Found on the Camera

Bear Cub Q's favorite number
He loves Numberjacks

Ah, lousy posture.  I didn't realize how long my braids were (are)!

Spunky

Only place I can convince him to nap

Get It Done: November

October's goals included:

Get It Done is a challenge by Judy Laquidara to set goals and complete them in a month's time.  I'm enjoyed this challenge, as it helps me focus my efforts in the limited and somewhat scattered sewing time I have!

1. Use the scrap o' the month.  I made 4 - 2" blocks and numerous itty bitty 9-patches from 1" squares.  Do you remember when I said I was getting rid of my 1" pieces?  Of course after I do, I find two great projects to use them!

2.  October B2S1 Step.  Definitely done.

3.  Quilt away on my DWR.  Slow going, but I'm aiming for 1/2 hour a day and so far, doing well.

4.  Customer tshirt quilt!  I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked, partially because I foolishly pinned the above DWR and... don't have enough pins to baste this quilt.

November goals will be:
1. Use the scrap 0' the month, brown.  I have 9s and 6s blocks cut, 2" blocks cut and one sewn, and 9-patches.  I won't use up my 1.5" browns, but I have a plan for those next year, so it's okay!

2. Back to Square One, November instructions.  Almost to the end!

3.  DWR progress.  It would be lovely to have the gold parts of 30 rings hand quilted.

4.  Customer quilt complete.  Surely I can baste and quilt before Thanksgiving, so that one large quilt is off my plate.  (There are plenty more to take its place!)

5.  Hexi challenge quilt done as part of the Modern Quilt Guild.  It's going to be dicey, but I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

6.  The three missing placemats quilted and bound, again for Thanksgiving.  This list just keeps growing!

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

Block Count

Every month, this appears to be a very dull tally, but I'm enjoying having the numbers speak for themselves...

Finished projects: 607
Placemat: 1
9s and 6s: 90
Irish Chain (finished): 88
Mystery quilt: 114
2": 19

Total: 918

Will I break 1000 in the next two months?  I certainly hope so!

Placemat

Lettie needs a placemat, so a few black scraps are finding their way into it!  I hope to finish it this weekend and quilt it in the next few weeks (in time for Thanksgiving!).

Check out other grey and black projects as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
Katie Z.

Trinity's Knot

Named for a special girl, this irish chain (pattern adapted from Bonnie Hunter) finishes at a comfortable 60"x 84".

 The picture below is the most accurate representation of colors:

 The 500+ blue squares required for my 88 blocks came from my scraps and, when my scraps ran out, from my stash.  There are several blues I cut to make a backing for another scrappy quilt, and I immediately chopped the rest of each piece into 2" strips and squares.  I cut and began construction as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, in which we use scraps from the chosen "flavor of the month."

 I quilted straight lines diagonally through the chains and then felt stymied by what I should quilt in the white spaces.  I don't like lots of starts and stops when machine quilting, but neither are my free motion quilting skills very great.  In the end, I chose to quilt the words faith, hope, love, joy, truth, piety, and peace in each space.  While it would have been lovely to quilt more words, I couldn't think of more words of virtue that were five letters or less.

Even the binding is constructed from scraps, this time teals.  They go nicely with the backing, which I had purchased some time ago and just happened to be perfect for this quilt.

This quilt turned out better than I envisioned!

Check out Amy's Creative Side and the Blogger Quilt Festival for more lovely quilts...

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

DWR: Slow Going

But going!

Back to Square One: October Edition

You can spy the fabulously mismatched center of the star, but I left it on top anyhow.  I think it's good for my pride.  The half-square triangles went much better this time than in times past.

See that poor bandaged foot?  It was time for JoJo's 9 month checkup, complete with lead and anemia blood test.  I can see why doctors don't offer the test; it is terribly traumatic.  I still think they're fools for not offering it... I'm so luck our doctor knew we lived in an old house and was able to identify Bear Cub Q's lead problems early.  Who wants to wonder why their child is ill?

I'm having a hard time believing there's only two months left of this mystery.  I've enjoyed it, and if they collaborate again next year, I'm in!

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

p.s. fabric by Vicki Welsh (buy some!) and pattern by Judy Laquidara (buy her books!)

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Dreary Days Edition

I finally have a plan for the empty spaces on my scrappy irish chain, so it currently looks like this:

 Meanwhile, these bitty 9 patches don't make much of a dent in anything.  Someday, they will!

Check out the other black and grey challengers and their Rainbow Scraps!

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

WIP: DWR

 After committing myself to 1/2 of hand quilting every day, I'm seeing steady progress on my quilt.  It may take me until next year to finish (as in, next October), but I want this quilt to be beautiful for my sister and her husband, so I'm going to take the time to do it right.

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

Observations from Life...

1.  I should not go to the library.  If I come home with a good book, I get NOTHING done until I finish the book.  The lack to self-controlling is appalling!

2.  I thrive on a schedule.  Currently, I've assigned myself one hour of garden work, one hour of delayed-housework (bills, filing, food processing), 1/2 hour each of atrium, business, and hand quilting before I get to sew other things.  The payoff, despite what others probably consider to be insane, is that I am actually catching up on the garden and the DWR quilt!

3.  Rice pudding is apparently quite good using our own chicken eggs as well as homemade bourbon vanilla.  How do I know?  DH and I had to lick the bowl to try any, since the girls inhaled the entire batch as an after school snack.

4.  There is nothing quite like finding out daughter hanging out in the bathroom so she can practice praying the rosary without anyone pestering her or giving her chores to do.  The Assistant is just that awesome.

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge in Black

Who knew I had such a tiny amount of black and grey scraps?  I guess I should, as I sorted my scraps last week!

In order to make these four blocks, I chopped one 2" strip from each of my black and grey fabrics.  It turns out most of these fabrics came from my star and snowflake stash, as there is one piece of grey and none of black in my regular stash!

Now I have a fat stack of 2" strips and no plans for them at the moment.  I did cut up my 1" strips of black and grey, but my plan for those will have to wait for another week.

I'm up to 17 - 2" blocks.  I had hoped to make 35 for a nice-sized quilt for a little girl, but where am I going to come up with 18 more DIFFERENT blocks to sew?  I think I finally arrived at 7 more colors, but I may have to rethink my initial plan.

I'm enjoying these blocks as well as scheming for next year's rainbow scrap challenges!  Check out the other participants!

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Status Update

This week, I spent a little time cutting up the last of the scraps that needed to be trimmed, etc.

Here's what remains after nine months of fairly intense scrap-busting:

This is a small 2'x4' table.  All of my regular scraps fit here.  I do have a bag of scraps left over from the Scraps to Treasures challenge, and some scraps for a scrappy DWR, but otherwise everything is here.

I think it's funny that green and blue still have the most scraps despite my making three quilts entirely out of these scraps.

There are only a few yellow, orange, and pink scraps.  Red and purple don't have much more to offer.  I'm looking forward to tackling the black and grey stacks to the far right.  First up, of course, is a 2" block or two (I may have to cut into my stash and {gasp} create more scraps, but since my black and grey stash are pretty limited, it's okay!

In other news, my scrappy Irish Chain is almost ready for quilting!

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

DWR Stall-Out

I love this quilt now that it's pieced.  In fact, I loved it before; I simply didn't love the pinning and curved piecing.

I can't convince myself to sit under the weight and quilt right now.  At least it's basted!

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