Stitching and DeStashing--Week 38, 2020

The weekly stash report shows movement both in and out. The outgoing includes 1.25 yards for the little Rolling 9-Patch quilt top that I shared in yesterday's post plus 1/4 yard for these two blocks. 

I was looking for a design to make with a jelly roll and decided to give this one a try. The pattern is called Definitely Positive by The Cloth Parcel, and you can find a tutorial for making the blocks HERE. I like her quilt a lot more than my sample blocks--the solid fabrics for the plus signs are a nice contrast with all the prints.

As for additions to the stash, I have 5.5 yards added thanks to a daily flash sale at the Fat Quarter Shop. About a year ago, I bought a layer cake of fabrics called "On the Lighter Side" by Robert Kaufman. I have been using those as the backgrounds on my Scrappy Bear Paw blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge all year. I was very excited to see that the second line, "2019 On the Lighter Side", was on sale, so I scooped up a fat quarter bundle, plus a half yard of an additional light print.

I always seem to be short on fun prints for backgrounds, especially on my rainbow quilts. These will be great additions for that purpose! I think my favorites are the two clothespin prints. 

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                              1.50 yards

Used year to date:                     149.875 yards

Added last week:                             5.50 yards

Added year to date:                         53.0 yards

Net used year to date              96.875 yards

I'm would love to keep my stash totals in the neighborhood of 100 yards net usage for the year, but I'm not sure how realistic that will be. I tend to get carried away during some of the Black Friday and end of the year sales, but who knows if those kind of sales will even happen this year. Better to just keep plugging away at using or giving away some of the stash.

On the topic of giving away fabric, I will have some outgoing yardage soon thanks to the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. I have three "orphans" available for adoption. It's not too late to check out the offerings and see if there are any UFOs you would like to adopt!

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I spent the first half of the week finishing the Rolling 9-Patch top, made the two sample blocks, and prepared my orphans for adoption. At the end of the week, I started a brand new project--I just couldn't resist trying the cute pattern I found. More on that soon!

15 Minute Challenge:  

9/13 - 9/19               7 of 7 days

2020 Total          254 of 263 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 38, 2020

For those who don't already know, it's time for the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. I have three "orphans" up for adoption, and others are also offering up UFOs that they no longer love. Check it out! 

Instead of working on my regular projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week, I got completely distracted by an old UFO. I had pulled out my scrappy Rolling 9-Patch blocks, which happen to feature red, our RSC color of the month. 

These blocks had been started as a way to use up some of the 9-patches left over from Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." I made more blocks, then auditioned possible settings for them. You can see those in Monday's post. After making my decision, I finished making the blocks needed, then joined them all together. 

It was time for borders, and I decided to steal an idea I had seen in a magazine ad. It featured a quilt with borders made from a red and white zipper striped fabric, which I happened to own. I combined that fabric with a narrow border of a black print and plan to use that same black fabric for binding too.

Unfortunately, my first attempt at the border was not a success, as you can see above. I got the border all stitched on, mitered the corners, then put it up on my design wall and discovered that the two side borders were a bit too long, causing ripples and waviness. UGH! It's a good thing this is a small quilt! The next day, I removed those side borders, shortened each by about 1/4 inch, then reapplied them and restitched the miters. I also trimmed the border down to a more appropriate width. My little quilt now measures 27.5" x 34.75".

Rolling 9-Patch, 27.5" x 34.75"

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA 

Orphan Adoption #3--Fall 2020

This is my third offering for the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. You can see Orphan #1, the Floral Log Cabin HERE, and Orphan #2, Jacob's Ladder is HERE.

The Orphan Adoption event is held twice a year to help quilters clear out some of the old projects that we will never finish. It's the perfect opportunity to pass along your orphan blocks/projects to someone else who will love and finish them! It's also a great time to acquire a new project or two for yourself.

My last orphan available for adoption is the leftovers from making the Uneven 9-Patch quilt shown above. This pattern is also known as Puss in the Corner. I made the quilt as a sample for a beginning quilting class that I used to teach.

Here are two blocks plus strips sets to make more that are all the same as shown in my sample quilt.

The rest of my scraps/leftovers have the same fabrics, but they aren't all used in the same places in the blocks. These were my first attempt, and I decided to change things around to make the blocks as shown above.

Four complete blocks plus parts for at least six more

One block plus parts for four more and extra pieces

Extra fabrics

I'm including extra of two of the original fabrics (the light and the floral) plus very good substitutes for the pink and the dark green. If you zoom in, you can see that a chunk of each of those original fabrics is sitting on top of the new option--I'd say they are excellent replacements. There's 1/4 yard of the light, 9" x 32" of the floral, 6" x 8" of the original pink and 9" x 38" of the sub, plus 10.5" x 20" of the new green. Those should be enough to get a reasonable number of blocks for a small quilt.

That's my third "orphan" available for adoption--Uneven 9-Patch blocks plus pieces, strip sets and extra fabric. I will ship to the winner anywhere in the U.S. only. One warning--there may be a delay in getting these in the mail. Don't count on receiving your "orphan" immediately. 

Leave a comment to let me know if you would like to adopt this orphan project. Shipping in the U.S. only. Please be sure to include your email address so I can contact the winner. I will choose a random winner next Tuesday, September 22. Get your comment in by noon that day. Be sure to check out the rest of the quilty orphans over at Quilting is more fun than Housework. 

Julie in GA

Orphan Adoption #2--Fall 2020

This is my second offering for the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. You can see Orphan #1, the Floral Log Cabin HERE, and Orphan #3, Uneven 9-Patch is HERE.

The Orphan Adoption event is held twice a year to help quilters clear out some of the old projects that we will never finish. It's the perfect opportunity to pass along your orphan blocks/projects to someone else who will love and finish them! It's also a great time to acquire a new project or two for yourself.

Four Jacob's Ladder blocks

My second orphan available for adoption is the beginnings of a Jacob's Ladder quilt. I made four blocks, plus started making the parts for at least 20 more blocks. The are half-square triangles and four-patches all stitched and needing to be pressed, plus strip sets for more four-patch units. The finished size of the blocks is 9".

I thought I had more of the floral print that could be included, but it is hiding from me at the moment. If I locate it, I will add that to the package.

That's my second "orphan" available for adoption--four Jacob's Ladder blocks plus the parts to make at least 20 more blocks. I will ship to the winner anywhere in the U.S. only. One warning--there may be a delay in getting these in the mail. Don't count on receiving your "orphan" immediately. 

Leave a comment to let me know if you would like to adopt this orphan project. Shipping in the U.S. only. Please be sure to include your email address so I can contact the winner. I will choose a random winner next Tuesday, September 22. Get your comment in by noon that day. Be sure to check out the rest of the quilty orphans over at Quilting is more fun than Housework. 

Julie in GA

Orphan Adoption #1--Fall 2020

One of my biggest projects over the past couple of months has been attempting to clean up and reorganize my sewing room. It has gotten to the point where I am overwhelmed by how much quilting stuff I have--books, magazines, fabric, scraps, UFOs, etc. Lucky for me, this week it's time for the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

The Orphan Adoption event is held twice a year to help quilters clear out some of the old projects that we will never finish. It's the perfect opportunity to pass along your orphan blocks/projects to someone else who will love and finish them! It's also a great time to acquire a new project or two for yourself.

I have multiple offerings up for adoption this fall, and I am going to list them each in a separate post. That makes it easier for me to keep track of who is interested in each item. My other posts can be viewed HERE and HERE.

One reason my sewing room is such a mess is because I'm not good about dealing with the leftovers after I finish a quilt. I generally end up with a box of extra or partial blocks, leftover strip sets and chunks of fabrics. The bigger fabric pieces might make it back into my stash, but I have a hard time deciding what to do with the rest. My first "orphan" came from one of those boxes.

This is the first bed-sized quilt I ever made. It was started in a class in 1995 and finished in 1997. The blocks start with a 9-patch in the center, then build log cabin strips around that. Here is the original pattern, which makes a quilt that finishes at 63" square. I used a different layout of the blocks for my quilt. The pattern will be included with the fabrics below.

1995 was my first year as a quilter, so I didn't have much of a fabric stash. I remember going to JoAnn Fabrics and buying a ton of 1/8 - 1/4 yard pieces of mostly floral prints. There are 3 completed 9-patch blocks, plus the makings for at least 30 - 40 more blocks, probably even more than that.

These are the strips for the log cabin part of the blocks. The three piles on the left are already cut to the needed lengths, all ready to start sewing. The other stacks are full or partial 1.5" strips.

That's my first "orphan" available for adoption--the pattern plus all the pieces and parts to make many blocks. I will ship to the winner anywhere in the U.S. only. One warning--there may be a delay in getting these in the mail. Don't count on receiving your "orphan" immediately. 

Leave a comment to let me know if you would like to adopt this orphan project. Shipping in the U.S. only. Please be sure to include your email address so I can contact the winner. I will choose a random winner next Tuesday, September 22. Get your comment in by noon that day. Be sure to check out the rest of the quilty orphans over at Quilting is more fun than Housework. 

Julie in GA

Dresden Stars quilt finished!

For a couple of weeks now, I've been promising to share my finished Dresden Stars quilt, and today is finally the day! Warning, there are lots of photos in this post.

My Dresden Stars quilt was started in a class with Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts in June, 2013. It was a great class, and she was an absolutely delightful teacher with many wonderful quilts to show us. This is the picture of her pattern with a link to the website.

Dresden Star pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts

I made eight blocks as shown in the pattern, but decided to use only five to make a wallhanging for a specific spot in our living room. My quilt finished at about 50" square.

In finishing this quilt, I used techniques similar to those in Marti Michell's book Machine Quilting in Sections. The book is available from her website or at many online sources. She also had (has?) a Craftsy class on this topic.

The idea is that it is easier to machine quilt on a domestic machine if you aren't wrestling the entire quilt through the machine at once. The book presents different methods for quilting in sections and then joining those sections together. I adapted/combined a couple of her techniques in the finishing of my quilt. I always struggle with machine quilting, and doing it in smaller portions did make things easier for me. 

The center of my quilt was divided diagonally into three sections of blocks, sashing and setting triangles. I laid them out with the batting and backing fabric, including extra on the sides where the borders would be added later. Here are two of the sections laying on the backing fabric with the extra batting showing at the top and right edges.

The separate sections got quilted in the blocks and the setting triangles before they were joined together. I stitched in the ditch around the Dresdens, then echo quilted around them. There's also a couple lines of stitching around the center circles.

After that quilting was done, it was time to join the sections together. The next photos show two sections joined with a contrast strip on the backing side to cover the seams.

After all three sections were joined together, it was time to add the borders. There is a narrow dark gold inner border, and the outer border is a floral print on a deep blue background. The fabrics for the sashing, setting triangles, and borders all came out of my stash.

It was very difficult to get any good photos of the quilting in the borders. I used the floral print as my guide, free motion quilting around the outlines of all of the flowers. You can't tell from this photo, but my stitching was done in red thread.

The crazy backing fabric just makes me smile! I have no idea when or where I got this, but I'm so glad it was waiting in my stash. 

It feels great to have a finish, especially to get an old UFO completed. It is such an unusual combination of fabrics, with many batiks in the Dresdens, an Asian style print in the setting triangles, and a folk art floral for the outer border. Somehow, they all work well together. I'm happy with the results, and best of all, Ed likes it too! This quilt looks great hanging opposite the front door in our living room, greeting us each time we enter!

FYI--it's time for the Fall 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. You can join in and get rid of some UFO's that no longer excite you, or you can enter the giveaways to win other people's UFO's. I have three "orphans" up for adoption there--go ahead and check them out!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 9/15/2020

It is very hard to believe that September is already half over, although we have been getting some lovely hints of fall in the weather. It is time once again for the To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. I accomplished my three main goals last week and hope to have another good week ahead.

To-do list for 9/8 - 9/14

1. Dresden Stars quilt--photos and blog post                               ✔ done

2. Sewing room cleaning--finish going through quilting books       ✔ done

3. RSC Square Dance--make 8 red/orange blocks                        ✔ done

4. Bonus--Make a couple of new grocery bags                                 no

1. Dresden Stars quilt--photos have been taken, the blog post is written, and it will be shared on Thursday.

2. Sewing room cleaning--I finished sorting through all the quilting books and ended up with three boxes full of books to get rid of. Thank you so much to everyone who had suggestions for what to do with them. I contacted a friend who is a member of a large local guild, and she said they would be happy to take them off my hands. Some books will be added to their guild library, and the rest will go into their next book sale. They will also take magazines once I go through those. Yippee!! I had hoped to pass the books directly to other quilters, and it's going to work out exactly that way. I kept a handful of books for future blog giveaways too.

3. RSC Square Dance--I made 16 red/orange blocks, finishing all I needed for September. I showed them in Saturday's post.

4. Grocery bags--nothing done, except pulling out some possible fabrics.

To-do list for 9/15 - 9/21

1. Scrappy Bear Paw--make one red block for Rainbow Scrap Challenge

2. Dresden Stars--clean up leftover fabrics, etc.

3. Start a new hand-stitching project--I haven't had one since I finished the applique on my Orange Peels

4. Rolling 9-Patch--finish top (this is a project I was working on over the weekend)

5. Sewing room cleaning--??? I'm sure I'll find something to do!

That should be more than enough to keep me busy for the next week. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us .

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday--9/14/2020

I had an afternoon available for quilting time over the weekend, but had some trouble figuring out what to work on. It needed to be something that didn't require a great deal of decision making. That lead me to pull out my Rolling 9-Patch project.

Rolling 9-Patch, 5" blocks (finished size)

The last time I showed these blocks was February of 2019. They were started with some extra 9-patches left over from Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." I had been considering the Rolling 9-Patch pattern as a possible project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019, but set it aside because I had too many other RSC projects in the works.

There were plenty more 9-patches to use, plus rectangles already cut in reds and black-on-white prints. I made 11 more full blocks, plus two partial blocks for setting triangles, then began auditioning possible layouts.

The first idea was to add grey sashing with black cornerstones. I would probably use a single grey fabric in an attempt to calm down the very busy blocks.

Version two still had grey sashing but switched the cornerstones to whites.

The third idea was to remove the sashing completely. This one worked best for me, even through it is definitely very busy. I love the white pinwheel effect where the blocks meet up.

After more piecing, I had added all of the side and corner setting units to the design wall. Everything is ready to be joined together. The only problem is the size. Since my blocks finish at 5", when these are all stitched together, it will measure approximately 21" x 28". Unless I added very large borders, that would be too small for a baby quilt. 

I'm debating whether to add another row to both the width and the length. That would bring it up to about 28" x 35". Add 3-4" in borders and it is a much more workable size for a baby quilt. I think that would require making 14 more full blocks plus two more side units. I've used up all but one of the original 9-patches.

On the other hand, I could leave it this size as a mini quilt. Why are decisions so hard sometimes? I'll let you know my choice when I figure it out!

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 37

The majority of my time in the sewing room over the past week was spent going through all of my many quilting books and pulling out some to give away. I've set a few aside for possible future blog giveaways, but there are three boxes full that are going away. Fortunately, a friend in a guild said they would be happy to take the books. It makes me happy that they will go to other quilters instead of just giving them to Goodwill.

I did squeeze in some sewing time too. I made a sample block from the Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Colorful Stars pattern, using 1/2 yard of fabric, and I also finished making my Stashbuster Square Dance blocks in red and orange for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 3/4 yard of fabric was used for those blocks. No new fabric added this week (but I did place an online order last night.)

Sew Colorful Stars sample block

RSC Square Dance blocks

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                              1.25 yards

Used year to date:                     148.375 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                       47.50 yards

Net used year to date            100.875 yards

My net stash usage is over 100 yards! That is definitely a first for me. Most years I struggle to reach 100 yards in the used amount, but I have blown past that number thanks to orphan/UFO adoptions, giving away old fabric, and making lots of masks.

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. Sorting through the quilting books got tiresome after awhile, but it sure feels good to have it done, and I got in a little bit of stitching time too. I did have more than 15 minutes every day.

15 Minute Challenge:  

9/6 - 9/12                 7 of 7 days

2020 Total          247 of 256 days

I pulled out an old project to play with last night, and I need to figure out what else to focus my attention on in the coming week.

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 37, 2020

Most of the past week was spent sorting through my collection of quilting books with the goal of getting rid of some. It took a few days, but was finally completed on Thursday, and I rewarded myself with a sewing session on Friday. I made the remaining 16 Stashbuster Square Dance blocks in red and orange that were needed for this month's Rainbow Stash Challenge assigned color of red. Here's all 32 red and orange blocks in my current favorite zigzaggy layout.

Only one more color assignment left for the year, and that will be yellow for October. For these blocks, my yellows will be combined with light green scraps. I can't wait to get the last set of blocks done and start joining them together!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA