15 Minutes to Stitch Weekly Recap

 

15 Minute to Stitch Challenge: 

Week Two

I missed posting last week, and since each week was different, I will post each week separately.  For the second week of the month, I worked on new projects. I needed to decide on my next scrap quilt so I could tame the scraps and my idea for the Butterfly Wreaths needed 5 inch squares, which is bigger than most of the scraps in the scrap box, so I also decided to work on a rail fence to use up the smaller scraps. This week was spent cutting and sewing a few pieces to make a few blocks to get started and to see if the plan seemed like it was worth pursuing.

15 Minute sessions of stitching this week:  7 out of 7
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year:  13 out of 13 sessions
Success Rate: 100%

Week 3

I didn't get much time to sew during the week, so I made it up on the weekend.  Yesterday, I got a scrap box and started cutting pieces for the scrap quilts. Just take the first fabric on top, and cut it to size for one of the scrap quilts. So far, I didn't get any 5 inch squares, so everything was cut for the rail fence, but maybe I'll find bigger scraps today.

I am going to use the same rule I used last year - that if I miss the 15 minutes of sewing one day, I can make it up during the week and still count it. It is snowing here, so I will be able to get even more sewing done today.

15 Minute sessions of stitching this week:  7 out of 7
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year:  20 out of 20 sessions
Success Rate: 100%

 

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch

Introducing Butterfly Wreaths and Four Rails

As you know, I have planned to work on a lot of new quilts this year - not just trying to finish WIPS and UFOs but to start as many quilts as I want.  I am not going to give myself any limits and see if I can manage to stay in control without limits. The plan is to start what I want, and when I am starting to get tired of it, turn it into a quilt and call it done, no matter how small it turns out to be. The process is more important than the product.

In order to make this new process work, though, I need to make sure I document and keep track of the quilts I have started. So here are the new quilts I have started this month.

Butterfly Wreaths is a quilt that Gayle, Cathy, and Julie are making.  They each have come up with their own name and I am hoping that the name and this picture will help me remember the layout I am choosing. It will be a scrap quilt.  I really want to use scraps and make the wreath rings really stand out, but I am really not sure how to make that work.

I enjoyed making eight HSTs at one time for Sunlight in Winter, and realized I could make these HSTs the same way. Sunlight in Winter is cut 1/8th less than a whole square, so there is no trimming needed to make it fit the squares that it goes with.  Butterfly Wreaths only uses triangles so I am cutting three 5 inch squares at a time - two of the main fabric, one light and one dark.  The main fabric is paired with each of the others (one main with the light and one main with the dark) to make 8 HSTS each and then they are put together to make the blocks. I need to remember to press to the main fabric to make the seams nest. I think those butterflies can be either dark or light, but for now, I think I am going to see how I like it with just dark butterflies.

Yes this means there will be repeat blocks, but hopefully this quilt will be big enough that it won't matter. Repeat blocks might be good to add some cohesion to the quilt. And if it gets on my nerves, I might try to combine the subunits in different combinations to have more variety.

Four Rails is a rail fence quilt designed to use up my scraps.  Like my other rail fence, it will include all fabrics with no discrimination.  I will just cut and sew when the whim strikes me to make these.  It will be a kind of leader/ender project. I am hoping it takes over like the other rail fence did. This quilt will use four rails instead of three rails like my other rail fence quilt, hence the name Four Rails.  The pieces are cut 1.5 x 4.5 so they will be squares.

My plan is to use all my fabric scraps without any regard to color.  I will take a scrap, and cut as many five inch squares out of it as I can. Once it gets too small, then I will cut as many one and a half inch strips out of it as I can, and subcut them into rail fences. Once that is done, they go into the trash.

For my trash and snippet quilts, silly. You didn't think I will actually throw them away, did you?

 Today, I appreciate snow that makes everything pretty but isn't slippery.

Dust off a quilt book blog hop coming soon!

Dust off a quilt book blog hop coming soon!

Bea Lee at Beaquilter hosting a blog hop in February called “Dust off a Quilt Book” Blog hop. The idea is to find an old (to you) quilt book on your shelf and make something from it, it can just be that you’re inspired by it or that you make just a block from it and turn it into a small quilt or bag or mug rug, it’s really up to the individual blogger. I figured I would go ahead and share the lineup with you so you know I am official, and since I am busy making the triangles so I can show you my project on my allotted day, Tuesday. The lineup is listed on Bea's blog post.

There are a lot of books that are getting dusted off, so you might want to take your allergy medicine or put on your dust mask and be prepared.

I also wanted to share this fun video with you. You might see me making some faces this year!

Today, I am appreciating bloggers and blog hops to keep me inspired and motivated to quilt.

Improv triangles

I have been cutting and sewing improv triangles for a border of the rail fence quilt. I am thoroughly enjoying the process.

Today, I am appreciating the sun and the rainbow, and my sister for telling me to go outside to see it.

Yesterday, I appreciated my coworkers for their helpful advice and for showing that they have the same concerns I do.

15 Minutes to Stitch 2019

My original plan was to change my blog posts to Monday so I can show you 7 days of stitching this week, but Sundays are really a better day to do this, both for me, and for the other people on this challenge, so here goes this week's numbers.

 

15 Minute to Stitch Challenge: 

This week, I spent a lot of time cutting up pieces - for Sunlight in Winter and for the ATC holder. Earlier in the week, I also did some quilting on the drunkard path quilt. Today, I worked on a pieced border for the rail fence quilt so I can be finished in February. Once again, I am jumping back and forth from the precise piecing of the first two quilts into the improv rail fence.

15 Minute sessions of stitching this week:  6 out of 6
15 Minute sessions of stitching this year:  6 out of 6 sessions
Success Rate: 100%

Linked to:
15 Minutes to Stitch

My Plans for the Year 2019

Just a preview of things you may expect to see on this blog. It is another sunny day and although I shouldn't be making plans on sunny days because they tend to be overreaching, it is good to dream and maybe accomplish some of those dreams.

I signed up for the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop with Beaquilter. The goal is to take a book off the shelf, dust it off and make a project out of it. I already have a project I have started from a book on my shelf, and my hope is that I will be able to finish it to show you in February.  My long time reader probably knows what the quilt is, but I'll keep the new readers guessing. My day is February 19th.  February 19 is a pretty challenging deadline so it may wind up just being a quilt top instead of a finished quilt, but I am still hoping for a finished quilt.

I've also signed up with Wendy Caton Reed at the Constant Quilter to make a mini quilt every month this year. I'm not going to limit myself to just one quilt a month, and some months may not have a quilt, depending on my schedule.  I made three little quilts in December and thoroughly enjoyed it. My idea is to take all those quilt ideas floating in my head and turn them into quilts. So many times, I have seen a quilt or an idea on Pinterest, a blog, a book or a magazine, and have decided not to follow through because I worried about the commitment of finishing it and the impact it would have on my current quilts. I want to be able to make impromptu quilts and not worry so much about such things.

That's a lot of quilts and I am not used to working on quantity of quilts. I always told myself in the past it was the process and the quality that mattered more - that I should do the harder quilts instead of simpler quilts just to get them done.

The way I plan to accomplish multiple quilts is to think about the minimum I need to do to squeak by. I've never done that before, but I think I will enjoy it. It is a new form of minimalism.  Sometimes one block will be able to be a quilt. Sometimes if there is a secondary design formed by the alternating block, it might take 2 or 4 or 6 blocks to show a pattern. Sometimes if repetition is the key to the design, 6 or 12 blocks might be necessary. And of course, it won't all be quilts made with blocks.

 Today, I appreciate dreams and my imagination. Even though I can't possibly make all the quilts I image, they exist at least temporarily in my mind, and just the idea of them is enjoyable.

Linked to:
Moving it Forward - I will be moving a lot of projects forward this year!

Another Sunny Winter Day

It was another pretty day today and the sun was out.  Today, I appreciate the sun and the birds.

I spent time cutting out more fabric - yellow and black.  I'm not used to doing this much cutting at a time, but the sun is out so I don't mind. It will make the sewing part quicker.

I also appreciate the library for the friendly staff, and all the inspiration, knowledge, and pretty pictures I can find in their books.