Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Alamo Star

This is another cute little star block. Kathy has been working on some really tiny ones lately, and mine seem HUGE by comparison. It is all what you are used to.
This block uses the tri-recs ruler, which is the two part deal that makes the pointy stars from blocks such as 54-40 or Fight.  It is the same shape used in Bonnie Hunter's Smith Mountain Morning as well as her last mystery quilt.  If you don't have the tri-recs ruler, you could draw a paper piecing pattern or even make a template.

    Start with a strip of light yellow fabric that is 2.5 inches wide.  Fold it in half with right sides together.  Use the skinny ruler of the set to cut 4 pairs of triangles.  These will be the "wings" of the star point.  Don't forget the cut out that little notch on the lower right hand side, it will help you later.  While you still have the light yellow strip handy, go ahead and cut 4 squares.

Next, move on the the dark yellow fabric.  Use the bigger ruler of the set to cut 4 triangles.  You will also need 1 square for the center of the star.  This could be a different yellow if you wanted to really mix things up!

Here are the pieces listed all together:
4 pairs (8 individual pieces) of light yellow triangles
4 - 2.5 inch squares of light yellow
4 triangles of dark yellow
1 - 2.5 inch square of dark yellow

Take a right side "wing" piece and place it, right sides together on the dark yellow triangle.  The placement is a bit tricky, so look carefully at the picture.  Notice that the wide part of the light triangle is toward the tip of the dark triangle.  Also notice that the little alignment notch helps you line the triangles up perfectly.  Do this for all four dark yellow triangles.

Finger press the right wing open and place the left wing onto the other side.  Press these with the seams going away from the dark triangle in the middle.  There will be three tiny dog ears on each subunit to trim away.  Again, repeat for each of the 4 subunits.

Now take your completed star points and lay them out into a nine patch grid with the light yellow squares forming the corners and the single dark yellow square in the center.  Sew as you would normally sew a nine patch, pointing the seams away from the pieced star points.

Here is your finished Alamo Star block.  Yet another of the MANY star blocks to enjoy!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Wacky Pinwheel

It is a dark and stormy afternoon.  It feels like the first day of summer vacation.  Two weeks in, I finally have a day without training or workshops of any kind.  I have very much enjoyed the workshops and training, it just hasn't started to feel like vacation until now.  In celebration of the start of summer.  I tidied up the sewing room and pulled out the yellow scraps.
This block was one that I pinned to my Pinterest page.  It links back to AZPatch.com where it was a block of the month in 2002. It was for a different size block though, so I've got some instructions for making it in a 6 inch size.

 I started with 3.5 inch strips from the scrap basket.  You could also use 1.5 inch strips if you have those on hand.  Choose a dark and a light yellow.

 You will need 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips -- 4 dark and 4 light.  You will also need 4 strips that are 1.5 by 2.5 to make the center strip.

 Take 4 dark and 4 light pieces which are 2.5 inches in length str and place them right sides together but perpendicular to one another.  What you are doing is joining the two strips much like you would two pieces of binding.

I saw the cutest post on Monday about joining binding.  It said, imagine the two pieces of binding as the two legs of a pair of mens pants.  When you sew, you will always sew across the waistband of the pants.  Never through the crotch!  When I sewed mine together the first time, they were wrong, and as I unstitched them, I kept thinking about the poor pants with a seam through crotch region.  My stitches weren't showing up very well so I used a washable marker to show you where the stitches go.

 Open up your ends and press flat with the seams going toward the dark.  There will be a triangle behind to trim away.  Measure your strip to make sure it is 3.5 inches to match the others.

 Now take the dark and light rectangles and arrange them on either side of your pieced middle section. Make sure the short side of the dark faces the dark and the short side of the yellow faces the yellow.  This will give your block that distinctive pinwheel point.

 Sew all three pieces together for each of the four sections.

 Next, arrange your four sections as shown in the picture.  Notice that the long dark rectangle rotates around the center pivot point.

Sew the together the subsections as you would for a four patch, making sure to open and rotate the center seam to reduce bulk  

Baby Nines Decisions

 As the Baby Nine Patches start to come together, I wanted to think about what I should to put together as the alternate block.  I was originally thinking about making an Omigosh Quilt.  It's been done though, and so I've started to think about variations on a theme.  So A is a Churn Dash block, B is a Shoofly block and C is a Churn Dash Variation with a nine patch in the middle

Here they are in real life.  What do you think?  Shoofly, Churn Dash or variation?  All votes much appreciated.

Oh, also, the fridge is clean and shiny now.  So much better!  Now can anyone tell me why I have five mustards and three orange juices?  Life if full of mysteries.  

Design Wall Monday June 9, 2014

Happy Monday!  I am so much enjoying summer vacation!  There have not been many days to stay home and enjoy sewing just yet, but today is going to be one of those days!  Up early to lift, came home and trimmed some trees and scrubbed some grout, but now I am ready to settle down and sew the borders on this Broken Dishes Quilt.  These were all bonus squares from flip and sew triangles.  All of them!  It makes me happy to make an entire quilt out of the little bits that most people would just throw out.  So here are two possible greens for the border.  What do you think?  Dark or light?  These are fresh out of the laundry from prewashing, so I'll go get them ironed while pondering the options.  Hope you are enjoying your Monday and taking some time to visit other Design Wall Monday posts at Judy's Blog.  

Miscellaneous Monday

 Everyone is pretty spent after the powerlifting tournament yesterday.  Here is Ryan with his deadlift.  His max was 105 I think, which is 1.5 times his body weight.

 And here is Anna in her squat.  She hit new personal records on all her lifts.  I guess if I was a good sports Mom I would have written it all down.  Never would have predicted that powerlifting would be the next sport in our family.  Even Kurt went with us this morning.

 I'm working two days this week at training to be a trainer.  Today is wide open though.  We lifted first thing this morning.  I haven't been out to run yet.  Jelly legs on squat days -- maybe an evening run tonight?  But check out my grout cleaning!  Here is the side I haven't done yet.

And here is the side I finished already.  I'm going for 80% better rather than for perfection.  Usually I try to clean the grout each summer, but last summer went awry and so I have two years of grime to scrub away.  I'm doing some cupboard reorganization too.  Anna's job is putting away dishes these days and sometimes she gets ---well -- creative.  This morning I found appliances, mixing bowls, baking dishes and Tupperware all in the same cabinet.  Heterogeneous storage scheme?  Maybe it will be a new thing!  

Puttering the Day Away

 I did get a little bit of sewing done today, amongst all the rest.  These are the broken dishes that were finished last weekend.  Finally together forever.  They need a border of some sort.  Fairly wide I think.  Maybe green?  Applique would be nice, but I'd like to get it done sooner rather than later.

 Here are the baby nine patches so far.  There isn't so much contrast in the yellows.  Not sure yet where these are going.  Originally I was thinking of an Omigosh Quilt, like this one.  Or maybe a Birthday Quilt like this one.  But now I am thinking of choosing a different alternate block.  Time will tell.

 Speaking of birthdays, I don't think I ever posted about the big party last weekend.  We had a giant water slide for both Ryan and Sydney.  Anna had a few friends too of course.  Much fun was had by all.

Each of the kids was supposed to choose a summer project.  Anything at all they wanted to do to keep busy this summer.  Mainly it was so that if anyone got bored, I could say, "Hey, why don't you go work on your summer project?".  Ryan is doing some i-pad app programming, Sydney is going to read all of the Sunshine State books, and Anna signed up for a photography class.  Every time I go to take pictures off of the digital card, it is full of all of her "homework".  This was here first assignment.  Something that represents her.  So she used her lacrosse gear.  Honestly, it looks like a baseball in the background there, but who am I to second guess?
Tomorrow is the big power lifting competition....match....round....?  Whatever it is when you go and see who can lift a lot of weights.  Anna and Ryan are both competing.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, maybe even a video or two.  Who would have thought my kids would be into power lifting?  Never would have predicted it.  

ScrapHappy Saturday in Happy, Sunny YELLOW!

I think I must have the nicest blog readers out there!  You guys are always so full of positive happy comments.  Even Vicki Welsh, who supplied the fabric for the monthly giveaways, sent me an e-mail letting me know that the recent winners has sent her thank you messages.  She said nobody ever does that!  Just you guys.  So thanks for supporting one another, and joining in each week to share your creations.  It keeps me working to keep finding new ways to put my scraps to use.  It also gives me so many ideas and projects to try out that I could never finish them all in a lifetime of quilting.  One project at a time though, and I'll just keep enjoying watching all of you create happy scrappy goodness each week.
So on that note, it is a new month, and time for a GIVEAWAY!  Vicki Welsh has graciously supplied a lovely rainbow collection of her beautiful hand-dyed fabric for me to share with you.  Just leave me a comment on this post with a one word gratitude.  Just one word about what you are thankful for on this lovely, sunny Saturday.
My word for today will be TIME. 

Then don't forget to link up with your yellow plans and projects.  I'll be working on turning these little yellow nine patches into slightly bigger yellow nine patches.  After collecting for quite a while now, it is time to move them along to the next stage.  How about you?

 So many things are going on this week and so few of them are sewing related!  It is amazing that I have had so little time to relax with already three days of vacation spent.  Anna wants to see The Fault in Our Stars when it opens on Friday.  I can't see a movie about a book without reading the book, so I've just finished reading it.  So cute.  The kids are so clever and poignant.  Sad, but sweet.  Sydney and Ryan are doing a camp this week, so it will be just the two of us seeing the moving together.  I am sure there will be popcorn involved now that her braces are off.

 I did get just a few little bitty nine patches put together.  The tiny nine patches were really collecting and putting them together seemed like a good plan.

 I've started power lifting with the kids.  We go way too early in the morning and are done by the time the morning session ends at 7.  I'm not sure why they want to get up so early, but it does get the day started.
I'm on day 8 of a new running program.  8 days and 8 runs!  Mostly very short, but the goal is to get out and run everyday.  So far so good.  All my muscles are stiff and tired, but in a good way.  Hopefully I'll build up distance and speed as time passes.

Then there is the working part.  We are spending three half days this week doing homeroom preparation.  We are getting all crafty though and making flags for each homeroom to decorate for the new year.  There is a grand debate about size.  We'll see how big they end up.  After the final prototype is decided upon there will be some mass production sewing and assembly to enjoy.
Not much time spent on blogging and e-mail.  I've got an online course that I'm trying to finish off before the next one starts next week.  Maybe I scheduled too much for one summer?  Time will tell.  

RSC Sampler - Lover's Knot

There seems to be some confusion as to the names of Churn Dash, Monkey Wrench and Lover's Knot.  They seem to be used somewhat interchangeably.  I've already made a Churn Dash/Monkey Wrench with equal divisions in a nine patch arrangement.  This has the same subunits but with an unequal division of the units.  I've seen it called Lover's Knot and so that it the name I will go with.

 Despite the unequal sections, the measurements still worked out fairly well.  I used a dark and light yellow for this one.
Use light and dark strips cut to three inches for the HST units.  Place them right sides together and cut 4 triangles.  Using the light fabric, cut 4 rectangles that are 1.5 by 2 inches and one square that is 1.5 inches.  Finally, cut 5 squares that are 1.5 inches.

 Sew the HST units together, trim the dog ears and press toward the dark fabric.  In the same sitting, go ahead and sew a dark square to on end of each light rectangle.  Again, press toward the dark.

 Here is the block layout.  It is a nine patch grid, but I sewed it in separate sections in order to get the pressing right.

 First sew the three rows.  Press away from the HST units.  I always try to press away from the angled seams when I can to help get the points to lay better.  Press the middle section toward the dark colored center.

 Next sew the three rows together.  Here is a view of the back so you can get a feel for the pressing.  Again, the seams go away from the HST units.

And here is the finished block.  Whatever you would like to call it is fine,  as long as you can call it done.  

Bonus Triangles Quilt

 All of the blocks for this quilt were bonus blocks harvested from the flip and sew triangles of Mom's Sister's Choice quilt.  They have been hanging around for 4 years waiting to make them into a quilt.  With an awkward 1.75 inch unfinished size, they needed to go with one another rather than other blocks.

Today is a lazy Sunday and putting blocks together seemed like an ideal plan.  Lizzie is feeling lazy with me.  I think I'll get these blocks layered together for webbing and then have a little break.