Stash Report & Design Wall 9/25/16

Since it is rather late in the day, I decided to combine my usual Sunday Stash Report with an early design wall post. This is the first year that I have decided to join in on Bonnie Hunter's 2016 Leader & Ender Challenge. Her chosen block for this year is the hourglass unit. I have started by cutting pieces from our assigned monthly colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, grey for August and red for September. I'm not sure what these will become, but I love having precut pieces sitting next to my machine, ready to be stitched together. Here is what has been completed so far.

Hourglass leader/ender blocks, 4" finished size

Besides the fabric used in the hourglass blocks, I also used 7/8 yard for the 3D Folded Box blocks that I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see those in yesterday's post.

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                 1.875 yards     
Used year to date:            65.625 yards

Stashed last week:               0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:         66.0 yards 

 Net year to date:   .375 yards stashed

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. I am trying hard to get back to my pattern of quilting every day, even if it's only for a short time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
Sept. 18 - 24                 7 of 7 days

Year to date            240 of 268 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made Sept. 18 - 24:   56 
(All those hourglass units really added up!)

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  On Monday I will also link up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check them all out to see lots of wonderful creations!

Julie in GA

Scrappy 3D Blocks

Despite another work trip to Chicago this week, I have been fairly productive on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. There were pieces for several blocks already cut out, and I kept plugging away at them all week. I ended up with 4 more red blocks, 2 grey, and 1 pink. If my math is correct, that brings me up to a total of 55 blocks so far. I got carried away on the red and ended up with 10 blocks, but I have 6 - 8 of the other colors.

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

Scrappy Columns of Blocks

For some reason, my chosen quilting project for the weekend ended up being the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt. Each month we make a set of blocks in the assigned color, with the plan of joining them into columns at the end of the year.

Our color plan for August was "the hazy purple of a dawn sky with hints of evergreens." I made a set of blocks in purple and green prints, but when I got them up on the wall with the rest of my blocks (including a set in purple from March), there was just too much purple. Fortunately, the August block was a very easy pattern, so I made a new set in shades of grey, our alternate color choice. You can see my two sets of August blocks in yesterday's post.

I briefly considered joining my blocks together in some way other than the planned columns, but the possibilities that I looked at just looked like a jumbled mess. Rather than adding the grey blocks to the box with all the blocks from previous months, it seemed like a good time to begin joining them together. That was so satisfying that I had to keep going. I now have four sets of blocks stitched into columns, but the columns are not sewn to one another yet. I'm waiting until all the different colors are done before I decide on the placement of the colors. There are still two more sets of blocks to make, red for September and October's color, which I am guessing will be some version of yellow.

I am sharing with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework today. On Monday I will link up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 9/18/16

There was a little more quilting time last week than there has been in previous weeks. I made a tiny bit of progress on getting my stash-busting numbers back to even. Most of the 3/4 yard used was for remaking my August blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt after deciding there was too much purple in that quilt and deciding to go with the alternate color of grey. The group on the top were the earlier blocks, and the blocks below are the new ones. Now I have to figure out what to do with those purple and green blocks!

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   .75 yards     
Used year to date:            63.75 yards

Stashed last week:               0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:         66.0 yards 

 Net year to date:   2.25 yards stashed

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. I am trying hard to get back to my pattern of quilting every day, even if it's only for a short time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
Sept. 11 - 17                 6 of 7 days

Year to date            233 of 261 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made Sept. 11 - 17:   16

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 9/12/16

Wait a minute, that can't be right, can it?! My last design wall post was on July 25th?? I knew it had been awhile, but had no idea it was that long ago. That is definitely the longest stretch for me since I began my blog in early 2012. I hope life will settle down this month and that I can get back to a more regular schedule of blogging.

Folded Box blocks, pattern by Donna Lynn Thomas

My design wall currently holds some of the 3D Folded Box blocks that I have been making as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Making these blocks every month has been a great learning experience on the importance of value (lightness and darkness) in fabric selection. Each time I try to choose a batch of fabrics for the blocks with a good mix of light, medium and dark, but I'm still surprised by which combinations work really well for the 3-D effect and which are less successful. I can't wait to see all the different colors together!

I am sharing with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework, Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag, and Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew & Sow..

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 9/11/16

It has been three weeks since my last stash report was posted. I have spent at least part of each of those weeks in Chicago including two trips for work plus a fun vacation trip there over Labor Day weekend. 

All of that travel has seriously cut into my quilting time, which means very little stash usage. My only usage in that time was just over a yard for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. I hope to get a photo of the new blocks for my design wall post tomorrow.

The first trip to Chicago included a visit to Vogue fabrics in Evanston. I got a cute sewing notions print, plus a flannel print that will be great to back a baby quilt. I need to get busy making more baby quilts--we found out in the last couple of weeks that there will be two new additions to the family next spring!

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last 3 weeks:             1.125 yards     
Used year to date:               63.0 yards

Stashed last 3 weeks:             2.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:            66.0 yards 

 Net year to date:   3 yards stashed

I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. As you might have guessed, I haven't managed to maintain my pace from earlier in the year, but I am trying to spend some time on my hand-stitching project on a regular basis.

15 Minute Challenge:  
Aug. 21 - Sept. 10           11 of 21 days

Year to date                227 of 254 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 8/21 - 9/10:   11

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Playing Catch-Up with the RSC

Quilting time continues to be almost non-existent, but I did manage to pull some red scraps and strips for my 3-D Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. I'm not sure these are the final choices, but they are a good start. I hope to find time to begin cutting and piecing the blocks this week.

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

A Few Grey Scraps

I'm sure some of you have been wondering if I had given up blogging or if something had gone terribly wrong in my life. I have not given up blogging, and the biggest thing that's wrong is too many hours of work = not enough time to quilt. No time to quilt also means nothing to share on this quilting blog. Thanks for hanging in there while I try to get back to a regular schedule of posts.

Last weekend I spent three nights in Chicago for work. I optimistically took my Singer Featherweight along, plus a couple of quilt projects, thinking I could get lots of sewing done in the evenings after working during the days. It was harder than I expected to work up any energy for quilting at night, but I did manage to make a few 3D Folded Box blocks for my current Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. One of our color options for August was shades of grey. 

Folded Box blocks, pattern by Donna Lynn Thomas

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