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? 

a quilty snack: {shoo fly} PIE, DONUTS and WAFFLES!

there is something exciting and even exhilarating about starting a new year of Rainbow Scrap Challenge! new fabric! new colors! new project! new blocks! 

i'm starting off strong with pinks: first up, a twinkly star. scrappy AND wonky. i've not done one of these blocks before, so i'm looking forward to a colorful year. 

*** edited to add: does anyone know of a UFO Finish-along for 2021? Like the kind where you pick 12 projects, and then a number is drawn each month to let us know which UFO to work on? Judy used to do them ages ago, but hasn't for a few years. I know Connie is doing a Dirty Dozen, but that's already started. i love to work along with other quilters- the "pressure" and "accountability" work really well for me. thanks in advance! ***

 

i have done LOTS of 9 patches over my RSC career (this is my 8th year sewing along!!!) i did mention before that this year i intended to "kick it up a notch" so to speak, and include some triangles with my blocks. 

i have a Studio2 cutter (highly recommend) and i've had the 3" square die cutter for a while. i recently purchased (on sale; BOGO) the 2½" finished triangle die to pair with my squares. 

i had a grey piece of yardage come through my sewing room, and i snagged it for my RSC21 donuts and {shoo fly}pie blocks. i cut up enough squares and triangles to keep me piecing these quilty snacks for awhile. no rhyme or reason (or plan) on which i'll piece, or how many. it just depends on how many of each color square i have. i've completed 6, of these 2 different blocks, but still have about 8 more to piece. i don't know where all the pink blocks/fabrics came from... (there were A.L.O.T.) it's a mystery! 

another new-to-me block for RSC21 is the waffle block. Millie, our darling cat, loves quilts + sunshine.  the sewing room is a win/win for her! more on my waffles in another post... 

as i mentioned, this is my 8th year (!!!) i started out with Angela and RSC in 2014. so many 3" squares, so many blocks, so many quilts have gone under my needle and out the sewing room door in that time. 

but still the scraps and squares persist! (not complaining, just explaining, as my MIL would have said) i guess i have made some progress in the last few years- the above pictures are my "stash" of the 3" squares; they overflowed their suitcase into a deeper drawer at one time. (more on that suitcase later, too...) 

this metal drawer is the shallowest of my wire storage units, and with the addition of waffle blocks to my RSC21 plans, i managed to *use* nearly *all* of my Low Volume blocks. but, with that, i THINK I SOLVED THE MYSTERY OF OUR SCRAPS, AND WHY WE ALWAYS HAVE MORE. 

that's a post for another day, and i'll be back soon to tell that story! 

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! 

a red, Christmas, RSC20 finish!

this Christmas stars quilt has been done for awhile; just now getting around to sharing it! i started these stars back in RSC15 (!!!) can you even believe it?! 

sawtooth stars are definitely on my Favorite Quilt Blocks Ever list.  i used the 3" squares from my stash, and gathered up all my reds- nearly 30 in all! 

because we all know that nothing says "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" like fabric tomatoes, right? 

the background(s) are 5 different prints with gold; very eclectic, but fun! there's a bit of negative space sprinkled in there, too, but hard to see from my pictures... 

the Red, Not So Christmas Quilt joins our other Official Christmas Quilt on the ladder in the corner of our living room. (the other, Official Christmas Quilt is also from RSC15, i noticed after looking back.) seems i was WAY more productive in earlier RSC years. i'll work on that for RSC21, promise! 

interesting side note: this fall, i saw a ladder available on Facebook marketplace. i missed out on that opportunity (Sunday afternoon nap) and was kinda bummed.  but then, to my delight, when we bought our flipper house in Sayre, there was an old, skuddy ladder in the garage! i cleaned (scrubbed and scrubbed) it off, and it's perfect for displaying the quilts that we use for snuggling in the living room/downstairs. 

in retrospect, it would have been cheaper to buy the ladder off Facebook, instead of the whole flipper house. (haha!) but that's a discussion for another day. 

anyway... back to the quilt at hand. it was a beautiful day in late October when we took pictures of some recent finishes, and everyone was feeling a bit creative. 
 

even the "little library" got in on the photo ops! as a former 500 acre dairy farm, our little  outhouse was quite the fancy place way back when- a 2 seater, even! 

anyway- that's what i've been up to. thanks for stopping by. RSCing is so fun for me- and i plan to continue into 2021. i will {tentatively} say that i do also have plans to kick my blogging and finishing quilts game up a notch as well.

we'll see.... click on over to Angela's. lots of colorful, drool worthy finishes over there! 

RSC16- and RSC20, too!

i've been sewing (and finishing!) behind the scenes, and have a couple quilts to share today.  

long-time RSC quilters will recognize the RSC16 column-along quilt. i did 2 that year, one to keep and one to share. they're all kona cotton solids, and i will say these quilts are one of my favorite RSC quilts we've done together. 

this RSC16 column quilt has been done (and gifted!) for awhile, but it was just recently quilted and bound. and observant readers will notice that it's a different quilt than the one shown in my header picture. (same donkey, though...) 

M/K and family are the owners of this quilt. (and now M/K have THREE children!) my youngest daughter, B, received the sister quilt for Valentine's Day last year. 

this crumb quilt is destined for a teen boy in residential foster care- Cameron. 

i "found" a home for this crumb quilt through Instagram: Quilt For A Child.  i know we all probably already have our donation connections filled, but just in case you're looking to spread the quilty love a bit further, click on over and check her out. 

and check out this fun "glamour" shot- artistically draped over a pallet outside our "little library". haha! originally, our farm was a 500+ acre dairy farm, but it's slowly gotten whittled down over the years to 7 acres, and just (basically) a hobby farm now. 

but the outhouse was a real, functioning necessity at one time. (double seater, even!) both girls and i had fun being outside this morning, and looking for photogenic places to take pictures of quilts. 

i have more quilts to share- finally finished the red stars quilt, started WAAAAAAAY back in 2015. and i'll be posting pictures of that soon. 

also: many sorries, but not including the clicky-link to angela's blog this morning. Norton seems to think some of the quilting blogs i follow are sketchy and suspicious looking. anybody know what's up with that? 

"Luke! I am your father..."

haha! i've been telling myself all week as i've sewn these brown, black and grey quilty stars that i'm sewing on the dark side, hence the goofy title!

 

4 grey quilty stars, 4 blacks and a lonely brown quilty star. 

i forgot to up date my total for this quilty RSC project, but i think that brings it to 38 stars in all the colors of the rainbow. 

i'm debating how to put these stars together: layout? colors? size? how many quilts will i make?

considering it's nearly November (!!!) i really need to work harder on getting my RSC20 quilts together, and not just in a neat pile of pieced blocks in my sewing room drawers. 

i'm sure i'm not alone in this, but i do have quite the backlog of blocks to go into quilts- 6 WIPs just off the top of my head. ***quilter/blogger hangs head in shame. again.***

(also, not sure at all why the pictures are slammed up against the left column. for now, i'll just leave well enough alone.)

so now i'm off to the sewing room: i have my Snowflake quilt ready for quilting, and i also have a {Rainbow Crumb} quilt to finish, quilt, bind and send for a foster child for Quilt For A Child. (find her on instagram if you're looking for another outlet for your RSC/charity sewing) 

 and of course, don't forget to click back to Angela, our hostess with the mostest, and see all the other rainbow goodness as all the RSC20 quilts start to come back together. 

the end is in sight!

i threw this picture in just for fun; i found it again when i was going through my computer uploading my RSC pictures.

way back in the spring, when social distancing was in full force, a local photographer had this "virtual photo session" as a fund raiser for a local charity. the girls and i thought it would be fun to participate. we were all tickled with how it turned out: B (13), hubby Dave, me and A (14). even the cat, Millie and Walker the beagle are included. and believe it or not, it's a fairly accurate portrayal of our family. 

i missed posting in September (par for the course for me) so here's a bit of catch up on my RSC canoodling: 

4 yellow quilty stars blocks, my attempt at showcasing different yellows. and yes, the first one, cheddar yellow, does look quite a bit orange... 

i did show one of the August red stars in the proper month, but here's the rest of the red quilty stars. 

observant, (and regular?!) readers will notice that i had to switch the background fabric yet again for these guys. 

again, i tried to differentiate and showcase each of the different reds: red, maroon, rusty red and white reds. whenever i post these blocks on my Facebook page, they get alot of likes, so they do seem to be popular. 

 i'm nearly done with these quilty stars for RSC20- i'm just finishing up the brown, grey and black ones, so hopefully i'll be back soon to share the final installment... 

Instagram has been all aflutter with this year's #snowflakesewalong. i jumped in this year, and i'm pretty chuffed (been watching too many BBC shows and/or following British blogs/feeds...) at my snowflake- i used grey, aqua, navy, purple and black. 

i may pop back in to share that progress, too, soon. my snowflake quilt is already ironed and pin basted- nearly a personal record for me! in the meantime, be sure to click on over to Angela's blog on Saturday morning to see what everyone else is sewing for RSC20.