stash reduction
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January 5, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen back. It is amazing when I say 2014 out loud. How can I be this old?! I was reminiscing with a friend about a football party when the Bills came back from behind to the great enjoyment of the crowd and the consternation of the dogs in the room. I ended up with a Doberman in my lap who was very upset by all the shouting! Twenty one years ago! How can that be?! Yikes! Anyway, back to resolutions. Are you like me, resolving every year to work on your UFO stash? (Don’t tell me that you’re one of those quilters who has no UFOs because you always finish a project before moving on to the next one!) I want to actually do something about some of my UFOs this year instead of my usual tactic of just shuffling them. A few days ago I was […]
November 21, 2013
Good morning all, Mary Ellen here. Coffee in hand, cruising some blogs. My favorite morning routine. Soon to go up to the sewing room. I’m still looking around for some easy handmade holiday gifts and fun. When I want classy rather than cutesy, I often will visit the Purl Bee site. I first found it as a knitting site, but they have lovely patchwork crafts too. Someday I’m going to go to NYC to visit the actual store; I think I’ll have to allot an entire day for browsing! First off, I have a few of the Edyta Sitar snowflake silhouettes left after finishing another project. The pattern for that project includes an ornament idea in it that just doesn’t feel quite right. I’m going to adapt this idea from PurlBee (click here) and use up some felted wool scraps. I’m think two layers of wool plus the fused silhouette, […]
March 4, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Robi has graciously given permission for me to share the photo of a quilt she is currently working on that I mentioned in an earlier post. I love looking at scrap quilts, finding fabrics that I recognize. As I told Robi, I spotted my favorite dog fabric ever, Laurel Burch’s design, in her quilt. I know that since Laurel’s death some of her cat fabric designs have been re-released. I hope the dogs will be back as well. Can you spy them in Robi’s quilt?
February 24, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen again. I’m going to be doing a demo on making a super quick quilt top soon (the jelly roll 1600) and have been looking around on Pinterest and other websites to see what quilters have done with the idea. (If you don’t know what the jelly roll 1600 is, go back to my blog entry called “odd bits again” on Feb. 19, 2013 for a quick explanation.) I’ve found some very intriguing ideas–I’ll definitely by making more of these. I think they will really help eat a chunk out of my stash. Here’s what I have found so far-and I’m still on the search. If you have any more ideas, please send them to me or add them in the comments. I think this could be a good resource for members looking for a fast charity, shower, or baby quilt. Here’s what I’ve found so far, […]
December 29, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It’s approaching that time again-the time for goals for the new year. In addition to the old standards-more exercise, less food, finish UFO’s, buy less fabric (actually this goal might be INSTEAD of the old standards!) I’m thinking about adding some new ones to my list. One of them is going to be to start diving into my increasing collections of selvages and make a few projects. I love every project I’ve ever made with selvages and I always get such nice comments when folks see them. Perhaps I’ll take some photos of a couple of them to show you (the ones I still have in my possession). I want to make another big tote bag-I find that I organize my “stuff” for classes and demos by the totebag system (each class or demo gets its own bag) and I could use a few more […]
November 16, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Finally…the last Lucy Goosey block. It’s a nice easy variation of the Friendship Star block. Several variations are mentioned in case you need a few filler blocks. The directions are here: lucy goosey #6
November 2, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. 1. Our president, Kathy T., has asked me to post this for you. Awhile back, at a guild show and share, Kathy shared a quilt with pieces like puzzle pieces. She had lots of inquiries about the pattern, which she found on the internet. Here is the site for you. You can see a photo of the quilt in the photo gallery at our guild site. The link to that is in the side bar of this blog. 2. I just discovered that I never posted the October, final, Lucy Goosey block directions! So sorry for that negligence. I found it just now in the list of “draft” posts. I’ll finish that up and get it posted ASAP. 3. Are you going out to the “old” Pine Grove workshop location for Judy and Bonnie’s Christmas Open House? It’s this weekend and next. I’m sure that […]
September 26, 2012
Good morning all, Mary Ellen here. Have you been working on your seminar projects? If so, you’re putting me to shame. My 2 blocks which I finished during Anita’s pineapple class are pinned to the wall in the sewing room for inspiration, and the rest of the fabric, freezer paper, the book, etc. are in a pile nearby. I am determined to add more for a red and white Christmas wall hanging-don’t think I’ll be making enough for a full-fledged quilt. But… you never know, I love how crisp and precise the red and white look together, and Anita’s technique makes it so easy to get that precision. I do know I will not be just packing it away for later! I’ve decided to follow some of Beth’s advice that she gave in the lecture about getting rid of some of those old kits and UFO’s that I have hanging […]
July 29, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I had an inspiration over coffee this morning. I know that there are dawgs out there in your stashes even though no one has yet admitted to one. How about if each of us with a dawg, cuts a fat quarter of it, puts it in a plain brown paper bag, and seals it up tight. Then at an agreed upon guild meeting we swap bags. A few months later we all reveal the project we made which includes the dawg fabric. Anyone game? If I get a few of you who are willing to play, I will organize (what little is needed!) the swap and come up with 1 or 2 ground rules. Or maybe this could be one of our next guild challenges? Lynne, are you out there? What do you think?