June Stash Report and Goals Update

 Wow, I can't believe it's the end of June already. It seemed like June was busy, but I don't have much to show for it. I was out of town for a couple days and then came down with a nasty virus, so I've been out of the sewing room a lot this month. 

No fabrics were purchased this month, and none of my own fabrics used, so no change to my stash report. The only complete finish I had used all club fabric for the front and back.

Mostly this month I worked on assembling my Road Trip top. A few partial seams, but not as bad as I expected it would be. I actually have the top all sewn together. And then I discovered I switched the placement of a couple of blocks so I'll have to fix it. Here's what it looks like before fixing: 

I haven't figured out the fabric usage in Road Trip yet. I'll figure it out and count it when I get the top fixed. I have quite a lot of leftover blocks and components, probably enough for smaller throw size quilt. I'll figure out what to do with them and count all that fabric separately. I'm tired of looking at Road Trip now, though, so I may put dealing with the leftovers on hold for a while. 

Another thing I finished this month is my community service top from the May-June kit. I had time on the long arm yesterday so I was able to quilt it. I haven't blogged about it yet so it'll get its own post later, after it's bound and finished. Again, the fabrics used were all club fabrics, so none of mine to count for my stash report. 

I actually accomplished more in June than I originally thought. I have a retreat coming up in mid July, so my goals and priorities have to switch over to retreat project prep now. 

Goals Update: 

June Recap

1. Finish the Road Trip top. Yes, but... It's all sewn together but I've noticed a couple of changes I need to make, which will involve ripping out a couple of blocks and replacing them. 

2. Quilt and finish my Tropical Stacked Slabs charity quilt. DONE and donated. 

3. Plan for making kits for the July PCQ Community Service sew day. Work on finishing the May-June top. DONE; directed the kitting up of the July project and finished my May-June top.

4. Prep projects for retreat in July. Started, more work needed. 

5. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy. No

6. If time permits, prep a backing for something and book quilting time for early in July. Yes, got long arm time on June 29 and quilted my May-June community service top. 

Other: made six more Periwinkle blocks for Edna's hive project. 

July Goals: 

1. Prep projects for retreat.

2. Bind the May-June community service quilt (Woven Bricks pattern).

3. Make a couple Scrappy Celebration blocks in autumn colors for retreat hostess Shiela. 

4. Revise Road Trip top.

5. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy.

Hopefully I can publish more blog posts in July, too. 

Stacked Slabs

Although I haven't been blogging much lately, I've been working on PCQ community service projects behind the scenes. 

We revised our schedule this year. Last year we were a little too ambitious, - and productive! - and we had a new quilt project for each month's Community Service sew day. Our batting budget couldn't keep up. Some of us felt pressured to finish a charity quilt top each month. This year we're allocating two months for sewing a given pattern. 

Our March-April project was a new pattern for us, Stacked Slabs. After finishing the top in May, I had time booked on the long arm at the beginning of June and got it quilted, and now it has been finished and donated. It's twin bed size because that's what several of the agencies we support need. 

When we made up the Stacked Slabs kits, I chose from the overflowing Novelty fabric bins and pulled everything with an ocean/beach/tropical/water theme: dolphins and whales, surfers and surfboards, palm trees, mermaids... I had made my Sea Turtle toddler quilt then, so I added in the turtle print leftovers, too. Then I pulled from the blue, teal, and green fabric bins to round out the palette. 

This pattern is super easy, just 4-1/2" wide strips cut either 20-1/2" or 10-1/2" long, laid out in rows staggered like bricks. No blocks, no seams to match, and the fabrics do all the work. 

After I had pulled all the fabrics for the top, we received another very generous donation of fabrics which included this stunning African print and some watery prints in matching colors. With careful planning, I was able to piece together a large enough backing featuring the African print. This could almost be a two-sided quilt. 

If you would like a PDF of the Stacked Slabs pattern for any charitable purpose, leave a comment and be sure to type your email address in the body of your comment. When I get a chance to update my Charity Quilt Patterns tab above, I'll add this pattern to it. 

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Road Trip and Other Work in Progress

 Road Trip is at the point where I'm starting to puzzle it together. There are a few partial seams, but not too bad so far. I have the upper left corner assembled.

When not working on Road Trip, I've been thinking about my Black and Tan project. Here are a few test blocks. The pale one on the left doesn't cut it; too blah. 

Primary blocks have black corners. When they surround the alternate blocks they create a star, which will continue out into the border. I'm using triangle papers to mass produce those corner HSTs. I've revised the layout in EQ several times. If I'm careful with the value placement, I think the blocks will create an interesting secondary pattern. 

I need my design wall to work on the Black and Tan project and other quilts besides Road Trip, so I really need to focus and get Road Trip assembled so I can move on. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

May Stash Report and Goals Update

 Well, some goals just weren't met this month. But all in all, I did get a lot done, especially on my Road Trip project. I was able to find more of the license plate fabric from a Google image search so I got another yard of it. I've used nearly all of it. I've finished reconstructing the blocks, finalized the layout, and now I'm working on the fill-in bits. Here's a photo from a few days ago.

The girls in the hive finished the warm version of the batik Scrappy Celebration in warm colors, so I can count out my share of the fabrics used. Per EQ, that's about 2 yards. Didn't make a dent in my batik scraps! I went with Linda and the chair of PCQ's Community Service committee to deliver both batik Scrappy Celebration quilts to Magdalene House and gift them to the recipients. No photos for privacy reasons, but the ladies were truly touched and very appreciative. 

Other than that, no finishes this month so I can't count anything else out of my stash. 

May Stash Report:

IN this month: 1 yard (license plate print for Road Trip)
OUT this month: 2 yards (my share of Warm Batiks Scrappy Celebration)

IN YTD: 23-1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 20-1/8 yards
YTD Net Change:  3-1/8 yards added

No worries. Road Trip is getting close to a finished top, and that will be a lot of fabric to count out because it's so huge and there are so many unused blocks and block parts. The Kaffe Gradient project is close to a finished top, too. Plus, I have a couple other projects cut or in progress using my own fabrics, so I'll be able to count the fabric out eventually. My goal is to break even for the year. 

Goals Update:

May Recap: 

1. Ship and/or deliver Ruby Jubilee and Sea Turtle quilts. DONE

2. Continue working on Road Trip. Yes, good progress. Finished remaking all the blocks and revising the layout; now working on filler bits and joining the blocks together. 

3. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy. No, not worked on. 

4. Begin planning a new project for July retreat. Yes, cut pieces for a black & white project for retreat. 

5. Work on Black & Tan scrappy blocks. Yes, modified the plan and made several more blocks.

6. Quilt something on the club's long arm. No. But I have a time slot booked for early June to quilt my Tropical Stacked Slabs.

7. Quilt something on the club's long arm. No. But I have a time slot booked for early June to quilt my Tropical Stacked Slabs.

other: finished piecing my March-April community service quilt, Stacked Slabs. I made mine in tropical and ocean-themed prints from the club's stash. I pieced a cool backing for it from donated fabrics, too. Photos to come when the quilt is finished.

June Goals:

1. Finish the Road Trip top

2. Quilt and bind my Tropical Stacked Slabs charity quilt.

3. Plan for making kits for the July-August PCQ Comm. Svc. project. Work on finishing my May-June Comm. Svc. top. 

4. Prep projects for retreat in July

5. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy

6. If time permits, prep a backing for something and book quilting time in early July. 

Plenty to keep me busy, especially since I'll be on vacation for a few days!

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Road Trip Progress

 You may remember, I had all my Road Trip blocks on my design wall, but I was not happy with the look of the project. Here's what it looked like: 

In this layout, the blocks get lighter towards the outside edges. One of the fabrics is actually a cream background print, almost white. What bothered me was how the blocks seem to scatter or fade away at the edges. 

So I took them all down, took apart all the ones with the offending white fabric, remade some and made some all new blocks. I was fortunate to be able to get another yard of the license plate print, and I found some more of the khaki Grunge. In the new layout, the blocks with the lightest beige print are toward the center and the darkest blocks are around the edge. 

Here's what the wall looks like today. I need to make two more blocks for the upper right corner, and fill in with khaki grunge where the white squares (blank design wall) are. I still need to work on filling in the odd spaces. 

The bottom row reads dark in the photo, but that has more to do with the lighting than the blocks. I'm much happier with the new layout, even though it was a lot of work with the seam ripper to get to this stage. 

Soon - just two more blocks plus fillers - I'll be able to start puzzling this monster together. It'll require quite a few partial seams, and a bit of wrangling under the needle. This quilt will be over 90" square when finished. 

If my husband likes it well enough, we'll hang it in our foyer. If not, I'll drape it over the sofa in our den. Either way, I'm keeping this one for me. 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Twins

 The girls in the hive finished the second of the Scrappy Batik quilts, the warm one, as well as the cool one we finished earlier. We showed them both at PCQ's meeting Monday night. We don't have a photo of then both together, but here are separate photos of the finished quilts.

The warm version finishes at 72 x 99" because we got carried away and made too many blocks, so this one is twin bed size with a pillow tuck. 

The cool one finishes at 72 x 90".

Both versions will be donated to Magdalene House, one of the charities PCQ supports that needs twin bed size quilts. 

After making these, we're taking a break from Scrappy Celebration blocks. Edna has a new project for us. Here's a preview: 

Linking up with Alycia Quilts 

April Stash Report and Goals Update

A busy and productive month! 

First, there was retreat, always fun and enjoyable. I had two deadline projects prepped to work on, Ruby Jubilee and Sea Turtles. They're both small quilts, and I was able to get both tops pieced. That means I can count out the fabrics used, which my stash report needs. 

Ruby Jubilee

April Stash Report

IN this month: 1-3/4 yards (from Prickly Pearadise Quilt Shop)
OUT this month: 8-7/8 yards (Sea Turtle quilt - 2-1/4 for top, 1-7/8 for back, 3/8 for binding.  Ruby Jubilee - 2-1/2 for top, 1-1/2 for back, 3/8 for binding)

IN YTD: 22-1/4 yards
OUT YTD: 18-1/8 yards
YTD Net Change: 4-1/8 yards IN

Since my annual goal is to break even or reduce the stash, I'll need to continue to use up fabric this year, but I have plenty of time. 

Projects with deadlines definitely took priority this month, but overall I did okay on my goals. The Ruby Jubilee challenge quilt has to be mailed in early May to be presented at the CSQ May meeting. Sea Turtles will be delivered in person on May 17. 

Sea Turtles for Damien

Goals Update

April Recap:

1. Finish prepping projects for retreat. Go, and have a good time! YES!

2. Make and quilt Ruby Jubilee challenge/baby quilt, due May 1. DONE

3. Make and quilt Sea Turtle toddler Quilt. Finished quilt is due May 15. DONE

4. Continue making warm color blocks for SC5. DONE

5. If time permits, finish piecing Kaffe Gradient top. No, not touched. 

6. If time permits, work on Road Trip. Yes, continued to deconstruct blocks and remake them without the offending white. 

Revised Road Trip Blocks

May Goals: 

1. Ship and/or deliver Ruby Jubilee and Sea Turtle quilts.

2. Continue working on Road Trip.

3. Finish the Kaffe Gradient flimsy.

4. Begin planning a new project for July retreat.

5. Work on Black & Tan scrappy blocks.

6. Quilt something on the club's long arm.

7. Prep backing for Edna's Stars.

Things are starting to get quieter in Pebble Creek as the summer heats up. We've had a cool spring and we made it through April without turning the AC on, but as the sun gets stronger and the days heat up, we'll need it soon. Most of the snowbirds have left so it'll be less crowded at social sewing in the Creative Arts Center on Wednesdays. It's so nice to have an air conditioned communal space where we can hang out and sew!