Needlepoint Progress

While the last few weeks have been incredibly busy at work, its allowed me to make some good progress on my needlepoint.  I've been so tired by the time I get home from work, that most nights I didn't have the energy to go up to my sewing room and use my machine and piece things.  On those nights where I just felt like "vegging", I picked up the needlepoint and made progress there.



I'm not sure why the photo is a little out of focus since I just changed the batteries in the camera.  I probably snapped the photo too quickly.

Either way, I've done a lot of sewing on this the past few weeks.  I'm the type of person that can't just sit and watch TV.  I always have to be doing something.  The needlepoint has a permanent home right next to me on the couch.  Its easy to just pick it up and start sewing for a few minutes.

The weather here this week is gorgeous.  Typically upstate NY fall weather...warm days and cool nights.  The trees are starting to change color which is always pretty to see.  Before we know it, we will be firing up the fireplace to keep the chill out on those cool nights.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Snowman Applique

Earlier this year, I wanted to try my hand at some needle-turn applique.  I did it once before as part of a beginner's quilting class, but it was a very simple shape and no overlapping shapes to deal with.  So I purchased a kit for a snowman and did it all with needle-turn applique.

I finished up the hand-sewing a few weeks ago and finally got it layered with the batting and backing.  He's a cute little guy and turned out fairly well for my first more complicated design. 


Some of the pieces (like the black bands on the mittens and scarf) were appliqued onto the full mitts and scarf before adding to the larger piece.  Some of the pieces I "cheated" and glue basted the seams down before trying to applique them.  After getting about halfway done with the piece, I stopped doing that and just did pure needle-turn applique (no glue basting the seams.

I hope to get this little guy quilted in the next few weeks.  They suggested hand-quilting, which I have never done, but I may just give it a whirl on this piece.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stash Busting 2013 - Week 38

Progress has been made!!  :-)

The last week or two I've been slowly making progress on some Winding Ways blocks.  Here's where I was 2 weeks ago:



And now...  All 12 blocks are made.  Nine will stay as a small wall-hanging type quilt.  The other three (at the top) are destined to become a table runner.


From just those blocks, I was able to use just over 1.5 yards of fabric.

The downside over the past two weeks....I bought fabric... and lots of it.  To my defense, Connecting Threads had a sale and I had a gift certificate to the store AND I bought fabric for the next large wall hanging (a mariner's compass style quilt).  I also bought backing material for my Bento Box quilt top that is waiting to be quilted.

Here's the connecting threads fabric (pre-washing):


Here's the backing fabric...and a cameo by the kitty. :-)


And here's the fabric for the Mariner's compass quilt.  Its a lot of paper-piecing so I bought more than I needed, but what's a little stash building here and there. ;-)


I also spent some time yesterday organizing my fabric and bookshelf.  Looks nice and pretty all organized...I wonder how long it will stay that way.


So here are my stash numbers:

Added This Week:       41.80 yards
Added Year to Date:    47.65 yards
Used This Week:          1.59 yards
Used Year to Date:       16.44 yards
Net Year to Date:         31.22 yards

I'm definitely back in the red now with the backing and extra fabrics that I bought.  I doubt I'll hit neutral again by the end of the year, but maybe I will get lucky.

Go on over to Judy's blog to see how others are doing.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Friday the 13th

I woke up today and didn't think twice that it was Friday the 13th... until I got to work.  It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong.

On the plus side, I have been doing some sewing....slowly.  Things at work have not been going well and unfortunately its going to be more stressful in the up-coming weeks/months.  We are in a high volume season right now and there are organization changes happening that aren't for the good.

As such, I have only been able to squeeze in a half hour of sewing here and there.  I have been making progress on my blocks for the Winding Ways quilt.  Once you get into the swing of things, its not bad sewing curves.  It just takes a lot more patience than if you're sewing straight lines.  No zipping through seams when doing sewing curves!

Its kind of like driving a car.... you need to slow down on the curves or else you're off the road! :-)

I'm hoping to show some pictures of my progress this weekend along with my...umm.... fabric purchases.  My stashbusting numbers will not be so great when I count the fabric I've added in the past week.  To my defense, Connecting Threads had a sale on and I had a gift certificate and I also ordered most of the fabric for the next big quilt (a mariner's compass quilt).  It does certainly add up though.

Anyway - hope everyone is having a great week and their Friday is going better than mine! ;-)

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Stash Busting 2013 - Week 35

Last week was a good quilting week.  I mostly stayed inside, despite the nice weather, due to the poison ivy rash I had.  Sunblock made the skin feel like it was burning, so I had to stay in or risk getting sunburn on top of the poison ivy rash. Yuck!

But because I stayed in, I was able to finish quilting Wildflower Fields (the pattern is Orca Bay by Bonnie Hunter).  I even made the binding and have it all machine-sewn on.  I sew the back of the binding by hand, so it will stay in the partially attached category until the weather gets cooler and I want a quilt to cover up with.  :-)  There's no way I'm sitting with a heavy quilt on me when its 85-degrees out!



The next two photos show the quilting detail a little bit more.  I used wool batting on this one, so its a bit puffier than standard cotton batting.




We also finally hung the Lone Star quilt in the foyer.  I did not block this quilt at all, just machine washed and dried it and it hangs perfectly straight!  Yay!  It really fills the space on the wall really well and we love how it looks up there.  You can easily see all the texture that the quilting created on it... even when you're 15 feet away from it.


It is a bit difficult to get a picture of it on the wall as I'm either off to the side and at the some level (i.e. standing upstairs) or I'm under it taking a picture from below.  Either way... it looks really great hanging on the wall.  Since it wasn't terribly difficult to hang (had to use two ladders and one of the ladders was on the stairs), I may enter this one in a quilt show during the up-coming year.  We'll see if I find anything that I want to enter it into....

So in terms of stash busting, I was able to count a lot of fabric this week because of the backing on Wildflower Fields.  I also counted the binding since there's only the hand-sewing left to do.

So here are my stash numbers:

Added This Week:       0.00 yards
Added Year to Date:    5.86 yards
Used This Week:          6.48 yards
Used Year to Date:       14.85 yards
Net Year to Date:         8.99 yards

I'm in the black by almost 9 yards of fabric.  I love using backings!  :-)

Check out how others are doing with their stash over on Judy's blog.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations