Stash Report Week #52 & 2017 Goals Review

I had hoped for one last finish, but it was not to be.  I do get to revel in some yummy new fabrics from my DH and my SiL.  I love that all the gifts I received this year were well thought out.

IN this week: 4 yards
OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 185 yards
OUT YTD: 164 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 20 1/2 yards IN

I did quite well on my year goals, finishing Bits and Bobs, Garden Party from scraps, mini 9s from scraps, hourglass from scraps, Barn Dance from hand dyes, the last family stocking, pillowcases for nieces and nephews, teacher quilts, donation quilts, and using all my orphan blocks.  I did NOT even remotely use twice what I purchased, but that’s fine with me.  My UFO goal was to finish Tell it to the Stars, section by section each month, and I even managed to finish it early!

In my “life goals,” I lost 27 pounds out of 30, managed to accomplish many of my prayer goals regularly, and could work a little harder on a few things.  All in all, a good year.

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Orphan Block Recap

I’m away from home and my computer, and didn’t have a chance to prepare this in advance, so I’ll be posting links today to all the orphan block quilts I competed in conjunction with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  My entire collection of orphan blocks was exhausted in this endeavor, which feels pretty good!

I started the effort in November of 2016, when I had finished all my RSC projects.  First off the presses was a blue medallion quilt, followed shortly by a more liberated pink, green, and purple quilt. The blue quilt has so many orphan seeds I’m not sure I could trace them all!  The pink, etc., came from the girl’s stash and test patches, as well as oddly shaped useable, but not usual scraps from me, as well as TriRecs and triangle sets.

January saw a yellow, black, white and grey alphabet quilt as well as a purple pincushion.  The purple strip was left from making my newest sister-in-law a placemat.  The alphabet quilt found its seeds in a large Z from learning to free piece letters as well as a collection of awkward yellow, black, and white scraps.

February left a little turquoise and red baby quilt from blocks leftover from Spunky’s big girl bed quilt.

April was for a little fall-colored baby quilt that found its way to my sister during a hard season.  Leftovers came from my grandfather’s forest quilt, my 9s and 6s quilt, the off cut triangles from a quilt for DH’s Memaw, and finally triangle blocks from one of last year’s RSC Quilts, in which I used up a large bag of untrimmed and sorted triangles.  This quilt was a bit of a stone soup!

May found another small baby quilt, in green and orange.  Some of the nine patches were left from a Judy Laquidara pattern, and I think I added orange because I wanted to!

In July, I made a lovely star quilt.  Some triangles were left from a blue, gold, and white baby quilt, while a number of the TriRecs pairs were from miscutting an entire set of pieces for last year’s Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  I wasn’t ready to pitch them, but I wasn’t sure how to tackle them.

In October, I finished a sherbet-flavored quilt, with a leftover Dresden plate from a quilt challenge, as well as some coordinating stash and scraps.  There was also a body pillow constructed from leftovers from the backing to my hand pieced next quilt.

Finally, November found the orphan block box empty.  Some (unpictured) blue scraps crept into an apron, and the very last triangles snuggled into a doll quilt for a niece.

It’s been a great year for baby quilts, apparently, and next year will be something new!

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

December Goals

Apparently, I failed to write my usual post about my goals at the beginning of December.  (Or if I did,  I can’t find it!). My goals looked something like this...

1.  Scraps: trim, finish Garden Party.

2.  Finish my Rose appliqué quilt.

3.  Cut T-shirts for a customer quilt.

4.  Cut some new quilts for 2018.

5.  Attempt to finish Magnolia Mystery.  Due to my quilting choice, it’s not done but getting there!

 Not bad, not bad.  I’ll write January’s goals up once I know how Rainbow Scrap Challenge is going to go, and then I’ll be off to the races!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

2017 UFO Challenge Wrap Up

December 1: 7 projects
Started: 4
Finished: 2
December 31: 9 projects

I finished my Rose appliqué (finally!) as well as Garden Party.  I am in the midst of quilting the Meadow Mist Mystery, but it won’t be done by year’s end as there are too many other things on the go.  I cut fabric for four new projects!  So here, at the end of the year’s days, my project list stands...

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. Magnolia Mystery
5. 9 patches and starts
6.  Dragon
7.  Red and white Ohio star
8.  Christmas Jared takes a Wife
9.  Tshirt quilt

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

2017 Summary of the 350 Block Challenge

With no new blocks this month, my 2017 total is 1125.

In case you wonder what those numbers were in years past, here are the numbers...
In 2016: 1007
In 2015: 1400
In 2014: 794
In 2013: 1057
In 2012, north of 180.  Between terrible morning sickness and moving drama, I lost count.

Each year, this challenge is hosted by Shelly at Prairie Moon Quilts.  Our goals is 350, with specific targets each month.  Personally, my goal is to hit a ridiculous number each year!

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

2018 UFO Challenge

Over the last four or five years, my real UFO list has been decimated, so rather than use UFOs for this challenge, I made a list of projects I’ve never started as well as piles of fabrics I want to keep together but haven’t used.  Here goes for 2018...

1. Red and white Ohio star

2. Dragon quilt

3. Aegean Sea

4. Red and green Jared Takes a Wife

5. St. Patrick quilt

6. Rainbow Log Cabin

7. Green and brown fabrics for a boy quilt

8. Baby fat quarters

9. RWB triangles

10. Charm pack

11. Hand pieced hexies

12. Chubby pinwheels

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll finish all 12 this year, particularly the hand piecing, but I intend to get moving on each one!

Thanks, Judy, for the encouragement.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #51

I finished a small pillow and my Garden Party quilt this week.  I have one more week, but there’s no telling what I’ll be able to finish!

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 8 1/4 yards

IN YTD: 181 yards
OUT YTD: 164 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 16 1/6 IN

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

Crazy Times

Everyone is home, Christmas decorations and preparations are everywhere, the oven is on, the presents are wrapped, and I think we’re going to make it!  This year, I made an effort not to fret about what didn’t get done each day. So what if we’re only starting Christmas baking now?  With both big girls helping, I know there will be plenty to eat.

Now if I could only find my camera, which disappeared sometime last week when I was recuperating from that pesky headache.

Garden Party is finished!  I have plans percolating on revisiting this quilt again some day.  (They may or may not include some Vicki Welsh shade packs.)  I love the blocks and how quickly everything works up.  The pattern is scaled down (less blocks) from Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party pattern.  I was able to stitch down pleats to tame my wavy borders.  I don't think any of my blues bled into the white, so that's fabulous.

Now it's off to start a new project, if I can just catch a moment to myself.  Merry, merry Christmas to you and yours!

Be sure to spend a few moments of quiet and check out the finishes this weekend.

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

Stash Report Week #50

Buying green fabric online has turned into quite a hunt!  The first online store had no solid grass green, and the second shop had most greens out of stock, so I only managed three possibilities.  Fortunately, one will work.  Of course, this means a little fabric came in.

I did whip up a travel pillow and a small over-the-seat storage bag for the baby’s toys, so a little fabric went out as well.

IN this week: 5 yards
OUT this week: 3/4 yards

IN YTD: 181 yards
OUT YTD: 156 1/4 yards
YTD Total: 24 3/4 yards IN

I have two, maybe three quilts to finish before year’s end, so I hope to lower my total incoming yardage for the year.  It’s been pretty good!

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

Racing to the Finish Line

What did I do this week?  I was at a loss when I first started this post!  Then I remembered some “side” sewing: sewing up a car bag for Sneaky Pete, who turned a year old; addressing the pile of mending and finishing that had accumulated on my chair; and finishing my Magnolia Mist Mystery (almost) to flimsy stage.

At some point later in the week, I finally put together that school ends Wednesday and I prefer to have the last teacher quilt ready to give by then.  Oops!  Wednesday and Thursday I basted, and Friday I had a quilting marathon that brought me within 85% of being done, wobbly borders and all.  Then Mr. 1 woke up, and that was that.  I can finish quilting and binding next week, so I’m back on track.  Whew!

Last night a migraine or equally disabling headache struck with full force, so I’m typing this up without pictures and getting off the iPad for a while.  It is easing slightly already, but I will behave myself.  Good luck with your finishes!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #49

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

IN YTD: 176 yards
OUT YTD: 155 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 20 1/2 yards IN

Also, 24 spools used for the year.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z 

Sometimes you win some...

... Sometimes you lose some.

I was not careful enough with the bias edges of Garden Party and ignored my excess when applying the borders, so now they are wavy.  Boo.  I’m afraid ripping them off and reattaching may only cause more distortion, so I’ll be quilting in a few pleats when I get to the borders.  I know better and just didn’t pay attention.  It will be okay in the end; it’s not an heirloom piece by any stretch of the imagination.  Now to find a backing and remember to be more careful next time!

In the meantime, I finished this week’s Advent preparations and other “homework” and subsequently began a cutting marathon.  First up was T-shirts for another customer quilt.  Since it includes little girl shirts, I’m going to have to frame a few.  This is my last resort, but the shirts are needed, so frame I will.

Next, I cut for three new quilts for next year: an Ohio star/ hourglass quilt in red and white for our goddaughter niece,

a red and queen Jared Takes a Wife quilt for Christmas (since I already had a stack of reds out),

I cut the green "chunks" I need from each fabric, but still need to strip them.

and strips for a dragon quilt for Q, who needs a big boy quilt for his bed (green, since I already had greens out).

I have a few more quilts on my “someday” list that may very well come out to play in 2018.  My current project list will be down to four, and three of those I have no intention of tackling just yet.  That means I may start a new project every month!

Be sure to check out the lovely finishes, almost finishes, and splendid collection of blocks this Saturday!

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

Stash Report Week #48

It was a good week for finishes, even if they were small.  I finished my last orphan block project, a small doll quilt, as well as two table centerpieces for my mom.  For several years, I’ve made placemats for my parents, siblings, their spouses, and my nieces and nephews.  Since I lost a baby two years ago and my younger sister lost a baby this past spring, my older sister and I collaborated on “placemats” for them, so they are still remembered when our family gathers.  I love working with my sister, who embroiders the names, as I piece and quilt.

I will have fabric arriving next week, for a very specific project, and I have hopes of finishing two quilts before the end of the year.  We’ll see where I end up.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 1 yard

IN YTD: 170 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 155 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 15 yards IN

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

A Little Bit of This...

... a little bit of that.

Advent starts tonight at sundown, so I've been pulling out our first things.  Everyone has a stocking this year (patterns by Prairie Moon Quilts), I've filled them with goodies for St. Nicholas Day, and today we go cut a tree from our land.

 I finished up this lovely doll quilt out of the VERY LAST of my orphan blocks.  There are NO more.  I have no doubt I'll create more, or find some squirreled away in an odd place, but I can claim victory over my year long effort to use up my orphan bits.

 My Garden Party blocks are all joined into a flimsy, and the borders and binding are cut.  I'll need to press, trim the edges, and measure next.  This week was full as usual, so this will be a December project to finish.  I was surprised at how small this quilt top is.  I know I roughly figured out the measurements originally, so I don't know why I didn't thing it was small, but it is.  With borders, it will make a great couch quilt, so there's no issue.  It's the last "teacher quilt" I need for the year.

It's time to gear up for the Christmas tree hunt, so off I go!  (While I'm tree-hunting, go hunt down some new RSC project ideas for 2018!)

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

December UFO List

The list is getting short, y’all!  It’s time to start some new things.

November 1: 10
Started: 3
Finished: 6
November 30: 7

Project List:
1. Rose appliqué
2. Garden Party
3.  Pillow
4. Scrappy DWR
5. ABC appliqué
6. Meadow Mist Mystery

7. 9 patches and stars

Started this month: weighted blanket, name letters, and an apron.  Finished this month: placemats, orphan blocks, mini 9s, weighted blanket, name letters, and an apron.  The orphan blocks are ALL GONE!  I hope to finish the Rose appliqué and Garden Party quilt, so that I’m ready to start new things in 2018.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.