15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 10/14/18

Three-plus days with houseguests meant lots of fun, but not much time for quilting. We even went to a terrific quilt show together--the A Stitch in Time quilt show, held by the Quilters Guild of the Southern Crescent and the Common Threads Quilt Guild. So many wonderful quilts! This was my favorite, although there were many other excellent choices. My photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful, bright colors.

"Twist and Shout" by Teri Biglands
65" x 75", hand pieced and hand quilted

I can't imagine tackling that design! I think hand piecing it would be the only way to go with all those curves. I wonder how long it took her?

The change to my stash is very small this week--3/8 yard used for my Squared Away blocks, which you can see in yesterday's post. No additions--it's a good thing there weren't any vendors at the quilt show!

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                    .375 yards

Used year to date:             65.125 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:             34.75 yards
Net used year to date:       30.375 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 did manage to get a little quilting time every day, mostly by hand-stitching hexagons while we watched TV in the evenings.

15 Minute Challenge:  
10/7 - 10/13          7 of 7 days
2018 Total      280 of 286 days

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

Julie in GA

Squared Away in Dark Greens

All year at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, many of us have been joining in on the Squared Away sampler designed by Mari and Angela. The block for October is called Dewey Dream, and it is the last block we will be making for the year. Here are my October blocks, including one with the colors reversed. I also made two blocks from the 2017 Fat Quarter Shop Patchwork Quilt Along. All of the blocks finish at 7.5".

It has been such fun following along on the Squared Away sampler. Huge thanks to Mari and Angela for the wonderful quilt-along. I can't wait to put all of my blocks up on the design wall too see how they look together!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 10/7/18

There's not much change to my stash usage number this week. After finishing two quilt tops last week, I had a hard time figuring out what to work on next and mostly concentrated on doing a little bit of cleaning up (which my sewing room desperately needs!) I did use 3/8 yard to make three Spinning Boxes blocks which were shared in yesterday's post.

There was fabric added to the stash for the first time in two months. I am getting close to finishing making the blocks for a couple of Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, and picked up a couple of options to use for sashing on my blocks--2.5 yards added.

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   .375 yards

Used year to date:              64.75 yards

Added last week:                    2.5 yards
Added year to date:             34.75 yards
Net used year to date:       30.0 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'm still keeping up with quilting every day!

15 Minute Challenge:  
9/30 - 10/6           7 of 7 days
2018 Total      273 of 279 days

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

Julie in GA

Spinning the Greens

It's Rainbow Scrap Challenge day again, and this month our color assignment is dark and sage greens. We used light greens, lime and yellow greens back in March. Like most months, my first blocks to be completed for the month are the Spinning Boxes blocks. Here are the three new blocks that were made this week along with two lighter green blocks from the spring.

I'm still planning to set these blocks on point, but haven't spent any more time auditioning possible setting and/or sashing fabrics. Thanks to everyone for their comments and opinions on the options I showed in last month's post. Stay tuned for future plans and ideas!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Seeing Stars--a finished top!

For the past seven weeks, I have been participating in the Seeing Stars QAL, hosted and designed by Melissa Corey at Happy Quilting. It has been great fun seeing everyone's version of Melissa's design, and I'm happy to be adding my finished quilt top to the display.

Seeing Stars quilt top
64.5" x 80.5" 

My quilt is smaller than Melissa's 80" x 80" design, mostly because I didn't have enough background fabric for the whole quilt. I wanted to use up some of my older Christmas fabrics, and the best background fabrics were two pieces of beige poinsettia prints that measure almost 4 yards combined. You can see the two different backgrounds in these close-up photos of some favorite blocks.

Double Star, 24" block

Double Star, 24" block

Curvy Star, 20" block

It was great fun to take part in this wonderful QAL. Melissa's instructions were very clear and easy to follow, and I have loved seeing so many beautiful versions of her design.

I'm sharing my finished top with the Seeing Stars QAL link-up. I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 9/30/18

Last night I shared a post featuring my completed Tell It to the Stars quilt top (see the post HERE.) I had been counting my fabric usage for the different parts of the quilt as they were made, but discovered that none of the border fabrics had been included. That means I can report 4.75 yards as used, all for those borders. No new fabric added this week. 

Tell It to the Stars with 5 borders

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   4.75 yards

Used year to date:            64.375 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards
Added year to date:             32.25 yards
Net used year to date:   32.125 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. I'm still keeping up with quilting every day!

15 Minute Challenge:  
9/23 - 9/29           7 of 7 days
2018 Total      266 of 272 days

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

Julie in GA

Tell It to the Stars--a Finished Quilt Top!

My Tell It to the Stars quilt has had a very long, slow development. It was started as a mystery BOM designed by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times, and the pattern is still available at her website. Here are the many stages of my quilt through the years.

January - June 2014: Make 2 star blocks each month.

July 2014--add 6 alternate blocks

August 2014--add pieced setting triangles

September/October 2014--add sashing and cornerstones, join everything together (a very dark photo!)

 November 2014--making blocks for a pieced border

That was when forward progress ended on this project, and there were two reasons for that. One was that I had decided to change the spacing on the pieced border and was having trouble getting it to fit. The other problem was the realization that I had used the wrong color in my setting triangles--they should have been made in turquoise rather than black. I pulled this project out occasionally over the past few years, but could never make a decision on how to move forward. It took almost four years for me to decide to bite the bullet and remake the triangles. I knew I would never be happy with this quilt otherwise.

August 2018--auditioning replacement setting triangle. I like that much better!

August 2018--removed 4 borders and all setting triangles, began making new triangles

September 2018--join new triangles to center of quilt, choose outer border fabric

It's September 29th, and my goal was to have a finished quilt top by the end of the month. There wasn't much time to spare, but I made it! Here is my finished Tell It to the Stars quilt top! The close-up shot will give a better look at the outer border fabric.

Tell It to the Stars quilt top
83.75" x 103.5"

Finishing this quilt top was my One Monthly Goal, so I am joining the September Finish Link-Up at Elm Street Quilts. I am also sharing with Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework, Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Seeing Stars QAL--Week 6

There were all sorts of other things I should have been doing over the weekend, but I couldn't resist spending some time working on the last set of blocks for the Seeing Stars QAL, hosted by Melissa Corey at Happy Quilting. Here are my Applique Star blocks. The next step is quilt top assembly--I can't wait!

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt, and Moving It Forward at Em's Scrapbag.  I'm also sharing my blocks with the Seeing Stars QAL link-up. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

15 Minutes and Stash Report Sunday 9/23/18

It was a very busy week, but a productive one as far as stash usage. My fabric used for the week was .625 yards for 20 Applique Star blocks as part of the Seeing Stars QAL and 1.25 yards on the Scraptastic Stars blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I posted this photo yesterday, but I can't resist sharing these wonderful blocks again! There are close-up shots of each block in yesterday's post.

2018 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:               1.875 yards

Used year to date:          59.625 yards

Added last week:                  0.0 yards
Added year to date:           32.25 yards
Net used year to date:   27.375 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. My streak of quilting every day is going strong--the last time I missed a day was in June during a family vacation.

15 Minute Challenge:  
9/16 - 9/22           7 of 7 days
2018 Total      259 of 265 days

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

Julie in GA

RSC in Black and Blue (Plus Grey)

I've been having a great time all year making Scraptastic Star blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My first blocks were made last October to try out Melissa Corey's pattern, and I loved it from the very start--such a great way to combine lots of different scraps! Over the last week I made four new blocks--three that finish at 16" in black, dark/medium blue, and grey, plus one 12" block in blue. They are all shown here along with the black/grey 12" block that I made sometime last fall or early this year.

Here are my new 16" blocks along with the light blue block from January. I love the way the white squares link up from one block to the next. I even like the skinny lines of grey (my design wall flannel) between the blocks.

The close-up shots of the 16" blocks will let you take a closer look at all the different fabrics. For these blocks I used a different white print for the star and chain of squares in each block.

On the 12" blocks, a single white fabric is being used for every block. The next photo shows my idea for joining the blocks together--sashing strips in a light grey print with squares of the same white fabric to finish off the chains of squares.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA