March UFO List

February was a much better month than January, which means the behemoth that is the pixelated Thomas quilt actually got finished on time!

February 1: 10 projects
Started: 1
Finished: 1
February 28: 10 projects

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. 9 patches and stars
5. King sized 16 patch
6. Hand pieced hexagons
7. Great Granny Squared
8. Garden Mosaic
9. Lepidoptera
10. St. Patrick quilt

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

February Block Count

This month, I made a total of 94 blocks, leading me to a total of 223 blocks for the year.

6 Great Granny Squared blocks
44 Garden Mosaic Blocks
2 Lepidoptera blocks
5 Tiny Tuesday blocks and
37 rows for the pixelated Thomas quilt.

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

February "12 Things" Challenge

I'm taking part in Judy Laquidara's "12 Things" Challenge this year since I don't have 12 UFOs to finish up.  For February, my challenge was to make a Thomas the train quilt, pixelated fashion, for JoJo, my 4th child.

My first challenges arrived when I discovered I had only one strip of solid white, not quite enough for this quilt.  Then, before the week was out, I ran out of black.

I strip pieced, pressed, sub-cut, organized rows, lined them up, sewed them together.  Rinse, wash, repeat for 91 rows.  Despite all my efforts to the contrary, I still have sections where the background sky and grass sections repeat.  The funniest part is, they don't repeat just once, but for several rows!

I had some train fabric I thought about using for the backing of this large, 70X91 top, but decided to use a more juvenile print of city transport.  I had plenty just by piecing two long strips together, so it was an easy prep.

I have rather a lot of thread in many colors, which served me well on this quilt.  It was pretty clear to me that one thread allover would not do.  Instead, I used 8 colors on top and a variegated blue on the bottom.

I did stitch-in-the-ditch around all of the black, and I thought I might give up before it was done.  After I'd exhausted one bobbin with SitD, I quilted some of the background sections, then went back it.  It took three different sessions of SitD, but I did finally finish it.

Now it's all washed and crinkly and on the bed, and I count it a lovely succes!

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

Stash Report Week #8

Another week of no changes!  I have diligently quilted Thomas, but his black quilting is still unfinished.  By this next weekend, I will be done, barring illness or disaster, so I’m looking forward to next week’s report!

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

Yolks and Cream

This week, we had snow and rain instead of ice, a change I much appreciate.  The kids were disappointed not to have a snow day, but while it was heavy snow, it was driveable.  Friday and Saturday are rainy, but we are outside the (current) predicted blizzard band.  I went outside to feed the chickens, saw lightning, heard thunder, and the rain turned into a much-needed downpour!  Either way, it should be a good weekend to sew.

Last week, I finished my two yellow/gold Lepidoptera blocks for February.  They went together with significantly more ease than the first two, even if I did botch the antennae of one of them.  Did you see that V and Co. are releasing more ombré colors this summer?  Of course, now there will be red and purple, but I’m already committed to what I have.  What can I make in another year or two with the new ones?  I have no idea.

This week’s massive project has been the quilting of my pixelated Thomas the Train quilt.  I began with stitch in the ditch, which is a painful process with 1” squares to turn around.  I endured through one bobbin’s worth and then turned to the colorful quilting.  I will go back and finish it; there’s probably another bobbin worth or so to do.  Seven of the eight different thread colors for the quilting are now complete, with several different quilting patterns in the different sections.  The black sections have left me a little puzzled, as I’m not sure the “outline” squares need quilting, but will it look too strange to leave them unquilted while I quilt the larger sections of black?  Since I finished the majority of the quilting, I did trim and put the binding on so I could stitch it on the go.  I’ll be meeting up with some other crafty ladies in the afternoon, and I want something to do without lugging along my entire machine.

In other news, I began cutting for March’s 12 Things project.  I’ll be sewing up a chubby pinwheels quilt in green, for St. Patrick’s day.  I found a lovely green and gold stripe for the border and maybe the backing.  Already all the pieces are cut, and now I need to mark the flip-and-stitch squares to make use of the bonus triangles.  This will be another project for Saturday evening.  After Thomas is out from under the machine, I will have a splendid time whipping out the pieces for these blocks!

Next week, I’ll get my Tiny Tuesday blocks done to wrap up this month of lovely yellows.

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

Stash Report Week #7

Alas, no finishes this week.  My stash report remains unchanged for another week!

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

Sunshine on My Shoulder

After a few balmy days, we returned Friday to bitter cold and ice.  Fortunately, the kids’ school was already out, so I didn’t have to brave the roads.

Fortunately, with all illness apparently gone, I was able to log a number of sewing hours for the week.  Thomas the Quilt Train is basted, 8 or 9 spools of thread are ready, bobbins are wound, and I began quilting the black sections.  Since I’m beginning with stitch-in-the-ditch, it could be a while before any of the quilting is very interesting.  JoJo, of course, made a ridiculous face when I snapped a photo of the flimsy.

On the yellow front, I finished six Great Granny Squared blocks in yellows and browns.  I was pleased to find enough variety for so many, which makes up for my dearth of reds.

Additionally, all my Garden Mosaic blocks for February are done.  They made excellent leaders and enders between the Granny blocks as well as my two Lepidoptera blocks, which I’m saving to show you next week since I suspect my machine will be preoccupied with non-yellow quilting for the week.

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

P.S. Be sure to visit all the cheerful yellows this weekend!

Stash Report Week #6

Eek!  How is it that the 6th week of 2019 is already over?

This week, I wrapped up two pillows.  I thought 20” was the right size but should have ordered 24”, so these were super simple and not pieced as I originally intended.  My Thomas quilt is finally a flimsy, so in two weeks I should have a whopper of a stash change.  At least these two pillows inch me closer to a positive report.

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

IN YTD: 22 yards
OUT YTD: 10 1/4 yards
YTD Total: 11 3/4 yards IN

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

Ahhhh...

Some of you might think I’m crazy for being relieved at an outbreak of influenza A at our school, but I promise my sanity remains.  5 of our 6 kids (as well as myself) ended up ill with a bizarre mashup of symptoms (never before have we had vomiting and runny noses at the same time), but we are finally on the brighter side of the sickness.  Fortunately, we all had our flu shots and that appears to have kept the symptoms on the milder side.  Poor Spunky missed the most school, as her body really struggled to return to normal.  We never bothered to go in to get tested for influenza, since I’m pretty sure the doctor’s office is where we picked it up in the first place, but once we knew it was at school, we followed the protocol.  7 days home is an eternity when it comes to makeup homework!

With all the unwell chitlins and extra work to be done, we were all immensely relieved that an ice thunderstorm canceled school for us on Thursday.  Driving on the roads was quite a challenge out where we live, but by the time I got into town for an appointment in the afternoon, the roads were quite pleasant.

Now that February has decided to be less petulant than January, I am attaching myself to my sewing machine and playing catch up!  All my triangles for Garden Mosaic have already been stitched up as leaders and enders between rows of my pixelated quilt.  I initially hoped to have a completed flimsy by now, but Friday night, I laid in bed with a book instead of struggling with all the pins.  Soon enough, I dare say.

I cut the pieces for my Great Granny Squared blocks, so as soon as Thomas is in one piece, I can whip those lovelies out.

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

P.S. Check out all the yellow scrappy goodness this weekend!

Stash Report Week #5

I keep plugging away at the pixelated quilt, so the yards of fabric and thread are both disappearing at an alarming rate.  The only data change this week is for spools: I’ve already used up 6 for the year!

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

IN YTD: 22 yards
OUT YTD: 9 yards
YTD Total: 13 yards IN

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

Golden Glow

January has stomped out in a tantrum and dragged February in kicking and screaming.  I need to remember that winter, once illness hits, drags on and on in its various forms.  This week, we were visited with various symptoms: fever, cough, runny noses and sneezes, and stomach ailment of many forms.  None of it made or makes any sense to me, but so far four kids are slowly recovering.  Of course one shared their nose issues with me, so now I’m paranoid the high fever is soon to follow.  I’m doing my best to eat and sleep well, so only time will tell.

Despite the chaos of so much illness, I’ve made good progress this week.  My last red sampler block is wrapped up, although I just realized I didn’t make it from hand dyes.  Alas.  I think I’ll leave it.

There are yellow scraps creeping out of every box, and I’ve sorted and examined.  Next week is for cutting.  I did get most of the wings on for my 9 patches and stars so those will be out of the way shortly.

My sewing time primarily focused on my new pixelated quilt.  The squares all finish at 1”, and I’ve already had my share of miscounting rows, mixing up pieces, or being one square off.  I’m so glad I’m almost 2/3 done with the piecing!

P.S. Check out the red and yellow stitching projects this weekend as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

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

February Goals

I’m having trouble laying my hands on my January goals, so I will recap here and tell you my plans for February.  I already know they are lofty, particularly as I’m starting off the month with illness (surprise, surprise), but I also know what I can sacrifice if push comes to shove.

In January, I wanted to...
1.  Finish Miss G’s quilt (which is still unphotographed).  This is part of the “12 Things” challenge Judy Laquidara is hosting.  Done.

2.  Make a good start on a pixelated Thomas the Tank Engine quilt for JoJo.  He asked around the time I made Q’s pixelated dragon.  This is even harder, as it’s smaller pieces, but the goal is to finish in February.  Well started; in fact, I have 56 rows sewn with 34 or 35 to go.

3.  As in previous years, keep up with scraps: trim down the scraps produced in the previous month, sew wings on the star pieces for my 9 patches and stars, start Garden Mosaic in red, make some Great Granny Squared blocks, participate in the SoScrappy sampler, and make two Lepidoptera blocks.  All done!

In February, I’d like to...
1.  Finish the Thomas quilt for JoJo.  This will complete my second quilt for “12 Things.”

2.  Given time, I’d like to start my March quilt, which will be out of green and creams.  I have a lovely stripe for either border or backing, and I’m very happy finally to make a St. Patrick’s Day quilt.

3.  Scrappy goals for the month include: trimming the scrap bucket, making Garden Mosaic blocks, 5 or 6 Great Granny squared blocks, SoScrappy sampler blocks, two Lepidoptera blocks, and sew the second side of wings for the 9 patches and stars quilt.

4.  End the month with a net use of 5 yards.  This could be challenging, as I’m in the hole more than I’d like, but the pixelated quilt is devouring fabric and thread at an alarming rate, so its finish will help.

5.  Make two pillow covers for our bed.  We finally have a bed frame again, after several years of our mattress being on the floor.  We have a storage headboard, which means some pillows would be nice for sitting in bed and reading.  Of course they need covers first.  I have the fabric cut but need to take the time to sew the zippers on, etc., etc.

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