In Hyper-Drive Elf Mode

Christmas is right around the corner. It's been a bit quiet on the blog front as I've been racing to finish projects for Christmas. I have one last quilt to bind today or tomorrow and then a couple pillows to finish by Christmas Eve. I had high hopes to get some zipper pouches done for my coworkers for Christmas and to celebrate my 10-year anniversary with my company, but those will have to wait and be New Year's gifts instead.

I've been a busy little elf, but I can't show you most of the projects I've been working on since the recipients read this here blog. But, I did make a few pillowcases for my family, and since some of them have been gifted, I think it's pretty safe to share them.

I used Kerri's magic pillowcase tutorial to make these, and let me just say that it really is magical!

I made this Crafty Chloe pillowcase for The Middle's 4th birthday back in October.



I cut the fabric wrong for these next three pillowcases - oops - but I think they'll still work fine.







And I made these last two right before Sewing Summit. The colors blend really well with my FFA2 bed quilt. The mister claimed the second one for himself. (It's my favorite too, so sometimes I steal it.)





Speaking of pillowcases, if any of you locals are heading to the SLMQG social tonight, I have a few extra yards of fabric donated by Riley Blake if you'd like to make some pillowcases to donate to Sandy Hook Elementary, which is being organized by Quilter's Corner, a local CT quilt shop (details here). Thanks to Barbie for hooking us up!

And one last random item. Whether or not you've been following along in the Ruby Star Wrap-Along, I wanted to make sure you're aware that Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting a contest on their blog in conjunction with the wrap-along. If you've made a project from the Ruby Star Wrapping book, you can enter it in their contest to win some pretty amazing prizes. Melody Miller and Sukie will be judging, which is even cooler!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I'll be back after the holiday to share the projects I've been working like mad to finish!

2012 Tribute to Sew Beautiful Bee - I'll miss you ladies!

I finished up my last bee block of 2012 the other night. I'm kind of sad about it being my last bee block, but happy with how it turned out. Lee sent a gorgeous palette of solids to make these 16.5" unfinished blocks so she can make a quilt like Rita's Chicopee Giant Vintage Star Quilt.



After making blocks comprised of half square triangles (HSTs), I always say I need a break from them. Without fail. But, in this block, there were only six HSTs, trimmed down to 4.5" - totally doable. And I didn't get sick of making them. I may need to make myself a quilt like this one of these days.

As I finished up Lee's block, I thought back over the year and put together this mosaic of blocks that I made and received in 2012 through the Sew Beautiful Bee. Several of us are not continuing on with the bee next year due to other commitments. I'm sad to see our group disband, but understand that all of us have full, busy lives. We plan to keep our connection alive though by having a swap sometime next year, and of course we'll all be keeping tabs on each other through blogs, Flickr, and Instagram.

It's been such a joy getting to know all of you girls over the last two years. I wish you all good luck in your future endeavors!



I'm finishing up a couple quilts for Christmas and then I hope to finish up my Gradated Mod Mosaic quilt that these ladies helped me put together. It'd be pretty amazing if I finished a bee quilt in the same year that I started it!

2012: Year of the Fabric Tracking

After Christmas last year, I decided I wanted to start tracking my fabric. See what comes in and goes out. Angela, one of my fellow Sew Beautiful Bee mates wrote a post about tracking fabric and I wanted to see how tracking my fabric may affect my purchasing decisions. Here's a snapshot of my simple spreadsheet.

I'd like to call your attention to the section that lists my totals.



Holy crap. Nearly 273 yards of fabric. That I bought. This year. That's crazy. That total does include fabric that I received as gifts and didn't pay for. But still. 273 yards! (I tried counting my existing fabric when I started tracking, but I only got through one drawer - hence the 301 yards in my total stash.)

The other total that I want to point out is the total cost. This amount includes the price of the fabric plus shipping and additional sales tax for online purchases. I am a pretty thrifty gal and usually will only buy fabric if it's on sale. If I can't find the fabric that I want on sale, then I buy it online for the best price. I seldom shop at brick and mortar stores. Maybe 15-20% of the time.

Considering the amount of fabric I stashed this year, I was pleased to see that over 160 yards LEFT my stash. That's pretty good in my book.

Seeing these totals has made me realize that I shouldn't buy any fabric in 2013. I'm sure I have well over 150 yards to get through since I had more fabric in my stash before I started tracking my fabric. I also have a boatload of quilts that I've started that need to be finished, such as:

Supernova Quilt

Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese Quilt

Gradated Mod Mosaic Quilt

Granny Squares Quilt

The Middle Child's Quilt

Mom's Quilt

Carpenter's Christmas Quilt

New Nephew's Quilt (like this)

The Mister's Quilt (like this)

The Son's Keep-Warm-in-the-Car Quilt

The Lorax Quilt

I've set a goal for myself to USE MY STASH in 2013! I plan to only allow myself a little leeway in purchasing fabric for quilt backs. But, another goal I have for 2013 is to make more pieced backs (instead of my typical lazy buy-a-sheet-to-back-a-quilt way), so hopefully that'll eliminate the need for me to buy much fabric for backings.

So how about it? Who's with me?