RSC 15: The Joy of Sashing

I'm working on one of last year's Rainbow Scrap projects this month - trying to get my 2014 Rainbow Scrap Sampler blocks assembled.

 

I've barely made a dent in the assembly process!  I have 90 RSC sampler blocks, which will be assembled in rows of 9 x 10.  The sashing is 2" strips, which will finish at 1.5".  I can already see I don't have enough of the current white on white sashing fabric, so I'll be mixing in a similar white on white.  It's a scrappy quilt, so who says the sashing has to "match"?!

It has been fun re-visiting last year's RSC Sampler blocks - there was plenty of color and piecing challenge!  The Rainbow Scrappers continue to have fun and the results can be see at today's link-up.

Some Veggie Leftovers

A few weeks ago, I finished one of the quilts on my "Finish It" list for 2015 - a snowball quilt featuring some wonderful woodblock prints made with vegetable-based dyes.  As I petted the new quilt and started to put away the leftover fabric, I was somewhat dismayed with the amount of leftovers!  In fact, those leftovers haunted me for several days and inspired lots of thoughts on how to best utilize the remaining fabric. 

 

In particular, a bag of bonus HSTs kept calling out to me, and eventually they formed themselves into the center of this mini quilt (26" x 26").  Those HSTs are only 1.25" finished - that's a lot of seams!

 

The leftovers included some stripes, which were just calling out to be a mitered border.  I didn't have enough black or blue for an entire border, so I used them together.  I hadn't done a mitered border in years, but I enjoyed it and plan on making more mitered borders in the future!

 

The leftover HSTs still aren't all gone, so I've been using them as leader-enders and making pinwheels.  I'm going to randomly float them on the back of the quilt.  

I really hadn't planned on starting a new quilt just now, but sometimes you have to go where inspiration takes you!  I feel very satisfied to have used up at least some of those veggie leftovers and look forward to another project with the bigger chunks of fabric.

 

RSC 15: Mid-Year Evaluation

We're already at the half-way point of the year - how did that happen? The monthly RSC colors and blocks have been flying by, but progress on last year's RSC quilts has stalled.

The June RSC color is light blue.  I checked my current stacks of RSC blocks and decided the color blue is well represented, so I'm going to focus on some of last year's projects. 

 

Last year's Carpenter's Wheel quilt top has been waiting patiently to be quilted.  I tidied up the loose threads on the back and prepped the backing this week.  It's now in the hands of my local long-arm quilter and I'm looking forward to seeing her creative input!

 

Next up - last year's Rainbow Scrap Sampler.  I was able to arrange the blocks on the design wall last year, but didn't have time to piece them before I needed the design wall space for another project.  I took them down in order and made notes to remind myself of the piecing plan.  I'll be using white sashing between all the blocks; everything is ready to go - I just need to get started!

 

I was hoping to start last night, but I wound up puppy-sitting for my oldest son's new buddy.  This is Moose - named in honor of one of his favorite baseball players.  He's a rescue pup, about 8 months old and not well-house-trained yet.  I really had to keep an eye on him last night, which was not conducive to sewing.  Oh well, he and I bonded - which is probably a good thing because I'm sure I'll be doing more puppy-sitting in the future!

I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers over at Angela's SoScrappy blog today.  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to at this mid-year point!