Design Wall Monday 7/6/15

It has been so much fun participating in Alycia's Quilt of Valor quilt-along called "Starry Night for Josh." It seems appropriate to share my progress after the July 4th weekend. All the different parts have been made and are ready to be joined together.

The first photo shows the layout Alycia used. I like her design, especially the small white stars inside the large red stars, but I decided to play with some other layout ideas.

For my final choice, the blue and gold nine-patch blocks have been arranged in a more diagonal setting rather than the two parallel rows. I like the movement this brings to the quilt.

Thanks to Alycia for the terrific quilt-along. I can't wait to get these blocks all sewn together! 

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 7/5/15

I made a very happy discovery while calculating my stash report for the week. Not only did I use 5.5 yards of fabric on various projects this week, but I had forgotten to count my usage on the May blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--that's another 1.25 yards out! 

Here's the tally for the week:
Alycia's Starry Night for Josh     2.75

2 pairs of pj shorts                    2.5

RSC Circles--May & June           .625

Rainbow Bowties--May              .875

My husband loves the Atlanta Braves, and I am a big fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. Whenever they play each other, we consider it the "family feud." Last week I made us each a pair of shorts representing our favorite teams. Since I counted these fabrics as additions to my stash last month, they are being counted on the usage side now.                

TOTALS:

Used this week:                    6.75  yards     
Used year to date:             92.125 yards

Stashed this week:                   0  yards

Stashed year to date:         91.25 yards 

Net year to date:              .875 yards USED

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Rainbow Scraps in Red

Our color for July at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red, which makes me very happy. I have tons on red scraps, and my rainbow blocks need some fiery warm color added to the mix.

So far this week, I have prepped a batch of circles for my applique blocks. Some are all pressed and ready to be stitched down, the rest need to be basted around the outside edge before pressing.

Happy July 4th to all the quilt lovers out there in blog land!

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

Julie in GA

Mid-Year Rainbow Report

Angela is our hostess for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and she has suggested a mid-year update on our rainbow projects. I can't wait to see what everyone has gotten done so far this year. The months are just flying past!

I recently added borders to one of my rainbow projects from 2014. This is my scrappy LeMoyne Star quilt top. I will probably use the same striped fabric for binding as the inner border, although it might end up being a darker black with white print like the cornerstones. The star blocks finish at 12".

Rainbow LeMoyne Stars
53.5" x 68"

My two rainbow projects for 2015 have been bowtie blocks and appliqued circles. For the bowties, I am making between 40 and 50 blocks every month. I will end up with enough for a huge quilt or a few smaller ones. I haven't figured out what I will do with them yet, but I always enjoy making bowties. There are too many blocks to put them all up on the wall, but I will try to get a photo with a sampling of all the colors soon.

The rainbow project that I am most excited about is my appliqued circles. The pattern is called "True Colors" and it is by Nancy Mahoney from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves.  The first time I saw a photo of Nancy's quilt, I knew that it would be a great rainbow project. Her pattern is written for machine applique, but I have been stitching mine by hand. It has been the perfect project while riding the train to work or for travel. Like any applique work, I just need to have everything prepped in advance. Here is what is done so far. This one just keeps getting better! 

Check out all of the terrific scrappy rainbow projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It's so much fun to see what everyone has done so far this year!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 6/29/15

My post today will be brief because I am having computer problems and have to borrow my husband's computer to post this, plus I am using photos from my phone.

I took a fantastic class on Saturday with Mickey Depre. The pattern was the Castle Wall block, and we hand pieced it. Mickey is a wonderful teacher, and it was so nice and relaxing to all be sitting around sewing by hand instead of trying to socialize over the noise of sewing machines. I finished my block yesterday.

Castle Wall
class with Mickey Depre

Alycia has been hosting a quilt-along that she is calling "Starry Night for Josh." She posted the final layout of the blocks today, and it looks fabulous! I haven't made the last set of blocks yet, but this is what I have so far. Her layout looks so much better than this!

Starry Night for Josh
alyciaquilts.blogspot.com

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 6/28/15

For the first time in a few weeks, there was no new fabric added to my stash this week! I didn't use enough to get back to even, but I am chipping away at getting there.

As far as outgoing fabric, I used 1/2 yard finishing up my turquoise bowties for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I also used 1/8 yard for a Castle Wall block in a great class with Mickey Depre yesterday plus 2.75 yards for the stars and nine-patch blocks in Alycia's Starry Night for Josh QAL. I will show both of those projects on my design wall tomorrow.

TOTALS:

Used this week:                   3.375 yards     
Used year to date:             85.375 yards

Stashed this week:                   0  yards

Stashed year to date:         91.25 yards 

Net year to date:              5.875 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

The Turquoise Collection

We are nearing the end of our month of light blue and greenish blue for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My focus has been on using my turquoise scraps. I have completed 10 appliqued circle blocks and 48 bowtie blocks. I still have a couple more of the circles prepped for stitching. To save time I decided to put both kinds of blocks up on the design wall together for a photo, and they look pretty good to me.

I haven't made much progress on a turquoise UFO this month. I did pull out a box that had already-cut pieces and extra blocks from the Storm at Sea quilt that I finished a couple years ago (you can see it HERE.) I have no idea what the leftovers might become, but maybe I will have something to show next week.

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

Julie in GA

WIP Wednesday--Improv Scrappy blocks

When visiting family in Wisconsin a few weeks ago, my sister and I started making scrappy blocks using some of the huge collection of scraps at our mother's house that had accumulated over the past several decades. You can read more about that visit and see plenty of photos of our project HERE.

We are hoping to have enough blocks made when I return there in a couple of weeks so that we can start putting them together into throw quilts. I finally started making some additional blocks this week. It's not as much fun making them by myself as it was working as a team, but I hope to have a dozen blocks done when I go back.

These blocks feature some old favorite friends--Holly Hobbie, Raggedy Andy, and the Cheshire Cat. None of us remembers what the piece of Alice in Wonderland fabric was used for, but it is adorable!

I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Check it out for tons of amazing ideas and inspiration. 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 6/22/15

Yesterday I finished making turquoise bowtie blocks, one of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year. I ended up with 48 blocks this month and decided to combine them on the design wall with the blue blocks from earlier in the year. This represents two colors out of six that are done so far this year, 96 blocks out of close to 300 that have been made. Probably another 200 - 250 blocks more by the end of the year. They could turn into several bowtie quilts eventually.

I saw a bowtie quilt that used the same layout of blocks at a quilt show recently, and I really liked the look of that quilt. Of course, it helps that their blocks finished at 2". If my math is correct, this quilt has 768 blocks in it. My blocks finish at 4", and a quilt with the same number of blocks would measure 96" x 128". Far too big for any of our beds! I still have several months to go before I have to decide how to join all my blocks together.

"Little Bowties" by Linda Simons and Shawn Hooten
displayed at ECQG show 6/2015

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 6/21/15

I knew my stash busting efforts wouldn't get far this week since we were out of town for most of the week. I did get the borders finished on my Rainbow LeMoyne Stars last Sunday and Monday, using 1 yard of fabric. You can see it in yesterday's post.

We spent most of the week visiting the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I have ever seen. The lack of traffic was such a treat, and the views were absolutely amazing!

We didn't see any fabric stores or quilt shops on the way up to the parkway, but our drive home took us directly past Mary Jo's in Gastonia, NC. I thought it would be a good idea to just drive right by, but it didn't take much arm-twisting to persuade me to stop after all. I bought three fabrics that will end up becoming pajama pants and/or shorts. They aren't intended for quilts, but I will count them as part of my stash since they will be added to the overflowing collection of fabrics in my sewing room.

TOTALS:

Used this week:                      1.0 yards     
Used year to date:                82.0 yards

Stashed this week:               10.5 yards

Stashed year to date:         91.25 yards 

Net year to date:              9.25 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA