Hummingbird Quilt Finished!

My most recent finish was made as a special gift for my husband, Ed, who loves watching the hummingbirds at our feeders in the summer. We are both fascinated by their behavior, but Ed is the one who makes sure the feeders stay filled.

Tiny Jewel, 18" square

The pattern is called Tiny Jewel, and it was designed by Sylvia Schaefer of Flying Parrot Quilts. The hummingbird is foundation pieced, and three different block sizes are included in the pattern (9", 12" and 18" finished sizes.) I made the 12" block, then added the gradation of green solids as a border.

I pieced the top for this little quilt almost two years ago, soon after I bought the pattern, but it hung around my sewing room unquilted until just recently. I found the perfect fabric for the back at Hancock's of Paducah last December, and that helped motivate me to get this finished. It is now hanging next to our back door, waiting for the return of our favorite little flying acrobats.

Linking up with:

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!

Julie in GA

Placemats Parade

Finishing quilts has never been one of my greatest strengths. Like so many other quilters, I'm much better at starting new projects. However, over the past couple of years, I've discovered one type of quilt project that I am much more successful at completing, and that is placemats. I love making placemats! Each one is like a little mini quilt, the perfect place to try out design ideas or color combos or quilting designs. 

The most recent set of placemats to be made were a gift for my mother's 90th birthday. I've had a bin full of Mom's old fabric scraps, some dating back to the the 1950's and 60's, ever since my sister and I used those fabrics to make three scrappy quilts together back in 2015 (read more about those quilts HERE and HERE.) There was one small bundle of strips in the bin that I knew were left from a log cabin quilt Mom had made back in the late 60's or early 1970's.

Mom's log cabin quilt

The colors and prints in the fabrics are so typical of that time. The blocks in the quilt are very large, close to 18" square. My favorite fabric is the green one with orange flowers and chickens. (Click on the photo below for a closer look.)

Those leftover strips, plus a few other fabrics in similar colors from the bin of old scraps, were combined to make three strippy placemats. I finished them off with a batik fabric for the backs.

Those are probably the last placemats I will make this year. They brought my total for the year up to almost 80 placemats. I wasn't kidding at the beginning of this post when I said that I love making them! Here are some of the others that I made this year, with links to previous blog posts for most of them.

Project Quilting, Season 15

Stack and Whack Pinwheels (for guild Christmas market)

more Stack & Whack Pinwheels

more Stack & Whack Pinwheels

Strippy Quilt as You Go

More QAYG

Even more QAYG

Orphan block placemats

Mini Bowties

Dresden Star orphan blocks

A Maze Zing x 14

Other than the Stack & Whack Pinwheel sets for the Christmas market and the set for my mother, all of the rest were donated to Meals on Wheels through two different quilt guilds. 

Linking up with:

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 10, 2021

The majority of my sewing time last week was not spent quilting, but I was using quilt fabrics. I made a pair of pj shorts as a birthday gift for my guy (he loves hot peppers.) The hem is pinned up until we can check the length.

The other items made from quilting fabrics were two bags for grocery shopping. We used to have several of these that I had made, but someone walked off with our cart at the store several months ago. We never did find the person, our cart, or the bags that had been in the bottom of the cart.

There was a little bit of quilting done too--I used 1.25 yards for the 25 Kaleidoscope blocks I made from my 30's reproductions. You can see those in yesterday's post.

The amounts of fabric used were 1-5/8 yards for the shorts, 7/8 yard for each of the grocery bags, and 1-1/4 yards for the Kaleidoscope blocks. Total used was 4-5/8 yards, and no new fabric was added to the stash.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            4.625 yards

Used year to date:                          56.0 yards

Added last week:                              0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net used year to date                 44.5 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 spending most of my stitching time working on those gift projects, I did get in a little bit of quilting every day too. 

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

2/28 - 3/6                  7 of 7 days

2021 Total              65 of 65 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

Finally Finished

There are some quilts that have a deadline or specific reason to be finished (gifts, quilt show entries, etc.) and they generally get done in a timely manner. Then there are the quilts that are started with no specific goal or plan for their future. Those are the quilts that might hang around unfinished in my sewing room, sometimes for a very long time.

That was the case with my Woven Ribbons quilt. I remember exactly when and where I bought the pattern and fabrics for this quilt, a smallish quilt shop (since closed) in St. Paul, Minnesota in the summer of 2004. I thoroughly enjoyed piecing the quilt and was very happy with the fabric choices and the way the top turned out. I'm not sure exactly when I had it quilted, probably 2007 or 2008, and it has been hanging around needing binding ever since.

Woven Ribbons
42" x 49.5"

I had put this quilt on my 2017 UFO Challenge list, and it's number came up in June. I pulled the quilt out and had it hanging on the closet door, but the binding still didn't get finished. Sometime in July I saw it hanging there and realized "I know exactly the person who would love this quilt." It was a friend at work who was moving away to a new job in South Dakota. That was the motivation I needed! Within a few days, the quilt had a binding and hanging sleeve. My friend did indeed love it--in fact, she was wearing the same colors that are in the quilt on the day I gave it to her. 

Just a couple days ago I got a message from her with this photo of the Woven Ribbons quilt hanging in their front stairs. She let me know how much they love the quilt, which tells me that giving it to her was the perfect choice. I think the quilt looks right at home in their stairway!

Strangely enough, now I am missing that quilt and thinking about making another one with different fabrics! 

Linking up to:  Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
                      Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts
                      

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 6/4/17

Last week's stash usage was 5/8 yard for a set of potholders that I made for my brother's 50th birthday. His set featured Milwaukee Brewers fabric, and the earlier set made for my sister was Green Bay Packers fabric. I have two more sets cut out for our house--one is also Brewers, the other has the Atlanta Braves. It was fun to make a quick little project like this last weekend.

2017 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:             .625 yards

Used year to date:       47.25 yards

Added last week:             0.0 yards
Added year to date:        5.25 yards

Net used year to date:  42.0 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 am back on track with getting in my 15 minutes or more for stitching every day.

15 Minute Challenge:  
5/28 - 6/3                 7 of 7 days

2017 Total          150 of 154 days

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

Julie in GA

Quilting Throwback Thursday

This post was first published in late July of 2015, but I am linking it up now (8/4/2016) to Throwback Thursday at A Quarter Inch from the Edge.

 

It's time for the quilting version of Throwback Thursday over at Krista Quilts. Last Thursday Krista showed photos of one of her early quilt projects, and I suggested she host a linky party each week for Throwback Thursday. I'm so glad she decided to go ahead with the idea. I am looking forward to sharing photos and stories of early quilt projects.

It seemed like the place to start should be my first quilt. In 1994 I made a patchwork Christmas tree skirt for my mother. I had no prior quilting experience and made up my own pattern for the tree skirt. It's far from perfect, but I enjoyed the experience. 

After that, my sister Karen (who had been quilting for several years) suggested that we make a quilt together for our brother's wedding. One weekend in April, 1995, I met her at her house where she had picked out a few possible patterns. We decided to go with the Double Irish Chain, using Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day book as our guide. That same day we shopped for fabric, washed and dried it, then started cutting and piecing. Here is our first block.

How about those 90's fabrics? Actually, I still love the light background print. We kept working the rest of that Saturday and all day Sunday. By the end of Sunday we had the entire center of the quilt together. To tell the truth, I can't remember if we got the borders pieced and stitched on that weekend or not. It's possible that we got together another weekend to finish up.

We pieced the border of squares on point seminole style. It didn't turn out quite the right size, so we just trimmed it off at the length needed.

This was my first quilt experience, and I was immediately hooked! It has been a wonderful 20-year journey, and I am looking forward to sharing early, pre-blog projects on upcoming Thursdays.

Check out other Throwback Thursday quilt posts at Krista Quilts. Even better, add your own Throwback Thursday quilting post to the link-up.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 3/9/14

The main change to my stash this week was three yards used for a shirt I made as a birthday gift to my husband. It's not a quilt, but the fabric is gone from the sewing room and there will be a few remnant pieces going into my scrap collection. The best part is seeing how handsome he looks wearing it!

I also made a set of teal LeMoyne Stars for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Those used up .75 yards of fabric. I will show them on my design wall tomorrow.

Used this week:                     3.75 yards
Used year to date:               15.375 yards

Stashed this week:                   0  yards  

Stashed year to date:           4.0 yards 

Net year to date:               11.375 yards used


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Happy Anniversary!

My sister and her husband are celebrating their 30th anniversary tomorrow. Wow, 30 years is amazing to me. Congratulations! (I know she reads my blog.)

A few months ago I found fabric with bacon all over it, and that is one of his favorite foods. It seemed like it was meant for him, but what to make? Then I also found other fabrics with pancakes, coffee cups, and coffee beans. It turned into a breakfast themed collection. I made them a set of placemats to showcase the fun fabrics. Just thinking about them is making me hungry! Here is a photo of the fabrics.

I was in such a hurry to finish the placemats and get them sent away that I forgot to take any photos, but Karen sent me this one showing the placemats on the table. 

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out for great ideas and inspiration.

Julie in GA