Stitching and DeStashing--Week 7, 2021

After enjoying some beautiful weather early in the week, it has turned rainy and chilly here in Georgia over the past few days, and that is expected to continue into next week. It's the perfect weather for spending time in the quilting room!

I started the week by making the rest of the blocks from Super Bowl Sunday's  "Princess Charlotte" Mystery, using 2.375 yards. I'm thinking about quilting each block separately before joining them together; I need to decide for sure before there will be any new progress on this quilt. I also used 3/4 yard for the Scrap Magnet blocks shared in yesterday's post for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and 5/8 yard for Blocks #11 - #19 for the Sewcialites QAL at Fat Quarter Shop. Total usage for the week was 3.75 yards. No new fabric was added to the stash last week.

Princess Charlotte Mystery, Scrapdash.com

Sewcialites QAL, Fat Quarter Shop
Blocks #11 - #19

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                             3.75 yards

Used year to date:                        15.25 yards

Added last week:                             0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net used year to date                 3.75 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 time spent quilting every day this week, which is what made my usage numbers go up!

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

2/7 - 2/13                  7 of 7 days

2021 Total              44 of 44 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 7, 2021

It's a good thing that our color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month is yellow. The sunny warmth of my yellow scraps is the perfect antidote to the grey skies outside.

I have been busy with other projects this week and didn't get to my RSC blocks until yesterday. Now I can share two new Scrap Magnet blocks. The Scrap Magnet pattern is by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts. I made one bright yellow block and one using deeper golds.

I'm still fine tuning my technique when there are directional fabrics in the mix. These blocks are large, 16.5" finished size. My plan is to make a total of 20 blocks for a quilt that should finish at 66" x 82.5". Here are the blocks for January and February.

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.

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 2/9/2021

Happy To-Do Tuesday once again.  It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. 

The weekly to-do list continues to help keep me focused on my current projects. It worked so well last week that I had my entire list done by Sunday, which made it possible for me to begin another new project, a Super Bowl Sunday mystery that I blogged about yesterday. Now I have yet one more item on next week's list.

To-Do List for 2/2 - 2/8:

1. Bowties 365--make one yellow bowtie block every day    ✔done 

I'm right on track with these blocks.

2. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add Flying Geese border   ✔done           

See it in THIS blog post.

3. Grassy Creek mystery--finish assembly, decide on borders  ✔done 

I have the quilt center all together and have chosen a multicolor batik for the border.

4. Sewcialites QAL--make block #18   ✔done 

This little 6" block has 40 pieces in it!

5. One Monthly Goal--choose a project & write blog post  ✔done 

Check out my OMG post HERE.

6. 30's Kaleidoscope--cut yellows and start piecing blocks  ✔done 

My yellow blocks are done, except for the outer corners on half the blocks (where you see the grey) because I haven't chosen the fabric yet.

To-Do List for 2/9 - 2/15:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day    

2. Grassy Creek mystery--add borders

3. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add next round (checkerboard)              

4. Sewcialites QAL--make block #19   

5. Scrap Magnet--make 2 yellow blocks

6. Sister's Choice (OMG)--quilt 3 border sections

7. Super Bowl Mystery--finish making blocks

That should all be more than enough to keep me busy for the next week!  I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us. 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 2/8/2021

Super Bowl Sunday turned into a good day for chasing a squirrel. Not the animal with a fluffy tail, but a quilting project squirrel. If that term is new to you, here is a great explanation from Quilt Diva Julie’s blog:

A squirrel is a sudden distraction that pulls us away from projects already underway. Something so exciting that we drop what we’re doing to enjoy the unexpected. The term comes from the movie UP where the dog named Doug is talking and suddenly his head whips to one side as he shouts SQUIRREL and he’s off to chase it.

Kathy who blogs at kathysquilts was the starting point. She had mentioned a few days earlier that she would be participating in a Super Bowl Sunday mystery designed by Kris at Scrapdash.com. The mystery called for 1 yard pieces of five different fabrics. I debated whether to do it, tried to talk myself out of joining in, then decided at the last minute to go ahead. I started looking through my stash for fabrics about 10 minutes before the first clue was posted.

Because I got a late start and hadn't done any of the precutting, I didn't get as much done as scheduled. In fact, Kathy posted her finished quilt center this morning. I got four blocks finished and have the pieces for the remaining eight blocks cut out.

The large squares of bright orange where the corners meet up might be a little overwhelming. I decided to try adding sashing between the blocks.

I'm not sure if I will use the sashing or not. I might dig through the stash a little more and see if there is a better green. In the meantime, I'm going to work on finishing the rest of those blocks.

If you are interested in this pattern, it will be up on the Scrapdash website for another week or so. You can also see photos of other people's version of the mystery on THIS PAGE.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

DrEAMi (Drop Everything and Make It) at mmm quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 6, 2021

We had a few days of chilly and rainy weather this week, which has meant even more time in the sewing room than usual for me. That led to a very productive week, with progress happening on several projects.

On the stash count, I used 1/2 yard for the most recent additions to my Feathered Star Round Robin quilt. We will get our instructions for the next round on that project tomorrow. I also used 1-3/8 yard for the yellow 30's Kaleidoscope blocks that I shared in yesterday's post. Total used for the week is 1.875 yards, and no new fabric was added to the stash. 

That usage brings my stash total for the year back to even--I have used the same amount of fabric as I have added! I hope to have even bigger numbers for usage next week.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                           1.875 yards

Used year to date:                        11.50 yards

Added last week:                             0.0 yards

Added year to date:                      11.50 yards

Net used year to date                   0.0 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 was able to get in some quilting time every day in January, and have continued my streak into February!

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

1/31 - 2/6                 7 of 7 days

2021 Total              37 of 37 days

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

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 6, 2021

Yellow was the perfect choice as our February color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The sunny warmth of my yellow 30's fabrics really helped cheer up the sewing room on some dreary grey days.

When I shared my pink kaleidoscope blocks last month, I also showed several different colors I was considering for the contrasting corner triangles on half of the blocks. Someone suggested trying grey as an option, so this time my blocks are displayed with a piece of light grey solid. The light grey works well with the circle effects of the kaleidoscope blocks, but I'm not sure it's the right choice with the 30's fabrics. I'm no expert on 30's quilts, but grey doesn't seem like a color they used very often. I'm still looking for the perfect choice!

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.

Julie in GA

Round Robin Border #3

Our assignment this week for the  Stay at Home Round Robin comes from Anja at Anja Quilts. Her choice for the next border is Flying Geese. After playing with many variations in EQ, I decided it was time to get some more pink and burgundy into my design. I added a filler border of the background fabric to get the center up to the right size for my geese.

The top and bottom borders are stitched to the center, but the sides are not until I figure out what to put in the corners. That may depend on the next border choice. Once this Flying Geese border is all attached, my quilt will measure 28" square.

If you are interested in joining in on the Stay at Home Round Robin, take a look at Gail's intro post HERE. She was the one who got this whole thing started! Check out everyone's progress for this week at Anja Quilts.

I'm also linking up to Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

One Monthly Goal--February 2021

 

One of my quilting goals for 2021 is to finish more of my UFOs, and I plan to start that process this month. I'm linking up with One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts to share my current project.

My OMG for February is to finish the quilting on my Sister's Choice quilt. This quilt dates back to the summer of 2013 when I made a pile of blue and yellow 9-patch blocks. Some of the blocks were joined together into a cute baby quilt (which is still unquilted!), and the rest of the blocks sat around in my sewing room until 2018. That is when I added the blue triangles to turn them into Sister's Choice blocks. I decided to try putting them together using quilt-as-you-go methods. I stitched blocks, sashing, and border segments into rows, then quilted each row before joining the rows together. The photo below shows 3/4 of the quilt--there is another row of blocks plus border to be added to the bottom.

All of the quilting of the blocks has been done, but most of the border quilting is unfinished. It would have been easier if I had done that quilting before joining the rows together, but I must have been too eager to see if my QAYG technique was going to work. 

My goal for February is to finish quilting the borders, then get the last row of blocks attached to the quilt. Getting the binding finished too would be a wonderful bonus!

Linking up with:

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

To-Do Tuesday 2/2/21

Happy Groundhog Day and Happy To-Do Tuesday too!  It's time once again to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update and Link-up hosted by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us. 

Last week's list was another long one, and having the list helped keep me focused on meeting those goals. I generally find that I might work on whichever project I'm most interested in early in the week, then concentrate on finishing off the rest of the list over the weekend. That has been working well for me lately.

To-Do List for 1/26 - 2/1:

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block every day  ✔done 

I ended up with 36 pink blocks for the month of January and have switched to yellow for February.

2. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add plus signs border  ✔done  

My plus signs are not a full border, but the corner blocks on the piano keys border.   

           

3. Glorified 9-Patch--make 2 blocks in pink     ✔done

I finished the last two blocks in pink plus two in black/grey.

4. Grassy Creek mystery--put together six blocks      ✔done

I finished making all the blocks needed for this quilt and have started joining them together. Here is what is done so far.

5. Sewcialites QAL--make block #17      ✔done        

This is one of my favorite 30's reproduction prints, and I have it in several colors.

                     

6. Sew Colorful Stars--make one pink block  ✔done

Lots of half-square triangles in this block! 16" finished size block.

Last week certainly was productive! The cold weather makes time in the quilting room my top choice of activity. Of course, it's also my top choice in any other weather too!

To-Do List for 2/2 - 2/8:

1. Bowties 365--make one yellow bowtie block every day  

2. Stay-at-Home Round Robin (SAHRR)--add Flying Geese border                

3. Grassy Creek mystery--finish assembly, decide on borders

4. Sewcialites QAL--make block #18   

5. One Monthly Goal--choose a project & write blog post

6. 30's Kaleidoscope--cut yellows and start piecing blocks

That should all be plenty to keep me busy for the next week!  I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Home Sewn by Us. 

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 2/1/2021

One of my many quilting tasks last week was to finish up making the different units needed for my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2020 mystery quilt called Grassy Creek. After remaking some of the parts to adjust the colors, I was ready to begin joining units together.

This shows two segments out of six for my version of the quilt. I prefer to join parts together into medium sized sections, rather than having lots of long rows to join together. Bonnie's quilt has 25 of the star blocks and measures 94 x 94, but I am making a smaller quilt with only 12 blocks. Before any plain borders are added, the center of my quilt should measure 54" x 69". I will decide whether to add any borders once the pieced area is all assembled.

Linking up with:
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA