Scrappy Saturday

July 1st is "Canada Day"! Celebrations will be held across the country, including parades, picnics,  concerts, and fireworks. The weather forecast is for  thunderstorms, so I guess we might be mostly  celebrating indoors. And you know what that means!?! It's a quilting day for me!

I started sewing some red scraps into another Sewcialites 2 block. I had the pieces cut and ready to sew together last night, but when I made a mistake I decided it was best to just go to bed!  Good night mistake - see you in the morning!

Here is the finished block which is pattern #16 (of 24) called Christmas Star by Corey Yoder. I cut 53 pieces for this 6" block and with the exception of  my late night sewing error,  it was fun to make!

Here are my  Sewcialites 2 blocks (Rainbow Scrap Challenge version) on the design wall. Next up is another red block which I will use for block pattern #19.

The rest of my quilting time today will be spent cutting fabric for a guild summer mystery called 'Teamwork". Our amazing Community Outreach team coordinates fabric kits for those willing to make a comfort quilt to donate. This is my gorgeous kit! There is everything in the bag that I need to finish this quilt. So brilliant!

I can't wait to cut into this pretty Micheal Miller floral print called "Honey Meadow" while I enjoy a fresh new blade in my rotary cutter, and a hot tea in my Bear and Fox mug (a uniquely Canadian company - no affiliation, just a happy customer!)

Linking to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Sewcialites 2

Orange is the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I have been playing with some orange scraps and made 2 new sewcialites blocks to add to my collection.

First up is block # 15 called "Brighten" by Minki Kim. This was quick and easy to sew, and made from 3 fabrics.  I'm making all my blocks in the 6" size but this is a really cool block and wouldn't it make a dramatic quilt in the larger size (9") pattern?

Next was block #18 called "Spellbound" by Robin Pickens. It was the perfect pattern to use up 16 pieces in my 1.5" square collection. 

Why did I skip block #16 and #17 you ask? Well, one block was too many large chunk of orange for my liking, and I'll save that one for another month's colour, and one block was too hard for my brain this week, so I'll also save that one for next month!

Here is my yummy block collection so far. Some colours are noticeably absent in the sampler, but they will appear in the next few months.

All the free Sewcialites 2 block patterns are posted now (in 3 sizes) and will continue to stay on the Fat Quarter website, so I will keep sewing 2 blocks each month until I have sewn them all.

Linking up to Angela's RSC party and Judy's Design Wall party

Sewcialites 2

The Fat Quarter Shop posted the last Sewcialites  block pattern this week. I am sad that this project is finishing since it was so fun to see these patterns as they were posted and dream of sewing them in different colours. I am only about half way through the patterns, so I will continue to sew the blocks in the Rainbow Scrap Colours each month until I have made them all. 

This is block #14 called Enchant - pattern by April Rosenthal (a churn dash variation). It was fun to pull the fabric scraps and easy to sew. In the centre I put a fussy cut square taken from my border fabric (Dragonfly Lagoon).

And then it was back to sewing the harder block #13 called Innovate - pattern by Doug Leko. 

I decided to challenge myself by changing the colouring a bit and use 2 prints instead of 3. Why do I let my creative brain do this to me?!?

I did all the cutting last night, but made a few errors apparently. While I was sewing the block this morning I had to keep cutting more squares, mostly of the light purple.

Here is the finished 6" block with 36 pieces. And all the squares that were left over! LOL

Anyway I love how it turned out and it was a good workout for my brain!

Here are my blocks on the design wall.

I love the 2 new purple blocks added!

Click here to see the layout that was just posted for these blocks... it is so pretty!

Linking to the Scrappy party at Angela's and Judy's Design Wall Monday

Happy Earth Day!

Scrappy Saturday

Yippee it's pink month! I love pink and was so happy to put away the January blues, and get out some pink scraps. 

First I made some blocks for my Sewcialites project starting with block #11 called Nurture (by Lissa Alexander) - perfect to sew in pink! I fussy cut my feature/border fabric in the centre.

Next up was block #12 called Captivate (by Barbara Groves). This one looks easy, but only if you follow the instructions! On my first try I sewed the HST blocks too small for some unknown reason?

Then I followed the instructions and it all worked out perfectly!

I will continue working on the these blocks in March. One block pattern is posted each week until April. I will be a bit behind and stretch out my enjoyment, sewing 2 blocks each month according to the colours at the Rainbow Scrap challenge.

Here are my 12 Sewcialites blocks on the design wall. I love sewing a sampler quilt in rainbow colours!

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Scrappy Saturday

The Sewcialites 2 project took a break over the holidays, but it's back now with 2 new free block patterns. I am sewing my blocks using the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and the colour for January is blue. 

This is block # 9 called "New Plus Old" by Brigette Heitland. I have no idea where the dark blotchy fabric came from but it worked well in this easy (boring) block.

Here is block pattern #10 called "Flourish" by Lori Holt. Now this is a block I could really sink my teeth into! So fun! It started with a little bag of scraps I received from a friend on New Year's Day and I made the block completely from the pieces in the bag. I fussy cut the adorable little bunnies and used every bit of that strip that I received. 

Here are all my blocks together on the design wall.

This project needs some red, pink, yellow, and orange to make it happier. Those colours will come later in the year.

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge party

Sewcialites Saturday

In my continuing series of the weekly Sewcialites 2 blocks, this is block #8 called Interwoven by Shereece Nicole. This was another challenging block pattern to sew even in the 6" size.  I can't imagine sewing it in the 3" size, although I am very tempted to try!

There are 32 pieces to cut for this block and I felt like I was making a fabric jigsaw puzzle. I had no idea if my selected fabrics would work or be a complete disaster. What do you think - will this combination turn out okay?

Here is block #8. 

I love it!

It's a combination of some old Kaffe paperweights, plus some recently acquired Dublin fabric, with the border print (Dragonfly Lagoon) in the corners.

Here are all the blocks on the design wall. I look forward to adding more colours next year sewing along with the Rainbow Scrap Quilters.

Linking up to the weekly RSC party

Sewcialites Saturday

Block # 7 called Butterfly Garden was just posted. It's a pattern by Pat Sloan and although it was a  challenging pattern, and I made a few mistakes, I really enjoyed sewing it!

Here is a photo of some strips of Dublin fabric I recently bought and it matches my Sewcialites border fabric so well that it had to be used in the butterfly block.

I tried so hard to be organized and used the Alphabitties to label all the pieces. After I made my first mistake, I labelled each of the quadrants.

I finally figured out why I had pattern reading dyslexia. On page 2 of the pattern it has the left bottom block written on the right side of the page, and the right bottom block written on the left side of the page. You can't make this stuff up you guys! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! 

But finally I figured it out and here is the butterfly in all her glory. I'm not loving the colour combo without the background fabric right by it, so this block will have to be placed beside the border in the final layout.

Here are my Sewcialites blocks on the design wall. It's quite a disparate collection so far. Oh well... I have made so many sampler quilts that I just trust that it will all come together well in the end!

Linking up to the weekly RSC party where the quilters are finishing up their RSC projects, and I am still making more blocks!

Scrappy Saturday

 Are you keeping up with the Sewcialites 2 blocks?

The pattern for block #6 was just posted and is called Always Star by Camille Roskelley. I used the multicoloured print that will be the border in this block. The centre is fussy cut from this print. So pretty - it looks almost watercoloury!

Here are my six blocks on the design wall. It doesn't look like much yet, but just you wait until all of the blocks are made - it will be amazing!

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Scrappy Saturday

In spite of feeling under the weather this week, I did enjoy digging around in some scrap bags and catching up with the Sewcialites blocks. In this quilt along there are 3 size options and I am sewing the 6" size.

My plan is to follow the colours of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but this month we are using brown scraps and I just couldn't force myself to do it! So I veered slightly from that, using teals instead because that's the scrap bag that attracted my interest. 

This is block #4 called Flirty by Chelsi Stratton. It was an easy sew - just 3 squares and 6 HSTs using scraps that my friend Jackie gave me.

Here is block #5 called Empower by Carrie Nelson. Now this is something I could dig my quilting teeth into! There are 48 pieces in this 6" block!

I really want to challenge myself to make it in the 3" size - just for fun! Maybe that desire will pass if I distract myself with other projects?!?

Here are my first 5 Sewcialites 2 blocks on the design wall. It's a very odd collection of colours, but wait until we get back into the full colour rotation at RSC and it will all come together!

Linking up to the weekly RSC party at Angela's

Scrappy Saturday Sewcialites 2

My Sewcialites 2 blocks will be sewn according to the colours of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month's colour is brown/black/darks so I dug into the brown scrap bin and used up several small pieces in this block. And then I promptly sewed the block incorrectly. 

Ugh... seam ripper time.

This is block #3 called Patchy Days by Jackie MacDonald sewn correctly! I changed up the value placement to emphasize the arrows. Pop over to Corey Yoder's blog and see her pretty 3"  block which is quite different from mine.

Here are the first 3 Sewcialites blocks on the design wall - 2 green from October, and 1 brown from November.  I'm sewing the blocks in the 6" size, but directions are given for 3", 6" and 9".  There will be 24 blocks posted weekly. If you like using up scraps and making fun blocks, join in the fun - click here for more info.

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Scrappy Saturday Mini Quilt

The weather this week has been glorious and tempted me to be outside as much as possible. Quilting time has been greatly decreased, but soon the snow will fly and there will be lots (too much) indoor time.

I did finish Sewcialites block #2 called Tussy Mussy by in Susan Ache. I enjoyed using up some small pieces from the 2" scrap box to make this on point block. It doesn't have a "co-ordinated" look, but it makes me happy!

But what made me even happier was using up the tiny leftover baby HSTs I made while sewing this block. Whenever possible before cutting off block corners, I sew a second seam and cut between the stitching lines, which gives me bonus tiny blocks. In this case they were trimmed up to be 1.5" (1" finished).

These little pieces turned into a little coaster. To give a sense of the scale, this is the variegated green Aurifil thread I used for the quilting... almost as big as the coaster!

I enjoyed hand binding the mini quilt in the sunshine and took a ridiculous photo of the little quilted gem clipped to the tree in the front yard. The leaves are a beautiful golden colour and the sky was a pretty blue.

And one last shot of this new finish already doing it's job as a coaster! 

Finished size: 4.5" x 4.5"

Linking up to Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the Table Scraps Challenge

Rainbow Sewcialites

A new RSC project has been started in my sewing room! You know how it goes here 😀

Fat Quarter Shop has started Sewcialites 2 which is a free sew along. I missed out on the first series last year (darn my self control!)... but I'm not missing out this time around!  

I am starting with a gorgeous fabric called Dragonfly Lagoon by Henry Glass which will be the border. I use the Alphabitties to help me keep all the cut pieces organized.

Here is my first block, made in bright greens since that is the RSC colour this month. Click here for the link to the first block by Bev McCullough. I found the directions a wee bit confusing, but it does say that this block is for experienced sewers. I made my first block in the 6" size, but I'm not sure if I will make the entire series in 6" yet. I may try all the sizes!

Linking up to the weekly RSC party