Stash Report Sunday 4/27/14

As expected, there were some major increases to my stash this week due to spending a couple days in Paducah. The good news is that I mostly managed to stick to my wish list instead of buying anything and everything that appealed to me.  I got some dark choices as possible background for a Mariner's Compass quilt that is in the planning stages.  The fabrics at the center are gradations, one from light grey to dark, the other from bright blue to navy.

The two fabrics to the left in the next photo are intended for a baby quilt. The parents are both musicians, a trumpet player and a violist. The rest of the quilt will use some of the other fabrics in this photo plus others pulled from my bin of music themed fabrics.

The other thing I was looking for were more black and white prints, and there were plenty to choose from. Here's what I got, plus a bright orange batik that just had to come home with me.

The only usage for the week was 1/8 yard for two 6" LeMoyne Stars.

Used this week:                          .125 yards
Used year to date:                   34.125  yards

Stashed this week:                  18.75 yards

Stashed year to date:          50.625 yards 

Net year to date:                 16.5 yards stashed


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Visions in Violet 4/26/14

The past week has been such a flurry of activity, leaving little time for quilting. My mother arrived on Monday, and the two of us headed to Paducah for the big quilt show on Wednesday. In the past, my sister has also gone with us, but she was unable to come along this year. We missed having her along, but tried our best to have a good time anyway.

As always, the quilt show was amazing! I didn't take as many photos as usual this year because I decided to buy the show CD with photos of all the quilts. I discovered today that very few of the quilts I photographed feature purple, but here are a couple of wonderful rainbow quilts.

The little beauty above is "Electric Rainbow" by Caryl Brix of Wautoma, WI. It measures only 11" x 16" and was a contestant in the miniature quilts category. The miniature quilts at Paducah are displayed in a glass case, which is the reason for the reflections in my photo. The pattern is adapted from "Electric Slide" in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

The fabulous quilt above is "Supernova" by Diane Phillips of Ennis, MT. The pattern is "Glacier Star" by Judy Niemeyer, and it measures 58" x 59". There are 3000 crystals sprinkled over the quilt. This quilt was entered in the small wall quilts, longarm/midarm machine quilted category. I love the rainbow colors on black background.

The only additions to my rainbow blocks collection for this week were two purple LeMoyne Stars on light background, joining five earlier stars on black. The bottom star is going to be remade with the lighter background. I have also done a little stitching on my purple hexies, but have not completed anything.

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 4/21/14

Time for quilting has been very limited this week, so there hasn't been much change to my design wall. I did manage to finish the two LeMoyne Stars with light backgrounds. The block at the bottom was one of the original group from when I first made LeMoyne blocks in 2001. I was thinking that star would show better on the lighter background, so I might take it apart and try again.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times where you can see all sorts of quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/20/14

Somehow my stash busting efforts took a major wrong turn this week. I was out running errands one day, and next thing I knew, I was at Fabric World, a discount fabric store in Stone Mountain, GA. This is one of those stores where you never know what you will find. Sometimes they have tons of quilting cottons, but the last time I went there, it was all home decor fabrics. This time they had a pretty good selection of quilting cottons again. I ended up buying over 14 yards of fabric, including some great kid's prints for quilt backs. The blue and white crosshatch print on the right is 108" wide backing fabric, and it was a three-yard piece for $2.99/yard! How could I resist that! Looks like the perfect backing for a future Quilt of Valor. The second photo shows smaller (1/2 - 1 yard) pieces.

My only usage for the week was finishing two more purple LeMoyne Star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, using 1/8 yard of fabric.

I am still ahead (just barely) on fabric used versus additions to stash for the year, but next week I am going to Paducah. What are the chances I will only buy 2 yards of fabric or less--slim to none!! I will have to concentrate on finishing some projects after that trip.

Used this week:                         .125 yards
Used year to date:                   34.0  yards

Stashed this week:                  14.75 yards

Stashed year to date:          31.875 yards 

Net year to date:                 2.125 yards used


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Pretty Purples

There hasn't been much progress on my purple quilt blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week. I've made very little progress on my hexies, but hope to get more done next week. I did manage to finish two more purple LeMoyne Star blocks.

One reason that I haven't had much time to quilt is because of a special costume project that I am doing. I am making 12 fancy brocade vests with collars. Last night I worked on these two, which just happen to both be purple (although the colors look a little more blue in my photo.)

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! 

Julie in GA

Hexie Party and Design Wall

Since last August, I have been stitching hexies in the monthly color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's color is purple. I have all my hexies basted and laid out, ready to stitch together, plus a pile of extras off to the side. They will be saved for some future project.

I have been playing with how I want to put these together in EQ7. Here is the current configuration. The areas with the grey pindot will actually be more hexies in a variety of black on white prints. Now that I see it up on the wall, I'm kind of liking them against the grey too.

I am linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts and to the In Hand EPP Link Party at splish splash stash. Check out both for lots of great EPP and hand stitched projects. On Monday I will link up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to the Monday Morning Star Count at Life Under Quilts.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/13/14

Stash changes 4/6 - 4/12
Used:  .125 yd. for 2 purple LeMoyne Star blocks

Added: .875 yd. batik blouse from work

Used this week:                         .125 yards
Used year to date:                33.875  yards

Stashed this week:                  .875 yards

Stashed year to date:          17.125 yards 

Net year to date:                 16.75 yards used


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Scrappy Purple

Quilting time has been in very short supply this week. I did manage to complete two little LeMoyne stars for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I finished basting my purple hexies for the month. Now it's time to get them positioned and start sewing them together.

I recently won this beautiful sunprint fat quarter from Vicki Welsh. I don't know how I am going to use it, but the colors would be a perfect combination for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors in March and April, teal and purple.

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 4/7/14

I have been taking part in Judy's Tell It to the Stars mystery since the beginning of the year. For the March blocks, it took me until the very last day of the month to get them finished. For April I decided to get the blocks knocked out right away at the beginning of the month. I have been making my blocks scrappy rather than using just 6 fabrics as listed in Judy's instructions.

Here are all of my blocks so far this year. We have been making two blocks per month. The blocks at the bottom are the April additions.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out for tons of amazing ideas and inspiration. 

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/6/14

There were a couple of changes to the stash that I forgot to report last week. I didn't include the beautiful fat quarter that I won from Vicki Welsh. It is a gorgeous sun print piece made by Vicki. I have no idea what I will make with it, but I am thrilled to have won this piece. You can see more of her amazing work here.

I also forgot to count the fabric I used for my teal hexie star and snowflake. I have been making these in a different color each month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Since then, I also made my March and April blocks for Judy L's Tell It to the Stars mystery. Those will make an appearance on my design wall tomorrow.


Used this week:                         1 yard
Used year to date:                33.75  yards

Stashed this week:                  .25  yards  

Stashed year to date:          16.25 yards 

Net year to date:                 17.5 yards used


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Rainbow Scraps in Purple

The new color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple. I have been digging through my bins of scraps and strips to see what I could find. No machine stitching yet, but I did get some diamonds cut for my Rainbow LeMoyne Stars. I decided to lay them out on the background fabrics to make sure they would show up well enough.

I have also been cutting hexagons from every purple fabric I could find. I have about half of them basted and hope to finish basting the rest in the next few days. Every month I baste up all my fabrics, then lay them out and decide which ones will be used in my hexie star and snowflake. There will be a bunch of hexies left over, but they will be waiting in the wings for a future project.

One of my favorite wall-hanging quilts that I have made features plenty of purple. It was made for an annual challenge at the Ben Franklin Crafts store in Oconomowoc, WI back in 2010. We received 4 or 5 quarter yard pieces of fabrics that had to be used in our entry. I printed out a grid of pineapple blocks and shaded them in with the appropriate colors to help me get all the fabrics in the right places. I call this quilt Hawaiian Punch.

Hawaiian Punch
37" x 37"

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! I am also linking up with the Hexie Weekend at A Quilting Reader's Garden.

Julie in GA

Tell It to the Stars blocks 4/1/14

I just got in under the wire for March, finishing my blocks for Judy L's Tell It to the Stars mystery last night around 9:30 p.m. I am making my blocks scrappy, and the small stars at the centers of these two blocks both feature Vicki Welsh's gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics that I won from Judy after making the January blocks.

Here are all the blocks I have made so far this year. I was a little uncertain about my color palette after the first pair of blocks, but I am enjoying it more as more blocks are added.

Now I wait for Judy to post the new block for April. Maybe I can get it done before the last day this time.

Julie in GA

April Quilting Goals and March Results

March was a good month for meeting my quilting goals. The biggest one was finishing the top for my Red, White & Blue Sampler. That was also my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Red, White & Blue Sampler:  TOP DONE 3/23/14
For more info about this quilt, click here.

60" x 72"

Here are the rest of my March goals:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make 6-8 LeMoyne Stars in teal/aqua/turquoise. DONE 3/8/14  I made eight 6" blocks and one 12" block

3.  Scrap Hexies--make RSC hexie star & snowflakes.  Done 3/29

4.  Tell It to the Stars (Judy L. mystery)--make March blocks.  Done 3/31 (better late than never!)

5.  Spend at least 15 minutes each day quilting--cutting, sewing, designing, etc. Computer time looking at quilt blogs doesn't count (that adds up to way more than 15 minutes some days!)  Done 3/31--worked on two projects many days, sometimes even three!

Not on the list, but got done in March--finished assembling Dancing Stars top and pieced back.

APRIL GOALS
1.  Finish quilting and bind Chinese Coins quilt.  This is also my April project for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

2.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make 6-8 LeMoyne Stars in purple.
3.  Scrap Hexies--make RSC hexie star & snowflakes.
4.  Tell It to the Stars (Judy L. mystery)--make April blocks.
5.  Spend at least 15 minutes each day quilting--cutting, sewing, designing, etc. 

That covers my quilting plans and goals for April and my results from March. Watch for the next update at the beginning of May.

Julie in GA