Scrappy Saturday sewing

Today was a true SCRAPPY SATURDAY... Finished up all my yellow blocks for the June #rainbowscrapchallenge 

The scrappy spools quilt is now halfway... It'll be 20 blocks when done. 

The Scrap Jar Stars blocks are also halfway. This quilt will be 12 blocks. I think it would look good with nine patches as cornerstones. I'm going to stitch up a few and see if I like it.

Here's this months yellows. My supply of scrap yellow was very limited so I was lucky to get as many as I did. 

And after finishing up the yellows I tackled the Scrappy HST quilt. The top is now done. Tomorrow I'll find a backing and get that pieced. It finished up at 64"x80". Not a bad size for picnics and the beach.

Look what popped up in my backyard...we didn't plant these. Such a nice surprise!

June is YELLOW

The scrappy color for June is yellow so I'm digging those out. This is one of three quilts I'm making in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge...see the button on the left sidebar of this page. Here's two of the four blocks I did for this quilt,

 It's surprising how much yellow I DONT have. But there's enough for these blocks with leftovers for my spool blocks, which I haven't cut yet and my scrap jar stars.

 As I stitch the yellow blocks, I'm using HST scraps as leaders and enders.

I have quite a pile of those! I cut my scraps into strips then cut strips into squares or triangles. These are 4" finished half square triangles. 

 Here's where the HSTs end up:

As I get enough for a row, I add it on....need at least five more rows for a 64" square quilt. It will probably be much larger than that ...I have SOOO many scraps!

Autumn top is finished...on to the quilting

This week I was able to make all the geese, stitch them into border pieces, add those borders then the final black borders...

Have any of you noticed your eyesight going as you get older....and it's giving you headaches as you sew? I think I might need new glasses...some kind of readers. After an hour or so of sewing my head is just aching...got to be the eye strain. It's really cramping my style...this aging thing!

Anyways, the top is finished so I stitched up a back (so happy that I had a good sized piece in my stash that worked). It's half pinned...I'll finish up tomorrow morning. . 

This is my favorite pinning tool. It's called the KWIK KLIP. If you pin many quilts you HAVE to try it. I was very skeptical when I was first told about it but tried it. Bought one for myself...one for a friend...one for my daughter...well, you get it. Love it! 

Back to pinning....

Maybe...just maybe, I'll get this finished up in the next few days. I need a May finish

Working on 2nd border autumn quilt

The center is done...yay! I'm stitching flying geese units as time allows....it's been a busy month. Als birthday, Mother's Day, son-in-laws bd, anniversary (36 yrs!) plus we took a short trip up to see my brothers place in the U.P. (That's the upper peninsula of Michigan).

Loved making these sawtooth stars. It was a little weird to be working with these warm colors but I REALLY WANT THIS DONE in time for fall. 

My favorite was this striped star...I could do a whole quilt of these!!

Autumn in the springtime

I've started a new project because....well....because I was bored with everything else. My sewing room, my rules...right?!! Yup! I have plans to finish this one before fall so I got it cut....everything except the borders. Won't this be perfect for an autumn/Halloween quilt? 

I found the picture (below) on Pinterest...searched for the pattern and finally found out it's from Keepsake Quilting and called Flying Geese and Stars quilt. These are 6" stars with 6" borders. It'll make a nice lap sized quilt for the couch. My colors are a little deeper for the oranges...leaning toward rust. I still have to find the perfect black...I don't want solid...maybe something black with little pumpkins? Little Gatherings has a few black and beige prints I like too....

May's scrap color is GREEN

 Since May's color is green, that's the scrap bin I'm digging through. I'm amazed to see that I don't really have a lot of the same type of green and almost no true "crayola" green. So all the scraps were sorted into yellow-green, bright green, dusty green.. etc....

I was able to make a nice set of these blocks below...my "no name" blocks.

Finished up with the May blocks making 2 green spools, one scrap jar star and a bunch of the other little blocks.

There are 5 scrap jar stars so far

.....and 27 of the no names...

....10 of the spools... So it feels like progress on getting rid of scraps.

These Kaffe scrappy bear paws are done and are getting stitched into a top. 

I think I've decided on backing and binding....maybe...

And this months UFO is #11 which is Lisa and Dustin's wedding quilt! That needs to be done by mid June so PERFECT! Don't ask about the last two months UFOs...just don't ask....

Fun and easy pillow

Front entry pillow is done ...check off another completed project. The block is called raspberry kiss. I spotted a similar pillow on Pinterest that I just loved. Love Pinterest! 

This is supposed to be where I was going to put this pillow but I've changed my mind...I like it better up in the TV room so I'll be searching for another inspiring pattern to make.

I loved how easy this was to make....it's just like making a mini quilt EXCEPT when you get ready to bind it, make the zippered back panel, put them wrong side of back to wrong side of front (mini quilt), baste the two together THEN BIND as you would any quilt. The binding becomes sort of a flange or piping look edge. There's no turning inside out! So easy!

I made the back with a hidden zipper flap. This took no time at all!

Start of a new quilt, finish of an old one

This is the start of, YES ANOTHER, new quilt. As I was stitching the binding down on another UFO, I started thinking about a new quilt using my stash of pink, orange and yellow Kaffe Fassett fabrics. When I was at the local quilt shop, I found the nicest background for these bear paws. It's a creamy/beige modern weave print. It is subtle enough to allow the Kaffe to pop and with just a hint of warmth. 

These blocks are large ... About 14" sq. I think I'll make 20 blocks...that should make a decent sized quilt...with sashing and maybe a few borders. 

I've been cutting and cutting...going to need a pile of HSTs and 2-1/2" squares.

And here's a quick little project I squeezed in...it's going to be a pillow. Where? No idea. It was going to be for my foyer seat but the color needs to be toned down a bit for in there. So I'm thinking it would be cute in the TV/sewing room...on the couch. 

And here's my latest finish. This fabric line is from Moda called HONEY. Originally I was going to add a flying geese border around it but after looking at it a while I decided something simpler would be better. 

I ended up with the geese on the back (color is horrible in this pic)

And here's my latest fabric finds! The local shop is carrying a BEAUTIFUL line of Art Gallery Fabrics! Yum! Had to buy a little of that, of course.

More finishes coming soon!

This quilt, which is a UFO from 4 or 5 years ago, is finally getting worked on. I had a dozen blocks but only 9 made the cut into the quilt so that didn't leave a very large quilt. But with a good sized sashing and a wide border it's up to 62" square... A good size for a lap quilt..

Yesterday I finished free motion quilting it with just a large meander and today I'm stitching down binding. I should be able to call this finished by the weeks end. 

The weather has been beautiful so I hate to spend too much time in my sewing room but I also don't want to slack on getting scraps turned into blocks. I was able to make 4 gray blocks to add to my rainbow quilt block pile. Looks like I need to make more reds...

Lisa visited us a few weekends ago and needed a gift for her cat sitter. She stitched up this beautiful mug rug/ table mat in no time. And check out the quilting!! 

One March finish plus April blocks

There was a March finish...I didn't get around to taking a picture. It's not the UFO I was supposed to do but a finish is a finish, right?! It used up loads of scraps. I cut squares from my 2-1/2" scrappy strips ...completely made from my scraps:) 

Here's my first April scrappy block. Doing my gray scraps this month which fits perfectly with these gray rainy days. 

And this quilty UFO has been in the todo pile for years...I had an idea what I could do with it so I pulled it out. This was a set of blocks in the #honey line from Moda. (Kate Spain). We had a drawing at Hearts to Holly quilt shop and I was one of two winners. These were made by many different ladies so the size wasn't consistent...no problem...I just trimmed them all to 12" and started sashing. Doing that clips a few corners but that's okay. It will still make a nice cozy quilt for someone.

April at last!

The scrappy color this month is "mixed" according to The So Scrappy Blog

but since that won't work in my rainbow quilts, I'm changing April to GRAY. I have quite a few gray scraps and I think they'll work well with what I have so far.

The UFO for April is #1 and for me it's the one in the picture below. I have some aqua and snow setting blocks to make....have to attach them to this top (all the farmers wife blocks are done) and then baste, quilt and bind. 

Since I didn't finish the March UFO, I'll be working on that first. This quilt has been claimed by daughter Lisa so that's where it'll be going when done.

After this quilt is completed I will still have a pile of Farmers Wife Blocks. Quilt two will have to wait a few years before I start on that.