Stitching and DeStashing--Week 17, 2020

Working at home has proven to have unexpected challenges. I thought it would be easier because the work projects involve sewing, and I do that at home all the time already. We started out making masks, which were small and very manageable. The repetition was rather dull, but then I contributed some of my own fabrics and the variety made the project more interesting.

Last week we switched over to making gowns for Grady Hospital. We are working on this project along with the Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet costume shops. Those two groups are working out of their shops, but we have to work at home because the arts center is still closed. The gowns are being made from hospital sheets. For me that meant completely rearranging the dining room in order to set up two plastic folding tables to use as a cutting table. I also moved several things around in the sewing room so I could set up my serger and a zigzag machine. My already messy sewing space is now in complete disarray!

All of this has made it harder for me to get much quilting done. I've slowly been making more parts for my revision of the Frolic mystery. Yesterday I powered through the rest of my Square Dance blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The new blocks are the light blue/dark blue combo, and here they are with some of the turquoise/light blue blocks from last month.

I forgot to count those turquoise/light blue blocks last month. Today I am reporting 1.5 yards used for 60 Square Dance blocks in March and April. No new fabric added.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             1.5 yards

Used year to date:                       91.5 yards

Added last week:                           0.0 yards

Added year to date:                     2.75 yards

Net used year to date            88.75 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. Spending most of the day at the sewing machine making gowns has made it hard for me to go back to the machine after dinner to quilt. I missed a couple days this week, but my totals are still very good.

15 Minute Challenge:  

4/19 - 4/25                  5 of 7 days

2020 Total             110 of 116 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 17, 2020

One of my quilting goals at the beginning of the year was to make one Stashbuster Square Dance block every day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. There have been some months when I've had no problem keeping up with these blocks, and then there is April, when nothing has been normal. As of yesterday, I had 14 blocks done for this month.

After a full-court press earlier today, I finished up the rest of the blocks for April with a total of 30. Our color for the month is light blue, and I have used that with medium-darker blues in my blocks. They will not be arranged quite like this in the finished quilt when they are combined with more colors.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA

Frolic on Design Wall Monday--4/20/20

All of the blocks for my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2019 mystery quilt "Frolic" have been hanging around on the design wall for almost a month. Over the weekend I decided it was time to start joining them together. Here's what has been on the wall since late March. The bottom row is cut off a bit by a table in front of the design wall.

As I got started sewing the parts of one lower corner together, I realized that one reason I've been avoiding joining these blocks was that I am not happy with the size my quilt is ending up. Bonnie's original design was for a quilt that finished at 82" x 82". I made a little over half as many parts, and my quilt as shown would finish at around 57" square before borders--not the most useful size for a quilt. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and make some more blocks, a task I've been avoiding, but I know I will be happier with the end result. I'm going to change the quilt from a square into a rectangle, with my estimated size being 57" x 75" before borders.

Because I have a very limited selection of pale aqua fabrics, I am going to turn four of the half blocks shown around the outer edges of the quilt into whole blocks, plus make one new whole block. I will also make six new half blocks to surround the center, repeating the fabrics from other half blocks. I spent a large portion of the weekend digging out the right fabrics and cutting pieces, then did a little sewing. The first couple of new half blocks are completed!

There are many more parts left to make for this quilt because of my change in plans, but I know I will be happier with the final product. The extra time and work will definitely be worth it in the long run.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 16, 2020

There have been many times in recent years when I wondered how other quilters manage to use so much fabric each week or month. The current stretch of time spent at home is giving me a very good preview of what that is like. When you are at home all the time and spend a large portion of each day sewing, it's amazing how much fabric gets used up!

This week's Stash Report post is not going to include a photo of masks, although I did make over 100 of them last week, using 13.5 yards of fabric. My co-workers and I are now starting to make protective gowns, and the fabric for those is all being supplied to us. My stash usage numbers should get back to normal next week.

My quilting usage for the week was 1/4 yard for the Scrappy Bear Paw block shown in yesterday's post plus 6 yards for the Laundry Basket Quilts 2020 Mystery quilt top. I'm going to try sharing a close-up of part of the quilt again, because it doesn't seem to be showing up in my previous blog post about this quilt top.

Laundry Basket Quilts 2020 Mystery

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                         19.75 yards

Used year to date:                       90.0 yards

Added last week:                           0.0 yards

Added year to date:                     2.75 yards

Net used year to date            87.25 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. I did get some quilting time every day last week, but it's a struggle sometimes after a whole day of mask or gown making is over.

15 Minute Challenge:  

4/12 - 4/18                  7 of 7 days

2020 Total             105 of 109 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 16, 2020

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been a regular part of my quilting and blogging routine ever since 2013. That was the first year that I joined in with the RSC, and I've never slowed down! One thing that I have learned about myself and my quilting preferences is that I love making scrappy blocks that can include many different fabrics of a single color. This year that has lead to my Scrappy Bear Paw blocks.

I was especially excited to make this month's block in light/bright blues because it meant I got to use one of the best background fabrics ever! 

This paper airplanes print was part of a line called "On the Lighter Side" from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I've been waiting eagerly for the chance to use this piece. There are more fun fabrics still to come from that group!

I was able to clear off one of my design walls and put up all four Bear Paw blocks that have been made so far this year. I wish the background on the green block looked more white than limey green, but other than that, I'm very happy with how these are looking.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA

Laundry Basket Quilts 2020 Mystery--Quilt Top Done (maybe?)

Another week, another quilt top to show! That is highly unusual for me. Full disclosure: the Elvira top that I shared a few days ago (in this post) was actually completed on March 28th. It took a couple of weeks to get decent photos of it and write a blog post. Today's quilt top was just finished yesterday, April 12th.

2020 Mystery Quilt
60.5" x 60.5"

This is my version of the Laundry Basket Quilts 2020 Mystery by Edyta Sitar. For 15 consecutive days, from March 20th until April 3rd, Edyta shared a different quilt block pattern. Each day's block needed to be made 4-8 times (except for one day when our assignment was to make 16 of the daily block!) At the end of the 15 days, we would have a total of 100 blocks, all finishing at 6", which then were assembled into this lovely design. 

I started out well for the first couple of days, but soon got distracted by other projects. I returned to this QAL for the final week of block designs, and nearly managed to make up for lost time, completing my last set of blocks one day after the final block pattern was released. It took most of my free time last week to get all the blocks joined together into this top.

The close-up photo gives a better look at some of my fabrics. Edyta's version of the mystery quilt used her "Super Bloom" line of fabrics in lovely blues and rosy pinks. I had a bundle of fabrics from one of her earlier lines, "Something Blue" which was mostly blues and a few tan/light brown prints. Almost all of my blue fabrics in this quilt were from that line, plus a couple of the tans and about half of the cream background fabrics. The rest of the fabrics were pulled from my stash. It's times like this that I am so grateful to have that wonderful fabric stash!

"Something Blue" fabrics by Laundry Basket Quilts

The one remaining question with this quilt is whether or not to add any borders. The current size is 60.5" x 60.5", and it might be more useful if it were larger. I know there are some lovely blue and brown fabrics in my stash that could be used for borders. That is a decision I will be pondering over the coming week.

I had so much fun following along with this mystery quilt. The variety of different block patterns really helped keep it interesting, and Edyta's instructions were very clear. I believe the mystery will be removed from the Laundry Basket Quilts blog at some point soon, but I don't know if it has happened yet. If it's still there, I highly recommend downloading Edyta's patterns for this lovely quilt.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 15, 2020

It was another big week for stash usage, but it's hard to get excited about some of it. I used 15.5 yards of my quilting fabrics to make over 120 face masks this week. The masks in this photo all went to Emory Healthcare, plus there were some others made for family and neighbors. Making these has been a great way to work through many yards of stash fabric, but I wish they weren't needed at all.

On the quilting front, I used 5 yards for my Elvira quilt top (more info in THIS POST), plus 5.5 yards for the back. That puts my total used for the week at 26 yards, and there was no new fabric added. That is a very big week for me!

Elvira quilt top, 63.5" x 80.5"

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                           26.0 yards

Used year to date:                      70.25yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      2.75 yards

Net used year to date                67.5 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. After spending most of the day at the sewing machine making masks, it's been hard some evenings to go back in and sew some more on quilt projects. I did manage to get at least 15 minutes on 6 of the 7 days last week.

15 Minute Challenge:  

4/5 - 4/11                   6 of 7 days

2020 Total              98 of 102 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 15, 2020

Our color of the month for April at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is light/bright blue. That makes this the first month where I can show adjacent colored blocks for my Square Dance project. 

The top row of blocks is from last month and combines teal/turquoise with light blue. This month's blocks in the second row use light blues with darker blues. In some future month when our color is dark blue, I will make blocks that combine dark blue with purple. There will also be a month with medium/dark green as the assigned color, and I will make blocks using that with the remaining teal/turquoise fabrics. The blocks for every month will be made from a combination of two adjacent rainbow colors.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA

Elvira Top and Back Done!

Like so many quilters everywhere, the time at home trying to avoid contact with the coronavirus has meant more quilting time than usual. It's wonderful to have this creative outlet to distract me from watching too much news about things I can't control. 

Because so many of us are at home for the foreseeable future, there are lots of new mystery quilts and quilt-alongs starting up. I know I could be working on my on-going projects and UFOs, but it's so much more fun to start something new! One of my latest new projects is from the Elvira quilt-along hosted by Gudrun Erla a couple weeks ago. Here is a picture of Gudrun's version of the Elvira quilt.

Elvira quilt, pattern by Gudrun Erla of GE Designs

The Elvira pattern includes instructions for several different quilt sizes. It's just a matter of making more blocks for a bigger quilt. The quilt shown above is a throw quilt, and it uses 20 fat quarters. I happened to have a FQ bundle with exactly 20 fabrics--it was meant to be! The group of fabrics is called Blast Off! from Connecting Threads, and I believe I bought the fabrics 4-5 years ago. I love the fun prints and bright colors, but have always struggled to figure out how to use them. The large pieces in the Elvira pattern seemed a good choice for these fabrics.

Gudrun's quilt-along, held on March 22nd, consisted of Facebook Live segments every two hours. She would demonstrate each next step of the pattern and answer questions that quilters had sent in. It was great fun to see the quilt come together throughout the day, although I was not able to keep going all day long. Here is my first group of blocks.

I finished making the rest of the blocks the following weekend and tried out some different layout ideas with them. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have taken any photos, but believe me, they were not an improvement on Gudrun's design. I went back to the basic layout from her pattern. My Elvira quilt top measures 63.5" x 80.5".

Elvira quilt top, 63.5" x 80.5"

It certainly is bright! My hope is that some child who really likes spaceships and planets will love it. Here is a closer shot of some of the blocks.

The really unusual part of this project was that I pieced the back for it right away after finishing the top.  I had a 3-yard piece of flannel from the same line, and my goal was to feature the biggest possible piece of that fabric. The center panel is 2.5 yards long, with assorted other flannels from my stash to make the back wide enough.

Elvira quilt backing, all flannels

It was so much fun to join in with the quilt-along, and I had a great time making this easy-to-piece quilt!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 14, 2020

There has been plenty of quilting happening here, in between daily mask-making for work. None of the quilt projects are at the point where I can count the yardage used, but I can report 1/2 yard used for the face masks I made for us to wear when we go out.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             .50 yards

Used year to date:                      44.25 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      2.75 yards

Net used year to date               41.5 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. Quilting is definitely a great distraction and stress reliever in these uncertain times, and I've continued getting in at least 15 minutes every single day. It has been difficult to stay focused on my projects, but there is great comfort to be found in cutting and stitching fabric.

15 Minute Challenge:  

3/29 - 4/4                   7 of 7 days

2020 Total               92 of 95 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA