Stash Report Weeks 39-40

You’d think, on a week that I finally finished something, I’d get around to my stash report, but somehow it still escaped me last week.  This week, I’m happy to report that I finished my Teal swap mini as well as my green and brown baby quilt.  I also received two packages, one an order to finish my Stained Glass Stars and the other a prize from Prairie Moon Quilts.

IN this week: 1 1/2 yards
OUT this week: 3 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 102 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 64 yards
YTD Total: 38 1/2 yards IN

Given that the year is 3/4 spent, I won’t be reaching my goal of using twice the yardage I purchased.  I’m not too upset by this, as I did have a broken hand and major surgery to ruin my sewing, and I used fabric as an incentive to keep up with my physical therapy even when it was grueling.  40 yards out by year’s end seems reasonable, since I have Aegean Sea, Stained Glass Stars, and at least two 16 patch quilts that can certainly be finished in three months.

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

Quilt Seeds

I love 16 patches as quilt seeds.  There are so many promising combinations of the colors I've already sewn up for the year,  and no one will be displeasing in the final arrangement.  While I originally intended to complete one quilt from my quilt seeds, I am certain I have enough for two and suspect a third.

 I have a box of 16 patch halves in blue-gray to finish up this weekend, and then there's a pile of light/medium blues to turn into 16 patches in October.  Soon I'll group colors into groups of 10 and decide where these delightful blocks are taking me.

The best accomplishment of this week was my finished flimsy.  Woohoo!  Vicki's new yard of fabric blends perfectly with the old.  I have the backing and batting ready, but all my basting pins are tied up in Aegean Sea, and I'm waiting on a sewing machine repair to tackle the quilting on that (sigh).  I think a simplified quilting plan may be required, as I don't think the repair will be done any time soon.  Tiny harp space for an enormous quilt?  I can do that!

Off to the races of the weekend!  The warm weather returns tomorrow, so I want to finish some garden chores today.

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

P.S. If your weekend is a little less full than mine, you will have time to check out all the blues!

Wednesday Work in Progress

Whew!  It’s been a long time since I finished a quilt.  Sunday, I finished the binding on my green and brown baby quilt.  This is my UFO Challenge for September, made with fabric shared by a Left-Handed Quilter, and added to the baby quilt stash.  The last remaining layer cake squares I sliced into 2.5” strips, so the entire bag is empty.

Perhaps I should have quilted more closely, but I think this will be fine.  No bleeding to worry about, no terrible creases, just a comfy, simple baby quilt about 40" square.

This wraps up my UFO for September for the 2018 UFO Challenge with Judy Laquidara.  Here's my original list, which hasn't been edited or crossed off.  I lost a month of finishes with my broken hand and subsequent surgery (six months ago this week), but I may finish the year with 12 new quilts finished!

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

Little Bits of Progress

I spent my week sewing four-patches, (caring for sick kids), sewing more four-patches, (refusing to negotiate with a 3-year-old terrorist), sewing more four patches, basting a monster quilt, quilting a baby quilt, and sewing more four-patches, I finally stitched all my dark blues into four-patches and even managed to iron most of them!

The blue-greys and medium blues will have to wait for next week, but they'll have their time in the sun too.

Cooler weather has finally (temporarily, perhaps) arrived, so I thoroughly enjoyed open windows yesterday.  This morning, everyone else thought it was chilly, but I found the temperatures just about right.

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

P.S. Be sure to check out all the other blue projects this weekend!

Aegean Sea Update

This Wednesday finds us with a quilt flimsy too large to lay out on my floor!  When it comes time to baste, I'll rearrange furniture or use the upstairs living room floor.

(It turns out my squares I thought I'd cut one short... I found the missing in another pile, so I actually cut all the pieces correctly the first time!)

I finished all the borders, cut the batting, and will sit down today to piece the backing.  The quilt is 96" long, so finding a backing fabric that I had enough to cut two "super long" pieces.  Fortunately, I found a lovely dark background that includes plenty of teals.  I'm not going to struggle to match up the pattern in the backing.  Why make myself crazy when no one else will be bothered?

Now I need to get ready to baste this (quite lovely) monstrosity.

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

Stash Report Week #38

There are still no finishes, so the report remains the same.  I did wipe out another spool of thread, which brings my total up to 21 for the year.  I hope by the end of September to have a few finishes!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis
katie z.

Bits and Pieces

This week has been... long.  Let's chat about the sewing.

The strips sets are cut, more strip sets are sewn, and there's more to go yet.  Here are two of the three collections ready to sew into 4-patches.

The emptying of the 1.5" strips box is proceeding nicely.  I'm not sure I'll be able to exhaust the box by the end of the year, but I will certainly have them settled for the next year.  2019 will be the year of 2" strips since that box is overflowing to bursting.  I thought I was using them for my hourglass blocks this year, but I realized the math was more awkward than I'd like, so I used my 2.5" scraps.

More blue scraps next week are on the burner!

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

P.S. Be sure to check out the other blue projects this weekend!

UFO Updates

My Aegean Sea quilt is coming along nicely, despite a sewing machine total breakdown today.  My green and blue ombre has a better flow in pictures than it first felt in reality.  I'm looking forward to adding the pieced border next.  It's much larger than I need it to be, but since the pattern calls for more borders, I'll keep sewing.  This should be another guest bed quilt to be used at Christmas.  I love it!  (But what do I do about the quilting?!?)

 The "official" UFO for this month was a collection of a layer cake and a jelly roll of green and brown fabrics from Connecting Thread, via A Left-Handed Quilter.  I'm pleased with this quilt: easy to piece, everything places nicely together, and it fits on a single width of fabric, so no piecing of the back!  I have batting still to cut, but since I certainly didn't expect to progress this far during the week, it's all good!

Next week, I hope to have a flimsy and a basted quilt (or, dare I hope, quilted?) in addition to oodles of blue scrap sewing.

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

Stash Report Week #37

No changes, blah, blah, blah.  I’m holding firm to no fabric shopping or purchases, but I have no quilts close to a finish, so we’ll keep repeating the same old line for a few weeks more.

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

Blues of the Best Kind

After a week swamped by an endless 10” of rain, we’re threatening to float away in muddy waters!  Since garden work is thigh-high mud, I’ve retreated inside to the sewing machine.

Oodles of strip sets are stacked on my ironing board for now.  I have one more stack I hope to sew up today, and I think I can manage to get there.

My Stained Glass Stars are neatly sewn into rows, but I miscut all my side triangles, so we’re paused for now.  My swatch to match is in the mail to Vicki, and when I have more fabric, I’ll buckle back down.  I suppose I could cut the cornerstones and work on sashing rows, but, meh.

The other sewing for the week was on Aegean Sea.  I finally finished the last unit, so it’s time to begin assembling.  So far, I’ve only failed to cut enough of one solid square, which was easily remedied.  I hope the rest of my cutting counts hold out as nicely!

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

P.S. Check out all the rich and luscious blues this weekend!

UFO Update: "Almost" August

It took me a while, Judy Laquidara, but I am still following your UFO Challenge!

#3 was drawn for August.  That's Aegean Sea by Judy Martin.  (Grammerly wants me to change it to "the" Aegean Sea.  Silly Grammerly.)

So, I had the fabric purchased and that's it.  I had to puzzle out how to make my dream happen, how to cut it all, and sew it up!

I made it through puzzling, cutting, and sewing three of the four major units for the quilt.  My sewing machine broke permanently (grrr), so I lost most of last week.  Here's where I am!

September's UFO is already finished, so I'll be doing the green and brown fabric lot that was so nicely given to me by A Left-Handed Quilter.  I have a plan, now to make time!

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

September Goals

In August, I hoped to...
1.  Stay current with orange scraps: trim, 9 patches, churn dashes, and Stained Glass Star Blocks.  Done, done, and done.

2.  UFO: Aegean Sea.  No way, no how is this getting done, but I need to plan the fabrics and begin cutting.  I have all but the most complicated unit completed, and all cutting is complete.

3.  Mending.  Done.

4.  Finish the aprons.  Done.

5.  Make some car bags.  The kids tend to lead garbage, recycling, and misc. debris in the van, and I’d like a few bags to help gather it all in easily without having to keep plastic bags on hand.  Done.

6.  Finish the Rainbow Baby quilt.  I’ve already posted about it’s finish, so I’m right on track.  All done!

In September, I’d like to...
1.  Stay current with dark blue scraps: 16-patches.

2.  Since the scraps are down to one project, I hope to get my Stained Glass Stars into a flimsy.  Unfortunately, since I botched the cutting of setting triangles, I need to order more fabric.

3.  Finish Aegean Sea?  This may be ridiculous, but I’m going to try.

4. The  UFO number for this month is #9, my red white and blue project.  I finished this back when I was recovering from my hand being crushed, so I’ll tackle #6, which is a set of green and brown fabrics.  Hopefully, since it will be small, I can finish it.

5.  This is my third year participating in the Teal Mini Swap, and since it’s due October 2, I aim to finish this month.

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

September UFO List

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. 9 patches and stars
5.  Hand pieced hexagons
6. Stained Glass Stars
7. 16 patches
8. Churn dash block
9. Aegean Sea

August 1: 10 projects
Started: 2
Finished: 3
August 31: 9 projects

In August, I wrapped started “Aegean Sea” and a set of garbage/clutter catcher bags for the car.  I finished the Rainbow Log Cabin quilt for my sister, the aprons, and the car bags.

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

Stash Report Week #36

I’ve been good and haven’t windowshopped for a while!  While plowing through the units for Aegean Sea, I’ve exhausted two more spools, for a total of 20 for the year.

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

IN YTD: 101 yards
PUT YTD: 60 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 40 1/2 IN

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

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Oddments

A long week is finally over, and I did manage some sewing in between the crazy.

I really didn't do much RSC work, other than to move and move again my Stained Glass Stars.  It's time to do the math for setting triangles and start on the sashing.  PK has found great amusement in pulling off the bottom blocks when I'm not around, so a few rows sewn together would be a good thing.

My current sticky wicket is the cornerstones for the sashing.  Do I make it the same dark purple as the background, add in squares of color, or make HST of background and colored bits?  If HST, which way should they be oriented?  I have plenty of hand dyed fabric, so limited palette is not an issue.  The finished square would only be 1", so I think a pinwheel would be too tiny and not in keeping with the scale.  Should I do something like Friendship Stars?  Would I make the center purple or colored?  Oh, the choices!  Oh, the indecision!

No sashing, but I won't leave it this way.  Too many bulky seams.

Background cornerstones?  My current favorite.

Colored cornerstones?  They feel too bulky.

Half-square triangles?  They feel lost in space.

Friendship stars with dark cornerstones?  Lots of work.

Friendship stars with colored centers?  Again, feels a little bulky.  Thanks for your patience with the blurry picture.  The battery on the camera was almost dead and I was hurrying!

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

P.S. Check out the glorious Rainbow Scrap Challenge each Saturday!