May: 17ufosin2017

Time for another 17ufosin2017 report.  I missed last month's link-up, mostly because I posted my only progress for the month as a link to Audrey's Quilty 365 wrap-up post.  

I'm so glad I pushed myself to assemble all those Quilty 365 blocks into a top - otherwise I'd probably still have a basket full of blocks 5 years from now!  My son came up with the name "Full Circle".   I don't have a timetable for the quilting, but it will happen eventually.

Another of my 17 projects for 2017 was to simply add borders to a scrappy RWB quilt that has been in the making for a year or two.  

The photograph makes the border look very dark, but in person it's a great frame for all those red, white and blue fabrics.  At some point later this year, the top will get quilted and gifted.

Once the red, white and blue quilt was off the design wall, I started pinning up these Sawtooth Star and Uneven 9-Patch blocks.  I've had the blocks made for several years, so it was a priority for me to get them assembled into a top this year.  I still have a lot of stitching to do on this project, but 17ufosin 2017 will help keep me motivated!

Last, but not least, I finished hand-stitching the binding and label for one of my Austen Family Album quilts.  It was gifted to my sister just this past weekend.  I think she liked it!

That's all my progress to date.  It's been very satisfying to check off projects on my 17ufosin2017 list, although there are still some very large projects left to complete!  Meredithe has a linky party over at her blog, pomegranate and chintz, so do check out all the other ufo progress.

The Big Blue Monster

One of the projects I am aiming to finish this year is a blue and white scrap quilt I planned with my guest room bed in mind.  The guest room never seems to have a decorating scheme or quilts of its own - maybe because my kids keep moving home and setting up camp in there!

Back in 2014, the guest room was vacant, so I decided to make a quilt for that room.  The room is painted blue, so I knew a blue and white quilt would be perfect.  I decided to make Sawtooth Star and Uneven 9-patch blocks, inspired by a quilt on Barbara Brackman's website.  I cut parts and pieces from my very large collection of blue fabrics and used a white on white fabric for the background.

My original plan was for 100 eight inch blocks.  When I reached that goal, I decided the quilt wasn't big enough and added more blocks until I had enough for 11 rows by 11 rows.

Last weekend I started pinning the blocks to the design wall.  I chose an uneven number of rows so there would be a Sawtooth Star block in each corner.  

Once I had all the blocks pinned up, I did the math and decided the quilt STILL wasn't big enough for a queen-sized bed.

Fortunately, I still had my cutting instructions, so I quickly cut and pieced another row of blocks, making the quilt 12 x 11, or 96 inches by 88 inches.

I've dubbed the quilt the Big Blue Monster because it fills the design wall and I'm feeling overwhelmed about stitching all those 8 inch blocks together!  I didn't even add the new row to the design wall because I'd have to climb up and down the step-stool or crawl on my knees to get it pinned up.

If I were staying home this weekend (Memorial Day observance in the United States), I could probably get lots of stitching done.  I'm off to Florida to visit family, though, so all those blocks will just have to chill until I get back.  This project has been underway since 2014, so I guess it can wait a little longer!

Green Scrap Therapy

A little more green scrap therapy happened this week.

These Rail Fence selvage blocks barely made a dent in the green selvages.  I may have to make more!

Some Happy Scrappy House blocks got green wonky borders.  This project is starting to speak very loudly about being finished, so I might have to move ahead and make more wonky borders without waiting for RSC inspiration.

I hand-pieced a few green scrappy pieces, too.  These are for my Hex Vex project.  One trick I learned for piecing hexies is to use tape to hold the hexie parts together for flat back-stitching - note the tape on the flamingo block.

This also happened:

I had admired and been inspired by Cathy's Burgoyne Surrounded blocks for several months.  Then Gayle acted on her inspiration, so I decided to challenge myself to try making a block.  I like the kind of low volume way my block turned out, but what I really like are Cathy's bright color schemes.  I don't think my stash will support that look, so I'm not sure I will keep making these blocks.  I left this one pinned to the design wall to see what inspiration will flow from it!

For more green, scrappy inspiration, check out the link-up at Soscrappy today!

Green Scrappy Bits

I'm off to a slow start on Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects this month.  There was this little distraction called the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest for short) which was entertaining, but exhausting.  We had friends visiting from out of town, so prepping for that took time away from sewing, too.  It felt good to have some fabric therapy time today, as I dug through all the green scrap bins to make up some RSC blocks.

First up were some Windblown Wishes blocks from Diane Knott's book, Scrap Quilt Secrets.  These made a pretty good dent in all the lighter varieties of green in the scrap bins.

I also made some pinwheel blocks.  I need 15 of these, but I ran out of workable combos.  Time to make more scraps!

This 49-patch took every little green scrap in the bin.  I wasn't sure I could get all the different shades of green to play well together, but it's not too bad.

I've only made 4 of these blocks so far.  I'm not sure what the final plan for them will be.  They only finish at 7 inches, so I'll need a lot more of them if I want a quilt.

I also had enough bits of green to make some 4 patch blocks.  Again, there's no specific plan for these, I'm just trying to use up scraps.  I've started a notebook (in Evernote) of 4 patch quilt designs.

I still have some other Rainbow Scrap projects in need of green scraps.  I hope I'll have time for more fabric therapy this week so all my RSC projects get their infusion of green.  There's more green inspiration at the RSC link-up today.

Quilty 365 Loves Full Circle

I really wanted to have a great outdoor picture of my Quilty 365 flimsy hanging from the railing of our deck in all its circular glory.  Unfortunately, for two weekends in a row the weather was uncooperative and I missed my chance for a full-length picture.  I guess now I'll wait until the flimsy is quilted and try for another beauty shot!

Undaunted, here's an indoor shot of my year's worth of circles.  There's not enough room in my studio to get a straight-on picture, hence my reliance on the deck railing.  The blocks are made up of 30 circles and the sashing is a gray cross-hatch fabric.  The final flimsy measures 77 inches by 90 inches.  I have no plans for quilting just yet, but all those circles definitely send subliminal messages about circular quilting!

Since the last time I blogged about the quilt, I added a final row with the last seven (I added one extra) circles.  

My son David suggested the name after he heard the story of our year-long quilting project and my written journal describing each fabric choice.  I used my computer and printer to get the letters to the size I wanted, then used freezer paper to cut the shapes.  A few dots of fabric glue held the letters in place while I hand appliquéd them.

I folded the quilt on itself so I could get a better shot of the bottom.  Every time I take this quilt out to work with it, I tend to get lost in the memories stitched into each circle.  It was an amazing and fun project and I'm tickled pink to have stuck with it for the entire year!  Sharing the project with a diverse group of people made it special too.  Seeing the breadth of interpretations each month was always inspiring!  Many thanks to Audrey for providing the spark and to all the stitchers who played along!