Spools & Binding & Scrap Jar Stars

I'm sure by now most of you are sick of hearing me talk about The Bind-A-Thon.  I'm kind of sick of it, too, but I persevere!  The T-Shirt quilt is almost finished - one long side to complete - and then I can start binding the next quilt in the pile. 

 

I did take a little break from binding this week to make some Spool blocks.  I pulled strips from my 1 1/2" strip bin and got the components cut early in the week.

 

It didn't take much time at all to stitch up the blocks using speed piecing.

 

Now I have an even 300 blocks for my RSC Spoolin' Around quilt top.  I don't know when I'll actually get around to piecing all the blocks together, but they're ready and waiting. 

 

I actually finished this Bind-A-Thon entry a week or so ago, but didn't have an opportunity for photography until today.  

 I started making the 16-patch blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt sometime in 2014.  The 16-patches morphed into Scrap Jar Star blocks, and the entire quilt was finally finished this year.   

I really enjoyed this pattern - what a fun way to use up lots of scrappy parts and pieces!  My only regret was that I ran out of the background fabric (I was working from my stash) and didn't have enough to add a final, outer border.  It would've stabilized the edges of the quilt and added a little extra width & length.  

 

As usual, my LAQ Cindy Braiwick, did a fantastic job with the quilting!  I suggested something with circles, and this is what she came up with.  The heart-shaped flowers line up with the 16-patch blocks and the circles fall into line in the sashing and cornerstones.

 

It's difficult to see the binding, but the fabric looks like it has water droplets on it.  I've washed and dried it so it's nice and soft, but even with color catchers, I see a little bit of red bled through from one of the red scraps on the front.  This is going to my mom - she has several quilts I've made for her, but all of them are hanging on the wall.  I wanted to give her something she could wrap up in and think of me! 

I'm writing this on Friday, anticipating lots of activity tomorrow - the RSC link-up AND Christmas Eve!  Wishing everyone happiness and plenty of time with family and friends as we all enjoy this special time of year!

 

 

Orange You Glad You Quilt?

Lots of prep work done this week!  I am often reluctant to cut fabric in the evenings after work - I'm tired and afraid I'll make mistakes.  But this week I pushed myself to cut anyway, as most of my prep work involved lots of simple, repetitive cutting.

I now have a stack of thirty-six orange squares waiting for their accompanying thirty-six white squares. Once the cutting is done, the block assembly will go quickly as everything can be chain pieced.  

I also prepped a good-size batch of leader-ender spools - as in Bonnie Hunter's Spoolin' Around challenge.  I used up a bunch of 1 1/2 inch orange scrap strips with this prep work!  I have a huge box full of pre-cut 1 1/2 inch strips in all colors and I also dug through those and pulled strips of the right length for the spool blocks.  This leader-ender project could generate a huge number of blocks from my scraps - good thing they're only 3 inch blocks!

I also did some Granny Square blocks in orange.  

I've been making Granny Square blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  These may be my last Granny Square blocks, even though there are still 3 months left in the challenge.  I don't really enjoy making these blocks and I'm happy with the block colors I've completed so far.  If I start assembling a quilt from the blocks I already have, I might be able to gift it to the recipient by the end of the year.  I have been planning to give the finished quilt to my niece, who just announced she and her hubby are expecting their first child in March.  This quilt is for her though, and I'll come up with something else for the little one! 

Time to stop computering and go do some quilting.  I hope everyone has an opportunity to play with fabric and do some sewing today!  When you're taking a break, do go check out what the rest of the Rainbow Scrap quilters are up to!