Design Wall Monday 11/28/16

Yesterday I was able to spend some time getting rows of blocks joined together on my current QOV project. This is another of the Mystery Quilts for Military (MQ4M) designed by Alycia. 

The photo shows a little more than half of the total quilt. I have been joining the rows together, and the other rows are pinned together and waiting on the sewing machine. We received the final clue for this project two weeks ago, and I would like to get this top done soon before I get too involved in Bonnie Hunter's new mystery En Provence.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/27/16

Even though there wasn't much time available for quilting last week in the flurry of holiday preparations and celebration, I still managed to finish my 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler quilt top! (You can see a photo of it in yesterday's post.) That used 3/4 yard for the sashing and border. 

The most amazing news of the week is that I have managed (so far) to avoid all of the Black Friday weekend fabric sales, so no additions to the stash. Let's see if I can make it through Cyber Monday!

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   .75 yards     
Used year to date:          87.625 yards

Stashed last week:                 0 yards

 Stashed year to date:       81.25 yards 

 Net year to date:  6.375 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. I was surprised that I actually managed to find time to quilt on 6 out of 7 days last week.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/20 - 11/26                 6 of 7 days

Year to date            299 of 331 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 11/20 - 11/26:  7

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

2016 Rainbow Scrap Sampler

There hasn't been much time for quilting recently, mostly due to the Thanksgiving holiday and family visiting from out of town. I wouldn't give up any of the time we've been able to spend together, and the quilting will happen soon enough.

I did find a little time over the past couple weeks to finish assembling my 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler quilt top. All year Angela has chosen our monthly color and shared a block pattern. We made 10 sets of blocks, but I have included only 9 of them in my quilt. The last set may make it into the back.

2016 RSC Sampler
64.5" x 76.5"

Our block sizes varied from 3" to 9" finished sizes. I joined my columns of blocks with 3/4" wide strips of background to separate them. The outer border is more of the same background fabric, and the quilt will get finished with a scrappy binding. That's my sister Joan and her husband David in the shadows holding up the quilt for photos.

It's exciting to have the top completed for the RSC project, especially with more than a month left in the year! Up next is assembling my 3D Folded Box blocks into one or more tops.

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 11/20/16

I don't have any photos that I can share yet, but I was very excited to finish a surprise Christmas project today. I'm happy to report that I used 6 yards of fabric on it, and did not add any fabric to my stash this week!

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   6.0 yards     
Used year to date:          86.875 yards

Stashed last week:                 0 yards

 Stashed year to date:       81.25 yards 

 Net year to date:  5.625 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. I didn't get in my time every day, but still had a pretty good week.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/13 - 11/19                 5 of 7 days

Year to date            293 of 324 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 11/6 - 11/12: 13

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 11/14/16

One of my current projects is another of the Mystery Quilts for Military (MQ4M) designed by Alycia. The current clue was posted on Friday, but I had gotten a little bit behind and am trying to catch up.

My blocks are all joined into rows, but I haven't sewn any of the rows together yet. I think we must be getting close to the end on this mystery, and I am anxious to find out how it finishes.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/13/16

This was another week with plenty of sewing, but not much usage to report. Only 5/8 yard used on the November units for the Meadow Mystery quilt. It feels good to have them finished nice and early. The next clue comes out on the first Thursday in December.

On the incoming side of the tally, I received some fabric I'd ordered from Connecting Threads. I'm such a sucker for their sales! I mostly got light background prints, plus some lovely blues. 6.5 yards total, which will put my numbers for the year back into the red (but just by a little!) It looks like I need to do a quilt with black-on-white prints

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                 .625 yards     
Used year to date:          80.875 yards

Stashed last week:             6.50 yards

 Stashed year to date:       81.25 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 know life is going to get even busier as we head into the holidays, but I will keep trying to get in my quilting time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/6 to 11/12                 7 of 7 days

Year to date            288 of 317 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 11/6 - 11/12: 57

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

3D Rainbow Blocks

This is the first time I have put all the colors of my 3D Folded Box blocks up on the wall together. I have been making these blocks all year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and it is so exciting to see the combination of all the different colors together!

Folded Box blocks, tutorial by Donna Lynn Thomas

My blocks will finish at 9". The squares in the corners of the blocks will finish at 1.5" each, and I am planning to set the blocks together with light background sashing and squares of assorted colors, making nine-patches where they all meet. I have enough blocks to make two smallish throw quilts, or I could use them for one larger quilt and one baby quilt. I don't know if I will add a border or not. I probaby won't have much time to get these put together anytime soon, but it sure is fun to see them all up on the wall!

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'm also linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday (several days late!) over at Mrs. Sew and Sow.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 11/7/16

One of my on-going quilt projects for this year has been taking part in the Glorious Hexagons monthly group at a local quilt shop, Intown Quilters in Decatur, GA. Our group has been meeting since February of this year. For the Glorious Hexagons quilts, Kim McLean and Liza Prior Lucy joined forces, each making their own version from Kaffe Fassett Collective fabrics. The block patterns for their quilts are all from the book The New Hexagon by Katja Marek. Here are their two quilts.

Garden Hexagons by Liza Prior Lucy
90" x 90", 247 blocks

Carnival Hexagons by Kim McLean
96" x 90", 330 blocks plus partial border pieces

These quilts are English paper pieced. For our monthly group, we receive papers for 28 blocks every month. Keeping up would mean hand stitching a block almost every single day! Not surprisingly, no one in our group has been able to maintain that pace. 

My plan on this project is to keep making blocks as long as I enjoy doing so, then put them together and call it done. I definitely do not plan to make enough blocks to cover a bed. I'm hoping for a throw or good-sized wall hanging.

Yesterday I decided it was time to look at all my blocks up on the wall together, something I haven't done for several months. Most of the other members of our group are using Kaffe fabrics and similar prints, but I don't have a big collection of Kaffe prints and have been mostly using older fabrics. It was time to see how it's all coming together.

I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. There are a couple of pale blocks that really jump out at me, and a couple with deep blue around the outside seem awfully dark. There are currently close to 70 blocks up on the wall. I will keep going for now and decide which blocks will make the cut when I'm ready to join them together.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Check out all of them for tons of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/6/16

It seems like I have been sewing like crazy this week, but nothing is finished enough for me to count it on my stash report. My only completion for the week was a block for my Glorious Hexagons quilt. I haven't shown any of these blocks for a few months, but here is a recent favorite. I love the way the print in the outer diamonds forms a circle around the center. I don't know what that funny little beastie in the center is called.

There is also some fabric being added to the stash this week. Most of the people in our Glorious Hexagons group are using Kaffe Fassett fabrics for their blocks, with some spectacular results. I was seduced by the gorgeous prints and colors, and got these four pieces to add to my collection of mostly older fabrics that are being used in my blocks. The design on the right is called "Tree Fungi." Who would have ever guessed that fungi could be so beautiful?!

STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   .50 yards     
Used year to date:           80.25 yards

Stashed last week:             4.75 yards

 Stashed year to date:       74.75 yards 

 Net year to date:  5.5 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. I keep plugging away at my attempts to spend at least a little time quilting every single day.

15 Minute Challenge:  
10/30 - 11/5                  7 of 7 days

Year to date            281 of 310 days

350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: 

Blocks made 10/30 - 11/5: 56

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA