A quest to finish some projects

I'm on a bit of a quest to finish some projects or at least get them one step closer to that finish line.  This block is my next task. There are 3 blocks left to make from this "old" Saturday Sampler (2007) called Shimmery Snowman and it is time to take this one to the next level - a quilt top. 

Two of the three blocks are cut and ready to sew today.  

The name of the series actually comes from the applique blocks that came with this sampler. Each block has a snowman for the month. I only have one of those applique blocks done and IF I finish them it will be in a separate project some day in the future. 

Caught up with Circa 2016

Two square-in-a-square blocks and two churn dash blocks were my morning project. These have me caught up again the the Temecula Circa 2016 blocks. These little beauties are only 3" square.

More blocks & a flimsy

Since I've been on a block binge this month I looked in my sewing room closet to see if there were any sets of blocks hanging in there that were nearly complete. I want to keep working on the UFOs that I've been collecting.

And hello! There were 8 elephant blocks (12") just waiting for the last 4 to be made so it could become a quilt. The white background fabric was even hanging there with the blocks.

So I got busy and made those last blocks - the brown ones and the pink ones. And that makes 110 blocks for this month . . . as long as I'm still counting.

I stopped at my LQS this week and purchased a yard of a brighter purple 30s print to use as an outer border. From my stash I found an aqua/green to use as cornerstones. And there was more than enough white background left for sashing. One step closer to being a finished UFO.

105 and 106 . . . and counting

Here is April block number 105 - a green Crown of Thorns.

That number is so deceptive since most of those blocks were 2", 3" and 6" blocks. But these Crown of Thorns blocks are 15" and now there are 8 of them.

Also last night I made one more block for my Allietare (Bonnie Hunter mystery) that keeps plugging along slowly.  That was 106 and there are LOTS more of those ready to sew.  No photo of that one, sorry.  Maybe I'm aiming for some kind of record in the number of blocks made in a month - at least a personal record.

On a side note we had just under 3" of rain yesterday and it's still raining today. I had an in-service planned at a high school today postponed because of rain. This is a "small school" thing - when the track team is gone it takes most of the kids in the high school so the district had just planned for no students there today and having a teacher in-service at the high school. But because of the weather today that track meet was postponed to next Thursday, along with the in-service. Luckily I had the date open so I could reschedule too. The very organized superintendent is also the track coach and he had emailed me already at 6:30 am about the changes.  So . . . I have an unexpected office day today.

Blocks, blocks and more blocks

April has turned out to be the month of "blocks".  I got to thinking about this last night and decided to try and figure out just how many individual blocks I've made this past month.  And I came up with about 104 individual blocks made this month - so far. That is just crazy! And I can't even count any of that yardage as "used" yet in my stash reports. 

I know that I've made 8 Farm Girl Vintage blocks this month. Half of those were 12" blocks and the other half were the 6" mini version of those same blocks.  This one is Kitchen Window.  And I'm planning to get the Baking Day block done this week if possible.

I've made 7 Crown of Thorns blocks and these are 15" blocks. This grey one was made with leftovers from the yellow/white/grey baby chevron quilt I finish this week.  I still have to sew the green one that is cut and waiting on my sewing table. I'm making these blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 (RSC16) and also our guild scrap challenge. Each month I'll plan to at least add the RSC16 color block, and maybe the guild color too if it's different.

I made 2 Saturday Sampler blocks early in April - one with the sampler fabrics and one bonus block using my stash fabrics. These are 12" blocks. I almost don't want to give this one away, but I'll try to be optimistic that maybe I will win all of those bonus blocks. 

And I've made LOTS of tiny (3") blocks for the Temecula Circa 2016 online project.  In fact, I've made 62 of the Circa 2016 blocks so far, not counting the 2" HST extras. I can add another 25 to the total with those teeny tiny HSTs.  And I still have to make this past Friday's 2 new blocks. 

I feel really good about the amount of sewing I accomplished in April. All of these blocks will go together eventually and become something pretty. These 4 projects (Saturday Sampler, Farm Girl Vintage, Circa 2016) will be my focus again in May I think. The best thing about working on individual blocks is that they are perfect for those times when I only have an hour to sew. I can finish something in that hour when my goal is just individual blocks. 

Sunflower and Crops

I broke down and made the Crops block from Farm Girl Vintage to go with the sunflower block.  And of course after I finished them both then I saw my mistake in the bigger block. The darker colors of the leaves were supposed to be on the bottom. Oops! My orange leaf is upside down. I may just leave it alone - unless that OCD part of me decides I MUST fix it.  And now that I look at the photo I see more clearly how crooked that bottom section is. So I might be picking this one apart after all. 

This week I want to catch up with the Facebook group and get the Kitchen Window and Baking Day blocks done too. But who knows what the week with actually bring in terms of sewing. 

Baby chevron

It's always exciting to me to finish a quilt, even when it's a small one. This baby quilt is done except for the label. And it will be headed to Australia for baby Emmaline, the new daughter of a cousin of my girls. The backing of this grey, white and yellow quilt is a soft, velvety fabric with grey drawings of Nursery Rhymes. I just think it's perfect.

Sunday Status of the Stash

Again I'm posting a 2 week report because I forgot all about it last week. And I'm guilty of having added some yardage to my stash in the past 2 weeks. I've done a lot of sewing this week but it's mostly been individual blocks so I won't be counting much. I did make 1 new pillowcase and I finished the binding on a baby quilt so I can count the yardage for that quilt. I'll get a photo of it to post tomorrow.

This is the Sunny Sunflower block from Farm Girl Vintage and is this month's challenge for our Sew Vintage group. The small version is cut out and ready to go.  There is another block called Crops that is a stem and leaves that pairs up nicely with this one, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to make that. Maybe.  And the last couple of blocks from the Facebook group I'm following are not done yet either.

So here is the stash report for the past 2 weeks.

In this week: 10.75 yds

In this year: 50 yds

Out this week: 7.5 yds

Out this year: 48 yds

Oops!  I've allowed the stash to get into the lead. 

Catching up

Except for today's block I am caught up with the Temecula Circa 2016 blocks. I won't have a chance to even look at this week's post until after work today, but I'm excited to catch up. And I've reorganized the fabrics I have been using into a project box so that I can find them all easily again.

These 3" blocks include Birds in the Air, Flying Geese, and 2 four-patch variations.

Looking back at the original posts for Circa 2016 I see that the finished quilt will be a large wall hanging size - about 48" x 55". That means there must be LOTS more blocks to make yet.

Temecula progress continues

When my husband is out of town for work for long periods of time I get more sewing done. He has been gone each of the past 4 weeks now and I've noticed that I definitely have done more sewing in the evenings. No big finishes but lots of blocks for various projects.

These 8 little (3" finished) blocks are all part of the Temecula Circa 2016 mini project. There are 2 broken dishes blocks, 2 basket blocks, 2 windmill blocks, and 2 "T for Temecula" blocks.  And I made a few of the 2" HST needed at the same time. I think there are now 17 HST out of the 120 called for in the instructions. Check out the website for this project.  http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/search/label/Circa%202016 

There are 5 more pairs of blocks yet to make (to catch up) and another will most likely be posted this Friday too.  As I've been working on these I realized that my stash of Civil War reproduction types of fabrics was pretty limited. So I visited my LQS for a little retail therapy over my lunch hour on Tuesday. That gives me a few new options to choose from as I work on these. 

A pink Crown of Thorns

Crown of Thorns block number 6 is bubblegum pink. Maybe the grey one will be next.  

My quilt inspector was busy napping on Sunday afternoon instead of helping when I took this photo. He didn't even come down to my sewing room to check on me. And he was a bit grumpy when I decided it was time to share his sofa space with him.  It's not like I asked him to move over. But who argues with a 20 pound cat? It's his house - we just pay the mortgage.

More Temecula

The center medallion for the Temecula Circa 2016 is complete. 28 hourglass blocks make up the border. And this whole unit is 18.5" square, which is exactly what it is supposed to be. I am definitely loving this mini quilt project. 

Now I just have to make the next 10 weeks of blocks to get caught up. LOL.  The next blocks are 3" square and there are 2 of each pattern each week. Plus we're making 120 HST that are 2" square, so my plan is to do 2 weekly blocks at a time plus a couple of HST using the same fabrics.  And we have no idea yet how those will go together to add to this.

A chilly damp Sunday is actually good sewing time. I made another Crown of Thorns block too, which I'll show tomorrow. And now I'm working on a binding in front of the TV.

Temecula Circa 2016

I've been watching a beautiful online small block project from Temecula Quilt Company called Circa 2016 for quite a few weeks. I knew I wanted to make this and even set aside some of my Civil War types of fabrics for it. So far there have been 13 different blocks and they are all printed and in my project binder.

Every Friday they post a new block - and they are typically 3" or smaller. Yesterday after work I decided that I couldn't resist and started the first 2 weeks' blocks.  And early this morning I began to put this little beauty together.

There are 4 pinwheels and 12 of the 9-patch blocks set on point with the background.  This is the beginning of the center medallion of the finished quilt and it is only 14" square right now.  Those 9-patches used 1.25" squares!. The next border will be 28 hourglass blocks. 

That may have to wait until another day however, because I need to jump in the shower and get ready to go to a charity salad luncheon with a group of ladies from my former home town. I don't see them all very often so it should be fun. 

Thoughtful friends

I had supper last night with a couple of my besties, and one of them gave me a belated birthday gift - this teacup pincushion that she made using one of her own mother's teacups. Isn't this pretty? It's already sitting on my sewing table by my machine.  I told her the real irony - a sweet irony - is that my mother's favorite flower was the violet. And she also collected teacups and teapots, but I wasn't able to keep all of them when she died over 25 years ago. So this pincushion will be a sweet memory of both friends and family. She also brought me a pin from a visit to the Keepsake Quilting shop, which I've put on my guild name tag. Thank you Sylvia.

Marilyn brought a Row By Row license plate from a fun shop in North Carolina that she recently visited. This was from the 2015 Row By Row experience so it was an amazing piece of luck to be able to get one of these. I have a couple of fun ideas for using my license plates. Thank you Marilyn.

I have such thoughtful friends.

Brown and purple

Two more Crown of Thorns blocks joined the little group last night. I finished the brown and the purple ones. Other than trimming my HST, these 15" blocks go together quickly. 

I know there are lots of other methods of making HST, but I usually stick to my old standby method - cutting larger squares, putting a diagonal line on the lighter one, and sewing 1/4" seams on both sides of that line. Then cut apart, press and trim.  And I will admit that I "pressed" my diagonal line on the 4" white squares using my iron. Quick and easy. 

Cutting more blocks

  I had a workshop cancelled this afternoon - just as I was ready to walk out the door to drive to the school 2 hours away. So I suddenly had a lunch hour at home instead of eating a sandwich in the car. So what is a girl to do with an extra hour in the day?How about cutting the pieces for 5 more Crown of Thorns blocks?  These are all ready to sew after work this afternoon. And since I won't be driving 2 hours home after work, I'll have a little extra time to sew.  

Milking Day

I finished another Farm Girl Vintage block called Milking Day.  I used a non-1930s grey for the top of the milk can (because it was there in my scrap bin) and I'm not sure I like it. However . . . I am not redoing these blocks since I have both sizes done. It will hopefully just disappear in the quilt when it's all done. 

More blocks

Two more Crown of Thorns blocks joined that lonely yellow one last night. Plus I have a purple one cut out and ready to go. And a green fabric pulled from the scrap bin for another. These blocks are 15" square so they should add up quickly to make a top large enough for a bed.

These are going to be part of my RSC16 fun this year. Blue was the January color, with a touch of purple. Purple was the March color with hints of yellow, so those will be caught up once I get that purple block done. Orange is this month's color with black, but I have a dark grey that I think I'll use instead.  And I still need to dig into my scraps to find a brown and a pink for February. Green hasn't actually been used yet, but it jumped out of the scrap bin at me, so it's in the mix.

Design Wall Monday

This block is on my design wall this morning. It's my "bonus block" for Saturday Sampler, made with Civil War types of prints and colors. Now I'm ready to make the official one using my Saturday Sampler fabrics. 

I got this block made yesterday afternoon, along with a couple of other random blocks for other projects, while watching the Masters golf tourney. And I'm hoping for more sewing fun this evening after work. 

Check out what other quilters are working on today at: http://www.patchworktimes.com 

Sunday Status of the Stash

.

I added 13.5 yards of fabric on my little road trip this past week. My biggest additions so far this year to my stash. The only things not in the photo above are the 4 pillowcase kits I bought at one shop. 

That blue fabric on top is 2 yards of Nebraska fabric with the county names all over it. I've cut 1.5 yards of that into 6" squares for my guild to share at our next meeting. We call them Traveling Squares and often shared by members after they have traveled somewhere. I've been making mine into star blocks and almost have enough made for a whole quilt top.

In this week: 13.5 yds

In this year: 39.25 yds

Out this week: 1.5 yds

Out this year: 40.5 yds

I'm just barely ahead of that stash so I had better get busy again!

Crown of Thorns

Last week I made this 15" Crown of Thorns block just for fun. And I've decided that I like it so much that I pulled the previous month's colors (RSC16) and am considering making these as another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I could do both the main color and the accent color for 2 blocks per month.

I haven't put much of a dent in my scraps yet so I have lots of fabric to choose from.  No progress will be made today because I headed to Saturday Sampler and then to my twin grandchildrens' 3rd birthday party. But I think these blocks will be a project for next week.

Home again, home again

After 5 days of exhausting but VERY interesting work in North Platte Nebraska, and 783 miles round trip . . . I am home again. And on the drive home yesterday I stopped in a couple of fun quilt shops.  I needed the break, so that is my excuse. Like I needed an excuse!

There was a Nebraska shop hop going on and I bought a panel from the special shop hop fabric. This panel has blocks for each month and when I saw this section I knew that I had to have it because I drove home yesterday fighting 40 mph winds all the way. I was exhausted when I got home late in the afternoon, both from the drive and from the 4 previous days of 12-14 hours of work.

I made a few other purchases too: 3 yards of neutral background for $3.50/yard, some fat quarters, 4 pillowcase kits, and some fabric to share with guild members in 6" squares. That will have to go into my Sunday stash report. 

Road trip

No sewing involved in this road trip, unless I manage to find a quilt shop on my way home at the end of the week. I drove 7 hours today to North Platte to be part of an evaluation team for an education agency. 

The host agency welcomed us at the hotel with gift bags filled with bottled water, cookies, and lots of other goodies.  And they fed us a huge lasagna supper - part of a 5 hour work session preparing for the next 3 days of work.  I'm always amazed at how much educators love kids and the work they do, and this group is another great example. It should be an interesting - and exhausting - week but I'm honored to be a part of this team for a few days.