Design Wall Monday 8/31/15

Over the weekend I pulled out a quilt that I am considering working on as my next UFO project. It is my Tell It to the Stars quilt, which was a BOM by Judy Laquidara last year. I did well at keeping up with the monthly clues until near the end of the year when we got to the assembly and borders. Here is what I had when I packed it all away last November or December.

The main reason I put this project away was because I realized that I made the pieced setting triangles with the wrong color. They should have been turquoise, but I used black by mistake, and I'm not sure I like how dark the outside of the quilt looks. I've also been having trouble getting those outer border blocks to come out the right size. In other words, I'm just stuck and don't know what to do next.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them both out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 8/30/15

My stash report had another good week with a decent amount of usage and a little added too. I finished two sets of blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and also finished another quilt back. (You can see the blocks and the quilt top HERE.)

Rainbow Bowties--50 black/grey blocks        1.125 yd.

RSC Circles--13 indigo blocks                        .375 yd

9Patch quilt back                                          4.75 yd

Hidden 9Patch back
71" x 84"

My addition for the week was another giveaway win, this one from the sponsors for Scraptastic Tuesday. I have been very lucky at winning fabric lately!

TOTALS: 

Used this week:                    6.25 yards     

Used year to date:              120.0 yards

Stashed this week:                  2.0 yards

Stashed year to date:          97.75 yards 

Net year to date:              22.25 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Indigo and Black

This week I finished making the rest of my August blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I tried to pull out blues that tend toward purple for my appliqued circle blocks. Here they are on the design wall along with all the other blue circles from an earlier month, plus 50 bowtie blocks in blacks and greys.

I also finished the top for my UFO of the month which has quite a bit of black in it. Last week I talked a bit about my method for joining the diagonally set blocks together in this quilt. Check out my post from Monday if you would like more detailed information on that technique. I am almost done piecing the back for this quilt.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday.


Julie in GA

Throwback Thursday--Ocean Waves

I joined my first quilt guild in the fall of 1997, two years after I started quilting. One of their activities was an annual quilt challenge, and that first year the theme was Amish. I researched Amish quilts, checking out many books from the library. I especially liked An Amish Adventure by Roberta Horton. The pattern I chose to make was an Ocean Waves quilt. 

Ocean Waves Quilt 1998
Honeybees Guild Amish Challenge
43" x 56"

This quilt was my first experience making lots of HSTs. I used the bias strips technique that I learned from a book by Marsha McCloskey. I just discovered a recent blog post from her explaining this process. You can find it HERE. The pieces shown in the photos below were made for another quilt, but use the same technique. I find this method to be extremely accurate for making lots of HSTs, and less tedious than making them oversized and trimming down.

Check out other Throwback Thursday quilt posts at Krista Quilts. Even better, add your own post to the link-up. We'd love to see your quilts from the past! 


Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/24/15--A Finished Top!

Those of you who have read my blog over the past couple of weeks have witnessed the trials and frustrations of my latest UFO. This project started with a box of 9-patch blocks left over from a couple of quilts made 12 -15 years ago. It took me a whole week of playing in EQ7 and auditioning about a hundred different fabrics to figure out a plan for how to use the blocks.

Once I had a plan, it took me just over a week to make more blocks to complete the rings of color and to get them all joined together. On Saturday I shared a little about how I assemble a quilt top like this, and there were so many interested responses that I would like to explain it further.

My quilt is laid out like the "Blooming Nine-Patch" pattern, which originated in the 1996 book Tradition with a Twist by Blanche Young and Dalene Young Stone. This is a fabulous book that I would highly recommend, and it has been in publication for almost 20 years. My only problem with the book is that this quilt is assembled by joining the blocks into diagonal rows, then sewing all of the long rows together. I find it much easier to join the blocks into groups, then sew those groups together.

The following diagram shows the EQ7 layout for my entire quilt. You can see where I drew black diagonal lines dividing the blocks into groups of 9. I started at the very center of the quilt and worked out from there. The photo after the diagram shows my blocks joined into these groups.

The next step is to join those groups into even bigger sections. Again I started at the center and made a giant 9-patch. There are two partial corner sections that attached to the center and two bigger corner sections that got joined on last.

Yes, I realize that my seam lines go the opposite way in the diagram than they do in my quilt sections. It doesn't really matter, but I hope you can see how the parts fit together. Doesn't this look easier than sewing all those long diagonal rows together? All that's left is to share the finished quilt top.

9Patch Leftovers
59" x 69.5"

It feels great to get another batch of blocks stitched up into a quilt top. Even after all of this, I still have some blocks left, and they will definitely get used in the back of the quilt. If anyone has a good idea of a name for this quilt, I am drawing a blank and welcome all suggestions.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them both out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 8/23/15

My stash report this week shows some fabric going out and some coming in. The outgoing was 1/8 yard for background hexies on my orange hexie star, plus 5.25 yards for the 9Patch UFO top that I have been working on all week. I finished putting the top together yesterday, and I will try to get photos of it later today.

The incoming fabric is a Moda layer cake that I won in a giveaway from the Martingale Publishing blog. It is called "LOL" from Me and My Sister Designs. Check out all the wonderful prints! I am envisioning a cute girly quilt. Free fabric--always a treat! I also won a 10-spool package of lovely Aurifil threads. 

"LOL" layer cake and Aurifil threads

TOTALS: 

Used this week:                  5.375 yards     

Used year to date:            113.75 yards

Stashed this week:                2.75 yards

Stashed year to date:          95.75 yards 

Net year to date:               18 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Scrappy Circles and UFO 9Patches

My current projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have been moving forward this week. I have been working on bowtie blocks and plan to have them all ready to show next weekend. I appliqued a couple more indigo circles, bringing my collection up to a dozen.

My main focus for the week has been my 9Patch UFO. After my frustrations from the previous week, it felt good to get down to sewing. I finished making the needed 9P blocks, then started joining them together.

I took a Blooming 9Patch class many years ago and learned a very useful trick for joining blocks together, and it works especially well for this design. Instead of sewing the blocks into long rows, then joining the rows together, I start by stitching the blocks into large 9Patch units. Then the bigger units get joined to one another. You can get a better idea what I mean from my photo.

The trickiest part of this is keeping the blocks in the correct positions. The next step will be to make a giant 9Patch from the blocks at the center of this layout, then join the rest of the units into sections that finish it off. I am hoping to get it all put together this weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.


Julie in GA

Throwback Thursday--9Patch Grid

It's time for another Throwback Thursday link-up over at Krista Quilts. My quilt for this week is another variation on the Split Nine-Patch similar to the beginning class project I showed two weeks ago. I saw a photo of an antique quilt with this kind of shading, which produces the appearance of light and dark blue diamonds overlaid by a gridwork of peach. One name I had seen for this pattern was "Hayes Corner," but when I googled that name, some very different versions popped up.

Right now I'm not sure where this quilt ended up. Last I remember it had been hanging in my sister's house. I believe I probably made this little wallhanging in the fall of 1996 or early 1997, and the colors certainly fit that time frame.

Check out other Throwback Thursday quilt posts at Krista Quilts. Even better, add your own post to the link-up. We'd love to see your quilts from the past! 



Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/17/15

Why is it that some quilts come together so easily, and others seem to fight you every step of the way? My latest UFO project has been one of the latter, driving me a little bit crazy while I try to figure out how to finish it.

This project started a week ago when I pulled out a box of nine-patch blocks left from three quilts I made 12-15 years ago. I would include a photo of one of those original quilts, but I don't have any digital photos of them, and our scanner died over the weekend. You can get an idea of the layout from the last photo in THIS POST. 

My goal with these blocks was to use up as many of the blocks as possible, not make too many more nine-patches, and get the quilt to a big enough size for a Quilt of Valor. It took all of last week and many hours on EQ7 playing with design ideas before I settled on this plan. I still need to make more of the last two rounds of blocks, but then I can start joining it all together.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them both out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 8/16/15

Another week with no fabric in or out. I spent most of my quilting time either trying out design ideas in EQ7 or auditioning fabrics, but very little time sewing. Maybe next week!

TOTALS: 

Used this week:                    0 yards     

Used year to date:          108.375 yards

Stashed this week:                  0 yards

Stashed year to date:         93.0 yards 

Net year to date:              15.375 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

UFO Frustration

It has been a slow start this month on my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I am using indigo in my applique circles blocks, but only completed a couple of them this week. My bowtie blocks are being made in black and grey, but all that got done on those this week was cutting more pieces.

It took quite awhile to choose my UFO project for the month. I pulled out a few options that included black, but most of those didn't make me want to finish them. I ended up deciding to work with this set of nine-patch blocks that were left over from a couple of quilts I made around 2004. Here is what I had up on my design wall earlier in the week. This is the type of layout that was used for the previous quilts.

I spent many hours playing with ideas for finishing the quilt. I didn't want to make lots more nine-patch blocks, but I would like to get the quilt big enough for a possible Quilt of Valor. I auditioned many fabrics as possible alternate blocks, and setted on three different greyish-green prints, using up almost every inch of all three. I will need to make some more ninepatch blocks, but not too many. Any blocks that don't get used in the quilt top will become part of the back. It's time to get these blocks out of the box of leftovers!

The three blocks with medium brown near the top right will be the center of the quilt, with concentric rings building out from there. I am debating between the grey or the blue blocks for the 2nd round of ninepatches. In the meantime, I need to add up how many more blocks I need of the other colors, and get to work cutting strips for them.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 


Julie in GA

Throwback Thursday--Pinwheel Baby Quilt

Two weeks ago I showed my first quilt, a Double Irish Chain that my sister Karen and I made together in 1995 for our brother's wedding. The following year I made my first baby quilt for my brother's son Devin.

Here are the fabrics I used. The white-on-white was the background, and the tone-on-tone pieces were all used for pinwheels. The large piece on the left was the backing.

The pattern I used was a pinwheel variation by Trudie Hughes from her 1993 book Quilts to Fit Beds. Trudie was an early designer of rotary-cut patterns and published many great books and patterns. My quilting was minimal, mostly just stitch in the ditch. Seeing this quilt now makes me want to make the pattern again, maybe with the addition of a border.

Check out other Throwback Thursday quilt posts at Krista Quilts. Even better, add your own post to the link-up. We'd love to see your quilts from the past! I am also linking up to Let's Make Baby Quilts at Michelle's Romantic Tangle.



Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/10/15

The past weekend was a classic case of having time to quilt, but not being able to figure out what project to work on. I spent some time on Saturday sorting through a few boxes that held scraps and bits left over from past projects. I am always more interested in moving on to the next quilt, and somehow the boxes of leftovers sit around for years instead of being put away in the scrap drawers and shelves.

My design wall shows some blocks from a few different projects that I found in my exploration. On the left side are four Ohio Star blocks from back when I used to teach quilting classes. The two stars with yellow were already made, and I finished the two with the orange. I made the two striped blocks at the center from shirt scraps, and I am dying to start a whole quilt with shirt fabrics, but this doesn't seem like the right time. The 3 nine-patch in a square blocks are left from my Storm at Sea quilt, and they have been my recent leader/ender pieces.

On the right side is a collection of nine-patches and squares that I found in a ziploc bag. The original plan had been to make a small Blooming Nine-Patch quilt, but after making this group of blocks, I felt that the fabrics blended together too much. It's almost impossible to see any of the seams in the nine-patches. Here is a closer view.

I have been playing with some other ideas for those blocks, but none of my ideas are exciting me, so these blocks will probably end up going back into that bag and get filed away until I run across them again on a future excavation. 

The next box I came to had scraps and leftover blocks from another nine-patch quilt. Now these might be just the ticket! Maybe it's the fact that schools are starting up that makes these fall colors appealing to me. I still have more of all the fabrics, so I can make additional blocks. Time to come up with a new plan!

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them both out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 8/9/15

No fabric in and none out this week. I have been trying to clear away the leftovers from some past projects, and I haven't decided what I want to work on next. Right now it's more important to get the mess in the sewing room under control--too many piles everywhere!

TOTALS: 

Used this week:                    0 yards     

Used year to date:          108.375 yards

Stashed this week:                  0 yards

Stashed year to date:         93.0 yards 

Net year to date:              15.375 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Another Scrappy Saturday

It took me a few days to come up with a plan for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I ended up deciding to use them all.

For my True Colors circle applique blocks, I decided to add a set of indigo blocks to the collection. They aren't all the very dark blue I usually think of as indigo. I have included a few lighter circles in the mix. So far five blocks are finished.

For my Rainbow Bowties, I am using black and grey scraps. I've still got some fabrics to cut, but there are 20 blocks made at this point. Once again I have combined the circle blocks and the bowties together on my design wall.

I am still considering a few options for my indigo or black UFO of the month. I pulled out one project last weekend, but haven't decided if I'm really motivated to continue with that one. I'm hoping to make a decision on that this weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  There will also be plenty of scrappy projects at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework.


Julie in GA

TBT--My First Quilting Class

It's time for another week of Throwback Thursday over at Krista Quilts. I just discovered another Throwback Thursday link-up over at A Quarter Inch from the Edge. Last week I showed my first ever quilt, made along with my sister in spring of 1995. You can see that post HERE. This week I wanted to share the quilt I made in my first quilting class.

In the fall of 1995, I signed up for a beginning quilting class at Patched Works in Elm Grove, WI (the west side of the Milwaukee area.) The pattern we were making was a scrappy split nine-patch. Even then, I knew that I didn't like the "anything goes including the kitchen sink" type of scrappy quilt. I preferred a more limited color scheme and kept mine in the jewel tones. Many of the fabrics came from the scrap bins at the store, but I had already started collecting some fabrics myself. Here is a close-up showing a selection of prints.

We learned some tricks for making multiple half-square triangles, and the piecing was quick and fun. It took me close to a year to get the quilt layered, quilted and bound. The quilting is very simple, just stitch in the ditch. The borders don't lay very flat, but otherwise I am happy with this early effort. I learned that I love scrappy quilts as long as there is some cohesiveness to the fabrics chosen. I also figured out that for me piecing the quilt top is much more fun than the doing the quilting, something that is still true today.

Split Nine-Patch 1995
38.5" x 52.5"

Check out other Throwback Thursday quilt posts at Krista Quilts and at A Quarter Inch from the Edge. Even better, add your own post to the link-ups.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/3/15

I had an evening at home by myself over the weekend, and my plan was to spend the whole evening quilting. The only complication was that my feet were killing me, and I didn't want to stand any more than necessary. That meant finding a project that was ready to stitch and didn't need much cutting done. I browsed through my boxes and bins of UFOs until I came across this one, the Dresden Stars quilt that I started in a class with Edyta Sitar two years ago.

The quilt will end up with 8 of the Dresden Star blocks. There were five with the outer ring already made, and I put together two more, just one left to go. Yesterday I prepped a couple of the blue circles for the centers and have those ready to applique down, plus stitching the block to the background.

I have been working my way through all sorts of UFOs this year, and it feels so good to clear some of them out. I hope this will be the next one to be finished.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Check them both out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 8/2/15

July ended on a high note as far as stash usage is concerned, mostly because I made two quilt backs. That always gives a nice boost to the numbers, and there was no fabric added to my stash this week.

Curves & Cornerstones back         5 yards

Starry Night for Josh back            5.25 yards

Rainbow Bowties--51 red blocks   1.125 yards

It's also time for me to file my report for the 350 Blocks Project over at Prairie Moon Quilts. I ended up with a total of 93 blocks for the month of July, well over our goal of 30 for the month. 

This photo shows the back I pieced for Alycia's mystery quilt, Starry Night for Josh. I had four yards of the blue fabric, not enough for the entire back. I also had two star blocks leftover from the quilt top, so they got framed out with strips and nine-patches to reach the needed size along with the rest of the striped fabric.You can see my quilt top in THIS POST.

          

Over 100 yards used (my goal for the year) and it's only the beginning of August!! Last year I didn't reach that milestone until about a week into September. Now I just need to keep the fabric shopping under control.

TOTALS: 

Used this week:                11.375 yards     

Used year to date:          108.375 yards

Stashed this week:                  0 yards

Stashed year to date:         93.0 yards 

Net year to date:              15.375 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Seeing Red and Moving On to Black

It took me until the second last day of the month, but I finally finished up the two sets of red blocks for my ongoing projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I don't plan to combine the bowties and the circle blocks in the same quilt, mostly because of the different backgrounds, but I do like the way the shapes play together on my design wall.

I am excited to report that I also finished assembling the quilt top of the red UFO that I showed last Saturday, my Curves and Cornerstones quilt. You can see it and read more in yesterday's post.

I haven't figured out what to do with my circle blocks for August. Our RSC color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I considered adding grey circles to my blocks, but I didn't like the way they were looking with the black and white backgrounds. I will definitely make black and grey bowtie blocks in August, but haven't decided what else to do. I'm still considering options for a UFO too.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  There will also be plenty of scrappy projects at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

I am also trying to help spread the news of a new linky party. Krista has started hosting a quilty version of Throwback Thursday. Go to her blog on Thursdays to link up a post showing some of your early quilt projects (maybe pre-blog quilts?) and see other posts of quilts from the past. This week I shared photos of my first quilt, made in 1995. You can see my post HERE, and join in on the fun at Krista Quilts next Thursday.

Julie in GA