Design Wall Monday 03/16/15 and Stash Report

 

Above is my Design Wall for this week.  The three blocks on the right belong to my sister.  She is also doing Pat Sloan's mystery quilt along, and she is ahead of me!  I still need to make March's block (the one in the middle above).  I love her fabrics and can't wait to see how it turns out.  The blocks on the left are still where I left them a few weeks ago!  These are from the Mystery Monday project.  I'm a bit behind on everything, but at least I have my sister's project to show -- it's on my design wall so I can show it! :)





 

I also need to report a stash enhancement.  I was out of town and was lucky enough to have time to stop by one of my favorite quilt shops, Quilter's Paradise in Clovis, CA.  I only had a few minutes to stop in to buy a background fabric for a table runner I am making, but I got mesmerized by the display right at the front door.  I couldn't stop looking at the leafy print on top.  It has a wonderful peach background color (it is a little washed out in this picture).  I love it!  Had to buy a piece.  Then I couldn't decide on the shade of the actual piece I went in for, so I bought two that I thought would work.  I ended up using the lighter one.  I'll probably use the darker one on the back of the runner.  So hopefully those two will be out of the stash soon!

 

Fabric added this week:  3.00 yards
Fabric added this year:  7.50 yards

Fabric used this week:  0.00 yards
Fabric used this year:  2.75 yards

Total net usage:  4.75 yards added

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone has on their design walls today!



Design Wall Monday 03/09/15

 

 

Life has put a serious crunch on my sewing time lately!  Lots of things going on that are taking up all my spare time.  I did get a few things sewn recently.  The brown/green/gold stars are for the Mystery Mondays project.  I'm woefully behind on those.  My friend Lori has hers all up to date and sewn together.  I'll get there eventually.  The giant half-square triangles are for a new project I'm working on.  I'm kind of designing as I go, and right now I think those blocks are way too big and chunky for what I have in mind.  I may trim those down to a smaller size later, but for now I'm just getting them made.  I need a lot for  what I want to make.  The colors are off in that picture.  The blues are a little darker and not so neon looking in real life.  I'm using a Moda layer cake that I got for Christmas.

 



I didn't get around to posting my latest purchases.  Last week my sister and I checked out a new fabric shop in Tracy, CA, near her home.  It's very small, but had some nice fabrics.  I managed to add 2 yards of fabric to my stash!  The fabric at the top is actually shades of grey, even though it looks tan in the picture.  I have some pink projects in the pipeline, so I picked up a pink I thought would work nicely.  And a wonderful teal print that I can definitely use.  We have a couple of teal walls in our home and I've been trying to design around them.

Fabric added this week:  2.00 yards
Fabric added this year:  4.50 yards

Fabric used this week:  0.00 yards
Fabric used this year:  2.75 yards

Total net usage:  1.75 yards added

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 02/09/15

 

I finished February's block for Pat Sloan's mystery BOM project.  It is a very unusual block.  I struggled with the colors, but I think I like how it turned out.  I really need to pull some other colors into these blocks.  My inspiration fabric also has two shades of blue, and some dark brown accents in it.  I just couldn't figure out how to get those colors in this block and have it still look good.  And speaking of struggling - Saturday was just not my day to sew.  I cut the pieces wrong, I marked the pieces wrong, and then I sewed the wrong pieces together.  It was all salvageable, but by the time I sewed the wrong colors together, I just had to call it a day and fix and sew the block on Sunday.  I hate days like that.  Below are the January and February blocks together.

 

Today I'll work on the Mystery Mondays project from This & That.  I'm behind because I couldn't decide on a color palette.  I pulled some fabrics out of my stash and I'll give it a go tonight in class.  Of course I've already changed my mind again, but I didn't pack up any other fabrics, so I'll move ahead with what I have.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what people have on their design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 01/12/15

Well I didn't get any sewing done this past week.  I have a few projects that are ready for me to work on, but I just couldn't get to them.  One of the projects that I am planning on is a free Mystery Block of the Month with Pat Sloan.  I've always liked her patterns and she designs some great fabric, too!  My sister and I wanted a project to work on at the same time - to keep us motivated.  I found this one that just started in January and I think it will be a fun one.  Over the weekend I finally pulled some fabrics.  I got the butterfly print over the holidays using a gift certificate that I got for my birthday.  I loved it, but didn't have a project in mind, so I bought a couple of yards figuring I might use it as a border for something.  I think it will be great for this project.  I decided that most of the quilt will be somewhat scrappy, so I can use my stash.  I pulled a few fat quarters that I can start with.  I'll add some blues as well.  I'm getting excited about this one!!

Also starting back up this week is Mystery Mondays over at the This & That blog.  This one has a clue every week on Mondays.  Last week had the supply list and this week is the first clue.  I need to pull fabric for that one as well.  I'll go scrappy on that one too - just need to decide on a color scheme first.

I'm looking forward to a year of new projects!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone has on their design walls today!

Design Wall Monday 10/28/13

I finally finished my latest Mystery Mondays project.  I've been behind since I went on vacation, but got it finished up today.  I am very happy to say I used all stash fabrics for this project.  The lighting is not great in this picture, but I think it came out pretty nice.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 10/14/13

Well not a lot of sewing happened this weekend.  I started sewing on Saturday, but after making several mistakes, I decided I should stop for a while.  So nothing to show on my front, but I saw my sister on Sunday and grabbed a picture of her Mystery Mondays project.  She just has the borders to go.  How fun!  I am inspired to get mine put together.  All of the parts are done, they just need to be joined.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls today!

Design Wall Monday 10/07/13

Here are a couple of units for the Mystery Mondays project that I've been working on.  I love going through my stash and finding fabrics that will fit each unit.  I think I found some great ones for the acorns, and then I also was able to fussy cut the centers of the star blocks.  And they are small - they finish at 4" square.

Below are my sister's star blocks that I forgot to post last week! She's a little ahead of me!

I also worked on a couple of sailboat blocks (below).  On these, the choosing of fabrics and cutting took much longer than actually constructing the blocks.  They were fun to put together.  They finish at 9" square.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 09/23/13

Sorry I've been absent for so long - I was on a long vacation to the UK.  I had an amazing time, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting back into the groove of things!  Needless to say, I haven't been doing any sewing.  I had hoped to sew up a couple of blocks over the weekend, but it just didn't work out.  Lucky for us, my sister worked on her Mystery Mondays project and finished the acorn blocks!  Don't they look cute??  Hopefully I'll be able to work on these tonight in my quilting class.  It's the first class of the session, so I'm not sure how much time I'll have for personal sewing.  But I'll bring my fabrics just in case!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 09/02/13

 

Above is how far we've gotten in the Mystery Mondays project.  Looking pretty good!  I took the picture of it tacked to my fence, but a breeze kept blowing so it doesn't look square, but it is!

Above is my sister's project.  I love how they are the same, but still really different.

Design Wall Monday 08/26/13

Above are the only little pieces that I sewed this week (aside from finishing my pillow earlier this week).  They are for the Mystery Mondays project.  Just a short clue this week.  I've been getting ready for a vacation, fixing my broken car, and generally catching up on things, which left little time for sewing.  But I'm happy that I've been able to keep caught up with this project.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 08/05/13

The lighting is not great on this one - I had a lamp shining in the upper left.  Oh well.  I still need work on my picture taking skills!  Here is where I am on the Mystery Mondays project.  We added a checkerboard strip at the top and put the parts together that we've made so far.  There should be another clue today.  This is a fun one!

Above are my sister's blocks.  Looking good!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 07/29/13

I finished the Mystery Mondays block for the week.  It is another pumpkin block, but in a bigger scale.  I can't wait to see what next week's block with be.

Here are my two blocks together.  Other than the pumpkin, and finishing the quilt top I posted yesterday, I didn't do much sewing this week.  I did choose fabrics for a pillow I'm about to make.  Haven't cut into them yet, though.  They are calling to me, so I'll probably have part, if not all, of it finished by next Monday.

And here are my sister's blocks.  So far we are both on track!

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 07/22/13

After a bit of a dry spell, I did a bunch of sewing this weekend.  Above is the project that I've been working on recently.  I got a little road-blocked when I decided it needed an extra row.  I had used up my charm packs, and so I had to pull fabrics from my stash that were similar in color to the charm packs I used.  Sometimes too many choices make it harder to choose.  Above are all of the blocks laid out.  After I took the picture, I sewed them all together and put on the first narrow border of solid red.  At the last minute, I decided to wash my final border fabric, so I called it quits for the day on that project.  I wanted to finish the top, but I'm pretty pleased with how far I got.

Next I worked on the new Mystery Mondays project.  This week was the first "clue", which was a pumpkin block.  My sister is also going to do this project, and I didn't want to fall behind on the first week!  Below is my sister's block:

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone is working on today!

Design Wall Monday 12/10/12

On my Design Wall today is the Mystery Mondays project from Little Bits of This and That that is finally finished.  Well, just the top.  I added the final borders this weekend.  I took the picture late last night, so unfortunately the lighting is a little dim.  I'm happy that I finished this up before the holidays.  It is only a top, but I will still have it out on display.  I'm hoping to finish a couple of other projects before the end of the year so I can start fresh in January.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone else's Design Wall today!

Mystery Mondays is back!

Mystery Mondays has started again on Sherri Falls' Little Bits of This and That blog!  This will be the fourth mystery quilt along she's done, and I've participated in two of them.  You can see them here and here.  My friend Lori and I do them together and it's great fun to see how different they turn out with different fabrics.  The steps are posted on her website every Monday.  They are short and easily accomplished in the week.  In fact, I usually get them done during my Monday night quilt class.  Let's see if I can keep up with these and the others that I am thinking of doing!  I love all of the quilt alongs these days, but the problem is that I want to do them all!  Oh well, I guess that makes me a typical quilter!

Mystery Monday #3 Finished

We finished up the third installment of Mystery Mondays from the This & That blog.  Another fun one!  Each Monday a new step is released.  The steps are very short, which is perfect because I have so many things in progress right now.  Above is the one I completed - all from stash!  I'll have something to count out this Sunday!  I chose a large autumn leaf print as my focus fabric and chose the other colors from there.

I've been doing these mystery projects with my friend Lori.  She's in my Monday night quilting class, so it works out perfectly!  I print the clues and bring them to class that very day.  We were putting our final stiches in the border at the same time.  Below is Lori's version.  She chose a wonderful Spring daisy print for her focus fabric.  Now all we need is a Summer and Winter version and we'll have the year covered!

Design Wall Monday 03/19/12

I'm plugging away at the Just Takes 2 project.  Two more blocks done this week.  Now I'm knee deep in the feathered star block.  I was concerned about all of the pieces in the feathered star, so I found a foundation pattern for the same block.  It's still a lot of pieces, but I feel much more comfortable with this piecing method.  This one will take a while.  The next block that was just released is a compass block that is supposed to be hand pieced.  I'm on the fence about hand piecing, so I may change out that block entirely.  I've been struggling to keep up, and I'm not sure that I have time to learn a new technique and still keep up.

Not shown on my Design Wall/Table is my almost-complete Mystery Mondays project.  Today is another clue, and I believe it is the last, since we only have borders left to add.  Maybe one more after today.  It's super cute and my friend Lori is working on the same project.  The two quilts look so different in the completely different colors!  I'll try to grab a picture of both tonight in class and post soon.

Be sure to check out Judy L's blog to see what is on everyone's Design Walls!

Design Wall Monday 03/05/12

I am finally caught up on all of the parts of the current Mystery Mondays project from the This and That blog.  I was so mad at myself because I had mis-cut some pieces of the four churn dash blocks and they came out 1/4" too small.  I had to re-make all of those blocks, which I did this weekend.  Fortunately I had plenty of fabric still in my stash.  Now I'm ready for today's clue!

I am also still working on the Just Takes 2 project, but I don't have any more completed blocks yet.  Last week's pattern set had the most challenging block yet, a feathered star.  I've always wanted to make one of those, so I'm excited about that.  I have a few blocks to make before I get to that one, though.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what everyone else is working on!

Stash Busting - Week 45

I finished the project from Mystery Mondays (pictured above) and I'm super happy with it!  Unfortunately, I rushed through the binding and as a result, I'm not really happy with how that part turned out.  But it's done.  I haven't finished a project to completion for quite a while and this has really motivated me.  It was just a little side project in between the other things I'm working on, so it's kind of a bonus piece.  All of a sudden I have a cute table topper that's completely finished.  I chose to do it in a Halloween theme, so I probably should put it away until next year, but I think I'll leave it out for a while so I can admire it.  It's fairly small, but I think I'll count 3/4 yard out of the stash.  That's probably a little generous, but it motivates me to bust more stash!

Fabric in this week:  0.00 yards
Fabric out this week: 0.75 yards

Fabric in this year: 38.75 yards
Fabric out this year: 8.75 yards

Go to Judy L's blog to see how other people are doing!

Design Wall Monday - 10/31/11

On today's design wall is a partially complete Dear Jane block that I am foundation piecing.  The sections are not laid out in the correct order in the picture above, but I'll get them back in order before I put them together.  I have a few DJ blocks that are nearly complete, so I'll have some finishes to show shortly.  

And finally I also have the finished top of the Mystery Mondays project.  It's a cute candle mat.  It turned out a lot different that I thought it would and I love it!  I'll quilt it just a little and bind it and it will be a completed project.  Hey, I can even finally count some fabric out of stash when it's done!  I haven't been able to do that for a while!  It's Halloween themed, but I won't have it done today.  It was so quick and easy that I might make another one.  We'll see.

A new Mystery Mondays project starts today, so I might just be too busy with that one to make another one of these.

Check out Judy L's blog to see what's one everyone else's Design Walls!