April - One Monthly Goal

Head over to Elm Street Quilts for the April link-up.

My goal for April is to finish this challenge quilt: 

I finished the last of the blocks this morning.

They're miniature uneven log cabin blocks, some with an orange center and some with black.

The challenge parameters were:
- black and white and ONE additional color
- 20 x 20 final size
- 20 somehow expressed in the quilt

Orange is my one color, and 20 of the center blocks are orange; five are black.

I'll finish with an asymmetrical black border, and probably use the orange again in some way- possibly appliqued flowers.

March One Monthly Goal

Linking to Elm Street Quilts for the March link-up.

My goal for March was one block.

And it's done!

This is the last of the blocks I'll be sending to my cousin for a family raffle quilt.

Project Quilting 11.6 - Vibrant & Vivacious

The final Project Quilting challenge is "Vibrant & Vivacious."

I decided to make a tote bag - because who doesn't need more tote bags?

To start - sewing strips as a base. I was going to do a rainbow, but those first colors of pink and orange really grabbed me, so I went with it. Simple wavy lines quilted, with masking tape to keep them in order.

POCKETS for the lining! 

Sewing it all together

Sewing up the turning hole in the lining

The PERFECT button from the button stassh.

A view from the top.

 A little reinforcing for the straps. One of the sides of one strap is a little wonky/angular, but it's still functional.

A bright new tote to love.

Project Quilting 11.5 - Give It Away

Project Quilting's latest challenge is "Give It Away."

And in a bit of serendipity, one of the members of a Facebook group I'm in posted a project she was doing for a child she'd lost: Owl Be Kind for Thomas

It seemed meant to be.

I sewed some strips together and quilted them, then cut out some little owl shapes.
Buttons for eyes, and rectangles of fabric folded into wings. I added beaks later because I thought they looked better.

Then sewed around the edges and turn right-side out.

 Stuffed with a little bit of lavender added, sewn up, and tag added. The little guy on the far left is my FINISHED project- the other two will be done by tomorrow to be released into the wild.

Edit: They're done :)

This was a GREAT challenge. It also motivated me to pick up a quilt kit from the Service Projects table at Quilt Guild. That one will hopefully get done before our next meeting.

One Monthly Goal for March

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts for accountability!

My goal for March is just one block.

I agreed to contribute four quilt blocks to a quilt for a raffle at the family reunion in late November/early December. It's one aunt, two cousins, and me that quilt in the family. I have to get the blocks to Dee - the cousin who'll put them together and quilt them - by June, and earlier will be better than later

I have three blocks done so far:

And I've decided on the final blocks, a sunflower. A little bit of serendipity that my morning coffee is in my sunflower mug

I need to find some sky blue, and then I'm all set

February One Monthly Goal report

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts for the reckoning.

I collected all of the blocks, put-together blocks, and the extra sashing and cornerstone fabrics
There's about a third put together so far

I think I have enough for a full-size quilt- but if not, it'll be a happy kid's quilt

Sunday Stash February 23, 2020

Eep. Two weeks since I posted an update.

Spending was for three big spools of thread, a new square ruler, and 2.5 yards of post-Valentine heart fabric to put together my blood donation t-shirt quilt. I've misplaced the receipts, so this week it's an estimate- about $11 for the thread and $28 for the ruler and fabric.

And some finishes! Small ones, but still.

This little non-binary heart for Project Quilting Challenge 3. Two quilted squares of about 6 x 8 went into making the heart, so my math works out to 0.14 yards.

A Christmas ornament for Project Quilting Challenge 4 - total size is 5 x 5, so 0.05 yards.

A challenge for my mini-gorup: 20 x 20. I found some grey in it and will be making another one that has *just* black and white - with one extra color. 0.66 yards used.

I also tossed out some polyester blends this week, about a yard or so. So I'm calling my total yardage out 1.8 yards.

Fabric in:    2.50 yards
Fabric in total: 5.92 yards

Fabric out this week:   1.85 yards
Fabric out total:  3.25 yards

Net: 2.67 yards added

Spending this week:  $39.00
Spending total: $65.61

Project Quilting Challenge 4

The fourth challenge for Project Quilting is "Birds in the Air."

Well, at the end of the week, I have a finish, a little birds in the air Christmas ornament. But a long and winding road to get there.

I have another one waiting to quilt and finish.

 

But, as I said, a long and winding road. These were the first set of blocks I made.

All those pretty blocks lined up...

 And the ABSOLUTELY PERFECT fabric for the setting triangles. I think I won it at a guild raffle at some point.

And a nice grey for a border - calming those reds down is *just* the right thing.

Sticky paper made it easy to quilt a wavy design in the border.

 I finished quilting last night and woke up tis morning to this: a very bad cat.

So, into the tub it went. I used a toothbrush to scrub some Dharma fabric wash into the pink parts.

Then I just let it soak with some color grabbers in the tub.

It started to lighten up, so I repeated the scrub/soak cycle a couple more times.

You can see from the dye caught in the color grabbers that things were happening.

Eventually, as I added another color grabber, it stayed white(ish).

And it seems to have worked.

 It's drying on a towel now- I may not get to it tomorrow, but I will finish it.

Linking to Kim Lapacek's blog, Persimon Dreams, for the challenge finish.

Project Quilting - Challenge 3

The third challenge for season 11 of Project Quilting is "Put a Heart on It"

My original idea was a heart made from little strip blocks. That TOP is almost done, but I didn't think it would become a finished object in time for the deadline.

So, instead, I made the latest in my series of little pieced, quilted, stuffed hearts. This one is in the colors of the non-binary flag. It is little - 4 x 4 at the most.

Sunday Stash 2/2/2020 (a day late)

I went to my mini-group this week and brought home some cut-off strips - to the tune of  0.44 yards. And I bought almost 3 yards - the longest piece was short an inch- because I had a 60% off coupon and I was almost out of black Kona. The Kona was $11.33, I also bought two rolls of painters tape for $11.78.

Fabric in:    3.42 yards
Fabric in total: 3.42 yards

Fabric out this week:   0.0 yards
Fabric out total:  1.40 yards

Spending this week:  $23.11
Spending total: $26.61

Linking to Sunday Stash at Quilt Paint Create.

One Monthly Goal for February

My goal for this month is to find all of the parts for this quilt that I have done, put together the blocks that I have, and see if I need to make more. So I may or may not have a completed top by the end of the month, but I'll know where I need to go to GET TO a finish!

Linking to Elm Street Quilts OMG for accountability.

One Monthly Goal for January - DONE

My goal was to finish the quilting on this challenge quilt.

 It's quilted, but I'm not happy with it yet.

The quilting is awfully low-contrast, probably because of how busy the top is.

You can see it some on the back?

 Circles.

The binding is sewn on, but not sewn to the back - so half of a stretch goal :)

Linking to Elm Street Quilts for the finish.

Sunday Stash - January 26, 2020

Most of the fabric out was the two fat quarters that went as "dues" to join the 2020 Stashbuster UFO challenge. I calculated 0.05 yards for Ody Owl - I'm not counting the lining or back as yardage out, since it was upcycled.

My "retail therapy" for the week was $3.50 at a local thrift store. A couple of packages of beads, some perle cotton, and a tiny crochet hook originally sold for 10 cents (it cost me a quarter!). 

Fabric in:     0 yards
Fabric out this week:   0.55 yards
Fabric out total:  1.40 yards
Spending:   $3.50

Linking to Sunday Stash at Quilt Paint Create.

Project Quilting - Challenge 2

The second Project Quilting challenge is "Team Colors."

My alma mater is Mississippi University for Women, and our school colors are blue and blue :)  Our mascot is Ody Owl, so I decided to quilt up a little owl in MUW colors.

For backing, I had some cut-off legs from some pants the Lovely Daughter made into shorts, and I lined it with an old towel. Two layers of cotton batting for the back.

The body of Ody is W blue and her wings are Welty blue. The eyes are a pale, pale yellow, so not even really close to II&C yellow.

Once everything is quilted and getting bound together, seams are gonna need a little grading.

Done! the quilting on the front doesn't show up all that well in this photo, but I'm very pleased with it.

The back. I had to double-sew the binding at the top because I missed the edge, but it's not awful.

 And yay! a functional potholder.

Ody is about 7 x 9,  and I just love her to bits.