Friday, March 31, 2023

March UFO Report

 My UFO list looks pretty chaotic in my notebook.  I started four new projects (a Jogakbo curtain, a jogakbo bag, and two optical illusions), but finished 5 (the Jogakbo projects, V’s quilt, one optical illusion, and my cushions).

March 1: 10 projects
Started: 4
Finished: 5
March 31: 9 projects

1. Double wedding ring
2. Pillow
3. ABC appliqué 
4. Hand hexagons
5. Pink hexagons
6. Boxes
7. 16 patch
8. Optical Illusion #3
9. Optical Illusion #4

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

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Stash Report Week #12 and 15 Minutes

 Hand stitching consumed my time this week - binding and embroidery.  I finished a quilt and a bag and started no new projects!

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 11 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 19 1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 26 1/2 yards
YTD Total: 7 1/4 yards OUT

I definitely worked on hand work every day this week, so I maintain my perfect record for 2023.  I started a new hexagon star, but set it aside to make pages for my stitching book.  I’ll show pictures when it’s complete!

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

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Greening Up



Every year, the creeping of spring surprises me. The henbit, while a weed, does look lovely in the otherwise dead and dismal yard.  I have a few daffodils and crocus as well.  I’ve started the last of my seeds this morning, and we’ve already planted potatoes and onions (and garlic last fall).

I finished my 16 patch blocks in green this week.  At first, I was surprised to find 38, until I remember how much green was chopped up for the green quilt last year.  Three months into the year, I almost have enough 16 patches for a quilt!

This week, I also made a (small) optical illusion.  I used google sheets’ conditional formatting to plot my colors and cutting directions.  I haven’t needed spreadsheet formulas for ages, so I was glad Spunky could teach me a few things.  This little quilt was much more fussy, as strip sets wouldn’t allow me to have lights all the way around.  Still, it’s pieced and I can ponder what to do with it next.

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

 

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Stash Report Week #11 and 15 Minutes

 I finished a small Bojagi panel for my window this week.  I’m quite happy with all the scrappy bits and the light shining through the panel.  It is, regrettably, a little too long for the window, but I’m not willing to cut it.  Once I wash it and it shrinks a bit, I’ll see what happens.


IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 1 yards

IN YTD: 19 1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 15 yards
YTD Total: 4 1/4 yards IN

I remembered to hand stitch every day of spring break despite the crazy of my lovelies being at home.  I’m at 77 of 77 days for 2023.  My pink star is all done, leaving me only two more before I get to plan the layout (and maybe choose a new traveling hand project!).

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

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Spring Break

This week was Spring Break.  In general, it was uneventful.  Miss G went to Colorado with my mom to visit my sister.  We worked in the garden and planted potatoes.  I walked the puppy (a lot).  I quilted straight line for hours and hours!

I’m pondering a new optical illusion variation.  (No, I’m not quite done with them.). Green, of course.  Do I use the dark or light gray?

I quilted my V quilt.  I broke more needles (machine and side threading hand needles) than I have ever broken in a single quilt.  I was trying to be very careful, but still when I shifted the quilt and buried threads, I clearly had issues.  The front intentionally doesn’t show any quilting, so it looks the same.
I do really like the back of the quilt.
My green squares are all in four patches, and some are already sewn into halves.  The stacks are quite large, so I will end the month with another lovely pile of blocks.
I am most pleased by my bojagi panel finish.  I caught it last night before the sun went down, so we can all enjoy the stained glass effect.  Right now, the morning sun is shining through it, and it is equally splendid. The scraps are mostly hand dyes, and I love all the texture.  I learned a new skill, called a bat knot (bakjwi maedup), so there are a few of those too.  I need to put in a lot of practice before these look quite right, but they are a interesting new to me way to use scraps.

Off to do binding!  (And to read some blogs for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge)

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

 

Monday, March 13, 2023

Finished Quilt: Take Two

 Ah, google, thanks for the reversed pictures.

Allow me to present the backing first.  It is a ridiculous sparkly Michael Miller fairy frost, intended for a project that never made it to cutting stage.  The guts of my machine needed a thorough cleaning after quilting.  A strip of purple made the backing just the right size.  You can also see my quilting here, simple arcs through the blue-green pieces.


This version varies from the original in that I flipped the values.  Instead of dark purple with dark blue-green, it was paired with the lightest shade.  I like how it makes blurry the section of the quilt where the middle shades meet.

I also changed my cutting, so the smallest cuts met in the middle instead of the corners.
I’m fairly confident I’m not done with optical illusion quilts just yet, but I think I have a few more projects to finish first!

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

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Stash Report Week #10 and 15 Minutes

 I finished my Take Two (Optical Illusion) quilt this week, but I then purchased 3 yards of black for binding and a future project.  Such is life in a healthy stash, right?  I am still headed in the right direction.

IN this week: 3 yards
OUT this week: 4 yards

IN YTD: 19 1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 14 yards
YTD Total: 5 1/4 yards IN

I used up two spools of thread this week as well, for 7 spools used in 2023.

My pink star is moving along nicely, with over half the final round attached.  I hope to finish it this week! I think my totals are 70 days of 70 days for 2023.

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

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Greens!

Box blocks didn’t get much attention this week in terms of sewing time.  I did get them all cut out.

Most of my sewing time this week was focused on this lovely (not scrappy) flimsy.  I had to remove all the papers and decide on a layout.
I did make a scrappy green backing for it and even cut the batting.  Now, quilting is still up in the air.  I’m sure it will show me all my errors!

I did get all my green 2.5” squares sewn to white squares.  The piles went on forever!  I suspect I may have more green than I had blue or pink.  Hmm.

It’s spring break this week and Spunky turned 15 yesterday, so who knows the chaos this weekend will bring!

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

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Stash Report Week #9 and 15 Minutes

 I finished my cushion covers, so I have I have stash movement in the “right” direction.  I am discovering that I do not have enough variety in my solids for some of the projects I want to do.  Sigh.

IN this week: 0 yards
OUT this week: 2 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 16 1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 10 yards
YTD Total: 6 1/4 yards IN

I also managed to work on hand stitching every day this week, so I’m 63 for 63 days of 2023.

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

Saturday, March 4, 2023

Preparations

 I have less green scraps than I had pink!  I wasn’t expecting that situation, until I remember I did use much of my green stash on Oddments last year.  I love revisiting scraps every year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I also find my selection of green to be rather ugly.  Ha!  I’ll be cutting what I have this weekend along with trying to clean up all the scraps from my V blocks.

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

Friday, March 3, 2023

March Goals

 February, when I sit down to think about it, felt like a whirlwind of a month.  I’m not even quite sure where the time went, but I’m pretty sure there was lots of illness to create chaos.

My goals weren’t huge:

1.  Sew with scraps, as always: trim, make another hand pieced star, make more box blocks and 16 patches in pink.  Done.

2.  Finish or at least make major decisions about my “V” quilt. Blocks made and sewn into pairs.  I’m having a disruptive idea about setting them on point, but at least the blocks themselves are sewn.

3.  If I finish those, I’d like to play with another optical illusion quilt.  I hope to finish quilting it this weekend!

March is off to a good start.
1. Sew with scraps, green this month: trim, make another hand pieced star (not green), box blocks and 16 patches.

2. Finish my optical illusion quilt.  I’m nearly done quilting.

3.  Finish the V quilt.  It will have a scrappy green backing, so it’s a good finish for this month.

4. Finish the cushions!  This was finished on the first of the month, which is great!  I had some 4” foam I cut into squares.

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

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

February UFO Report

 Not finishing anything in a month and starting several new things doesn’t really help the UFO list to grow shorter.  In the end, it’s not a problem, as I finished a project today (of course, not yesterday), finished the blocks for a quilt yesterday, and have another quilt ready to quilt and bind.

1. Double wedding ring
2. Pillow
3. ABC appliqué 
4. Hand hexagons
5. Pink hexagons
6. Boxes
7. 16 patch
8. V quilt
9. Optical Illusion #2
10. Cushions

I started 9 and 10, but finished 10 about an hour ago.  Let’s see what else I can finish in the next few weeks…

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

Plugging Away

Somehow I spent most of this week thinking it was the last week in March.  I’m glad I have another week! I have plenty of purple still to se...