UFO Challenge--January 2017

Judy at Patchwork Times is once again hosting a UFO Challenge this year. Each participant makes a list of 12 UFOs, and each month Judy picks a random number to let us know our assigned project for that month. The number for January was 3.

I had so many UFOs around that I submitted two lists--one that is mostly piecing and/or borders (see that list HERE) and one that is mostly quilting/finishing (see it HERE.) Here are my #3 UFOs for January:  

Green Crossroads--quilt & bind. Nothing got done on this project.

Ring Around the Stars--started May 2001. The original plan back in 2001 was to make a bed-sized quilt, but I realized part-way through that I didn't have enough of the background fabric. The center of the quilt was all together as shown in the first photo, measuring about 51" x 63". 

I added two borders to the quilt center, bringing it up to 61" x 73.5". 

Ring Around the Stars
61" x 73.5"

Here is a close-up shot so you can see the fabrics.

I liked this pattern so much that I did make a bed-sized version of it with most of the same fabrics. This one has a different background, which really brightened up the look of the quilt. It was completed in 2002 and is one of my favorite quilts ever!

I am currently 1 & 1 on my UFO Challenges. Hopefully I can do better in February. Waiting to see what number Judy draws! I am linking up to Patchwork Times for Judy's end-of-the-month showing of our results.

Julie in GA

OMG January Goal Success!

One of my 2016 projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was making 3D Folded Box blocks, following this tutorial by Donna Lynn Thomas. One change that I made was to scale my blocks down to 9" finished, rather than the 12" blocks in the tutorial. I made 6 - 8 blocks each month following the RSC colors, and I ended the year with just over 60 blocks.

My One Monthly Goal (OMG!) for January was to finish assembling the first quilt top from my blocks. I used 30 of the 60+ blocks that I'd made, joining them with sashing and cornerstones, then adding a piano key border. My quilt top finished at 60.5" x 71".

3D Folded Boxes quilt top, 60.5" x 71"
Tutorial by Donna Lynn Thomas

Here is a closeup shot of a few blocks. These blocks are a good illustration of the importance of selecting fabrics with value contrast in order to get the 3-D effect. It worked out especially well in these blocks.

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! I am also joining the January link up at Elm Street Quilts for meeting my One Monthly Goal and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge finishing link-up at soscrappy. I'm so happy to have gotten the year off to a successful start!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 1/29/17

Stashbusting continues here, with another Star Cluster baby quilt finished this week. That used 1.625 yards for the top, 1.5 for the back (which I showed HERE last week), and .25 yards for the binding. I also used 1/8 yard for more purple 4-patch blocks. Total--3.5 yards used and NO FABRIC ADDED. Just a couple more days, and I will have made it through a whole month with no additions! 

2017 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   3.50 yards     
Used year to date:              10.75 yards

Stashed last week:                 0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:             0.0 yards 

Net year to date used:  10.75 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I manage to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. This was another good week, going 7 for 7 days.

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/22 - 1/28                7 of 7 days

2017 Total              28 of 28 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Scrappy Purple Saturday

My recent attempts to use up the purples from a drawer of 3" strips led to four Scrappy Trips blocks, which I showed last week. There were still plenty of leftover purple bits and pieces from those strips, so I stitched them up into 4-patch blocks. Thank goodness for those cheery 30's prints, or this would be a very somber collection!

While digging through some of the boxes of leftover bits and pieces from past projects, I discovered a wonderful stash of purple scraps. Most of these were left from a pineapple quilt I made in 2010. I hope to find some time today and tomorrow to piece them 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 1/22/17

The stash busting efforts continued through week #3! This week I can report 3.375 yards used for the Star Cluster baby quilt #1--1.625 for top, 1.5 for back, and .25 for binding. You can see the finished quilt in THIS POST. I am nearly done with another baby quilt using the same pattern too. Here is a photo of the back of that quilt.

More good news for the week--no fabric additions! That's more than a month since the last new fabrics added to the stash. I'm hoping to stay on this streak for awhile yet.

2017 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                  3.375 yards     
Used year to date:                7.25 yards

Stashed last week:                 0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:             0.0 yards 

Net year to date used:  7.25 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I manage to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. This was another good week, going 7 for 7 days.

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/15 - 1/21                7 of 7 days

2017 Total              21 of 21 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

ScrapHappy Saturday #3

I didn't get much stitching done on blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week, just one more Scrappy Trips block in purple. I decided to take a look at the blocks I've made so far and see how they look together.

Scrappy Trips Around the World
pattern by Bonnie Hunter

I'm using Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World pattern, but changing the measurements to work with my 3" strips instead of the 2.5" that Bonnie uses. The finished size of my blocks is 15", so it won't take many blocks to have enough for a throw quilt. When I started making these blocks, I was trying to do a gradation of color from light to dark in each block, but later I gave up on that idea. Now that I see them on the wall together, I think maybe I will go back to shading the 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

First Finish of 2017!

It's amazing what can get finished when there is a deadline involved!

We know several young women who are expecting babies around the end of March to mid-April. I felt like I had plenty of time to make baby quilts until the baby shower invitations started showing up! The first shower is this Saturday for our niece Ashley. The baby quilt was started on Dec. 20th and finished on Wednesday, Jan. 17th.  Less than a month--that's speedy for me! The only thing missing is a label.

Star Cluster baby quilt
37.5" square

For the back I made a large nine-patch out of flannel prints to keep it all cozy and cuddly. The quilting is mostly diagonal lines following the piecing seams. 

My inspiration was a quilt called Interlocking Stars, shared almost two years ago by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Her inspiration was a pattern called Star Cluster by Judy Martin. Judy's pattern is for a block that finishes at either 12" or 16". Sarah super-sized the pattern into a 64" single-block quilt. Mine is just over half that size, coming out at 37.5" after washing and drying .

Star Cluster by Judy Martin

12 or 16" block

Interlocking Stars by Sarah Craig

I am linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Make Baby Quilts at Michelle's Romantic Tangle, Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts, and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Have a wonderful, quilty weekend!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/16/17

This week my design wall contains the beginnings of a second "Star Cluster" baby quilt. The first baby quilt just needs the binding finished, and I need to get that done before a baby shower on Saturday. I wrote about that quilt in THIS POST, and I will share photos when it is finished.

The first quilt was made in pink and grey; the requested colors for this one were teal and grey. Both use variations of Judy Martin's block pattern Star Cluster, which inspired Sarah Craig's Interlocking Stars quilt as you can see below. 

Star Cluster by Judy Martin

12 or 16" block

Interlocking Stars by Sarah Craig

Star Cluster baby quilt #2

Instead of scrappy squares for the centers of the stars like Sarah used, I decided to go with framed squares of different sizes. Once I got the stars up on the wall and took some photos, I felt like the frame around the fish fabric in the top left star is too dark. Other than that, I like how this is turning out. I'm shooting for getting this finished in time for a baby shower on Feb. 4th--wish me luck!

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 1/15/17

There's not a lot of sewing time around here lately, but I still managed to use some of the stash, and I didn't add any new fabric this week. I used 3/8 yard on my Meadow Mystery blocks (see them HERE) and 1.5 yards on purple Scrappy Trips blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

2017 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                  1.875 yards     
Used year to date:              3.875 yards

Stashed last week:               0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:           0.0 yards 

Net year to date used:  3.875 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I manage to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. This was another good week, going 7 for 7 days.

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/8 - 1/14                 7 of 7 days

2017 Total             14 of 14 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Scrappy Stitching in Purple

I've been participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge since 2013 and always enjoy all the sharing of beautiful rainbow quilt projects. This year I have been slow at deciding whether I am going to start a new project for 2017. I might concentrate on finishing up some of the quilts from past years instead (you can see them in last week's post HERE.)

When I had the urge to do some scrappy stitching this week, I pulled out some blocks that were started back in 2015. I have a whole drawer full of 3" strips from a strip exchange in a guild, and I would love to clear some of them out. I've been using Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World pattern, just changing the measurements to work with my 3" strips instead of the 2.5" that Bonnie uses. The finished size of my blocks is 15".

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 1/9/17

The cold weather and icy roads meant extra quilting time for me over the weekend, hurray! Yesterday I was able to finish up the January clue on the Meadow Mystery project. Cheryl's quilt design finishes at 60" square, and we have now made all of the blocks. The photo shows my guess for how they might be arranged.

My plan is to turn this quilt into a Quilt of Valor, which will mean adding to the length of it. Once Cheryl reveals the actual layout of the blocks, I can come up with a way to extend the design at the top and bottom to make it longer.

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 1/8/2017

I have good news on two fronts today. First is that I used 2 yards from my stash for the sashing and borders of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge 3D Folded Box quilt top, and I didn't add any new fabric this week. The second is that I have already met my One Monthly Goal (OMG!) for January by completing that quilt top. The only bad news is that the recent nasty weather has made it impossible for me to get a decent photo of the quilt top today.

2017 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   2.0 yards     
Used year to date:               2.0 yards

Stashed last week:               0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:           0.0 yards 

 Net year to date:  2.0 yards used

One of the few good things about the current cold snap here is that I have been able to spend more time in the sewing room. I managed to get at least 15 minutes of quilting time on all 7 of the first 7 days of 2017. I'm hoping that Kate at Life in Pieces will continue her 15 Minute Challenge counts again this year.

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/1 - 1/7                 7 of 7 days

2017 Total               7 of 7 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Looking Back at the Rainbows

It's time to get started on another year of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, one of my favorite quilt-sharing groups. Angela is our hostess, and every month she lets us know our assigned color. Everyone works in that color from their own scraps, making whatever projects they choose. Each Saturday we show our progress and share lots of friendly comments.

I have been participating in the RSC since 2013. I enjoy digging through my scraps every month, looking for the colors I need. As I look back at my past projects, it seems that my biggest problem is finishing them. I have only one finished quilt and several unquilted tops. Here are my RSC quilts from past years. The caption under each photo will take you to a blog post with more info about that quilt.

2013 project--Dancing Stars. My first ever RSC project is also my only completely finished RSC quilt. The 6" blocks were foundation pieced. This quilt was finished in May 2015

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"

pattern by Amy Ellis

Scrap Hexies--started August 2013, still in process of joining parts together.

Scrap Hexies

2014 project--LeMoyne Stars. I made LeMoyne Stars in two sizes, 6" blocks and 12" blocks, alternating light and dark backgrounds. I ended up with a baby quilt and two throw quilts, but none of the tops have been quilted yet.

Rainbow LeMoyne, 6" blocks
40" x 48" baby quilt

Rainbow LeMoyne 6" blocks
45" x 60" throw quilt

Rainbow LeMoyne 12" blocks
53.5" x 68" throw

Bowties 2015--Over 500 bowtie blocks were made. About half went into this top, and the rest of the blocks are still waiting 

Rainbow Bowties 56.5" x 72.5"

Circling the Rainbow 2015--All year I appliqued circles to black and white background squares. This top is at the quilter, and I hope to get it back to be finished before long. This may be my favorite rainbow project yet!

Circling the Rainbow  51" x 62"
based on the pattern "True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney
from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

2016--RSC Sampler. This was my first time joining in on Angela's yearly sampler quilt. I changed a couple of things around on mine, but it is mostly Angela's design, and I love it!

2016 RSC Sampler
64.5" x 76.5"

My other RSC project for 2016 was the 3D Folded Box blocks that I have been showing every week for the past month (at least, that's how it feels to me!) I am soooo close to having the quilt top finished! I'm going to wait until it's complete before I post another photo of that.

Thanks so much to Angela for keeping this wonderful quilt-along going. I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with writing my blog posts, and I know she must put in lots more time. It has been so much fun seeing all the amazing quilts that people are making, and I greatly appreciate the encouragement that everyone shares each 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. On Tuesday I will also link up with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew & Sow.

Julie in GA

OMG, It's Design Wall Monday

The current project filling my design wall is the 3D Folded Box blocks that I was making for most of 2016 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I ended the year with 62 blocks made (plus one more that's nearly done.) Thirty of those blocks are being joined together into a throw quilt that should finish around 60" x 70.5". I've been working on joining the blocks to the sashing, and over the weekend I started to add the piano key border. 

Folded Box blocks, tutorial by Donna Lynn Thomas

I hope to finish assembling this quilt top before the end of the month. In fact, I am proclaiming that as my One Monthly Goal (OMG!) for January. It's time to get these blocks all joined together and put something else up on the design wall for a change! I'm sure the regular readers of my blog are getting tired of seeing the same project up here every week.

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! I am also joining the January link up for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.

Julie in GA

Wrapping Up 2016 and Looking Ahead to 2017

Thank goodness that these stash reports start back at zero at the beginning of each year! It feels so good to start the year off with a clean slate. My stash goals generally stay the same from one year to the next: 1. Use at least 100 yards of fabric, 2. Use more fabric than I add to the stash. I nearly reached the first goal for 2016, using 98.875 yards for the year, just over a yard shy of the 100 yards total used. Unfortunately, I came nowhere close to breaking even on usage vs. additions for 2016, ending with a net total of over 70 yards added to the stash.

2016 STASH TOTALS: 

     Used last week:                   0.0 yards     
Used year to date:          98.875 yards

Stashed last week:                0.0 yards

 Stashed year to date:       169.25 yards 

 Net year to date:  70.375 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

I was more successful on Kate's 15 Minute Challenge, tracking the number of days each week that we spend at least 15 minutes quilting. I ended the year with 333 days of quilting time, almost 91%. Many days I don't get much more than 15 minutes, but I'm happy with whatever time I can manage for quilting.

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/25 - 12/31                 7 of 7 days

2016 Total               333 of 366 days

My other main quilting goal for 2016 was to finish more projects than I started, whether that meant finishing a current WIP or a UFO that hadn't been touched in years. There were 15 new projects started last year (more than I realized!), and of those 15, 5 got completely finished, 3 are now finished tops, 3 are still actively in the works, and the other 4 have stalled out for various reasons. I also turned 4 UFOs into quilt tops and finished the binding on one other quilt. 

In an effort to finish off some of my UFOs, I've decided to join Judy Laquidara's UFO Challenge at Patchwork Times. I had so many UFOs that I have entered two lists with 12 projects on each list. You can see list #1 HERE and list #2 HERE. The random number chosen for this month is #3. Here are my projects for January:

Crossroads--finish quilting, bind & label

Ring Around the Stars--add borders

My quilting goals for 2017 are basically the same as last year, with even more emphasis on finishing up some of the old UFOs:

1. Stashbusting--use at least 100 yards, use/give away more than I buy

2. Finish more projects than I begin

3. Finish at least 5 UFOs/WIPs

4. Make at least 4 QOV/donation projects  

5. Be more consistent about taking photos of finished quilts and writing blog posts about them (there are a few that haven't shown up on the blog.)

Happy New Year and Happy Quilting!

Julie in GA