Stitching and Stashing--Week 30, 2021

There hasn't been much progress in the sewing room over the past week. I can report 3/4 yard as used on my set of blue Bowtie blocks, which were shown in yesterday's post. There was also fabric added to the stash last week, 11 yards total. I got several neutral pieces, one dark grey, one lighter grey, and three lights, which I always seem to need.

The fabrics that I was most excited to receive were these two pieces of the same print with white and black backgrounds. I am dreaming of using these for a future Rainbow Scrap Challenge project or two.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                                .75 yards

Used year to date:                       127.25 yards

Added last week:                             11.0 yards

Added year to date:                        69.25 yards

Net used year to date                 58.00 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. Recent travel meant missing one day of quilting time over the past week, but I did get time in for the other six days.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

7/18- 7/24                6 of 7 days

2021 Total          203 of 205 days

My travel project has been the hand applique hearts that I started a week ago. I finished the first block last week. The background measures 5", but will probably get trimmed down a bit smaller eventually.

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 30, 2021

Since the beginning of the year, my leader/ender project in between other projects has been making bowtie blocks in the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. (If you aren't familiar with the concept of leaders and enders, check out this post by Bonnie Hunter.) 

My goal has been to make at least one block per day for the whole year. I have actually been managing to produce 36 each month. The other day I had a chunk of time available for stitching and wanted to work on something simple that was already prepped. Fortunately, I had my bowtie parts all cut out and waiting beside my machine.

I finished stitching up the remaining medium and dark blue bowties for July. These blocks will finish at 4" square. I'm not sure what I will use as a leader/ender for the rest of the month, but there must be something hiding in my collection of projects.

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.

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 7/20/2021

Another Tuesday morning means another Tuesday To-Do List. It's time to look back at my list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing those goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I surprised myself by actually getting through the whole list from last week. I hope I can do the same again next week.

To-Do List for 7/13 - 7/19

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day  ✔done 

I made 12 more bowtie blocks in medium and dark blues last week.

2. Redwork embroidery--make progress    ✔done 

I finished all the stitching on the sack of toys and gifts. All that's left is finishing up Santa!

3. 30's Kaleidoscopes--make blue blocks   ✔done

I finished these blocks and shared them in Saturday's post.

4. Sew Colorful Stars--make dark blue and black/grey blocks   ✔done

Also done and shared on Saturday.

5. Positivity QAL--make more blocks for version #1   ✔done

I made six more blocks for my Positivity quilt #1. They are the bottom row in this photo.

We have a lot going on around here over the next week, so I am going to keep my list a little shorter.

To-Do List for 7/20 - 7/26

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day

2. Hearts Applique--prep and stitch blocks

    This is a new project that was started a few days ago.

3. Positivity QAL--start joining blocks together

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 Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday--7/19/2021

Sharing photos of my finished quilt top and back for the Positivity QAL in yesterday's post inspired me to pull out my original set of Positivity blocks. You may remember my earlier post HERE, which included in-progress photos of 36 completed blocks. I only need to make 12 more blocks to complete this quilt top, but they have been sitting in a box, neglected but not forgotten, for close to a month. It's finally time to pull them out again and move forward with this quilt!

Here's the photo I shared in June of the original 36 blocks.

My plan was to continue the gradation of the grey background, adding a row of blocks at the top and the bottom using even darker greys. Yesterday I put half of the original set of blocks up on the wall, then laid out one of the darker rows. The two blocks at the left end of the bottom row have been stitched; the rest are just pieces up on the design wall.

After I finish putting together the other four blocks in the bottom row, I think I will get all of these blocks joined together. That will mean half the quilt top is done! Then I can concentrate on making the last six blocks for the other end.

Check out what other quilters are working on this week:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Positivity Top and Back Done!

Today it is time for the second link-up party for the Positivity Quilt Along. This quilt-along was started by Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts to benefit Mercyful Quilts, which is overseen by Bernie. Today's link-up is being hosted by Bernie at her website Needle and Foot.

Our assignment for today was to share our finished quilt tops, and I am very happy to have mine done and ready to be shown. My blocks are made from a wide variety of sandy/tan background fabrics with blue plus signs ranging from bright to dark. The arrangement of blocks is mostly random, although I did try to keep the darker backgrounds around the outside edges of the quilt.

When I checked my stash for backing fabric, I didn't have enough of any one fabric for the whole back. A scrappy pieced back just didn't seem right, but I also didn't want to buy more fabric for the back. I discovered a large piece of an old Jinny Beyer fabric in medium blue that worked well with the brown and blue stripe. I was able to make a giant plus sign with the stripe, which seemed like the perfect finish for this quilt.

My quilt top and back have been sent to Rebecca Grace, who very generously offered to do the longarm quilting for me. I am so grateful that we were able to join forces on this project, and I look forward to seeing her quilting magic!

Thanks so much to Preeti for hosting the Positivity QAL. She has lots of info and inspiration on her blog--it's not too late to join the fun! Thanks also to Bernie at Needle and Foot for hosting today's link-up.

Linking up with:

Positivity QAL Link-Up #2 at Needle and Foot

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 29. 2021

When it was time to figure out my stash usage for the past week, I realized that almost everything I stitched last week involved triangles of different types. There were the half-square triangles in the Sew Colorful Stars blocks--144 of them in three blocks, Then there were all the triangles in the 16 Kaleidoscope blocks I made--that total comes to 192. You can see both sets of blocks that contain all those triangles in yesterday's post. I used a total of 2 yards of fabric for the blocks, and no new fabric was added to the stash last week.

For some reason, after several months of thinking I should start a new hand-stitching project, yesterday was the day that it finally happened. I decided to make hand appliqued hearts. I cut a heart pattern from a square of paper, making sure it would fit on a 3.5" square of fabric since I have many of those around. I pulled out a white and light grey print for the background. Here is the first block halfway done.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                                2.0 yards

Used year to date:                         126.5 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        58.25 yards

Net used year to date                 68.25 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. Cutting and stitching all the triangles over the past week definitely filled up more than 15 minutes each day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

7/11 - 7/17                7 of 7 days

2021 Total           197 of 198 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 29, 2021

This has been a busy week for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts, with progress happening on two different projects. I started by making Sew Colorful Stars blocks in all three of our colors for the month--dark blue, brown and black. So many triangles!

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished blocks,

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

After those were done, I pulled out the 30's fabrics to make Kaleidoscope blocks. I have lots of blue 30's fabrics, and I had used half of them to make some of these blocks back in April when our RSC color was light blue. I worked my way through the rest of the blue fabrics and ended up with a total of 30 kaleidoscope blocks for the two months combined.

I know we still have several more colors ahead for the RSC before the end of the year, but I only have one main color left to use in my 30's fabrics, and that is orange. There are also a few multicolored fabrics, plus some extras that my sister sent me, that will join this collection of blocks. I'm getting excited to start putting this quilt together soon!

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.

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 7/13/2021

Another Tuesday morning means another Tuesday To-Do List. It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing those goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

My list was shorter last week, yet I still didn't get through everything on it. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Maybe the next week will be better.

To-Do List for 7/6 - 7/12

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day  ✔done 

I have made 18 bowtie blocks so far this month, most of them dark blue, with a few medium and lighter blues included.

2. Redwork embroidery--make progress    ✔done 

I worked on this a couple times, but there really isn't much visible change to show. I'll wait another week or so for a photo.

3. 30's Kaleidoscopes--make blue blocks   not done

The 30's Kaleidoscope blocks are one of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Instead of making these blocks last week, I worked on another RSC quilt, the Sew Colorful Stars, making one brown block, which was shared in yesterday's post.

4. Positivity QAL--piece back    ✔done 

I shared a photo of this quilt back in Sunday's Stash Report post and shipped it off to Rebecca Grace for quilting yesterday.

5/Bonus. Positivity QAL--make more blocks for version #1   not done

My list is still rather long, and I'm not likely to get through all of it. I see the to-do list more as suggestions that help me stay focused rather than must-do items. Any progress is a good thing!

To-Do List for 7/13 - 7/19

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day

2. Redwork embroidery--make progress

3. 30's Kaleidoscopes--finish blue blocks

4. Sew Colorful Stars--make dark blue and black/grey blocks

5. Positivity QAL--make more blocks for version #1

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 Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday--7/12/2021

My Sunday sewing session included making lots of brown 2" finished size half-square triangles, which then became the latest addition to my collection of Sew Colorful Stars blocks. I have been making one block each month as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see the earlier blocks in THIS POST.

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished block

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

Our assigned RSC color for July is dark blue, with the alternate choice of using dark neutrals (brown, black.) I have started cutting pieces for my dark blue block, and might even get a black one done before the end of the month too.

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 28, 2021

My stash report is showing another sizable change on the used side, with a total of 6.5 yards used last week. The majority of that usage was for the backing of my Positivity QAL quilt, which took 5.25 yards. My quilt back features a giant plus sign in the center. I can see in the photos that I need to give this back a good pressing.

The rest of the fabric used was for six Glorified 9-Patch blocks and the black and brown Homespun blocks. All of those blocks were shared in yesterday's post.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                               6.50 yards

Used year to date:                         124.5 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        58.25 yards

Net used year to date                 66.25 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. Other than the Positivity quilt backing, most of my quilting time last week was spent on a variety of projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I did get in at least 15 minutes every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

7/4 - 7/10                  7 of 7 days

2021 Total           190 of 191 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