Six Month Re-Set

Year to Date recap:

Over the past couple of weeks,

I've been taking inventory of my projects,

cleaning up the stash and the scraps,

and re-evaluating where I want my focus

for the second half of 2021.

The first half of the year was focused on

reducing the backlog of quilt tops

waiting to be quilted and finished.

I'm very happy with the results -

sixteen (!!) quilts finished.

You can see those by clicking here and scrolling

through the posts labeled "2021 finish"

There are still nine quilt tops waiting

to be quilted plus the remaining

Kitchen Table Quilts.

The goal is at least two finishes per month.

Time will tell.

I've also managed to complete ten quilt tops.

Those can be seen by clicking here

and scrolling through the posts

labeled "2021 quilt top"

Of those, two have been donated, one has been gifted, 

and four have been quilted/finished; which leaves 

three in that group of 10 waiting to be quilted.

(plus Ludic is currently clipped ready to web the top

which will bring the total waiting to eleven)

Now on to what lies ahead for the next six months:

I had three primary Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects,

all of which have now moved beyond the monthly

color challenges and taken on lives of their own.

LINED DRAWSTRING GIFT BAGS

So far I've made 35 drawstring bags.

You can see those by using the 

Lined Drawstring Gift Bag label in my sidebar

and scrolling through the various posts.

Going forward, instead of focusing on a different color

each month, I'm going to focus on one of the six sizes.

We'll see where this ends up at the end of the year.

I already know there will be more bags 

than we'll need at any one time,

but with a deep stash it's just too much fun

to mix and match and create lots of options.

HOPPIPOLLA

This top will need 320 3" finished rail fence blocks.

Roughly 1/3 of those are complete.

The other two thirds are sewn and ready to trim to size.

I don't know if this top will be sewn by year end - we'll see.

(there's a label in the side bar for this project

if you want to see all posts on it)

UTILITY MATS

Still on the to-do list are whole cloth sets for

January (low volumes-ready to quilt), 

February (pinks-ready to quilt), 

August (brights on black-ready to quilt), and

October and November's mats (autumn colors).

As I quilt those pending quilts, 

I'll use the excess batting

to sandwich each of these groups

and get them quilted and bound.

I'm looking forward to having a year's worth 

of seasonal mat sets to pull out and use as needed.

(again, there's a label in the sidebar

that will lead you to the posts on this project)

Now for the Non-RSC works-in-progress:

SMITTEN is making noises again

to move it forward sooner instead of later,

at least as far as block construction is concerned.

+/- 250 four-patch blocks are pieced and pressed.

That means I need 110 more for a total of 360.

360 alternate squares are already cut and ready.

There's a big pile of paired scraps to be sewn

and then turned into four patches.

At that point I'll count again to see if more are needed.

(you guessed it - there's a label in the sidebar

for the posts on this project)

UKIYO originated from a virtual class

but has become a full blown quilt project.

I need 63 paper pieced quarter circles

for the layout I've chosen.

Seven of those are pieced (one row).

I'd like to sit and sew all of these 

but I suspect it will be more like 4-5 at a time

here and there in between other things.

PANDEMONIUM is currently on the design wall

the current AHIQ Symmetry (or not) Challenge.

I'll have an update on this one possibly by Friday.

And last, but certainly not least . . . 

KITCHEN TABLE QUILTS

The first seven of this twelve quilt series are done.

The final five are below:

August - ready to quilt

September - blocks made

October - ready to quilt

November - cut out and ready to piece

December - whole cloth (fabric on order)

(in addition to the dedicated blog page link above,

there's a label in the sidebar so you can

read through the whole series of KTQ posts)

* * *

Everything else in the "Pending Project Boxes" closet

or lurking in my head will just have to wait until 2022.

Unless the squirrels visit my studio again . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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“I prefer living in color.”

David Hockney

May's RSC Reds at Last

I made a set of five utility mats for July -

two wholecloth for the end tables, 

two  wholecloth for the ends of the fireplace hearth,

and leftover hourglass blocks for the cedar chest.

(the red floral was also used as the back of InspiRED)

I used four different fat quarters 

to back the smaller mats.

Quilted with liberated all over fans

using Glide thread in Tomato.

These are May's red Hoppipolla blocks.

Each block will finish at 3 inches.

Hoppipolla's RSC 21 color groups so far . . . 

I've pulled purples for June but after that 

 I am likely to head off on my own

and work from the crumb boxes.

(since several of you asked what I would do 

with the back that was set aside when

I used the colorful birds to back Mischief Maker - 

maybe that set-aside back will work for Hoppipolla?)

These are the four "red" lined drawstring bags for May.

(one XXL, one M, and two S - 

double click for fabric details)

I have pulled fabric combinations for eight bags 

that will feature June's RSC color - purple.

After I get the purple bags made, 

I am likely to make the rest of the bags 

using fun yardage combinations from the stash

without worrying so much about the RSC color.

(to see more about any of these projects,

you can click on their labels

at the bottom of this post)

Quiltdivajulie

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“All my life I’ve pursued the perfect red.  I can never get painters to mix it for me.  It’s exactly as if I’d said, “I want Rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple” – they have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Diana Vreeland

Lined Drawstring Bags - an Update

During March, I didn't get any of my RSC green 

lined drawstring gift bags made.

But now they are finished.

2 Extra Large, 1 Large, 

1 Medium, and 2 Small

The RSC color for April is blue -

light and bright blue.

So I made five more bags

and now I'm caught up again.

1 Extra Large, 1 Large,

1 Medium, 1, Small,

and one Extra Small

These bags bring my total to 31 -

2 XXL, 7 XL, 5 Large,

7 Medium, 5 Small, 

and 5 Extra Small

(you can see posts with the other bags 

by clicking the label below the quotation -

the quilt in the background

is the back of Party Hat Optional -

and there's a photo link to the pattern

 I'm using for the bags in the sidebar)

Linking up with The Rainbow Scrap Challenge HERE.

* * *

Update on Max:

(see previous post)

DH figured out the remaining issue on his own

and by mid-morning Friday

Max was back in action once again.

DH left a voice mail for Angie with APQS

thanking her for her help 

and for the updated digital manual.

She called him back with her voice full of astonishment.

"NO ONE ever calls and says thank you."

(hmmm . . .  that's actually kind of sad)

Hope to have DD 8 quilted and finished

to share with you on Monday.

Quiltdivajulie

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“Green is the fresh emblem of well-founded hopes. 

In blue the spirit can wander, but in green it can rest.”

Mary Webb

February Roundup and March Goals

February was another busy month . . . 

I finished the top and back for the kitchen table quilt named LAGOOON..

Younger son got his first and second doses of COVID vaccine.

DH and I got our first doses.

I finished leader-ender-ing the blocks for Namaste.

(photos pending)

I completed several utility mats.

We survived a week of below-freezing temperatures and record snowfall.

I managed to get the second round of Nubilous done.

(I've decided to make my 20 blocks larger than Julie K's

so that I won't have to worry with borders)

I also finished up another set of lined drawstring gift bags.

(several were tested and approved as we celebrated

DIL's milestone birthday and Little Man's Valentine's Day)

These are the January blocks for Hoppipolla - the color that month was PINK.

These are the February (YELLOW) blocks.

(Angela has called out GREEN for March with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge)

I started another project that I've named JAZZY for RSC21.

Jazzy is based on a pattern found in the current issue of

American Patchwork and Quilting

named Nine-Patch Square Dance by Sherri McConnell.

The color strips each month will come from the 1.5" DD bins.

(I've already pulled out two sets of green scraps)

Most of the low volumes will come from my stash

unless I happen to find what I need in the DD box.

(Jazzy will likely carry over into 2022 as my layout is still TBD)

I quilted and finished three quilts in February:

Someday is Now

Sea of HSTs

and

Heliophilia

As you can see above, I've pulled and prepared three more

to quilt during March:

Dumpster Diving 7 - Respite

Dumpster Diving 8 - Bella

and

Dumpster Diving 9 - Blue Springs Road

(and DH reinforced my extra-long (two taped together)

pool noodles used for quilt backs and oversized tops

using aluminum conduit instead of the less rigid PVC pipe -

so much straighter and easier to handle)

Finally, let me introduce you to SHOSHIN, 

another of the projects in my Etcetera series.

(I wasn't going to start this one until later in the year . . . 

but I spent most of the weekend making blocks)

I'll share a better introductory post for SHOSHIN on Wednesday.

Quiltdivajulie

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“See what you can do with your daring with color and your ignorance mixed with it.”

Charles Webster Hawthorne

 

Utility Mats for February and March

Backing up to January, these were the three utility mats

for February pin basted and waiting to be quilted.

Table mat one measures 16" x 16"

Table mat 2 measures 16" x 16"

This runner measured 12" x 55"

and as soon as it was trimmed and bound

it was mailed off to Michigan - before I took 

a finished photo (oops).

It was bound with the same green/cream stripe

used on the two table mats.

This month (February) I made green mats for use 

in our living room during March.

There are two reversible table mats, each measuring 17" x 17"

This is the "top" whole cloth surface.

And this is the reverse side, which shows the quilting more clearly.

The runner for the cedar chest - side one.

And that same runner - side two.

(I posted about the March mats/runner here

if you're curious about the fabrics used)

Quiltdivajulie

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“I get bored without color in a room.  Interesting, strong, clear colors are easier to live with in the long run than pale colors.  People always think it’s the opposite, but in actuality soft colors get boring much quicker.”

Richard Keith Langham

Lined Drawstring Gift Bags for February

I buckled down last week and made twelve bags.

Red Fish Blue Fish is the largest size -

the one that holds four couch pillows OR

the stack of cardboard building blocks shown below. 

All this with room around the edges to spare.

The cupcake bag in the first photo and these two 

are the next size down  in Jeni Baker's pattern - 

link in the sidebar and in the 2021 section on my RSC blog page.

Each of these three bags held the eight yellow 

cardboard blocks in the photo below:

Two yellow blocks = one blue block

Two blue blocks = one red block

Moving down one more size, I made two more bags.

The one on the left was made using excess backing from Otsego Revisited.

These bags each hold four yellow blocks.

I used the last of the backing for Missouri Color Story

to line the yellow/gray plaid bag.

Moving down yet another size, I made four more bags.

Each of these held two yellow blocks.

And finally, these are the smallest size I'm making.

They do not have boxed-corner flat bottoms

so they're idea for small flat items.

Here are they are filled with a few Duplo-type plastic blocks.

* * *

Yellow is this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color.

January's color was pink.

March's bags will have a new focal color.

This month I made all of the WOF fabric ties using a new-to-me method.

I bought an inexpensive bias tape making kit - WHAT a difference it made.

Much faster with more consistent results, 

and no steam-iron-stressed finger tips.

Yes!

(quilt on the back of the couch is Happy Strings with its reverse side showing)

Quiltdivajulie

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“Colors are promiscuous.  They get infected by their neighbors.”

Paul Richard