A Scrappy Finish

As I mentioned earlier this month, I don't need much in the way of brown scrappy blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  That being said, I did find two great brown print 100% cotton men's shirts at an estate sale last weekend. 

I love paisley fabrics and I have an even greater appreciation for them after learning more about the fabric style during Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp series.

This shirt not only has a great paisley design, it also has a fancy machine ground - the very small background dots - known as picotage.

Once I get the shirts "deboned", I'll use some of the fabric for my collection of 4" Sawtooth Star blocks.

 

Despite my lack of brown scrappy blocks, I have finished a Rainbow Scrap project from a few years ago.  

 

I started this scrappy, green Trip Around the World quilt in April of 2013.  I was determined to bust through a huge stash of green scraps and old (ugly!) yardage.  At the time, bloggers everywhere seemed to be making scrappy Trips using Bonnie Hunter's process.  I jumped in with enthusiasm! 

 

After finishing the top, I pieced together the backing using more fabrics in my stash.  I then handed it off to Cindy Braiwick, my LAQ, to work her magic.  She used a wonderful leafy frond design for the body of the quilt.

 

In the border, she quilted frogs, turtles, alligators and lily pads! 

 

I even found a piece of yardage in my stash to use for the bias binding.  The quilt will live on one of the beds at our camp, where the color green and the wildlife in the borders will fit in perfectly!

If you have been on the fence about making a scrappy Trip Around the World quilt, I highly recommend it.  It's a great scrap buster and Bonnie Hunter's technique is fun and easy.  I'm definitely thinking of making another one, this time in an attempt to bust through more blue scraps.

There's lots more scrappy inspiration at this week's link-up for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

 

 

Rainy Sunday Stitching

I've missed linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching for a few weeks.  It's not that I've not been enjoying any slow stitching, it's that I haven't been doing much of it on Sundays.  Today is a perfect slow stitching day though, it's raining and the forecast is for rain for the next two or three days.  I'm about to plant myself in front of the TV and stitch to my heart's content.

 

First up is completing the binding on this Trip Around the World quilt.  I've been hand-stitching the binding on this baby f o r e v e r - 10 yards of binding!  I'm excited about finishing this quilt, for sure.

 

Once the binding is finished, I can get back to making and stitching hexies on this quilt.   It's a great go-to project for rainy Sunday stitching.

I hope everyone else has a great Slow Sunday Stitching day!

 

RSC 15: A Binding Trip Around the World

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects for May are wrapping up.  There is still a week's worth of time to play with green scraps, but sewing will take a back seat to other priorities over the next few days.  I'm looking forward to visiting with family in Florida and when I return, I'll be busy with an assignment for work.  By then it will be time to contemplate the RSC color for June!

 

My RSC accomplishment for the week was to make 10 yards of continuous, double-fold bias binding for my green Trip Around the World quilt.  I used up a big hunk of that leafy fabric for the binding, so there are only a few scraps of that left.  I attached the binding to the quilt last night, so now I'll need to stay focused on doing 10 yards of hand-stitching!

Binding isn't all that exciting, so do check out Angela's SoScrappy blog for plenty of green, scrappy inspiration!

RSC 15: Green Dreams

Angela, our ringleader for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, announced the color for May earlier this week:  GREEN.  I immediately started pulling green scraps, thinking about green WIPs and even dreaming about green quilts-to-be.

 

I started with a rummage through the bin of 2.5" strips and blocks.  It was easy to make six 9 patch variation blocks just from scrappy pieces in the bin.  I still need to make two more blocks, but I'm off to a good start.

 

Just for fun, I laid out all the 9 patch blocks I've made so far this year!  

 

As luck would have it, my local long-arm quilter, Cindy Braiwick, finished my green Trip Around the World quilt this week.  This quilt will need MILES of green binding!  I'm thinking I may need to make a scrappy binding for this - just to keep up the plan of using up older green fabrics on this quilt.

 

I also consulted my Fabric Collection to see if there were any green fabrics calling out to be used up.  I've been collecting fabrics with doll images for a number of years, but I have yet to cut into any of them.  This one is technically not dolls, but it reminded me of the paper dolls I played with as a girl.

 

I pulled a bunch of fabrics from stash that might (or might not) go with the ballerinas.  My dream is to make something fairly simple, along the lines of Happy Zombie's Patio or Terry Atkinson's All About Me -i.e. squares and rectangles of the feature fabric and all the complementary fabrics.  There may not be enough time to get this idea off the ground this month, but it's still fun to think about!

It's linky Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so there will be lots of ideas to fire up green dreams of your own!

 

 

Scrap Happy Saturday: Are You Ready for Some Orange?

September is the month of orange for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I am ready!  Thanks to the RSC, I've really learned to appreciate the color orange for the spark it can add to scrap quilts.

 

I dug out all my orange scraps - strips and squares in various sizes, as well as a jar full of pieces too small for the strips & squares bins.  I have plenty to work with for my 16 patch blocks, 9 patch blocks and maverick stars.

 

Angela has already posted two blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Sampler.  I finished the Bear's Paw block earlier this week, but haven't had time for more.  

 

A final picture of the completed scrappy green Trip Around the World quilt top.  There were a few sunny moments at the camp last Sunday, so I snapped a few pictures before the rain returned.

 

I loved the stained glass effect from the opposite side!

I'm linking up with Angela's So Scrappy blog today.   There will be lots of orange inspiration, but I won't get to see most of it until this evening.  We're off on a bit of a road trip to deliver our grand-dog back to our son.  It's been fun having 3 dogs (our son's dog Jozy and our dog McKenzie are brother and sister), but it will be nice to have a slightly smaller menagerie.

Bailey, Jozy & McKenzie

 

Scrap Happy Saturday: It's Been a Long, Green Trip

Green was the scrappy color of the month for August, specifically light and bright green.  I already used light and bright green scraps when we visited green earlier this year, so I didn't have the range of scraps to make all of this month's Rainbow Sampler blocks.  

 

I did make the Bouncing Betty block with some light green scraps.

 

Still, I had no lack of green scraps to use up.  I finished piecing my green Trip Around the World quilt - and I still have lots of green scraps left!  It was raining yesterday, so I took pictures of the quilt top draped over my sofa.  Maybe I can get some outdoor pictures while I'm at the camp this weekend. 

The quilt is made of 36 twelve inch TATW blocks.  I added a one inch border and a six inch border of  half TATW blocks (which are really just 9 patches).  The finished size is about 86" x 86". 

As always, the Happy Scrappers are sharing their green scrappy adventures over at Angela's Scrap Happy blog.  And if you look carefully, you might see a hint about the scrappy color for September!

 

Scrap Happy Not-Sew-Saturday

For the first time in a long time, I didn't touch a scrap of fabric or a sewing machine on Saturday!  There was a beautiful breeze blowing at our camp and Dear Husband, Dear Son and I spent a huge chunk of the morning just chilling on the porch, drinking coffee and watching the birds.  Various other activities followed, including an ALS IceBucket Challenge.  After being doused by a bucket of ice water, it was too easy to jump in the river and spend some quality time swimming with the dogs!

Jozy, our youngest son's yellow Lab mix and Bailey, our black Lab mix.

I've about run out of appropriate light green and bright green scraps, so I may hold off on any new Rainbow Sampler blocks this month.  I'll keep the unused ones in mind in case I need extra blocks or colors when I'm assembling the final quilt.

 

I did make a light green and dark green 9 patch block to go with my bright green 9 patch block from earlier this year.  These blocks will continue to be an on-going RSC project.

 

After cutting a huge stack of green strips last weekend, I was able to stitch together a good number of Trip Around the World blocks this past week.  This is just a representative sample.  I need to make a few more blocks for the quilt top, and some half blocks for the border.  It could be a completed quilt top by the end of the month!

Despite my late entry, I'm still linking up with the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge bloggers over at Angela's SoScrappy blog.  It's always fun to check in and be inspired by everyone's colorful ideas!

Scrap Happy Saturday: Slicing Thru the Greens

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge directs us to play with light and bright greens.  There were two Rainbow Sampler blocks to inspire us this week, so that was a good opportunity to use light and bright green scraps.

 

The Dakota Farmer block was easy to create with left-over greens from other projects.

 

The Indiana Puzzle block is a Friendship star with 4-patch blocks in the corners.  My scrappy choices don't have much contrast, but I like the result anyway.

After making my Rainbow Sampler blocks for the week, I turned back to my scrappy Trip Around the World blocks.  I rearranged the blocks into diamond shapes (they are trip around the world blocks after all!) and decided I needed an additional 24 blocks to make a queen-sized quilt for one of the beds at the camp.  

 

I still have a large collection of green fabrics - many of which are quite vintage.  I spent most of today slicing these into 2.5" strips for  Trip Around the World blocks.

 

By dinnertime, I had a good selection of 2.5" strips and had started sorting them into stacks of 6 strips for TAtW blocks.  I'll continue setting up stacks of 6 strips so everything will be ready for piecing this week.

I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers at Angela's blog for lots of rainbow scrap inspiration.  Hope you'll join us!

 

Scrap Happy Saturday: Pondering Scrappy Greens

Green is the color for scrappy creative play for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month.  We visited green earlier this year, but then the intent was to use dark greens.  Now the challenge is to use light and bright green.  I guess I got a little carried away using green the first time around, because I've already made light and bright green blocks for some of my scrappy projects.  I still have lots of light and bright green scraps, though, so I'm sure I'll find good use for them in more Rainbow Sampler blocks!

Before I could really get into playing with the green scraps, I had to finish up my red Carpenter's Wheel for July.  I had most of the block assembled, I just needed to stitch the rows together. 

 

I did finish the remaining red Rainbow Sampler blocks earlier this week.

 

The Big Dipper block used up some vintage scraps.

The Kaleidoscope block showed me how rusty my paper piecing skills have become!

All the red scraps went back into their assigned bins and the green scraps came out to play.  The first August sampler block was mini bow ties, for which I happily used up some Kaffe Fassett scraps.

 

As I pondered what other green scrappy projects I could work on this month, I remembered I had started a green Trip Around the World last year - specifically to use up some of the dark, vintage greens in my stash.  I had cut a large batch of 2.5" strips and sorted them into groups of six so I could pick up the project and work on it throughout the rest of the year.  When I pulled out the bag of strips this morning there were a dozen or so sets of strips still waiting.  I finished all of them and got the blocks laid out for viewing and arranging.  The setting is currently 6 x 6 (the blocks are 12") and I think I'll make at least one more row.  I'm glad to have used up some of these older fabrics!

I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrappers over at Angela's blog.  It's late, but I think a little scrappy inspiration sounds like good bedtime reading!

 

 

Santa's Scrappy House

I couldn't resist making one last happy, scrappy house block for the New Orleans House Project.  

I really must do some serious scrap-busting of Christmas scraps.  I was planning to make a Christmas log cabin quilt for my youngest son, but DH has asked for a red, white and blue log cabin quilt.  I don't think two log cabins in one year is a good plan, so maybe Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern would make a good Christmas-themed scrap buster!

The design wall was empty earlier this week, so I threw all the Rainbow Scrap Challenge happy, scrappy houses up for a picture.  Unfortunately, I deleted the picture from my camera before saving it.  I currently have 48 rainbow-hued house blocks and several ideas for how to assemble them.  I'd like to see the houses get assembled in 2014, but for now they are marinating while I come up with a plan.

After I took down the house blocks, I put up my green Trip Around the World blocks.  This project is meant to use up some of the vintage, dark green fabric in my stash.  Other shades of green have found their way in as well.  I probably have enough green fabric to make two of these, one in dark greens and one in lime greens.  I need to make another 12 blocks for a decent sized quilt, then I'll decide on whether to mix shades or not.

In preparation for the new year, I've cleaned the cutting table and put away fabric, organized scraps and UFOs.  I won't have much time for sewing in the coming week, but I have been trying to cut some strips and squares cut for 2014 projects.  I'm looking forward to sharing all that soon!

Scrappy Saturday Wrap-Up

It's a new month and a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Angela has challenged us to use our bright blues, or in her words - sapphire blues - this month.  On top of that, I spent the earlier part of the week playing with last month's color - green.

The scrappy Trip Around the World blocks (from Bonnie Hunter's pattern) will be an on-going project.  I've got a big stack of strips ready to sew together, so I'll keep making these throughout the year.

Digging through the strips and strings from the month gave me enough for some wonky log cabin blocks.  I'll be glad to see the end of some of this dark green fabric!

This morning I started playing with blue fabrics.  One bright blue house and some scrappy blue spools were soon added to the collection.

As for the New Orleans House Project, bright blue does not seem to be all that popular as a house color.  But doesn't that front porch look like a great place to relax and sip lemonade?

If you love blue, then be sure to stop by and see what other blue scrappy surprises are on display at SoScrappy's blog!

Time to Get Gone with Green!

Here we are, back at Saturday and talking about Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  I have not yet checked out this week's scrappy green sharing, so I hope you'll grab some sweet tea and join me!

My inspiration for today's house was this Creole Cottage in the Faubourg Marigny.  There are an abundance of lime green houses in New Orleans, but not many with purple doors and trim!  

My lime green happy scrappy house.  

I needed to use yardage instead of scraps to make this house.  So as I was happily digging through the green fabric stash I realized I have a lot of OLD green fabric!  

Some of it dates back to my earliest days as a quilter!  

I decided it was time to do some serious stash-busting of green fabric.  

What a great excuse to jump on the bandwagon and make a scrappy Trip Around The World quilt!  I'm determined to make a huge dent in my green fabric stash.  So far today I've put together 4 blocks,  but I also started cutting strips so I can just pick six and start stitchin'.  These blocks are quick to assemble and fun to play with.  I'm heading back to the sewing machine to see how many more I can make today!