Julie's Quilts and Costumes: March 2023

Friday, March 31, 2023

Finishing Placemats

Another batch of placemats have been finished this week, with all of them being added to the stack getting donated to Meals on Wheels through the quilt guild. The first group to be finished were the Sawtooth Star placemats.

These were made for me to use as my practice piece for the ruler quilting class that I recently completed. This closer photo gives a better view of the quilting, although it's still hard to see in the center of the star. I enjoyed learning a little bit about using rulers for machine quilting, but I still have a long way to go before I will become comfortable with them.

The other placemat to be finished this week is this green string-pieced mat. I started by stitching together a stack of 1.5" x 3.5" rectangles that were leftover from making green Rail Fence blocks. I added strips to each side of the pieced section until the placemat was the right size (around 13" x 18".)

This placemat was made as part of the 2023 ABC (Table) Scraps Challenge hosted by The Joyful Quilter. My placemat fits with the assigned color of the month (green), but I completely forgot about including the letter prompts of B and U in my inspiration. I've been trying to include colors that start with the monthly letters. I guess my colors this month can be Bright green and U??? I drew a blank for color names that start with U. Let's say my placemat is Ultra Scrappy!

Linking up with:

ABC Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter

Needle and 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

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/26/2023

There was all sorts of quilting fun happening around here this week, including a quilting road trip yesterday. We were able to go to two different quilt exhibits, and they were both wonderful to see. The first was "Life's Not All Black & White--Gotta Add Color!" It's a wonderful collection of quilts by Jan Cunningham at the Mable House Arts Center in Mableton, GA. The exhibit will be there only until March 30th. Here are two of my favorites of her quilts that were on display.

The other exhibit we went to yesterday was at the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum in Carrollton, GA. We managed to get there on the last day! The exhibit was "Vintage Modern" and featured antique quilts from one collection alongside modern quilts made by members of the Greater Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild. No photos to share from that exhibit. It was very interesting to see the juxtaposition of antique and modern quilts side by side.

As for quilting here at home, one primary project throughout the week was the Ruler Quilting Challenge by HollyAnne Knight of String and Story. This was a five-day online class with HollyAnne sharing the basics of using rulers along with free-motion quilting. I had never used rulers for quilting before and really enjoyed getting an intro to the process. I made a set of placemats for my practice pieces. The first photo shows all four placemats before being layered for quilting, and the second photo shows one placemat with most of the quilting completed.

The stash report for the week shows 2.375 yards used for the placemats plus the three Jabberwocky blocks shared in yesterday's post. No new fabric was added to the stash.

2023 STASH TOTALS

Used last week: 2.375 yards

Used year to date: 27.125 yards

Added last week: 0.0 yards

Added year to date: 9.5 yards

Net used in 2023 17.625 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. I've spent some time cutting and piecing, plus doing the Ruler Quilting Challenge. There has definitely been at least 15 minutes of quilting every day this week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2023:

3/19 - 3/25 7 of 7 days

2023 Total 82 of 84 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

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Green Scrappy Stars

This week was a good time to catch up with some of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've been cutting strips to make Rail Fence blocks in greens, our color of the month. I also finished three green Jabberwocky blocks.

The block design is called "Jabberwocky." It is a Judy Martin pattern from The Block Book. I believe the book is out of print, but available at a variety of on-line sources. The finished size of these blocks will be 10.25".

Here are all three colors we have used so far this year. I've enjoyed making these blocks. They are challenging, but very satisfying to finish.

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 everyone!

Julie in GA

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

To-Do Tuesday 3/21/2023

It's time once again to share how I did on last Tuesday's to-do list, then figure out what I'd like to get done in the week ahead. The To-Do Tuesday link-up is hosted by Carol at Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric.

My list for last week was a short one, and I finished two of my goals, plus made progress on the third. I consider that a successful week!

To-Do List for 3/14 - 3/20

1. Project Quilting 14.6: Conquer a Fear--make something by Sunday ✔done

I made two randomly-pieced scrappy placemats, shared HERE.

2. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--cut for green Rail Fence blocks progress

I've made a start on this cutting, but there's still more to be done.

3. Veteran's quilt--start piecing ✔done

Our quilt guild has joined forces with another quilting group to make quilts for homeless veterans, and I was able to attend a sewing day for this project last week. This is a portion of what I got done that day, working from an assortment of pre-cut charm squares. These are not fabrics from my stash, but a kit I was given for this project.

It's looking like another busy week, so I'm going to stick with a short list again.

To-Do List for 3/21 - 3/27

1. Ruler Quilting Challenge--keep up with the lessons

2. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make 3 Jabberwocky blocks

3. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--continue cutting greens for Rail Fence blocks and begin piecing.

4. Pickle Dish--cutting, maybe some piecing?

That's the plan for the week ahead. I'll report on my progress next Tuesday, and post a new set of goals too. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Quilt Schmilt.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Monday, March 20, 2023

Design Wall Monday 3/20/2023

Today is going to be the beginning of a new quilting adventure for me. I've signed up for a new on-line class starting later today, the Ruler Quilting Challenge taught by HollyAnne Knight of String and Story. There will be five days of lessons on the basics of using rulers for free-motion quilting. I just bought my first quilting ruler and look forward to getting lots of tips on how to use it. Best of all, my sister Karen has signed up for the class too!

There was a kit available for this class that included a panel to be quilted, but I have plenty of panels around and thought I would use one of those. Then I decided over the weekend that I could make my own version of one of the panel choices, and I pieced the four placemats shown above.

This is the fabric that was used for the centers of the stars, and it will also be on the backs of the placemats. My color choices were based on this print. The fabric is very old, and unfortunately, the printing is not terribly straight--those little gingham boxes all lean a bit, especially close to the selvage. I'm hoping I can manage to square it up a little better.

Check out what other quilters are working on this week at Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and at Monday Musings at Songbird Designs.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/19/2023

I've had a busy week of quilting, both at home and with others. On Tuesday I was able to meet up with other guild members for a morning of sewing quilts for homeless veterans. Thursday morning was a guild meeting. With all of that, plus the usual errands and one doctor's appointment, it's hard to believe that I got any quilting done at home.

It was actually a productive week at home too. I finished two more borders on my guild's Block of the Month, which I shared in Tuesday's post. I also completed the last project for the 2023 Project Quilting Challenge, two placemats that were randomly pieced from 2.5" squares, shared HERE.

Stash reduction for the past week came to a total of 3.75 yards, a decent amount for one week. The largest amount was used for the last borders of my SAHRR quilt top, shown below. There was also fabric used for the guild BOM, the two placemats, and two star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

SAHRR quilt top, 42.75" square

2023 STASH TOTALS

Used last week: 3.75 yards

Used year to date: 24.75 yards

Added last week: 0.0 yards

Added year to date: 9.5 yards

Net used in 2023 15.25 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. As you might guess from the opening paragraphs of this post, I definitely spent more than 15 minutes quilting every day, which means it was a very good week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2023:

3/12 - 3/18 7 of 7 days

2023 Total 75 of 77 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

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Project Quilting 14.6--Conquer a Fear

This is the last week for the 2023 Project Quilting Challenge hosted by Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams and assisted by Trish Frankland of Quilt Chicken. I'm happy to have completed every challenge this year, and I've enjoyed coming up with a new idea for each one.

Our theme for this final challenge of the year was "Conquer a Fear." The idea for this challenge is that facing fear is the way to grow and move forward. Staying in your comfort zone leaves you safe but stagnant. There are many ways the challenge could be interpreted, whether it involves a personal fear like spiders, or something related to quilting like avoiding a specific type of design because it is too difficult.

I considered several possible directions, and settled on "random." I've never been comfortable with totally random piecing. I love making scrappy quilts, but am much happier with the controlled scrappy look. For this challenge, I decided to go totally random with my scrappiness.

I pulled stacks of 2.5" squares in a variety of colors and tossed them all together in a shoe box. I shook them up well, then started pulling them out in pairs and stitching them together. It was very hard for me, but I really fought the urge to switch colors if I didn't like what came out together. I kept adding more squares until I had 8 columns of 6 squares each, which were then joined together into this placemat.

That turned out okay, so I made another one.

Here are both of them together. They might have turned out a little differently if they had been more "planned," but I like the bright mix of all the colors in the random layouts, and I enjoyed the freedom of not worrying about where the colors landed.

Both placemats are quilted with continuous curves in turquoise thread (because that's what was already on the machine.) They each finished at 12.5" x 16.5". The backing fabric, shown in the photo below, was folded to the front to finish off the edges.

These placemats will join the others I've been making since the beginning of the year to be donated to Meals on Wheels through our quilt guild.

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 14.6 at Persimon Dreams

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

To-Do Tuesday 3/14/2023

It was a better week for staying focused, and I managed to complete all of the items on my to-do list. It may have helped that two of those items had deadlines!

To-Do List for 3/7 - 3/13/23

1. Dust Off a Quilt Book project--finish quilt & write blog post for Friday ✔done

The quilting and binding was finished on Around the Twist, my project for the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop. You can read my post HERE.

2. Stay at Home Round Robin--add flying geese and pinwheel blocks; link up blog post by Monday ✔done

I finished this quilt top and blogged about it HERE.

3. Quilt guild BOM--finish border #4, add border #5 ✔done

The next two borders on this quilt were completed yesterday. It now measures about 33" square. There are still two more borders to be added next month.

4. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--begin green blocks ✔done

Two green 16-Patch Stars blocks done and shared HERE.

I know that this week is going to be a busy one, so I'm trying to keep my list reasonable.

To-Do List for 3/14 - 3/20

1. Project Quilting 14.6: Conquer a Fear--make something by Sunday

2. Rainbow Scrap Challenge--cut for green Rail Fence blocks

3. Veteran's quilt--start piecing

One of the quilt guilds I belong to makes quilts for homeless veterans. I've had a kit for one sitting in my sewing room for nearly a month and need to spend some time working on it.

That's the plan for the week ahead. I'll report on my progress next Tuesday, and post a new set of goals too. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Quilt Schmilt.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Monday, March 13, 2023

SAHRR 2023--Quilt Top Finished!

Today is the beginning of the Parade of Quilts that have been made as part of the 2023 Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) hosted by Gail at Quilting Gail and several of her quilting friends. I can't wait to see how everyone's quilts turned out!

There's a specific space on the wall in our dining room that is visible from the kitchen, and it's the perfect spot for a wallhanging that measures between 36" and 42". I am trying to make different seasonal pieces to hang there, and this year's SAHRR project is meant to become one of them. Here are the different stages of my project.

Center block--Constitution Star

variation of a pattern by Judy Martin

Borders #1--Spools + #2--Stars

Borders #3--Hourglass + #5--Square in a Square

Borders #4--Flying Geese + #6--Pinwheel

Finished top measures 42.75" square

One thing I realized as I got further along on this quilt was that I was wishing for a little more breathing space between the different border elements. I especially like the way that worked out on the last pieced border with the flying geese and the pinwheels. It's something I will try to keep in mind next time. The learning process never stops!

Check out other participant's progress at the SAHRR Parade of Quilts link-up. I'm looking forward to seeing them all! Thanks so much to Gail and friends for guiding us along the way on this fun project.

I'm also linking up here:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/12/2023

When it was time to sit down and write my Stash Report post for the week, I discovered that I missed posting last Sunday due to a short trip out of town. When we got home on Sunday, I was focused on a new project and never even thought about a blog post. The numbers in today's post all cover that two week period.

The good news is that I managed to use some fabric in that two weeks time, and no new fabric was added to the stash. Most of the usage (4.375 yards) was for the Around the Twist baby quilt that I made as part of the "Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop" hosted by Bea at Beaquilter. I can't resist sharing another photo of it with our gorgeous bright pink azaleas.

I also used 3/4 yard for the Migrating Geese placemat that was made for Project Quilting Challenge 14.5: Sew Not a Square. Yes, many of the same colors appear in both projects, so bright and cheery.

2023 STASH TOTALS

Used last week: 5.125 yards

Used year to date: 21.0 yards

Added last week: 0.0 yards

Added year to date: 9.5 yards

Net used in 2023 11.5 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. I've gotten back into the rhythm of quilting every day again, with several projects in the works. It felt so good to have an actual finish on that Around the Twist quilt. I need to get it washed up, then sent off to the parents-to-be.

15 Minute Challenge for 2023:

2/26 - 3/11 14 of 14 days

2023 Total 68 of 70 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

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Scrappy Green Saturday

There has been lots of quilting time spent on projects with deadlines over the past week, which tends to make me feel a little tense. Yesterday, I was finally able to relax a bit and play with my green scraps, our color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made two scrappy green 16-patch star blocks to add to my collection.

As always, I wanted to see them with the colors from earlier months. My blocks are being made from 3.5" squares, and each block will finish at 12".

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 everyone!

Julie in GA

Friday, March 10, 2023

Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop: Around the Twist

Welcome to my stop on this year's Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop, hosted by Bea at Beaquilter. I believe this is the 5th year of this blog hop, but it is my first time participating. I've been collecting quilting books since I started quilting in 1995, and I knew I would have plenty of options. The hard part was narrowing it down to one choice!

I paged through many of my quilting books before settling on this one. It's not the oldest book I own, published in 1986, but I've had it longer than most of my collection. It's also significant to me because the author, Trudie Hughes, was one of my earliest quilting teachers. She owned a quilt shop, Patched Works, in Elm Grove, WI, not far from where I lived in my early years as a quilter.

Trudie was one of the early advocates for using rotary cutters and other time-saving techniques in quiltmaking. She wrote over a dozen books, and I was lucky enough to assist her on a couple of the later ones. This was her first book, published by That Patchwork Place (later Martingale.)

Around the Twist baby quilt

38" x 44.5"

The pattern I chose to make is called Around the Twist. It is a variation of the design from the front cover of the book. I scaled the blocks down from the 6" size in the pattern to 4.5" for this baby quilt. The fabrics I used were all chosen to coordinate with the adorable birdie background print.

Our bright pink azaleas are blooming and seemed like the perfect match for this little quilt.

The quilting is a loopy meandering design, done in a light aqua thread. The backing is a fun flannel print, and the binding is the same turquoise fabric that was used in the piecing.

Bea was interested in hearing about our oldest quilting books, even if we didn't make a project from one of them. I looked through several books in my collection and discovered that this is the oldest quilt book I own. If I'm reading those Roman numerals in the last photo correctly, it was published in 1935, and it looks like I bought it in February, 2002 or later.