Scrap Life

Angela of Soscrappy has been hosting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for quite a few years now.  The challenge behind the project is to use up fabric scraps from prior quilt-making efforts.  Despite several years of RSC participation, my collection of scraps has not diminished.  Honestly, that's OK with me, as I don't participate to use UP scraps, but because scrappy quilts are my favorite type of quilt!  

In fact, this month, I decided some new "scraps" were needed, so I pulled lots of fabric bits (which were clogging up the fabric storage drawers) in the RSC theme for January:  light and bright greens.  I sliced everything into standard scrappy sizes:  3.5 inches, 2.5 inches, 2 inches, and 1.5 inches.  I keep all my scrappy strips in plastic bins, ready to be pulled for future scrappy projects.

While I was digging through the bins, I noticed my 1.5 inch strip bin was getting really full.  

That inspired me to start making new blocks for my Lego quilt.  I put this project aside two years ago because I thought my scraps weren't providing enough variety.  

Maybe the scraps of 2020 will be the boost needed to finish this quilt!  I'll keep slicing up new 1.5 inch strips in each monthly RSC color and working them into the Lego quilt blocks.

I started making Carolina Chain blocks last year as a leader-ender project. 

As I was cutting green strips, I sub-cut pieces for some green blocks.  I'll continue working on these blocks in 2020, too.

These Sugar Bowl blocks have been an ongoing RSC project.  My plan was to set the blocks in groups of four, with narrow sashing and a cornerstone in the center of each block.  I assembled a couple blocks in this manner, only to realize the cornerstone drew the eye and the blocks got completely lost.  Out came the seam ripper!

Instead, I opted for a traditional, on-point setting with alternate plain blocks.  I found the perfect fabric for the plain blocks in my stash - and I had enough of it for the entire quilt!

It's a fun fabric, and I'm so happy I found a great use for it!  Now comes the fun of stitching all those pieces together.  

If you love the Scrap Life, be sure to check out the RSC weekly link-up!

Purple Patchwork

We're already half-way through the month of September, and I'm just getting around to playing with this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color:  purple!

Two purple Sugar Bowls wrapped up the design plan for using these blocks in a quilt.  I won't be able to start assembling the blocks any time soon, but but I have a plan.  

I've really enjoyed this block style - I think I'll try a different basket-style block for a future RSC project!

Ring of Stars has been another fun block project.  I'm making this quilt for a friend, but I like the pattern so much, I might have to make another one for myself!

I'm always amazed by the varieties of the color purple.  Both of these fabrics are purple, but they look completely different!  

And...purples are hard to photograph!  This fabric is dark purple, but not as dark as the photo.

I'll save all my purple Tiny Tuesday blocks for a post later this month.  In the meantime, there's more purple inspiration at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up for today.

Making More Pink Scraps

Pink is the color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month.  As I looked through my fabric bins, I realized my scrappy pink choices were getting a little thin.  That meant I needed to make some more scraps, i.e. indulge in a little stash enhancement.  Fortunately, I found some great pink fat quarters and have sliced most of them up into usable strips and chunks to feed the RSC fun!

Before I started on the pink scraps though, I was inspired by the Fourth of July to make a red, white, and blue Burgoyne Surrounded block.

I wanted to use that red, white, and blue print that looks like fireworks as the central fabric for the block.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

I had already cut out this pink and green block last year, but never got around to stitching it.  It went together quickly, although I just now spotted two errors.  Just when I think I can finally make these blocks without mistakes, I mess up!

I used some of my new pink scraps and chunks for two Sugar Bowl blocks.

They will join previous Sugar Bowl blocks.  I think I only need two more colors to finish out all the blocks for this quilt.

There are still some more pink projects to work on this month, but first I need to go fix that &*@! Burgoyne block.  Go enjoy some pink scrappy projects at the RSC link-up while I practice my seam ripping!

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!

Orange Scraps Are Very Appealing!

Fabric therapy time has been in short supply the past few weeks.  Happily, I was able to rummage through the orange scraps and put together some blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Two orange Sugar Bowl blocks were added to the collection.

I set them together with Sugar Bowl blocks from last year.  The plan is to set the blocks in groups of four like this.

I used some scrappy chunks to make more Ring of Stars blocks.  I'm definitely planning to gift this quilt to a friend when it's finished, but I might have to make one of these for myself!

Bits of this and that got turned into 4-patch blocks.  These go in the Parts Department for now.

One all orange Burgoyne Surrounded block used up a good hunk of scraps.  

I wanted to see how all my Burgoyne colors were balancing out, so they all went for a spin on the design wall.  I still need some pink blocks, more blue blocks, and maybe another purple.  I only need seven more blocks before I can start the assembly process.  The final quilt will have sashing and 9-patch cornerstones (already complete).  

Now that the Rainbow Scrap projects are wrapped up, I'm ready to focus on my Hospital Sketches BOM.  This month's block is a challenge, for sure!

If scrappy quilts are appealing to you, check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekly link-up.

Antidote for Age-Shock: April Aqua!

I think most of us would agree that quilt-making equals Fabric Therapy and Fabric Therapy helps us deal with the stresses of life. 💖 Since the beginning of April, I have been using Fabric Therapy as an antidote (or celebration?!) to the observation of another trip around the sun.  

I managed to finish up my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects using this month's soothing color of aqua.

I made two Sugar Bowl blocks to add to the collection.

It was easy to pull together six Ring of Stars blocks using chunks of fabric left over from previous projects.  

An aqua fleur de lis Burgoyne Surrounded block

And an aqua and pink Burgoyne Surrounded

Only seven blocks still needed to complete the requirements for the Burgoyne quilt!

I also pulled out a long-term UFO and decided it needed finishing - now!

The pattern is Merry-Go-Round by Sandy Klop (American Jane Patterns - be careful if you go here - it's a rabbit hole of great pattens!).  It's a fun take on hexagons using fabric strips and an equilateral triangle ruler.  The triangles are assembled in half-hexagons, then sewn into strips, matching hexagon tops and bottoms.  

 I was inspired to try the pattern using a fat quarter collection of tropical brights I purchased at a quilt show many moons ago.  I started the blocks at least ten years ago, but put them away when I needed the design wall for another project.  I "found" the bag of blocks and and scrappy strips a few weeks ago and decided it was time to finish things up.  Since I made my blocks using fat quarters instead of jelly rolls, I had a more limited amount of fabric to make hexagons.  There were enough hexies for a wall-hanging, and that was good enough!  I've gotten all the hexie parts sewn into strips and now need to sew the strips together.  Another UFO will be crossed off the list!

And now that it's Saturday, it's time for the Rainbow Scrap link-up AND more Fabric Therapy!

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!

On a Roll with Red Scraps

I feel like I'm on a roll with Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  Who knows how long the progress will last, but I'm enjoying it while it happens!

I was able to make two Sugar Bowl blocks using some scrappy chunks of red.

I needed some leader-ender blocks, so I added some 4-patches cut from scraps in the 2 inch bin.

While I was digging through the drawers and boxes looking for red scraps, I found a stack of red batik fabrics I bought several years ago to make a red and white schoolhouse quilt.  I made a schoolhouse quilt years ago - in my early days as a quilter - and I wanted to make another.  

I wanted to make the same style block as my earlier quilt, and I found a great pattern on the APQ website.  It's a free pattern by Carrie Nelson:  Home for the Harvest.  It's a great scrappy pattern, but I knew I was only going to use red and white fabrics for my quilt.

The practice block went together so easily, I went ahead and made a second block.  And cut out parts for four more blocks.  If they keep going together so easily, I should have six blocks finished by the end of the month.  That meets my plan for a wall hanging-size quilt.

There's more scrappy red inspiration at the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up.  I hope you are making great progress with your red scraps, too!

Rainbow Scrappin' into 2019

It's been a great, scrappy Saturday!  I stitched together some blocks, made some plans for the coming year, and did some machine quilting on mini quilts that have languished too long.

Another year of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is underway.  Angela, of SoScrappy, provides the rainbow inspiration and a venue to share our projects with others.  It's a great way to use up scraps, and get to know other scrappy-minded quilters.

My RSC goals for this year involve finishing some projects that were inspired in earlier RSC years.  High on my list of things to complete are the remaining blocks for my Burgoyne Surrounded quilt.  After today, I only need ten more blocks!

Today's Burgoyne Surrounded block, brought to you by the color red - the RSC color for January.

Today's red block and last month's red, Christmas-y block will round out my red BS blocks for now.

Burgoynes playing together.  There will also be nine-patch cornerstone blocks and sashing.  Eventually.

(Burgoyne pattern here)

These Sugar Bowl blocks from 2015 were my planning project today.  I've struggled with how I want to use the blocks in a quilt, but I think I've found my solution.  My plan requires 16 more Sugar Bowl blocks and some type of pieced or appliquéd center.  More to follow.

Lastly, as I've been digging around and organizing piles of stuff in my sewing room, I've come across all number of small, unfinished quilt tops.  These babies are from 2013, and were inspired by an RSC color of the month.  The scraps are from my yummy Chocolate Quilt.  These tops were already layered with backing and batting, so all I had to do was quilt them.  I finished the pink one earlier in the week and quilted the red one today.  Now I just have to stitch the binding down and I'll have two more UFOs I can scratch off the list!

For more scrappy inspiration, check out the link-up at Angela's blog.  Enjoy your stitching - especially this coming week - I think we're all going to need some fabric therapy!