it's October (almost November) in RSC Land: and what does that mean? time to get all those monthly RSC blocks into tops! all year i've enjoyed playing with my scraps and squares, and i've been making waffle blocks, (2 different versions) and also the shoo fly and donut blocks.
last week inspiration and motivation hit like a ton of bricks, and all in a rush, i pieced 4 different RSC tops, using up nearly all of the blocks i pieced this year. (go, me!)
This waffle block quilt is about 62" X 75". i used my stash of 3" squares in the COM, making about 2 blocks each month. the brown waffle stripe (strip) is the same in each block. i only had to make 2 more blocks to complete this layout.
i'm definitely working through my pile of 3" squares. i'm even considering taking a break from piecing RSC blocks with the 3" squares next year (!!!) and focusing on crumbs and strings instead for RSC22...
since i can never leave well enough alone, (and tend to be that annoying firstborn overachiever) i did TWO waffle block quilts. For the second one i used the COM as the waffle strips, and 25 LV (low volume) squares, again making 2 blocks per month/color. this quilt i also pieced an additional 2 blocks to complete the "rainbow" layout.
AND: after the 10+ months of piecing, i had 188 of the donut and shoo-fly blocks. (Kona lighthouse is the grey i used, in case you were wondering...) i was a bit stumped on how to put the blocks together, undecided as to whether i wanted to do a GIANT quilt, or what my other options might be...
then: A FLASH OF LIGHTNING, and a CLAP OF INSPIRATION! i was working from my Farm Girl Vintage book, making pear placemats for my 5yo granddaughter Es birthday (more on that later) and i saw this sawtooth star quilt layout in the back of the book. i realized that if i "pretended" my donut blocks were the big stars (by combining 4 donuts) and treated my shoo-fly blocks as the smaller sawtooth stars, i could use this design as my layout!
i quickly got a "volunteer" to help me lay out the blocks on the design wall, and i was (am!) thrilled with how it turned out! after the year of piecing these blocks, we had lots to choose from, and combined the like (monochromatic) colors to make the layout here.
after sewing that top together, i realized that there were (of course) many blocks still left over. so we just reversed the design, so to speak, and substituted the shoo-fly blocks for the large star, and the donuts for the smaller star. ( i'll say, though, that i like the first layout better... the donuts combine better than the shoo-flys)
so, the end of this RSC21 story is that we have 2 waffle quilt tops for local donation through our church sewing group, S2W. and my long arm friend, Karen, adopted the 2 donut and shoo-fly quilt tops for an upcoming MCC auction.
i'm looking forward to RSC22, and starting some new projects (!!!). (i'll confess, tho, i still have a few RSC 19 block piles to get into tops, and a growing stack of leftovers and RSC orphans that need a purpose...)
it's fun to visit the RSC Saturday link-ups every week and see what everyone else is working on- you just never know when a great idea might explode!
8 comments:
Wow! I’m impressed at all the work you accomplished! I love all 4 quilts! Thanks for showing your thought process in the layout of your shoo fly and donut quilts. Clever! The 2 RSC blocks I made this year aren’t the same size (nor compatible) to use in the same quilt, so I’m making additional blocks to increase the size of the final quilt!
You have so many fun ideas going on over there - and great helpers, too! I love the waffle block designs. What size did you cut your strips and squares for those?
Doing a happy dance with you for those AWESOME finishes for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!! Using that setting you found was a stroke of genius. It worked like a charm... a 3" charm, no less!! :o))
Great finishes! How wonderful to have your RSC quilts completed for the year, and looking so fun and colorful, too.
Rainbows are everywhere! Way to get those RSC quilts put together!
What a beautiful collection of rainbow quilts! I can't decide which one is my favorite. Great idea for setting the donut and shoo-fly blocks, and I love the waffle quilts!
Beautiful rainbow tops!
Thanks for the ideas of consistent strips in the waffle blocks and the great layout for shoo-fly and donuts! Both inspired! Fantastic jobs!
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