January Get It Done

Whew!  I need to remember that when all six of us are home, there is no time to quilt!  I felt I had pretty attainable goals for December, but here I am lurking in a dimmed kitchen without the biggest goal complete.  The kids are still asleep, and if I'm quiet enough, they'll stay asleep after I finish this blog post and I'll be able to quilt.

Goals were:
1.  The Back to Square One mystery: finish as a top.  This is done, and I'm cutting fabric to piece a back.

2.  Use up the scrap of the month.  Since there wasn't a specific color for December in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I cut some more bits for my Omigosh quilt and cut myself some slack.  I don't have any blocks ready for a top yet, so it was nice not to push myself to do anything here.

3.  Finish the hand quilting of the gold and cream parts of the DWR quilt.  This is the insanity I wish I had kept up on.  Unfortunately for my goals, I took off Thanksgiving for company (the company wasn't unfortunate, since it was my sister and this is her quilt!).  I also didn't work on it last week much as we were traveling and needed all the available van space for luggage and, on the return trip, gifts.  I have one and a half rings left.  By the end of the day, I hope to have it done.

4.  I finished my modern Hexi quilt and gave it to the woman who drives my girls to school.

5.  I randomly hoped to finish a quilt for one of my daughters' teachers.  I have the blocks done!

I have lots of goals for January.  Lots.  Too many.  That's okay... it's better to have too many than none at all, and all too soon my gardening will be taking my time!

1.  Tell It To The Stars (the next mystery by Judy Laquidara) step 1.

2.  Scraps: bright blue: Carrie Nation blocks of my 1.5" and 2.5" scraps, Omigosh bits as leaders and enders, cut a strip of fabric from each of the blue fabrics in my stash for 4" charms as well as scraps for my scrap bin, and a blue skirt.  Too much.

3.  Quilt and finish Easy Street, which has been aging a year.

4.  Quilt and finish Falling Leaves, a pattern from Weekend Quilts, one of Judy Laquidara's books.

5.  Prepare a backing for Back to Square One.

6.  Three vests for Easter/wedding clothes.

7.  Quilt all the blue inner bits of the melons on the DWR quilt.

I need to go quilt!

Check out other goals as part of the Get It Done challenge on Judy's blog.

Scraps, Scraps, Scraps, Scraps!

Greens chopped up and turned into leaves...

... as well as a stack of light blue for a quilt back.  I see lots of scraps in my future!

Other scrappy projects are shared as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge each Saturday.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Cutting Scraps, the Crazy Way

First, Mr. JoJo is mobile and a royal pain.  He thinks the rotary cutter should be his, so if he's close enough, make a dive for it.  Or does this:

 Notice the Assistant looking on and laughing.

Before and after his climbing antics, I cut another tray of 4patches and 9patches.  Good times, folks.

Maybe I will actually get to sew today.  I desperately need to quilt, but am lacking motivation.

Good sewing to you all!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Recently Completed

A silly sock monkey hat!

Sewing Rooms Spaces

As the final stop for the three week tour, I present...

my sewing spaces!

My sewing table shares space with the playroom, so here I keep the iron, yarn supply, sewing table, and design wall.  The coffee table is my cutting board, and JoJo loves to chase the rotary cutter.  Scary. I try to cut fabric when he's asleep.

 At the very bottom of the bookshelf, you can see my Easy Street (Bonnie Hunter's 2012 mystery) waiting for quilting.  I almost always quilt tops immediately, but this one has been waiting a year.  There was a baby born shortly after it was finished, if I recall correctly!

 The trunk holds non-sewing things like blankets and a Wi.  The top hold current projects and almost always some mending I'm trying to ignore.


In our utility room, the previous owners built in some counters.  One side holds the kids' art supplies.  The other recently became home to my fabric stash and project boxes.  Not all of my stash fits in the boxes, so I have some sewing to do!  The shelf above holds materials the kids can use... when supervised!  There's my Back to Square One top waiting for me to find time to piece the backing.  As soon as I finished hand quilting my DWR for my sister, I'm hand quilting this beauty!

We also have a closet under our stairs, part play place for the kids, part storage for sewing things.  A box of recycled jean pieces, home dec weigh fabric, batting scraps, giant pillows for a future project, clothing fabric, and a box of Tshirts for a quilt for the same sister who's getting the DWR.  (You can wait, can't ya?)

Since my kids share my spaces, I can't leave out too many dangerous things, so while the piles collect, they usually have to be put away sooner rather than later!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Challenge Quilt

A few months ago, I picked up my fat eighth roll to take part in the Wichita Modern Quilt Guild's challenge quilt.  We're part of the national Modern Quilt Guild, so this is a national to-do.

When I received the little roll, I had to admit myself uninspired.  I do not, in general, approach quilting with a broad array of fabrics.  I usually only work with a few colors, so gray, orange, turquoise, navy blue, and yellow was doing nothing for me!

Finally, after tossing around a few ideas with myself (last year I made a lovely chevron quilt), I pulled out my hexagon ruler and started eliminating fabrics.  Since I didn't have to use all the fat eighths and I could add whatever solids or Riley Blake basics I wanted, I knew I could limit my palette.

I chose grey, orange, and turquoise fabrics, paired with white, and cut hexagons and 2.5" strips.  Away we went, with a bit of a learning curve!  (Funny angles, lots of pressing...)

Once the top was assembled, quilting had me stymied.  After all, the fabric already had great visual texture, but the white was pretty flat.  An idea flitted by that I should mimic the pattern of each fabric in the white of the block, but that seemed pretty complicated.

I did it anyway.

It took me much longer than I anticipated, but I love it.  The quilting is by no means perfect, as I only marked when absolutely necessary.  Since I matched bobbin thread to fabric color, the back looks pretty spiffy too.  Marking is hard with littles around.

The quilt is flat, but my helper couldn't quite smooth it out!

I bound it in what orange I had left, so mostly dots with two strips of chevrons.

Bear Cub's trains

Finished at a nice lap size, I'm pretty happy with the results.  Perfect, no, but I definitely learned a few things and expanded my FMQ horizons!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Scraptastic Saturday

We have a busy day on the books, folks, but that's how it works at our house.  All or nothing with no in between.

Today, I have quilt guild from 10-2.  I'll race home for James to attend a wedding at 2.  He'll race home for us to get the kids squared away for the faculty dinner for James' school.  Late night, crabby kids, bed.  Sunday is Zana's first confession, so we'll be having company for dinner and an excited girl.

What do I have to show in scrap use?  Not much.  Much of the last few weeks has been caught up in quilting my modern quilt (more on that later.  I'm still inching away on the binding.)

Bear Cub Q wanted to share the numberjacks with you: 01236540123456987

Check out other scrap uses as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

REAL Studio Tour Storage Solutions

My current favorite storage solution is this little craft box my MiL gave me last Christmas.  For a while, Bear Cub Q stored scraps and bits of things, but I took it back when I inhaled deeply and jumped off the crazy cliff.

See, I'm going to make a quilt in which most pieces are 1" unfinished.  There are hundreds of 9 patches and 4 patches, so as I cut up my scraps, I'm dropping each set into these little adjustable slots.  While it would be nice to strip piece everything, the reality is that I have short scraps to work with, and strip sets can be dicey to track with JoJo around.  Precutting and having a reliable storage spot is better for me.

I love the four different trays, as I can precut quite a bit but not have the risk of the whole kid and caboodle being dumped by an enterprising toddler.

I can even keep the uncut strips in the top compartment along with a small rotary cutter and ruler.  Security is important here, as JoJo is obsessed with diving after a moving rotary cutter.

Check out lots of other storage option on Vicki's blog.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Real Studio Tour

Vicki Welsh is hosting a real studio tour, and I confessed to be stumped in searching for a "non quilty" tool in my sewing room.  The sewing room isn't big, so I don't have many specialized tools.

Then I realized I do use a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth for my design wall.  It's certainly not as large as I would like, but as JoJo is an expert in destruction right now, this will do!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

DWR progress

Slowly but surely moving along!  5/18 left of the gold and yellow quilting to go...

Back to Square One

I'm in love.

Hurrah!  The top is finished, down to the borders.  I even have an intended recipient.

Now, I need to piece a backing and ponder quilting.  I think I'll try hand quilting, but it depends how difficult it is to needle the hand dyed fabric.  Since I'll be piecing a backing, this is a serious consideration.

Thank you, Judy and Vicki!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Chocolate

With 135 of the necessary 180 done, I had my daughter slap this blocks on the design wall for a look see.  My browns are clustered together as I put them up as I finished them this month, but otherwise they're randomly placed.  I can see a few that are turned, but it's okay, as I will rearrange plenty before I sew!

I've been pondering my plans for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (boldly assuming that the challenge will continue!).  I see a few things I need to do:

1.  Focus on creating planned scraps as I cut quilts.  Cutting scraps into a size I know I actively need will help me in keeping the scrap bags under control.  I also want to cull my stash of fabrics that I like but aren't really enough to use on their own in a quilt.  It's time to make them scraps!

2.   I need more neutrals.  Lots more.

3.  I would like to amass more scraps to have more variety when I pull for projects, but I don't have the storage space.  I think that means next year I need to work on using more from my stash in order to have more scraps.

4.  It has been quite nice to be using scraps instead of simply storing them up.  I always intended to use them, and sometimes even did, but having the weekly challenge to produce something photo-worthy has really spurred me on to look at other's projects as well as blocks I have long wanted to create and then adapt them for scraps!

You should check out the other challengers each Saturday as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

November Block Count

Whew!  'twas a busy month in our house.  All month long, more days had passed than seemed possible.  Now the week of Thanksgiving was pack with family staying with us, more family visiting, and everyone home fom school!

That being said, I did add to my block totals:
695 blocks in finished projects
135 -9s and 6s
114 in my mystery quilt
019 -2" squarer blocks
030 blocks in a modern hexagon quilt
031 blocks for a teacher gift (It recently occurred to me that I need TWO teacher quilts since we're at a new school.

1024 blocks total.  Whoa.  How will I finish the year?

Hexagon Quilt

As part of the Modern Quilt Guild's Riley Black Challenge, I decided to make a hexagon quilt.

It's been a learning experience, from having to press and trim each step to creating my own layout with the fabrics I selected to some crazy (awesome) quilting.

 As you can see, the quilting might be a little slow going.  I've finished all the grey blocks, all but two of the orange, and still need to outline each blue and then quilt in the negative space.  Circles, chevrons, lines... I love it but can't imagine EVER quilting an entire quilt in pebbles.  Seriously.  I'd never finish.

Now I need to go wind a few more bobbins (I think I'll go through another 9) and quilt my heart out.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Get It Done: December

November is another month come and gone, and it was a busy one!  My goals were to:

1.  Use the scrap of the month, brown.  I finished 45 9s and 6s blocks, 2- 2" patch blocks, and a plethora of 1" nine patches.

2. Finish the Back to Square One step 11.  It was finished handily, and I am looking forward to the last set of instructions.  I've even decided who will be receiving the quilt when I complete it!

3. Keep hand quilting the double wedding ring in cream, gold, and blue for my sister.  I'm over half done with the cream and gold quilting.  While I would like to be farther along, Thanksgiving and Family took over the last week.

4. The customer Tshirt quilt was finished by November 24.

5.  I had hoped to finish my Riley Blake challenge quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild, but am 2/3 finished with the most intense quilting I've ever been crazy enough to try in my life.

6.  I finished the placemats!

For December, I hope to:

1. Use the scrap of the month.

2. Finish the top of my Back to Square One mystery quilt.  Maybe hunt for a backing.

3.  Have the gold and cream hand quilting complete.

4.  Finish the hexagon quilt.

5.  Maybe have a top finished for one of the teacher quilts I need to make this school year!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Grumpy Days

Ladies, I haven't seen much of my sewing machine this week.  Someone is a little grumpy:

 He's learned to walk and is into everything.  Everything.  Everything.  Pulling the dishwasher out of its cubby by climbing on it, breaking glass, attempting to disassemble the fireplace, dumping brother's toys, climbing Daddy's chair and throwing himself off the back.  Everything.

Since everything also includes the sewing machine and everything on the surface of my sewing table, I only completed one lonely block Friday night, although I do have another brown (not scrappy) project underway, at least in the cutting stages!

Check out the other scrappers as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Scraps to Treasures 2013

I finished this quilt some time ago, but couldn't blog about it until the Scraps to Treasures voting via the HGTV boards was over.  24 quilts were completed, a somewhat disappointingly low number.  I understand that life got in the way for many people.  Hey, last year, I made a hideous quilt for the challenge as I was miserable with morning sickness and a move (okay, so it's not hideous when I go back to look at it.  All I know is, I didn't love it.  At all.)

This quilt is called Stella.  It measures at 36.5" x 51.5", a happy size for a baby quilt.  Part of the challenge rules include giving this quilt or an equivalent amount of money to a charity.  I'm still not sure where it's going.

It was an original design, although after I drew it out, I realized there is a quilt called Sparkle Punch that is the same thing.  Still, I came up with it on my own.

  I'm afraid mixing up scrappy fabrics in some way other than rainbow order is simply not part of my genetic makeup.  Fortunately, it would appear I passed those genes onto my son, as he sorts his toys by color order.  (It drives other family members nuts.  I just smile.)

I hand quilted this one and really enjoyed it.  It was my "wait in the pickup line" at school project, so I didn't get antsy waiting for the girls.  In fact, I sometimes wanted to get in line a little early just to have another minute or two to quilt.

 I used a range of colors.

The back...

I think this will be the last time I take part in this challenge.  The reasons probably don't need to be listed here, but I am grateful for the organization and participation in this project.  It's time for something different!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

UFO progress

I last posted about my UFO's long ago, in April.  Having sorted through my list, I find I've finished a few and, appallingly, made or discovered or remembered plans for far too many more!

Finished
Red, White, and Blue Sampler

Spools

a blue and green woven top
Spring Green (Blue Ridge Beauty by Bonnie Hunter)
Scraps to Treasures 3 (which I still need to blog on!)

Tops awaiting quilting...

Easy Street... still

Modern Hexies (new to the list)

Alzbe's DWR (it's moved up!)

Blocks awaiting being made into a top...

Hexagon quilt... still


Blocks in process...
Judy's mystery medallion quilt, with one month to go

9s and 6s... up to 130 made

2" scrap blocks...  19 done

Omigosh quilt/mini 9s/something equally crazy

Pieces cut/Material purchased...
Ribbon weave quilt
ABC quilts

Plans for...
Scrappy DWR
Alzbe's Tshirt quilt

Carrie Nation blocks (with scraps!)

a blue and yellow quilt for my niece

a quilt based on a glacier picture

a leaf quilt for our K teacher

a scrappy green quilt for our 2nd grade teacher

binding triangle scraps

lime.aqua.white quilt

I don't think I need to pick out any new quilts for next year, at this rate!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Tshirt Quilt Complete!

Another Tshirt quilt "in the can."  While I don't mind the cutting or piecing of these monsters, a heavy Tshirt quilt, queen-sized, can be a beast to fit through the tiny throat space of my DSM (domestic sewing machine.  Because the throat space is small and some Tshirt logos can wreak havoc on the thread, I did a simple meander.  

 I used a generic tan for the top, as the colors were so varied that matching the thread to each block would have been horrible, and a dark brown/wine color for the backing.

Most of the Tshirts were leftover running shirts from her dad, who died several years ago.  A few were terribly worn, so I reinforced what I could and quilted carefully around and over worn spots.

 I love the backing my customer chose for the backing and matching throw pillows.  (In fact, I wish I had ordered extra for myself!)

Now on to other projects!  (And if you're ever interested in a Tshirt quilt for yourself, please contact me!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Bits and Bobs

Only a few more 9s and 6s blocks made it to my wall this week.  Hopefully this week, I'll finish up the last one before I have to buckle down and quilt another quilt.

Check out the other brown projects that are part of the rainbow scrap challenge!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

DWR

I quilted every day last week and so far this week, so I'm still chugging along.

I've realized this quilt provides ample time to pray for my sister and her family.  It also gives me time to think.  It is very difficult for me to sit still without a task to keep me busy. The repetitiveness of hand quilting allows me to think through my activities, prioritize, and remember all the "I'll do this later" things that I've forgotten.  It's lovely.

Now that it's cold, I'm enjoying folding up the quilt and draping it over my feet while I work!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Oodles of Brown

My 2" squares are temporarily at home on the design wall while I decide if I will make 35 or settle for 20.  I don't need any more baby size quilts, so I was hoping for a lap or twin quilt but... how many more variations can I create?

 In between quilting a customer Tshirt quilt (and running a fever for 24 hours... ugh!), I knocked out a few more mini 9 patches as well as 28 9s and 6s.  I'm aiming for 170 of these (or maybe it's 174).  Since I'm now at almost 120, I think this will be a highly reasonable goal and should result in a quilt of happy size.

Check out the other participants of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

DWR Update

I don't know why I continue to post updates, as the changes aren't all that exciting.  Today, Friday, I've finished another 6 rings.  My goal is to quilt the gold and light gold sections of 7 rings each week.  My total at the moment is 30!

 Since the picture is pretty dull (all stitch in the ditch at this point), here's my helpers!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Back to Square One Mystery: November Edition

Only one step to the mystery remaining.  Since, if I remember correctly, we need to add about 8" to each side, it's not much.  I still have my lovely border fabric, so I wonder how much piecing there will be left for me!

I only had one block that didn't play nicely with the others, so I think my accuracy (both in piecing and in cutting) is finally improving.  It's a good thing, too, as I've been quilting since 1998/1999!

The directions and fabric are still fabulous, and you can make one for yourself, with the pattern by Judy Laquidara and fabrics by Vicki Welsh.  They are tossing around another mystery for next year.  I hope they'll decide soon!  I'm itching for a blue and yellow quilt, of all things.

While I'm waiting, there's a customer T-shirt quilt to finish and my last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery to quilt!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie  z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Brownies!

My 2" squares are done for the month.

I've cut up the rest for my 9s and 6s.  Some of the 1" strips also fell under the blade, but I ran out of spots in my handy storage tray for tiny stacks of 1" squares.  I dare not leave such little fabric bits out or JoJo, who also chases the rotary cutter, will throw them to the four winds!

Although I never would have expected to enjoy working with browns, I find each piece of fabric in these blocks came from a quilt with special memories: a quilt for my brother in law, a special baby quilt for a cousin, my sons' Easter vests...  While this is true of many of my scraps, sometimes they have been used in many projects, in which case the various places fade into a blur.

There are many, many, far too many quilting projects (the actual quilting part) to be done this month, so I may not plow through as many brown scraps as I would like.  C'est la vie!

Other scrappy brown projects may be drooled over by visiting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.