Meadow Mystery Revealed

It's time for me to share my version of the Meadow Mystery quilt designed by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. As her blog heading states, Cheryl is an engineer by day, quilter by night. She is also a very talented quilt designer. 

I had seen several people's work on Cheryl's previous mystery quilt, the Midnight Mystery, and was intrigued by what I saw. When she posted the fabric requirements for the Meadow Mystery QAL, I was instantly inspired to follow along on the mystery and make it as a Quilt of Valor. Here are the color swatches that Cheryl showed in her fabric post:

I didn't completely match her colors, but they gave me a good starting point. The mystery design was for a 60" x 60" quilt. I knew that I would need to make mine larger for a QOV, so I made sure to have plenty of extra for each of my fabric choices (or so I thought!) Here's what I used:

The blue crosshatch replaced her gold as A, I stuck with red and royal blue for B & C, the white with stars for D, the secondary background, and the white with pale blue swirls (behind the other swatches) for E, the main background.

Cheryl's instructions were very clear and easy to follow. It was a pleasure to get a new set of directions each month, and I had very little trouble keeping up with the pace she set. 

The final reveal of Cheryl's design came in February. That was when I needed to figure out how to make my quilt longer. The original design had 12" blocks set 5 x 5, and I wanted to adapt the block designs to add another row of blocks at both the top and bottom. The one snag I ran into was running out of the darker blue fabric. I added some red triangles to the HST blocks at the outer corners to squeak my blocks out of the remaining fabric.

Meadow Mystery quilt top
60" x 84"

Making this quilt top was great fun from start to finish, and I look forward to the next one. Check out the Meadow Mist mystery quilts page to find all the info/instructions for this Meadow Mystery and also for Cheryl's earlier mystery quilts. There will be a parade of finished Meadow Mystery quilts/tops running April 5th - 7th at Meadow Mist Designs. Thanks so much to Cheryl for sharing her wonderful design with us all!

Julie in GA

Linking up to:   Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat Quilts
                      Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
                      Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
                      Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
                      

Stash Report Sunday 3/26/17

When I sat down to figure out my stash report for the week, I made the happy discovery that I hadn't yet reported the yardage used for the recently finished Star Cluster baby quilt (see it HERE.) That used a total of 3.375 yards for the top, back and binding. I also used 3 yards for a dozen more Scrappy Trips blocks, which I showed in yesterday's post. No new fabric added to the stash yet again!

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:           6.375 yards

Used year to date:         29.5 yards

Added last week:           0.00 yards

Added year to date:       2.00 yards

Net year to date used:  27.5 yards

This is one of the latest Scrappy Trips blocks I've made. Check out the white fabric with red hearts and birds on it--that is from a little dress my mother made back in the early to mid 1960's. It's possible there is a photo somewhere showing either myself or my sister wearing that dress. I love having that bit of history in this block!

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. I have been able to find time to stitch every single day over the past two weeks, keeping up my nearly perfect record.

15 Minute Challenge:  
3/19 - 3/25               7 of 7 days

2017 Total             83 of 84 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Still Tripping in Red

One of my quilting goals for this year is to use up most of the 3" strips that are filling a drawer in my sewing room. The strips were from guild exchanges that happened at least 13 years ago. Each month we would exchange 3" strips in an assigned color. It seemed like a natural choice to use them for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, where we work on projects each month using our scraps in an assigned color.

My plan for the RSC this year is to make 4 Scrappy Trip blocks each month using Bonnie Hunter's pattern and my 3" strips. I finished my set of red blocks early in the month, and still had a very large stack of 3" red strips. What to do with them?? I considered several different options, but ended up deciding to stick with the Scrappy Trips--they are easy to make, and I love playing with different layout options. The only bad thing is that I didn't have enough red strips, so I ended up cutting more from my stash. I will probably end up with almost as many strips at the end of the month as I started with!

So far I have made 12 red blocks, and I am planning to make 8 more. Setting them in five rows, four blocks across, would make a quilt that measures 60" x 75", a good size for a throw quilt. Here are a couple different layout possibilities.

There's also the chance that I will make 20 blue blocks when we get to that color for the RSC and combine them with these red blocks. Maybe red chains running one direction and blue the opposite way--wait and see!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday, at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday and at I May Have a Scrap Problem at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Star Cluster #3 Baby Quilt is Finished!

2017 has been the year of the baby quilt for me, and I just completed my third one of the year. All three quilts have been variations on Judy Martin's fabulous Star Cluster pattern. Each of my quilts are slightly different than one another--you can see the other two quilts HERE and HERE.

This quilt is made entirely from music prints. The father plays the trumpet...

 and the mother plays the viola.

To go along with the music theme, I included a piano key border. I had some trouble getting the border to fit, but finally got it all to work together. The quilt measures around 39" square after a trip through the washer and dryer. Baby Fritz was born about 10 days ago, and I hope to present him with his quilt this weekend.

Star Cluster #3 baby quilt
39" square

Finishing up this quilt was my One Monthly Goal for March. I am very happy to have met my goal, and I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts.

I am also 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, and Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts.

Have a wonderful, quilty weekend!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 3/20/17

It was a quiet, relaxing weekend with plenty of time for quilting. I was able to spend a large portion of Saturday, National Quilting Day, trying out a new-to-me pattern. This was my first attempt at Wonky Log Cabins. 

My blocks were inspired by a tutorial at Kat & Cat Quilts called The Four-Fat-Quarter Baby Quilt. Kat's version starts with (you guessed it) four fat quarters. Her blocks finish up at about 14" x 17". I decided to scale mine up a bit and started with four pieces that measured 20" by 24". My blocks as shown here measure 17" x 21". I'm auditioning the bright orange for sashing and/or a small inner border.

I had a great time playing with a new technique and using it on these fun fabrics. They just need a couple of borders to turn them into a cute (and very bright!) baby quilt.

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 3/19/17

I missed posting a stash report last Sunday, but there really wasn't much to report anyway. This week was much better with over three yards of fabric used. I added borders to to the center of a quilt that was started in 2003, and I also pieced the back for a small quilt.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:           3.375 yards

Used year to date:     23.125 yards

Added last week:           0.00 yards

Added year to date:       2.00 yards

Net year to date used:  21.125 yards

Here is my Maple Stars quilt top complete with new borders. I received half of the blocks in this quilt from a block exchange at my quilt guild, and I made the rest of the blocks myself. They were joined together with the sashing and setting triangles in 2003. I decided recently to add borders to make the quilt a more useful size. I had to search long and hard through the fabrics in my sewing room to find the green leafy print for the outer border, but finally managed to dig it out!

Maple Stars quilt top, 58" x 71.5"

Maple Stars blocks

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. I have been able to find time to stitch every single day over the past two weeks, keeping up my nearly perfect record.

15 Minute Challenge:  
3/5 - 3/18              14 of 14 days

2017 Total              76 of 77 days

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

More Red Scrappy Trips

I finished making the rest of my Scrappy Trips blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for March is red. I've been playing with different ways to arrange my blocks. The first photo shows the four blocks with the darkest colors at the outer corners on all of them.

Scrappy Trips Around the World, pattern by Bonnie Hunter

For this photo I turned two of the blocks around, moving the darkest squares to the center of the grouping. Maybe a little more interesting this way? I'm not making any decisions yet, just playing with the possibilities.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I will also be linking up with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew and Sow. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at all these places. 

Julie in GA

March 2017 Quilting Goals

I posted a list of quilting goals at the beginning of February, but it ended up being a very disappointing month as far as meeting those goals. Too much time was spent being sick, followed by trying to catch up at work. The only goals I completed were making the Scrappy Trips blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (see them HERE) and making more blocks for the Meadow Mystery quilt.

Maybe March will be a more successful month...

1. My One Monthly Goal is to finish up the third Star Cluster baby quilt. The center of the quilt is done, it just needs the borders finished, then quilting and binding. Baby is due around the end of March or early April, so this is definitely my #1 goal.

Star Cluster baby quilt

2. My attempts for Judy's UFO challenge haven't been very successful yet, but I'm still hopeful. She pulled #5 this month. For my piecing list, that means adding borders plus piecing a backing for this Maple Stars top.

Maple Stars, 47" x 62"

3. The #5 project from my second list on Judy's UFO Challenge is to quilt and bind this little Stack & Whack quilt top, a former class sample from 1999.

Stack & Whack Spinners, 45" x 53"

4.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make a set of red Scrappy Trips blocks. Also figure out another pattern to make using the pile of 3" red strips, maybe a Quilt of Valor?

5.  Meadow Mystery--join all blocks together into finished quilt top.

That's the plan for the month ahead. I will report back at the beginning of April with a progress report and a new set of goals for the next month. I am joining the One Monthly Goal link-up for March at Elm Street Quilts and Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 3/5/17

The only change to my stash numbers for the past week was one yard used for a set of red Scrappy Trips blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see the first block in yesterday's post HERE. There was no new fabric added to the stash last week.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             1.00 yards

Used year to date:       19.75 yards

Added last week:           0.00 yards

Added year to date:       2.00 yards

Net year to date used:    17.75 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. I was back at 100% for the week, finding time to stitch every single day.

15 Minute Challenge:  
2/26 - 3/4                 7 of 7 days

2017 Total              62 of 63 days

I have also resumed keeping track of how many blocks I make each month as part of the 350 Blocks Challenge 2017 over at Prairie Moon Quilts. I didn't feel like I got much done in February, but my total number of blocks for the month added up to 66--not too shabby!

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

First Trip in Red

It's a new month, which means a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for March is red. Last night I pulled out my 3" strips to choose red fabrics for my Scrappy Trips blocks, and I managed to finish the first block. Three more blocks are in progress--I hope to be able to show them next week.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at both places. 

Julie in GA