Design Wall Monday 3/28/16

Sometimes it's fun to think about the path that leads from one project to another to the next. My current project started with my butterfly blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 Sampler. I ended up with a pile of bonus triangles from the butterflies, which I turned into a group of  3" pinwheel blocks. I remembered seeing an Amish quilt that combined two sizes of pinwheel blocks, which seemed like a good possibility for these little blocks.

I need to make a couple of baby quilts, and I have been wanting to use some of my 30's fabrics for them. Maybe this double pinwheel pattern would work for one of the baby quilts?

I thought I could use the multi-color plaid for all of the large pinwheels, and make the smaller pinwheels from the colors in that print. A 6" square of white plus a square of a print will make two of the small blocks. The large block in the photo above finishes at 8", and the smaller pinwheels are 4".

I am sharing with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 3/27/16

There wasn't a big change in my stash this week, but I did use a little fabric and haven't added any. The fabric used went toward 3" pinwheel and 9-patch blocks. I made a total of 49 blocks this week, but they were so small that they didn't use up much fabric. You can see my blocks in yesterday's post.

STASH TOTALS: 
Used this week:                .75 yards     

Used year to date:         19.75 yards

Stashed this week:           0.0 yards

Stashed year to date:    15.75 yards 

 Net year to date:     4.0 yards used

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. The more days  I quilt, the more quilts I can get done and the more fabric used. 

15 Minute Challenge:  

March 6 - 19                7 of 7 days

March total                24 of 26 days

Year to date               82 of 86 days


350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

This week's block total:    49

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Purple Play

There hasn't been a lot of time for quilting this week, but I do have some cute little blocks to share. The March color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple, and I have a collection of 3" blocks up on the wall. The 9-patch blocks are for my Ring Cycles quilt. The pinwheels were started with waste triangles from my RSC Sampler Butterfly blocks. I like how the two sets of blocks look together.

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

Stash Report Sunday 3/20/16

It's time again for my weekly accounting of fabric used, blocks made, and number of days spent quilting. I'm actually reporting for two weeks today because I didn't get a post up last Sunday.

The stash totals changed a little bit in both directions. There was the addition of 2 yards of a Christmas border stripe (50% off!) This fabric is intended to become a table runner, and it is especially appropriate since my husband plays the French horn. I think I might use a fall or harvest print on the reverse side so we can use it for a longer time each year.

I used 1-5/8 yards on a variety of projects. The largest amount was used to make blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 Sampler. You can see my blocks in yesterday's post.

STASH TOTALS: 
Used this week:            1.625 yards     

Used year to date:          19.0 yards

Stashed this week:           2.0 yards

Stashed year to date:    15.75 yards 

 Net year to date:     3.25 yards used

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. The more days  I quilt, the more quilts I can get done and the more fabric used. 

15 Minute Challenge:  

March 6 - 19              12 of 14 days

March total                17 of 19 days

Year to date               75 of 79 days


350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Two week's block total:    63

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

The Purple Production Line

Happy National Quilting Day! I hope all you quilters out there find plenty of time to spend stitching away on a project today. As my Music Man left for a rehearsal this morning, he ordered me to get my butt into the sewing room and make some quilt blocks! Who am I to argue with him about that?

My blogging has fallen behind by a week, but it was for a good reason. We spent several days last week in Wisconsin and had a wonderful, relaxing time there. It was good to get away and enjoy time with family, and now we are working on getting back to normal here at home.

I found some time since we returned to make my March blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt. Our color for the month is purple, and this month's block is the butterfly. I got a little carried away and made a few more blocks than needed, but they can end up on the back of the quilt. I had a great time making the little pinwheel blocks from the leftover HSTs. The butterfly blocks finish at 6" and the pinwheels at 3".

RSC 2016 Sampler

My other purple production has been more nine-patch blocks for my Ring Cycles quilt. I'm trying to decide how big I want to make this quilt, which then determines how many 9P blocks to make. I cut out a stack of the background hexagons and triangles to look at on my design wall, and I hope to get some of them joined together today so I can figure out the finished size. I'm loving the way this is looking, but joining the parts together is going to be a challenge with those odd angles.

Ring Cycles, pattern by Lessa Siegele

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

Design Wall Monday 3/7/16

My collection of Glorious Hexagons blocks has grown by a couple since last week, and now I need to spend some time cutting and prepping more blocks to have them ready to grab and go. My usual time to stitch them is on the morning train to work, but I also have a trip coming up soon and would like to have some hand work to take along. I got a few new fabrics for this project on Saturday and can't wait to cut into them!

I am sharing with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 3/6/16

I have been doing pretty well with chipping away at my stash while making blocks for three different projects this week. Here are my totals for fabric used:
Shooting Stars (4 blocks)           1.125 yd
Ring Cycles  (23 9-patch blocks)   .375 yd               
Glorious Hexagons (6 blocks)         .25 yd

I've been having a great time working on the Glorious Hexagons blocks and rediscovering the joy of fussy cutting busy prints. These are some of my most recently completed blocks.

Glorious Hexagons

We had our monthly meeting for the group making these blocks together, and I couldn't resist buying some new fabrics for my project. My husband commented that he has never known me to buy/use these kinds of prints before, but I am having so much fun with them and can't wait to see what kind of designs these new prints will produce.

Another member of our group was playing with a length of this giant Kaffe Fassett paisley print, and I  was just mesmerized by the colors and pattern. I just had to get some for my project! I included a tape measure in the photo so you can see just how enormous those paisleys are, close to 19"! This will make some stunning hexagon blocks.

STASH TOTALS: 
Used this week:              1.75 yards     

Used year to date:       17.375 yards

Stashed this week:           3.5 yards

Stashed year to date:    13.75 yards 

 Net year to date:     3.625 yards used

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. The more days  I quilt, the more quilts I can get done and the more fabric used. 

15 Minute Challenge:  

Feb. 28 - March 5          7 for 7 days

February total            27 for 29 days

Year to date              58 for 60 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

This week's block total:    33
I ended up with a total of 140 blocks made in the month of February. That seems like a lot, but exactly half of them were 9-patches for my Ring Cycles quilt, and those go quickly.

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Moving On to March

I was very slow to make a start on my brown with pink blocks for February at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but once I got going, I didn't want to stop! It took me until March 1st, but I managed to add four more Shooting Stars blocks to the four I showed last week. The blocks definitely need some sashing or more of the tilted frames to break up all that white background.

How many of you noticed in last Saturday's RSC post that Libby in TN showed photos of two quilts she is making with the same block? Talk about a small world! Libby knows the pattern as "Wink and a Smile." She told me that it is an out-of-print pattern by Lisa Christiansen. The name I use for my blocks is "Shooting Stars" because that was the name from the class where I learned the pattern back in 2010. I believe our teacher had taken a photo of this design at a quilt shop and figured out how to piece it herself. 

I found a good tutorial with detailed instructions for how to make this block at Anyone Can Quilt. The tutorial dates from 2008. I recommend that anyone interested in this pattern check it out. Thanks to everyone for the many kind comments and questions last week about this pattern and my blocks.

I've also made a start on my purple scraps, our RSC color of the month for March. I have been pulling out strips to cut into 1.5" squares. These will be made into more 9-patch blocks for my Ring Cycles quilt. The current plan is to limit the color scheme to teal/turquoise, blue, and purple. Here's my pile of purple strips, along with a few blocks that include hints of purple.

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. I am also linking up for Scraptastic Tuesday with Mrs. Sew & Sow.

Julie in GA

Throwback Thursday--Indian Summer Log Cabin

While looking through some old photos on my computer recently, I discovered a couple of shots of a small wall-hanging that I made back in 2002. It was made as my entry in the annual quilt challenge at the local Ben Franklin Crafts Store. This is my Indian Summer Log Cabin wall hanging, and it measures 33" square.

I was very surprised to find some info I had saved from this challenge that included swatches of the required fabrics. I remember having a very difficult time figuring out how to combine these widely varied prints. I added one brown print, the dark navy, and the peach print that makes up most of the background.

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

Julie in GA