Design Wall Monday 4/27/15

The plan for the borders of my Easy Street quilt was to use up some of the leftover parts from making the center of the quilt. Here is the center before borders.

I played with all sorts of possible arrangements of my extra units, ending up with what you see below. Instead of using up those extra pieces, I had to make almost 100 more 4-patches for this border, but I think it will be worthwhile in the end. The borders for the two long sides have been made, plus part of the top. The other pieces and parts are still waiting for their turn to be useful--maybe on the back of this quilt.

"Easy Street"
2012 Mystery by Bonnie Hunter

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework and to Monday Making over at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/26/15

I received an unexpected gift of batik fabrics this week. They are strips that all measure around 4-3/4" (1/8 yard pieces maybe?) There are 41 pieces in a variety of colors, mostly jewel tones. They came from a co-worker of my husband. She had bought the fabrics close to 20 years ago intending to take up quilting, but she never did. Maybe I will make her something from them in thanks.

Usage this week was for my two Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. I used 3/8 yard in my appliqued circle blocks and 1-3/8 yard making bowtie blocks. My numbers have shifted over to the red (just barely!) but I hope to turn it back around in the next week.

TOTALS:
Used this week:                      1.75 yards     

Used year to date:              51.375 yards

Stashed this week:                 5.25 yards

Stashed year to date:         51.625 yards 

Net year to date:              .25 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Something Old, Something New(ish)

One of my goals for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 was to keep from starting too many new projects. There are so many wonderful ideas showing up each week, making it very difficult to stick to my plan. My new RSC projects for the year are the Rainbow Bowties which you can see HERE and the applique circles that are my current hand-stitching project. I finished my last few of the purple blocks this week.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney

from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

As an alternative to starting new projects, I have been pulling out some of my UFOs that fit in with our monthly color. I don't have many UFOs that feature purple, but I did find my unfinished "Easy Street" top, Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt from 2012. 

"Easy Street" by Bonnie Hunter

Bonnie's original quilt was very large, around 84" square before borders. I made fewer of the units each week and ended up with the center of my quilt measuring about 42" x 63". I have lots of extra parts left over and keep trying to figure out a way to use them in a pieced border. I am playing around with several ideas for the borders, and hope to have a finished top soon.

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 4/20/15

Yesterday I finished making the rest of my purple bowtie blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I also made some darker yellow/gold bowties because some of my paler yellows were blending in with the background fabrics too much. 

After I finished making blocks, I started playing with some possible layouts for my bowties. There are so many possibilities, but I liked these options. It will be even more fun to play with the blocks later this year when there are more colors included.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up with Monday Making over at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/19/15

What a wonderful surprise to discover that my stash report totals are still in the black, even though I added over 20 yards of fabric to my stash. Now that's a good week!

I hadn't purchased any new fabric for almost two months, but have been wanting to get some more light neutrals to use as backgrounds on a variety of scrappy projects. Most of the time I can delete the fabric store emails, but a recent one from Hancock's of Paducah was too tempting to ignore. They were having a batik sale, and there is a line from Timeless Treasures called "Lace" in shades of cream/ecru. I ordered a piece of almost every fabric in the line. Here are a few favorites.

Of course, once I had chosen those, I had to look around their website and see what other trouble I could get into. It would have been foolish not to check, right?! I ended up buying a total of 26 different light background fabrics, plus a variety of other bargains. New fabric is such a wonderful treat!

Once my purchases arrived, I washed them up, then processed the neutrals for my scrap drawers. I organize scrap fabrics similar to Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System, cutting them into basic strip widths that I know I use often. For me that usually means 1.5", 2", 2.5" and 3.5". The new neutrals were all 1/2 yard pieces, and I cut them in half along the center fold, leaving me with two fat quarters of each fabric. One fat quarter got folded up and put away on the shelf, and the other was sliced up into strips. Now I'm ready for any scrappy project that calls for light backgrounds, which is currently my Rainbow Bowties.

The only reason my purchases didn't destroy my stash report total is because I pieced the backs for two different quilts this week. One was for the Bowtie Chevrons quilt that I put together last week. I decided the back should have chevrons on it too. 2.75 yards used for this.

The other back is for the Dutch Tiles quilt. I bought this lovely blue and brown striped fabric in Paducah a few years ago, knowing it would become the back for this quilt. It's funny how I have such strong memories of where and when I bought some fabrics, and others I don't even recognize as coming from my stash. This quilt is very big, and the back used over 8 yards of fabric. You can read more about the Dutch Tiles quilt here.

My purple hexie star got the background hexies stitched on this week, using another 1/8 yard of fabric.

TOTALS:
Used this week:                  11.125 yards     

Used year to date:              49.625 yards

Stashed this week:                22.5  yards

Stashed year to date:         46.375 yards 

Net year to date:              3.25 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Pretty Purples

My appliqued circles for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have been coming along pretty well this month. Twelve purple blocks are finished, and I have a couple more prepped and ready to be stitched. I suppose I should sit down and figure out how many I need to make each month, but for now I am just enjoying the stitching and not worrying about having a goal to reach.

Now that baseball season is here, I am spending more time watching TV. I guess "watching" TV isn't very accurate for me. What it really means is listening to the games while I hand stitch, looking up from time to time or when the announcers get really excited about something that happened on the field. That extra handwork time has made it possible for me to finish adding the background hexies to my purple star. One more star needs background, then it's time to start joining them all together. This has been an on-going project since August of 2013!

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I am also linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 4/13/15

My design wall currently has the recently completed Bowtie Chevrons quilt top. I have been toying with the idea of switching the outer border fabric to a different one that I showed in yesterday's stash report. However, I'm not really up for taking this border off and replacing it. The other fabric will get used on the back. It's time to quit questioning my decision and just get it done! I will be donating this quilt as part of the Hands 2 Help Challenge over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Bowtie Chevrons
50" x 60"

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up with Monday Making over at Love Laugh Quilt and the Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2015 at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/12/15

The past week was unexpectedly productive for me, ending with three finished quilt tops. I added the border and prepared the back for my 16-Patch Stars quilt, which you can see here. I also finished putting together the top for my Dutch Tiles quilt which I showed in this blog post. 

The third quilt was Bowtie Chevrons. This was a quick finish because I had made most of the blocks last year when I was making a baby quilt. They just needed to be joined together. Yesterday I made the last few blocks, stitched them all together, and added the borders. Here's a shot with the two fabrics I was considering for borders. I'll have a photo of the completed top in tomorrow's post.

Outgoing:
16-Patch Stars border and back            5.75
Bowtie Chevrons--10 blocks, borders     1.25


Used this week:                       7.0 yards     

Used year to date:                 38.5 yards

Stashed this week:                    0  yards

Stashed year to date:        23.875 yards 

Net year to date:              14.625 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Playing with Purple

One of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 is bowtie blocks, and I have been trying to make 45-50 blocks each month. When I found out that purple was the color of the month for April, I wasn't sure I would have enough purple scraps to make that many blocks. I was pleasantly surprised to discover plenty of choices, and have completed 33 blocks so far. I have another 15 or so blocks cut out and ready to stitch. 

Rainbow Bowties
4" blocks

I pulled out a box of blocks that were extras when I made a baby quilt for a co-worker last year. It turns out that these blocks perfectly match the colors we have been assigned for the RSC for the first 4 months this year--blue, pink, yellow and purple. I played with a few layout ideas, ending up with this chevron design. Now I'm ready to start sewing them together.

Bowtie Chevrons
5" blocks

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Julie in GA

Dutch Tiles top done!

Back in January, I pulled out this UFO that had been hanging around for more than a dozen years. I am so thrilled to finally have this quilt top completed! It sure has been a long time in the works. The pattern is called Dutch Tiles. I started it when my sister and I took a class taught by Judy Hasheider back in 2002. Most of the fabrics date from around that time.

Unfortunately, I have nowhere at home where I can get a photo of the whole quilt top, and every outdoor surface is covered with pollen. These two photos show the entire quilt except for the last row on each side. The full quilt measures 88" x 97".

The quilt consists of 46 whole blocks and 6 half blocks to finish the ends. All of the blocks feature a different pair of fabrics. Here are a couple of my favorite blocks, one of them with a white outline so you can get a better idea of how it is pieced. Lots and lots of set-in seams!

The ends of the quilt are straight, but the sides finish with zig-zag edges. I am not looking forward to doing the binding along those edges!

It feels so good to empty out one of those boxes holding an old project. Soon I will have the back pieced, and this will be ready to get quilted. After that I will be trying to decide the next UFO to pull out. Wish me luck!

I am linking up to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I am also linking up to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework and to Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew and Sow.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 4/6/15

Yesterday I finished adding the border to my 16-Patch Stars quilt top. I even mitered the corners on the border, something I rarely bother to do. They all turned out pretty well. Instead of the usual badly-lit photo on my design wall, I decided to try for an outdoor shot. The problem with that idea is that right now in Georgia, every outdoor surface is covered with a layer of yellowish-green pollen dust. There was no way this quilt top with so much white background was going to be laid down anywhere outside. Special thanks to my lovely assistant for holding the quilt top.

16-Patch Stars
61" x 77"

Once I prepare a back for this and make a pillowcase and label to go with it, I will be submitting this to be quilted for Quilts of Valor.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up with Monday Making over at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 4/5/15

The weeks have been flying by, and it is hard to believe that we are already past the first quarter of the year and into April. It's time for me to take a look at how my stash-busting efforts are going, and also file my report for the 350 Blocks Project.

My fabric goals for the year were to use at least 100 yards by the end of 2015, and also to use more fabric than I add to my stash. After the first 3 months, I am very happy with my progress on those goals. I have stayed on target with my usage numbers. I've added more fabric than planned, but that is partly because of a couple of fabric giveaways that I won back in January. I'm certainly not going to turn down free fabric!

Fabric used for the past week all went toward my two Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. I used 3/8 yard making 14 applique circle blocks and 1 yard making 43 bowtie blocks. No fabric was added this week.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney

from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

Rainbow Bowties, 4" blocks

Used this week:                   1.375 yards     

Used year to date:                 31.5 yards

Stashed this week:                    0  yards

Stashed year to date:        23.875 yards 

Net year to date:              7.625 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

For the 350 Blocks Project, I ended up with a total of 93 blocks made last month, bringing my total so far this year up to 283. 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Purples for April

My work schedule has gotten back to normal this week, leaving me a little more time for quilting. I was able to spend some time working on both of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I prepped a bunch of circles for more applique blocks, and got a few of them stitched to the background. I cut out way too many circles, but that lets me use my favorites.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney

from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

I have also been busy cutting purple squares for my Rainbow Bowtie blocks and stitching up the first few purple blocks. Here is a selection of blocks from the first four months of the year. I am trying to make 40 - 50 blocks each month, which would give me plenty for one large quilt or a couple of throw-size quilts.

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. On Sunday I will also link up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than housework. 

Julie in GA