ScrapHappy Saturday - Plowing into Purple

Spring is always busy in schools.  Lots of competitions and evening events.  I had two nights at school this week and didn't get much done yet on purple.  Before sewing though, I have some block patterns to post.  Stay tuned!

ScrapHappy Saturday Passionately Purple

And after leap day, we say farewell to red with its passion and fire.  

 

And welcome to purple in all its shades.  

The work week was a busy one with off site meetings and a big evening event.  All went beautifully, but it is nice to downshift for the weekend.  Next week has two evening events and the SAT, so it is sure to be even busier.  Until then, I have a few block tutorials to get posted and some star blocks to prepare.   I hope you have some great purple scraps to dig into as well.  

Happy March

 

Our new color this month will be purple! I can't wait.  Lavender, lilac, periwinkle, plum, violet.  Let the scraps start flying.

ScrapHappy Saturday Red Roundup

This is the last red Saturday! I need to get moving. All my bits and pieces are cut and ready to sew for stars and plusses. I just need some quality quiet time with my machine. How are your reds rounding out this month?

I got some non red sewing done as well.  I thought his collection of green orphans would make a nice quilt back.   I lost steam on those about halfway and wanted to get things up off of the floor.  

Instead, I found some since big chunks of blue to make a back for this crumb quilt and got it ready to load on the frame.  That process led me to realize that I am just very low on yardage for backings and borders.  A quick trip to Connecting Threads fixed that so I should be able to finish some more quilts now.  

Monday was a holiday for the kids, but we had a teacher workday to learn a new learning management system that they want everyone to use next year.  I had a couple of award applications going on which required a lot of writing and editing.  It is always nice when we get nominated for things, but each one seems to come with a lot of essays.  I do feel even more sympathy for my poor seniors with all of their applications and scholarship essays.  Friday was acceptance day for the University of Florida, so there is a lot activity going on with them.  Monday will be huge for making decisions.  Kurt has been up in Virginia all week. He finished most of the deck!  It just needs to be stained and that is more of a project for me.  Not sure when I will be able to get up again though as we have a spring break trip to Jamaica planned.  

 

ScrapHappy Saturday - Red Week 3

3 weeks into red and I have not sewn much yet.  Sampler blocks were ready a while ago.  I have plus blocks cut and ready for leaders and enders.  I found a stack of orphan bullseye and HST blocks to use for something.  I squared up a bunch of random red crumb fabric.   Those will turn into sawtooth stars.  Everything is ready to go though, so the sewing should start this afternoon. 

 It is still sunny and bright right now and the rain is supposed to roll in around noon.  Low tide is 8:04, which means if I get out right now I can have beach with no rain.  Then when it gets stormy, I can be safely inside making some stars and plus blocks.  I hope that you have wonderful weekend plans.  Please share with us all using the linky tool below.

ScrapHappy Saturday - Red Week 2

 

So many red scraps to play with today!  I got plus blocks cut for leaders and enders and so I am ready to roll.  I think there are some crumb chunks ready to use in star blocks and then I will be all set.  There is nothing scheduled for the weekend, so I plan to dig deep and play the day away.  

RSC24 Hen & Chick Block 8 Chubby Plus

 

Start by choosing your block size.  If you don't have strips long enough, feel free to combine several shorter strips.   You will need 4 background squares, 1 red square and background and red strips for the pieced blocks.   

Sew the strips together and press toward the red. 

Sub-cut the strip set into 4 squares.  

The layout puts the background squares in each corner and the solid red square in the center.  The pieced units go on the sides with the red touching the red.   

Sew the units together and press away from the center.   This is a nice simple block.  I like the amount of negative space and could easily start a new quilt with this block today.  That is the danger of sampler quilts. Each one pattern spawn a brand new quilt!

ScrapHappy Saturday Number 4 - First Red Week

It is so much fun to start a new color. Clearing off the design wall and digging into a brand new scrap bin is a fresh start each month.  I am happy with the amount of green that got put to use last month.  I am not sure that I will continue with the crumb blocks each month, but I had a bunch of green crumbs and it is good to get the squared up into blocks that can be used for whatever.   

I have been working ahead on the Hen and Chick blocks, but I don't have all the tutorials ready quite yet.  It looks like I still owe a Chubby plus block pattern for this month.   I love the way that one turned out and am so tempted to start a new block collection of just crosses.  It doesn't look like there are quite as many red scraps waiting to be used, but I am always amazed at how far my scraps can spread.   I hope that you are ready for some red as well.  

 

RSC24 Hen & Chicks Block 7 - Antique Tile

 

Block number 7 has lots of nice simple rectangles and squares.  There is some strip piecing which should make things go more quickly.  This is one that would be super effective for a large quilt, but I think it is also adorable all on its own.  Especially in the tiny size!

First, decide which size block you would like to make.   I think it would be adorable in the 5 inch size, but I did it in 3 and 6.  

You will need a long set of strips in background and light red.  Then find a daker red and make a short strip set with the darker and lighter reds together.  Honestly, the hardest part of this block for me was finding two reds with enough contrast for the patten to show up.  After that it came together quickly.   

Next cut 4 rectangles in dark red and one center square in light red.  How cute would this be with a novelty print or cute floral right there in the center?     

Now sew the two short strips together and the two long strips together.  This is going to sound crazy, but press the long strip set with the seam going away from the red and toward the background.  I tried the seams both ways, and this worked out much better for nestled seams.  

The long strip set will get sub cut into squares the same size as the center square.  Just peek at the cutting chart above to see what that measurement is.  For my 6 inch block it was 2.5 inches.  For the 3 inch block it was a highly adorable 1.5 inch square.  

Then cut the short strip set into the same width as your initial strip width.  That was 1.5 inches for the 6 inch block and 1 inch for the 3 inch.  

To double check, make sure that the red and red strip set is the same width as the dark red rectangle.  Sew one rectangle to each red on red set and press toward the dark red rectangle and away from the pieced subunit.  

Now you should have 9 squares.  1 is the single center square, 4 are red and background, and the last 4 are light red squares with dark red frames.  Make sure all the squares are the same size!

Now it is just a nine patch layout.  Hopefully all of the seams will nestle nicely as they point in opposite directions. Take the time to press as you go on this one to make sure everything is going to lie nice and flat.  

There you go!  How cute is that little guy?  Step back and enjoy your work.  

RSC24 Hen & Chicks Block 6 - Bright Hopes

Usually I like simple blocks that look complicated.  This is a complicated block that looks simple.  Counterintuitive I know, but such a nice way to use up bricks.  Bricks are rectangles that are twice as long as they are tall, minus the seam allowances of half an inch.   The complication comes from needing to sew a partial seam, but that isn't too hard once you get the hang of it.  

You will need 4 rectangles of red and one center square of background.  These should be different with enough visual contrast that you can tell them apart.  If they were all the same, it would be a simple happy square.  

The fun of this block comes from the way the blocks rotate around the center square.   

The key is that your first seam can not go all the way to the end of the center square. Fold the center square down onto the right end of the bottom rectangle and then sew from the end to no more than halfway down the square.  If you look closely at the block above, you can see a seam 

Just in case you can't see ( I used matching thread!) I drew a dark link on this one showing where the sewing line should be.  It should be at least an inch long and should leave enough room at the end for you to do a bit of folding later.  

Then go ahead and press the seams, I went in toward the center square but later wished I had gone the other way.  It didn't matter for the 6 inch block, but it made things dicey on the 3 incher.  

Now the next 3 seams are totally regular.  Just work your way around the circle, counter clockwise sewing a rectangle to each edge formed from the center square and the short end of the preceding rectangle.  Here is rectangle 2.

Then sew on rectangle 3.  

Rectangle 4 is still easy enough, you just need to fold number 1 out of the way.  

Now that you are back where you started, you have to complete the circle.  This is why you left the seam open at the end when you started.  Fold the block so that rectangle 4 and the end of 1 joined to the center come together.   

Sew from the down the side until you get back to where you started, joining back to the partial seam between rectangle 1 and the center square.  

I suggest pressing after every seam, this isn't a good candidate for chain piecing for that reason.  It is a cute though, even if it has some tricky aspects.