a cold and quilty week...

lots of gray skies here- not much blue and sunshine, but that usually means more time in the sewing room! (and that's always ok by me!)

I finally got around to cutting out my pieces for Angela's RSC16 Column-Along. just like most of the things that I put off/procrastinate on, it was not nearly as bad as I was dreading. I'm so spoiled with sewing with my squares. but to be fair to myself- it was a bit more complicated, since I could not (can not) find my easy angle rulers!!! where could they be? no clue... the last time I used them was when I made Celtic Solstice. (and acutally, that was the only time that I used them!)

 

I ended up improvising, and will have to square up those units before piecing them into the twinkle stars. but on the good side: the triangles will cover up those little boo-boos, so it's all good.

 

i'll list the Kona colors that I'm using later. the background is Coal.

 

I was very surprised that even with piecing 5+ quilts from my crumb jars, I was able to get 25 blue crumb blocks!  (and that could partially be since I was not obsessing being so particular about getting the blocks exactly. monochromatic.

 

Lover's Knot 66"X72" RSC15 I made heaps and scads and hordes of 9 patch blocks. 3 Kona white, 1 scrappy black, and 5 monochromatic blocks in the color of the month. this is the second quilt that I pieced from that pile.

this quilt from RSC15 was completed last week, but I forgot to share it with you! it's headed to a MCC auction in Kansas, but right now it's hanging in our local LQS as a sample for my Oh, Scrap: Encore class. you can read more about my RSC15 quilts as I finish them at the tab on the top of the page.

 

these two pictures are not technically RSC15 or 16 but I wanted to share them anyway. these pictures were taken this week at our church sewing group Scraps to Wraps (S2W). we meet twice monthly in the winter. we piece, tie and bind comforters (60"X80") to be given to MCC, which are then donated around the world in various relief efforts.

 

My youngest daughter, B (8) ~top picture~ is tying knots with Arlene. A (9) is tying knots in the second picture. besides the fact that we get to sew quilts and play with fabric, the ministry of S2W is very near and dear to my heart. I love (LOVE!) that my girls get to grow up with the blessing of multi-generational friendships and companionship. i think that's so important! 

another week, a bit of progress...

yay, me! I figured out the tabs at the top! I posted the info/back story about my RSC14 projects. (all completed, yay again!) click on over if you want to see.... ( so far the RSC14 tab is the only one that's done. the others are still a work in progress... i'll get to them as soon as I can!)

I'm still having fun with my suitcase of squares- (it's a vintage suitcase that was my mothers, and is FULL of 3" squares that I've cut from my stash/scraps, and sorted into colors.) I've never made a granny square block, and thought that this would be the perfect year to do some! I'm using the creams/tans left over from last year's 16 patches. I made 4 blue grannies- and I promise this year I won't go overboard, and try to use up every. single. pretty. fabric.

 

and actually, since I've been using these squares for a couple years now, the choices of colors that have 8 squares (for the outer ring) is getting slimmer and slimmer. so I guess that's a good thing, right? ha!

 

here are my 4 patches from last year- I didn't have a solid plan of where I was going with these. then inspiration struck (BAM):

I'm teaching an encore Scrap Happy class at our LQS in Feb/March and the shop owner wanted me to do a quilt from one of Bonnie Hunter's books- Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  I started making the zig-zag 9 patch on the cover, and then got distracted with the other quilt on the cover....

I realized that I could use my RSC15 4 patches, and make the bow tie blocks. (her squares are the ridiculous size of 1" finished!!!) being the reasonable person I am, (I hate twiddly sewing) I decided that my 2½" finished squares would work just fine...

 

I have to say, though, that after assembling this block, I decided that the white plaid is too thin/flimsy, so I'll replace those 8 blocks, and use a better fabric for the remaining 15 blocks.

 

click on over the Angela's and see what everyone else is sewing and creating! maybe you'll be inspired!

RSC16- off to a good start with the blues

I'm happy with my progress so far for RSC16. one of the quilts that I'm making this year is Simply Woven . especially since Angela is calling for an accent color each month, this quilt should work really well for RSC. all the fabrics are from my stash, and I'm really pleased with how this quilt looks so far. there are 4 different tans, and many, many blues, with a few purples thrown in.

 

technically, this bonnie hunter scrappy trips isn't really a RSC project, but I had pieced the blocks last year, and just this week got the top put together. with a 6X6 block layout, it finishes at about 72"- a perfect throw size.

 

this quilt is for my 2 girls' room- it uses all the same fabrics that are in their bed quilts.  they helped make the squares, picking out 5 fabrics of the color combinations of their choice. I added the Kona white as the middle constant, and this is a very bright and colorful quilt!

 

the top is done, and the backing is pieced and hanging with the quilt in my sewing room closet. I had planned on quilting this one myself (straight lines, easy peasy) but with tendonitis in my left shoulder, it's really more than I can manage, unfortunately. as the budget allows, I'll send quilts to the longarmer...

 

my farmer's market table runner/cloth went to the quilters this week, so I'm calling this a good week, quilt wise. and: I also figured out the bloggy tabs for RSC. yay, me! all of them are a work in progress, but RSC14 is done- go check it out! and while you're at it, stop by Angela's and see what everyone else has been working on!

the quilter's post of shame...

RSC14 was so successful for me (my first year participating)- it was just the inspiration and accountability that I needed to "tame" all my scraps and fabric, and begin to use them. using a color a month, and piecing a pile of blocks seems to work really well for me, so I jumped in. during RSC14 I made 8 (throw size) quilts: one for each of my children, one particular favorite that I couldn't part with, and a color wheel quilt for my sewing room wall.

 

so when RSC15 rolled around I jumped in even more whole-heartedly, and tried to make all the quilts. with piecing a particular block(s) each month, in a particular color, things rolled along pretty smoothly until December. then it was Time. To. Put. All. The. Quilts. Together.

 

smokey cats, batman! a tad bit overwhelming, it was... so here's my list of RSC15 quilts that will be completed into tops as part of my RSC16.

 

in no particular order:

scrappy 16 patches, using my favorite fabrics, and tan/cream neutrals. even though I only picked out my favorite fabrics, I still ended up with 188 blocks! sheesh...

the zig zag quilt. (sorry about the upside down picture) I have all the colors, and plan to make 2 quilts- vertical and horizontal zig zags.

crumby strips. I still have the green ones to piece, and still not quite sure what i'll do for the layout of this quilt. I'm thinking a diagonal set at the very least... maybe something like this?

these Split 4 Patches are made from 3" squares from my suitcase of squares. they look super cute when completed, but I think they're a pain in the dooopy to make... I still have about 16 S4P to cut and sew back together, and then this quilt will be ready to assemble....

a special pile of 16 patches- I'm making a quilt for my table at farmer's market. you can read more about this quilt here.

my monochromatic 4 patches. not sure what I want to do with these, either, but there's always my pinterest RSC board for inspiration, but here's another layout that I like.

there are still a few more blocks lurking around: like the RSC15 sampler (just need to do the X blocks for that one...)  my bright scrappy trips (bonnie hunter's pattern) and my red stars.

 

as part of my RSC16 sewing, i'll be doing *approximately* a top a month to complete all these started and unfinished RSC15 piles of blocks. and you can keep me accountable, too!

RSC15 overflow into RSC16...

sorry for the crappy picture- it's been cloudy and dreary here for weeks and weeks! this is my RSC15 crumb quilt- and it's done! as in DONE: quilted, bound and officially napped under. (that was my job...)

 

I forget the measurements- I think it's 70"X82"- right around there somewhere. it's always fun to look through and see some of the favorite fabrics, and remember the happy memories they bring back...

here's another quilt- almost done. but it's ready to go to the quilter, so that's fair, right? I used 75 (!) of my scrappy 16 patches from last year, and made a quilt/table cloth for my table at farmer's market. I picked out all the squares that had animals, vegetables or flowers on them. for good measure, I also chose some that had coffee and some sewing/quilting things on them. 

it's the ridiculously odd size of 150" X 50". I've never made a quilt that size, and I'm pretty sure nobody else has either! but: it will fit perfectly on my 2 tables, which are usually arranged in an L shape. there will be about a 2 block overhang on 3 sides. so, it's perfect, really, just an odd shape...

 

I've had this Hoffman Country Market fabric in my stash for 5+ years. I bought it when I was on my kick of making those repeating quilts (can't think of what they're called now...)  I never really liked this fabric, and that's why I didn't use it. but it's perfect for the farmer's market quilt! (i'll use it for the binding, too, and then that will be just about it for this fabric...)

 

we're busy buying seeds and stuff now- and Dave just came in and said that spring will be here before we're ready. ack! so soon it will be time to start farmer's market, too, and I'm hoping that this quilt on my table will bring some extra folks... if not for the beautiful and bountiful veggies and fruits, or the stimulating conversation with the farmers... at least they'll come to look at the pretty quilt!

RSC16- so excited for another year of scrappy quilts!

I definitely was a big, fat show off bit off more than I could chew last year, and started TOO. MANY. QUILTS. (is that even possible? did those words just come out of my mouth?)

 

I love the soothing rhythm of sewing and sewing blocks together, paying attention only to color, an accurate seam allowance and the growing little pile of blocks. but I realized at the end of the year I had a very large stack of blocks, and to put them all together in to about a dozen quilts (really!) was not quite as soothing or relaxing. actually, it's a bit ridiculous!

 

I'm not complaining, really! but several of the quilts that I made required quite a lot of twiddling and laying them out to get the colors just right. my design wall is not quite big enough for that (still not complaining) but it was all a bit much.

 

so this year, I'm not doing as many quilts. ( I'm a quick learner, I am!).

 

here's my list of projects for RSC16- (even though I'm a bit late for the New Year's Posts that ya'll did...)

 

• Row by Row Plus blocks, with neutral (white) 3" squares. I'll only make 9 blocks each month, and then sew the row together. I promise not to obsess with the color placement of the light and dark blocks- "just sew them together, for Pete's sake!" I also have a FQ bundle of the new Allison Glass fabrics that I'll cut into for this.

• Crumb blocks- I love these, and they make such cool quilts!

• Angela's RSC16 sampler. I plan on making the lap and twin size. one I'll keep for myself/family, and one I'll donate.

• Granny squares. I've always wanted to make one of those! I think I'll use all the tan 3" squares left over from the 16patch last year, since I'll be using the whites in the RxR Plus blocks.

• I also plan on making this Woven quilt, and have all the cream rectangles cut for most of the blocks. I saw that Mary was making one, too, and it occurred to me that it would be a perfect RSC16 quilt. I'm excited about this one too- and with the addition of the accent color of the month this year, it should be an especially nice quilt!

There. doesn't that seem much more manageable? I think so! if I can figure out how to do those really cool and clever tabs at the top of my blog header (any hints, anybody?) i'll get things sorted out, and easier to keep track of and follow along.

 

I've done another post about my RSC15 quilts that are just a pile of blocks right now, and you can check out my progress on that here. thanks for stopping by!