Saturday, February 15, 2025

Scrappy Rainbow Hearts

Belated Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! In honor of the day, I pulled out my hand appliqued hearts to audition a possible layout.


The heart blocks have been an on-again, off-again project for several years. They were started sometime in 2021 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I used to do a lot more hand applique when I was working, getting most of my hand stitching time during my daily train commutes. Since my retirement in 2020, hand applique has mostly become my travel project that I take along when we are going to be out of town.

The collection of hearts has reached a little over 100 total blocks. My layout was inspired by the following design from Fat Quarter Shop called Woven Hearts


It turns out that I like the look of the heart layout with the star blocks better than with my heart blocks, although I haven't completely ruled out this possibility. The appliqued hearts have already gone back into their box until the next time I am inspired to try another arrangement.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday, and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 


Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Stash Report and Stitching Time 2/9/2025

It wasn't my most productive week in the sewing room, mostly because I've been fighting a cold all week. That resulted in low energy and trouble concentrating, plus several afternoons spent napping instead of quilting.

Fortunately, I was able to finish up one project before the cold really took over. That was the latest Quicker Strippy baby quilt, this time made from batiks. Click on the name to go to the blog post with more photos and info.


This baby quilt used 3-1/4 yards of fabric, and no new fabric was added to the stash last week. 

2025 STASH TOTALS
Used last week:                    3.25 yards
Used year to date:              17.25 yards
Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:                0.0 yards
Net used in 2025:            17.25 yards




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 wasn't able to get much done last week thanks to that nasty cold, but I did spend some time in the sewing room every single day. Any progress is good progress, right?

15 Minute Challenge for 2025
2/2 - 2/8                  7 of 7 days
2024 Total            39 of 39 days
Success rate                100 %   


Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Two Challenges in One Placemat


Blue is the color of month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I had pulled out plenty of pretty blue scraps. The theme for this week's Project Quilting Challenge #16.3 is Common Blocks. I started by making a few different very basic blocks from my blue scraps. These 9-Patch and Bowtie blocks measure 3.5" (3" finished,) and the Log Cabin blocks were made with 1" strips and finish at 4".


I considered some layout options for using these blocks to make placemats, but nothing really inspired me. I ended up simplifying my plan and making one each of four very basic blocks that I tend to use over and over in different quilt projects. I set them in a stair-step arrangement with a light blue paisley print as the setting fabric.


Each block has the same background fabric combined with some of my favorite blue batiks. My block choices were 9-Patch and Churn Dash...


plus Bowtie and Pinwheel. The blocks all finish at 4".


For the back of the placemat, I used a very old Jinny Beyer fabric. I've been using up lots of older fabrics on the placemats I've made for Meals on Wheels.



Check out all the different projects inspired by this week's Project Quilting theme at Kim's blog, Persimon Dreams. The next Project Quilting challenge will be posted there at noon CST on Sunday, February 16th. Come join the fun! We also have a great time sharing projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.


Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Another Strippy Baby Quilt

The quilt guild sewing day was held last week, and we had about a dozen members in attendance working together to make baby quilts for a local pregnancy center. I decided to use some older batiks from my stash to make another Quicker Strippie quilt. Like my previous version of this pattern, I changed some of the strip sizes, cutting all of the widest strips at 9.5".

Quicker Strippy baby quilt
38.5" x 44"

My fabric choices for this quilt top were based on the beautiful flannel print that was used on the back. I remember buying this fabric when the Hancock Fabrics chain was having their going-out-of-business sales, probably 8-10 years ago.


I might have enough of these fabrics to get one more baby quilt out of them if I reverse the placement of the green and the peachy/orange batiks. Maybe I'll go ahead and cut the strips to keep together as a kit for when I'm in the mood for a quick and easy project.


Linking up with:
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Monday, February 3, 2025

January Blocks for Temperature Quilt

All of the January blocks for my temperature quilt were finished on February 1st and gathered together on the design wall. Here they are arranged like a calendar page.


The diamonds in the blocks indicate the high temperature each day, and the backgrounds are the lows. We had a stretch of very cold nights (for Georgia) with temps down in the teens late in the month, indicated by the second last row with mostly dark purple backgrounds. That was followed at the end of the month by a few much warmer days, with a high of 70 on the 30th.

I haven't yet decided on the layout for my quilt. I've seen photos of a few with their blocks joined together in diagonal sequence and decided to try that with my blocks.


That looks okay, but I'm not ready to make a decision yet. Of course, the easiest setting would be joining the blocks into straight horizontal rows. If I decided to go with that, I could keep adding blocks to the rows as they were made. I'll hold off on that decision for a little while yet.

You can read more about this quilt and see my whole range of fabrics in this post.


Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Musings at Songbird Designs


Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Stash Report and Stitching Time 2/2/2025

The past week was a busy one, with something going on every single day including doctor appointments, a guild sewing day, and buying a new laptop, something I've been dreading. There's still a lot for me to figure out on the new one, but I should be able to manage a blog post.

All of that running around meant less time in the sewing room. The only thing I have to share for the stash report today is a new set of fabric napkins. We have several sets of different seasonal napkins, but didn't really have any for winter. I came across two 1-yard pieces of a giant paisley print in my stash and decided they would be a good choice. This napkin measures about 18" square and should give a good idea of the scale of the print.


I was able to make eight napkins from the two yards of fabric (two of them are already in use.)

 
2025 STASH TOTALS
Used last week:                      2.0 yards
Used year to date:                14.0 yards
Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:                0.0 yards
Net used in 2025:              14.0 yards




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. Despite the very busy week, I was able to spend some time in the sewing room every single day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025
1/26 - 2/1                7 of 7 days
2024 Total            32 of 32 days
Success rate                100 %   


Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Stash Report and Stitching Time 1/26/2025

There's plenty to share in the stash report this week, thanks to multiple recent finishes that were finally posted on the blog. I made two quick baby quilts as samples for an upcoming guild sewing day, using a total of 7 yards of fabric. You can read more about them HERE. This is my favorite of the two.

Quick Strippy baby quilt, 38" x 48"

I also made five pink placemats for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, using a little over two yards of fabric. See them in yesterday's post.

The last usage for the week was for my entry in the Project Quilting Ombre Challenge. I made this wall hanging, a scaled down version of a pattern I made several years ago, Woven Ribbons. Read more about it and see the first version HERE.

Woven Ribbons #2, 21.75" x 26.5"

The total fabric usage this week came to 11 yards, and no new fabric was added to the stash.
 
2025 STASH TOTALS
Used last week:                    11.0 yards
Used year to date:                12.0 yards
Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:                0.0 yards
Net used in 2025:              12.0 yards




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. We had our second snowfall of the month this week, plus multiple days with temps not getting above freezing. That was the perfect excuse to spend even more time than usual in the sewing room.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025
1/19 - 1/25              7 of 7 days
2024 Total            25 of 25 days
Success rate                100 %   


Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Woven Ribbons for Project Quilting 16.2: Ombre

Ombre is the theme for the second challenge of Season #16 of Project Quilting, hosted by Kim at Persimon Dreams and Trish at Quilt Chicken. Participants are required to use an ombre or gradient in their project. I love working with gradients of colors, so this challenge is right up my alley!





I started by looking through the various ombre projects I have saved on Pinterest, plus patterns I already own, both digital and paper. This Woven Sunrise pattern was a leading contender, but I didn't want to rush through it, so it will wait for another time.


Instead of the Woven Sunrise, I decided to do a design that I've wanted to remake for several years, Woven Ribbons. My first time making this pattern happened back in 2004-05. I bought the pattern and an 8-step gradient bundle to make it. I loved the way the fabrics worked together, but ended up giving the quilt to a friend several years ago.

Woven Ribbons #1, 42" x 49.5"

There were scraps left of the gradient bundle and the background batik fabric from the original quilt. I scaled the pattern down a bit and made a smaller version for this week's challenge. This is my entry for the Project Quilting Challenge 16.2: Ombre--Woven Ribbons #2.

Woven Ribbons #2, 21.75" x 26.5"

The gradient sections are stitched in the ditch around each set, and the batik background is stippled.  The binding was made from the same batik. The colors in these last two photos are more true than the shot of the first version hanging in my friend's stairway.


Check out all the different projects inspired by this week's Project Quilting theme at Kim's blog, Persimon Dreams. The next Project Quilting challenge will be posted there at noon CST on Sunday, February 2nd. Come join the fun!


Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Placemats in Pink

One of my plans for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year is to start fewer new quilts and finish up more of the older ones. I have multiple sets of rainbow blocks from past years that are waiting to become quilt tops, and there are even more quilt tops ready to be quilted. 

One newish RSC project that I've started is making placemats featuring our color of the month. For January, that is pink. I sorted through my collection of orphan blocks and project leftovers, pulling out an assortment of pink blocks and parts. Two of the blocks I found had been made to test out a jelly roll quilt pattern I was considering a few years ago called Definitely Positive.


I didn't end up making that pattern (although I still like it,) and the blocks ended up in the extras/orphans box. I still had more of some of the fabrics, and it was easy to convert the two blocks into placemats. I even used a fabric with coffee beans to fit with the January theme for the Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter.


My placemat goal is to average one placemat every week of the year. After the two orphan block placemats were done, I turned to my drawer of 3" strips. These are the remains from a guild strip exchange more than 20 years ago, and I keep trying to work my way through them. I was able to make three scrappy placemats, using up almost all of the pink strips in the drawer.


There was one other pink placemat made earlier this month. It was made for the first Project Quilting challenge of the year, and our theme was "Mythical Creatures." The block is a Judy Martin pattern called "Pygmalion," from her book Scraps, Blocks and Quilts. You can read more about this one in my post HERE.



Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday, and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I will also link up with the Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter when it opens on Friday.


Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Strippy Baby Quilts

At the end of the this month, our quilt guild is having a group sewing day to work together making baby quilts for a local pregnancy center. I had offered to make a sample of a quilt-as-you-go style quilt to show at our most recent guild meeting, and I ended up making two. They are so quick and easy, making this a very fun, satisfying project.

Quick Strippy baby quilt, 38" x 48"

The first baby quilt was based on the Quick Strippie pattern from maryquilts.com. I cut my largest strips, the swirly print, a little smaller than her pattern, but otherwise followed her cutting instructions.


This quilt has a pretty blue polka dot flannel on the back for a cozy finish.

Quicker Strippy baby quilt, 40" x 42"

The second baby quilt features a pastel print that I've had for at least two decades. This quilt was based on Mary's Quicker Strippie pattern, although again I changed some of the strip sizes. The wide strips of the pastel print finished at 9" high, so I added a couple horizontal lines of quilting on each to hold them in place.


I used the same pastel print fabric on the back of the quilt too. It feels good to finally have found a use for that cute fabric.

Making one of these quilts was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January. I will be joining the One Monthly Goal link-up, hosted by Anne-Marie at Stories from the Sewing Room when it opens later this month.


Linking up with:
Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty
One Monthly Goal at Stories from the Sewing Room

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA
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