Cha-ching!!!

Have you ever seen the movie 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'?  Do you remember when Chevy Chase plugs in the outdoor lights and the meter starts whirling around and around and around.  That's what I feel like my meter is doing right now.

We just got our electric bill for January and it's significantly higher than usual.  In fact, it's the second largest bill we've ever had in the 9+ years we've lived here.  The largest bill occurred a couple of months after we moved in and that was due to a problem with one of the heat pumps.

I know everyone is experiencing the same problem.  I started trying to think of ways to conserve energy.  I turned the thermostat down another degree (it's now at 66) and I'm looking for other options.  I was concerned that the heating blanket I've been using recently could be a culprit - and I really don't want to stop using it.  Fortunately after doing some research on the internet, I found out it actually uses very little energy.

What about those on fixed incomes and social security?  How will they afford these large increases?  It's been a very cold winter for NC and I just pray it will be a short one.

On a positive note, the storm we got yesterday has us snowbound and I've spent some quality time in my sewing room working on my Crayola Challenge quilt.  If I could just keep David off my sewing machine I'd be even further along.  Stay safe and warm!

Until later...

Another block done...

I've just finished block 8 of the Baltimore Halloween BOM.  This one only had 2 pieces so it went pretty quickly.  Now I really must put this aside and start working on another snowman and a ship.

And guess what arrived in today's mail?  None other than block 12 of this same quilt.  There are 12 10" blocks surrounding a 20" square medallion.  The medallion kit will come next month.

I've also spent some time today working on  more pillowcases.  They're fun to make and go together quickly.  Kind of an instant gratification. 

Until later...

Stash Report Week #4

January 22-28, 2010

What a great week for stashbusting!

For the 2nd week in a row, I purchased NO fabric!  I wonder how long I can keep this up?

I also finally managed to finish the quilt Thistle Down for my sister.  Because the quilt top was done previously, I only counted the backing fabric as stash.  Still that was 3 yards.

And I donated fabric to make pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.   My conservative estimate is 39.5 yards.  Wow!  That's a lot of fabric.

So the totals are:
Purchased-this-week: 0
Used-this-week: 42.5
Purchased-to-date: 9.75 yards
Used-to-date: 47.5
Net used: 37.75

Until later...

Great gals and lots of fun...

Quilt bee met at my house today for lots of food, fun and conversation.  Although we meet every week, we set today aside for a charity project.  Ladies brought their machines and fabric so we could make pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.  And boy did we ever!

I thought this would also be a great opportunity to use up the fabric in my stash that I had purchased with charity projects in mind.

I have tons of animal prints and a lot of children's prints as well.

Combined with the fabric that the wonderful ladies in my quilt bee brought, we were able to complete 31 pillowcases!  And we have another 32 in various stages of completion.  We have enough fabric to make even more, but after a full day of ironing, cutting and sewing, we were all pretty tired.

Here are just a few of the ones we finished.  And they all have french seams in them to give them nice finished edges.  It was the first time some of the ladies had done them and it was both a learning experience and a comedy act as people kept repeating to themselves "wrong sides together".  (You had to be there...)

Thanks ladies for all your hard work!

Until later...

Another UFO done...

I've finally finished another UFO.  It's the 2nd one I can cross off my list.

I've named this quilt Thistle Down - mainly because the print reminds me of thistles.

This quilt is destined for my sister.  She plans to hang it over her living room sofa.  She picked out the focus fabric in the stars and I designed a quilt around it.  If you read my blog regularly, you'll know it went through several very ugly iterations.

(Notice the black ears sticking up in the picture...)

Unfortunately my sister is very allergic to cats so it will need some intense lint-brush rolling before I can give it to her.  It's like my cats had some inside knowledge because I couldn't keep them off of it.

I hope she likes it.

Until later...

98 pieces...

I have been working on several hand appliqueing projects including the Ladies of the Sea (ships) for Mr. QuiltingBug, the Camelot Snowmen (for my mom) and the Baltimore Halloween (for me).  I usually work on a block for one project and when I finish, switch to one of the others.  That way I feel like I'm making forward progress on all of them.

Well, I just finished stitching block 7 for the Baltimore Halloween quilt.  I'm glad I didn't know how many pieces there were in this little 10" block when I started or I may have become discouraged.

 

There are 98 pieces in this one block!  A lot of the pieces are smaller than a nickel.  It was a very challenging block to make.  Now guess how many pieces are in block 8...

Do you have a guess yet?

Waiting...

The answer is 2!  I was very surprised to see that.  And considering that, I'm going ahead and making this one now too.  I'll show you as soon as I finish.

Until later...

Stash Report Week #3

January 15-21, 2010

Very boring stash report this week.  I have neither purchased nor completed any projects.  I've been working on one UFO, but I still need to bind it.  Hopefully, it will count towards next weeks totals.

So,

Purchased-this-week: 0
Used-this-week: 0
Purchased-to-date: 9.75 yards
Used-to-date: 5 yards
Net used: -4.75 yards

Until later...