January 2018 OMG Completed!

2017 was my year of making Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Every month was a new color, and I made 4-6 blocks each month, occasionally even more. I adapted Bonnie Hunter's pattern, substituting 3" strips instead of the 2.5" strips she uses. My blocks finish at 15".

I was able to complete two quilt tops from those blocks, one using warm colors and one using all cool colors.

Warm Scrappy Trips
60" x 75"

Cool Scrappy Trips
72" x 89"

At the beginning of January, I shared this photo of the Scrappy Trips  blocks that were left over after I completed my two quilt tops. My goal for the month was to make three more green blocks, then get all the blocks joined together into yet another top.

Cool Scrappy Trips II
60" x 75"

I'm happy to report that finishing this quilt top was my January goal for the One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts. Month #1 for 2018 was a success! I'm so pleased to have all three of these quilt tops completed!

Linking up to:      One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
                          Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/29/18

A recent excavation through a pile on the corner of my cutting table unearthed a zipper bag full of light blue scraps and blocks from several years ago. I had set them aside at the time because I wasn't happy with the way they were working out. Light blue is our color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so it seemed like the right time to make another attempt with these. Here are the five blocks that were in the bag. I call them Baby Blue Boxes.

I spent some time over the weekend cutting and piecing more of the rectangle units for the blocks. I completed enough to make ten more blocks, which are now up on the design wall along with the original five blocks (but not joined together.)

If I make enough units for five more blocks, I can put them all together to get a small quilt that would measure around 40" x 50", a good size for a kid's donation quilt. Working on these easy blocks was a welcome break from the tons of little pieces in my On Ringo Lake mystery quilt that I shared last Monday.

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

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 1/28/18

Very small changes continue to show up on my stash report, but I'm hoping for something bigger before much longer. I used 3/8 yard to make 3 variations of the Flying Dutchman pattern. No fabric was added to the stash this week! Here are my newest blocks.

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             .375 yards

Used year to date:         3.25 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     2.125 yards
Net used year to date:   1.125 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. This was my first full 40-hour week at work since mid-December thanks to all the holidays and snow days, but I still managed to get in 15 minutes every day. I'm maintaining my 100% success rate for another week!

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/21 - 1/27           7 of 7 days
2018 Total          27 of 27 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

Scraphappy in Blues

It must have been back in November when our color assignment for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was black or brown. About that same time, my music man was playing for a production of the opera The Flying Dutchman. That inspired me to make a few blocks using the patterns known as Flying Dutchman and Dutchman's Puzzle. This week I added three more blocks to that group, all featuring this month's color of light blue.

Flying Dutchman/Dutchman's Puzzle 8" & 12" blocks

I'm not sure that the block with light blue around the outside works with the rest, but it will stay in for now--maybe I will add a few more using blue as the background to balance things out. I was also unhappy to discover that one of my blocks is spinning in the opposite direction of the rest, but I don't find it to be too distracting. I have found several more design variations to try in coming weeks. 

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 1/22/18

There have been several quilt projects in the works around here over the past few weeks. The biggest one is Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." As usual, Bonnie's design is made up of many, many small pieces. My plan has been to make a smaller version of the pattern with 32 blocks instead of Bonnie's 50 blocks. So far, I have completed 23 of the blocks. Here they are up on the design wall along with sashing units and cornerstones.

On Ringo Lake mystery quilt, design by Bonnie Hunter

I'm still playing with ideas for the setting triangles--you can see my first attempt up top, a variation on Bonnie's design. Actually, this was my second try at the same idea because the first one came out too small. I ended up drawing the shape for the red pieces out on graph paper, adding seam allowance, and cutting it out to use as a template.

Once I decide if anything up on the wall needs to move, I can start joining these blocks and sashing into rows. That will make it easier to take down off the design wall if necessary. I also need to figure out how many more flying geese, corner units and sashing chevrons are needed for my version. I will keep plugging away at it and hope to have the top together before the end of February.

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

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 1/21/18

The MLK holiday on Monday and a snow day on Wednesday meant more stitching time than usual this week. With that much time, it seems like my stash numbers should be changing more than they are, but I didn't get many things far enough along to count. Most of my stitching time was spent on Bonnie Hunter's "On Ringo Lake" mystery, and I'm waiting until I decide how big to go with my quilt before I calculate my fabric usage.

I did use 1/2 yard to make my two Scraptastic Star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. One block is made from 2" squares, the other from 2.5" squares. Here's a rerun of the photo I shared yesterday for the RSC.

Scraptastic Stars
pattern by Melissa Corry

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              .50 yards

Used year to date:       2.875 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     2.125 yards

Net used year to date: .75 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. The two extra days off during the week were put to good use in the sewing room, and I'm maintaining my 100% success rate for another week!

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/14 - 1/20            7 of 7 days
2018 Total          20 of 20 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

Scraptastic Stars for January

My primary 2018 project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Scraptastic Stars, a design by Melissa Corry. I got a jump on making these blocks back in October when I made a test block in pink. Actually, I made two pink blocks, one based on 2" squares (the size used in Melissa's pattern), and the other from 2.5" squares. I couldn't decide which size I preferred, so I am making one block in each size every month. 

Friday night I finished my two blocks using light to medium blues, our January color assignment for the RSC. One of the best things about making these blocks is that I have a bin full of squares that are already cut. I just need to choose the ones I want to use. Here is my smaller block, made from 2" squares. This block will finish at 12".

My larger block, which will finish at 16", is made from 2.5" squares.

The blocks look like the same size in the close-up photos, so here is a shot of the two of them together, showing you the difference in scale.

Scraptastic Stars
pattern by Melissa Corry

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 1/15/18

One of my quilting goals for 2018 is to put together some of my collections of quilt blocks into quilt tops. Most of the groups waiting to be assembled were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, including today's project. 

Last year I made Ribbon Star blocks, and I am joining them together into groups of four by color. Blue and orange are done, with green and yellow still to finish.

Each group of four stars will finish at 15". They were all made from my drawer of 3" strips combined with white-on-white backgrounds.

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

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 1/14/18

My stash report numbers for 2018 are back in the black, but just barely. I used .75 yard to make three Scrappy Trips blocks to go along with the other blocks I had left from the past year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. When I put them up on the design wall for a photo, I realized that I had never considered setting these blocks on-point, but it's an interesting possibility.

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:            .750 yards

Used year to date:       2.375 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:     2.125 yards

Net used year to date: .25 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. It was a very good week, with 30 - 60 minutes of quilting time most days. I'm making excellent progress on a few different projects.

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/7 - 1/13             7 of 7 days
2018 Total          13 of 13 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

Squared Away with Blue Scraps

I tried to resist joining in with the new Squared Away sampler at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but my resolve didn't last long. Angela, our hostess for the RSC, and Mari of The Academic Quilter have joined forces on this year's project. They are posting a new pattern every month with options for making the blocks in different sizes. Each block is based on a 5 x 5 grid, so we can make our blocks to finish at 5", 7.5", 10", 15" etc. Just like the RSC, there's lots of flexibility. You can find more information at Angela's blog HERE or at Mari's blog HERE.

I decided to work with 7.5" blocks, and I'm going to use a grey print as the background. Our RSC color for January is light/medium blue. Here are my first few pieces being auditioned on the grey fabric--I am already learning that I need to keep my colors bright to prevent them from looking too drab against the grey.

I've completed my three Squared Away blocks for January, and I also made two blocks from the Patchwork Quilt Along that was running on the Fat Quarter Shop blog last year. Those blocks were also based on a 5 x 5 grid, so they will fit very well with the Squared Away blocks. I just checked their blog page, and the patterns are still available there if you click on the QAL name above.

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 Finale

Monday is our last opportunity to link up with Bonnie Hunter's 2017 mystery "On Ringo Lake." Bonnie revealed her finished quilt on New Year's Day, and it is gorgeous! There hasn't been much progress on mine, but I'm excited to share what has gotten done.

I've finished eight blocks so far. None of the sashing units are stitched together yet, just hanging out on the design wall. I'm planning to make one change to Bonnie's pattern--where she had brown squares as the cornerstones for the sashing, which would translate to black squares on mine, but instead I am going to use red squares. I wanted to punch up the amount of red in the center of the quilt. No idea if I will follow her pattern for the setting triangles or make changes to that too. My current plan is to make a smaller quilt than Bonnie's, maybe 32 blocks instead of 50.

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

One Monthly Goal--January 2018

For some reason, I have been struggling to decide on my One Monthly Goal for January. In fact, I can't seem to settle on any quilting goals at all, either for this month or for the whole year. There have been some years in the past 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. Listing those goals helped me stay more focused on specific projects instead of playing around with every new idea that comes along (although there definitely needs to be some time to play too!)

I know that one of the reasons I'm having a hard time deciding what to work on is the fact that my sewing room is in desperate need of a serious clean-up. There are too many projects and too many piles accumulating on my cutting table, making it very difficult to be productive. What I really should do is put my projects on hold for a month and concentrate on organizing (but that won't happen.)

This monthly goal needs to be realistic. After completing two quilt tops, I still have a stack of extra Scrappy Trips blocks left from my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from 2017. I need 3 more green blocks in order to have enough for another throw quilt. My January goal is to make those remaining blocks and get all the blocks joined together. Finally, a decision!

Scrappy Trips Around the World
pattern by Bonnie Hunter

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 February. I am joining the One Monthly Goal link-up for January at Elm Street Quilts. Check it out to see what others are hoping to get done this month!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 1/7/18

It's time for the first stash report of the new year. This is one of the few times that I wished I could roll over my net total from last year into this year. Most years I have ended up adding more fabric to my stash than I have used, anywhere from 3.25 to 70 yards added in a year. In 2017, I was able to greatly limit my additions and finished the year with a net total of over 58 yards used. 

I'm in the red for this first report of 2018. I used 1.625 yards for the border on my Cool Scrappy Trips quilt top. That was wiped out by my purchases yesterday--a charm pack of Blueberry Park and a scrap bag that ended up with close to 1.5 yards stuffed into it.

Blueberry Park charms (plus unknown grey print at the top)
These will make a great kid's quilt!

Assorted "scraps"--mostly full width or 1/2 width strips x 4" - 8" long

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:           1.625 yards

Used year to date:       1.625 yards

Added last week:         2.125 yards
Added year to date:     2.125 yards

Net stashed year to date: .5 yards

I am very glad that Kate at Life in Pieces has decided to restart her 15 Minutes to Stitch link-up. This was a challenge she hosted a few years ago, and she has decided that there is enough interest to try it again. We all keep track of how many days each week we find at least 15 minutes for quilting, with the idea that even 15 minutes will help move our projects along. Every little bit helps! I also find that once I get started in the sewing room, that 15 minutes frequently turns into 30 minutes or an hour or even more. 

I'm counting since the 1st of the year, so only six days this week. I did manage to do some quilting every day, so I'm starting at 100%!

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/1 - 1/6                6 of 6 days
2018 Total              6 of 6 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

Ring Cycles top complete!

This is one of my favorite types of quilt designs, one that gives the look of curves but is entirely pieced with straight lines. The pattern is Ring Cycles, a Jack's Chain Variation by Lessa Siegele. If you click on the name, you will be taken to Craftsy for the pattern, and there are photos of different versions to see too.

Ring Cycles quilt top, 62" x 78"

It seems like it has taken a long time for this quilt top to be completed. It started as a collection of nine-patch blocks that were being made in January of 2016 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I decided early on to not do a full rainbow, but to limit my color choices to blues, teals/turquoises and purples. The blocks around the outer edges of the quilt have only four color squares instead of five. I made stacks and stacks of blocks, not knowing how many I would need. 

The biggest challenge came when the blocks were made and it was time to start joining them to the background hexagons and triangles. Every seam was 3" long and needed to be backstitched at both ends, stopping at the 1/4" intersections. I made a half-hearted attempt at assembly, then packed it all away into a box for over a year. It wasn't until last summer when I discovered Marti Michell's Perfect Patchwork Templates for 3" hexagons and other related shapes. The templates have holes at the corners that work great for marking the ends of seams. It was still a slow process to put everything together, but those templates were the exact tool I needed to get me back on track.

I finished the quilt top just after Thanksgiving, but didn't have a chance to get good photos at that time. We had snow in Atlanta in early December, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some outdoor shots. I love this one with the snow-covered trees in the background.

This was not a quick and easy project by any means, but it was definitely worth the time and effort. There were times when I didn't believe this quilt top would ever be completed, but it's done and I love how it turned out!

Linking up to:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Add

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

             

Julie in GA