Finishing the Orange Blocks

Today is the last day of August, and I finished making my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge just in time. 

These are Blocks #32 - 35 of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For my blocks I am alternating using a white or black background on each block and combining that with the RSC color of the month. The blocks will finish at 6".

The orange star is not the pattern that Edyta had designed. Her star block was made with English paper piecing, and I didn't want to spend the time doing all that hand stitching. Instead I went through some of my books of quilt blocks and found this Judy Martin design. It is from her pattern "Kyoto Gardens" which was published in her book Stellar Quilts. I scaled the pattern down to make this 6" block, but I'm thinking about making the original size (10.25") as an RSC project for next year.

I believe our RSC assignment for September will be dark neutrals (black and brown.) I need to go through my RSC projects and figure out which ones could use some dark blocks added to the collection.

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 8/25/2024

It's amazing to me that we are starting the last week of August. The days slip by so quickly sometimes, and suddenly it's almost autumn. We've had some beautiful weather this past week, cooler and less humid than usual for August, which has made spending time outdoors much more enjoyable.

That nicer weather also made it possible for me to get some outdoor photos of my latest finished quilt top, the Lighthouse Inn Modern Mystery, designed by Modern Quilt Studio. You can read about my quilt and see several photos in my blog post HERE, but I'm going to repeat one shot because I'm so excited to have this quilt top together.

Lighthouse Inn quilt top

57.5" x 82"

This quilt made a good dent in my solids stash, using a total of 7.25 yards of fabric. The only fabric I had to buy for it was the navy background (and that was counted in a stash report back in June.)

I also used 1.375 yards of scraps to make a set of "Terry" blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see those in yesterday's post. The pile of scraps from trimming down the blocks was so pretty that I had to get a photo of them.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   8.625 yards

Used year to date:                 69.0 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:               60.0 yards

Net used in 2024:                9.0 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. Those Terry blocks were very time consuming and turned into the primary project for the week. I'm glad to have them done and be able to work on something else.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

8/18 - 8/24               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          234 of 237 days

Success rate                 98.7 %   

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

An Abundance of Scrappy Orange Blocks

When I look at my fabric shelves, I wouldn't think that I had an abundance of orange fabrics. That shelf isn't nearly as full as some of my favorites like the teal/turquoise/aqua shelf. 

However, when I started pulling and cutting orange scraps, there always seemed to be more. I even ended up with several chunks of orange fabrics that went unused because I already had enough. Here are my orange "Terry" blocks, a total of 72 of them.

The "Terry" blocks are inspired by Terry Rowland's colorwash quilts, featured in her series of three YouTube videos. These scrappy little blocks will finish at 3". 

According to my calculations, I currently have almost 400 of these blocks made, and I'm shooting for around 500. That would make a quilt that measures 60" x 75". The number of blocks by color ranges from a high of 72 (orange) down to 37 (red.) I don't have any green blocks because I started making these in February of this year and missed the green month. I'm planning to go back and make more blocks in some colors during the last few months of the year, plus catch up on green.

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

Lighthouse Inn Mystery Reveal

For the second year in a row, my favorite quilting project of the entire summer has been another mystery quilt by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. of Modern Quilt Studio. Last year it was the Summer Camp Mystery, and today I am sharing my version of their Lighthouse Inn Modern Mystery.

Lighthouse Inn quilt top

57.5" x 82"

It all started with choosing a color palette. We needed two distinct groups of fabrics, twelve lighter and twelve darker. The bundle offered by Modern Quilt Studio included a whole rainbow of colors and an off-white background. I decided to go with a more limited range, sticking to the colors of the sunset with Kona navy as my background. (You might notice that I've shown lots more than 12 fabrics in each group.)

We started making blocks on June 1st, with new clues posted on a weekly basis. Each week we made multiple sets of blocks with our light fabrics and matching sets of blocks (although sometimes mirror-imaged) with the darker fabrics. Here are my groups of blocks, week by week.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

After four weeks, we were done making blocks, and it was time for a "Shift Change." All of the blocks got cut in half diagonally, then each light half got stitched to a dark half to make a new block. After combining all the light halves and dark halves into new blocks, they all got trimmed down to different sizes ranging from 3.5" up to 7.25". The sizes increase evenly in 1/4" increments. . Here are all of my blocks after that part of the process was complete.

At that point, we received the final reveal of the quilt design. The blocks get set on point, graduating in size from smallest at one end of the quilt to largest at the other. Here is the layout I decided to use.

The next step was adding background strips to two sides of each block. Since every set of blocks is a different size, the background strips were also different sizes. Then to get the right look for the layout, the strips had to be sewn to the correct sides. It was a slow, painstaking process, but definitely worth it in the end. Here are all the blocks with background added, but before they got joined together.

I'm very happy with the way my quilt top turned out, and I love the vibrant colors. The navy background really sets it all off beautifully.

Finishing this quilt top was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for August. It had been awhile since I posted a goal, and it feels great to have succeeded on this one!

If you are interested in seeing other versions of the Lighthouse Inn Mystery Quilt, you can check them out at the Lighthouse Inn Virtual Exhibition page at Modern Quilt Studio. There are also lots of posts with photos and discussions of the process at the Facebook page for Modern Quilt Studio. They had many participants in this mystery, and you will be blown away by the variety of quilts people have made. I can't wait to see what Weeks and Bill come up with for their next mystery!

Linking up with:

Modern Quilt Studio Facebook page

Lighthouse Inn Virtual Exhibition at Modern Quilt Studio

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

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Stories from the Sewing Room

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report & Stitching Time 8/18/2024

The past week has been a busy one, with our quilt guild's birthday party a highlight of the week. We had a brunch potluck with lots of delicious food, door prizes and socializing, and it all finished off with a sale of fabrics that had been donated by a quilter who was getting rid of her stash. I was able to get two large pieces that will work well as quilt backs, plus several smaller pieces, for a total of 17 yards added to the stash.

The piece on the left measures 5 yards, and the one on the right is 8 yards.

These pieces of fabric mostly measure between 1/4 and 1/2 yard. I didn't realize that my choices fell into such specific color groups until I laid them out for photos.

Fortunately, I have some stash usage to report too. The same quilt guild is making simple tote bags for kids as a community service project to support the church where we hold our meetings. I pulled out a very old (1998?) piece of fabric that is a great print, but it isn't a fabric I want to use in a quilt, too rough and scratchy. It seemed like the perfect choice for bags, and I was able to make 8 of them, using 4.5 yards of fabric.

I also used 3/8 yard for the Hollow 9-Patch blocks I shared in yesterday's post as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. That usage was just enough to keep the fabric usage on the stash report barely more than the fabric added for the year.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   4.875 yards

Used year to date:              60.375 yards

Added last week:                   17.0 yards

Added year to date:               60.0 yards

Net used in 2024:               .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. Besides the projects I've already mentioned, there were also others that got worked on this week. I even managed to finish a quilt top and look forward to sharing it once I get it photographed.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

8/11 - 8/17               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          227 of 230 days

Success rate                 98.7 %   

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 Orange Saturday

It has been a very busy week, but I was still able to complete a set of blocks for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, the Hollow 9-Patches. I've been using 2.5" squares to make these blocks, which will finish at 6" each.

I've been trying to avoid repeating any fabrics in these blocks, although occasionally a duplicate slips through. Some of the fabrics are fairly new, and others are very old. It's fun revisiting them and putting together different combinations of light and dark, bright and muted.

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 8/11/2024

The Stash Report for the last week shows 2.5 yards used, all of it on different scrappy projects. That included orange blocks for two of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, the Rail Fence Spinners and the RSC 2024 Hen and Chicks Sampler (you can see them all in yesterday's post.) I also made a set of four placemat tops from a stash of 2" bowtie and 4-patch blocks, using over 1.5 yards of fabric on them. Today I wanted to share closer photos of a couple of the placemats.

According to my records, I first started making the baby bowties back in 1999. A local quilt guild was sponsoring a placemat contest, with the placemats being donated to Meals on Wheels. I had been collecting lots of teal/turquoise/blue fabrics to make a Storm at Sea quilt and started using them to make the tiny blocks. I hope you enjoy revisiting some very old fabrics (although some are newer too.)

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                      2.5 yards

Used year to date:                 55.5 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               43.0 yards

Net used in 2024:              12.5 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. We were lucky to be far enough away from Hurricane Debby to avoid most of the rain, and had several beautiful, sunny days at the end of the week. That turned out to be the perfect time for staining the back deck. It's not my favorite thing to do, but it sure does look better when it's done. Amazingly, I still managed to get in some quilting time every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

8/4 - 8/10                 7 of 7 days

2024 Total          220 of 223 days

Success rate                 98.6 %   

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

ScrapHappy Saturday

I was able to pull out some orange scraps and work on a couple of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week. First up was finishing the August blocks for the RSC Hen & Chicks sampler. We are making four different block designs each month in both 3" and 6" finished sizes, and I am limiting my fabric choices to batiks. My selection of orange batiks was very limited, but I did get them all made.

RSC Hen & Chicks sampler

After that, I made some orange Rail Fence Spinners, ending up with a total of 10 blocks.

Last month our RSC color assignment was aqua, teal and turquoise. Besides pulling out scraps, I also discovered a stash of tiny (2" finished size) bowtie blocks plus some 4-patches, all in those colors. There were over 160 of the bowties, but even if I'd used all of them together, they would have made a very small quilt, maybe 24" x 28". Instead of making more blocks, I decided to use what I had to make placemats, ending up with a total of four placemat tops. There are only 2 bowtie blocks left over!

All in all, it was a fun and very scrappy week. Who knows what kind of scrappy trouble I might get into next week! There are still plenty more orange scraps to use.

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

One Monthly Goal--August 2024

It has been several months since I joined in with the One Monthly Goal link up, hosted by Anne-Marie at Stories from the Sewing Room. I have a definite goal for August, and today is my last chance to join the party.

June 1st was the start date for the Lighthouse Inn Mystery , designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio. I kept up pretty well with the weekly clues, which had us making 18 blocks most weeks for the first four weeks. You can see my original blocks in THIS POST. After the blocks were made, they all got sliced in half diagonally, then a light half block got joined to a corresponding dark half. Then those sets of new blocks all got trimmed down to different sizes. Here is a photo of all of my blocks after that stage was complete.

The next step was adding background, then the final layout. Every block  gets background added to two sides. Here are my blocks and background for the upper portion of the quilt. The background is sewn to the blocks, but they have not all been stitched together yet. The top edge will get trimmed straight across after everything is joined together.

My One Monthly Goal for August is to get all of my blocks and background joined together into a completed quilt top. It is slow work to keep everything oriented in the right direction, plus I have to do lots of pinning to have the diagonal rows line up correctly. I'm very eager to see how this quilt top will look when it is assembled.

For lots more great photos of other Lighthouse Inn quilts, check out the Modern Quilt Studio Patterns and Fabrics Facebook group (you don't have to be a member.) You can find out how to join the Lighthouse Inn mystery at the Modern Quilt Studio website HERE.

I'm linking up with the One Monthly Goal party at Stories from the Sewing Room. Check it out to see what other quilters are hoping to accomplish this month! I'm also linking up with Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication and Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Stash Report & Stitching Time 8/4/2024

It was another good week for stash usage, with 1.75 yards in the used column and no new fabric added to the stash. The last of the July blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge were completed last week, using plenty of my aqua, teal and turquoise scraps. You can see those blocks in yesterday's post.

I also went ahead and made the August blocks for Jen's 2024 Color Challenge right away at the beginning of the month. Jen's color choices are inspired by tropical fish, and this month it is the purple dottyback.  I've been making two blocks each month, one using light and dark of the assigned color, and the other set of blocks all have dark navy backgrounds. I'll end up with enough blocks for two kid's quilts at the end of the year.

Jen's Color Challenge--August blocks

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     1.75 yards

Used year to date:                  53.0 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               43.0 yards

Net used in 2024:              10.0 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. It has been very hot and humid here, with lots of rain keeping us indoors, and the best place to be has been my sewing room.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

7/28 - 8/3                 7 of 7 days

2024 Total          213 of 216 days

Success rate                 98.6 %   

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

July into August with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Our new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month is orange, but before I could start pulling out my orange scraps, I needed to finish up my last sets of blocks in aqua/teal/turquoise from July. First I worked on the Laundry Basket Quilts Birthday Blocks. A new 6" block is posted every week, and these are blocks #27 - 31.

The next thing to finish from July was my set of Terry blocks. These blocks will finish at 3" each, and it takes more time to cut all the pieces for them than to stitch them. I ended up with 60 blocks in aqua, teal, and turquoise.

After completing those, I was able to make a start on my August blocks for the RSC Hen & Chicks sampler. We are making four different block designs each month in both 3" and 6" finished sizes, and I am limiting my fabric choices to batiks. I got all the pieces cut for this month's blocks and managed to get one pair stitched. Those little 3" blocks sure are challenging!

I will continue with the Hen & Chicks blocks this week, plus pull out more orange scraps for some of my other RSC projects.

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