2022 350 Blocks Challenge

 It looks like 2022 will finish with my largest number of blocks ever.  I certainly had a few spurts of wild creativity where I sewed much more than normal.  This month, I’m counting 64 blocks, 30 for 3 Bojagi panels and 34 box blocks.  That brings my total to 2185 for 2022.

Looking back at 2021, it was quite a tumultuous year.  2022 had its own challenges, but none of the medical issues of 2021.  Here’s to hoping 2023 is creatively productive!

For totals I had in years’ past, here are the numbers...

In 2021: 762

In 2020: 1431

In 2019: 1760

In 2018: 1677

In 2017: 1125

In 2016: 1007

In 2015: 1400

In 2014: 794

In 2013: 1057

In 2012, north of 180.  Between terrible morning sickness and moving drama, I lost count.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

End of Year Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 On the last day of the year, we are having a flurry of small disasters, so I have no idea which direction is up.  Let’s see if I can gather my thoughts.

I finished several rainbow quilts this year…

Triangles

Split Star (which I also finally gave away last week!)

the Valentine’s Quilt full of hearts

My Farm Quilt

Bees

Box Blocks

Oddments

Scrappy Bow ties

Flower Garden

I also finished the hexagons for my hand pieced hexagons and only have the large stars left to make.  Whew!

For 2023, I’m definitely making piles of blocks from my 2” strip box.  It won’t close anymore.  I have 34 blocks made already just from the “bricks” I already had cut.  I’ve started cutting from my teal/turquoise fabrics until I see what we start the new year with.

I would like to finish the hexagon star blocks and make decisions about layout and partial blocks.

Finally, the 2.5” box, despite all my work on it in 2021, is nearly full again.  I would like to use all the squares in 16 patch blocks.

There is also a possible contender.  Several years ago, I selected a box of unloved fabric and made something from the pieces each month.  We’ll see if I figure out how to do this in an easy manner.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

End of 2022 UFO List

1. Double wedding ring

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué 

4. Hand hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Boxes

7. Bojagi

December 1: 7 projects

Started: 2

Finished: 2

December 31: 7 projects

I finished my flower garden quilt and the Bojagi panels for my cart.  I then started a new leader and ender project.  Spunky requested Bojagi panels for her loft bed.  I finished 3, but the last will certainly carry over to next year.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

End of 2022 Goals

 December is on its last legs, and I haven’t really thought about 2023.

1.  Scraps: trim, finish the brown hexagon rounds and start a large star, and process the remaining scrap bins (gulp).  Happily done!

2.  Finish the flower garden quilt.  Yes!

3.  Mending.  I do not enjoy mending, but I have a growing pile.  All done for another few months.

4.  Tie dye for a Christmas gift. Done.  Lovely, if I do say so myself.

5.  Maybe make a yellow stocking.  Started, but hit a road block.  I can’t find a tool I need, so I’ll wait until the replacement comes.

I’ll discuss January next week!

Finished Quilt: Flower Garden

Inspired by a picture from a music album, this quilt began with a chaos of flowers.  It’s definitely not a tidy, organized garden like I would usually make, with a variety of flowers and colors everywhere.

Special blocks were included, like the moon phases…

Important numbers…

Song titles, lyrics, and references.  That’s also why there’s a cat in the garden.

The Assistant swooped this quilt away the night I finished the binding, so it took me extra time to take pictures.  I’m quite pleased with the quilt.

The quilt is roughly 60” by 72”, wide enough for a bed but not so long that the blocks will disappear in the foot of the bed!  The Assistant did not receive tall genes, so it’s perfectly long enough for her.  The backing is a dark blue, not quite navy but darker than royal, also a reference to the original picture.

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

Stash Report Week #51 and 15 Minutes

 Merry Christmas!

It was a fantastic (quiet) day for us and I hope the same for you.

I finished the flower quilt, a bojagi panel and pulled a stack of fabric to donate.  There are pieces of fabric I never choose for various reasons, and it’s time for them to go.  I finally reached double my usage, despite having fabrics come in for a quilt idea… and they won’t work.  Alas.  I have no intentions of buying fabric in the next week, so I should be successful this year!

IN this week: 6 1/2 yards

OUT this week: 24 yards

IN YTD: 111 1/2 yards

OUT YTD: 227 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 116 3/4 yards OUT

I only stitched four days this week.  Lots of baking and disrupted schedules to throw me off.  I’m still at 345 days of 358 for the year.  Off to bed now.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Christmas Eve

We’ve survived the worst of the bitter cold, with windchills of -28 F and real temperatures down to -6 F.  The animals are all well and warm, and those of us who did the outside chores survived as well.  As temperatures should remain below freezing, it looks like we’ll have a white-ish Christmas.  The littles are quite tickled.

In the meantime, I have been working on the final bin of untamed scraps.  This red seems to go on forever, but my tidy piles are growing larger and the pile of bits smaller.  Don’t let the short piles deceive you; I’ve put away the piles every day this week!

This week, I have been consumed by Christmas baking.  I usually spread it over the entire month, but this year I had trouble finding the motivation.  Today, I’ve backed the buche de noel, macarons, meringues, and kolaches.  If I can find the time, I will make rosettes tonight before supper and have made the entire list!  DH is off delivering cookie plates to the neighbors as I write this.  There are a few presents still to wrap, but until dinner I think I’m going to tackle the red pile!

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

Merry Christmas to you all, however you celebrate or don’t!

 

Stash Report Week #50 and 15 Minutes

 No stash changes, no thread changes.  I have one side left of binding as I write this, so the coming week will certainly have changes.

I faithfully hand stitched each day this week, keeping me at 341 days of 351 for 2022.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Slow Days

It’s been a long week filled with not much activity.  Last Saturday, I took my two oldest shopping (a rarity for us as usually we are busy at home), and someone’s perfume/body wash/something triggered a migraine.  I’ve been battling it all week, as it was exacerbated by extended family drama.  Sigh.  I spent more hours than I like to admit laying on the couch or bed listening to music instead of being up and about.  DH was also away for work for four days, so the extra school trips took some time as well.  I will blame my lack of replies to comments and visiting blogs on the migraine and try to do better this week!

Still, Spunky asked for some bojagi panels for her loft bed, so I was off to the races one pain-free evening.  We’ll be making four panels to fit the space, one each green, blue, purple, and pink.  I would like to make each one geometrically different.  The greens were already in strips, leftover from my Oddments quilt earlier this year, so they clearly wanted to be simply assembled.  I’m a little over half done.  On a side note, Vicki’s fabrics definitely bring the magic to these panels.  The textures and color variations are fantastic.  (Note to self, don’t buy anymore right now, as delightful as that would be.  You have stash goals to meet.)

The big accomplishment for the week was completing the quilting on my flower garden quilt.  Yesterday I attached the binding to the front, so this weekend I hope to sew it all down.
 

I did not finish trimming my heaping pile of red scraps, but I did work on them every day.  I will finish them by the end of the year, which cleans up the piles on the floor of my closet nicely.

My hexagons all have their brown rounds, so 2023 will definitely be devoted to finishing the large stars.  That means by this time next year, I’ll get to choose a layout! My 2023 Rainbow Scrap Challenge plans are slowly taking shape.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #49 and 15 Minutes

 I missed a day hand stitching, bringing my total to 334 of 344 days.

I didn’t finish anything this week, nor did I purge any more fabric, so the stash remains unchanged.  The quilting on the flower garden quilt has begun, so there will be a finish in a week or so.  I did wrap up another spool for a total of 38.  I thought my total would be more in the mid 20s, but I did complete some thread-intensive projects.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Contemplation

 I have all the flowers in one piece!  I only muddled a few pieces in the process and think I only had to rip out one seam.  It’s already basted and the bobbins are wound, but the quilting itself is a matter for contemplation.  Clearly straight lines would be too tame and confining for a riot such as this flower garden, but I am not reliable for much beyond a meander.  I also don’t know how the seams will behave

I spent other sewing time pressing and cutting scraps.  I finished my monthly trimming and the smaller yellow box, so I’m faced now with a looming red pile.  At least I pressed and sorted them into general categories.

My 2” scrap box is another source of contemplation.  I think I have a fairly simple plan for their use for 2023, but as the box is full to bursting, I am wondering what the second project should be.  There are at least two large quilts lounging in this box.  The plans for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are fairly nonexistent this year!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Finished Quilt: S’s Optical Illusion

The Assistant asked for quilts for her friends for Christmas.  One, Oddments, has been finished for a while, but I didn’t realize there was a second needed.  I asked for favorite colors, and the answers were ambiguous, so I had free reign on design, etc.  It occurred to me that I wanted to try an optical illusion again, only larger and with less contrast.

Finding the blue that was the same shade as the red was challenging, resulting in three different attempts.  This quilt required four panels of strips.  I cut all the strips right away to be sure I had enough of each fabric.

Cutting the first set of strips is always nerve-wracking, but it went well.

Once the first set of strips was sewn together, I was pleased that the colors worked 

I’ve developed quite the callouses from the basting this time around.

Quilting was 1/4 the amount I did on Jack in the Box.  It’s only quilted in one direction on the red, instead of both directions on both colors.  Less quilting means it took me less than a day to quilt it.

It looks small in the picture, but my two tallest kids have it hanging off the deck.  I’m almost sad to give it away, but I suspect I’m not done with optical illusions yet.  I learned even more from this one.

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

 

Finished Quilt: Triangles

I finished another quilt based on music and album photography.  

I would say the fabric didn’t work for the concept; quite light colors, almost white but with a hint of color, are hard for me to find.

In the end, it’s a lovely lap quilt, finishing at roughly 45”x60”.  I’m a fan.

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

 

Stash Report Week #48 and 15 Minutes

 While there were no large finishes this week, I did purge my stash a little and finished my current bojagi project.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 4 3/4 yards

IN YTD: 105 yards

OUT YTD: 203 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 98 1/4 yards OUT

Unfortunately for hand stitching, I ignored it half the week.  I find when I have an easy goal, it becomes a little too easy to set aside the hand stitching.  So while I finished one round, I did not make the progress I hoped on the second and skipped my hand stitching for three days.  That brings my total to 328 out of 337 for the year.  It’s fine.  The year end is always crazy, and there are no deadlines for this quilt.  I’ve already been working on it for at least five years, and I estimate at least three more years of it.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Floor Decorations

Absolutely improper floor decorations, but when one does not have a design wall, the floor becomes the gathering space for projects.

My flower garden is currently wind blown (we’ve had violent and shifting winds or two days, so wind blown is an appropriate description for everything around here).  Half of it is assembled and spread over my window seat while the other half is in various bits and pieces.  Assembly is going much more smoothly than I anticipated, so I’m excited to have all the flowers neatly together and pressed.

As my leader and ender in between flowers, I’m working on my last panel to cover my work cart.  There are a few bits of highly treasured fabric in this one, so it will be a great piece to enjoy.

I made good progress in the box of yellow scraps this week, but unfortunately did not finish.  Maybe today?  I suspect I’ll choose the flower garden over the scraps.

I’ve spent a little time pondering my Rainbow Scrap Challenge plans for next year, but I will admit I’m currently drawing a blank.  I certainly need to produce something from my 2” scrap box, as it is full to bursting.

Hopefully today I will also get pictures of my finished quilts and post them soon!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

December UFO List

My lovely triangle quilt was finished this month along with a brand new optical illusion quilt.  I also started and finished a bojagi panel.  There’s another bojagi panel that needs one more row, so it will be an easy December finish.

1. Double wedding ring

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué 

4. Hand hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Flower quilt

7. Blue bojagi panel

November 1: 7 projects

Started: 2

Finished: 2

November 30: 7 projects

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

December Goals

 In November, I had full goals.

1. Quilt my friend’s quilt.  I have already done the stabilizing and quilting for the sashing.  20 blocks to go.  Done.  Due to illness, lingering in my van awaiting delivery. 

2. Scraps: trim and five rounds of hand pieced hexagons.  Done on the 30th!

3.  Process one or two bins of scraps.  I have one large bin and two small that I would like to finish before the end of the year.  Alas, only one.  Processing these scraps requires a million tiny decisions, so it may be a wish to finish both a large and a small bin in the coming month!

4. Finish the blocks for the flower quilt.  Done, and half assembled.

5. Piece the triangle quilt as a leader and ender.  Done!

6. Make a new optical illusion quilt, or make a decision on alternatives.  Splendidly complete, albeit without pictures yet.

December has crept up on me with a plethora of little, not necessarily quilting but definitely sewing related tasks.

1.  Scraps: trim, finish the brown hexagon rounds and start a large star, and process the remaining scrap bins (gulp).

2.  Finish the flower garden quilt.

3.  Mending.  I do not enjoy mending, but I have a growing pile.

4.  Tie dye for a Christmas gift.

5.  Maybe make a yellow stocking.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

November Block Count

 Creating an entire quilt from start to finish in a month is unusual for me, but so I did this month.  I made 92 individual strips from my strip sets from my optical illusion quilt.  Additionally, I made a triangle quilt with 20 rows, a bojagi panel with 12 or so sections, and the last 67 blocks for my flower garden quilt.  That brings me to a total of 191 blocks for the month and 2121 blocks for the year.

December is not looking like a block making month, but instead an assembly month.  We shall see.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #47

 The stash report has seen some drastic changes this week.  I finished two quilts and a Bojagi panel!  On one hand, I’m so excited to have wrapped up several projects, but 11 1/2 yards to go before the end of December still feels like a lofty goal.  I may need to purge some more unloved fabric.

Of course, assembling and quilting my flower garden quilt will help towards my goal.  I will be focusing on it in December, so it’s time to get busy.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 17 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 105 yards

OUT YTD: 198 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 93 1/2 yards OUT

I finished one round of brown hexagons and excellent progress on a second, for 324 of 330 days for 2022. Woohoo!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Flower Garden, Nearly Complete

My pictures are glimpses of chaos and the state of being in progress.  I have one quilt soaking, one in a pile waiting for me to stitch down the binding, and the third is waiting for four more blocks for me to assemble it.

First, awaiting binding:

I don’t have a picture of it after this point, but at least it shows the lovely illusion and my successful quilting.  I’m thrilled.

Ya!  I forgot I pressed and starched my Bojagi panels this week.  Their middles were a bit limp and wadded from all the kids coming in and out all day long. 

Then we have the blocks awaiting their buddies and then assembly.  The Assistant helped with layout and final block decisions last night.  She did reject a handful of filler blocks, or I would be done.  That’s okay; there were not lovely attempts to find different filler blocks,

The sheet I used to lay out blocks is one I have been using for as long as I can remember.  When we were little, my older sister and I were experts at creating dresses from sheets.  Over the years, it became my favorite way to organize lots of blocks, and even if it’s wearing thin, there are no holes yet!

Finally, my triangle quilt is completed.  Alas, it’s soaking, so I have no glamour photos yet.  The sparkly thread worked well, and even if the Assistant and I decided it doesn’t convey the image we wanted (and she still doesn’t like the brown triangles), it’s a lovely quilt all the same.

While it would be lovely to imagine that I could finish the last blocks AND finish binding the quilt, I suspect that won’t happen.  Still, I aim to make good progress!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

 

Stash Report Week #46

 FOUR spools of thread ran out on me this week.  That brings my total spools for the year to 37.

I did not finish any quilts this week, but as I finished quilting my triangle quilt today, there is hope for the coming week.

I missed one day of hand stitching.  I was wrapped up in other projects and too tired by nightfall to worry about the hexagons.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Developments in Fabric

 I was not able to work this week as two of my littles had a stomach bug.  Alas on earning money, but I spent the time quilting, so I’ll take the positive view.

I find this lovely flower quilt, due to its requiring many decisions, tends to get put aside easily.  Fortunately, I cut a pile of blocks, and they developed nicely in between the noisy demands of the other two quilts of the the week.

My triangles are happily a flimsy.  I even spent time last night piecing the backing and the white batting and special thread have arrived.  Thanksgiving week will be a great time to get it quilted.  The changes in prominence between the quilt in person and in a photo are always intriguing.  It’s a small quilt, roughly 43”x59”, but just right for a random idea and it will make a good car quilt.  The weather has been bitterly cold lately, after too much warmth in September and October, and the cars are COLD!

Finally, most importantly, I am almost done piecing the optical illusion quilt.  I have burned through four spools of thread, destroyed an ironing board cover, sprayed an entire bottle of starch, and bought new pins to replace all the bent ones.  The red and blue threads and fuzz are everywhere.  The quilt?  It’s fabulous.  I’m really pleased with the outcome, and making a second one is helping me wrap my mind around how to make adaptations in the future.  I don’t think my brain is quite done with optical illusions.

Happy Thanksgiving early, if you celebrate, and if not, a happy and healthy week to you!  I’ll be linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Weeks 44-45 and 15 Minutes

 I’m up to 33 spools of thread used for the year, but no stash changes.

On the hand piecing front, I pieced every day of the last two weeks, giving me 311 of 316 days for 2022.  It seems it was another week with plenty of waiting time, as I even made good progress on a second round for the week.

I need to get to bed!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Saturday Happenings

 I need to finish cutting up this box of scraps today.

I have been diverted from my flowers and triangles by the arrival of the necessary navy blue.  Therefore, I am busy sewing large strips sets.  The Assistant has informed me she has no idea what I’m trying to do, but she’ll trust me that I know what I’m doing. My best bet is to keep sewing and start cutting as soon as possible!

 

It’s 22 F outside, so I hustled through morning chores outside as quickly as possible, and we have a cheerful fire in the stove, so it’s a good morning to focus on sewing!  I hope your Rainbow Scrap Challenge Saturday is equally full of lovely things.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Chaos, Controlled

 In case you missed my finished bojagi curtains, here’s a link to a picture.

What did I do this week?  Unfortunately, I spent a large amount of the week dealing with c*vid.  Oy.  It would appear my husband brought it home last weekend, but he tested negative the one time I tested him.  On Wednesday, I brought five kids home from school, found BJ was positive, and discovered Spunky and I were the only negative tests.  No one is desperately ill, mostly like nasty colds, but the Assistant is pretty uncomfortable.

The funeral for my best friend’s dad is today, and I can’t go.

I did sew.  My goal each day was to sew enough flowers that I finished a row of my triangle quilt as my leader and ender.

This month is either for assembly or blacks and browns in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have plenty of brown in my flowers, and there are a few brown triangles in my quilt, so that may be it.  Next year, I definitely need to address my 2” scrap box, as it’s now filled to overflowing.  My 2.5” scrap box is tidy, as it is all full length strips, bricks, squares, or triangles, no partial strips.  We won’t discuss my 1.5” box, which is in better shape than the 2” box, but never ever seems to empty either!

I hope to take a lovely long walk today after the roads dry up a bit (2.5” makes for gloriously wet fields) and sew more flowers and triangles.  I hope you are all well!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

November UFO List

Woohoo!  The numbers are staying small.  I started two projects, a triangle quilt and Bojagi panels.  I finished two, my bow ties and the bojagi curtains.  I’m happy with that, although I feel like I need a giant reorganization of my closet.  We’ve already done that at least twice since moving here, but my closet serves many purposes, so it’s easy to get out of hand.

 1. Double wedding ring

2. Pillow

3. ABC appliqué 

4. Hand hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Flower quilt

7. Triangles

October 1: 7 projects

Started: 2

Finished: 2

October 31: 7 projects

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

November Goals

 October was, in retrospect, less chaotic than the preceding months.

1. Scraps: trim, hand hexagons (5 rounds?), wrap up my bow ties.  Done.

2.  Process green scraps.  That will leave me with three bins to sort for the rest of the year.  Done.

3.  Flower Garden quilt.  I’d love to start my pastel triangles quilt, but we shall see.  Many new blocks, but many still to go.  It’s a meandering creative energy for this one, and it doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to be done.  I did start the pastel triangles quilt in the end.

I also created my three bojagi panels for the sewing room divider as well as a smaller one for my cart.

November goals won’t be too grand, as I’m enjoying the bursts of creative energy that leads in unexpected directions.

1. Quilt my friend’s quilt.  I have already done the stabilizing and quilting for the sashing.  20 blocks to go.

2. Scraps: trim and five rounds of hand pieced hexagons

3.  Process one or two bins of scraps.  I have one large bin and two small that I would like to finish before the end of the year.

4. Finish the blocks for the flower quilt.

5. Piece the triangle quilt as a leader and ender.

6. Make a new optical illusion quilt, or make a decision on alternatives.  I need an order of fabric (eek) to arrive, as I’ve tried multiple blues and all of them have been wrong.  Alas.  Finishing it might be too bold a hope, but I definitely want to make significant progress on it.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

October 350 Block Count

 Happy Halloween, however you celebrate (or don’t!).  BJ is having a flare or is ill, so his trick or treating was confined to the many outside doors on our farm.  At 3, he’s too little to care, as long as he gets some candy!

The block count surprised me this month with a total of 134 new blocks.  That brings my total to 1930 for the year, with 4 bow tie blocks, 85 flower blocks, and 45 Bojagi blocks/chunks/rows.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #43

 I was doing so well this week, but then the Assistant requested a quilt for another friend, and the design we settled on required yardage.  Alas for the stash report.

I did finish my Bojagi panels for my sewing room, the bow tie quilt, and another small Bojagi panel.  Will I use another 30 yards before the end of the year?  That is quite a challenge.  I do have the flower quilt, the triangle quilt, and a new optical illusion currently in the works, which I assume will yield close to 30 yards.  I suppose I should ban myself and my daughters from any new starts that require purchases before the end of the year!

IN this week: 8 yards

OUT this week: 9 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 105 yards 

OUT YTD: 181 yards

YTD Total: 76 yards OUT

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Here, There, Everywhere

I have a finished scrap quilt for the week.  Even the backing is scrappy this time.  Usually I attempt to coordinate my backing, but this time it’s chaos!  In the end, it’s a very cheerful quilt (even if the early morning picture is a bit darker than reality), and I think I already have a new home in mind.

Meanwhile, the Assistant and I have laid out a new quilt.  This should work pretty well as a leader ender if I can keep it organized by row and roll up the rest.  We’re having interesting conversations about the brown triangles.  The Assistant wants them gone, but Spunky and I like them.

In green news, I am making another Bojagi panel for hanging over the shelves in my sewing room.  I often just pin up extra fabric, but my large pieces of fabric are dwindling, and I have plenty of scraps.

 from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #42 and 15 Minutes

 For the first time in months, I missed a day of hand stitching.  290 of 295 days is quite lovely, and I caught up on my hand pieced hexagon Saturday morning.

The second Bojagi panel was completed on Friday.  This will be the third in the “series,” but I left the first until last as I am the most uncomfortable with the making of it.  It is well underway, and the bow ties quilt is patiently asking me to quilt it as soon as I can.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 2 yards

IN YTD: 97 yards

OUT YTD: 171 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 74 1/2 yards OUT

I am so glad I will have no work this week; I need the mental and physical energy not sucked out of me for one week.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Spring Colors in the Fall

 I thought I didn’t accomplish much this week until I started taking photos.

Despite a few hiccups (I didn’t “math” well), my bow ties are in one piece, the backing pieced (ahem, too small initially), the flimsy basted (again, math with the batting), and all my errors corrected.  I theoretically could have quilted it, but I had my Bojagi panels to possess my time.

My second panel is, alas, not quite light green, but it is constructed of more precious scraps, mostly hand dyes from Vicki.  I’m confident I could write quite a long post about this new project, but suffice it to say I finished the second panel.  One more to go.

The flower quilt has plenty of light green fabric, so much so that I may run out of light green before the end of the month.  I’m excited to lay out the current blocks with the Assistant and see how we’re doing.

Finally, I should have finished this brown round easily this week, but I missed a day of hand stitching due to scheduling and exhaustion.  I plan to go for a walk while it’s still cool, and then I’ll try to finish this.

On that note, I’m going to wrap up my post and get busy! I hope to visit Rainbow Scrap Challenge blogs after my chores are done.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #41 and 15 Minutes

 Another early morning is here since BJ seems to think 5 am is wake up time!

Hand stitching went well this week, with another hexagon round finished.  With 284 of 288 days of 2022 involving hand stitching, it’s been a great year of hexagon progress.  I’m definitely interested in a new/different hand piecing project, so when this project becomes less portable at the assembly stage, I’ll be thrilled with a change of pace.  Also, can we talk about how we’re approaching 300 days of 2022 being gone.  Where has this year gone?!

I finished off two spools of thread, for a total of 29.  Considering that I began the year using a spool a week, I’m relieved the pace slowed down.  I want to use up old thread, not run out completely.

Hanging the first bojagi panel for my sewing room means I get to count some yardage out.  I’m estimating two yards used for each panel.  The bow ties are now pinned into two sections, so it won’t be long before I count them out too.  I’m relieved to find I like them better now that they are mostly assembled.  They’re quite cheerful.  One yard of pale pink arrived this week from the previous order; I didn’t realize I was missing anything!

IN this week: 1 yard

OUT this week: 2 yards

IN YTD: 97 yards

OUT YTD: 169 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 72 1/2 yards OUT

With 2.5 months left, I need to use at least 25 more yards without buying anything to (re)meet my goal for stash numbers.  I have a large stack of various red yardage chunks but haven’t found a pattern that sings yet.  What does one do with quantities of red?

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Detour

I started off the week with great focus, cutting nine more flower blocks, including light green bits, and even sewed up seven of them.  This pre-dawn photo is particularly unglamorous, but the neutral/light blocks are going to be splendid in the grand scheme of the quilt.

We could say sewing took a major detour?  We’re finally having cool mornings, so having the iron on for an extended stretch of time is no longer torturous.  This led to a new project, Bojagi panels.  Strictly speaking, since these aren’t cloths intended for wrapping, they aren’t Bojagi, but they are inspired by and could be considered a wrapping for my sewing room.  Anyway… blue scraps…

The sewing method leaves all seams enclosed, so I don’t need lining or quilting, and they are hopefully going to give a lovely stained glass impression when light shines through them from either direction.

I’ve already picked more scraps for the next two panels.  We’ll see if I can at least wrap up my bow ties as I pieced my bojagi panels.

My bow ties area quickly forming into a quilt.  I don’t really enjoy cutting and piecing them, so I called it quits after 120 and began sewing them together at random.  They will be a lovely lap/car quilt to give away, and I’ll continue searching for my next convenient leader and ender project.  

My 1” scraps are accumulating into an alarming pile, so they are high on the list to consider.

It’s only 6:15 and I’ve been awake since 3:45, so maybe it’s about time to start sewing.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge day, so maybe I’ll find my new leader and ender in the link up!