SAHRR 2024--Round 2

The second border assignment for the 2024 Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) was announced yesterday. Here is the direction we got from Anja: "using only 2 colours, you can do whatever you want for this round." Well, that left it wide open. Sometimes that can make things harder to decide, but surprisingly enough, I didn't have any problems.

Our previous assignment was signature blocks, and I made 13 of them in various greens. I liked the way they looked with my main block and decided to make more with red fabrics. The red blocks were all finished the very same day that the round 2 assignment was announced! None of the signature blocks are sewn together yet, since I'm not sure how they will be used in my final quilt.

This week's link-up is at Anja's blog, Anja Quilts, and the entire 2024 SAHRR schedule is below.

January 15: Center block: Gail @ Quilting Gail

January 22: 1st Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

January 29: 2nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts

February 5: 3rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

February 12: 4th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs

February 19: 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail

February 26: 6th Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

March 18:   Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

 

Next Monday we will find out another new border assignment. It's unlikely that I will finish it as quickly as this week's round, but who knows what might happen!

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 1/28/2024

It has been a very busy week in my sewing room, and I'm a little overwhelmed by the number of projects in the works. It has also been a very productive week, with two placemats being finished and one quilt top nearly assembled. There was 1 yard of fabric used for the placemats. You can see them HERE and HERE.

I've gotten rather carried away with joining quilt-alongs plus starting new projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge already this year. Most of these will be continuing for several months, and it is already proving to be easiest to total up the yardage for all of them near the end of the month. Here's what I've made so far. All measurements listed are for the finished sizes of the blocks.

Hen and Chicks, RSC 2024 Sampler

3" blocks + 6" blocks

Hollow 9-Patch, 6" blocks

Rail Fence Spinners, 6" blocks

Laundry Basket Quilts Birthday Blocks

6" blocks

Jen's Color Challenge, 12" blocks

SAHRR 2024

16" Liberty Legacy block

3" signature blocks

Added together, the fabric used for all of those many blocks totals about 2 yards. The Hollow 9-Patch and Rail Fence Spinners have both been used as leader/ender blocks, so I might end up making more of those before the end of the month. If so, I will just count the fabric used with next month's totals.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                       3.0 yards

Used year to date:                 6.75 yards

Added last week:                     1.5 yards

Added year to date:                 1.5 yards

Net used in 2024:               5.25 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. The past week had seemed especially busy with different quilting projects, but I was a little shocked when I counted up 9 different quilts having been worked on over the last 7 days. It's no wonder I feel like I'm going in a million directions!

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

1/21 - 1/27          7 of 7 days

2024 Total        27 of 27 days

Success rate                100%

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

SAHRR Round 1

Last week I shared a few blocks that were being considered as the center block of this year's Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) project. Later that same day, I made yet another block, but I still haven't decided which one I might use. There's even a chance I will use them all!

The block at the lower left is the newest addition. It is the center block of Kim Diehl's Liberty Legacy quilt, a free pattern from Henry Glass fabrics. Here's the newest block by itself. It is definitely my favorite of the group.

Our assignment this week came from Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life. She chose signature blocks for the first round. I started out by making some samples to help me decide on the scale for the corner triangles. 

As you can see above, changing the size of the corners also changes the width of the center diagonal strip. I decided to go with the middle version, and made up a dozen of them in different green fabrics.

I also tried the signature blocks out with the whole group of star blocks, but it's not terribly successful. I have no idea where I'm headed with this project, and I'm not going to stress out over it. I'm just following the prompts and seeing where they take me.

This week's link-up is at Wendy's blog, Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life, and the rest of the 2024 SAHRR schedule is below.

January 29: 2nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts

February 5: 3rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

February 12: 4th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs

February 19: 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail

February 26: 6th Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

March 18:   Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

 

On Monday we will find out our next border assignment. I'm looking forward to seeing what lies ahead.

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

Green Table Scraps Challenge and More

One of the items on this week's quilting to-do list was to finish up my entry for the January Table Scraps Challenge, hosted by The Joyful Quilter. My plan for this challenge is to continue making monthly placemats, which will later be donated to Meals on Wheels.

We start with scraps in the color of the month from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and this month was bright and dark green. We also had the suggested theme of "snowflakes," but I didn't include any in my placemat.

I started with a few green crumb blocks, using one for the center of the star. The other two were sliced in half to become part of the side borders. I even managed to find the dark green triangles for the star points in my box of leftover triangles.

The back is an oldie, "Nouveau" by Sentimental Studios for Moda, which I purchased for a class project around 2009. It's funny how I have no memory of where or when I bought some fabrics, but others like this one bring back very strong memories. I'm still enjoying using it all these years later.

I'll share a photo of my current RSC projects on this last Saturday of our month for green scraps. Strangely enough, almost all of them feature 6" blocks. 

Top row: Laundry Basket Quilts Birthday Blocks

2nd row: RSC Hen and Chicks Sampler

Left side: Rail Fence Spinners

Right side: Hollow 9-Patch

Bottom right: Table Scraps placemat

I might end up with a couple more of the Rail Fence or Hollow 9-Patch blocks in green since we still have several more days before the end of the month (or I might just start in on next month's color of red.)

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday. I'm also linking up with the Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Project Quilting 15.2: Sky Color

The second challenge for Season 15 of Project Quilting was announced on Sunday, and the theme was "Sky Color." Here's the challenge:

Take inspiration from the colors of the sky, but exclude or use less than 10% of the usual blue.

It took me a few days to figure out how I wanted to interpret the theme. Most of my ideas were for scrappy projects, and I didn't have the time or energy to pull out a whole pile of fabrics in order to cut them all. The plan finally came together after I discovered a Zip-loc bag of scraps from an earlier project.

These pieces were all leftovers from my Blooming Onion quilt, made in early 2021. The colors were perfect for the project I had in mind. 

Blooming Onion, 60.5" x 80.5"

The pieces I used measured about 2" x 4.75" each. I arranged them in a gradation of the colors of a  sunrise. They were all pieced together into a placemat measuring 12" x 16".

For the back, I used an old favorite Hoffman Fabrics gradation print. I had previously used the same fabric in my Project Quilting Mystery quilt earlier this month. 

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 15.2 at Persimon Dreams

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/22/2024

My One Monthly Goal for January is to turn my pile of Jabberwocky blocks (a Judy Martin pattern from The Block Book) into a quilt top. I've gotten all of the blocks stitched into columns with the horizontal sashing strips and put them up on the design wall with the vertical sashing plus the borders. I couldn't quite get the whole thing into my photo. The long columns actually have six blocks each.

When I showed the first two columns a couple days ago, I was uncertain about the larger grey areas at the ends of the offset columns. Now that the borders are up there too, I think it's going to be fine. Now I need to measure those columns of blocks and mark the sashing and borders to match, then get them all stitched together.

Check out what other quilters are working on this week at Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and at Monday Musings at Songbird Designs. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stash Report & Stitching Time 1/21/2024

The stash report this week shows the first fabric addition for the year. Angela Walters is teaching the Dot to Dot FMQ Challenge, and I decided just after Christmas to take part. Unfortunately, the panel was out of stock at that time, but it finally arrived this week. The lessons started on January 2nd, so I've got some catching up to do on that quilt-along. The panel measures 1.5 yards.

Fortunately, I have some usage to report too. I used two yards of this Hawaiian print for the back and binding of a small quilt (see the quilt HERE.)

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                       2.0 yards

Used year to date:                 3.75 yards

Added last week:                     1.5 yards

Added year to date:                 1.5 yards

Net used in 2024:               2.25 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. The first half of the week was spent finishing the charm square quilt, and I have primarily been joining a set of blocks together since then.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

1/14 - 1/20          7 of 7 days

2024 Total        20 of 20 days

Success rate                100%

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host the link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Jabberwocky Blocks

One of my 2023 projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge was Jabberwocky, a Judy Martin pattern from The Block Book. I made three blocks in each month's assigned color and ended up with 28 blocks. Now I'm working on getting them joined together into a quilt top.

I've gotten two columns of blocks stitched together with the sashing. The vertical sashing strip is not attached to the columns yet. There are three more columns to be assembled. I'm having some doubts about the larger sections of grey print at the top and bottom of the second column, but I'll wait to make a decision after I get the rest of the blocks joined into columns.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday. I'm also linking up with Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

SAHRR 2024--Center Block

It's time once again for the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR), a fun annual quilt-along hosted by Quilting Gail and five other quilters in the U.S. and Canada. I'd been thinking I would pass this year because I have so many other projects in the works, but seeing the parade of blocks others have chosen for their quilts is making me rethink that decision. I enjoyed taking part in the SAHRR for the past two years, and ended up with two different quilts that I really love.

Feathered Star Round Robin 2022

39.5" square

Patriotic Medallion SAHRR 2023

42.75" square

This week everyone is sharing their beginning block, which will become the center of the quilt. We can use an orphan block that we already have or make a new block. Over the next six weeks, the hostesses will assign the next border design/block (log cabin, pinwheel, applique, etc.) We each interpret that assignment in our own way as we build our wonderful medallion quilts. For more info on how the SAHRR works, check out Gail's intro post HERE.

I started with my box of Christmas fabrics, which also contained a few orphan blocks. I'm leaning toward using the first block, but am still somewhat undecided. 

Festival Star, 11"

Morning Star, 12"

Star in a Star, 24"

These star blocks all look like the same size in the photos above since I've made them as large as possible for this post. A shot of all three blocks together shows the actual difference in sizes.

I'll wait and see which block I prefer after we get the first border assignment. I especially love the fabrics in the larger block, but starting with a center block that large would make a much bigger quilt than I'd planned. Who knows what my choice will be (I might even make a completely new block!) 

This week's parade of center blocks is at Quilting Gail, and the rest of the 2024 SAHRR schedule is below.

January 22: 1st Round:   Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life

January 29: 2nd Round:   Anja @ Anja Quilts

February 5: 3rd Round:  Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

February 12: 4th Round:  Brenda @ Songbird Designs

February 19: 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail

February 26: 6th Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing

March 18:   Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

 

On Monday we will find out our first border assignment. I'm looking forward to another round robin adventure!

Happy quilting!

Julie in GA

First Finished Quilt of 2024

One of my biggest quilting goals for 2024 is to finish more quilts. Finishing has been my least favorite part of quilting ever since I started, but the number of unquilted tops hanging around in my sewing room closets has gotten ridiculous! I'm afraid to count how many there are, so it's time to get some of them finished.

The first quilt to be finished for 2024 is the Charm 9-Patch quilt. This quilt started as a set of 9-patch blocks made from charm squares by one or more members of our quilt guild. The guild president had made up several kits of these type of blocks and handed them out at a meeting last April with the challenge to bring back a finished quilt the next month. It took me several months longer, but it's finally done!

Charm 9-Patch quilt, 37.5" x 49.5" after washing

This was my favorite block in the quilt top. The sizes of the blocks tended to vary, and they all got trimmed down to the same measurement before they were joined together.

When I first received the blocks, I considered adding sashing in between to give the blocks a little separation, but I realized that joining them without sashing would produce a top that would fit on a backing made from a single width of fabric. I chose a well-aged Hawaiian print for the back and binding.

Here's a closer look at the backing fabric, and you can also see the meander quilting done in light blue.

This quilt will be donated back to the quilt guild for one of our community service partners. It feels great to have a finish, and I hope it's the first of many quilts to be completed this year.

Linking up with:

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF) at Devoted Quilter

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA