pickin' through the purples...

it's amazing how many different purples there are- light, dark, medium. bluey-purple, red-y purple... we probably don't realize it too much until we line them all up side by side.

 

I pieced 21 crumb blocks this week (only 16 of them are shown). I'm almost done with my purples for the month- just need to sew my column-along into the rows, and then I'm ready for the next color.

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!

Purple is such a CHEERY color!

bits of sewing time snuck in here and there in the last couple weeks... it's nice to play with the purples; brown was a muddy color for the muddy month of February!

 I got my 9 blocks done for my plus quilt- this is promising to be a really cool quilt when it's done!



4 more granny squares, with 9 (!) more waiting in the queue...

chocolate and sunshine- what could be better!

thanks for your input on what setting squares to use for my S4P- I took a tally, and blue won! good choice, gals, and that's what I'm going to go with! I have ¾ of the blocks trimmed up, hopefully I can finish the rest this week...

 

click on over to Angela's, and see the rest of the purpley cheeriness!

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

Sewing through the brown a bit at a time...

it was a busy week here: church sewing day, orthodontist appointments, singing lessons... but it was made especially busy because my oldest son, D, was here for a (mostly) unexpected visit. D is a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy, and he's transferring from CA to NYC. (and I, for one, am THRILLED to have him on the east coast again!) it's so nice to have the adult children when they come home, and of course I chose time with him over time in the sewing room!

 

I did get a couple things done, though. 2 rows for the RSC16 column-along. I still have some browns to make into the crumb blocks, but my brown is looking mighty slim!

the Kona browns used in these columns are: honey, sable, espresso, earth, chocolate brown and a couple mystery browns I didn't mark clearly after bringing them home. ( :( )  the pinks are pomegranate, melon, pink and candy pink.
 

these blocks are not technically RSC, but if you squint really hard, and don't' think too hard...

we have a dear, dear friend (family) who just celebrated the birth of their 8th child. how exciting is that? I met my friend through MOPS, and she and her family have been enthusiastic members of our CSA for 4 years now.

so: of course I had to make her, the baby and the family a quilt to help celebrate! all the 3" squares are from my suitcase, and A and B helped pick out the squares for the blocks. you'll notice a definite "farm theme" going on- and that's on purpose! even a bit of I Spy, too!

 

I just need to sash the blocks, and quilt it simply. I'd like to get it to my friend ASAP.

 

we were playing quirkle the other night, and isn't it funny how the blocks look sort-of like the quilt?

Finishing up those loose ends...

it was a busy week this week (but then, aren't they all?!) but I concentrated on finishing up some projects from RSC15.

if you follow me on instagram (jlcap69), you'll have already seen my RSC15 sampler *almost* finished. I had to dig very, very deep in my stash to find some orange to finish the zig-zag of the setting squares in the orange row.

but- I'm thrilled with how this quilt turned out! thanks, Angela, for designing such a fantastic sampler! (sometime maybe you should do another linky for the RSC15 samplers- for all the late comers and procrastinators!)

 

I also was motivated to finish my S4P (split 4 patches) this week- I only have about a dozen more to go, and then they're all done, too!

I've updated my RSC15 tab at the top of my blog to reflect my most recent finishes.
 

click over to so scrappy and see what everyone else is working on!

and as blue as the sky...

this week was an extra productive one- I finished all my twinkle stars for the RSC16 Column-Along. I don't normally enjoy samplers (too much twiddly cutting and sewing) but I thought that doing this one in the Kona solids would make it fun(ner) and also different from what everyone else is doing.

 

and can I just say: I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. how it's turning out!

the background is Kona coal. here are the rest of the colors I'm using for the blue/purple accents: denim, robin's egg, cloud, baby blue, deep blue, royal and a *mystery blue that I forgot to mark*, amethyst, crocus, bright periwinkle, thistle and mulberry.

in keeping with my classic first-born overachiever-ness tendencies, I'm making 2 of the Column-Alongs. one for me to keep, and one to donate. I'm thrilled with how these 2 rows turned out. (and it's a good reminder, too, of the importance of light, medium and darks in our blocks) I'm also super excited that this months block is much simpler. just sayin'...

 

as brown as the mud... (or should I say soil?)

hubby worked late every night this week, so I feel like I got a lot done in the sewing room. 3 more brown granny squares started off the week.

 

 

I took the time to sort out all my white(ish) low volume squares, and made them into little piles of 7, for my low volume plus quilt. that way it's more certain that the fabrics will be mixed more evenly throughout the quilt. (I'm pretty picky about stuff like that- don't know why, as I'm probably the only person that would ever notice...)

here's the blue and brown row of my plus quilt. notice there are only 7 pluses in the browns, not 9 like the blues?  well, there were only enough browns to do 7 blocks! can you believe it?! I couldn't scrounge up 10 more blocks to make 2 more pluses. I already knew my stash of brown was very, very low- but still... I'm sure before December i'll be able to find 10 more brown blocks...

 

you can also see my RSC15 sampler on the floor. I've gotten that back out, and plan to finish it into a flimsy this month. I was having trouble with the alternate blocks, until I figured out the pattern, and now it's going a bit more smoothly. I'm happy to see how nice it's looking as it comes together!

 



this is not a RSC project, just a leftover bits and squares from another quilt I made. I thought it was especially appropriate to finish it during the changeover of blue to brown.

linking up with Angela- go see what everyone else is creating!

a cold and quilty week...

lots of gray skies here- not much blue and sunshine, but that usually means more time in the sewing room! (and that's always ok by me!)

I finally got around to cutting out my pieces for Angela's RSC16 Column-Along. just like most of the things that I put off/procrastinate on, it was not nearly as bad as I was dreading. I'm so spoiled with sewing with my squares. but to be fair to myself- it was a bit more complicated, since I could not (can not) find my easy angle rulers!!! where could they be? no clue... the last time I used them was when I made Celtic Solstice. (and acutally, that was the only time that I used them!)

 

I ended up improvising, and will have to square up those units before piecing them into the twinkle stars. but on the good side: the triangles will cover up those little boo-boos, so it's all good.

 

i'll list the Kona colors that I'm using later. the background is Coal.

 

I was very surprised that even with piecing 5+ quilts from my crumb jars, I was able to get 25 blue crumb blocks!  (and that could partially be since I was not obsessing being so particular about getting the blocks exactly. monochromatic.

 

Lover's Knot 66"X72" RSC15 I made heaps and scads and hordes of 9 patch blocks. 3 Kona white, 1 scrappy black, and 5 monochromatic blocks in the color of the month. this is the second quilt that I pieced from that pile.

this quilt from RSC15 was completed last week, but I forgot to share it with you! it's headed to a MCC auction in Kansas, but right now it's hanging in our local LQS as a sample for my Oh, Scrap: Encore class. you can read more about my RSC15 quilts as I finish them at the tab on the top of the page.

 

these two pictures are not technically RSC15 or 16 but I wanted to share them anyway. these pictures were taken this week at our church sewing group Scraps to Wraps (S2W). we meet twice monthly in the winter. we piece, tie and bind comforters (60"X80") to be given to MCC, which are then donated around the world in various relief efforts.

 

My youngest daughter, B (8) ~top picture~ is tying knots with Arlene. A (9) is tying knots in the second picture. besides the fact that we get to sew quilts and play with fabric, the ministry of S2W is very near and dear to my heart. I love (LOVE!) that my girls get to grow up with the blessing of multi-generational friendships and companionship. i think that's so important! 

another week, a bit of progress...

yay, me! I figured out the tabs at the top! I posted the info/back story about my RSC14 projects. (all completed, yay again!) click on over if you want to see.... ( so far the RSC14 tab is the only one that's done. the others are still a work in progress... i'll get to them as soon as I can!)

I'm still having fun with my suitcase of squares- (it's a vintage suitcase that was my mothers, and is FULL of 3" squares that I've cut from my stash/scraps, and sorted into colors.) I've never made a granny square block, and thought that this would be the perfect year to do some! I'm using the creams/tans left over from last year's 16 patches. I made 4 blue grannies- and I promise this year I won't go overboard, and try to use up every. single. pretty. fabric.

 

and actually, since I've been using these squares for a couple years now, the choices of colors that have 8 squares (for the outer ring) is getting slimmer and slimmer. so I guess that's a good thing, right? ha!

 

here are my 4 patches from last year- I didn't have a solid plan of where I was going with these. then inspiration struck (BAM):

I'm teaching an encore Scrap Happy class at our LQS in Feb/March and the shop owner wanted me to do a quilt from one of Bonnie Hunter's books- Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  I started making the zig-zag 9 patch on the cover, and then got distracted with the other quilt on the cover....

I realized that I could use my RSC15 4 patches, and make the bow tie blocks. (her squares are the ridiculous size of 1" finished!!!) being the reasonable person I am, (I hate twiddly sewing) I decided that my 2½" finished squares would work just fine...

 

I have to say, though, that after assembling this block, I decided that the white plaid is too thin/flimsy, so I'll replace those 8 blocks, and use a better fabric for the remaining 15 blocks.

 

click on over the Angela's and see what everyone else is sewing and creating! maybe you'll be inspired!