2016

     Writing here was not a priority for 2016.  We bought a new house for ourselves and set about fixing it, fixed the other house, moved ourselves and my parents as we just exchanged houses.  By golly both households own a ridiculous number of books.  It is a good thing but books are heavy.

    The sewer line from our house to the city connection ruptured and there were multiple opportunities for all of us to live together in one or the other of the two houses while various things got fixed.  We eventually need to get some other floors fixed, but we're waiting a few years and dealing with it until we feel like upending things again.  Love the additional space and the large yard to send  kids out into for outdoor recess when they bicker or are rambunctious.  

     The first five quilts shown were donated to Seattle Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters Guild.  The first two started as potential quilts for a co-worker, but we decided they were not the style of the parents and went another direction.  The other three are using fabrics that I had on hand.  

This quilt went to a co-worker and used the blue and green solids I already acquired.  I don't seem to have a finished quilt picture so I am not sure what I put on the back.

 The co-worker I gave the other Parson Gray plus quilt to for her retirement asked for the second quilt and paid me for it.  I am happy that she likes them both and hopefully is enjoying her retirement snuggled up in them.

The blue Starburst quilt went to my sister in law when she got her AA degree.  Another example of using what I had.  The navy burst points and the blue solid came from stash.  The batiks were from the PNW Meetup in Seattle courtesy of Clothworks.

Cascadia started as part of a guild challenge for our local Artswalk.  On a sunny day, one can see two mountain ranges from various parts of town, the Cascades and the Olympics.  We had to use improv (I think) and the flowered fabric from V and Co.  I used leftover strings from the black, white and gray HST quilt that went to my nephew.

This quilt got finished as well.  Somewhere I have a finished picture but it is not easy to find at this moment.  So now, with 11.5 months in between posts, here's to some of the quilts I finished in 2016.  

Just use it up

I decided to try to just use what I already have on hand for new projects.  I really have no need to go shopping for fabric except to help finish projects that are on the docket.  And I really don't need to add to my wish list of projects.  Binding fabric seems to be a sticking point in my mind.  During the inventory clearance sale at my LQS today, I just bought batting with the 40% off one item coupon.
 
A co-worker who is retiring this year likes blue.  I showed her a few pictures of fabric and made sure to include mostly what I already owned.  She seemed to like all of it so I decided to break into the Parson Gray stash that I accumulated in the past few years.

And then, since I did not want to put the fabric back away, I kept going and kept cutting.  4 quilt tops later, I have a quart size ziploc bag or less of the remaining Parson Gray fabric.  Here are the quilt tops.  2 are plus quilts, one is a group of random blocks to attempt to mimic the Road Trip Quilt by Cluck, Cluck, Sew but in a bigger size, and one Candy Coated from Sunday Morning Quilts.

The back of the co-worker quilt.  I only had about 2 yards of the navy flannel and managed to just use a strip from Candy Coated that would have pushed that quilt over 90".  I wish I would have kept it all solids on the stripes but I'm not changing it now.

Candy Coated which I think I am keeping.  The first picture has the stripe of 4.5" strips for the back across it.  

 The bigger Road Trip Quilt (6.5" squares, 9.5" or 12.5" blocks).  This will probably end up being a gift for my brother.  It was meant to be fairly mellow and it is.

And the second plus quilt.  I assembled this one in smaller components to not take up as much floor space as I did with the first one.  Oops, not enough value difference in the middle for far away pictures.  I did not look at the overall layout but was concerned with smaller parts so I didn't notice the values until taking the pictures.  I may donate this one to a local school auction if I get it done in time.

Since the majority of my coordinating fabric got used for the quilt tops, I do need to purchase some fabric for binding.  And yes, plus quilts are mighty easy and quick to put together.  There are at least two that are my intended quilts list and have been for multiple years now.  Soon, I will manage to quilt the first two and then progress to quilting the other two.  And probably I will purchase some navy quilter's linen to use as binding.

After the Epic Meet-up this summer, I did not put away the 6 free Clothworks batik fat quarters I received.  Today, I cut them up to make a Starburst quilt from Melissa at Happy Quilting.  No recipient, just a "let's use this up."