Hello!  First and formost, the new phone arrived and all is well!  It’s a Samsung S4, except it’s red (!),  it takes fabulous photos, and loads all the wonderful Android apps, so I’m happy here.  I knew you’d want to know.

On the fabric front, progress was not made.  While I used 7 1/2 yards to make a beach themed quilt, I bought 9 yards from Fabric.com.  It was the oddest thing.  I was attempting to click a link, and I missed, and got Fabric.com, where there was a sale and free shipping.  It felt like destiny.  It’s good stuff, don’t you think?  And most is designated for planned quilts.  Yes, I am working on destashing.  Yes, I will do better.  Next week.

This week: +9 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD: +61.75 yards, -93.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -31.75 yards

That’s still about a third of the way to 100 yards, isn’t it?  I’m okay with it.

Are you doing any better controlling your stash?  I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

It’s a beautiful Easter morning here in Ohio.  I hope all of you have a wonderful day.

The stash numbers are good this week.  I used 7 1/2 yards for the string quilt, and nothing was added.

This week: +0 yards, -7.5 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -86 yards
Net stash used 2014: -33.25 yards

In other news, I’m in day 3 of smartphone withdrawal.  My BlackBerry Q10 (Q for Quilter, right?) wanted me to update the operating system, and when I did, it froze up, and now makes a pretty good paper weight.  It is covered under the warranty, so I could have had it replaced for free, but I decided to change phones.  I’ve been a happy BlackBerry devote’ from the beginning, but I suppose it is time to get off that ship.  It’s kind of like Beta tapes:  we were better, but the industry passed us by.  I’m coveting Android apps and continuity with my tablet, so I’ve ordered a Samsung S4.  It will be here…in just…a few days…  Ack!

I don’t like to think of myself as having to be constantly connected to technology.  I spend much less time in front of a computer than many people, but I am really missing the phone.  The last two years we have taken vacations that took us out of cell and data range for many days at a time, and I was fine with that.  I wasn’t trying to quilt, or fussing much with the blog.  The camera still worked.  DH and I were together, so I knew he wasn’t trying to reach me, and neither was anyone else.  We just communed with nature and had a great time.  I mean, the national parks post the weather forecast right in the visitors centers.  We were good.

But home is different.  I like having the whole world in the palm of my hand.  It might be the camera I miss most.  I was trying to lay out a quilt top.  How was I supposed to tell if the colors are balanced without taking a photo?  I muddled through the old fashioned way, but then I couldn’t share the results with the Twilters.  Or the Easter card I got with fabric bunnies. Or the new box of thread.  A picture is easily worth 144 characters.

I’ve tried to remind myself that many famous quilters were successful without anything remotely electronic.  Jane Sickles, for instance, made a pretty spectacular quilt.  But face it, if she could have, Jane would have Tweeted pics to her friends of each new block she finished.  And snapped a few to see if that border was going to work.  Yes, she would have.

Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.  And I’ll be much better by Tuesday…or Wednesday.  Don’t expect a post then.  I’ll be busy trying to get my life back into that little plastic thing.

Enjoy this spring day!  Hope you’re using that stash!  I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Krissi is pleased that no new fabric came in this week, but 9 1/2 yards went out as I finished the Yellow and Gray quilt.  We’re both spending more time outside, now that the weather is getting better.

This week: +0 yards, -9.5 yards
YTD: +52.75 yards, -78.5 yards
Net stash used 2014: -25.75 yards

I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

The Stash this week:  Nothing in and nothing out.  I felt like I had a finish when I completed the gray and yellow top (140 3″ squares), but I won’t count it until I quilt it.  Good news:  I found the perfect backing for it on sale at Fabric Shack.  Bad news:  It wasn’t the only thing I ordered.  This new biweekly fabric ordering needs to stop, but I needed some navy for a commission…Yeah.

This week:  +0 yards,  -0 yards
YTD:  +44.25 yards,  -65 yards
Net stash used 2014:  -20.75 yards

March Goals

1. Assemble Disappearing Pinwheels top.
2. Quilt DP quilt.  Finished, and mailed off for Oso, WA.
3. Make baby quilt for Etsy shop.  Hey, I got on a roll and made three! Chevron Strings, and the Construction Quilts.

4. Make floral quilt for Etsy shop.  Nope.  But I’ll be finished with four pillow covers before the month is over, so that’s something.

April Goals

1. Quilt gray and yellow quilt.

2. Make commissioned baby quilt in navy.

3. Make a floral quilt.

4. Design a block for my Slow Quilt.  I’m collecting the fabrics.

Also, I found this book at Half Price Books this week.  When I said, “curves”, I was thinking of something simple like Drunkard’s Path (and that’s in here, but fancy).  This is very advanced.  Right now, I think I’m most interested in the bias curves, but the paper pieced stuff is interesting to consider.

How did you do in March?

I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Greetings from the frozen tundra!  The quilt prints and bunny tracks have been covered twice since I took this photo!

Now the stash numbers look better, since I had the first actual quilt finish of the new year, with the Brights quilt.  I’m figuring it at 11 1/2 yards.  That seems like a lot, but I know string quilts are very fabric intensive, being mostly seams.  How do you figure out the yardage on your scrappy quilts?  If I’ve designed one on EQ7, I use their fabric estimate as a guideline, but I think they are often high (as in, “purchase this much so you’ll have enough”), so I often round down.  And I think you develop a sense of it after a while.  How do you do it?

This week:  +0 yards,  -11.5 yards

This year:  +15.5 yards,  -21.5 yards

Net stash used this years:  -6 yards

Hope you’re all getting as much sewing time as you like, and are making a dent in that stash!

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.