Cusp of a New Month

It is almost June.  I hope you have managed to make a dent in your orange scraps.  Start to think about tucking them away so that you can make room for the blue bin!  Blue is a big color, so it is going to get 2 months.  Start with the dark and navy blues this month and save the brights and lights for later.  

Tiny Tuesday #22 - Monarch

I was covering for another teacher this morning so that she could go to her daughter's 6th grade graduation.  While I was watching her middle schoolers taking their final exam, I started sketching out some plans for a monarch butterfly block.  I went through several iterations before settling on a simple flip and sew four patch variation.   

You will need to cut: 

From orange (wings):

2 rectangles each 3 by 2.5

2 squares each 2.5 by 2.5

From black (body and wingtips):

1 rectangle 1 inch by 3.5 inches

4 squares 1.5 inches (the photo only shows 2, but you will actually need 4)

From background fabric:

1 inch square

1 inch by 1.5 inch rectangle

2 squares -  1.5 inches

4 squares - 1.75 inches

Draw a diagonal line across the hypotenuse of each of the background squares except the one inch baby square.  Also draw a diagonal line on the black wingtip squares.  

Next, take large orange rectangles and arrange them so the long side is running vertically,  and place the wing tips on each outside corner along the top edge.  Sew along the drawn line.

Take the squares and place the 1.5 inch squares on the inside bottom edges.  Sew along the drawn line. 
In case you have trouble with flip and sew triangles, I can recommend leaving the background square in tact, at least until you are sure that the edges line up.  Just use the orange square as your  master sizing guide and trim away any extra of black or white that extends past the orange.

Make sure the squares are all lined up so that the widths of the smaller and larger rectangles are the same.  Finger press the squares open.  I like to make sure that the edges of the squares line up before  I trim away the excess fabric behind the "sew and flip" triangles.

Repeat the sewing and flipping with each of the orange rectangles on the outside middle edge.

The last triangles will go on the top in the middle.

Now sew the two remaining background sections to the top and bottom of the body.  Press toward the black body section.

Almost there.  This is where it would be great to give everything a good press before you start sewing the sections together.  I wasn't able to find an iron today, so I had to skip that part.

Sew the top and bottom wings together, trying to alternate the seams where the outside edges of the wings meet.

Place the body in the middle and sew one wing to either side.  This is where everything would work out perfectly with a nice press.  I'm sure my iron will turn up any day.  

Tiny Tuesday in Progress

I'm working on an orange and black monarch butterfly block for Tiny Tuesday.  I'm running into a few logistical difficulties, like no fabric and no sewing machine.  While I get those small details worked out, I found a nice paper piecing pattern which is free on Craftsy.  I'll be back soon with an original pattern to try as well.  Thanks to everyone who is hanging in there with me through my awkward two houses phase.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

Happy long weekend.  For those of us in the US it is Memorial day which is a three day weekend.  With just three more days left of school, a three day weekend is a bit of a stall, but I will put it to good use in any case.  We have passed the home inspection and final appraisal which means that packing has started in earnest.  Last night was graduation and I was able to give Ryan his diploma as he walked across the stage.  My sewing equipment has made it it the new house, and if I am lucky, I will be able to sew a bit this weekend. 

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Tiny Tuesday #19

Rail Fence

 Collect together 1 inch scraps of orange and background.  Too many is better than too few.  You can always use the extras for nine patches.

 Collect them together into roughly equal length sections with two orange and one background color.  Sew these together being quite careful with the seam allowance.  Two oranges will go onto either side of the lighter strip.  Press the seam allowances toward the orange.

 Before you go any further, check your strip set.  It should be two inches in width.  If it is, good job!  If not, fix it before you go any further.

 Sub cut your strip sets into two inch squares.  You will need nine of these.  I ended up with three each of three combinations, but any variety will work just fine. Save extra bits for later.

 Take your nine 2 inch squares and arrange them attractively in an alternating pattern.

 Fold row 2 on top of row one and chain stitch them together.

 Add row three onto row 2 and you will have everything in the right order.  Now you just have to sew the rows together to make a square.

 Press the seams  on the back away from the pieced rows to reduce bulk as much as possible.

Here is your finished block!  Be sure to save all the extra bits for next week.  Set this one on point in the finished quilt.  

ScrapHappy Saturday #17

Welcome to ScrapHappy Saturday. The weekly linky party for all things scrappy and happy. I'm still happy to see all of your scrappy orange creations and looking forward to getting my own sewing room set up again. So close! Painting is done, baseboards and door trim have been installed. There just seems to be a strange waxy residue that I am trying to clean off of the wood floors and then I will set everything up again. I packed it all up this week thinking it would be ready for a sewing day today. Then the floor issues surfaced. Progress is being made though, and the orange month will not be a total loss.

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Tiny Tuesday #18

Sally is our guest designer again this week and wow is it cute!  Check out her Bear's Bow Tie block.  This block will get a straight set to show off its nice diagonal tilt

ScrapHappy Saturday

I'm getting so much closer to setting up my new sewing room.  The baseboards are in and I've started painting them. 

It occurred to Kurt yesterday that it didn't make sense to start putting up baseboards until the walls were finished, so much wall painting followed.  I thought he should just start the baseboards in the places I had already finished painting, but he had a different order in mind.  So this is Syndey's room.  The hard wood floors had a week to finish so it seemed safe to tromple all over them. 

I did actually sew this week!  I have a few Tiny Tuesday blocks in the works.  This Tuesday is a guest designer, but after that I will be all ready for orange!

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Tiny Tuesday #18

Today I am thankful for my understanding and supportive blog readers who have volunteered to step in and help out while my life continues in chaos mode.  Angie was so kind to offer to post a block this month and it is just as cute as can be.  Go and check it out here.  

Manic Monday

Don't you just hate it when you sit down to sew and realize that you don't have any fabric?  It went to the new house.  I thought my sewing room would be set up there by now.   

Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the air conditioning, and so the sewing migration has stalled.   No problem though, I wanted to take a look at some paint samples, so a quick trip was in order.  Anna's room has a coat of the blue that she and Ryan both agreed upon.  Don't mind the doors and closets.  They are on the list of summer projects.  The people who lived there last really liked paint.

We've picked out baseboards and they will be here Wednesday along with window and door trim.   The main floor has been painted with two coats of Balboa Mist, everywhere else is primed and the ceilings are no longer mustard!  Progress is slow but steady.  

 Speaking of progress.  The floors are done!  It was painful and difficult and not as successful as I would have hoped. 

It is done though, and many lessons were learned.  If I ever had to do that again, I'm sure I could do it much better next time.  Hopefully I won't have to test that theory.

 I had three possible colors picked out for the main bedroom.  From left to right, Sea Salt, Waterscape, and Celedon Pottery.

 Here is the view from the main bedroom so that you can see what it will be framing.  Now that I've got all that out of the way, I'm off to sew!  What a nice change of pace from all the painting. 

ScrapHappy Saturday 16

I promise that someday I will get back to quilting related posts.  The floors are almost done.  Refinishing hardwood floors goes first on the list of things to never try again.  I think that we managed to recover after a rough start.  We've put down two layers of sanding sealer and one of poly, so the homestretch is in sight. 

Friday was senior prank day at school.  I came in to 28 new "students" all in desks with handy little name tags.  

The theme was camping.  Student had tents and hammocks spread around campus and sang campfire songs while eating smores.  Speaking of "ends in sight", just 20 days until graduation!  Ryan is the middle child, he will be headed to the University of Florida in the fall.  The nest is getting emptier every year.  

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New Month -- New Color

I am so sad to say goodbye to aqua.  Still, it is hard to get enough of orange.  Please don't be afraid.  Orange is such a happy color.  I know that some people have issues.  Here at the rainbow scrap challenge though, we like to give every color a chance.

 On the new house front, Kurt decided that the wood floors needed to be refinished.  I will admit that they were in pretty rough shape.  We've never refinished floors though.

We used many sanding machines over two weekends.  The floors are all stripped now and waiting patiently for varnish.  Hopefully they will end up better than they started, though I am not convinced.  My back may never forgive me for all those hours of bending and squatting.  

I did finish painting the kitchen though!  Everything in the house is torn apart now and half finished, which is starting to make me bonkers.  Kind of like that feeling of having too many UFOs and not  making any visible progress.  So I picked on project and crossed it off the list.  We still need to do back-splashes, but at least everything is functional.