Julie's Quilts and Costumes: Quilt Exhibits

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Stash Report & Stitching Time 3/23/2025

Somehow I missed writing a blog post last week with my Stash Report and 15 Minute Challenge updates. We were getting ready for a family gathering that evening, and preparations for that were the priority. It was quite a surprise that I didn't have any blog posts during the last two weeks. I've certainly been spending time in the sewing room, I just haven't been doing well at documenting my progress.

Flannel baby quilt, 35" square

One recent finish was this cute little baby quilt for our quilt guild. It started as a kit of precut squares, plus one yard each of the two fabrics in the borders (light blue solid and large dots.) All of the fabrics are flannels. I quilted it with wavy diagonal lines in the center of the quilt, plus more wavy lines around the large circles in the outer border. The only fabric from my stash was 1/4 yard for the binding.

In preparation for the family dinner last weekend, I finished off the last four placemats to complete a set that had been started about a dozen years ago. The one at the lower left shows the fabric that is on the backs of all of them. 1-3/4 yards of fabric used for these.

Here's a photo from a 2012 blog post when I originally made six of these placemats and a matching table runner.

Earlier this month we felt the need to get away for a couple days and took a quick road trip to Paducah. It was a huge treat to visit the quilt museum and have the place practically to ourselves. They had the "Option Expedition" series by Victoria Findley Wolfe in one gallery, plus a fantastic display of quilts from their collection in the main gallery. It's so hard to pick a favorite, but I'll try.

From "Option Expedition" by Victoria Findley Wolfe

Seeing the next quilt at the museum was like rediscovering an old friend. I believe the first time I ever saw this quilt was at the Sun Prairie, WI quilt show in 1997, the year before it won for Best Machine Workmanship at the Paducah show in 1998. This is Sweetheart on Parade by Diane Gaudynski.

The colors in my photo are off a little bit. The areas that look brown are actually a very dark olive green. This quilt inspired me so much that I started making a similar design in 2000, but it is still mostly a collection of small half-square triangles. I had the good fortune to take multiple classes with Diane in the late 90's/early 2000's while I was living in Milwaukee, and I still refer back to her lessons on machine quilting.

Naturally, the trip to Paducah also included a visit to Hancock's. I didn't have anything particular that I went in looking for, but for some reason I got a little obsessed with the Grunge fabrics. These are the ones that I'm planning to use in a new quilt, and there were some other purchases too. 10.25 yards total added to the stash.

2025 STASH TOTALS

Used last two weeks: 2.0 yards

Used year to date: 27.125 yards

Added last two weeks: 10.25 yards

Added year to date: 20.75 yards

Net used in 2025: 6.375 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. There has been plenty of quilting going on, along with lots of time spent figuring out plans for a new project.

15 Minute Challenge for 2025

3/9 - 3/22 14 of 14 days

2025 Total 81 of 81 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

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/26/2023

There was all sorts of quilting fun happening around here this week, including a quilting road trip yesterday. We were able to go to two different quilt exhibits, and they were both wonderful to see. The first was "Life's Not All Black & White--Gotta Add Color!" It's a wonderful collection of quilts by Jan Cunningham at the Mable House Arts Center in Mableton, GA. The exhibit will be there only until March 30th. Here are two of my favorites of her quilts that were on display.

The other exhibit we went to yesterday was at the Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum in Carrollton, GA. We managed to get there on the last day! The exhibit was "Vintage Modern" and featured antique quilts from one collection alongside modern quilts made by members of the Greater Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild. No photos to share from that exhibit. It was very interesting to see the juxtaposition of antique and modern quilts side by side.

As for quilting here at home, one primary project throughout the week was the Ruler Quilting Challenge by HollyAnne Knight of String and Story. This was a five-day online class with HollyAnne sharing the basics of using rulers along with free-motion quilting. I had never used rulers for quilting before and really enjoyed getting an intro to the process. I made a set of placemats for my practice pieces. The first photo shows all four placemats before being layered for quilting, and the second photo shows one placemat with most of the quilting completed.

The stash report for the week shows 2.375 yards used for the placemats plus the three Jabberwocky blocks shared in yesterday's post. No new fabric was added to the stash.

2023 STASH TOTALS

Used last week: 2.375 yards

Used year to date: 27.125 yards

Added last week: 0.0 yards

Added year to date: 9.5 yards

Net used in 2023 17.625 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. I've spent some time cutting and piecing, plus doing the Ruler Quilting Challenge. There has definitely been at least 15 minutes of quilting every day this week!

15 Minute Challenge for 2023:

3/19 - 3/25 7 of 7 days

2023 Total 82 of 84 days

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