Another Scrappy, Happy Week!

This has been a cold week with lots of snow here in the Salt Lake Valley. It clears up for a day or so in between storms; brilliant sunshine and blue skies with glittering snow on the ground. Gorgeous. And then another storm comes in to cleanse the air and prevent pollution build-up. And so it goes. I don’t mind the snow - in fact I enjoy it -  because I`m retired. All I ever have to do is occasionally shovel the walkway for the mailman if hubby and the snowblower aren’t in the vicinity.  But since I’ve only come to live where there are four seasons in my adulthood (I grew up in sunny Southern California), I have never built a snowman. I ALMOST started one last Tuesday, but thought better of it.  :-)  I was in the front yard and could just imagine the neighbors wondering what this crazy ol’ broad was doing....

This week is the first week of PURPLE for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. Lots of purple goodness to check out! But also, we veteran RSC’ers were asked to share some of our past makes. Rather than add them in here, I have created a GALLERY page (blue link, above, next to “Home”). It starts with my 2016 quilts and goes back to 2012. Enjoy!

So, this is what I got done this week, sewing-wise:

Rainbow Selvages. This is actually four columns; two in purple (or blue-purple) and two in red-purple. The like colors will eventually be sewn together into their own single column, but I figured it was easier to photograph them this way. Besides, each column will alternate from starting with a solid to starting with selvages, checkerboard fashion. So, in the end I’ll have to rearrange a section here and there. No biggie.

These were so fun to whip up! And for now they will go into their little pile and await other colored friends to join them throughout the year.  :-)

Crayons.  The light purple crayon below was done last year (August) when we had the month of misty purple/acid green or do-your-own-thing.  This week I sewed up the dark purple. They are sewn together because they are neighbors on the quilt.  Actually, their length will be the width of the quilt (before borders, etc.)

Planned for next week is the purple blocks of the Rainbow Bookshelf. And then some work with 2.5” scraps.

I found the picture of the warm version of the Improv Scrap Blocks flimsy to show. It has a back pieced for it and is just waiting its turn in line for quilting.

I just totally love it! The sashing is Kona Cream, and I questioned whether it “worked” or not at first. But I think it does. This quilt is set 6x8 blocks and will finish at 62”x72”.


Right now I am in the middle of quilting Rainbow Rails (the vintage sheet rail fence), then after that is the Cool Improv Scraps (like above, only in blues, greens, purple with black sashing), then the Warm Improv above, and finally the Rainbow Dresdens. They will all become goals for the Finish-Along 1st Quarter.

Finally, I stitched up a sleeping bag and pillows for one of my granddaughter’s American Girl dolls. I still need to run to JoAnn and get a 20” separating zipper and sew on the ribbon ties. But It’s fun to show it even at this stage. I took the opportunity to practice my free motion swirls, and as you can see, I do need practice! But it’s OK for this, right?  LOL

I’m feeling a sort of loss, not having kitty blocks to work on! Did you see Missouri Star Quilt Company’s tutorial for this week? It’s a cat quilt!!  I’m almost tempted.......   Almost, but not quite.

The Sewing Life

Winter at Wheeler Farm (a block from our house)

My winter (for the first six weeks or so of the year) consists of waking up, feeding cats, doing some chores, sewing, meals, running errands - as weather permits), sewing some more, playing/reading on the computer, watching Netflix now and then, sewing and going to bed. Rinse and repeat. It always seems dark and cold (or occasionally light and cold). It’s effectively my HIBERNATION period. I do my best not to go mad. Thank heavens I don’t live in Alaska; I wouldn’t last the winter.....

This winter routine is usually broken when we take off to visit family in Arizona sometime in the first half of February. Usually it’s warm there - south of Tucson, almost to the Mexican border. Shirt-sleeve weather, and gloriously sunny. Sometimes it’s as warm as the high 80’s (F), which feels wonderful. Once, a few years ago, it snowed twice the week we were there. That was not so fun.  I do take my sewing machine and/or some handwork (embroidery, crochet, etc). We do a lot of walking, visit the Tubac Arts Festival, visit family, just hang out and drink, nap or shop. Lots of cute shops there, but more about that when the time comes.

For now, let me just say that so far this winter, life is good. It helps having new things to look at since we just finished the living room remodel. The rest of our furniture should be here within 10 days or so. We did get a new big clock, but I’m still pondering the arrangement of Wall Stuff.  I really wanted numbers instead of Roman Numerals, and Bruce wanted a vintage map on the face. Neither one of us got what we wanted, but we compromised on this because we both liked it and it will go with our stuff nicely. Yes, pictures will come when it’s all done. Anyway, this weekend the laying of the hardwood floor down the hall and into the bedroom/study will start up.  I cannot tell you how much I love seeing the old carpet exit the premises.

4 Block Lotto January Heart Blocks

It’s no secret that I am a devout fan of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, sewing away diligently on my colored scraps each month. And I have plenty of other quilty projects to finish up and/or begin. Lots of variety. But this year I added in a new thing (which I have time for - I think -  since I closed my Etsy shop last summer). The Block Lotto. You’ve probably heard of it. Monthly blocks to make, or not, as you feel like it. Keep for yourself or donate. For every block donated, you get entered into the drawing to win the blocks. Whether I win or not, it will be a great way to use up my scraps. And we all know, the more we sew up our fabric, the more we can buy.  (Did I say that out loud?)


One final thing for this rather rambling post. Today Bruce and I had our weekly “Barnes and Noble Date”.  We go get coffee, read magazines, look at new books and music, etc etc.  I was looking at vinyl albums when I did a double-take. There on the cover was.... Bruce? No.... It was Neil Diamond. Long lost brothers? Judge for yourself....

Left: Neil            Right: Bruce

I’m rather fond of both of them...........

Rainbow Scrap Plans for 2017

This will likely be my last post of 2016, and in it I want to look forward to 2017 (sewing-wise).  There are so many things we cannot control or plan, and I`m OK with rolling with the punches life throws. But it’s nice to have an area of creativity that I can control (mostly, if time and funds are not counted, LOL). And so I will outline some basic sewing goals for 2017, realizing that reality may look slightly different.

I love the Rainbow Scrap Challenge! It helps to get rid of fabric scraps (“leftovers”; and I’m a big fan of leftovers. If it’s food, leftovers mean I often don’t have to cook but can do something instead). Doing something with my fabric scraps means that I can conjure up quilts out of pieces that may have had no further life expectancy. The RSC also adds a framework around which I can plan my sewing - by monthly color. I prefer to attack my colored scraps when the color is announced, sewing them as I’ve planned. After they are done (and sometimes in between if I get tired of a color) I turn to other projects. It works well for me.

So here is what I have planned for RSC for 2017.


2.5” Squares and HSTs

1.   Friendship Star Variation

This 6” quilt block

This quilt layout

2.  Arrowhead Puzzle (or Garlic Knot)

This block

This quilt layout

The background will be scrappy for this one. Tentative plan is to use all colors, mixed up, but that may change.


PIECES, smallish

3.  Color Me quilt by Emily Herrick.

I started Color Me last year and have a couple of the crayons done. The pieces within the crayons are 2.5x5”, a good size for my scraps. I will continue to add to this until it “feels” done. There may be more colors....


STRIPS

4.  Diagonal Strips

This is another project I started last year. I have several 8.5” blocks done in pinks, reds, and blues. I’ll just keep adding to them as my scraps dictate.

5.  The Rainbow Bookcase

I’m really excited by this one!  Blocks are just 12” squares (5 per row); a color topped by the background. I can piece them so the books stand vertically or horizontally, using different width scraps and even adding lettering or selvages to mimic book titles. Depending on how many scraps are available, this may be a 1-2 year project. I’m thinking of combining pink and red in one row, and combining the aquas and blues in one row, then purples and grays in another. So, most of the variables are open at this point, except that I do have a gray piece to cut up for the “shelves”. Not sure what background I’ll use yet, but I have lots to choose from and it doesn’t all have to be the same.

SELVAGES

I believe I’ve shown this one before, but here we go again....

6.   Rainbow Selvages, pattern by Riel Nason.

What I like about this is that the selvages themselves are all mixed up and with all the white they contain, they form the background/alternate piecing to the rainbow colored blocks. I don’t know if the color blocks will be solid (probably not) or pieced, but I think this will allow a lot of flexibility to use up lots of scraps and selvages. I would like to try 1-2 columns per month, with more of a varied range. For example, the oranges could be dark orange (one column) and light oranges (one column) moving into golds (one column) then yellow (one column), light greens, darker greens, etc.  I tried sewing together some selvages this week  and I think I have enough selvages to keep to the same color family in the same column. If I run short, though, I have so many multi-colored selvages that we’ll just make up any shortage with those.

And finally, I have four RSC2016 quilts to finish in the first quarter. One is ready to quilt and the other 3 are now flimsies. I will show some pictures of those in the next few weeks.


NOT RSC, but Must-Do’s for 2017

1.   Lozenges. My birthday is March 14 (Pi Day) and earlier this year I entered and won a contest from @Laurie3.14 on Instagram. The prize was 314 scrap pieces of fabric, dozens of which were her leftover lozenges from making this quilt (a Bonnie Hunter pattern) for her daughter (picture is of daughter’s friend holding quilt):

photo courtesy of Lauri M

I’m doing this same quilt, with white and black or gray accents (flip corners). I used Laurie’s gifted orange scraps as the start, then cut out a hundred or so more when we had orange month earlier this year. I will take stock and begin work again in earnest come our next orange month.

2.  Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P) for BIL Marv.  This year I took a red quilt for Bruce’s brother Dennis when we visited in February. When we go again next year, I will take a quilt for Marv - a D9P in black, white, gray and teal.

3.  A quilt for me. I’m using Olive’s Flower Market (I have bought up enough of that line to probably make three quilts, LOL. I lerrrrve it!!) Pattern is Rose Cottage.

4.   Finish up Farm Girl Quilt.

5.  Kennel quilts - small size quilts (12x18” up to crib-size). Our Best Friends local group takes any size, so I am going to try to donate 6 per month, or more if I can manage.

6.  I promised hubby Bruce that I’d make him another quilt, and he wants guitars. Also, one son-in-law is deployed currently, but when he gets home I will make him a quilt. His wife (our daughter Emily) says he’d love one of those Big Game quilts I made this year.

Bernadette (my Bernina 550QE) was gone for Three.Whole.Days. for a spa treatment this week. But she’s back now and I’m ready to get sewing. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to finish another quilt before year-end.

Do you have any plans for New Year’s Eve? We don’t either, LOL. Too darn cold to go downtown to celebrate outdoors. We’ll just cozy up in the new living room, have some Kahlua and eggnog (my seasonal favorite drink) and try to stay awake until the New Year rings in. I know, we’re so boring.

Linking up to 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?

A Housekeeping Issue for a Cozy Christmas

Hi!  This isn’t a literal housekeeping issue, as in my house. But because the rules of the Finish Along state that each finish must have be posted individually, I am giving the cute little Cozy Christmas quilt its own separate post.

I quilted it with a micro stipple in the pink backgrounds of the blocks, then outlined some of the appliqués. The first frame around each “picture” got a swirly loop, and then the rest of the quilt was stippled. It finished at 58x71”. It will be a gift for my DD Stacy, who loves all things Christmas. And because Stacy has a 1-year-old, I didn’t sew any buttons on the quilt as it called for.

Now, I am linking up to the 2016 Finish Along (see button in sidebar) and my 4th Quarter FAL Goal list here.

Besides, we all love a little extra eye candy (to say nothing of the real thing) at this time of year, right?

Final Cat and Kitten Quilt Done for this Year!

It’s official. I am done with all my planned Christmas quilts - all 9 or 10 of them. One person gets a choice between two quilts, so I did 10 knowing that I will have one left over for us.  :-) I plan to recap them all (even the Rainbow Scrap Flimsies I still have to quilt) on my next RSC post on Saturday.

But for now, I am linking up this Kitty quilt to my 2016 4th Quarter Finish Along Goals. This is #5 on my list which you can see here.

Like both of the other cat quilts, it finishes at 52x72” and has a Warm & Plush 100% cotton bat.

Here are all three kitty quilts together:

L-R:  For London, Abbie and Remington

And from our house, we wish you a Meowy Christmas!

A Rainbow Scrap Flimsy and a Finish

Wow, another exciting blog title, LOL.

So this week my main finish was decorating the living room. Most of the furniture arrived on Monday as planned, and everything was squeaky clean and waiting for it.  But wait!  See the Christmas quilt and drawers on the right?  Well, the drawers are now put away (oops); the contractor had to shorten the depth per our drawings so that media cords could fit behind. Done and done. And that Christmas quilt covers the boxes of flooring for the hall. It’s in a good place for now (until January), since the other couch and ottoman will not arrive until then.

Darla is sitting on her Turbo Ball Toy and Alfie is sitting on the couch. Their couch. The cats love it. Thankfully, they prefer to sleep on the folded-up quilt that’s there. And Darla loves that we decorated in her fur colors.  Anyway, the rug isn’t centered and the existing couch may end up on the right wall when the new one arrives. We just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I am searching for a nice large clock (Bruce wants an antique-looking map clock) and other wall items for the large wall on the right which you can’t see. More pictures when everything is really done, in January.

But for now, we are loving our evenings in our respective chairs with tables, lamps (not shown, but they would be in foreground), with the fire going, reading our books or watching TV. That smaller left cabinet is filled with grandkid toys, and the right one now houses our DVDs, turntable, media computer, DVD player, receiver, etc. The speakers will eventually be added to the shelving once they are painted white.

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Another quilt finish! This one is November Rain for my son Ryan’s Christmas present. It, too, is in Darla’s colors, which she asked me to relay. It finished at 67x86 (or was it 83?). Anyway, the quilting is wonky/wavy line quilting and the back is fabric from half a cotton duvet cover from IKEA.

The November Rain Quilt was #10 on my Quarter 4 Finish-Along goals, which is listed HERE.

And I also was able to finish the flimsy for one of my RSC quilts this week. Here is the Improv quilt blocks in green, blue, purple and teal.  It measures 72x72 and has a couple quilts ahead of it in line for quilting..... So it may or may not be finished this month.

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I’ve been trying to grab time to read this week, and the book is Rubbing Stones, pictured below. The author, Nancy Burkey is a longtime friend of mine and this is her first book. Nancy and I were best friends in our high school and early college years. We were in Job’s Daughters together (a Masonic organization for girls) and she was my Maid of Honor at my wedding in 1974. She went on to become an MD (OB-GYN) and then switched her specialty to Psychiatry, which she practiced for nearly 30 years. She is now semi-retired (does some locum tenens) and writes. She uses her psychiatry background in her writing.

The book can be found on Amazon here, which gives a good description of it.  The book is exciting and VERY good, and I am reading slowly, savoring every morsel. I would recommend it as a great read (all the reviews so far are 5-star), even though I’m only 1/4 through!  I’ve bought six hard copies (even though I usually read e-books because I can make the print bigger for my eyes), and lots of my family and friends will be getting copies of it for Christmas.

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Today I will finish up the third kitty quilt - it’s about half quilted now. That will complete the Christmas presents, and the shopping is done. All that’s left is for me to do some grocery shopping and baking. Just a bit; everyone is coming for brunch on the 24th or 25th, so I`m only worrying about those things. Bruce and I have a rib roast together that evening by ourselves.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at Angela’s So Scrappy blog, where the ladies are all finishing up their 2016 quilts. And I will link up to Oh Scrap! too (If I can remember on Sunday!!)