Rainbow Scrap Challenge - May

I decided to focus on the single color blocks first and wait to see what else my sky needs at the end, so... after skipping the multi-colored blocks in April, I'm back in with some green blocks for May!

Apparently I don't use much in the subtler tones of light green, but I think the palette should even out a bit when the yellow and neutral blocks join the party!

Linking up with Scrap Happy Saturday.

Positively Perfect Nap Quilt - A Flimsy

Despite my best efforts at making this quilt larger than the pattern, it actually ended up being smaller!  Border selection turned out to be a bit of a struggle but, after briefly considering that maybe it was finished without any, I decided on some simple four inch black borders to float the design a bit.

Finished Size: 50 x 61

I am planning on a rainbow fabric for the binding, and I think these small black borders will give just enough space to keep all the colorful fabrics playing nicely.

This Timeless Treasures butterfly fabric has been catching my eye for a while and, when I finished this quilt, I finally decided to grab a couple of yards for the back.  A few extra inches of fabric on either side will wrap up the piecing and make this quilt ready to join my quilting pile!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Quilt Positive

The plus blocks are moving again!  I had gotten a bit stalled on designing borders so, armed with the need to make progress somewhere, I started putting blocks together.  I was trying for a pretty even distribution of colors - a truly random layout is hard for me to commit to, and the gradient layout didn't look as good as I hoped.  I think it looks much better put together than it was feeling up on my design wall!

And now it's back to borders!  ^_~

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - March

Red is the most recently selected color of the rainbow over at soscrappy, and two more scrap jar stars have now been added to my collection!

I don't have a very wide selection of reds, and though I keep waffling about whether the star points have enough contrast against the black... I think I was able to find a few good lights and darks.

I've been trying to pick fabrics for the corners that start to branch out from the color of the month, and to that end the corners of March have some rainbow squiggles on them. However, it is possible that I have been forgetting they are part of the fabric and have been trying to pick threads off of the corners.  Whoops! 

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and Scrap Happy Saturday.

The Hexie Bug - Still Infected!

It all started with a flower.  Then there was a pillow top.  And now I'm trying my hand at starting an actual quilt!  I'm still not entirely sure about what I'm getting myself into; a blanket is a lot of hexies.  But it's becoming clear that I have caught the hexie bug pretty bad (or pretty good, depending on perspective)!

I was inspired by this Stars and Diamonds quilt by Jennifleur.  I've only seen in progress pictures, so I don't know if she's finished it, but I'm looking forward to having something similar someday... in the very distant future.  Two hexes down... only about 2300 to go!

New uses for an old pencil case!

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday.

Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - Getting Started!

I finally did it!  I finally joined the rainbow scrap challenge.  A slew of deadlines hit in January, and then the quilt parade was so pretty, that I just couldn't resist picking up a nice slow project.

I am using my scraps to make Amber's Scrap Jar Stars (from A Little Bit Biased).  I haven't seen this block paired with a dark background, and I do love rainbows on black backgrounds, so this star strewn fabric was given new purpose.  I was even able to start with the scraps from my first project!

January's Purple stars were made mostly from my scrap bins.  The larger points broke into the larger, less scrappy scraps, but all fabrics had already been used. 

On the other hand, February are a mix of scrap jar stars and stash shelf stars.  Apparently I have more plans to use teal than actually teal usage.  I clearly need to work on that!  I love all the little fussy cut pieces that turned up in February though - the light-bulb and the atom are my favorite pieces!

Linking up with soscrappy and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

An Evergreen Finish

I've wanted some quilted Christmas decorations around the house for several years now, but actually making them has kept getting pushed off for one reason or another.  However, not so this year!

This year I have two new holiday pieces up on display!  My first finish was a holiday frost table runner (shown here), and the second is an evergreen tree advent calendar.  The top (inspired by this tree by Turid of densyendehimmel.) was completed in May.  Then it was quilted with a holly and berry motif and bound in one of the gold fabrics used in the stars.

There are small green buttons sewn on the tree as hanging hardware that blend in better than I hoped.  The one downside is that I think the ornaments might have been easier to hang if I had put the buttons on backwards - there's not a lot of room for the twine to rest, as is, and not all of the ornaments can be hung at all spots.  Still, it's a pretty minor problem and something I could fix in the future if need be!

The ornament buttons were collected over the past year, and there is one for every day of December leading up to Christmas.  Some peppermint twine pulled from my stash seemed a perfect touch!  It's a lot of fun to watch this little tree fill up!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

November Plus Block Report

With my big Celtic block out of the way, my design wall is full of small blocks for my plus quilt again.  I have enough blocks to make the pattern as written now, but I was hoping to make it a little larger.  I like throw quilts you can get all tangled up in!


I had been thinking that I might just make another set of blocks, and grow the quilt that way.  But now that it is all laid out, more blocks seem like they might be overwhelming.  I'll leave these up for a bit and see if they have anything to say.  Maybe I can sneak in a couple of pieced borders!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Nine Knots... Plus One

Nine Knots - 85 inches square

At the end of September I finished this Celtic knot quilt top and was trying to decide what to do for the back.  My original thought had been to make one large quilt block, but I didn't have enough fabric to make that happen.

Back at the drawing board, I considered what I could design with the fabric remaining and wasn't able to come up with anything that really worked for me.  I briefly considered going with a wide back but figured if I was going to buy fabric, I should get the additional dark fabric to make the large block I had originally wanted.

So now, one and a half yards of dark fabric later, I have nine knots for the front and one for the back!

Plus One - 90 inches square

The blocks for the front are about 24 inches square (2 times the pattern size) and the block for the back is 70 inches square (worked up at 5 times the pattern size)!  The borders are similar to the front, but there wasn't enough dark (again) so I improvised on the edges.

Now all I need is a quilt plan and I'll be in good shape to have it done before Christmas! I had been thinking that the front might look good with some stitching in the ditch around the knots and ghost patterns in the dark diamonds but, now that it's a reversible quilt, I'm having second thoughts.  I'll have to think on it a bit and see if anything pops up!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social and Fabric Frenzy Friday.

Rainbow Batiks - A Finish!

My rainbow batik top is finished! Now I just have to figure out what to call it.  Rainbow Trails perhaps?

I had originally planned on using a wide back but when I found this batik it was meant to be - despite needing a seam.  It reminds me of fall leaves!

This was my first time using a scrappy binding.  Picking a binding thread to go with all the different fabrics was hard, but I think it came out pretty well.  I may have to see about stitching up my old binding odds and ends that are laying around!

Linking up with Finish it up and Fabric Frenzy Fridays.

October Block Report

While I've been doing hand stitching and working towards finishes a lot recently, I've also been trying not to let any project fall too far behind. Slowly, my 9 Positively Perfect Nap blocks have turned into 30, and the next set of 30 is underway.

It's funny how pictures can show you things you don't see looking at a layout in person. I just noticed there is a blue dot next to a blue plus!

I've also been working on some charity block projects with my quilt guild. For October the guild chose two lime green fabrics for Lyme disease. There was one modern and one traditional fabric, and we were allowed to add blacks and whites. The blocks are going to be assembled into two quilts and then auctioned off to help raise money for the cause.

Traditional Ohio Star (left) and Tula Pink inspired modern (right) quilt blocks.

We just got our fabrics for November, so I'm sure there will be another block report soon!

Linking up to Let's Bee Social.

A Neutral Finish

I had been holding on to these log cabins until I felt comfortable enough to try quilting a block by block design on my long arm.  I really wanted to showcase the diagonal stripes on this quilt, and here they are!

The tans seemed to want to wash out a bit, despite trying to get a picture in both the sun and the shade, but the sun did help to show off the quilting!  The dark side of the cabins were done with a stitch in the ditch style pattern and the light sides were done with a pattern called Swan Triangle.  The patterns even went together in such a way that the square in the center pops out on the back!

Now all it needs is a name and it's ready to leave the nest!

Linking up with Fabric Frenzy and Finish it Up Fridays.

Nine Knots - A Finished Top!

Yesterday I put the last border on my Celtic quilt.  It is now officially a finished top!

I had been thinking about trying to make one HUGE knot for the back, but I would need about one more yard of the background fabric than I have left to be able to put the corners on it.  That brings it back to the drawing board for now!

Linking up with Finished or Not, Fabric Frenzy Friday, and Let's Bee Social.

The Hexie Bug!

It didn't take long to finish up the flower started last week and stitch it down to a backing fabric.  I seem to be accumulating pink test blocks, so there may be a test block sampler quilt in my future!

And with that done, I was off trying to find card stock with which to make hexagon papers and basting fabric for my next set of projects!  I'd love to hear from those who make their own templates as to their favorite type of paper to use.

This set of projects includes a large and a small version of the same design.  The small one will use 1" hexies, and the large one will be made with 1.75" hexies.  The smaller ones are a little easier to make, I think, but they should both turn out fine!

I think it's safe to say that I have, at least temporarily, caught the hexie bug!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Hexagon Test

My quilt guild is running a hexagon challenge this year, and I thought that signing up could be a good way to motivate myself to make a hexie quilt I've had my eye on.  However, I have never done English paper piecing before and thought perhaps I should give it a try before I commit myself.

One of the shops in a local shop hop recently gave out packets of squares and 1" papers to make a little flower.  A single flower seemed like a good size for a test, so I pulled it out and started basting!




I wasn't sure about all 6 of the petal squares in the packet going together, so I swapped in 3 fabrics from my scrap bins.  I even managed to make a fussy cut flower in just the right colors!

With seven hexies basted, it's time to make them into a flower!  Let the whip stitching commence!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.

Positively In Progress

I've been wanting to make a quilt for myself using the Positively Perfect Quilt pattern from Moda's Bakeshop for some time and I figured my recent birthday was as good an excuse as any to get started!

I had bought Patrick Lose's Suds fabric line to use in this piece, but still hadn't decided on a background, so I headed towards my stash to try and find one.  However, the background hasn't wanted to play nice!

First I chose a grey marbled fabric, but when I started cutting pieces it didn't seem right.  So then I pulled out a black dot fabric and even got as far as making blocks, but ultimately decided it still wasn't speaking to me.

So I put it aside for a bit before giving it one more shot.  This time I tried a calmer tonal black, and I think that all the parts are finally starting to work together!  Third time must be the charm!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social, Fabric Frenzy, and Finished or Not Friday.

Nine Knots

Nine knots have gathered round and it's time to bind them up to keep them from accumulating any more!

Each block is about 24 inches unfinished, so this will be about 70 inches square when sewn together.  I think this is my first quilt that will be left square, but it seems to like being that way.  Next up, borders!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Four Knots

Once one knot has been spotted, more knots are sure to follow.  And apparently, knots on a design wall are no different!

Four down, five to go!

I have learned, courtesy of block two, that taking apart partial seams is not much fun, so I've been trying to slow down and double check what I'm sewing together. I'm very glad that blocks three and four went smoothly!

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

Celtic Test Block

The Parfait Cafe's Interlocking Seasons.

Yesterday I made the first block for a new quilt.  The original block is 12" square, but I decided to follow in the footsteps of Ladybug Lovelies and try making a 24" block.  I think the design works very well as a large block and with the first one all together, I only need eight more!

Finding all the fabric was a bit of an adventure because the original store didn't have enough of the background fabric.  A fabric which, after I bought what was available, turned out to be older and not easily found anymore!  So I may have gone a little overboard when I did manage to find another store that was still selling it, just to be sure I had enough.  But now I won't run out and it never hurts to add to the stash, right?

Linking up with Let's Bee Social.

June Goals

I have been pretty scattered lately, so I decided to choose two sewing goals that I would like to focus on for the rest of June.

First, I would like to graduate from muslin test pieces and stitch up a small quilt piece using my new long arm.  To this end, I started my thread stash with a silver to use on this holiday runner.

Several Superior thread cards also arrived today so I can choose some more thread to coordinate with other unfinished projects!

Second, I would like to progress my very long running granny square piece as far as possible; maybe even to finish it. The longevity of this small project has gotten a little ridiculous, so it's time to get it done!
 

Last night I attached row four and started on row five.  The end of row five is the halfway point and I think that if I concentrate I can get most of the blanket done this month!
 

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