Stash Report and Stitching Time 7/13/2025

My quilting time this week was mostly focused on two different projects. One was to quilt a Log Cabin quilt that was made as a community service project for our guild. I hope to finish the quilting and binding on that before our next meeting on Thursday.

My other project for the week was to make myself a new purse. The purse I've been using for almost two years is one I made myself, and it was getting faded and worn out. Here's a photo from when it was new.

I decided to use the same pattern again, making very minor changes to it. The pattern is Daytripper II from byannie.com.

This time around, I used a black spotted batik for the outside of the bag. I'm hoping that the tight weave of the batik will hold up a little better than the Jinny Beyer border stripe did. The zipper across the front is at the top of a large outer pocket, and I added a hidden smaller pocket inside there.

The lining is another batik, this time in grey. You can see the inside pocket, which is just the right size for my cell phone. This version of the purse was my first time using Soft and Stable as the inside structure, which gave some good support to the bag. My previous one had Quilter's Dream black polyester batting in it, which was much softer.

I used 1.25 yards of fabric for the new purse, and there were no new additions to the stash this week.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                1.25 yards

Used year to date:         46.125 yards

Added last week:                0.0 yards

Added year to date:           51.0 yards

Net added in 2025:      4.875 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. The combination of making the new purse and quilting the Log Cabin quilt added up to well over 15 minutes of stitching time every day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

7/6 - 7/12                7 of 7 days

2025 Total         192 of 193 days

Success rate                99.5 %   

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 & 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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 2/11/2024

My stash report is showing a decent amount of usage for the week which will help offset some of the fabric that was added a week ago. The largest amount of fabric used was 1.75 yards for the two reverse applique placemats that were made for the latest Project Quilting challenge (see them HERE.)

The other projects to be counted in the stash usage for the week were my blocks for the RSC Hen & Chicks Sampler, shared in yesterday's post, plus these two blocks made for Jen's Monthly Color Challenge. The theme this year is tropical fish, and this month's choice was the Tangerine Discus.

I also made a small pouch to use in my purse, replacing the old and badly worn one that I'd had in there for years. The pattern is the Persimmon Dumpling Pouch, a free pattern at Sew Sweetness. 

Persimmon Dumpling Pouch

Added together, the blocks plus the pouch used 7/8 yard of fabric, bringing my total for the week to 2.625 yard used. No new fabric was added to the stash last week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   2.625 yards

Used year to date:             11.375 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:               17.5 yards

Net added in 2024:          6.125 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. The variety of projects always keeps me interested, and I've had no trouble getting my time in the sewing room.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

2/4 - 2/10           7 of 7 days

2024 Total        41 of 41 days

Success rate                100%

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

Another Bag (This Time for Me!)

After spending much of the month of August making all sorts of bags and wallets to be sold at our guild's Christmas market (see them HERE and HERE), it was finally time to make one for myself. I had been needing a new purse, and I purchased the pattern for the Daytripper 2.0 Crossbody Case in April at the Paducah quilt show.

My first read-through of the pattern left me rather confused, but I had heard from others that the ByAnnie patterns were easy to follow. Once I started working through the pattern step by step, it all went very smoothly. I made one change, making mine a little narrower than the size in the pattern. Here is my version of the Daytripper 2.0 bag.

The front of the bag has a nice deep pocket that runs the full width of the bag.

The other side of the bag is plain and shows off the Jinny Beyer border print beautifully.

For the inside I used one of my favorite blender prints, Bedrock, in grey. There is one pocket on the inside, the perfect size for a cell phone.

I've been using my new bag almost constantly since I finished it last month, including during a recent trip, and I am very happy with it. I would definitely recommend this pattern, and I look forward to trying some of the other ByAnnie patterns in the future.

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

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

I'm Turning Into a Bag Lady!

Most of my stitching time over the past week has been spent on more pieces for the guild's Christmas market in November. After finishing the Diva Wallets (see last week's post HERE,) I continued with the same team fabrics to make sets of zipper pouches. 

The University of Georgia pouches have a very old fabric for the lining, Pointillist Palette in red and black.

The lining for the Georgia Tech pouches is a wavy black and white check.

Here are the pieces for two sets of pouches, plus the zippers for them. Each main fabric has been fused to the lining fabric plus asmall rectangle of interfacing to stiffen the bottom of each pouch. 

I was able to make a total of 11 pouches from these fabrics, and I still have more of the Tech fabric left. They range in size from 2x2x4 for the tiniest size up to 4x4x8 for the largest. The close-up of the UGA pouches shows how the lining fabric changes color.

The pattern that I used for these is "A Little Duffle Do It" by Karen West of For the Love of Fabric. I've made many of these pouches over the years and frequently given them as gifts. I checked, and the pattern is still available at many places online.

After the pouches were finished, I switched over to making a tote bag. For this project, I used the pattern "A Bonnie Bag" by Favorite Things. My copy of this pattern shows a date of 1995 on it, so it may be a little harder to find. I've made a few changes to my version, including eliminating the flap and button closure.

This bag is another that I have made as a gift many times, although it has been several years since the last ones. This time I used a red border stripe print and a coordinating fabric for the lining/contrast. The finished size of the bag is about 14.5" wide x 6.5" deep x 14" high.

There is a zipper across the top (but I'd like to figure out a better way to set the zipper in for the next bag.)

There are two padded outside pockets, one on each side...

and six pockets in the lining.

My biggest concern about the tote bag is how it might be priced for the Christmas market. I know that the fabrics I used for this bag were purchased many years ago, probably for not more than $5-6/yard, and most of the other supplies (zipper, webbing for straps, fleece interfacing) were probably purchased on sale. However, when I calculated the cost of all the supplies to make one bag at current prices, it came to more than $35 (and that's with figuring fabric at only $10/yard.) 

I'm planning to take this bag along to our guild meeting tomorrow and talk to some of the people who have more experience with pricing for the market. I'd be glad to make more of these bags if they think the bags will sell at a reasonable price. Otherwise, I can make many more of those little pouches for the same investment of both money and time.

Linking up with:

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

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

Project Quilting 13.4--Mining for Diamonds

This week is Challenge #4 in the current season of Project Quilting, hosted by Kim Lapacek at Persimon Dreams. The theme for this week's challenge is "Mining Diamonds," any project inspired by diamonds, and it had to be started and finished within the week! My entry is a small purse called Black Diamonds.

Black Diamonds purse

I started by cutting a pile of diamonds from a wide variety of 1.5" strips in different black and dark grey prints. I laid a selection of them out on my cutting mat to see how they looked together, then started piecing them into diagonal strips. Here's the panel I made with the diamonds, before and after I trimmed it to size (7.75" x 9.5".)

I quilted the panel to thin black batting and a piece of light weight black cotton, stitching diagonal lines across the piece.

For the back I used a solid black twill, and I quilted that in a diamond grid. I also added a zipper pocket on the back, deep enough to hold my cell phone.

There's also a zipper across the top of the purse, and a strap long enough to wear it as a cross-body bag. This will be the perfect bag when I don't need to carry my usual big purse and just need a small bag for the basics. The finished size is about 7" x 9".

I'm very happy to have completed another Project Quilting challenge, and with days to spare! It's time to link up and see the other diamond-inspired projects.

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 13.4 at Persimon Dreams

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday)

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA