Stash report and Stitching Time 6/30/2024

My stash report for the past week shows plenty of outgoing fabric that was used in a variety of projects. Some of these were actually done in previous weeks, but weren't shared on the blog until the past few days.

My most recent finish, the Orange Peel Rainbow quilt, used 2.75 yards for the border, backing, binding and hanging sleeve. All of the fabrics in the top had been previously counted.

The Star Pulse quilt took 3 yards of fabric for the quilt top and the back. I'm counting the backing fabric as used even though the quilt is not finished because the layers are already spray basted together, just waiting to be quilted. Here's the fabric I used for the back.

The other usage for the week was .75 yards for two Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, the Hen & Chicks sampler and the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. You can see my blocks in yesterday's post.

Altogether, my usage for the week comes to 6.5 yards. No new fabric was added to the stash this week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     6.50 yards

Used year to date:                 45.0 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               32.0 yards

Net used in 2024:              13.0 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. I pieced the two sets of sampler blocks this week, plus prepped the Star Pulse quilt for quilting. Unfortunately, progress on that came to a screeching halt when the tension assembly on my machine fell to pieces. I'm waiting, not so patiently, for a new part to arrive.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

6/23 - 6/29               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          178 of 181 days

Success rate                 98.3 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Blue Sampler Blocks

I have nearly caught up with all of the blue blocks for my various Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, making two different sets of sampler blocks this week. Up first are the blocks for the RSC 2024 Hen and Chicks sampler. The blocks will finish at 3" and 6", and I am making mine from batiks.

My other set of RSC blocks for the week were the latest of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For these I am alternating using a white or black background on each block. These blocks will finish at 6".

Since they were all sitting on the cutting table at the same time, I got some photos of both sets of blocks together.

The blue blocks for one of my other RSC projects, the Terry blocks, are not done yet, but there is still a chance that I can finish them before the month is over. I'm looking forward to finding out what our new color is for July (my guess is orange.)

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Star Pulse QAL

Ever since last November when Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl announced her plans to host a quilt-along for her new Star Pulse pattern, I was intrigued by the design and trying to figure out a color palette that I wanted to use. Yvonne shared plenty of color options for inspiration, but I was hoping to work from my stash, and nothing really spoke to me for this project...until a couple of weeks ago.

Star Pulse quilt pattern, Quilting Jetgirl

The quilt-along started in December, and I followed along with Yvonne's instructions each month, still dreaming about making this quilt. Then inspiration hit when I read about a challenge hosted by the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show. This year's challenge theme is "Black & White Plus One," and the rules are to make a quilt that measures 30" wide by 40" high using only fabrics in black, white, and one additional color. Now that was a color scheme I could make work! I made several passes through my fabric stash, finally settling on this grouping of black and white prints (although I ended up changing the darkest fabric.) My "plus one" fabric is a nearly solid red batik.

The next challenge was adapting the Star Pulse pattern to fit the size requirements. Yvonne's pattern makes a 60" wide quilt that finishes at either 60" or 72" long. Making my units half that size worked perfectly for a 30" wide quilt, and I just had to adjust a little at the top and bottom to get the right length. Once I'd figured out my fabric choices, I was able to piece my mini version of Star Pulse in a weekend. Here's my finished top, followed by a closer look at some of the piecing.

Star Pulse quilt top, 30" x 40"

I had hoped to get my Star Pulse quilt finished by the end of the month and submit it for the quilt show challenge. Unfortunately, the tension assembly on the machine I use for quilting totally came apart and that machine is unusable until I receive the new part. For now I will have to settle for joining the Star Pulse final link-up at Quilting Jetgirl. Thanks so much to Yvonne for her wonderful pattern and a fun quilt-along.

Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Star Pulse QAL Final Linkup at Quilting Jetgirl

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Orange Peel Rainbow is Finished!

The Orange Peel Rainbow quilt has been finished for almost a month, but I finally managed to get some photos of it today. For some reason, taking photos has not been a high priority on the to-do list lately.

Orange Peel Rainbow, 39.5" x 51.5"

The applique blocks for this quilt were stitched as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge all through 2019 and up to the summer of 2020. I used to do a lot of hand applique stitching on my morning train ride to work, but of course that ended during Covid. I continued making blocks at home until I had enough for my chosen layout, then got them all joined together in August, 2020. Then the quilt top waited patiently in the to-be-quilted closet until this spring.

Orange Peel Rainbow quilt top without border

Earlier this year, I decided to finish this quilt and enter it in a local quilt show. The first step was adding the scrappy black/dark grey border.

My quilting was very simple, stitch-in-the-ditch between the blocks and around all the appliqued orange peels, all done in black thread. It doesn't show well on either the front or the back of the quilt.

I had a great backing fabric with bright colors on black that was perfect for this quilt. 

I haven't had a quilt finish since January (unless you count the little Fidget quilt I made in May,) so it feels really good to get this one done! I love the way the gradation of rainbow colors worked out and look forward to finding a spot to hang it in our home. It was great fun to see it hanging in the Georgia Celebrates Quilts show too. It didn't win a ribbon, but the judges had nice comments about the design and workmanship.

Linking up with:

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday)

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy

June Favorite Finish at Quilting Jetgirl

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/23/2024

There is only one more week until the end of June, and I'm trying hard to catch up with my on-going projects. This week I managed to make the monthly blocks for three different quilts.

Up first were two tiny little 3" blocks for our guild's block of the month, Sewcialites 2. This quilt-along originally ran as a weekly block program at Fat Quarter Shop from October, 2022 until April, 2023. All of the block patterns are still available on the Fat Quarter Shop's website. These are blocks #7 & 8.

Sewcialites 2, 3" blocks 

To really give an idea of how small these blocks are, I'm also showing them along with the 9" blocks I made earlier in the month. The general opinion when I showed the 3" blocks at our recent guild meeting was that I am nuts for making anything that small, and I can't say they are wrong.

Sewcialites 2, 3" & 9" blocks 

After those were done, I needed to do something easier. Thank goodness for Jen's Color Challenge blocks. This month's color choice was inspired by the Harlequin Rasboras, a raspberry colored tropical fish. I've been making two blocks each month, one using two shades of the monthly color and the other combining the monthly color with a dark blue background. These blocks will finish at 12".

Jen's Color Challenge , June blocks

We are halfway through the year on this project, and it seemed like a good time to check out my color combinations. The two-color blocks are a very colorful, cheery group.

As you can see in the next photo, I've used a few different dark blue background fabrics for these blocks. I didn't have enough of any single background for them. The dark fabrics really make the bright colors stand out.

I'm very happy with the way both sets of blocks are coming together. I should be able to make two colorful kid's quilts from them at the end of the year. 

Making all of these BOM blocks made a small dent in the stash. The blocks shown above plus the Hollow 9-Patch blocks shared in yesterday's post used a total of 3/4 yard of fabric, and there was no new fabric added to the stash this week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                      .75 yards

Used year to date:                 38.5 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               32.0 yards

Net used in 2024:                6.5 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. On top of all of the BOM blocks, I also finished up some clothing alterations that have been needing to get done. It was a great relief to get those out of the way!

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

6/16 - 6/22               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          171 of 174 days

Success rate                 98.3 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Blue Scrappy Squares

Forward movement on my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been a little slow, but I did manage to finish off my set of Hollow 9-Patch blocks for this month. I'm making these from 2.5" squares, and the blocks will finish at 6".

I love making these very easy blocks that are a wonderful showcase for so many different fabrics!

There's just over a week left in June, and I hope to finish up at least two more sets of blue blocks for the month. It's expected to be quite hot here all week, which helps keep me inside and quilting.

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/16/2024

It's amazing to me how quickly the days slip by at times. I'm having a hard time believing that we are approaching the end of June, nearly halfway through 2024. I've been quilting away nearly every day, but haven't done very well at sharing my projects. Part of my problem is that I'd rather keep on cutting and sewing than take photos and write a blog post, but tracking and sharing my quilts is the main reason I have this blog in the first place. It's time to get on top of things and document some of my recent projects. 

Here's one recently finished small project, a fidget quilt that was made as part of a guild sewing day. Fidget quilts are small quilts with many different textures and/or parts that can be opened and closed or changed. They are made for Alzheimer's patients and others who need a way to keep their hands occupied. Mine includes a zipper and a buckle that can both be opened and closed, plus some ribbons woven together, elastic bands attached to a metal ring, and other textual items. The finished size is 18" square.

The back of this fidget quilt is a fleece with shadowy trees and mountains. It seemed like the softness of the fleece would be soothing. I used a total of 5/8 yard of fabric for this little quilt.

Two pieces of solids were added to the stash this week, both intended for a current project. I'm participating in the Lighthouse Inn Mystery designed by Modern Quilt Studio, and I needed yardage for my quilt's background (the navy.) The lavender piece will be added to the palette for my version of the mystery quilt. 4.5 yards total added to the stash.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    .625 yards

Used year to date:               37.75 yards

Added last week:                   4.50 yards

Added year to date:               32.0 yards

Net used in 2024:              5.75 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. I'm juggling too many projects right now, but having fun anyway. There has definitely been more than 15 minutes of quilting time every day this week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

6/9 - 6/15                 7 of 7 days

2024 Total          164 of 167 days

Success rate                 98.2 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/9/2024

My stash report for the past week covers a variety of projects, as is typical for me. That includes my Bite-Size Gems project from a recent workshop, plus my scrappy blue Rail Fence Spinners blocks, which were shared in yesterday's post. I also finished two new blocks for Sewcialites 2, our quilt guild's block of the month for this year.

I've been making the Sewcialites 2 blocks in three different sizes each month. These are 9" blocks, and I still need to make the 3" and 6" versions. I think I will simplify the 3" butterfly block, and I'm going to come up with a different block pattern for the 6" set. I'm using Christmas fabrics for those, and in my mind, a butterfly just doesn't fit with that group.

My total for fabric used this week came to 1.5 yards. I just received my order from a Memorial Day sale, but haven't totaled up the additions to the stash yet. That will be included in the count next week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    1.50 yards

Used year to date:             37.125 yards

Added last week:                   0.00 yards

Added year to date:             27.50 yards

Net used in 2024:            9.625 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. It was a busy quilting week, with one new project started plus continued work on ongoing projects. I also went to one quilt museum exhibit and one quilt show (more on those later.) It was an excellent quilty week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

6/2 - 6/8                   7 of 7 days

2024 Total          157 of 160 days

Success rate                 98.1 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Spinners

It seems that my routine for working on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects in recent months has been to start with one of the easy blocks that requires very little cutting. This month that meant my Rail Fence Spinner blocks. All that's needed are 1.5" x 3.5" strips, this month using the blue scraps. I made 9 blocks.

When I went to add these to the bin that contains the blocks from previous months, I discovered two more blocks that had been made from last year's Rail Fence project leftovers. Now I have eleven blue blocks.

Since we are into our sixth month of RSC scrappiness, it seemed like a good time to get a photo of all the colors together.

These blocks finish at 6" each, and I will probably wind up with enough blocks at the end of the year for one throw quilt or two baby quilts. I love the way the background strips form little spinners too!

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Learning New Skills

One of my favorite things about quilting is the huge variety of techniques and styles to explore. There's always a different way (or several) to do something and plenty of new things to learn. A couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to take a class with MJ Kinman and try out her version of freezer paper piecing.

For those who aren't familiar with her name, MJ has become well known for her amazing gemstone quilts. Her quilts have been exhibited in galleries, museums, national competitions and private collections, plus featured in national publications. She has produced many quilts, including her Bourbon Diamonds series that "captures the fire and brilliance of Kentucky's iconic spirit."

"Between River and Sky", 69" x 71"

from the Bourbon Diamonds series, 2018

by MJ Kinman

Our guild was able to have MJ spend a couple days with us in May, with a presentation about her quilts and techniques one day, followed by a workshop the next. Our class was "Bite-Size Gems", and we learned MJ's method for freezer paper piecing which uses the freezer paper as templates, with no sewing to the paper or needing to tear it out afterwards.

"Elizabeth" 

from the Diamond Diva series 

by MJ Kinman

The inspiration for my gem block was MJ's "Elizabeth" pattern, shown above. I didn't include the blue tones shown in her quilt, sticking to all neutrals in my block. It was pieced in four quadrants, and the first couple of them (the right side) turned out too dark, but I felt like the colors in the left side quadrants worked better.

My Bite-Size Gem, 16" square

I was so glad we got to spend some time with MJ, seeing her quilts and learning her techniques. She also shared lots of great information about using colors, a topic of interest to many of us. I purchased a couple of her patterns and can't wait to give them a try!

I highly recommend that you check out MJ's website: mjkinman.com to see more of her quilts and the many patterns and kits she has available. She has also published a book, Gemstone Quilts, that includes images of many of her gorgeous quilts, plus it will teach you how to design and make your own gemstone quilts.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/2/2024

It sure seems like there should be more to include in my stash report this week, but I'm holding off on counting a couple of projects until I get some photos and share them on the blog. What I am counting this week is 1/2 yard used in two sets of blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. These are the blocks I made this week for the RSC Hen & Chicks Sampler and the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                      .50 yards

Used year to date:             35.625 yards

Added last week:                   0.00 yards

Added year to date:             27.50 yards

Net used in 2024:            8.125 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 quilting time. I finally completed my quilt show entry, just in time to turn it in for the show this afternoon. I've also been making blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, plus pulling fabrics for a new mystery quilt-along.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

5/26 - 6/1                 7 of 7 days

2024 Total          150 of 153 days

Success rate                 98.0 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA