Hands 2 Help 2021

I'm cutting it close, but it's time for me to share the photos of my quilts for the 2021 Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge. This wonderful event is hosted each year by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and it is so heartwarming to see how many quilters have been inspired to donate quilts to a variety of groups providing comfort to those in need. Last year there were over 500 quilts donated, and I wouldn't be surprised if the number was much higher this year.

My donations are going to Kat in Texas for Covered in Love. This first one is the Beveled Blocks quilt top that I finished in March. I am also sending the backing and binding with this quilt top. The backing includes a few extra blocks from making the top.

Beveled Blocks, 60.5" x 72.5"

Beveled Blocks backing

The other quilt top that I will be sending to Kat is a Scrappy Trips design, based on Bonnie Hunter's instructions. I used 3" strips to make the blocks, rather than the 2.5" used in Bonnie's version.

Scrappy Trips, 60.5" x 75.5"

I pulled out some fabrics as possibilities to back this quilt, either the two turquoise and purple fabrics together or the two greens. I don't have enough of any of them for the whole back. I'm hoping to get that done this weekend, plus make a binding, and send everything off on Monday.

Many thanks once again to Sarah for all the hard work she puts in to make this event a success. This is the 11th year of the Hands 2 Help Challenge, and almost 3000 quilts were donated in the first ten years. I can't wait to see the final total for 2021. You can see photos of many of the quilts that have been donated this year at Sarah's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Happy quilting to all! 

Julie in GA  

To-Do Tuesday 4/6/2021

Happy To-Do Tuesday once again!  It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I managed to complete my whole list from last week, but it was down to the wire. The final item didn't happen until after dinner last night.

To-Do List for 3/30 - 4/5

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day  ✔done 

Twelve bowties done last week.

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #25  ✔done 

3. Beveled Blocks--make binding  ✔done

This is the project that didn't get done until last night!

4. 30's Kaleidoscope--make light blue blocks  ✔done 

Sixteen light blue blocks done.

5. Around the Twist--remove old quilting  ✔done 

You can still see the creases where the quilting stitching was, but it has all been removed.

The list for next week continues with many of the same projects, plus the return of the monthly Scrap Magnet blocks, a personal favorite!

To-Do List for 4/6 - 4/12

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day   

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #26

3. Scrap Magnet--make two  blue blocks 

4. Around the Twist--figure out a plan for quilting 

5. 30's Kaleidoscope--choose fabric for corner triangles and start adding them to blocks

 

The list doesn't look like much, but I'm sure other things will come up. I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Beveled Blocks Top and Back Done!

My most recent quilt top, Beveled Blocks, is finished! I even got a back pieced for it already.

Beveled Blocks top, 60.5" x 72.5"

The back includes four leftover quilt blocks at the center.

Beveled Blocks backing, 71" x 85"

Most of my quilting time is spent switching around between multiple projects. They might be block-of-the-week or -month quilts that I'm trying to keep caught up, or ongoing projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with a block pattern repeated each month in a different color. I like having a variety of projects in the works. It's helpful to be able to choose what I'm in the mood to work on rather than what needs to be done next on a single project.

Despite that tendency, there are times when I get totally absorbed by a single project and all others fall to the wayside temporarily. That was the case last week. I pulled out the Beveled Blocks kit that I had purchased way back in 2009! Within a week I had made all the blocks and gotten them joined together into a top. A few days later, the backing was also done.

I had made a few sample blocks from this pattern several years earlier, and I even made a smaller wallhanging version with blues and tans in 2018 which hangs above the fireplace in our living room. It is easy to vary the block size with this pattern, and the piecing goes quickly.

The Beveled Blocks pattern is by Aardvark Quilts. I don't see it listed on their website, but I believe it is still available from other retailers.

This quilt top and backing will be going to Kat's Covered in Love quilting charity in Texas. They are one of the designated charities for the 2021 Hands 2 Help Quilt Challenge.

Linking up with:
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Favorite Finish at Meadow Mist Designs

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

To-Do Tuesday 3/23/2021

Happy To-Do Tuesday once again!  It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

Last week's quilting time was focused on the Beveled Blocks quilt. Not only did I get all the blocks made, I got the top put together and started piecing the back. 

To-Do List for 3/16 - 3/22:

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day   ✔done 

Twelve Bowtie blocks done this week. That brings me up to 30 so far this month.

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #23       ✔done 

3. Beveled Blocks--finish cutting parts, make blocks   ✔done 

This photo shows 30 finished blocks before they were joined together into a top.

For the week ahead, I'm planning to finish the backing for the Beveled Blocks quilt and make a few blocks for ongoing projects. I might try to find another old project to pull out and work on too.

To-Do List for 3/23 - 3/29:

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #24

3. Beveled Blocks--finish piecing back

4. Sew Colorful Stars--make 1 green block

5. Orphan Adoptions--pick winners, pack and ship giveaways

For anyone who hasn't heard, the Orphan Adoption event is sponsored twice a year by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. I have two orphans available to give away. You can see them HERE and HERE. I'm going to extend my deadline for entries to tomorrow morning (Wednesday, 3/24) at 7 a.m. Leave a comment on either or both posts if you would like to win.

That should all be more than enough to keep me busy for the next week!  I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday 3/22/2021

Last week was a whirlwind of piecing blocks for the Beveled Blocks quilt, and I was able to complete the top on Saturday. You can see the blocks in yesterday's post, and I hope to share photos of the finished top later this week if the weather cooperates.

I ended up with five extra blocks that didn't make it into the top. Four have been joined together to become the center of the quilt backing. The majority of the back will be the olive paisley print shown at the top and bottom.

All of the pieces have been cut for the back, and I hope to get it put together in the next couple of days.

If anyone is interested, I have two giveaways posted as part of the Spring 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. You can read more about them HERE and HERE. I'm accepting entries until Tuesday at noon.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 12, 2021

Before I get into the weekly reports, I want to mention the Spring 2020 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event  hosted by Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. I have two "orphans" available for adoption, and you can read more about them HERE and HERE. I'm accepting entries until Tuesday at noon.

We've had some lovely warm weather lately, but the first day of spring was cooler and rather windy, keeping us mostly indoors for the day. Lucky for me, yesterday was also Worldwide Quilting Day, and I took full advantage of it. I spent the morning making the blocks for my Beveled Blocks quilt, and after lunch I arranged and rearranged the blocks on my design wall, then got them all stitched together. Here are the blocks before they were joined.

The Beveled Blocks quilt was really my only project over the past week, except for the bowtie blocks that I use as leaders and enders. In addition to the full day of quilting on Saturday, I spent well over 15 minutes quilting every other day of the week. 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. 

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

3/14 - 3/20                7 of 7 days

2021 Total              79 of 79 days

As for the stash report, I haven't added up my yardage used on the Beveled Blocks yet. That will be reported next week. I did use 3/8 yard for my latest group of Glorified 9-Patch blocks.

I also sent a stack of strips of 30's fabrics to my sister for a quilt project she is making. The strips all measured 5" wide, and lengths varied from about 4" to around 9 or 10". I didn't add up all the lengths, but the whole stack weighed 1 lb., 2.9 oz. At 3 yards per pound, I'm counting the total as 3.5 yards.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            3.875 yards

Used year to date:                         67.25 yards

Added last week:                              0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net used year to date                55.75 yards

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 12, 2021

March is green month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and there is certainly plenty of green in evidence around here, both inside and out. Happy spring and Happy Worldwide Quilting Day to all!

One set of green blocks that was completed recently is my Glorified 9-Patch blocks. I've even got one block with shamrocks on it for St. Patrick's Day. I started out piecing the curves on these blocks by hand, but didn't really enjoy that process. Now I am stitching the blocks completely by machine. These blocks will be trimmed to 6.5" when I am ready to join them together.

My main green project for the week was an old kit that I came across, the Beveled Blocks quilt. The kit included 24 fat quarters, enough to make a quilt that measures 48" x 60". I decided to add many of my own fabrics and make a larger quilt top. Here you can see enough parts for 30 blocks, although at this point they all need the diagonal seams stitched to finish the blocks. 

My goal for the day is to get these parts all turned into blocks. I'm sure there will be some time spent arranging and rearranging the placement of all the blocks, but I'm hoping to get them joined together by the end of the day. I've warned my guy that it is Worldwide Quilting Day, so he shouldn't expect me to do any household chores today. It's a good thing I took care of the laundry yesterday!

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

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 3/16/2021

Happy To-Do Tuesday once again!  It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I got through my whole list last week, then pulled out a very old kit to start as a new project on Sunday. That quilt will be my primary focus for the week ahead.

 

To-Do List for 3/9 - 3/15:

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day   ✔done 

2. Scrap Magnet--make two blocks in greens       ✔done 

3. Sewcialites QAL--make block #22      ✔done 

4. Glorified 9Patch--prep green blocks    ✔4 green blocks done 

To-Do List for 3/16 - 3/22:

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #23

3. Beveled Blocks--finish cutting parts, make blocks

Beveled Blocks is the old kit that I pulled out over the weekend. You can read more about it in yesterday's post. I'm adding fabrics from my stash to the kit for more variety. That has added time to the cutting process, but will make for a more interesting quilt. My goal for the next week is to finish the cutting and to piece most of the blocks for this quilt. I need a total of 30 blocks for my planned quilt size. Here's what is done so far. 

That should all be more than enough to keep me busy for the next week!  I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday 3/15/2021

My quilting mojo has been a little hard to find lately. I have stayed up-to-date with my ongoing projects like the Sewcialites weekly blocks and the different rainbow projects I'm working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. However, I've been wanting to pull out a UFO and get it put together, but none of them were speaking to me--at least, not until I remembered my Beveled Blocks quilt kit, which has been hanging around in my sewing room since 2009!

It is very rare for me to buy a quilt kit. I generally prefer to buy patterns and choose my own fabrics. On the rare occasion that I do buy a kit, it is usually because it is a great price, and I know I can split it up and use the fabric from the kit for other projects. In this case, I am using the pattern and the fabrics from this kit together, but also adding some of my own fabrics to the mix.

These are the fabrics that were included with the kit--24 fat quarters. I could make the whole quilt top as shown in the pattern, 48" x 60", using just these fabrics. Instead I decided to add my own fabrics and use half of the FQ pieces, saving the other half of each piece. That gives me a wider variety of prints in the quilt, plus some new additions to my stash. I spent much of yesterday pulling and cutting brown fabrics, plus I made a start on the greens. 

I managed to get the piecing done for six blocks, although the final diagonal seams have not been stitched. I will wait to do that after all the block halves are pieced and I can mix and match fabric combinations. I'm planning to make a larger size quilt than the pattern, maybe 60" x 72". 

Once I get all of the strips cut, the blocks will come together quickly. I'm enjoying the process and look forward to getting more block parts up on the design wall soon.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Beveled Blocks is Finished!

I have a recent finish to share--the Beveled Blocks quilt is finished! This was made as an anniversary gift for my husband after his suggestion that it would be nice to have a small quilt over the mantel in our living room. He also suggested that it have a 3D or optical illusion look. Here is a close look at the finished quilt...

Beveled Blocks
37.5" x 45"

and here it is hanging over the fireplace. There is quite a bit of blue in the room, and I chose the tan fabrics to work well with the wall color.

This quilt is based on the Beveled Blocks pattern from Aardvark Quilts. I reduced the block size from 12" to 7.5" to make it fit better in the available space. 

This old Hoffman Fabrics paisley was used for the backing, and all the quilting is in the ditch to help emphasize the optical illusion.

Linking up to:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 5/20/18

The past couple of weeks seem to have slipped by very quickly, and I missed posting my stash report last Sunday. I'm excited to report my first completely finished quilt for the year! I finished the Beveled Blocks quilt that I was making as a gift for my husband. It is a small wallhanging and used a total of 4.5 yards of fabric. This photo is just the top when it was pin basted for quilting. I will share photos of the finished quilt and more info in a separate blog post.

I also used 3/8 yard on my Squared Away sampler blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (see them in this post.) No fabric added to the stash.

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                4.875 yards

Used year to date:              24.5 yards

Added last week:                  0.0 yards
Added year to date:              8.0 yards
Net used year to date:   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. Despite our crazy schedule at work, I have managed  to get my 15 minutes every day over the past two weeks.

15 Minute Challenge:  
5/6 - 5/19              7 of 7 days
2018 Total       135 of 139 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

Julie in GA

April 2018 One Monthly Goal Success!

It's the last day of April, which means it is time to report on my One Monthly Goal progress. Here is the pattern I have been working on this month.

My plan was to make a version of this pattern as a wall hanging for our living room at my husband's suggestion last month. He doesn't know that I immediately jumped on this idea and am hoping to get it finished in time for our anniversary in May. The color scheme has been switched around to blues and tans. I had started making blocks at the beginning of April, and my One Monthly Goal was to finish making the rest of the blocks and get them all joined together.

Not only are the blocks all joined together, I have made a good start on the machine quilting. I am keeping it simple, with all seams stitched in the ditch. I'm optimistic that I will be able to get it totally finished in the next three weeks in time to give it to hubby, the idea man. (He doesn't read my blog very often, so I hope he doesn't see this post!)

I'm joining the One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag.  Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

April 2018 One Monthly Goal

It's time to decide on my One Monthly Goal for April, and this month it's an easy decision. A few weeks ago, my husband mentioned that it would be nice to have a small quilt to put up over the mantel in our living room. He was especially interested in a 3D or optical illusion look. After showing him images of several options, we agreed on this design.

I pulled fabrics (not the colors shown) and have been working on the blocks. My goal for April is to finish making blocks and get them all joined together into a top. I might be able to start the quilting, which would be a big bonus! I will report back at the end of the month and let you see how it turned out . I am joining the One Monthly Goal link-up for April at Elm Street Quilts. Check it out to see what others are hoping to get done this month!

Julie in GA