July Block Count

In July, I was busy with scraps again, pink this time.

I finished...
4 Great Granny Squared blocks
2 Lepidoptera blocks
5 Soscrappy Sampler blocks
104 Garden Mosaic blocks
49 16-patch blocks
71 blocks for an Irish Chain quilt and
21 blocks for a quilt I helped Spunky make 
for a total of 256 new blocks and 1196 for the year!

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

Stash Report Week #28

It’s been a lovely week for sewing.  I finished a few sheets for a pack n play, and a beautiful order arrived from Vicki Welsh for a hand piecing hexagon quilt that needed some larger pieces of hand dyed fabric than what was in my stash.  Does this mean my stash report took a hit?  Absolutely!  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  I have hours... years of sewing ready to go now!

IN this week: 11 3/4 yards
OUT this week: 1 3/4 yards

IN YTD: 53 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 82 1/4 yards
YTD Total: 29 3/4 yards

14 spools of thread used this year.

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

Brief Relief

Sunday evening, the heatwave (dome?) finally broke.  The mornings are gloriously cool, but already the afternoons are creeping back up into the “hot” range.  One morning my children asked me to shut the doors because it was too cold; I laughed and told them they should be glad they were cold.

Pink sewing this week focused on my Tiny Tuesday blocks.  While wrapping up my adorable but wrinkly little pig, I got out all my blocks and started thinking.  I know there’s plenty of time left to the year, but I began playing with the layout and considering what I want these blocks to become.  Aren’t they a magnificent collection of patterns?  It’s funny to see the places I inadvertently repeated fabrics.  I’ll have to be on the lookout for that the rest of the year!

I also tried to make elasticized sheets for our mini pack N play.  The first round was a failure, being too small, but I think I’m back on track with a second attempt that I finished Friday night.  In the meantime, Spunky has designed a little baby quilt and I’m also sewing that together for her.

My 16-patches are almost all sewing up into chunks of 8.  I will need more if I want the quilt king-sized, but I haven’t yet decided what I’m doing about that.  For now, I'm sewing them into chunks, and maybe into larger squares.  Then I'll probably have to make a decision!

Most of my sewing time this week was spent on sewing up strip sets for my Irish chain.  I hope to finish them by the end of the day.  Next week, I'll subcut, subcut, subcut.  Hopefully, I won't get my various strata mixed up, and then I can pin and sew Block A.  This is definitely not a project I could have finished in a month, so I'm glad I started it early!

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

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

Stash Report Week #28

Nothing changed. I didn’t cut any fabric this week, since I cut yards into strips last week.

IN YTD: 41 3/4 yards
OUT YTD: 80 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 38 3/4 yards OUT

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

Garden Insanity

The temperatures and heat indexes this week have been insane, which makes all garden chores borderline insanity.  Inside, I’ve been working through more insanity in my Garden Mosaic blocks.  Whew!

We have an abundance of onions, garlic, tomatoes, squash, and peppers to keep me busy with preserving.  It’s lovely that my oldest can harvest for me, so I can stay busy inside.  Then I actually have energy for sewing as well.

The Garden Mosaic blocks are done for another month.  I only need 230 or so blocks more, so the end is in sight!  I suspect there will be far more blues than any other color, as my 2” blues take up almost half of the box.  I will have fun sorting out how to layout the blocks in a few more months.

I almost have half the blocks done for my Irish chain blocks.  I fell a little behind this week since our ridiculous heat sucked the energy out of me, but I may be able to catch up today.

My final sewing work this week centered around the 16-patch blocks.  I finally sewed them all into strips of four blocks, so now it’s time to make bigger chunks of eight, and then I’ll get to make rows.  I love when quilts “magically” appear at this stage.  (I may not be done... I think I need more blocks to make it king-sized.  Oh, well.)

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

P.S. Check out all the pink projects this weekend!

Stash Report Week #27

As is to be expected, I had no finishes this week.  The stash report remains unchanged.

IN YTD: 41 3/4 yards
OUT YTD: 80 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 38 3/4 yards OUT

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

Rosy Lepidoptera

This has finally been a better week.  I’ve not only had time to sew, but also had enough energy to do so.  We had quite a downpour Saturday night with over 2” in an hour, but then the rain stopped, so I’m not coping with floodwaters.  The big kids are relieved that farm chores have reduced to weeding, harvesting, and feeding chickens.

I’ve never had so many blackberries to eat, freeze, or otherwise preserve.  Spunky has been practically eating herself sick with both blackberries and peaches.  I thinned the peaches, but not enough, so they are too small to be worth canning, but still quite tasty.  It’s a good thing it’s easy to freeze blackberries!

This week, my focus for pinks was twofold: cut and sew two Lepidoptera blocks and cut my Garden Mosaic blocks.  I definitely feel more confident in cutting and sewing the butterfly blocks each month and they are taking less time to sew up, but I’m still very glad I don’t have to make all 19 at once.  With 13 down and 6 to go, it’s going to be exciting to start sewing them together in a few more months!

The Garden Mosaic blocks are cut, and I’m sewing up the triangles pretty quickly.  It’s hot, so I plan for ironing to pile up before I turn on the iron.

Since my pink projects have abruptly thinned out by the finish of my 9 patches and stars quilt and my 12 Things project was small this month, I’ve moved on to an Irish chain quilt.  I know many people will find the colors too “blend-y” or without enough contrast, but that’s what I want.  I love working with Vicki Welsh’s fabrics, and they are the fabrics for the entire quilt, so I will get a satisfying eye full.

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

P.S. There are some amazing pink projects to check out this weekend!

Stash Report Week #26

It’s been a good week!  According to my goal of 30 yards net used for the year, I should have used 15 yards more than I’ve bought for the year.  Through some hard work and a few extra finishes, I have currently used almost 39 yards more than purchased.  Soon enough, I have a large purchase planned, so it’s good I’m ahead of schedule.

This week, I finished my nine-patches and stars quilt as well as a new placemat as my extended family is growing.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 11 yards

IN YTD: 41 3/4 yards
OUT YTD: 80 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 38 3/4 yards OUT

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

Grandma’s Favorite Color

My Great Granny Squared blocks are a perfect beginning to a month of pink scraps as pink was my grandma’s favorite color.  I don’t have a lot of pink since, with a pink lover among my children, I use it as fast as I cut it up.  Still, four blocks are a satisfactory addition to the collection.  (And this weekend, I’ve taken all crooked pictures!)

I also found time to finish my 9 patches and stars quilt.  I kept the quilting simple; the blocks are pretty busy in themselves.  The backing on this quilt is a very charming farm fabric.  If I had more, I would make a few bags from it!  The blocks were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over the last two years.  My 1.5” bin is getting down to pretty slim pickings now that I have made so many cool 16-patches and all the 9-patches in warm colors for this quilt.

We are hoping for some rain today, as, after the weeks and feet of rain, we’ve reached the hot and dry Kansas summer, and the cracks are already opening up in the ground.  At least the meat chickens have already gone to the butcher, so it’s only our layers that need fresh grass.  The grass is still plenty green for now, but the garden needs a good watering this morning.

We have been enjoying an overflow of peaches and blackberries from our gardens, with more to pick today!

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

P.S. Please visit all the lovely pink projects this weekend!

July Goals

In June, I wanted to...
1.  Make 8 market bags for Christmas gifts.  Done!  I made nine total, so I have an extra for gifts.

2.  Finish hand quilting the baby quilt.  Done!  I actually enjoyed this much more than I thought I would.

3.  Maybe finish the 9 patches and stars quilt.  Not finished, but the stitch in the ditch along the sashing is done, so good progress has been made.

4.  Scraps: trim and blocks in blue: Garden Mosaic, Great Granny Squared blocks, 2 Lepidoptera blocks, Tiny Tuesday blocks, and make my 16-patches into rows of 4.  Mostly done.  I didn’t get all my 16-patches into rows of 4, but that’s because I ran out of variety.  I need more purple blocks, and then I’ll get back to this.  The other blocks and the trimming are all complete.

In July, I would like to...
1.  For my “12 Things” project, I have an orange boot stocking to make for Christmas.

2.  Since that shouldn’t take too long, I’d like to start on an Irish chain quilt of hand dyed fabric.

3.  Finish the 9 patches and stars quilt.  It’s time to be done.

4.  Scraps:  I think we’re on purple.  I want to trim and make the usual blocks: Great Granny Squared, Garden Mosaic, Lepidoptera, and Tiny Tuesday.  I also want to finish up another round of purple 16-patches.

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

July UFO List

June 1: 11 projects

Started: 1

Finished: 2

June 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

In June, I started the market bags for Christmas gifts and managed to finish all of them as well as Levi’s quilt.  This gets me back down to my goal of 10 projects carried over from month to month.  The first three projects are things I have materials for but no desire to do right now, and the others get worked on most months, so this is a good measure of progress.

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