As January (Finally) Comes to a Close...

Is it just me, or does it seem as though January has been going on for three months already? I am so OVER it already! But today was really nice - there was a big ball of yellow fire in the sky that created shadows and made everything light. I think it’s called the sun, but that is from rumor and certainly not from previous experience this month.

So, I finally pretty much wiped out my purple scraps this month. I played with my 1.5” this week. Oh, but before that I finished up my Friendship Star variation blocks that weren’t quite ready last Saturday.

They’re kind of a pain in the butt because there are so many HSTs to trim, but I love the look, so OH WELL.  And speaking of pains in the posterior, the 1.5” squares and HSTs got cleaned up and made into 2 36-patch blocks alternating solids and HSTs. Yeah, my piecing leaves a lot to be desired.

With all the leftover bits and bobs, I made these three slabs. I am counting them as ONE block in my tally because they could be sewn together.... or not.

So here is my summary of PURPLE blocks for this month:

Top:  4 string blocks, 4 Bookcase blocks (12” each, sewn together)
Left: 1 Crayon block (the light one was from last year)
Middle Row: 2 Geese Migration Blocks, 11 Plus blocks, 2 columns of Selvage blocks
Bottom: 13 Friendship Star, 38 Bowties, 1 Crumb slab
Not Shown in collage: 2   36-patch blocks.
Total RSC Blocks:  76.

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at Angela’s So Scrappy Blog. Why not join us and see what everyone else has done too??

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I had another finish this week - my warm-colored Rainbow Improv from 2016. I had to baste it first, then quilt and bind it. I really love how it turned out!!!

These 8” improv blocks are what I did last year with the miscellaneous crumbs and such of each color. The first quilt (shown a couple weeks ago) was done in blue, teal, purple and green. This quilt is the warm part of the spectrum; yellow, orange, red and pink.  This one was set 6x8 and sashed with Kona Cream. It looks like a pale peachy yellow, but it’s called Cream. Anyway, I like it.  The batting is Warm & Plush and it finished at 62x82”.

The quilting was a basic freeform loop, and I used Aurifil thread (1135) in 40 wt because that is what I had. I wasn’t crazy about the gold thread on the red (above), but I loved it on the rest of the quilt (below).

And when washed up, it was just fine. The backing I bought at Connecting Threads during their year-end clearance. I’d had my eye on it for awhile for this quilt - perfect colors. The binding was strips left over from other backings.

This was #4 on my Quarter 1 Finish Along Goals - my third finish in January. But that’s because the tops were done last year.

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Finally, I made a bit of progress on the D9P quilt for my brother-in-law.  This picture doesn’t show the entire width of the quilt, but it will be sashed in black on all 4 sides. Then there will be three sections divided by vertical strips of blue/black/blue as shown. The center column will be three blocks wide and each side column will be four blocks wide. I think. If I don’t like that, it might become 3-4-3.  And there may be some horizontal stripes, too.

I’ll be playing with this for a few days and want to get it sewn up this coming week. Preferably before Angela announces the February color!

Most of this post was prepared on Friday evening, so I slept in this morning. But Alfie never really lets me sleep late. I was awakened by a gentle paw pulling back the covers over my head. The time? 8:00 straight up. It’s like he KNOWS, because it’s never later than that.

Alfie: Yes, human. The King is all-seeing.

See you on Tuesday for a Rainbow Scrap finished quilt round-up.