sewing the summer blues!

i did have a finish this month: as in FINISHED! quilted, bound, washed and on the bed finished!

woohoo! this scrappy 16 patch has been in the works for awhile. it never made it to the UFO status- just a sluggish WIP. 

i quilted it myself- straight line quilting through the kona stratosphere blues with no batting. (just like A's RSC18 kona quilt that i gave her for valentine's day)

it's a perfect summer quilt. quilting the top and backing with out batting makes it feel more like a sheet or light-weight blanket, but it still has the aesthetic beauty of a quilt, and looks nice on our bed.  the backing is cheddar orange (or yellow?) it's a long hoarded favorite piece that i'm thrilled to finally see in use! 

the pictures are a bit out of order, but the 2 pillows at the top of the post go with this quilt. (obvious, i guess...) i pulled out all the medium blues as i was piecing the top- i didn't want the patchwork pattern to get lost with blues that were "too blendy" with the kona stratosphere. i used them to make two (22") pillows, complemented with kona duckling. 

the quilt measures about 82½" X 102½" after washing. every morning when i make my bed, i spot so many different fabrics, and it brings back happy memories of my children when they were smaller, my grandchildren that are small now and already have fabrics that are "theirs", and many other projects and special people in my life, too. 

June was blue- or was it green?

although the "official" color of June was (is) blue, for me it seemed like it was really green!

so many green things growing: hydroponic lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, herbs, sweet and hot peppers, pumpkins, summer squash, zucchini, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplant, sweet corn... 

our CSA/Farm Share pickups have started, and with our biggest group of members ever, it's keeping me busy. and mostly exhausted, too. 

i did sort out all my 3" blue squares at the beginning of the month, and sewed 16 of my eclectic and bohemian 9 patches- 8 with dark centers, 8 with light centers. 

9 of my "split rails" of sorts blocks happened, too. i also cut out my isosceles triangle quilt for this month- a dark {and ugly} Kansas Troubles blue with a creamy calico as the alternate triangle. there was so much of the KT that it's the backing and binding, too! 

click over to Angela's SoScrappy blog- lots of beautiful blues happening over there. (and soon it's a new month and new color- can't wait!) 

orange you glad it's spring?

i made my monthly marker, but forgot to share it here. oops! (you can follow me at jlcap69 on instagram. i'm slightly more active over there...) 

i'm sharing these 40ish *untrimmed* crumb blocks now- who knows, if i wait until they're trimmed to share, it might be the end of October. ha!

the whole gamut of orange here: pale peach to dark umber.

and a few salmons that lean towards pink...

be sure to click over and see the more productive quilters and projects for RSC19.

H2H- all done and checking in!

i do quite a bit of "charity quilting" but this is my first time participating in Sarah's Hands2Help campaign. i saw that one of the chosen gifting recipients Carolina Hurricane Quilt Project, which was specifically looking for larger quilts.  

i pieced strip sets (2½") for Rainbow Scrap Challenge in both 2015 and 2016. In 2017 i managed to get 2 "pinwheel" quilts out of that multitude of blocks!

although my youngest daughter, BJ, originally chose this quilt in our Great Quilt Gifting of 2017, she decided that she liked a different quilt, Growing Up Odd better, so she swapped. 

we packed up this behemoth, along with backing and binding, and sent it off to Sally F. in Wisconsin.  She sent me this picture of the completed quilt (thanks so much, Sally!) and i'm thrilled that it's finally done, and will go to a new home to bring warmth and comfort! 

What color did she say again?

oops! i just realized that although i up loaded my aqua crumb blocks from April, i forgot to write the blurbs and post the pictures!

just like the orange blocks, aqua can't really decide what color she wants to be, either...

teal, aqua, turquoise, mallard, light blue, sea foam, slate... all those colors were in my scrap jar.

never-the-less, i pieced 35 of the "teal" blocks for April, and the pile continues to grow! (and the jars that i keep the scraps in- 1 gallon glass pickle jars- never seem to get any emptier!) but they are pretty to look at on my shelf...

go look at all the other pretty blocks at soscrappy...

a quick check in between the yard work and field work and garden work..

i have had some time to sew in the last few weeks. if i have the energy, i enjoy going up to the sewing room to sew a few orange blocks for May RSC19. 

orange is one of those goofy colors that just can't decide what color it wants to be... orange, rust, burnt umber, cheddar, salmon... 

it does drive an anal meticulous piecer like me a bit batty, separating out all the different oranges into their own friendly family....

still, i pieced 6 of my rail fence blocks.

and thanks to the generous contribution of my unknown, but generous friend, Dorthy, i had lots and lots of orange squares to choose from this month! 

i pieced 11 of my light/dark 9 patches. i'm thinking that maybe i'll use these, and also last year's bohemian and eclectic 9 patches to make 2 table cloths for our table at the holidays/family meals (one sized for with the leaves, the other to fit without the leaves) 

i'm almost done with piecing my orange crumb blocks for this month, too, so i'll have another orange post to share next week.

off to work in the flower beds- hubby Dave got a great deal on mulch from Lowes (he works there) so we've been inspired to do a bit of sprucing up around the flower beds near the house. they've been neglected the last few years- i've been busy with the veggies, but now i'm on a roll! maybe i'll share pictures of that next week, too! have a great week (the weather is fabulous today!) and thanks for stopping by!

aqua- such a cheery color!

APRIL! it's been here awhile, and i've been sewing a bit.  just now taking the time to post about my blocks. 

April is a busy time on the farm- so much to do, and all the spring work hits at once! we've hit the ground running with tilling, plowing, discing and planting some of the earliest crops. it won't really slow down too much until we hit the lull in mid-June or so. then we gallop along again until September, where we wind down and are done early October. 

i've enjoyed a few quiet moments piecing my aqua 9 patches, and a "split rail" of sorts. i don't have too much aqua, so that's been a good thing. 

i have no aqua yardage, so there will be no isosceles triangle quilt this month, which is just as well, really... 

i have a modest jar-full of aqua scraps and crumbs- i'll be piecing my (6½") crumb blocks in the next week while waiting to see what Mays color will be. in the meantime, click on over to Angie's So Scrappy on Saturday and see what everyone else has been sewing on. 

very little blogging, but lots of scrappy sewing!

i'm a horrible procrastinator when it comes to snapping a picture, and blogging about my RSC blocks.  even i don't know why... it doesn't make any sense, i know! 

here, in no particular order (because that's how blogger grabbed the pictures off my desktop...) are the RSC19 blocks i made in greens for March. 

there are 76 crumb blocks- cut at 6½", will finish at 6 inches in a quilt. and to think that my crumb jar is still half full! sometime we'll have to talk about that phenomenon...

15 9 patch blocks in light/dark colorway. i was inspired by the Carolina Chain quilt i saw on Blue Elephant Stitches.  (all the squares are cut at 3", will finish at 2½" in the quilt) 

and 6 "rail fence" like blocks- (again, squares are cut at 3")

thanks for stopping! thanks for reading! be sure to visit Angela's blog for some more green inspiration! 

somebody to love me...

for a RSC18 (or 17?) project, i started these holiday patchwork forest blocks. after a few months, my enthusiasm petered out. 

i had even entertained the thought/intention of making 6 of these (in red/green/white) for my children as a Christmas gift. (!)

sadly, that never happened, and i can see that these blocks, while i like them a lot, i don't honestly like them enough to see them into a completed quilt top.

so, for the first time ever, i'm participating in Cynthia's Quilty Orphan Adoption. (and please don't think it's because i don't have any other orphans/UFOs. that's not the case!)

there are 26 of these Christmas trees: they're about 8" X 10". Free mailing within the USA. you can finish them for yourself, a gift, or for charity- any finish is great! (please share a picture of the completed quilt- i'd love to see it!!!) if more than one person wants to give this {potential} quilt a loving home, we'll draw a name randomly on Monday, March 25. make sure i can contact you! 

a brief tutorial on isosceles triangles- how to sew them, not how to spell them!

a new RSC19 project for me this year is to make a monthly donation quilt, using the color of the month, and a complimentary fabric for the alternate triangle. 

after a couple bumpy months of trial and error, the math behind the isosceles triangles finally hit home, and my quilts are turning out the correct size now, rather than bafflingly too large. (you can read about my geometry revelation here.) 

i did have a few questions about the triangle quilts, so thought it would be "fun" to do a tutorial. i'm just going to try and hit the high points, and make things a bit less fuzzy, should you decide to do one of your own. (i say "less fuzzy" because i'm sure it won't be crystal clear at the end...) 

first, i cut my strips (light and dark) in preparation for cutting the triangles. i usually put a new blade in my rotary cutter at the beginning of the month. here, I've cut strips 6½" wide- conveniently the width of my main ruler. (if i had a wider ruler, i'd probably cut my strips wider, too..) 

then, i'll use my isosceles ruler, and line up the strips with the 6½" line, and cut the triangles across the WOF, flipping the ruler up and down as i go. if i remember correctly, i get 4 sets across, giving me 8 triangles from each strip.

here is a ruler similar to what i'm using, just a bit bigger. (not an affiliate link) nextly, i use the leftover bits on the end to cut my side triangles. the only difference here is to line up the straight edges of the triangle, allowing for the seam allowance. 

hopefully you've figured out your math correctly, and cut out the right amount of triangles and side pieces the first time. 

the ruler gives a nice cut off point, making it easy to line up and sew, without getting all those annoying and bulky dog ears on the back of the quilt. 

now it's time to sew! (and i do find it super helpful to have the schematic of the quilt to refer to...) i like to sew all the rows together so the straight of grain (SOG= WHITE ARROW) is running parallel with the rows. this will make it easier to tie/quilt it, without the quilt getting all stretched out and wonky. also, i always keep the color of the month pointing up. (in this case, the green, which is actually upside down in this picture. oops!) 

now it's time to flip the triangles right side together in preparation for sewing. the SOG = WHITE ARROWS, the BIAS/SEWING LINE = YELLOW ARROWS. use an accurate ¼" seam allowance throughout. although- if you use any consistent seam allowance, it will be fine... 

here the 2 triangles are sewn together, and the arrows show the orientation of the bias and straight grain. continue sewing your triangles together until you have enough for the width of your quilt, then add the half-triangles on the ends of each row.

my isosceles quilt has 13 rows as designed, but it would probably be better with 14 rows. (you can see A's embroidery project keeping my 1st row company on my design wall. she's making 12 of these animal blocks, and now has 8 of them done. each is "sashed" with Kona cotton solids, and i'm really excited to see it done! it's going to be a fantastic quilt!) 

and here we have the classic "receding rectangle" picture of the completed quilt top. it will be tied at one of our next Scraps2Wraps meetings, and then passed along for a local need, or donation overseas. 

so: i hope my little tutorial helps make the waters a bit less muddy! questions? ask away in the comments, and i'll answer as best i can!