April Quilts

  

It's been a busy month for me. I've accomplished a lot on my goals list and still have things "to do". The list never ends. I spent several days at my dad's house quilting this month. I had 4 teacher quilts to do before this week. I have a graduation quilt coming up and I have 3 quilts that I've done for others. 

This quilt is for Karen and her family. It's an antique quilt and I quilted and am working on the binding. I should be able to finish it this month. 

Last night as I was in between projects, I sewed up 4 more of the side blocks for Rhododendron Trail mystery. I'm getting closer to being ready to put this top together. 

I finished sewing this mini Trip Around the World top together. This one is about 13" square, so it's pretty tiny, but I love how it turned out. 

I pieced Dapper as a leader/ender this month and quilted it on Saturday at Dad's house. The fabric is Nova and it's a challenge pattern for our online sewing group with The Sewing Center. 

My co-worker had a baby last week, so I quickly pieced this baby quilt from Amelia fabric I've had in my stash. I put a purple minkee on the back. It turned out to be super cute and I think I can have it done before I meet up with another co-worker to exchange and have her take back. 

Teacher appreciation is this week, so last weekend (when we had a blizzard cancel our plans) I was able to make labels. This is for Mikaela's writing teacher. 

I made her Bookends, another quick pattern from our monthly pattern challenge at The Sewing Center. I used Glamping Gypsies fabric. I am getting close to the end of my fabric from this line. This is quilt number 15 or 16 from that line!

Another teacher is an SDSU graduate, so I'm gifting her the Yellow/Blue Trip Around the World. I used a navy minkee on the back. 

My Glamping Gypsies Hey June was finished in March. This is for Mikaela's main homeroom teacher.  

I added a label to the back of it. It was too big to get a piece of minkee without piecing it, so I used a wide back in red. 

Mathew's teacher loves owls, so hers has pieced minkee on the back with 2 colors of teal (her favorite color) and a piece of owl minkee (that is also on the quilt she received when she was Mikaela's teacher). 

Mathew picked this owl pattern for her quilt. It's a pixiated quilt. I bought a pattern, but ened up changing it a lot because it was really poorly written (as in here's a picture and the shapes, figure out how to make it). It was really long and narrow, so I took out a bit to make it more proportional. 

Religion teachers each got a wall hanging or mug rug. I quilted these on Soft and Stable, so they are a bit puffy. 

My 3rd cousin's wife is gifting me a sewing machine, so I am giving her a quilt. I finishe piecing the top last week and then quilted it this weekend. This is before it was quilted. I didn't know what size it was, but bought 2.25 yards of minkee, only Michelle was talking and cut 2.5". It ended up being 80"x90" and wouldn't fit across it, but because of the mistake, I was able to make it work, just barely! I laid it out to make sure it would fit before I put it on the frame. I used a black flannel so it wouldn't be so heavy. 

A friend referred me to her cousin to quilt a couple quilts, so I have 2 of these to quilt. I ended up quilting the first one. It's really big and it took a lot of effort, but it's done. The 2nd one is loaded, but I ran out of time Saturday to quilt it.  

My friend Jennifer had a benefit and she asked me to quilt and bind these for her. I was able to get both of them done before the benefit. 

It was a busy month, but I feel like it was really productive. 

March OMG Goal

March is going to go by so quickly. The first week was just crazy and I'm sure it won't slow down much.
My goal for March is to get my yellow and blue scrappy trip around the world into a quilt top. I've made a lot of the blocks and have about 14 more strata sets left to make and about 20 blocks that are cut, but need to be ripped and sewn. Hopefully, I'll be able to get this top done. It's my UFO for Judy's challenge, so this gives me a reason to keep on pushing forward.
 
Linking up with Elm Street Quilts for OMG March Link up

UFO February Progress

February was so busy! I feel like I was going full speed ahead all month. I did get a lot of sewing and quilting time in, so I'm not complaining. I've been working on both the APQ and Judy at Patchwork Times UFO challenges. In February APQ picked #9, my Scrappy Trip Around the World. I made the top in 2016, but it wasn't as big as I liked, so I needed 26 more blocks. I finished 2 blocks and got 10 more strata sets made and cut. I am currently ripping them and getting ready to sew more blocks. I'm proud of this progress because I had a lot of deadlines and worked on a lot of other projects, but I did make a concentrated effort to make some blocks.



My UFO # 1 for Judy's challenge was Sprinkles, which is a Jaybird Quilt pattern. I was able to finish the 2nd half of these triangles. They will then be made into half hexies. This was one I started at the end of last year, so it's not a long time UFO. I just decided it wouldn't be a class, so it's been on the back burner. It's moved forward, so to me, that's a good feeling.

February Progress

While my last post showed a few finishes, it really didn't showcase all I worked on this month. I said at one point over the long weekend (with a snow day added), that I had quilters ADD. I was working on 6-8 projects all at one time!
I finished this green and gold bag for the SDHEA conference silent auction after I arrived at the conference! I set up my sewing and had it done in less than an hour, start to finish. I donated 4 bags in green/gold and blue/yellow.

While I was away a the conference, I made all of these blue and yellow Blue Ridge Beauty blocks. I would like it to be bigger and have plenty of HST's but needed more 4 patches. Since it's the scraps from my Scrappy Y/B trip around the world that I'm using for the 4 patches, I needed to make more of those blocks!

I'm teaching a class on making Crown Royal quilts or really any focus fabric and designing a quilt around the fabric, so I made my brother pillows to match his quilt.

I made a few more yellow and blue scrappy trip blocks.

Then I made a few more... and a few more... and a few more. I didn't take pictures of all of them, but I'm sure I finished about 20 this month. I do about 3 each round of chain piecing.

I made Mathew a blanket for his teddy bear. 


I made this doll blanket for an auction at Mikaela's school.

I made this backing for a black and white baby quilt.

I'm doing the Quilters Planner Sew Along, so I made this block for January.

This is the February block for the Quilters Planner Sew Along

I was able to make a few more 4 patches

And a few more yellow and blue scrappy trip blocks.

I had a quilting day at my dad's house and quilted this baby quilt I made from the leftover blocks of my quilt.

My 5-yard quilt in black/white/ pink/green was also quilted at dads. I need to bind both of these.

I also made this doll blanket with minkee for the auction, but Mikaela kept it for herself.


It doesn't look like I posted my in/out for January, but I was neck and neck, 30.75 in and 33.75 out... Well, I didn't do quite so well this month. I was at the quilt shops a bit too often and my "big" finishes didn't get bound due to a fall that hurt my back on Saturday, so I'll have to keep them for next month. I will be ahead of my stash soonish.

February In - 29.25 Yards
February Out - 14 Yards
Year to Date In - 60 Yards
Year to Date Out - 47.75 Yards
For a total of 12.25 yards, the stash is ahead!

One Monthly Goal - February Finished

This month has been a busy one. I celebrated another birthday and finished quite a few projects.
I finished my OMG with the quilting and binding of this Crown Royal table runner. I'm making a queen size quilt with the same block and I wanted to see what it would turn out like. I love it and the block is really simple, so I hope to have the top for the queen done in March.

I also made 2 Crown Royal pillows for my brother to match his quilt. I'm teaching a class on how to make Crown Royal quilts in April/May and I made both of these items for samples.

I loved the Positivity table topper pattern by GE Designs, so I used scraps to make this topper. It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but it's done and bound and I'm happy.

My son wanted a quilt for his teddy bear since his sister has doll quilts she's made. He picked out the fabrics from his "stash" and I used the leftover pieces from his bed quilt to make this small quilt for teddy. If someone doesn't want to make a Crown Royal quilt, I'll also be showing how to use focus fabrics to design a quilt in the same class I'm teaching.


My other February UFO's were Sprinkles - which I got all of the sections completed and they are now ready to be pieced into blocks. I'm trying to decide if I should keep them pink/blue/yellow or mix them all up.
I also worked on blocks for my Scrappy Trip Around the World. I have 2 completed and 10 more strata sewn and cut apart. I'm currently ripping. I figure I started roughly half the blocks I need this month, so I'll keep moving it forward.



I also made a bunch more yellow and blue Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks and Blue Ridge Beauty blocks. I also sewed a few bags and blankets as well. I quilted at my dad's and got my Black and White quilts quilted, so a very successful month!
 I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts for the One Monthly Goal Finish Party

Oh Scrap & I May have a Scrap Problem

So... when I started quilting I was NOT going to have a stash and I was NOT going to have scraps... I was firm in my believe that I would make a project, then throw away the scraps. I would not buy more than I needed and I was NOT  going to become my mother. She had two sewing rooms, floor to ceiling full of fabric drawers. It took totes upon totes to get rid of it.
Then I started working at a quilt shop and then another and I started teaching classes and I started accumulating a stash and scraps. I'm still not a big fan of scraps, but I have found a few patterns that make them easier to deal with. I cut my scraps (smaller than a fat quarter) into these sizes - 2.5" x WOF strips, 5" squares, 2.5"x 5" bricks, 2.5" squares and 2" strips if that's all that is left. If I have 2.5"x 1/2 WOF I use those for Trip Around the World, so those are not cut up either.
So here's the pile I have been working from this month. I have a bunch of 2.5"x 18.5" strips that I am using to make a scrappy trip around the world. This one does not have a control fabric, which makes it very scrappy. I'm loving it so far and it's a great use of scraps. It's also super accurate to piece. The seams are nested so they take no pinning and are fast and easy. I sew a bunch of sets of 2 together, then I sew them into sets of 4 and then sets of six, then press and sew into a circle. I take them to work and cut them into 2.5" circles at lunch and then start taking them apart in the order they will go. They are then clipped together with mini binder clips and are brought home to sew together. I usually do about 15 blocks at a time (that's about all the patience I have for strata sets).

My first two blocks

Then i added 3 more. The little one is for a different scrap project.

Then another 4

and another 4... plus I have 15 more setting ready to sew together. It's a slow process, but they go quickly when I work on them. I've made all of these this month.

I started working on mini granny square blocks using up my Frolic strips, but have been side tracked by the TATW blocks. I've made six quilts from this line and this is the last little bit of scraps from it.


I also worked on this pink cowgirl coin quilt that I am using up the last of those scraps. I usually like to keep my fabric lines together until there isn't enough for another quilt. In this case I've made 4 quilts from this line and this is the last one.


I'm also working on another quilt from MO Quilt Company using X & O blocks. It's using up my 2.5" squares and I sew them together at home or at my sewing night with friends and then I take them to work to trim off the corners and press. Then they are ready for me to sew when I get home. This is my leader/ender project, so it's taking quite a while to complete.


I'm linking up with I May have a Scrap Problem and Oh Scrap!