Can I do 350 blocks?

Shelly over at Prairie Moon Ranch has issued this year's 350 Blocks Challenge...and I am going to participate. Will I make 350? Probably not. But I can at least try (and stop procrastinating on things...).

Here goes nothing...

Plans for 2020!

Every year Shelly Paglai of Prairie Moon Quilts does "the final countdown" at the end of the year. The tasks are meant to get you into a more organized place before the new year. Organizing your sewing space, finding unfinished projects and deciding if you want to finish them/downsize them and turn them into table runners, that sort of thing. The final challenge for 2019 is "Make some quilting plans for 2020." So here goes!

First, to finish the baby quilts that are sitting and waiting for quilting/binding/finishing. I have two tops in this state and one that just needs embroidery on the label before washing it up.

Second, there are seven babies born in the last year-ish (the oldest is about to turn one) who I would like to make quilts for.

Third, I want to start blogging about my quilts again. I do post pictures on the quilting subreddit as I go, but that's not a good write-up and will be hard for me to find in the future.

Fourth, I want to find at least a little time to work on my longer-term works in progress. The hand-quilted quilt for my bed, the English paper piecing quilt for my dad, the Civil War Love Letters blocks languishing in their bin...time to keep slowly working on those.

I want to do a better job picking patterns that use blocks I have leftover. I've got a stack of over 60 blue crumb blocks and 22 blue string blocks thanks to using them as leaders and enders for almost six months. I've got some leftover 9 patches from a bunch of quilts I did with those. I have some blocks I got from an estate sale. I need to use them somehow, not just let them sit around.

My leader/ender bounty

Progress on my newest niece's quilt (with canine helper)

Happy 2020!

Last Catch-Up...of 2018

I managed to squeak out one last finished quilt before things got really hectic (understatement of the century) and then we moved across the country. Here's the last one I finished in Texas:

More strings!

 I keep waiting to run out of strings. It hasn't happened yet.

I didn't get a clear overall shot of the back of the quilt, but you can see the print better here anyways. The dots are another Thomas Knauer print.

Playing With Color (More Catching Up!)

I've made several Mod Mosaic quilts (back between 2010-2012), though I apparently only blogged about one of them as a WIP. Still, it's a super fun block to do with scraps. When my quilt guild put out a call for quilts to auction at the quilt show in February of 2017 I made two mini mosaic quilts. The theme for the show was the color red, so I did both with my red scraps and did one with white spacers and one with black. I backed both with a plain unbleached muslin, nothing special, and bound them in the same fabric that I used as spacers.

Stash report (2017):

Fabric Used This Week (in 2017): 2 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 51.5 yards
Fabric Added This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 48 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 9 yards used

Catch-Up: More Strings!

A third baby with no nursery theme...colors it is! Scrappy strings are really just a fun and easy block to do. Do a bunch as leaders and enders and you can have a free quilt without too much time!

I added black and white to the quilt as a neutral to break up the bright colors and I rather like the effect.

Backing is a polka dot I found at JoAnns.

Binding is from Thomas Knauer's fabrics from Andover, I don't remember which line it was in. It's the Trivial Pursuit fabric.

Stash report (2017):

Fabric Used This Week (in 2017): 5.5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 49.5 yards
Fabric Added This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 48 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 7 yards used

Catch-Up: Poppies!

"So, what's your nursery theme or color scheme?" I asked this mother, unsuspectingly.

"Pink, red, gray, and poppies," she said.

I was a little surprised by how specific it was. Then I went shopping for backings and found...well...the perfect thing that shocked me. And without further ado...here's the next of my 2017 finishes.

Courthouse steps block again. I played around with how to do my colors in the block so it didn't look messy. Pink and red intermixed in the block looked just messy. I decided in the end to make the pink the center of the block and do color gradients with the red and gray. Darkest reds would be the outside of two sides of the blocks and the lightest reds (not easy to find, let me tell you) were at the center by the pink. Lightest grays were at the center and darkest on the outside.

The PERFECT Backing

Stash report (2017):

Fabric Used This Week (in 2017): 5.5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 49.5 yards
Fabric Added This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 48 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 1.5 yards used

Catching up with a nautical quilt!

When there's a nautical themed nursery...it's time to have some Fun With Flags. Especially when the baby's name is six letters. Nautical quilt ahoy!

I drafted the signal flags to finish at 6" square. I framed them in brown to ensure that I didn't lose any of the definition with a dark blue or white flag against the navy and white fabrics. I then surrounded those with alternating bands of navy blue and white courthouse steps-style. Each block finished at 16" square.

The signal flags are made out of leftover solids from Niece Quiche's quilt. I bound it with the same brown as the frames in the blocks. I think the combination of solids with the extremely controlled color palette turned out rather striking.

Biggest blocks I've made

Closest to the actual color of the backing

Quilting detail and closeup of backing/label

Stash report (2017 catch-up):

Fabric Used This Week (in 2017): 5.5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 44 yards
Fabric Added This Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 48 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 4 yards gained