There IS progress

At lunchtime yesterday we looked out and saw this yearling deer napping in our backyard.  The mama was laying in the trees just off to the right.  Our yard is well protected by trees, and we have no dog so the wildlife tend to feel pretty safe here.  

The final block of Saturday Sampler (bright version with dark background) is complete.  The purple I used with that green is a bit more vibrant in person.  But in the photo there isn't much contrast between the purple and that dark background. 

 

The blocks are layed out on the floor for an opportunity to rearrange the colors a bit.  The colors look so drab in the photo below, but they are actually quite bright.  

I still need to make that Block #12 for the last colorway - batiks with a pale grey background.  With that version, I haven't decided how to lay them out yet.  Most likely it will stay simple - possibly just a lattice and cornerstone.  But the blocks will be done and ready once there is a plan. 

Quilt of Valor work day

 I was the only attendee yesterday at the work day scheduled to sew for our Quilt of Valor group.  It's that time of year I guess, with people being very busy.  

All was not lost however since I had all of the blocks with me that we've collected over the past few months.  Using the big tables at The Pin Cushion to lay things out, I was able to arrange 3 different QOV tops and pin the blocks into rows, ready to sew.   It was perfect not having to get down on the floor to lay out blocks.  And it was fun to have quilters to chat with as they passed through the classroom where I was working. 

This is a scrappy Beads (also called Chandelier) quilt.  We have nearly enough blocks for a second version too.  We asked for the blocks to be done with any light neutral background with blue, red, and gold fabrics.  It actually looks much prettier in person.  Next I arranged and pinned rows for 2 other tops - Patriotic Stars and Bento Box.  One of our members who wasn't able to attend today stopped at my house and picked up the 6 pillowcase kits to sew.  

And since I had part of the afternoon open, I stopped at the pharmacy near our house and got my flu shot and my next Covid booster.  It was quite a productive day.

Saturday Sampler Christmas flimsy

 This must be the week of working with monster size quilts.  I'm binding one of them, and finished the quilt top for another one.  It's about 78" x 94".  

Midnight Stars is the name of this Saturday Sampler pattern by Amber Plemones at Sew Simple.  I chose to make 3 very different versions of this quilt, mainly because the blocks were so fast and easy to make.  But the pieced sashing is only going on ONE of them because it was quite time consuming.  Worth it in the end, but definitely time consuming.  

I deviated from the original with my borders as well as the triangles  next to each block.  I chose not to make the triangles in a different color, instead using the grey snowflake background.  And the pattern called for a wide 10" outer border using the background.  I added a narrow background border to make those squares float, and then added an 6" outer border of a Christmas print.   I didn't want this Christmas-y quilt to have quite so much grey.  I'm very satisfied with the result. 

Next steps - make the other 2 versions of the final block. 

Tuesday To Do list

The final block (#12) of this year's Saturday Sampler was possibly the hardest one to make.  The section with the green fabric was just a bit tricky.  So far I've only made the Christmas version of the block, but will get the other 2 done later this week most likely.

My main goal for this week with this version is to get the rows assembled, and ready to attach some borders.  One border will be a continuation of that pieced sashing.  I did pick up a Christmas-y print with a touch of grey in with the greens and reds for a final border. 

The baby quilt churn dash blocks are all made as well - and I put away the leftovers so I wouldn't be tempted to immediately make more of them.  The pink one with llamas, and the aqua one with cactus will go into my own quilt and the other 2 will go to guild for our donation baby quilts.  Hopefully I'll get my 12 blocks sewn into a top this week along with the sampler ones. 

 

And I'm happy to report that I finally wrestled that big Tulip Time quilt and have the binding attached. Hand stitching it will be an evening pass time this week.  

Design Wall Monday - October 10

 What is on your design wall this morning?  My design wall (floor) is covered with the 48 Falling In Love blocks that I made for the 2022 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Now I'm trying out various ways to lay them out for the quilt top.  I welcome all ideas and thoughts on the layout.  Help!!!

The blocks are not square; they finish approximately 8 x 9 inches, and I have 48 of them.  Laying them out with no sashing would make this quilt kind of narrow, and would require an outer border for sure.  That is always a possibility - no sashing at all.  

Laid out in simple rows but with sashing is another option.  Here are half of the blocks in simple rows.  If I did this layout, then I think a white sashing between each block would need to be somewhat narrow - maybe 1.5" finished, cut from 2" strips.  

Laid out in groups of 4 blocks with sashing between the groups is another option.  The sashing could be slightly wider with this choice, done with 2.5" strips.  

I also tried those groups of 4 slightly off-set.  This layout might be my favorite so far.  Again, this is only half of the blocks. 

Or the blocks could be split into groups of 2 - either vertically or horizontally. Or maybe a mix of vertical and horizontal pairs.  Can you tell I lean toward symmetrical layouts?  

My brain is struggling with this situation.  Help please!!  I love these blocks and don't want them to become a UFO and just sit in a project box. 

In the meantime I have the final block pattern, and the finishing instructions for the Saturday Sampler so while the heart blocks "marinate" I'll be sewing the sampler block in all 3 color versions that I've been doing this year.  Or at least I plan to work on the Christmas version.  

Check out more design walls today:
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Finishes and distractions

 In the last week I've done some serious inventory of projects that are partially done (both UFOs and WIPs), and taken note of which ones are really close to being done.  And by saying "DONE" I'm actually thinking in terms of completed tops - flimsies.  Every one of the following sets of blocks are enough - or close to being enough for a quilt.  

* Saturday Sampler - last block pattern has been picked up!!
*  Baby Quilt Churn Dashes
*  Friendship Squares
*  Windmill
*  Falling In Love (hearts)
*  Humble Homes
*  Country Bunnies
*  Elephants

It makes sense to just choose one of these and put a bit more focused time into moving them toward the finish line.  I'm trying - really I am.  The hearts are laying out on the floor for inspiration.  More on that tomorrow.  There are too many options. But unfortunately I'm so easily distracted.  

Example of 1 current distraction that has been calling me all week is the Scrambled Churn Dash.  It's a Missouri Star pattern that I bought recently, 

I couldn't just put the pattern into the basket of "to do" patterns could I?  No . . . I had to dig around in the stash to see what fabrics I might be able to use for it.  Of course I found something. Just when I think I'm focusing on finishes, another distraction starts calling to me.  For now the pattern and fabric is tucked together in a ziplock bag, safe from getting separated.  But no cutting has happened - yet.

Another distraction - the Fat Quarter Shop has a second Sewcialites free sew-along starting later in the month.  I'm so-o-o-o tempted.  Maybe I'll just make the small blocks.  LOL  

I did cut and kit up another Quick Strippee this week.  Yup - it was a distraction.  And there is one more set of fabrics for a third kit.  They'll be ready to sew someday soon and make wonderful gift and donation quilts for kids.  While cutting these strips it became obvious it was time to change out the blade in my rotary cutter.  I have several packages in the drawer but chose this one.  Let me just say it was like cutting through butter with a hot knife.  Why did I wait so long? 

 

And while my brain was spinning around the churn dash blocks, I have the extra ones I made for myself after making a bunch for our guild baby quilts.  There were nearly enough for a baby quilt, so I made just the 2 more blocks needed.  I can probably get that top assembled this week while still trying to decide on a layout for the heart blocks.  

Good steps toward another finished quilt top, right?  And while I'm at it I will probably make a couple more blocks for guild. 

Another look at green

The green drawer of yardage is the one that is currently the most difficult to close.  And the green scrap bin is definitely overflowing again.  Guess I'm partial to green. 

I took a bit of inventory of the green choices I made earlier in the year when we were to use the medium to dark shades of green.  I didn't follow directions very well evidently. 

The first 2 elephants (last spring) were both in that SAGE green hue, and toward the lighter side of sage.  So this month's new elephants are much more "lime" but also toward the medium tone.  They're all cute as can be so it doesn't matter what color they are.  I've made 2 each month so there are now 20 of these cute 12" elephant blocks.  Enough for a quilt?  Maybe . . . depending on the layout.  Or maybe I need to make a few more and split them up into 2 quilts. 

Each month I've made 5 of the Falling In Love blocks in the RSC color.  My first set of green ones included 3 dark hearts and 2 that are definitely more of the sage to lime tones.

These blocks are approximately 8" x 9" finished.  And since there were 45 of these (5 blocks for 9 months) heart blocks already, I didn't want to add any more green to the mix.  I'm adding some warm browns instead - and stopped at 3 blocks because that make 48 which works out nicely.

A few other random green blocks and brown blocks also happened this week while I was on a block sewing marathon.  Two of the Rainbow Connection string blocks happened while I was digging into the scrap bins.  When I found some 5" squares in the scraps that caused me to make some more of the Windmill blocks that I hadn't made in months.  One new pyramid was quickly sewn, along with that Ohio Star block needed to complete the quilt top - which is done. 

For now I've put away those brown scraps again, and will continue to work with green this month.  The Falling In Love heart blocks are ready to lay out on the floor to come up with a plan for this 2022 RSC project.  I know it's dangerous, but I've been looking on Pinterest at various layout options.  

One of the RSC block collections I had neglected lately is the Friendship Square.  I made a green one for this month and a light blue one for last month.  There are now 25 of these, so I think another 5 will make a decent sized quilt.  And there are about 30 of the squares (exchanged at guild) left in the box to choose from, so no problem. 

And in the meantime, I'll continue with the Quilt of Valor blocks and some other odds and ends of blocks that are quick to sew as Leaders/Enders.  

   

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for this week.

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/