Last Stash Report Sunday of 2017

Today is the day to wrap up the stash reports for 2017. My stash goals for the year were to use 100 yards of fabric and to use more fabric than was added for the year. I came up just a little short on the first goal, using a total of 94.25 yards. I'm okay with that, especially since I did very well at limiting additions to only 36 yards for the year. 

There were some additions last week and also some usage. Our Christmas travel included visits to a few quilt shops, and I got some more black-on-white prints to use in Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery. I've been using up a lot of my stash of BOW, so I'm glad to add these to the collection. Love that thimble print!

I also used one yard of fabric last week on a last-minute Christmas gift. I made this tablerunner for my musician husband, and he loved it! It was started and finished on Christmas Eve while he was away playing church services.

Last year I made a Christmas tree skirt with the same fabric, and I don't think it ever showed up on the blog. Here it is under our tree. The little patchwork tree ornament was made many (15-20) years ago.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              1.0 yards

Used year to date:       94.25 yards

Added last week:           2.75 yards
Added year to date:       36.0 yards

Net used year to date: 58.25 yards

My stash goals for 2018 are the same as they were this year--use at least 100 yards and add less fabric to the stash than gets used. I've had these same stash goals for the past several years, ever since I started tracking my stash usage.  I've reached both goals only once and came very close one other year. All told, it has been very interesting to track these numbers and be more aware of how much fabric I am using and adding to my stash.

2017:  94.25 used           36.0 added         58.25 net used
2016:  98.875 used      169.25 added       70.375 net added
2015:  167.25 used        150.0 added         17.25 net used
2014:  124.875 used   150.625 added        25.75 net added
2013:  101.0 used         104.25 added         3.25 net added
2012:  69.75 used           126.5 added       56.75 net added

TOTALS 2012-2017:  656 yards used, 735.625 yards added, 80.625 yards added


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. We were out of town for a few days, and I didn't do any quilting on those days (unless you want to count visiting quilt shops.) I'm including today in the final count, and my total for the year finished at 95.9%. All those short stretches of quilting time really add up!

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/24 - 12/31                5 of 8 days
2017 Total              350 of 365 days

I'm hoping to have some time later today to look back and tally up how many quilting projects I started and finished this year. Those numbers will appear in a later blog post.

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

Happy New Year and happy quilting to all!

Julie in GA

Second Scrappy Trips Top (maybe)

I've been missing out on participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-ups for the last several weeks. My quilting time has been very limited, and most of that time has been spent on Bonnie Hunter's new mystery. This morning I decided that it was time to set the mystery aside for the day and get back to one of my 2017 RSC projects, the Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks. Last month I shared the first quilt top, made with all the warm-colored Scrappy Trips blocks (in THIS POST.)

Today was the day to get the remaining blocks joined together into another quilt top. There are only 20 blocks, so they went together fairly quickly. Here is the completed cool Scrappy Trips top.

Just like with the first top, I had to look through the stash and see if there were any fabrics just waiting to become a border for this quilt. I found two options to audition. The first is a printed plaid, probably from the late 1990s. The colors aren't bad, but I was wishing there was a brighter green in it.

Option #2 does include some brighter green. In fact, it seems to have all the colors I used in my blocks. This might be the one!! I'm having trouble getting good photos so late in the day, so I'm going to leave them up on the wall together and make up my mind tomorrow. You all know I love to hear your opinions too! Current size without border is 60" x 75", a good size for a throw quilt. If I add a border, I could easily bring it up to a twin size.

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

Mystery Tuesday, Part 5

It's been a busy Christmas weekend, but I did squeeze in a little time for stitching on Bonnie Hunter's On Ringo Lake mystery. This week's clue is more flying geese units, and this time mine are out of the black prints (brown in Bonnie's color scheme.) I've been collecting all the completed units in a shoe box, and it's getting pretty full in there!

I'm having a great time with my color choices and can't wait to see how it all comes together! I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. Check out all the great mysterious stitching going on there!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 12/24/17

There's very little to report for stash busting efforts this week--no fabric added and no fabric used. What little time has been available for quilting was mostly spent cutting pieces for Bonnie Hunter's "On Ringo Lake" mystery. There are so many small units to make--nine-patches, flying geese, pieced triangles. It seems like I keep running out of background triangles and needing to cut more. I can't wait to see how it all goes together--we should find out around New Year's. Here are some of my cut pieces waiting to be stitched.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              0.0 yards

Used year to date:       93.25 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     33.25 yards

Net used year to date: 60 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 was able to find some time for quilting every day over the past week, but rarely any large chunks of time.

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/17 - 12/23                7 of 7 days
2017 Total              345 of 357 days

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

Wishing a very happy and peaceful holiday season to all. Merry Christmas!

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday, Part 4

The instructions for part 4 of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake" were posted on Friday. Our unit for the week is a square with triangles on two sides--I don't know if there is an official name for these units, but we are making lots of them. I have 40 of them done and many more started. Bonnie used brown and aqua for hers, but my colors are black and red.

As usual, I couldn't resist playing with a combination of parts from all four weeks. I don't imagine this is anywhere close to Bonnie's design, but it's fun to try out some possibilities! 

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake 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 12/17/17

There's good news on my stash-busting efforts this week--no fabric added! More good news is that I also used some fabric, 3 yards for a pair of Georgia Tech pajama pants. I realize that's not quilt usage, but I counted the fabric as an addition to my stash when purchased a couple weeks ago, so I will also count the usage now. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a photo of the finished pants, but here is the fabric I used.

Pajama pants fabric

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              3.0 yards

Used year to date:       93.25 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     33.25 yards

Net used year to date: 60 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 was able to find some time for quilting every day over the past week, although most of my sewing time was spent on the pj's.

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/10 - 12/16                7 of 7 days
2017 Total              338 of 351 days

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

Julie in GA

Mystery Monday Part 3

This is the third weekly post to share progress on the new Bonnie Hunter mystery "On Ringo Lake." I didn't get much stitching done on this clue, just a few units to test Bonnie's different methods for making them. It's a good thing I checked, because my first attempts were coming out too big.

I got lots of the diamond pieces cut, but still need to cut many more background triangles to go with them.

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake 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 12/10/17

It seems like the floodgates have been opened for fabric buying around here. After adding only 8.25 yards of fabric to my stash through nearly 11 months this year, I succumbed to the Black Friday sales once again. It started with a trip to JoAnn's to get one fabric for a Christmas gift (plus a couple other pieces of course. These were counted in my stash report last week.) That was closely followed by orders to both Connecting Threads and Hancock's of Paducah.

Below you can see my many additions. My main goal was to get more greys to use in the Bonnie Hunter mystery "On Ringo Lake," and I was successful on that count. I have gotten everything washed up and look forward to cutting into it very soon.

Magenta & Grey Sampler from Connecting Threads

Other fabrics from Connecting Threads

Fabrics from Hancock's of Paducah

My only disappointment with my purchases was that the fat quarter bundle that I got from Hancock's (XOXO by Michele D'Amore, shown across the bottom of the photo) did not include the same fabrics as had been shown on their website. There were a couple of prints that I might have bought yardage of if I had known they weren't going to come with the bundle. 

The totals for the week: +9.5 yards from Connecting Threads and +6 yards from Hancock's. No fabric used for the week.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              0.0 yards

Used year to date:       90.25 yards

Added last week:         15.50 yards
Added year to date:     33.25 yards

Net used year to date: 57 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 was able to find some time for quilting every day over the past week, although most days were only short periods of time, no full-day sewing sessions.

15 Minute Challenge:  
12/3 - 12/9                 7 of 7 days
2017 Total            331 of 343 days

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

Julie in GA

Scrappy Saturday 12/9/17

I'm excited to have a finished quilt to share this week, even though I wasn't the person who finished it. Sometimes you just need a partner in crime (or quilting.)

Regular readers of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts will remember the group of blocks I was making in April when our color assignment was "multicolor." The blocks were based on the pattern "Tranquil Treasures" from the book Strips and Strings: 16 Sparkling Quilts by Evelyn Sloppy. I was trying to use up a collection of 2" watercolor strips from the late 1990's, and the fabrics just didn't excite me. I made enough blocks for a throw quilt, then set them all aside.

In September, Cynthia of Quilting is more fun than Housework hosted her fall Quilty Adoption Event. I offered my multicolor blocks up for adoption, with the preference that they be finished as part of a donation quilt. The winner was Chris in Shelby, NC. A couple days ago she sent me this photo of the finished quilt which will be donated by her quilt guild to the local women's shelter. I'm so pleased that she got it done so quickly and that it is going to a wonderful cause. Great job Chris!

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

Mystery Monday (on Sunday) 12/4/17

It's not Monday yet, but Bonnie has posted the link-up for her 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake" a day early due to her teaching/travel schedule. We got the directions for Part 2 on Friday, making lots of flying geese units. I have around 60 done, plus plenty more still to make.

My color scheme is a complete change from Bonnie's. She used turquoise/aqua (my reds), dark brown (my blacks) and coral/melon where I have the greys. Just as I feared, my range of greys may have spread a bit too far. Some are almost as dark as the blacks at the centers of the nine-patches. Others are so light, they practically disappear into the black-on-white backgrounds. I will have to try to stick closer to the medium greys.

I'm joining the link-up for the On Ringo Lake mystery over at Bonnie's Quiltville blog. I'm also linking up to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework, 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 12/03/17

For the first time in several months, my stash additions are going up more than the amount used. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I did some shopping for a planned Christmas gift, plus some fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery and some Kona solids for future projects. Altogether, 9.5 yards added. The only usage was 3/8 yard for the border on my Ring Cycles quilt. Check out the red print with the tiny sewing machines--too cute!

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            .375 yards

Used year to date:       90.25 yards

Added last week:           9.50 yards
Added year to date:     17.75 yards

Net used year to date: 72.5 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 was only able to manage five days over the past week, but my numbers for the year are still very good.

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/26 - 12/2                5 of 7 days
2017 Total            324 of 336 days

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

Julie in GA

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