April Sewing...

I didn't get much done this month.  It started with the kids still on spring break, the sewing show, my sewing room partially packed from the island...  Then the kids school had their bi-annual Fun Fair - great fun but lots of work!  Add to that Easter, an extra long weekend, a trip away, a band competition, a couple of dance competitions - and I was just too tired to get much done.  But I did sew a few gifts or items of NEED.  May will be sewing for ME!  I hope to finish 3 unfinished quilts in May - I know lofty goals!

So I finished another UFO this month... a small bag for a birthday gift.  This was started as a demo at a sewing show a number of years ago... their was free motion stitching on it (started... but not finished) that looked awful, so I changed to echo quilting!  I like this much better...

And my oldest daughter got a set of 4 24"x24" Foam Playmats to be used for practicing her Highland Dance and for warming up on.  Many of the older girls bring them to competitions, so with competition tomorrow, we needed a bag to carry them in... The smaller bag carries a small yoga mat that my younger dancer wants to take with her.   I found this fabric in my stash... used about 2m to finish both bags, and just over an hour.

Stash Report - Week 16 / 2011 (April 11-17)
Used this Week: 0m
Used year to Date: 46.5
Added this Week: 0m
Added Year to Date: 13.9 meters
Net Used for 2011: 32.6

Stash Report - Week 17 / 2011 (April 18-24)
Used this Week: 0m
Used year to Date: 46.5
Added this Week: 0m
Added Year to Date: 13.9 meters
Net Used for 2011: 32.6

Friday Night Sew In: I missed April's because of the school fun fair... and it looks like the date set for May is the long weekend here... we are off to Band and Dance competitions that weekend at out of town Highland Games.

Z is for?

My daughter came home from school yesterday needing an item beginning with

Z

so what would she take today?  But a ziplock bag filled with

ZIPPERS!

and she wore her pink 

Zebra print dress

And what have I been sewing?  Nothing... I've been procrastinating and then nursing a sprained ankle.  I currently have the ankle elevated on ice...  I need to sew, but I'll just read my recently arrived Ottobre Magazine!

Updates, Stash Report, & April UFO Challenge - COMPLETE!

So this week I didn`t get much sewing done.  My grandmother has been in the hospital and the visits, worry and stress about that this past week has interrupted my time and want to sew...  My grandmother was moved Thursday  into a rehab unit as a slightly closer hospital and is doing wonderfully.  And since she is in rehab and in `classes`all day, she can`t have visitors!  (I love visiting her, but it was taking my sewing time....)

My 8yo completed one quick gift, and I completed a second.  As luck would have it, the sewing I did was also completing the first of my April UFOs!!!

A zippered bag, sewn by my 8yo.
She put in the invisible zipper, too.  

Small zippered bag
From a Free Motion Quilting Sample from the Sewing show.
Zipper added, and binding for ends/handle

Stash Report - Week 15 / 2011 (April 4-10)
Used this Week: 0.4m
Used year to Date: 46.5
Added this Week: 6.0m
Added Year to Date: 13.9 meters
Net Used for 2011: 32.6

Updates, Design Wall, & Stash Report

This past weekend I went to our local Sewing and Craft Show. This is out at a local Trade & Exhibition Centre... The show has been running for a number of years but a few years ago changed owners. Currently they have also teamed up and have a scrapbooking show at the same time. It is a great use of these large facilities, but I avoided all the scrapbooking information, as that isn't my interest. I have attended off an on for the past 9 years... Attendance this year seemed lower than past years, although I read on Janome Life blog, that it was the greatest attendance with the new owners. The date of the show the past few years has become later, and for the past two years has been during Spring Break.  This is a problem for some of us younger sewers and crafters...

I'm happy to say that the entry fee is still very reasonable at $10 for the two days.  I think its wonderful that they haven't raised this fee.  Although parking has increased - it was free for the first few years and is now $5 per day, but that is probably due to the venue increasing the parking costs, instead of the show owners.  I volunteered for the Friday morning helping with letting attendees into the classes - there were a few problems with this - the registration forms this year didn't include class room names, or times on them.

A good set of local and Canadian instructors were brought in, and many I've attended in past years... In the past I've attended Ron Collins' workshops - they are wonderful and a great hands on experience.  His "trunk show" has a closet full of wonderful items...

• Ron Collins 
• Copying Ready to Wear for Pants and Jeans (NEW)~ a preshow workshop
• More and More Pockets ll ~ a 3 hour hands on seminar
• Master Construction Techniques II ~ a 3 hour hands on seminar
• Patrice Godin
• Everything You Wanted to Know About the Corset, But Were Afraid to Ask ~ 3 hours
• Bias 101 ~ 2 hours

These are great seminars, but I wonder if the topics were too advanced and they may have scared away potential attendees.  I've taken Ron's Master Construction Techniques and another one or two seminars.  In the past various sewing machine companies would donate machines for classrooms, but now you need to bring your own machine.  I think this deters some from signing up for the courses.I took 3 quilting lectures.  They all had a great ideas, but there weren't any quilting hands on classes on the Friday and Saturday... There were 2 knitting classes, Ron's 2 garment construction classes, and the other 6 hands on classes were embellishment or beading classes.  The Thursday  pre-show workshops included a number of quilting classes and garment construction.  I couldn't take these as the kids were home on spring break....
Another problem I found was when looking at the schedule, is many "similar" classes were at the same time...  I know that its impossible to schedule classes without there being some classes, but one time slot had sessions on "Batting 1000", "Longarm Quilting -Beyond Meandering" and "Whole Cloth Quilting", another session had "Free Motion Quilting -Secrets For Success" and "Machine Quilting -Faster & Smarter".  And there was one more titled "Quilt As Desired (How To)".  So 6 sessions on the "quilting" process, and only in 3 time blocks... there were 6 different time slots during the day... it would have been great if these were spread throughout the day...  And the same for some of the fitting classes, and embellishment classes...

There were a couple of make-n-takes at the sewing machine vendors booths, but nothing like there was years ago...

It was still a great two days... I bought some thread, but didn't get any fabric!

Design Wall Update

The same thing is hanging on my design wall as last week - unfortunately I'm not at the same house as my item.  I forgot my 4th block at our summer place!  ACK!  Luckily I have lots of fabric and I'll cut out another one.  I think I'll include some of the lighter fabrics so my block fits into the quilt.  Next time I'm over, I'll pick up the stray dresden and make a table topper!





Stash Report - Week 14 / 2011 (Mar 28-April 3)
Given that I went to the sewing and craft show, I did really well. I didn't buy any fabrics there! My daughter purchased 0.4m for a project she was sewing... so it gets added to my stash, since that is what she sews from...

Used this Week: 1.1m
Used year to Date: 46.1m
Added this Week: 0.4m
Added Year to Date: 7.9 meters
Net Used for 2011: 38.2m