Gravity: The Gray Blocks

Here are three pictures of the gray background blocks for the Gravity quilt.  Boring to sew!  Boring to look at!  But they are done, and my Gravity quilt will soon be done too.

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/gravity-quilt-along-background-blocks.html

Stash Report, A Sewing Break

There was a big 30% off sale at my LQS today.  I didn't even know about it until I went to by to take my sewing machine in for its annual service.  I ended up getting four fat quarters for the Smart Phone quilt and enough fabric to make a pillowcase, but I won't be able to do any sewing until my machine is done. 

Used This Week:  0                                
Used Year to Date: 56.375 yards 
Added this week: 2.375
Added year to date: 63.875 yards
 Net added: 7.5 yards

Here's what I've been working on this week:

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/30/fabric-report-week-35-2015/

Design Wall: A Weekend's Work

Making paper pieced blocks was starting to feel like work, so I did some sewing on a recycled fabric quilt.  I'm not sure when I cut these blocks out, but these went together quickly, and I have more blocks in the works.

 

This is Bonnie Hunter's pattern Scrappy Mountain Majesties.  I think it needs some red, but I don't have any red shirts.  I'll only spend up to $3 on a used shirt, so that cuts down on my options. 

 

The pink square was a leaders and enders project using some of my trash scraps.  I did make one block for the Smart Phone quilt, but it isn't really the right color green.

 

 

One of the other Smart Phone patterns has a blue background, and the other has a gray background.  There is nothing in my stash that is big enough, so those will have to wait until I buy fabric. 

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/24/design-wall-august-24-2015/

 

 

 

Scream House

Back in July, I joined a loosely organized stitch along for Just Nan's Scream House. As far as I can tell, Scream House is out of print.    I've had the kit since Christmas 2008 and decided to finally start it.  The goal is to stitch one panel of the house each month.  So far, I've managed to keep up.  I'll add the beads on the fences last. 

 

There are eight full panels to stitch (4 inside the house, 4 outside).  It also has 8 roof pieces.  I think the stitching of this is going to be the easy part!  Finishing it into the house is going to be a challenge for me.  Just a note:  I have no intention of having this piece completed by Halloween 2015!

 

Linking up:  http://www.supermomnocape.com/2015/08/24/vintage-embroidery-monday-stitchery-link-party-20/

Stash Report

One more pillowcase down this week.  This one will be the wrapping for a Christmas gift.

Used This Week:  4.875 (Row by Row, pillowcase)                                
Used Year to Date: 56.375 yards 
Added this week: 2.125yards (Angie's pillowcase, Smart phone quilt)
Added year to date: 61.5 yards
 Net added: 5.125 yards

Linking up: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/23/fabric-report-week-34-2015/

Row by Row Mashup

I took some of the rows from last year's Row by Row Along and added a couple from this year's to make one summertime quilt top. 

 

It is 80x60 inches. 

 

Center Rows:

1. Chadwick Heirlooms    Richmond, VA (kit) 2015

2.Quilting Adventures  Richmond, VA (kit) 2014

3.Blue Crab Quilt Company Henrico, VA (my fabric) 2014

4.Sew E-Z, Virginia Beach, VA (kit) 2014

5.Brubaker's Sewing Center   New Holland, PA (my fabric) 2014

6.  Saunder's Fabric  Denver, PA (my fabric) 2014

7.The Quilt Shop at Miller's  Ronks, PA  (my fabric) 2014

 

 

Left Side:

1. The Quiltery   Fairfield, VA (kit) 2014

2.  The Sew'n Place  Chambersburg, PA (my fabric)2014

 

Right Side:

1. Log Cabin Quilt  Shop Bird In Hand, PA (my fabric)2014

2. Quilter's Corner  Midlothian, VA (kit) 2015

 

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-big-milestone-and.html

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/hexi-pin-cushion.html

 

Smart Phone Quilt Along

I finished the first three blocks of SPQA last night at about 11:00.   My husband came into the sewing room to ask if I knew what time it was. 

Other than some very thick seam intersections, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  A word of warning:  so far this paper piecing is more complex than most of the Project of Doom blocks because of all the curves.  Also, there are some teeny tiny bits on Instagram (the corners of the viewfinder) that could  have been combined into one piece to simplify the piecing.  Three more blocks are being released today. 

Linking up:  http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/lets-bee-social-86.html

http://myplvl.blogspot.com/2018/04/tuesday-archives-190-paper-piecing.html

Design Wall, W&G

I use my Wild and Goosey units as Leaders and Enders when I paper piece.  Yesterday I started a new paper piecing quilt, so I started on W&G again. 

 

I need 17 more little W&G units to complete these 2 rows.  Here's the new paper piecing project I'm working on.

 

It is from Playful Piecing from Fandom in Stitches, and it is another block, or in this case three blocks, of the week pattern.  I definitely won't keep this one.  I don't use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on my phone, so all the app logos mean nothing to me.  But I have lots of nieces and nephews who would probably like quilts that look like their I-phones.

I predict this quilt will be outdated in 5 years, so I want to get the piecing done now, while the patterns are coming out, and get it quilted ASAP.

 

A note on the blue fabric:  this is from Stonehenge!  I was super surprised to see this bright blue color as I usually think of Stonehenge as having earthy colors, browns, greens and grays.  I love this blue fabric!  It is soft and nice to work with as well as being pretty.

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/17/design-wall-august-17-2015/

Stash Report, Pillowcases

I was getting so close to stash in equals stash out, but as any quilter knows, sometimes you need new fabric to use up old fabric.  Almost all of my stash is fat quarters or smaller, so I needed to get something to use for sashing on my Row by Row quilt.  While I was at my LQS, I bought fabric to make pillowcases for my aunt and a friend's dad too. 

 

 

Used This Week:  3.375 (pillowcases)                                
Used Year to Date: 51.50 yards 
Added this week: 5.5 yards
Added year to date: 59.375 yards
 Net added: 7.875 yards

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/16/fabric-report-week-33-2015/

Design Wall News

The big design wall news here is that I have a design wall!  I planned my new sewing space so that most of one wall is empty, and yesterday my husband and I hung up the flannel-covered insulation board. We used command strips, and so far it is working.   The design wall is made from two 4x8 sheets of pink insulation board, but 12 inches had to be cut off of each to accommodate the molding in the room.

 I pulled out my 2014 Row by Row panels to see how it would work.  I love it!  It is going to be great for doing one block wonders too.  My husband doesn't get why I'm so excited about this, but I think most quilters will understand.

 

I've just started on one of the 2015 rows.  All the fusing is done, but I still need to stitch around each shape.  I think I'll combine rows from both years to make one quilt.

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/10/design-wall-august-10-2015/

Stash Report, Lucky Me!

Used This Week:  4 (POD2)                                  
Used Year to Date: 48.125 yards 
Added this week: 0 yards
Added year to date: 53.875 yards
 Net added: 5.75 yards

We spent a lot of July traveling, and I just now realized that I never posted about my quilt winnings.  I won the random drawing  for Block 7 link-up in the Gravity QAL last month.  The prize was a $50 gift certificate toward custom quilting by Crista  at Cotton Berry Quilts.  ( http://cottonberryquilts.com/ )  I just moved all my unquilted tops to the new sewing room, and at last count, I have 19 unquilted tops!  I just need to figure out which one is most deserving of Crista's longarming.

In the same drawing, I also got to choose a PDF pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.  I picked Promenade.  http://cluckclucksew.bigcartel.com/category/pdf-patterns

Many thanks to Myra from Busy Hands Quilts for organizing this sew along.  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/

Way back in June, I was  the winner of a Colourshott charm pack from Oakshott Fabrics for the June Scraptastic Tuesday Link Up. I got a mini-charm pack of the same fabric as well,

 Thanks to Nicky and Leanne for organizing this link up.  I believe there will be another Scraptastic Tuesday this week.  http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2015/08/scraptastic-tuesday-unpackingmoving.html

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/09/fabric-report-week-32-2015/

 

  

Amanda's Quilt

I've spent most of this week moving my sewing stuff from the master bedroom, attic, playroom and guest room into my new sewing room.  I knew I had a lot of scraps, but I didn't realize I had three tubs of unsorted scraps.  This is in addition to all the bins of scraps that are sorted by color.  One of next year's goals has to be to use up one of the giant bins of scraps, either by sewing them into a quilt or getting them into the color sorted bins.

Our master bedroom is unusually large, so in theory, having my sewing space in the bedroom should work.

 But I'm not a neat quilter. Over the years, I've acquired a lot more fabric, tools, and books than I used to have, so the space isn't really big enough.  I also don't think all the fabric lint is good for my husband's allergies. 

Since two of our children have moved out, I decided to take over one of their bedrooms.  Of course, I took the bigger of the two!  We had the carpet taken out and put in laminate.

 

I'm so happy to have a closet just for quilting stuff.

 

 

 

Right now I'm about 3/4 of the way moved into the new sewing room.  I should finish the job, but I wanted to stop and sew!  This morning I finished Amanda's graduation quilt top:

 

 

 

 

This quilt was a lot of work, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  All the book titles were embroidered by hand.

 

 

 

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2015/08/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-near-finish.html

 

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-carry-all-pin-cushion.html

 

 

 

 

Gravity: Voyage Blocks

These Voyage blocks are the last two colored blocks for the Gravity quilt:

 

I feel like I should confess now that all of my colored blocks for this quilt went together so quickly and easily that they have been done since last May.  The gray background is not going together as fast for me, but I'm determined to get this quilt done in time for Christmas. 

 

Linking up:  http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/2015/08/gravity-quilt-along-block-9-voyage.html

Project of Doom, Design Floor

I have 31 blocks done for the interior of my POD3.  Since I only need 30, I can either pull one out, or make 5 more and extend the bookcase.  There are going to be more patterns coming out Wednesday for the POD Design Invitational, so I might add more blocks.

 

 

I can't get into picasa web albums to turn this picture, but you get the idea.  There are a couple of blocks that I'm not thrilled with because of my color choices.  I may decide to remake those blocks.

 

I finished the top of POD2 today.

 

 

I think this is an improvement over what I had before:

 

 

I just hope the new top fits!  I made it without knowing how wide POD2 is.  The body of this quilt is in a closet that I can't get to right now. 

 

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2015/08/03/design-wall-august-3-2015/

 

 

 

 

Knowing When to Stop

For the first time since I started Wild & Goosey, I'm getting tired of making blocks.  I could put it away for a while, or I could power through.

 

I laid the whole thing out yesterday and decided I will have a decent sized quilt if I make 9 more W&G blocks.  Then the center of the quilt will be 77"x77".  But that means making 36 more of the 3 1/2 inch units, and right now that feels like a lot.  I was fine when I was just making a bunch of 3 1/2 inch units with no plan in mind.  Now that I have a plan, I just want this quilt done!

 

I'm also feeling the call of other quilts, which I'd need to buy fabric for, just as my yards added are getting close to my yards used.  And I really want to use more than I buy this year!  I think I'm just going to put this quilt away for a few weeks and see if my enthusiasm for it returns.  I have several Project of Doom blocks to complete to be caught up on that quilt.  I lost quite a few sewing days while we went to the beach and to my son's college orientation, so my sewing productivity is down this month.

 

Linking up:  http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2015/08/august-scraptastic-tuesday-link-up.html