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?

In the Red . . . Scraps. And a Finish!!

The highlight of my week was on Monday when our daughter Emily (actually, she’s Bruce’s daughter from his previous marriage, but now she’s mine too!) brought her 3 kids over on Labor Day. Her hubby Chad in in the US Air Force and is stationed overseas for a year. So, since her son Deacon (age 8) needed help with a Cub Scout balsa flyer project, Grandpa (DH) was happy to step in.

That means that Emily and I, along with Abbie (7) and Gunner (3) got to hang out. We picked veggies (that is always great fun for little kids) and grapes, played, made pizza for lunch and talked and talked. And one thing I found out is that granddaughter Abbie is now bonkers over CATS. I knew that two of my other DGDs, Remi and London, were crazy for cats, but this was a new infatuation for Abbie and news to me. So, that means I now have THREE cat quilts to make for Christmas.

You know the cat quilts; each consists of a mama cat and 12 kittens per litter, like the red one on the right that I made this week. Six litters per quilt. I would have been finished with sewing felines after this month. And then..... dear Abbie. Needless to say, I will be sewing an additional six mama cats and 72 kittens in the next two months.

Anyway, I ran out right away and bought another couple yards of Kona white for cat and kitten backgrounds and so far I have made two more red mama cats for this month. Can you see them at the left? They are pregnant! LOL. But their litters are not due for another couple weeks because I will be on vacation in Missouri at a quilt retreat next week. Yes, we will be making a trip to Missouri Star Quilt Company. I went last year, too, but it will be nice to see the newly-remodeled store.

And I hope to get the rest of the mama cats (not to be confused with Mama Cass) cut out and sewn this month; one each in green, pink, blue and purple. Then next month I will do three yellow cats and kittens.  And somewhere over October and November the kittens for Mama Green, Blue, Pink and Purple will be stitched. But that is OK!  It’s not like I have anything else to do..... oh wait.....

Now I'm hoping we might be able to hold off on the living room remodel until after the Holidays. I have my RSC quilt to finish, these 3 cat quilts, plus four more quilts for DS1, DS2, DDIL, and DSIL2 (one started/shown last week) The vintage sheet quilt will wait until January, and when Aria comes back from the quilter, I'll only have to bind it.

The RSC blocks for this month were a breeze, and not only did I finish them, but I sewed them to the gray blocks from last month. In fact, although I don’t have a picture of it, everything is sewn together now except the yellow column.....

That was yesterday, and Alfalfa was feeling either very needy or very bossy, because he was with me in the studio supervising everything I did. And he is sitting on my lap this morning as I type this.

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This week I finished quilting Notting Hill, which will be one of the quilts that goes into the pile of 4 quilts that Emily and her sister Stacy will get to choose from for their Christmas present quilt: Notting Hill, Valentine, Birds & Bees and the RSC Sampler quilt). The other two I’ll keep.

Notting Hill done!

Notting Hill was also #3 on my 3rd Quarter Finish-Along goals.  I used the sampler format to practice old free-motion quilting skills and try out new ones. Overall, I am pleased enough with how it went. The sashing was all done in a line pattern. Stippling was used in 2-3 of the blocks.

In one block I used the zig-zag style. It was easier than I thought once I wrapped my brain around it, but it does need practice.  You can also see the border where I did free-form flowers and leaves.

Some blocks had hearts, spirals, waves, or loops. This wavy line quilting, below, turned out to be one of my favorites.

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This week I also finished another block in the Cozy Christmas Sew Along;  Cozy Tree.

I have started on next week’s block so that I won’t get behind while I’m away for a week. Next time I report on these I should have 2 more to show. Yes, Cozy Christmas is another quilt I would like to finish before Christmas.

And yes, I plan on moving into my studio/sewing room and forsaking all housekeeping, cooking (have a month’s worth of meals already made and frozen) and other “extra-curricular” activities. 

Linking up to:  So Scrappy Rainbow Scrap Challenge

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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Play Misty for Me

Catchy title, but please DON’T play Misty for me, LOL (I love the song, liked the movie, but dislike Clint Eastwood). This month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, we are supposed to be working with “misty” purple and “hazy” green. But not having been told to save the misty/hazy/muddy purples and greens (IF there were any even in my scraps), I have none to work with.

Luckily, we were also given the option to work with gray, and I have some of those. But not enough to do all my regular blocks (cats, Dresdens, etc etc). I am doing the RSC Sampler block - twelve 6” bullseye blocks. When those are done, I am going to piece a table runner for my kitchen. Maybe add some oranges in to make it Halloweeny.  And from there, probably some improv blocks.

So for now, I have my 12 sampler blocks cut out and ready to chain piece. Should be quick and easy peasy. I’ll show my finished blocks next week.

The silver (or gray) lining to this month’s color choice (and my lack of scraps) is that I get to work on finishing up two almost-done quilts. Here is Notting Hill, which is now a flimsy. I even prepped the backing and it is ready to baste. I’ll do that on Sunday when my cousin comes over to sew so we can baste it together. It makes for a shorter time down on our knees for two old broads....

And then next up is Aria, which is now back up on the design board and scheduled to be finished over the next couple weeks.

On the home front, I have started painting some of the nooks and crannies of the kitchen work area. Today I also took some chalk paint to some old maroon-colored vases and they are now aqua. Will look much brighter when the living room is done.  We are prepping the new basement door and frame (sanding, filling) and kitchen walls for painting by me this coming week. Also, the front porch pillars are ready, too, so I will have no lack of painting projects. And of course, our 11-year old dishwasher picked this week to die a screeching death (motor bearings). We didn’t even consider repairing it because the inside prongs were rusting away. So, on Wednesday I bought a new dishwasher and it was installed Thursday. Goodbye Kitchen Aid, Hello Bosch. Goodbye Budget.

Notting Hill Quilt Blocks Done and CQ Quarterly Published

Hi friends. I have several fun things to share with you today, so sit down and get comfy!

First, the Autumn issue of Crazy Quilt Quarterly is out!

This issue is jam-packed with great autumn stitching and embellishment ideas and eye candy. As well, the theme of the issue is Family History/Genealogy in Quilts (crazy quilts,  art quilts, traditional quilts). As this is a particular area of interest and research for me, I have two articles in this issue. But the great part is that my dear longtime friend Gerry Krueger from Washington State is the featured cover artist. I couldn’t be more thrilled, and she couldn’t be more deserving.

You may purchase this magazine in print or digital (or both!) format at Magcloud.

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Yesterday I finished the last four of my 12” sampler blocks for my Notting Hill Quilt. This quilt has been a WIP for over two years. Too many times it got shoved to a back burner when other things came up, but I am determined to finish it this quarter.  Here are the last four blocks:

I love them all except the Kings Cross (upper right), which really needs more contrast. But it does NOT have a date with a seam ripper, so it is what it is.  Below is the tentative final layout. After studying this picture, I can see I want to switch two blocks (#7 with #11). I also say “tentative” because even though I will number them before taking them down to sew, I often mess that part of it up!  It will have sashing between and around the blocks.

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Bruce finished up the front porch pillar bases today, so if it cools down to a reasonable temperature this week (less than Hellfire degrees), I intend to get them painted. Last week our contractor (cousin’s hubby, I think I may have told you already) painted the kitchen ceiling for me and hung my new farmhouse-style light fixture. Fans of HGTV’s Fixer-Upper or Chip and JoAnna Gaines will recognize it. He also added the door (minus handle) which you see in the picture below. That door leads down to the basement, and the old door, fugly and original to the house, opened away from you, over the stairs. So odd and dangerous. This one is hung so that it opens toward you. I still have some sanding, filling, painting to do there, then Bruce will add the doorknob.

I always wanted a yellow kitchen, and I have loved having one for the last ten years since we did the major kitchen renovation in 2006. But it’s time for a change, and we will be painting it some shade of white. We got paint samples today from Sherwin Williams, and I will paint swatch areas on several of the walls this week. You can see that I left my china cabinet (actually a Victorian vitrine) taped and covered.

When the kitchen is done, I will show you all the pix (the first “before” when we moved in, the remodel in 2006 and our 2016 update).

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Finally, my other cousin (sister to the cousin who is married to the contractor) Kim and her daughter Sarah have opened an Etsy shop. YAY!  Since I am closing mine down by year-end, they got all my old vintage sewing pattern inventory (and the boxes and shelving units they were stored in) and vintage fabrics and are getting things set up. Their shop is called Butterflies and Donuts and I would love it if you could drop by and favorite their shop and an item or two to get them rolling into your Etsy picture feeds. They will be adding vintage clothing and other fun stuff as time goes on, but right now they are up to their eyeballs (muahahahaha!) in patterns!!

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...

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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!!