Stash Report Week #16 and 15 Minutes

 The stash report remains unchanged.  I am adding borders and basting a small quilt this week, so I will have a shift in numbers soon.

I finished off not one but two spools of thread this week, for a total of 8 for the year.  I use one spool to wind bobbins and one for threading the machine, but they don’t always run out together.

I remade the missing piece of my hexagon quilt, prepped for the final section, and attached most of the remade piece.  It won’t be long until the quilt too is finished, so my 15 minutes of day has served me well.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #15

 I didn’t buy any fabric this week, so the stash report is unchanged.  I will work on assembling my New York Beauty blocks, and I need to decide what I want for the backing.  It may need to be dyed, for fun.

I finished the next hexagon section and attached it.  It looks quite lovely.  I decided to remake the missing section for the coming week.  It’s so frustrating that I still can’t find it, but I have cleaned and rearranged my sewing room and it hasn’t appeared.  It shouldn’t take long, and I will be relieved to have it finished.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Topsy Turvy

 There’s another illness racing through school, so I have four kids in various stages of itchy rash this weekend!

These are the last pieces for my New York Beauty.  I’m looking forward to assembly, but I also expect it will be challenging.

My pairs of fabrics are slowly becoming four patches.  Hopefully this afternoon I will be able to pour some work into them.  They are so cheerful!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

April Goals

 March goals are even more restrained as it has turned into a busy month.

1. Scraps: trim, purple flower blocks, purple 16 patches.  Done.

2. Finish the rainbow box blocks quilt.  If I finish it, maybe start the final box blocks quilt.  Finished the first, did not start the second.

3.  Attach the small hexagon section and make a large one for the last side.  I am working on the second of three pieces for the last side, so I accomplished this and then some!

4.  Make New York Beauty blocks.  Preferably 5, but at least 3.  I have one block left to make, so I’m doing well.

April Goals.  I don’t know what kind of month April will be.  I already feel overwhelmed but I am actively taking steps to feel less so!

1. Scraps: trim, yellow flower blocks, yellow 16 patches.

2. Finish the last two sections on my hexaon quilt and prepare to redo the section I lost.  I also need to order a backing for it.

3.  Assemble the New York Beauty blocks, dye or piece a backing, and prepare to quilt.  This must be done by the end of school.

4.  If all of the above are easier than I anticipate, I will also work on the last box blocks quilt.

On the “other sewing” front, I want to keep working on my sunset jogakbo.  

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

March Block Count

 March was a productive month for blocks, adding 130 blocks to my count, making the 2024 block count 340.  I made 4 more New York Beauty blocks, 111 purple 16-patches, 4 hexagon “pieces”, and 11 flowers.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #14

 I bought another scrap piece of white fabric this week.  I’ve already cut the entire piece and used it with my yellow scraps for 16 patch quilts.

IN this week: 3/4 yard

OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 10 yards

OUT YTD: 19 3/4 yards

YTD Total: 9 3/4 yards OUT

My hexagons are moving along nicely, with good work done every day.  I will be ready to attach this section by the end of the week, leaving me only one border section and one partial section that I lost last year.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Spring Fire

The farmers and ranchers around us are busily burning fields and for whatever reason, this year the smoke is dreadful.  I’ve taken to wearing a mask when I go outdoors as the smoke definitely contributes to my migraines.  Yesterday, that meant I settled into working on my New York Beauty blocks.

 I’m only making one more block, and then I will assemble and quilt.  The sewing of these blocks takes a lot of brain space/capacity, and I need some brain space back.  I am glad I tried them, and sometime, when the demands of life are a little less, I will try again for a bigger quilt.

I sorted all my yellow fabrics and have worked hard on sewing them together.  I feel so behind this week (that has become my refrain, which means I still need to work on balance), but I also rationally know I have time if I just focus.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

March UFO Report

The UFO report has an addition.  I forget, lately, to add projects when I start them.  I started the flowers in February, but left them off the list.

March 1: 8 projects

Started: 1

Finished: 0

March 31: 9

1. Double wedding ring

2. Brown pillow

3.  ABC appliqué*

4.  Hand pieced hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Box blocks

7. 16 patches

8. New York Beauty

9. Flowers

It’s April Fool’s Day, and I’m hoping for a minimum of pranks from my littles!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Weeks #12-13 and 15 Minutes

 Alas, other than finishing off a spool of thread, making 6 for the year, I had no stash changes.

I did work on my hexagons every day for my 15 minutes over the last two weeks.  I have all the hexagons basted for the next section, and I’ve started connecting them.

And on we go.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Here, There, Everywhere

I’m grateful we have extra days off for Easter.  I had a nightmare last night that I didn’t get anything ready for Easter baskets for the kids!  I’ve had years where I put lots of energy into preparing for holidays, but that’s not the truth lately.  Miss G and Sneaky Pete helped me fill the baskets this morning (my kids don’t mind the baskets not being surprises), I baked the dessert for Easter, and later we’ll dye eggs with C, my nephew in college near us.  None of the other cousins are in the state, so we don’t see them often.

I did finish another center block.  Their odd angles and sizes make me nervous, but they’ve really gone together so much better than my first blocks.  The teacher I want to give this quilt to is definitely leaving the school this year, so the time crunch has officially arrived!  I think I’ll see what size I can make with the blocks I already have, maybe make a few more in April, and spend May quilting.

My purple 16 patch blocks made great progress this week.  I hope I can finish making them by Sunday evening, but we shall see.  I have one purple butterfly fabric that may end up in every single block.  It’s apparently one of this delightfully pesky fabrics that never disappears!

I hope your Saturday is full of fabric and that, if you celebrate Easter, it is holy and happy!

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 sew for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Today I’m going to try to make all these pieces into 4 patches.  There are many more purple scraps than red!

I did finish nine flower blocks, and today I’ll finish the last two.  I’m glad they are easier to piece than the New York Beauty blocks but harder than the 16 patch blocks.  I like variety.

 My bojagi has a little bit of purple in it too.

This block was much easier than I thought, so I’m facing the next center block this week.  There are so many pieces!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #11 and 15 Minutes

 I finished my box blocks quilt this week, so the stash report is back in the area I prefer it to be.  I love to buy new fabric, but I am spend more time these days thinking about environmental impact and spending my money wisely, so I do want to use what I have.  I can see, by the stacks in my closet, that the prints are slowly dwindling and the hand dyed collection is growing.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 4 1/4 yards

IN YTD: 9 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 19 3/4 yards

YTD Total: 10 1/2 yards OUT

I have lots of hand work these days, both the hexagon quilt and a ramie bojagi, so the 15 minutes a day was no problem.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Patchwork in Purple

 Alas, spring break is almost over.  I think everyone at my house enjoyed the reprieve from regular scheduling!

I sorted and started sewing my 2.5” bricks into blocks.  I am always amazed at how much I can make from my scrap boxes and yet, they never empty.

The strips from16 patches seem to be going on forever.  I still haven’t finished sewing and cutting the initial strips.  Maybe today.

I did finish this quilt from my box blocks.  There will be one more in blue, and I know my 2” strip box is still full, just not packed as tight as at the beginning of last year.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #10 and 15 Minutes

 I stopped at the Hobby Lobby remnant section again on Saturday, so I brought home another yard of white, and I also received some fun Hangul fabric to make a skirt.  I have binding to stitch down on a quilt in the coming week, so I'll push my numbers back in the right direction.

IN this week: 4 yards

OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD Total: 9 1/4 yards

OUT YTD Total: 15 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 6 1/4 yards OUT

On the 15 minutes front, I worked on my hexagons all week.  Despite it being another chaotic week, I finally finished attaching a section, basted all the hexagons for the next section, and have many of them into sections.  I hope with spring break this week that I'm able to get it assembled and maybe (I can hope!) assembled.  The girls and I are watching a Korean drama together over break, so while I do have to watch the subtitles, I should be able to get plenty of stitching time in.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

 

Reprieve

It’s finally Spring Break.  I’ve whinged about the long days and weeks, but they really were extraordinarily “extra.”  The coming week has no school, and while I will undoubtedly have moments of being overwhelmed by their noise, my kids and I are all ready for a week of less activity.

My big goal for Spring Break is to get a large Bojagi laid out for piecing.  I spend last weekend cutting the first strips, and I subcut them during this week, but I will have to cut many more before I’m done.  At least I have enough to start organizing.

Miss G is kindly sorting my purple strips this morning so I can piece them more easily next week.

I sorted my 2.5” bricks for flowers.  They will be easy to piece over spring break too.

Finally, today I need to finish quilting this quilt.  I’m about 75% done, and I’m not choosing a complicated pattern, so that’s my plan for this morning.

 from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

March Goals

 February goals were simple, I thought, but I still didn’t finish all of them.

1.  Trim scraps, work on the next 3-4 filler hexagon pieces (the smaller ones!), make 16 patches and flowers from red scraps, and finish the aqua and grey box blocks.  Done except for attaching the 4th hexagon section.

2.  Dye fabric.  I know what I need to do now to design some fabric, but first, it requires making the designs I want.  I love the texture of hand-dyed print in bojagi.  Dyed a lot of fabric.  It was lovely!

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.  I finished 3.

Stretch goals: 

1. Continue the chemistry of dyeing workshop.  Continued

2.  Post a quilt for sale on my etsy page. Done.

3.  Make a drafted bojagi.  Nope

March goals are even more restrained as it has turned into a busy month.

1. Scraps: trim, purple flower blocks, purple 16 patches.

2. Finish the rainbow box blocks quilt.  If I finish it, maybe start the final box blocks quilt.

3.  Attach the small hexagon section and make a large one for the last side.

4.  Make New York Beauty blocks.  Preferably 5, but at least 3.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

February UFO Report

I realized last week that I never added my New York Beauty blocks to my UFO list. Oops!  I didn’t really add a new project this month, but I need to count it, so my UFO list increased by one.

I need to finish the box blocks before I tackle the ABC appliqué quilts, but I would like to get both of my list before the end of 2024!

1. Double wedding ring

2. Brown pillow

3.  ABC appliqué*

4.  Hand pieced hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Box blocks

7. 16 patches

8. New York Beauty

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Patience

It is hard for me when life is so full of extra activities that I don’t have time to sew as much, and this was one of those week.  Unfortunately, next week looks to be even worse, but at least I know I have Spring Break the week after.

Relinquishing goals, even (or maybe particularly?) self-imposed ones is always frustrating.  I am trying to be less annoyed and more accepting.  Life is just busy.  

I have lots of unfinished goals this week.  I didn’t get this flimsy basted, but I am glad I have a flimsy, backing, and batting ready to go.  I love how nicely the scraps play together.  I did laugh when I noticed several places where the same fabric touches.  How many dozens of fabrics are in this quilt, and I still didn’t sort them “right”!

 I ran out of red scraps, so I reverted to green for the week, with most of my lighter green scraps sewn into strip sets for 16 patches.  I’m away for the weekend, but it will be nice to pull out the purple scraps when I get home Sunday.  I do love purple.

I didn’t finish my New York Beauty block for the week either.  The evenings, when I usually sit down and sew while Spunky does homework on my ironing board, were full of meetings and events.

I ran out of time to attach my hexagon section too, so I’ll have to finish it next week.  I do have all the pieces cut for the next section, so I’ll work on those.

February Block Count

 February was significantly busy with “real life,” so my block count dropped accordingly.  I added them up incorrectly three times before I got it right!  I made 71 blocks, 3 New York Beauty, 39 16-patches, 13 hexagon sections, and 17 flowers.  That brings my total to 210 blocks for 2024!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #9

 The week was too busy to finish things, so the stash report remains unchanged.

IN YTD: 5 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 15 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 10 1/4 yards OUT

I did finish the next hexagon section and got it halfway attached before it was time to leave home for the weekend.  I have the hexagons for the next section with me, so I’ll get a good start on it.  I did remember to stitch every day.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #8

 Quiet is the report: no finishes, no purchases.

I’ve dyed lots of fabric, but since it all was counted last year when I purchased the bolt, I don’t have to keep track now!

I’ve continued to work on the hexagons daily.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Discombobulation

There are too many things going on (that seems to be my perpetual state lately).  I am trying to take things off my plate, but dealing with medical issues, a graduating senior (gasp) things, work… all the things… it’s hard.

My sewing is also all over the place.

I laid out another set of box blocks from last year.  I have just enough for two more lap or large baby quilts.  They’re so cheerful!

I made 38 red 16 patches.  Since they ran out before I finished the New York Beauty block for the week, I dug out the rest of my green scraps and started on them.
 

I finished my block for the week.  I need to starch and properly press each of these, but I won’t do that until I’m ready to sew them together.  No need to do it twice!

I have the next section ready to attach.  I got distracted midweek, or it would already be atttached.  If I finish one more section next week, I will only have the final side of my quilt to finish.  That means it’s almost time to think about the backing!

Miss G has class at 11, so my goal is to finish as many things on my list as possible before then.  Off to work!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #7 and 15 Minutes

 I purchased nothing and finished nothing, so the stash report remains unchanged.

I worked on my hexagons every day, so much that I fully completed one section and have most of the hexagons basted for the next.

I’m having lots of thoughts about resources and purchases.  I don’t where any of those thoughts are taking me, but they are there as I play with fabric and thread.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Power Outage

We started the morning by loosing power.  Since it’s 14 F outside, we had a bit of a scramble to start sinks dripping, build a fire in the fireplace, and bundle up under blankets and sweaters.  Fortunately, power is back on (or I wouldn’t have a post today).

I have an idea I’m playing with, and its execution requires lots of fabric texture.  Of course, I had to dye some silk scarves too, as it’s always a surprise what they look like.

Silk scarves

Fat quarters for my dye book

Texture, texture, texture.

And I need fabrics in purple too, so this is the batch that is resting and will be rinsed later today.

I did play with red scraps as well.  I have 20+ 16 patches finished with a small stack still to pin and stitch.  I think there are 14 flowers so far, with maybe 3 more to sew up.  My red scraps definitely are not as abundant as green.  They are quite cheerful, so they counteract our recent cloudy days nicely.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #6 and 15 Minutes

I finished my aqua and grey box blocks quilt this week, so the stash report has a nice shift this week.  I also visited a “quilt shop” where they buy fabric from estates, closed quilt stores, or fabrics that didn’t sell in quilt shops, sort them, and sell for much below market price.  It was a little overwhelming, but I knew what I was looking for (neutrals), and picked a few more pretties to bring home.  Next time I need to shop for a quilt, I will definitely go here before shopping online.

 IN this week: 5 1/4 yards

OUT this week: 8 1/2 yards

IN YTD: 5 1/4 yards

OUT YTD: 15 1/2 yards

YTD Total: 10 1/4 yards OUT

I worked hard on my hexagons and had plenty of waiting time this week, so I haven’t broken my perfect streak yet of 15 minutes a day.  I finished and attached the next unit and will definitely finish another before the end of the week.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Lunar New Year

It’s been quite a week.  Despite today being a busy day, I’m relieved it’s Saturday.

I completely finished and attached a side hexagon section.  These are so much easier and faster than the top and bottom.  I have not found the missing section,

After I finished my New York Beauty block for the week, I was able to start on my red bricks.  I have a large pile of this particular red, leftover from my V quilt.

I also turned all my little red squares into four patches.

I finished last week’s New York Beauty block and a simpler one for this week.

Today, my little people have my day full: a trip to the model train shop, a project meet up with a classmate, a birthday party, and tonight DH and I have a retirement party to attend.  I must admit, parties still feel strange and a little dangerous since the beginning of the pandemic.  At least the basketball season is almost over, so there’s no game today.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

February Goals

January goals were pretty simple:

1. Trim scraps, work on the next 1-2 hexagon filler pieces, make 16 patches from green scraps, and make a quilt from the RSC 2023 box blocks.  All done.

2.  Dye fabric.  I worked on several pieces.  The scarves aren't done, but I'm still learning how silk takes colors different from cotton.

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.  Yay!  Done!

Stretch goal:  take a workshop on fabric dyeing (done), another on Korean thimbles (also done and five thimbles made), and order materials (also done).

February goals are staying simple too.

1.  Trim scraps, work on the next 3-4 filler hexagon pieces (the smaller ones!), make 16 patches and flowers from red scraps, and finish the aqua and grey box blocks.

2.  Dye fabric.  I know what I need to do now to design some fabric, but first, it requires making the designs I want.  I love the texture of hand-dyed print in bojagi.

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.

Stretch goals: 

1. Continue the chemistry of dyeing workshop.

2.  Post a quilt for sale on my etsy page.

3.  Make a drafted bojagi.

UFO Report

 Apparently I didn’t wrap up my UFO report well for the year, but we can start fresh here.  I added smaller 16 patches for 2024.  I have at least two more quilts to make from all the box blocks I made in 2023, but I may take a break for the rest of February to get my red scraps stitched up.

January 1: 6 projects

Started: 1

Finished: 0

January 31: 7 projects

1. Double wedding ring

2. Brown pillow

3.  ABC appliqué*

4.  Hand pieced hexagons

5. Pink hexagons

6. Box blocks

7. 16 patches 

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

January 350 Blocks

 The first month of January is over.  I started off with a large pile of blocks: 4 New York Beauty blocks, 5 partial blocks for the edge of my hexagon quilt, and 130 green 16 patches, for a total of 139 for the month.

I also made a scissor case, a project bag, and several thimbles.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #5 and 15 Minutes

 While I worked on my hexagons every day this week, I also lost a section for the first time.  I found my missing hairbrush and the stack of Hanji paper that I spent an hour searching for, but this piece is still gone.  Alas. 

In quilting my box blocks quilt, I finished off my fourth spool of thread for the year.  Unfortunately, I still have three sides left to stitch down, so the stash report remains unchanged.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Whinging

Catholic Schools Week always brings an extra measure of chaos to our lives.  The extra crazy dress down days combined with a lack of regular schedule wreaks havoc on the nervous systems of my kids (and me!).  I am all kinds of discombobulated this week.

Despite having significantly less red scraps than green, I didn’t make much progress on my new blocks.  This is mainly because it took me four days to quilt my box blocks quilt.  It also means I finished very little of my New York Beauty block for the week, despite a promising end of last week.

Here’s my whinging for the week: I LOST a piece of my hexagon quilt, for the first time in all the years I’ve worked on it.  I can remember working on the inner pieces Monday night, but by Wednesday I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I called the dentist (hello, complicated root canal) and checked everywhere at school, and have tidied my sewing room repeatedly.  What did I do with it?  For now, I’ll set aside the right fabrics so that if it doesn’t turn up, I will remake it.  I’m so annoyed with myself (and full well recognize this is what stress does to my brain!).

I have a binding to stitch down while Miss G tries a new class this weekend - aerial silks.  She’s hypermobile and climbs everything, so she’s excited to go.

Off to the chaos!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

Stash Report Week #4 and 15 Minutes

 Since I finished my little quilted pouch, so I have a 1/4 yard of fabric out for the week.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 1/4 yard

IN YTD: 0 yards

OUT YTD: 7 yards

YTD Total: 7 yards OUT

I also finished off another spool, so I’ve already used three spools of thread for the year.

The hand hexagons continue to move along nicely.  I’ll be ready to attach the newest piece by the end of the week.  So far this year I haven’t missed a day.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Busy Days

Life has been full of a lot of bits and pieces of tasks lately.  Yesterday I picked up a side of beef and spent some time making room in the freezers for it!

I finished all my green blocks.  There are 130 in this box!  I even pulled out my others greens as I had nothing else to sew, but I will swap out for reds at some point this weekend.

 I have plenty to do today to, so I’m off!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

Stash Report Week #3 and 15 Minutes

 There’s not much to report this week.  I didn’t finish anything, so the stash report is still the same.  I did pass through the fabric aisle at Walmart and sternly reminded myself I wouldn’t like the cream/white fabric in the clearance section when I washed something with excess dye in it.  Why are some fabrics magnets for loose dye?

I worked on my hexagons every day this week, attached the latest section, and prepped most of the for the next section.  Once that section is complete, I’ll be half done with the edges.  

We have freezing rain predicted for tonight, so I’m wondering if we will have school tomorrow.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Many Stitches

 I have a flimsy to end the week, using all of my grey and black box blocks and only about half of the aqua ones!  I need to choose a backing next week and get this ready to quilt.

My green squares have turned into block halves this week.  I’ve pinned some for sewing (box on the right).  My biggest question at this point is: How many blocks are there?  I forgot how small a 16 patch block made from 1.5” scraps is!  It’s going to take 300 to make a quilt for Spunky’s friend, and I definitely don’t have 300.

My kids have asked all week how soon it’s spring.  They aren’t old enough to realize our worst winter weather is in January and February!  I have errands to run today, but I hope to spend some time with everyone’s posts for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekend.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #2 and 15 Minutes

 This week I finished a quilt, so my stash report is continuing in my preferred direction.  I am starting to formulate what I’d like to order from Vicki, but I need to use a healthy amount of existing stash first!

I also finished a case for my scissors.  (It’s the pieced one, not the embroidered one).  While it has a lot of errors, I learned a lot, which was the point.  Unfortunately, since I used my ramie scraps, it doesn’t count for fabric usage.

IN this week: 0 yards

OUT this week: 5 3/4 yards

IN YTD: 0 yards

OUT YTD: 6 3/4 yards

YTD Total: 6 3/4 yards OUT

I also used up a second spool of thread.  16 patches use up thread quickly!

I made time to stitch on my hexagons every day this week, so the next section is ready to attach to the main body of the quilt.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Moving Along

I worked on dyeing some odds and ends of fabric and “things.”  I would really only consider the orange shirts for BJ to be a success.  Everything else is either a “meh” or a failure.  I had some cotton bandanas that didn’t soak up much dye at all, so I may over dye them later.  The red you see below is supposed to be chocolate brown, but clearly it’s not.  The two pieces below will be quilt backs for small quilts.  My silk scarves (no pictures, I have not learned to photograph them properly) are better, but still not what I wanted.  I guess that means more practice!

I have my first finished quilt for the year.  After making close to 300 box blocks last year, I have plenty of easy Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts to start the year.  This one is already washed and dried and it goes out the door later today.  Next I have the pile of grey/black/turquoise ones ready to make a larger quilt.

The temperature is currently 1 F, with a windchill of -16 F.  I haven’t taken care of the chickens yet, but will have to bundle up soon to do so.  Brrr.

I have worked diligently on my green 16 patches.  The back box is all the pairs sewing into 4-patches, but the front box still has quite a lot of pairs waiting to be sewn together.  I’m not sure I will get them taken care of before the end of today.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

January Goals

 I’m a wee bit late getting this post written, but I kept thinking I would have some epiphany while preparing.  Epiphany about what?  Great question.  I don’t know.

December goals were uncomplicated:

1.  Trim scraps, work on hexagon filler pieces, finish two quilts with the remaining 16 patches, sew up the box blocks.  Trimmed, turned corner on the hexagon quilt, finished off the 16 patches, and finished creating box blocks.

2. Finish my window Bojagi.  Done, and I love it so,

3. Make 4 New York Beauty blocks.  I have five done!

4.  Noodle around plans for the new year.  Some noodling done, some yet to go.

January goals are equally simple.

1. Trim scraps, work on the next 1-2 hexagon filler pieces, make 16 patches from green scraps, make a quilt from the RSC 2023 box blocks.

2. Dye fabric.  (Scarves, shirts, miscellany)

3.  Make one New York Beauty block a week.

Stretch goal: take a workshop of fabric dyeing, another in Korean thimbles (golmu), and order some materials for a fabric and dyeing related project.  No quilting fabric!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #1 and 15 Minut

 Woohoo!  A new year, new zeros, and much contemplation.

I resisted birthday fabric shopping, as my goal again this year is to use twice what I buy, and to use at least 100 yards.  Why do I want to use twice what I buy?  I do love my fabric, and I love to buy new fabric, but I also see my tastes changing.  Once, long ago (10+ years) I loved to buy prints, including multicolored ones.  I’ve definitely shifted to solids, batiks, and the texture of hand dyed fabric, as they all work well in bojagi, as both sides are visible.  I’ve also started to experiment with other types of fabric, but I don’t want my collections to outgrow my space.

I already finished off a spool for the year, so the new count is 1!

Mr. BJ helped me with a little upholstery this week.  He ripped out the underside of this small couch last winter, and thread and fabric have been hanging ever since.  I used some lovely fabric (with some close-to-matching additions to make it wide enough.  We need to remove the two back legs to properly finish off the end, but that requires an Allen wrench, and this was adventure enough for a day.  I’m impressed with my own efforts, even if they are far from perfection.  It certainly cheers me up to know what the couch looks like underneath.  BJ thought it was quite fun to hide underneath while I was figuring it all out.

Doing this little project also means I have my first stash usage for the year.

IN YTD: 0 yards

OUT YTD: 1 yard

YTD Total: 1 yard OUT

For the last several years, I’ve used my “15 minutes” of daily stitching to focus on my hand pieced hexagons.  They are now an awkward top, with lots of awkward piecing to fill in the sides.  I have a future project I’d like to put in its place, but as I’m not quite ready to settle down with that fabric and the complication of determining a plan (it does require a large fabric purchase, so I also need to “earn” it).  Therefore the report is: 6 of 6 days for 2024.  Maybe by the time I’m ready to quilt my hexagon quilt, I will be ready to switch.  Change is generally hard for me.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: 2024!

 A new year means new projects for me.

While I started these in December of last year, the goal is to make a New York Beauty block each week until I have enough to complete a quilt.   I won’t make the entire quilt, as it’s a large queen size, but I want either a wall hanging or lap quilt.  Should I make enough competent blocks, the quilt will be a gift for the girls’ art teacher.  I’m using a hoarded stash of Ombré by V and Co., which doesn’t really play well with the rest of my fabrics.

I have two scrappy projects planned for this year: 16 patches made from my 1.5” scraps and flowers made from my 2.5” bricks.  Unfortunately, I’m not ready to cut into my greens for the leaves of flowers until I know how many flowers I can make from scraps, so I won’t start the project this month.  My 2.5” box dwindled nicely in 2023, so it should empty splendidly in 2024!

16 patches made from 1.5” scraps seem to be one of my favorite easy blocks to return to.  The two lap sized ones I have at home are the softest from use.

I did start sewing green strips to white and subcutting.  I have an overflowing box of pairs now, so next week I’ll work on making four patches.  The 1.5” scrap box is full to bursting, so I really must use it this year!  Isn’t it funny how the cycle goes, of diligently using up scraps and then they multiply when you aren’t looking.

I also made my first flimsy from the box blocks I made for last year’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I have another 180 or so to sew up, so this won’t be the last time you see them!  I must have mixed up my order somewhere, as it was not my intention to have a diagonal line of yellow.  I think the next one will be turquoise, black, and grey, as I have a large collection of those.

I know there will be many beautiful fabrics to tempt me.  Vicki has been dyeing some really spectacular stash packs, but I want to finish a few projects before I start buying new fabric.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.