Stash Report – Week #19

I think I’m going to have to put my stash on birth control pills!!!!  

Yes, it has multiplied again!!!

Remember I shared a few posts ago that we had a marvelous visit from the awesome designer and quilter, Edyta Sitar, this past week?  Well, of course I had to purchase some of her luscious fabrics!  Straight from her hands to mine – wowzers!!!! 

I also decided to purchase an additional 3 yards of the background fabric used in my Eldon class kit so I can go ahead and make the full-size quilt.  I want to focus on aquas as the primary color for this quilt, and there are bluish-grey streaks in this background that will reflect those colors nicely.  It will also give the quilt a nice cozy warm feel I think.

I had not really intended to make the full quilt, but when Don came home that night and saw the block, he instantly liked it – a lot!  I had laid out the block on the carpet downstairs so he could see it when he came in, as I often do when I’ve taken a class. 

Eldon block in process

He came upstairs where I was sewing and said, “There’s an amazing quilt block in the floor down there…. I hope it’s going to become a quilt for our bed???”  

So needless to say, I have a new project!  This will need to count for my NewFO Challenge this month I think :*)

And look – I got Edyta to sign one of the logs!!! =^..^=

With the addition of 1 yard of another fabric at my LQS, my total additions come to 8.5 yards.  Not too bad considering I really refrained from going crazy and buying a thousand half-yard cuts when Edyta opened her little Pandora box of fabrics like many of my fellow quilters did. =^..^=  In the initial frenzy, I picked out at least a dozen fabrics that I wanted!  But after some painful careful consideration, I put all but four of them back.  Then I purchased a few more during the Eldon class.  My decision was helped by the fact that I had just broken the bank in Paducah, of course :*)

Finishes – uh oh, here’s where the rubber meets the road.  STILL no finishes!!!  I was so busy taking classes this week that very little sewing got done.  But …. I did complete the FINAL BLOCK for Moonglow last night and began stitching the rows together!  Yay!!!!  I’m hoping to have it done by this evening and maybe post pictures tomorrow.  So that will count next week as a finish.  It’s about TIME!!!

So here are the final numbers for this week:

Used this week:      0 yards

Used YTD 2012:      52.50 yards

Added this week:   8.5 yards

Added YTD 2012:   92.50 yards

Net Used for 2012: -40.00 yards

Head on over to PatchworkTimes to see how others are doing with their stashes.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Edyta Sitar Visits Music City!!!

Yes, that’s right!  Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts!!!   One of the guilds to which I belong is the Music City Quilt Guild in Nashville (MCQG).  Each year, MCQG brings in a nationally known teacher for 3 days of classes and lectures.  This year, we have been anxiously awaiting Edyta's visit, and she is now here!!!  

Yesterday, The Quilter's Path in Mt Juliet hosted a class with Edyta to learn all the techniques for making her wonderful quilt, Spool Quilt.  This has always been one of my favorites of her quilts.

Edyta Sitar's Spool Quilt

I took part in that class and learned SO much!  What was the best thing I learned?  That Edyta is a really warm, natural and funny person!  She had us all charmed within five minutes of opening her mouth :*)

On a more practical level, I also learned a lot about choosing fabrics for a quilt.  Unlike a lot of quilters, I am pretty comfortable with color and have no problem with choosing fabrics to get the colors I want for a quilt.  However, color is not all there is to consider when choosing fabrics.  Edyta stresses the value of also putting a lot of thought and care into your decisions regarding texture and design.  She goes by a Rule of 5 - choose at least 1 large print, 1 medium print, 1 small print, 1 stripe (or plaid), and 1 dot fabric.  This provides a nice range of texture and visual appeal to go along with the colors chosen.  One look at Edyta's quilts makes it clear that she is an expert at choosing fabrics!  Of course, she now designs most of the fabrics she uses.

1" strips shared by doing a strip swap in class

This is the pile of strips we all worked with once we did our strip swaps.  

And these are the two spool blocks I managed to accomplish yesterday from the blue strips.  Aren't they just the cutest things?  =^..^= You can see that our kits contained lots of different textures, designs and colors to work with.  Edyta is also well known for mixing fabric types, such as her use of both batiks and civil war fabrics in the same quilt.

Today, Edyta came to our Guild meeting at MCQG to give an absolutely wonderful talk and trunk show of her quilts!  Talk about eye candy!!!  She had over 80 quilts with her!  We were all drooling so much, the ladies who cleaned up afterward had to use mops!!!  


After the abbreviated morning meeting, she taught a class on her applique techniques.  Since class slots were limited, I didn't sign up for that class, choosing instead to take her Eldon class tomorrow.   I’m looking forward to more great fun with her then!!!

Edyta Sitar's Eldon

Eldon block

Following are some of the pictures of Edyta's quilts shown today.  Not all of them, of course, because you’d never get the blog to upload!  I can’t believe how prolific this girl is!  But these were some of my favorites :*)

There were many more pictures but I was afraid of overloading the size of this post!


I did take a picture of me with Edyta today, but when I got home and loaded it - got a good look at it - oh my, what a horrible picture!  I'll try to get a better one tomorrow at the Eldon class ;*)

Thursday and Friday, Edyta will be at The Quilter's Attic in Goodlettsville.  She will teach a class on Thursday and then there will be a book signing on Friday morning.  Stop by if you get a chance!  I'm sure Fran and Edyta would be delighted to see you!!!

Gotta go now and get some sleep so I can be fresh and bright-eyed & bushy-tailed for tomorrow's class.  Well, maybe fresh will have to do.... *wink* 

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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