May UFO List

April 1: 10 projects
Started: 1
Finished: 1
April 30: 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. Tiny Tuesday

I started and finished my bee fabric quilt, using the block “Sister’s Choice.”  PK has already declared it “favorite, favorite, mine,” so I think it is well loved.  It has plenty of yellow, which is his assigned color and one of his two favorites.

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

April Block Count

It turned into a busy month for blocks since I was sewing with my superabundance of aqua scraps!

This month...
5 Great Granny Squared blocks
112 Garden Mosaic blocks
1 Lepidoptera block
5 “Tiny Tuesday” blocks
61 16-patches
35 Sister’s Choice blocks
... for a total of 219 new blocks in April, and 738 blocks for 2019!

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

Stash Report Week #16

I am over half done hand stitching down the binding on my quilt for April, so while there is no stash change this week, there will be next week!  I managed to quilt an entire quilt today, since we decided to go to church later than usual.  It’s about bed time now, so I will plug away at the binding tomorrow.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Blowin’ in the Wind

As I begin this blog post, the wind is blowing here, there, and everywhere.  The dandelion fluff is thick on the ground, and the weather is classic spring.

I have "inherited" Miss G and PK's cold, but I avoided their ear infections, so the crazy rolls on this week.  We are raising meat chickens again this year, so Friday morning I made a mad dash to the post office to pick them up before my oldest kids left for school.  I made it with about 30 seconds to spare.

I'm closer to finishing my goals for the month, although I've lost track of which Tiny Tuesday blocks are in which setting, so they are waiting for directions.  Otherwise, I need to baste and quilt my Sister's Choice in bee fabrics for the weekend.

My 16 patches are finished, my Tiny Tuesday blocks are waiting framing only, and my Garden Mosaic blocks are all done (please ignore the fact I didn't press the last of the light ones.  I was too tired.)

I really, really like how my bee quilt is turning out.  Seams matched pretty well, the borders fit the original measurements, and I already have backing and batting ready.

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

P.S. Be sure to visit all the beautiful aqua inspiration this weekend!

Tiny Tuesday: Spinning Star

Good morning, fellow Rainbow Scrap Challengers!  If you are new to my blog, my name is Katie and my blog, Zana's Ninis, is named after my oldest, who called sewing "nini" when she was tiny.

My block contribution to the Tiny Tuesday blocks is a block I'm calling "Spinning Star."  My contrast between background and star pieces is perhaps a bit lacking, but I was determined to stick to my scraps, and this is what I had in large enough pieces.

To begin, cut 4 - 1.75" x 2.75" pieces from your star fabric  (mine is blueish)

and cut 4 - 1.5" x 2.75" rectangles and 8 - 1.75" squares from your background fabric (mine is greenish).

 Take your background squares and mark them on the diagonal with your favorite marking tool.

Using 4 background squares and the 4 star rectangles, sew one background square along the diagonal onto each rectangle.  Make sure you sew them all from the same corner.

 Trim the extra fabric.

 Press.  I chose to press toward the background fabric.

 Repeat on the other end of the rectangle with the four remaining background squares.  Be sure to keep your sewing line parallel to the other end!

 Trim away the excess.

 Press.

 Now lay out your unused background rectangles next to your finished star points.

 Sew each background rectangle to a star point.  Press toward the background rectangle.

 Now you should have four lovely block quarters!

 Sew together your block quarters.  Press as desired.  (I like to spin my seams in the center to reduce bulk.)

Your block should measure 5" unfinished!  This will be a straight set block, so be sure to follow the directions for the framing that Angela put together!

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

Spring Struggles

Rain... delaying planting but feeding the plants... Hail... three times in 24 hours... Fevers... one broken and one on the rampage... Sleepless nights... Hatching chicks and laying hens...  New chicken coops, new plans... Two dumpsters of farm refuse loaded and hauled away... Fruit trees awaiting planting... Mowing and stalled mowers...

I’m ready for Easter and grateful for a few days off school for my kiddos.  We are catching up on farm chores now that the (much needed and appreciated) rain has passed.  New chicken tractors are high on the list since I dismantled the old (too heavy) tractors for various reasons and they were hauled away in a few dumpsters last weekend.

In the meantime, we’ve had another mean streak of high-fever illness.  Miss G is on the road to recovery, and PK is still fighting the relentless fever.  Boo.  This, unfortunately, has meant I’ve missed some serious sleep hours, which also means my energy is gone by lunch, which in turn means I’m not sewing so much.

This week, I have finished the “dark” Garden Mosaic blocks, four patches of my darker aqua fabrics for 16-patches, and finished 10 out of 35 bee blocks.  That’s not quite what I was hoping for, since it may be challenging to finish the bee quilt by the end of April.  Oh, well.  There’s always next week!

P.S. Be sure to check out all the aqua inspiration this weekend!

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

Stash Report Week #14

I’m still sewing in my little corner, but I’m certainly not finishing anything.  That’s all just fine, so in few weeks I’ll have more to report.  I did finish off a spool of thread.

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

Challenging Stitching

There's a reason (or a few) why I chose the Rainbow Scrap Challenge as the vehicle to make my Lepidoptera quilt.  This week, I remembered them all!  The cutting list for this giant butterfly (over 36" wide) includes four different fabrics, for which I substituted two half yards of V and Co's Confetti Ombre.  I didn't cut 4 or 6 of one size on a few pieces, so when I got down to the bottom wings, I had to borrow some lighter fabrics.  Then, alas, I flipped the pieces, and so the angles are in the wrong direction.  There's also a large-ish pucker on the right side where the wing first meets the body on top.  I somehow cut one wing meeting the white in a different place than its mirror wing.  I'm determined to enjoy how much work I put into this lovely butterfly and, now that I've publicly "grieved" over my mistakes, I'll just pretend they aren't there!

(And, lovely quilters, don't worry that I'm terribly stressed about this block.  Quilting is my relaxing hobby, so I've learned to let go of mistakes.  It's done, and that's the important thing!)

In between all the lovely (and stressful) sewing, I made some very easy and relaxing 16-patches.  There are certainly more to come!

Next week, my plan is to tackle some easier Garden Mosaic blocks.  Oh, yes, and today I need to make my block for Tiny Tuesday so I can have the post ready (eek!).

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. Please check out the aqua inspiration this Saturday!

Stash Report Week #13

Alas, it will be another month of waiting for a month-end finish.  I have no changes, no purchases, no spool finishes.  Yesterday was Q’s 9th birthday, and then DH and some former students butchered our old chickens.  It was a very long day, and not once did I get to sew.  Ah, well.  I’m working on sewing today!

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

Favorite Color Front and Center

I love it when we get to the teal/aqua/turquoise scraps every year.  These are by far my favorite fabrics, and I could sew with them for months on end without getting bored.  (Not all year, mind you, as I would get bored then.)

This week was the beginning of the month, so I spent many days cutting and cutting and cutting.  I prepared my "big" project for the month, a Sister's Choice block using bee fabrics.  We'll be harvesting honey from our bees soon, so this is a timely project.

Cutting also included my scrap basket.  It was overflowing, mostly because these Great Granny Squared blocks produce a mountain of triangles.  I'm finding that if I'm mindful, the scraps can fit the size I need for Garden Mosaic blocks, so it's really going to be just fine that I have lots of extra neutral triangles.

My sewing this week, after the cutting was complete, centered around my Great Granny Squared blocks.  I had lots of two or three solids, and not long pieces of much else, so five blocks it is for the month.  I like the development of this quilt!

I did finish St. Patrick's Breastplate on the 31st of March!

Be sure to check out all the other wonderful inspiration this weekend.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Finished Quilt: St. Patrick’s Breastplate

I have been participating in Judy Laquidara’s “12 Things” challenge this year.  I made my list of 12 quilts/projects I wanted to make, and I’ve been working through one a month.  This month, due to a Spring Break, it took me all the way to the 31st, in the evening, to finish the last binding stitches!

The quilt blocks reminded me of 4 leaf clovers, so I decided to go green to celebrate all things Irish.  Then I found a splendid green and gold stripe, which I used for the border and backing, so I chose gold and cream fabrics for the backgrounds.  Once it came to the quilting, I decided to quilt in the words of the prayer called the Breastplate of St. Patrick.  It took a bit longer, but I always enjoy hiding cool things in my quilting.

Once washed and dried, it’s a lovely quilt to behold.  I do see a few bleed marks and I think I can guess the culprit.  Next time, I’ll soak it using Vicki Welsh’s magic instructions, and all should be well.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

April UFO List

March 1: 10 projects
Started: 1
Finished: 1
March 31: 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. Tiny Tuesday

It’s not so much that I started a new project so much as I realized I had never added my sampler blocks to the list,  Oops!

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

April Goals

In March, I hoped to...
1.  Make my St. Patrick’s Day quilt.  Done, by the skin of my teeth!

2.  Given time, start my bees quilt.  Yes.

3.  Catch up on mending.  Yes, although as of today I already have new mending for a new pile!

4.  Scraps:  trim, make Garden Mosaic blocks, Great Granny Squared blocks, the Tiny Tuesday sampler blocks, two Lepidoptera blocks, and 16-patches in green.  All done.

In April, I would like to...
1.  Finish a Sister’s Choice quilt using my bee fabrics.

2.  Given time, start an Irish chain in very soothing blue greens.

3.  Scraps: trim up the bucket (it’s full this month), and in aqua make Garden Mosaic blocks, Great Granny Squared blocks, the Tiny Tuesday sampler blocks, one large Lepidoptera block, and 16-patches in aqua and blue.  I don’t have a lot of separate blue scraps, so I think I’ll try to use them all this month.  The pile is smaller than the greens of last month.

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

March Block Count

This month was another productive month, partly because the color of scraps I was trying to use up is one I have in abundance!

My added blocks for the month were...
6 Great Granny Squared
88 Garden Mosaic Blocks
2 Lepidoptera blocks
4 Tiny Tuesday blocks
120 blocks for a St. Patrick’s Quilt
76 16-patches
... for a total of 276 new blocks for March.  Added to my previous total of 223, and I now have 519 blocks for the year!

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