Projects Old and New

My quilting time this week was spent on one very old project, plus I started one new project. Here's the old project first. I pulled out an unfinished Hawaiian applique block in April, our month for purple at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and now the block is done! It will join three previously finished blocks. According to my UFO list, the first block of the set was started in 2001. I wonder where those other blocks are hiding?

Hawaiian Applique block, 20" square

The new project that I started this week is a block of the month by the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. Several members of our quilt guild are making their own versions as a group challenge. I had planned to use 30's fabrics for my block, then totally changed direction and went with a gradation of fall colors. This block is also appliqued, but I did this one by machine, straight stitching close to the turned-under edges on all of the hexagons.

NQM BOM Block #1, 12.5" x 24.5"

This block of the month just started at the beginning of May and will last until the end of 2023. You can find more info at the National Quilt Museum website HERE or on their Facebook page HERE (but you have to join their Facebook group to access it there.) Did I mention that the patterns are free?!

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. I'm also linking up my applique for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts and Favorite Finishes at Meadow Mist Designs.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Purple UFO's Revisited

One of my goals for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, besides making my chosen blocks in the assigned color each month, was to also make progress on some of my old UFOs. My plan was to pick a UFO each month based on our color for the RSC.

This month we are working with purple for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I didn't have many UFOs with purple in them, especially scrappy UFOs. However, I did find a couple of oldies that were still appealing.

The first project I pulled out was a set of Hawaiian applique blocks that I made between 2001 and 2003. There are three blocks completed, and the purple block at the bottom right is about 2/3 done.

Here is a closer shot of that unfinished block. I've been working on the applique this week and am making good progress on it. The unfinished area goes from the upper right down the right side to near center at the bottom. I hope to get the block done before the end of the month.

The other purple UFO that got pulled out was originally planned to be an Amish-inspired Sawtooth Diamond similar to the quilt below.

Mine was going to be made with prints, not solids, in fuchsia and purple. I made lots of small (1" finished) half-square triangles with my two fabrics, and that's where it stalled out. I realize now that this design is not a good choice for me because it is a great way to display some fancy quilting, and that is not my strong suit. 

I looked around for other ways to use some of the many HSTs, and decided to try a feathered star block. I have finished one block so far and am considering whether or not to make a few more.

Above was my first attempt at the block. I decided that I didn't like the HSTs near the base of the star points, so I reworked the block and replaced them with purple squares. Below is version #2. I wish I knew how to circle the area that got changed on my photos, but I'm not that technologically savvy.

I'm planning to get back to my regular RSC projects next week, probably starting with the Charm Baskets. I will try to get some more stitching done on the applique block, plus maybe figure out where I'm going with the feathered star block.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts, Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

A Rainbow of Hearts

It was so nice to find out in advance that pink is our April color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but before I could get to that, I had some yellow and gold blocks to finish up. I stitched the last two yellow appliqued hearts, bringing my total for the month to eight.

As I was getting ready to put them away with the blocks from previous months, I decided to put all of the colors up on the design wall together. The blocks will all be getting framed like the two red and one green block in the photo have already been done. I believe that pink and purple are the only colors I still need to add to this collection.

To continue the hearts theme, I pulled out a stack of pink 2.5" squares and pieced my Scrappy Heart block for April.

I couldn't resist getting a photo of all of these blocks together too.

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. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts to share my hand applique project.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

SAHRR Round 5 - Applique

It's the end of week #5 for the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) and there is only one more border to be added. For our assignment this week, we got a choice of adding applique or rail fence blocks. I decided to go the applique route for my quilt. I even decided to try a form of applique that I haven't done before, Broderie Perse.

According to the Quiltipedia Database at The Quilt Show", Broderie Perse is French for "Persian Embroidery". It is a technique where elements, such as flowers or birds, are cut from fabric and appliqued onto a solid piece of fabric..." The feathered star at the center of my quilt features a beautiful floral print, and I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate more of that print in the quilt. Broderie Perse was the perfect answer!

I cut out many flowers from my fabric and auditioned them on the quilt top before settling on my favorites. I chose four small sprigs of roses for the corner squares around the feathered star.

The photo above shows my sample for testing a variety of ways to stitch down the applique after it had been fused to the background. Along the top edge there is some zigzag stitching, which was difficult to line up exactly at the cut edge of the fabric. If you follow around clockwise, there is some blind hem stitching along the right edge, which did not work well at all. My machine does not include a blanket stitch. I switched to a presser foot that made it easier to see where I was stitching, but zigzagging along the lower right still looks messy to me and frays out the fabric. At the lower left, around the bottom of the stem, is my sample of hand blanket stitching, and that turned out to be my favorite.

This is the only applique piece to be stitched down so far. In the first photo of the post, it is the one in the upper right corner of the feathered star. I used regular poly-cotton thread because it was the best color match I had in my thread stash. The next photo, which is taken at more of an angle shows the stitches a bit better.

It's time for me to link up my post with the other SAHRR folks at Quilting Gail. I'm also going to join the Slow Sunday Stitching party at Kathy's Quilts. Stitching around these flowers is definitely slow going, but I'm very happy with how it looks. We will get the assignment for the last border on the SAHRR tomorrow. I can't wait to see how we finish these off!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 46, 2021

One of my projects for the 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge was started over the summer instead of at the beginning of the year like my other RSC projects. It is the hand-appliqued heart blocks that I have been making since July. 

I always like to have some hand stitching ready to go, preferably something small and portable. I started making the heart blocks to take along as a travel project, and have continued making them sporadically since then. Here are most of the blocks I have made so far.

I've made blocks in medium-dark blue, teal and turquoise, orange, and light-bright green. The blocks are made from a 5" square of background fabric and a 3.5" square for the heart. After the applique is done, they will get trimmed down to 4.5" square.

I haven't been thinking much about how these blocks would get set together, but I knew I would want to add more color between the blocks. Then I found the perfect inspiration in an old blog post at Never Too Hot to Stitch. 

I love the idea of framing the heart blocks with more color. Instead of using squares, I think I will use bricks cut 1.5" x 2.5". I discovered a good pile of green bricks in my precut scraps bin and decided to try it out on one block.

After adding the bricks around the heart, my block will finish at 6" square. 

Now I can't decide what to do next--hand stitch hearts in more colors or start adding the brick frames to the blocks that are already done. This project will definitely carry over to 2022 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

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 and Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts on Sunday.

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 29. 2021

When it was time to figure out my stash usage for the past week, I realized that almost everything I stitched last week involved triangles of different types. There were the half-square triangles in the Sew Colorful Stars blocks--144 of them in three blocks, Then there were all the triangles in the 16 Kaleidoscope blocks I made--that total comes to 192. You can see both sets of blocks that contain all those triangles in yesterday's post. I used a total of 2 yards of fabric for the blocks, and no new fabric was added to the stash last week.

For some reason, after several months of thinking I should start a new hand-stitching project, yesterday was the day that it finally happened. I decided to make hand appliqued hearts. I cut a heart pattern from a square of paper, making sure it would fit on a 3.5" square of fabric since I have many of those around. I pulled out a white and light grey print for the background. Here is the first block halfway done.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                                2.0 yards

Used year to date:                         126.5 yards

Added last week:                               0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        58.25 yards

Net used year to date                 68.25 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. Cutting and stitching all the triangles over the past week definitely filled up more than 15 minutes each day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

7/11 - 7/17                7 of 7 days

2021 Total           197 of 198 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 Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 51, 2020

The end of the year is drawing near, and my stash totals show a small change in usage for the past week, but no new fabric was added. I used 3/8 yard for this cute little Santa wallhanging. I made it for my husband who collects all things Santa.

Santa Ho Ho Ho, finished size 10" x 19"

I also used 3/4 yard for the first two sets of Glorified 9-Patch blocks. These were started after I completed my previous hand-stitching project, and they will carry through next year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. These are all of the blocks finished so far, and a set of black/grey blocks has been prepped.

Glorified 9-Patch, 6" blocks

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                           1.125 yards

Used year to date:                    186.875 yards

Added last week:                              0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        81.5 yards

Net used year to date           105.375 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 spent time stitching every day last week, and it was split between the projects shown above, finishing a couple of Christmas gifts, and working on the next step of Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek mystery.

15 Minute Challenge:  

12/13 - 12/19              7 of 7 days

2020 Total            345 of 354 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 Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Happy quilting and stay safe everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 41, 2020

I have been participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for several years now, ever since 2013. I started out with a single project that year, but by August I had added a hand-stitching project to work on during my train rides to and from work. 

Even though I'm not working anymore, I still like having a regular hand-stitching quilt project in the works. I finished the hand applique on my last one, the Orange Peel Rainbow quilt, a couple months ago and haven't started a new one yet--until a few days ago. In the past I've done English paper piecing and hand applique projects. In the interest of learning something new, I've decided to try hand piecing this time. 

One pattern I've had a long-time interest in making is Glorified Nine-Patch (also known as Improved Nine-Patch.) The curved seams would be a good option for hand piecing. I found a free pattern at American Patchwork and Quilting which included templates for 9" blocks.

Glorified Nine-Patch wall hanging, free pattern at American Patchwork and Quilting

I reduced the block size for my project down to 6" finished blocks. The nine-patch portion is easy to piece by machine, although I could certainly do those by hand too. I made my own templates from the reduced pattern for cutting the curves. This photo shows two 9-patches before trimming, one partially completed block, and my templates.

You might notice that my larger template is missing the seam allowance along one side. I did that so I could mark my stitching lines on the back of the pieces. I'm hoping that with some practice, I will be able to stitch a consistent 1/4" seam without having the lines marked, but that is not the case yet.

I have finished one block at this point and am becoming more comfortable with the stitching. My first block seemed a little puckered after I finished stitching it, but it smoothed out nicely after pressing.

Glorified Nine-Patch, 6" finished size block

If anyone out there has any suggestions for hand piecing, I would love to hear them. I've been using Aurifil 28 weight thread because I have seen that recommended by Jinny Beyer, an expert on hand piecing. I also have her book on hand piecing, which I should pull out as a refresher.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework and Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts on Sunday. I hope you are all staying well and getting lots of quilting done!

Julie in GA 

Orange Peel Rainbow

My Orange Peel quilt was started in December of 2018 when I made a couple of sample blocks as a test project for 2019. At that time I had a 20-30 minute train ride to and from work each day, and I liked having a hand-stitching project to help pass that time on the train.

My blocks are quite small, only 3" finished, and I made them in each color of the month as assigned by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I didn't have a definite layout or number planned at the beginning, just kept making about a dozen blocks each month.  In October of 2019, I tried out a few layout options and decided on my plan. That meant continuing to make blocks well into 2020, but I'm done now!

The last Orange Peel blocks were stitched earlier this month, and I finished joining them all together a couple days ago. I used 192 blocks in this quilt top (16 rows of 12 blocks) and have about 15 extras that didn't make it into the quilt top.

Orange Peel Rainbow, 36.5" x 48.5"

As you can see in this closer photo, my peels don't quite reach to the corners of the blocks. That was intentional--after making a couple of sample blocks, I discovered how difficult it was to get the peel points precisely lined up at the corners, and I knew it would be very hard to match them up when stitching blocks together. Setting them back a bit helped a great deal in that regard.

I considered adding a narrow border of the background fabrics around the outside, but the quilt is currently the perfect size for a spot where I would like to display it. Therefore, I am declaring this quilt top done! I'm eager to get it layered and quilted, but it will have to wait until a current project is finished. 

All of this also means a success with my One Monthly Goal for August. My goal was to finish making the rest of my Orange Peel blocks. I not only did that, but got them all joined together too--bonus!

Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 6, 2020

Progress has slowed down considerably, but I am still hand stitching more Orange Peel blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made close to 150 of these blocks during 2019 and don't need too many more.

Green was our color for January, and orange is February's color. I am shooting for 24 blocks in each of these colors, so I'm close to my goal on these sets. I think there are a few more finished green blocks around here somewhere--I wonder where they are hiding?

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Playing with Peels

Ever since the beginning of the year, I have been hand applique stitching little 3" Orange Peel blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Actually, I believe I started late last year with a few sample blocks to make sure I liked the idea before committing to it. I've made over 100 blocks since then, and I'm feeling like the time has come to make a plan for how I'm going to use them all.

My original inspiration was a design I saw from a company called Honest Fabric. This company makes custom printed quilt tops in a wide variety of designs. The quilt tops can be used for free-motion quilting practice or to make a quick quilt without spending long hours piecing it. You can learn much more about them at the Honest Fabric website.

I'm not sure I would ever want a pre-printed quilt top, but I sure love this Orange Peel design that they produce.

Honest Fabric "Orange Peel" 

That design was my starting point. I have been trying to make 12-16 Orange Peel blocks per month with a variety of scrappy black and dark grey background fabrics. To reproduce the above design in my quilt would require a total of 320 blocks, which means at least another full year of making Orange Peels, maybe more. I'm not sure I can keep going for that long, so it's time to look at some other options. Here a few of my layout ideas.

The last photo is my attempt to mimic the layout from the Honest Fabric version, and I must admit that it is my favorite of the bunch. I'm a sucker for a good gradation of colors, especially the whole rainbow. Maybe another year isn't out of the question (but I'm going to need to get some more background fabrics!) I'd love to hear what you think about these choices.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework and Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts on Sunday. On Monday I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Moving it Forward at Em's Scrapbag and Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 35, 2019

Long hours at work have definitely taken a toll on my quilting productivity this month. Fortunately, I was able to keep up with two of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month, producing groups of blocks in light and medium blues.

I had lots of fun making the different Tiny Tuesday blocks this month. I liked the 1/4 Log Cabin blocks so much that I am considering that design as an option for next year's RSC project.

The Orange Peel blocks keep getting worked on during the morning train commute. I might still have a couple more light blue blocks yet to finish.

I couldn't resist putting a few groups of the Orange Peel blocks up on the wall together.

I hope to spend the rest of this afternoon working on another scrappy project that includes plenty of bright blues. This is the center of my version of Kevin the Quilter's summer mystery. My next step is a border of yellow 4-patches to go around this part.

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

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 20, 2019

The scrappy orange fun continues with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge all through the month of May. My main orange stitching for the past week was to make my Framed Crumb Star. 

Before anyone new asks, there's no published pattern for this block (at least, not that I know of.) My blocks will finish at 12". The crumb center is a 4" finished square (4.5" with seam allowances) and the frame around the outside is made with 2.5" squares.

There was some time during the week for hand stitching too, and I finished five more Orange Peel blocks in orange. Here they are with the crumb star.

Seeing those Orange Peel blocks next to the star block makes me think they might look good as the border on a rainbow quilt. Probably best on a quilt with similar black and dark grey backgrounds--maybe a project for next year?

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

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 16, 2019

It seems like the majority of my quilting time lately has been spent doing hand applique. My sewing machine will start to feel neglected soon. I finished up the set of Orange Peel blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in our colors of teal/turquoise/aqua for April. Here they are with the blocks from the previous three months.

I have also completed my Framed Crumb Star block for April. This block finishes at 12".

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts and Oh Scrap! 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