August Goals

 July was definitely a challenging month.  The goals weren't too bad.

1. Scraps: trim, aqua flower blocks, and aqua 16 patches.  They will be easier than blue as there are less scraps.  All done.

2. Quilt the hexagon quilt.  I’d like to move the frame at least four times again.  I finished about 1/16 of the quilt.  I will finish 1/4 of the quilt in the next week.

3. Work on an alphabet quilt.  This has been on my UFO list as long as I’ve been making a list.  I think I can make two more quilts from the supplies I have, and then I can check off this UFO!

August means returning to work full-time.  I'm both looking forward to it and a little worried.

1. Scraps: trim, orange flower blocks, and orange 16 patches.  These scraps are pretty scanty.

2. Quilt the hexagon quilt.  I'd like to finish the current quarter and move on to the diagonal quarter.

3.  Finish the alphabet quilt.  Maybe start prepping the next one.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Reports Weeks #29-30 and 15 Minutes

 Alas, the stash report is unchanged for the last two weeks.  It’s not my year for fast and furious finishes, but for lots of block making and eventual quilts.

My hexagon quilt and I are getting along well.  I’m ahead of my self-imposed schedule, which I tried to set reasonably.  If I can finish one frame of quilting a week, I will eventually make enough progress each month that the quilt won’t be too burdensome.  Even if/as I slow down significantly as I return to work this week, I can quilt two lines a day.  It’s beautiful and enjoyable to quilt even now.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Month End Blocks

It’s been a full week again, as I am trying to wrap up all the odd errands before meetings start (next Friday!).  For those of you that have worked while raising children, my worry probably seems excessive, but that’s how I roll!

My 16 patch blocks were a breeze to pin and sew.  In the end, I have 135 in various aqua shades.  I enjoyed revisiting all the scraps.

Nine flowers are added to the pile in the closet.  At the end of the year, it will be fun to sort these into different quilt tops.  They should be colorful!

It’s a good thing next month’s color is a small collection of scraps.  Despite all the forthcoming chaos, a handful of 16 patches and 3 or 4 flowers may be all I can manage.  If I have time for extra, I’ll keep working on my alphabet quilt and I pulled out my lighter green scraps at some point to start on 16 patches.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

 

Catching Up

 Huzzah for block halves!

I clearly don’t have as many aqua scraps as red and blue, which means this week I caught up to my self-imposed goal.

I finished my flowers this week but failed to snap a photo, so I’ll try to get them when I have finished 16 patches next weekend!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #28 and 15 Minutes

 I have thoroughly disrupted my own plans for stash busting this year, and I think that’s fine.  I want to make curtains for my classroom but don’t really have the time to right now to make Bojagi panels.  I didn’t plan far enough ahead or inspiration didn’t strike.  I also just bought some pretty things.

IN this week: 29 3/4 yards 

OUT this week: 0 yards

IN YTD: 92 1/2 yards

OUT YTD: 39 1/4 yards 

YTD Total: 53 1/4 yards IN

I also quilted plenty over the last week, so the hexagon quilt creeps along a thread at a time.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

My Favorite Scraps

I spent the week a bit frozen in inability to get things done.  Even sewing didn’t get much attention, or I didn’t accomplish much when I was sewing.

Four lovely flowers are finished.  While I have lots of aqua scraps, I’ve discovered they are so different from each other that it’s hard to slap eight random pieces together to make a flower.  I am making good progress on using up the bulk of the 2.5” bricks, but the remaining unique ones will have to go into something else.

I intended to have all my little turquoise squares made into four patches by today, but I’m less than halfway done.  It’s okay, there’s plenty of month left.

The weather has been so very hot this week!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

P.S. It’s Saturday, so that means linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

 

June UFO Report

 My UFO list remained unchanged in the month of June.

June 1: 7 projects

Started or finished: 0

June 30: 7 projects

1. brown pillow

2. double wedding ring quilt

3. alphabet quilts (FINALLY working on this one!)

4. hand pieced hexagons: quilting

5. pink hexagons

6. 16 patches

7. flowers

I know the alphabet quilt, 16 patches, and flowers will all produce more than one finished quilt, but I really enjoy the making without a concrete plan and having a huge array of blocks to dream with at the end of the year.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #27 and 15 Minutes

 My stash report is unchanged this week.  I did finish a spool of thread this week and forgot to report another finished last week (I use one for bobbins and one for the top thread, so they run out about the same time), so I have used up 14 spools of thread so far this year.

I struggled to get my hand quilting in this week, but had the very reasonable excuse of family staying with us.  We were briefly a household of 3 adults and 12 kids!  I did manage 15 minutes a day, but not much more.  That’s okay.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

July Goals

 June included a week of classes as I work on reestablishing my teaching license, but it was nice to connect with adults and I learned a lot!

1. Scraps: trim, blue flower blocks and blue 16 patches.  All splendidly done, including 269 blue 16 patches.

2. Quilt the hexagon quilt.  I'm using a small frame, and would like to finish the frame section four times.  Very nicely done.

3. Repair a crochet quilt.  Done.

4. Make a new ironing board cover as the old one is faded, stained, and the batting underneath is thoroughly squashed.  Done.  It was easier than last time!

5. Make a weighted blanket.  Also done.

July and life are hard, but I’m looking forward to my sewing for the month.

1. Scraps: trim, aqua flower blocks and aqua 16 patches.  They will be easier than blue as there are less scraps.

2. Quilt the hexagon quilt.  I’d like to move the frame at least four times again.

3. Work on an alphabet quilt.  This has been on my UFO list as long as I’ve been making a list.  I think I can make two more quilts from the supplies I have, and then I can check off this UFO!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

Discombobulated

That’s me.  Having company and a holiday midweek makes it hard to remember where we are in the week!  My younger sister’s family stays with us when they come to town, so we have 12 kids in the house.  It’s so lovely that all the kids have grown up just enough that they play really well together.

I’ve clearly not sewn as much as usual, but I think this afternoon I’ll get all my turquoise strips sewn to their white strips.  I also sorted my 2.5” bricks for to make flower blocks in the coming weeks.

It’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekend!

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

The Great and Wonderful Hexagon Quilt

 I like to revisit my progress on the hexagon quilt when the middle of the year arrives.  It looks like I didn’t snap a picture in January, but I know I was in the process of assembling the center and then making the filler blocks for the edges.

The entire top is pieced by hand, taking approximately 730 hours, and I found my rhythm for quilting in June.  It’s hard to see in the picture, but I have not quite 1/4 of the quilt bound (knife-edge, no binding), and a little less than 1/32 quilted.  At the current rate, I’ll still be quilting this next July, but I’ll be close to the end.  Of course, that’s if I only do one line of quilting in each hexagon, and I’m playing with the idea of quilting through all three axes of each hexagon.  It would be lovely texture, but I’m not sure I’ll still want to keep quilting after another year.

It really is such a lovely quilt.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.

June Block Count

 How is the year half over?  I’m both relieved and alarmed.  I suspect the second half of the year will not see as many blocks as the first half did.  After all, all my kids will be in school and I will be back to teaching full time in the fall.

This month, I made a ridiculous number of blocks: 288.  269 were blue 16-patches and 19 were flowers.  This brings my 2024 total of blocks up to 994.  Those blue 16-patches appeared to get the best of me until the end of June, when I had more time to sew.

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.