Finished Quilt: Haint Quilt

We live in a house built in stages.  The original house, a T shape, was built in the early 1900s.  It has a lovely front porch, where we have put an outdoor bench with a cushion.  Someday, to mimic houses in the south, I would like to paint the ceiling a light blue.  Tradition says it helped keep away the haints, or ghosts, hence leading to the name of “haint blue.”

The quilt was born of a problem with our outdoor bench.  The cats, of whom we owned two and inherited roughly four (maybe more, but consistently four show up to be fed), have decided the front porch cushion is the perfect place to sunbathe.  While I can’t blame them, I do not enjoy sitting on wads of cat hair or of my bench reeking of cat.  So… this quilt can go on the bench when I want to sit outside, along with a smaller, also washable cat mat.

I cut 4.5” squares of a variety of light and light-medium blue-greens. The backing is the beach gradient by Vicki Welsh.  It’s not often I immediately cut into her fabrics; I tend to treasure and dream about them for a while first.  I bound the quilt in a darker blue green.   The quilt finished at 40” by 64”, which I consider large enough to wrap in on a cooler day but small enough to wash conveniently (and left very little leftovers of the strips I cut).

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

June UFO Report

June was a good month for my UFO report in terms of interest.  I managed to finish not one but three projects (of course, two were new!).  The pineapple quilt is done, as well as a cat mat and my haint quilt.  I’m happy to be down to 8 projects and have some good stash movement.

1. Scrappy DWR

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué

4. Hand hexagons

5. Modern Vintage

6. Split Star

7. Farm quilt with cork fabric

8. Pink hexagons

June 1: 9 projects

Started: 2

Finished: 3

June 30: 8 projects

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

June Block Count

 Unless something amazing happens and I whip up a new project in the next two days… I’m done with my blocks for June.  I did whip out a quilt in the last week, so I do have a nice boost to my numbers.

In June, I made 53 new blocks: 4 Modern Vintage, 9 farm blocks, and 40 four patches for my haint quilt.  This brings my total to 372 for 2021.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #30 and 15 Minutes

 Last week, I finished my rick rack nines, so I have an improvement on stash numbers.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 6 1/4 yards

IN YTD: 57 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 79 yards

YTD Total: 21 3/4 yards OUT

I’m a far cry from my goal of 100 yards used (net) for the year, but it’s been a different year than I thought it might be when I set my goals for 2021.  I’m, at the very least, headed in the right direction.

As to 15 minutes of hand stitching a day, I did sew every day this week, for 195 out of 205 days in 2021.  My hexagon project is moving along in a lovely fashion.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis, 

katie z.

Stash Report Week #26 and 15 Minutes

 It’s been a successful week for stash busting.  I finished the pineapple quilt for the Assistant; she has already spirited it away.  Once I totalled up the pattern yardage, I was pleasantly surprised.  I’m counting 20 yards out.  I’ve almost evened up my numbers for the year!

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 20 yards

IN YTD: 57 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 55 yards

YTD Total: 2 1/4 yards IN

On the hand stitching front, I have my next purple hexagon finished.  My current total is 169 of 177 days for 2021.  I think I’m ready to work on the brown surrounding hexagons for a while.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Rainy, Lazy Day

 I finished my pineapple quilt this week!  I posted about it here.

I have two little farm blocks this week.  The tulips are a (small) sample of the tulips we found here at the new house, and the other block is called “Sisters,” so I chose to represent the colors of my three daughters and the baby I miscarried, who we think of and refer to as a girl.

I have one more hand pieced hexagon almost finished.

We received 2” of glorious, slow rain last night and are expecting more today, so we’re taking a much-needed day off outside chores.  I hope I can get some extra sewing time in.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. I enjoy linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge each Saturday.

Finished Quilt: Pineapple Farm

 I have a beautiful, finished quilt today!  The Assistant has a fondness for pineapples and picked the fabrics for this quilt.  I picked the backing and she picked the binding.  I think she made an excellent choice.  (The backing is horrifically washed out, which I didn’t realize until I uploaded it.  It’s Kona Cotton Horizon, so a much richer, brighter blue than the picture!)  The pattern is Pineapple Farm by Elizabeth Hartman.

Since I finished a major quilt, of course I started a new one.  This one is going to finish much faster, probably by mid July, as I already have the blocks made and most of the rows.  The backing will be this delightful gradient from Vicki Welsh (waves).  I’m calling it my haint quilt.  We now live in a 120 year old house with a lovely front porch.  I’m intrigued by the idea of painting the ceiling “haint blue” like many houses did in the South.  We have a porch bench, but the cats have taken it over for sunbathing.  Since it’s now covered in cat hair, it doesn’t make a very nice seat for humans.  This quilt will sit by the front door, and I can use it to cover the cushion so I can enjoy the view without the cat hair.  So it’s a variety of colors in the haint blue range, is super simple since it will be washed often, and a quick project to whip out.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #23-24 and 15 Minutes

 Well, where did the days go?  I missed a week of reporting.  We’ve had another round of mystery illness in the baby, PK had dental surgery, everyone caught a cold (from the surgery center?), and PK and the baby received their first COVID vaccine shots as part of a research study.  Woohoo!

To celebrate some difficult business DH and I concluded without losing our minds (sorry that’s vague; there’s drama outside our control and we controlled the bit we could.  The end.), DH ordered me a bit of fabric.  I’m claiming 16 purchased for the year and the rest given.

IN this week: 8 yards

OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 57 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 35 yards

YTD Total: 22 1/4 yards IN

It’s a good thing I have the Assistant’s pineapple quilt almost done (next week!).

On the 15 minutes front, I missed one day in the last two weeks, so I stand at 162/170 days for 2021.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Busy Morning

The pineapple quilt is growing on me.  It’s not that I didn’t like it before… I didn’t enjoy the process of cutting and assembling the blocks.  The entire flimsy is basted, I quilted straight lines in the sashing, and now it’s time to meander all the rest.  I’m pleasantly surprised at how flat it is.

I’m confident there are more purple farm blocks for the week, but they aren’t pressed and I have a zoom meeting to attend in 24 minutes, so you’ll have to see those next week.  The top block is called egg basket, and since Spunky is the chicken lady, the basket needed to be purple.  The touch of red is reminiscent of the original egg basket I purchased (the welds failed, so we only use it when someone has misplaced our preferred basket).  The other block Lori Holt called Haystack Block; we have hay aplenty, so a necessary.

 I need to get to my meetings, so I’ll end here.  Be sure to check out all the other purple blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

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

Purple Progress

After last week’s long driving trip (through 5 states one way and 6 on the return, all done in three days), I was happy to be home and in my sewing room.  I haven’t seen my brother and family in two? years, so the new twins being baptized was a happy reason to go visit.   DH and I are fully vaccinated, but I was still in and out of bathrooms and gas stations as fast as I could.  It didn’t help that we saw a man carrying a machete outside one of them!

This week’s quest was only these four Modern Vintage blocks.  I’m afraid my fabric variety was dismal this time, but it’s still all out of the 2.5” scrap box, so it is what it is.  The size of this quilt is currently undetermined, although I think it needs to be at least lap sized.  20 blocks is a decent beginning.

I also spent some time cutting my purple farm blocks.  So far we have initials for my two oldest.

My cork fabrics have decreased enough for this quilt that they now can live in this plastic shoebox.  The backing fabrics don’t, but I am almost out of one of them, so they are getting smaller as well.  At some point I need to decide how to layout this quilt, but as it’s king-sized, I have no doubt that I won’t have enough blocks!

We had a severe thunderstorm last night, so I won’t have to water or weed today.  Maybe I’ll get a few extra hours in the sewing room!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S.  It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Weekend!

Stash Report Week #23 and 15 Minutes

 I finished that “surprise” weighted blanket, so I fortunately have some stash usage.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 4 yards

IN YTD: 49 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 39 yards

YTD Total: 10 1/4 yards IN

I missed one day of hand stitching over the week.  Saturday we drove for 13+ hours through driving rain, visited my brother, and crashed at our hotel.  I could have stitched but didn’t want to.  Oh, well.  149/156 days for 2021 is just fine.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

(Ooh, I forgot.  11 spools out for the year.)

MishMash

And just like that, a week of summer is over!

I am much happier with my pineapple quilt now that it is a flimsy.  It’s unpressed, but in one piece.

I have two bits of purple for the week.  These flowers just magically appear compared to the stars, so one done for the week.

My other bit of purple are the fabrics for my Modern Vintage blocks.

And I apparently couldn’t leave May behind without one last bit of red.  I had leftover pellets after my nephew’s weighted blanket, so I made one for my brother.  DH and I are headed to Alabama bright and early this morning to attend the baptism (I’m a godmother for one of the twins).

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

May UFO Report

1. Scrappy DWR

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué

4. Hand hexagons

5. Modern Vintage

6. Split Star

7. Farm quilt with cork fabric

8. Pink hexagons

9. Pineapple quilt

Oddly enough, the list started and ended the same.  I started two projects but finished them both (weighted blankets) and didn’t finish anything from the list.

May 1: 9 projects

Started: 2

Finished: 2

May 31: 9 projects.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

June Goals

 My May goals were modest:

1. Scraps: trim, make blocks in red: Modern Vintage, farm, and a hand pieced hexagon star.  Done.

2.  Finish the pineapple blocks.  Done.

3.  Mend two pairs of pants.  Pesky mending.  Shockingly, done.

4.  Make a weighted blanket for my nephew, who graduates top of his class in a week!  As an overachiever, I finished TWO weighted blankets!

June has arrived, and it’s time to set more goals.  The garden/outside/farm work is nearing its peak, and we have bits of (safe) travel ahead, so I won’t be too aggressive.

1.  Scraps: trim, make blocks in purple: Modern Vintage, farm quilt, and hexagon flowers.

2.  Finish the pineapple quilt.

3.  I’m considering a new quilt.  What, I don’t know, but something.  Nothing as complicated or tedious as the pineapple quilt or farm quilt, I do know that!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.