July Block Count

I made a ridiculous number of flying geese in July, so I have great block numbers!

This month, I made 164 flying geese and stars for my niece, 6 courtyard steps, 11 Garden Party blocks, 2 Easy Breezy blocks, and 24 temperature quilt days, for a total of 207 blocks for July.  That brings my total to 767 for 2020.

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

What Does the Fox Say?

Woohoo!  I always enjoy the last inches of binding.  Knowing I’m “this close” to being done always urges me on my way.  Today, I stitched up the last side of binding on BJ’s fox quilt.

I love how this quilt turned out.  The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman, and the directions were fabulous.  It will be short enough not to tuck in, but big enough for an adult to snuggle under it with BJ.  He turns one on Sunday.  It’s hard for me to believe he’s a year old.  I lost months to being unwell when he was first born, and now months to Covid 19.  But he’s a year old, a walker, a climber, a chatterer (who refuses to say mama but gleefully says dada and bubba), a terrible sleeper, and an all-around joy to have in our house.

Each fox is a different fabric.  Thanks to Joyful, I have a delightfully varied selection of fabrics, so it will be a great exercise in looking for different patterns, colors, etc.  The “non-orange” fabrics represent each of BJ’s siblings; tonight they’ve already identified which one is “theirs.”

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

July UFO Report

All in all, a successful month was had in the room of Zana’s Ninis.  I finished one quilt only to start another (smaller) quilt.  Keeping my UFO count to 8 fits with my goal of under 10 for the year.

July 1: 8 projects
Started: 1
Finished: 1
July 31: 8 projects

1. Pillow
2. Scrappy DWR
3. ABC appliqué
4. Hand pieced hexagons
5. Courtyard steps
6. Temperature quilt

7. Flying Stars

8. Easy Breezy Leader/Enders

I need to get a picture of the fox quilt tonight (finished just in time for it to be a gift for BJ’s 1st birthday) as I am dreadful at getting pictures later.  I’m eager to see it on his bed! He’s not currently impressed with it, but I suppose nothing much impresses a toddler.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z. 

Stash Report Week #30 and 15 Minutes

Since I sometimes forget, I’m starting with my 15 minutes report today.  I’ve remembered/found/made time to hand quilt 199 days of 207 for 2020.  I am so close to finishing one more flower, but BJ thinks maybe he should wake up, so I can’t get to my thimble right now!  I hope next month’s color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is a warm color to encourage me to jump back into one of the larger (and more challenging) stars!

On to the stash report...  since DH went on a subdued vacation and someone needed to stay home to take care of animals and take the oldest to her babysitting job (and hey, I am an introvert and needed a break from the house full of wonderful people that are my family), so I stayed home and... ordered fabric.  I ordered from Love Bug Studios (great!), Missouri Star Quilt Company (I’m a fan), and Hancock’s of Paducah (not always my favorite, but they had a grab bag, so I bought it!).  In addition to too many yards of fabric, I bought a new cutting mat.

I did finish 5 more masks for a total of 103.

IN this week: 50 yards
OUT this week: 1 yard

IN YTD: 99 yards
OUT YTD: 135 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 36 1/2 yards OUT

And I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy every inch of it.

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

Scraps, Not Blue

I’ve been sewing and busy, but I don’t seem to have blue scraps to show you today.  And yes, I’m late in the day; there were potatoes to be dug, errands to run, and tidying to be done.  I will be grateful when all the planning that currently consumes my brain turns into practice so I can find some rest from the decision making and worry.  But on we go...

Sewing this week?

I basted the fox quilt.  Watch for a finish next week!

The pink flying geese from this month are all in rows for the body of the quilt.  They look a mess like this, but I ran out of room to arrange them.  I’ll get them sorted after the fox quilt is wrapped up.  They surely aren’t blue, but I’m not ready to set them aside just yet.

The temperature quilt has grown by another row this week.  It’s funny to realize more of the year has now been “after corona” than there was before it.  (I have it marked with a safety pin.  I’m not sure how to mark the change, but there will certainly be something.)

I think I’ll be sewing up some of Bonnie Hunter’s new leader and ender for a toddler quilt for one of my nephews.  I’m currently cutting them from my 2” strips, including plenty of blues, just in time to change colors next week!

DH took some of the kids to a cabin his family owns a few hours away.  It’s safe (no external contact), but a break from home.  My DH is most definitely not a home body, so this is good for him.

While DH has been gone, someone might have been given a cup of ice cream to finish off.

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

P.S. Be sure to visit Angela, the hostess of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Stash Report Week #29 and 15 Minutes

Hand stitching is coming along nicely.  I stitched every day this week, so I’m at 192/200 days for 2020.  I’m cutting hexagons with my punch, basting the fabric on the papers, and sewing them together into flowers or stars.  I have dozens to go, so there’s no risk of this ending anytime soon.  I enjoy then variegations in the fabric as I slowly piece them together.

Along the stash report lines, I’m pleased that I have a few more yards out this week.  I chose a little fabric for donation and made a yellow pillowcase for PK to go with his new sheets.  Next week, when DH takes five of the kids to stay at his family’s cabin (the only safe vacation spot available to us currently), I may or may not have ordered some fabric since I’m staying home.  Someone has to take care of the 90-odd meat chickens and keep the garden watered and harvested.  It will be a break for me as well, since only the oldest and youngest will be staying with me.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 2 yards

IN YTD: 49 yards
OUT YTD: 134 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 85 1/2 yards OUT

I also finished off my 10th spool for the year.  It’s slower than years past despite my mask sewing this year!

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

I’ve Got the Blues...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...  Here in Kansas, we’ve put off inevitable decisions about schools for another three weeks.  I don’t see how anyone thinks we can open “normally” at all, and given the needs of some of our children, this is forcing me into the uncomfortable situation of planning to homeschool in the fall.  I was really hoping they would have a safe plan and I (an introvert) could finally get a day to myself.  Nope.  So there wasn’t as much or as tidy of sewing this week.

I did finish a hand pieced hexagon star after months of on again, off again work.  Woohoo!  Yes, it’s pink and not blue, but it was for last month.  Now I can work with blue.

The fox quilt is officially an (untidy) flimsy.  It needs a good pressing, but BJ likes to unplug things right now, so I have been avoiding the iron for extended periods of time.  The boys shuffled beds this week, so BJ officially has a big boy bed for his naps and is ready for a big boy quilt.

I hope to finish the rest of the flying geese (I think I need 12 more) this weekend, and I also hope to make my 10 Garden Party blocks for the month by the end of the day.

I hope your days are calmer, less uncertain, and more restful than mine!

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

P.S. I’m linking up to Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Stash Report Week #28 and 15 Minutes

There aren’t any stash changes this week (and there weren’t any last week).  I’m working away, but it will be the end of July at the earliest before I can finish the fox quilt.

My 15 minutes of hand work a day has gone well.  I did miss one day, but otherwise I’ve stitched here and there daily.  My stats are 185 days out of 193.  This quilt will not be done any time or year soon!

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

Steps

It’s been a long, hot, chaotic week here in Kansas.  We had some unpredicted storms, messy days, and always more work than there is energy and daylight.

I am really quite chuffed with my courtyard steps.  I made some dark blue and some pinky-purple courtyard steps this month, but here they are all mixed up together.  I have five more sets of scraps left to go, so this will be a very nice size of quilt when I’m done.  I’ll just hack off the tops or bottoms of blocks to make each column match its neighbor when it comes time to assemble them together.

The fox sashing strips are made, so now I’m working on sewing the rows together.

The flying geese are in between other things right now.  I discovered I didn’t cut enough “wings,” so I did some cutting this week too.  I have about 150 flying geese finished, so only 62 (I think) left.  It would be nice to wrap them up this week.

I’m also drowning in cucumbers and tomatoes, so it’s time to make salsa and tomato sauce.  I’ve already made all the pickle variations we can possibly eat this winter.  While it keeps me hopping, I do enjoy putting up my own food in the summer!

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

P.S.  It’s Saturday, so that means it’s time to link up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!  We certainly have room to grow and change, but it is still a day to celebrate.  I did a lot of cooking, took a nap, and didn’t get to my blogging very well at all today.

It feels quite celebratory to have the layout chosen and stacked up for the fox quilt.  I will be cutting strips for in between, but I can sew the foxes into rows without that decision being made.  I won’t have 8 to make full length quilt, but it will be plenty of years and washings before BJ outgrows this!

The Flying Stars are coming along swimmingly, with all the stars done and over half the flying geese.  Eek!  It won’t be long before I’ll be laying these out too.

I’ve also started back up on my hand pieced hexagons, and I snuck in this pink one before June was over.  After this big one is done, I have a dark blue ready to enjoy.

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

July Goals

In June, I hoped to...
1.  Keep up the hand stitching.  I am FINISHING my Irish Chain this month!  Done!  Woohoo!

2.  Scraps in pink: trim, courtyard steps, and Garden Party posies (in red?  There’s no pink in that quilt).  Done.

3.  Temperature quilt: one more row.  Done.

4.  Fox quilt: more blocks!  All the blocks are done.

5.  Quilt and finish the 16-patch quilt as well as a “mini” 16-patch (baby sized).  Both are done and I am very pleased.

6.  Finish the bee quilt.  Spunky really liked the end results.

7.  32 masks.  Our state just made masks mandatory.  I’ve made 98 masks, and I’m taking a break for any more.

8.  Weighted blanks or other things on my “non-quilting” tasks.  I made the weighted blankets.  My non-quilting to do list is getting shorter.

For July, I would like to...

1.  Manage my dark blue scraps.  I’ve trimmed, and now I’ll make courtyard steps blocks, Garden Party blocks, and some hand pieced hexies.  

2.  Work on the temperature quilt.  I’m not sure if I’ll get one or two rows done (I think only one).

3.  Get all the foxes into a flimsy.

4.  Work on Flying Stars.  It should be possible to get it to flimsy stage this month.

5.  Repair Millie’s quilt.

6.  Make Millie’s red skirt.  (Tee hee.  I finished this today.)

7.  I had porch seat repair on my original list, but I think I’m going to pass.  It’s inconvenient and the frames are rusting through, so why bother?

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

June Block Count

This month saw 120 new blocks for a total of 560 blocks for the year.  Woohoo!

18 fox blocks
4 courtyard steps
11 Garden Party blocks
24 temperature quilt blocks
63 stars and flying geese for a new quilt

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