Stash Report Week #5

I finished my puzzle quilt this week, so I've made good progress!  I'm still shy 1/2 yard of being evened out in purchases and uses, but it looks like it will be a slow month for finishes,  so I may hang out in the negative area for a while. Oh, well!

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 6 yards

IN YTD: 17 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 17 yards
YTD Total: 1/2 yard IN

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Odds and Ends

This week, two more Bits and Bobs worked their way under the needle.  I have approximately 110 of these beauties, so I'm halfway done with them.   I have enough (I think) of the alternating blocks that involve triangles (the name escapes me at the moment), so the blocks are 3/4 done.  Of course, it may take me another two years to sew up enough tiny nine patches!

My eight applique blocks are done for the month.  I bought new applique needles after I finished five of them, and I'm relieved to say my stitching is vastly improved.  I still probably need better thread, but I am striving to improve my materials as I am able.  These are from a LizzyB pattern, and I love it.  I'll be using my hoarded hand dyed fabrics (from Vicki Welsh) and three batiks for the backgrounds.

The Navy Baby quilt is being worked out.  I think it's wide enough now, so I've begun the rows.  Stitching, stitching, stitching through my scraps, and I continue to lack a love of triangles.

Finally, I finished my puzzle quilt.  It is simply quilted with my walking foot.  I originally considered filling in the pieces, but sitd took so long that I abandoned the further quilting.  I bound it with leftover strips and am quite happy with the plain finish.  I'll be donating this to the facility that does JoJo's therapy.

Backing

Be sure to check out the last of the blue projects and get ready for some… brown?

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

Stash Report Week #4

I'm "guilty" of two purchases this week.  First, I found a lovely price for fabric when I needed a backing for my puzzle quilt, and decided to buy the end of the bolt for 5 yards in.  Then, I had a 25% for coupon at my favored quilt shop for my birthday and a free trip (kid less) in which to spend it.  I bought 3 yards of extra wide backing fabric for my mom's quilt, which will get started later this year, and two 1 yard cuts of lovely greys, partly for the same quilt and partly because I like them.

IN this week: 10 yards
OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 17 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 11 yards
YTD Total: 6 1/2 yards IN

3 spools finished this year

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: True Blue

I've three projects this week.  Firstly, my puzzle quilt is a flimsy!  I purchased backing yesterday, as I had nothing that was large enough (the struggle is real, my friends), and since it's a donation, I don't want to cobble something halfway decent together.  Instead, after a sale, a coupon, and a gift card, I spent only $9.60 on five yards of fabric.  The leftovers will be added to my stash.  I know I'll do a bit of straight line quilting, but how do I fill the puzzle pieces?  Oh, the agony of planning!

Secondly, I began a new quilt for a friend who's expecting in May.  I spent the week cutting triangles while the kids did homework.  I used the Sidekick ruler and found it was not particularly left-handed friendly.  Isn't that the way of the world?  Since the husband is navy, I've chosen dark blues, golds, and creams for the quilt.  My plan is to make a dark blue border all the way around.  Now I need to figure out how many triangles will make the quilt wide enough.

Finally, my Bits and Bobs somehow finished themselves Friday afternoon.  Miss G took an unexpected nap, the puzzle quilt was pieced, and JoJo was busy with his trains, so now I have 14 more blocks finished.  I'm hoping to finished the nine-patches for a few more in the coming week, so maybe a few more will get finished next week.

I have mixed feelings about working on only one (or two!) quilts a month as opposed to blocks for many.  On the one hand, I'm most likely going to finish the puzzle quilt ere the end of the month, which  is quite exciting.  Every week I'm amazed at how quickly the quilt comes together when I don't sew anything else (but my leaders and enders!)  On the other hand, I don't get the satisfaction of finished bits of several projects.  I think it's simply an adjustment I need to make, and I'll get there.

Be sure to check out other blue projects this week!

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

Stash Report Week #3

I finished a wee quilt this week, so I'm back to whittling down my stash.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 5 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 7 yards
OUT YTD: 11 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 4 1/2 yards OUT!

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

Hexagon Hand Quilting

I'm slowly moving along with hand-pieced hexagon quilt.  Each hexagon is a different star or snowflake fabric, and so far I've managed to quilt a unique pattern into each "snowflake" of 13 hexagons.  My goal is three sets of hexis a week so that I'll be done by May.  I must admit that the "slow stitching" nature of the project means I put it off until the last thing each day, which is never a good choice.

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Rainbow Road

My first scrappy goal this week was to finished Rainbow Road, my donation quilt for the mom's group.  At about 50", quilted in simple diagonals and bound in the same light green as the center and corner squares, I'm pleased with the result.  I apologize for the blurry picture, but someone found my camera today before I did!

 Miss G had to help with a picture of the backing.  I chose four of the fabrics from the front and made an off-center four-patch.  She was pretty proud to have snagged the iPad (it's a good thing it's password protected!).

 After that quilt was finished and delivered, I began to assemble my puzzle quilt.  This forced a decision on the borders, and the decision was no border.  I won't be happy with any of the color choices (white for a quilt for a special needs child seems like added unnecessary stress, black seems awfully dark, and no other color suits), so borderless we go.  I haven't laid out the entire quilt, as Miss G wants to snag the lower pieces, so once I sew up all these blocks (there's a row missing in the photo), I'll lay out the last four rows.

 I like how it's coming together and do not want to think about backing or quilting right now.  My stash is dwindling to smaller pieces, so the struggle to find backing is real.  I think I'll look ahead to some of my hoped-for finishes of the year and order a number of backings at once.  The leftovers can always be cut into scraps!

I hope your new year is full of stitches and all other good things!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #2

IN this week: 7 yards
OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 7 yards
OUT YTD: 6 yards

YTD total: 1 yard in

Birthday gifts from a friend have "spoiled" my pretty zeros!  I'd best get to stitching.

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Puzzles

This week, the littles and I have spent a good amount of time readjusting to being home by ourselves.
Messes have gotten smaller, so I'm finally catching up after the holidays, but helpers are missing, so JoJo and Miss G are sometimes at a loss as to how to occupy themselves.

One project that has been a mite hasty has been this quilt top.  I intended to donate this quilt to an event on February 6, but a scheme developed by the now-deceased coordinator appears to be still in place.  I can't talk much about it, other than that I am not at liberty to give away my quilt for a little while longer.  So, stash and scraps to the rescue.  I haven't ironed the last-sewn seams, so it doesn't appear quite square, but it is.  Now to plot a backing.

I've made excellent progress on my Puzzle quilt.  I'll lay out three rows before I begin stitching, I think, and I'll mull over the border.  I want to keep the full puzzle pieces at the top, but I'm also uncertain as to what color would be appropriate for the border in order to keep the pieces visible.  Any suggestions?  I'm excited that this quilt is all from stash and scraps too.  It's my "blue" for January, even if it's only 25% blue!

Next week sees new therapy starting, so we'll see what sewing happens.  Enjoy your week!

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

Finished Quilt: Spunky's Layer Cake

It's taken longer than it should to blog about this quilt.  I sewed the last stitches in the binding on January 1, but the end of break precluded a photo session.  Even this one is lame, but at least I have a photo.

 This quilt began with a layer cake of Moda's Blessings I won from Edna at Inch by Inch Quilting.  I loved the fabrics, but they don't really "go" with most of my stash, so I didn't want to separate them.  Miss Spunky wanted a quilting project over break, so I decided we could cut these into charms and make a lap quilt for her teacher.  I did have to add 4-5" squares of a green that almost matches in order to eke out one last block.  Spunky selected the pairs and layout.  I think our favorite fabrics were the almost-solids that looked like leather in texture.

 My original plan had been straight line quilting, then a simple meander, but I finally went with a scroll meander.  I love how it looks and I'm very happy to have made Spunky happy.

The finished quilt is roughly 54" x 63", and Spunky gave it to her teacher for a Christmas gift.

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

Scraps to Treasures: Finally Revealed

I talked about this quilt much of the summer, but I had to keep the pictures to myself as this was part of a challenge.  Each participant received the same sets of 6" squares.  Each square had to be cut down from the original, and we could add a certain number of 6" squares as well as fat quarters in order to finish a quilt that was at least 36" x 48".

The day I emailed the picture of my finished quilt, I learned the organizer passed away from a heart attack.  Things were in flux for a while, and finally we had voting and the reveal, so I can post this picture here.

This was my first experience piecing diamonds, and I can definitely see how I improved over the eight points.  I can also see where I was in a hurry and didn't attend well enough to my points, but in the end it's a lovely quilt and I'm happy with the results.  It finished about 54" square.

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

January Goals

In December, I wanted to...

1. Keep on the scrap management train.  I already trimmed the bucket down for the month, and I would like to finish the 16-patch quilt by the end of the month. 
The 16-patch quilt is done, the scraps were all trimmed down, and I made a few more Bits and Bobs.
2. Finish the Assistant's quilt.  (A bit of a cheater goal now, since it's already done!)

3.  Baste the hexi quilt.  This would require that I finish piecing the backing.
Basted.  Quilting begun.
4.  Sew a T-shirt quilt for a friend.
Done.
5.  Finish my sister's T-shirt quilt.  I currently have the top pieced and am the process of piecing the back.
Done.
6.  Spunky has been wanting a project of her own.  I cut a layer cake into charm squares, and we're piecing 4-patches together.  Given all the "big" sewing to do in the above goals, I only desire progress.
Quilted and finished January 1.
7.  A friend asked for some jumpers and skirt for dolls.  If she brings the material in time, I'll get on this.
Nope.

For January, I'd like to...
1.  Mending.  Oh, mending.  Oh, mending.

2.  A donation quilt needs to be completed.

3.  Quilt ten hexies on my quilt.

4.  Finish Spunky's quilt.  (Already done January 1).

5. Empty a tub of craft stuff.  (Done yesterday).

6.  Scraps: trim, Bits and Bobs, applique, and start the puzzle quilt.

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

Stash Report Week #1

Nothing in!

Six yards are out the door in a finished quilt.  I'm happy to have a finish and no time to shop, as that will keep me on right track for a good stash busting year.

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: a Fresh Start

My Bits and Bobs of the last week are done.  There are, however, only 13, since I apparently had a little trouble counting last week!

Meanwhile, I've spent time ruminating over my scrappy projects and what quilts I need to finish this year.  I wasn't happy with all the finishes at the end of the year, so my methods for scrap use this year will be shifting a bit.  Rather than make the same blocks every month, I'll be making seven different quilts in specific colors along with my leader enders, the Bits and Bobs blocks.  I also have an applique quilt that I'll make blocks for each month, using primarily the color of the month.

My quilt for blue happens to be a blue, green, yellow, and red puzzle quilt.  Puzzle pieces are sometimes used as a symbol for autism and Aspergers (there are those who dislike this as a representation for autism, but let's not go there right now), and I thought I'd make a quilt to donate to JoJo's therapy facility for fundraising.  Since I don't have any other might plans for my blues, I'll tackle this quilt in January.  I'm not expecting a finish this month, but I'd like to finish cutting and planning.

I wish I could start Angela's quilt, but I'm trying to restrain myself this year, as JoJo needs more "mommy therapy" time and Miss G needs her own attention.  JoJo will probably start special Ed preschool in the fall, and I want to make use of our full days this winter and spring!

Be sure to check out other (purple-y) blue projects this weekend.  I can't wait to see what everyone starts for the new year!

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

UFO Challenge: 2016

December was a busy month for projects.  I added three new but finished six, so I still ended the month below 20 projects, which was my goal.  For 2016, I've added a few projects, so I'm still aiming to keep my list of current and future projects to under 20.  I really only have a few UFOs.  One, I'm hand quilting.  One must wait until JoJo starts school.  The stockings, ABC applique, and embroidered pillows will all be done some day, but I'm not in a hurry as I don't have a current use for them.

"Something Done"
1. Hand pieced hexi (quilting)
2. Tell It to the Stars (quilting)
3. ABC applique
4. Stockings (4 of 7 done)
5. Twinkler Star (cut)
6. Rainbow Road (cut, piecing in progress)
7. Applique
8. Placemats
9. G's name
10. Puzzle
(Spunky's quilt was on the list for 2016, but I finished it this evening!)

Not Started Yet
1. Mom's yellow and grey
2. Odd Fellow
3. baby quilt for friends
4. Scrappy DWR
5. Aegean Sea
6. Orphan blocks
7. Orphan blocks
8. Pillow
9. Embroidered pillows
10. Kris quilt

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