Stitching and DeStashing--Week 5, 2021

As we reach the end of January, my stash report still shows up as being in the red (more fabric added than used) thanks to a large purchase earlier this month. I have been making progress at chipping away at the total, and last week was a good one. I can report usage on three different quilts, all of them projects that I have been working on as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

My usage for last week was 3/8 yard for the Sew Colorful Stars block (the large block at the center of the photo,) 3/4 yard for the pink and black Glorified 9-Patch blocks shown top and bottom, and 1 yard for my daily Bowtie blocks (there are more of these that aren't in the photo). You can read more about these projects  and see additional photos in yesterday's post. Altogether, 2.125 yards used, and no new fabric has been added.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                          2.125 yards

Used year to date:                       9.625 yards

Added last week:                             0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net added year to date             1.875 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 continue to juggle several projects at a time, switching back and forth depending on whether I feel like cutting or stitching. I'm still at 100% on stitching time for the month!

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

1/24 - 1/30               7 of 7 days

2021 Total             30 of 30 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday #5, 2021

We are almost at the end of January, and there have been so many pink scraps getting used for Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts! This week I finished off my pink blocks for three different RSC projects. I am eager to find out what our new color will be for February.

My first pink set of blocks are for my Bowties 365 project. The pink pieces for all of these blocks had been cut several years ago when I was making Bowtie baby quilts. The blocks will finish at 5". My goal is to make one block every day of this year, and I am already ahead by a few.

My Glorified 9-Patch blocks were started in October as my new hand stitching project. Unfortunately, I haven't really been enjoying hand piecing these 6" blocks, so I have switched over to piecing them by machine. I finished four pink blocks this month.

My blocks will alternate light and dark backgrounds. I'm looking forward to getting some more colors into this mix.

Sew Colorful Stars is one of those patterns that I knew would be a great choice for the RSC when I discovered it at the Fat Quarter Shop last fall. Each 16" block contains 48 half-square triangles, the perfect place to go scrappy!

I have two more Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects that I shared earlier in the month. They are the Scrap Magnet blocks and the 30's Kaleidoscopes. It's going to be a busy year for my rainbow of scraps!

Scrap Magnet blocks

pattern by Kirsty at Bonjour Quilts

30's Kaleidoscopes, 6" blocks

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday.

Julie in GA

Stay at Home Round Robin Progress

The Stay at Home Round Robin has a different hostess every week, and that person lets us know what the next border design should be. This week it is Emily at The Darling Dogwood. The assignment she has given us for our next border is to add plus signs.

Lucky for me, the plus signs worked perfectly to fill the corners that I had left empty when my piano key border went on. The plus sign blocks finish at 3", and the current finished size including borders is 22.25". I expect to be adding a small filler border to bring it up to 24" before the next pieced round, but that won't happen until I find out what the next border should be.

If you are interested in joining in on the Stay at Home Round Robin, take a look at Gail's intro post HERE. She was the one who got this whole thing started! Check out everyone's progress for this week at The Darling Dogwood.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 1/26/2021

It's Tuesday morning once again, which means it is time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. 

My list for last week was long, but I managed to complete every goal on the list. I spent much more time than expected on #2, but the list helped me stay focused on finishing the rest of the items at the end of the week.

To-Do List for 1/19 - 1/25:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day                     ✔done

I've gotten a little bit ahead and have 27 bowtie blocks made so far.

2. Blooming Onion--make six more blocks                                 ✔done       

Instead of making just six blocks, I made the remaining 18 blocks last week and then joined all the blocks together. You can see my finished quilt top in yesterday's post.

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 1 block in pink                                 ✔done      

4. Grassy Creek mystery--put together two blocks                     ✔done   

5. Sewcialites QAL--make block #16                                         ✔done

Here are the blocks for goals #3-5. The two top blocks are for Grassy Creek, the white and lavender block on the right is for the Sewcialites QAL, and the pink and black block is the Glorified 9-Patch. At the bottom left is a block I made from four Double Bowtie blocks in Green Bay Packers colors. Unfortunately, they lost on Sunday, but maybe I will do something with the block before next season.

6. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add piano keys border  ✔done

I finished the piano keys border and included it in Sunday's blog post.

I had hoped that my list would be shorter for next week, but it has stayed at the same number of tasks. Most of them are continuations from previous weeks.

To-Do List for 1/26 - 2/1:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day 

2. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add plus signs border                            

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 2 blocks in pink                                    

4. Grassy Creek mystery--put together six blocks (working on this quilt will be my biggest project for the week)                     

5. Sewcialites QAL--make block #17                                        

6. Sew Colorful Stars--make one pink block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

That should all 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

Blooming Onion Quilt Top

There were several different quilt projects waiting to be worked on last week, but one of them took over and wouldn't let me stop until it was complete. This is my Blooming Onion quilt top.

Blooming Onion, 60.5" x 80.5"

The name of the pattern I used is actually Blue Onion by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. Since my version isn't blue, Blooming Onion seemed like a better choice to me. Unfortunately, the colors in the above photo are a little bit off, making the purples look much more blue than they really are. The next photo was taken about 10 minutes later, and the sun was starting to hit the quilt top. The colors in this photo are closer than the previous one.

My quilt top was made entirely from batik fabrics, all pulled from my stash, except for one non-batik that I snuck into the mix. Can you tell which one it is? Here are a few closer shots for you.

I've been trying to think of a better name for this quilt, but haven't come up with anything clever. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

I was able to get a great stained-glass looking shot of the top half from behind as it was hanging over the deck railing. I love the way the colors glow!

Still wondering about the non-batik fabric? It's the purple in the block below.

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

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

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 4, 2021

My primary quilting project for the past week was making the rest of the blocks for my Blooming Onion quilt. I ended up with 48 blocks, which used 6 yards of fabric. Here is one group of blocks before they got joined together. I'm very eager to get this quilt top assembled!

My other usage for the week was 1/4 yard for the piano keys border on my Feathered Star block. I'm making this as part of the Stay at Home Round Robin. We're just getting started--check out Gail's post HERE for more info if you are interested in joining us.

My feathered star block originally measured about 17.5", but because there was extra background fabric around the outside, I was able to trim it down to 16.75". My piano key pieces finish at 1.25" across and are currently 3" wide, but they could get trimmed down a bit if needed to fit better with the next border.. The two side borders have been stitched to the block, but the top and bottom borders are waiting until I figure out what to put in the corners.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             6.25 yards

Used year to date:                         7.50 yards

Added last week:                             0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net added year to date                 4.0 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 Blooming Onion quilt took up most of my time, but I also worked on several other projects, spending at least an hour quilting every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

1/17 - 1/23               7 of 7 days

2021 Total             23 of 23 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up my Round Robin progress at Chris Knits.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Shooting Stars in Pink and Brown

A recent email conversation with my sister about a quilt we both liked very much led me to do some digging through past blog posts. I knew that I had made a quilt using the same star pattern, but it turns out that I never blogged about the completed quilt top. Since my quilt features pink, our color for January at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'm sharing a very belated post for my Shooting Stars quilt top.

Shooting Stars quilt top, 66" x 86"

This quilt was started in a class I took in 2010. Our teacher called the block "Shooting Stars," and that is the name I continue to use for it. However, I have also seen it as "Wink and a Smile." You can find a tutorial for making this block at Anyone Can Quilt.

I made two blocks in the original class, and the rest of the blocks were made in 2015 and 2016. The twist-and-turn framing was added during our pink month for the RSC in July, 2016, and the quilt top was finished that August.

This is one of my favorite blocks. The close-up photo gives a good look at all the fabrics, including the background which was perfect for this quilt.

My favorite thing about the next block is the framing fabric--flamingos!

The block size is 14" before the framing is added, 18.25" with the framing. The large size of the blocks made it possible to end up with a nice lap quilt from only twelve blocks. 

I've been thinking about making this block pattern again, maybe in red, white and blue. It would make a great Quilt of Valor, wouldn't it?

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday.

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 1/19/2021

The to-do list that I posted a week ago was longer than usual, but having the list helped keep me focused and I was able to finish every goal on it. It would be great to have another successful week like that. It's time now to link up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. Here's my list from last week:

To-Do List for 1/12 - 1/18/2021:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day                    ✔done

I've been keeping up with making my daily bowties. Here are the most recent blocks. They will finish at 5".

2. Blooming Onion--make more blocks                                     ✔done

Here are a few of the most recently finished blocks. Blocks will finish at 10".

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 1 block in pink                                ✔done

My first pink block is done, and I love it with the black background! 6" finished size.

4. 30's Kaleidoscope--start making blocks (a new project)         ✔done

You can see the 19 blocks I made in THIS POST.

5. Grassy Creek mystery--put together first block                     ✔done

I made six blocks, and you can check them out in yesterday's post HERE.

6. Sewcialites QAL--make block #15                                        ✔done

Another 6" block completed, made with adorable Scottie dog fabric!

7. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--choose center block     ✔done

I decided to use a feathered star block that I made almost 20 years ago! You can see it in THIS POST.

My to-do list for the next week looks very much like the last one, although one item has been removed because it is done for this month. Several of the to-dos involve making only one or two blocks, so I hope I can keep up with everything.

To-Do List for 1/19 - 1/25:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day 

2. Blooming Onion--make six more blocks                                     

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 1 block in pink                                    

4. Grassy Creek mystery--put together two blocks                     

5. Sewcialites QAL--make block #16                                        

6. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add piano keys border 

That should all 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--1/18/2021

The current project filling one of my design walls is Grassy Creek, the Bonnie Hunter 2020 mystery quilt. Bonnie's final reveal of the quilt happened about 10 days ago, and I spent part of the past weekend making up some blocks and sashing units.

The blocks, sashing units and 9-patches are not joined together yet, just laid out on the wall. I overlapped areas to complete the grey diagonals between the blocks and sashing, but that makes it look like the red triangle tips are cut off.

This mystery may be the first time I ever used the same color palette as the original design. Usually I prefer to go in a different direction and make my own unique version. This time I liked Bonnie's colors and used them for my quilt. The main change I made was to go with a single grey fabric instead of scrappy greys.

I've been making about 60% of all the different units each week. My plan was to make a smaller quilt than Bonnie's original 94" x 94", although I did buy enough of the grey fabric to make the full quilt in case I really loved it. I'm currently thinking about making a lap quilt with 12 of the star blocks (Bonnie's quilt has 25 stars.) If my math is correct, my quilt would measure 54" x 72" before borders. The photo above would be approximately half of that amount.

If you are interested in making your own version of Grassy Creek mystery, be sure to head to Bonnie's blog soon for all the clues. You can download them for free until Feb. 12th. After that, she will rewrite the pattern and sell it as a PDF. The main page for the Grassy Creek mystery is HERE.

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 Stashing--Week 3, 2021

There were additions to the stash last week, a fabric order that I had been waiting for since New Year's weekend. I needed solid white to use as the background for a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. Since I was placing an order anyway, a few other things got added to my cart. The rainbow bright circle print is an all-time favorite of mine, and I already wish I had gotten more! Altogether, 11.5 yards added.

Some of that white solid was used right away to make kaleidoscope blocks. I made 19 pink blocks, using every pink 30's fabric in my stash. The blocks will finish at 6", and 1 yard of fabric was used in them.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             1.00 yards

Used year to date:                         1.25 yards

Added last week:                            11.5 yards

Added year to date:                        11.5 yards

Net added year to date             10.25 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 kept up with my Bowties 365 block-a-day goal, plus worked on several other projects, getting in well over 15 minutes every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

1/10 - 1/16               7 of 7 days

2021 Total              16 of 16 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 3, 2021

The white solid fabric I'd ordered for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects finally arrived this week, and I didn't waste any time getting started making blocks. Our color for January is pink, so I pulled out all of my pink 30's fabrics to make kaleidoscope blocks.

Half of the blocks have white triangles on the corners. Another fabric is needed for the contrast corners on the rest of the blocks. I auditioned several color options, although I don't have enough yardage of most of them. 

Pale pink

Medium yellow

Pale yellow or peach

Green or darker yellow

Aqua

None of the colors I've tried so far are jumping out at me saying "I'm the one! Pick me!" I'm still undecided which way to go and will revisit these options after I've made blocks in 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 

Stay-at-Home Round Robin

There seem to be so many new quilt-alongs beginning as the new year gets started, and they all look like fun.  I'm trying to rein in the number of new quilts that I start, but some are hard to resist. One that has me especially intrigued is the Stay-At-Home Round Robin (SAHRR) hosted by Gail at Quilting Gail with help from several of her quilt blogging friends.

I've never participated in a regular round robin, but I have always wanted to give it a try. Here is Gail's explanation of a traditional round robin:

"This is a common activity in many quilt guilds. A round robin (in quilting terms) is where each person makes a centre block. This block is put in a bag or container, maybe with extra fabric, perhaps with a notebook, and the bag is passed onto another quilter in the group. They are given instructions as to what kind of border they are to add on to the quilt. Sometimes the next person will make a border for each side, or one side or two sides of the block. It’s then passed on to another quilter and it continues on … when the quilt centre and all the borders are completed, it is returned to the original maker of the centre block."

For the Stay-at-Home Round Robin, each quilter will make all the different parts for their own quilt. The "Round Robin" part of the process will be that each week one of the co-leaders will give instructions for the next border to be added. The quilter has to figure out how to make that border plan work with their quilt, or they can decide to leave it off. 

The first step is to come up with a block for the quilt center. I had recently run across an old UFO started in 2001. Earlier that year I had made this little wallhanging (36" square) for a quilt shop challenge. The design is a variation of the Judy Martin pattern "Desert Twilight" from her book The Block Book. It now hangs in our den above the mantel.

Desert Twilight wallhanging, 36" square

At that time, I had been thinking about making a bed-sized version of the Desert Twilight design. The star blocks in the original wallhanging measure 6". My plan was to make larger feathered star blocks to put in those places. I made one feathered star block as a sample, using some of the same fabrics as the original quilt.

This single block is as far as I ever got on that quilt plan. I still have many of the original fabrics, and I think this block will look great as the center of a medallion style quilt. The star measures 14.75" to the points, but there is extra background around the outside which could take the block up to a max of 17". 

I will be waiting eagerly until next Monday to find out the plan for our first border. There are seven rounds of borders planned, with a new one being added each week until the end of February. If you are interested in joining in, check out Gail's info post HERE. You can see the center blocks that people are planning to use HERE. Come join the fun!

Linking up with:

Stay at Home Round Robin at Quilting Gail

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!

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 1/12/2021

It has been a few weeks since my last To-Do Tuesday post, and I can't really figure out why. Of course there were the holidays in there, but we stayed at home and I still had plenty of quilting time. Last Tuesday was the Georgia run-off elections, but we had voted early, so that didn't slow me down either. At any rate, I'm hoping to get back to more regular participation in the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. Here's the list from my last post:

To-Do List for 12/22 - 12/28/2020

1. RSC Square Dance--finish joining all blocks together           ✔done

Two quilt tops finished, each measuring 40" x 60". They could be joined together into a single 60" x 80" quilt.

2. Grassy Creek mystery--finish Step 4, begin Step 5              ✔done

Bonnie posted Step 7, the final reveal, last Friday. I am done through Step 5 and have started Step 6. 

3. Sewcialites QAL--make block #14                                      ✔done

The Sewcialites QAL took a couple weeks off for the holidays, and block #14 was just posted last Friday. I am all caught up on these blocks.

4. Glorified 9-Patch--stitch one black/grey block                      ✔done

I finished two black/grey blocks while watching election returns. They will get trimmed down when I am ready to join blocks together.

To-Do List for 1/12 - 1/18/2021:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day

2. Blooming Onion--make more blocks (I shared the beginning of this project in yesterday's post.)

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 1 block in pink

4. 30's Kaleidoscope--start making blocks (a new project)

5. Grassy Creek mystery--put together first block

6. Sewcialites QAL--make block #15

7. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--choose or make center block

Once again, I've gotten carried away with making my list. It's unlikely I will get to everything, but it would be great to move ahead on most of them.  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