Design Wall Monday - UFO Progress

It's so hard to head off to work after such a nice relaxing weekend.  Once the necessary chores were done, I was able to spend two solid afternoons in the sewing room.  In addition to sewing, there was some scrap cutting and fabric organization going on as well.  I've still got a long way to go on the organization, but doing a bit every time I'm in the sewing room is starting to make a difference.  

Last weekend my oldest UFO was moved out of it's box and back on to the design wall.  Some time was spent during the week rearranging the blocks, taking some out, putting others in till the final layout looked balanced.  The original pattern called for neutral setting triangles, but none of the fabrics used for the star backgrounds seemed to work.   After looking at how much fabric was left, I decided that the red border fabric would also work as setting triangles. 

Pattern is Folk Art Christmas Stars

by Robyn Pandolph

I'm really happy with how it's coming together. 

That's it for my design wall this week.  See more design walls over at Judy's Patchwork Times.   

Stash Report - Week 33 of 2014

It's been a slower week, mainly because Drama Teen is back in school.  My Guy is home after two weeks in Texas.  He was not amused by the yard. Typically by this time in August, the yard has quit growing due to the heat.  But we've had more rain, as well as cooler temperatures, in July and August than is typical. 

The rain has done such nice things for the roses, but it has meant more yard work for both of us this year.  Still it's been nice to have a break from the 100 F plus weather that's normal for the first couple of weeks in August.  

Even with the nice weather and the increase in yard work, I've managed to hang out in the sewing room.  More so than I have in recent months.  Getting Jigsaw off the design wall seems to have inspired me.  Or maybe it's that Scrappy Stars is so close to being done as well, I'm more motivated?  Which ever it is, there's a bit going out this week.  Even better there is nothing in. 

Used last week  0.86 yards
Added last week:  0 yards

Used in 2014:  17.984 yards
Added in 2014:  302.3 yards

Net stashed in 2014:  284.41 yards

Not a bad week. I did have to order backing fabric for Scrappy Stars, so there will be some in next week.  It should go right back out though.  

That's it for the state of the stash.  For more on stash management, check out Patchwork Times.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Still Seeing Red

Life slowed down just a bit this week.  Drama Teen is back in school, so the madness of trying to get her to all the summer activities is over.  We are back to a much more predictable schedule.  My Guy is back from a two week business trip and will be home for about three weeks before he heads out again.  Hopefully we'll be able to maintain this reduced stress schedule until DT has her knee surgery at the end of the month.  

Not much stitching got done in July due to vacation and other summer activities, so I've been playing catch up this month with the red Rainbow Scrap Sampler blocks this month.  The last red block was finished last night. 

 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler
By Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy

Most of my red scraps are 1930's prints and these blocks certainly reflect that.  Red isn't a color that shows up in my quilts often, so I don't have a big variety of scraps, but there were enough to make these blocks.  

I'm still cutting scraps for the red Inverted Star block.  I need 16 Scrappy Butterfly blocks to have enough for the setting that's been floating around in my head, so another green one will probably get made once the red scraps are put away.  

Check out Soscrappy for more fun projects using scraps.  

Wordless Wednesday - Sunshine on a Stick

Tuesday Archives - Favorite Quilts

It's easy to forget that I've only been blogging for about 4 years, while the quilting has been going on for about the last 13 years.   So it's not surprising that there are quilts that have never shown up on the blog.  But for some reason it always amazes me when I come across one that hasn't.  Val's Tuesday Archive theme for this week is "Favorite Quilts".  Looking back through all my finishes trying to decide on what were my favorite quilts, I came across a project from one of the first quilting classes I took.

Carpenter Star
Pattern by Debbie Maddy for Calico Carriage

Carpenter Star was probably my first experience with half square triangles, I definitely started big with those.  I had no stash in those days, so bought fabric for each project from the quilt shop in town.  That always limited my choices, but I still like this quilt even though if I were to make it now the color choices would be quite different.

There was supposed to be a class to make another of Debbie Maddy's stars.  I bought the pattern and fabric for Evening Star, but not enough people signed up for the class so it was never held. Finally in 2012, I decided the fabric had sat around long enough.  

St. Isadore's Star
from the pattern Evening Star by Debbie Maddy

I finally finished this one last May, 8 years after Carpenter's Star.  This isn't one of my favorites, but it is one of My Guy's.  He was a bit sad to see it gifted to one of Drama Teen's middle school teachers.  

It's the first day of school, so I need to get moving on making lunches and getting Drama Teen up and going.  Check out all the other fun historical posts over at Val's Tuesday Archives.