Grand Illusion Part III

This step took me longer than the previous steps since I already had a full weekend and week.   Very glad it was a bit easier.  

The first 40!  Thursday evening things start to slow down. Hope to finish up before Friday morning.

Update:  I stayed upstairs and sewed rather than get on the computer to finish this post.  I got up to 65 before this post actually got published on Wednesday night.  There are lots of 4x1s ready to go, so I think I can get it done by Friday am for sure now.  Fingers crossed!!

Linking up to Quiltville  to show progress.

Friday Finish - Dakota's Quilt

This has to be of my new favorites.  I love how the colors came together and it looks good yet the focus is on the photos.   I say it looks good because I was working with limited fabrics so I didn't have too, too many choices but it worked just fine.

You can see the progress  Part 1 here   and Part 2 here.

There are very simple instructions for the Memorial Block here.

Check out some other finishes at Crazy Mom Quilts  and Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Memorial Photo Block

I like this block so much.  I thought it was perfect to show off the photo without taking the attention away from the photo.

So I figured I'd give a few more details. 

All the photos were a slightly different size. I figured/carefully calculated that a 6" background would work for all of them. I used artist transfer paper and first ironed onto a 7.5" background square. Then I trimmed down to 6.5" unfinished.  

The rectangles on the block are 6.5" x 2.5".  

The corner squares are 2.5".  

Finished block 10". 

This could also be done with rectangles 6.5" x 3" (which is what I wanted but did not have enough fabric).

The corner squares would be 3".  

Finished block 11". 

Grand Illusion Part II

I had a regular Friday off for the first time in ages and that helped a lot. I could hardly wait to get everyone delivered to the bus and school and get back home to sew.  I did the test block as recommended and adjusted my diamond before I cut all 200.   

I had fewer scraps to work with this week so I cut strips from yardage and the cutting went more quickly than last week.  Also, I did all the cutting first after my test blocks.  Last week I cut and sewed and cut and sewed.  I think this week was faster but more tedious. 

I can't wait to see how this is all going to come together. 

My goal was to get Part II done this weekend. I wasn't sure I could but I sacrificed a few things - housecleaning, Christmas decorating, prep for school - and got it done at the last minute.  Somehow it is easier to find an excuse to sew on the weekend than a work day!!

103 Part II units ready to go!!

It all still fits in the shoebox.

 Head over to  Quiltville to see how the others are doing.

Stash Report 120714

Lots organized. Lots done.  Lots out. Yeah.

Unexpected Trip Around the World that can also be seen  here.    2.75 yards

In a bag of misc scraps from a yard sale was a chunk of pre-sewn plaid squares.  I think you can buy it by the yard but not sure what it is called. I figured I would turn it into a hospice quilt top for the guild. In my new-found interest in cleaning up I decided to just do it and not put it away til later.  So glad I did.  I think it turned out rather nicely as the center and corners of this quilt and is all gone now along with a bit of stash for borders.   Unfortunately I could not come up with anything remotely good for backing for it.  1.25 yards

41" x 42"

Over Thanksgiving I gave several pieces of super cute outer space stars and planet fabric to my SIL to use for my nephew.  10 yards. 

And, in all honesty, in my cleaning and sorting I have actually thrown away some fabric due to stains and poor condition and donated some because it was not appropriate for quilts and I was unlikely to use it.  2 yards

Fabric Used This Week: 16 yards out in various forms
Total Used 2014: 107.74 yards

Fabric In This Week: 0 yards 

Total Bought/Received in 2014: 16.08 yards
Net Used 2014: 91.66 yards

I had really hoped to use 100 yards this year and I did!!  Now I would like to get to 100 net used.  It seems late in the game, but I am so close that it just might happen.  I know I made a baby quilt set in the fall and lost my detail notes so never did a stash report on it, so if I can recalculate that that will help too.

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see how others are doing with their stash.

Unexpected Quilt, Unexpected Finish

Kind of embarrassing

I have been working really hard on cleaning up the sewing/project room.  For the past months life has been in upheaval and little bits of sewing saved my sanity, but is now calming down, so there is no really good excuse for not getting things in order.

But I can either sew or clean

One of the big things - after clearing the flat surfaces - was to get my mother's stash organized in a way that would make it more useable.  She kept it color sorted in under-the-bed plastic boxes, so that is how I received it.  When I needed to get into it I had to unstack each of the boxes from under the table and stir til I hopefully found something useful.  After 18 months of that I was ready to move on.

Ready for business

I slowly worked through 3 of the 4 boxes and folded it like I fold my fabric, stacked it by color and was even able to get it on the shelf that holds her sewing stuff since I had already worked at sorting and dealing with that stuff and had some empty spaces.  It fit perfectly across the bottom shelf.  Now I can see all the colors and I am using more of it already.  (The 4th box is flannels and odd stuff that needs to be dealt with separately.)

Mommy's shelf

Since I was in the mood to clean and sort I started in on the numerous bags and boxes - mostly hers, some of mine!  What a surprise when I found the pieces for a Trip Around the World quilt in one of her bags.  I had just finished one and had said that even though I enjoyed the process I did not need another.  You can see that quilt  here.  That one used 2.5" strips/squares.  This one had 4" squares.  These fabrics did not seem like something my mother would have chosen and she never left works unfinished, so I do not know why or what or how or anything about this quilt except that it was in her possession.  Good enough for me.

The strips were cut.  Some tubes were sewn.  Some tubes were unsewn at alternating blocks.  Extra fabric was included.   I surely did not need another project, but this was just too tempting.  I laid out what there was and worked at it while the house was empty which is very unusual.  (College R was home and so the girls were out on a sisters outing.)  In about 3 hours I was able to have it all done ready for a border.  I used up as much of the existing fabric as possible to make it as large as possible.  I had to add some of the red color.  I did not have the exact same, but it was close enough and I worked it in so it looked planned.  When I ran out of the dark blue that was it.  I estimate that with borders it will be a good twin size.

Around the World 2

It's not very often that cleaning gets me a finished quilt, but I'm glad it did this time.
Subconsciously I think my motivation for cleaning the room was to work on THIS  this guilt-free!

Bonnie Hunter's Mystery - Grand Illusion!

 Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts  and Confessions of a Fabric Addict  to show off finishes.

Dakota's Quilt Part II

Things were slow for one more day so I took advantage to get Dakota's quilt top done. I would have liked the border to be wider and without the cornerstones but there was not enough fabric.  All in all I really like it anyways.  I will bind it in black.

Worked on the backing too.  I had not thought about that at all.  I have some other images I could have incorporated but they were not great so I decided to keep it simple.  Once again I was limited by the fabric. The solid red was not wide enough so I it added the dog house print which I really like.  It is directional and in various pieces - not enough total for the back - but this one piece fit perfectly.  

I have finished tops but not quilted anything in a really long time so if I can make myself quilt it this will be my first complete finish in a while.  I realized I like the piecing best and not the quilting    But I really want to have this one done before the Christmas break starts so I will get it done - if life stays reasonable.