SOLVED: a mystery of squares, waffles and scraps... (and a fluffy cat for good measure...)

i had an old, vintage suitcase that was my mothers. when i first began RSCing in 2014, i stored all my 3" squares in there.

it seemed to be quite adequate. the squares were neatly stacked according to color. every month i would dutifully cut up some scraps from my sewing (clothes, other quilts, dresses ect...) and add them to the suitcase. (which was, of course, artfully displayed in my sewing room) 

over time it got quite full, and comfy, and Darling Millie could be found napping in the suitcase of squares. 

and the suitcase was so full, and pretty soon the squares were a bit jumbled. i tried (i really did!) to use more and more squares, and make more and more quilts. believe it or not, i finally used so many squares in quilts for MCC, S2W (our church sewing group) and my family that now the squares fit in one of my sliding baskets that i use for storage in my sewing room.  (yay, me!) 

however, most folks know that i really enjoy sewing with scraps, so i get lots of bits-n-bobs passed along to me at regular intervals. along with my regular sewing, and the scraps that i generate myself, i keep the square situation at full capacity, despite being pretty dedicated about cutting my scraps and moving them into the drawer, then into blocks and quilts. 

 

but this year, i decided i should think of some more blocks that take EVEN MORE squares. waffle blocks have been gaining popularity. and look how many SQUARES  they use! 15! in one block!

and: if i do an "opposite" block, i could use 10 more squares! that's 25 squares for one RSC color! furthermore, (i'm an oldest child; i really can't help being an overachiever) if i do 4 blocks a month, that's 50(!!!) squares! 

woohoo! yay, me, again...

so, i kept myself busy in the sewing room, making some pink waffle blocks, and cutting the brown strips for each block. (i chose brown because #1: it was in my stash, and #2: i read somewhere that brown is a good blender)

but after thinking some more (and taking another look at my squares drawer) i saw that i had lots of low volume 3" squares. i made 2 quilts in RSC17 that used lots of squares, and i still had *too many* of the LV squares. 

so i said to myself ("self", i says to meself) what if i make *even more* waffle blocks, and use the LV squares and the color of the month? that will use lots of squares, right? 

so i got out the stack of 3" LV squares from the drawer, and after doing the math for a lap size donation quilt (which of course, i actually did wrong, and will end up with enough blocks for a quilt to cover a small nation... math is not my strong point...) i started sorting into piles enough of the LV squares to make my desired # of blocks for the year. (which is 50, give or take 7 gabillion). 

the small pile below was what was left, and i was still a few blocks short. there was not enough variety in these squares; i needed some more scrappiness... 

 

so i dug through my stash again (a bit deeper this time) and came up with some more LV prints, and ran them through my Studio2 cutter with the 3" die, and got enough blocks to finish what i was working on. 

AND THIS IS WHAT WAS LEFT OVER!!! so now, i have a stack of leftovers, that's bigger than my stack of leftovers that i had almost used up. 

and that, dear friends, is that MYSTERY solved. why do we never run out of scraps? i present the obvious, solid evidence of why not: we're always sewing and creating, we're always making scraps. and since we have scraps, we'll just keep sewing and creating, right? 

all the pretty little {aqua} squares!

my fingers are flying as I type zippy-quick like... today is a busy day with a 12th (!) birthday party planned at the amusement park (Knoebel's) for A. excitement is running high, of course, and still some things to do to be ready to leave on time...

17 blocks of aqua 9 patches- eclectic and bohemian is the look I'm going for...

and a lonely tag-along of pink from last month...

4 indigo 9 patches in the Kona: teal, breakers, cyan and turquoise. azure coming soon, as soon as I have time...

 

be sure to go look at what everyone else is working on as we finish out aqua, and wait for the next color...

As pink as a.... baby's bottom?

it's ridiculous to start every other post with "it's been a crazy busy week around here..."

but- it is what it is. spring came (to stay!) this week, and it's always the busiest time on a farm. but when it's winter winter winter SPRING! it's busier than usual...

I had an evening of perusing my pinks- more than I thought, but not as many as other colors.

I picked out my stack of 9 patches (again, loving these combos)

and then another evening of sewing. I also cut out a few new spring dresses for the girls ('cause when they ask, you know mama's gonna sew!)

 

looking forward to *hopefully* a bit more sewing time today- more dresses, more pink. see what everyone else is working on here.

snatches of time and squares...

even though I've only been regularly blogging about the RSC for the last few years, it's hard to come up with a title every week. maybe I try to be too clever? anyway... hope the title isn't too dumb sounding...

I finished my 3 Wishing Rings, picking the purples that I #1- really liked and #2- had enough of.

I've enjoyed piecing these blocks- and I love how they're a bit different from what I normally do.

I pulled all the purples out of my suitcase of squares, and after rounding up a few stray purple pieces, I had 84 unique purples for my Growing Up Odd quilt!

quite a few of the purples were the only one, but I had enough variety/volume to make 3 blocks for my GUO quilt- a 7X7 block in purples (with lots of value variation) a 3X7 in lavenders and 1 9 patch in the redy-purple.

 

 

this weekend, my two youngest daughters talked me into a "Winter Gathering" party with a few friends from Sunday School- complete with a craft, a buffet (with several choices of snacks and tea!) and LOTS of decorating involving no less than 50 paper snowflakes. I'm definitely not the Hostess with the Mostest, but they're so excited, and their friends are too- I'll have to let you know how it went!

 

meanwhile, click on over to so scrappy to see what everyone else is piecing this wintery week!

 

 

 



RSC18- rolling right along...

it was a cold and snowy week here, but lots of sewing happened, so it's all good!

last week I forgot to mention that the tutorial I'm using for my #holidaypatchworkforest blocks is from Amy, over at Diary of a Quilter. 16 more blocks were added to my forest this week, making them the final of the blue blocks that I 'll be doing for RSC18.

 

despite this being my 5th (!!!) year of RSCing from my suitcase of squares, it never seems to get any emptier. rather, it just gets fuller and fuller- to the point that it won't even close anymore!

( I can save you the bother of clicking through and scrolling to find out more about my suitcase of squares: I cut all my scraps into 3" squares, and then store them in a vintage suitcase that belonged to my mother.)
 

I've pieced dozens of quilts (really!) from that suitcase... some fabrics are used up now- especially the favorites, but they've been replaced with some newer favorites, and gifted and shared fabrics. so the quilting goes on...

the nice thing about using the consistent size to piece {most} of my RSC blocks is that they're all interchangeable, and it makes using up orphan blocks fairly easy. (even if not terribly attractive.)

 

 

these blocks for the RSC18 Squared Away BOM will finish at 12½" inches. it was nice to actually sew with some triangles- I've done squares for so long, that it was a nice change. I tried to play nicely with all the other playground folks, and stuck to light blues, and a contrast for the + in the middle. I'm happy with these blocks, and I look forward to seeing what else Angie and Mari come up with for the rest of this quilt...

 

click on over to see what all the other RSCers were working on this week! (and click here to see my first finished UFOs of 2018!)

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.

looking ahead {with excitment!} to RSC18!

2017 just flew by, and now it's time to look ahead to all the possibilities of RSC18! this will be my 5th year RSCing, and I'm just as excited as I was in RSC14!

 

as I'm sure you've probably heard on the news, the whole east coast is locked in a cold snap. as in Cold. Snap. like single digits! we've not been above freezing for over a week, and nothing above 26 is in the 10 day forecast. YIKES!

 

but: {secretly} that's ok with me. I like the slower pace of winter-time, and the chance to get some things done. (I don't make this unpopular announcement with hubby- we heat our house with wood, and the yucky weather does make lots of things harder around the farm)

 

in looking ahead to RSC18, here's what i have in mind:

 

• last year I LOVED the indigo/kona solids 16 patch that I did. (to be sewn together soon. very soon) so this year i'll be doing indigo/kona solids again, but in 9 patches.
• just last night I heard about a new BOM: over at Academic Quilters. I never quite got around to her BOM with my UFO last year, but I'm excited about this one: it uses squares! much of my scraps I cut into 3" squares, and the suitcase is overflowing again, so this should be perfect!
• I'd like to make some more 9 patches with the 3" squares from my suitcase. this year, I want to focus less on the "rainbow-y" look, and I'm going to be shooting for more of an "eclectic bohemian" look. (lots of bloggers seem to do that effortlessly, especially Ashley and Rachel) I've nothing against rainbows, but I want a different looking quilt this year.
• something new for me this year: (so new, I haven't even sewn a test block!) The Holiday Patchwork Forest. I've seen these quilts floating around on pinterest and instagram but didn't' really take note of them until i saw Carol's bright and cheery quilt, definitely not done in Christmas colors. of course, a quick instagram search brings up thousands more possibilities! I'll be narrowing down my color palette, and getting started on this for RSC18.
• I have a few random UFOs floating around, which I may combine with my RSC18 sewing.... we'll see.

 

at any rate, I've lots of sewing to keep me busy, and out of trouble, for the coming months ahead. I've really enjoyed the community of quilters that I pal around with for RSC and the UFO challenges. thanks for being part of that community, and thanks for stopping by! make sure you click on over to Angie's to see what everyone else is doing- you never know when inspiration will strike!



help! i've fallen and can't get up...

I'm faithfully working on completing some of the MANY tops/blocks that I've started with my RSC piecing- from RSC14, RSC15 and RSC16. I love the soothing repetition of sewing, sewing, sewing blocks together... so the limited focus of one color a month really works for me.

 

many of my quilts have been pieced from my suitcase of squares, and I have ALOT of blocks left over. since they've all been pieced from 3" squares, they should play together nicely.

I put some of them up on my design wall, and the (pleasing) image that I had in my head is not what I'm seeing on my design wall...

tell me what you think... any suggestions?

should I toss out the plus blocks in the middle? the next round out is the 4 patch blocks, then various 9 patches... they probably need a spacer (solid white? low volume?) in-between each round, right? should I piece this quilt much like a round robin, with a solid/resting place between each round? I'd like to use most, if not all of these blocks. and: if it helps, I'm planning on it being a donation quilt, so it it's a bit crazy and bright, that's all the better...

I have a nice little stack of more (mostly) monochromatic 4 patches...

and a stack of 12+ red 9 patches, and a few odd-ball colors, too.

so: chime in with your suggestions: I'd like these blocks to go to a happy home, rather than sitting in my drawer!

PS: I hope you don't kick me out for "cheating" - I know the quilt is not finished, but I'd really like it to be!

One square at a time, and progress is made!

I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with all my RSC16 piecing. Just a few more black, red and yellow granny squares, and then that project is done for this year!

I have a suitcase full of 3" squares- I started the task of cutting my scraps that size way back in RSC14, when I worked through my stash to get it more manageable. READ: useable. I've made many, many quilts from those 3" squares! I love the size: not too big, not too small. Just Right! ( I should call them my Baby Bear Squares! ha!)

for RSC15 I pieced 4 patches in monochromatic colors. I ended up with probably about 200 of them. the 4 patches sat, until inspiration struck. I had Bonnie Hunter's book, (can't remember which one...) and she did a bow-tie quilt. 

 

seemed like a good idea! so I paired my 4 patches with (a few more) 3" squares from the suitcase, as well as Kona ivory, papaya and storm to make this quilt. it finishes at a whopping 101" square! i'll use up some black prints from my stash for the backing, and then it's ready to be quilted for one of the MCC relief auctions next year.

 

I'm working on updating the RSC tabs at the top of my page (I  might have mentioned that before... ) and one of these days I'll surprise you all (and myself!) and get those tabs all updated, sorted out, and accurate!

 

click on over to angie's blog: she's the hostess of RSC, and see what everyone else is doing these days- tons of pretty quilts to look at, or gather inspiration from...

I'm still here!

the garden is growing well, and we're very busy planting, tending and harvesting... every once in awhile I'm able to sew for just a little bit. (but not this week!) it's taken me a couple weeks to get my photos uploaded, but here I am!

I'm loving my low-volume plus quilt. (are you an old-enough quilter that you can remember when we called "low volume" our "neutrals"?) ha! every month my LV+ quilt is the first one I go to... it's easy, and soothing to piece.

the granny squares are going fine, too. I have all the aquas done, and a few pinks. I still have a couple greens to finish up from May.

My Simply Woven quilt blocks are all done. here my daughter, A, and our friend B are laying it out at Scraps to Wraps for me. the rows are pieced together, now I just need to sew the rows together. next time I want to do a quilt like this, please talk me out of it! it didn't' go together as easily as I had hoped... (but I'm sure it will all quilt out!) I have a big bag of 2½" strips that someone gave me for S2W, and I plan to use them to make a Scrappy Trips quilt ala' Bonnie Hunter.

 

I haven't even worked on my RSC16 Column-Along! it's in the back of my mind, though, and I have all intentions of finishing it. I love column quilts, and have always wanted to make one. I just need to take the time to look over my stash of Konas, and see what I still need. our local Ben Franklin has the Konas for $5.49/yd every day! how fantastic is THAT?

 

be sure to pop in over at Angela's blog to see what everyone else is making!

A snippet of green...

this week I managed to sort through my green (3") squares, and make up a few blocks of a pleasing green combo for my granny square blocks. and then as an added bonus, I was able to sew 5 of them together. yay, me!

 

we have family visiting this week- my son and his wife, all the way from Washington state! and today we get more company- my other son, the Navy Corpsman stationed in Bronx, NY and my brother and family.

 

lots of family, absolutely no sewing. but I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

and in honor of Memorial Day, and my two sons who serve in the Navy and Army, (and will even be home for this holiday - together!)  I've hung out my quilty flag! I made this a few years ago; I really like it, but it's the only one I plan on making!

 

see what everyone else is doing over at RSC16.

 

Just enough green to keep me sane!

I promise not to start off yet another blog post by saying "it's been a very, very busy week here on the farm". *ahem*

I finally took the time (and had the energy) to begin to sort all the green squares (3") from my suitcase of squares, and even managed to get one of my RSC16 projects worked on. (and many of my greens are a dark, or dull color. I 'll have to keep that in mind the next time I'm "stash enhancing". )

I made 11 of my low-volume plus blocks. can't wait to see how this quilt comes together. plus- I had to laugh at myself- I was looking through my little quilty notebook, and I see that I had planned on making 8 plus blocks each month. somehow the number has been creeping up and up each month! I'm such an over-achiever- can't help it I guess! and this could also explain how many of my quilts turn out so large.

and here's a picture of Helga, and her little lamb, Katie. the girls and I have been having such fun with the sheeps this week- Katie is so sweet! (and Helga got a haircut, too!)

thanks for coming for a visit- click on over to Angela's blog, and see what everyone else is working on.

just a little bit...

what a week! last Saturday morning started chilly and snowy- we got 3" of snow!!! and this Saturday promises to be even busier- it's supposed to reach 70+ degrees today! so that means lots of garden work for us- laying the fabric floor in the high tunnel- in preparation for planting the tomatoes. we'll also be laying the plastic mulch in the middle garden- in preparation for planting broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower in the middle garden.

just a few sewing evenings in the sewing room this week- but I got all my crumb blocks done for the month. I still need to work on my pinwheel blocks for Angela's sampler. maybe that will happen this week?

 

 

I started these S4P blocks way back in September of 2014! in looking back over my RSC posts to find where I started these, I see that I've whined about how fiddly they were and SUCH a pain in the butt the whole way! (sorry about that!)

 

last Saturday, during our snowstorm, I took the time to lay out the blocks so I could get the top sewn together. (remember when I asked what color to use for the alternate blocks? you guys chose blue, so that's what I went with. GREAT CHOICE: thanks!)

 

I kind of took the lazy way out- I laid all my blocks out horizontally on the school room table in a 14X14 layout. then (and here's the tricky part!) I picked them all up diagonally and stacked them up. using the printout from my EQ5, I sewed them all together with the blue setting block.

 



and TA~DA: it's done! the early morning sun is casting some funky shadows, but I lovelovelove how it turned out. it's about 80" square, and I have enough of the blue for the binding. the moral of the story is: don't whine about fussy little blocks, because they always turn out great in the end!

 

and turning to other great news: my daughter and her husband told us last week that they're expecting their first baby in October! whoo hoo! so excited about that, of course! and the even better news is: they're not planning on finding out the gender of the new baby, so I guess i'll have to make a pink AND a blue quilt just so this grandma is prepared!

 

ha!

Round and round with all the squares we go!

technically, this TATW quilt is not RSC16, but I thought I'd share it anyway... a dear friend lost her husband to leukemia last month, and she brought me a laundry basket full of his shirts, and asked me to make a quilt for her. my long-arm quilter and I paired up, and got it pieced, quilted and delivered in record time. and the best part? it's bringing some comfort to my grieving friend!

 

 

I was also able to take the time to piece 9 more granny square blocks in purple (only 8 are shown here) Last night I started the purple crumb blocks, and since my monthly additions to my Simply Woven quilt is done, (i'll show the progress on that next month) that only leaves me with the RSC column along for this month.

 

today the girls and I are off to the local YMCA for a health fair. CSA signups are slow this year, (is it the weather, or the economy?)  so we're hoping to pick up a few new members!

happy purpling, with a dash of yellow thrown in!

So: what do YOU think?

one of my goals for RSC16 has been to finish, approximately 1 per month, my unfinished quilts from RSC15. I already finished my RSC15 sampler (and I'm thrilled with it!) so I'm ready to move on to the next quilt, and the next month...

I have finally finished piecing my S4P- in all the colors. these blocks turned out fairly tiny- about 4½" after squaring up. (I started with 4 patches made from 3" squares) even though I have 209 of them, it would still make a small(ish) quilt if I set them all together without any alternate blocks. I've auditioned 4 different fabrics for the setting blocks-I think I might have my mind made up as to which one i'll use, but I want to see what YOU think!

 

#1- a funky grey.

#2- blue

 

 

#3- a small brown/cheddar plaid

 



#4- a tan polka dot