PHD in 2019 November update

Baby Quilt Making Day

The Boundary Bay Quilt Guild gives numerous baby quilts away to various charities in the lower mainland.

The co-ordinators of the program had a Baby Quilt Making Day.  You come and make … guess what – a baby quilt!   There are kits you can choose from, tons of fabric to make up a kit of your own, or you can bring fabric from home.

I choose to make a quilt from my stash … I’m on a mission to decrease my stash – one yard at a time – so it was the obvious choice.

My only regret about baby quilt making day is that it was held on Nov. 30.  Which, according to my own rules for PHD in 2019, this quilt must be finished before Dec. 31 for me to recieve my own PHD in 2019!

Here’s a slide show of everyone at the Baby Quilt Making day:

Design Wall

Piecing:

Adding borders to this baby quilt top:

Quilting

Finish quilting Smith Mountain Morning

 

I now have THREE little baby quilts to finish  (I had 2 last week!) and ONE UFO to finish … for my PHD in 2019

If you look closely at #30 of my starts in 2019, it says “snowman” and yes it’s finished … I’ll show you in the near future!

Here’s the November Report for Participants

Kate @  Life in Pieces  is working hard on her PHD, but states that she won’t be able to achieve it this year.  That’s perfectly OK!!!  Many PhD students at universities around the globe often take extensions and finish it eventually.

Tish  @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland has been faithfully finishing all of her beautiful Island Batik challenges … and she hosts a linky party “UFO Busting,” so finishing UFOs is a focus for her!

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood   has also been finishing her Island Batik challenges.  She has an amazing “Octopus’s Garden” quilt that is worth going and taking a look at!

Deana @ Dream Worthy Quilts has a goal tracker on the right side bar. I don’t think it’s been updated recently.

Elizabeth @ Applique and … has been working on various projects, but I’m not sure if they are new starts or UFOs.  I’m sure she’ll update us soon!

Sharon @ Adventures in Fiber has not posted any quilty posts lately …

TO DO

I like to make lists at the beginning of the week, but I’ll still link up to Roseanne & Sue’s Home Sewn by Us on Tuesday.

Last week’s list:

1. Sandwich Smith Mountain Morning   √  done and quilting started
2. Prep 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks – week 45 – 46 xxx Week 45 is prepped, week 46 is not done.
3. Sew 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks – week 36-37 √  done 
4. Finish 2 baby quilts (squirrels) xxx not done!

This week’s list:

1.  Quilt Smith Mountain Morning – ½ hour / day
2. Prep 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks – week 46 & 47
3. Sew 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks – week 38 – 39
4. Add borders to 3 baby quilts.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

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Linking to: 

• What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney Quilts
• Design Wall Monday @  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Monday Making @  Love, Laugh, Quilt
• To-Do Tuesday @ Home Sewn By Us
• Colour Inspiration Tuesday @ Clever Chameleon Quilting

Retreat accomplishments – some …

Oh my! The retreat was a great time.  They always are!  So many different projects, so many ideas, so much help … so much food … and 2 people brought halloween jellies and candy corn … groan!  … too much sugar …  click HERE to see the slide show of other people’s projects.

SEW … What did I get done? 

A Retreating I will go …

Oh YEAH!! A retreat!!!

I love retreats!!!

There are a group of 18 17 of us going to Edenvale in Abbotsford. 17 because one lady is too ill to attend! 😦

What am I taking?   A zillion things … WAY more than I’ll get done!

Squirrels!!!

Do you like or dislike squirrels?  We have black and grey squirrels in our backyard. And we enjoy watching them scurry along the fence, hopping onto the trees and burying nuts in our garden. A friend of mine said that squirrels are just rats with fuzzy tails.  I disagree.  They are cute and fun to watch!

Recently, (like in the past year) I’ve been noticing on quilt blogs that some projects are called “Squirrels.”  I didn’t understand exactly what this meant, and I went searching.  Google searching.  When I researched “squirrel quilts” – that’s what I got – a bunch of links to quilts containing squirrels.  Not what I was looking for.

Googled “squirrel quilts new projects” … BINGO … a definition of what I was looking for.  Quilt Diva Julie had the explanation!  Thank you Quilt Diva Julie! (Photo & Definition is from Quilt Diva Julie’s blog.

A squirrel is a sudden distraction that pulls us away from projects already underway. Something so exciting that we drop what we’re doing to enjoy the unexpected. The term comes from the movie UP where the dog named Doug is talking and suddenly his head whips to one side as he shouts SQUIRREL and he’s off to chase it.

SEW … all this talk about squirrels … and yes, I did have a sudden distraction that pulled me away from what I was diligently working on.  Our guild has a Facebook page.  This Saturday, a baby quilt kit making day was happening.  One lady posted the cutest quilt with a baby on it.  Of course, it was scrappy and blue – that’s why I thought it was cute.  I quickly figured out how it could be done … easy peasy.  Then Saturday came and I wasn’t able to make it to the baby quilt kit making day.  Sew, to get rid of my guilt, I decided to make the quilt.  It was easy to start.

• pulled fabric
• cut them into 6 ½” blocks
• sew blocks into half square triangles
• oops – realized that I should have cut 7″ blocks to make the math work properly … oh well, I’ll just add a wider border
• ironed the blocks
• placed them on the design wall

That’s as far as the squirrel has progressed.  I will web this together and figure out if I need 2½” border or 3″ border to make the quilt 40″ x 40″.  And, it’s using up some of my stash! And that’s always a good thing!

Baby Quilt Marathon – Finish Line

OK … so how did you do?  Did you complete 26 hours of focus sewing on your intended project?  Here’s how I did:

Webbing a Quilt

In the spring, at our guild, I demo’d how to web a quilt. They asked me to provide written instructions. Well, that proved extremely difficult for me. SEW … as I was webbing my demo quilt for the Baby Quilt Marathon, I decided to do a video. You can see it on YouTube HERE.  The quilt in the video is below.

PHD in 2019 – June report & 1/2 marathon …

Baby Quilt Marathon – are you ready?

The Marathon starts tomorrow!

Here is an Excel Sheet for you to track your hours: Hmm, I can’t seem to embed the excel sheet … If you want one that will add your hours up, email me & I’ll email the sheet to you

Here are the quilts I plan to finish: 2 strippy quilts (only 1 picture) and 3 star quilts.

• Both strippy quilts need borders, sandwiching, quilting and binding
• The first star quilt needs to be webbed, borders, sandwiching, quilting and binding
• The 2nd star quilt needs the backing enlarged, sandwiching, quilting and binding
• The 3rd quilt is webbed and needs to be sewn together, borders, sandwiching, quilting and binding

There is a link-up at the end of this post.

Design Wall:  

Piecing

I have started piecing my August Island Batik project … and of course, I can’t show you until the actual blog hop. Sorry … I know you hate secrets!

Quilting

A few weeks ago, I showed you the border of a commissioned quilt. I’m now quilting the said border. And then it needs a label and binding and then it will be finished.

Stash Report

Nothing finished this week and no fabric bought so there isn’t a lot of change in my stash …

• Fabric Used this week      0 yards
• Fabric Used this year:         101.6  yards
• Fabric Bought this week:   0 yards
• Fabric Added this year:      57.05
• Net Fabric used                     44.65
• –
• Husband’s Purchases           9.5

Stitchin’ Time

• January – May:  122 out of 140
• June – 27  out of  30
• Year-to-date: 149  out of 170 = 87%

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

Link up if you want to show us your plans for the marathon. I will try to have a link-up at the half-way mark and at the finish line.

If you don’t have a blog, you can always link to an Instagram post or a Pinterest picture.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=ef8b06cc10bc6002458d

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Linking to: 

• So Scrappy Saturdays @  So Scrappy
• †††Sunday Stash @  quiltpaintcreate
• Oh Scrap @  Quilting is More Fun than Housework
• †Monday Making @  Love, Laugh, Quilt
• Design Wall Monday @  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Moving it Forward Monday @  Em’s Scrapbag

Whirlwind Week

Yes, the last week has been a whirlwind. I had a 12 hour drive up north to help a friend, then came back a few days later. The bonus was that I got to see a neice and a few old friends for a little visit! Unfortunately, I missed seeing a ton of other people!

Then, just as I got home, we picked up my quilting cousin, Terry! (She blogs occasionally at TLC Quilts).

My Cousin Time

Terry helped me cut and sew some border strips … unfortunately I didn’t get a picture. Since the binding flange strips needed to be cut the same width as the 1st border, she cut those as well. Then, I had a glass of wine and decided it was totally unsafe for me to either cut or sew …

This is a secret commissioned project, but I figure that I can show you a bit of the 1st border without giving too much away.

Terry and I hit a couple of local quilt stores. She fell in love with “Dragonfly Quilting and Gifts” To quote Terry, “This is heaven.” She bought a few fabrics to go with her future projects and she bought a beautiful beautiful piece that is simply beautiful. To my credit … I resisted buying that beautiful fabric. However, Dragonfly is only about 3 km from my house … but I’m not going there!

While Terry was here, she was talking about needing scraps of fabric for a couple of future scrappy quilts. I just grinned and grinned. And I grinned some more!!! She tackled my bag of red, blue and brown scraps and took a fair amount – but why are the bags still full???? I didn’t measure the fabric – so I can’t use the amount in my stash count this week. But, at least she has scraps and doesn’t need to go buy fabric to make her quilts. If she sends me pictures, or blogs about the quilts, I’ll be sure to let you know!

Terry then sorted my green scraps … and made a comment that a certain tone of green was predominant in my green scrap bag and there was likely enough for a quilt there. She’s probably correct and I may use that green in Bonnie Hunter’s 2019/20 mystery quilt.

Feathers

Terry also showed me how she does her feathers. It uses a “bird” and “sun” for guidelines. I’ll have to get the link of the youtube. Sew … she had me practicing different feathers. FUN!

Quite a few people have expressed interest in joining us for the Baby Quilt Marathon. Not everyone will be making baby quilts – but I will. You can see more details HERE. One person is planning on making a string quilt, another is going to be sewing up a bunch a baby / Christmas panels, and another plans to make a baby quilt from start to finish!

Are you going to join us?

Design Wall:  

Piecing & Quilting

I showed you the little bit of border that I’m finishing piecing and will soon start quilting.

Stash Report

I finished the Quilt of Valour quilt. And, although the fabric from the top was from Island Batik, the backing was from my stash. It used 4 yards of fabric.

• Fabric Used this week         4 yards
• Fabric Used this year:         101.6  yards
• Fabric Bought this week:   0 yards
• Fabric Added this year:      57.05
• Net Fabric used                     44.65
• –
• Husband’s Purchases           9.5

Stitchin’ Time

• January – May:  122 out of 140
• June – 21  out of  23
• Year-to-date: 143  out of 163= 88%

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

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Linking to: 

• So Scrappy Saturdays @  So Scrappy
• †††Sunday Stash @  quiltpaintcreate
• Oh Scrap @  Quilting is More Fun than Housework
• †Monday Making @  Love, Laugh, Quilt
• Design Wall Monday @  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Moving it Forward Monday @  Em’s Scrapbag

Baby Quilt Marathon … starting … soon

A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I have 3 UFO baby quilts and 2 new baby quilt starts.  A couple of readers suggested that I have a Baby Quilt Marathon  and get those little quilts done!

SEW … that germinated a few seeds and got me thinking … What would a Baby Quilt Marathon look like?

According Merriem-webster, one of the definitions of a marathon is an endurance contest.  It can include an event, an activity or requiring concentrated effort.

Typically runninmarathons can be around  26 miles or 42 kilometres.

Now, I know that I can not sit at the sewing machine for 26 hours, let alone 42 hours … SEW … I decided that I can concentrate on these baby quilts for 26 hours … over the space of 2 weeks.  That’s less than 2 hours a day.  I can do that!  And so can YOU!

SEW … are you going to join me?   All you need to do is keep track of your hours and make a concentrated effort to work on baby quilts and get them done!

OK OK …. so you don’t have 5 baby quilts that you need to finish? … that’s OK … you can work on whatever project you want.  But it has to be a concentrated effort to a goal of finishing the project.

What happens if you don’t sew for 26 hours in 15 days?  Absolutely nothing.  But you need to make an honest effort to do so.

When people run marathons all sorts of things happen.  I did a half marathon several years ago (before my back became nasty about it) and I was SLOW!!!   My son text me when I was about the 1/2 way mark and said he was finished!!!  That made me a bit mad, but also made me determined to finish.  Some people that were running didn’t finish … but at least they tried.  That’s all that I will ask of you … that you try!  🙂

I won’t show you all 5 of the baby quilts, but I will show you one of the new starts … I have started to add borders.

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

A UFO is done, done DONE!!!

PHD in 2019 – May Report

Oh – I almost forgot to write the PHD in 2019 report.

Here’s the January Report for Participants

Kate @  Life in Pieces  has started 2 projects that she plans to complete by year’s end!  One is a Storm at Sea (something I’ve never made) and the other is her Daisy Chain Mystery quilt – sew pretty!!!  I really like the pattern!

Tish  @ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland doesn’t seem to have any UFOs finished, but she has a lovely heart quilt …. it’s worth going to take a look!

Emily @ The Darling Dogwood   has made a pretty awesome I spy quilt for a new baby!  She made a similar one for the baby’s sibling – so that should be fun!!!  Make sure you check out her cool I spy quilts!

Deana @ Dream Worthy Quilts has a goal tracker on the right side bar. According to the tracker (which may not be up to date), there hasn’t been any recent UFO finishes.  However, she has made a pretty neat bag. Check it out HERE.  I love how she didn’t purchase the hardware, but re-purposed it from other bags.  I’ll have to keep that in mind!

Elizabeth @ Applique and … has a lot going on in her life and sewing is happening in little bits.

Sharon @ Adventures in Fiber has not posted any quilty posts lately … but she has been busy with lambs!  Soooo cute!

A FUN Youtube video

I know that I often use quilting acronyms and I hopefully explain them.  This video explains a LOT of different ones!  SEW Fun.  It’s well worth the time to watch it.

Design Wall:  Quilting

Fractured Paint Brush.

I made the label and I just have the borders to quilt … and the binding to do … then you’ll see it in all it’s glory!

 

 

Stash Report

I did finish my June Island Batik project and used 1/2 yard of my own fabric on the back … I need to take pictures and write that post – sew you’ll see the project pretty soon!

• Fabric Used this week         0.5 yards
• Fabric Used this year:         84.9  yards
• Fabric Bought this week:   0 yards
• Fabric Added this year:      57.05
• Net Fabric used                     27.85
• –
• Husband’s Purchases           9.5

Stitchin’ Time

• January – May:  122 out of 140
• June – 8  out of  9
• Year-to-date: 130  out of 149 = 87%

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

 

No UFO finishes in May, but I did finish my May Island Batik project …

I did start 2, yes 2 baby quilts at the guild’s baby quilt making day … they are added to my “Starts in 2019” list.  Hmmm … I still have 3 guild baby quilts from previous years that aren’t finished … one day …

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

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Linking to:  

• So Scrappy Saturdays @  So Scrappy
• Sunday Stash @  quiltpaintcreate
• Oh Scrap @  Quilting is More Fun than Housework
• Monday Making @  Love, Laugh, Quilt

• Design Wall Monday @  Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Moving it Forward Monday @  Em’s Scrapbag
• Main Crush Monday @   Cooking up Quilts 

I’m in SHOCK!!!

At our recent quilt show, there was a baby quilt challenge: Welcome to the Zoo.  I just didn’t have any ideas at all. Or at least none that were practical and manageable.  So, I grabbed a panel from my stash of panels and quilted it up.  Just a panel people, a panel!!

Can you imagine my surprise when it was announced that I was the 3rd place winner?  I still can’t believe it.  It’s a panel.  A few people told me that the quilting was amazing.  I don’t know about that – but I did quilt it to death!  And, it’s still nice & soft.  It will be a donation quilt.  I will take it back to the guild next month and hand it in.

A first quilt!

Quilting Tangent wrote to me and told me that she had used the same block as my “Stars on Ice Quilt” (see more HERE. )

An amazing Quilter!

When I was astounded that was a block she used for her FIRST quilt – she sent me pictures and this is what she said, “Yes, my first quilt was hand pieced, queen size and reversible.  I got a machine, figured out how to use it and did the quilting with a vine stitch the machine had.  Took forever!  Now I’m trying to learn to piece on the machine, a lot different then hand sewing..”

First finish in September

I thought I’d be just showing a picture of this quilt in progress, as I wasn’t sure I’d have time to get it finished by today.  It’s a little quilt made with 6 ½”  flannel squares.  A great flannel stash buster of left-over baby quilt backings.  This is a UFO … and it’s finished!  YEAH!   I just did a big serpentine stitch along the seams and diagonally … mindless and easy to do.

 

Stash and Project Update

A few days ago, a couple of cousins on my mom’s side came to visit.  It was a fantastic visit as I had not seen either of them for at least 50 years!  Anyhow … one of them quilts, and when she saw my very messy creative sewing room, she asked how many projects I had going at one time.    Just off the cuff, I said, “5.”   Um … well, I didn’t really take a good look at what I had actively going in the room  … and of course, it’s the reason for the MESS CREATIVITY.

A Cute Finish

BBQG Donation Quilt

For the past 2 months, the guild Quilting 101 class has worked on baby quilts.  We choose a simple pattern and made 7 quilts.  It was good learning … how to make large half-square triangles, How to trim them easily and then arranging the blocks.  This month we did quilting with the walking foot.  Organic waves.  I thought it was fun to quilt!  Unfortunately, I only have pictures of the one I did.  Next month, the group will be putting binding on and I will try to get more pictures of the quilts then.

Silly me, I went ahead and put the binding on this one – so I’ll need to find another project to demonstrate binding next month.  That shouldn’t be too hard!  .

This quilt finishes about 37 x 37″.  The 2nd picture is from the back with the sun shining through … fun.

Design Wall

Piecing

The white Ohio stars are done.  About ¾ of the black ones are done.  And about ½ of the red string triangles with black and white “wings” are done.  I need to make a zillion more “wings”, but they are not as tedious as the hourglass blocks to make.  (In my opinion).

Then there is the assembly of the quilt, then adding borders, then quilting, making and adding the label and then binding.  Believe it or not … I think I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  It’s just a glimmer.

Quilting

All of the straight line “in the ditch” quilting has been done.  I think I have decided what to do in the big negative rectangle spaces: a feather arch.  The big floral-type squares will likely be a flower made with what I call “C”.  And the checkerboard section … who knows.

 

PHD in 2018 Update

No finishes towards my PHD because there were no UFOs finished this week.  So the numbers stay the same.

Stash Report

I used guild fabric for the above pink quilt – so nothing deleted from my stash. No shopping, so nothing added!

Fabric Used this Week:    0  yards  
Fabric Used year to Date:  94.1  yards
Fabric Added this Week:    0  yards 
Fabric Added Year to Date: 14 yards
Net Fabric used for 2017:  84.1  yards 

Linking to:

• Sunday Stash @ quiltpaintcreate
• Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
• Peaceful Sunday @ Janda Bend Quilts  or Linky Party
• Mali Sparkles @ Sunday Stash
• Monday Making @ Love, Laugh, Quilt
• Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
• Moving it Forward Monday @ Em’s Scrapbag
• Main Crush Monday @ Cooking up Quilts 

Happy Quilting!
Gail

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Donation Quilt – Done!

PHD in 2018

Another baby quilt for the guild is Done, Done, Done!  This quilt has been sitting in my “to-do” pile since last fall.  The guild had a “Baby Quilt Kit Making” day.  It’s always fun to go and kit up fabric that is not my own!  I made a couple of kits, but I brought this one home with me.  While I was at my sister’s, I realized that I needed an Easy Angle to make the half-square triangles.  I had cut strips that were 5″ wide and didn’t have enough to sew squares in half … My sister phoned her neighbour to ask if she had an Easy Angle.  She did!  BONUS!  I quickly put on my parka, my mitts, my extra leggings, extra socks and  went over to her house to get the ruler.  It made short work of the half square triangles.

This is UFO #8!!!!

Quick Machine Binding Tutorial.

Did you see my Quick Machine Binding Tutorial?  You can find it HERE.

Linking to:

To see what other’s in the quilting world are working on – click on the following links:

• Linky Tuesday @  Free Motion by the  River 
• WIPs on Wednesday @ Esther Quilt Blog 
• Let’s Bee Social @  Sew Fresh Quilts
• Midweek Makers @  QuiltFabrication
• Happy Needle  and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation

 

Happy Quilting!
Gail

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Friday’s Finishes

The 4 Christmas placemats that I took to demonstrate binding on are done … and no, I did not get them completed while I was teaching everyone how to do it. They got finished this morning.

I also finished up a UFO baby quilt!  This is pattern, by Anita Grossman Solomon, is from a 2006 Quiltmaker magazine. I think I made this UFO when the magazine first came out … so it’s an 11 year old UFO!  You actually make 3 quilts at the same time.  The other 2 quilts were gifted a LONG time ago.  This one had such a plain centre, I wasn’t sure what to do.  But this giraffe outline – quilted with a contrasting colour was a perfect finish for the quilt.  If you want to make this quilt, it is now a free quilt on Craftsy.  Click HERE.

And here is a close up of the giraffe.

Link-ups

To see what others in the quilty world are working on wander over to these blogs:

• Can I get a Whoop Whoop? @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
• Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts  
• Finished or Not @ Busy Hands Quilts
• Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts
• Happy Needle  and Thread @ My Quilt Infatuation

Happy Quilting
Gail

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Stash Report Mar. 19 ’17

Yeah!!!  I have a finish!  A small finish, but a finish.  I took a break from the huge quilt and quilted this baby quilt.  I started it at a charity baby quilt day with the Boundary Bay guild.  It’s nice to have it finished!  I don’t have a BBQG label for it, so I’ll wait until I can put one on before I hand it in.

Most of the fabric for this quilt was from the guild, but i used my own fabric for the background – so that will be calculated into my report!

Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 1.25 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 19.75 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0  yards 
Fabric Added Year to Date: 13.8 yards
Net Fabric used for 2017: 5.55 yards

UFO tally

I started the year with 38 UFO’s.

2017   Completed      Left to complete
Jan:           2                          36
Feb:           0                          36
Mar:          1                          35

Linking to

• Judy’s Stash Report @ Patchwork Times
• Oh Scrap @ Quilting is more fun than Housework

Happy Quilting
Gail