Chinese Coins is Finally Finished!

One of my very oldest quilt projects was completed recently, and I can't believe how long it took. This is my Chinese Coins quilt, which was started in July of 1998!

Chinese Coins, 44.5" x 51.5"

Some of my memories of this project are a little fuzzy, but I know it was started at a quilt shop sewing day in '98. I had been collecting teal and turquoise fabrics with plans to make a Storm at Sea quilt, and I enjoyed using them in this quilt. The quilt shop named the design "Chinese Coins," but they look like Snowball blocks to me.

The quilt top, batting and backing were pin basted together soon after I made the top, but I struggled for a long time with figuring out how to quilt it. It would get pulled out of the closet on a regular basis, but always ended up going back again unfinished. I did start quilting it in 2014, but I didn't get far before I returned the quilt to the closet again.

It was our guild's UFO (UnFinished Objects) Challenge that finally motivated me to get this quilt done. I decided that I would rather continue with the quilting that had already been done than pick it out and do something else. It feels great to finally get this scrappy beauty finished and out of the closet. It deserves to be seen and enjoyed!

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 & Stitching Time 6/22/2025

A great deal of my quilting time this week was spent preparing to do a demonstration at our quilt guild meeting. I had volunteered to demonstrate how to do "Stack & Whack" quilting, and needed a few new samples to share. I used a large-scale vegetable print fabric for the first set of blocks.

I still have more of the same fabric stacked and ready to be turned into blocks, but I'm not sure I want to make a whole quilt from them. I'm currently thinking they'd be great for placemats.

The other set of blocks I made this week had already been cut out several years ago and were just waiting in my bin of Stack & Whack samples and fabrics. These blocks have already been joined together with the red-orange setting fabric, and I'm planning to add a border of the main print to turn this into a baby quilt.

Total fabric used for the week was 2 yards, and no new fabric was added to the stash.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  2.0 yards

Used year to date:         40.125 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:    10.875 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. Besides all the prep for the Stack & Whack demo, I also caught up on the blocks for my Temperature Quilt, plus continued joining together the "Terry" blocks. 

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

6/15 - 6/21              7 of 7 days

2025 Total         171 of 172 days

Success rate                99.4 %   

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

Jane Stickle Sampler Progress Report

It has been almost two months since I posted an update on my Jane Stickle sampler blocks. I tend to work on them in spurts, maybe because they require more focus than many of my projects. The fact that every single block is different means nothing happens quickly, but I've made good progress recently.

These are all the blocks I've made for this quilt since my last post in late April. I really got going with them earlier this month, completing 13 blocks since the beginning of June. The photo shows them arranged by color, not the way they will be laid out in the quilt.

I've been tracking my progress on making blocks in EQ8. I had hoped to include that image in my post, but I'm having some trouble getting it to work. I have finished a total of 37 blocks since starting this project back in March. Unfortunately, my larger design wall is covered in blocks for another project, so I can't put these on the wall along with the previously made blocks. Maybe next time...

I'm  linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

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