January Stash Report and Goals Update

A new version of Scrappy Celebration with friends, this time in batiks with black, got me sidetracked this month. In addition, my color classes are mostly one week apart this time instead of two weeks apart, so a lot of my time has been spent reviewing and updating my previous lesson plans and prepping for teaching. Therefore, not a lot of progress was made on some of my other projects. 

Stash Report: 

IN this month: 0
OUT this month: 7-1/4 yards (Backing for patriotic Scrappy Celebration, 2 yards wide backing. Test blocks for Edna's pattern, 7/8 yard. Pattern test sample for Edna's Stars, 4-3/8 yards)

YTD Net change: 7-1/4 yards out.

Fabrics being used for batik Scrappy Celebration have not been counted. When the top is complete, we'll estimate the total consumption and divide by the number of participants. 

Goals Update: 

January Recap: 

1. Prep for and teach first two sessions of Color Class. DONE

2. Finish the Kaffe Gradient top. No, not touched.

3. Continue working on Road Trip. Worked on layout and filler blocks. Not happy with the result. 

4. Work with Edna to draft her pattern. Make test sample. DONE.

5. Work on a UFO or an Adopt-a-Quilt. Not done

Other: Made more than 20 blocks for Scrappy Celebration 4 in batiks with black. 

February Goals: 

1. Continue prepping for and teaching weekly color classes.

2. Continue making blocks for SC4.

3. Finish the Kaffe gradient flimsy.

4. Figure out a plan for how to salvage Road Trip.

I'm keeping the list short this time because it's a short month and I have four color class lessons to prep for. Wish me luck! 

Scrappy Celebration 4, Batiks with Black

 Linda, Edna, and I are at it again, making another Scrappy Celebration quilt, our fourth. Another friend, Nancy, will be joining in the fun. 

This time we decided on batiks as our palette/theme, and black instead of white for the ground color. We had a concern about big blobs of solid black being too heavy, To visualize, I carefully replicated the pattern in EQ, exactly as shown in the magazine, and substituted batiks for the colors and black for the white. Yes, much too much heavy solid black. So we're using "black alternatives" in much the same way we used low volumes for some of the whites. Here's my EQ rendering with some solid black, some "black alternative," and some very dark batiks.  

As long as we mix black alternative prints and batiks and keep our colors bright, I think it's worth pursuing the concept. Together we've made a few blocks so far. Here they are on the design wall. 

 We need more variety of colors, especially brights. We'll make some more blocks and see where this goes. 

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Finished Patio Quilt

 The patio quilt for my husband was definitely a success. Looks like he likes it!

We get the sun in the morning during the winter but it's still chilly, so to take advantage of the sunshine I made him this quilt using the leftover made-fabric from our patio pillows and flannel for the backing. 

He likes it, and I have a finish instead of a UFO. Win-win. 

Link ups: Alycia Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

December Stash Report and Goals Update

Since one of my goals was to end the year with less in my fabric stash than I started with, 2023 was a very good year. So when opportunities arose to enhance my stash a bit, I felt no qualms about acquiring more fabric. I selected from the estate sale of a late PCQuilter who was known for her color sense, and I ordered some solids to fill some color gaps in my stash.

December Stash Report: 

IN this month: 32 yards (Approximately 22 yards from Kathleen's estate sale.  KQ order, solids, 10 yards.)
OUT this month: 1-3/4 yards (My fabric added to floral adopt-a-quilt, 1-1/4 yards. Binding for Gary's patio quilt, 1/2 yard.)

IN YTD: 90-1/2 yards
OUT YTD: 119 yards

2023 Net Change: 28-1/2 yards OUT

In 2024 I can acquire new fabrics that I need without guilt. My stash has diminished to the point that I need to supplement what I have in order to create cohesive palettes. So when I pull fabrics for a new project and I need something to make it work, I'm okay with purchasing what I need. 

That said, much of the quilt making I do these days is donation quilts for the charities PCQ supports, so I can use the club's stash for those. Usually I end up using a combination of the club's stash and my own, as was the case with the Blue Daisy Four Patch Variation that was finished this month and has been delivered to Natalie's House for a young girl. 

There were some gift-giving deadlines I had to meet this month, and I'm glad to say I got everything finished and sent out in time. I had trouble coming up with Christmas gift ideas for my husband until he mentioned that it was just a little too chilly to sit out on the patio in the sun. Ah-ha, he needs a patio quilt and I could use the leftover made-fabric from the patio pillows. Mission accomplished.

Goals Update: 

December Recap: 

1. Finish the Kaffe Gradient top. Progress, but not finished. 

2. Work on Road Trip. Significant work, lots of unsewing and reassembling blocks to revise the layout.

3. Prep backing for Batik Stacked Slabs. Changed from Stacked Slabs to backing for Gary's Patio Quilt; bought flannel and got backing prepped. 

4. Draft Edna's pattern for PCQ per her request. Drafted in EQ and reviewed several layout options with her. Instructions not written yet.

5. Work on an Adopt-a Quilt charity quilt. Pieced a top and turned it in for someone else to finish. 

6. Work on a UFO or kitted project. Done. Quilted and bound the leftover made-fabric panel from patio pillows for Gary's patio quilt for Christmas.

Also finished and sent out the pillow covers requested by my son. 

January Goals:

1. Prep for and teach first two sessions of Color Class.

2. Finish the Kaffe Gradient top.

3. Continue working on Road Trip.

4. Work with Edna to draft her pattern. Make test sample. 

5. Work on a UFO or an Adopt-a-Quilt.

Edna's Easy Scrappy Stars

That's an ambitious list for January, considering that prepping for and teaching classes takes a lot of time and thought. We'll see how much of my list I can get done. 

Since it's the new year I should mention 2024 annual goals and plans. Basically they're the same as last year:

 - Finish what I'm currently working on, Road Trip, Kaffe Gradient and Edna's pattern.   
 - Continue participating in PCQ's Community Service committee.
 - Go to retreat a couple of times.
 - Finish a UFO. 
 - Plan and start a complicated long term project. 

 - In 2024 I'll be more sporadic about blogging, posting occasionally but not pressuring myself to post every week. 

 - For the first time in more than 10 years I'm not going to care about finishing the year with more stash out than I bring in. If I need to buy fabric for a project, so be it. And when estate sales happen,  opportunities to enhance my stash at reduced prices, I'll add what I want.

 - I'm teaching my 6-lesson color class again starting in January, and even though I taught it before there's still a lot of prep required which takes a lot of time. 

In general I plan to be more relaxed and casual about quilting and blogging in 2024. 

Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year!

Gary's Patio Quilt

In the winter we get the sun on our patio in the morning. My husband likes to sit out there, but when the air temp gets below 65 and it's breezy he gets a little chilly. He needs a quilt. He could take one of several we have in the house, but he "doesn't want to mess them up." Really? His favorite quilt is made of repurposed flannel shirts front and back. How "messed up" could it get, being used on the patio occasionally? 

Nevertheless, a new patio quilt is in order. It will be his Christmas present. And it will match our patio pillows. 

Remember in 2021 I made batik patio pillows? 

The fabric for them was made jelly roll race-style, story here. I cut wa-a-ay too many strips and ended up with an enormous panel of made fabric. After I cut the pillow covers, I had a piece as wide as you see here by about 74" long, with an extension even longer by about 16" wide, all seams going in the same direction. Here's the panel of made fabric before I cut the pillow pieces.

Enough for a good size throw if I seam the long extension to the side of the larger panel. It ended up somewhere in the 63" by 74" range (shown sideways here). Perfect for a large throw!

I still love all the batik fabrics in it, and the little squares sprinkled throughout like confetti.

The backing is plush brown flannel. I'm married to Mr. Flannel, and I think this quilt will feel cozy when he uses it. 

In order to keep this quilt a secret for Christmas, I worked on it at social sewing, piecing the backing and making the binding without him knowing about it. I had time on the long arm last Friday so I was able to quilt it in time for Christmas, with a simple loose meander to keep it soft and drapey.

Just as I had it off the long arm and was squaring it up and trimming away the batting and backing, he walked in on me in the quilting room. He wasn't supposed to be at the Creative Arts building until after 3:00 and this was about 2:30. Grrrr! I'm sure he recognized it since it's the same as our patio pillows which he uses all the time. He didn't say anything about it and neither did I, so the best I can hope is that he assumed it's yet another charity quilt since I work on so many. I don't think that's likely. 

Anyway I bound it at social sewing Wednesday this week and it's finished in time for Christmas. Whether or not it's a surprise for him, I think he'll like it and I'm sure he'll use it. Now it's gift wrapped and ready to give. I don't have a finished photo of it  yet, but I'll get one after he opens it on Christmas. 

Blue Daisy Quilt

Back in the spring, for PCQ's Community Service sew day, we made up kits for Four Patch Variation twin bed size quilts. Knowing there was this kit with a pretty daisy print in blue, I nabbed it. Full disclosure, I'm the one who put this kit together and some of the fabrics in it were mine instead of the club's, so I didn't feel guilty for nabbing the kit before someone else could. 

The flimsy was finished months ago, but there wasn't a suitable backing for it, so it sat in UFO status for a while. Then the Christmas Quilts for Hospice became a priority* and this quilt continued to languish. 

I finally got backing fabric for it, and batting from the club, and time on the long arm, so it's finally a finish. 

I showed it at PCQ's most recent general meeting and everyone commented on how cheerful it is. You can't beat a pretty blue and yellow combo!

Some of the charities we support need twin bed size quilts, and this is about 70" by 90", so this will go to one of them. 

I really like this one if I do say so myself. I hope the recipient likes it! 

Link ups: Alycia Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

*PS - final tally, 81 Christmas Quilts were delivered to Hospice in early December. 

Road Trip: Progress???

Two steps forward and one step back. 

I've moved the blocks around on the wall so that the ones with khaki backgrounds are more in the center and the ones with lighter backgrounds are around the edges. I think it's less choppy, but there are a lot of changes I need to make. Some involve taking apart existing blocks and replacing some fabrics, some involve making new blocks entirely. By the time I'm done, I'll probably have enough leftover unused blocks for another project! 

Here's what the wall looked like a couple days ago. Since then I've taken some blocks down, leaving big white gaps, not photo worthy until I make replacement blocks for those holes. Sorry for the blurry photo.

One of the blocks has flying geese units with two directional fabrics. Several years ago I posted a tutorial (here) about how to make them so they come out with the prints going in the desired directions. I actually had to refer back to it to remember how to make them. 

Once made, I could use them in a couple of block options. Dutchman's Puzzle, 9", reads dark:

Or Ohio Star, 12", which reads lighter:

As you can see, I sewed up the lighter Ohio Star version.

My plan for this week is to continue revising and/or replacing blocks, and making new ones as needed. 

Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts