Still Stash Busting!

 With my stash busting success in both January and February, I am continuing to pull some older fabric pieces and get them sewn up into quilts.

 Here is my fabric pull for March.  The fabrics on the left are all large cuts (between 1 and 2.5 yards).  I think I initially bought them for borders back in the day when I used to put borders on quilts. Most of the pieces on the right are half yard cuts that seemed to coordinate.

I would like to use up most (if not all) of this fabric so I will be challenged to come up with a pattern where I can use a lot of the same fabric throughout a quilt.

I am making the completion of this quilt my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for March with Heidi over at Red Letter Quilts. 


I had better get sewing!

Quilty 365 - February Blocks

It is the first of March so that means Audrey at Quilty Folk is ready for us to link up our Febraury Quilty 365 progress.

Remember, my blocks capture a 7 day week with Sunday being the top half of the HST, Monday through Friday are the circles and Saturday is the bottom half of the HST.

The first week: On Sunday I recovered my ironing board, Monday was grocery shopping (I am still trying to embrace more fresh veggies), Tuesday was a haircut (so much gray!).  Thursday I used a piece of fabric from an entire quilt I sewed all the blocks only to decide I didn't like the color.  By Saturday, I had purchased and resewn another entire set of blocks in navy blue fabrics.

Week 2:  The red and turquoise prints are from two quilts I finished and Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day.  The rest of the fabrics are just some I liked as I sorted through some scraps.

Week 3: This week I started working on a new Scrap-A-Palooza quilt.  I pulled some old stash fabric for a March OMG project.  I spent two days trying to lure a squirrel out of my fireplace and though I am a little late, I wanted to capture that this is the year of the Monkey. (Okay, it is really just an excuse to use monkey fabric on my quilt!)

Week 4:  I finished up my Park Bench quilt this week.  I also received some happy mail from a friend (who I think of every time I see a penguin), I started the Splendid Sampler on Wednesday, I sewed with friends on Friday and I began questioning my decision to start the Sampler by Sunday.  The weather has been beautiful so things like birds and spring flowers are also in this block.

So this is my month of February all captured in fabrics!  I have been pretty good about keeping up.  The last week of the month I found myself days behind but I easily caught up one evening.

 I started this quilt on January first and it is slowly growing on one of my design walls.  I love how it is looking now that I have moved to a second row.  I am looking forward to what March will bring!

There are so many other quilters working on this project.  Each quilt is as unique as the quilter.  I thoroughly enjoy seeing what everyone else is working on!  

I highly suggest you check it out!

Linking Up:

Freemotion by the River (Linky Tuesday)

Blossom Heart Quilts (Sew Cute Tuesday)

QuiltStory (Fabric Tuesday)

Sew Fresh Quilts (Bee Social)

Quilty Folk

Oh Scrap! : Quilty Orphan Adoption

I cannot believe it is almost March!

With the smell of spring in the air, I find myself doing a bit of organizing in my sewing room.  Project boxes are stacked, fabric is refolded and stashed, and all my orphan blocks are collected up and put in my little suitcase....

My little suitcase seems to be over flowing!

If you are doing a bit of spring cleaning yourself and find you come across a project you just don't want to finish, a pile of orphan blocks that need to go to a new home, or some supplies you are tired of looking at, consider putting it up for adoption!

I am pleased to announce that I will be holding the Quilty Orphan Adoption event again in March.

I would love any and all help getting the word out.  Feel free to grab the button off the right blog margin if you like. 

 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event

Starts March 18, 2016

I will be hosting a linky party starting Friday March 18th (and closing on Sunday March 20th) where you are welcome to link up your own blog post sharing a project you wish to abandon or orphan blocks you wish to pass on.  You can offer as little or as much as you want.  It can be blocks, patterns, kits, fabric, quilt top - anything that you hope someone else will use and you wish to alleviate the burden.

Here are some details:

1.  I am going to ask that any "orphan" linked up must be given away for free.  (If you are wanting to destash for money, there are other venues to do that on.)  I think it is fair that if you need to, you can ask that shipping costs be paid.  Just be sure and put that information clearly in your post.  And know that both parties enter into the deal at their own risk.  I hold no responsibility.

2. Have clear pictures and descriptions on what you are putting up for adoption.

3. Define the criteria for how you will decide who will adopt the item.  Is it a random number giveaway, do you only want it to go to charity, or is there some other criteria that needs to be met?

4.  Be sure and identify where you are located and where you are willing to ship to.

5. Define how long you are keeping the adoption open and when you expect to award the adoption.

Last Fall, there were over a dozen WIPs that found new homes.  Many were adopted by quilters who were finsihing them for various charities.  If you are curious what was linked up last time, here is a link even though all the adoptions are closed. 

Thanks again to all the quilters that participated in the past.  If you adopted a project, I would love it if you shared a photo!

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Now it is time to link up and share what scrappy projects you have worked on this week.  Here are the details for linking up:

• This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
• You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
• If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
• If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
• This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
• Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!

<a href="http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54Z8EyMCoCg0j1sBoz_APBotiRQveh32vQoL2dCSO4nQFAi8du60IuUCQp3Hb18vGD8IrM0W6_vmuufImGcr4Pf2Ve2dNIWd5LbQJfyDTRjtcekT6coT7c2nSCOG_9dvjiKGVAnuTN70/s1600/Oh+Scrap+Button.jpg" alt="Quilting is more fun than Housework" width="125" height="125" /></a>

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking Up:

Love Laugh Quilt (Monday Making)

Patchwork Times (Design Wall Monday)

Cooking Up Quilts (Main Crush Mondays)

Em's ScrapBag (Moving it Forward)

Ta Da! Park Bench Quilt Finish

I am letting you know right now that this is a picture laden post!  

But having spent a year piecing the blocks, MANY back-breaking long days standing at my longarm and a few late nights hand sewing the binding so I could write about the finish today, you can bet I am going to share every square inch of this quilt with you!

As soon as I saw Julie's (Jaybird Quilts) Park Bench quilt, it went right onto my Bucket List of quilts.   I love big bold blocks and this is one showy pattern!

By chance, I spied the kit on Craftsy for a really ridiculous price and instantly purchased it.  I think Julie did such a perfect job putting together this quilt, I just couldn't see how I could make it any better so I made it just like hers.

(Unfortunately, the kit is no longer available but Craftsy does have Julie's Gravity quilt kit and the rulers - which are brilliant by the way!)

I spent almost all of 2015 sewing up the hexagon blocks.  My goal was to sew up about two blocks a month.  That would leave me plenty of time tin the year to finish up the pieced background for the quilt top.

I finished up the flimsy around the end of January - right on schedule!

I had been reserving a large chunk of time in my February schedule to squeeze in this quilt between my client quilts.  I wanted to give it the custom quilt job it deserved.

Prior to quilting, I did re-watch Angela Walters Craftsy class Dot to Dot Quilting.  If you want to try some of the quilting seen on my quilt, she does a great job walking you through the process. 

This border was totally inspired by the class.

My goal on the quilting was to quilt each element differently.  I may have repeated designs but made slight changes so I could create a different look.  I also didn't want the quilting to be too dense.  While it is dense in a few areas, overall I wanted a cuddly quilt.

I loaded the quilt sideways on my frame and quilted an entire column of hexagons before moving the quilt.  I did use 5 different colors of thread on this quilt so there were a fair number of thread changes.

This first block in the middle column is one of my favorites.

This orange and blue one makes me smile too.  I started quilting the orange diamonds and decided I didn't like how I quilted the first one so I made a slight change on the rest.  Unlike a client quilt, I don't have to pick out that first diamond.  :)

And here are the last two blocks on the middle column.

If you were ever wondering what the view is like from underneath a longarm here you go.  After a long day of quilting, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get back up off the floor.  

It was a good thing I had my phone!

Starting on the third and final column of blocks.  

I am still meeting my goal of coming up with unique designs.

I like this block too.  Simple designs are sometimes the best!

 Just the final border to go!

And here it is - Fresh off the Frame!

Here is a picture of the back.  I have to admit it looks pretty cool.  Sometimes, I do piece my backing to use up fabrics but for custom quilting, I suggest just a single fabric so you can see the detail.  I used an orange crosshatch fabric for mine.  Enough pattern to hide the areas I back stitched but simple enough to let the quilting shine. 

 I will definitely be snuggling with this one tonight!

 Thanks for reading through to the end!

This finish was one of my first quarter goals for the 2016 Finish A Long.  I still have two more to get through!





 



Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)
Free Motion Mavericks (Free Motion Mavericks)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

TGIFF (Thank Goodness it is Friday Finish)

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)
A Quilted Passion 
Sew can she
 A Quilter's Table (2016 FAL)

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