October's Five (tiny) Tuesdays

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge for October was to use up dark scraps like browns, blacks, and grays.  I found lots of great scraps to use for Tiny Tuesday blocks - and there were FIVE Tuesdays in October!

Tiny Tuesday block one:  Walking in the Dark 

I had some scraps from the black and gold quilt I'm making for my son Andrew, so I put them to good use!

Week two:  Geese Circle

I used some scraps from a recent Halloween quilt for the second Tiny Tuesday block.  The center square is supposed to be light gray, but there was a perfect skull begging for fussy cutting, so that became the center instead.

Week three:  Jacob's Ladder

This is the base pattern for my son's quilt, so just for fun I made a Tiny Tuesday version.  The pepper fabric has been in my stash for years, and I enjoy using the scraps as often as possible.

Week three:  I Love Chocolate!

I forget the name of this block, but I used some scraps of chocolate bar fabric.  The block was kind of boring with a blank center, so I cut out a chocolate-dipped strawberry and appliquéd it.

Week five:  Cornerstones

Happy Halloween!  These scraps were from a baby quilt I made for my niece, who was born in October.  That "baby" just turned 16 and got her driver's license!

My other Rainbow Scrap projects are on hold for the time being.  I need to focus on getting the black and gold quilt finished so I can give it to my son as soon as possible.  Once that is finished, there are RSC projects calling out to be completed!

Linking up with other scrap lovers at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up.

A Few More Purple Scraps

September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was purple.  After finishing my planned purple scrap blocks, I didn't have a lot of scraps to stitch up blocks for the Parts Department.  Usually, having a month-long focus on a color pushes me to pull bits and pieces from the fabric stash and slice them up into useful sized strips and squares for the scrap bins.  That didn't happen with purple, because I got focused on some other projects.

I did have some two inch squares and strips to turn into 4-patch blocks and Carolina Chain blocks.

I also kept up with making Tiny Tuesday blocks, although I veered off course for two of my blocks.   The top left block is Crow's Foot and the top right block is London Roads - both from Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks.  

The bottom two blocks were provided via Angela's Tiny Tuesday blocks:  Card Trick and Bright Hopes.  

The theme for October scraps is to use dark fabrics like black and brown.  That fits in nicely with one of my non-RSC projects: a black and gold Endless Chain quilt.

My oldest son recently moved to Denver, Colorado.  He requested a black and gold quilt to remind him of home (black and gold being the colors of the New Orleans Saints football team).  This will be a planned scrappy quilt, so I spent some time experimenting with different fabric combinations to see what would work.  I knew my son would not be a huge fan of metallic fabrics, so I stuck with several variations of gold-colored fabric instead.  It reads more like brown in the photograph, but it looks more gold in person.  Instead of cotton batting, I'm planning to use wool - I figure he'll need the warmth!

For more inspiration on using black and brown scraps, be sure to visit the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link up.

Dog Days of Summer, Chapter 2019

The Dog Days of Summer usually end in late August, but my dog days continue a little longer.

These four fur-children are my summer companions.  The black lab mix and light yellow lab mix (foreground) are my dogs, Bailey and McKenzie.  The dog with black spots is my son Andrew's dog, Moose.  The darker yellow lab is my son David's dog, Jozy.  Moose and Andrew have been living with us for the past two years while Andrew went back to school.  Jozy visits for about six weeks every summer while David is in California for work.  I call my house Doggy Day Care!

Tomorrow I get to drive to Natchitoches, Louisiana to meet up with David and hand over his dog.  Natchitoches (pronounced "Nack-a-tish") is about half-way between New Orleans and Dallas, where David and Jozy usually live.

In another week, Andrew will be taking off for Denver, Colorado and a new career since graduating from school (second time's the charm).  The plan is to leave Moose with us for a little while until he gets settled.  Then I guess another dog-delivery trip will be in order!

In spite of all the four-legged assistants, I did manage to do some Rainbow Scrap Challenge stitching this month.

For example, some Tiny Tuesday blocks with light blue or bright blue scraps.

Random 4-patch blocks that go to the Parts Department.

These Carolina Chain blocks look a bit chaotic, but they should be fine when all the scrappy colors are done and put together.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week.  Thinking of friends and family in Florida as Hurricane Dorian churns offshore, waiting for the forces of Mother Nature to figure out where the storm will land.

Quilt Block Fun on the Tiny, Scrappy Side

I'm still playing along with the Tiny Tuesday weekly quilt blocks - also known as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler 2019.  

I kinda wandered off on my own again this month, making some blocks that weren't part of the "official" challenge.  I've been inspired by Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks.

I have found this to be a great resource for quilt blocks, with clear instructions for cutting and piecing the blocks.  Best of all, each block has multiple size options, so you don't have to do a bunch of math to get the block size you need!

The book has inspired me to attempt several of the 4.5 inch size blocks to see if I can:  1. accurately piece the block, and 2. successfully make the block using scraps.  My fingers still struggle with some of the fiddly bits, but I'm getting better at working at these TT blocks.

The first Tiny Tuesday block this month was the Block with No Name from Cynthia Brunz.  I was inspired by Cynthia's use of stripes for the center strips - I knew I had the perfect blue striped fabric in my scrap bins.

The following week, I decided to try the Great Blue Heron block from Judy Hopkins' book.  There is a great blue heron who is a regular visitor at our camp, so this is in honor of him.

The third week of June happened to include the Summer Solstice, which is marked by another Judy Hopkins block:  Summer Wind.

Since this is the last week for blue scraps, I wanted to try something red, white, and blue in honor of the approaching Independence Day holiday.  I love this fabric - it reminds me of fireworks - and I had enough scraps to put together this block called Gentleman's Fancy.  

That's my scrappy story for the week, but there's more scrappy fun to be had at the weekly RSC link-up!

Let the Summer Fun Begin!

Hi blog!  I've missed you!  Life has been keeping me away from you, but I'm back and ready to share some stitching fun.

Summer started out with a family trip to Wisconsin.  Even though I grew up in Florida, I was born in Wisconsin, and both my parents have extensive family history there.  Somehow, I wrangled both boys and my dear hubby into making this trip to visit family and family history sites.  We had a great trip and made lots of great new memories!

Once we got back from our trip, it was back to work and back to stitching.  I needed to make a fourth orange Tiny Tuesday block.  I struck off on my own for this block, as this Hayes Corner block (upper left) tickled my fancy.  

Once the orange Tiny Tuesday blocks were wrapped up, it was time to dig into a new batch of scraps.  Dark blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June, and I jumped in and made a blue Burgoyne Surrounded block.  

Next up - Ring of Stars blocks.  They look pretty good in dark blues!

Sugar Bowl blocks are still on the menu, too.  After finishing these RSC blocks, there was a noticeable decrease in the pile of dark blue scraps and chunks!

And so my RSC blocks for the month are done.  There are still Tiny Tuesday blocks to make each week, but now I can direct my stitching time to catching up on my Hospital Sketches blocks.  Of course, there's always temptation inspiration to be found in the weekly Rainbow Scrap link-up!

Tiny Tuesday: The Road To [Insert Destination Here]

I've been enjoying the Tiny Tuesday Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler project, and have found myself looking through quilt block anthologies for blocks to adapt to the TT format.

My source calls this block the Road to the White House.  I'm not having any of that.  What we need is a block to commemorate the cultural phenomenon of HBO's Game of Thrones series. 😀With that in mind, I'm calling my block the Road to the Iron Throne.   If you're not a fan of the show or George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, I'll leave you to decide on your own destination!

This block is pretty straight forward, and based on a 9-patch grid.  When complete, the block will measure 5 inches, but will be 4.5 inches when sewn into a quilt.

For your Road To [Insert Destination Here] block, you will need scraps in light, medium, and dark values.

From the light value fabric cut: 

2 - 2 3/8 inch squares

4 - 1 1/4 inch squares

From the medium value fabric cut:

2 - 2 inch squares

2 - 1 1/4 inch squares

From the dark value fabric cut:

2 - 2 3/8 inch squares

6 - 1 1/4 inch squares

Sub-cut the 2 3/8 inch squares (light and dark) diagonally into 4 triangles.

Assemble the 1 1/4 inch squares into 4-patches as shown above.

Assemble the triangles into half-square triangles as shown.

Arrange the pieced units and medium value 2 inch squares as shown.  Stitch the block components into rows, then stitch the rows into the finished block.

Press and admire! 

(I pressed my final seams open to help decrease bulk)

Tiny Aqua Tuesdays

And here we are at the beginning of May.  Time for a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color!

Before things start cooking with orange scraps around here, I need to share my Tiny Tuesday blocks featuring April's lovely shades of aqua.

We started the month with a scrappy Shoo Fly block.  

Some aqua strings got put to good use in a Courthouse Square block.

I've always been intimidated by these Spinner blocks, but Mari's directions made it a snap!

Another spinning block - this time a Spinning Star.  

And a little reverse appliqué to wrap up the month.  Yes, I used machine appliqué!

I still haven't decided on a setting fabric for my Tiny Tuesday blocks.  I made a trip to my local quilt shop, Mes Amis, to look for some fabrics to audition.  Rather than set the blocks with a solid neutral, I was hoping to find something with some color...maybe some dots.

This is a multi-color floral.  I love the fabric, but I think it's a little too busy for all the scrappy blocks.

Multi-color text print.  Less busy, still not in love with the look.

When all else fails, you can usually count on aqua to work well with almost every other color.  This aqua fabric has tiny, random white dots.  It may be a contender, but I've used aqua before with multi-colored blocks, so I feel like it's the easy way out!

Now that the aqua Tiny Tuesday blocks are complete, I will start digging through all the orange scraps and planning my RSC blocks for May.  

More scrappy inspiration can be found at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekly link-up.

Green Wrap-Up: Tiny Tuesday

I'm not a huge fan of small quilt blocks with tiny pieces, but in the spirit of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I've been playing along with the Tiny Tuesday blocks published each week.  My scrappy green results this month were mixed.

Multiply is the clever Tiny Tuesday block from Jo at ButterZ.  The smallest pieces start at 1 1/4 inches before sewing, and the resulting 4-patch gets trimmed to 1 5/8 inches.  My fingers struggled with that a little!

We also did a wonky Log Cabin block.  My light greens didn't all have the same level of lightness, but, I got 'er done.  I did get to fussy-cut the cute ladybug in the center!

Sally Trude offered one of her great flip triangle owls for another Tuesday block.  I have to confess, I punted on Sally's block.  I suck at doing flip triangles.  So I did an appliqué owl instead.  I did find some large dot fabric so my owl could have googly eyes, though.

The last Tiny Tuesday project didn't get posted on Tuesday, so I went looking for something on my own.  When I saw this block at Generations Quilt Patterns, it reminded me of a Burgoyne Surrounded block so I knew I had to make it!  The 9-patch sections get made by strip-piecing, so the block is not too fiddly.  I also switched the color/fabric orientation so it seemed a little more Burgoyne-like.  What name would you give this version of the block?  Un petit Burgoyne?  Faux-goyne?  

Inspired by Rainbow Scraps

There's a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for March - green!  As always, I could jump in and make an all-green quilt just from scraps, but for now I'm going to stick to my 2019 RSC plans.

First up - some Sugar Bowl blocks and random scrappy 4-patches.

I'm adding to my collection of Sugar Bowl blocks this year - making two additional blocks in each of the rainbow colors.  I have a final layout planned once I finish all the needed blocks.

The RSC Tiny Tuesday blocks have been a fun diversion during the week!  These wrap up the yellow scraps from last month, along with more random 4-patches.  I still haven't decided on a setting fabric for the TT blocks.  I'd love to find the perfect multi-color fabric, 'cuz I'm kinda bored with using white.

Believe it or not, this Postcard Quilt was inspired by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I started it in April of 2017 and put the final stitches in it last week.  The inspiration was multi-colored scraps, which got me looking through my collection of flamingo fabrics.  The top went together quickly, but languished for lack of quilting.

I decided it was time to try some of the built-in quilting stitches on my sewing machine, so I layered things up and went to work.  I used this wavy quilting pattern to mimic postal cancelation marks on the postcard "backs".

For the postcards themselves, I improvised with free-motion quilting around the motifs on the fabrics.  This isn't a great picture of the quilting, but I guess it gives you the idea!

I even made a flamingo postcard label!  

As always, there is more scrappy inspiration at the weekly Rainbow Scrap linky party!

Taking a Dip in the Yellow Scraps

It's a new month and a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This time we'll be using up some yellow scraps, but it appears my stash of yellow scraps and chunks is pretty slim.  I've completed my planned blocks for the month, so I'll just be fishing around for a few additional yellows to make the remaining Tiny Tuesday blocks for the month.

I already have enough Burgoyne Surrounded blocks featuring yellow fabrics, so I won't be making any of those this month.

I needed two additional Sugar Bowl blocks for my planned quilt. 

They joined up with the previous yellow Sugar Bowls.  Only six more rainbow colors to go before I'll have all the blocks I need.

Two-inch strips and squares teamed up to make some 4-patch blocks.

They'll go in the stash of 4-patch blocks from previous RSC stitching.  There are no actual plans for these yet, but eventually inspiration will strike.

I'm still keeping up with the Tiny Tuesday blocks - it's kinda fun to look forward to stitching a new block every Tuesday evening!  Since I had used up a bunch of two inch scraps on 4-patch blocks, I had to dig into the gold scraps for one of my TT blocks.  

I may be low on yellow scraps, but plenty of other RSC quilters will have scrappy yellows to share.  Check them out at our weekly RSC link-up!