brown overload!

it's the last week for browns/blacks/greys. I for one, am glad! not too many blacks and greys in the scrap jars, I did end up with more grey crumb blocks than I thought I would.

last week I concentrated on making all my brown crumb blocks. until I started sorting through the scraps in the brown jar, I didn't realize that #1- I had ALOT of brown! and #2- many of the brown pieces were pretty big. so first, I cut all the large scraps into 3" squares.

 

I made the brown 9 patches, with the Kona white center, and also 2 more brown 16 patches. a few black crumb blocks were made, too.

 

so many brown 3" blocks- 10 more brown D4P. ack! (2 of the blocks below are black) I worked on them bit by bit, and I will say I'm glad they're done!

I have a few ideas of how I'd like to put all my blocks together in December- no point in hoarding them all, right? excited to see what color will be for next month!

linking up with angela at so scrappy. go see what everyone else is making!

getting excited for another mystery!

 

it's that time of year again- time to gear up, rummage around in our stash, and get excited for Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt! personally, I L.O.V.E. mystery quilts- it's a chance (and a challenge) to make a quilt that is different than what I normally do, and use some fabrics from my stash. usually, when I hop on for another mystery quilt, I add the additional challenge to myself to use only (mostly) fabrics from my stash.

 

last year's BH mystery, Celtic Solstice, I pieced ENTIRELY from my stash. not sure if I should be proud, or cringing in embarrassed shame...

 

Judy's mystery last year was Mystery Medallion- again, pieced mostly from stash. that completed quilt was gifted to my son Nathaniel, and his wife Priscilla as a wedding gift in May.

 

and finally, this year it's Tell It To The Stars. just a couple more months and borders on that one, and we're done!

 

the yellow I chose for Grand Illusion is "tape measure yellow". I thought that would be fun. (I'll have to confess that I did buy that yellow this week- but it was 50% off... so that's ok, right?) I've decided to use Kona black for my black. I may change my mind and end up going scrappy, but for now Kona is the plan.

 

 

 

 when I first saw the colors for Grand Illusion, I thought I wouldn't have the colors I needed. silly me! I love.love.love. the pinks and aqua- it's such a happy little pile!

 

the greens are only so-so, but they're fine, really... my stash seems a bit light on the grass green, but I'll just go with what I've got. the little pile of whites are 2" strips- mis-cuts or leftovers from Celtic Solstice- so i'll want to use them up first if at all possible. the rest of the whites i'll pull and use from my stash as they're needed.

 

42 days and counting...

plodding right along....

I worked on my black, brown and grey S4P most of the week, and lo. it nigh unto killed me! normally I don't enjoy working on small and twiddly things, and these S4P were approaching either small, twiddly, or worse: both! I started with 3" blocks, which isn't terribly small, I guess, but after almost 30 blocks, it sure felt like it! after piecing the 4 patch together, I make a cut 1" on the center seams. that's a ¾" finished 4 patch in the middle- small for me!

 but, I will say, that having them done is a good feeling! I started on my crumb blocks last night, and found some a lot more pieces of brown in the scrap jar, so I guess there are a few more brown S4P in my future this week!

(take a minute to check out my other posts this morning: my fabric pull for Bonnie's new mystery, Grand Illusion, and my soduku baby quilts. )



linking up with Angela at soscrappy.

why re-invent the wheel?

after receiving an invitation to a baby shower for early November, I figured I better get busy on the baby quilt I was planning to gift.

 

my stash of 3" squares is pretty impressive, so I knew I wanted to use those. (even with these 3 quilts, and RSC14, the suitcase is still overflowing!) as far as I know, this particular quilt is an original that I've designed. I'm know I was inspired with other quilts that I've seen, but I don't' remember seeing this particular design before.

 

the pink/yellow/purple quilt is for our church's sewing group. we like to give a quilt to each new baby that is dedicated. now we'll have 4 quilts in reserve for the mamma's to choose from - 2 for a boy and 2 for a girl.

 

the second quilt is for a dear friend's daughter- M is expecting her first baby in early December. the nursery is teal/grey/white. I threw in some yellow just for fun. I love how it turned out- but wish I had remembered to put the side pieces on the center square before adding the top and bottom borders. oh well.

 

the last quilt is for a dear friends daughter (same dear friend, different daughter.) H had her second baby girl in july (?). I did ask for some input on the colors- H wanted purple/sage colors. the fabric that I used for this quilt is hand dyed fabric from Vicki - I won it last month (I think it was last month!) while participating in Judy's Tell It To The Stars  mystery quilt. the background is Kona thistle. (the light purple didn't show up too well in this picture)

 

the quilts finish about 40" X 50" (I think!). what made centers particularly easy, I think, was that I used the solution to a Sudoku puzzle to lay out the centers! I chose 9 fabrics, 9 of each, and just followed the answer key to lay out the center patchwork. easy-peasy!

RSC: brown and black (and busy!)

 

borrowing the blog title from Angela- it's been busy here, too! i thought this week would be a bit slower- but HA!

 



 

my baby turned 7 this week. SEVEN! and with my oldest daughter being 25, that can sure make a mamma feel old in a hurry! this week was busy with a dentist appointment, piano lessons, birthday preparations and celebrations, 64 quarts of applesauce (done with lots of help, though!), harvesting 40+ bushels of potatoes and closing down the gardens and fields, so there was not a lot of time (and energy!) for sewing.

 

but I did get these 7 blocks done. I'm ready to move on to the brown and black split 4 patches, and then the crumb blocks for brown, black and grey.

 

totally loving the RSC! and: is anyone else squealing with excitement about Bonnie Hunters's 2014 mystery, Grand Illusion? or is it just me? I can't wait to do my fabric pull for that quilt- the colors look so exciting and happy.

scrappy saturday: october is brown, grey and black!

I was excited to see what color Angela would pick for October... wanting to look in my little suitcase to see what colors I could play with this month... (also, in the background you can see one of those little sewing caddies just like the one that Jo received as a gift. mine is from a dear friend that passed away a few years ago.)

 

it's brown, grey and black. sorting through all the squares, I realized that I have ALOT of brown... less black, and less grey. (even after pulling the 3 colors for this month, and the orange from last month, there are still many, many blocks in here. I guess I'll be busy for quite awhile!) 

 



after a busy, busy week, I was able to spend a few hours in the sewing room last night, and pulled out all the squares from the little suitcase. (the suitcase was my mother's, and had lived in the attic for ages and ages-years, really! last spring I pulled it out and thought that it would work really well for some cute storage in the sewing room.)

 

last week sometime, I was also able to work through the pile of fabrics that were waiting to be cut into 3" squares... the pile was so big, it took 2 nights to do it! in looking at these fabrics, I see some that have been around for 20 years or so! in the above block, the geometric print second from the right on the bottom row was from a quilt that I made my boys when they were 5. last week they turned 24 ~ it's great that this fabric is finally finding a home! 

these "tiny" split 4 patches are not my favorite block to make, but they do look cute when they're done! I have about 4 more to make, then i'll start on the black and brown. thanks for looking ~ hope to see you again next week!