Still Working on Christmas Sewing Deadlines

I've been working steadily to try to get close to finishing projects for Christmas decorating.   As November came to an end, that meant finally getting the borders on the Fat Quarter Shop Jelly Snowflake top.   

This is a free mystery quilt first offered by them in 2020.

As noted when I started this one, because I needed a smaller quilt, my blocks are made from 2" cut strips rather than Jelly Roll (2-1/2" cut) strips. Once I adjusted all the pattern cutting measurements, the block construction was easy to do.  The center block is patterned as a plain background square but if you look at some of the quilts and tops made from this pattern (including the one I saw at the VA Quilt Museum), many of them have interesting pieced centers so of course I wanted in on that too!  It took me a while to come up with something simple that I liked but eventually I did.  

Top done, I then took some of the scrappy leftover bits and pieced them into blocks or strips, added in the extra color option and test blocks, made a label area and filled around all of it with what I had left of the background fabric to create my third scrappy backing this year!  

I also needed to get back to one of my other holiday quilt projects called "Christmas Ribbons".  I adapted Sally Schneider's  “Painless Borders” design so I could cut out most of it using my Accuquilt dies. 

 As you can see, I needed to make four different pieced blocks for it.  I started making my Log Cabin die version of the "Tree" blocks for the center of the top back in September.  

Then before making the other blocks, I wanted to cut and lay out the side setting triangles.  Because the fabric I'm using for those is somewhat directional, I needed to cut across both the horizontal and along the lengthwise grain to get the birds to "stand" the way I wanted around the quilt.

Once that was done, I made the the pieced "Ribbon" blocks that create the border around the top, finishing those up two weeks ago.  After that I made the remaining Sawtooth Star blocks using the same red fabrics I used to make the tree "branches".  I finished making those last week.  I didn't get to do much sewing over the weekend (and spent what little time I did working on string blocks) so yesterday and today was the final push on this and now the top is finally done!  

I will admit that as each layer of the design was added, I got more and more excited about the project!  However, at one point, I stepped back and realized it was looking different than the pattern I was working from.  Granted I had made some changes to the blocks as designed but it took awhile to realize what was different:  the tree blocks in the original pattern were pieced with a sashing around them which made them "float" when placed next to the Star blocks.  For some reason, I completely overlooked that when I redesigned the Tree blocks to make it more Go! die friendly.

For a minute I thought I was going to have to re-do all the tree blocks!  Needless to say, this late in the game I really didn't want to do that.  However, the longer I looked at it I thought yes, the blocks could use a little breathing room but that also hadn't bothered me in all the time I spent working up the adaptation in EQ8.  I went back and forth a few times and in the end decided that I didn't hate it so will leave it as is.  That settled, the good news is that I already have the backing, binding and batting too.

The two on the left are for the backing and are my favorite for winter quilt backs: flannels!  I'm going to do this backing like I did for last year's "Indigo Weave" quilt except this time the plaid WOF center will have the solid red on each side.  

I have two extra star blocks that I will piece into one of the side strips.  I will cut a strip of the background fabric used in the top and piece it in between the two stars and use that area for writing in the label.

If I am going to be able to start putting out the quilts for the season, I have to get it in gear!  A big part of that is to also think about how I will quilt all of these projects.

This little flimsie finished back in September also still needs to be quilted!

As noted last week, I had watched Holly Ann of String and Story present her  Quilt Plan Challenge workshops.  

This was just what I needed!  I got some good tips from the workshops and will use them to get me in the right frame of mind to work on the quilting.  Some of the motifs she used on her own quilts gave me some specific ideas on how to approach my own projects so I am for once excited to do this.  

I still have two more projects planned but we'll see if I am able to get them knocked out.  After all, Christmas is almost here!!

Speaking of Scrap Quilts....

Ooops!!  This was an old post that I updated and Blogger (messing with me again) changed it to the current date (which it didn't used to do).  Sorry about that!


September is underway....

 

 

I've started catching up on the wool ornaments....

Two down, four to go!

 

....and there's activity on the design wall......

Sorry for the hazy picture.

These are four patches made as "leader/enders" and braid units I have been collecting to make a quilt called "Confetti".  I'm hoping to enter it in the 5th Annual Scrap Quilt Challenge that the online store Fabrics 'N Quilts is hosting.  Entry deadline is October 15.  I wanted to work on this one because it is the most developed of my WIP scrap projects. 

I try to find scrap quilts I want to make before I have the scraps so that when I process my scraps they go right toward specific projects.  First I saw a "Confetti" quilt in American Patchwork & Quilting (June 2002) and thought it would be a cinch to save up the 2" squares needed for the four patches.  Later I became enamoured of braid quilts and found a design for one in a back issue of Quilters Newsletter (March 1991).  I collected bits and bobs for both for awhile and then one day I found a quilt that used both together!

The pattern on the right, also in a QNM back issue (September 1997) is also called "Confetti" and used both the four patches in the center like the APQ quilt and then braid units for the borders.  Don't you just love quilting!  The queen-size quilt called for 256 four patches and 304 braid units. By the time I saw the Quilt Challenge announcement this year I had 206 four patches but had not kept count of how many braid units I had cut.  However, since it's no longer a requirement that I make a queen-size quilt, I figured I should put the patches up on the wall and see what size quilt might be possible with what I already have on hand.

The only problem?  When I had originally started collecting for the QNM braid quilt pattern, it was designed so that the light braids and dark braids would be pieced on opposing sides of the braid columns so were cut in the reverse of each other.  However, even after I decided on doing the later QNM combined quilt, I continued to cut the braid units that way.  I'm only now noticing that if I'm going to use a white background as per the pattern, the braids as I have them cut will not work.  So the debate now is whether to change the border design to accommodate what I have or use a different (darker)background to provide a better contrast to work with what I have.  I'm still chewing on that choice in my mind and the decision will guide or may be made by my choice of background fabric.

Scraps or Scrappy?

I find that people often mean two different things when they use the term "Scrap Quilt".  For me, there is a distinct difference between "a quilt made from scraps" and "a Scrappy Quilt".  In an "Editor's Note" that was sent in an email back in March entitled "Scrap Happy", Quiltmaker Magazine Editor Rachel Peterson said this about the spring cleaning she was giving her studio:

"I simply had to ask myself, "Can I see this in a quilt?" If I hesitated, if I couldn't picture even a hint of a quilt, that scrap was tossed. A saying kept flashing through my mind that I learned while studying to be a journalist, "Slay your darlings." Obviously they were talking about words on a page, but it applied to my scrap stash. As soon as I cleared all the clutter and itty pieces I would never use, my stash seemed to fit together better. Suddenly I was seeing more potential for fabric combinations and quilt designs."

Now for me this is an instance where the plan is to "make a quilt from scraps".  That is, the goal is to take leftover fabrics and coordinate them together to make a quilt the same way you would shop for fabric yardage in a store.  There is nothing wrong with that approach  if you are setting out to make a quilt using a specific palette of colors and want to use up or put some of your leftover fabrics toward it.  This is exactly how I started the Valentines Day quilt I made earlier this year.  I am a firm proponent of the idea that your scraps cost you the same amount as your yardage so you might as well use them up!

However, I was surprised by her comment that any scraps she couldn't "see" going into a quilt needed to be tossed.  Yikes!!  My idea of a true "Scrap Quilt" and the ones I enjoy seeing are the ones made from every kind of fabric without regard to what it looks like or if it matches.  In quilts like these, the more different fabrics you add, the better they look!  My inspiration/mentor/heroine in that is Bonnie Hunter who, ironically, contributes a regular feature to the same magazine!  Her column in QM is called "Addicted To Scraps" and if you look at her quilts (and you can do so over at her website Quiltville.com), you'll see they are full of scrappy goodness and include everything under the sun!  Bonnie always points out and jokes about the "Millenium fabrics" that still show up in her quilts from time to time even all these years after the year 2000.  In fact, people still send her their scraps of that kind of fabric and she has no problem adding them to her latest work.  She detailed her own views on the subject of making scrap quilts in this blog post from 2005. 

In  those kind of scrap quilts,  you may only worry about value (light or dark) and maybe tone (if you want the quilt to be primarily full of bright/pure colors or muted/shaded/toned colors) but sometimes even those considerations are set aside.  Many of the antique quilt gems we love were made from the scrap basket and suggest that the maker wasn't concerned about liking the way things went together but only with having enough bits to make the finished size quilt they needed.

Ms. Peterson's comment about "clear(ing) all the clutter and itty pieces (she) would never use" means she's probably never considered making a "Crumb" quilt (also known as Mile-A-Minute or Made Fabric).  For these type of blocks/quilts, there is almost no such thing as a piece too small to make a block.  If you google "Crumb Quilt" you'll see what I mean.  I've actually also got one of those that was in the process of being quilted when I stopped work on it and might try to also finish it up for the Quilt Challenge too.

Admittedly, your tolerance for what is "pretty" factors in here.  Some people find these types of scrap quilt ugly.  However, with quilts as with people, beauty is in the eye of the beholder or in the case of quilts, the snuggler!!  That's not to say that some of your scraps can't be reserved to stuff pillow forms or dog beds. But if I can put my scraps in a quilt I'm so much happier!!

Have To Throw In The Towel......

....on the "Confetti" scrap quilt project!

This is as far as I got and today is the deadline for the Fabrics 'N Quilts Scrap Challenge.  They've been holding these challenges for five years now and the uploads for next year's challenge will begin right after the winners are picked for the current one.  I will be going over to see what is posted and to see the projects submitted by any of the gals from the "Scrap Bags" chat group over on the Connecting Threads site.

In my last post I said that having a deadline usually helps move along a project quicker than if I don't have one.  However, in this case, the sewing went slowly (and sometimes not at all) because as I began putting it together I kept changing my mind about the direction I wanted it to go.  Both of the original patterns I'm working from (and I posted about that here) used white or cream for the background sashing fabric.  I had planned to do that too until I saw this "Dictionary" print that I loved and thought would work well with the scraps of (darker) shaded fabrics I tend to use.  

When I began attaching the accumulated scrappy four-patches and squares to the sashing strips, I went back and forth about if it would still look good with the scrappy braid border originally planned.  At that point I began to think a regular border would go better.  I found this red print that looked good with it all and then a stripe that looked good with the red print.

  However, I still wasn't totally sure I wanted to give up the braid border although using both was totally not an option (that would be a little too much).  I also realized that I haven't used all the four-patches I have and using them with either border option has the potential to make a Very-Big-Quilt and I doubt I now want to go that way either.  At this point, I'm still considering whether or not to add a few more rows to what I already have on the wall and what the final border option will be.  So this definitely won't get finished this month but I am determined to get it done by the end of the year.

The other good news is that I did make progress on my Halloween quilt project.

I did some cutting, both for the project and because I had the perfect fabrics for the fabric swap being conducted at this month's Empire Guild meeting.  You had the option of trading for orange or Halloween fabric and I did both (one set of fabrics I gave and envelopes I received in exchange are on the upper right in the picture above). 

For this quilt project (initiated waaay back here), I've cut large black and orange triangles for the applique block centers and small black and cream/white triangles for the HSTs that go around the blocks in the "Hallowe'en 1904" side of the quilt.  I've also cut orange, a few gold and black background fabrics into squares to make sawtooth star centers, flying geese star points and alternate squares for the "Midnight Silhouette" side.  Leader/ender work has been done sewing up the HST triangle sets in between attaching the "Confetti" sashing.

The rest of the month should be focused on the Halloween quilt because -- you guessed it -- that's another deadline I had set for myself!  I'm really hoping I do better with this one than the last one!!

A UFO Challenge At Jo's Country Juction

O.k., I said I wasn't going to join any finish challenges this year.  I have to admit that the impending end of the year always makes these so appealing to me!  I've been doing my monthly "Get It Done!" reports and they have definitely been helpful in keeping things on the radar which pushes me to get them done.  However, I'm also realizing that without definite deadlines, I've let projects nag at me for a lot longer than I'd like. 

To that end, this morning on Jo Kramer's blog at Jo's Country Junction, I saw that she has hosted a UFO Finish challenge for the last two years in preparation for Bonnie Hunter's annual post-Thanksgiving Mystery Quilt project reveal.  For Jo, it has been about getting some of the many Quiltville mysteries and projects she has going finished up before adding the new one to the list.  Actually, her post would have been a great link up for this week's "Tuesday Archive" at Val's Quilting Studio where UFOs are this week's theme.

I also usually check-in for Bonnie's mysteries and while I have downloaded many of them, I've never actually been "in a good place" to do one.  In fact, the only Bonnie Hunter project I've ever done is "Floribunda" (the instructions for that are here and see my finish here).  Jo's plan is to have everyone pick and gather their UFO and try to have it completed by the time Bonnie releases the new mystery -- which is usually the Friday after Thanksgiving -- and then do a finish link up by December 3.  This turned out to work right into my plans for my biggest UFO:  my Autumn Double Wedding Ring!

 

I was so sure I'd get back to this either during the summer or in September at the latest and by now be layering it up or even finishing the quilting.  Not only that, I've been saving Jennifer Chiaverini's "The Wedding Quilt" book (from the Elm Creek Quilts series) to read while I worked on it.  My cousin gave me the book a few Christmases ago (actually, she gave me Ms. Chiaverini's "Union Quilters" but I had already read that so exchanged it for the WQ book) and I've been holding it for just this occasion ever since. 

Right now I'm working on a scrap quilt (for the Fabrics 'N Quilts challenge) and a Halloween quilt (doing them leader/ender style like Bonnie has taught us).  My plan was to work on the DWR next month so Jo's challenge is a chance to make sure I make good on that plan.  In fact, I realize I might be able to squeeze in starting to cut the leaves and vines I need for the DWR border applique while I'm cutting for the Halloween quilt. 

Hey, this now can also be a post for Val's link up, so I will link there too!  For those coming from there, Val also asked how we store our UFOs.  In contrast to a WHIMM (Work Hidden In My Mind so no stash yet), a PIG (a Project In A Grocery Sack) which is usually a HSY ("Hussy" or Haven't Started Yet"), a UFO usually winds up in a box like these:

From left to right: "Heart & Home" my Wool & Taupes BOM, "High Strung +2" this year's Christmas quilt and the DWR project.  In this case, size does matter since the size of the box is an indicator of the size of the project stash!  The box needs to be big enough to hold the project stash, finished blocks or tops, the backing, the project scraps (until the quilt is done and they get processed for general scrap projects) and any books or printouts of ideas specifically for those scraps.  I'm actually hoping to finish all three of these projects before the end of the year (she said, fingers crossed!). 

Now, if my UFOs are TBQs (To Be Quilted) then they're up on the Flimsie shelf with their backings (if I have them already):

So head over to Jo's to find out who else plans to join her in her challenge or to link up yourself!  Head to Val's to see what other UFOs are lurking out there in blogland and are pointed toward a finish!  May we all end the year with our UFO lists a little shorter!! 

Sign Up for the 2016 Piggy Bank Challenge

It's that time again:  time to sign up for Val's 3rd Annual Piggy Bank Savings Challenge over at  her blog, Val's Quilting Studio.

 

You may know Val from her weekly hosting of the Tuesday Archive link-ups (more on that at the bottom of this post).   Val started this savings challenge to put aside money for quilting purchases.  Now she and her DH compete to see who can save the most!  When the savings for this year were revealed, Val won!  I participated for the first time last year and managed to save almost $40 and it's going to fund the first  few months of a BOM.  I'm hoping to do even better this coming year but the challenge will be to figure out how!   I know, I know, just put in more money -- but it's not that simple since most of the change before now came from tips in change that my DH received as a UPS driver and from bottle returns.  My DH is starting training tomorrow to move into the tractor trailer division so (fingers crossed) won't be delivering packages any more which leaves just the bottle deposits.  Actually, if I can keep my oldest son who is a commuting college student from raiding it for carfare, maybe I'll have more to show at next year's reveal!

 

As before, whatever is collected will be saved in here: 

 

This is the jar my DH pressed into service many years ago with a plan to put the accumulated cash toward vacations.  When I started adding the bottle return money and found that I often received bills in addition to change, I needed a way to store them outside of the jar.  I decided to use the little jewelry pouch for that purpose.  It works and can be stored right on the jar for convenience and easy access!

Maybe you have a lot of loose change hanging around?  Then why not start your own jar and link up with Val and the rest of us and start saving for some special quilty purchase for next year!!!


Re:  Tuesday Archive Link-Ups

Now there's even more incentive to participate in Val's Archive link ups.  Val's hosting has gotten so popular  that she now has a sponsor!  That's right, not only do you get a chance to reviatlize some of your older blog posts but you might win something for doing it!  Everyone that links up a post on her blog on Tuesdays will be eligible to be added to a drawing at the end of the month for a $15 gift certificate to the online store Fabrics N Quilts!  Each Tuesday, Val posts what the topic for that week is and if you have a post (an old one or a new one) about a project that fits the theme, just link it up and give everyone a chance to read about something they may have missed.  I follow so many blogs at this point, I welcome the chance to catch up on some posts that I haven't seen or find new bloggers to follow.  So head on over there on Tuesday and join the fun!

Piggy Bank Challenge Reveal!

Today's the day we get to empty our Piggy Banks (or jar in my case) and participate in Val's 2nd Annual Piggy Bank Challenge Reveal!

This started when Val and her husband both began saving their change and then challenged themselves to see who could save the most.  Val blogged about their competition and encouraged by the response from her readers, opened it up for everyone to join the challenge too.  For quilters, the idea is to use the money saved to buy quilty wish list items although you are not limited to that. 

I was intrigued because my DH and I have kept a jar for years with the idea of saving up our change to put toward vacations: 

As I reported last year, we've never filled the jar since we have often raided it for change for school lunch money, train or bus fare or parking meters.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when the emptied jar yielded a little more than $37 dollars mostly in dimes, nickels and pennies!  So I decided to try again and see how much could be saved this year.

My husband was usually was the one bringing in all the change.  He's a UPS driver and his elderly customers often gave their tips in change.  I mostly shop by debit card and when I do spend cash, I am usually that lady digging in her wallet for exact change to pay the cashier.  So for me, saving change has been about putting the proceeds from our recycling bottle returns into the jar. 

When I went to empty the jar today, I must admit there wasn't much in it!  It was mostly pennies and not so many that I couldn't just count them myself rather than taking them to the Coinstar machine like I did last year. 

Total yield $3.60

I'm not surprised because I haven't noticed DH leaving change on his night stand as much this year and with our oldest son in college and commuting, we'd often hear him raiding the jar in the morning for change because he forgot to fill his Metrocard (electronic fare card) the night before.  However, not to fear because unlike last year we have a backup source:

When I started saving the bottle return money, I found that I often received bills in addition to change.  I didn't want to put them in the jar since it would mean breaking it to get them back out so I put this little jewelry pouch into service for them.  Empting that today:

Total Yield:  $36!!

 

So our total piggy bank savings for this year:  $39.60!  For having actually having paid attention to trying to save, we only beat last year's take by $2.44 but it's still money we wouldn't have had if we hadn't set it aside.  So what's my wish list item?  Today I received instructions for the first block of Turning Twenty's new free mystery BOM.  As part of it they are also selling block kits in Kaffe Fassette fabrics (cut your own or precut)  so this will pay for the first two months kits (for four blocks total).  I'm not sure if I will use the kits to make the BOM or just add the fabric to my Kaffe stash but either way I welcome the additions to the stash I've been collecting for a series of  KF quilts I want to make.  

 

For the next year, I'll still keep the jar although it will be limited to being funded by the bottle returns.  DH is starting training next week to drive tractor trailers.  Hopefully, in the coming months he will be transferred to that division which means he will no longer deliver packages.  If so, it's good-bye to tips but a much less physically strenuous holiday season!

 

So thanks Val for another year of encouraging saving!  Link back at Val's to report your savings container contents or be encouraged by everyone else's savings stories to start your own Piggy Bank!

Posting Through the Superbowl #2: Getting It Done 2015 - January Recap/February List

So continuing with my Superbowl Day posting and my personal finish challenge for the year, it's time to report in on last month's progress and set the agenda for the coming month.

From the January List:

1.  Get "High Strung Plus 2" to the flimsie stage:  DONE!

2.  Quilt the two Kaye England Civil War lap quilts:  NOT DONE

3.  Quilt the Civil War Minis: NOT DONE

 



4.  Get the first "block" done for a new (personal) BOM:  making up the Warm Hands/Warm Feet ornaments: DONE!

5.  I also want to work on the blocks for another BOM:  continuing the Heart & Home Wool BOM from a few years  ago:  DONE!

6.  This year I also have a number of hand work projects lined up as well a hand quilting UFO that could use a finish.  Hoping to encourage myself to make time for that, I want to try participating in Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching linkys:  DONE!

 

 

 

7.  I'm also overdue for making up a baby quilt gift so that needs to get done too.  Have stash, need a plan!  NOT DONE

 

 

So here's what I hope to work on for February:

 

1.  UFOs:  Once again, I will try to get to the Quilting on the Civil War lap and mini quilts, this time hopefully with finishes.

2.  Wool/BOMs:  I'll continue to work on the next blocks for the two wool BOMS, finish the Valentine's Table Topper and start on a new one:  another topper that will be a kitchen wall hanging

3.  Hand Work:  I'll continue or finish the "Slow Sunday Stitching" Redwork.  If I finish it, I will restart an old Quilt-As-You-Go project.

 

 

4.  Holiday Quilts:  I'll finish the blocks, top and quilting on "Vintage Cherries".

 

 

5.  Gift Quilts: I need, need, need to start work on the baby quilt (its now long overdue!!!)

 

 I'm off to do some Slow Sunday Stitching and Downton Abbey!

 

P.S. Superbowl Update:  3rd Quarter, Seattle Seahawks ahead of the Patriots 24 -14 

Getting It Done in 2015

A very Happy New Year to all!! 

Since about 2009, I been trying to finish up my UFOs by participating in finishing challenges.  I "participated" in Judy Laquidara's 2012 UFO Challenge on her Patchwork Times blog.  In that challenge, you made a list of twelve projects at the beginning of the year and each month she'd choose a number and that was your UFO project for that month.  I put participated in quotes because while I made my lists and checked them twice, I was naughty and got only one project done and not until about six months after it was scheduled to be completed! 

I've continued to participate in various finishing challenges (most recently last year's Quarterly Finish Alongs) and particularly in the last two years have managed to get quite a few "oldies but goodies" finished up.  For 2013, Judy changed her UFO approach to the monthly "Get It Done" challenges.  This time, she asked quilters to make a list of things they wanted to get done in a given month and post it on the last day of the prior month.  Then the next month they recapped what got done and set out their list for the next month. I didn't discover this new twist until half way through 2013 so didn't try it then and since she didn't renew it in 2014 didn't get to try it last year either.

I'm committed to keeping the finishing momentum going this year so I think I will try her system this year on my own.  Having found out that Barbara over at Cat Patches was ending her "NewFO" linky parties after hosting them for three years, I spent yesterday posting my own last NewFO for the year (and also linking it on Sharon's "Let's Book It" linky too) so I didn't get to make an end-of-month list.  But since I'm going my own way anyway, I figure I can change it up a little and try making my lists on the first day of the month instead! 

So here's what I hope to work on this month:

1.  Get "High Strung Plus 2" to the flimsie stage

2.  Quilt the two Kaye England civil war lap quilts:

3.  Quilt the Civil War Minis

 



4.  Get the first "block" done for a new (personal) BOM:  making up the Warm Hands/Warm Feet ornaments

5.  I also want to work on the blocks for another BOM:  continuing the Heart & Home Wool BOM from a few years  ago:

6.  This year I also have a number of hand work projects lined up as well a hand quilting UFO that could use a finish.  Hoping to encourage myself to make time for that, I want to try participating in Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching linkys:

 

7.  I'm also overdue for making up a baby quilt gift so that needs to get done too.  Have stash, need a plan!

 

 

While I can think of other things to add, I'm known for making my lists a little too ambitious so I'm going to stop here.  So let's see how 2015 will go.  It's a New Year so a good time for a new start!  Happy quilting!!!