Finishing the Purple Blocks

March seemed to go by very quickly, and now it is time to wrap up my purple projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I finished off a couple sets of purple blocks this week. Up first were my Hollow 9-Patch blocks.

After that, I made the latest of the Birthday Blocks from Laundry Basket Quilts, ending up with four purple blocks for March. A new block pattern is posted every week, and I am alternating using light or dark background along with the RSC color of the month.

LBQ Birthday Blocks

There is one set of purple blocks that is not quite finished. These are my scrappy improv blocks inspired by Terry Rowland (I call them my Terry blocks.) I have these 25 little 3" blocks finished, and another 15-20 more blocks cut and waiting next to my sewing machine.

Besides all the blocks shown above, I also shared a couple other sets of blocks earlier in the month. There were the Rail Fence Spinners and the Hen and Chicks Sampler blocks. I pulled those blocks out of my RSC bin and put everything up on the design wall together in an incredible, scrappy collection of purple! 

I'm eager to find out what our color of the month will be for April and get started on some new sets of blocks!

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Around the Twist Quilt Top

Our quilt guild had a group sewing day at the end of February to work together on baby quilts. Most people were using a pattern supplied by one of the members, but of course I felt the need to complicate things for myself and made a totally different design. This is my latest Around the Twist baby quilt top.

Around the Twist, 38.5" x 45"

The starting point for this quilt was the background fabric. According to my records, this adorable print was purchased in 1998. 

I knew that I had used the same fabric for a small quilt many years ago. I managed to find a photo (not digital) of this Snowball/9-Patch quilt, made in 1998. I had totally forgotten about the coordinating striped fabric.

Snowball/9-Patch Quilt, 1998

The Around the Twist pattern used for the new quilt top is a design I have made a few times before, most recently as a baby quilt last year. (The quilt name under the next photo will take you to my blog post with more info about the pattern and this quilt.)

Around the Twist baby quilt, 2023

If you compare the finished quilt in the photo above with the quilt top at the beginning of this post, you might notice a key difference--the new version used five colors for the rings rather than the four in last year's quilt. Adding one more color made construction much more complicated. There are two different blocks in this quilt, Snowball blocks and Twist blocks. Every block uses four of the five colors around the center in very specific order to make the design work. That meant making five different sets of each block. My photos show two versions of each below.

Snowball blocks

Twist blocks

Piecing the blocks required concentration in order to get the colors in the right places, but it all worked out well in the end. I need to dig through my stash for a good backing fabric, then I can get this quilted and ready to donate. I've already pulled together another group of fabrics to make yet another version of this pattern. I considered using seven different colors for the rings in that one, but I think I will stay with five.

Linking up with:

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at Inquiring Quilter

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/24/2024

There has been plenty of fabric moving both in and out of my stash this week. The incoming came from a recent fabric order, 4.5 yards added.

The outgoing fabric was used in a variety of projects. I used 1/2 yard for my last Project Quilting entry of 2024, an Irish Chain placemat (which you can see and read more about HERE.) I also used another yard on these two Scrappy Trips style placemats that have been waiting to be finished.

A total of one yard was used for a combination of projects that are being added together for the Stash Report. They are the purple Rail Fence Spinners, the Hen and Chicks Sampler blocks, and two blocks for Jen's Color Challenge. 

Rail Fence Spinners, 6" blocks

Hen and Chicks Sampler, 3" & 6" blocks

Jen's Color Challenge, 12" blocks

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   2.50 yards

Used year to date:              22.50 yards

Added last week:                  4.50 yards

Added year to date:               22.0 yards

Net used in 2024:                .50 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. Despite having been out of town for a few days at the beginning of the week, I was able to keep my 100% record intact. I always take a hand stitching project along when I travel, and that was true on this trip. Three more applique heart blocks were finished while I was away.

I've been hand stitching heart blocks since sometime in 2021. I used to do lots more hand applique when I was working and stitched on the train commute each day. Now it mostly happens when I am traveling. I really should count up how many heart blocks I've made and figure out what to do with them.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

3/17 - 3/23          7 of 7 days

2024 Total        83 of 83 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

Purple Sampler Blocks

We have been working with our purple scraps this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Last week I concentrated on making my blocks for Angela's Hen & Chicks Sampler. These are blocks # 9 - 12 in both 3" and 6" finished sizes.

The month of March is slipping by very quickly, and I still have a couple of other RSC projects to complete before the end of the month.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Project Quilting 15.6: Irish Chain

It's hard to believe, but this is the last week of the 15th season of Project Quilting. Thanks so much to Kim and Trish for another fun season of challenges. The final challenge for the year is to make something inspired by the traditional Irish Chain quilt design.

The first quilt I ever made was an Irish Chain quilt that my sister Karen and I did together as a wedding gift for our brother and his wife in 1995. I've also made other Irish Chain quilts through the years and always enjoy returning to this classic pattern.

Double Irish Chain quilt top, 1995

I've continued the theme from my earlier Project Quilting pieces this year by making an Irish Chain placemat. I thought about using greens to go along with the theme, but ended up pulling out some favorite blue and yellow fabrics instead.

The diagonal quilting lines show up much better on the back.

I thought it would be fun to get a look at all the placemats I've made for the different Project Quilting challenges this year. It's fun to see the wide variety of fabrics and styles.

Left column top to bottom--15.1: Bird's Nest, 15.2: Sky Color, 15.3: Inside Out (x 2)

Right column top to bottom--15.4: Hourglass, 15.5 Wearables (x 2), 15.6 Irish Chain 

All of these placemats will be donated to Meals on Wheels by our quilt guild. I will continue making placemats throughout the year, even without the continuing Project Quilting challenges.

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 15.6 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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/17/2024

There's not a whole lot to share for the stash report this week. I did use 3/4 yard for the batch of Sewcialites 2 blocks I made as part of our guild's Block of the Month program. 

Sewcialites 2

3", 6" and 9" blocks

The batik fabrics in these two blocks  are from the Island Batiks line "Limerick", which seems appropriate for St. Patrick's Day.

I received a fabric order last week, but barely had time to even look at it. I will tally up the yardage added and include it in next week's stash report.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     .75 yards

Used year to date:                20.0 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:             17.50 yards

Net used in 2024:              2.50 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'm currently away from home for a few days, enjoying a visit with family in Wisconsin. I brought along my usual hand-stitching project and have managed to get in a little stitching time each day.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

3/10 - 3  /16        7 of 7 days

2024 Total        76 of 76 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

Design Wall Monday 3/11/2024

One of the new quilt projects that I started last month was our guild's new block of the month. We considered several BOM options and settled on Sewcialites 2 by Fat Quarter Shop. This originally ran as a weekly block program from October, 2022 until April, 2023. All of the block patterns are still available on the Fat Quarter Shop's website. The illustration below is from the original announcement on their blog.

Sewcialites 2 by Fat Quarter Shop

The plan for the guild is to make two blocks each month. There are 24 different block patterns, so it will take us a full year to get through them all. Participants will share their blocks at the monthly meetings, and their name is entered into a prize drawing each time they complete the assigned blocks.

The block patterns include instructions for blocks in three different sizes, 3", 6" or 9". I've been having some trouble deciding what size to make, so I tried them all. For the 3" blocks, I used all solid colors.

3" blocks

My 6" blocks are made in Christmas colors. I'm not wild about the bright limey green, but I think it would be okay when there are more blocks made.

6" blocks

My first attempt at the 9" blocks features some batiks that I won in a giveaway from Island Batik last year.

9" blocks

I also made a second set of 9" blocks with a navy background and fiery yellows and oranges. These look like they would make a very dramatic quilt.

9" blocks

All of the blocks look like the same size in the photos above because they are all scaled to the maximum for my blog. The next photo lets you really see the difference in the sizes.

Sewcialites 2, Blocks 1 & 2

I'm not really planning to make four different sets of blocks every month, but I will probably do two, maybe even three. The hard part will be deciding which to eliminate. It is unlikely that I will use the FQS setting, shown in the illustration at the top of this post, for most of them, but that decision is a long ways off.

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 and Stitching Time 3/10/2024

Looking back over the past week's stitching time, garments seem to have become a theme. The current Project Quilt Challenge is all about Wearables--either make something quilted from clothing, add quilting to a piece of clothing, or make an actual garment. I made two placemats using fabrics from old shirts (read more in this post.) I used 1 yard of fabric for the placemats.

I also made a pair of pajama pants last week, using 3 yards of fabric. They were a gift, and unfortunately I didn't get a photo of them. Just last night I was asked to do a couple of minor sewing repairs on clothing for a family member. Like I said, there seems to be a theme.

The good news regarding the stash report is that my usage for the week has finally gotten me back in the black as having used more fabric than has been added for the year. The not-so-good news is that a recent fabric order has finally shipped and should get here next week. 

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     4.00 yards

Used year to date:               19.25 yards

Added last week:                     0.0 yards

Added year to date:             17.50 yards

Net used in 2024:              1.75 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. On top of all the garment-related stitching, I spent lots of time cutting for various quilt-along projects. I also finished making the blocks for a baby quilt, and I hope to get the quilt top assembled today.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

3/3 - 3  /9            7 of 7 days

2024 Total        69 of 69 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

Purple Spinners

It has been a busy week, but I did find some time to make a start on my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for March is purple, and I started by making some Rail Fence Spinner blocks.

One of the purple blocks was made in November to use up some of the leftover parts from last year's Rail Fence project. The rest of these purple blocks were made this week. Their finished size will be 6".

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Project Quilting 15.5: Wearables

The fifth challenge for Season 15 of Project Quilting was announced on Sunday, and the theme this week is "Wearables":

 

PQ 15.5 WEARABLES

For this week’s challenge, we’re working with “wearables” – I want you to either start or end fashionably. Here’s what I mean.

 

One option is to turn clothes into something else. Are you ready to recycle your wedding dress into something new? Is it time to make a special project from t-shirts or old ties? I hear denim makes great rugs!

 

Or, you could quilt-ify something you wear. Try some visible mending and embellish existing pieces, or make a tote or hat or apron.

 

Another option is to use the theme in a quilt. Make a wall hanging about your passion for shoes, or try that Ugly Sweater quilt block pattern.

 

And finally – there’s a special opportunity for you this week! You can make a piece of clothing. Any piece of clothing you sew will qualify this week: pajama pants, an Easter dress, a jacket, a skirt – you can do it all. And for this, I’m making a one-time-only exception to the usual PQ rules about 3-layers or embellished or pieced, etc. This week only, if you whip up a sewn piece of clothing (from a pattern is fine!) you can enter it in PQ! 

(I’m doing this to allow us scaredy-cats a growth opportunity to try apparel sewing.)

 

Now, don’t get carried away breaking the rules – you still have to BEGIN and END your project between 3/3/24 and 3/10/24 (no WIP projects, please), and it still has to be FINISHED. Done means buttoned, bound, hemmed, zipped, snapped or tied with a bow – your project must be finished to qualify.

RULE ONE: your project must be wearable, or have been made from previously worn items, or have another connection to clothes, shoes and fashion accessories.

Making clothing is not a big deal for me. I've been sewing for more than 50 years, but didn't start quilting until 1995. Before that, it was all clothing--mostly for myself at first, later as a career, making theatre costumes, which I did for 40+ years. I still make garments occasionally, but most of the time I prefer to stick to quilting. 

For this challenge, I decided to pull out my box of old shirts and shirt fabric scraps. Bonnie Hunter seems to be the queen of using old shirt fabrics, and I've managed to amass a small collection of fabrics. I chose a few to use in two placemats.

Both placemats finished at 13.5" x 18". The dark fabrics in the chains of rectangles on each were also used for the backs. Both of those fabrics were from shirts that used to belong to my husband, but all the rest of the fabrics were from thrift store/garage sale shirts. The quilting is all stitch-in-the-ditch.

These two placemats will join the growing pile that will be donated to Meals on Wheels by our quilt guild. I'm hoping to end up with an even dozen to donate at an upcoming meeting. 

Linking up with:

Project Quilting 15.5 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