350 Blocks Project, Weeks 26-27

Done with Week 27 of the 350 Blocks Project. If you’re playing along, we should have finished at least 189 blocks by now. How’s it going for you?

I’ve had several slow weeks in a row, but I managed to eek out a couple that I leader/endered while working on bindings and such for customers. I also had plenty of time to do handwork while sitting in the hospital, but nothing finished has come out of the Hopper just yet.

Here’s what I got done . . .

Three more 9-patches for my Wild Nine-Patch quilt. Here’s two of them. The third one was camera-shy:

Another tiny HST block. Still not quite ready to take off and put these together into something recognizable just yet. Maybe soon . . .

My total is now at 347. Only 3 more blocks to reach my goal! You’d think I could do those this week, huh?

One can only hope that things are calmer than last week.

How are YOU doing on blocks and UFOs?

350 Blocks Project, Week 25

The end of Week 25 of the 350 Blocks Project. And this year is half over . . . where has it gone? I merely blinked, and poof!

As I was getting ready to post about this week’s blocks, I realized something . . .

I didn’t make a single block this week! NOT ONE!

I think that’s the first week this has happened.

I quilted lots of customer quilts, however, and had to put binding on most of them, so it’s not like the sewing machine had a rest, it was just doing other things.

So my count still stands at 335. I still have 15 more to go. Good thing I’ve been ahead all this time. If you’re playing along, now’s a good time to catch up with me!

Also, if you’re playing along, we should have 175 blocks done by now. So I’m still ahead, although my lead gets smaller every day.

How are your UFOs coming along this year?

350 Blocks Project, Week 24

Here we are, done with Week 24 of the 350 Blocks Project.

I’ve been busy again, but not making blocks.

Which means I’ll have some quilted quilts to show you later, but guess what?

I only made one little block this week, and it’s applique. And I’m not showing it to you in this post, because I’m going to show it to you in a few days in a post of its very own.

So . . . my block count only went up by 1 this week. My worst week yet.

That makes my count total 335. Only 15 more to go! Guess one off week hasn’t hurt me too badly.

How are YOU doing on UFOs this year?

350 Blocks Project, Week 23

Chugging right along — it’s Week 23 of the 350 Blocks Project.

Here are this past week’s blocks . . .

They’re not from any certain days this week because I leader/endered a lot of things while working on some stuff I’ll be showing you a bit later.

I made four of these star blocks for a baby quilt I’m putting together for a customer:

I made two more Postage Stamp blocks:

I made two more Wild Nine-Patch blocks:

And I’m now up to a total of 334 blocks . . . Only a few more and I’ll meet my goal of 350 — woohoo!

How are you doing on making blocks this year?

350 Blocks Project, Week 22

Week 22 of the 350 Blocks Project. At this point, if you’re playing along, we should have at least 154 blocks done. Thanks to lots of deadlines this spring, I’m actually ahead of schedule for once. I can still hardly believe it.

My main goal for this project was to make myself work on UFOs that weren’t moving fast enough to suit me. Seems all I’ve done is start new projects, though.

A few UFOs are creeping along, but I’m still pretty far behind on a lot of my BOMs and other projects I have in the works.

I did, however, get caught up on my online Bee blocks this past week. Thanks to the Friday Night Sew-In, I also got several other things done!

Monday’s block: Go-Along #2

This block pattern came from Quilter’s Cache, and is our swap block at guild for next month. I came straight home from meeting and put mine together so it would be done and I wouldn’t have to panic at the last minute to do it.

Tuesday’s block: Lime and Red HSTs for Nifty

Nifty ordered these fabulous HSTs for her turn at the Two’s Company Bee. I blogged about them over there, if you’d like to see more of her project: Two’s Company Quilt Bee.

Wednesday’s block: Peppermint Stick for Andrea

Andrea ordered a peppermint stick for her turn at the same Bee. I blogged about hers over there, too, if you’d like to read more about it: Two’s Company Quilt Bee. And now I’m all caught up with that bee, except for my own quilt that is moving along fairly slowly. But I AM working on it — it’s just slow because it’s applique.

Thursday’s block: Scrap Jar Stars

Thanks to Karin, I’ve gone and done it. I started a Scrap Jar Stars quilt. I’ve always wanted to make a red, white, and blue quilt, but this one really caught my eye as THE one. It’s by Amber over at A Little Bit Biased, and you can get the tutorial for it HERE. I have two blocks done already.

Friday’s block: Peach Color Challenge

Block 4 of the Color Challenge on 15 Minutes Play. Gotta get caught up!

Saturday’s block: Bright Yellow Color Challenge

Block 5 of the Color Challenge on 15 Minutes Play. Four more blocks, and I’ll be caught up.

Sunday’s block: a Teeny Tiny HST

Insanely tiny, in fact. This “block” will finish in the quilt at 1 1/2″. I’m just about to the point where I have a plan for all of these. Hope to show you soon.

Naturally, I also worked on a few things I can’t show you just yet. I also longarm quilted several large customer quilts.

I sewed this week, folks! I stuck close to home and had my nose to the grindstone! I got a lot done. I needed a productive week like this . . .

My block count now stands at 306.

I’ve passed the 300 mark — woohoo!

How are YOU doing on making blocks?

350 Blocks Project, Week 21

Week 21 already of the 350 Blocks Project. I kinda took it easy last week, and worked on some of my own stuff, although there were still some “have to” projects sprinkled in there anyway.

I wanted to get caught up on my Color Challenge blocks, and push a few more UFOs closer to completion, but that really didn’t happen. So here’s what I got done this past week.

Brown Bag Special Project:I made 2 more of these blocks from my leftovers to go with the 3 made from the project, plus 4 little setting blocks so I could put it all together. I’ll show you the finished project in another post later.

One more little 9-patch for my Wild Nine-Patch quilt:

I also finished an embroidery block I’m not quite ready to unveil just yet. And I’ve been doing some applique, but nothing has come out of the Hopper yet.

And that’s it for last week, which is actually a total of 8 more blocks.

My total is now up to 297. I’ll be to 350 in no time!

How are you doing on your 350 blocks?

350 Blocks Project, Weeks 17-20

Time to catch up on the 350 Blocks Project. I haven’t had time to post about anything I’ve been doing, because I’ve been too busy doing it!

So now I’m combining the last 4 weeks of blocks into one post. I have no idea which week any of them were made in any more, but it doesn’t matter.

First off, I made a really pretty signature block for my guild, and I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to them. Hopefully, one of these days you’ll get to see it in a finished quilt, though, so stay tuned.

Then, let’s see . . .

I made 20 of these blocks for the Three Rs quilt that you can see HERE.

Then I made 3 blocks like this. These are my blocks, but I did not make them. They’re for a group project at guild called the Brown Bag Special, and I’ll tell you more about it next week. We worked on each other’s projects, so the blocks I actually worked on belong to other members. But they’re like this, so I’m showing mine.

And I think that’s all I have to show for the last 4 weeks. Pathetic, huh? Good thing I’ve been working ahead for awhile . . .

If you’re playing along, after 20 weeks, we should have 140 blocks finished. My total stands at 283, so thankfully, I’m still ahead! It’s like I’ve managed to make two a day, not just one a day. It’s amazing what deadlines can make you accomplish, huh?

How have YOU been doing on making blocks lately?

350 Blocks Project, Week 16

There are no weeks in my foreseeable future that don’t have travel days in them. This seriously hampers my ability to make one block a day. And means I have to step it up and do more than one on the days I am at home. Or sew much faster by hand than I do!

I’ve also been very blessed with lots of quilts to quilt for longarm customers, and I spend a lot of my time in front of the machine. My local guild has a quilt show coming up the first of June, so I have lots of quilts to get ready for that, both for myself and my customers.

This past week, I had to make two entire quilts start to finish (Market samples), so I made lots of blocks that I can’t show you yet. But . . . while I was doing those, I leader/endered the puddin’ out of my own stuff, and I managed to get quite a few little blocks of my own done.

Here are this week’s blocks . . .

Monday’s block: Fading Charms sections

The next two sections of my Fading Charms quilt. Here’s a confession . . . I’ve now done a total of 5 sections of this quilt, starting with the center. And somehow, in all the flinging I’ve done during recent deadline scrambles, I’ve mis-located my center. How sad is that? I’m sure it’ll turn up. I can only hope it’s not hiding with that lost block of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I never did find!

Thursday’s blocks: 14 Nine-Patches

I made 14 more nine-patch blocks for my Wild Nine-Patch quilt. I still need more than 100 to have enough to make it the size I want, but this bunch helped.

And that’s all I did for myself. My block total now stands at 254. This has not been as difficult as I first imagined it would be.

How are you doing on making blocks this year?

Has it helped you finish any UFOs?

350 Blocks Project, Week 15

I was in Paducah, KY, at the AQS Show for part of last week, so I didn’t expect big accomplishments at home. While in Paducah, I didn’t take one single picture! But that’s the way I get at those big shows. I just walk around looking at everything with my mouth hanging open and forget to get out the camera. Awesome quilts, fun vendors, a really good time!

Now that I’m back home, I feel behinder than ever . . . ack! But a break is always good for the motivation, so I’m ready to get back to work and get some things accomplished.

Here’s what I managed to get done this past week in spite of myself . . .

Monday’s and Tuesday’s blocks: 9-Patches

A couple more 9-Patches for my Wild 9-Patch quilt.

Sunday’s block: Fading Charms sections

The next two sections of my Fading Charms quilt.

And that’s it for this week. Sometimes it feels like all I do is sew squares together . . . but my total is now up to 190.

How are you doing on making blocks this year?

350 Blocks Project, Week 14

Wow, the time is just whizzing by.

The way this week went gave me little chunks of sewing time, all broken up. Which means: not enough time to fire up the longarm, but enough time to do a bit of piecing here and there . . .

So I got quite a few little things worked on.

Here are my blocks for this week . . .

Monday’s block: Red and Cream Checkerboard

Another one of these. I don’t know how many I have done, but I’m about to tackle the pile they’re in and count them up to see how much further I have to go.

What I do know is this: My pile of little red 1 1/2″ squares is dwindling. And I still need lots more of them to finish this quilt. While I could cut more from my yardage or larger scraps, what I’m really shooting for is more of a variety . . .

So I’m posing a question to you, my readers: Would any of you like to swap me some red 1 1/2″ squares? Or . . . just some little red scraps (and I’ll cut them myself) . . . in exchange for the same in return from me in the color of your choice? If you’d rather have larger squares, or just little scraps in return, or even just one big fat quarter in a particular color, that’s OK, too. If you’re willing to swap, leave me a comment and let me know . . . we’ll work something out.

Tuesday’s block: Postage Stamp block

I finally finished another Postage Stamp block. I blogged about my process for this quilt HERE. I still haven’t decided just how large it will end up, but so far, on this one, I’m not running out of squares.

Sorry for the shadow on the picture. Can’t imagine what that is. Maybe my chest was in the way? Ha!

Wednesday’s block: Tiny HST

Another tiny little half-square triangle block. Another few weeks, and I should have enough of these to start playing around with so I can come up with a plan for them.

Thursday’s block: Avocado Color Challenge

This week’s color in the 15 Minute Color Challenge was Avocado. I did better on this week’s block than I did on last week’s. I like it better. Three down, 9 to go!

Friday’s block: Wild Nine-Patches

A couple more blocks for my Wild Nine-Patch. I do have a plan for this one, and that plan says I need 195 blocks. Only 151 more to go . . . wonder if this is one I’ll be able to finish this year?

Saturday’s block: Fading Charms

Speaking of not running out of squares . . . I’m a big fan of the tutorials that Deanna at Wedding Dress Blue posts. They’re simple, they use up scraps, and they turn out beautiful quickly. Therefore, even though I do not need any more UFOs, her two most recent tutorials for quilts have snagged me and sucked me in, and I have begun.

This is the center section of my Fading Charms quilt. I’m doing the large size. I may also go back and do the other 2 sizes later, but I chose this one first, because it was the bin that had the lid bulging off of it. I’m proud to say that the lid is no longer bulging after sorting out all the squares I plan to use in this quilt.

However, I also intend to make this quilt, too: Hundred Hugs. I can’t stop squaring!

And today, Deanna is celebrating her 2-year blogiversary, so hop on over and show her some bloggy love. And check out those tutorials. I need for someone else to get themselves into as much trouble as I am with the UFO thing. I suggest starting a Fading Charms quilt.

And there you have it for this week. Finally, some progress on some UFOs, even though I did start yet another one. Yes, it’s a sickness . . . I can’t help it.

My total block count is up to 179. We’ll not discuss the total count of UFOs. Thank you.

How are you doing on blocks and UFOs?