September Monthly Recap

September was a month filled with pondering, planning, stash shopping, and stitching.

Studio Squirrels Exhibit A  - the quilt top and scrappy pieced backing for Ludiosis were started and finished, neither of which were seriously on the radar until after the first of the year.

The long-planned set of twelve new pillows achieved a major milestone with the top slabs stitched and the batting and backing for those slabs cut.  Next month I'll get them sandwiched, quilted, and trimmed to size before cutting any of the pillow envelope backing pieces.   The goal is to have them in use by early November.

The vacuum sealed pillow forms were released from their packages and are expanding while the rest of the process proceeds.

Exhibit B for the studio squirrels is Candy Corn - a gift project that saw a quilt top and a finished quilt started/completed during the second half of September.

Exhibit B-Part 2 is the long runner made using the three extra columns from Candy Corn.  

On the intentional side of things, Rastro (the second bonus quilt from the Macnas series) became a finished quilt.

Githerments, the third bonus quilt from the Macnas series, was pin basted and is ready for quilting/binding in October with thread chosen and bobbins wound.

Motley, the fourth bonus quilt top from the Macnas series, was donated to Many Hands and Many Hearts along with yardage I had planned to use for binding.

September saw plans come together and significant prep work for several sets of seasonal utility mats and placemats.  

The squares cut for December's set of reversible utility mats (posted here) have now been sorted into groups for 5 top slabs and 5 back slabs ready for piecing.  Batting and binding strips were also cut.

(Above) Six 

tops (gray print), six backs (spotted black), and six pieces of batting were cut this month with lots of binding made for a second 

set of January placemats.  

I pulled this gathering of pieces from the resource boxes to make a companion set of five utility mats for January.

The scrappy tops will be pieced using these fabrics and the backs will be cut from companionable yardage (pulled but not shown).

I finished this pair of gift pillowcases on the 29th making them the last project of September.

Finally - squirrel Exhibit C - introducing Dug.

* * *

Stay tuned for lots more stitching/quilting/binding during October. 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Little by little, one travels far."

J.R.R. Tolkien

August Recap and September Begins

In August I finished Journal for Joy - a scrappy eclectic glue book celebrating all sorts of things that make me smile.  

Holus Bolus, the first of the four Macnas series bonus quilts, was finished.

A stack of harvested Asian bits were transformed into a themed accordion journal.

Pieces and parts were cut, sorted, and pinned into pairs for Scrumdifferous.

I finally finished the long pending Squirrels altered book.

And the set of six reversible scrappy strip-pieced September placemats that were cut out on August 1 had their bindings finished on August 31.

Along the way there was also a lot of stash shuffling and editing, multiple donation boxes were sent out into the world, and the studio squirrels raised a ruckus leading to two more new quilt projects that truly need to wait until after the last three Macnas series bonus quilts are finished.  

And finally, continuing with my year-long series of monthly back yard photos, here is one taken early morning September 1st.

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Most people don't want to be part of the process, they just want to be part of the outcome.  But the process is where you figure out who and what's worth being part of the outcome."

Scottie Pippen

July Recap

Last month I spent time sorting and restacking the yardage in my stash.

There was also considerable editing done, along with culling scraps in the resource boxes.

This photo shows just how much space was cleared as a result.  The right half of the third shelf down is no longer filled with fabric.  

That same right half on the bottom four shelves no longer houses fabrics but a few magazines waiting to be harvested for my journal making adventures.

(the stacked drawer unit and Raskog cart were also cleaned up/out since the paper stuff accumulates even faster than fabric does)

I pulled out these fabrics to make a set of six reversible placemats for September.  

These fabrics were set aside to make a set of five utility mats for our December living room.

And these greens from the stash/resource boxes will become a set of six placemats for use next March.  The reverse side will be made using blocks Lynne sent after finishing her Field of Dreams quilt.

Ruska, a gift quilt, was quilted and finished.

Paint Party, no. 12 of 13 in the Macnas series, was quilted and finished.

And Yutori, no. 13 of 13 quilts in the Macnas series was quilted and finished.

There was also a squirrel invasion in July that led to this quilt top named Nimiety.

I also created Nimiety's scrappy pieced backing.  Both the top and backing are currently rolled onto pool noodles to be pin basted and quilted sometime this month.

No photos for this but I also emptied and sorting the overflowing box of leftover quilt backings and assorted other bits and pieces into six different project boxes for future quilts inspired by designs/patterns I've stashed but never used.   I don't plan to dig into any of these until next year aside from some cutting of pieces and parts as time permits.  But after staying so focused on finishing, it felt good to make plans for new scrappy adventures.

I also moved the two studio plants outdoors for the summer and changed the lower curtain fabric (the other yardage had faded over its 3 year life in that window).

The nearly 5-week month and lots of hot steamy weather that kept us indoors clearly made for more studio time than usual.

* * *

And because today is August 1, here's the monthly photo of our back yard.  The grass is the greenest it will get this summer, the neighbor's crape myrtle adds a big pop of color, our black eyed Susans are at their peak, the azalea bush has grown and filled in so much in the last month, the coleus in the large pot are thriving, but the in-ground hostas as struggling with the intense heat and hot sun but they'll recover later in the year when the weather moderates.   

(The temporary fence is there because we've had the grand-dog for the last two weeks.  Keeping her out of the dirt makes life much easier, especially when the dirt turns to mud.) 

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Clutter is the enemy of clarity."

Julie Cameron

June Recap

I spent the first part of the month finishing Xanadu's quilt top.  You can see that post HERE.

A bit later in the month, I quilted and finished Xanadu, ready for gifting.  You can see that post HERE.

I used the leftover blocks and made this utility mat for the cabinet beside Max.  That post is HERE.

Morning Fog, Macnas series no. 11, was pin basted, quilted, and finished - that reveal post is HERE.

And on the very last day of June I pin-basted Paint Party, Macnas series no. 12, and chose a soft yellow quilting thread.  

Fingers crossed I can finish Paint Party and Yutori (no. 13 in the series) and maybe even Holus-Bolus (the first of four bonus quilts from the series) during July.  

* * *

This is our crape myrtle as seen from the rear/side of the house (this side faces east and gets sun until late afternoon).  

I liked the comment on how it looks a summer version of the lilac bushes I grew up with in Michigan - except these don't have the lilac's glorious fragrance.

This is the backyard photo taken on July 1.   It some ways it doesn't look dramatically different than the June 1 photo, aside from the plants having grown more dense and the grass beginning its seasonal color shift from spring green to summer stress.

(the temperature was 96 with heat index of 100 when I took this photo) 

Oh, yes - summer is definitely here.  

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Just make a mark and see where it takes you."

Peter Reynolds in The Dot

May Recap and More

Let's start with the June 1 backyard photo . . . the grass is definitely greener and the plants are doing extra well after nearly 2 weeks of rainy days.  

During May, the following projects moved forward:

Hanabi, Macnas series no. 10, is a finished quilt.

Yutori, Macnas series no. 13, is now a quilt top, and so is

Holus-Bolus, the first bonus quilt to come from the Macnas series.

Young Man and his family attended the annual Italian Festival last weekend.  I'm not sure which parent took this photo, but I love it.

DH took this photo (through the kitchen window) of our resident bunny.  He's grown so much from our first sighting earlier this year.  

And finally, as I was putting away a stack of leftover pieces and parts, I realized there was another quilt lurking in that project box.   

The backing under the color groups is one I've had in the stash for a while now and it couldn't be more perfect for this future top.  

* * *

I'm not making any studio predictions for June - I have my 2026 spreadsheet but only time will tell how much I move forward.   

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"We should learn to ask, "What's not wrong?" and be in touch with that."

Thich Nhat Hanh

April Monthly Recap

The first finish of the month was Razzle-Dazzle.

The second finish was Grandiose, Macnas series no. 8.

One quilt top was finished - Paint Party, Macnas series no. 12.

Enchanted, Macnas series no. 9, is also fully finished - I'll share its reveal post in the next few days.

The rectangles for Yutori (Macnas series no. 13, a surprise addition) were cut out and leader-ender sewn into pairs. 

The pairs have been finger pressed and are ready to be sorted in early May.  Hopefully they'll also become a flimsy before May ends.

I frequently mention my waiting-to-be-quilted closet.  Until very recently, the entire hanging rod was filled with tops/backs waiting to be quilted along with backings waiting for their tops to be sewn.  

As of the end of April, there are now only 8 tops/backs for the Macnas series plus one gift quilt still hanging in the closet; and I know exactly how I plan to use that empty space.  

Stay tuned for the story and photos later in May.

Finally, here is the monthly backyard photo for May 1.  The grass is definitely greening up, the trees are fully leafed out, and we once again have shade.

* * *

Looking ahead, May will be a hectic month with two family birthdays, our 51st anniversary, Mother's Day, and a slew of doctor appointments, plus the last days of Young Man's third grade year,  a board meeting for DH plus their monthly club meeting, and a board meeting for me with minutes to prepare afterwards.   

I WILL make time to sit and sew/quilt or else because, like the graphic in my side bar reads, "I make stuff because I get sad if I don't."

Quiltdivajulie

-----------------------------------------------

"Measuring progress is often like watching grass grow.  While it's difficult to detect movement on a daily basis, it's simple to see growth over time."

Frank Sonnenberg