I was a bit surprised at how many red scraps were in the bin. There are quite a few crumb blocks and many good size chunks. I will start with the strips first though and make some squares for my leaders and enders. After that I will replenish the supply and start again. I hope that you find time today to dig into your red scraps. This is usually a big color for me. First blue, then green, making red a sturdy number three. I saw in the comments that some people interpretted my hunt for teal thread for the hexie diamonds as the color for April. If you started on teal, feel free to continue. We try hard not to judge at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. So far in the red month I am hand quilting a teal row in my quilt and planning a green and blue baby quilt. Just do what you can as always! We are in Gainesville for Sydney's parent's weekend at her sorority. She is busy getting ready for her summer internship and wants us to drive her on errands today before watching the big game. I guess UF made it to the final 4 in basketball? I don't watch sports much, but it is still fun to meet her friends and their parents. Maybe tomorrow I can dig into some red? I have been on a break between my graduate classes which has left me feelin unproductive. That means I have some catching up to do. How are your red scraps shaping up? Misterlinky is below, please share with us all.
I have not made much progress on the yellow so far, but we will see what today shall bring. I have been in a hand quilting and sewing mode lately. The basket quilt is officially done and washed. I love the way that quilts look 100 years old as soon as they come out of the dryer. I used a Baptist Fan template to hand quilt this one and it went SO fast. I love the way that it looks.
Next up are the hexie diamonds, they are just getting straight lines with 12 wt thread to match each color. It looks like teal is up next. I had to hunt and hunt for teal thread, but I finally found some.
It is a car day today, on the way back from a perfect spring break trip. We took started the week cutting up a fallen tree that was blocking our pathway to the "upper 7" which is our patch of land going up the side of the mountain. That came with a nice hike to find that the rest of the trail was in excellent shape. Here is Kurt carrying some firewood up from the basement with the new carrier that I sewed for him. We don't keep the firewood in the basement, but there is a door that goes outside to our main wood piles.
Then we did a bit of mortar on a rock wall that Kurt built under the open space where the master bedroom used to be a porch. That one will take a bit of time. There is a skill element involved, and I am sure we will get better with practice.
Most of the time outside was battling a briar patch that we started taking out this summer to reveal a giant rock wall that has likely been buried for decades. More cutting of downed trees and yanking of vines with the winch left us both scratched and sore, ready for a soak in the hot tub.
I also painted the guest bedroom, which we decided to call the green room. That is Jamestown Landing on the bed which is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, and leftover itty bitty nine patches on the wall that I randomly sewed together and ended up loving. I still find extras of those in the scrap bins from time to time. they were so much fun to sew. It did make me want to start saving 1 inch strips though, which is a dangerous precedent to set. I should paint the woodwork as well, but that is another project to add to the list. We do have a literal list. We started it when we bought the property and have made excellent progress, even though we keep adding new things.
Not a stitch was sewn all week, but we will be home with a day left in the weekend and so perhaps some more yellows will come out to play soon? I sure hope so, the month is moving right along. How are your yellow scraps coming along?
I am on vacation! Sewing and cutting wood and gardening are on the list for this week. First on the list was a drive to the mountains, now it is time to play. It is trying hard to be spring here. I can see a few crocuses and daffodils putting up that first effort to bloom. Thursday was glorious spring in Florida and it will be summer soon. I think there will be a more gradual progression in the mountains.
How are your yellows coming along? I am having fun with the various shades from lemon to gold.
It is going to be March so soon! I know that many of you are not done with blue yet, don't worry, there will be a catch up month later. For now though, do what you can before the end of the week and then think about digging into your yellow! Yes, yellow for spring.
Next Saturday will be March! That means just one more week to finish up those blues. There will be a catch up opportunity at the end of the year in case you aren't quite done yet. Blue is just one of those colors that keeps going. The Rainbow Scrap Challenge is all about doing what works for you though, so don't feel like you have to "finish" every color every month. Every new quilt brings new scraps and the cycle starts over. I did a good job of using up the precut squares in blue, but not so much on making more.
In general, I have been making good progress this week on using things up. I did a deep dive into batting on Sunday and came up with enough to piece together for the hexie quilt.
It has a rainbow scrap striped backing as well, so lots of good use it up energy going on there. I have been watching youtube videos and thinking about making a jelly roll rug to put in front of the fireplace in Virginia. It seems to get grungy with ashes and bark.
Then, while I was busy trying to make do, I ran out of thread right in the middle of hand quilting the baskets. I got an adorable sampler of 12 wt. variegated threads and the spools were tiny. I can't buy just the pink that I used up, which means I will need another sampler pack of 4.
I will try to put the other colors to good use in the hexies though, so no need to worry.
When finishing up long-term projects, I always start to think about what is next. I was pondering a snake like arrangements of monochromatic hexies in a larger size. The rainbow diamonds are 3/4 of an inch, which made me order a cutter for the go that makes 1 inch hexies. They seem huge by comparison! I am not ready to start a new quilt yet, but it will be nice to have a portable project to carry along the next time we travel. Spring break will be in the mountains, but we have a trip to Alaska booked for this summer! It is one for the bucket list.
Misterlinky is below, share your blue progress with us all.
