off to a blue, chilly start!

it's still colder than blue blazes here in northern PA, but that's ok- the RSC color of the month is blue! (we're looking forward to a heat wave on Thursday- the temp is supposed to go above 40°!)

I didn't venture into the sewing room (it's upstairs, and no direct heat) until later in the week, but I had plenty to keep me busy downstairs.

my LQS gave me a big (BIG) bag of scraps- a hodgepodge of odds and ends. combined with my stash of small pieces, it took me several evenings of cutting and sorting to get them all pressed and cut into the 3" squares.

 

usually I cut the colors month by month, but this year I thought it would be better to see what colors and fabrics I have, rather than drag it out all year. it was fun to have the colorful infusion of fabrics from the quilt shop-it will make for some interesting piecing throughout the year.

 

( I am friends with the shop owner, but she knows that my friend Karen and I do a great deal of quilting for MCC quilt auctions, so that's why the fabric was passed along to me...)

this year one of my projects for RSC18 is 9 patches- above is my first installment of blue. as I was picking the color to complement the 5 blues, I purposely picked a color/combination that I would normally not choose. I'm pleased with the eclectic, bohemian look of these 9 patches.

 

I made 16 (only 1 more than I intended!) for a 90" square quilt at the end of the year.

 

my "beloved" kona cotton solids are back again this year- only this time in a 9 patch. I've used the kona indigo, splitting the 9 patches {fairly} evenly between the 5 indigo patches and 4 indigo patches. the colors are cloud, stratosphere, robins egg, Dresden, denim, nightfall, regal, and ???

 

click on over to visit Angie at soscrappy to see what everyone else is doing, and to welcome some new RSCers.

a little bit of catch up....

life got a little crazy there for a couple weeks, but it's starting to calm down. (I'm a pretty transparent person; it's usually fairly easy to tell, 'cause my instagram and Facebook pictures start leaning more towards quilts and/or fabric, and less towards veggies...)

 

my blues were  pretty crazy- as Angie says, that's often a heavy color for us quilters. I was no exception. 75 crumb blocks later, and I'm calling it done!

 

I've been collecting my low volume crumbs for a few years. this is my 4th year piecing along with the RSC, and I'm pretty sure it's the first I've used my LVs.  they were definitely on the crazy side- filling 4 jars, and then a large aluminum colander. (food service size) I "tamed" them, so to speak, and have 74 crumb blocks, and a half filled gallon jar remains for another project... (or two, or three...)

It's time: let's get these quilts together!

after sewing and sewing all these squares together, I decided to start sewing some stuff together (even though technically, I'm a month early for that...) I wanted to see some progress, and not just piles of blocks...

these 16 patches are left over from last year- if i remember, i had just stalled on what to do with them.

last week i decided: why not potholders? my old ones were pretty grimy after using them in the summer kitchen when making applesauce, and what better way to use and enjoy my favorite fabrics than in the kitchen?

let's face it: i spend more time in the kitchen than in the sewing room most days, so i can still get my fabric fix! i cut into some of my all time favorite fabrics for the backings- and I'm so glad i did!

 

another RSC project i worked on this week was my 9 patch blocks.  after sewing and sewing all year long, i was very surprised to count that i had 189+ of the 9 patches! i knew i wanted to do something interesting, and non-traditional in the setting, so after playing around for awhile, i settled on the layout below.

 



 

 

i really like this layout- and there are so many blocks left over! i'll let the little girls lay out another quilt, and we'll give that to my friend for quilting and send it off to one of the MCC auctions.

 

thanks for stopping by- click on over to angela's to see what everyone else is working on. and if you have a minute, scroll down one more post, and tell me what you think of my red stars Christmas quilt- I'm looking for some input and advice!

QAL with Wedding Dress Blue: and all from stash, too!

Deanna (over at Wedding Dress Blue) is one of my favorite bloggers (check out her tutorial tab!) is hosting a QAL. remember how I said I'm a crazy lady? of course I decided to join and quilt along!

 

I think it started in April, and I had just the colors, and recipient, in mind for my quilt. January, February and March colors for RSC15 were blue, purple and yellow. can you believe that I still had lots (and lots!) of my 3" squares left over?

 

I decided to make a quilt for our Tuesday morning garden helper, Eileen. we have a small CSA, with 30+ members this year, and one way that we're able to "keep up" with all the work here on the farm is with the faithful help of our work shares. in exchange for a full CSA share, they work each week for 4 hours. we give them enough veggies to eat for the week, plus many extras to can and freeze. it's a win/win situation all around. Eileen has been with us for 3 years now, and we are so grateful for her dedication and hard work. (plus, she's been with us long enough, that when something is lost or misplaced, she knows where to look for it. I'm telling you: she's fabulous!)

 

anyway- her favorite color is purple, and yellow was an obvious complementary color to add, along with blue. I've used muslin as the background (so 1980's, and what a nightmare!) and it's coming along nicely. after looking at the picture, I realize that it's a bit more yellow than I would like, but I think I can fix that by adding more purple in the borders to tone it down.

 

it's been a relaxing and easy quilt to work on an evening here or there, and I can't wait 'til it's finished- I think she'll love it!

 

 

what a colorful riot of blocks!

we're halfway done with RSC15 (can you believe it?!) and I have quite the pile of blocks. with no further ado:

 

9 patches (monochromatic) with Kona white and black. 

strippy scraps- not sure what i'll do with these, but I'm sure an idea will strike!

16 patches- possibly my mostest favorite so far! I have 112+ of these guys (and I even got the green, purple and aqua ones ironed!) I'm thinking that I'd like to make 2 quilts out of these- either for the guest room beds, OR one for a tablecloth for family holiday dinners, and the other as a tablecloth for my table at Farmer's Market...

4 patches: I'm not loving this stack, but there are oodles of possibilities.

the dreaded D4P. some are from last year, and a goodly amound from this year. my friend did a D4P with a very simple setting, and it's a great looking quilt. i'll probably end up doing the same.

crumb blocks (6" finished): this is what started all this rainbow goodness for me- I was piecing these blocks sporadically, but when I stumbled onto RSC14, it was all over, and I haven't looked back yet!  

here is the stacks of blocks for my zigzag quilts. I plan on making two: one horizontal, and one vertical. I'm excited aobout these 2 quilts, and can't wiat to see how they turn out! (there is a picture in this post of a small sneak preview of the layout...)

 

and last (but not least) a recent re-stashing of neutrals for my RSC15 projects. it takes lots and lots of neutrals to keep these projects rolling- more than I would have ever thought, actually. recently, one of our LQS had a 40% off sale as part of their grand re-opening.

clearly, it would have been irresponsible NOT to go and save all that money!

ha!

with nothing "pressing" going on...

haha! did you get the pun in the title? nothing "pressing". ha! even though these blocks are pieced, they are not pressed or starched. i'll save that for another day... it was a busy week, with lots going on- potatoes and onions to plant, mulch to lay... the list goes on and on.

 

however- Dave worked 2-11 every day this week, so instead of working out in the fields or gardens until dark, I worked until dinner time. that left me with a  few evening hours to sew.

I already had the squares cut out, so it was very soothing and peaceful to just sit at the machine and repetitiously sew and sew.

some of these fabrics I've had for many years- dresses for my daughters (my oldest daughter is 25 now!), dresses, aprons and doll clothes from my youngest daughters, shorts, shirts and jackets for my 3 boys (24, 24 and 22).

 

perhaps the biggest reason I love making scrappy quilts, and working with my saved scraps is because of the fond memories it brings from when my older children were little. those were busy days... but the happy memories that the fabrics brings back just adds another layer of meaning and sentimentality to my scrappy quilts.

 

 

enjoying these last sewing moments...

the weather if finally starting to break- for good, this time! even though we had an inch of snow Easter Sunday, spring is here to stay! we've had 2" of rain these last few days, and as soon as the soil dries out, we'll be plowing, tilling and planting. that, of course, means less sewing time for me.

 

but that's ok- I'm looking forward to working outside in the fresh air again. (and if I'm not too tired, I can sew for a bit in the evenings to wind down...)

 

I pieced 30+ 16 patch blocks this week. just slow, easy and mindless stitching as I'm watching Netflix. I like that I have several colors to work with- it would get a bit boring sewing the same colors over and over and over.

 

I had about 8 WOF purples- and got them made into the 4½" squares for the zig zag quilt. I put several of the colors out- someone had asked about that last week: so there you go! there are blue zig zags, too, but I didn't dig too deeply dwon in the RSC15 drawer. (and it's really starting to fill up, too! I might have to start ANOTHER RSC15 drawer!)

 

 

here, also, are the RSC15 scrappy 9 patches. (last year I did the 9 patches a bit differently) but I still had lots and lots (and lots!) of 3" squares left, so I'm having another go at it this year, but only a little bit different.

 

keep on sewing- and click on over to angela's to see more RSC15 projects!

 

PS: don't forget to add some of your RSC15 projects to instagram, with the hash tag #rainbowscrapchallenge15



a picture is worth a thousand words...

*edited to add*

finally got my pictures to upload, so I can share them here. but- I'm pretty sure it was more of a blogger problem than an issue with my electronics...

anyway, in no particular order:

lots and lots of scrappy 16 patches. these blocks were a last minute, spontaneous addition to my RSC15 line up, but I think they'll be one of my favorites!

steady progress on the zig-zag quilt...

and a bunch of crumb blocks, too.  I also made some of the (smaller) squares and matching rectangle crumbs, too, but no picture.... 

• 16 (6" finished) yellow crumb block
• 24 16 patches (blue, yellow and pink)
• all the yellow strips for my zig zag quilt

• yellow crumb squares and rectangles (4½" sq. & 9½X4½" rectangles)

I still have those pesky yellow D4P to do- I'm pretty good at procrastinating at those.

BUT- I did finish my Bonnie Hunter mystery for this year: Grand Illusion. you can see mine here. I'd be interested to know what YOU think!

click on over to so scrappy on Saturday morning to see some beautiful yellow projects in progress.

Pretty and PINK

it's been another phenomenally cold week here (how could it possibly get any colder?!) and I've had a few evenings in the sewing room to make some progress on my pink scraps. shown above are the rectangle and squares that I'm making from my pinks. I have a general idea of the direction I'd like to go with this quilt, but I'm going to remain flexible.

even though these S4P are SO TEDIOUS, I love how they turn out. it makes it worth it when I see how cute they are. I've not been making as many of these- just picking out my favorite scraps in the color of the month.

here are the rest of the blue S4P from last month- never got them done... for the S4P I'm picking whites as the other color. I want this quilt to finish crisp and bright when it's done.

even though I feel as if I'm sewing like a crazy maniac, the 3" squares in the suitcase are not getting any fewer. (as a matter of fact, I think there might be slightly more in there then when I started all over in January!) so I decided to start making some 16 patch blocks. i'll use a tan/cream for the alternate block, instead of the white like in the S4P. above there are 2 pink 16 patches, and 2 slate blue 16 patches. (don't believe the camera when it wants to tell your eyes that you're seeing purple!)

these two quilts were made for our church sewing group, Scraps to Wraps (S2W). they'll be for a (yet to be born) baby. they were quick and fun to make- and personally, I'm rooting for a set of boy/girl twins... we'll see!

 

click on over to Angela's on Saturday morning to see what everybody else has been doing this week.

it's freezing cold here: LOTS of time in the sewing room!

i'll be the first to admit that I love the accountability, motivation and inspiration of RSC15. but I will say that I, for one, am glad that I don't have as much PINK scraps as I did BLUE scraps.

 

 sheesh!

I got more strip sets done for my zig zag quilt- hot pinks, and bubblegum pinks. with the pink, blue and aqua strip sets done (I pulled aqua when I did the blue) I'm starting to get a pretty impressive pile of 4½" squares for those quilts.

I did 12 more crumb blocks.

and 9 more 9 patches. this should be a  fun quilt when it's done!

I also finished my saw tooth stars. I used my crumb blocks for the centers, and I'm loving how crisp these turn out. I used different fabric for the points of each star. the upper right star points are some fabric that I had used to make my grandparents a Trip Around The World. (waaaaaaaaaaay back in the mid 90's!)

and lastly, the pink 4 patches.

I've been doing lots of other sewing in the sewing room this week- several charity quilts, a scrappy quilt using over 100 2½" different strips, and some other miscellaneous sewing projects. with my little heater and Netflix, I'm a happy quilter!

don't forget to click on over and see the rest of the pinky goodness!

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!