Monday, May 30, 2022

May RSC Green Goals Met!

This has been an interesting month.  Partly because I finally overcame all the obstacles and finished Natalie's quilt (Hooray!), but mostly because I couldn't keep track of what day it was, and the month was almost over before I got around to making my green Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  Green, any shade, is my favorite color.  (I'm especially partial to chartreuse!).  So I had lots of greens in my stash to work with and got all my windmills, stars .....










..... and bricks made in one afternoon.  Whew!









I don't want you to think I was busy doing nothing all month.  I put binding on four donation quilts for my guild.  I really have fun seeing all the fun quilts the ladies in this group make and then putting the finishing touch on them.  Plus I get to use up some of my stash making the bindings.  By little and by little, right?












I made a donation quilt from my stash as well.  The zebra batik was given to me by someone downsizing her stash.  The rest of the fabrics I used were all from my stash!












Like I said.  It was an interesting month.

Linking up with So Scrappy

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Mar/Apr Goals Finally Met!

I am happy to announce (happier than you know!) that my March goal (which became my April goal) is finally done!  I knew I was right to not give up on it.  I put the binding and label on Natalie's quilt this week and it's ready to gift.










I was finally able to get some photos that show the true colors.  It's amazing what a little natural light will do.













I'm excited to be able to gift this one in person next weekend.  I've had to mail an awful lot of niece and nephew quilts the last few years, and that's not as much fun.  Isn't that a pretty quilting job by my friend, Shirley Jackson?













It's almost time for May reports, but I haven't done the April reports yet.  So, here they are -

APRIL
Fabric Added in April - 5 yards
Fabric Used in April - 8.9 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 26.3
Fabric Used Year to Date - 69.2 yards
Net used in 2022 - 42.9 yards

Days I sewed in April - 25/30
Days I sewed this year - 114/120
Percentage - 95%

Linking up with So Scrappy!

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Ooops! I Forgot the Borders!

Has it really been three weeks since I blogged?  Yikes!  The last time I wrote I was still hoping to make my April goal by getting the top put together for Natalie's quilt.  All I had to do was put the completed rows together, and that surely wouldn't take very long.  But I had forgotten how long it takes to make sashing with cornerstones, not to mention getting all those seams lined up.  



Just look at all that lining up!  And sewing through all that bulk didn't help anything.






















Even so, I might still have completed my goal if it weren't for the fact that I also had to make the pieced borders.  I really had forgotten that this quilt even has borders!  No sashing on the borders, so that went a little faster.  Still a lot of bulk, though!









The top was finally finished on May 8th.  Not dreadfully late; unless you consider this was my March goal and my April goal.











The next time you see this it will be quilted and bound.  And you'll see a big difference in the color when I catch some pics outside!  It really is a pretty shade of blue.  You'll see.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Making Progress!

I'm finally making progress on Natalie's quilt.  I no longer want to give up on it and throw the whole thing into the trash.  Well.  I probably wouldn't do that now that fabric costs about $13 a yard!  

I got all the blocks trimmed over the weekend.  That was fun.  (She said sarcastically!)  The 5" ruler I bought last week was the perfect tool for this job.

It took a while to get through the whole stack .....



..... and look how much fabric was wasted!  Yikes!  Remember I just mentioned above what fabric costs these days?  This is so sad.  









I know some quilters use their scraps to stuff dog beds, so I'm going to find someone who can use them.  

I spent the entire day sewing today, and got all the rows made .....  



..... so, on to sashing now.   I wonder if I'll be able to make my April goal (which was also my March goal!)  With four days left, I'm hopeful.  For a while there this was feeling a lot more like work than fun, but I'm starting to love this quilt!

Sunday, April 24, 2022

RSC-Pink Goals Met!

It's almost the end of another month and time to report on April's RSC2022 progress.  The color for April is pink, and even though pink is not very high on my favorite colors list, I've managed to find enough pink scraps to get my blocks made.  Here are my Windmill and Sawtooth Star blocks.  










I added a third monthly RSC project which I haven't mentioned before now.  I want to use up as many scraps as I can in this challenge, so in January I found a stack of sixty red 2.5" by 4.5" bricks and decided to turn them into a third project.  I added the aquas/teals in February,  golds/yellows in March, and of course pinks in April. I have no idea where I'm going with this idea, but I'll come up with something!










And speaking of pink!  I was attracted to these Kaffe Fassett "Agate" fat quarters when I was "supporting my local quilt shop" the other day, and they ended up coming home with me.  I wasn't sure which one I liked better.










Much to my surprise when I unfolded them later I found out they're both from the same print.  How fun is that!  










So that's my "April Pinks" story.  Onward to May and whatever color that brings!

Linking up with So Scrappy!

Friday, April 22, 2022

The Current Plan

I've been really struggling with Natalie's quilt.  I started with one plan then changed to a different plan.  Now I have come up with yet another plan.  Actually, another step in the plan.  Or something like that.  I needed to do something interesting with the 3.5" squares I ended up with after all that cutting, re-sizing, and trimming.  Maybe setting them on point, or putting sashing on two sides, or just about anything!  I got to thinking about a quilt I made a while back with tilted string blocks.  That quilt is one of my favorites. This just might work!


 











My inspiration quilt ("Lemon Licorice Twists") did not have a pattern.  I just sort of made it up as I went along.  I took a close look .....


..... made a sample block .....












..... then got to work.  I couldn't find a blue batik I like so I bought a sky blue Wilmington Prints design called "Spatter".

Hmmm.  Not bad.











I have 212 of these made and ready to trim .....










..... and I really don't want to change plans again.  So.  Fingers crossed!

Linking up with Oh Scrap!