February 350 Block Count

It was a crazily productive month...

3 new Unnamed Stars (now being called Stained Glass Stars)
34 more churn dash blocks
48 more 16-patches
160 units for my Ohio Star quilt
60 rows for my dragon quilt, since I counted none last month.
That means I finished 305 blocks this month, which, added to last month's 132, brings me up to 437 blocks.  Maybe I don't need to sew any more blocks this year!?  (That's a joke, y'all.)

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

As the totals grow through the year, you too can join in on the 350 Block Challenge.

Stash Report Week #8

I finished a twin size quilt this week, so the fabric numbers are different!

Another spool gave up the ghost this week, so I’ve emptied 7 so far this year.  My piecing supply is getting dangerously low, but I haven’t found a good deal or had time to run to a store yet.  I have a few gift cards from Christmas, but the stores aren’t near my usual errands.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 8 3/4 yards

IN YTD: 0 yards
OUT YTD: 21 yards

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

Finished Quilt: Tell Colette I Love Her

My Ohio star quilt, inspired by this one by Red Pepper Quilts, is finished!  It finished roughly 60" x 84".

One of my nieces, who is also my goddaughter, is getting ready to move into a big girl bed and so needs a bigger "Aunt Kakie" quilt.  She loves red, I don't, and a bit of shopping was necessary.  In last summer's "I Didn't Go to Ireland" binge, I included a number of reds, primarily for a green and red Christmas quilt, but also to please Miss C.  One of my purchases was a fat quarter collection of reds, something I rarely do.  The large prints were great for the solid red squares in this quilt.

The backing is also from that purchase, shown in the top picture, the reddish brown batik.  I soaked it before quilting, which was good, as it was a bleeding mess.  After finishing, I soaked the quilt again, and some of the reds bled.  Now, since I used Vicki Welsh's soaking method, I wasn't too worried.  Unfortunately for me, one tan fabric sucked up some of the dye and wouldn't let it go.  Fortunately, the pieces are evenly dyed, not with discolored patches, but I will be giving any remains of this fabric a fast track to the garbage.  It has been nothing but a headache.

Miss C's birthday is this weekend, and my mom left to visit her in between our ice storms, so I made the self-imposed deadline quite nicely!

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

Stained Glass Stars and Dragon Tails

Whew, what an icy week!  JoJo had school Monday only.  The bigs and DH had school only Wednesday and Friday.  Multiple ice storms caused ice on freezing rain on ice.  The second storm was a slow freezing drizzle, which was by far the worst as it turned the world into an impermeable sheet of glass.  I slid down the slope to feed the chickens and inched back up when I was done.  With the water spigots frozen as well as a few doors, the outdoors were an adventure.  My least favorite moment occurred when the freezing rain iced up our outdoor unit to the furnace, causing it to shake violently.  Fortunately, I de-iced it and moved along with breaking ice elsewhere.

Needless to say, sewing time was both needed and a little harder to come by.  I worked hard to finish my Ohio star quilt, now called “Tell Colette I Love Her.”  I'll have a post about it up later today, including one pesky fabric that soaked up excess dye.

Next on the list to finish was my 16-patches, which I used as leaders and enders to more rows of the dragon quilt.  I have only 11 rows left of the 60 needed, so the end is in sight!  The bottom of the picture shows the last dragon rows, a wing and the end of the tail, and now I move onto my son's name.  I finally had to do the math on the remaining background fabric and then stash-dive for like-enough fabric to finish out the final rows.  I hope they won’t stick out too much, but I won’t know until I assemble a few more rows.  Either way, obvious or not, they'll have to stay.  There is no fabric ordering right now, per my own orders.

I love the 16-patches every time I make them.  The original quilt, finished in 2015,  still lives on the back of my rocking chair, where I nurse the baby and rock little ones to sleep.  This year, I'm only making 16-patches from cool colors, so I'll get to play around a little more on how to lay out the blocks.

On a side note (because I like squirrels as much as anyone else), do you have any suggestions for blocks that use 2" strips?  My 2" box is full to overflowing, and the churn dash blocks won't make enough of a dent this year.  Over spring break, I may indulge myself by starting a new quilt!

Be sure to check out all the other purple inspiration this weekend, and maybe we'll get a sneak peek of the new color!

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

Stash Report Week #7

No fabric finishes.  Two more spools used up.  I will finish a quilt this week, so I’ll finally have progress to describe!

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Violaceous Scraps

When your week involves a death and funeral for a seven-year-old, you just roll the best you can. (Not my own child.  A little boy from my children’s school passed away from brain cancer.)

In the meantime, to keep myself busy, I've been piecing and ironing.  I don't love to press, but, oh, I pressed.  First, lots and lots of churn dashes.  I'm really happy with this collection.

I also finished a hand pieced hexagon block, finally.  I'll start basting a purple one next.  This quilt is certainly not a race, so I'm not worried.

The bulk of sewing this week focused on my red and tan/white Ohio Star quilt.  It was inspired by this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts.  I'm currently calling it "Tell Colette I Love Her," since it's for my goddaughter and niece who LOVES red and has a birthday next week.  It was the perfect month for this project number to be drawn, and if I'm really, really quick with the quilting, I can have it done to send for her birthday!  I have it basted, as my pointer finger will attest.  The backing, which is peeking out at the bottom of the picture, had to be soaked first, a la Vicki Welsh.  It bled badly the first soaking, but not the second, so I anticipate few issues when I soak the finished quilt.

PK wanted to be in the picture (or he wanted the camera), so say hi!

When you have a free moment, you should check out all the other delicious violaceous scrap projects over at Soscrappy this and every Saturday.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #6

Nothing new but another spool used!

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

Here, There, Everywhere

Ah, life.  Such a distraction (kidding, kidding) from my sewing time!  Thursday was full of appointments, so I didn't sew a stitch.

Fortunately, I hustled through chores on Friday and sewed... and sewed... and sewed.  There are still plenty more churn dashes to come, but I'm pleased with the start.

 My biggest sewing accomplishment was to finish all the hourglass blocks for my Ohio Star blocks.  Now comes four-patches, and then a full layout.  I love how fast it can go together now!

Be sure to visit the purple scrap projects this weekend!

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

UFO Challenge

January’s “UFO” was a pack of charm squares.  I paired them with a lovely tan and made what I call Stretched 4-Patches.  The backing is a solid brown, just wide enough for quilting without piecing a backing.  I quilted a wiggly line diagonally across each rectangle.  Hurray for a baby quilt finish!

Judy announced that #1 is our project for February.  For me, that’s a red and white Ohio Star quilt.  I cut the squares and strips in November and September, cut the triangles for the star point last week, and I'm madly sewing the hourglass blocks this week.  Here's hoping I can finish it this month!

Stash Report Week #5

Rinse, wash, repeat...

No finishes, no purchases.

IN YTD: 0 yards
OUT YTD: 12 1/4 yards
YTD Total: 12 1/4 yards OUT

I did exhaust another spool of thread, so my total is now four.

Fifteen minutes a day is happening, and with more bitter cold weather, more sewing is on the way!
from the room of Zana’s Ninis,
katie z.

Pleasingly Purple

It’s Saturday!  Somehow this week, it escaped me that Saturday follows Friday.  I had a week with more than it’s share of difficult things: phone calls, appointments, illness, all those adult things.

I enjoyed slipping away from obligations for a while each day with my fabric.  The dragon is as done as he’s going to be for a few weeks, as he’s not the UFO for the month of February!  Instead, I have an Ohio star quilt in reds and whites.  This week, I subcut all the strips into triangles, and I’m ready to go.

I also sorted and cut (and cut, and cut) my purple scraps.  There are 2.5” strips for hexagons from hand dyes, churn dashes from the startlingly extensive 2” strips, and a purple plethora of 1.5 strips and scraps cut up for 16-patches and Stained Glass Stars.  The blocks this month are shaping up nicely.

Be sure to check out all the glorious violet fabric this weekend!

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

February Goals and January Review

In January, I wanted to...
1.  Corral the blue scraps: trim, 16 patches, churn dashes, and unnamed star.  Done!

2.  Complete the Tshirt quilt. Waiting for more backing fabric from the customer!

3.  Finish the Magnolia Mystery quilt.  Done!

4.  Create something to use up UFO #10 from Judy’s Challenge.  For me, this is a charm pack, so I hope to finish a baby quilt.  Done!

In February, I would like to...
1. Scraps: 16 patches, churn dashes, Stained Glass Stars

2.  Hopefully finish the Tshirt quilt.

3.  UFO #?

4.  Make progress on the dragon quilt.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis 
katie z.