Niece and Nephew Quilts are Finished and A Recap

I've been sharing with you the quilts I've been making for my nieces and nephews, the ones who have not received one in a while.  I overlooked three of them so thought I'd get caught up on that and do a recap.

The ones I've already posted about are Josh, Ashley, Laura, Nikki, Travis, Paige, Natalie, Emily, Carrie, Karlie, Kourtnie, and Kacie's. (Each name has a link attached in case you'd like to see them.)  All of them were made since 2018.  Thank goodness, I have a fantastic quilter (Shirley Jackson) I can depend on!

Jason is the one nephew who had never received a quilt from me.  When he was born (and I'm embarrassed to tell you how old he is, so I won't) I was crocheting afghans for new babies.  I also crocheted a large afghan for him when he was first married.  (Oops, that hints at how old he is.  Don't pay any attention to that.)  Anyway, it was definitely his turn!  I named his quilt "Long Time Coming".

For Tim I tore into my box of batik strips (again!) and made a variation of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt, using different size strips and pieces (instead of WOF strips) and sewing some diagonal seams instead of straight. It wasn't nearly big enough to suit me, plus I wanted to change it up, so I added strips around it going in the opposite direction.  It ended up plenty big enough, and I ended up with another happy nephew.  

Tina's quilt was Amy Walsh's "Zen" pattern.  Yes.  I used batiks.  I've used this pattern before, but this time I sewed some of it in a hotel in Seattle.  I've set up a little sewing area in many a hotel.  An important thing to pack for that is my Ott sewing light.  You know how bad hotel lighting is.

You may remember that, in 2018, I went a little crazy cutting up my batiks into 2.5" strips.   

Now, that box looks like this .....

Hooray!

Now all the nieces and nephews have new quilts.  (Another Hooray!)  Should I start on the great-nieces and nephews?  Well, I do have all those scrappy squares I cut up a few years ago.....

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Quilter, and Super Scrappy.

Mar/Apr Goals Finally Met!

I am happy to announce (happier than you know!) that my March goal (which became my April goal) is finally done!  I knew I was right to not give up on it.  I put the binding and label on Natalie's quilt this week and it's ready to gift.

I was finally able to get some photos that show the true colors.  It's amazing what a little natural light will do.

I'm excited to be able to gift this one in person next weekend.  I've had to mail an awful lot of niece and nephew quilts the last few years, and that's not as much fun.  Isn't that a pretty quilting job by my friend, Shirley Jackson?

It's almost time for May reports, but I haven't done the April reports yet.  So, here they are -

APRIL

Fabric Added in April - 5 yards

Fabric Used in April - 8.9 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date - 26.3

Fabric Used Year to Date - 69.2 yards

Net used in 2022 - 42.9 yards

Days I sewed in April - 25/30

Days I sewed this year - 114/120

Percentage - 95%

Linking up with So Scrappy!

Making Progress!

I'm finally making progress on Natalie's quilt.  I no longer want to give up on it and throw the whole thing into the trash.  Well.  I probably wouldn't do that now that fabric costs about $13 a yard!  

I got all the blocks trimmed over the weekend.  That was fun.  (She said sarcastically!)  The 5" ruler I bought last week was the perfect tool for this job.

It took a while to get through the whole stack .....

..... and look how much fabric was wasted!  Yikes!  Remember I just mentioned above what fabric costs these days?  This is so sad.  

I know some quilters use their scraps to stuff dog beds, so I'm going to find someone who can use them.  

I spent the entire day sewing today, and got all the rows made .....  

..... so, on to sashing now.   I wonder if I'll be able to make my April goal (which was also my March goal!)  With four days left, I'm hopeful.  For a while there this was feeling a lot more like work than fun, but I'm starting to love this quilt!

A Quilting Life Block of the Month (Jan's Quilt)

If you need more projects to work on or you're looking for a quilty podcast to listen to, check out Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life.  Just after the Covid isolation began my quilty friend Denise used that blog to entice me into doing a Mystery Block of the Month as a sew-along with her.  It turns out this Mystery BOM is an annual thing.  Now she's talked me and three other neighbors into making the 2022 mystery quilt.  More about that later.  

The 2020 quilt was designed using all half-square-triangles.  I decided to use bright batiks ..... 

..... with Kona white for the background .....

..... and a nice black and white stripe to give it some interest and make it my own.  I took the blogger's advice and made up all the HSTs I would need for the year.  

I decided to use the option to make eight inch blocks so I could set them on point and have a throw sized quilt instead of a full.

Putting one striped HST in each block was a good decision.  It's such a fun look.

After I finished putting the top together I felt like it needed a border.  I think the border really made the quilt, and to top it all off the quilting by my friend Shirley Jackson was gorgeous.  As always.

A green binding to match the cornerstones really made for a nice finish.

I sent this one to my sister-in-law Jan.  I hadn't made a quilt for her since her wedding.  Don't ask me how long ago that was!

This quilt is one of my favorites.  It's funny.  All the quilts I make are my favorites!

Linking up with So Scrappy.

February's "One Monthly Goal" and Stash/Sewing Reports

It's time to set my OMG for February.  What I'm going to work on is actually a UFO, something I started last summer.  I only have three more nieces to make new quilts for, and this is one of them.  "Lazy Eyes" is a pattern in "Strip Therapy 2" by Brenda Henning.   I finished one block just to see what it will look like in batiks .....

 

..... and the rest of the 143 blocks are partially made.

The goal is to have the top completed by the end of this (short!) month.  I'm determined to do it.

2022 is also the year I'm going to do some serious stash busting.  The last time I did that (in 2015) I used about 150 yards net.  Matching that will be quite a challenge, especially considering that January's stash report is, well... not so great.

January

Fabric Added in January - 10.9 yards

Fabric Used in January -  13.5 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date - 10.9 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date - 13.5 yards

Net used in 2022 - 2.6 yards

After all the isolation of the last two years getting to shop for fabric in a real quilt shop did me in!  It could be worse, though, for sure.

Another of my goals for this year is to sew every day.  So far so good.

January

Days I sewed in January - 31/31

Days I sewed this year - 31/31

Percentage - 100%

So I'm looking forward to a fantastic February.  I'll keep you posted!

Linking up with One Monthly Goal

Two Quilts For the Price of One?

Still wanting to use up those batiks in my stash and having a few more nieces in line for new quilts, I decided to make a batik version of the "Radio Way" pattern by Jaybird Quilts for my niece, Laura.  I had lots of time at home during my Covid isolation, and what better way to use that time than to make quilts?  It didn't hurt that some of my online quilty friends were doing a sew-along using this pattern, and I wanted to play along.

I really enjoyed working on such an easy pattern.  How simple are these blocks?!

See those hashtag marks on the notepad in the first photo?  Once again, they don't mean anything.   I ended up with twice as many blocks as I needed.  What is wrong with me?  Don't answer that!  lol

So, double the blocks means two quilts.  For the price of one?  Not technically, but since everything was from my stash, I'm saying, "Yes!"  One for Laura .....

..... and one for my son, Aaron .....

..... because he said, when I sent him a picture of the blocks in a text message, "I really like that!" 

I chose some of the lighter (and pinker!) blocks for Laura's quilt and used the darker and more neutral blocks for Aaron's.  Then I used some of the leftover strips on the backing of Aaron's quilt.

The tree branches on the lower right are just from a shadow.  I wish I had thought of that, though.  It's kinda cool.

Linking up with  "Oh Scrap!"

Ashley's Wedding Quilt

If you're tired of me starting off my blog posts with "another niece needed a wedding quilt" I'll just say instead that Emily's and Paige's cousin, Ashley, needed a wedding quilt.  Yes, that would be my niece.  Another niece.  I have a lot of them.  

I'm still trying to use up those batiks, so this time I chose the "Bella" pattern by Timeless Treasures.  

The stars really added a lot of interest to an otherwise simple pattern.

Another interesting part of the process was sewing the first two columns on upside down .....

.....then ripping them off and putting them back on right side up.

Can you see the difference?  Please tell me you can see the difference!  I would have never experienced another peaceful night's sleep if I hadn't corrected it.  Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but .....

Either way, this beautiful bride loves it .....

..... and that's all that matters.

Linking up with So Scrappy and Oh Scrap!

[wedding photo credit Rachel Turner Photography]

Paige and Paul's Wedding Quilt

Another niece, another wedding quilt.  This time it was Paige's turn.  I was on a roll using up those batiks!  The Organized Chaos pattern by Cozy Quilts is perfect for batiks.  I'd been wanting to use this eggplant batik with gold stars for a while.  I had never auditioned it next to other prints before.  It turned out to be perfect.  I need to "play" with my stash more often!

I worked on this quilt during the Covid isolation while I wasn't even thinking about blogging, so I only took two photos.  Let's just jump ahead to a picture of the finished quilt .....

..... and the happy couple.

Hmmm, it doesn't seem right to leave you after such a short post and so few photos.

I'll just share a little bit about two of the quilts I made for Paige as she was growing up.  Actually, she helped with one.  She decided to learn to sew; she wanted to make a quilt; and Aunt Sandy was just the one to teach her. 

We picked out a panel (aka "cheater cloth"), a bright aqua for borders, and hot pink and yellow for a checkerboard border.  Paige did some of the sewing, but decided pretty quickly that sewing wasn't really for her.  I finished up the borders, added some bright buttons as cornerstones, named it "Girlfriends", and called it "done"!

In 2005 I thought she needed a more grownup quilt.  She was thirteen by then, after all.  I wanted to use Judy Laquidara's pattern "Rainbow Connection", but as you can see I didn't want to use rainbow colors, just two colors - pink and black.

It was a fun surprise that Christmas and a big hit as well.

Linking up with So Scrappy

Linking up with Oh Scrap!

Debbie's Quilt - A Finish!

The last time I shared with you about Debbie's quilt the top was finished, the backing was ordered, and I was getting ready to mail it off to my quilter friend, Shirley Jackson.   The pantograph and thread choices are perfect for this quilt.  But, of course. Shirley always does a beautiful job.

In 2017 Debbie asked me to make her a new quilt because the one I had made for her 36 years earlier was worn out, I was more than happy to. That's why this quilt will no longer be known as "Debbie's Quilt", but rather "Because You Asked".   (I'm not usually any good at naming quilts, but I like this name!)

This is my first finish for 2019.
























I was excited to be able to make a trip to St. Louis recently to gift it in person.  Partly because it weighs a ton, and I didn't want to mail it. 



















Mostly because I wanted to see Debbie's face and bask in the glow of her love and admiration.  Not really.  I just wanted to love on her a little bit.  I don't get to see her often enough.

So, it's finally in Debbie's arms.  Seriously.  It's probably actually in her arms this very minute.  She was so happy when I gave it to her the other evening I feel certain she's yet to let it go.