Design Wall Monday 8/31/2020

I finished joining together the rest of my Orange Peel blocks last week (you can see the finished quilt top HERE), then spent most of the remaining time in the sewing room quilting the borders on my Dresden Stars quilt. After the borders were all quilted, I lay the quilt out on a big table and made a sad discovery.

The borders and the blocks all lay nice and flat, but the setting triangles are too poofy (a very technical term!) You can especially see the fullness in the upper left triangles. I've already started adding more quilting to those areas and hope it helps smooth out the extra fullness. Fingers crossed!

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 35, 2020

This week's Stash Report shows some usage and no new additions. The fabric used was 1/4 yard for my purple Scrappy Bear Paw block and one yard for the remaining Orange Peel blocks that were added to all the blocks made last year. Both of these photos are repeats from earlier posts, just to show where the fabric went.

Scrappy Bear Paw, 14" block

Orange Peel Rainbow quilt top, 36.5" x 48.5"

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                               1.25 yards

Used year to date:                      131.375 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                       38.75 yards

Net used year to date              92.625 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. Getting the Orange Peel blocks joined together into a top was my main focus at the beginning of the week, and since then I've been concentrating on machine quilting my Dresden Stars quilt. I've spent much more than 15 minutes quilting every day.

15 Minute Challenge:  

8/23 - 8/29               7 of 7 days

2020 Total          233 of 242 days

The sewing room clean-up slowed down this week because I was spending most of my time sewing. I will get back to sorting and organizing next week.

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

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 35, 2020

My collection of Scrappy Bear Paw blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge increased by one more last week with the addition of a purple block. Be sure to check out the amazingly cute background fabric in the close-up shot. It is from the collection "On the Lighter Side" by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

Scrappy Bear Paw, 14" block

As usual, I felt the need to put all of my blocks up on the wall together. I'm still debating whether to set them straight or on point. This straight set would end up at a good size if I make four more blocks. We still have red and yellow coming up, plus I would need to do two extras.

I don't know how I would use a total of 10 blocks in the on-point setting, maybe some would be divided into separate "paws" to fill the side triangles. There is still some time before those decisions need to be made.

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 

Orange Peel Rainbow

My Orange Peel quilt was started in December of 2018 when I made a couple of sample blocks as a test project for 2019. At that time I had a 20-30 minute train ride to and from work each day, and I liked having a hand-stitching project to help pass that time on the train.

My blocks are quite small, only 3" finished, and I made them in each color of the month as assigned by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I didn't have a definite layout or number planned at the beginning, just kept making about a dozen blocks each month.  In October of 2019, I tried out a few layout options and decided on my plan. That meant continuing to make blocks well into 2020, but I'm done now!

The last Orange Peel blocks were stitched earlier this month, and I finished joining them all together a couple days ago. I used 192 blocks in this quilt top (16 rows of 12 blocks) and have about 15 extras that didn't make it into the quilt top.

Orange Peel Rainbow, 36.5" x 48.5"

As you can see in this closer photo, my peels don't quite reach to the corners of the blocks. That was intentional--after making a couple of sample blocks, I discovered how difficult it was to get the peel points precisely lined up at the corners, and I knew it would be very hard to match them up when stitching blocks together. Setting them back a bit helped a great deal in that regard.

I considered adding a narrow border of the background fabrics around the outside, but the quilt is currently the perfect size for a spot where I would like to display it. Therefore, I am declaring this quilt top done! I'm eager to get it layered and quilted, but it will have to wait until a current project is finished. 

All of this also means a success with my One Monthly Goal for August. My goal was to finish making the rest of my Orange Peel blocks. I not only did that, but got them all joined together too--bonus!

Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Tuesday To-Do List 8/25/2020

Another week is gone, which means it is time once again for the To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. I made progress on all of my projects, which feels good, even though I didn't finish every goal on last week's list.

To-do list for 8/18 - 8/24:

1. Orange Peels--applique last 4 blocks, begin joining blocks together   ✔ done

I made my first hand-appliqued Orange Peel blocks in December, 2018, and the final blocks were stitched last week. I have started joining them together and have two quarters of the quilt done. You can see the first quarter in yesterday's post, and here is the upper left quarter of the quilt.

2. RSC Square Dance--make 8 more purple/pink blocks                       ✔ done

I ended up making 16 more purple and pink Square Dance blocks, finishing off what I needed for August. You can see all 32 blocks in Saturday's post.

3. Dresden Stars--attach borders and begin quilting them       progress

I got the borders stitched to the center of the quilt, but haven't started quilting them yet. I'm pleasantly surprised that they lay fairly flat and hope that continues to be true once they are quilted.

       

4. Scrappy Bear's Paw--make 1 purple block                                 ✔ done

No photos of this block yet.

5. Cleaning/organization--start going through UFOs                       ✔ done

I spent large parts of two days sorting through my many UFOs. Some were set aside to be given away in the near future, and the fabrics from others were put back into the fabric stash. Now I need to get busy finishing some of the rest!

My main project for the week ahead will be to finish the Orange Peel quilt top.

To-do list for 8/25 - 8/31:

1. Orange Peels--finish joining blocks together

2. Dresden Stars--start quilting borders

3. Continue cleaning up the sewing room (the never-ending goal!)

That should be plenty to keep me busy for the next week. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us .

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/24/2020

The last few of my Orange Peel applique blocks were stitched up last week, and you better believe there was a little happy dance going on when the final one was done! The arrangement of blocks had already been figured out, so I was able to move directly to joining blocks together. I've got 1/4 of the blocks stitched together here, and the next group are waiting at the machine.

Maybe I will have a finished quilt top by the end of the week!

One thing I did before stitching the blocks together was a little color correction to the backgrounds of two blocks. One of them was the bright green block in the 2nd row from the bottom that looks like rows of knitting. Here's a close-up of that block and another with the same background fabric.

When I had those blocks on the wall with all the others, the amount of white in the background fabric really jumped out at me. I ran across some fabric markers while cleaning my sewing room recently (see, it really does pay to clean up!), and decided to try using those to darken this background fabric. After testing it on a fabric scrap, I carefully colored in some of the white areas on my block. In the pairing below, the green block is done, but the red is not.

Here they are with both blocks colored in. I pressed the blocks with a hot iron after using the marker to help set the color. It's not the neatest looking up close, but it accomplishes what I set out to do. The blocks blend in much better with the rest of the quilt now.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 34, 2020

My time at home is largely spent hanging out in my sewing room, playing with whatever project catches my attention. Some days can be very focused and productive, but at other times, it seems like very little gets done. Lately I'm mostly trying to keep moving projects forward and not get stressed out about getting anything done by a certain time. It's a relief to not have to meet deadlines, and the only goals are the ones I set for myself.

I worked on a few different projects last week, but the only one that is being counted on the stash report today is my Stashbuster Square Dance quilt. I made 32 purple and pink blocks over the past few weeks, using a total of 3/4 yard of fabric. You can see the blocks in yesterday's post.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                                 .75 yards

Used year to date:                      130.125 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                       38.75 yards

Net used year to date              91.375 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. As I said earlier, I've been working on a few different projects, and I've gotten in at least 15 minutes, usually much more, every day.

15 Minute Challenge:  

8/16 - 8/22               7 of 7 days

2020 Total          226 of 235 days

My big project for the cleaning/reorganization of the sewing room last week was to go through my quilt UFO's. At the moment that has left me with even more of a mess than I had before, but I'm making progress toward getting them sorted out. I'm even planning to get rid of a few in the near future.

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

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 34, 2020

My next set of Square Dance blocks is complete and ready to be added to the collection for this Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. This month's color was purple, and my blocks combined it with pink scraps. I've already made other blocks that combine purple with blue, plus some that used pink with red.

I believe we only have two more colors to go for the RSC this year, and I think they are yellow and red. I'm eager to get the blocks finished in those colors and get them all joined together in beautiful rainbow scrappiness!

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 

Tuesday To-Do List 8/18/2020

It is time once again for the To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. I got a little bit obsessed with one project, but still managed to get through my whole list from last week

To-do list for 8/11 - 8/17:

1. Dresden Stars--continue assembly         ✔ done

The center section of the quilt is all quilted and joined together. The next step is to add the borders, then quilt them.

2. Orange Peel--applique 5 more blocks      ✔ done (+ 2 extra)

3. RSC Square Dance--make 8 more purple/pink blocks   ✔ done

4. Cleaning/organization     ✔ done

I sorted through my collection of English Paper Piecing supplies and put away fabrics and scraps from past EPP projects.

The focus for the next week will be the Orange Peel quilt. There are only a few more blocks to make, then I can begin assembly.

To-do list for 8/18 - 8/24:

1. Orange Peels--applique last 4 blocks, begin joining blocks together

2. RSC Square Dance--make 8 more purple/pink blocks

3. Dresden Stars--attach borders and begin quilting them

4. Scrappy Bear's Paw--make 1 purple block

5. Cleaning/organization--start going through UFOs

That should be plenty to keep me busy for the next week. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us .

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/17/2020

One design wall is completely covered will Orange Peel blocks waiting for the last few blocks to be appliqued, then they can all get stitched together. The project on the other design wall is my Dresden Stars quilt, which is slowly getting it's parts assembled. I attached the second corner a few days ago, so now the center is all together and quilted.

The border areas are a little wavy, but I think that's because the center is all quilted and the borders are not. I'm hoping it will smooth out once I attach the border fabrics and quilt them down. There will be a narrow border of the dark gold that is shown along the left side, plus a wide border of a deep blue print. Wish me luck getting them to the right size and laying flat!

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching, DeStashing and Organizing--Week 33, 2020

Last week was not the most productive week ever in my sewing room, but I did get a few things done. One thing was to add the border to a very purple baby quilt, which was shared in yesterday's post. That border used 3/8 yard from my stash, and no new fabric was added.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                               .375 yards

Used year to date:                      129.375 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                       38.75 yards

Net used year to date              90.625 yards

My quilting time seems to be primarily focused on finishing up the hand appliqued Orange Peel blocks that I've been making for over a year and a half. I'm working on the blue and purple blocks that will finish off the outer corners (you can see my planned layout HERE.) These are the most recent blocks to be finished, and there are 6 or 8 blocks still to be done. I am very eager to get this quilt top put together!

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've been doing more hand stitching than anything else, but it was definitely at least 15 minutes every day. There was a little bit of clean-up going on, but not as much as the past few weeks.

15 Minute Challenge:  

8/9 - 8/15                 7 of 7 days

2020 Total          219 of 228 days

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

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 33, 2020

A recent bout of cleaning in the sewing room turned up a stack of purple 4-patches, which were made from 3" strips leftover after making Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2017. Here are the Scrappy Trips blocks from back then and HERE is a link to the quilt tops I made with them.

It wasn't really part of my plan to do anything with those leftover 4-patches right now, but I ended up sewing them all together into a very purple baby quilt. I tried to keep the lightest squares scattered evenly around the top. After the border was added, it measures 36.5" x 46.5".

I like purple okay, but it has never been one of my favorite colors. However, I know there are other people who are absolutely crazy for purple, and I hope that one day I will know of one who is expecting a baby, because this will be perfect for them!

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 

Tuesday To-Do List 8/11/2020

It is time once again for the To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us. I got through my entire list last week and am motivated to do the same again this week!

To-do list for 8/4 - 8/10:

1. Dresden Stars--begin joining sections together             ✔ done

The long center diagonal section was joined to one of the corner sections. The red diagonal stripe on the backing covers up the joining seam.

2. Orange Peels--hand applique at least four blocks          ✔ done (plus one extra)

3. RSC Square Dance--make 8 purple/pink blocks            ✔ done

4. Cleaning/organization--go through drawers under ironing board      ✔ done

One of the top drawers holds CD's, but the rest all have quilting supplies. The other top drawer was crammed full of pens and pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc., plus a few drawing/drafting tools like compasses and protractors. Here's the collection spread out on the ironing board, then neatly arranged in the drawer after getting rid of some and relocating others.

The next drawer held an assortment of many types of pins, plus a few other things that didn't need to stay there. The pins have been sorted out, and I haven't yet figured out what will end up in the left side of this drawer. The only things there now are some sheets of tracing/transfer paper.

The bottom drawer has all sorts of threads, and these aren't even the ones I use regularly for piecing. There are heavy-weight threads, invisible, metallics, rayon, and some cotton threads that I keep in case I need a specific color. There are also some machine attachments in the back corner. 

This is my ironing station after cleaning up. I even washed the fabric covering the ironing board. Someday I hope to convert this to a "Big Board" type top that can sit on the dresser as a larger ironing surface.

The goals for next week are mostly continuations of the last week.

To-do list for 8/11 - 8/17:

1. Dresden Stars--continue assembly

2. Orange Peel--applique 5 more blocks

3. RSC Square Dance--make 8 more purple/pink blocks

4. Cleaning/organization--I haven't decided what to do next, but I'll find something!

That should be plenty to keep me busy for the next week. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us .

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 8/10/2020

While pulling out my purple scraps for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, I ran across a batch of purple 4-patch blocks that were made a few years ago. The last time I looked at these was last September, when our color of the month was also purple. At that time I considered a couple of different layouts for the blocks. The first version has the lightest squares running in a diagonal line down the center, and the second has them scattered around randomly.

I decided that random was the better way to go, but I wanted to change the setting from a 7x7 square to a 6x8 rectangle. After arranging all the blocks on the design wall, I got to work joining them together. Here they are all stitched together, with some border options being auditioned.

The border decision is to use the brighter purple that is shown along the bottom edge. The other two are just too dark or dull. Adding a 3" finished border will bring this quilt to a finished size of 36" x 46". 

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching, DeStashing and Organizing--Week 32, 2020

Last week was a good one for the stash reduction efforts. I used 1/2 yard for the lavender pinwheels I showed in yesterday's post, and I gave away 5.5 yards of assorted fabrics to a friend. It felt good to pass some of the stash along to someone else who can use it, and she was very happy to get some "new-to-her" fabrics.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                                6.0 yards

Used year to date:                         129.0 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                       38.75 yards

Net used year to date                90.25 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've spent plenty of time in the sewing room each day, some of it cutting or stitching, more of it continuing with the clean-up efforts. 

15 Minute Challenge:  

8/2 - 8/8                   7 of 7 days

2020 Total          212 of 221 days

The main organizational job last week was to go through the drawers of the dresser that has my ironing board sitting on top of it. I also sorted through some pieces from a variety of projects that had collected next to my machine. That's where I found the 30's triangles that became pinwheel blocks, plus many other bits and scraps, especially leftover triangles.

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

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 32, 2020

I had big plans to make some purple and pink Square Dance blocks last week, but it hasn't happened yet. Instead, my main project was cleaning up and starting to go through some of the piles around my sewing machine. There was one stack of already-cut pieces that just needed to be stitched up right away.

Our color for the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple, so these lovely 30's lavenders fit right in with that. The colors came out a little dull in the photo. I have over 100 more pinwheel blocks made from 30's fabrics, just waiting to become a cheerful quilt or two. I am especially fond of these fabrics for baby quilts.

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 

Tuesday To-Do List 8/4/2020

Once again, I am joining the To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us. Last week was a productive one, although I did not complete all three of my goals for the week

To-do list for 7/28 - 8/3:

1.  Dresden Stars--continue quilting, begin joining sections      progress

2.  Orange Peel--choose fabrics for the last group of blocks      ✔ done

3.  Cleaning/organization--go through closet #2                      ✔ done

On the Dresden Stars quilt, I did the free-motion quilting in the setting and corner triangles, but have not started joining sections together. Here are photos of the quilting in a side triangle. The first shot is from the top where the quilting doesn't really show very well against the busy print fabric, and the other is the back side. Isn't that crazy backing fabric great?! Who wouldn't love a fabric with Can-can girls on it?

For the Orange Peels project, I did put all the finished blocks up on the wall over the weekend (check it out in yesterday's post) and chose fabrics for the remaining blocks. At that time there were 3 yellow, 7 blue, and 9 purple blocks still to make, but I have since finished the yellow ones.

As for the sewing room organization, I did go through the second closet, but it doesn't look much different than last week's "before" photo. I also sorted out some boxes of basic sewing notions and reduced my stash of those, plus started looking through old magazines with the plan to scan patterns I want to keep, then get rid of the magazines.

To-do list for 8/4 - 8/10:

1. Dresden Stars--begin joining sections together

2. Orange Peels--hand applique at least four blocks

3. RSC Square Dance--make 8 purple/pink blocks

4. Cleaning/organization--go through ironing cabinet

Here are some of the Orange Peel blocks that I will be stitching. These blocks will finish at 3" square.

That should be plenty to keep me busy for the next week. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us .

Julie in GA