Design Wall Monday November 9, 2015

As the end of the year starts for feel real, I am taking stock and trying to figure out what will be done this year, and what will not.  I can't help but to think about new projects for the new year, but first some of these ongoing quilts had better see their last stitches.  

 The Giant Postage Stamp blocks are loaded on the quilting frame and sure to be done sooner rather than later.

 These orange peel blocks are well within reach.  I have plenty of blocks prepped and ready to applique.

The Sawtooth Star Sampler is oh so close!  I have teardrops ready to applique down.  That shouldn't take too long.  

I'm not sure how many of the postage stamp star blocks I have.  I should figure that out I suppose.  The Farmer's Wife blocks are just getting started, so those are sure to carry over.  Yikes!  That is a lot of irons in the fire. 

Sawtooth Border Preparation

After much consideration as to what to do with the borders, I finally decided on applique teardrops to extend the cross blocks from the center.  Making more four patches would have been ideal, but without background fabric, that just wasn't going to work.  So I found a teardrop shape on google images and printed out several sizes and shapes to see what would work.  After finding one with the right proportions, I cut out freezer paper templates and ironed them onto the right sides of the fabric.  

 Here are my 24 rough cut teardrops ready for a bit of prep work.

 They will look something like this when I get them sewn down.  Now the best part, I get to settle down and spend a little time with needle and thread doing slow stitching.  What a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  To see what other slow sunday stitching is going on in blogland, head over to Kathy's Quilts.  

Quilting

I got the giant postage stamp quilt all loaded onto the frame yesterday, but then the kids wanted to go to the fair.  Not the quaint country fair with jam and quilts, but the seedy carnival kind with funnel cakes and scary rides.

So first thing this morning I got up and started the quilting.  The backing is a soft greenish yellow, so I am using a maize colored thread in the bobbin and white in the top.  I am trying to do something fancy in the large white sashing strips.  I'm not good with fancy, but it is fun to try.  First though, the girls want to go shopping.  Apparently they don't have any winter clothes at all.  It was 85 most of last week, but they want long pants.  We will travel north to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, so having something other than shorts and t-shirts might be a good plan.  Hopefully they will shop quickly so that I can come home and quilt some more.  I think there is LAX this afternoon, but not much else going on today.  

Then This Happened

I was on my way to finishing the borders for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sawtooth Star Sampler Quilt 2015.  I loved all the suggestions to extend the cross blocks out into the border.  After getting out all the leftover fabric and starting to lay them out, I realized that I was out of background fabric.  How did that happen?  I tried the grey, but it was really too dark.  There was, however, a fairly big chunk of slightly darker dotted background batik fabric.   I am considering some teardrop applique to extend the pattern, but first, I need another piece of background fabric.  So close!  Fortunately, most of my fabric comes from Connecting Threads and they still had more of the same fabric.  It was even on sale!  So three more yards are on the way along with enough other fabric to get to the free shipping with a $50 order.  Why three yards when I only need a piece 4 inches by 30 inches?  You just never know when extra background fabric will come in handy.

There is fortunately, plenty of fabric for the backing.  I can get that pieced together and be ready to go when the last of the border fabric shows up.  

November Block 2 - Swamp Angel Star

Swamp Angel Star is a pretty block with a very strange name.  It is a minor variation of the Ohio Star block from earlier this month, so it should go together pretty quickly.  The corners are replaced with HST units, which gives it a nice dimensional look.

You will need 1.5 inch strips in green, green and background along with 2.5 inch strips in background and green.    

Place the 2.5 inch strips right sides together and use the easy angle ruler to cut 4 HST pairs.

Next, layer up the 1.5 inch strips and cut them with the easy angle ruler.  You will need 4 of background, 4 of brighter green and 8 of the other green.

Finally, cut a 2.5 inch square of green fabric.  Here are all of your pieces ready to go.  Go ahead and Sew the HST units together.

 

Next, start sewing the QST units, first into pairs and then into squares.  

Here are your finished subunits ready to go.

Sew them into a nine patch to make your finished star block.

Insert the block into your star points and you will be all set.  Tada!  Here is your last sampler for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler of 2015!

ScrapHappy Saturday - Lime in the Coconut

I am in a mode for finishing as the holidays start to approach and the end of the year nears.  These OMG Churn Dash blocks might just be next on the list.  I have a note that says I will need 20 "X" blocks and 40 "O" blocks.  So I'm almost done with green nine patches, but I'd better get busy on the alternates.
To celebrate the new month, I have just finished the last drawing for the fabric giveaway for 2015.  Thanks to random.org, Karen at K's Quilting Korner is the the winner of a packet of hand dyed  fabric in lime green made especially for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge by Vicki Welsh.
Vicki and and I have been busy planning out the colors for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It may seem early to be thinking about next year, but planning a new quilt is the best reward for finishing.  Hopefully some of your RSC15 quilts are ready to come together and you have started to ponder plans for RSC16.
You might notice a new button in the right hand margin, you can click on it or follow this link to find out more about what we have cooked up for next year.

Here is the Sampler quilt I made last year with Vicki's hand dyed fabric for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It still needs a border, backing and binding, but plans for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Quilt are already underway.  In fact, firming up plans for next year's challenge quilt might be just the motivation necessary to start getting this quilt finished up.
Misterlinky is below so that you can share all of your lime green and finishing posts.  Have a scraphappy Saturday!

9 Carat Diamonds Shining Proudly

Some quilts almost make themselves.  Not the sewing part of course, but at least the deciding part.

 I had some extra nine patches leftover from another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.

I saw an inspiration quilt, but the colors were all wrong, and of course, there was not a tutorial.  I'm not sure of the original block size, but I had 2 inch squares sewing into nine patches.  Those were framed out with 1.5 inch strips.  2.5 inch squares seemed to work for the flip and sew corners.  It didn't take much math before, the pattern was ready to go.  Given the rainbow assortment of blocks, neutrals seemed like the best way to go, so into the stash I went for extra bits of grey, red and black.  Before long, rainbow rows of color started to come together, one each month as the year moved along.

No borders made the finishing fast.  Extra yardage in red and black were framed out for the back.  Simple swirly pattern in grey thread for quilting gave texture without taking away from the colors.

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.  

November Color Announcement

The color for November is light or bright green.  Green is second only to blue as far as volume for many of us, and it deserves another chance to come out and play.  I couldn't wait and announced the color yesterday, so go to this post to enter the drawing for the fabric giveaway of hand dyed fabric for this month.  

November Block 1 - Ohio Star

Ohio Star is a classic quilt block.  It can be done in two or three shades of green to celebrate this month of bright and light greens.

 You will need 1.5 inch strips in two shades of light green along with one background strip of the same size.  In addition, you will need 2.5 inch strips of another green along with background

 The companion angle ruler is usually used to make flying geese, but it can also be used to make the quarter square triangles used for this block.  The directionality of these blocks doesn't matter, so layer up as many strips as you feel comforatable cutting at the same time. You will need four QST units in background, four in the lighter green and eight in the darker green.

 In addition to the QST units, you will need 2.5 inch squares, one in green and four in background.

Pair the QST units together to make half square triangle units.  Make 4 in green with green and four in green and background.  The directionality does matter, so make sure they all go through the same way.

 Sew the HST units together in pairs to make 4 blocks which look like the one shown above.

 These blocks will be centered on each side of a nine patch.  Background fabric will fill in the four corners while the center square is the 2.5 inch square of green.

Sew your nine patch together to make your Ohio Star block.  

After adding the star points, you will be all ready to go.  There is only one more block to go until you are ready to sew your sampler quilt together.