Rainbow Scrap Quilt 1.0

Last night I put the final stitches in the binding of one of my 2012 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.

I used the blog-popular Granny Square quilt block and made multiple squares throughout the year, following the Rainbow Scrap Challenge monthly color inspiration.

The blocks were assembled with sashing and cornerstones.  I added a freeform pieced scrap border for additional interest and size.

My local longarm quilter Cindy Braiwick helped me out by quilting a flowery-feathery all-over design

Early on in the challenge, I decided this quilt would be gifted to my niece.  It was fun thinking of her every week as I constructed the various blocks.  I included this fussy-cut one to honor her profession of teaching.

I tend to be lackadaisical about labeling my quilts.  Not so with this one - although I've digitally removed the inscription 'cuz I'm funny about sharing personal info and mushy stuff.

Many thanks to Angela at Soscrappy for the year's worth of inspiration and to all the Rainbow Scrappers for their words of encouragement!  It was wonderful fun to share with everyone!

It's Carnival Time!

Today is Epiphany, or as it's better known in New Orleans - Twelfth Night.  Twelfth Night marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, reminding us of the visit of the Magi to the Infant Jesus.  Twelfth Night in New Orleans has additional meaning - it marks the beginning of Carnival Season!

Carnival Season is celebrated with all types of festivities, from neighborhood crawfish boils to formal balls and city-wide parades.  Carnival Season culminates with one big day of merriment on Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) - the day before the season of fasting and penance known as Lent.

Two of my favorite Carnival traditions are related to Twelfth Night:  Phunny Phorty Phellows and King Cake.  The Phunny Phorty Phellows are a group of Carnival enthusiasts who celebrate Twelfth Night by masking (costuming) and riding the St. Charles streetcar to usher in the season.

King Cake is a cinnamon-y pastry decorated with colored sugar in the Carnival colors of purple, green and gold.  A small, plastic baby is traditionally baked into the King Cake and provides a surprise for whoever receives the slice.  The King Cake baby recipient is either designated the king or queen of a Carnival ball, or at the very least has to supply a king cake for the next gathering of friends!

So what does all this have to do with quilting?  Not much really - only that I had a King Cake-fueled afternoon of sewing and have a finished Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to show for it!

I finally finished assembling the Granny Squares I made during the 2012 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I had to remake several of the grannies as they just didn't fit right.  Then I decided the blocks and sashing alone did not make an adequately-sized quilt.  I added additional borders and I'm happy as can be with the result.  The picture doesn't do it justice (it's rainy and dreary here, so no chance of natural lighting), so just to help you visualize I also snapped a pic of the border and sashing fabric - confetti!

It's off to my local longarm quilter for some overall swirly quilting.  This will be gifted to a family member I will be visiting in February, so I now I have a deadline for finishing!

A Little Progress

My "Sew Sixty" inspiration did not help me accomplish much sewing this week.  Too much time was taken up with work, family events and social activities.  I enjoyed the family events and social activities, so all was not lost! <g>

Some progress has been made on sashing the Granny Squares and here's a quick and sloppy iPad photo to prove it.  I am debating machine quilting this myself or sending it to my local longarm quilter.  I'm strictly a straight-line gal when it comes to machine quilting - utilitarian and fairly quick.  On the other hand, I do think this design would look good with a swirly type design, which would mean longarm quilting.  We'll see what the quilt tells me when it's finished.

I'm off to share this with the Rainbow Scrap quilters at Soscrappy's blog and then I think I need a bit of a nap to recover from my Geocaching adventures this morning!

Sew Sixty

Thanks to my Dear Husband and Dear Sons we watch a lot of American football at our house.  In self-defense, I became a football fan too.  To be honest, it's hard not to be at least a casual football fan in New Orleans, because it's almost a sin to not be a New Orleans Saints fan!

As a result of watching all this football, I've developed my new personal motivational strategy for quilting.  I call it Sew Sixty.  I stole the name from the National Football League's fitness campaign aimed at kids (and adults).  Called Play 60, the program aims to get kids playing for at least 60 minutes a day, promoting an active and healthy lifestyle.

My program is aimed at getting me to sew at least 60 minutes a day.  We all know how difficult it can be at times to get motivated to sew: we're tired, we're stressed, we're distracted, we feel guilty for taking time for ourselves.  You name the excuse - we've all been there!  But it's so simple to just go sit down and start sewing.  Whether sewing by hand or stitching at the machine, it just takes that simple step of getting started.  Before you know it, you've accomplished one step in a project and are ready for another.  And the satisfaction of making that effort and having something concrete to show for it makes it all worthwhile.

So now in the evening (sometimes even in the morning before work) I head for my sewing room mentally chanting my new mantra: "Sew Sixty!  Sew Sixty!"

I finished my multi-colored Granny Square blocks this week.  These round out my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Granny Square quilt.

All the squares waiting for sashing.

Sashing and cornerstones for the Granny Square quilt.

A few more leader-ender spools in black.  I love that reproduction fabric with the mauve flowers.  Wish I had more - those were the last scraps!

And some seasonal green and red leader-enders.

A few other projects also got attention this week, but I'll hold off on sharing until there's a little more pizzaz to show.  I'm looking forward to another week of challenging myself to Sew Sixty - won't you join me?!

Saturday Sew Far

I'd like to list all the things I've already accomplished on a Saturday morning, but most of the things checked off my "to do" list involve never-ending household chores.  At least those things are taken care of and I can look ahead to sewing!

Today's major sewing focus is assembling Rainbow Scrap Challenge Granny Squares into a quilt top.  

I plan to sash the blocks with this multi-colored dot print, and use different colored cornerstone blocks in the sashing.

In order to get the layout square, I need to make four more Granny Square blocks.  I've decided to use some multi-colored prints for these last few blocks.  

I've also been working on leader-ender spool blocks a la Bonnie Hunter.  Even though these are small, they're a very satisfying way to use up scraps!  I'll definitely be carrying this project over to next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

So I think I might need a slice of Pecan Pie to invigorate me for all that sewing.  I've got plenty left over from Thanksgiving, so please have a virtual slice with me!  While we're enjoying our pie we can stop by Soscrappy's blog and see what all the other Rainbow Challengers have been creating this week.

Orange You Glad You Quilt?

Lots of prep work done this week!  I am often reluctant to cut fabric in the evenings after work - I'm tired and afraid I'll make mistakes.  But this week I pushed myself to cut anyway, as most of my prep work involved lots of simple, repetitive cutting.

I now have a stack of thirty-six orange squares waiting for their accompanying thirty-six white squares. Once the cutting is done, the block assembly will go quickly as everything can be chain pieced.  

I also prepped a good-size batch of leader-ender spools - as in Bonnie Hunter's Spoolin' Around challenge.  I used up a bunch of 1 1/2 inch orange scrap strips with this prep work!  I have a huge box full of pre-cut 1 1/2 inch strips in all colors and I also dug through those and pulled strips of the right length for the spool blocks.  This leader-ender project could generate a huge number of blocks from my scraps - good thing they're only 3 inch blocks!

I also did some Granny Square blocks in orange.  

I've been making Granny Square blocks as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  These may be my last Granny Square blocks, even though there are still 3 months left in the challenge.  I don't really enjoy making these blocks and I'm happy with the block colors I've completed so far.  If I start assembling a quilt from the blocks I already have, I might be able to gift it to the recipient by the end of the year.  I have been planning to give the finished quilt to my niece, who just announced she and her hubby are expecting their first child in March.  This quilt is for her though, and I'll come up with something else for the little one! 

Time to stop computering and go do some quilting.  I hope everyone has an opportunity to play with fabric and do some sewing today!  When you're taking a break, do go check out what the rest of the Rainbow Scrap quilters are up to!

Scrappy Saturday Blondies

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April is light neutral.  No sweat, my scrap bins are full of light neutrals, or as I think of them:  Blondies!

I started with the Granny Square blocks this month.

Getting good photographs that show the differences in the fabrics is difficult!

I used white for the outer triangles and two different blondie fabrics for the squares.  I haven't had a chance to see how these play with the previous squares - maybe later today.

No doubt there will be more mouth-watering Blondies over at SoScrappy's blog since today is Rainbow Scrap link-up day!