Quilters Meet and Greet

Welcome to the quilters meet and greet.

Hi, I'm Angela and I am a scrap quilter.  I've been a scrap quilter for as long as I can remember.  Almost every quilt that I make is scrappy.  I'm not sure where all the scraps come from as I never seem to make non scrappy quilts. I keep working to use up all my scraps, and while I use them all up, I just seem to keep making more.  

Trying to be more systematic about using up scraps, I decided to start the Rainbow Scrap Challenge several years ago.  By choosing one color each month on which to focus, the goal was to encourage more people to use more scraps.  

 I usually have several quilts going at any one time.  I love to work with simple units which can be reused in different ways.  These 9 patches were made each month for several years of the RSC.  One year I set them on point with framed black and white corners.

 On another year I framed the same blocks and alternated them with stars.  Mai Tai Sunrise was the result.

For the past several years, I have also designed blocks for a monthly quilt along.  This one is my favorite so far.  Different 6 inch blocks serve as the center for Sawtooth stars with alternating chain blocks.  

 I really enjoy this one too.  It is just random 6 inch blocks, but it was lots of fun working to come up with new blocks and tutorials each month.

A special thanks to Benita for hosting this quilter's meet and greet.  Be sure to visit her blog for more details.

Upkeep on Sunday

Hurray for three day weekends!   It is already Sunday and I would usually be worried already about catching up on school work.  Instead I spent the morning sewing this quilt top together.  The postage stamp stars were put together over time as part of the rainbow scrap challenge.  I have several quilts worth.  I think a nice wide border will finish this off and then some loop de loops for quilting. 
I'm blocked out of the sewing room for a bit as Kurt is trying to fix a window.  It is supposed to move up and down on some sort of spring, and one day when I went to open it up, the spring just popped right out.  He has his engineers problem solving face on right now as he is researching window repair options. 
While I wait for that to get all fixed up, I think that I will work on some maintenance of my own.  My poor blog has been sadly neglected lately as the school year has steam rolled right over me.  Just when you think all the balls are flying along in the air, one of them will drop and demand attention again.  Somehow I haven't been getting any e-mail notifications on comments, and the tabs are all out of date. 
That will leave tomorrow open for school work.  We had quite a time with textbooks last year due to funding cuts and my AP Biology class did not make the list.  We made due with cast offs from dual enrollment as they get new books whenever they are available.  So this summer I switched everything over and made support materials to go with the "new to us" books.  Then last week I got notice that funding had become available and we will get new books after all.  So now I'm back to the drawing board and need to shift again to get everything correlated with the newer books that should come in soon.  Good news of course to be getting new books, just a bit more work to make it all line up.  Hopefully a nice long holiday Monday will let me make a big dent.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

It is a new month, which means that it is time to put away your oranges and get out your dark blues and/or dark neutrals.  It also means that there is a new block for squared away.  Just one more block to go.
Here is a link to the tutorial from Mari
Here is a link to the PDF file for the September block

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

ScrapHappy Saturday

I keep trying to remember to schedule the Saturday post to go off before I leave on my morning run.  As the runs get longer, the posts seem to keep getting later.  So sorry about that.  Just back now from a quick 6 miles.  After a nice long shower I'll look forward to seeing what scrap happiness everyone is up to. 


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

One Gone

 I have a quilt top which was getting sewing together.  I'm not sure how long its been sitting there like that.  Several weeks probably.  Things are just a bit busy right now.

 Yesterday we drove Anna over to Sarasota and got her settled into her dorm room.  She loves her new quilt

She and her new room mates get along great.  They met at admitted students day and have been keeping in touch since then.  Important questions like who is bringing a fridge and who has a microwave.  Kurt and I made a quick trip out to pick up important last minute things like a shower curtain and expo markers.  We also helped carry and unpack of course.  After that parents were sent off to informational sessions while the kids all did games and activities.  We told that they are emerging adults and we shouldn't call them kids, but we seem to keep saying it anyway.

Once the girls were all settled in, we went out to dinner as a big group.  Parents at one end of the table and the girls down at the other.  Both of Anna's room mates brought siblings along to help with the move in, so it was quite a group. 

The drive home was quiet, and the van felt really empty with all of Anna's things gone.  I'm going to jump back into sewing my quilt top together today.  Best to be busy I think. 

ScrapHappy Saturday -- Off to College

We are headed to Sarasota first thing in the morning to take Anna to New College.  The car is loaded and ready to go.  We had a family dinner and game night for one last time before we drop her off.
I'm scheduling this to go off first thing in the morning.  I'll check back in when we return.  Hope that orange is going well.  We had the first day of school and open house already, so school is already in full swing for everyone else.  Orange is a nice thought right now, hopefully I'll find some time and inspiration when we get back from the trip.  Until then, enjoy your scraps!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Orange Jubilee

Sorry to be off to a late start today.  I forgot to post before my morning run and then ran some errands on the way home.  Yesterday was the first day of school!  Anna is still here, even though she isn't going to school until next week.  We will drive her to college next Saturday.  It was really odd to start on a Friday, I'm sure we will have forgotten everything by the time we are back to school on Monday.  Too early to worry about that now though, first there is lots of orange energy to enjoy.  Please share your rainbow scrap progress below.

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Orange you Glad its Fall?

Just one more month until the squared away blocks are done!

 Here are mine in orange in brown.  It was nice to have a bit of brown for contrast.  Mari has a tutorial up, and I will insert links here, and on the RSC18 Sampler tab above as soon as it is converted into a PDF.  Here it is: Link to PDF of Squared Away August block.   With just one more block to go, I'm getting pretty excited to start seeing finished quilts soon. 
Right now, I'm off to school for a bit for unfettered access to the photocopy machine.  I'll check back in later and see what everyone is up to. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

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.  

Odds and Ends

School starts for teachers the day after tomorrow.  I am soaking up each and every last minute of vacation and using it to cross all the odds and ends off the list.  Productive things like detailing the mini van and polishing the hard wood floors.  Also fun things like finishing quilts and whipping up small sewing projects.

 I ordered some slipcovers for our tired and torn kitchen chairs.  They came with nifty zipper cases.  I hated to throw them out, but I'm on a roll right now with clearing out.  Instead I harvested the zippers and used them to make four little zipper cases for silverware or pencils.  There never seem to be any forks in the teacher workroom, so I'm going to put one of these in my mailbox and stash one in my desk for lunches.  Anna has one for college too, as she is supposed to provide her own silverware for the cafeteria.  They are very environmentally aware at her school and don't like disposable silverware. 

I added one more row to the framed four patches.  

Then cobbled together the back out of leftover four patches.  I might like it a bit more than the front honestly.  

 

More four squared blocks were next out of the bin of bagged WIPs.  I used extra fabric from the back of the framed four patches to create the alternate blocks and then webbed the top together yesterday afternoon while binge watching an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in the background.   

There is enough of this brown fabric for a border and matching backing.  

That frenzy let me cross the first three projects off my list.  I think that the next two might be doable as well, after that it looks like more effort might be required.  We'll have to see how far I get.