Scrappy Saturday

It's orange month for the Rainbow Scrappers and I have dug deep into the orange scraps. It's so fun to remember where each of these pieces have come from, the projects they were purchased for and sewn into, or the friends who have donated them to my "home for wayward scraps"!





I intended to get to work on my August Squared Away blocks, but have been distracted by Julie's Log Cabin Loonies sew along. Her cutting instructions are here and last week's Tuesday link up is here. These blocks use 1" strips and it's perfect for using up the tiniest pieces worth saving.




Here are my first 4 blocks.
I'm hoping to add to this new collection each month with the RSC colour of the month.

Hop over to the weekly link up for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge to see more orange blocks being made.

More Blockheads II

Alternate block #8 - 6" pieced pineapple 

While I had my Sweetwater Harmony fabric spread all over the sewing table, I continued sewing more blocks to hopefully catch up to the current Blockheads II patterns being posted.
Thanks to Pam and Julie who directed me to the pieced pineapple pattern (instead of the applique version of block #8). The pattern is by Corey Yoder and can be found here. I love how my fabrics worked with this design.

Then I tackled the redrafting of block #5 called "Impact". The original pattern is a 24" block which was way too large for me. This is my version which finishes at 12". Instead of plain squares I added a star block in the centre space, and double 4 patch blocks in the corners. It was quite a challenge, but felt very rewarding when it was done!
Getting so close to being caught up... 3 more to go!

Blockheads II on the Design Wall

Block #6

I am almost caught up with the Blockheads II blocks. This is a 12" block called "Path Through the Woods". The pattern is by designer Betsy Chutchian and can be found here. It was one of the most challenging blocks I've sewn for a while with lots of bias seams. A couple of triangle points are missing, but that's okay because it came out to the perfect size, so I'm quite tickled about that!

Block #7

This is block #7 called Spin Cycle.  It is a 6" block by designer Stacy Iest Hsu. Stacy is using very happy colours for her blocks - you can see them on her blog here. 

I am now a few blocks behind. I am redrafting the enormous 24" block called "Impact" to be half that size. And I'm figuring out how to make a pieced pineapple to replace block #8 which is an appliqued pineapple.

Here are all my blocks on the design wall. I am feeling much happier now with my fabric choices for these blocks. I didn't really like how the contrast worked out for my first block, but I'm okay with it now when I see them all on the design wall. 
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts.

And if you want inspiration overwhelm, visit the Blockheads Facebook group. You don't need a facebook account to be able to scroll through the photos, but be prepared to kiss your sewing time goodbye, because there is so much to see!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to Slow Sunday Stitching where we celebrate the creation of hand stitched works of art! 
I have finished one more embroidery block for my "I Stitch Club" project by Gail Pan. Isn't this an adorable little cat? It's the only kind of cat that I'm not allergic to.
I am quite a bit behind on this embroidery project, since 3 block patterns are sent out each month, and I've only finished 9 or 10 of them (of a possible 20+).
But that is what summer is for - taking things at a leisurely pace, and not worrying about falling behind. Today I'll trace another pattern to begin stitching later in the day. 
If you haven't yet entered the "Save the Bees" draws yet, you have until the end of today to get in on that - click here.

What are you hand stitching today? Link up your blog post and show us what you are working on.



   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Scrappy Saturday

Orange is the colour of the month for August. It seems to be a controversial colour and quilters either love it or hate it.
I am in the "love it" camp and find that it really brightens up any quilt it is a part of. Most of my ongoing RSC projects already have plenty of orange in them, but I'll be adding in more this month.

disorganized scraps

I tackled this pile of scraps from my friend Debby. She gave them to me for dog bed stuffing, but these pieces were way too big for that!






The first step is to organize the scraps into colour families and either cut them immediately for specific projects, or put them in the appropriate scrap bins (by colour).

I started with the maverick stars project and chose these scraps to make 5 more blocks. This is all organized and ready to feed through the machine. There were a few orange scraps to work with.

Here are 4 finished star blocks. The centres of the stars are either 2.5" squares (the two blocks on the right) or scraps pieced together and trimmed to 2.5" (the two blocks on the left).

And here are all the blocks on the design wall.

Over 60  blocks have been made so far. The pattern is here if you want to start your own collection.
Hop over to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link up to see more scrappy projects being made.

July Shop Hop

For the past few years there has been a July Shop Hop in Southern Ontario. It involves visiting 15 stores to collect block patterns and the fabrics to make those patterns. Each store makes their own version of a quilt layout using the same blocks and it's amazing to see the 15 completely different quilt layouts. 
They ask that participants not take any pictures in order to keep it a mystery for everyone until the end of July, so I reluctantly comply with that rule and don't have any quilts to show you.  

shop hop blocks plus teal

But believe me we saw some lovely quilt layouts which will eventually be able to be seen on the website here. I think you can still see the 2017 quilts when the theme colour was grey. The 2018 quilts will be posted any day. This year the colour was beige/neutral and the blocks are kind of boring. So I decided to spruce those up with some teal fabrics left over from 2 of my previous quilts - Clarissa and a Patchwork Times mystery. The idea to add teal to the sampler quilt came from the Cherished Pieces shop in Tillsonburg.
Some of the shops I travelled to on my own, and some parts of the journey I was able to car pool with some quilting friends. 

Esther of Heart N Home Creations

I was happy to be able to visit each one of the shops during the month of July, and ended my journey at Esther's shop in New Hamburg called Heart N Home Creations. A huge thank you to all the quilt store owners for organizing this fun summer event for us. The Shop Hop is a lot of fun for quilters but it's also a lot of work for the store owners. I hope it is financially worthwhile for them otherwise they won't continue to offer it. You can rest assured that I bought something at every store and definitely did my best to support the effort! I treated myself to a new cutting mat, a roll of batting, new needles, marking pens, and perhaps a bit of fabric here and there! LOLOLOLOL 
I am well stocked for the year (well, for years to come actually!)

The Squirrel Club

Did you see that Julie started a new club for scrap quilters who are easily distracted? It's called "The Squirrel Club".
Do you know anyone who might fit that description? 
I'm looking at YOU! 
And you're probably looking at me!

I have already made one Scrap Vortex quilt and it's one of my all time favourite quilts. It started in 2015 when Amanda Jean had a quiltalong and my friend Gail double dog dared me to start one... read about it here. At times I thought my scraps looked boring compared to other quilters, but in the end it made one heck of a fun quilt!

Have you made a scrap vortex quilt yet? Are you thinking of starting one?
If you need more inspiration, hop over to Linda's blog post over at Art in Search to see her wonderful collection of scrappy blocks. And Julie has posted her vortex quilt here.

Debby's vortex

Just look at my friend Debby's scrappy blocks on my design wall. She is learning to be a scrap quilter and all these bits are Tula Pink fabrics. I think we have pulled her right into the vortex! Yippee another convert!


Of course I want to start another one myself. It's the perfect mindless sewing project. 
So what are you waiting for?!? 
Get out your scrap bags, bins and boxes and get sewing!
Squirrel!