ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Most of my quilting time last weekend was spent on this scrappy postage stamp quilt.  I loaded and quilted on Saturday and then did the binding on Sunday.   There is truly no rhyme or reason, just all the leftover 1.5 inch squares from lots of other projects.  

A few more purple blocks got added to the wall.  Tutorials for the Hens and Chicks will be finished up shortly.   We had another one of those weeks at school with things going on in the evenings.  Then yesterday was a field trip to Kennedy Space Center.   The students seemed to get a lot out of it and the weather was just glorious.  Spring has definitely started here along with the spring break travelers from everywhere.  

Last Quilts of 2018

I got a good start of the last star quilt binding yesterday.  It should be easily done before the end of the day today.  I thought that Anna might take it back to college with her because of the backing matching her dorm room quilt, but she is back already.  She will be back again in a few weeks for a doctor's appointment.  Maybe I can give it to her then.  

I also got the border finished on Squared Away.  I think that I will hand quilt this one.  It might look great with some bright Pearle cotton.  I'd like to get it layered up and basted in any case.  

 The next 16 and 4 patch quilt is ready to load onto the frame.  Since the last one was Four Squared, maybe this one should be the Square Root of Sixteen?  I was ready to get it started yesterday, but I'm out of batting again.  We tried to pop into Joann's after dinner last night, but they were already closed.  Kurt is supposed to pick it up on his way home from work today.  We'll see how that goes.  The kids both have New Year's Eve parties to go to tonight.  That will leave Kurt and I rambling around the house alone.  I have a feeling that it the way it is going to be more often from now on.  They grew up so fast!  I am sure that they were all babies just yesterday.

I've just finished up the first Tiny Tuesday block!  I'll get that post set up to go live first thing in the morning.  January is going to be red this year.  I can't wait to get started!

Merry Chrismtas

 We are just back from a quick trip to the mountains to see family.  I finished the binding on three quilts during the trip!  here is the first.  It is called Four Patch Surprise.  Lots of random four patches on the front. 

 Then a strippy quilt of the extra four patches for the back.  It is quilted with a meander in the background space and a winding snake maze alternating in the four patches.  Kurt was kind enough to hold it up in front of the Christmas tree. 

 While things were calm this morning, I finished loading another quilt onto the frame.  This is the second set of postage stamp stars.  I had quite a nice stash of these from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

We celebrated my nephew's 21st birthday while we were in the mountains.  His sister made him a bucket list of 21 tasks to complete for the day.  He didn't quite get them all done, but he did check off quite a few before the end of his birthday.  Most of them had to do with drinking or dancing and he was a good sport about it all. 

On the way home, we stopped to take Sydney skiing.  She has been asking since the last time we went and she had so much fun. 

Nobody else wanted to ski, and so I took the others back down to the bottom of the mountain to go tubing instead.  The drive home from that was just over 9 hours, so it was a long day, to say the least. 

As far as celebrating Christmas, we got home so late last night and were too tired to get everything ready.  We are calling today Christmas Eve and waiting to celebrate for when everyone is more recovered tomorrow. 
Merry Christmas to everyone else though, celebrating on the actual day.  I hope that you all had quality time with family and friends with plenty of quilts to keep you all warm and cozy.  

Scrappy and Happy

The next set of postage stamp stars are now a flimsy!  I debated the border for a long time.  I always do on rainbow quilts.  Too many choices.  Eventually, I just grabbed a 2.5-inch strip of all the colors of the rainbow and sewed them together.  I ran out of edges before getting to the purple and pink so I just wrapped it back around to red again when I rounded the final corner. I'm calling this one Rising Stars.  Someday I will run out of star related names.  

I think the back of this one will be fairly cohesive.  I had lots of extra blues from Anna's dorm room quilt which I think will work very nicely together.  I'll make it all more symmetrical and planned in its appearance of course.  I think I'll use the lighter blue in the middle and wrap the darker shades around as a frame.

As soon as that back is done, it will be on to binding.  I did mass cutting last night.  The dots will be for the most recent star quilt, and the odd pink is for Running Stitches.  The yellow is for Four Squared Brown is for Four Patch Surprise.  Wow!  That is a lot of binding.  I just need to have a quick go with the iron and then change out to the walking foot so that I can get them sewn on to the quilt.  I always finish by hand though, so I see a nice cup of hot tea and a movie marathon coming up very soon.
I'm linking up with Oh Scrap!  And Slow Stitching Sunday, Its always fun to see the scrappy combinations and handwork that people have to share.   

Happy Thanksgiving

For those in the US, today is Thanksgiving day.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Traditionally a day for eating turkey and watching football.  We are waiting until my sister arrives on Saturday for the main event, and so today was mostly a beautiful relaxing day around the house.  Sydney and I went out this morning to run a 5K.  I took a selfie before the start of the race.  At the time I didn't realize that I was catching a yawning pilgrim in the background.  As it turns out, when I posted it on facebook, I learned that he is the brother-in-law of one of my teacher friends.  We live in such a small world sometimes!

Kurt was off to pick up Anna from New College this morning and then we were all back together and settled in to watch the Thanksgiving day parade.  We even saw a bit of the dog show after, but it was making our poor puppy Lizzie go crazy. 
I then managed to almost entirely finish the transformation of the sewing studio into the guest bedroom.  I say almost because I could not resist loading a quilt onto the frame before I have to take it down to make room for the guests.  I still have an entire day to play.  It looks like the girls have mostly taken over side dish and dessert preparations and Kurt is going to smoke the turkey on the big green egg, so I might just have a bit more free time tomorrow. 

I got a good start on quilting before the first bobbin ran out.  I went ahead and used the thread that was on the machine because it seemed more efficient than redoing it all.  There is white in the top and light blue on the back which should work just fine and dandy I think.  Sydney is having two friends sleeping over tonight so that they can get up early and do black Friday shopping.  I'm planning a run with a friend and Kurt is off to volleyball.  It is nice to have a long weekend to enjoy it all.  

August Color Reveal

A new month is always just the right time for a new color here at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Before you jump in, let me just say, that I know people have strong feelings about the color orange.  Really is isn't as scary as I used to think.  I've worked hard over the years to try to add little bits of orange to my stash.  It adds such a nice little spark and is sure to brighten things up.  If you are having problems getting enough contrast with your oranges, try to work in a few browns to autumn things up a bit.  Really, give it a try. 

With just one more day of vacation before the big back to school day tomorrow, there was time to work on just one more project.  There were two bags of postage stamp stars in the bin.  This one had a note letting me know the setting, and that there were cornerstones in the bag, but that it needed sashing.  

 

Sure enough, this is what it looked like coming out of the bag.  

So the afternoon was spent cutting out sashing strips while listening to more Grey's Anatomy.  I've been gravitating toward gray accents for rainbow quilts lately.  The top is about half sewn, but there is still time.  Texts and e-mails are starting to come in as everyone is shifting gears back to school mode again.  Deep breath, here we go again.  

Forward Progress

 Last Sunday I put together these crumb blocks with a simple navy sashing.  I think I will add an outer border of the same fabric and then maybe some more crumbs.

Postage Stamp blocks were next on the list.  These were all leftover from finished quilts of long ago.  It is amazing that as many different fabrics as there are in these blocks, I still ended up with the same fabric next to each other repeatedly.  

 As part of my continuing quest to clear out orphans and extras, I quilted up this little table topper made from pinwheels of waste triangles.

 Then there is the continuing slow and steady binding progress.  I think this is number three of the hurricane finish parade.  These orange peels were appliquéd and then hand quilted.  After the binding backlog is taken care of, I'll need a new hand quilting project to work on.

Because it is Sunday, I'm going to link up with Oh Scrap! and Slow Stitching Sunday.  

Weekend Roundup

 I was puttering around the sewing room trying to clear out some things.  These little house blocks were going to be a block a day quilt from 3 or 4 years ago.  I made a few, but decided not to keep going.  Since then, they have been sitting in a bin.  After just a little bit of puttering around, they are now a mini quilt ready for the hand sewing of binding stack.  Making mini quilts is instant gratification.  I might have to do more of them in the future.

I also got the rest of the postage stamp stars put together.  That brings the number of finished quilts draped over the dining room table to three.  I guess that ordering some more batting will have to go on the list of things to do.  Not that quilting will be high on the list as school starts again -- finally!  There are two more storm brewing out there, but hopefully they will end up twirling around the ocean instead of making landfall.  We aren't quite recovered from the last storm yet.  

Sunday Gear Switching

Tomorrow it is time to head back to school again.  As much as I want to jump back in again, there are still plenty of people without power, water and internet access.  I'm sure that it is going to take some time to transition back.  

 I am lucky enough to have this nice stack of 5 quilts waiting to have the bindings hand sewn down.  It is amazing what can be accomplished with 7 unscheduled days off of school.

 I wasn't quite ready to settle down yet, so I put an outer border on Leap Year.  This one is next in line for hand quilting now that the Orange Peels are finished.  The original plan was to use pearle cotton to quilt inside of each circle, but now that I look at it all together, I am thinking that diagonal lines might be fun?  Giving the effect of crossing days off the calendar.....

 Lizzie gave her seal of approval.

 She is always quick to check out every finished quilt.

Still in sewing mode, I put together the rows for the RSC16 quilt.  It was my first attempt at a row by row quilt.  It might need one more row.  The proportions seemed fine when I laid it out, but it got a little skinnier with the seam allowances gone.  

Still not wanting to call it quits, I pulled out a stack of postage stamp star blocks which had been done for a while.  They were all sorted nicely by color and pinned together with cornerstones just waiting to be webbed into a top.  I had originally planned to use grey sashing strips throughout, but as I worked, I thought it might be nice to try out some random colored strips instead.  I think it gives a nice border effect.  I'm about halfway done webbing the top now, but my sewing machine got temperamental.  Maybe I tired her out?

I'm linking up today with Slow Stitching Sunday and Oh Scrap!  Be sure to take a few minutes to visit before you get carried away with your day.  

Sunday Switching Gears

It is hard to believe that there will be school again on Monday.  It was originally a teacher inservice day, but after 7 days missed for the hurricane, getting everyone back is more important right now.

 For handwork today, I have a stack of 5 quilts waiting for the binding to be hand sewn.  These were all finished during those 7 missed days of school.  I've got the machine stitching part done, it will be nice to have handwork for the foreseeable future.

 I also got a border on Leap Year.  I pulled out fabrics for the backing, but as I am out of batting, this one can wait for a bit.  It is meant to be hand quilted.  I was originally planning to quilt with pearl cotton on the inside of each circle, but I am now thinking about diagonal lines through each block.  I'll have to think about it some more.

 Lizzie came out to help with the quilt photography of course.

 She is always the first to give her approval to finished quilts.

With that flimsy finish, I pulled out the RSC16 Row by Row Sampler to finally finish it off!  October is still missing, but I might leave it this way.  It was fatter before I sewed the rows together, it might need one more row now that I look at the proportions.

Then, because I was in a finishing mode, I pulled out one of the sets of postage stamp stars which had been an ongoing RSC project for a while.  They were pinned into rows with cornerstones already picked out in handy Ziploc bags.  I found a grey star fabric to use for the inner sashing. It was going to continue to the outer border as well, but I changed gears a bit and decided to pull random 2.5 inch strips instead.  I think that it adds a nice border effect.  I'm about halfway done with sewing all the rows together.  Hopefully that will be done before the end of the day.  

I'm linking up today with Slow Stitching Sunday and Oh Scrap! today.  Be sure to go and visit before your day gets underway.  

Via Airmail

I'm thinking of calling this one Via Airmail.  It is made of the leftover postage stamp blocks from projects of the past.  Postage stamp blocks are so versatile.  The binding was finished during the Superbowl on Sunday, but today is the first day I've been home during daylight.  It was an early release day, so Lacrosse practice was done by 4:30.  Robotics started at 5:30, but Kurt took Ryan down and is picking up Chinese food on the way home.  Yum!  The hard part will be making sure that someone stays awake long enough to pick him up again at 10.  Yikes!

 The back comes from some pink and green flannel leftovers.  I think the pink  was on clearance, and the green was part of a baby quilt perhaps?  I've grown really fond of the frame square backing.  It almost looks preplanned, but makes good use of relatively random amounts of two fabrics.

 Finally, here is a shot of the quilting.  It is a pantograph!  That is two in a row.  Such a departure from my usual freeform style.  Just two more days until Science Fair.  I'm trying to help Anna assemble her board in between typing this, so forgive me if the sentences seem fragmented.

Sunday Wrap up

There are just two more circles to applique down for the January block of my leap year quilt.  So handy that February will start on a Monday.  There is something nice about a new week and a new month at the same time.

The circle and the binding to this postage stamp quilt should be plenty to keep my hands busy during Downton Abbey tonight.  First though, Sydney is out of shorts that fit and I promised her we could go shopping today.  She is almost as tall as Ryan and her feet are already bigger than Anna's.  They do grow up so fast.
Be sure to keep scrolling down to the last post to enter the February fabric giveaway.

Quick Finish

Did you know that a group of geese on land is a gaggle, but in flight they are called a skein, team or wedge?  These postage stamp stamp blocks are arranged into a V formation that reminds me of a group of geese in flight, and I was searching for names.  I'll have to ponder that while I work on the binding.
After training today I had a little burst of energy and finished off the quilting while the girls were at Lacrosse.  It is almost time to pick Ryan up from robotics, so the timing is just about perfect.

Hit a Wall

 All of my handwork time for the last few days has been spent on finishing up Jane.  So here is some handwork to keep me happy tonight while I am snuggled under a quilt sipping hot cocoa.  It is COLD here today.  It is 47 right now with a high for the day of 54.  I know that doesn't seem cold to normal people, but for Florida kids who don't own long pants, cold it is.  There is a snowman from some Christmas fabric for today's circle.

I was on a great roll yesterday, getting lots accomplished, when suddenly, I was just DONE.  So the Chevron postage stamps will wait patiently, probably for a weekend to get some more attention. Circles and binding should be plenty to keep me out of trouble until then.  

Frantic Finishing

 So I was having trouble with the quilt frame.  I had split the rails in order to set it up to a smaller size which would fit in the sewing studio/guest bedroom.  Splicing them back together to get the frame back to full width was a bit of a problem, so I ordered a set of replacement rails.  I thought that they would be here last week, but they won't arrive until Wednesday.  So instead, I went back to the list and worked again on getting some more flimsies ready to finish.
Broken Dishes Stars was first up this morning.  These were bonus HST triangles that got put together a while ago.  I never had just the right border fabric, so instead I pulled out two random greens and got it finished up.  This is a small quilt, meaning the backing fabric came from a single width of fabric -- no piecing involved!  It is layered and pin pasted.  I think this will be my next hand quilting project.

Next up were the Chevron Postage Stamps.  The blocks have been sewn together for a while now.  There was some hot pink flannel yardage on the hanger with the quilt, so I stretched that out with some extra green plaid flannel and it is ready to go.  Lizzie is my always patient helper in trying out anything on the floor.  

 Here is the finished flimsy with a small grey border, ready to go on to the frame whenever it is free again.

So obviously I wasn't the one who ended up taking Sydney down to West Palm for lacrosse today.  Kurt volunteered to drive her down.  They have more games tomorrow, so they are in a hotel overnight.  That means more sewing time for me!  Can't wait.