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.  

Scrappy Happy Red Day

 We saw 4 states on our family Yellowstone trip.  This was obviously, Idaho.

 We stayed at a ranch east of the park in Wyoming.

 Which is also where the Grand Tetons where.  Sydney thought the name was hilarious.  She is taking French in School.

Check out these moose chilling in a meadow.  The kids eye spied them on a hike and we tiptoed on by.  

We also stayed in West Yellowstone which is part of Montana and flew in and out of Salt Lake City where we visited Temple Square and listened to an organ concert at the tabernacle.  After all that it was fabulous to come back home again and sleep in my own bed again!

For me it really is a red letter day.  It is a scrappy Saturday and I am home!  It feels like ages since that has happened.  Nothing on the schedule, chores caught up, and ready to sew!  Even though my main project this week was finishing up Anna's blue dorm room quilt, I managed to finish a gigantic stack of leaders and enders while I was putting all the blocks together in just the right order.  Some of them were even red!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

ScrapHappy Saturday

I am scheduling this ahead and hoping that it works.  I didn't have great luck last time I tried, and so if the linky is broken, maybe you could leave a link in the comments?  We are on a family vacation right now visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton out west.  We are going to be home tomorrow though, so if there is a problem, I promise to fix it then.  I'll also be sure to show lots of pictures of mountains and geysers and such.  There is going to be rafting and horseback riding and rodeoing.  The kids are even willing to hike with us.  They hate to hike, but they are willing to humor us old folks for a few miles along the way.  I have my handwork zipper case in my carryon, so hopefully a hexie or two will get accomplished along the way. 


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

ScrapHappy Saturday - Last Pink Saturday

It is hard to believe that May is almost over.  Even more so than usual, the end of the school year has kept me busy.  The fun is not quite over as Anna and I are off to Paris and Barcelona in just a few hours.  I'll be back late next Saturday, so I'll be sure to schedule a post for next Saturday before we head out to the airport.
I've got plenty of hexie diamonds to work on while sitting on planes, trains and busses.  Hopefully I'll be able to add some pink to this slowly growing collection.
How are your pinks coming along?  The linky party is below.  Please share with us all.  I'll try to check in as long as the wifi holds out.


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

ScrapHappy Saturday - Tickled Pink

Roll out the rose and pink, and new month has begun!

 Mari has posted directions for the new squared away block.  I'll post a link on the Squared away tab and here when the pdfs file for the tutorial is ready to go.

I finished my blocks earlier.  I was really happy with how the darker rose added nice contrast to the pink scraps.  

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Scraphappy Saturday - Last Purple Saturday

Sorry to be off to a bit of  a late start today.  I have been having a bit of a computer issue.  Hopefully my engineer of a husband can get it fixed, if not, I may be off computer shopping this afternoon.  Until then, everything is fine unless something touches the lower left hand corner of the keyboard.  I have some photos to share, but I will try a bit of a two step process this morning, just in case.

ScrapHappy Saturday - Racing Through the Purple Month

Does anyone else feel that time is accelerating?  The days are just zooming by right now.  I didn't sew a stitch this week, but I was able to sew up some more purple loggies earlier this month.  Spring is always super busy at school.  This year spring seems to have started early.  This weekend looks pretty wide open though.  The kids have activities which will require a few rides, but there should still be some time to get in some fabric therapy.  After this week it is very much needed. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Fresh Start

 A new month is always exciting.  Pulling out a new color and digging in is a little bit like a tiny birthday present at the beginning of each new month. First up this month are the February Squared Away blocks.  Mari has written a great tutorial if you are interested in making these blocks.  Hers are in a 10 inch size while mine are only 7.5 inches.  I also noticed that she used slightly different combinations of colors.  The nice thing about making three of each block is that you can play with different combinations.  I did find after making several blocks that I got so much better about planning out the seams.  After going though a couple of twisted allowances in the first month, I started putting these together as if they were tiny quilts, following the webbing method I learned from quilt in a day so many years ago.
Now that those are crossed off the list, I'm planning on digging in and playing some more with my scraps.  Purple is a pretty big color for me.  Maybe because I have two daughters?  Hopefully I can put some of that purple to good use this month.
I'll be back sometime today with a PDF version of the directions and will post updated links on the RSC18 Sampler tab.  Please use the linky below so we can all see what great purple plans you have brewing for February. Just finished this step, be sure to take a look if you like to save off PDF files for later.  

Tracking Chart

I got the sweetest e-mail from Stephanie.  She is new to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and posts her blocks to Instagram.  She worked up a tracking chart for 2018 and was nice enough to share it with us all in both PDF and word format.  What a clever way to keep track of your blocks for the year! The funniest part was that she added extra columns because she noticed that we all liked to make a wide variety of blocks.  So you can print out a copy and make handwrite a list, or download the word version and keep it all digital.  Thanks Stephanie!

New Month, Purple is Coming out to Play

Purple and lavender are the colors for February.  With some careful digging, you can find enough variety to get contrast in your blocks between light and dark shades of purple.  I'm planning to go and dig through mine a bit to find some fabric to play with during the state of the uniom.  I can't sew for long though, Ryan is at robotics and I'll need to go and fetch him right in the middle of the speech.  There is an super blue blood moon tonight.  I might set an alarm to get up and look at it early in the morning.  It is really cold right now though, so maybe not.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Last Light Blue Day

I'm really enjoying light blue.  It is going to be a shame to put it away to move on to the next color.  That is all part of the fun though, there are plenty of other colors waiting to come out and play.  I worked this week on a few more mini log cabin blocks.  Each one will be 2.5 inches in the finished quilt, so it is going to take quite a while to get enough.

The last time I was playing with layout ideas I think I settled on a streak of lightning setting.  Its going to take quite a while to get enough for a nice big quilt though, so I'll just keep adding to the stack for now.  

Misterlinky is below.  I look forward to seeing what everyone else has been working on this week.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

Pardon me if I'm a little bleary eyed this morning.  I was up late watching the government shut down.  I'm not going to go off on a political rant.  I think it is safe to say though, that everyone in Washington is pretty bad at running the government.  We have an air force base here, and NASA, so there will be quite a few people not going to work on Monday.  Hopefully they will figure out something soon, I'd hate for the Giant Panda Cam to go down. 
Today though, I will sew a little bit and clean a little bit.  Our neighborhood is having a party tonight.  Each house makes some appetizers and then everyone parades around from one house to another. The neighbor planning it is retired military and he has a schedule all planned out with a timer to keep everyone moving.  Kurt has a pork butt on the grill and we will make barbecue pork sliders.  First though, he's off to take Ryan to a math competition somewhere near Orlando and I need to take Sydney to school to finish off her science fair.  January and February are going to be a little bit frantic, but maybe it will slow down after that?  I always think it is going to slow down later, I'll let you know when later gets here. 
Hopefully you have found some time to play with your blue bits this month.  Misterlinky is below, please share with us all.  I've been playing with strings again, so everything is a happy scrappy mess at my house. 

RSC18 First ScrapHappy Saturday

For all the people joining in to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for the first time, welcome.  To everyone else, welcome back.  A new year is always a great opportunity to think about what you have done and what you want to do.  Hopefully you finished off a few projects last year.  Maybe that leaves room for something new this year?

My new project this year is the squared away sampler.  Mari and I worked together to plan a sampler quilt of 5 by 5 blocks.  She has posted a tutorial for making the block in the 10 inch size.  

I made test versions in 5 inch and 7.5 inch  sizes before deciding to make the quilt with 7.5 inch blocks.  Mari has more information on a tab on her blog as do I.  So feel free to read more about it if you are thinking of joining in.  

 I used a slightly different color arrangement, but here are a couple of charts to let you know how many squares and half square triangles you will need for each block.

Mari's color placement

first blue	5 squares
second blue	16 HST
background	4 squares

Angela's color placement

first blue	4 squares, 4 HST
second blue	1 square, 12 HST
background	4 squares

 Here are my three finished blocks.
If you would like the directions in a handy PDF, that is ready to go, and at the RSC18 Sampler tab above, you can find a link of all the block tutorials for the year.
Misterlinky is below.  Share your progress on squared away or your other Rainbow Scrap Challenge Projects.  Light and medium blue are the colors for January.  Please let us know if you are new so we can welcome you on board.

More Buttons

My previous button making went so well that I thought I should make one for the 2018 sampler quilt that Mari and I have worked together to plan.  As always, posting the image online is step 1.  So here goes.  (I'll be back shortly with step 2)

OK, that went so much better than last time.  The button will take you back to Mari's Squared Away BOM tab,  I have one as well, so be sure to check it out when you have a chance.  I tried to put in nifty tables and important information.   
I made the first few blocks today and they are fabulous!  I'll be back tomorrow with some assembly options for 5 by 5 blocks.  I learned a bit through trial and error and will be happy to share my new wisdom with you all. 
If you would like to join in the Squared Away block of the month, feel free to grab the button by copying the html code below the button into a widget on your own blog. 

New Year Organization

 

I started off the new year with a little bit of organization.  The strips weren't getting used effectively in a separate bin, so I pulled them out to integrate them back with their colors.  

Here are some of the newly tidied drawers of scraps.  I made labels!

 Then I spent some time taking in inventory of ongoing projects. They are now sorted into hanging flimsies ready to be quilted, bags of blocks ready to be sewn together....

 and best of all, project boxes of blocks being pieced for ongoing projects.  I have dutifully updated the My Quilts tab to list all the projects I found.

With the strips duly distributed, I had an open bin for the new RSC18 Sampler Quilt.  Here are some of the blue strips I was auditioning for "Squared Away".  Now that all of that is done, I think there might be some actual sewing on the horizon.
We had chicken pot pies for dinner and are waiting for  Anna to return home from her volunteering.  Ryan and Sydney were kind enough to join us for a family card game before disappearing again to the wilds of upstairs.  Kurt is back to work tomorrow, but the rest of us still have a week of vacation to enjoy.  Guess what I have planned? 

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2018!  

I am so happy to be starting another year as host of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It all started as a personal quest to use up my own scraps.  Since then it has blossomed into an ongoing collaboration of quilters all working toward similar goals.  Every quilter makes scraps.  They tend to accumulate in bins and boxes as we move on to new projects.  The thought of using them can seem overwhelming and complicated.  Rather than deal with them all at once, we tackle one color each month.  Anyone is welcome to hop in at any time by simply joining in to the weekly linky party with a link to your own web post related to the color of the month or your ongoing RSC projects. 
Mari and I will also be making a sampler quilt this year called "Squared Away"  The directions will be posted for that on the first Saturday of the month.  She has an entire tab set up already, so be sure to visit her blog on the first Saturday of the month for complete directions.  I'll try to keep an updated list of links going to make it easier to find directions for each block.  We have chosen 10 blocks, each of which is built on a 5 by 5 grid.  All the blocks consist of simple squares, rectangle or half square triangles.
For January, we will be focusing on the color blue.  Try, if you can, to dig into the lighter side of your blue bin.  Dark blues and dark neutrals will get a chance to come out and play later in the year.  For most quilters, blue can be an overwhelming color, so having two chances to make a dent can help with the volume of blue. 
There is more information on the RSC18 page.  Just use the tab at the top if you are new. Most of all, welcome.  I hope you can find a few scraps and play along!