Tuesday, June 30, 2020

RSC June 2020: Pink!


June's RSC color pick had me tickled pink!
I have plenty of pinks in my stash to get this challenge done 
and it was pure pleasure!


I'm not sure what kind of tree these blossoms were on in early May, 
but I took a photo because of the gorgeous pinks.  
The opened blossoms smelled luscious!



Another 24  9-patch blocks completed and added onto the 
dark green rows from May's RSC. 
The pinks seems to give a bit of cheer to the greens, don't they?



This quilt is going to be a BIG one with 4 more double rows added on. 
What was I thinking???



I'm getting this posted just in the nick of time before the second half of 2020 begins tomorrow! 

I'm sure hoping and praying this next half is a better one. 

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Thursday, May 28, 2020

RSC 2020: Dark Green


Kermit knew it best. It isn't easy being green.

Dark green doesn't take up much room in my fabric stash.
Or my mind.

It's easy for me to say I don't like dark green.
It feels depressing to me. 
Like murky swamp waters where creatures live under the slimy mossy surface. Ick. 



I was going to jump in and get this month's challenge done and I had hopes of finding that dark green and I could build a friendship. Not best friends, but at least we could nod to each other upon passing. 


 In early May, I gathered the dark greens that hid out at the bottom of my green fabric pile. Apparently, they don't get along with the lovely limes, tantalizing teals, opulent olives, captivating celadons, magnificent mints, lyrical laurels and shameless shamrocks of their color genre. 
Nope, these dark greens here huddled deep and alone, waiting for a day to be chosen for a sewing project. 



I yanked them out. I started cutting. I used a few curse words. They were not pretty...neither the words or the fabrics. It didn't help that the next day (after a break), that I realized all of the squares were cut too big. I needed 2" squares, not 2.5" squares! 
The horror of 2.5" squares will be around to haunt me for a long time now.



I pushed through and recut them. Then started stitching. I got them all stitched together in one afternoon. No bonds of friendship were formed. 




Those dark greens kinda stick out like a sore thumb. 
I may end up taking them off.
We'll see what June's color is and I'll revisit this. 

Poor Kermit. 

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Friday, April 10, 2020

RSC 2020: Light & Bright Blue!






One upside to staying home is giving myself more time to sew. It feeds my soul and nourishes my mind. There are plenty of other things I should do, but those things don't give me the same satisfaction. 

Maybe come mid-summer (if this pandemic is over), I will wish I had spent more time cleaning closets and tidying up the garage. 

But for now, for today and likely tomorrow, I will sew.

I had my 2 rows of 9-patch blocks completed in just 2 days. 

I surprised myself at finding that light and bright blues weren't flourishing in my stash. 
It's the medium and darker blues that win out.



All four colors are sewn together and are becoming friends. 




It's going to be such a pretty quilt!

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Tuesday, March 31, 2020

RSC 2020: Aqua!


The color for March's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) was aqua.

 Sometimes also called teal or turquoise.
 I like to pronounce that last color  "tur-quah"! 
Makes it sound fancy, doesn't it? 


Whatever you prefer to call it, 
I had enough of it in my stash this go-around to fulfill 
what was needed to make 24 more 9-patch blocks. 


Of course, the moment I lay it out on the floor (my design wall), 
it becomes something to lay on. 
Sophie approves!

She tends to be camera shy. 
The only way I can get her to look at the camera is to say "Where's Jenny?".
Jenny is her groomer and although Sophie always behaves herself there, 
she'd rather hide under the bed. 


 

Here we are with the first 3 scrappy strips sewn together!
It's going to be a colorful one,, for sure!

Tomorrow, April 1st, the new color will be announced. 
Hmmm...I'm guessing purple!

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Stay home and stay healthy, my friends! 



Sunday, March 22, 2020

Vibrant & Vivacious: Project Quilting Challenge 11.6



This week, more so than others, was a great way to escape from what's happening in the world. 
I'm sure many of you can relate. 
There's little I can think about when I have my sewing machine needle piercing through fabric. 
It's a wonderful thing to create, isn't it?

This week's challenge at Persimon Dreams was to use vibrant colors! 
It's been rather bleak, gray weather here in my corner of Iowa, so playing with these fabrics added some joy.

I've had a pattern on my Pinterest board for a long time, and I knew I could figure it out without too much trouble. 
Who needs a stinkin' pattern to buy when you can finagle on your own? 😁


I was trying too hard to  make my Flying Geese matchy-matchy and I wasn't really getting the effect I wanted. So, I threw caution to the wind and put crazy combinations together. So much easier!




Here we go with my layout....looking good, right? Vibrant and Vivacious?




I even sewed up all those cut-off corners for another project down the line. 





I wanted to try mitered corners and this was the perfect time! 
I found a great video from Fons & Porter. 
Easy, peasy...except for one corner that I had to re-do THREE times!





Details on quilting and getting that binding just right. 







Now, if I could just learn to take a decent photo! 
This is a perfect rectangle...believe me!
Measurements: 29" x 15"
Made in my home in Dubuque, Iowa

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Friday, February 28, 2020

RSC 2020: Orange!


My mama would be proud! In fact, she would be gushing at the progress this month and requesting an entire quilt be made from these blocks.

🧡Oh, how Hazel loved orange!🧡

At one time, she even drove an orange car! 

In full respect, orange is not one of my favorite colors.

Even though I had one reader offer to send me orange scraps 
(bless your ever-loving orange heart), 
I spent a few bucks to purchase a few fat quarters 
and even found some orange remnants in the bin at JoAnn. 


Many strips were sewn and cut to make 24 more 9-patch blocks....
2 rows of 12 blocks.

Sewn to the green strips and we have ourselves the beginning vision of a colorful quilt!

 

Mom, orange you happy? 😉


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Saturday, February 8, 2020

Put a Heart on It! Project Quilting 11.3











I have participated in the Project Quilting challenges for the past several years, but this last week's challenge is the first one I've taken on for this year.
 I just couldn't pass up creating something with hearts!



I think it was just a few days before Kim at Persimon Dreams announced the topic for this challenge that I received the "Love Is Scrappy" tutorial from Blair in her Wise Craft Handmade newsletter. I knew I had to make one! 

The one major change I made was to make mine smaller. Blair's finished wall quilt measures in at 32" square. Mine is a mere 16" square. 
Yep, that's a lotta 2" squares!


Fortunately, I had only to shop my stash for this mini quilt.
 No shopping required! (Shucks!)


It was fun to lay out the scrappy squares and get a visual for the final project. 

You might notice my orange strips at the top. 
They are waiting to be sewn into 9-patches for the RSC project. 




Sewing the tiny squares together was going just fine til I got to the 
top of the heart. 

I blame it on Oprah. I was listening to her podcast and got distracted. 
My husband thought I was sewing a fox head.






Simple, straight line stitching for quilting the 3 layers together. 
I  had a fabric piece just the perfect size for the backing. 




In my stash, I also had a package of bias tape that served very purposeful here!
It was a bit tricky since it was so narrow, but it worked out.




This 16" x 16" mini will be a gift for my daughter on her 30th birthday. 
She celebrates on Feb. 16th, but we've always considered her a
 Valentine's baby. 








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