Rainbow Cats is a Finish!

The title would be more accurate if it said Rainbow Cats IV is finished, because this is the fourth quilt of momcats and kittens that I’ve done over the years. But who really cares, right? I’m just excited that this is finished for Xander, my granddaughter London’s cousin. And I’m ready to quilt the dinosaur quilt for his brother Brody, but I’ll talk about that momentarily.

Rainbow cats finished at 58” square and I quilted it in simple loops on my Bernina machine. The backing, which I don’t have a picture of, is just a cute wide-backed black and white cat print. I’m holding up the quilt while Bruce single-handedly snapped the picture. (He only has one arm so has been retired as quilt holder, LOL)

Rainbow Cats was stitched along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) this year, each litter when its color turn came. I purposely made two yellow litters and omitted pink since it’s for a boy. I’m linking up to share at Scrappy Saturday.

I love the quilt picture, though (even if it’s a bit washed out by the sun), because you can see the beautiful blue sky and our nearby mountains. What you can’t see in the above picture, however, is the tree. So I snapped a picture of that in all it’s autumn glory a bit later in the day.

Last Sunday as I was starting to sew, my iron died. It was a 3-year-old Rowenta that was heavy, and I hated it. It didn’t die without first spitting out a lot of black gunk all over the fabric I was ironing. It did wash out, however. So I ran off to Target to get a new iron. It was a toss-up between Target and Home Depot. I wanted just a good old cheap Black and Decker iron, because those have always been reliable and durable for me. Target had three irons. And by that I don’t mean they had three types of irons, they had just three. Period. Two were Rowentas at $64.99 and $79.99. HA! I wouldn’t buy one at any price. So I got the only other one they had - a $29.99 Hamilton Beach. I’m not going to use water in my irons anymore (I’ll use spray bottles instead), so hopefully this will work OK. It’s actually very sturdy without being heavy, and so far I quilt like it. 

Now, in the background (the design board) of my iron picture, you’ll see an in-process photo of the dinosaur quilt for Brody that I mentioned above. The top is sewn and the backing is ready. I just need to baste and quilt (and bind) it. My plan is to do that on Sunday so that I can hand it over to DGD London’s other grandmother on Tuesday. 

I’ll chat more about it next week when it’s finished. By then I will also have finished up the quilting of my DGD Lauren’s quilt, which we’ll give her for her high school graduation. That’s the Framed Pinwheels quilt that I started last summer when we visited Missouri Star Quilt Company, and whose progress was so rudely interrupted by the basement sewing room flood.

Here’s a peek at the quilting Framed Pinwheels. Lauren plans to major in ecological engineering with a minor in PSC (Plants, Soils and Climate). So I quilted her quilt with loops and leaves and vines. 

This will get its binding this weekend, so it will be another finish to share next week. So many “almosts” this week!

For November, I plan to devote my RSC sewing to my brown scraps. In November 2019 I did two quilts that combined black, gray and browns. Last year during November, I did one brown/blue/gold quilt and two gray quilts. This year my browns are threatening to burst their drawer, so I’m going to knock them back! 

So, up on the design board I have ten 16-patch blocks. They’re just pinned up there, so excuse the wonkiness as some are overlapped for the picture. I had So.Many.Pieces. of the two-tone brown chevron scraps from Quilts for Kids. They were only large enough to cut one or two 2.5” squares from. I was able to get over 300 squares, but only enough to do 41 out of the 42 blocks I’ll need for a quilt. And because they were individual pieces, I can’t strip piece them. But I am being careful to keep the zig-zag oriented in the same direction in every block.

Anyway, because I came up slightly short, I’ll just have to use some other brown for the last block. Or maybe I’ll insert an 8” plain block to give it some interest. I mean, really. How exciting can a brown quilt be? We’ll see. I’m trying to sew two blocks per day, in between other things, which would have me finish the blocks by the 21st or so.  

And then I’ve got all these brown strips that will go toward making another outdoor/camping theme kid quilt. As usual, my process starts by slapping things up on the design board to see if what I have covers enough area to make a kid quilt. This will work. I’ve even got an extra Masala Box block in there. Actual sewing and trimming will start later in the week. I may spice it up with another rusty orange stripe. You know it’s bad when “spice” means rusty orange, LOL!

Sometime during the week I hope to tackle the first of the brown elephants. I want to do several, since I have lots of brown chunks large enough. And I may even rummage through the gray for elephant fabric, too, as the month progresses. Then there are strings and crumbs to deal with, but I can’t even think about those yet...  

Have a great week! 

Quick Update

I had hoped to do a quick, pre-surgery update post on my quilting projects before going in for carpal tunnel surgery (both hands) on Thursday. But Wednesday was sewing day here with Cousin Kim, Bonnae and new friend Shanna. It was a busy, chatty day and by the time dinner rolled around, it was all I could do to get the final preparations done for Bruce to handle things around here post-surgery.

The carpal tunnel surgery was routine and we were home by 11:00 a.m.  Having gotten to the surgical center at O'dark thirty, it wasn't surprising that I had a piece of toast when we got home and then took a 3-hour nap. I've been following doctors orders by keeping my hands iced and elevated, and the surgical numbness is mostly gone and there has been no swelling. There's a bit of pain (more of a dull ache), but it's a piece of cake compared to what the pre-surgery pain was. We took off the gauze and ace wraps yesterday afternoon, and under them on both hands are the water-tight bandages covering the wrist where the arthroscopic incisions were made. I can shower with these with no problem. I go back the day before Thanksgiving to have the stitches out. In the meantime, I can't lift anything heavier  than a couple pounds. I think I'll be able to start sewing this weekend, but using the rotary cutter is probably out for a week or two.

So, let me show you what I got accomplished between last week's post and Wednesday, before surgery.

Not much to see here. This simple blue, navy and green quilt is for the grand-kittens. It's pinned on the design board over another quilt, so just ignore that pink. I will be sewing up a backing for this later in the month and then probably spray basting and quilting it. At least, that's the plan.

Next up are four blocks I made for this month's Covered in Love drive.

And I managed to add a border to this quilt top that I found at the estate sale last month. Then I basted and quilted it. I'll have to have Cousin Kim trim it for me when she's over on Sunday!

I quilted it with light pink thread in a blowsy floral design. 

Once the batting is trimmed away and the backing is trimmed down to a 1" border around it, I can sew the all-in-one binding over and attach a label. This will be my OMG (One Monthly Goal) for November, so it's looking likely that it'll be done easily by month-end.

Finally, I stitched up my blocks for Step #3 of the Seeing Stars sew-along at Butterfly Threads Quilting. This month's blocks (8 for me) were simple hourglass 6" blocks.

And here are all the blocks together so far. We will have larger blocks coming, and rectangular blocks of flying geese and checkerboards coming as well. Those lighter greens don't photograph well, but they do look nicer in real life.

I've got several easy sewing projects lined up for this week, beginning in a day or two when I start feeling like myself again. Yesterday and today were dedicated solely to rest and recovery and being lazy; napping, watching movies, reading, taking care of my hands, and getting lots of loving from Bruce and the kitties. Darla has been by my side consistently for two days.

I'll link up to Scrappy Saturday when I get back from my Block of the Month Club on Saturday morning.

Green and Gray Saturday

It’s a green Saturday because the final color of our Rainbow Scrap Challenge year is medium to dark greens. The last two months of the year will be used to finish up our quilts.

And it’s a gray Saturday because... it’s a gray Saturday. There are more rain clouds threatening, and we’re likely to get lots of refreshing rain as we have for the last several days. But it’s a wonderful change from the heat of summer, and it really feels like fall now. The leaves are changing FINALLY and the air is crisp and cool. Our garden plants are in panic mode, trying to produce as many remaining tomatoes, squash and pumpkins and grapes as they can. The peppers are totally chill and taking their time.

This week wasn’t my most productive ever, but I did get a lot done. But sewing time was vying with autumn preparation things like switching out winter/summer wardrobes, getting my annual physical (part 2), cleaning drawers and collecting things for donation to Goodwill, etc. And fall housecleaning. I’ve decided that when I turn 70 (in 5.5 years), I am going to get a housekeeping service. Life is too short to spend so much time cleaning when I could be doing other things.....

...like following a Squirrel!   I decided I needed a quick change of pace, so I pieced a quick quilt for Darla and Alfie using a panel by Ann Lauer called Cat-i-tude. I chopped it up, added matching fabric (that matches better than the camera is able to capture) and stitched up this 34x44” quilt. And Darla actually napped on it yesterday!

This week I also re-made a Squared Away block - a green square from March - to replace one I didn’t like. The old one will either go onto the back of the quilt or into the Parts Department.  And then I made four quarter log cabins.

There will be more quarter log blocks coming, but I didn’t want to use up any more scraps until the final Squared Away block is announced today. So, by next week I should have my final Squared Away blocks done, plus the 4 green birds and any 6.5” blocks that I can make with the remaining green scrap crumbs.

But I did make some selvage blocks this week. I had used all my green selvages in March, having to mix both light and dark to make the 11 blocks then. But I’ve used lots of green in the interim, so had enough to make these four 6.5” and two 4.5” squares.

My Bowties quilt (“Dancing in September”” is basted and ready to be quilted, so that will get done in the coming week as well. Plus I have another quilt whose blocks are all pieced and ready to be assembled. Stay tuned. And have a great weekend!

Join us over at Angela’s blog for Rainbow Scrap Saturday to see what everyone else has been up to with their scraps.

About Those Cats ...

Darla and Alfie told me last week that they wanted their own quilt. They’re tired of being scooted off any chair or quilt that is covered with a quilt for me or Bruce. They said not only should parents have quilts, but furkids need them too.

Well, they spoke and I listened.

Last spring, during the Utah Shop Hop, I picked up a Cat-i-tude fabric panel by Ann Lauer. Here’s a picture of the panel.  If you’ll click on the picture, you can see more of the colors that aren’t readily obvious.

 Anyway, I cut up the squares, which are not really square at all, and kept the colored frame around them. I trimmed the black and gray sashing away and added my own black borders on the six “squares”. Then, using the purple, pink, turquoise and some of the green to fill in, I pieced some alternate blocks. It was a fun and quick “squirrel” project.

The colors of the alternate blocks match much better than the picture shows - my camera just wouldn’t SEE them properly. The green is more of an avocado and none of the colors are as in-your-face bright as the picture shows. You can even see the difference in the frames around the cats between the picture above and below. Yet neither is totally accurate.

Anyway, I basted it this morning and plan to quilt it later today or tomorrow. I’ll have a finished quilt to show on Saturday. The kitties are pleased so far, although it doesn’t rank among their favorites....

And a few days ago, Sally posted a picture of her supervisor, Molly. From. The. Rear. Can you believe it? I’d hate to be in Sally’s shoes when Molly finds out, LOL!! You can see the picture HERE.  Alfie and Darla were surprised to learn that Molly wears white bloomers! So naturally, they had to get in on the act and show their fashion wear.

Darla wears black velvet stilettos.

Alfie wears crew socks (he’s such a guy...)

And while we were taking pictures for this post, I figured a couple facial photos might be nice.

Darla

Alfalfa

Alfie goes in next Monday to get his teeth cleaned. He’s not going to like that, but he’ll be home the same day. Darla’s teeth were not as bad, so she’ll go in after the Holidays.

I’m wondering if Alfie’s predilection for eating Vanicream has anything to do with it, haha.  He started licking Bruce’s arm whenever Bruce put it on his skin after the surgeries last year. I use the Lite lotion for my feet, keep it on my nightstand, and rub it in every night. No, Alfie doesn’t lick my feet, but he sure goes after that spout if I leave anything there. So I don’t. Crazy Cat!

Darla the Quilting Cat

Hi Friends! It’s me, Darla the Quilting Cat. Yep, it’s true; my mommy taught me this year. I even have pictures to show you in a moment. But first, I am so thrilled to be joining the Pets on Quilts parade for 2017! We always have fun visiting other animal friends online, and I especially want to thank Snoodles, Padsworth and DragonDrop at Lily Pad Quilting for hosting the fun!!



So, let me introduce my furry self.

My name is Darla (“The Girl with the Polka Dot Tummy"), and I am a 4-year old tabby. I live with my mom and dad and my litter brother Alfalfa. Alfie is an orange tabby. He didn't want to be in the show this year because he's been spending much of his time on Neighborhood Watch duties at the windows, keeping an eye on the birds and other critters that visit. It is an impurrtant job too.

By the way, I have the softest furs EVER invented! Silky smooth, I am. I can’t help it!  All the better to leave them behind on the quilts I get to test. Besides being a sewing cat, I also lay on quilts to hold them down (we don’t want them to fly away, you know) and test them for snuggle-ability. It’s my favorite part of the whole quilting process.




Now I would love to show you my sewing lessons to purr-oove my quilting abilities.

First, here I am watching while Mom explained how to use a rotary cutter. She helped me cut squares out for a quilt. Because I don’t have opposable thumbs, she used the rotary cutter while I held the fabric down or held the ruler. Or both. I`m good like that....

Then I learned to thread the machine. Can I tell you how much I love playing with thread?? I like Mommy’s machine. I think it’s a Purr-nina.

Here I am guiding the fabric through the machine, being careful to catch WATCH that quarter-inch seam.

Sewing is hard work, and as quilters we all must remember to take frequent breaks to relax and stretch our muscles. Here I demonstrate my PROVEN technique. Mommy wonders exactly what it is I’m trying to prove, but sometimes she’s no fun! 

And the finished result!  How can you argue with success?!

When the voting begins in a few days, I hope you will come back and vote for me! I can’t promise, but I might even sew a quilt for you!

xo,
DARLA

Wrapping up the Rainbow

As I write this (Friday evening), it’s snowing. Now that is not necessarily unusual here in the Salt Lake Valley at the end of April, but I’m just a bit paranoid; did we miss summer? It’s been raining and slushing all week. I’m sure that if my garden could talk, it would be saying (and here I paraphrase...) "What the Heck?!" The cats have stopped shedding (for now), the furnace is still running, soup is sounding good for dinner, and quilts - well, they always sound good. To console ourselves, we’ve been watching a BBC series on Netflix about the South Pacific. Bonus: it’s narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. (If you don’t know who he is, it’s time to sell that rock you’re living under, LOL).

We have come to the end of our multi-colored/rainbow scraps for the month of April. Our intrepid leader, Angela of So Scrappy, is again hosting another linky lineup of scrappy fabric goodness. It’s so much fun to see what our online quilting friends have been up to!

So this was my creative week. First, I finished up the pastel rainbow baby quilt from my vintage sheet scraps. It finished at 42x42”. It’s hard to get a good picture of a pastel quilt. I quilted it with simple straight line cross hatch. Well, MOSTLY straight lines, hehe. This will be a donation quilt.

Next I took an afternoon to work in some bright, multi-colored cat-themed scraps and quilted up 6 cat quilts (roughly placemat sized) for Best Friends Animal Shelter. The picture includes one I made from the leftover fabric of my bee-themed baby quilt, so there are 7 kitty quilts altogether.  Most of them are from my precious Laurel Burch scraps.

My Flower Market quilt finally came together, and much more easily than I thought it would. The borders worked out perfectly! I actually like the finished quilt.  It measures 61x72”.

Sorry I have to keep taking pictures of finished quilts up on my design board. I`d sure love a sunny day so we could get outside. Anyway, the back is a yummy black print with white and pink flowers and little white polka dots. It is my favorite print of the line. And the binding is a diagonal black and white stripes because Stripes.Are.The.Best.

This is also my Goal #1 for my Finish Along Goals for Second Quarter, list HERE.

Now, let’s take a look at what got done in April in the name of Rainbow Scrap Challenge, shall we?

Surprisingly to me, I completed 72 multi-colored blocks. Of those, 43 went into the Scrap X+plosion quilt (42 on the front and one on the back), then there were 16 quarter log cabins (upper right in collage), and 13 4.5” bowties blocks (center bottom). I also did one rainbow baby quilt, 7 rainbow kitty quilts and 2 rainbow doggie beds. (Had to correct myself there; I first typed doggie bags).  So, it was a very productive month, which proves how crappy our weather has been because everything happened INDOORS.

And finally, I finished the top (only had to trim and add borders) of the Big Game Quilt that I’m making for our DSIL (daughter Emily’s husband) who has returned temporarily from his overseas assignment for the USAF. He has a month leave of absence, during which he is taking a special class and setting up for his new posting and training beginning in July (in nearby Colorado!!) He will go back overseas for about six weeks and then be stateside for good. So, I wanted to give him his Christmas present for 2016 since he was overseas) while he`s here. We’ll finally get to spend some time with the whole sweet family next week!!

This quilt is a printed design panel from Pattern Jam, just like the one I did at Christmas for my other DSIL, only a different color way. This time I was able to pick out the fabrics and colors. The printing has improved dramatically - I can’t believe how crisp and bright the colors are! The two borders were added by me yesterday, and the backing is the same navy blue and green plaid fabric of the outer border. I think even the binding will be the same. That was a great purchase at Connecting Threads for $2.96 per yard.

Not much else is new around here. Bruce may go back to work next week part-time. We’ll see; he will need to pull his nose out of a book long enough to call and arrange it!

Workin’ on a Scrap Gang....

Do you remember the sixties song “Workin’ on a Chain Gang” by Sam Cooke?? He was so awesome! Listen here or just remember..... you’re welcome for the ear worm.  Anyway, that’s been my theme song while sewing this week. The more we sew - and I sew a lot - the more scraps we seem to accumulate. I also spent lots of time this week (but not nearly enough) outside pulling weeds, working on the Weed Gang. But it’s all good. That is, the sewing is good. The weeds, well, I’m hoping I can bribe some high schooler to come pull weeds for $$$ this summer.

So what did I get done this week on my Scrap Gang Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects? A lot, actually. After finishing Scrap X+plosion last week, I continued working on my quarter log cabins until I was nearly out of multi-colored scraps.

I made 16 blocks. There are no current plans for them; they’ll just reside in the Parts Department until a use comes along. The blocks measure 6.5” each and all have a purple starting square. I have no idea why I picked purple. Anyway, the few scraps that remain were either thrown into the stuffing bag (if they were small) or returned to the scrap basket, which is now an echo chamber of near-nothingness.

And I had so much stuffing in my stuffing bag, (scraps of fabric and batting that would normally go into the trashcan) that I decided to make a couple doggie beds from the pattern by Vickie Welsh. It used all the stuffing that I’ve saved for the last couple months. The fabric is some that I still had in my home dec fabric tub from which I used to make purses and aprons. They rather fit the multi-colored theme this month, don’t they? I guarantee their stuffing contents certainly do! These doggie beds will be added to the cat and small dog quilts I make every month for the Best Friends animal shelter.

And then I made a quick baby quilt from the fabrics left over from a previous baby quilt made a couple years ago. Nothing particularly exciting, but it was fun to get the bits together into some kind of cohesive design.

Another fun part for me was using the quilt to practice quilting free motion flowers. I also did random loops to imitate the bee flight paths shown in the yellow bee fabric.  I can now safely add flowers to my quilting “repertoire”, such as it is.

But there was still more week left....... so I put on my thinking cap and realized I still had a bag of multi-colored scraps left over from my last vintage sheet quilt, Rainbow Rails.  I sorted them out and there were enough multi-colored pastel florals and stripes to make another baby quilt.  So, I cut them into 6” squares and used 42 to make a quilt top.

The picture doesn’t do justice to the soft colors. I was also able to cut out 42 squares of blue-purple-green vintage sheet fabrics for my cousin Kim, who needs to do a quick boy baby quilt.. And, I believe there are enough pink and orange and yellow scraps to get one or possibly even two more baby quilts cut. I`ll deal with those when we get to either one of those colors in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Bruce and I went to JoAnn Fabrics this week. He is finally driving again, and it is so nice! I got some sewing machine needles with a 50% off coupon, some American Girl doll clothes patterns (on sale for $1.99 each) to make some more cute doll clothes for my DGD Abbie, and I also bought a cheap poly batt for the donation baby quilt. It was, like $5, so it convinced me that I shouldn’t cut into my good, wide roll of batting.

And then I couldn’t put it off any longer. It was time to get back to my Flower Market quilt and making the borders. I got all the flying geese made and trimmed and there are just enough to make the border around the quilt -  IF I use cornerstones. I checked through my scraps and there were 4 black floral print squares already cut and waiting. Meant to be!

So, I hope to have two quilt finishes this coming week, and then I can start on the cat quilts for the shelter. I’d like to make about eleventy thousand of them; enough to justify another trip to the shelter to unload them and the two doggie beds. Yep, this is life in the fast lane, I tell ya.......

Have a great week!
Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

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?