LeMoyne Star Placemats

My quilting time has been sporadic and unfocused lately, but I was determined to finish something this week, even if it was just a small project. I had run across a LeMoyne star block made with Christmas fabrics and decided to make a few more, then turned them into a set of placemats.

The fabrics are all quite old, and they feature designs of Christmas tree lights. It was finally time to use them, although I still have plenty more of each fabric.

These will go to the Common Threads quilt guild, either to be donated to Meals on Wheels or to be sold in the upcoming Christmas fair.

It's time to go see what else I can dig out of that box of Christmas fabrics!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Design Wall Monday 9/19/2022

Saturday was one of those days taken over by the need to work on a specific quilt project. I even warned Ed at the beginning of the day that I didn't intend to cook that day. Fortunately, he took care of making dinner!

That day was also "National Sew a Jelly Roll Day." One of my prizes from the guild auction a couple days earlier was a pile of 4-patch blocks plus additional jelly roll strips to make more. These were what filled up my day.

All of the precut strips are from the fabric line "Karma" by Benartex. I have no idea how long ago the line was made. There are also some fabrics that were not part of the line included in the blocks. The 4-patch blocks are sorted into matching stacks of blocks, with each pile holding 15-16 blocks, with a total of about 80.

I couldn't figure out a layout that worked for me with the blocks as they were made. I ended up taking all the 4P blocks apart, separating each block into two halves. Then I rejoined two matching halves into blocks. For instance, this set of 16 matching blocks...

turned into two sets like these, 8 of each.

I made more blocks from the extra jelly roll strips, plus occasional additions from my stash, until I ended up with 120 blocks total. They were placed on the design wall in diagonal chains of matching blocks. This is what was up on the wall at the end of the day.

Karma 4-patch blocks

Do I love it? Well, not really. It's awfully busy for my taste, and I wish those diagonal lines of the darkest blue were more evenly spaced. The bold prints in many of the fabrics remind me of fabrics from the 1970's, a time that I remember but don't feel the need to relive the styles. Ed referred to it as a "hot mess," and I couldn't disagree with him. 

Despite all that, it was a fun day with an interesting challenge in trying to make all those crazy fabrics work together. I'm not sure I succeeded, but I enjoyed the process. When the blocks get joined together, they will make a small quilt that measures 40" x 48".

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 everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stash Report & Stitching Time 9/18/2022

There are all sorts of changes to tally up in the stash report this week. This may be the biggest total numbers for both additions and usage/outgoing in the same week that I've ever recorded. Here's the list:

Snail's Trail--border & binding  .375 yards used

Square Dance baby quilt--back and binding  1.875 yards used

Spinning Boxes quilt--border  .75 yards used

Donated to guild auction  12.25 yards out

Won at guild auction  4 yards added

Connecting Threads order  15 yards added

One of the guilds that I've joined this year does an annual auction as a fundraiser (although I would probably call it a raffle, because you don't actually bid on items.) Members donate quilting/sewing related items which are laid out on long tables with brown paper bags taped to the tables next to each item. We buy tickets and place them in the bags for the items we wish to win. Here are some of the items I donated.

"Holiday Homies" by Tula Pink--these were all fabrics I had won in a couple of different giveaways several years ago. There's a jelly roll, a layer cake and one piece of yardage. They didn't feel like anything I was likely to ever use.

16 pink and brown fat quarters, cut from my stash. These are fabrics I do like and intend to use again, but I had a big stack of them and it felt good to share them with someone else.

There were plenty of fabric bundles that I tried to win, but only a few came home with me. I did get these three Santa/Christmas panels.

This grouping contained 80 four-patch blocks, which I sorted into matching piles, plus 17 extra jelly roll strips.

Here's the one that left me wondering "Why did I try to win this item?" It's a shoebox-sized bin, plus another container, of triangle cut-offs. They are all neatly matched up in pairs, print and background. There must be hundreds, maybe thousands of them!

I also won a Quiltworx pattern and a couple of books. The prize I was most excited about is this saddle-style chair. I'm hoping it will work for me at my new machine.

To top off all the additions to the stash, my order from the Labor Day sale at Connecting Threads arrived. There are two wide backings at the top, 4 yards of solid white, plus a favorite turquoise print.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            15.25 yards

Used year to date:     109.125 yards

Added last week:            19.0 yards

Added year to date:     105.25 yards

Net used in 2022       3.875 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. Kate hasn't been able to blog lately because of computer issues, but I'm going to continue posting my numbers here. I didn't do much free-motion quilting this week, but I did finish one quilt plus two quilt tops!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

9/11 - 9/17           7 of 7 days

2022 Total      255 of 260 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

Spinning Boxes Quilt Top

Another rainbow quilt project has seen some progress this week. This is my Spinning Boxes quilt top!

Spinning Boxes, 53" x 69"

The blocks for this quilt were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2018. There is a tutorial for making the blocks in this post. Each block finishes at 10".

After all the blocks were made, I joined them into three panels along with the sashing. At that point I was considering quilting each panel separately, then joining them together.

Now that I have a bigger machine for quilting, I'm more confident about being able to finish a quilt this size. This week I joined the three panels of the quilt together and then added the outer border. You can get a better look at the sashing and border fabric in this photo.

This quilt top will join the sizable collection of rainbow quilt tops waiting to be quilted. I hope to keep working my way through more of them this year.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Square Dance Baby Quilt Finished!

It's my first quilt finish for September--the Square Dance baby quilt is complete!

Square Dance baby quilt

39" x 46"

The blocks for this quilt were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge throughout 2020. I made about 30 blocks each month using the assigned color of the month along with the next color of the rainbow progression. By the end of the year, I had the blocks all joined together into two small quilt tops.

The two quilt tops above each measured 40" x 60" When I decided to use one of them for this baby quilt, I decided to remove a couple rows of blocks, taking the size down to 40" x 48". After quilting and washing, it ended up at 39" x 46".

The quilting is wavy lines following the chains of squares that zigzag through the quilt. I used a whole rainbow of thread colors, matching each to the fabrics.

The backing is a flannel that I have used on multiple earlier quilts. I wish I had a whole bolt of this fabric!

This quilt should get packed up and mailed tomorrow. It is going to a niece who is expecting a little girl next month. We are planning a family visit in December and hope to meet the new family member then!

Finishing this quilt was also my One Monthly Goal for September. I will be linking up with Elm Street Quilts at the end of the month.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Snail's Trail Quilt Top

My Snail's Trail blocks have been in the works for many years, and as of yesterday, they are finally assembled into a finished quilt top!

Snail's Trail

31" x 31"

This project began way back in 2001 when I purchased multiple packets of foundation papers for the Snail's Trail blocks. I can't remember why I thought it was a good idea to make a quilt with such small blocks (3.5".) I don't think I would make that same choice now!

The dark blue background fabric is a Hoffman International print, and it has always been a favorite of mine. I had used it along with the same yellow and orange color palette in an earlier quilt, my Blazing Hidden Nine-Patch.

Blazing Hidden Nine-Patch

46" x 58"

The Snail's Trail blocks were worked on very sporadically over the past 20 years, until I finally decided to finish them off this year. The most difficult part was joining the blocks together and getting the seams to line up well, but I am generally happy with how it worked out. Here's a closer look so you can see the fabrics better.

This quilt top will go into the closet with the rest of the unquilted tops, but I hope it doesn't take another 20+ years before it gets quilted!

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 everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stash Report and Stitching Time 9/11/2022

The usage numbers on the stash report continue to increase, with 2.5 yards used last week and no new fabric added to the stash. I pulled out all of my turquoise/aqua/teal solid fabrics and cut 9.5" squares. They were supposed to be 10", but 9.5 was the biggest I could get from some of my fabrics. The squares were pieced together into this simple quilt top.

This quilt top is for an online free-motion quilting class that I am taking. As one of the final projects, each square in this quilt will be quilted with a different motif, ending up as a sampler of all the different quilting motifs we learn in the class. 

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              2.50 yards

Used year to date:       93.875 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:       86.25 yards

Net used in 2022       7.625 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. Kate hasn't been able to blog lately because of computer issues, but I'm going to continue posting my numbers here. I've continued doing a little of everything throughout the week--some piecing, some quilting, and even the binding on a baby quilt, which will be shared soon.

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

9/4 - 9/10             7 of 7 days

2022 Total      248 of 253 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 Rainbow Saturday 9/10/2022

My projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have not been getting much attention lately, but I did pull out a stack of 2.5" light blue squares yesterday and made my Scrappy Heart block for September.

I decided to take a look at all nine blocks together on the design wall and check on the color mix. Looking good at this point! I believe our color for next month will be light/bright green, and then I will need only one more block after that. (Yes, I know that 11 is a strange number of blocks for a quilt.) I'm thinking I will add another warm color, maybe a tan/brown combo.

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 

One Monthly Goal--September 2022

Figuring out my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for September was easier this month than usual. A niece is expecting a little girl, due in October, and for months I have been planning to make a baby quilt, but kept putting it off. The time has come for the procrastination to end!

Instead of piecing a new quilt, I went through my closet of quilt tops and pulled out a favorite rainbow top. Actually, there were two tops, which could have been joined together into one larger quilt.

These tops were made in 2020 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The pattern is called Square Dance, but in reality, it's just a Double 4-Patch. I made blocks all through the year, then joined them into the two tops in December. Each top measures 40" x 60".

40" x 60"

Here is the half that will become the baby quilt. I decided that 60" was too long and took three rows of blocks off the quilt. It now measures 40" x 48". The photo above shows it before the rows were removed, and the next photo is after.

40" x 48"

I have enough of my favorite wild print flannel, shown above, for the backing, and everything is ready to be layered. My biggest challenge right now is deciding on the quilting design, especially what color thread to use. Quilting would go much faster if I did the whole thing with one thread, but I can't figure out what color would work best. Maybe a light or medium grey? Of course, I could pull out my rainbow set of threads and use the whole collection!

The official goal for September is to end up with a finished baby quilt, quilted and bound! I'm linking up with the One Monthly Goal party at Elm Street Quilts. Also linking up to 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 9/4/2022

My stash report for the past week shows an increase in the used column of 2.25 yards for the Snail's Trail project. I finished making the last blocks this week, then began joining them together.

This is 1/4 of the quilt. The lightest yellow at the lower right corner will be the center of the quilt. These blocks are small, only 3.5" each, so this section finishes at 14". I hope to finish joining the rest of the blocks before the end of the coming week.

2022 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              2.25 yards

Used year to date:       91.375 yards

Added last week:              0.0 yards

Added year to date:       86.25 yards

Net used in 2022       5.125 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. Kate hasn't been able to blog lately because of computer issues, but I'm going to continue posting my numbers here. I've been splitting my quilting time between the Snail's Trail project and machine quilting, definitely more than 15 minutes every day!

15 Minute Challenge for 2022: 

8/28 - 9/3             7 of 7 days

2022 Total      241 of 246 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