Stash Report Week #30 and 15 Minutes

 This year, the handwork is never the problem.  Even on vacation, I brought my yeouijumun with me and worked on it daily.  The statistics remain at 100%, with 210 of 210 days.  I had hoped to finish attaching the fourth “row” of my hexagon, but I’m a little short.  Still, it’s fantastic progress for two months.

I did visit a new quilt shop on our vacation, so a splendid stack of fat quarters came home with me.

IN this week: 3 1/4 yards

OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 30 3/4 yards

OUT YTD: 64 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 33 1/2 yards OUT

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Nothing Red to Report

 I have no red sewing photos for the week.  Sunday and Monday were a flurry of travel preparations, and Tuesday through Friday we were on a short trip to Colorado.  Today I went on a 15 mile hike for Q’s merit badge, and I’m afraid I cut out clothes for a funeral next weekend instead of sewing anything red.

While we were away, I did spend time each day on sewing together my pieces for yeouijumunbo (wish-fulfilling jewel) or cathedral windows.  I’m not sure what this piece wants to become, but it gives me time to practice tidying up my stitches.

Yellow will be quiet next month too - I already made my 16 patches and doubt there will be many box blocks.  It’s probably good as I need to get back into my classroom, go school supply shopping, and otherwise figure out the school year.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #29 and 15 Minutes

 For good or ill, there were no finished projects last week, so my stash report remains unchanged.  It’s a good thing Vicki is going on vacation soon, as it encourages me to delay my order (and the math involved in the decision making process).

I did plenty of hand sewing this week, so I’m another week closer to the day I can count out all the fabric involved in my hexagon quilt.  I think I might dye my own backing for it - or I’ll order a fabulous backing from Vicki, since the front is all her fabrics as well.  I continue my perfect record for 2023, 203 days of 203 days have contained hand stitching.  I don’t think I’ve ever sewed every day this far into the year.

On with the day!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Progress

I don’t have any red sewing this week, so I’ll show up my Rainbow hexagons.  Here’s my progress since starting to assemble it in June.  While it might look small in the picture, I do believe this will be a king sized quilt by the time I finish!  As I assemble, I can see my stitches have gotten smaller and more regular.

Q is working on his hiking merit badge for Boy Scouts, so I was on a 10 mile hike with him and other scouts early this morning.  We were all exhausted by the time we were done, and next week we are doing a 15 mile hike!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

Stash Report Week #28 and 15 Minutes

 I am pleased to have finished the second bojagi panel for my cutting board and found several yards to donate from my stash.  I am trying to weed out the fabrics I always pass over (or make something with them).

On the other end of the stash usage, I did bring in four yards to dye with indigo which I cut into fat quarters.  Oddly enough, despite submerging each fat quarter a different number of times/amount of time, they all resulted in the same color.  I don’t know what I’ll make with fabric, but I suspect I should soak them one more time if I decide to put them with something white/light.

IN this week: 4 yards

OUT this week: 5 yards

IN YTD: 27 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 64 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 37 yards OUT

I have nothing to finish for a while now, but I am off to sew together more hexagons!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Summer Rains

It has been such a strange year.  We usually have heavy rains in May and early June, and then nothing until September or later.  Yesterday, we had another dumping rain.  I won’t complain about the rain, but the humidity certainly does suck my enthusiasm for the outdoors right out of me!  I work early and then stay inside.

Yesterday, I took another online class for sewing, this one about Jewel Pattern or Cathedral Window.  Yes, I already know how to make one, roughly, but I enjoy the history, Korean vocabulary, and stitching tricks and techniques.  Since I’m 90% self taught over the last 30 years, there are plenty of improvements I could make.  I made this little piece (about 5” square) and I think when we head to Colorado for a few days, I’ll take the pieces to make more.  (My hexagons have definitely reached the not-portable stage.)

 I finished the second Bojagi curtain for my cutting station.  When I take class, this is visible behind me, and I wanted a quieter option than the blue and purple ones.  This area doubles as storage for the kids’s screens, and they had trouble with the ties on the previous curtains, so I needed a better option.

I did make one lonely red 16 patch this week.  It’s funny how few red scraps I have.

What will the next week bring for red scraps?  I’ll have a few more box blocks in red, but that’s about it.  The Assistant has a pinafore she wants to create, and I have a shirt I want to try, so we may have other kinds of sewing for a bit.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z

 

Finished Quilt: a Wedding Quilt

Compared to finishing some of my recent quilts, this one was a breeze.  It laid flat, the color catchers seem to have caught all my loose dye, and my quilting was uneventful.

It might be hard to tell from the photos, but each column is a mix of two adjacent colors: orange and red, then orange and yellow, then yellow and green, and so on.  I didn’t want it to be too rigid, but I also have a hard time throwing down blocks at random and leaving it alone.

Finishing at roughly 80” x 88”, this quilt is destined for my sister’s niece as a wedding gift.  Since neither of us had any idea of decor preferences, I used what I had: a rainbow of scraps!  I always assume if a gift doesn’t fit their decor, it can be used as a car quilt, for picnics, or for extras when company comes.

I love the backing.  Last summer we poured the extra green and yellow (and possibly blue?) dyes into a tub with this fabric, so the result was of course unpredictable.  It’s interesting enough on its own that the quilt could be flipped over for display on this side as well.

I am still favoring straight line quilting with this type of block.  I don’t want to distort the straight lines of the fabric and other than meanders, I don’t have any great skill in curved lines.

My bag of 2.5” squares is less full, but definitely not empty yet, so I will have more 16 patch quilts to come later in the year!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

June Block Count

 Whew.  Why does it take me so long to write this post sometimes?  Probably because it’s a multiple step process, as I want to link up to Prairie Moon Quilts’ 350 Block Challenge.  I should really stop the pursuit of unrealistic perfection from stopping me.  

I finished 85 blocks this month, for a total of 731 for 2023.  I made 26 box blocks, 29 16 patches, 12 “rows” to a tree skirt, 4 yeouijumunbo blocks, and 14 jogakbo “sections.”  Some of my stitching is complicated to count!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #27 and 15 Minutes

 Ah, Sunday.  For the first time in ages (think months, maybe even years), I slept until after 7 am.  It was a nice way to begin the day.

Yesterday, after quite a stretch of stitching, I finished my 16 patch quilt.  It will be a wedding gift for my sister’s niece, and I do love giving family and friends (and family of family) quilts.

I also finished my tan Bojagi panel.  It turned out quite as I hoped, and when its twin is made, I will be sure to take a picture of both.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 14 yards

IN YTD: 23 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 59 1/4 yards

YTD Total: 36 yards OUT

I need to complete a few more projects from stash before I can indulge in some hand dyed fabric for a long term project.  As I ponder using stash more responsibly, I’m also trying not to rush finishes just for the sake of buying new fabric.  I have plenty of things to work on with the fabrics at hand.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Many Stitches

I am half way around the binding on my 16 patch quilt.  It has been a very polite quilt, not causing issues at all.  I have a few tiny puckers on the front where lines cross, but that’s an improvement on last sewing, so my piecing and pressing are improving!

I turned my yeouijumun (jewel) piece into a pillow this week, so there were many, many more hand stitches than I planned.  If I hadn’t decided to finish this, I probably would have my binding completed.  It was red, and it had been whispering to me.

I was grateful for no household hiccups this week, and this pleasant status was accompanied by unusual rain for July.  I am so grateful it rained, and it meant a few days off outside work.

I won’t have many red blocks this month, but I did finish four this week.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

Stash Report Week #26 and 15 Minutes

 Alas, no stash changes this week.  I did begin the quilting on my 16 patches, so I am inching closer to 13 more yards out!

My hexagons were in my lap every day this week, so I maintained my perfect record of 182 out of 182 days for 2023.  It’s much slower progress than I imagined, but I clearly hadn’t considered the number of hexagons that need to be joined together!  It will be interesting to see how far I stitch in July.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Persistence

 This was a different kind of busy week and included not having hot water in the main part of our house for the week and some drama with crawling through our crawl space to run wires.  Whew!

This month saw better progress on my hexagon quilt than I thought.  The first two rows are attached, and I will be working on the orange star today!  This is definitely not a portable project, so it lives in my bedroom when I’m not working on it to protect it from sun and little hands.

My box blocks are quite a pile now (over 6” tall!).  I made 26 of the turquoise blocks this month, but have at least that many more to make.  My 2” red scraps are patiently waiting for me to clean up from the water heater drama (which included drywall cutting) to cut them for box blocks as well.  Maybe tomorrow.

I have a new Bojagi piece in the works as well.

My first collection of 16 patches is basted and ready to quilt in the next week.  I already made my red blocks but may have found enough red squares for one more.  I really like how they look together and am glad there’s enough for at least one (probably two) more quilt!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.