Circling the Log Cabins

Although I may not have lots of stitching time in December, I do have some slow stitching projects to turn to keep my hands occupied and sanity intact!

 

It's been over a year since my Dear Husband asked me to make him a Log Cabin quilt.  He had never asked for a quilt before, so of course I had to make it for him!  He chose the color scheme and block size; I laid everything out in the barn-raising pattern and found a backing fabric with log cabins.  My LAQ did a fantastic job adding pine cones, pine boughs, acorns and oak leaves.  Now I just need to stitch down the binding.  It may take all winter, as the quilt wound up being 90" x 90"!

When I need break from hand stitching the binding, I can work on making Quilty 365 circles.   

 

These two are from the last couple of days; prepped and ready to stitch.  Hmm...it looks like I might need to tweak the blue one a little!

 

Sometimes I pick fabric for the color & pattern, sometimes for the subject matter.

 

Some circles are cut from favorite, hoarded fabrics.  And yup, I decided to vary my background color just a little. <g>

 

Have I mentioned I love toile fabrics?  I expect there will be lots of toile in my final quilt.

 

I didn't have an turkey fabrics in my stash, but I found this great Riley Blake print that seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving's block!

And now I'm off to my comfy chair for some hand stitching.  When my wrist needs a break, I'll be perusing all the other projects being lovingly hand-stitched at the Slow Sunday Stitching link-up.

 

 

 

 

RSC 15: Aqua Sugar Bowls

Once again, I'm substituting aqua for lime as this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color. 

 

I'll finish up the year with 16 Sugar Bowl blocks.  These are 8" blocks and even if I set them on point, not enough for a quilt - yet.  I plan to carry them over to next year's RSC as they are a quick and easy block. 

I don't know how much sewing I'll get to do in December.  My husband and youngest son both have December birthdays, so we have lots of festive activities at this time of year.  The t-shirt quilt I'm making for a friend hasn't made any significant progress, so it's still hogging the design wall.  It's a good time to contemplate colorful plans for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

There's still plenty of scrappy inspiration at the Rainbow Scrap linky party - I'm going to have a nice cup of tea and go see what everyone else has been up to this week.

Quilty 365 - Fabric Mojo

 

I've been keeping up with my Quilty 365 circles on pretty much a daily basis.  So far, I've been keeping it simple - stitching fabric circles without piecing or other embellishment.  Some of my fabric choices reflect current events (Paris, Veteran's Day in the US and the death of New Orleans musical icon Allen Toussaint) and others are personal reflections or memories.

I was somewhat surprised to find this exercise has been a source of powerful fabric therapy.  The act of choosing fabrics from my stash, prepping the circles and hand-stitching them has improved my mood and physical well-being on more than one occasion.  I think this quilt will have some wonderful mojo when it's finished!

RSC 15: Counting Up the Scrap Jar Stars

I've been making Scrap Jar Star blocks as part of this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I made a SJS quilt for last year's challenge using bright colors, so this year I decided to try using reproduction fabrics.  The RSC color for this month is lime green, not exactly a reproduction style color, so I substituted blue-green shades.

 

My design wall is still covered with t-shirt quilt blocks, so I laid all the Scrap Jar Stars on the floor.  Based on experience with last year's quilt, I knew I wanted to have a 5 x 5 block layout so the final quilt would be a decent size.

 

I've got 19 blocks, so I need to make 6 more blocks before I can start assembling.  I don't know if I'll have time to make the blocks during December, so I may carry the SJS blocks over to next year's RSC.

Other RSC quilters are working with lime green or otherwise finishing up their Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects and you can see all their results over at Angela's Soscrappy blog.

 

Stars in a Time Warp: Approaching the End

In this week's Stars in a Time Warp post, Barbara Brackman mentioned there were only 3 more weeks left in the star-a-thon.  I will miss the weekly fabric history lessons, but it will be fun to get the final quilt assembled.  For those who haven't been participating in Stars in a Time Warp, you may be intrigued by BB's next stitch-along:  the Morris Hexathon.

 

I finally got a new SD card for my camera, so I can finish documenting my Stars in a Time Warp blocks.  These are my representatives for Chocolate Blue. 

 

Black and gray fabric dyes were not reliable until the end of the end of the 19th century.  

 

Again, related to improvements in fabric dyes, wine-colored reds - claret reds - became fashionable in the late 19th century. 

 

Another late 19th century fashion color was cadet blue. 

 

Skipping backward in time, sprigged muslins were all the rage in the early 1800s. 

 

And from the same time period come provincial prints. 

I'm still debating how I'll put all these blocks together.  I think I'll save it for the dark, dreary weeks of January and February, when all these colors and fabrics will help keep me smiling!

RSC 15: Are the 9 Patches Done Yet?

Although the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month is lime green, I've fulfilled the lime green needs in all my scrappy projects.  Instead, I'm filling in the palette with varieties of aqua.

 

I've been piecing together these color-themed 9 patches for over a year.  I think there are finally enough blocks for a quilt.  I'd like to get them laid out on the design wall so I can start assembling them - but - there's a t-shirt quilt muscling everything else aside right now.

 

A dear friend asked me to make a t-shirt quilt for her daughter and son-in-law.  The shirts are from their college days and courtship.   Daughter Chris had very specific instructions on the quilt layout, so I have felt limited in terms of creativity.  I spent most of last weekend cutting shirts and adding stabilizer.  I still need to create a block from smaller t-shirt designs that didn't make it to the full-block size.  There's also a big stack of 5 inch size logos/designs that could be used to add two small, narrow rows on the top and bottom of the quilt.  I'm auditioning some fabrics for sashing and once I decide on the right fabric, I can get the quilt assembled and off the design wall.

Whatever the color, I'm looking forward to seeing lots of creativity over at Angela's Soscrappy linky party. 

Quilty 365...in the Crescent

My blogging buddy Audrey has started a new project and I find myself unable to resist the temptation to join in.  She is making a fabric journal of sorts, picking different fabrics every day and appliqueing circles of each fabric choice.  She recommends choosing fabric each day based on mood, whim, availability of scraps - whatever!  The only "rule" is not to work ahead.

I like the idea of a small, daily project.  I know I won't be able to applique a circle every day, but I can choose the fabric and maybe do the prep work.  I know this project won't do anything to decrease my stash, but it will be fun to have an excuse to fondle fabric every day!

 

I made my first two blocks using back basting to prep the circles.  I found the process to be too slow for daily use, so resorted to templates and starch to prep the circles.  I found the top of a 3" Yankee Candles small tumbler candle was the perfect size template.  I could use Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles templates, but I figured they would not hold up to such intense use.  I'm going to use plain cardstock for now and see how it goes. 

 

I haven't stitched today's circle, but I picked this fabric to reflect my mood and because it's been in the stash since 2001 and never been cut.  It's one of those blue fabrics that just doesn't play well with others, but is still a charming fabric that needs to be used (it's more blue than the picture reflects).

 

Here are my other blocks to date.  My camera is still on the disabled list.  I need to get it back in operation, 'cuz the cell phone just doesn't take great pictures.  Hope to check in next week with lots more blocks!

 

RSC 15: Stars in Lime & Aqua

It's a new month and a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month's color is one I always enjoy using:  lime green.  In fact, I've already made about as many lime green blocks as I think I need for my ongoing scrappy projects.  What I do need are aqua-colored blocks, as I avoided those scraps when we focused on green and blue earlier in the year.  I've been digging in both the lime green scraps and the aqua scraps to round out the color wheel for this year's projects.

 

Four inch Sawtooth Stars are a fun way to use up scraps.  These will get added to my collection of RSC Sawtooth Stars, an ongoing project. 

 

Maverick Stars (or Liberated Stars) are another great way to use up scraps.  

 

Added to last year's aqua stars, I think my collection of Mavericks is ready to be assembled into a quilt.  I have some ideas for quilt layouts, so I guess I just need some play time to see what works best.   I see a finished flimsy in the stars!

I agreed to make a t-shirt quilt for a friend, so I'm off to start slicing and dicing t-shirts.  The weather forecast calls for lots of rain today, so it's another great day to stay home and play with fabric.  And when I need a break from the rotary cutter, I'll be checking out Angela's Soscrappy blog to see what the other Rainbow Scrappers are up to!

 

Stars In A Time Warp: What To Do With All These Blocks?

I haven't been documenting my Stars in a Time Warp progress in a timely fashion.  Picking out fabrics for the blocks each week is always fun, but I never remember to share what I've made.  I've skipped a week or two due to lack of appropriate fabrics, but the stack of star blocks still manages to keep growing.

 

Going back to the end of August, we learned about "newer" Turkey Red prints, which reflected changes in the dyeing processes and resulted in more affordable red fabrics.

 

September started out with Bronze Style prints, a fashion for new brown prints with a greenish or golden tinge rather than the earlier red tinge. 

 

Cretonne prints were designed as furnishing fabrics, but found their way into quilts.  Since my blocks are only 4", I had to choose prints with a smaller scale.

 

Blue fabrics with a touch of violet, known as Lancaster Blue, were popular in the late 19th century.  I'm not sure my blues are completely correct, but they serve the purpose.

The memory card for my camera is now telling me it's "full", so I need to go get a new memory card before I can share any more photos.  

Meanwhile, I'm contemplating how I want to set all my Stars in a Time Warp blocks.   Barbara Brackman has been sharing setting ideas with each week's fabric history.  My first idea was to set the blocks strippy style with zig-zags between the blocks instead of striped fabric.  BB calls this setting Rail Fence style (scroll to the end of the post for examples).  On the other hand, BB has presented a virtual encyclopedia of setting styles, so I don't know what I'll finally be inspired to do!