Best of 2021--Year in Review

The last day of the year seems like a good time to join the "Best of 2021" linky party, hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. This is a great chance to look back at blog posts from the past year, reviewing which posts got the most views or the most comments, and which posts are personal favorites. 

 

1. Post with the most views: Spikey Rainbow Bowties

I was very surprised that this post had the most views because it is a very recent post (December 9th.) It also had the most comments of any post this year. I guess the unusual bowtie setting really grabbed people's attention.

Spikey Rainbow Bowties

60" x 75"

2. Favorite finished quilt top: Blooming Onion

This was a project early in the year, based on the pattern Blue Onion by Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. The quilt was made entirely from batiks that were pulled from my stash, except for one non-batik print.

Blooming Onion, 60.5" x 80.5"

3.Favorite Quilt-Along: Positivity QAL, hosted by Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts for Mercyful Quilts

This was a great quilt-along with a simple block pattern and plenty of time to make the quilt. I ended up making two quilt tops, one that I kept (at least for now) and one that was donated. I was so thankful that Rebecca Grace offered to do the quilting on my donation quilt. 

Positivity #1 (the one I kept)

60.5" x 80.5"

Positivity #2 (donated top)

60.5" x 80.5"

Positivity #2 (quilted by Rebecca Grace)

4. Favorite Rainbow Scrap Challenge project: Scrap Magnet quilt

I've been participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for several years, and this is one of my favorite rainbow quilts ever! I loved playing with the color combinations as I made each and every block.

Scrap Magnet

66" x 83"

pattern by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts

5. Favorite mystery: Grassy Creek mystery (Bonnie Hunter)

I've followed along on several of Bonnie's previous mysteries and knew what to expect--very scrappy and lots of little pieces. I have learned to simplify a bit by making fewer parts for a smaller quilt. I also used a single grey fabric where Bonnie used grey strings. This is the first time I've made one of Bonnie's mystery quilts in the same colors as she used.

Grassy Creek mystery

64" x 79"

6. Favorite finished quilt: Volcano Nine-Patch baby quilt

This quilt was started after I found a baggie of leftover 9-patch blocks, strip sets, and fabric scraps from an earlier Blooming 9-Patch quilt. I was able to turn those bits and pieces into this wonderful baby quilt for my newest great niece, who is expected today!

Volcano Nine-Patch

42.25" x 52.75"

Life continues to be full of challenges, and I am always thankful to have quilting as a creative outlet. It keeps me sane and gives me great joy. Thanks to Cheryl for giving us all the opportunity to share our favorites from the past year. I'm linking up with her "Best of 2021" blog party.

Happy quilting and Happy New Year!

Julie in GA

One More Rainbow Quilt for 2021!

I have another rainbow quilt top assembled, probably my last one for 2021. This is Homespun!

Homespun, pattern by Modernly Morgan

64.5" x 80.5"

Out of my many projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, this was one of my favorites. Instead of making the blocks all year long, I started this quilt at the end of March after discovering a quilt-along for the pattern. I made two sets of blocks for each assigned RSC color, one lighter and one darker. The blocks were easy to make, consisting of mostly squares and rectangles. I loved being able to include so many scrap fabrics in each block.

My other favorite thing about this quilt is the background fabric. I love the whimsical scattering of color and pattern in this Tula Pink print (Fairy Dust; the color is "Cotton Candy.")

Completing this quilt top was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for December, and I am thrilled to have it together! This is the fourth rainbow top I have assembled from the blocks that were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2021.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Elm Creek Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

To-Do Tuesday 12/28/2021

It's the last Tuesday of the year, time for another Tuesday To-Do list. Today we will review how I did on my previous list. then come up with a new set of goals for the week ahead. The Tuesday To-Do List link-up is hosted by Linda at Texas Quilt Gal.

The last time I posted a to-do list was two weeks ago. Even with the extra time, I didn't accomplish all of my goals, but I did finish the two most important ones (and enjoyed a really lovely Christmas weekend!)

To-Do List for 12/14 - 12/20

1. Homespun--start joining blocks together  ✔done

This quilt top is done! 

2. Secret sewing--work on gift for Ed           ✔done

My secret project was another pillow made from old ties, and I shared it in Sunday's post.

3. Redwork embroidery--finish small piece   not done

4. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--plan projects for 2022   working on it

My list for the next week includes a few end-of-year blog posts, plus continuing to work on a couple of current projects.

To-Do List for 12/28/21 - 1/3/2022

1. Homespun--photos, blog post (before end of December for One Monthly Goal)

2. Rainbow LeMoyne baby quilt--continue quilting

I made this little quilt top last weekend from some old blocks that were stashed away. I also made a back right away and have started the quilting on it.

 

3. Bowties 365--continue making 4" blocks

I finished making the yellow and orange blocks yesterday. I think purple is up next.

4. Blog posts--Best of 2021, 2022 Planning Party

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 Texas Quilt Gal.

Julie in GA  

Stitching and Stashing--Week 52, 2021

It's the last Sunday of the year, which means the last official Stash Report for 2021, although I expect to have a final update to my numbers next week. 

My usage last week includes 2.625 yards for the Rainbow LeMoyne baby quilt top and back that I shared in yesterday's post. I also used 1 yard in yet another Dresden pillow, this one for my husband Ed, made from his father's ties. The fabric for the back of the pillow was a shirt that Ed was going to give away.

Posting these photos made me realize that I never shared any photos of the two pillows that I made for Amber, Ed's cousin's wife. Her father had a collection of very bold print ties which were lots of fun to combine in these pillows. They got a batik fabric for the pillow backs.

My last Black Friday fabric order finally arrived on December 23rd. I had gotten several wide backings from a fantastic sale at Keepsake Quilting.

I was especially excited to get the grey with bright dots fabric. I've been waiting for that to go on sale ever since I finished the top for my Scrap Magnet quilt. Won't they look great together?

Scrap Magnet pattern by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts

I also have a few other rainbow quilts that include grey in the background and would work beautifully with the dotty backing fabric. Altogether, I added 22.5 yards to the stash this week, since I count the wide backings at 2.5 times the yardage length.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                           3.625 yards

Used year to date:                      180.50 yards

Added last week:                          22.50 yards

Added year to date:                    168.25 yards

Net used year to date               12.25 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 stitching time. My stitching time over the past week was mostly spent on finishing the pillow for Ed and putting together the Rainbow LeMoyne quilt top and back.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

12/19 - 12/25            7 of 7 days

2021 Total          356 of 359 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

A Rainbow Quilt for Christmas

One of my quilting goals this month has been to figure out my plans for the 2022 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I got totally carried away with rainbow quilts in 2021, ending up with a total of eight different projects. Three of those projects will continue into 2022, and I have assembled four tops from sets of rainbow blocks. That leaves one more set of blocks, the 30's Kaleidoscopes, still to be joined together.

I've been participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge since 2013, and I have one bin in my sewing room that is filled with blocks and other leftovers from past rainbow quilts. I recently pulled out some 6" LeMoyne Star blocks that were left from a 2014 RSC project. After making five more blocks, I was able to assemble this little baby quilt top.

Rainbow LeMoyne baby quilt

39.5" x 44.75"

I had fun pulling fabrics out of the stash to use for the sashing with these blocks. The colorful prints are good accents for the alternating rows of light and dark backgrounds blocks.

I dug through the stash and found some very old, very bright animal prints that seemed perfect for the backing. According to my swatch cards, these fabrics were purchased in 1999! It's definitely time to get them used up.

The blue background fabric had a chunk cut out of one corner, but I was able to piece in a section to fill that spot and even matched the print. It will be impossible to find the seam once it is quilted.

I would love to get this quilted before the end of the year, but who knows if that will happen. For now I am happy to have used up the last of those LeMoyne Star blocks and made this cute little quilt!

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.

Happy quilting and happy holidays everyone!

Julie in GA 

Design Wall Monday 12/20/21

Most of my Christmas stitching projects are finished, and I've been cleaning up a bit in the sewing room and thinking about new projects for next year. Yesterday I sorted through a bin of extra blocks and other parts from past Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. One of my discoveries was these 6" LeMoyne Star blocks.

The LeMoyne Stars were one of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge back in 2014. I made several blocks each month, using both light and dark background fabrics. I ended up with about 80 blocks at the end of that year, and many of them were used to make two small quilt tops, which you can see HERE and HERE.

That left me with about 20 blocks still hanging around. I remember playing with them at a later date, I don't know when, and stitching the two rows of blocks with the light background and sashing that you see in the above photo. The black sashing was already cut and stored with the blocks, so I guess that's what I planned to use for the dark rows. If I add one more row, I could end up with a baby quilt that measures about 40" x 40". I will need to decide if I want that row to be light or dark, then make some more star blocks first.

One of my goals for 2022 is to finish off some of the many UFO's that have been hanging around far too long. This little quilt may be my first step to meeting that goal!

Check out what other quilters are working on this week:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting and happy holidays everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stitching and Stashing--Week 51, 2021

We are getting very close to the end of the year, and the totals on my stash report continue to go up, both for fabric used and fabric added. The fabric used in the past week was 1.5 yards for the Glorified 9Patch blocks that I showed in Monday's post. The addition was 9.5 yards from a Black Friday sale at Fat Quarter Shop. It seemed like a good time to stock up on lots of background fabrics.

I still have one more Thanksgiving weekend fabric order that may or may not arrive before the end of the year. It seems to have disappeared in the shipping chaos of a local FedEx location. All I can do is wait, but I'm glad it wasn't anything needed for Christmas.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             1.50 yards

Used year to date:                    176.875 yards

Added last week:                            9.50 yards

Added year to date:                     145.75 yards

Net used year to date              31.125 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 stitching time. I have been working on a variety of projects, including one last Christmas gift, plus joining the blocks for a rainbow quilt.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

12/12 - 12/18            7 of 7 days

2021 Total          349 of 352 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

To-Do Tuesday 12/14/2021

Welcome to Tuesday and another Tuesday To-Do list. Today we will review how I did with last week's list. then come up with a new set of goals for the week ahead. The Tuesday To-Do List link-up is hosted by Linda at Texas Quilt Gal.

My list for the past week was a short one, yet I still didn't get through everything on it. I completed two goals, made progress on one, and totally ignored the last one.

To-Do List for 12/7 - 12/13

1. Pastel Bowties--photos and blog post    ✔done

You can read more about this quilt HERE.

2. Homespun--decide on layout, start joining blocks together   not done

I got the blocks for Homespun arranged on the design wall, but haven't started sewing them together yet.

3. Secret sewing--work on gift for Ed    ✔done

I did the cutting for this project and am ready to start sewing.

4. Redwork embroidery--finish small piece   not done

Once again, I didn't even touch this piece.

It is looking like another fairly busy week, with medical appointments plus an early Christmas gathering with Ed's family over the weekend. I'm keeping my list short once again.

To-Do List for12/14 - 12/20

1. Homespun--start joining blocks together

2. Secret sewing--work on gift for Ed 

3. Redwork embroidery--finish small piece

4. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--plan projects for 2022

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 Texas Quilt Gal.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday 12/13/2021

One of the projects I have been working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year has been making Glorified Nine-Patch blocks. I started out hand piecing the curved seams in the blocks, but didn't enjoy that part and ended up doing all the stitching by machine.

My blocks had been neglected for a few months, but I pulled them out over the weekend and got back to work on them. There were four sets with the center 9-patch already pieced, just waiting to be trimmed and get the backgrounds added. That was the first step to get done.

After those blocks were finished, I pulled out my fabric scraps and pieced the center 9-patches in a few more colors. I believe these will be the last sets of blocks needed for this quilt. They will all be getting dark backgrounds added.

You may have noticed that the middle segments in a couple of the green 9-patches don't reach all the way to the outer edges. I was short on fabrics for those areas, but it won't matter when they get trimmed down to add the curved background pieces.

My Glorified Nine-Patch project was inspired by a pattern I found at American Patchwork and Quilting. You can see their version HERE.

Check out what other quilters are working on this week:

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 50, 2021

My stash report for the past week includes 2.25 yards used for the mixer cover that I finished last weekend. That project took less than a week, from the day I bought the fabric until the day it was finished!

Mixer cover pattern from Sew Can She

I'm going to have fabric additions to count soon because I did some Black Friday  shopping. The first order should arrive tomorrow, and I have no idea where the other order is or when to expect it to arrive.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             2.25 yards

Used year to date:                    175.375 yards

Added last week:                              0.0 yards

Added year to date:                     136.25 yards

Net used year to date              39.125 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 stitching time. I got back to my usual 7 for 7 week, with plenty of stitching time every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

12/5 - 12/11              7 of 7 days

2021 Total          342 of 345 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

Spikey Rainbow Bowties--a finished top!

My continuing quest to put together my 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks has produced another quilt top! This is my Spikey Rainbow Bowties quilt.

Spikey Rainbow Bowties

60" x 75"

One of my plans for 2021 was to choose an easy block that I could make as a leader and ender project for the entire year. The idea was to average one block every day, therefore I called the project Bowties 365. I wasn't strict about making a block every single day, just trying to end up with that many over time. There were some days when I was doing lots of piecing, which led to multiple bowtie blocks on those days. At other times I was more focused on quilting or hand applique, and ended up not making any bowties on those days. 

These 5" bowtie blocks started with  many pieces left from a couple of bowtie baby quilts I had made in 2014 and 2015. I added this pretty creamy background fabric with splotches of pink, blue, yellow and lavender. I followed the monthly color prompts for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

The unusual layout for my bowtie blocks was inspired by a quilt I had seen on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville page (you have to scroll down the page to find it.) I figured out that the way to put it all together and not have to sew a ton of long rows was to join the bowtie blocks into big blocks of nine.

My quilt top is made from 180 bowtie blocks set 12 across by 15 high. These blocks were joined into 20 big blocks. 

That's another RSC quilt top together! Time to pull out the next set of blocks!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday) at Rebecca Grace Quilting

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

To-Do Tuesday 12/7/2021

It has been two weeks since my last Tuesday To-Do List was posted. Somehow time got away from me after the Thanksgiving weekend. It's time to get back on track, see how I did with the last to-do list. then come up with a new set of goals for the week ahead. The Tuesday To-Do List link-up is hosted by Linda at Texas Quilt Gal.

To-Do List for 11/23 - 11/29

1. Have a happy Thanksgiving!        ✔done!

2. Redwork embroidery--finish         not done

3. Santa tie--make into ornament    ✔done

Finished size is 4.5" x 8"

4. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block per day     ✔done

5. Hearts Applique--make at least one block per week   ✔done

I ended up with nine green hearts at the end of November. One of them has been framed with 1.5" x 2.5" bricks, which is how I'm planning to finish all of the blocks for this quilt.

6. Pastel Bowties--start joining blocks together   ✔done

The Bowtie blocks are all stitched together into a finished quilt top!

Besides the projects on my list, over the past two weeks I also quilted and bound a small Christmas quilt and made a quilted cover for our mixer.

The list for the next week includes a couple of Christmas projects, plus joining the blocks for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.

To-Do List for 12/7 - 12/13

1. Pastel Bowties--photos and blog post

2. Homespun--decide on layout, start joining blocks together

3. Secret sewing--work on gift for Ed

4. Redwork embroidery--finish small piece

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 Texas Quilt Gal.

Julie in GA