Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/15/2025

Last week's stash report never happened for me because our internet wasn't working when I sat down to write my post. I ended up moving to the sewing machine instead and didn't get back to the computer at all that day. This post covers the past two weeks.

I've been chipping away at my net added number on the stash totals, with 3 yards used over the past two weeks and no new fabric added. The fabric used included 1.5 yards for a border-stripe tablerunner, which was shared in an earlier post HERE. Yesterday I made six napkins from the coordinating daisy print to match that runner, using another 1.5 yards.

I still have more of the daisy border-stripe fabric left. Originally I had planned to make multiple tablerunners from it, keeping one for us and donating the others for our quilt guild's booth at the Christmas market. The guild is not participating in the market this year, so I think I will make some matching placemats instead.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  3.0 yards

Used year to date:         38.125 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:    12.875 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. Along with making the napkins, I also finished a small quilt (post and photos coming soon,) plus I made several new blocks for my Jane Stickle sampler quilt. There are always plenty of quilting projects waiting for their turn!

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

6/1 - 6/14              14 of 14 days

2025 Total          164 of 165 days

Success rate               99.39 %   

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

Daisy Tablerunner Finished!

Almost two years ago, I won a bundle of border-striped floral fabrics at our guild's annual Brown Bag raffle. This is the set of fabrics I won. Most of them were 2-yard pieces.

I had intended to use some of these fabrics to make tablerunners for the craft market the guild participates in before Christmas. I had even gotten some of the fabrics cut and pieced into tops. However, the guild is not going to do the Christmas market this year, so these have just been sitting around waiting for a new inspiration to hit.

Well, here comes the inspiration--it's turning into daisy season around here. The flowers in our front yard are just getting started, but there will be many more in the weeks ahead. They inspired me to finish a tablerunner from the daisy border-stripe fabric. I used the coordinating daisy print for the back.

The tablerunner really stands out on our dark dining table. I have enough of the daisy print to make some napkins to go along with it. I think that will be my next project for today. Finishing this project was also one of the items on my list for the guild's UFO Challenge. It feels so good to complete another UFO!

Linking up with:

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/1/2025

The changes to my stash report for the last week were small, but I did manage to use a little fabric. Our guild had a speaker from a local quilt shop recently, and she told us about a mystery quilt program that they were offering. Yesterday was the one-day "Starlight Mini Mystery," and I followed their clues to piece this little quilt top.

Starlight Mini Mystery quilt top

21.5" square

The mystery quilt instructions called for 6 fat quarters, but in reality didn't use anywhere near that much. I'm calling it 5/8 yard used. That's a tiny dent in the bin of patriotic fabrics. I'm thinking about adding some borders to bring it up to a more useful size, maybe a baby quilt. Stay tuned...

 

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                .625 yards

Used year to date:         35.125 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:    15.875 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 spent some time quilting every day last week, and I even did some garment sewing. I made a blouse for my mother, copying one she already has that fits her well. It felt good to flex my patternmaking skills again.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

5/25- 5/31                7 of 7 days

2025 Total          150 of 151 days

Success rate                 99.3 %   

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

Colorwash Assembly Begins

Last week's post included progress photos with half of the different color sets of "Terry" blocks going up on my design wall. After adding the rest of the colors, I let all the blocks hang out together up there for a few days. Every once in a while, I would stand back and look at them, then move a few blocks around. I took some photos in grey scale to make sure nothing jumped out as being in the wrong place (like that too dark block just right of center and six rows up from the bottom.)

My final layout ended up with 27 rows of 20 blocks each, which should produce a quilt measuring 60" wide by 81" long.

Yesterday I was finally ready to start joining blocks. I managed to get the lower right quarter sewn together. 

Green is our assigned color for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and the next section for this quilt will include lots more green, plus teal/turquoise and blue. I would love to have a finished quilt top to share next week.

I began making these scrappy little 3" blocks early last year, inspired by Terry Rowland's amazing improv colorwash quilts, which are featured in her series of three YouTube videos. Terry doesn't have a blog or website, but she is active on Facebook and Instagram.

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

Chandelier Quilt Top

Our quilt guild had a group sewing day recently to work on throw quilts for donation to the local chapter of Meals on Wheels. The quilts are distributed to clients who are in need of comfort and warmth. Here is my completed Chandelier 3-yard quilt top.

Chandelier quilt top

50" x 61"

The design I chose to make is the Chandelier 3-yard quilt pattern from the Sew Can She website. Caroline at Sew Can She offers a huge selection of free patterns on her site, including several of the popular 3-yard patterns. The pattern was easy to make, and the quilt came together quickly.

I received the fabrics from the guild's head of community service projects. They aren't my usual style, but I like the way they look together. So many of the quilts I make are scrappy, which I love, but the cutting sure goes faster with only three fabrics. 

Linking up with:

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 5/25/25

There are no changes to my stash report for the last week, even though I spent plenty of time quilting. My main projects were a 3-yard quilt for a guild community service project, but it was made from guild fabrics, not mine. I also spent lots of time putting more of my "Terry" blocks up on the design wall. I shared some photos in yesterday's post, and here is the next phase.

There are only a few more colors to add to the wall, plus there's sure to be plenty of rearranging of blocks. I would love to get this top together by the end of the month, but that might be unrealistic.

 

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  0.0 yards

Used year to date:            34.5 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:        16.5 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. It was another 7 for 7 week, which included a guild sewing day to work on community service quilts. 

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

5/18 - 5/24                7 of 7 days

2025 Total          143 of 144 days

Success rate                 99.3 %   

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

Designing a Gradation

After sharing the final group of blocks for my "Terry" quilt in last week's post, it was time to start arranging all the different colors together on the design wall. I have around 560 blocks and decided to make my quilt 20 blocks wide and 26 or 27 rows high. That should give me a quilt that measures 60" wide x 78" or 81" long.

It seemed easiest to start at the bottom and work my way up. I wanted to keep the darkest blocks around the outside edges and to have the colors create a swirling effect. I started with the purple blocks at the lower right corner.

The blue blocks were added to the left of the purples.

The lower left corner was filled with all the blue-green colors like teal and turquoise.

After that I added the greens along the left side.

That brings me to approximately halfway through my set of blocks. Since green is our assigned color for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'm going to stop there for today. It's getting hard to include all the blocks in my photos as the layout grows. The design wall is in a hallway, and I have to stand in the bathroom and take pictures through the doorway.

I'm sure there will be plenty of rearranging of blocks once I get all the colors up on the wall. I can already see a few in these photos that need to be moved for a better blend of the colors and values. I can't wait to see how it looks with even more colors added to the design wall!

I began making these scrappy little 3" blocks early last year, inspired by Terry Rowland's amazing improv colorwash quilts, which are featured in her series of three YouTube videos. Terry doesn't have a blog or website, but she is active on Facebook and Instagram.

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 5/18/2025

It was a very productive week in the sewing room, with major progress made on multiple projects. That meant a significant amount of fabric used for the week, helping my stash report total get closer to being back in the black. I used 1.5 yards in the sashing and border for my Sewcialites 2 sampler quilt (read about it HERE.) 

Sewcialites 2 quilt top

1.875 yards was used for the backing and binding on the Diagonal Squares baby quilt, shared in the same blog post.

Diagonal Squares baby quilt

I also used 1.25 yards to make the last set of "Terry" blocks.

"Terry" blocks

Altogether, that adds up to 4.625 yards used for the week. I did have one small addition to the stash. We had a speaker from a local quilt shop at our guild meeting this week, and she did a pop-up shop for us. It would have been rude to not buy anything from her, right? I got one charm pack, Olive You by Zen Chic. It's not a color palette I normally gravitate toward, but for some reason, it spoke to me that day. 3/4 yard added to the stash.

I still have a long way to go before the stash total is back to even, but I feel really good about the progress made this week. Finishing quilts definitely eats up some yardage.

 

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:              4.625 yards

Used year to date:            34.5 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:        16.5 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. Along with the projects shared above, I also got caught up on my Temperature Quilt, cut the pieces for a guild sewing day next week, and attended a guild meeting. It was a week filled with quilting, just the way I like it!

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

5/11 - 5/17                7 of 7 days

2025 Total          136 of 137 days

Success rate               99.27 %   

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

The Last "Terry" Blocks (I hope)

It's possible that my collection of "Terry" blocks is complete! Green is our assigned color for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I finished piecing the rest of my green blocks this week. I ended up with a grand total of 86 blocks in green, well over the average number of my other colors.

I also decided to add a few to the set of teal/turquoise/aqua blocks, making twelve more in those colors. Some of these definitely lean toward green or blue, which will be very helpful in getting my color gradation to blend together.

Early last year I began making these scrappy little 3" blocks inspired by Terry Rowland's amazing improv colorwash quilts, which are featured in her series of three YouTube videos. Terry doesn't have a blog or website, but she is active on Facebook and Instagram.

I started making my blocks last February, following along with the assigned colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge each month. By the end of the year I had nearly 400 blocks made. This year I made additional blocks in some colors to even out the numbers. Most colors have around 60-70 blocks, and then there's the enormous set of 86 blocks in green. According to my tally, I now have 561 blocks total, although I wouldn't be surprised if that count was off by a few.

Up next is the part I've been both dreaming about and dreading--combining the colors on the design wall. Putting over 500 blocks up on the wall and getting them arranged for the best gradation of color is likely to be a slow process since I tend to agonize over the placement of every single block. I can't wait to see how the colors work together!

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

UFO Challenge 2025--Report #1

Our quilt guild recently started a UFO Challenge (UnFinished Objects, in case you didn't know), with each member submitting a list of UFOs and what they hope to achieve on their projects. The challenge is running from April until October. For each goal successfully completed, we get our name entered into a prize drawing, and for each goal not completed, our penalty is one fat quarter. Those fat quarters become part of the final prize.

As usual, I greatly overestimated how much I am likely to get done on my UFOs. The list I submitted contains 13 different projects! Most people listed three or four. This week I buckled down and completed two of my UFO goals.

Sewcialites 2, 9" blocks

The blocks shown above were made as part of the guild's most recent Block of the Month, Sewcialites 2 from  the Fat Quarter Shop's website. I finished a quilt top with 3" blocks from the same pattern (see it HERE,) but lost interest in making more of the 9" blocks. My UFO goal was to join them together into a baby quilt top.

Before joining the blocks together, I decided to rework two of them that bothered me as part of the group. Those were the blocks at the top right (that bright blue isn't used anywhere else) and the bottom left (needs more of the background fabric.) I changed the corner squares in the bottom block to half-square triangles with the dark blue background, and I'm much happier with that look.

Instead of taking apart the block with the bright blue, I picked a different block pattern to make from scratch. This was a very easy block to piece.

After those were done, I figured out a plan for sashing and borders. It took a couple days, but I now have a finished quilt top. UFO Challenge Goal #1 completed!

Sewcialites 2 quilt top

39.5" x 50"

I didn't waste any time after that UFO success before I pulled out another project. This was a small quilt that had been pieced several years ago, then the quilting was started in 2022. Each fabric has been quilted with a different design in a different color thread. Here are some close shots of the fabrics and the quilting.

This photo of the back really shows the texture of the quilting. The backing is a flannel print.

All that needed to be done on this quilt was to finish quilting the borders, then add the binding. I took care of those items, and now it's a finished quilt. Goal #2 completed!

Diagonal Squares baby quilt

38" x 45"

It feels so good to have completed two of the goals from my UFO Challenge list. Maybe that will motivate me to keep pushing through the other projects I've chosen. If I can average completing two goals per month, it will be a very successful challenge for me.

Linking up with:

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 5/11/2025

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mothers out there. We recently visited my mother and other family members in Wisconsin, and I'm always thankful for any time spent with them. Love you, Mom!

It's going to take a long time and a lot of quilt projects to get my stash total back in the black for the year after the huge additions to the stash that were reported last week . I made a small start this week with 34 green blocks for the Terry Rowland colorwash quilt (read about it HERE.) I used 5/8 yard from my stash to make these blocks.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                .625 yards

Used year to date:         29.875 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:         50.25 yards

Net added in 2025:    20.375 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. I worked on multiple different projects last week, which is the norm for me, and I definitely got in more than 15 minutes every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

5/4 - 5/10                 7 of 7 days

2025 Total          129 of 130 days

Success rate                 99.2 %   

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