Stitching and DeStashing--Week 43, 2019

The stash report shows a small change for the week, 1/2 yard used to make the three blocks shown below. The upper block is a Flying Dutchman variation that will join a very mixed assortment of other blocks in blues and browns. You can see the two Framed Crumb Star blocks along with all the other rainbow colors in yesterday's post.

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             .50 yards

Used year to date:                      49.25 yards
Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                    51.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:           2.5 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. I missed one day last week, but got in plenty of quilting time on the other six days.  

15 Minute Challenge:  

10/20 - 10/26           6 of 7 days

2019 Total         281 of 299 days

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

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 36, 2019

It feels so good to report some stash usage this week and NO NEW FABRIC ADDED TO THE STASH! There have been too many new additions lately; it's time to get back to using more than adding!

My usage for the past week was 3 yards for Kevin's Scrappy Summer Mystery, which needs to be photographed so I can share it here. I also used 3/8 yard for the Framed Crumb Star that showed up in yesterday's post, plus this Flying Dutchman variation that I made a couple weeks ago and never counted.

Flying Dutchman variation
12" block

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                         3.375 yards

Used year to date:                    40.125 yards
Added last week:                           0.0 yards

Added year to date:                    50.75 yards
Net stashed year to date:        10.625 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 schedule at work has let up a bit, and I managed to get some time for quilting every single day!

15 Minute Challenge:  

9/1 - 9/7                  7 of 7 days

2019 Total         234 of 250 days

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

Design Wall Monday--5/6/2019

While looking through my past blog posts, I discovered that the last time I shared my Flying Dutchman blocks was almost exactly six months ago. Here is the photo that I shared at that time.

Dutchman's Puzzle/Flying Dutchman block variations

After a block-making binge last week, the numbers have grown significantly. I'm still uncertain about a plan for how they will all go together, but have been having fun choosing fabric combinations for additional blocks. I do know that I plan to add something as sashing or framing for the blocks. The finished sizes for the blocks are 8" and 12". Here are a couple of layout ideas. 

Vertical columns

Horizontal rows (same photo as the first, but rotated 90 degrees)

Diagonal setting of 12" blocks

The large block with the blue background keeps jumping out at me in all the photos, and I can't decide if I like that or not. I should probably make a couple more blocks using blue similar background colors to help it fit in better. Making decisions is hard--that's why this project keeps getting put back into a box and ignored for six months at a time!

I'm 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. I'm a day late, but I'm also linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 18, 2019

The past week found me with all my different projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge up to date. While waiting for the new color for May to be announced, I went through my UFO boxes, looking for something to work on. I was hoping that blue might be our color for the month (nope, it's orange) so I pulled out my Flying Dutchman variation blocks and made a few more. These new blocks used a total of 7/8 yard. No new fabric was added.

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                          .875 yards

Used year to date:                   13.625 yards
Added last week:                          0.0 yards

Added year to date:                     26.0 yards
Net stashed year to date:      12.375 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'm still keeping up with quilting every day, frequently more than project per day. 

15 Minute Challenge:  

4/28 - 5/4               7 of 7 days

2019 Total        112 of 124 days

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

Stitching and Stashing--Week 11, 2019

Normally the title of my Sunday Stash Report post is Stitching and DeStashing, but that hasn't been true this week. There were no fabrics added to the stash in the first two months of this year, but that has certainly changed recently. For the third week in a row, there was an addition, this time a sizable one, and I couldn't be happier about it!

The fabrics in the photo above are all part of the "Something Blue" line by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. They were the prize in a recent giveaway at Meadow Mist Designs, with the fabrics contributed by Bear Creek Quilting, and I was the very lucky winner! 

This photo gives a better look at the enormous stack of fabric. There are 32 different prints in the Something Blue line, and there is a piece of every single fabric included here, plus duplicates of two of them. All pieces are full width of the fabric, and the lengths vary from 5" for the smallest pieces up to almost 18" for the largest. The grand total is about 10.5 yards! 

I have no idea what I will make with this bountiful collection, but I look forward to figuring it out. One idea was to include them in the Flying Dutchman/Dutchman's Puzzle sampler quilt that I started awhile back. The colors seems like they would fit right in. It might be time to unearth this project again.

There was a small amount of fabric usage to report as well. I used 5/8 yard to make a set of four veggie print potholders to replace the tired old ones that we had been using. I have several more vegetable prints from the same line of fabrics (Farmers Market II by Free Spirit, circa 2002-03), so there might be a few more potholders still to come.

2019 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                         .625 yards

Used year to date:                    4.875 yards
Added last week:                       10.5 yards

Added year to date:                   26.0 yards
Net stashed year to date:         21.125 yards

For the first time since the end of January, I was able to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time every single day last week! I hope this is the first of many weeks with a 7 for 7 total. It's time to get my numbers back up above 90%!

15 Minute Challenge:  

3/10 - 3/16          7 of 7 days

2019 Total        63 of 75 days

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

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 11/11/18

It was a good week for stash usage, and there were no new additions to the stash. I made two more Flying Dutchman/Dutchman's Puzzle blocks to add to the blocks shown in Monday's post. I also pieced the back to go with the first Scraptastic Stars top.

Flying Dutchman/Dutchman's Puzzle variations
8" blocks

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    2.75 yards

Used year to date:               71.75 yards
Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:             34.75 yards
Net used year to date:       37.0 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us keep track of how many days each week we are able to spend at least 15 minutes quilting. I had another week with 6 out of 7 days. 

15 Minute Challenge:  
11/4 - 11/10          6 of 7 days
2018 Total      305 of 314 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. I'm also linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Flying Dutchman Blocks

Over the weekend I pulled out some blocks that were started about a year ago.   These are a group of blocks that I started making last fall when my musician husband was playing in the orchestra for a production of the opera "The Flying Dutchman."  Dutchman's Puzzle or Flying Dutchman are two of the names used for some of these block patterns.

Dutchman's Puzzle/Flying Dutchman block variations

The blocks in the top and bottom rows finish at 8", and the middle row has 12" blocks. I have no specific plan for where I'm going with these blocks or how big a quilt they will become. For now I'm just enjoying playing with the colors and different pattern variations. I love the spinning motion in these designs!

One of the blocks was made twice because the first attempt (on the left) was spinning in the opposite direction of all the other blocks. Naturally, it was one of the most difficult blocks of the whole group. Those little flying geese at the center measure only 1" x 2"!

I'm 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

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 10/21/18

I had a couple of days off from work at the end of the week, which you might think would mean more time spent in the sewing room. Instead, I was so absorbed by other projects around the house that I didn't do any sewing until late in the day. I did spend at least a little time quilting each night, keeping up my excellent record towards Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces.

15 Minute Challenge:  
10/14 - 10/20        7 of 7 days
2018 Total      287 of 293 days

My quilting time for the week used a total of 1.375 yards. 7/8 yard of that was used on the half block setting triangles for the Spinning Boxes quilt that I shared in yesterday's post. The other 1/2 yard went into six more Dutchman's Puzzle/Flying Dutchman block variations. These are a group of blocks that I started making last fall when my musician husband was playing in the orchestra for a production of the opera "The Flying Dutchman." I suppose I should figure out a plan for these blocks one day soon!

Flying Dutchman variations, 8" blocks

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                  1.375 yards

Used year to date:                66.5 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:             34.75 yards
Net used year to date:       31.75 yards

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

Julie in GA

Scraphappy in Blues

It must have been back in November when our color assignment for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was black or brown. About that same time, my music man was playing for a production of the opera The Flying Dutchman. That inspired me to make a few blocks using the patterns known as Flying Dutchman and Dutchman's Puzzle. This week I added three more blocks to that group, all featuring this month's color of light blue.

Flying Dutchman/Dutchman's Puzzle 8" & 12" blocks

I'm not sure that the block with light blue around the outside works with the rest, but it will stay in for now--maybe I will add a few more using blue as the background to balance things out. I was also unhappy to discover that one of my blocks is spinning in the opposite direction of the rest, but I don't find it to be too distracting. I have found several more design variations to try in coming weeks. 

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 11/5/17

I've been playing around with some new block ideas this week. I made two blocks that I've known by the name Dutchman's Puzzle (the smaller blocks.) Then I made two more blocks that were a variation of the same pattern, but the name I found for that version was Flying Dutchman. There's some irony in that name because Ed, my music man, is playing in the orchestra for the Atlanta Opera's performances of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. It seems like this is meant to be!

Dutchman's Puzzle/Flying Dutchman blocks

These four blocks used a total of 1/2 yard of fabric. I've been getting lots of quilt shop emails with tempting sales, but haven't given in yet--no fabric added last week!

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             .50 yards

Used year to date:        87.0 yards

Added last week:            0.0 yards
Added year to date:      8.25 yards

Net used year to date: 78.75 yards

I am continuing to join Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking how many days each week I manage to get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. I had a productive week, making good progress on a few projects.

15 Minute Challenge:  
10/29 - 11/4              7 of 7 days
2017 Total          298 of 308 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate, and add your own report so we can keep the linky going. 

Julie in GA