Monarch

A monarch is the color inspiration for April.  Oranges with accents of black or dark brown.  Be sure to stop in on Saturday for the fabric giveaway.  

Sunday Transition

It is going to be hard to switch gears and go back to work tomorrow.  The next few weeks promise to be even busier than usual, so it is my last chance to take a breath before diving into again.

 I spent most of the morning today sorting through the scrap bins and cutting out circles for my Leap Year Quilt.  It is so much easier to do the applique part each day if the circles are all ready to go.  It was kind of fun sorting through each color and picking one of each fabric.  I got quite a few circles sewn down over the break, so I am almost caught up again.  Looks like there are plenty of circles for the next few months at least.  We've just finished an Easter Sunday Ham dinner and all the kids are happily playing video games together.  Maybe I can get another color done before it is time to switch gears?

Once the circles are all prepped, I have a few new Works in Progress bags to put them into.  The pink one has been around for a while, and it was so handy to use that I decided to make a couple more yesterday.  I saw the pattern on Crazy Mom Quilts and she had it for sale on Craftsy.  I chose fabrics to go with the whatever zippers were on hand.  There are still plenty of zippers, thanks to a great ebay find, but I ran out of vinyl and had to stop for the day.
I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.  And Cynthia for Oh Scrap!  

Last Purple Saturday

It is the last purple Saturday and I am looking forward to having some mad sewing time this afternoon when company is gone.  Until then I will just enjoy everyone else's purple projects.

Quilting Interrupted

Company is coming.  We thought that I was going to keep my machine set up instead of taking it up and down each time, but my in-laws can't manage the stairs, and so the machine has come apart again.  Kurt's parents will take our bed and his sister will sleep in the study/sewing room.  I'm not all the way done with putting things away, but it is a start.  It always goes well for a while and then I grab a big basket and hide the rest away until later.

 I got the first third of the OMG Churn Dashes sewn together yesterday.  It takes quite a while to match up all the seams.  I am loving the way it looks though, so I will keep sewing slowly but surely.

The other two thirds are ready to go.  Maybe next weekend when company has gone?  

Until then, I made sure to  keep out the Broken Dishes quilt for hand quilting.  

And the basket of circles is all prepped and ready to go.  Between those two, I should have plenty to keep me happy until the sewing room is mine again. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Playing with Purple

Today is the first day of spring break and the only thing on the books is a lacrosse game.  A home lacrosse game!  No long car trips required!  I am so much looking forward to having some time to relax.  April is going to be a really busy month at school so this will be one last chance to pause before the final sprint begins.  I pulled some purple fabrics for my Missouri Puzzle block.  Nothing seems quite right yet, but I will keep digging.
Misterlinky is below, be sure to share your own purple blocks so far

Omigosh Its a Churn Dash -- Ready to Flimsy

There must be one more orange block hiding somewhere between the sewing machine and the ironing board.  I'm sure it will turn up.  I started making tiny nine patches for Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2012.  I had no idea for a very long time what I was going to do with them.  It wasn't until this summer that I decided for sure they would alternate with churn dash blocks and started a definite plan for finishing.  Scrap quilts tend to do that for me, linger on and evolve as they go.  I found the carbon copy of my final plan this morning, but just could not find the original on which I had used colored pencils to show the placement of all of the blocks for the final quilt.  Thankfully though, I had blogged about it on June 29, so went back to the photo to remember where everything should go.

 

As soon as I get these blocks safely off the floor and pinned into rows, I plan to spend some serious time this afternoon getting caught up on my circles.  They are all cut but just need to be prepped and appliquéd down.  February was a bit of  madhouse, but maybe March will be more calm?  Maybe not, but I'm always hopeful.

There are even some March circle ready to go.  They just need a nice calm afternoon.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Lovely in Lilac

It feels like spring for sure.  Especially with daylight savings coming up tonight.  Hopefully that means you have started to play with your purple scraps.

 I found a few hours last weekend while everyone was gone to finish up the last purple OMG blocks.

Which means that ALL the OMG blocks are officially done!  I can't lay them all out today because my in-laws are dropping by on their way to a cruise.  First thing tomorrow, they are all going to come out to play on the living room floor.  

I did the drawing for the giveaway of hand dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh.  Nell was the lucky winner.  She blogs over at Nell's Quilts.  Thanks to all who joined in.  Last month we had a new record with 89 entries in the fabric giveaway!   It was only 40 this month, but there will be another at the begining of next month, so be sure to check back again.
Misterlinky is below.  Please share your purple projects with us all. 

Column Along March Block - Butterfly

I'm starting to look forward to spring.  In honor of the warming weather, butterflies are coming out for this month's sampler block.  

 I'm going to use shades of purple for the wings and yellow for the bodies.
Purple: cut 2 rectangles 6.5 by 2.75 inches
Yellow: cut 1 rectangles 2 by 6.5 inches
Background: cut 4 squares 2.75 inches each

 Draw a pencil line on the back of each background square from corner to corner.

 Place one background square onto either end of each of the purple rectangles.  The diagonal lines should each point in to make mountains.

 Sew along each drawn line.

 Press the background squares in a "flip and sew" method.

 If you would like you may sew another line closer to each corner about 3/8 of an inch from each sewn line.  By cutting between the two seams, you can harvest 4 "bonus" HST units.

Sew one wing to either side of the yellow body strip.  Your finished block should be 6.5 inches.
If you are making the larger size sampler, you will need to make 12 blocks.  If you are making the smaller size sampler you will need 9.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Now in Shades of Spring

I hope everyone is ready to pull out some purple.  I know I am!  As much as I enjoy brown, it just isn't quite so cheerful as purple.  Especially with bits of yellow added in.

First up on my agenda for today is to make some butterfly blocks for the column-along sampler.  I will have a new tutorial featuring purple posted soon.  If you are ready though, there is an earlier tutorial available from the RSC14 ScrapHappy Sampler.  You could even mix in some small butterflies if you are feeling creative.  Because both blocks finish at 6 inches, you will need to make 12 blocks for the large sampler or 9 for the small.

Because it is the first week of a new month.  I am also happy to announce the fabric giveaway from our generous sponsor Vicki Welsh.  She was kind enough to send this hand dyed gradient of pastel sunset fabric for one of the scraphappy quilters.  Just leave a comment on this post with the one sign you are looking forward to which will let you know that spring has arrived.  For me it was a baby sandhill crane walking down the street with its parents.    

For now, misterlinky is available so that we may all start to enjoy you purple progress.

One Thing Leads to Another

Sydney wanted to have a sleepover last weekend.   The plan was to project movies outside and sleep on the trampoline.  After several tries, we ended up with an i-pad bungeed to the trampoline and a handful of tweens jumbled amongst stuffed animals and quilts all night long.  I wasn't sure that they were still there in the morning until I spied little toes poking out along the edges.  

 Somehow after all of that, I ended up with an empty house on Sunday.  Anna was with River helping him set up an aquarium, Ryan went from Robotics to the comic book store and Sydney was down south for a lacrosse game.  Feeling guilty about having gotten rid of everyone, I started in on the kitchen.  New caulk was followed by freshly painted baseboards, which led to a new coat of paint.  The old faded curtains came down to be replaced by some lightweight sheers.  All that is left is installation of some new tiebacks.  It looks so much better!
This week has been a busy one, with someone needing a ride to somewhere each evening and Kurt tied up with customers from out of town for work.  Hard to believe that another weekend has already arrived.  We are already off to a similar start with a Funtown skating trip and carpool plans already under negotiations.  There is a quilt show in town though, and I should be able to make a visit right after the morning robotics drop-off.  If I seem noticeably absent from quilting, it is just that time of year for teachers.  Testing season is already underway though teaching hasn't given up the ghost quite yet.  Just two more weeks until spring break when things will really get busy.