Rainbows, Everywhere!

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...

(as i'm writing this post, i realize i should take a better picture of this quilt, so the details of the fabrics can be seen better... this quilt is at church now, but i'll try to post a closeup soon...) 

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! 

August = Aqua

the people at my house keep asking (or thinking) if things will slow down after next week? i'll join them in thinking that i only can hope so!

a few random evenings, or treasured afternoon moments have produced a good start on my aqua blocks for August. (after i received my snail mail package of Kona lighthouse. emphasis on snail mail.) 

my shoofly and donut blocks were at a standstill until i had a fresh infusion of the grey background fabric. 

i'm sure i say this for every color, but i had WAY more aqua in my stash {of 3" squares} than i would have guessed... 

a few waffle blocks were constructed, too, and just have some more waffle blocks (with aqua yardage), the Full Stop question marks and the twinkle stars to go. 

our summer has been busy, that's accurate. but i can't really help but wonder why- we're not doing a CSA this year, and our garden is quite small. (by normal people standards). i have been making lots of pickles, that's true (70+ quarts and counting) 

and watching the 3 grandchildren several times a week is part of our normal routine. we're raising meat birds for our freezer this winter, and hubby got a steer, too. (Beef) Wellington is 6 weeks old; he's still fed milk replacer twice a day. Welly will be ready to butcher for steaks and burger in the winter of 2023. 

so, we just keep plugging away with All. The. Things. and life is good here on the little farm.

a slower pace

since i've already worked through all my blues, i had some "extra" time this month for a couple other projects. 

i decided to do only 4 waffle blocks with my neutral squares. 

grey, tan, brown and black. 

since the main color of my waffle blocks has been the brown with the color of the month, i didn't think i really needed any more brown waffles. 

every year i enjoy participating in some sort of UFO quilty project. this year a reader let me know about the facebook group UFO Bingo. basically, you fill out a bingo card with your UFOs (repeats are good) and each month a letter/number is called. 

i happily jumped on board right before January 1, finding about 20 things for my Bingo card. i'm so excited to realize that i'm nearly done with every project/UFO that i had on my card! (i really work well under pressure. haha!) 

this month is G33, but i already "finished" that project into a flimsy. (my SnowflakeQAL top) so i chose a different project to work on. shown in these few pictures is the map fabric that i chose for my #onlyonequilt. (be sure to search the hashtag on instagram. there are some pretty amazing quilts out there!) 

 i'm about 1/3 of the way through piecing the blocks, and have a few ideas scrambling around in my head of how i'd like to do this quilt. but for now, it's just a work in progress. (or maybe some would say a squirrel!) 

click on over to Angela's on Saturday morning to see what everyone else is working on- we're over halfway done with RSC21! 

finishing ALL the purples:

from the lightest (and darkest) pinks to nearly brown...

life is busy- but i do find some time to have some quiet time up in the sewing room, and keep up with my RSC projects. it's something i really enjoy! 

i added a few more twinkly stars to the growing, colorful pile. instead of keeping the blocks all 3x3, 4x4 or even 5x5 i decided to make them all random, according to the shades of the COM that i had. 

then, at the end of the year, i'll piece the blocks all together randomly, higgelty-piggelty style. i think it will be more interesting that way anyway... 

i made a whole slew of purple donuts and shoo-fly blocks, too. very happy with them as well!

 4 more waffle blocks join the wings, waiting for breakfast time in December. haha. 

i also finished a lingering RSC UFO- from 2019! i made a large pile of 9 patches- both light and dark, planning on making them into a tablecloth. we're having a *modestly sized church/family picnic* tomorrow {what was i thinking?!} and its debut is planned. stay tuned for a post about that. (the quilt, not the picnic, necessarily. i haven't' taken a picture of the quilt yet.. ) 

click on over the our favorite spot for Saturday mornings and see what everyone else is working on! 

I'm hungry! let's have waffles!

this post has been waiting in draft form for a few weeks now; might as well add the words and get these blocks out in bloggy land! 

some sewing has been happening for me behind the scenes; our garden is looking different this year (as in not ridiculously huge, no CSA or Farmer's Markets, and i'm just planning on growing for our family with *perhaps* a bit extra produce to sell) 

so far, Dave and i are still talking to each other, (ha! but not ha!) and we're navigating this new season with less stress, and hopefully more understanding and respect going both ways in our relationship

. 

i've got quite the stack of brown waffles, and low volume waffle blocks with the COM. i'm sure more than 2 quilts will be forthcoming in November. 

i "joined" the facebook UFO Bingo page, and i'm slowly working my way through some of my UFOs, as well as UFWannaDos. 

 my most current project is the baby quilt for #babywise. he's grandchild #6, grandson #3, and Baby T should be here any week now. (maybe even next week, if he's as impatient as his mama thinks he might be!) 

i'll be back soon(ish) with some more RSC blocks, but be sure and click over to Angela's to see all the RSCgoodness happening this month!

it just goes on and on my friends... the fabric that never ends...

use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without...

that's a saying that a very good (and old) friend told me years and years ago. there's definitely some wisdom in that! 

well, in regards to the pink fabric i'm going to write about today, i've definitely accomplished the first part of this saying!

about 15+ years ago, i bought a bunch of (Civil War-esque) fabrics for making quilts to sell at a local shop. (the selling of quilts has never been a giant success for me. usually i end up giving my quilts as gifts, or donating them to MCC...) 

i must have bought a ridiculous amount, because the above quilt, made for my oldest daughter, M, was about the third or so out of that particular grouping of fabrics. 

the time stamp on the photo is correct. now M is a mama to 3 littles, and A is almost 15! (you can see the pink fabric i'm referring to in the upper left corner of the picture) 

this pinwheel quilt doesn't have the particular pink fabric in it, but there are a bunch of the other Civil War-esque fabrics from that grouping. this quilt was finished and sold to a gas guy during the big gas boom here in our county about 8 years ago or so...

i was still in possession of many of these fabrics, and decided to make a flying geese quilt, using the Eleanor Burns method and ruler. i will say: Easy. Peasy. if you shy away from triangles (like me), then this is definitely the technique for you!

you can see the pink feather fabric second from the left in this grouping. 

this LARGE flying geese quilt was the result...

and was gifted to my oldest son and his girlfriend in our Great Christmas Gifting of 2017. (about time, i'd say, as i started the quilt in 2010!)

A chose this Sunshine and Shadows quilt- same fabrics, same Christmas Gifting of 2017. overheard in the living room after the choosing: A "this is my favorite quilt, ever. it's so beautiful! thanks, Mama!"

some of the feather-y pink fabric made it into this quilt, too! 

one a side note: i even did a tutorial for this block, if you're interested. 

so, if you're keeping track, that's 6 quilts (and counting) for that stack of Civil War-esque fabrics. and i still had some left over! there was some remaning fabric from the original quilt, plus some completed FG blocks. Way back in early January i asked for some suggestions about a UFO finish along. (i work well under pressure) Suzanne was kind enough to tell me about the Facebook UFO Bingo group.

 

so i made my bingo card, and February was I13- the remainder of my Civil War geese and fabrics. i didn't get the top done until March, but now all the geese are used, the quilt top is pieced for MCC, and hopefully, this quilt can give hope and comfort somewhere, letting someone know that they're not forgotten. 

last but not least, there was a just enough of this pink in February to make this waffle block with the COM and low volume fabrics. with the completion of the waffle block, in addition to the latest flying geese quilt, that's it for the pink feather-y fabric! i'd say i've gotten my money's worth, spread the love around, and have finally used every last schnibble of this fabric from my deep stash! 

make sure to click back to Angela's and see what everyone else is working on this week in the RSC21! 

 

the GREEN, she was overflowing!

so. much. green. yikes! but i worked through the whole pile of my 3" squares, and sewed all my planned blocks for RSC21. (and i'm also very happy that i've managed to "get rid" of all the darker/muted greens, leaving the bright and clear greens for my RSC projects.)

my preferences, and my stash has changed in the last 7 years or so... 

5 wonky stars blocks and 86 individual greens. (see above: YIKES!) 

donuts and shoo fly blocks were done, too. 

and last, but not least, the "waffle blocks". the lighting was overcast this morning; the brown is a nice, rich chocolat-y Swiss dot. 

 

a bit of yellow to go with the winter-y weather (but watch out for the yellow snow!)

i've finished out my yellow RSCing for February. i'm happy with my (larger than expected) selection of yellow squares. 

14 shoo fly and donut blocks were added to the pink ones from last month. (i still prefer the shoo fly over the donuts, tho...)

i decided to make several of the wonky star blocks, in order to use 1 of each of my different yellows. super happy with how these blocks are coming along!

 i added 7 more waffle blocks- in 2 different "colorways". i have some more quilts that i finished this week (pictures coming soon!) and some other exciting news, too! 

click on over to Angela at soscrappy to see all the other cheery yellows from this wacky weather week!

also: defintely not QUILTY, but we're ready to rent out the little farmhouse in New Albany. the kitchen is done, newly "renovated" and with a fresh coat of sunshiney yellow, it's so charming! 

thought i'd share since it's a happy yellow to go with all our other yellows for February.