Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 15, 2021

Our color assignment for April at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is light and bright blues. This week I decided to make my Scrap Magnet blocks. I started out by making two blocks that include light, medium and dark blue fabrics.

After that, I decided to try making a block with just lighter blues in it. I ended up making two, one of them very light and the other includes more medium/bright blues.

The block on the right might be a little too pale. I'm afraid it might blend into the background of the quilt too much. This is my favorite block of the group.

I decided to see how the blue blocks look together with the previous colors.

Scrap Magnet pattern by Kirsty of Bonjour Quilts

That lightest blue block might be okay as part of the collection. I would need to include another block or two that are equally pale so that one doesn't look too different than everything else. Or I might not use it in the quilt at all. To be determined at a later date.

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 4/6/2021

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 Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I managed to complete my whole list from last week, but it was down to the wire. The final item didn't happen until after dinner last night.

To-Do List for 3/30 - 4/5

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

Twelve bowties done last week.

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #25  ✔done 

3. Beveled Blocks--make binding  ✔done

This is the project that didn't get done until last night!

4. 30's Kaleidoscope--make light blue blocks  ✔done 

Sixteen light blue blocks done.

5. Around the Twist--remove old quilting  ✔done 

You can still see the creases where the quilting stitching was, but it has all been removed.

The list for next week continues with many of the same projects, plus the return of the monthly Scrap Magnet blocks, a personal favorite!

To-Do List for 4/6 - 4/12

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day   

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #26

3. Scrap Magnet--make two  blue blocks 

4. Around the Twist--figure out a plan for quilting 

5. 30's Kaleidoscope--choose fabric for corner triangles and start adding them to blocks

 

The list doesn't look like much, but I'm sure other things will come up. 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 Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday 4/5/2021

One of my ongoing quilt projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year has been to make Kaleidoscope blocks using my collection of 30's fabrics. Our assigned color for April is light/bright blue. I had so many 30's fabrics in blues that I divided them into two groups and made 16 blocks with the lighter prints for this month.

Kaleidoscope blocks, 6" finished size

I will continue making these blocks in future months when I have the right color. According to my tracking list, I've made 86 blocks so far. I have 15 more blues cut, plus red, orange and lavender/purple blocks still to make. I may end up with nearly 150 blocks total.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 14, 2021

After posting unusually large numbers for stash usage a week ago, I'm back to my more usual range this week. Fortunately, there was no new fabric added this week. The fabric used was 1.75 yards on my newest project, the Homespun blocks. I shared this photo plus several others yesterday, but I'm so excited about this quilt that I will post it here again.

Homespun Quilt, pattern by Modernly Morgan

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                              1.75 yards

Used year to date:                       83.875 yards

Added last week:                              0.0 yards

Added year to date:                         24.0 yards

Net used year to date              59.875 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 well over 15 minutes quilting every day last week, especially after I got a little obsessed with making those Homespun blocks. There were a couple of times that dinner was delayed a bit while I finished off another set of blocks.

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

3/28 - 4/3                  7 of 7 days

2021 Total              93 of 93 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 14, 2021

Okay, let me start out by saying this: I really didn't intend to start a new project. I mean it. Truly. But the pattern was just too perfect, and I decided to make just one sample block. At least, that was the plan...

Somehow in the past few weeks, I became aware of the Homespun quilt-along hosted by Morgan at the website Modernly Morgan. It was probably from someone's blog post on one of the many linky parties that I read, but I haven't been able to locate the source now. Anyway, I decided to take a look, and discovered a pattern just meant to become a quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I'm sure you can see why with this photo from Morgan's pattern page.

Homespun Quilt, pattern by Modernly Morgan

The problem is that I already have four or five other projects in the works for the RSC this year. I generally try to work on one of them per week, and by the end of the month, they should all be up to date with each new monthly color. Adding one more project to the mix might throw my schedule totally out of whack. I resisted for a couple of weeks, but gave in earlier this week and started with a light blue "sample" block. (I put sample in quotes because I knew from the beginning that I was unlikely to stop at one block.)

As expected, I love it! I was so confident about this pattern that I even chose to use a background fabric that I have been saving for a special project. This is Tula Pink's Fairy Dust print. The color is "Cotton Candy."

Tula Pink "Fairy Dust" in Cotton Candy

A second block was made the next day in pink, our RSC color from January.

Each big block with the star at the center is actually made up of four smaller blocks. 

Two more big blocks were added the next day. At that point I had one block for each color that has been assigned for the RSC so far this year.

At this point it was time to think about how big I wanted to make this quilt, which would tell me how many blocks to make. These big blocks will finish at 16" each. The photo at the top of this post with 12 big blocks would measure 48" x 64". Since I am loving the pattern so much, I wanted to keep going and make it even bigger. 20 big blocks would take it to 64" x 80". That is my current plan, and I may even go bigger than that later.

In order to end up with 20 big blocks, I decided to do a lighter and a darker version of each color. I believe we will have light green and dark blue called as monthly colors later in the year. I went ahead and made darker blocks in pink and yellow, our colors from January and February. Here are all the blocks I've made so far.

One of the best things about this pattern design is that there is an alternate layout that staggers the blocks. Skipping the final seam on my dark pink big block meant I could put each half at the ends of a row for this offset look.

I'm so tempted to keep going with this project and make more blocks in all the colors, but I'm trying to persuade myself to set it aside for now and go back to my other RSC quilts. I don't want to get behind on any of those. I will look forward to revisiting this pattern next month when we have a new color.

If you love this design too, you can buy the pattern HERE or get more info about the quilt-along HERE.

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

Thirties Thursday

 The Sewcialites Quilt Along is a weekly block program that has been running since last September. It is hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop and features block designs from a wide variety of designers. They have presented 24 block designs so far and have another 12 to go. Here is their planned arrangement of all the blocks (but I haven't decided if I will do this with mine.)

I've surprised myself by keeping up with the weekly block making. There are a couple of blocks that I have changed slightly, and one that I used a totally different block pattern than was presented. Here are my first 24 blocks.

Sewcialites QAL, 6" blocks

I'm using 30's fabrics for my blocks with a white-on-white background fabric. They seem like the perfect fabrics to be working with in the spring, like all the beautiful flowers starting to bloom!

Linking up with:
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

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  

To-Do Tuesday 3/30/2021

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 Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I worked on a variety of different projects last week, making good progress on each one. My to-do list helps keep me from drifting along, wondering what I should work on next.

To-Do List for 3/23 - 3/29:

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

I ended up with 36 Bowtie blocks in dark and medium greens.

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #24   ✔done 

Instead of making the pattern given, a tulip block, I substituted a block from the 2017 Moda Blockheads. This block is called Peace and Plenty.

3. Beveled Blocks--finish piecing back  ✔done 

The back is finished, I got photos of both the top and back, and shared them in

THIS blog post.

4. Sew Colorful Stars--make 1 green block  ✔done and posted on Saturday

5. Orphan Adoptions--pick winners, pack and ship giveaways  ✔done 

Nann and Erin were the winners, and they have both received their orphans.

One new project has joined the to-do list for next week. That is my old Around the Twist quilt that I shared in yesterday's post. I am going to be taking out the ugly quilting that had been done 25 years ago, replace the batting, and start over on the quilting.

To-Do List for 3/30 - 4/5

1. Bowties 365--make at least 1 bowtie block every day

2. Sewcialites QAL--make block #25

3. Beveled Blocks--make binding

4. 30's Kaleidoscope--make light blue blocks

5. Around the Twist--remove old quilting

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 Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Design Wall Monday 3/29/2021

Angela at soscrappy announced over the weekend that our Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April will be light/bright blue. I decided to go through my quilt tops to find something featuring light blue that I could get quilted up and finished next month. There were several options, but this is the one I chose to work on first.

Around the Twist, 24" x 32.5"

pattern by Trudie Hughes

from her book Template-Free Quiltmaking, 1986

As you can see, this little quilt has already been quilted, and it is very badly done. I made the quilt top in my first year as a quilter, 1995, and attempted to machine quilt it in 1996 (25 years ago!) I used polyester batting which, along with a poor choice of quilting design, made the whole thing puff out in between the lines of stitching. I got this far, hated how it was turning out, and put it away in the closet. I think it's time to resurrect this sad little quilt.

I've started removing some of the the machine quilting. It was done with invisible thread, both top and bobbin, which makes it very hard to see. My plan is to take out all the quilting, press the top and back to get rid of the creases from the quilting (which will probably require wetting them heavily,) then layer it with new cotton batting. I haven't figured out a new plan for the quilting design yet, but I will come up with something. 

Finishing this little quilt is going to be my One Monthly Goal for the month of April. It may not be my finest work, but it is a special reminder of my early days as a quilter, and it deserves to be finished for that reason.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA  

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 13, 2021

It has been a very busy week in the quilting room, with lots of fabric moving both in and out. The past week is the first time since early January that I have fabric additions to include in my stash report, 12.5 yards total. I took advantage of a recent sale at Connecting Threads to stock up on some basics, mostly from their Chambray Tonals line.

Buying fabrics online is a tricky business. It's so hard to tell exactly what the colors will look like, and the scale of prints can be different than expected too. My surprise in this group was the yellow. I thought it was going to be a nice, soft yellow, but it is actually much brighter and more lemony than I expected. Oh well, it's still a pretty color, just not quite what I was hoping for.

The outgoing numbers from the stash more than make up for the additions. I used 5.75 yards for the Beveled Blocks quilt top, 4.75 yards for the back, and 5/8 yard in some extra/sample Beveled Blocks. I also used 3/8 yard in my dark green Sew Colorful Stars block. 

For my stash reports, I count all quilt fabric that comes into my sewing room as additions, whether it is fabric that I have purchased or if it is a gift or giveaway prize. On the flip side of that, I count any fabric that I give away in the used column. This week I gave away two quilt orphan prizes. The Grassy Creek orphan included 6 large blocks and 34 9-patch blocks, which totaled 1.875 yards of fabric. The Blooming Onion orphan consisted of 6 blocks plus cut pieces for 11 more blocks, 1.5 yards. The grand total for the usage column this week is 14.875 yards!

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                           14.875 yards

Used year to date:                       82.125 yards

Added last week:                           12.50 yards

Added year to date:                         24.0 yards

Net used year to date              58.125 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. We are getting out of the house a little more some days, which means I'm not home all day long and able to quilt whenever I want. That has meant making a point of doing at least a little bit of stitching after dinner some nights. I'm trying to keep that 100% record intact!

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

3/21 - 3/27                7 of 7 days

2021 Total              86 of 86 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 13, 2021

Today is the last dark green Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I finished my last big block a couple days ago. This is my Sew Colorful Stars block.

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished size

I made my block from a stack of 3" green squares that were in the scrap drawer. I wish I had added a few brighter greens so it didn't all look so much like the same color. We'll see how the blocks look together when I get all the other colors done. This one might get remade at a later date.

I gathered my collection of green blocks from March together on the design wall. The only RSC blocks not up there are the green 30's kaleidoscope blocks. There just wasn't enough space for everything, and they look so pastel compared to the rest.

Top right and left: Scrap Magnet; top center: Sew Colorful Stars; lower left: Glorified 9-Patch; and lower right: Bowties 365.

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