Brrr! Writing this wearing a wool sweater, with a quilt on my lap. I know I’m not in the coldest or anywhere near the snowiest part of North America, but Spring will still be very welcome!
This week I completed these two quilts, and didn’t buy any fabric.
This week: + 0 yards, – 13.75 yards
This year: + 26 yards, – 36.5 yards
Net fabric destashed in 2015: 10.5 yards
Finally heading in the right direction! Hope you are, too, but the year is still young.
I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.
This week I finished the D4P, and then made the scraps into a fun baby quilt. Read more about the construction here. I made this (these) to use some small pieces of fabrics. I won an eclectic bundle back in August. It had some quarter yards, some fat quarters, some were “Wee Wanders” by Sarah Jane. I also had some floral remnants left from bundles I had purchased. All were pretty small pieces. I knew I wanted to do a color fade. I looked at a few patterns, including Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, but I came back to the D4P. I added some Phillip Jacobs prints, some delicious coral batik, and some dark coral grunge.
I stitched in the ditch between blocks, then quilted large roses and stylized flowers all over, using Bottom Line in Blush.
For the baby quilt, I left out the darker fabrics, and paired it with a yummy Martha Negley strawberry, raspberry, meringue print.
I liked the spirograph-style flowers so well that I put them all over this quilt, as well as wavy lines, using a variegated pink Sulky thread. I ran all the stitching edge to edge, so there were no slippery ends to bury.
Hope those of you in colder areas are staying warm and catching up on your sewing.
I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, and WIPs Be Gone at A Quilting Reader’s Garden. Hey, Angie!
Stash
Nothing in and nothing out this week. I finished the D4P top and pieced the back, so I plan to sandwich and begin quilting it today. Its all from stash so that will be a good thing when its finished.
This week: + 0 yards, – 0 yards
This year: + 26 yards, – 22.75 yards
Net fabric destashed added in 2015: 3.25 yards
Challenge Update
Time to check in on the Second Annual Piggy Bank Challenge at Val’s Quilting Studio.
My bank pitcher is about half full, so I’m encouraged. I know it looks like all dollar bills, but there are really a lot of coins hiding in there, too. I’ve been emptying change and ones from my wallet whenever it gets too fat or at the end of the month. So far, I still think I’ll spend it on a Craftsy class when we count it out in July.
I’m linking up to Patchwork Times, and leaving a comment at Val’s Quilting Studio.
I could never make this Disappearing Four Patch quilt without a design wall, or at least a floor, and my knees are very glad that it’s a wall. I’ve been making a few more blocks each day and moving them around a lot. Today I’ll make two more of the darkest blocks, and I think I’m there!
As I’ve pieced these, I’ve not only used my new leaders and enders project, but I’ve webbed the patches, rather than snipping the connecting threads between sections. I’ve heard about this before (Bonnie shows this when assembling blocks in a quilt), but never tried it. Doing the blocks this way kept the patches correctly oriented and saved me a lot of time putting pieces back where they should be. And between the two techniques, I have eliminated the thready mess I usually have going on when piecing!
How do you quilt your D4P quilts? I’m pondering. I may not have to mark this one, but here are some great ideas for marking from Nadine at Fabric Bias (formerly DreamWeavers Quilts).
Hope you’re making all the progress you wish! I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
No new fabric came in this week. I was in a quilt shop, but it was to drop off donations, and they didn’t have the one fabric I needed, so I was very good. I finished this Quilt of Valor, so that’s ten and a half yards out.
This week: + 0 yards, – 10.5 yards
This year: + 26 yards, – 22.75 yards
Net fabric destashed added in 2015: 3.25 yards
Certainly headed in the right direction!
I did pretty well on the January Goals, completing four of the six. All the snow has been helpful, but when the weather was better we went out a lot, so I didn’t sew nearly every day.
January Goals
1. Sew a Quilt of Valor from stash. Yes! This one.
2. Order supplies for surface decoration on quilts. Yes, I ordered paints and markers.
3. Design and make a winter-themed art quilt. Um, well, I’ve pulled some fabrics.
4. Deliver quilts I’ve designated for donation. Yes!
5. Audit Jenny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class. Not yet.
6. Complete Step One on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt. Yes! Here.
February Goals
1. Design and make winter-themed art quilt.
2. Audit Jenny Beyer BOM Craftsy Class.
3. Complete Step Two on Charlotte’s Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt.
4. Piece and quilt Disappearing Four Patch with floral fabrics.
5. Make cover for fireplace screen.
Yesterday I pulled fabrics, cut, and did the preliminary piecing on the D4P quilt, so I have a good start on that. Our snowstorm fizzled out here, but I’m still taking it as a Sew Day!
Hope you are making the progress you wish. I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.
This quilt seemed to take a long time to finish, but I think it was mainly because I had to wait for some background fabric to arrive in the middle of assembling the top. It was also tricky to lay out. At one point I sewed a couple of blocks in wrong and had to fix them, so I asked the Twilters to look at it before I sandwiched it, just to be sure. Sometimes you’re just too close to a project.
I found this design at Sew Excited Quilts when Jackie was working with her strings. She worked out all of these great layouts, and when I saw the one with the stars, I knew it was what I wanted for this Quilt of Valor. I calculate that my quilt 56″ x 81″) has 1120 pieces of fabric in it! This has, finally, made a bit of a dent in my strings.
My stash has reached the point where I no longer have large backing pieces in every color, so I purchased this backing fabric on sale from Fabric Shack. I look the water color-like print!
I used white Bottom Line to stitch in the ditch and for all the stippling. I used a heavy Coats and Clark variegated thread for the stars and the hearts. I have mixed feelings about the way the stars turned out on the white areas. I really like tone-on-tone quilting, where the shadows do the work, but I also like pretty thread. These do add interest. What do you think?
I’m linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.
This week I have been plugging away at quilting my current Quilt of Valor. I can’t seem to get very large chunks of time, but I get a few blocks done every day.
While I was putting together this top, I cut and started sewing my first “leaders and enders” project. Do you make quilts this way? How do you manage them? I’ve never felt organized enough to try it before, but something clicked, and I think I can manage these simple blocks. Its just going to take a very long time.
In other news, I was excited by the arrival of these Interdesign containers to use in my storage lockers. These spaces are both tall and deep, and I’ve been frustrated for years trying to find something to fit them and use the space well. Even pricey vintage locker baskets aren’t the right size. I only bought four, but they’re perfect, so I may slowly aquire more. It’s the little things!
Hope things are going your way this week! I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.
The bad news (sort of) is that a box of fabric arrived from Fabric Shack. The good news is that the Kona Snow inside allowed me to finish this top, and there’s a beautiful (and sale!) backing, too. So the numbers will change again quickly.
This week I finished two pillowcases, and a pair of arm protectors for the upholstered chair in my kitchen.
This week: + 10.5 yards, – 3 yards
This year: + 26 yards, -12.25 yards
Net fabric destashed added in 2015: 13.75 yards
Also added to my studio is this pretty bale jar from the antique mall. From the pins, it sure looks like it has some sewing experience, doesn’t it? I’m using it to hold fabric markers.
Hope you’re either destashing, or adding really good stuff! I’m linking up to Patchwork Times.
Some sewing this week, but the only finish was this second elephant baby quilt. See both of them here. I tried to buy fabric, but no place close to me had what I needed, so I couldn’t.
This week: + 0 yards, – 3 yards
This year: +15.5 yards, -9.25 yards
Net fabric destashed added in 2015: 6.25 yards
Not bad, but yes, I have ordered the solids and backings that I need. Just that time of year, I guess.
Hope you’re using your stash this week. I’m linking up to Sunday Stash Report (or whatever Judy’s calling it this week!) at Patchwork Times.
Today I got out the fabrics I had cut in November? October? for Scrap in the Box, this year’s Scrapitude mystery quilt by Charlotte. Many of us #Twilters on Twitter are doing this. You can certainly join in- this is only the first clue.
There were teeny, tiny pieces to put together, but I got them pieced in a few hours, so now I’m waiting to see what everyone elses looks like, and for next month’s clue.
Some of the sale fabrics I bought were these two adorable elephant prints. What’s so cute about elephants? I don’t know, but I had a great time sewing up these two baby quilts.
The primary colored one is just the whole fabric (I did a bit of piecing on the back), but it was good practice free motion quilting it,
and I finished with a special binding.
The teal elephants are a brushed cotton/linen blend, my first time using one.
Evening in the Garden Quilts 