out with the old! in with the new!

so sorry i can't get this picture flipped around, but you get the idea! 

I never acutally  "blogged" about the RSC19 project, my indigo 16 patches. i made a quilt for our bed (here's the details)  and had a few blocks left over. 

i was up in the sewing room last week, sorting through my pile of orphan blocks from previous RSC years. i noticed that i had 12+ of these Kona indigo/COM blocks left over. 

a brainstorm hit: why not make {another} quilt for dear baby Addie Kathleen? this one will be kept at Grammy's house. her crib is in our room, so it will match so nicely with the quilts on our bed. i backed her quilt in the fabrics her mama chose (baby A is a "fox", while her brothers C and L are an "owl" & "hedgehog", respectively.)

my penchant and fondness for both Kona cotton and 3" squares really shows in this picture! you can see the 2 quilts for our bed- the Kona indigo 16 patch, as well as the other scrappy patchwork with Kona stratosphere. i used the kona stratosphere for the binding on the baby quilt- all around i'm pretty pleased! 

since the *majority* of my RSC blocks are made from the 3" squares, all the orphan blocks fit together so nicely. i found 30 16 patches from previous RSC quilts- Rainbow Rails & Rainbow Boxes. i'll sew them together into a top for S2W (our church sewing group). a 60" X 80" quilt will soon be out of my sewing room, making its way to someone who can put it to good use. 

with the use of these orphan blocks, that leaves me fairly "caught up" and turning towards next year: RSC21. i've been thinking of what kinds of projects/blocks i'd like to do. 

for a couple years, i've been thinking that i really need to up my game, and throw in some triangles with my 3" squares. i bought a triangle die for my accuquilt cutter, and i do plan on these variations of the 9 patch. (always a favorite!) of course, they're essentially the same block, just different layouts of light/dark/background. 

i plan to use a solid grey that i have in my stash, and depending on the # of COM (color of the month) 3" blocks i have, i'll piece either/or block. 

i'd also like to do houses this year; still mulling over what kind. 

and somewhere i saw a block like this: and after clicking around and visiting other RSCers through Angela's link up, the block seems to have come from Kathy, via Nann. 

i plan on making these Waffle Blocks, too, this year. i think i'll do the "opposite", as well. 3 rows of the COM, and then 2 neutrals. 

side note: I've had my EQ5 program for about 18 years, and STILL don't know how to draft a block... the neutral will be a solid piece of fabric, not squares, and no triangles will be harmed in the making of this block. 

last year i made a LIST of wannado's, needtodo's and mustdo's. out of the 17 on that list, i managed to finish 14! yay, me. 

here's this year's (partial) list: 

1. Christmas pillow covers for the sofas. 
2. L/D 9 patches: *minimally* piece into flimsy
3. eclectic/bohemian 9 patches: holiday/family gathering tablecloth
4. I Spy quilt/s for Elizabeth & ???
5. Louisa Charm Pack 4 patch
6. Bind Good Neighbors rectangle quilt for guest room
7. Piece together top: Churn Dash (with the cherry fabrics/yellow gingham) 
8. Patriotic rectangles: piece top and backing
9. Crazy Mom June QAL- i'm using neutrals along with Kona stratosphere and duckling
10. Civil War flying geese
11. Scrappy Stars: RSC20 (there are enough blocks for several quilt tops) 
12. #snowflakesewalong: grey/polka dot quilt (already cut out) 
13. Orange Dot Map Quilt : #onlyonequilt

whew! i better get off the computer and get busy! 

another final goal that i have for this year is to use my accuquilt Studio2 cutter even more. i've cut and pieced numerous quilts for MCC and our church sewing circle using my tumblers, churn dash or rectangle dies. i'd like to do more baby quilts, and more kits for the ladies at church to use for sewing tops. maybe i'll even do a tumbler or churn dash quilt for myself. 

so, it's going to be a busy and exciting year! thanks so much for reading and stopping by! be sure to click on over to Angela's blog: our fearless leader, and the headquarters for all things RSC! 

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. 

adding some cheer to the drear...

some sewing time this week (after my taxes were done *insert happy dance*!!!)

6 16 patch "rail fences" were added to my stack...

and also a total of 14 9 patches, too. (all blocks made from 3" squares).

an equal amount of light and dark 9 patches. although this layout doesn't look too great with only the yellows, i can tell i'm going to really like this quilt as it moves further along...

go see all the other yellow sunshine blocks over at Angie's! also: follow me on instagram @ jlcap69.  (i post more frequently over there) and: i still have some red scraps i'd love to share! just give me a holler... 

Show me the {Kona} LOVE!

I'm excited with Angie's choice of yellow for such a dreary (and cold!) month! and yellow works well for a short month, too, as i don't have a lot of yellow in my stash. (but maybe I say that every month...)

I laid out *all* my yellow 3" squares for the picture above, and got 81. with all the lonely (only 1 of) squares, i'll have nearly 100 different yellows to work with. 

on a different note- it's *weird* how the cheddars, which are clearly in the yellow camp, can so quickly dessert and head over to the orange side- making the division of colors a bit stressful for monochromatic quilters like me... 

this week is all about the Konas- Kona Cotton Solids, that is!

my RSC16 column-along is DONE! like: quilted, bound (in indigo), washed and nice and crinkly done!

i made 2 of these RSC16 column-alongs. one was gifted to my oldest daughter, M and her husband K last Christmas.  i made 2 of these because I was sure I would love it too much to part with it- and I was right. This quilt is the smaller of the 2- it finished at about 56" square. 

when I first completed it this week, I wasn't too happy with how it turned out. I had done a poor & lazy job of pressing the top upon completion, and it wasn't laying as flat as it should have been. however, i determinedly and courageously (and carefully) pressed on, and managed to finish quilting loopys on the top with no wrinkles or puckers. 

the stripe fabric is a Moda/Jen Kingwell fabric that i had purchased awhile back with this quilt in mind. i pieced it so the pink was not twice in the back. after a round of washing and drying, the quilt is officially finished, and i'm pleased with the small amount of shrinkage. not only did it improve my quilting, now instead of being of the frame of mind "finished is better than perfect", i'm very happy with how it turned out with no regrets. 

the weather here in northern PA has been absolutely frigid this week (literally!) and it was too cold and windy to go outside to take a picture...  but: 

i finished my Kona 16 patch from RSC18 into a top! the sun did come out and contribute some cheeriness to the colors as we were taking this picture, but still- the picture doesn't do this quilt justice. 

this 16 patch kona/indigo is the big sister to the kona/9 patch that i also pieced during RSC18. (all squares are 3")

this quilt top seems to be glowing! i used indigo for the alternate blocks, and arranged the colors into rows. this top finished at 80" X 100". i plan to use it on my bed, and there is plenty of overhang on the sides to allow sharing with a cover hog. *ahem*.  as the weather improves, i'll take a better photo. 

linking up with Angie and the other RSC19 creators! 

Starting Fresh Again!

a new year- a new start- a new color!

my drawer of 3" squares is not getting any emptier

so i thought of a few new blocks to make for RSC19. First up is the light/dark 9 patches, as inspired here. 

i have {only} 5 new projects that i'm planning on working on for RSC19.

the second block i'll be making this year is a take-off of a Split Rail Fence block, using my 3" squares again. 

i was inspired to make this particular looking block while wondering around on bloggy-land or pinterest, but don't even remember where or when the inspiration hit! 

linking up to Angela's blog on Saturday morning. go see what everyone else has started for RSC19!

in which the blogger gets her act together...

we have so much to be thankful for: family, friends, home, bountiful food... we have all we need and so much of what we want, and for that I'm Thankful!

now the Christmas season is upon us (how did THAT even happen?!) and we're busy preparing for all the joyousness and traditions that go with the celebration of Jesus' birth.

finally got some pictures of my completed (flimsy) 16 patch. Name? how about Rainbow Boxes? sounds good...  (shown here) in its layout phase.

another big one at 90" X 110". this one seems to be a favorite with the little girls. we'll see who picks it for the Great Christmas Quilt Giving in a couple weeks.

a bit of time this week for some RSC sewing. I realized I hadn't done any of my grey crumb blocks, but an evening of sorting and sewing got that task accomplished...

 

(and why do those jars of scraps never get any emptier?! it's a mystery....)

 

while you're clicking around, be sure to see what everyone else is finishing up- it's that time of year!

 

 

what does November mean?

November in RSC Land means our blocks are done (or nearly so) and we start to see some pieced flimsys in our Saturday linkups.

I tend to make lots and lots of blocks, but I'm not always so great at finishing them into tops... I have some good new to share this week, though!

new for my RSC17 block list this year was the low volume 16 patches. I had lots of the 3" LV squares left from my Plus quilt that I decided to use them again this year in a 16 patch.

with the completion of my brown 16 patches this week, I was ready to lay out the blocks...

 

I had already been pondering how I wanted to lay them out, so it didn't really take too long to settle on a design. the layout is 9 X 11 blocks, so the quilt should finish at 90" X 110". (another big'un!) I had 9 blocks leftover, but unfortunately they weren't the right color or shade, so I'll be "custom" piecing a few more of these to get the quilt done.

 

I'm loving it so far!

 

these pinwheels started as one of my RSC15 projects, and I pieced (and pieced!) a boatload of them. I finished the first quilt with them (shown here) and just this week completed this one. it measures 62" X 78".

I'm calling it Windblown Pinwheels: I'm sure there was  pattern in the colors somewhere, but in the process of picking the blocks up off the design floor, and then up to the sewing room, they must have gotten jumbled a bit... that's ok! finished is better than perfect, right?!

those long nights of sewing...

we're in that time of year for us where the garden work is done and *mostly* cleaned up, and it's still not time for butchering- turkeys and pigs. does that mean I have *extra* time? no, not really {haha} but there have been lots of evenings where I can work in the sewing room, piecing away..

I felt like I had so many brown scraps, but I was able to get these 19 crumb blocks pieced in one evening: see above {those long nights of sewing...} from caramel to chocolate, all the browns are there...

can I say just one more time: these Kona indigo and the COM are my favorites? I say that every month... and I say that I say that every month...

I'm concentrating on getting some of my RSC16/17 blocks pieced into tops for our Great Quilt Gifting in early December, so these indigo 16 patches will have to wait until Christmas time-ish to get pieced into a top. BUT: they're at the top of my list- can't wait!!!

 

colors: (not in order) honey, sable, earth, pepper, chocolate, expresso and ???.

 

the 16 patch LV blocks are all done- and getting ready to be sewn into a top. I wasn't sure how I'd like them, but so far they're looking great. (sneak peek here) 

and a few (16) lonely pinks to add to the crumb stack. my {tallish] crumb stack is from RSC16 and RSC17. I have an idea how I'd like to piece them into tops; I'll start that project in the New Year. but I think I'll take a break from crumb blocks next year... (not that I'm running out of crumbs or anything... they're having babies up in the sewing room as. we. speak.)

 

speaking of RSC18: (18?! how did that even sneak up on us?!) I'm planning on participating again next year, but entirely uncertain what my blocks/projects will be... I'd like to do something that uses LOTS of my 3" squares from my suitcase of squares, but I'm not sure what I'd like. I want to do something a bit more multi-colored, but then that kind of defeats the purpose of RSC, right? I'll keep pondering, but I'm open to suggestions...

Prolific Pinks!

aside from a few notable events of going to the beach  (OCNJ) in October. (during the tail-end remnants of Nora. such is the life of a farming family...) and making 3 memory quilts for a friend, I don't have too much to show for RSC17 pink. but I'm still working on a last few blocks....

11 kona cotton solids blocks in pinks with the indigo. just the browns and tans to go, and then I can start putting this one together.

watermelon, azure, candy, bubble gum, azalea... those are some of the colors that quickly come to mind that make up this batch.

31 pink crumb blocks, too! (only 25 shown) when you've been doing the RSC as long as I have, word gets out that there is a crazy quilting lady who doesn't live too far away and will use all those ridiculous scraps. scraps come from far and wide-

 

and these pinks are no exception! a few of these pinks are mine (as in, leftover from another project, or fabric that I purchased) but the majority of these pinks are from a scrap bag from my LQS. how fun is that! and I'm not even done! there are still about 15+ pink blocks to piece, I'd guess.

they'll join a stack of crumb blocks that was, at last estimate, about 14" tall. wow! (2 years of piecing- RSC16 & RSC17 for the crumb blocks) when finished, I trim the crumb blocks at 6½" and they'll finish at 6".

looking forward to getting lots of these blocks into quilts. click over to Angela's on Saturday morning to see what everyone else is working on !

what happened to September?!

I didn't realize until just tonight when I sat down to write a post and link up with Angela, that I hadn't posted any of my oranges from this month on the blog!

I've been working on these Kona indigo and the COM all RSC17. at last count, after scrolling through my instagram, I think that I counted 70+! and we still have pink and brown to go... looking forward to getting this one done!

 

the colors? school bus, coral, flame, amber, terra cotta, tangerine, orange and nutmeg. I still have one (salmon) to go, but that's it...

 

 

six 16 patches for this month, plus some lurking (lost) red fabrics that I made into red crumb blocks that I found from March.

 

I surprised myself with 16 orange crumb blocks- would never have imagined that I had that much (and varied) orange scraps. I guess those few "donations" of scraps throughout the year made a bigger difference than I thought!

 

I showed my ever-growing stack of crumb blocks here, and right now I'm leaning towards Rachel's Rainbow Picnic Blanket but I definitely want to get some of my other, more traditional blocks sewn into tops first...