Stash Report and Stitching Time 9/29/2024

My stash report for the last week doesn't show as much change as the previous few weeks, mostly because we were out of town for several days. Before we left, I was able to finish off one last set of placemats for the guild's Christmas market. These feature another very old Hoffman print.

I would have used the bright print for the placemat backs, but I didn't have enough of that fabric. Instead I combined what I had left with more of the black solid background. These 6 placemats used 2-5/8 yards of fabric. I also used 3/8 yard for the Hollow 9-Patch block shared in yesterday's post. No new fabric was added last week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                     3.0 yards

Used year to date:              113.5 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:             88.75 yards

Net used in 2024:            24.75 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. After finishing off the last set of placemats, I pulled out my ongoing hand stitching project, the applique hearts, to take along on our trip. That made it possible for me to get in my stitching time every day last week.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

9/22 - 9/28               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          267 of 272 days

Success rate               98.16 %   

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

Returning to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

September has been an unusually busy month, including two separate trips. Most of my limited quilting time has been devoted to quilt guild projects, but I finally found the time to make a set of black and grey Hollow 9-Patch blocks, one of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I expect to add a set of brown blocks to the collection next month. I believe that would bring me to a total of 90 blocks. Each block will finish at 6". I will also spend October trying to catch up on the blocks that didn't get made for other RSC projects in September.

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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 9/22/2024

The past week has been a busy one, with all of my quilting time devoted to a variety of quilt guild activities. We had a board meeting on Monday, and our regular meeting was on Thursday, which was the guild's annual auction. Guild members donate quilting/sewing related items which are laid out on long tables with brown paper bags taped to the tables next to each item. We buy tickets and place them in the bags for the items we wish to win. Here are some of the items I donated.

Green ikat panel

Halloween panel

Santa panel

Stripes, checks and plaids

Heart appliques/blocks

Chilhowie blocks (Bonnie Hunter 2022 mystery)

In addition to everything shown, there were several other plaid and stripe fabrics, plus a few more Christmas panels. Donations from my stash totaled 19.875 yards. I also donated one book and some spools of thread.

I also won a few prizes, fortunately much less than I donated. One of them was this bundle of blue fabrics, which total 4.25 yards.

The prize I was most excited to win was this bin of light/low volume strips. I haven't had much time to go through them yet, but I foresee using them in all sorts of wonderful projects. I estimated the yardage at 7.5 yards by weight. I also won a book and a set of rotary rulers.

On top of all that fabric moving in and out of my stash, I have been busy finishing more placemats for the guild Christmas market. I made eight from a wonderful harvest print that seemed perfect for Thanksgiving.

I also finished another set that feature a very old Hoffman print from the late 1990's/early 2000s.

Each set of 4 placemats used 1.75 yards of fabric. When I added everything together, the totals came to 25.125 yards used/donated from the stash and 11.75 yards added. 

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                25.125 yards

Used year to date:              110.5 yards

Added last week:                 11.75 yards

Added year to date:             88.75 yards

Net used in 2024:            21.75 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. The whole week felt like a race to get things together for the guild auction and to finish the placemats for the Christmas market. I hope to complete the last set of placemats today, and then I should be able to get back to some of my neglected on-going projects.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

9/15 - 9/21               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          260 of 265 days

Success rate                 98.1 %   

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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 9/15/2024

It has been two weeks since my last blog post, mostly due to a recent trip to Wisconsin to visit family. Sometimes I am organized enough before going out of town to have some blog posts written in advance, but that wasn't the case this time.

One of the highlights of the trip was being able to go to the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, my first time there. That might have to become an annual event! It was an excellent show, with so many fantastic quilts on display. I'm going to share just a couple of my favorites here.

Up first is "Quiet Winter Morning" by Lisa Jenni of Redmond, WA. This is not at all the type of quilt I tend to make, but I was fascinated by the combination of the subtle color palette and the incredibly tiny pieced curving lines. Lisa won an Honorable Mention in Wall Quilts, Machine Quilted--Pieced.

Another favorite was "The Doings" by Katherine Clark of La Grange Park, IL. This quilt took 1st place in Hand Quilted Bed Size--Pieced. It is a variation on the Jack's Chain pattern. I've always loved quilts with the appearance of curves even though the piecing is all straight lines. My Ring Cycles quilt (see it HERE) has the same effect, but I love the scrappy reds in this version.

We went to the quilt show on Saturday afternoon, the last day of the show, and didn't have much time to visit the vendors. That was probably a good thing, since I had been able to stop at Hancock's of Paducah on the trip from Georgia to Wisconsin and again on the way back. My stash report shows a large increase to the amount of fabric added to the stash and only a small amount used. The usage went toward this set of Stack & Whack Pinwheel placemats, which will be donated to our quilt guild's upcoming Christmas market.

Most of the time, my fabric purchases are smaller pieces like fat quarters or maybe 1/2 yards. That didn't work at Hancock's because most of the fabrics I bought were on sale and required a one-yard minimum purchase, and I got even more than that of a few. It all added up to a total addition to the stash of 17 yards.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last 2 weeks:                1.75 yards

Used year to date:             85.375 yards

Added last week:                   17.0 yards

Added year to date:               77.0 yards

Net used in 2024:            8.375 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. As frequently happens when we travel, I didn't squeeze in any time for quilting on a couple of the days we were gone. It was well worth it to relax and enjoy the time with family.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

9/1 - 9/14             12 of 14 days

2024 Total          253 of 258 days

Success rate               98.06 %   

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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 9/1/2024

My main quilting focus for the past week has been on quilt guild projects. We had a community service sewing day on Thursday, with about a dozen guild members working together to make simple tote bags. The bags will go to the church where our guild meets to be included in the shoebox gifts they put together for children.

Earlier in the week, I pulled out some fabrics from my stash and precut 23 bags for the sewing day. I was able to use up some older pieces, and it got 13 yards of fabric out of my stash. Here are the fabrics that became tote bags. Some of the pieces were large enough to cut multiple bags (6 of the bright colored hearts), and there was only enough for one bag of some of the other fabrics.

I believe we finished over 60 bags at our sewing day, and a few of us took some home for the final steps. This photo shows 13 bags that I finished off the next day. Many were made from the fabrics I contributed, and a few fabrics came from others. That dinosaur fabric is especially cute!

Also coming up for the quilt guild is our participation in an annual Christmas market. This week I was able to finish my first project for that, a tablerunner made from a border-stripe floral print that I won at last year's guild auction. I used 1.25 yards for the runner.

There was a little bit of non-guild related stash usage last week too. I used 3/8 yard to make the orange blocks #32 - 35 of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. You can see my blocks in yesterday's post.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                 14.625 yards

Used year to date:             83.625 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:               60.0 yards

Net used in 2024:          23.625 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. Besides cutting and stitching tote bags, I have a few more tablerunners that got pieced last week and are ready for quilting. Today I should prep a hand-stitching project for an upcoming trip.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

8/25 - 8/31               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          241 of 244 days

Success rate                 98.8 %   

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

Finishing the Orange Blocks

Today is the last day of August, and I finished making my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge just in time. 

These are Blocks #32 - 35 of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For my blocks I am alternating using a white or black background on each block and combining that with the RSC color of the month. The blocks will finish at 6".

The orange star is not the pattern that Edyta had designed. Her star block was made with English paper piecing, and I didn't want to spend the time doing all that hand stitching. Instead I went through some of my books of quilt blocks and found this Judy Martin design. It is from her pattern "Kyoto Gardens" which was published in her book Stellar Quilts. I scaled the pattern down to make this 6" block, but I'm thinking about making the original size (10.25") as an RSC project for next year.

I believe our RSC assignment for September will be dark neutrals (black and brown.) I need to go through my RSC projects and figure out which ones could use some dark blocks added to the collection.

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

Stash Report and Stitching Time 8/25/2024

It's amazing to me that we are starting the last week of August. The days slip by so quickly sometimes, and suddenly it's almost autumn. We've had some beautiful weather this past week, cooler and less humid than usual for August, which has made spending time outdoors much more enjoyable.

That nicer weather also made it possible for me to get some outdoor photos of my latest finished quilt top, the Lighthouse Inn Modern Mystery, designed by Modern Quilt Studio. You can read about my quilt and see several photos in my blog post HERE, but I'm going to repeat one shot because I'm so excited to have this quilt top together.

Lighthouse Inn quilt top

57.5" x 82"

This quilt made a good dent in my solids stash, using a total of 7.25 yards of fabric. The only fabric I had to buy for it was the navy background (and that was counted in a stash report back in June.)

I also used 1.375 yards of scraps to make a set of "Terry" blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see those in yesterday's post. The pile of scraps from trimming down the blocks was so pretty that I had to get a photo of them.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   8.625 yards

Used year to date:                 69.0 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:               60.0 yards

Net used in 2024:                9.0 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. Those Terry blocks were very time consuming and turned into the primary project for the week. I'm glad to have them done and be able to work on something else.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024

8/18 - 8/24               7 of 7 days

2024 Total          234 of 237 days

Success rate                 98.7 %   

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

An Abundance of Scrappy Orange Blocks

When I look at my fabric shelves, I wouldn't think that I had an abundance of orange fabrics. That shelf isn't nearly as full as some of my favorites like the teal/turquoise/aqua shelf. 

However, when I started pulling and cutting orange scraps, there always seemed to be more. I even ended up with several chunks of orange fabrics that went unused because I already had enough. Here are my orange "Terry" blocks, a total of 72 of them.

The "Terry" blocks are inspired by Terry Rowland's colorwash quilts, featured in her series of three YouTube videos. These scrappy little blocks will finish at 3". 

According to my calculations, I currently have almost 400 of these blocks made, and I'm shooting for around 500. That would make a quilt that measures 60" x 75". The number of blocks by color ranges from a high of 72 (orange) down to 37 (red.) I don't have any green blocks because I started making these in February of this year and missed the green month. I'm planning to go back and make more blocks in some colors during the last few months of the year, plus catch up on green.

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

Lighthouse Inn Mystery Reveal

For the second year in a row, my favorite quilting project of the entire summer has been another mystery quilt by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr. of Modern Quilt Studio. Last year it was the Summer Camp Mystery, and today I am sharing my version of their Lighthouse Inn Modern Mystery.

Lighthouse Inn quilt top

57.5" x 82"

It all started with choosing a color palette. We needed two distinct groups of fabrics, twelve lighter and twelve darker. The bundle offered by Modern Quilt Studio included a whole rainbow of colors and an off-white background. I decided to go with a more limited range, sticking to the colors of the sunset with Kona navy as my background. (You might notice that I've shown lots more than 12 fabrics in each group.)

We started making blocks on June 1st, with new clues posted on a weekly basis. Each week we made multiple sets of blocks with our light fabrics and matching sets of blocks (although sometimes mirror-imaged) with the darker fabrics. Here are my groups of blocks, week by week.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

After four weeks, we were done making blocks, and it was time for a "Shift Change." All of the blocks got cut in half diagonally, then each light half got stitched to a dark half to make a new block. After combining all the light halves and dark halves into new blocks, they all got trimmed down to different sizes ranging from 3.5" up to 7.25". The sizes increase evenly in 1/4" increments. . Here are all of my blocks after that part of the process was complete.

At that point, we received the final reveal of the quilt design. The blocks get set on point, graduating in size from smallest at one end of the quilt to largest at the other. Here is the layout I decided to use.

The next step was adding background strips to two sides of each block. Since every set of blocks is a different size, the background strips were also different sizes. Then to get the right look for the layout, the strips had to be sewn to the correct sides. It was a slow, painstaking process, but definitely worth it in the end. Here are all the blocks with background added, but before they got joined together.

I'm very happy with the way my quilt top turned out, and I love the vibrant colors. The navy background really sets it all off beautifully.

Finishing this quilt top was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for August. It had been awhile since I posted a goal, and it feels great to have succeeded on this one!

If you are interested in seeing other versions of the Lighthouse Inn Mystery Quilt, you can check them out at the Lighthouse Inn Virtual Exhibition page at Modern Quilt Studio. There are also lots of posts with photos and discussions of the process at the Facebook page for Modern Quilt Studio. They had many participants in this mystery, and you will be blown away by the variety of quilts people have made. I can't wait to see what Weeks and Bill come up with for their next mystery!

Linking up with:

Modern Quilt Studio Facebook page

Lighthouse Inn Virtual Exhibition at Modern Quilt Studio

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

Brag About Your Beauties at From Bolt to Beauty

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Stories from the Sewing Room

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA