This month I have been sorting through my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have been participating in this challenge since Angela started it in January of 2011. I have accumulated a lot of blocks and want to get some of these into finished quilt so I can start new projects next year.
The focus for December has become my Carrie Nation block collection because I really don't want to make more of these blocks in 2015. I am focused on filling in the colour gaps.
Over the past week I cut and sewed 8 orange blocks, and am pleased with the variety of dark to light oranges that I could come up with.
This week I am hoping to work on the green scraps to make a few more blocks. And then in the week after Christmas when there is more sewing time, I plan to get this top together.
To see what other projects are being worked on, hop over to SoScrappy.
For the month of December the RSC'ers are trying to finish up some scrap quilts worked on over the year. This week I tackled my collection of Carrie Nation blocks. I decided that I like the on-point layout best. The chains look a little wobbly in this picture, but once the blocks are sewn together, they will (hopefully) be straight.I also really liked the layout that Katie used for her Carrie Nation blocks - you can see her layout here.
I decided that this quilt really needs some orange and maybe some pink blocks, plus a few more green ones.
So I pulled out those scrap bins and that's what I'll be doing today - cutting scraps to sew up the blocks needed to fill in the missing coloured blocks. And then this quilt could become a finished top by the end of the year!To see more scrappy quilt postings, hop over to Angela's link up.
The colour of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is light blue. I have been finishing up a few blue spool blocks and went in search of the pile of blocks to see if I have enough to start putting this quilt together. Wow, do I ever!!
These are just the blue and purple spool blocks on the design wall. You can see on the bottom left of the design wall that I have a few more spool blocks to sew together into the 4 patch blocks. In playing around with different ideas, I decided my favorite layout was the on point setting with an extra spool between each block around the edges. And I think I will make the outside triangles from light scraps and then decide if it needs a border or not.
I also decided to make the spools my main Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for the month of December. It would be awesome to have these blocks into a finished quilt top by the end of the year!
To see more RSC projects, hop over to SoScrappy.
It's scrappy Saturday over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I have been making these little Alamo Star blocks for about two years now. You can read the first post here.
They measure 2.75" and will be 2.25" once sewn to other star blocks.
I try to make some of these stars in the colour of the month over at RSC using batik scraps cut to 1.25".
I use the Tri-Recs rulers to cut up the strips into useable pieces. Cutting the little pieces takes longer than sewing them together!
This is my little storage box where I keep some strips I want to cut, some pieces that have been cut and are ready to sew, and a few recently finished stars.
In december I am going to do a grand total count, and put them on the design wall to see how many more I want to make next year.
To see more scrappy updates, hop over to SoScrappy.
There has not been much progress so far on my pile of light blue scraps. A few spool blocks were made last week, and I have some scraps cut up for leader/ender sewing.
I made a light blue Maverick Star block to add to this little block collection. The pattern can be found here.
The star points are really small bits that I usually fish out of the trash bin!
I will for sure continue to make more of these blocks in 2015.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see more light blue scrap postings.
The RSC'ers have been busy sewing up their dark scraps in the month of October. I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped, but did make some progress.
The week I have been cutting some pumpkin seed blocks to hand applique. I haven't even finished the orange seed blocks yet from last month :)
Oh well, progress is still being made!
This is the Leaves Galore ruler I have been using with this project and it is awesome!
Now that a new month is here it is time to move onto another scrap bin, which this month will be light blue.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see what the scrappers are up to!
The Rainbow Scrappers are working with the dark colours this month. Many of my ongoing scrap projects could benefit from the darker blocks which provide contrast. This week I sewed a few dark 3" spool blocks and joined them into six 6" blocks for my scrappy spools project.
To see more rainbow scrap challenge posts, hop over to SoScrappy.
I am still dragging my heels from leaving the orange scraps!
I threw my pumpkin seed blocks up on the design wall in no particular order.
I was disappointed because:
a) I thought I had sewn way more blocks than this, and
b) it looks kind of blah.
I think it needs more light, more orange, and gold/yellow blocks.
So I really got to work on some orange blocks, and have a few in various stages of completion.
They will really help to boost this project.
To see more scrappy posts of bloggers who are probably following the rules and working on the proper coloured scraps, hop over to SoScrappy.
Orange was the colour for September over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I wasn't quite ready to move to the October colours since I hadn't sewn a single orange block for my Omigosh quilt yet.
A while ago I received a card from a wonderful friend that included some 1" orange scraps.
I enjoyed sewing up her scraps mixed in with my own orange squares, and sewed 6 double nine patch blocks.
That brings my grand total of double 9 patch blocks to 54!
I am now ready to move on to some of the darker golds and browns for October.
To see more scrap postings, hop over to SoScrappy.
Saturday is the day to post our progress with the Rainbow
Scrap Challenge. I have made over 40 orange spools that are yummy. Except that one with the blue background...it might need to disappear?!
I have lots more to do with my orange scraps, and this month has passed so quickly, that I think my orange blocks might spill into next month.
To see more scrap postings, hop over to SoScrappy.
It's orange month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge but as you can see, I am still finishing up with some green blocks from last month. These 16 pumpkin seeds are hand appliqued and I have them sewn into 4 blocks to add to that project.
Although I call this shape "pumpkin seed", it is known by many other names.
And if you like it as much as I do, you should definitely check out the "petals" blog tour. There are so many beautiful and creative projects shown using this seed/petal/peel shape. But beware... you could get lost in that linky list and spend way too much time on the computer (not that I would know!)
I might never stop sewing these blocks!
But for my rainbow scrap challenge quilt,
I think orange is the only colour I still need to add. I have a good start on some orange seed blocks, and a few gold ones slipped in there too.
This past week I started the letter sew along over at Temecula, and sewed an orange 'B' block using the hand dyed fabric I won from Vicki Welsh in a previous month's draw. Thanks for sponsoring our scrap challenge Vicki!
Hop over to SoScrappy to see what other orange projects are being sewn today.
It's the start of orange month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have a few scrappy projects that need some orange blocks.
First up this month is spools. I have no orange blocks and have been cutting and sewing scraps (on my new 301!) for spool blocks this week.
Another thing I did was cut a sliver off of all the gorgeous hand dyed fabric I won from Vicki Welsh. I wanted to make one spool block from each colour and I love them! They are a perfect addition to the spool pile.
Hop over to SoScrappy and see what other quilters are sewing with their orange scraps this week.
Isn't green such a great colour?!? This time of the year we are surrounded by the beautiful greens of nature and I can't get enough of them. However, I have seen more than my share of lovely green grass, which has grown like crazy this summer!
Those of us who belong to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are working with our bright green scraps this month. There has been a little bit of progress on my pumpkin seed blocks. One block is finished and 3 are in various stages of completion. The green colours are "off" in this photo, but you get the idea of what I'm sewing. I'll keep working on these tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching.
I first saw this star block over at Leehaven about 3 years ago. About two years ago I decided to mini size them and made a block 2.25". Now I freely admit that I am addicted to making them! Still!
This week I made a concentrated effort to cut some batik scraps for a few more stars using green as either the background or the star. These are leader/ender blocks and I put them through the machine between sewing seams of other projects, so no thread is wasted.
I am trying to remember to use more dark backgrounds, but seem to have a problem with that. I'll cut more pieces to sew next week with darker backgrounds!
To see more green scrap progress, hop over to SoScrappy.
It's scrappy Saturday!
I have been digging in the scrap bags to find some bright greens to cut and sew this month. This is my favorite 3" spool block with the Grinch's eyes in the middle!
So far in August I have sewn 8 spool blocks, which when joined together give me two more 6" blocks to add to the growing pile.
The spool block was the Bonnie Hunter leader/ender challenge from 2 years ago (see the post and the pattern here). I was late to get in on the spool craze and started making blocks last summer.
Here is the pile of spools I have made so far. Can you guess how many 3" spool blocks are in this pile?!? (Hint - remember that each block in the pile is made from 4 spool blocks)
The closest guesser will win a fat quarter of one of my favorite green fabrics. Good luck!
To see more green scrap postings, hop over to SoScrappy.
August is the month for working with our bright green scraps over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have been sorting and cutting small pieces of green fabrics and preparing some leader/ender blocks for this month.
I checked my pile of pumpkin seed blocks and found that I already had several green blocks, but not any bright green ones.
I have now cut enough seeds for 3 more blocks and look forward to appliqueing those tomorrow for Slow Sunday Stitching. Hop over to SoScrappy to see more green scrap projects.
Today I will be hand quilting at the Fergus Highland Games. It's going to be a beautiful sunny summer day, so if you live in the area and are looking for something to do, come by and see us at the Heritage Tent. You can read my blog post from the 2012 Highland Games here.
This is the collection of red blocks that were finished up in my sewing room over the last two weeks.
2 Carrie Nation 8" blocks,
3 Omigosh 5" blocks, and
8 spool 3" blocks.
I think I'm ready to finish up the Carrie Nation quilt and have been playing with layout options in order to decide what colours I still need to add.
It's amazing that this simple block can produce so many ideas for layout options. To see the block pattern and historical information about this block - click here.
This layout has the blocks placed in staight rows.
Here are the blocks in an on-point layout. I really like the vertical lines in this. It still needs some orange, and more green and purple blocks added in.
I think I like this layout better and will work on filling in the colours that are missing.
To see more scrappy postings, hop over to SoScrappy.
For the month of July we are working with our red scraps over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I cut and sewed some of my red scraps to make 36 more spool blocks.
I just have to sew them together in groups of 4 and am looking forward to finishing them up today.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see more red scrap postings.
