RSC18 week 19

HAPPY DAYS

Isn't it wonderful to see spring flowers in bloom again!   It makes me feel happy in my heart.  My daughter and I took a long drive around all the neighborhood last Sunday. The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing and we saw so many beautiful gardens in bloom.  It was the peak of tulip season and magnolias were blooming as well.  

I am also enjoying PINK this month, thanks to Angela.  My sweet daughter loves to go thrift store shopping and brought me a lovely pink quilt top.  She knows just what makes me happy, fabric of course.  

I ended up trimming it down to 40 X 40 inches.  Some pink calico from way back in my stash was just right for a backing.  It does not require batting because it will go to a nurse near the Texas border, who gives them to mothers in Mexico who need lightweight baby blankets.

Another project I've started is using up a layer cake assortment.  Don't know when or where I acquired it, but I'm taking one more step to get rid of my stash.  

These animals of all kinds will delight some child in need.  I will be making two more lightweight blankets from this collection. I love layer cakes because they piece together so quickly.  

Have a happy weekend everyone and especially all you moms and grandmas!

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RSC 18 week 18

NEW DIRECTION

This was sort of a bridge week for my quilting.  I really haven't started on my May colors of pink and rose.  However, pink and rose are in ample supply in the top I've just finished.

The holdover from last month is my yellow/gold Sawtooth Star block.  Don't look too closely at the piecing, please.  Somehow my ruler measurements didn't agree with what I  ended up with.  Guess the math just makes my head spin as usual.  I always seem to waste fabric by cutting things wrong and then having no fabric left to replace it.  I'm trying to fussy cut my centers, of course.

Here is the top made from a layer cake collection that has been in my stash for a long time. It was a joy to make and is already on its way to Covered In Love.

Meanwhile, for the last couple of months I've been really immersed in learning about minimal improv quilting.  It's where I'm finding my desire to be creative has taken me.  After looking at lots of examples on Pinterest and reading a couple of books and also talking with a couple of folks in my guild, I'm taking the plunge.  I'll be taking time to study each piece during the process.  

This is my first effort.  I found an 8-inch improv block in my stash, part of a Rainbow Scrap Challenge set.  The warm tones and the look of Africa gave me the starting point. I'm not happy with the flying geese block.  It's too dark and draws my eye away from the main block.  This I is just a work in progress.

So off I go on my elephant safari into unknown territory.  Wish me luck, dear friends.

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RSC 18 week 15

BLOOPER AND FINISH

This week was sort of a stop and start period.  I was working on quilting on my pink Project Linus quilt. My shoulders would get so sore I would have to limit my sessions to one or two lines of quilting.  Then came the binding.  I'm lucky to have almost two yards of a very adaptable fabric, irregular stripes of several colors.  It seems to blend with so many fabrics, so I'm going to keep it for binding.  

So by fits and starts I finished the quilt today, after breaking four, yes four machine needles.  I finally found the cause today when I found a loose screw, causing the needles to bend and snap.  Fortunately I had plenty of spares.  

Here is my finished quilt, all set to go to our guild charity day on May 14.  

Today I rushed to make a yellow Sawtooth Star block for my monthly RSC18 collection.  In my haste I did not check back on any of my other blocks, like the pink monkeys on the lime green, which I did last month.  So this is my blooper block.  Maybe I should give it a name sometime.

I guess it will go into my orphan block stash.  We never know when they might find a home.  

That's about it for news here.  I'm still waiting to see some actual green growth. I hard someone say they saw some tulip leaves popping up, but that's all.  I look forward to seeing lots of lovely quilts and maybe some pretty flowers from all of you.

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RSC18 week 12

SPRING GREEN?

I'm still waiting for any sign of spring here in Wisconsin.  Please send me some if you have it, to tide me over until April.  Having spent many years in California and Washington State, it's such a long winter here.  

However, I have been keeping busy with my green fabrics, so cheerful.  The first one is a baby top I just finished piecing.  It makes me feel happy just looking at it. Right now I'm just calling it The Zoo.  

  

I'm leaving it about 35 inches square after a border or two is added. 

My other project is an adult-sized quilt to donate to Covered In Love.  What better way to use my stash than to bring some comfort to grieving families.  Kat gets them to the chaplain at the hospital in Texas where she works.  She says that you never know what scrap of fabric in a quilt might touch the heart of the recipient, perhaps a cat or a special flower, so anything is welcome.  

Here is a sample of the charm squares with grey spacers which have a soft homey feel.

I've got almost all of the 100-plus blocks completed,  This one has almost every color except purple, so I can carry it over until the Rainbow Scrap Challenge April color.  

I was sorry to hear that Mari and others on the East Coast had to dig out from that huge snowstorm.  The good thing is that snow does not seem to harm the fresh growth of greenery and flowers.  I hope all of you have a burst of springtime energy this week.  

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RSC 18 week 11

 GREEN JUNGLE  

It's a jungle out there in my studio this week.  Everything is green and filled with wild critters.  I've been having fun playing with them all.

My first find in my stash was pink monkeys scrambling all over a lime green solid.  They were just begging me to add them to my next Sawtooth Star block.  It was tough trying to get a couple of them to be still long enough to fussy cut them, but I finally outlasted them.  You'd better take a quick peek before they scamper away.

These are very clever fellas.  You can just see that the one on the left is starting to pull apart the fencing so they can escape.  I caught him in the nick of time.  

I've also been busy prepping some cute jungle animals which fit perfectly in the lime green jungle.  I plan to make a brick pattern with these 10-inch cuts.

Aren't they the cutest wild animals ever?  They should make some young child very happy.  Of course, I will be making another Project Linus quilt.  

Have to sign off now.  Top O' the Mornin' to all on this St Patrick's Day.

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RSC18 week 10

LIME GREEN

This month the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is lime green, one of my favorite colors.  It's so bright and full of life, the first signs of spring, the little leaves of daffodils popping up in the dead grass.  

The first block I'm sharing is one that I made about a year ago.  It never did fit in any color category.  I decided to try making a Sawtooth Star block and chose these colorful fabrics for practice.

Now I get a chance to show this block, one of my favorites.  I'm continuing Sawtooth Star in RSC18.  

For my second BOM I'm doing the 16-patch again this year.  This was a bit of a challenge in lime, using quite a few fussy-cut pieces. So many cute critters here.

I'm very happy to show you my finished Rainbow Geese Migration quilt.  I broke my older sewing machine while stitching the last of the binding.  Now that my daughter has given me her computerized Brother machine the first thing I did was finish that binding, with no further incidents.  Just in time to show it off at Cynthia's Geese Migration wrap up.

And here is a lovely scene in a local park.  My friend has been feeding domesticated geese there for many years.  They are larger than the migratory Canada geese that congregate here along with wild malard ducks.

These geese do not migrate and do benefit from the extra food provided during the winter months. It was a  beautiful sunny and windless afternoon, a really special time.

There is no new growth here yet, but spring will be here very soon.  We will all be happy for that.

Have a good week, everyone.

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RSC18 week 9

AT LAST

We are finally finished with purple.  February seemed to be the longest month this year, just dragging on. I am sick and tired of purple!  Thank you, thank you, Angela for bright light green this month.  I won't see any spring growth here in Wisconsin for about another month, but I can play with my fabrics and fill my heart with spring.  In fact, we can hear birds chirping again and just now I can hear the coo, coo of a mourning dove.

Great news!  After my 13-year-old sewing machine bit the dust, my daughter gave me a lovely fully automated, computerized Brother which she was not using.  

As you can see, it has all the bells and whistles and shortcuts I could want.  However, that does not mean I've been sewing up a storm.  It's been several days of slogging through the manual, figuring out how to make it run.  With my shaky hands it took about an hour for me to get it threaded and a bobbin filled after dropping a bunch of those colorless things everywhere.

The other problem is my custom sewing table, which needs a new inset for this machine.  I spent about another hour just now attempting to order it with an outdated credit card.  Finally got that done this Friday afternoon, so it won't be here until Wednesday.  Does this whole tale sound like I'm losing my mind?  It couldn't be old age...

On the bright side, I got as far as finding a surprise of some nice light green fabrics in my stash.

Aren't they pretty?  I'm going to get busy hunting for lime greens and I hope that by next week I will be able to post photos of some new blocks for you to enjoy with me.

Hsave a good week, everyone.

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RSC18 week 8

SAD FAREWELL

The other day my well-used sewing machine bit the dust.  I was shopping for a new one and waiting for my daughter to bring me one of hers to try out.  However, tragedy struck before this could happen. Well, tragedy is overstating it, but my feeling of loss was quite real.  

It happened two days ago. I was working on my January Scrap Attack goal, finishing binding my Rainbow Geese quilt, when the needle broke right off.  That was okay and I tried to replace it.  However, with my clumsy attempts I broke off the needle holder itself and was unable to reattach it.  Here's the quilt with the unfinished side hidden.  

Suddenly I had time on my hands with nothing to do and realized how much I actually do with my machine each day.  Reading or cleaning  closets did not fill that void.  Last night was the end of the Olymplics figure skating as well. 

So I went hunting through my sewing room and finally found a large number of purple 4-patches hidden  away.  They were part of a Bonnie Hunter challenge which I never completed.  To show you all that I have done some purple work this week, I laid out this block on my slippery design  floor.  I just had to have more than one photo for this post.  

This is just a fraction of the patches which would make a baby quilt.  I'm thinking I could use them to frame some cute panel, or as a border for my pink and purple crib quilt.  

So that's all the news from here this week, other than the fact that most of the snow has melted and my fingers are no longer frozen.

Have a good week, everyone.

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RSC18 week 7

QUICK WORK

This is a shorter month and that's my only excuse for not getting much done.  My project this week used a bit of purple and a lot of pink.  It's another Project Linus top, for a  little girl this time.  I remember when pink and purple were my granddaughter's favorite colors.  That was about ten years ago.  Now, at 16, she is sophisticated in black and white.  I do miss buying clothes for little girls.  

These wide strips were a good way to use my stash, some charms, 2-1/2 inch strips and even a 4-patch strip in purple.

Unfortunately all the photos of the entire top were overexposed and not worth showing.  But this folded portion includes all of the fabrics used, in width-of-fabric repeats.  Now it is about 42x56 without a border.  

This is not a new project, but a use for a WIP.  Last fall I  really enjoyed making a simple X-block done in springtime Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I added a white border and left it at that.

I left this hanging around until a friend saw it recently and suggested that it would make a nice tablecloth.  So here it is on my antique side table, just the thing to brighten the living room during these dull days.

What about a new sewing machine?  My daughter and I went shopping for one yesterday.  There have been so many nice improvements with the electronics in all the machines.  Even the basic ones are so much more convenient than my present machine.  

Then Beth suggested I try her newer machine to see if it would work for me.  So she is going to bring it over tomorrow for me to try.  If I like it, we can switch around machines with her and Sarah.  So hopefully I will have good news next week.

Meanwhile, i will enjoy seeing all of your latest stitching news.

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RSC18 week 6

PURPLE  CHALLENGE

This month is not my favorite for weather, and this year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color, purple. When I pulled my purple stash I was really disappointed.  There are some terrific batiks, but otherwise all the rest seem very dull.  I also have very few prints to use.  I was hoping to find lovely florals, especially lilacs and violets, two of my favorite flowers.   Overall, a pretty depressing stash for me.  I'm sticking to my rule of no fabric purchases this year, so there will be slim pickings.  

However, I did find a large scrap of a gorgeous floral and used it for my first Sawtooth Star block.   

I was really surprised when the photo showed it off better than it appeared to my eyes. The slanting light seemed to bring it alive. 

The 16-patch block was not very exciting at all.  See all the pale grayish tones?  Now I have a collection of 2-1/2 inch squares which will probably get moldy in the bottom of some orner of the closet.

In order to have something to show for February, I'm making a Project Linus quilt using purple and pink strips and  charms.  The fleece backing for this is a sweet unicorn print on purple.  Some little girl will love it.  

Enough of these negative purple thoughts.  On the definetly positive side:

BIG NEWS!  

I'm going to buy myself a new sewing machine. My current one was bought twelve years ago when I retired.  It was not a high end machine and has gotten good use, but has some real drawbacks for quilting.  The throat space, between the needle and the body, is only 5-1/2 inches.  I have to turn the wheel in order to raise and lower the foot.  There are other drawbacks as well.   

I've done quite a bit of comparison shopping, mostly online, and have decided on a real quilting machine at a good price.  If the snow ever holds off this week, I hope to get to the sewing store to try it out.  Hopefully the big reveal will be next Saturday.  

I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you folks have been up to.

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RSC18 week 5

 LIGHT BLUE FINISH

Icy blue is a better name for this January RSC18  color.  It's the color of my fingers after five minutes outside.  I can't recall such a long cold winter.  Good for quilting work anyway.  

However, my brain must have had frostbite because I completely forgot to finish my RSC18 week 3 post.  So here is my 10-inch Churn Dash block in light blue.  

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this block monthly.  I'm trying to be consistent with my block sizes, preferably at 8 inches finished.  This allows me to mix and match them as needed.  That is my go-to size.  

This Sawtooth Star is definitely on the list.  I like making it with flying geese piecing, four fewer seams to goof up, as you will notice below.  I love choosing a central focal point, especially if there are some sparks of other colors.

  The 16-patch is on of my very favorites.  I'm happy with scrappy.

For my Christmas gift to myself I bought three books on improv quilting, all on sale of course.  I've been really inspired by Intuitive Color and Design by Jean Wells.  She is one of the masters of art quilting and includes assignments for each of several design principles.  I can recommend it for any of you who want to stretch your design boundaries.

Last year, or maybe in 2016, I made ten improv blocks according to Angela's color choices.  I will need twenty for a quilt, a good goal for this year.

Here is the 8-1//2-Inch improv block I ended up with.  I started out with lighter blue scraps, but this block wanted to go darker as well.  Sorry, Angela.  

One more strip block just snuck in.

This is going to be a great year for Rainbow Scrap Challenge and I've just pulled out my purples.

Can't wait to see all the lovely purole piecing this month, along with all the hearts.  Now if only they were filled with chocolates...

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RSC 18 week 2

2017 FAVORITES

Having seen so many year end reviews by my quilting friends, I went through my own pics to choose my five top favorites.   This includes only totally finished quilts, which leaves out some of my most popular ones, still in the works.  

Of course, this post allows me to delay showing my latest projects, which amount to very little at the moment.  If I really get going I may be able to fill in the last two Saturdays this month.  I'm doing the Scrap Attack, which is a fun way for me to have workable monthly goals.  I've never done anything about goal setting before, so I expect to make a good dent in my UFOs.

Number five is my first Ad Hoc Improv Quilt challenge piece.  This was using Chinese coins in an improv way.  I added extra components, including a rising sun and orange bits of light representing sprouting seeds.  A number of the strips were pieced horizontally also, to break up the straight lines in the dark earth.  I call it Seeds of Hope.

In fourth place I chose a Color Works pattern, using a collection of fat eighths which were getting dusty.  I called it Type Face because of its colorful variety of typewriter keys of all sizes.  I sent the top to Kat for her Covered In Love charity.  She had it quilted by her generous friends in Texas, and the chaplain of the hospital where she works presented it to a grieving family.  

Number three is what started out as a crayon quilt.  I pieced all the rows but didn't get around to making the points.  So it was easier to make a rainbow, another Project Linus piece.  

My choice for second place is the set of 16-patch blocks from RSC16.  Yes another Rainbow.  In my stash I found a bright banana print and added corner 9-patches to make it a good size.  I backed it with  a monkey print fleece.  I hated giving it up, but some child is enjoying it now.

My number one for 2017 was a super easy choice, my Summer quilt for my own bed.  I had collected a group of Kaffe Fassett precuts and used them to make large blocks.  I had it longarmed by a member of my guild, Monona Quilters.  I'm so happy with it, and it has turned out to be warm enough to use year round.  

Looking back, it was a good year for my quilting output.  I really enjoy doing charity quilts now that my family has been supplied.  I loved seeing so many truly special quilts that so many of you have made.  It's like an ongoing quilt show each week.  I know that 2018 is going to be an even better year for all of us.  

I'll be waiting to see what everyone has done at

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and

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RSC18 week 1

A FLYING START

This year I'm taking part in Scrap Attack and drawing a project to work on each month.  My 12 projects are all UFOs to be finished.  Here's my pot and the January pick.

My Geese Migration flimsy is up for completion by the end of the month, a flying start for 2018.

Before I get to that I need to finish my Waterfront Neighborhood project.  I'm piecing three rows of houses and trees, plus two rows of sailboats.  The houses are from a Rainbow Scrap Challenge, not sure which year, and the boats are a couple of years old.  The little trees were the most difficult to piece and were made to extend the rows to 40 inches.  

Row quilts are one of my favorite Project Linus quilts.  I usually make them about 45x60.  Then I back each with a colorful fleece blanket which can be found for about 3-5 dollars on sale.  For Christmas my daughter surprised me with six more of them.  

We are still frozen solid for the third week now, as so many of you are.  If it warms up enough we could get some snow.  At least it's not as bad as the high tide of slush in Boston.  I pray that all of you dear quilter friends will have a blessed and Happy New Year.  Go LIGHT BLUE!

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RSC17 week 50

MANY COLORS

The fact that Christmas is coming quickly did not deter me from starting three quilted gifts.  I've never tried the pattern before, but believed every word Joy at The Joyful Quilter told us about how easy and fun this project is.  If I find out differently in the coming days, she is the one to blame.  

Here are the three stacks of strips I gathered for piecing each one. 

So far I have finished the piecing on two of them and working on the last one.  Then the real challenge begins for me, to assemble these gifts ASAP.  

That's all I've been doing this week, so I'm sharing an antique quilt from my collection.  It goes so nicely over my wing chair and adds more Christmas cheer.  It is a Courthouse Steps log cabin variation from around 1900 and is made of heavier fabric, perhaps for draperies or winter dresses. The closeup gives you a feel for the texture.    

It was given to me by a woman who wanted to know the age of another quilt and then offered it to me for free, to give it a good home.  It joined my other old adopted quilts and is truly loved.

I hope you all have a happy and peaceful holiday season.

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RSC17 week 49

PLAYTIME

This week has been playtime for me.  In other words, neglecting the finishing quilting and binding on three quilts while getting into some new projects and having fun with them instead.  Does that sound familiar to anyone?   

I don't have any set deadlines right now, no promises made that I can't keep.  But last week I awoke one morning and a Project Linus quilt idea popped into my head full blown.   I had a layer cake stack of animal prints which I had bought for fussy cutting.  They are not in my usual bright colors.  However, a roll of Grunge strips inspired me to do a quilt with those and the animals.  Turqouise and warm orange are included in the prints.  

To make it as quick and easy as possible, I decided on a row quilt, where ther is no seam matching and anything goes.  Here is my first idea laid out on my design floor.

In this case the white pieces act like another bright, versus beige.  So it will be quite lively for a child.  Finding backing fabrics won't be a problem. My bulging stash will breathe a sigh of relief to lose some weight.

  I'm calling this one Waterfront Property.

The other project is my RSC17 or RSC16 neglected blocks, houses and little boats.  As I mentioned before, I've been making some trees for my neighborhood.  Finally I decided to use these three blocks in a row quilt rather than just the house blocks alone.  I even found some cute ocean fabric which I had bought to use with the boats.

The layout here comes right off of my graph paper mockup.  I haven't named this one yet.

The end result has been playing with my blocks and having a good time.  Even if I work on the WIPs I will still be cheered by thinking and planning for these fun row quilts.  

I'm not doing any Christmas Quilting projects this year.  I don't need the pressure.

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RSC17 week 46

MORE BROWNS

This week sets some kind of record for me, start to finish of a flimsie.  I told you last week about my large bin stuffed with batiks and waiting to be used.  There were so many strips that it was overstuffed.

Now you see how much I have emptied the bin.  

There were so many strips that I had no use for, or so I thought.  After tackling these unwanted strips I turned them into this 50 X 60 top, finished except for borders.

I added one little spark of orange to each strip, which makes quite a difference.  If you know me, you know I can't make dull quilts. I had to add those bright touchs.  Many of you liked them very much.

I decided on an inner orange batiks border and a wider subtle one.  Here is how it looks with the orange border added.  

I've been saving a precious two yards of 108" wide batik which I bought in 2008 from Sew Batik at Quilt Expo here in Madison WI.  I'm showing you this before I even remove the string tie and cut off a few 4-inch strips.  There is still time for a few more pets.

Tomorrow I will attach those final strips and it will be off to Kat at Covered In Love, her wonderful charity for grieving families.

I have also found time to add a pair of evergreen trees to my neighborhood.  The one on the right is a Christmas tree with stars and ball ornaments from a charm square.  I used my Tri-Recs rulers to make them.  

Time is really flying this month, as it always does with holidays coming.  I wish all my USA friends a very blessed Thanksgiving Day, and to you other dear friends abroad a special time of relaxation.  

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Kat at Covered In Love Kat at Covered In Love