Slowly on a Long Weekend

Our little section of the beach is having a busy weekend.  Yesterday there was another wedding.  We saw all the guests in their fancy wedding clothes and high heeled shoes showing up at the beach as we were walking the dog.  

 Then this morning there was a rocket launch.  It was packed!  Even Sydney had heard about it and wanted to walk down with us to the sand. 

 I spent most of yesterday catching up on a very old block of the month from Temecula Quilt Company.  I have been saving these for ages.  The first half was already cut out and in individually labeled baggies.  They just needed to be sewn together.  Blocks 1 to 30 are all done. 

 The second half still needs to be cut out, so I have made myself a little cutting station and will kit up the last 30 blocks. 

 Almost done with the light and bright green diamond hexies.  I am joining them into pairs with the setting triangles included on one end.  I'll do rows when I have all the colors ready to go. 

Finally, just one and a half sides are left on the four squared scrap quilt.  I got a good bit done while we watched Inception last night.  I probably could have finished the quilt, but the movie was very visual, so I had to pay attention. 
After all that, there is still an extra day to enjoy in the weekend!  Monday holidays are such a nice invention.  We should have them more often.  I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts and Oh Scrap! today.  Be sure to visit and check out scrap projects and slow stitching.  

ScrapHappy Saturday Green Week 3

Green is coming along well.

I've got some soul searching blocks to add to the collection.  I'll need 2 or three of these each month to have enough for a nice quilt at the end of the year.  They use up lots of 1.5 inch strips.  I might try to put the leftovers together into a log cabin block. 

It is a three day weekend for Martin Luther King's birthday so I will enjoy and extra sewing day.  I'm still working off old UFOs which feels really good actually. 

As much as I enjoy making rainbow blocks, putting those blocks together eventually is a nice change of pace.  

Mister Linky is below.  Share your own green progress.  

Ending the 1st Week of 2020

 9 Carat Diamonds was a lot closer to done than I thought.  There were plenty of nine patches, they just need to be framed in white and black.   So I got those blocks put together yesterday.  I'll come back for the borders later, but I have a first flimsy for 2020!  

 The hand work has been slow and steady this week.  The light and bright greens are coming together into a row.  With the husband out of town for business, evenings have been quiet. During a bit of new year cleaning, I found a decorative box to keep everything together in on the coffee table.  I saw a different version on someones blog last week.  Blogs are great for sparking ideas.

And finally, the binding on this scrap quilt are about a quarter done.  It was cold for a few days and it was nice to snuggle up under a quilt and sew a  bit.  Then it got hot again.  Not as great for cuddling under a quilt.  

Great beach walking weather though!  The shells have been crazy lately.  I'm about ready to wear shoes! Not wearing shoes is an important part of beach life as it turns out.  I'm learning so much since the move.  

I'm linking up today at Oh Scrap!  and at Kathy's quilts.  You should go and visit to check out scrappy quilts and slow stitching projects.  

ScrapHappy Saturday Green Again

I did a bunch of catching up and getting ahead before school started again on Wednesday.  9  Carat Diamonds didn't get very far last year.  Red was January, and after that I have plenty of nine patches, but not a lot of finished blocks.  Green has now been added to the collection.

And because I don't only do rainbow scrappy quilts, I also pulled out this very old UFO which was a block of the month sampler that I got on sale at some point from Connecting Threads.  I think that all the blocks are done now, so it is just a matter of sewing them all together.  Working from a kit really makes me miss my happy and scrappy blocks, but it will be nice to empty out a project bin. 

Slowly on Sunday

 Anna is back at school and I am finally getting properly settled into my sewing room.  I found my missing zippers and lots of other things I had forgotten about along the way.  The diamond hexies don't count as forgotten, but they are definitely calling out for some attention.  I don't have any sort of plan for this one, so I'll just keep stitching slowly until there are enough.  I seem to be set on the light and bright greens.  Maybe I'll work on some of the white alternate triangles this month instead. 

Winter weather makes hand quilting seem like a nice plan, and I found my pearle cotton while unpacking which will be perfect to continue the leap year quilt.  When was the leap year?  I'll try to get it finished before the next one comes around. 

I also found one quilt patiently waiting for binding.  I truly had forgotten about this fellow. I seem to have a lot of green going on right now, so I think that will do the trick.  I still have some randomly scrappy 16 patches, I'll try a different setting for them next time. 
Ryan went back to college yesterday, so it is back to normal on all fronts.  Kurt will head back to work on Monday and School starts for the rest of us on Wednesday.  I am planning to keep catching up on my quilting for the next couple of days.  It has been too long since I could just sew the day away. 
I'm going to pop over first though to Kathy's Quilts and check out long and slow stitching from all over.  So much great inspiration to enjoy!

Welcome to 2020

It is the first ScrapHappy Saturday of 2020.  I am so excited to get started on another year of loving and using all my scraps.  Bright and light greens came first this year and I have collected together everything I could find.

 The sprouts blocks are a continuation from last year.  I got red and yellow done before house hunting and moving took over my existence.  I think the greens make a nice addition to the collection.  I went ahead and did the math to decide that I needed 44 blocks total for 11 sprouts in 4 columns.  That means between 4 and 5 of each color this year.

I'm also doing more small projects this year, so I started off with these three zipper cased.  I still need to finish off the hand stitching at the bottom.  I have untangled and collected together earbuds for each of these already.  I used a tutorial from s.o.t.a.k. Handmade which is linked on the tutorials tab.  That tab has made it really handy to go back and find tutorials for projects I have made in the past.  I think there are more zipper cases and scrap storage bins in the plans for this year as well.

What are your plans for the new year?  There always seem to be carryover projects, but hopefully finishes from last year left you with some bandwidth to try out something new.
Here is my list so far
1. Sprouts blocks with 2.5 inch squares
2. Nine Carat diamonds with 2 inch squares
3. My new project this year will be soul searching blocks made from 1.5 inch strips.
4. Small projects
5. Strings
6. Possibly crumb blocks if there is time in any month.  Potentially collecting these for next year though.  I'm thinking of rainbow crumb stars.
Let me know what your list looks like so far

Sewing in the New Year

I began 2020 with a pile of scraps!  Honestly, I can't think of anything happier than that. 

After dumping out the green bin, I ironed and started trimming squares and strips for the three quilts I would like to finish this year.  2.5 inch squares will go into sprouts blocks.  I started that last year but only have about 3 month's worth. 
2 inch squares will go into nine patches for another nine carat diamond quilt.  I think this one is almost ready for assembly.   After that, I am thinking of a granny square quilt. 
The 1.5 strips are going to go into a soul searching quilt.  That block has been on my radar for several years now.  I think that will be my only new RSC quilt this year as I focus on finishing some ongoing projects. 

 I'm also focusing on smaller projects this year.  I think I need a few more place mats and zipper cases.  I searched desperately for my zippers yesterday, but don't know where they ended up after the move.  That meant a trip to Joann's this morning, where zippers were buy 3, get 3 free.  I needed 3 for the zipper pouches I had already cut, and now I have three more for next month. 

Kurt came with me, and we did some tile shopping.  The bathrooms are on our someday list, but for now, the master closet is ready for an update.  

 There is a wedding couple down on the beach taking photos right now.  I don't think its actually a wedding, but it is such a nice thing to look out and see the happy couple. 

How to Install My Blog Button in 6 easy steps.

Step 1.  Sign in to your own blog.

Step 2.  From the blog menu, choose layout.

Step 3.  From the layout menu, scroll down until you see your sidebar in the area.  Click on Add a Gadget.

Step 4. A pop up menu should appear with Gadget options.  Choose HTML/Java Script.  

Step 5.  Add a Title (something like RSC 2020 Button) and paste in the HTML code.  You can copy it from the sidebar of my blog (just below the button in the upper right hand margin) 

 Save your Gadget

Step 6, save this arrangement and preview to make sure the button shows up on your blog.  Now anyone can click on this button and come back to my blog.  You can use this as an easy way to come back every Saturday and share your own progress while seeing what all the other rainbow scrap challenge bloggers are up to.  

Getting Ready for 2020

It is a new year which means another opportunity to keep using your scraps!  I'm working on getting set up for the new year which will mean choosing colors, making a button and generally taking stock and getting organized.  I'll change out the RSC19 page for a RSC 2020 page.
I have no new quilts planned for this year!   Last year got a bit out of hand with the new house and move and sending kids away to college.  I think this will be a calmer year though and I plan to focus on finishing some things.  Hopefully that will make some space for a new project or quilt-along next year.  I'll let you know if I see any great scrap friendly projects that other bloggers will be sharing this year.
January will be green this year, so that should help to get you started.  Lets start with the lights and brights this time and save the dark and drearies for later. 
Step one for me is to post a photo of the button so that I can use a tool to create the code which turns it into a button and writes the linking html script.  I say that like I know what I am doing.  I fumble my way through each year as if I have never seen it before.  I'm using the "Code it Pretty" grab button builder in case you ever need to make a blog button of your own. 

Update.  The button seems to be working.  I guess I did remember what I was doing this time.  There is some html script below the image in the right hand margin.  Just copy the code and paste it into an html widget from your blogger layout screen.  Let me know if you have issues.  

For now, I'm off to dig through some green scraps.  

Second update.  Stephanie has been kind enough to make a tracking sheet again for all of your ongoing Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.   It is a great way to keep track of which blocks and projects need attention each month along the way.  

Last ScrapHappy Saturday of 2019

Another year of Rainbow Scrap Challenge is coming to an end.  I hope that you have put many colorful scraps to good use and maybe come up with a quilt along the way.  If you don't have a quilt quite yet, I hope that you have many great blocks that will turn into a quilt someday soon.  Next week will be the first week of the RSC20.  A brand new decade of using scraps.  Please come back next week to share your plans and schemes for 2020.