finally! on to a new color *she says with relief...*

I  know that blue is a popular color, but really- I  had no idea I had.so.much.blue! we just did blue in November for pete's sake! where did it all come from?

since my blues are all stored together, I did all the shades of blue, as you can see below. navy, slate, teal, and sky blue.

it literally took me all month to get "done" although I still have to do 2 sawtooth stars (with 2 navy blue crumb blocks) and the 2 (?) connecting blocks. I'll get them done soon.

one of the things that I'm doing to work through all (most) (a lot?) of my fabrics is to sort through each basket as Angela calls the color of the month. anything smaller than ½ yard goes to be cut up- into 3" blocks, or 2½" strips. smaller pieces go into the crumb jars. if I really don't like the fabric, I'm putting it in my donate pile.

I've also gone through all my leftover fabric and stashed pieces from previous quilts (some made as many as 20 years ago. yikes!) I've cycled all those leftover bits back into the "let's use it up, or get rid of it" pile.

I had planned on making an Xstrippy quilt, but after making a test block, I decided that I was not what I wanted after all. so I'm going for this look instead. the rectangles are 9½" X 4½", and the squares are 4½".



here are my strips for the Zig Zag Quilt I plan on making- both the horizontal AND vertical one. thankfully I printed out the pattern when it first caught my eye- seems it's no longer available for free! I'll piece 7 strip sets in each color, using scrappy whites. (these are 2½" strips.)

I have my pink squares all cut out- I got some from my suitcase, and went through my pink basket, and pulled leftover pinks from other projects. thankfully there was not too much! I like pink, but I guess I don't sew with too much of that particular color!



and lastly: here's a pile of 100 different 2½" strips that I pulled from my strip bins. ( I didn't count them yet, but I'll add to them until there are 100 different fabrics.) ages ago I printed out this pattern.  With scrappy tans as the sashing and inner border, I'm excited at how it will turn out!

SO: that's enough to keep me busy for a while- at least until it's time to start the tomatoes!

the blue- it was so many!

another year of RSC has started, and I'm looking forward to using EVEN MORE of my scraps. I'm happy that January was blue- I have.so.much.blue!!!

 

I've been inspired by Julie over at Me and My Quilts. she's so organized, and has several projects going at one time. so this year I'm taking a page out of her book, and doing the same. hopefully I can use some more of my fabric- there is so much still to be used! and so many possibilities- how many quilts are in my fabric baskets, just waiting to be thought of and used?

 

I've made myself a check-off list for each month. one of the first things that I'll do is go through each color of fabric drawer that is that month's color. I'll sort the fabric to donate, keep (larger pieces) and cut into my scrap "system" (3" squares, 2½" strips and crumbs)

 

I'm glad that January is also a longer month (and slow for us, too, as it's still too early AND cold to start in the high tunnel, greenhouse or gardens!) seems like there was SO MUCH BLUE! in my drawer. it's taken me this long this month to even get a dent into those squares!

I'm continuing with the Split 4 patches. this year I'll only do 6-12 of each color. I picked out my most favorite blues, or the scraps with the most meaning. I still have the black, grey, brown and orange S4P from last year. I'll wait until inspiration hits me to decide on a final layout.

 

I'm also planning on making a Good Night Irene quilt this year. (or at least getting a good start on one!) I've seen them called by a different name. anybody know the other names for this quilt?

 

I think with some Kona white (again!) and laying out the quilt before sewing it together, I should be able to make all the colors travel and blend quite nicely.

 

these 9 patches are inspired by a quilt that I found here. last year when I made my 9 patch blocks, I sorted them fairly particularly according to color, and I was very happy how that turned out. this year I'll continue to do that. last year I made 16 patch blocks, and 9 patches with a Kona white center. I don't have that many of each color this year (see- I did make SOME progress!) so I've chosen to do these scrappy 9 patches. there are 5 of the COM, 3 Kona white squares, and a scrappy black square.

 

hopefully this week I can get to my crumbs and strips! I'll be making Angela's RSC Sampler, so I need to get "caught up" on that before I fall behind! I'm planning on making a scrappy zig zag quilt (or two) with my 2½" strips, (can't find the pattern right now...) And also an X/strippy quilt.  last year even though I made HUNDREDS of crumb blocks, I didn't use the smaller strips so much, so hopefully the X quilt can make use of all.those.strips!

 

holy smokes!!! 6 quilts in the making for RSC15! I better get off the computer and start sewing!

find all the rest of the blue inspiration here!