Evening in the Garden Quilts

Adventures in Fabric Art

Monthly Archives: January 2017


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January / February Goals

picmonkey-collage-1-30-17

January was a great sewing month for me!  New fabric, cold weather, clear goals…I got a lot done!

January Goals:

  1. Make pink baby quilt.  Yes!  Finished and gifted.
  2. Blocks for Kat’s block drive.  Yes!  And I mailed them.
  3. Finish cutting for Surrounded by Scraps mystery quilt.  I’ve cut all the print fabrics.  I’m cutting the background as I need it.
  4. Step one for SbS mystery quilt.  Yes!
  5. Make commissioned baby quilt.  Yes!

Bonus:  I made four more baby quilts for my shop!  A pink one, woodland, and the two elephants.

I’m going to try to cram a lot into February, too, knowing that we’ll have more snowy sewing weather, and vacation plans start in March.

February Goals:

  1. Complete Clue #2 for Surrounded by Scraps.
  2. Make donation blocks for HollyAnne at String and Story.
  3. Finish assembling top for Scrappy Stars Around the Corner (last year’s mystery quilt from Charlotte).
  4. Quilt and bind SSAC (see above).
  5. Take out my Storm at Sea (the Slow Quilt) and make some decisions.

 

If you need some concentrated sewing time, join us this weekend for the Sports Ball Sew In (#SBSI) on Twitter and the Twilters’ Facebook group.


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/29/17


January has been a great month for using the stash!  I’m still in the red, but the sewing has been happening.  This week I finished two elephant-themed baby quilts that each used 3.5 yards of fabric, some recently purchased, and some that’s been hanging around the stash for a while.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 7  yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 22.25 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  15.75 yards

I hope you’ve found time to sew something beautiful this week!

I’m linking up to the Stash Report at Patchwork Times. 


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Two Elephant Finishes

img_2796img_2793I took advantage of the Australia Day Sew In yesterday to finish up the second of the elephant baby quilts.  Then I washed them both up for photos.

img_2801img_2799The batting is Warm and Plush.  It really is nice and plush-y, and fine for quilting.  One drawback is that it shrinks more than the regular Warm battings.  I put minimal quilting in the version of Pink Pinwheels that I made for Etsy, and it shrank two inches in each direction, which wasn’t a problem, since it was a little large anyway.  I made an effort to add more quilting to these two (roughly every inch or two inches), and it shrank 1.5 inches in each direction (on a 36″ x 42″ quilt).  It is nice and poofy, just be aware.

img_2800The binding is the last of a Riley Blake one inch charcoal stripe.

img_2803Thank you for all the encouragement.  These are really fun fabrics, and the aqua ones have been in my stash for a while, so I was glad to use them.  These are in my Etsy shop.

I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.


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Design Wall Monday- Elephants


Today I put together this top using some of the fabric I purchased recently.  I have a fun piece of polka-dot flannel for the backing. 


I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/22/17


I did some sewing this week, working down my fabric surplus.  I made 18 quarter cabins for Kat’s block drive, which used about two yards.


I also sewed up this quilt for my Etsy shop using a flannel panel.  This was a nice straight panel, and I only had to add narrow borders to bring it up to size.  2.75 yards.

This week:  + 0 yards,  – 4.75 yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 15.25 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  22.25 yards

How are you doing?

I’m linking up to Judy’s Stash Report at Patchwork Times and Sew Some Love at Kat and Cat Quilts.


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/15/17

Um, yes I did buy fabric this week.  Or, rather, I mostly bought fabric during December sales and it arrived this week.  Like, um, 32 yards of the stuff.

The batik on the left is my background for Surrounded by Scraps, Charlotte’s mystery quilt for this year.


And I have plans for all of this.

This week I made one more baby quilt, similar to, and using scraps from this one.  That used 3.5 yards.

This week:  + 32 yards,  – 3.5 yards
This year: + 38 yards,  – 10.5 yards
Net destashed added in 2017:  27.5 yards

Also, this week I received a number of goodies from Amazon  (DH says I’m the reason they had to add 1000 new employees…).  Anyway, they include fusible I’m out of, pins, spray baste, a desperately needed new ironing board cover, a white board, and a new iron!  My current iron still worked, but wasn’t very effective.  I never felt it heated up as well as my little $10 Sunbeam I use on my pressing mat.  So I got a $23 Sunbeam Steam Master 1400!  And I love it!  Non-stick sole plate, retractable cord, 3-way auto-off.  Heats right up, and blinks when it’s cooling down.  Now I have no excuses for not getting lots of work done.

I’m linking up to the Stash Report at Patchwork Times.


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Pink Pinwheel Quilt


Actually, the name of this block is Whirlwind.  I made it for the new daughter of a friend.


At first it looked like this, with plain 9″ blocks of the print.  Blech.  I put it up on Twitter, and the Twilters agreed it needed something.  That’s when I cut the blocks down to 6″ and added borders (Snow).  That gave me an opportunity to fussy-cut the fabric a little.  I like the result.


If you think this only has a little diagonal quilting, good, that’s the effect I wanted.  But, really, It has a lot of quilting.  I first stitched in every ditch with fine thread (Bottom Line), and then did the diagonal stitching with Fantastico.


The back is a great pink and gray hounds tooth corduroy and a strip of gray Kona.


I bound it with strips of gray and white chevron fabric, which makes nice diagonal stripes.

I’m linking up to Let’s Make Baby Quilts at Michelles’s Romantic Triangle


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Sunday Stash Report: 1/8/17


A brand new year and a freshort start on redusing the stash.

This week I received six yards of new fabric.   Has anyone used double gauze for quilting?  I’d appreciate any suggestions.  I bought it for the cute elephant print, but it’s a little flimsy.  Interfacing?


And I used seven yards for two new baby quilts.

This week:  + 6 yards, – 7 yards

This year:  +6 yards, -7 yards

Net destashed this year:  1 yard
And forty-nine yards to go!  And knowing what’s coming in the mail, it will be a bumpy ride.

I’m linuking up to Judy’s report at Patchwork Times. 


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Design Wall Monday


Today I pulled fabrics and cut for a baby quilt for the new daughter of a friend.  This is the Whirlwind block.  It was getting dark by the time I took the photos, but the fabrics are a pretty blush pink.

This speaks to the state of my stash.  Since I’ve worked so hard to reduce it, I assumed I needed to buy fabric for this quilt.  After all, this mother has a certain color and a certain aesthetic.   I thought I could pull fabrics from stash to piece the top, but was sure I needed to order the back. (I chose one of the Michael Miller “Magic” fabrics.)  When went into my small, dark closet, removed all the fabrics from the Pink drawer,  and brought them out into the light, I found I had plenty to choose from, even for the back.  Sigh.  I’ll probably make a similar quilt for my Etsy shop while I’m cutting.

I like keeping my fabrics in the closet where they’re protected from fading.  I’ve invested over the years in a nice metal basket system where I can separate the colors.  I don’t have anywhere else to keep it, but I do wish it were easier to see what I have on hand.  Ah, well.


Also,  I finished cutting all the scrap fabric for Surrounded by Scraps,  Charlotte Hawks mystery quilt for this year.  I have lots of background to cut yet, but I just ordered it.

I’m linking up to Design Wall Monday  at Patchwork Times.