Design Wall Monday 6/1/15

My design wall is currently filled with the quilt top I finished yesterday. It started as an attempt to use up a box of leftover blocks and fabrics from a 10-year old project, and turned into this. I call it "Improvisation in Green." You can't see borders on the left side, but believe me, they are there. Photography through a doorway has many challenges!

Soon I will be pulling together some fabrics to make into backings for this quilt and its partner, the Green Blooming Nine-Patch.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up to Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 5/31/15

May was another very productive month for quilting. I finished the binding on one quilt, turned one UFO into a finished quilt top and back, pieced two more quilt tops out of the leftovers from an old project, and kept up with my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

Some of the yardage used for this week was 5/8 yard for the borders on the Blooming 9-Patch quilt top (formerly known as the Green 9-Patch Leftovers.) You can see a photo of the finished top in yesterday's post.

The Green 9-Patch Leftovers #2 turned into "Improvisation in Green." This top still needs the borders added. 4-1/8 yards used so far on this.

Improvisation in Green

TOTALS:

Used this week:                       4.75 yards     
Used year to date:                 74.50 yards

Stashed this week:                    0.0 yards

Stashed year to date:           57.625 yards 

Net year to date:             16.875 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Surrounded by Greens

This has been a very busy month of playing with my green scraps as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made blocks for my two ongoing RSC projects, plus I finished two quilt tops that feature green, and I have a third top getting close to completion.

My two regular RSC projects for 2015 have been the Rainbow Bowties and the appliqued circles blocks. Here is what I finished on those for the month. I might make a few more green bowties before June arrives, and one of the circles still needs to be stitched down.

I couldn't resist putting all of my circle blocks up on the wall to see the different colors together. I am so excited with the way this quilt is looking!

"True Colors" pattern by Nancy Mahoney
from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

My first green UFO for the month was the Boston Fiesta quilt. I completed the quilt top two weeks ago and pieced the backing a few days later. 

Boston Fiesta backing

Boston Fiesta 60" x 74"

After completing the Boston Fiesta, I pulled out a box of leftovers, most of them green, from a quilt I made in 2005. There were nine-patch blocks, strip sets, pre-cut strips and chunks of fabrics. With that collection plus a few additions from my stash, I had enough to make two quilt tops. The first is a Blooming Ninepatch, and the second (unfinished) I am calling Improvisation in Green. I hope to finish assembling that top today.

Green Blooming Ninepatch
57" x 76"

Improvisation in Green

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will also be linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 5/25/15

Yesterday I finished joining together the sections of the Green Blooming 9-Patch that I have been making with the 10-year-old leftovers from an earlier quilt. All that's left to be done for the quilt top is adding a border of the same dark green as the setting triangles.

Green Blooming 9-Patch

In my continuing attempt to use up all of the leftover blocks and scraps from that earlier quilt, I started piecing the rest together for the back. I ended up with the group of blocks below. Now I'm unsure if I should use them on the back, or begin yet another quilt top. I had intended the Blooming 9-Patch to be a Quilt of Valor, but I like it so much that I'm not sure I can give it away. Maybe the blocks below will continue to grow and take its place as a QOV.

Despite all my efforts, I still have this collection of blocks and strips to use up. They must breed and multiply when I'm not paying attention!

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! 

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 5/24/15

This week ended up with movement of fabric both in and out of my stash. I received a group of fabrics ordered from Fabric.com, 6 yards total. My usage was 4.75 yards for the back of my Boston Fiesta quilt (you can see the quilt top HERE) and 4 yards for the center of the green Blooming 9-Patch Quilt.

New fabrics

Boston Fiesta back

Green Blooming 9-Patch

TOTALS:

Used this week:                       8.75 yards     
Used year to date:                 69.75 yards

Stashed this week:                    6.0 yards

Stashed year to date:          57.625 yards 

Net year to date:             12.125 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Going for the Greens

Green is the color for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Green is also one of my favorite colors for quilting. My shelf of green fabrics is stuffed full, and I have lots of scraps and pieces for use in my rainbow projects. I made progress on four different projects that include green this week (although they are not all scrap quilts, but they do include the right color.)

I made a little progress on both of my on-going RSC projects, the applique circles and the bowtie blocks. I have been stitching circles on the train, and the bowties have been my leader/ender blocks. I will be making more of both kinds of blocks before the end of the month.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney

from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

Rainbow Bowties
4" blocks

The majority of my quilting time over the past week was spent on my green UFO project, the leftover Blooming 9-Patch parts. I finished making more blocks to go with the ones I already had. I had been auditioning a couple of border fabrics last weekend, but was very happy to discover that I had another piece of the darkest green (like the setting triangles at the bottom) and can use that for the border. I have started joining the parts together and hope to have a finished top to show next week.

Voting has begun for the Blogger's Quilt Festival which includes my Dancing Stars Quilt in the ROYGBIV category. This was my RSC project from 2013. You can vote by going HERE and click on the little heart on your favorite to cast a vote.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will also be linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 5/18/15

There wasn't a whole lot of time for quilting over the weekend. Most of the time was spent preparing for a party held here Sunday night--lots of cooking and cleaning got done. It was a great party though and worth all the effort, especially since we now have a clean house as a result.

I did manage to attach the borders to the Boston Fiesta quilt that I showed partially together last week. You can see the completed quilt top HERE. Now it's time to figure out what to use for the backing.

I have been fooling around with a collection of 9-patch blocks left over from a Blooming 9-Patch I made 10 years ago. I want to use up as many of the leftovers as possible, and I keep changing the parts around on my design wall. Here is where it all stands at the moment. Two different border fabrics are being auditioned. I'm not totally in love with it, but I think it might be time to say "good enough," stitch it all together, and move on.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, where you can see all sorts of amazing quilting inspiration! I am also linking up to Monday Making over at Love Laugh Quilt.

Julie in GA

Playing with Greens

This was a week where I developed a bad case of quilter's ADD. I just couldn't seem to settle down and work on my ongoing projects. Instead I kept pulling out all sorts of UFOs and playing with the remains from past quilts, trying to turn them into something new.

As part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I have been working on UFOs based on the color of the month. Green is our color for May, and I realized that I have made 3 different 9-patch quilts that were each primarily green. I pulled out this collection of leftovers from a Blooming Nine-Patch that I made around 2005. The box contained leftover blocks plus sample blocks with fabrics that weren't used in the final quilt. There were also quite a few pre-cut strips, some of which were already sewn up into strip sets, plus I have some yardage of all the fabrics.

I have been trying out different arrangements of blocks on the design wall and making more blocks from the pre-made strip sets. I need to find something with a little more punch to it for the center, but otherwise this is coming together nicely.

The other UFO that features green is my Boston Fiesta quilt, which is now a finished top! I finished joining all the blocks together a couple days ago and added the green border today. I have a fabulous bright print that I was planning to use for the back, but when I went to press it, I discovered that it is stretchy on the crosswise grain. There must be some spandex or something like that in there. I bought the fabric at a discount fabric store 10 years ago, so there is no way to tell now. I am searching my stash for other backing options.

Boston Fiesta top
60" x 74"

Boston Fiesta reject backing

Even better than finishing the Boston Fiesta top was completing the binding on my Dancing Stars quilt. This was my first project as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made the star blocks in 2013, made the top and had it quilted in 2014, and finally finished the binding this week. I have entered this quilt in the ROYGBIV category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival; you can read my entry post HERE.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will also be linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA