Rainbow Scrappy RED Saturday

This post could be sub-titled “When it’s Hot - SEW!”  Except that the heat also makes me want to (a) nap (b) drink Margaritas (c) nap, and (d) drink Margaritas.

But seriously, we have had a lot of fun in the sun with family (picnics), a minor league baseball game last night complete with fireworks and working in the garden. Peppers, squash, turnips are on.  Beans and rhubarb are done. The spaghetti squash, corn, onions and turnips are about ready.  Pumpkins and grapes will be late summer/early fall. Summer is really a busy time.

BUT LET’S TALK QUILTING.

These are the five red wonky log cabin blocks I completed for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. July’s color was obviously red.  These blocks are made up of 4 smaller blocks, and they are 16.5” (16” when finished).

They join my other blocks in a large pile that will eventually become a large bed-sized quilt. I have revised my plan for the blocks at Grid Paint, which you can see below with the blocks. I need to go back and make one each of some of the past colors (yellow, teal, and blue), but will do that as time allows. After doing five blocks in July, the rest should be easy peasy.

My friend Mary and I (she is also my Etsy shop assistant, my neighbor across the street, a high school student, plus a DARLING young lady and the niece of the recipient of the quilt below) have been working on Cal’s Cancer Quilt. Cal is in remission, thankfully. He is also a super dad, hard-working, devout and generous with this time and talents. He heads up our Community Gardens program, plus he and his wife Michelle throw monthly neighborhood  ice cream socials in their lovely backyard.

So, Mary and I have cut and sewn all the blocks, and now they are pinned up to the design board. The vertical row on the right will actually be the bottom horizontal row, but my new-ly expanded design board is not long enough. But that is OK, because it is plenty wide and I can compensate. Or lay a quilt on it sideways. Anything to keep Certain Cats away from the temptation of pins. Those two said cats shall remain nameless to avoid encouraging them; if they see their names in print too often, they may suffer delusions of grandeur. You know how cats are.

Who? Us??

Join us today over at Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

3rd Quarter Sewing Goals for Finish-Along

No time to waste! I have been participating in the 2015 Finish-Along with Adrienne of On the Windy Side. Each quarter we set our goals, and I only have a day or two left to announce my quarter 3 goals! That is what this post is about. But first, let’s talk about the Q2 finishes.

For second quarter, I had five goals and only finished two; Bruce’s Banjo quilt and the Summer Skirt for London.

However, in my defense, I did finish a lot of blocks that were outside my goal list. For example, I participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC). For that, I finished 7 - 16” blocks (made up of 4, 8.5 inch blocks each) as well as over over 30 12” blocks for the Farm Girl Vintage (FGV) quilt-along and the FGV Retreat we had locally at Thimbles and Threads. Also, it does not take into account the three other unplanned makes; an ironing pad to use with my travel iron, a quilted/pocketed underpad for my Bernina, and a zip pouch for carrying my travel iron.  Most of those have been posted here during the last 3 months, so I can laugh and prove I’m not a slacker!  :-)

But now it is time to set some goals for the 3rd Quarter Finish-Along, and after careful consideration, here is my list:

1.  Black Crazy Quilt Wall Hanging  

This is actually all sewn together now, and the trim is mostly stitched around the inside needlepoint.  I have one seam and one medallion to add, then it is just backing and binding. I have been putting it off because (a) black wool is not particularly appealing to work on in the heat of summer and (b) it will be featured in a magazine in the winter, so I don`t want to really give the finished piece too much exposure before it is published. So I keep waffling on this....

2.  Cancer Quilt for Cal

This quilt is well under way; my friend Mary and I are both going to be working on this (Cal is my friend and her uncle). So far, about half the cutting is done and some of the sewing.  This will go together quickly once it gets our primary focus. And that will likely happen as soon as my Etsy shop sale is over....

3.  Baby Quilt for DGD Oakley

We are expecting another granddaughter, Oakley, in September.  This quilt will be a simple patchwork front in pinks and greens and white. The back is the floral fabric - a vintage sheet - that inspired the color scheme.

 4.  Finish Pretty in Plaid Wallhanging. This is an Anka’s Treasures pattern in Bonnie and Camille’s fabric
 

 5.  Helen’s Garden Quilt

Helen’s Garden is the name of the fabric line I am using. Besides falling in love with the dragonflies and accompanying prints by Tamara Kate last year (it was named for her mother Helen), I love it because my mother was also Helen. It will be a bed-sized quilt for our bed.
By the way, I LOVE Tamara Kate’s new line The Birds and The Bees.

The pattern is from Missouri Star Quilt Company (see pic above); the plain off-white will be used for the sashing and the lavender checked bedsheets (upper left of picture) will be the backing.

6.    Farm Girl Pincushions
 
I’m getting a head start on some of my Christmas sewing.  These pincushions will be for my cousins, etc (my quilty peeps) as part of their Christmas gifts. I think they will all be presented in little zip pouches, which will likely either just happen OR will become Q4 goals.

And one of my supervisors, Alfie (Alfalfa) insisted that I show you how intent he is about quality control.

Alfie checks the measurements of the cut pieces

So, I think that about wraps it up for this post.

I will be back later in the week to show you the latest Farm Girl Blocks....

Until next time,

Mid-Year Update for Rainbow Scrap Challenge

I’m a few days late for this update, but I plan to link up to Andrea’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Mid-year Update anyway.  It wasn’t until I attended our local modern quilt guild’s Sewing Saturday at Thimbles and Threads yesterday that I had a design board large enough to snap a picture of my finished-to-date rainbow blocks.

Since I took this picture, I have completed another red block, which makes 16 blocks total. I am still not loving that light blue block (bottom right corner in picture), but who knows..... I could always piece it into the backing.

Each of these large 16” blocks are comprised of four (8.5” before sewing together) smaller wonky log cabins. The negative space areas are strips cut from my ever-growing (instead of shrinking) collection of white and black fabrics. The finished quilt will be 5 blocks across and 5 up and down, or an 80x80” quilt. Unless I change it last minute to 5x6 blocks, 80x96”. I will test it on our queen bed when the flimsy is complete.

I am planning 2 more bright (not the dark) green blocks, a total of 5 reds (meaning two more to go there), one more each of yellow, pink and purple, and likely a couple oranges and/or another teal or two.  Since some of those color months are passed, I will work them in to my stitching schedule for August and September and perhaps October. I would like to have this (professionally) quilted before the waiting times get too long for the Holidays. I can bind it easily in a day or two in time for an end-of-the year finish.

My stash scrap has actually grown, not decreased this year. That is because I`m doing so much more (buying and) sewing and quilting and re-defining what I call a scrap. Sometimes it is anything less than a fat quarter, but sometimes I have been throwing some of my older FUGLY pieces into the scrap category just to get rid of them.  So, I am going to do what the big girls do next year - have several block styles to make up each month of the monthly color.  The block styles will eventually help me make up those “Bucket List” quilts I want to accomplish some day - like Dresden Plates, Stars of various types, Bow Ties, etc etc.   But I have time to plan that before the new year.

That is it for me - and thanks for visiting!  Why not join us in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?!?

Happy RED! And White and Blue, too!

Happy Independence Day to all my friends in the USA!  I hope you are having fun today (or tomorrow, like us) with friends and family!

To celebrate the month of July in our Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Angela has declared RED as the color of the month. That means we are attacking our red scraps with extra gusto.  Here is the first of my wonky red log cabins for the month:

I plan to do 5 red blocks in all so they will be in the center and all 4 corners of the quilt. In fact, I worked out a new plan for my quilt, which I will share later in the week when all the participants will be encouraged to share their mid-year progress.  I can`t wait!

And to show that although I was a slacker posting my blocks for June in a timely manner, at least I did them. June`s color was light blue and/or green/blue (aqua).  When we did blues in January, it was just medium to dark blues, so these were a welcome foray back into the blue scrap bin.

I am really loving the aqua/teal one above, and will likely do one more. In fact, it may replace the light blue one (below) in the quilt. The light blue just does not speak to me, and I think it will look rather wimpy against all the other saturated colors of these blocks. 

But if it is not included, it can always become a pillow or something. I will just have to put on my thinking cap.

If you have scraps (and what quilter worth her salt doesn’t?), why not join us today over at Scrappy Saturday ??

Hugs,