A Rainbow Recap for 2016

I have had such a blast this year participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. If you sew or quilt, you might want to consider joining us in 2017.  It’s run by Angela of So Scrappy, and every Saturday she holds a linky party where we show our progress. Today’s linky party is HERE.

Here’s how the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) works: At the beginning of every month, Angela assigns a new color for us to work with. We dig through our  scrap piles, boxes, bags, drawers, etc. and set to work.  You can pick what you want to create: blocks with a purpose, blocks with a purpose yet undetermined, quilts or anything your heart desires. The best part is that you go at your own pace. There are no minimums or guidelines or accountability. Angela posts a linky party every Saturday morning on her blog, and you can post (or not) as your progress dictates. And you get to visit others’ work, get ideas, make new friends and generally just have fun.

Also, there is an optional quilt-along where a block design is given monthly by Angela (with the finished product being another one of her stunning quilt ideas!). Again, that’s optional.

So, think about it for 2017, mmmmkay?

And since the end of the year is virtually upon us, I figured this is a good time to recap my quilt makes for this year.  Some are Rainbow Scrap quilts (and I will show the flimsies that still need to be quilted too), and some are “other” quilts - mostly gifts. Ready?

RAINBOW QUILTS AND FLIMSIES

First are the three Mama Cat & Kittens quilts I made for my three granddaughters. Each quilt is a litter consisting of a 12” Mama Cat (my pattern, write me if you’d like a copy) surrounded by 12 - 6” kittens. The kitten block is a pattern by Sally T (visit her blog and check it out under her Tutorials tab) and it inspired the whole idea. Thanks, Sally!  These quilts finished at 52x72” each. 

OOPS!! I  just noticed that one of them (on the left) has a 2” white border down the center that the others do not! So, let me correct that to say two of them finished at 52x72” and the third finished at 54x72”. 

And in 2016 I also chose to participate in the RSC Sampler, since I didn’t have the skill set needed to do it in 2015. (Really, I tried and failed miserably). But this year I did it! Thanks, Angela, for great patterns and inspiration. 

RSC Sampler Quilt, 60x72"

The following three Rainbow Scrap projects are still in the FLIMSY (top only) stage except for the one I just basted (see captions)

RAINBOW DRESDENS - still a flimsy

Rainbow Rails (Vintage Sheets) - basted this one on Thursday

Rainbow Improv in Cools

I also have improv blocks in pink, yellow, orange and red that will be pieced into a WARM version of the improv quilt above. The sashing will be white or gray. That will finish up in first quarter 2017.

Finally, I have 90 blocks of 16-patch blocks; colors with black and white measuring 8.5” unfinished.  They will be set 9x10, yielding a quilt 72x80”. Also planned for 1st quarter 2017.

 OTHER QUILTS & WALL HANGINGS

In no particular order, here are the rest of the quilts I finished this year:

Aria Quilt.  October, 86x103"

Seeing Red, February, 58x76"

Valentine Quilt, January, 62x62"

Birds & Bees, April, 56x64"

Magic Carpet, November, 75x89"

Cityscape Wall Hanging, April, 48x54"

Notting Hill Sampler, September. 58x72"

Petals, November, 64x75"

November Rain, December, 67x83"

Cozy Christmas, December, 58x71"

Big Game, December, 62x74"

 Totals were: 15 quilts, 3 flimsies and blocks for 2 more flimsies. Not a bad haul!

This week we attended Bruce’s Christmas Party. He works at The Leonardo, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) museum in Salt Lake. Anyway, they had an Ugly Sweater contest and Bruce won the $200 first prize (hooray!). His sweater? Butt Ugly. We got him an ugly blue thrift store sweater from the ’90’s. Then he set about crafting it to look like it was a Bruce History of 30+ years. We captioned the additions with names and “dates”.  Burnt hole - check (“Great Aunt Mabel, 1986”), Mustard stain - check! Half-smoked doobie - check (it was really just cotton rolled in toilet paper, then burnt), BBQ sauce stain - check! Dead mouse - check (an old cat toy. He wanted the mouse on there because in their Tech Take-apart museum activity, they actually found an old desiccated mouse in a computer last month). Baby poop - check (not real, of course), Chewed gum - check! Cheetos - check! Peanut butter - check! Axle grease - check!  ETC ETC....  Between the way it looked, the IDEA of it, and the smell (axle grease, mustard and BBQ sauce together, ugh!) it was so ugly on so many levels.

Next Saturday I’ll be talking about my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects planned for 2017 - and there are several. After all, scraps come in strips, itty bitty pieces, chunks, etc. So that is how I sorted possibilities, then narrowed down from there. What are you doing next year for RSC, and how did you make your decisions?

Mellow Yellow and a Quilt Finish!

The Mellow Yellow is ME. I am mellow because I’m so proud of myself that I didn’t lose my temper while spending way too long (like a couple hours or more) trying to set up my iCloud photo sharing between my iMac, iPad and iPhone. I am so sick of having to take pix on multiple devices and/or email them back and forth...... and then things change whenever there is a major update. I finally did it. A computer geek I am NOT. Fingers crossed.

Since I posted my 4th Quarter Finish Along goals yesterday, I want to start off by showing you the first finish of this quarter. Aria. Our model today is Alfalfa.

Once the quilt was back from the quilter on October 3, all I had to do was trim and bind it. Here is a close-up of their quilting. The pattern is a paisley and flower, which I thought was appropriate for the fabric.

And then, since I was taking pictures, both cats had to jump up and get their photos taken. At one point, Alfie started grooming Darla. That went on until he either got a bit playful or rough or Darla had had enough. Anyway, just like human kids, the nice play turned into a fight (claws retracted). I got a picture or two of them at that point, not realizing until later that I caught Darla in mid-somersault. I love when they do that!!

Anyway, Aria was Goal #1 on my Q4 Finish-Along list (shown here).

This week I did manage to get four golden 16-patch blocks. Bad pic, but it’s all I have.

I threw a few peach scraps in there, in the spirit of the sunrise (or was it sunset?) colors. No matter. The bright and pastel yellows are coming up next week, but I wanted to hold off until I had made my final blocks for the RSC Sampler Quilt.

I’m linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, too, so why not come check out the fun?

My cousin Kim sews with me every Sunday. Last weekend she finished piecing another quilt top. This one is for her other granddaughter Zoey, who is six and picked out the colors herself. I think she has rather sophisticated taste for a 6-year old!

Kim will add borders this weekend, and then we will baste it sometime (with construction going on here on the weekend, that may be problematic). Isn’t it gorgeous???

Finally, I made my 9th block for the Cozy Christmas Sew-Along; the holly. I still have to add all the sashings, but will probably do that tomorrow.

Oops, I forgot to crop and do some photo editing, but oh well. Besides going crazy with the computer this afternoon, my morning was spent running to Home Depot (to return the extra electrical and media components, a credit that totaled $140) and then heading to Sherwin-Williams to buy paint for the living room and hallway (spent $98 of the aforementioned $140,  even with a contractor discount), and then to Trader Joe’s (pumpkin scone mix, Pumpkin O’s cereal, and peaches and pears). And that used up most of the last of the credit, LOL!!! Our contractor Jeff is adding the tile/stone to the fireplace this weekend. The floors are here in boxes and are acclimating for the next 10 days. This whole construction thing seems to be clipping right along. Either I’ve grown patient in my old age, or...... or what? I think I’ve just grown patient in my old age, LOL!!

Roll Out the RED Carpet!

Roll out the red carpet, because it’s red month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  Woo-hoo! I’ve been waiting for red for months because my red stash keeps growing and growing.

Last month was a sort of “color rest” month for me, and it gave me a chance to finish up or greatly advance a lot of the projects that I want to have done by year-end. But before I get to those, let me show you my start on Red. It’s not much, as the announcement was just made last night. But it is a good start, and I`m excited (did I say that already?)

My Dresden and Mama cats are already cut out (in the foreground). The rest of the scraps have been sorted by HSTs, strips, and size of scrap. No, that is not all of them - that is just one tub. I have almost another dozen partial FQs or F8s.

There will be no red vintage sheets this month, because I have never seen or collected them. The Vintage Sheet Rail Fence quilt I am making is mostly pastels, so I took last month as an opportunity to sew up the last color - yellow - into 11 rail fence blocks. And then, before I knew it, the top of the quilt was pieced.

I’ve also pieced a back out of miscellaneous pastel floral fabrics, and it is waiting its turn in line to be basted and quilted.

I finished my Aria quilt top and backing. Here is a picture of it lying on the floor before the borders were added. It’s a monster; 86x103”

This one was delivered to the long-armer last week to be quilted. The binding is made and waiting for the quilt to return, which may or may not be before the end of the month. We’ll see. There was no way I was going to attempt this one on my Bernina.

But I am quilting the Notting Hill quilt. I decided that, being a sampler, an overall quilting design would probably not be the best choice. So, I am quilting each block individually, even though many of those individual designs may be simple and repeats (like stippling, loops, etc). Here is a portion of what I have done so far.

Now, if it seems like I’ve done a lot, please remember that this is just the time of year when things start coming together. Most of the actual sewing work has been done month after month. In fact, I only have 5 finishes year-to-date through August. So the three above that are so close will bring me to the one finish per month average.

And this week I also did another block for the Cozy Christmas sew-along hosted by Lori Holt. This week was the Cozy Tree Block. I have sewn my three blocks together, added the sashing, and here is the first row.

And finally, I cut out two new quilts that will be Christmas presents this year. The first is Magic Carpet for son Shane (see info here in my 3rd Quarter Finish-Along goals) and the second is for my DDIL Kim (who is married to my other son, Ryan).  

This will go quickly, because they will be machine appliquéd to the background, not hand appliquéd. And cutting out those orange peels gave me lots more red scraps, too.  :-)  There will be a quilt for my son Ryan, too, but I won’t start that until October.  And I hope to do another Christmas quilt and a Christmas tree skirt, but those are likely just pipe dreams for this year. As you can tell, I am banking on having a lot more sewing time once the garden and outdoor work are done and indoor weather returns.

I’m linking up today to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Why not hop over and check out some other great eye candy?


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As August Draws to a Close ...

... all I can say is “thank goodness!”   We had some incredible heat this month, but luckily the last several days have finally given ‘way to cooler temps. While I can’t exactly say that fall is in the air, it does feel as though we have turned the corner and left the worst of summer behind. The mountains are beginning to show bits of color, and evenings are pleasant enough to open windows and let in fresh breezes. I expect that even the kitties will be showing signs of growing thicker furs soon!

As far as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge goes, August was a bust for me. The colors of muted/misty purples and hazy/fugly greens were already incorporated in their prior respective months, so I concentrated on the alternate color of gray, which I expanded to mean any gray/black neutral.  The only thing I have to show for this week (and it was really sewn a couple weeks ago) is a light purple “crayon” (missing the contrasting white to finish it into a block) that I decided to make from light purples to get a start on one of next year’s colorful projects.

Since the pattern for the crayon quilt calls for two purples; a light/lavender and a dark purple, I did this lighter one with scraps I scrounged in boxes that were going for donation to a crazy quilting “Stash Dash”. I added a few light purples of my own... and a crayon was born.

So, my totals for this month were only my 12 RSC sampler blocks plus one crayon block. And I did sew together 50+ HSTs, but they are now put away for some future use. And I did a table runner out of black, white and orange for Halloween.

In mid-month I began stitching along with Lori Holt’s Cozy Christmas sampler. This week we made the second block, the Cozy Cottage. The beauty of this sampler is that you cut all the center pink pieces out at once, as well as the strips that surround it, and then you can make all the flying geese and HSTs for the block borders ahead of time. I did a lot of cutting and sewing, and got those done, so that future block construction time will be cut in half. As the blocks are completed, I am sashing them and will construct the rows. By the time I finish the 12th block, all that will be left is adding the quilt borders for an easy finish.

In other sewing, my Aria blue/orange top is done except for the final borders, which I am wrangling with now. And I am almost done constructing the monstrous back. This will be delivered to a long-arm quilter next week, so I don’t expect to see it back in time to add the binding and call it a finish for the 3rd quarter Finish-Along. This is only the second quilt I have ever farmed out for professional quilting, but I`m a wimp. I don’t feel like wrestling it through my Bernina; it’s about 86x102” (but I know Cathy L in Iowa could do it!)

Finally, DH is going to use his electric sander to finish up the door frame around the new basement door. I have caulked and hand sanded it (and given it all a base coat), but it needs a smoother, more professional finish. When he does that, I can paint the final coat and he can add the hardware. No news on the start of the living room remodel yet, which is OK. We are harvesting and doing yard maintenance.

Next month I will be spending a week in Missouri at a Crazy Quilting retreat. This is the 10th annual Crazy Quilting International gathering, and I have been to every single one. One of my dearest friends, who always used to come from Canada to spend a week with me before or after the retreat, passed a year ago. I still miss Diane. But many sweet friends from Florida, Washington state, Nebraska, The Netherlands, and Kansas will be there. In fact, three of us will be making an afternoon jaunt up to Missouri Star Quilt Company the day before the retreat officially starts. I was there last year, but haven’t seen the main shop since its remodel. We can’t wait!

I think that’s about it for now. Today I will get that border sewn on Aria and finish piecing the back. Then I need to begin focusing on packing up my lace (etc) inventory to sell at the retreat so I can finally close up my Etsy shop next month.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy.

Quarter Three Finish Along Goals

Hi! I’ve been so busy for the past two weeks, I sometimes don’t know if I’m coming or going.
I will share some pictures below, but first I want to list my goals for the 3rd Quarter Finish Along. The Finish-Along is hosted by several lovely ladies who work their tails off to coordinate our goals with our finishes, hosting link-ups and gathering prizes from so many fantastic sponsors. If you have never looked into this, try the linky in my sidebar or go HERE to see the 3rd Quarter Goals of the many participants.

Without further ado, here are my goals:

1.  Shane’s Magic Carpet.
You’ve seen it in my goals before, but hopefully this will be the last time before I finish it. I intend to work more on finishing quilts this quarter rather than starting any more.

2. Notting Hill Quilt.
This project has always been to add 2 blocks per month to what I had at the beginning of the year. I have sixteen completed and plan to do 2 in July and 2 in August. It then just needs to be sashed, quilted, bound.

3.  Aria Quilt.
The blocks and rows are all sewn, and about half of them are sewn together. A good hour would allow me to finish this top. I will have to piece a border and backing with all the leftover fabrics. I plan to send this ASAP to a professional quilter because it will be a queen bed-sized. If I hurry, I can get it back by the end of the quarter.

4. and 5.  Cat Quilts.
I have 8 litters made. Each litter is a 24x24” square consisting of a 12” mama cat in the middle surrounded by twelve 6” kittens. The litters will be set 2x3 with sashing and should finish about 54x74”.  The two quilts will have some different colors, so when I finish, you’ll be able to see that they are actually two separate quilts. I have some cute cat fabric to back both of them. They’ll be Christmas presents for the 2 granddaughters who are cat crazy like their grandma.

6. Farm Girl Quilt.
This one has been on and off my lists for a year. I have enough blocks to finish the quilt in a 7x7 setting. (By the way, see the new watermelon block? I just made that at the Farm Girl Retreat last wee - more about that below).

The problem here is that I was really a beginner last year when I started these. Yes, I had been quilting for 2.5 years at the time, but I had never learned the finer points of flying geese, measuring 1/4” seams, etc.  The blocks range from 12” to 12.5” finished, in various eighth-inch increments.  I hope I’m up to the challenge of fudging on the sashing to make up the differences. And I think cornerstones would accentuate the issue, so those are out for sure. We will see how it goes. Needless to say, I am much more careful on getting my blocks more accurate. It’s a continual challenge...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Last week we had another Farm Girl Retreat at Thimbles and Threads with Lori Holt. This was called our Instagram Farm Girl Retreat  (#igfarmgirlvintageretreat) because we were there to greet our friend Cathy (Tazzie) Purdon from New Zealand, who is visiting the USA for 5 weeks. So the whole IG group of friends was there, as well as some of Lori’s “peeps” - her personal group of crazy and delightful friends. There were 22 of us, including teacher Lori and guest of honor Cathy.

At the retreat, Lori introduced four new blocks (coming soon) and her Farm Fresh Quilt Pattern (now available at the Fat Quarter Shop). It was pure craziness and laughter with all these women. Beth B (@kitqueen) made everyone their own IG block. Isn’t it cute? She has the most infectious laugh! And several other ladies, including Lori, passed out gifts for everyone.

Here is Lori and Cathy P just as they were presented with the USA Flag Blocks that each of us made for them. They will each have enough (signed) quilt blocks to make their own quilt.

Lori Holt and Cathy Purdon

L-R: Cathy K, Betty, Kristie, Rae Anne, Suzanne

Joanna Cotton and me

Can you believe this amazing dress (below) that Cynthia Horst (@dreamquiltcreate) made for herself from selvages?!?

I met some incredible ladies and had a blast. Yes, I did feel totally out of my league, but as always, I learned a lot and made new friends. It was wonderful, and I was certainly humbled to have been invited.

Finally, apricot season is here. If hubby and I are not out picking apricots (and cleaning up our and our neighbor’s yards from them), we are dehydrating them or I’m making jam or freezing quart after quart..... It looks like an apricot tornado in my kitchen. And did I mention that my daughter Megan is visiting from Seattle this week??

And then there are the contractors. Today they measured for new sliding shutters for our sliding glass doors. The rain gutter/soffit contractors will be here Tuesday to do their repairs and install heat tapes. DH has just about finished making the new porch pillar bases (they are 3/4 installed), so I will be painting the pillars next week. And I have a month to paint the kitchen (and get someone in to paint its ceiling). The shutters arrive 3rd week of August, as does the custom light fixture we are having made from a woodworker on Etsy. Once the kitchen is done, the living room demolition will start. And somewhere in there will be vegetables to harvest with grapes following after that.

At least I’m not bored!!

Teal Totaling

As June draws to a close - this is the last Saturday - I have no new teal blocks to show. However, I do have my totals and recap and other things to show as well. So glad you dropped by for a visit!

This month I completed only one teal Dresden block. Then there were the 12 double pinwheels, the 10 sixteen-patch blocks with black and white centers. Can’t forget the Mama Teal cat and her 12 kittens; those 13 blocks were sewn into one litter.  And finally, with the remaining scraps of teal fabrics, HSTs and flying geese that have accumulated over the year, I sewed 13 improv blocks that will finish at 8”.

That was a total of 49 teal blocks, a respectable number.  Now, with six months of RSC sewing done, I have a total of 12 Dresdens (probably will be 19” blocks made into 1-2 quilts), 8 kitten litters (2 pink and 2 red left, then the 2 quilts will be assembled), 58 rail fence blocks from vintage sheets (none done this month), 74 8” improv blocks and 60 16-patch blocks (8” each).  Those improv blocks or 16-patch blocks may be divided into two color stories to make 2 quilts each, depending on how many I end up with after we’ve made through all the colors.

So all my sewing this week related to my Aria quilt. The larger squares start at 5” and are 4.5" when sewn. The sashing is 1”, and the green/blue rows are 2.5x5” (half a charm square) pieces sewn together on end. I am pleased with how it’s going, but I had hoped to be farther along by now.

At least all the rows are sewn together; so now it’s just a matter of sashing and connecting the rows.

And cutting more 1.5” strips because I’ve already used up a whole jelly roll of them.....

Now I don’t think I will be able to finish this by month-end. So, since it is going to finish in the neighborhood of 86x105” when the sashing and borders are done, I think I’ll get it professionally quilted instead of wrestling with it myself. Then I can go on to new things.

And speaking of new things, Angela will be announcing the new July RSC color soon. But in the meantime, why not join us over at So Scrappy to check out everyone’s teal progress?

Have a lovely weekend!