Design Wall Sunday/Monday 7/20/15

Yesterday I finished adding the final border to the third scrappy quilt top made from the collection of scraps my mother had saved for many years. Check out THIS POST to see the other two tops. For this one, I made the grey outer border wider than the sashing strips--the sashing is 1.5" and the border will finish at 2.5".

One of the best things about making these quilts has been playing with all the wonderful old fabrics. Some we remembered quite easily what was made from them, and others were long forgotten. Here are some close-up shots of a few blocks.

Check out the two matching prints in the above photo--the dark pink with lighter pink flowers and the light green right next to it. My sister and I had matching dresses out of those fabrics plus the reverse of each (light pink background with darker pink flowers, etc.) My dress had the pink fabrics and hers was green. It was such fun to make something with them again!

As you can tell from a closer look, many of the fabrics date back to the 1960s and 70s, some even earlier. Mom refers to the oldest ones as B.C. (before children.) So many fun fabrics and just as many wonderful memories all put together! It has been a special treat making these quilts, and I can't wait to get them finished. Thanks Mom for hanging on to all those fabric scraps. I promise we'll get the rest out of your house before too long!

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework. Check them all out for lots of amazing quilting inspiration!

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 7/19/15

No change to my stash report this week. I have been doing lots of cutting, but not enough stitching to count anything. Maybe next week? 

              

TOTALS:

Used this week:                        0  yards     
Used year to date:            92.125 yards

Stashed this week:                  0  yards

Stashed year to date:          93.0 yards 

Net year to date:           .875 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Red Scraps for Saturday

Progress on my two projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been very limited due to being out of town for much of the month. Since I have so little to show that is finished, I will share a little about how I work on these scrappy quilts.

My strips are sorted by color in a way similar to Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System. You can read about her method and see photos HERE. I have three little rolling carts with 10 drawers in each, and they are all filled with my scrap strips, sorted by color and size. This keeps them nice and neat, which makes cutting go faster. Here are two of the drawers of reds--on the left are 1.5", 1.75" and 2" strips, the drawer on the right is all 2.5" strips.

Yesterday I pulled out my red 2.5" and 1.5" strips to cut pieces for my rainbow bowtie blocks. I went through the strips in those sizes, choosing the fabrics I want to use in these blocks. As usual, I have selected many more fabrics than I need!

When it's time for cutting, I like to work with three strips at a time, all folded in half. I pick out three 2.5" strips, then make sure I have matching 1.5" strips of the same fabrics. They get stacked up and are ready to be cut. I need one pair of squares of each size for one bowtie block, but since I have all these fabrics laid out and ready for cutting, I am cutting three sets of each fabric (if my strips are long enough.)

The next photo shows my pairs of squares cut from the three strips. You can see that one of the smaller squares is missing a corner. That is okay for this pattern, because I am stitching corner-to-corner on the small squares. 

The next photo shows all of the squares I have cut so far. The two groups on the left have both sizes matched up together, and the stacks on the right side are extra squares that will go into my bins of pre-cut squares, waiting for a future scrappy project.

Here are my first few red bowtie blocks all stitched up.

I now have enough red squares cut to make tons of beautiful bowtie blocks (once I add 2.5" squares of background fabric to the mix.) I hope to have more time in the next week to finish up the rest of my blocks for July.

Check out all of the terrific scrappy rainbow projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 7/13/15

The Improv Scrappy blocks that my sister and I were making together last month have been joined together into a quilt top. We are planning to make a total of three throw quilts/wallhangings with our blocks.

Another group of blocks have been joined into this second top. This one includes a scrappy pieced border and will get a final wider border of the grey solid.

The fabrics in these blocks all came from many bags of scraps that date back several decades when our mother used to make clothing for all of us. We've had such a good time reminiscing about the garments that were made from these wonderful prints.

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 and with Scraptastic Tuesday hosted by Nicky at Mrs Sew and Sow.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 7/12/15

Quilting time has been extremely limited this week, but I hope to make up for it next week. I did visit a quilt shop a few days ago and came away with some light neutrals. They aren't the most exciting when laid out together, but they are necessary additions for my many scrappy projects. 

              

TOTALS:

Used this week:                        0  yards     
Used year to date:             92.125 yards

Stashed this week:              1.75  yards

Stashed year to date:          93.0 yards 

Net year to date:              .875 yards stashed

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.  

Julie in GA

Scrappy Circle Saturday

Thanks to Angela, our hostess for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, for organizing a mid-year review where everyone posted photos of their rainbow projects. You can see all the posts HERE. There were so many wonderful designs posted that make me want to start lots of new rainbow projects right away!

I haven't been doing any machine stitching this week, but there has been plenty of time for hand applique in the car. I have completed seven red circle blocks, plus the last two turquoise blocks left from last month. There are several more red circles ready to be stitched.

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

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