Aaaaand… We’re Off and Running!

It feels as though winter has just begun post-Holidays. We have had cold and snow this week, which is most welcome in January in a winter sports state such as Utah. And while Bruce and I stay warm and cozy indoors (because we’re old and we’re wusses), we can still accomplish things like sewing and decluttering. I do the former, Bruce does the latter - to atone for a couple decades of collecting and near-hoarding! Hehehe.

So let’s get started! This month’s color range for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dark and bright greens. I started my week by sewing three Color Stix blocks (designed by Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework) (was there ever a better blog title than that?)

I intend to make a quilt out of these blocks at year end and donate it to her Compassion Quilts charity. The free pattern for this simple and fun block is HERE. 

Last week I talked about my goal to begin sewing up the 35+ quilt kits I have assembled from scraps given to me over the last several years. This week I have pictures to show, including the kits whose numbers I drew for January and their progress so far. 

This photo shows a sampling of kits, which may contain related OR unrelated fabrics in a certain theme or color, and varying amounts of fabric. The scraps are like seeds or idea starters. If I need to add more scraps to them to make a quilt, or return leftovers to the scrap bins, well, it’s all good. 

The numbers I drew for January were 4, 19 and 26. Here are the kits. 

Kit #4

Kit #19

The third and final kit, #26, was just a bunch of 2.5” strips by width-of-fabric (WOF). I wasted no time in getting them up on the design board, and sewing them up. I had to add a few additional WOF strips to get a good length. The finished top is on the right below. 

Obviously, I’m taking the easy way out on this one, design-wise. But it’s January and there are 12 long months ahead to sew several kits per month, so I don’t apologize. When the scraps dictate an easy way, I’ll follow it. 

The next kit I tackled, #4, already had 30 of the small star blocks sewn at 6.5”. Only one of the large stars were sewn, but all of the gray background pieces were cut, and there were scraps of the small single-colored chevron prints AND yardage of both the small and large multi-colored Chevron prints. 

I used some of the gray cuts to add a bar under or over each star block, then set them to dance (alternate by column). 

By last night, I had it to this stage:

The columns are sewn into pairs, but the three pairs still need their joining seams sewn, which is why it looks a bit wonky. It is currently about 48” long, which is a good length, but it will only be 36” wide unless I add a border. I’m playing with these 2.5x5” colorful strips along the side, but there aren’t enough for the top and bottom, so I think it looks odd. And even if there were enough, the zigzags would end up in the wrong direction on the top and bottom. So I’m mulling and puzzling what to do. Any ideas?

My friend Ruby gave me an amaryllis bulb for Thanksgiving. It’s the first amaryllis I’ve ever had, so it’s been exciting to watch it grow and bloom.  This picture shows only three blooms, but it has four now. 

We have officially listed the house for sale, but our agent is only doing some pre-marketing now (to other agents and brokers). We won’t go “live” on the Multiple Listing Service until after Valentines Day at our request. We still need that extra month to shuffle furniture, buy a few inexpensive colorful items -  couch cushions, maybe a couple small bedspreads as we separate our California King bed into two XL twin beds in different bedrooms - and to get the outdoor junk pile hauled off. No, I’m not going to make quilts or cushions myself. No time. I want to stage the house in a more generic and less “folksy” manner. And this last bit is exciting only to a prospective home seller or buyer: We remodeled the three bathrooms a little over 10 years ago. At that time, the only things that weren’t replaced were the toilets. And they were original to this house built in 1963. So, last week we replaced them with brand new, low-water use models. Now everything looks sleek, modern and well kept. *sighs happily*. Oh, and I also need to touch up the paint on some baseboards and small areas here and there. That is a project that begins next week. Have a great week!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s So Scrappy blog.