Mystery Monday Design Wall

Like so many quilters all over the world, I waited eagerly for Bonnie Hunter to post the first clue for her 2017 mystery quilt. I was too busy last year to participate in the mystery, but I hope to squeeze it into my schedule this year. "On Ringo Lake" Part 1 went live on Black Friday, and I was happy to spend my time cutting and stitching little squares of fabric rather than fighting the crowds at the malls.

One thing I always try to do with a mystery quilt to make it my own is to change up the color choices. This time I was very tempted to go with Bonnie's colors because I liked her combination of aqua/turquoise, chocolate brown, salmon/coral, and lights for the background. My colors headed in a very different direction. My inspiration came from a group of sewing-themed fabrics that I have been saving for several years.

There's my color scheme--red, black and grey with black-on-white prints for the backgrounds. I'm hoping I can use one of these fabrics as a border for the quilt. The prints may be too big for the little pieces that Bonnie's quilts tend to use. I also have quite a few smaller sewing prints that will be included in the piecing, along with many other fabrics in these colors.

Our assignment for week #1 is to make nine-patch blocks . I've got a good start on these little cuties and should have no trouble finishing the rest before the next clue is posted on Friday.

I'm joining the link-up for the mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, 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 11/26/17

I finished assembling two quilt tops last week, but most of the fabric used has already been counted. All I can report right now is 5/8 yard for the border on my Thankful for Autumn 9-Patch quilt top. The other finished top was my Scrappy Trips quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--see it HERE. No additions to the stash, but that may change soon!

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            .625 yards

Used year to date:     89.875 yards

Added last week:            0.0 yards
Added year to date:      8.25 yards

Net used year to date: 81.625 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I made time to do some quilting every day last week, even with the Thanksgiving holiday.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/19 - 11/25              7 of 7 days
2017 Total            319 of 329 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Julie in GA

First Scrappy Trips Top Done! (Maybe?)

It has been such a lovely, relaxing past few days, even with all the Thanksgiving cooking, eating and cleaning up. My mother is down from Wisconsin for a week, and we couldn't wish for a less-demanding guest. We are all enjoying hanging out together, and I get plenty of encouragement to spend some time quilting. They know how to keep me happy and sane!

Yesterday I finished joining the warm-colored Scrappy Trips blocks together into a top, and I thought I had my first finished top from this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. Then I decided to see if I had any fabrics that would work as a border. I didn't expect to find anything, but you never know, right?

Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt top
pattern by Bonnie Hunter

I have a large stack of fabrics in what I consider fall colors--gold, rust, orange, red, burgundy, brown. It seems like there should be something that would work with this quilt. I ran into two problems--the first was that none of the fabrics included pink, and the second was that they included other colors like green and/or purple. There was really only one border possibility, and I don't think it's going to work. At first I loved it, but now I've changed my mind.

Scrappy Trips with border possibility

When I pulled out this fabric, I was excited because it was the only one that included pink. However, the more I look at it, the more I feel that it's too dark for this quilt. I prefer the way the quilt top looks without a border. I guess that means my quilt top is done after all!

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 projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Thankful for Autumn--quilt top finished!

Late last month I got it in my head to go through some of the leftovers from old projects and figure out what to do with them. It's not unusual for me to finish a quilt top and just leave any extra pieces, blocks, strip sets, and sometimes even yardage all together in a box or bin. I'm never quite sure what to do with those extra bits and pieces. but one of my goals for the future is to do a better job of dealing with all those leftovers. 

One bag of scraps I pulled out seemed like a good possibility for a quick project. I had scraps, 9-patch blocks, and unused strip sets, all left from a Blooming 9-Patch quilt that I made in 2004. The fall colors were the perfect mix for this time of year. Fortunately, I still had extra yardage of most of the fabrics too. My goal was to use up as many of the leftover blocks and strip sets as possible, then cut into the yardage to make what I needed for a complete top. Last night I finished adding the outer border to my Autumn nine-patches quilt top. Since this top was completed on Thanksgiving day, I've decided to call it "Thankful for Autumn."

Thankful for Autumn quilt top
57.75" x 70"

Here are some closer shots so you can get a better look at the fabrics:

I'm happy to report that finishing this quilt top was my November goal for the One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts. We still have some pretty fall colors showing around here, so it seems like the perfect time to have completed this quilt top! 

Linking up to:  Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
                      Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
                      Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
                      One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 11/20/17

Over the weekend I took a little time to put my cool-color Scrappy Trips blocks up on the design wall. I have been making these blocks all year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and it's time to get them joined together. This was my first layout attempt:

Scrappy Trips blocks
pattern by Bonnie Hunter

I like the movement of that layout, but I'm not so sure about the "random" combination of colors. Those purple blocks don't blend in very well with the others. Maybe each color needs it's own row?

That one might be a better option. The one other idea I might try is running the blocks in diagonal bands by color--you can see what I mean in THIS POST showing my warm-colored blocks.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, 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 11/19/17

Fabric used last week:  .5 yard for two brown Scraptastic Stars (shown in yesterday's post)
Fabric added last week:  NONE! (but I haven't stopped looking at the sale ads)

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             .50 yards

Used year to date:       89.25 yards

Added last week:            0.0 yards
Added year to date:      8.25 yards

Net used year to date: 81 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I managed to do some quilting every day last week, although there were a couple days that my quilting time was only the 15 minutes.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/12 - 11/18              7 of 7 days
2017 Total            312 of 322 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Julie in GA

Neapolitan Stars

I love the combination of pink and brown together in a quilt! These stars are planned to become two separate quilts, one with the smaller blocks and one with the larger, but I couldn't resist a photo of them all together on the design wall. My plan is to make these blocks each month as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2018. The pattern is Scraptastic Star by Melissa Corey, and I look forward to making these stars in a full rainbow of colors.

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 projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 11/13/17

Most of the past week was spent joining together the many parts of the Autumn 9-Patch quilt. I started at the center of the quilt with a 9-patch made up of large squares and 9P blocks.

I continued joining blocks together into larger 9P groupings. Here they all are, labelled in order to keep them in the right spots.

The next step was to join the 9 segments around the center into a giant 9-patch block. The remaining segments became corner triangles. All that's left is to join those to the quilt center, then add an outer border. It's almost a completed quilt top!

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, 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 11/12/17

Last week's unplanned journey to the land of project leftovers found me pulling out a pile of blocks, strip sets, and fabrics chunks all left from a Blooming 9-Patch quilt in autumn colors that I made in 2004. I made many more 9-patch blocks, some from the already-made strip sets and some from new strip sets. I also cut alternate squares and setting triangles from yardage. For my stash report today, I am counting the amount that was used from yardage in my stash, not the strips and chunks that were already cut when the earlier quilt was made. I've estimated the yardage used as 1.75 yards. No new fabric was added to my stash.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            1.75 yards

Used year to date:       88.75 yards

Added last week:            0.0 yards
Added year to date:      8.25 yards

Net used year to date: 80.5 yards

Here are a couple photos of some of the blocks I've been joining together for the Autumn 9P quilt. The little white tags are to help me keep pieces in the right place as they get assembled into larger segments. I hope to have more photos to share tomorrow for Design Wall Monday.

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 had another productive week, especially on the Autumn 9P quilt.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/5 - 11/11              7 of 7 days
2017 Total          305 of 315 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Julie in GA

Scraptastic Star in Browns

I had hoped to get my Scrappy Trips blocks joined together into a quilt top last week, but that did not happen because I was focused on another quilt that is currently filling my design wall. That doesn't mean no progress on Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects though--I did make one 16" Scraptastic Star block using brown scraps.

Scraptastic Star
pattern by Melissa Corey

I figured out a tentative plan for these blocks as part of my RSC stitching for next year. I made two pink blocks last month using the same light fabric in both blocks for the stars and chains of squares, but then realized that I won't have enough of that fabric for two quilts. I will continue to use that fabric on my 12" blocks, but I'm switching things up for the 16" blocks. The plan is to pull out a white or cream based fabric that includes the color of the month in the print. I am crazy about the fabric I found for this brown block--sewing notions! (I used my flash on the following photo, which made it look much more yellow than it really is.)

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 projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 11/6/17

I got totally sidetracked by an unplanned project last week. I had been going through my UFO's and boxes of scraps from previous quilts. I found a bag that contained the leftovers from a Blooming 9Patch quilt that I made in 2004. There were 9-patch blocks, strip sets for more blocks, and extra fabrics. I also knew that I still have yardage of many of the fabrics in my stash.

I spent many hours making 9Patch blocks from the leftover strip sets, plus cutting more strips for additional strip sets that became even more blocks. I played with several possible arrangements of the blocks on my design wall, and I think this is the final choice. All that's missing are the setting triangles around the outside edges and an outer border or two.

I've started joining the 9Patch blocks together at the center of the layout and will work my way out toward the outer edges from there. If you would like to read more about how I join the blocks in an on-point setting like this, check out THIS POST. My method does not involve sewing the blocks together into long diagonal rows.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, 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

OMG (One Monthly Goal)--November 2017 Goal

There have been some years where I was very goal oriented with my quilting, posting a list of goals at the beginning of every month and reporting on whether I reached those goals at the end of the month. This has not been that kind of year! It's time to get back to publicly stating some of my quilting goals in an attempt to stay more focused. I'm going to start by joining in with the One Monthly Goal link-up over at Elm Street Quilts.

Last week I was sorting through my boxes of UFOs and leftovers from past projects. When I finish a quilt, I have a bad habit of not dealing with the extra blocks, partial units, and leftover fabric scraps. They tend to sit around for many months or even years before anything happens to them. That was true with this pile of pieces.

These are leftovers from a Blooming 9Patch quilt that I made as a commission in 2004. The request was for autumn colors. I ended up with a pile of extra blocks, some unused strip sets, and miscellaneous chunks of most of the fabrics. I also have yardage of many of the fabrics in my stash.

My goal for the month is to turn this pile of leftovers into a quilt top. The photo below shows one of my first attempts at a possible layout. It's still similar to a Blooming 9Patch, but more loosely organized. I have been making additional blocks from the partial strip sets and need to figure out how many blocks I need of each fabric combination. (This photo is much closer to the true colors of the fabrics.)

That's the plan for the month ahead--one completed quilt top. I will report back at the end of the month with a progress report and maybe even a new goal for December. I am joining the One Monthly Goal link-up for November at Elm Street Quilts. Check it out to see what others are hoping to get done this month!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/5/17

I've been playing around with some new block ideas this week. I made two blocks that I've known by the name Dutchman's Puzzle (the smaller blocks.) Then I made two more blocks that were a variation of the same pattern, but the name I found for that version was Flying Dutchman. There's some irony in that name because Ed, my music man, is playing in the orchestra for the Atlanta Opera's performances of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. It seems like this is meant to be!

Dutchman's Puzzle/Flying Dutchman blocks

These four blocks used a total of 1/2 yard of fabric. I've been getting lots of quilt shop emails with tempting sales, but haven't given in yet--no fabric added last week!

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             .50 yards

Used year to date:        87.0 yards

Added last week:            0.0 yards
Added year to date:      8.25 yards

Net used year to date: 78.75 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 had a productive week, making good progress on a few projects.

15 Minute Challenge:  
10/29 - 11/4              7 of 7 days
2017 Total          298 of 308 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Julie in GA

Brown Scrappy Trips

A decision has finally been made on the finishing plan for the Scrappy Trips blocks that I have been making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! I am going to make two throw quilts, one using the warm-colored blocks and the other from the cool colors. Before I could start joining any of the blocks together, I needed to make a set of brown blocks to complete the warm group.

Scrappy Trips blocks
pattern by Bonnie Hunter

Four blocks done, and I'm ready to get them up on the design wall together with the rest of the warm blocks. I hope to have at least one completed quilt top to show next week, maybe even two!

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 projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA