ScrapHappy Saturday - Lovin those Baby Blues

 These giant postage stamps have been hanging out since August.  The last block will be light blue.

 The leftovers are waiting to go into this chevron design.

These 1.5 inch strip sets are ready to go, they just need some ironing and a little bit more combining.
Kurt's parents and sister are coming to visit on the way home from a cruise, so the sewing room needs to be changed into the guest bedroom.  First though, I think I can find a little bit of time to finish up just a few blocks.
What are your scrappy scraphappy plans for the day?  Use misterlinky below to share your progress on blue or on the finishing of your rainbow scrap challenge projects for the year.  It is halfway through November already and I'm looking forward to lots of great finishes in the next few weeks.
First though, I was finally able to draw the winner of the hand dyed fabrics by Vicki Welsh for November.  Vicki just finished up a rainbow scrap challenge quilt top this week.  The fabric winner is Barbara at Cat Patches.  She is planning to finish off a Christmas tree wall hanging/table runner before the end of the year.  She has been quilting like crazy in the icy Oregon winter.  It is hard to imagine that snow and ice have already blanketed large portions of the country.  Looks like another cold winter, its a good thing we all have plenty of quilts to keep us warm.

Trial and Error

I saw a free pattern here, and thought it might work well for next year's RSC project.  The pattern was for a 16.5 inch block though, which is not exactly a scrap friendly size.

I thought I'd downsize it to a 12 inch size.  Obviously it isn't quite right yet.  I used a square in a square calculator that I found here.  I cut the inner squares to 2 7/8 inches, and then used the easy angle for the outer squares.  Somehow, instead of a 4.5 inch unfinished, it was 4 inches unfinished.  I also should have squared it up, and the corners seem to be bigger than the edges.

The girls both thought that the outer corners should match the inner corners, but I thought it might look nice with only the inner corners matching each other.  I'll keep playing with it, I think, but not tonight.  I have a stack of tests to finish grading and my students would be thankful if the grades got posted tonight.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Pastel Side of Blue

I'm probably still at my science teacher convention, so I'm scheduling this ahead of time.  I'll check in as soon as I get back again though, and look forward to seeing lots of great final bits and blocks coming together.  I'll choose the fabric winner as well, so make sure you got your comments entered on last weeks linky party.

Happy Humpday

I'm off to a science teacher convention for the next few days, so today was my Friday.  I was busy packing when Anna came home with a bag of scraps from my neighbor Sheila. Fresh scraps!  What could be more fun?  I wasn't planning on taking any sewing, but I might change my mind.  Somewhere I have a bunch of handwork that would be nice to have "just in case"  

We are having robotics right now, and then I'm off for drinks with a girlfriend who I haven't seen in too long.  She is a first year teacher and has found that there isn't time for much more than sleeping and working.  So glad she is finally able to take a break from her grading for a few hours!  

RSC Sampler - Zig Zag

I know it is the blue month, but I laid out all my RSC sampler blocks and decided that I needed one more in orange.  So here is a Zig Zag block in orange.  Feel free to make yours in whatever color your quilt needs.

 This block uses just 2 inch strips, so it goes together pretty quickly.  I chose a dark orange print and a  lighter solid orange background.

From the print, cut 4 rectangles that are 2 by 3.5 inches.
From the solid orange, cut 4 - 2 inch squares.
Next layer the 2 inch strips right sides together and cut 4 HST units.

 Sew the HST blocks together, trim the dog ears and press.  Next sew each HST unit to a solid square along the edge with the print fabric.

 Press toward the solid orange and pair this two patch with the print rectangle.

 Sew these together as shown to make 3.5 inch squares.

These should be arranged just like a pinwheel block and sewn together to make a 6.5 inch unfinished square.  

RSC Challenge Sampler - Quarter Log Cabin

There are so many variation on the Log Cabin quilt block.  This one is a quarter log.  You could make a block of course, and cut it into four sections, but when you only need one, this is the way to go.

Start with a 1.5 inch square for the first round.
Round 2 needs a 1.5 inch square and a rectangle 1.5 by 2.5
Round 3 needs a rectangle 1.5 by 2.5 inches and one that is 1.5 by 3.5
Round 4 needs a rectangle that is 1.5 by 3.5 inches and one that is 1.5 by 4.5
Round 5 needs a rectangle that is 1.5 by 4.5 inches and one that is 1.5 by 5.5 inches
Round 6 needs a rectangle that is 1.5 by 5.5 inches and one that is 1.5 by 6.5 inches

Start with the two 1.5 inch squares.  press away from the corner square and then add the 2.5 inch long piece.

You will continue working in rounds by adding the short piece to the side with a seam and the long piece to the adjacent side.

Here is round 3

Working on round 4

Ready for round 5.  Keep going until all the pieces are sewn together

Here is your finished block.  I alternated solids and prints for each round and tried to go from light to dark.  Go crazy and have fun with your scraps!

RSC Sampler Sashing Progress

I worked most of the morning on sashings for the RSC Sampler Quilt.  All of the rows are now sewn together.  I just need to do some measuring and figure out how to trim out the horizontal strips and add borders.  I'll do a complete tutorial when it is all done, but for now, each section between the blocks is made of one rectangle of light grey and one of dark grey.  Each rectangle is 3 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall.  Those get sewn together longways to make a strip that is 3 inches wide by 6.5 inches tall.  The key to the floating blocks effect is that the rows alternate.  The top row has all the white sections facing down and the second row has all the while sections facing up.  Then a white horizontal strip visually joins the two sections making it seem that the blocks are floating in between two rows.  That is the hope anyway.  Now to find a long tape measure and cut the strips.  We are just now back from Lacrosse and pizza is on order.  Must grade essays tonight, so maybe the quilt will wait until the next free evening pops up.  

RSC Sampler - Double X

This one is a nice simple block to do on a 5 by 5 grid.  Unfortunately, that doesn't translate quite so well into a 6 inch block, so a couple of the measurements are a bit strange, but it goes together really easily after that.

 This block is made of four squares with flip and sew corners combined with a rectangle and some squares forming a cross in the center.
Blue #1, cut 4 - 3 inch squares
Blue #2, cut 1 rectangle -1.5 by 3.5 inches
Blue #2, cut 2 squares -1.5 inches each
Background, cut 4 rectangles 1.5 by 1.75 inches
Background, cut 8 squares -1.75 inches each
(technically the math works out for these to be 1.7 inches, but I can't distinguish .05 inches, so I just rounded up.  If you blocks are just a smidgen too big, you can trim a tiny bit off of the edges of the finished block)

 Place a background square on opposite corners of each 3 inch square.  Draw a line corner to corner and sew on the drawn line to make "sew and flip" corners.

 Press the corner squares open and check to make sure the edges are even before trimming the extra fabric from behind.

 Next, sew background rectangles to each 1.5 inch square as well as each end of the center rectangle.  Press away from the background fabric.

 Sew the short pieced strips between each of the squares.  Check the placement of the flip and sew corners to make sure they are all pointing toward the middle cross.  Press the seams toward the center of the block and away from the angled seams.

Finally, sew the long center strip between the two pieced halves to make the finished block.  it should be 6.5 inches unfinished.  

Marly changed up the measurements to make the edges of the plus meet up with the edges of the x.  Check out her post for revised measurements if you would like the points to match. 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Baby Blues

I know that blue has already been a color.  We even did a month for blue/greens.  But my blue drawer is STILL overflowing.  So this month we are going to work on whittling down the lighter shades.  Having some light and brights will add sparkle and contrast to the finished quilt.
Because it is the first Saturday of a new month, we will also have a drawing for a lovely bundle of hand-dyed fabric made specially by Vicki Welsh.  To enter the drawing, just leave the name of the one quilt you plan to finish between now and the end of the year.  I will announce the winner next Saturday.

RSC Sampler- Twinkle Star

This one is on a nine patch grid, meaning each unfinished subunit will be 2.5 inches.

You will need 2.5 inch strips of blue and background along with a 1.5 inch strip of contrasting fabric.  I chose  green to help with the transition from blue to green in the finished quilt.

Start with a 2.5 inch strip of blue fabric and use the wide part of the the tri-recs ruler to cut 4 star points.   

The background of the star points will come from the smaller part of the tri-recs ruler.  These will make the "wings".  With the fabric place wrong sides together, cut 4 pairs of wings.

Here are the pieces you will need to cut:
4  - 2.5 inch squares of background fabric.
1 - 2.5 inch square of blue
8 - 1.5 inch squares of green
Using the tri-recs
4 blue star points
8 background wing pieces (4 right, 4 left)

Sew one wing onto each side of the four star point units.  Trim the dog ears and press.  You will need 4 of these star point units.

Next start working on the small green points.  Place a 1.5 inch square in the lower corner of the star point and draw a line from corner to corner.  Sew on the drawn line.

Open up this flip and sew triangle and repeat on the other corner.

The four star points will be in the middle of each side with the blue square in the middle of the block and the background fabric filling in each corner.

Sew together as a nine patch and press.  The finished block will be 6.5 inches.