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.

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.

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.

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!

A Dent in the Red Scraps?

I think I made a dent in the red scraps this month as I worked on Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. On the other hand, I definitely made some new red scraps, as I cut into yardage I purchased for a red and white quilt.  

I finished the red and white Schoolhouse blocks I started last weekend.  I decided on mini Ohio Stars (3 inches finished) as cornerstones, and got those finished up today.  Now to cut the sashing and piece everything together.  

For what it's worth:  I couldn't have made those mini Ohio Stars without a couple of handy resources.  The All-In-One Quilter's Reference Guide has a wealth of information including cutting guides, piecing techniques, and other technical know-how for quilt making.  And thanks to Generations Quilt Patterns, I learned a speedy new technique for making Ohio Star blocks.

I wasn't sure I was going to participate in this year's Rainbow Scrap Sampler project, but I guess I am!  I've done each week's Tiny Tuesday blocks and added two extras that were experiments.  Before I started in on the 3-D Bow Tie tutorial, I pieced a practice block to make sure I remembered how to do it.  And I wasn't sure if I wanted to make 3 inch Ohio Star blocks, so I tried a 4.5 inch size first.  The cutting instructions for the 4.5" size are in the Ohio Star tutorial linked above.  You're welcome!

I think I'm done with the red scraps for now.  I'm looking forward to next month's RSC color and Tiny Tuesday blocks.  In the meantime, you'll find some more red scrappy inspiration here!

Tiny Tuesday: 3-D Bow Tie Block

Welcome to my Tiny Tuesday Tutorial!  I'm publishing this a little early, as Monday is a holiday and may afford some stitchers the chance to complete their weekly block ahead of schedule.

When SoScrappy Angela described her idea for a tiny block sampler for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I was intrigued.  I figured small blocks in rainbow colors would be a fun challenge, even if the finished block size was an untypical 4.5 inches.  Better still, Angela was inviting RSC participants to submit their own block tutorials for the challenge.

One idea that immediately occurred to me was the 3-D or Origami Bow Tie block.  I learned how to make this block many moons ago at a quilt guild demonstration.  Since then, I've made several quilts using this traditional block with a structural twist.  Once you figure out the slightly unusual block construction, the blocks are fun and addicting to make!

Note:  I recommend reading through the instructions before sewing up your block.  If you need more help visualizing the process, there are several Youtube videos available online.  Sometimes seeing the process demonstrated is easier than looking at static pictures.

For one 3-D Bow Tie block (finished size 4.5 inches), you will need:

• 3 bow tie fabric squares, 2.75 inches
• 2 background fabric squares, 2.75 inches

Take one of the bow tie fabric squares and fold it in half, wrong sides together.  Finger press the fold.  This will eventually become the knot of the bow tie.

Place the folded square on top of one of the background squares, right sides together.  Align the raw edges at the top.  I've used a pin to hold things together and mark the raw edges.

Place another bow tie fabric square on top of the background and folded square combo - right sides together.  Pin together on the left side.  Keep the background/folded square combo raw edges at the top - see next picture.

I've temporarily flipped back the bow tie fabric square so you can see the placement of the background fabric and folded bow tie fabric pieces.

Stitch a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge.

After stitching the seam, finger press the seam away from the folded bowtie square, as shown above.  The raw edges of the folded square should be at the top.

Keep the block aligned as shown in previous picture.  Place remaining bow tie fabric square under the folded square, right sides together.  Place remaining background fabric square on top of the folded fabric square, right sides together.  Align the edges of the two squares with the top and right side of the folded fabric square.  My pin is marking the top right edge of the folded fabric square.

Stitch a 1/4 inch seam along the right edge, as shown above.

After stitching the second seam, your bow tie block should look like this.  The folded square makes a "bridge" between the two sections of bow tie and background fabric squares.  

Looking at the block from the top, you can see the folded square piece can open.  This piece will now be pinched and pulled into the knot on the bow tie. 

Align the four bow tie and background squares as if you were aligning two sections of a 4-patch block.  While aligning the squares, open the folded square/knot so the raw edges line up with the raw edges of the other squares.

Pin the raw edges together (right sides together), catching the edges of the bow tie square/knot, but being careful not to catch any other part of the knot.  I've flipped the block open in the picture so you can see how the folded square/knot should look.

Pin everything securely in place and stitch a 1/4 inch seam, catching the folded square/knot in the seam.

Completed seam.

Open the block and make sure you didn't catch the center of the knot in your seam.

Press and enjoy your completed Tiny Tuesday 3-D Bow Tie block!