Dare to Dresden....

Welcome to the Dare to Dresden Blog Hop!  For a list of other sites head over to the other bloggers showcasing today:

A Peach in Stitches

Nancy W @ “that Other Blog”

L3 Designs

Bungalow Bay Quilts

Quilted Delights

Quilt Crossing

Lixie Makes it

A Quilting Sheep

Charlotte's Creations

Quilt-n-Queen
Domesticity and Other Ponderous Things

Sew Much 2 Luv

A Quilt and a Prayer

Amanda Murphy Design

Little Mushroom Cap
Kathy's Quilts

Sandra Kaye Design

For my dresden I was inspired by Paul's Gear Block Cushion.  I loved this, and thought it would work great with the fabric I used for my husband's Christmas Present.  My plan is to make a pillow about 18" square...

I sketched a pattern out and then decided I would paper piece it... A little crazy as it has 18 sections with two pieces per section in a half of the Dresden   I had my husband (using his graphic skills) draft up the papers I would use for the Paper Piecing...  It was lots of paper.... but I have learned a few things I like when paper piecing... I much prefer the 1/4" lines to be printed on the paper, and I like to pre-cut the sections out... I found it made it faster for sewing.

I didn't get a chance to finish my Dresden into a pillow because I have been busy with Dance Costumes and Robbie Burns activities.... and busy with building my new sewing studio.

Although there is currently poor lighting, this room
will have lots of lighting once finished!

Progress on the new studio - mudding in progress

New Ceiling!

This isn't my first time making Dresdens.  One is currently on the back of the quilt on the longarm, and the others are waiting to be quilted...

My Dresden's waiting for quilting
From Lily's Quilts QAL

And the one on the back of my Quilt from
 last year's Sew Happy Geek QAL

15 Minute Challenge & Stash Report (2013 #3)

Construction is progressing.... And I've done some sewing!  And cleaned my embroidery machine....

Week Ending Jan 21

Tuesday	Sewing Studio Renovation Test top for small dance top
Wednesday	Sewing Studio Renovation Embroidery
Thursday	Sewing Studio Renovation Cleaning Embroidery Machine
Friday	Embroidery Sewing Studio Renovations
Saturday	Sewing Studio Renovations
Sunday	Sewing Studio Renovations Cut Out Starburst Quilt Finish Robbie Burns Items
Monday	Sewing Studio Renovations Dance Tops -- Stitch

Stash Report 2-2013 (20 January)

     In:    0 m

    Out:  0

Year to Date Stash Report 2013 (20 January)

     In:    11m

    Out:  0

None of the items I've completed so far have used fabric -- they've been either re-purposed, or "embroidery blanks".... The top I've started as a "muslin" for the dance top, isn't quite finished yet.... Must finish all the items for Robbie Burns Day first!

Starburst

From this:

To all cut out.....

ETA:  Quilt along here

Somes Robbie Burns sewing

My son's pipeband has their annual fundraiser this week...   Included is a Silent Auction, so I did a few items with the band logo.  The tea towel with the celtic snowflake were testing the embroidery machine after it "ate" some thread!

Two Tea Towels with logo

Hand Towel and Face Cloth

Blanket with Logo

Testing Stitch Out... 

My older daughter's dance class is dancing at the Robbie Burns dinner. We are re-purposing some older costumes, but one of our dancers is quite tiny (she's 8). So I took one of the largest tops and made her a smaller one.

New "smaller" dance top

Sewing Studio Update

Work is progressing on my sewing studio... not much sewing happening though....

From my Getting It Done List for January:

7.  Rennovations - This room is really long... its almost 30' by 10'6" at one end, and 8'9" at the other end.  It has 4 doors (one to a cold storage room, one to the bath room, and two to hallways) and is a weird shape!  But it will be great to have all my sewing stuff all in the same room (not 3 rooms plus the hallway!)

• Empty both Rooms  DONE

• Remove carpets, wall, one door  DONE

• Rewire, possibly adding a sub-panel for the room and better lighting.  Wiring Done, sub-panel ready for wiring

• Frame in closet, buy a closet door. Closet framed, need to buy door.  I have just enough of the flooring from the hallway to match the flooring.  It will mean some piecing, but its only 6 square feet!

• (I think there is some discussion about insulation and the ceiling.... but.... that takes time....)  No Insulation, just another layer of drywall

• Patch Drywall, Repaint  Currently Patching walls, and re-gyprocking the ceiling.

• Re-floor (maybe some in-floor heating?)  No infloor heating, but a new baseboard heater.  I will install new laminate wood flooring with cork underlay.

• Move Stuff!  This won't happen in January!!!!

My 9yo daughter was a great help today... when
she got bored she started drawing on the wall....

New Ceiling -- 5 sheets of new drywall.
Looking towards the longarm area

The New Wall -- its a closet into the hall
We took out the "extra" doorway (didn't need 3 doors!)
And it'll give me a storage closet for winter clothes.

Looking towards the area that will home my sewing machines

15 Minute Challenge & Stash Report (2013 #2)

This week I didn't do much sewing but have done some planning, and some construction (or was that destruction....) for my new studio. Also I've been handed a sewing project -- altering 8 costumes for my daughters dance team...

Week Ending Jan 14

Tuesday	Sewing Studio Renovation
Wednesday	Sewing Studio Renovation
Thursday	Sewing Studio Renovation
Friday	Clean Sewing Room Sew Quilt Guild Block Sew PJ Pants for Youngest Quilt Guild Meeting
Saturday	Fabric Shopping Finish PJ Pants
Sunday	Fabric Shopping Sewing Studio Renovations
Monday	Sewing Studio Renovation Dance Tops

Stash Report 2-2013 (13 January)
     In:    9.5m
    Out:  0

Year to Date Stash Report 2013 (13 January)
     In:    11m
    Out:  0


ACK!  I'm in the hole.... but 2m purchased this week are for crafts at my daughter's birthday, they will make tied pillows.  And 2.8m (all they had -- hope its enough) is for backing for the Jelly Roll Race Quilt.  And 2.5m of Ivory solid is for the Starburst quilt.  And the only item completed... a pair of PJ pants made from Ladies XL PJs!  Have enough to make a toque, or gloves or maybe both for my 7yo... she loved the fabric.... and bought the PJs with her own money so I could make her these.....

2013 Q1 Finish A Long

1. Finish Quilt from Sew Happy Quilt's Quilt A Long 
2. Finish a skirt for my older daughter.
3. Finish a top for my older daughter
4. Finish my Dresden Quilt Along  4 Block Quilt
5. Finish the Dresden Quilt Along Octagonal Table Topper
6. Finish my Sewing Studio

This week progress

We have started remodelling our basement so I can have all my supplies in one room. It started with just one part of the room, but after thinking about it, I thought, why not remove the wall and have one large sewing area, instead of one room for the longarm and another for the sewing machines (down the hall). As it turns out that was a good decision, as with 3 doors in the room and it being fairly narrow (8'9") I wouldn't have had much storage around a 10' frame for the longarm machine.

Last week the kids and I started by removing carpet and one side of the wall, and this week we have all worked together and now the room is apart and we are running electrical lines and installing new lights.

Today I was going to do some running around looking for some items needed for my new sewing studio, but my husband suggested I stay home and sew...  Great Idea!  But the first task was finding the sewing surface. This room was a mess due to not cleaning up and from adding all the buckets of fabric from their old storage location....  So the first couple of hours I organized and found some of the projects I wished to work on....

And for tonights Quilt Guild meeting, I completed the following Block of the Month. Unfortunately I didn't win the 16 completed blocks... they all looked great!

At Quilt Guild tonight, we had a Jelly Roll race Challenge!  My partner and I finished our top....  These quilts will be donated to the hospice for the beds.

Our completed top!

Some of the other tops

Our Top

Fabric for Starburst Quilt A Long

I also chose some fabrics for the Starburst Quilt A Long over at Happy Quilting. I'm just trying to decide on a cream or white background fabric....

15 Minutes Update & Stash Report (2013 #1)

This week I didn't do much sewing but have done some planning, and some construction (or was that destruction....) for my new studio. Also I've been handed a sewing project -- altering 8 costumes for my daughters dance team...

Week Ending Jan 7

Tuesday	looking at fabric, planning projects
Wednesday	Shopping for fabric - didn't find what I wanted. 15min cleaning in my sewing room.
Thursday	New Sewing Studio (carpet removed from one room, and partial wall removal) Learning EQ7 Quilt Designing in EQ7
Friday	Working on New Sewing Studio (wall removed and clean-up)
Saturday	Working on New Sewing Studio (wall removed and clean-up
Sunday	No sewing
Monday	Working on New Sewing Studio

So how do I schedule?  The biggest problem I have is I often schedule for late at night... and then I'm too tired, or the evening activities run late... so I don't get anything done.  I really need to leave myself with an "easy" project to start so there is no delay in working on something.

Having a clean space helps!    I need to get better in prepping some handwork projects too!



Stash Report 1-2013 (6 January)
     In:    1.5m
    Out:  0

Do I need to log the fabric my kids bought?  Nope - not my stash!

15 Minute Challenge - Last weeks of 2012

Can I find 15 min a day?  I've tried in the past, doing quite well in March, and I need to get back into this, because if I don't  list never gets shorter, and I never get to relax in front of the machine... So I am going to try for 2013 -- so to start the year off, I will post on my past two weeks... not a lot of sewing, but I didn't take anything on vacation with me....

How have I done the past 2 weeks....

Tuesday	no
Wednesday	no
Thursday	Sewing
Friday	Crafting & Sewing
Saturday	Crafting & Sewing
Sunday	Crafting
Monday	no - Christmas
Tuesday	no - Christmas
Wednesday	no - Christmas
Thursday	on vacation
Friday	on vacation
Saturday	on vacation
Sunday	on vacation
Monday	on vacation

2013 UFO List & Goals

#	Year	Project	Status
1	2012	Stars on the Mountain	Piecing
2	2012	Sew Happy Geek QAL	Quilting
3	2012	Wonky Log Cabin Blocks (Colour Challenge BOM)	2 Months Completed
4	2012	Just Take 2 BOM	Some done; turn into something else
5	2012	April Mae Designs - Sun BOM	2 Months Completed; 1 Started
6	2012	Craftsy BOM	2 Months Completed
7	2012	Quilt for my husband	Cut Out
8	2012	New Yor Beauties Quilt	7 Blocks Completed
9	2011	Dresden 4 Panel Quilt from QAL	Quilting started, Assemble (Quilt as you Go)
10	2011	Dresden Table Topper	Borders and Quilting
11	2011	Hallowe'en Quilt	Cut Out
12	Pre 2011	Bag for my Mom	?Might be finished?
13	Pre 2011	Rocking Chair Covers for my mom	stalled....
14	Pre 2011	Quilt From my Grandmother's Fabric	stalled.....
15	Pre 2011	Baby Rag Quilt	piecing
16	2012	Skirt	for dd
17	2012	Top	for dd - new neckline needed
18+	2012	???

I will be joining the Finiah-A-Long
Again... with goals to finish some of
my UFOs!!!

2013 Goals

• Move my studio down the hall
• Purchase with a plan
• Continue to Longarm
• Work on UFOs
• Enjoy!