Monthly Stash Report, Oh Scrap! & Leap Day

This month went by so quickly, but luckily I did get to do quite a bit of sewing and quilting. I'm constantly coming up with new ideas and patterns I want to make. For instance at quilt guild meeting they were talking about miniatures and that the maximum size of a quilt block can be 4.5" for it to be considered miniature. I took this as a challenge and decided to do a mini quilt with my Frolic scraps. I cut them all into 1.5" squares at work one day, then laid them out another day, and on Friday night I spent time making blocks. I'll have to take the one in the lower right hand corner apart and change out the center as it must have gotten mixed up. I have 5 more laid out, but I think I have enough cut to make 16 blocks total. It's exciting making my scraps into a quilt. I only had to buy the background, so I feel like I'm getting away with an almost free quilt. I also have quite a bit of the stripe fabric left, so I think it will make an awesome bias binding.




I also finished up the Case IH quilt. The blocks are all scraps I had from my dad's Case IH quilt, the fabric my mom had in stash from circa 1996, and a panel. I did buy the red to go with it. It's a modified Sidelines quilt, as I used the technique, but made the squares my own 14.5" size, so they finished at 18.5". I hope my nephew will like it. I've decided age 4 is the appropriate year to make my kids and niece and nephews their "big kid" twin size quilts.

This month I also made a new Fuji Tote. I decided I wanted a new tote/purse I could use for work, but wasn't sure on the pattern, so I tested this one with some gold and green fabric. It's the perfect BHSU-RC fabric. I made it before the hockey game, but also took it to a reception at President Jackson's house. He even noticed it was in gold/green! 


My monthly stash report looks amazing! I've been finishing a lot of UFO's and using up the stash. I'm feeling proud of all I've accomplished. I've got several scrap and stash projects planned or in the cutting stage, so I am really enjoying this stage of my quilting time. Some days feel like I have quilting ADD, but I also think of it as finally being creative again!

Fabric bought this month: 8 yards
Fabric bought this year: 14.5 yards
Fabric used this month: 36.5 yards
Fabric used this year: 87 yards
Net Fabric used this year: 72.5 yards!

Linking up with Patchwork Time &

Oh Scrap

As many of my long time readers will attest, I hate scraps. Literally when I started quilting I would rather throw the fabric away than to have any "left over" scraps. Fast forward 18 years and my style has changed a bit and I am now a bit more able to do scraps, within controlled context.

When my mom passed I ended up with a large stash of batik scraps, all less than fat quarter or half yard, but still usable sized. My awesome blogging buddies made our friend Regina1I a Jewel box quilt a few years back and it was gorgeous. So much so that I decided to make the same quilt in batiks.

I cut my entire stash of batik scraps into strip sets to make a scrappy Trip around the world quilt and the pieces to make this Buckeye Beauty quilt. I may have gone a bit too crazy with the cutting as I still have a lot left over. This week I made 36 more blocks and I still have plenty to make more. I think I've decided to make the second quilt 8x8, so I need 28 more blocks. I don't think this will be a problem.

I love how this quilt turned out and it isn't entirely made from stash, including the pieced backing and batting. I'll use it as a donation quilt when the need arises.

OMG February Finish

This month has been crazy, but it's also been a great quilting month for me. I was able to spend the President's day holiday at my dad's and got in some serious quilting time. I was able to finish my goal to quilt and bind the purple Minkee quilt. It turned out great and is so cuddly.

I helped Mikaela make this Frozen bag from scraps. She's really wanting to sew more, so I am trying to be more prepared and ready to help her, when she's ready.

I made a pen case for my new pens to go with my Quilters Planner cover. I used the by Annie's free pattern, but used the scrap of soft and stable I had, so it's a bit smaller, which is just fine. I could have made it shorter, since I am just putting my fun colored pens in it.

I made a Quilters Planner cover and love how it turned out! I used a very special piece of double wedding ring fabric that my amazing friend Jen B. sent me several years ago. It's a Jennifer Chiaverini piece and I've been hoarding it like crazy. I can't believe how well the zipper matches and fits perfectly with the row.

I finished the binding on my 1st Buckeye Beauty scrappy batik quilt and made 36 blocks for a second one. I'd really like to make the next one bigger, so I'm going to wait to put it together. I have enough cut out to make a lot more blocks, but I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and make a half square triangle quilt.

I had a great day of quilting at my dad's and quilted this baby quilt for my Aunt Jane. I only quilted in the colored areas and left the white areas open. It's a small quilt she'll donate to project warmth.

I also quilted this Case IH quilt, which uses a modified Sidelines pattern for my nephew Owen. I'm hoping to get the binding on by Easter so I can gift it to him then.

I quilted this Loralie BQ4 quilt, which has no home yet, but may go to one of my mom's quilting friends. I am really trying to finish up her UFO's/fabric stash so I can move on to other bucket list projects I'd like to complete. 




















We also celebrated my birthday and Valentine's day. Nothing big, but still a great time. My MIL got a new job and we're so excited that she'll be working days now. Big changes in store for our family.  I was able to gift her the blue hexie Strip On quilt I made during the waiting process for the new job. She loves it and actually put it on her bed!! I helped with her resume, cover letter, application, etc., so it's been a waiting process of 4 months for us. We're thrilled she'll be working at SDSM&T as a auxiliary custodial supervisor.


With a week left of the month, I'm sure I'll get a few more things done. I'm feeling very quilters ADDish. Last night I pulled more fabric to cut TATW strips from. I pieced some pink/brown cowgirl fabrics for a baby quilt, using scraps from the other 4 Pink Cowgirl quilts I have made. I used this as my leader/ender project. I also took out my Briar Rose Leader Ender project and realized I need to cut the fabric for the X blocks, so I picked out one that would work, grabbed my 2.5" squares that are already pre-cut and prepped that as another L/E project.
Then... I pulled out my grandma Elaine's friendship quilt blocks and cut the sashing and pieced the top together. It still needs borders, but the hard part is done. I'm thinking I might get back to my dad's in the next few weeks and I'd really like to get both my grandma and mom's friendship quilts (blocks made by their guild members in 2004) done and be able to gift them back to the guild for donation quilts. I just couldn't throw the blocks away, so I am feeling compelled to finish them. Mikaela and I are going to the trunk show of their quilt show in mid-March, so this is a good deadline to shoot for to have them completed.
My little Valentine's at their pre-school party.

OMG February Goal 2016

It's a short month, plus it's birthday month, so I am unsure how much I will get accomplished. I've decided to make the purple minkee quilt a priority. I have the backing and it's together in rows, but I need to spray baste and quilt it to the backing and then do the turned binding. It's hopefully going to be a class sample. I've got some great ideas for the next quarter, so I am hopeful to have all the samples done soon. I'm linking up my OMG at Red Letter Day.