Quilter Acronyms!

Still working on washing and ironing all my fabric that was stored during our move (and since!) It's a bigger job than I thought it would be -- especially in this hot weather. I really don't have much of a stash and so wasn't expecting to be spending so much time on it.

And I still need to get my sewing area set up. I'm going to be down in the basement but my goal is to try to brighten the space up and everything organized so I have a good work flow. Thankfully I have a dehumidifier that I can run to keep everything nice and dry. I thought about setting up in one of our extra bedrooms but I need to have them available as guest rooms (and really don't want to have to pack everything up and put it away every time someone comes to visit!) Plus, I'd like to have a design wall, etc. I'm hoping the basement will be a good choice.

In the meantime -- I'm continuing to enjoy reading lots of different blogs and seeing what others are creating and working on. One thing that I find is that there are a lot of (apparently) standard acronyms used that I've felt a little clueless about. So -- I decided to started Googling them and this is what I came up with:


BOM -- Block of the Month
COC -- Cream on Cream
EQ -- Electric Quilting (software)
F8 -- Fat Eighth
FQ -- Fat Quarter
FWQAL -- Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long
HP -- Hand Piecing
HQ -- Hand Quilting
HST -- Half Square Triangle
LAQ -- Longarm Quilter
LAQM -- Longarm Quilting Machine
LQS -- Local Quilt Shop
PHD -- Project Half Done
QAYG -- Quilt As You Go
QOV -- Quilts of Valor (http://www.qovf.org/)
QST -- Quarter Square Triangles
RST -- Right Sides Together
RWB -- Red, White, and Blue
SABLE -- Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy
SEX -- Stash Enhancement EXperience (or Excursion)
SID -- Stitch in the Ditch
TOT -- Tone On Tone
TBQ -- To Be Quilted
UFO -- Unfinished Object
VQB -- Virtual Quilting Bee
WIP -- Work In Progress
WISP -- Work In Slow Progress
WIVSP -- Work In Very Slow Progress
WOF -- Width of Fabric
WOMBAT -- Waste of Money, Batting, and Time
WWIT -- What Was I Thinking?

Nickels -- 5" squares
Dimes -- 10" squares

I'll update this as I come across more!

I'm Taking The Process Pledge!

You've probably seen this badge on various quilting sites:



Even though I'm just starting this blog and am still in the process of getting my sewing area set up, I wanted to add this to my blog. I love what this "Process Pledge" is all about -- talking about the actual steps involved in making quilts, discussing the decisions that go into the design, sharing about inspiration and showing the project in its various stages along the way. I think it's a great way to blog!

AND if you click on the image above or in my sidebar, you can see the original post that explains it all and provides a list of all the quilt bloggers who have taken the pledge. I can't wait to start visiting some of these blogs to see what they're up to!

I'm Joining The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long ...

Well, my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book arrived yesterday and ... oh. my. goodness. I'm so inspired!

There's just no way that I can't join the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long and make this quilt after looking through the book. The start up information about this group can be found at Fussycut (it's Angela's blog; she's one of the quilt-a-long hosts) and the group discussions and photos can be found at this Flickr site. I can't wait to get started! If nothing else, I think this is the kick in the pants I need to get my stash fabric ironed and sorted and my sewing area set up. Yahoo!

So I guess I should post the offical FWQAL button?

Let The Quilting Begin!

I've been wanting to get back into sewing since moving to New England about a year ago. But I've let a lot of things get in the way -- other interests, lack of a dedicated sewing area, the need to have my sewing machine cleaned and tuned up. But finally, the time has come.

I've been inspired by my friend Patty who has been having so much fun with her embroidery machine. She's done so many fun projects (purses, quilts, shirts ...) that I've caught the bug again.

So I took my machine to have it overhauled and recently got it back. I've slowly been washing and ironing all the material I brought with me to see what I've got in the way of stash (and I am really kicking myself for tossing the bags of scraps I had been saving ... what was I thinking? Argh!) I've been visiting lots of blogs and finding inspiration galore on the internet. I've even gone and checked out a few nearby quilt shops and ordered a few books from Amazon.

I've always loved scrappy quilts and that's where I plan to start. I would love to make a few cuddle-up size quilts that can be used up in our loft and I'd like to make some decorative ones to hang on the walls as well.

There will be no shortage of ways to enjoy the quilts I have bouncing around in my head -- of that much I'm certain.

I've got a few projects in mind for starters:

* a baby quilt for my new granddaughter Delilah
* a bullseye quilt inspired by the Quilts From Aunt Amy book and a few of AmandaJean's designs over at Crazy Mom Quilts
* a scrappy string quilt inspired by The Heartstrings Quilt Project. I just love the quilts Mary makes!

I figure that will be plenty to get me back into the swing of things and should keep me busy for quite a while.

I'm also thinking of joining The Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long ... I might be getting in a little bit over my head with that one, but I've ordered the Farmer's Wife Sampler Book that the quilt-a-long is based on and it's due to be delivered today! So we'll see ...

I'm working on getting my sewing area set up and even went and purchased new pins and machine needles (I really need to go through my boxes of supplies and see what else I need ... my husband is going to faint when he sees the bill I suspect I'll be racking up!)

I'm hoping this blog will serve as an ongoing journal of what I work on and the progress I make on each project and will encourage me to keep going. I've been following a few blogs that do daily (if not daily at least frequent) update posts and I love it ... accountability! LOL.

Now my next step is to actually get started. And on that note ...