The Cat Days of Summer

We don’t do Dog Days of Summer here at Chez Kizerian because we have cats. Or, more accurately, they have us. Alfalfa and Darla, our dear Little Rascals, run a tight ship around here. In fact, I’m probably due for a reprimand for posting a blurry picture of Darla. Sorry ‘bout that!

So, we just stay indoors where it’s cool. Every other morning we venture out to the vegetable garden to pick what’s ripe. We just picked the last of the lettuce. Now we’re into yellow squash, green beans and carrots. Lots of carrots. Family and neighbors are getting our overages, although come fall we will find a cold place to store the remaining carrots and potatoes. For now, we are eating mainly stir-fry dinners and main dish salads. Once the tomatoes ripen, we’ll add (turkey) BLTs to the rotation. Tonight we’re going to Ryan’s house (my older son) to visit with the family and pawn off lots of carrots there, LOL. He’s making ham fried rice for dinner with a recipe he got from his Uncle Jeff (my former BIL) while visiting him last summer in Hawaii.  Ryan has turned into a very good cook and does most of the meal preparation for his family. It’s just him, Kim and Lauren, who is going into her junior year of high school. Their son Easton is attending college at Utah State U in Logan. When Easton graduates next year, he’s been officially accepted into the US Navy and their nuclear engineering program (on submarines). He’s excited. We’re proud, but glad it’s him and not us! LOL

Ok, so we’ve covered cats, vegetables and family, so let’s move on to the quilty progress, shall we? I’ll be linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog to share the dark blue things I’ve sewn this week.

I guess I should start off by updating last week’s lamentations about my sewing machine acting up while trying to quilt a friend’s table runner.  I had 95% of the quilting on the tablerunner completed when my machine stopped cooperating, skipping stitches. I cleaned it, put in a new needle, etc etc. After trying everything I could think of, I finally increased the needle size from a 12 to a 14. All the problems went away for the last two motifs I quilted. I don’t understand why everything was just fine until the finish line was in sight, but at least it’s done. Now the size 12 needle is back in the machine, and she is purring away. 

So, this week, I tackled my blue strings. I love sewing strings, which is probably why I make myself finish most of my other monthly blocks before playing with them. This month’s yield was 20 dark blue string blocks (6.5” unfinished).

Since I had plenty of African fabric in dark blues, I was able to sew up six more International Sisters blocks for the various wallhangings I’m making with these blocks. In fact, I’ll be putting together another 2-sided wall hanging in August for Harambe Humanitarian fundraising purposes. It will be the third of about 7-8 that I’ll eventually make. 

Sorry the picture seems so dark. I’m afraid if I increase the exposure any more, it will wash it out. My screens aren’t always accurate, and my iPhone and its operator (me, LOL) aren’t the best photographers. But you get the idea.

With those finished, I was able to move my remaining blue blocks from the Block Orphanage, as well as some interesting scraps, onto the design board.  Here we have the beginnings of the July blue Creature quilt.  I’m combining all my blues, light, bright and dark, into one quilt. 

I want to finish this by month end (one week!), so it will be pedal to the metal in the studio this week.  My first priority, however, is to finish Pineapples 2, which is my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for July. The quilt top is assembled, basted and in the process of being quilted. Once I’m done with the ditch quilting on it, It’ll probably do a cross-hatch in the pineapple squares and some other as-yet-undecided treatment in the larger white spacer squares.

Oh, and I do have a small finish to share this week. This is just a cute little panel quilt that I added borders to, then quilted up for Quilts for Kids. We were gifted several hundred panels at the end of last year, and we’re hoping to get through them to make donation quilts for kids in hospitals this year. Simple finishes are the name of the game.

The wavy bottom is because only the top portion is pinned to the design board; the last few inches just hang down. It’s square, I promise. My former quilt holder-upper is no longer available to hold up quilts since his arm was amputated. That means the “glamour” shots are anything but. But I digress.....  The quilt (unnamed) measures 38x53” and once again, will go to Quilts for Kids.

Let’s see, what else? Umm ... Oh! Zipper blocks!!  How could I forget?  Ten more this week.

I think I’m up to about 57 completed now. The finished size of the eventual quilt is undecided, but it will either be 60x72 (requiring 80 blocks) or 66x81” (99 blocks). I’m leaning toward the larger size because these are so fun. We’ll see.

One evening this week I got sidetracked by a request from Pattern Jam. I have a couple patterns there that are pretty popular. Now that Pattern Jam is under new ownership, they are trying to fix some of the back end (behind the scenes) issues, one of which was a faulty algorithm for calculating the fabric cutting requirements and directions for quilts.  So I had a request from the management to provide those for this quilt pattern for several people who had asked.

There are two blocks in this quilt, and each one appears 24 times for a total of 48 blocks. The faulty cutting instructions called for cutting 120 (REALLY??) 6.5” white background squares when only 24 were needed. And then it gave some yardage requirements for “quarter square triangles”. Wha’???? There ARE NO QST’s in this! So, I redid the yardage requirements and gave some basic directions. 

Now I want to go back and create a smaller version of this quilt based on 2.5” squares instead of the 3.5” squares of this version. Either way, it would be a fun and easy quilt to do for a patriotic quilt, or a Christmas quilt in different colors. Do you ever play with Pattern Jam? It’s a free website, and I’ve used it a lot to help me play with design. Plus there is a lot of eye candy and ideas for quilt layouts in their main “public” stream. 

That’s about it from here. Time to go quilt some pineapples! Have a great week, friends.

In the Pink

It’s been a week of glorious weather here - and so much to do. I didn’t get too much sewing done other than to finish up the fusing of Groovy Guitars (see post HERE), and sew a few pink blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s May color. But there is lots more pink scrappy goodness over at Angela’s RSC linkup. 

So, let’s begin. I have so many pink scraps. Last year I didn’t sew enough of them up, and with adding to them all year I have quite a bit this year. Even my selvages were bulging. So, I was able to make 15 selvage blocks that will finish at 6” square. Plus I still had enough left over to make 3 - 4.5” blocks for some future use (not pictured).

See those really, really wide pink selvages? Those were given to me by Sally over at The Objects of Design. Her supervisor Molly must’ve directed her to cut them generously because I’m the hu-mom of her furry friend Darla. 

Then I worked on the Linked Squares Blocks. I always try to do these first (-ish) because they need larger pieces. Sometimes the larger pieces limit my choices, but overall I was pleased with how they turned out this month.

Even with a flash, my camera seems to take lousy pictures, but maybe they’re slightly better on an individual basis. Mental note: get a new phone/camera before leaving for Africa in July!!

I've touted Pattern Jam many times here on my blog. It’s a free platform for designing quilt patterns using basic blocks in the size of your choice and then calculating the yardage required. Last year they closed down, but were bought up and restarted earlier this year. It was fun to participate in design contests (and win fabric!). And I could use it to figure out patterns to use based on fabric lengths in my stash.

Anyway, with the transition, all my old patterns were lost (except the ones I’d already saved on my own computer), but I have been interested in a pattern of pinwheels and half-square triangles that I’ve seen on Pinterest and Sally’s blog - a pinwheel and HST combination. I wanted to find out a size combo that wouldn’t require measurements in the eighths-of-an-inch (note: fruitless). 

So, I played and came up with Pinwheel Parade, which happened to become the most popular (based on likes or saves or something) pattern of its week in April. Then it became the most popular pattern for the month in April. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing! But it’s sure fun and colorful to look at! Anyone can save, resize and remix this pattern as they wish.

The kicker is that even though the pinwheels and HSTs finish at 4”, the initial cutting is in odd sizes. HA! Never mind; I’ll be rounding up to the nearest whole number after all.

Today cousin Kim and I are going to a quilt show here in the Salt Lake Valley. I’ll do a separate post of pictures later on (hopefully!). Then tonight my son Ryan and his wife Kim and kids are coming over for dinner.  

Ryan, Lauren, Kim (Easton not pictured)

Kim (daughter-in-law Kim, not cousin Kim) and Lauren and I are the three that are going to Kenya together in July. It’s official. We’ve made our reservations and will be talking and sharing plans tonight!  

Another Week of Sewing and ....

In between everything else, I got rows sewn together this week on a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. These are the 8.5” improv blocks that I made all year, and this quilt will include the colors of blue, green, teal and purple. I have an identical quilt planned (but maybe with a white or other color sashing) for the orange, yellow, red and pink blocks. They are a low priority until the Christmas quilts are done (more about that below), but I wanted to show you this for now. The backing will be random FQs in the colors of the quilt. It’ll help me clean out some of my orphaned fabric. It should finish at about 72x72”.

Great news! The living room will be finished up this weekend!  Here is a picture of it after last weekend after the cabinetry and mantel, etc was installed - but before both our cousin/contractor Jeff and my DH Bruce worked on it Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Jeff finished up the crown molding and baseboard trims, caulking, etc. Bruce finished up all the electrical and media wiring. Now the cabinet doors and drawers can go on/in.

This weekend they will add the can lights in the ceiling, mount the door hardware and the TV. And then the big clean-up. The furniture (except the backordered leather couch and ottoman) will arrive on Monday. And work will continue down the hallway and into the back bedroom with the hardwood floors and baseboards, so there will still be some baseboards and boxes of flooring lying around (where the leather couch will eventually go, on the right side of the picture) until it’s all installed.

But at least I will be able to have seating and do some decorating in the living room! I ran around doing errands yesterday, and one stop was JoAnn Fabrics to get some updated floral decorations for my outdoor wreath. Now, if I can just find the heavy duty magnet that attaches it to our steel front door, I’ll be set!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This week I managed to get a lot of basting and quilting done. Cousin Kim came over and we basted the Cozy Christmas quilt and November Rain. I was able to finish quilting the Big Game Quilt (designed by Emily Herrick for Pattern Jam) for my SIL Mike.

The panel was purchased last year, and I added the two borders and the backing. It is quilted with straight lines only to keep the masculine feel. The batting is the same as always - The Warm Co.’s Warm and Plush 100% cotton. I like the little bit of extra loft it gives. (I buy it online from JoAnn by the 25-yard bolt when they have free shipping or a great sale).  Anyway, it measures 62x74”.

And here is Cozy Christmas Quilt finished. This is NOT the official post for this quilt finish; I will do a separate one soon to comply with the Finish Along rules.

All I have left to finish for Christmas gift-giving is the wavy-line quilting (and binding) of November Rain for my son Ryan, and the basting/quilting of Kitty Quilt #3. Should be a easy to finish by next weekend. And that will leave me two weeks to finish up another Rainbow Scrap Quilt (maybe the vintage sheet rainbows?) by year-end. Or maybe the Let it Snow quilt I cut out this week (oops!) (wink) that you can see here on Heather Mulder Peterson’s Pinterest.  I will also be focusing on finishing up the other RSC quilts over December and January, so stay tuned for those.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge Scrappy Saturday.

A Rainbow Scrap Finish!

Welcome to another Rainbow Scrap post! Today I get to show off (finally) my sampler for the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. For the first 10 months of the year, Angela at SoScrappy gave us a new color and a new block pattern and away we went!  My sampler finally got quilted (managed it in one afternoon on my Bernina) and bound this week. It finished at 60x72” and was so much fun!

This quilt is a potential Christmas present for one of my dear step-daughters. She will have a choice of one of three: this RSC sampler, The Birds and Bees quilt, or the Notting Hill Sampler quilt. Anyway, this is backed in a cute hexie and bee print from Connecting Threads, and I noticed that there are actually a couple bee references here and there on the quilt with the fabrics used.

This quilt finish was also one of my Finish Along 4th Quarter Goals.  It was # 7 on my list.
I am also linking up to Angela’s So Scrappy blog for Scrappy Saturday, where everyone is showing their rainbow scrap projects as they finish up. Join us!

Moving right along, here is a promised picture of the black, white and red quilt that my cousin and sewing-partner-in-crime Kim finished (and I quilted) for her sweet granddaughter Zoe.  Zoe is in the picture and is absolutely THRILLED with the quilt. She is such a cutie (and may or may not have shorts on under her T-shirt, LOL). Kim took this picture with her phone and sent it to me, so I was not able to lighten it. Didn’t the quilt turn out beautifully?? Way to go, Colonel Cousin Kimmie!!

I had a blast this week finishing up the piecing on November Rain for my son Ryan. I had said I would do a mid-week post with possible layout ideas, but there were so many blocks and not enough design wall area to making playing around easy. And finally, I decided on the layout that Rob Appel used in his Man Sewing Video shown here.

So, the above picture shows all the blocks pinned and taped on (and over and under) my design wall. Below they are sewn together with a 1” black border and a 4” outer border added. The dimensions are 67x86", and it is slated to be quilted (by me) probably week after next.

It’s not perfect, but I LOVE love love it. It was so much fun playing with color placement and planning, sewing and matching up blocks. In the process I learned a lot about sewing on the bias (it is very forgiving, but you must be careful).  I definitely want to do another one of these quilts again in some outrageous interesting color way.  The backing for this quilt will be half of a duvet cover that Kim bought at Ikea for $10 (in the “as is” bin) - and it is 100% cotton. Those duvet covers have two sides, so using only one was the equivalent of a $5 backing. Small economies sure help when one is cranking out about 10 quilts for Christmas!

And you know I had to bore you fill you in on the remodeling of our living room. The cabinetry, bookshelves, mantel and surround were delivered on Thursday. Jeff will begin installing them this weekend. He has this weekend and next before the furniture arrives on Monday the 12th. Well, part of the furniture. We will get one couch, my chair, the rug and a small end table (to add to the end table and new recliner we already had). The leather couch and ottoman is coming from Italy and is back ordered until mid-January. Our salesperson is checking the warehouse daily for the possibility of someone changing their mind or scheduling later deliveries (meaning we could grab it), but we are resigned to patiently waiting until January. So, as per usual, Christmas seating will be scarce, so we’ll just have to pull in some kitchen chairs.  But there is a silver lining; without the second couch and ottoman, I will have room to place the Christmas tree without wracking my brain.

So here is Alfie on the new hardwood floor (the small part that isn’t covered with drop cloths by the front door).

And here is the current state of affairs. The baseboards are painted and mostly strung across the sawhorses waiting their installation - which is the final thing - in the living room, hallway and back bedroom. Also up on the sawhorses are the (wrapped from the carpenter) crown moldings. Leaning against the fireplace stone is the base of the mantel; the shelf and molding trims are somewhere in that mess. The cabinet bases (rear left) and bookshelves (upside down in left foreground) are ready to be installed. The drawers and shelves are either under the sawhorses or stacked in front (not in picture).

I have no idea how long it takes to install them from this point. Measuring, installing the toe kicks, bracing against the walls, shims and molding and cutting access to electrical on the wall, etc etc. But we’ll take whatever progress we get.

And all this has caused me to re-think the traditional Christmas carols to fit our situation this year.  My favorites include:

Have Yourself a Merry Dusty Little Christmas
O Little Town of Bethlehem House of Construction
Silver Bells Bills
Do You Hear What I Hear? (no change needed, but imagine the air compressor or hammers)
All I Want For Christmas (is my living room)
Away in a Manger the Back Room (no space for TV)
Rudolph Alfie the Nosy Cat-child (had a very frisky day...)

I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you. You’re welcome. Have a great week!

What a Week!

Thank goodness it’s over!  The week, that is. You may remember from my last post that I had a “procedure” scheduled for Monday. Oh heck, we’re all adults here...... it was a colonoscopy. After my weekend of fasting, the procedure finally took place on Monday at 2-ish. Missing the food was not the worst of it. Neither was the frequent trips to the bathroom. The worst was drinking the POISON - a solution that can be best described as warm seawater. But the results were perfect, and I don’t have to do THAT again for ten years!

And if that wasn’t enough crap (literally and figuratively), the election was on Tuesday. The results, to most of us, are devastating. Talk about CRAP. And by “most”, I mean the majority of voters (because H won the popular vote), educated women, minorities of any variety, and the rest of the peace-loving world. My daughter (age 30) called me, crying. My neighborhood friend’s daughter (age 24) called her, crying. Bruce’s co-workers (many are gay or minorities) were in a deep funk on Wednesday. We are still trying to come to terms with what this means for us going forward.
End of political discussion. I just deleted a paragraph of rant here. You’re welcome.  

So, back to why we're REALLY here - faaaaabric and those wonderful things we do with it!

I didn’t get much sewn this week, but I did finish the litter of purple kitties from last week. That is 4 litters down, two to go on the third and final Kitty Quilt.  As this is a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, I am linking up to Angela’s Scrappy Saturday party. Swing by and see all our rainbow projects coming together!

I also got the green and black borders sewn onto this pre-printed panel from Pattern Jam that I bought a year ago. Our son-in-law Mike is a hunter and this has his name written all over it.  The backing is pieced and it's ready to be quilted (behind several others in line!) And yes, I realize I need to pay more attention to how I pin quilts up on my design board. Sorry for the waves, LOL.

I finally began quilting the Magic Carpet quilt last night. After a false start that required some frog stitching (rippit, rippit), I decided on some basic stippling for the blue sections. The quilting on all the colored squares will be simple and medium to large scale. I don’t want to interfere with their color punch. The black bits will probably be X’ed or ???

I am not enjoying the quilting of this one, mainly because of all the stops and starts, changing thread colors, etc. I just want to put the pedal to the metal and stitch because I have so many quilts to do. But I am being patient, though it’s hard.

As far as my Christmas quilts go, there is only one left to start, and that is for my son Ryan. I have a jelly roll of Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey, plus lots of light and dark neutrals and some matching yardage for a border. Originally, I was going to do a Ribbon Star (MSQC) pattern, but decided it was too much background, and the stars were too cutesy for my athletic son. So now, the four patterns I’m considering are below, and they’re all in fabric colors or lines that are similar to what I’m working with. Which one do you like? I’m leaning to the strings one in the upper left (a la Three Dudes quilting).

One of the projects I’ve set for myself for 2017 is to make and contribute small kennel quilts to charities. These quilts are for cats and/or small dogs and measure approximately 12x18”. To find a local charity, I contacted our local Best Friends Shelter, a no-kill shelter and organization from whom we adopted Alfalfa and Darla two years ago. They were enthusiastic about the kennel quilts, and indeed accept quilts of all sizes for not only the kennels, but for fostering families and other uses. My cousin Kim and her granddaughter Trinity and I will begin sewing these in January. Our goal is to complete and donate at least a half dozen per month. Here are some kitty fabrics I ordered just for the fun of it, but any fabric will do, of course.

Along with the fabric I got a great new book, Modern Selvage Quilting by Riel Nason. I ordered it because I was having difficulty finding a pattern to use my selvages for. After getting the book (and seeing what she has coming in 2017 - a book of Halloween selvage patterns!), I am now having trouble narrowing it down, LOL.  But I think this quilt, pictured below, will be a great one to use for my selvage RSC project in 2017.  I will do it as a column quilt, working on one color - two columns - per month. The selvages themselves can be multi-colored (which will allow me to continually collect them), while the alternating solid pieces can be sewn in the color of the month. And those solid-color pieces can be one piece or scrappy/crumby. A solution that really works for me!

Finally, in remodeling news, the living room is fully painted, with new outlet and vent covers installed. The hallway is getting its second coat of Agreeable Gray today by yours truly.  Then, since Sunday is Sewing Day, on Monday I will start painting all the hall doors and door trim white. The baseboards will be replaced along with the baseboards in the living room. But unlike the living room, the hallway will not have crown molding.

All our living room furniture is moved out; we have temporarily relocated  the TV and Bruce’s recliner to the library/music room (our back bedroom). I have the futon to curl up on. It’s cozy, but the cats think we are crazy. So what else is new. The living room carpet comes up today, and the old ceiling lights are coming out and new can lights are being installed.  Our cabinetry may be done as early as next week, but if it’s the week after, that’s OK. In the meantime, the hall painting needs to be finished (me) and floor laid (contractor). Once the flooring in the living room is done, we will move the recliner (etc) back while the flooring moves down the hall and into that back bedroom. Such fun; musical furniture. And we are still on track for the new furniture delivery on or around December 7-8. And padded white cells shortly thereafter.

Quarter 4 Finish-Along Goals

I’m running out of time to list my 4th quarter goals for the 2016 Finish-Along, so here I am sliding in under the wire by a day or two.

Last quarter I only finished one of my four goals, and I even did a post about it (my Notting Hill quilt, here). But then I forgot to link up to the 3rd Quarter Linky Party. Just so much going on....  But I am determined to stick to the program, LOL.  Without further ado.....

1.   Aria Quilt
Edited to add: Finished. Post is HERE.

This finish didn’t make it into last quarter, but only by a few days. I got it back on Oct. 3 or so, then trimmed and bound it. It is now done, but I will do an official post about it next week.

2.  Cat Quilt for Remington
Edited to add: Finished. Post is Here.

The below quilt, pictured when it was just basted, is almost ready to be revealed. It will be shown in its own post later this month.

3.  Cat Quilt for London.
London’s quilt is basted and will be quilted by me this weekend. Reveal post will be after numbers one and two.
Edited to Add:  Finished. Post is Here.

4.  Cat Quilt for Abbie - right now it’s just a pile of cat squares; you can actually check back on my blog to see the yellow litter (yellow is not in either of the above quilts).  This was a later addition to my Must Make Cat Quilts because I didn’t know until last month that Abbie was in love with cats!!
Edited to Add:  Finished. Post is  HERE.




5.  Magic Carpet Quilt for Shane
Edited to Add:  Finished.  Post is HERE.

This quilt top was so much fun to piece! It’s ready to be basted and quilted.

6.  Vintage Sheet Rainbow Rail Fence

This top is also pieced and ready to be basted and quilted. I’d wanted to do a vintage sheet quilt for a long time, so used this year’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge as an opportunity to work with my sheet scraps. I rather like it!

7.   Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler
Edited to add: Finished!  Post is Here.

This one is a column-along quilt. The tenth and final column will be a yellow one which I’ll sew up as soon as it’s announced. Not pictured are the red, green and gray columns, and the blue column is folded up at the foot of the teal and pink columns.

8.   Christmas Quilt for Mike
Edited to add: Finished! Post is HERE.

This is a deer-themed printed quilt top from Pattern Jam. The green and black polka dots will be thin and thick borders. The newsprint fabric will be the backing. This will be for one of my dear sons-in-law Mike, who is a hunter.  My other SIL is on assignment overseas, so he will get a quilt next year.

9.  Petals for Kim
Edited to add:  Finished! Post is HERE. 

My daughter-in-law Kim picked out the pattern and the Bonnie & Camille fabrics. These orange peels need to be machine appliquéd to the blocks, then stitched together, etc. Should be a quick and easy make for Christmas.

10. Ryan’s Manly Quilt.
Updated to add: Finished!  Post is HERE.

Unlike my artist son Shane (who picked out the colors of his Magic Carpet quilt above), Ryan is more comfortable with darker, more sedate colors. This fabric is Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey for Moda.

11.  Cozy Christmas
Updated to add: Finished! Posted HERE.

Right now I’m participating in the Cozy Christmas Quilt Along. I plan to finish all four blocks, the borders, etc. and give it as a Christmas present.

This quarter, I am confident that I will finish at least 80% of this list, as they are slated as Christmas gifts.  Then I can start the new year with very little on my plate!!  YAY!!

I’m linking up to the 4th Quarter Goals for the 2016 Finish Along. Why not hop over and see what others have planned?

Some Sewing, But Mostly Painting

Thank goodness for lists! I made myself lists of Things to Do this week, day by day, and I was able to stick to it.

On Monday, Bruce and I worked in the front yard. He finished up the front porch pillars, which I thought were already done. But he had filling and sanding, etc., to do. On Tuesday, I painted the pillars. I even tried some colored stripes, but it looked terrible. AWFUL. I couldn’t paint over them fast enough.  More pictures on those as soon as I get a sealer coat on the columns.

On and off all week (I call it pacing myself), I painted the kitchen. And sewed. I only have one wall left to paint in the kitchen, but we have to move the big china cabinet to do it. But it will be done by Tuesday, because the shutters will be installed on Wednesday.

On the sewing front, I sewed my column of bullseyes together. They were fun, but are not so pretty in the grays I chose.

Here is a little closer up; the grays range from lightest gray to charcoal to greige. And a print of grays, tans, etc, mixed up. But I know these will play well off the other bright colors of the Rainbow Scrap Sampler. Brown will be at one end and the gray at the other with all the bright colors in between.

Some of the columns are sewn together. Next to be sewn on will be either red or yellow, then the blue, then the green, then the other of red or yellow, then the gray. Clear as mud? I may have to do some shifting around depending on the width of the rows. I think that orange row should maybe have waited.....  But anyway, I am sure loving this!!

Then I wanted to do something with some of my black and gray scraps, so I pulled out the leftover lightening fabric (used on the back of Rainbow Orbs) along with the orange pumpkins left over from my fall table runner last year. I combined that with some text print and made a simple table runner of bullseye and 9-patch blocks. By playing with Pattern Jam  (a free online design tool), and coming up with my own patterns, I was able determine ahead of time which patterns and sizes would work with the scraps I chose. Have you ever played with Pattern Jam? I love it and have designed so many quilts I want to try some day.

Back to this table runner, the back is some cat fabric and the binding is some ancient black with white polka dots. It was a quick and satisfying little project.  I have a ton of HST scraps from the last couple years in grays and blacks, so I will be sewing those up. They may even make it into an improv block or two.

Finally (no picture), I found some light purples (lavenders, basically) in a bin of scraps I have set aside - and add to frequently - for a future “scrap vortex” or “scrap vomit” quilt. It’s where I throw those scraps that don’t fit neatly into one color category. What do you do with your multi-colored scraps?  Anyway, I know that I want to sew one of those crayon quilts (this pattern from Emily Herrick), so I made a lavender crayon. It will go into next year’s pile for RSC projects. When it comes to the purple month then, I will do the dark purple crayon. :-)

Today I will be sewing on my Aria quilt top, and I hope to finish it. Then I would like to start  quilting Notting Hill. There is also a door that needs to be sanded and painted, but that is down the list.....

Why not join us over at Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge Scrappy Saturday? Come and check out all the creative things that our friends keep churning out during these dog days of summer!