ScrapHappy Saturday - Playing with Purple

 I am enjoying purple so much this month. 

We had a volunteer come in to the new makerspace at school and do some organization that makes it more functional. Most of the kids just want to use the 3-D printer constantly, but there is also a Cricut Maker. I learned that it could be used to make EPP templates and wanted to give that a try. So I cut out some hexies and then gave the 60 degree diamond a try. My next hand sewing project might just be these 6 pointed stars framed out in diamonds to make an octagon. 

That motivated me to get moving on my current hexagon project which I think has plenty of blocks to be sewn together. So here is the purple row, all sewn together!

And since I don't work on Mondays anymore, I loaded this random nine patch quilt onto the frame to cross another UFO off of the list. I think that I was making nine patches for the Sister's Choice quilt that I made for mom. I made a bunch of extras and then they sat in the orphan block bin for longer than you can imagine. As I look at the finished top,

After finishing that quilt, I was nearly out of batting. I used to get big rolls each year Joann's when they were on sale. I checked on Amazon, but the same type of roll that I used to get was about three times more. Eventually, I copied he exact code from the packaging into Google and found that Michaels carries it with free delivery. Yay! So now I have a new roll and am ready for the next UFO. Watch this space for further updates on my UFO finishing progress. 

How are your weekend plans shaping up? I went to work on Friday because it was a teacher workday and there was a meeting. I will bank the extra day toward an extra week off in November when Anna wants me to stay with the new grandbaby while she is at a conference. 

Sunday - Time to Pause?

I am looking forward to a little quiet time today.   We had a beach walk this morning, then took the girls out to breakfast.  We have a restaurant within walking distance that does patio seating with a beach view.   Anna is only coming home every other weekend, which is a sign of progress.   It does mean that I spent yesterday fighting for laundry time though.  Somehow after moving her loads forward for her all day, she still managed to leave with the last load sitting in the dryer.  And Sydney, bless her heart, put a load into the washer but never started it.    I am still hopeful that I will manage to produce a set of clean sheets before the end of the day.   

I am also making slow and steady progress on sewing the rows together for the red quilt.   The nine patches are made from 2 inch squares which makes each block 5 inches unfinished.   I cut 5 inch strips of red and then used the easy angle ruler to cut triangles without the bias being on the outside edge of the strips.   I suppose to cut them from squares you would need to cut each square into quarters.   I did the math on it and figured out that I would need to start with 7.5 inch squares to do it that way.   

I've been digging though old projects, orphan blocks and random stacks.   These hexies are giant and random and are older than my youngest daughter!   I am not feeling that I want a to finish this quilt and so I will repurpose these into tiny hexies to add to my rainbow diamond blocks.   I think that I will find a nice movie and some scissors and settle in for some hand work prep time.   I had wanted to sort through all of the randomness before we moved two years ago, but somehow it all just got dumped into boxes and carried over to the new house.   It feels good to sort through it all.   

I will link up with Kathy's Quilts and Oh Scrap! today.   Looking at what others are accomplishing will be a nice inspiration for continuing to make progress on my own projects.   

A Friday Finish!

I finished the binding on the first of my hurricane quilts last night.  Here is Shine Like a Diamond.   Nine patches were framed in  black and white based on a quilt that I saw on Quilting is More Fun than Housework.    I can't seem to find the exact quilt right now, but I will look for it. 

 I added a black and white diamond fabric for the border and found a backing fabric with diamonds on it.  From the clearance rack!

 This stripe worked for both an inner border and binding.  There is something happy about striped bindings.

Binding Time

I just pulled the OMG quilt off of the quilting frame for the last time!  Finally!  The colors are way off, but it is very dark now.  I'll take a better photo once the binding is all done.

I was completely bogged down on the border.  I used a stencil, but the quilting was too uneven and looked really bad.  I thought about ripping it all out and starting over.  Instead I piled it in the corner and ignored it for a few months.  

Then, I filled in the background with a stipple.  It evened out the quilting density with the middle section and camouflaged some of the imperfections.  Not perfect, but better anyway.  It is all ready for binding now.  I am thinking lime green.  I wonder if I have some of that?

I've been organizing my fabric stash.  There seems to be some green in there.  I've been stocking up on backgrounds, can you tell?

 This cabinet is full of backing choices and fat quarter sized pieces.  Most of my stash in in scrap drawers, but sometimes scraps need to have friends.  Without slightly bigger cuts here and there it gets hard to find borders and bindings and such.
I'm not long for the world tonight.  Kurt came home from work sick and has been passed out in a chair most of the evening.  I'm supposed to run 10 miles in the morning so I'd better schedule the morning post before I turn into a pumpkin.  Sitting and hand sewing binding will probably give me a great excuse to rest my legs tomorrow afternoon.  A nap always feels good after a long run too.

Nine Patch in a Square Tutorial

So I had all these extra nine patches leftover from last year.  First I used them for Mai Tai Sunrise, then they made their way into 9 Carat Diamonds.  Still, I can't seem to stop making nine patches leader and ender style from leftover 2 inch squares.  I saw a great quilt last year on Quilting is More Fun than Housework though, and was inspired for another year of nine patches.  She made her quilt with extra 2.5 inch squares and used 6 inch squares cut in half for the frame.  Since I was using 2 inch squares, I needed a slightly smaller version.  

Cutting a 5 inch square in half would certainly do the job, but I had my easy angle ruler handy and wanted to try it out.  So, to use the easy angle method of making a square in a square, start with 4 inch strips of fabric in black and white.  You will need 2 pairs of triangle units for each block.  I'm making 10 blocks of each color, but trying to use lots of different black and white prints.  You will also need 9 patch blocks made from 2 inch squares.  You can use strips or squares to make these. They are handy to have on hand for so many great projects.  I found 10 in light blue and 10 in dark blue to start the year.  They were mostly ready to go in my 2 inch bin and only needed a bit of finishing.

Take the HST and center it along one side of the nine patch.  To get it centered, you can fold the triangle and nine patch in half and match the crease, or just visually find the center of the center square in your nine patch.  Notice that there is extra fabric hanging off of each end.  These pieces are slightly oversized and will squared up at the end.  This is really helpful with diagonal blocks like these, as things can get a little wonky, even with careful sewing.

 Repeat for the opposite side and the press the seams away from the center square.  trim away the extra black dog ears hanging off of the edges.

 Next, you will repeat the centering and sewing for the left and right sides.  Notice that the triangles almost reach the edges of the center block now.  Press your block with the seams going away from the center square and you are ready for squaring up.

 Your block is now just over 7 inches.  You need to decide on the size to which you want to square up your block.  If you square it up to 7 inches, your center block will "float" slightly as the seam allowances at the corners will be a bit larger than a quarter of an inch.
I chose instead, to square my blocks up to 6 7/8 inches (six and seven eighths)  I know this is an odd measurement, but it is a necessary evil when working with diagonally set blocks.  The other option would have been to cut the center square to an odd size, but obviously, that doesn't work with a pieced center square.

 So, to square up your block, find a ruler with a quarter inch mark on two perpendicular sides.  I have a bias square ruler that I used.  Line the quarter inch line along the right and top sides with the point where the center square and black fabric meet.  Trim the top and right sides.

 Rotate the block 90 degrees and find the 6 7/8 inch mark on your ruler.  I know that sounds silly, but it is just inside of the 7 inch line.  Trim the remaining two sides.

Here are my first 4 blocks.  I am alternating white and black background fabrics so they make an hourglass unit where the blocks meet.  The extra fabric at the points will all get taken up by the seam allowance, and all the nine patches will meet at nice sharp points when the blocks are sewn together.  I think I'll do 10 of each color and assemble them in rainbow rows at the end of the year.  I think I'm going to call this quilt "The Square Root of 9".
There is a printable PDF of this tutorial HERE, Or as a link on the RSC16 tab.  I am trying to make them as I go along.  As soon as things are calm, I will work backwards some more.

Binding Nine Carat Diamonds

The binding is on Nine Carat Diamonds and I am ready to settle down for a bit on slow stitching.  Nothing is better on a Sunday than some quiet time with a bit of handwork.  To see what other slow and steady stitching is going on out there, head over to Kathy's Quilts and join in to the linky party.  I was planning to post some pictures of Halloween festivities from last night, but Kurt has taken the camera and headed off to LAX with Sydney.  

Back to Borders Again

Another rainbow quilt has made it to flimsy stage!  And so begins the debate about borders....again.  Rainbow rows of nine patches got simple frames alternating in light and dark grey with snowball corners.  I could extend the diamonds into the border, or just frame it out in red and black.  I don't know how much grey is left.  That might be the deciding factor.  The nine patches were leftover from Mai Tai Sunrise.

You can see them as the alternate framed blocks between the stars.  I still have some 2 inch squares already sorted into rainbow colors, and some more extra nine patches.  I wonder what the next quilt will be?

Sunday Funday

 I was trying to decide what to call this quilt and I was finishing up the orange and yellow blocks.  Framed Nine Patch isn't exactly catchy.  So combining the nine patches with the diamond corners, I'm thinking about 9 Carat Diamonds.  I also realized while tidying up, that I hadn't used any teal nine patches.  So teal will be the one last row and this quilt will be ready to sew together.

Not quite yet though.  Anna has lacrosse games at 1 and 2 and Sydney has hers at 2 and 4.  So I'll be off at LAX under an umbrella stitching away at some orange peels between games.  Hope you find some time for hand sewing on this day of rest.  Kathy is hosting her Sunday link-up if you'd like to check out other slow stitching project.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Citrus Saturday

 I am hoping to add a row of orange to my framed nine patch quilt today.  It is going to be a vertical quilt, so I think it will need 8 columns to go with the 10 blocks.  Orange and red will bring me up to 7.  Then I am thinking white or brown for the last set.

I still have lots of nine patches left over, so orange and red are ready to go.  It shouldn't take long to frame them out.  First though, I'm heading up to our 114 acre study sight.  We got the news on Monday that we have permission to begin our camera trap project.  Now we just need to figure out all of the details.  There is play practice as well and a football game in the evening.  Lots of good weekend fun to look forward to, but not so much that I won't be able to find some time to enjoy the sewing room.
Speaking of enjoyment, I haven't yet had the drawing for Vicki Welsh's package of hand dyed orange fabric for this month.  Please leave a comment on this post to enter the drawing.  I choose a random winner later this week.
I hope that fabric and thread will be a part of your weekend as well.  Misterlinky is below so that we can all come by and enjoy your progress on the rainbow scrap challenge.

Home Again and Ready for a Nap

We were in Hilton Head this weekend to visit with family.  After all the recent travel I wanted nothing more than to stay home, but it didn't quite work out that way.  I was worried that it would be super crowded on the holiday weekend, but it didn't seem that way at all.  We had a nice time visiting with Kurt's parent's and siblings.  We each had our own condos, so there was an occasional break from the chaos.  Most of the time though it was lots of good loud family fun.  Many card games, a few trips to the beach and plenty of time to catch up on what everyone has been up to.  After this it will be Thanksgiving before we will be able to see everyone again.
I did take along my orange peels, but did not get many stitches taken.  I think it was last weekend that I worked on my nine patches.  It looks like there are 12 ready to go in orange.  Slowly but surely this quilt will come together.  As busy as it has been in the transition back to school I will remain grateful for whatever small snatches of sewing time I can steal away.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Light on Blues?

 ScrapHappy Saturday and I am finally home again!  I just pulled out this stack of nine patches ready to be framed.

They will be added in to this collection which is growing slowly month to month.
What are you up to with your baby blues?  You still have today to continue to work on your blues as well as next Saturday to wrap them all up.

Use misterlinky below to share with us all.

Mid Year Celebration!

Today marks the middle point of 2014.  We are marking the occasion with a parade of rainbow scrap projects so far.  It is too much to pull out all the rainbow blocks each month to enjoy the growing color collection.  It is nice however, to have an occasional gathering of the group to get a feel for where things are going.

So here are my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler blocks so far.  I've worked ahead a bit, so don't worry if you see a few blocks that haven't been posted quite yet.  Looking at the photo, I'm thinking that I might have cheated pink and purple a little bit.  Those were busy school months and I'm not sure the balance is right quite yet.  There is an upper corner where the red will go, and then a bit of space for darks.  Still a couple more months to do though, and I have plans for those too.

 Mai Tai has been in the works for a bit now.  I've got quite a few nine patches done, but they need frames and then I'll start on the alternate star pinwheel blocks.

 These are the baby nine patches with a few alternate blocks in the works.  I'll keep working on these for quite a while I think.

Don't forget Dear Jane!   She needs just two more blocks which are sure to be finished today.  Tropical storm Arthur is churning off the coast, meaning a damp gusty day for us.  Sounds like a perfect day to get some serious sewing done.  We are back from morning lifting, and I really do need to get some groceries, but other than that, sewing is the plan.

How are your projects progressing so far?  Use misterlinky to share your collection so far and let us know what colors you are hoping for in the second half of the year.

Design Wall Monday - June 16, 2014

 I worked a bit this week on making some churn dash blocks to go with the baby nine patches that have been in the works for a couple of years now.  The entire block comes from just a light and dark 2 inch strip which makes planning pretty easy.

Speaking of planning, I was starting to think about the math for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler Quilt.  The colors are going to be in diagonal stripes and ROYGBIV order.  I'm about halfway done with the quilt, and also halfway done with the year, so I think it will all work out.
Be sure to visit Judy's Blog to see what everyone else has on their design wall today.

Baby Nines Decisions

 As the Baby Nine Patches start to come together, I wanted to think about what I should to put together as the alternate block.  I was originally thinking about making an Omigosh Quilt.  It's been done though, and so I've started to think about variations on a theme.  So A is a Churn Dash block, B is a Shoofly block and C is a Churn Dash Variation with a nine patch in the middle

Here they are in real life.  What do you think?  Shoofly, Churn Dash or variation?  All votes much appreciated.

Oh, also, the fridge is clean and shiny now.  So much better!  Now can anyone tell me why I have five mustards and three orange juices?  Life if full of mysteries.  

Puttering the Day Away

 I did get a little bit of sewing done today, amongst all the rest.  These are the broken dishes that were finished last weekend.  Finally together forever.  They need a border of some sort.  Fairly wide I think.  Maybe green?  Applique would be nice, but I'd like to get it done sooner rather than later.

 Here are the baby nine patches so far.  There isn't so much contrast in the yellows.  Not sure yet where these are going.  Originally I was thinking of an Omigosh Quilt, like this one.  Or maybe a Birthday Quilt like this one.  But now I am thinking of choosing a different alternate block.  Time will tell.

 Speaking of birthdays, I don't think I ever posted about the big party last weekend.  We had a giant water slide for both Ryan and Sydney.  Anna had a few friends too of course.  Much fun was had by all.

Each of the kids was supposed to choose a summer project.  Anything at all they wanted to do to keep busy this summer.  Mainly it was so that if anyone got bored, I could say, "Hey, why don't you go work on your summer project?".  Ryan is doing some i-pad app programming, Sydney is going to read all of the Sunshine State books, and Anna signed up for a photography class.  Every time I go to take pictures off of the digital card, it is full of all of her "homework".  This was here first assignment.  Something that represents her.  So she used her lacrosse gear.  Honestly, it looks like a baseball in the background there, but who am I to second guess?
Tomorrow is the big power lifting competition....match....round....?  Whatever it is when you go and see who can lift a lot of weights.  Anna and Ryan are both competing.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, maybe even a video or two.  Who would have thought my kids would be into power lifting?  Never would have predicted it.  

Housekeeping

 Yesterday was spent blissfully putting around the sewing room doing lots of organizing and sewing up of odds and ends.  Call it a quilters version of spring cleaning.  There were lots of extra bits sitting next to the machine waiting to be sewn together.  Postage stamps, nine patches and lots of HST units came together to the first 6 chapters of Wuthering Heights on Librivox.

 Then the evening brought ironing along with Muppets in Space and Spiderman 2.  Sydney was the only kid left in the family at that point as everyone else was away at sleepovers.  Look at how cute the itty bitty nine patches are on the back.  The seams nestle just perfectly.

  Here is a freshly ironed stack of green scraps.  I need to decide which of these will go to sampler blocks and start trimming the rest to useable sizes.
I'm not sure how much sewing time there will be today.  Sydney is making birthday cupcakes for school while Anna types away at a paper for school.  The new Godzilla movie is the plan for today along with a birthday dinner and I think a double header for football.  Did I mention that there are just 8 more school days to go?  Starting to get excited about summer.  

Scraphappy Saturday -- Orange Oasis

Look at the size difference between the nine patches made with 2 inch squares and the ones made with the one inch size.  The larger blocks will be part of a Mai Tai quilt and the little ones will be either a Birthday Quilt or Omigosh.  Some day of course, for now they are both long and slow works in progress.  Anna has a Lacrosse game in Tampa today and I would like for us all to go and see it, but Kurt is pretty adamant that it wouldn't do the others much good to sit in the car for an entire day going back and forth.  I must say I was tempted when I saw the mention of a quilt show on Bonnie's blog, but I'm not sure it would work out all that well.  It wouldn't be bad to have a day at home for a change.  How about you?  Home sewing or out and about?  Use the linky below to share your plans and progress as we begin a brand new month of orange.

Another

This little guy didn't take long to quilt up. I'll do the binding after dinner.  Not crazy about the multicolor thread or the swirls in the snowballs.  I'm moving on though, 'cause I'm still on a roll.