on my queen sized bed. Finished size is roughly 98" by 108". It will go in the mail tomorrow morning to my friend Vicki after I pick up 108" wide backing fabric for it (I don't feel like trying to piece backing for this critter).......

Next I'm off to finish several other projects that are in progress. Once they are to the finished top stage I'll be able to start on a queen-sized quilt that I have here for Am Heroes and Christmas presents. Not to mention starting to step up my job search since the current contract ends the end of this year and talking with the powers that be at work about the possibility of the contract being extended into next yr.

Gratitudes -
1. I'm thankful for my large stash because it supplied all i needed for this quilt top without having to buy any fabric for it - a blessing in the midst of the continued job search. And am thankful that i won't have to quilt this one!
2. I'm thankful to have the current contract for another 2 1/2 months.
3. I'm thankful for the job possibilities that are being presented to me by various recruiters.

Pineapple Quilt

One of the projects I worked on at the retreat I went to two weeks ago was my batik/black pineapple quilt. I got the top together except for the borders and the tuck panel. I'm in the midst of getting those onto the top now. Meanwhile here is a picture of the top without the borders. There are 49 blocks, all different. When complete there will be more than 8 yds of black Kona, and about 7, maybe 8 yds of batiks in the top. And all fabrics came from my stash. =) The backing will take another 10 yds or so to make as well.



Gratitudes -

1. I owe loads of thanks to Jodi for volunteering to tear off all of the paper for me from this quilt.
2. I'm thankful that I won't be quilting it.