Step One Coming Along

100 2.5 inch quarter square triangles.  Almost half done.  How cute are they?  Now I need to vacuum, there are dog ears scattered over the house like confetti.  Happy fabric confetti.  Pop over to Bonnie's Blog to see the progress other people are making on Orca Bay. 

ScrapHappy Saturday -- Still Doing Brown?

I was working hard to finish Rainbow Squares before the new Orca Bay mystery quilt started yesterday.  Just made it!  Between this quilt (notice the brown in the lower left) and the Rainbow Crumbs, I'm just about cleared out of brown.  My jars are noticeably emptier than they were at the beginning of the year even though I continue to produce new scraps.  The challenge has done a nice job of making me play with all the leftovers, and I'm happy with the rainbow of projects that have come out during the year.  How about you, still feeling scrappy?  Post your progress using the link below so we can all enjoy.

3 Down, 221 to go

These are the first three quarter square triangle units for the brand new Orca Bay mystery.  Time for a dinner break before I get a few more put together.  Happy Friday everyone! 

Tiny Headstart

I had to input all of my grades into our online system and write two very short quizes (don't want to give tests during bring your parent to school day). That didn't take as long as I thought, so I finished it off and treated myself to a tiny bit of quilting time. Rainbow ScrapHappy Squares has been on the frame all week getting a little bit of love now and again when I could pop in for a few minutes. It only took an hour and a half to get it all finished off. I'll do trimming and binding tomorrow first thing.

The quilting is a square spiral in random sizes. Done freehand of course. I so enjoy just drawing on the quilt and seeing how it turns out. 

Waiting for the Weekend

It has been the longest work week EVER.   Each day this week I have woken up thinking I should just call in sick and catch up on sleep.  But something important has been going on every single day that has me headed out the door.  Fun labs, big meetings, feast days, bring your parent to school days... all good stuff.... just so much of it.  My students are all checked out for Thanksgiving already, either mentally or physically, but we are pushing on and learning for three more days before the holiday.

As soon as the last bell rings tomorrow though, I'm going to be out the door and headed straight for my sewing machine.  The first clue in Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery will be up in the morning and Heidi is hosting a Friday Night Sew In.  Sounds like the perfect opportunity to unwind after a busy week. I've got two tops ready to quilt, a set of blocks on the wall and a big list in my blog margin of projects to keep me busy for quite a while.  How about you?  Any big plans for the weekend?

Maybe More Like This?

After looking at the photo of the Bonnie Hunter inspired bowtie blocks in diagonal rows on the design wall, I thought about trying out some different block arrangements.  I don't have quite enough blocks yet for a quilt top, so a little rearrangement isn't holding anything up at this point. I kind of like the circle effect, maybe tomorrow I'll try some zig zags just for fun? 

While I was in the sewing room, I went ahead and quilted just a few feet on the Scraphappy Squares. The nice thing about having a quilt on the frame is that you can do "drive by" quilting. A few minutes here and a few minutes there...

Design Wall Monday November 14, 2011

I've been working on these cheddar bow-ties as leaders and enders for a while now.  The stack seemed to be getting pretty big so I thought I'd throw them up on the wall and see how far they would go.  Seems like there are enough so far for a lap sized quilt.  Maybe I'll keep going until I get enough for twin sized so that this one can go in the donation pile.  Mom called today and asked if I could get some more quilts ready for her Sunday school class to give away for Christmas.  I brought her 9 quilts last time we went up, but she says they are doing Christmas presents for 12 families this year.  They got hit by a bad tornado not long ago and there are a lot of families in need.  I'm sure there must be something else in the stack that will work. 

Rainbows Again

I was in a mood for piecing today, so even though the Rainbow ScrapHappy Squares are still sitting on the frame, I went ahead and finished off the flimsy for Rainbow Crumb Parade.  I sewed enough brown and black squares together last night to serve as the first and last row before deciding against making another row of white blocks.  The proportions seem better this way so I think I'll let it be.  It isn't a big quilt, I think it will be about 52 by 72 when it is done, but it should be a good snuggle up on the couch size.  I've spent plenty of time in the sewing room this weekend and need to get back to real life again.  The house is a mess, I've got papers to grade and lessons to plan, but it was nice to have an extra day this weekend to play. 

Another Productive Day

After having school off yesterday and getting to spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room, I felt very spoiled to have everyone out of the house all day today.  First up was finishing off the flimsy for Scrapphappy Squares.  I'm so thankful for the design inspiration from Marlene that sent me down the Garden Rail path with the setting on this one. 

Then it needed a back of course. I had some nice black and rainbow fabric, but as I'll quilt it in white thread, I thought this soft yellow would work better.  I did add an extra rainbow stripe from fabric I had auditioned for the sashes.  Loading it on the frame seemed easier than putting it away and having to iron it all again later.   Though I started the first row of quilting, I was in more of a piecing mood and sewed up the extra half blocks that the Rainbow Crumbs have been waiting for.  I also put up the Cheddar bowties on the newly liberated wall space from the quilt on the frame.  Still having the house to myself, I started in on some more crumb blocks to finish off the rows.  I'm about done with the black and just started on the brown.  I'm still debating on the white, I guess it will depend on the final measurements. 

I was in the midst of my little crumb explosion when the gang came home with the EXCITING news that they qualified to go to the regional Lego Robotics competition during their tournament today. It was supposed to be just an early practice round but I guess it all went so well that they took second for the day. Most exciting of all, their robot got the top prize for design! Much happy dancing was done along with trophy posing and celebratory woohooing. 

Scraphappy Saturday in Wrap-up Mode

Yesterday was a day off school!!! The kids didn't need much in the way of looking after so I was able to spend a big part of the day in the sewing room. The scraphappy squares are almost done and I will put a photo up as soon as my computer comes home again. The whole gang is off at an all day Lego tournament, leaving me rattling around he house alone. I wonder what I will do? Use the linky below To share you scrappy accomplishments.