Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Annual Reckoning, Orca Bay 7, and Final Piecing of 2011

Since 1998 I've kept track of the fabric I've used and bought.  My tally method is idiosyncratic. It works for me; it may not work for you.  I count quilting and fashion fabric but not vintage textiles.  Expenses are for fabric but not for batting, thread, magazines, books, patterns, or long-arm (professional) quilting.  
The most significant accomplishment for 2011 is that I bought 31-5/8 yards of fabric and I used 307 yards.  I am truly proud of myself for my restraint and I hope that I can maintain the new behavior in 2012.
Here's what I sewed this year:
* 4 skirts and 1 jacket
* 5 gift bags  and 60 Christmas ornaments
* 7 wallhangings
* finished 10 flimsies from previous years
* started and finished 11 quilts
* created 6 flimsies
I sold 3 quilts and 41 yards of fabric.  I donated quilts to a number of events and agencies, made blocks for other people's projects, swapped blocks, and gave away strips and scraps.
I have more than 30 flimsies on hand.  In 2012 I want to get at least half of them quilted and bound. 
 Bonnie has revealed the design for Orca Bay in its entirety.  It's another stunner!  I've made half of Step 7, the flying geese units. I haven't done the border units yet.  More than a few of my wing units are wonky, and I don't know if I'll be able to use them or if I'll have to make some more. 

I finished piecing this 29 x 33 wallhanging at 11:15 p.m. on December 31.  I had a bunch of undersized half-square triangles from Orca Bay. I trimmed them to 1.5" and made 17 little (4.5") Cake Stand blocks.  The black sashing finishes to just 1/2".  The green print was the first one I pulled off the shelf. It's just the right color and there was one yard of it.
Check out other Orca Bay blogs and see what quiltmakers across the country have on their design walls on Monday.



24 comments:

  1. Congrats on the net decrease in your fabric purchases! Love the colors of your Orca-hope you can make them work. And, you had to make a wall hanging out of the cut-offs...Nann, Nann, Nann!
    Happy New Year, my friend

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  2. You did great this year! I really like the colors on your wall hanging.

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  3. I don't track fabric purchases but I do like to track what I'm using.

    Good luck finishing your goals in 2012.

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  4. Awesome! And you even sleep sometime too, I bet!

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  5. Nann, I can not even imagine counting my fabric. I don't know how you did it but congrats on having a tally and using up so much! Love your little mini too!

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  6. HUGE CONGRATS on the amount of stash you used in 2011!! Happy New Year to you :)

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  7. I am in awe of how you work out how much fabric you've used/bought etc. I think I would feel too guilty to do that!

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  8. Hi Nann. You have worked you way through a lot of fabric last year.
    Orca Bay is looking good - quite a few of my triangle units were a bit wonky but they are looking ok - quite a bit of fudging going on but it's such a busy quilt that I don't think people will notice a few imperfections!

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  9. Great progress and love that little wall hanging.

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  10. Like Nifty Stitcher said above. My blocks are wonky also. I stretched my string blocks by starching them so I have found that by misting them with water and pressing them again, I can get them in looking pretty good. I also had to pin them into the row and then press them to get the size correct before I stitched. A lot of work but the results will be worth it. Hope this little hint helps.

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  11. That is an amazing accomplishment to keep track of everything and be so organized...wow! And so many quilts made last year! Very inspiring!

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  12. I love tracking things like fabric purchases and use -- nicely done for you this last year! :)

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  13. Congrats on using that much of your stash! Great job and working on Orca has been fun!

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  14. I think your impromptu piece made from the leftover black and white blocks is really clever! Great way to use up leftovers immediately instead of letting them languish somewhere. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  15. Wow Nann! I know you work full time and yet you were able to use over 300 yards of fabric. I don't come anywhere near that amount of fabric used. I need to bump it up to keep up with you! Great job. Love your little cake stand flimsie. Great use of wonky triangles...

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  16. Excellent numbers--you should be proud. Hope you do get a lot of finished quilts from that lovely list of flimsies. Love your Cake Stand quilt.

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  17. I love the wallhanging! And you are right...the green is perfect! Toni

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  18. Great idea keeping up with your yardage. That's fantastic. I've only kept up with how much I sew and machine emb.
    Love your idea!
    Take care.

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  19. Great job with the fabric accounting. Some of my wings are wonky too, but they sure are fun to make. Good luck putting the pieces together.

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  20. glad to know i'm not the only one lagging behind....but no doubt next monday we'll see a bunch of finishes by those "over achievers"....LOL

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  21. you are an inspiration. Wow, nice record keeping. And the little 'leftovers' wallhaning is stunning. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  22. What a great use of your Orca triangles. I have saved mine from other projects but have never used them. You have given me some inspiration.

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  23. brilliant idea with the cake stand, I love baskets :)
    thanks for sharing your progress and dropping by my blog, Sharyn in Kalama

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  24. I want to know your secret. How did you accomplish making so many quilts or finishing quilts? You have definitely worked hard at it. So here is a super duper congratulations! Great job on tracking and using up your stash! That is something to be proud of. I have to admit my head is spinning thinking you have 30 flimsies to finish yet.

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