Scrappy Purple Saturday

It's hard to believe that we are already into July and that half the year has slipped by. The weather certainly feels like summer here, and our garden has been flourishing in the hot weather. This may be our best year for tomatoes ever!

A new month also means a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. We are using our purple scraps this month, and I finished my Scrappy Heart block earlier today.

It's so much fun to see the collection of blocks growing. I will need four more blocks for this quilt. I'm planning on orange, bright/lime green, light blue, and grey or brown.

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 

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/26/2022

It has been two weeks since my last stash report, so I have some catching up to do. For a change, there is a lot more going out than coming in!

Added to the stash: my monthly fat quarter bundle of solids from the Fat Quarter Shop, 3 yards total. Their theme for this year is birthstones, and alexandrite was an unfamiliar one for me. Seeing these fabrics makes me think it is a pinkish purple stone.

The reductions to the stash included 2.25 yards for the remaining Stack & Whack Triangle Squares blocks (see the earlier blocks HERE), plus 5/8 yard for the Charm Baskets blocks that were shared in yesterday's post. Best of all, the quilt guild that I joined recently was accepting donations of fabric to be used in community service projects. I went through my yardage shelves and pulled the collection of fabrics shown below, mostly older pieces that I was ready to pass along. Total donated to the quilt guild was 30.25 yards.

It was a very pleasant surprise, when I totaled up the stash additions and subtractions, to discover that my numbers were finally back in the black, with the net usage/outgoing for the year being 1/4 yard!

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:          33.125 yards

Used year to date:          68.5 yards

Added last week:              3.0 yards

Added year to date:       68.25 yards

Net used in 2022           .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 stitching time. This part of my report also covers the past two weeks. I missed two days of quilting while we were out of town, but I've been making up for it since then. I've been enjoying being back home and spending plenty of time in my sewing room every day!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

6/12 - 6/25        12 of 14 days

2022 Total      171 of 176 days

While we were traveling, I had a hand applique project along as usual. The current project is applique hearts. I only managed to finish three hearts, plus made a start on one more block. I need to get back to more regular hand stitching time in order to make better progress on these.

 

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday 6/25/2022

I have been MIA on several recent Saturdays, with nothing finished for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Life has gotten busier lately, plus we were out of town last week. Now I'm back and ready to share some RSC blocks.

We are using our bright and dark blue scraps this month. I was able to make 18 Charm Basket blocks in a variety of blues. These blocks make me smile every time I make a new set of them.

Charm Baskets

pattern by Laundry Basket Quilts

I decided to combine multiple colors on the design wall. I've got the blue blocks, plus teal/turquoise and green. Loving how they all look together! I must have 120 or more blocks made so far this year, but haven't counted them lately.

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!

Design Wall Monday 6/13/2022

Most of the quilts that I make these days are very scrappy with many different fabrics in them. This week I've been enjoying working on these blocks that use a very limited selection of fabrics. I started by making a few more blocks yesterday, bringing my total up to the 36 blocks shown below.

Those all looked so good together that I kept going and made another dozen blocks, bringing my total up to 48. I think there are enough pieces cut for 16 more blocks still to be made.

The finished size for each block is 6.25". If I make 16 more and end up with 64 total blocks, I could join them 8 x 8 and end up with a quilt that measures 50" x 50" without borders. If I decide to go rectangular, I could use 63 blocks and set them 7 x 9, which would measure 43.75" x 56.25". My inclination is rectangular, but I haven't decided for sure yet. I also have enough of the bright print left that could be added as a border.

Check out what other quilters are working on this week at Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Stash Report & Stitching Time 6/12/2022

It's time for some true confessions on the stash report--I was feeling a little sorry for myself after skipping a planned stop at Hancock's of Paducah during a recent trip, thanks to our Covid exposure. That made me susceptible to the Memorial Day sales, and I got rather carried away with my shopping. Here are some of my new additions.

One part of my stash that needed to be restocked was the patriotic collection. The double stacks at the top of the photo are all part of a fat quarter bundle, and there are a few larger pieces at the bottom.

I also decided to restock some of my solids after using up most of my pinks on a recent baby quilt.

There were also several other new fabrics in my order, but I don't have photos of them all. A few days after my order arrived, I also received this lovely grouping as a prize for the 2022 Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge. The three blue fabrics in the middle are all Stonehenge prints by Northcott, a personal favorite of mine! Each piece is about 7/8 yard.

Altogether, the additions to my stash total 26.25 yards. It's definitely time to go through my fabric shelves and weed out some oldies that can go to new homes.

There is a little bit of usage to report too--one yard total, split between the blue Scrappy Heart for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and 32 of these bright blocks, my most recent piecing project.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              1.00 yards

Used year to date:       35.375 yards

Added last week:           26.25 yards

Added year to date:       65.25 yards

Net added in 2022     29.875 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 stitching time. I've spent lots of time in my sewing room this week, much of it cleaning and reorganizing, some of it piecing, and some time trying out my new machine. A large part of yesterday was spent washing and folding all of those new fabrics!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

6/5 - 6/11             7 of 7 days

2022 Total      159 of 162 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Florida Fishies Baby Quilt Finished!

This quilt has been hanging around my sewing room for far too long, but it finally got sent out this week and should be delivered to the new parents today. This is the Florida Fishies baby quilt!

Florida Fishies baby quilt, 40.5" x 47"

I made this quilt for a former co-worker and her husband who just had their first baby. Their baby registry included several items featuring whales, sharks and fish, all in the usual beachy colors plus grey. I knew this fish print would be perfect for their baby's quilt! The photo below is an item from their registry.

All of the fabrics in this quilt top came from my stash. The featured fish print is called "Mod Fish" by Michael Miller. My quilting was mostly straight horizontal lines along the seams, then I added some wavy lines between the fish.

The backing for the quilt is a cuddly teal flannel that looks like the ocean waves.

It's always a treat to make a quilt for a new baby, and this one was no exception. Welcome to the world baby Andrew! 

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

A New/Old Project

A recent search through a box of triangle pieces in many different sizes turned up a bag of pieces that I don't have any memory of cutting, but I do remember the main fabric. It is an old Hoffman International print, probably from the late 1990's.

There was a stack of triangles cut from that fabric in matching sets of four, plus other triangles in greens and blues. A few had been stitched, but I put the rest together over the weekend, just to see how they look as a group.

These are all the blocks I could make from the pieces that were already cut. I love the bright, cheery colors and think they would make a great baby quilt. I will have to pull out some other blue and green fabrics to make more blocks because the light blue seems to be the only one that still exists on my shelves. It's time to go digging in my fabric stash, one of my favorite activities!

Check out what other quilters are working on this week at Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/5/2022--A Big Addition!

My stash report today is going to be a little different than most weeks. I used a small amount of fabric, 3/8 yard, for the binding on the pink baby quilt I shared a couple days ago in THIS POST. No new fabric this week.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              .375 yards

Used year to date:       34.375 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:         39.0 yards

Net added in 2022     4.625 yards

The difference this week is in the addition. Instead of adding more fabric to my stash, I added a new sewing machine! Ever since I started quilting in the mid-1990's, my primary machine has been a Singer 201 straight-stitch machine. For a long time I've been wishing for a machine with a larger space between the needle and the machine to make free-motion quilting easier, and now I have it! This is the machine I got, the Juki J-150QVP (photo from the Juki website.) I realized after purchasing this machine that I've never bought a brand new sewing machine before; they have all been used and mostly quite old.

Juki J-150QVP

There's going to be quite a big learning curve for me with this machine. It's an industrial straight-stitch machine that can also switch over to free-motion quilting. I'm very familiar with regular Juki industrial machines and love using them, but I am not used to having the touchscreen controls. It's going to take awhile for me to play with the different settings and watch many instructional videos before I am truly comfortable with it, but I'm looking forward to many hours spent quilting on it in the near future. I have a closet half full of quilt tops waiting to be quilted!

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 stitching time. I haven't done a lot of stitching this week, but I did spend some time on quilting-related activities (like shopping for a new machine!) every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

5/29 - 6/4             7 of 7 days

2022 Total      152 of 155 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Blue Heart

It was a very busy week, but I did manage to pull out some dark and medium blue scraps yesterday and make a block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

That Tula Pink fabric is still one of my all-time favorites for the background of a rainbow quilt. I used the same fabric on my Homespun quilt last year (see it HERE) and might try to buy some more for yet another quilt next year!

I put all of my blocks up on the wall together and am very happy with how they look as a group. This is the way the will be set together, in columns that are offset by 1/2 a block. The space above the green heart would be filled with a rectangle of background fabric. I'm planning on a total of eleven blocks for my quilt, with four blocks in the 1st and 3rd columns and three blocks in the center column.

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 

Hands 2 Help 2022

I'm a little late to the party, but there's still time for me to join the final link-up party for the 2022 Hands2Help Challenge.

Hands 2 Help is a comfort quilt challenge that was started by Sarah, who blogs at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Sarah has been taking a hiatus from blogging recently, and Mari of The Academic Quilter volunteered to be the organizer this year. Many thanks to Mari for taking on the extra work and keeping us all on track.

Quilters from all over the U.S. and other countries make and donate comfort quilts, either to the organizations chosen for the challenge or they can donate locally. 2022 was the twelfth year of the Hands 2 Help Challenge, and hundreds of quilts have been donated through the years. (Actually, I just looked back at Sarah's blog, and I think the grand total prior to this year is close to 4000!)

My quilt for this year's challenge was made with some fabrics leftover from a baby quilt made several years ago. The prints are all from the line "Surrounded by Love" by Deb Strain for Moda. I combined the prints with some solids in a range of pinks, making 9-patch blocks that measure 7.5" x 9" because that size made the best use of my scraps. I added a 2" border and a solid pink binding, ending up with a quilt that measures 42" x 49.5" before washing.

Here is a closer look at some of the fabrics, plus you can see the diagonal lines of quilting. I didn't mark any of the quilting lines, just aimed from corner to corner, so they are not always perfectly straight. This photo was taken indoors, so the color is a little bit off. 

The back of the quilt was pieced from a group of pink flannel chunks.

This quilt will be added to those donated to the local Department of Family and Children Services by our quilt guild. I am certain there will be a child who is crazy about pink and will love this quilt.

Linking up with:

Hands 2 Help Challenge at The Academic Quilter

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA