Scrappy Purple saturday

Well, I’ve gone and done it. I told myself I wouldn’t and that I couldn’t because I have way too many projects already on the go. But I’ve gone and done it anyway. Joined the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This month’s colour is purple. I’m making purple scrappy 1 inch equilateral triangle, which are getting put together into 3 inch triangles.
I have tons of 1 1/2 inch strips in my scrap bins, which are perfect for these. This is kinda what I’m aiming for.
The triangles in the middle may turn out to be fussy cut diamonds, if I can find some fabric with purple in it for fussy cutting, or maybe yellow for fussy cutting. And the one colour triangles around that centre star will probably be hexagons. However, considering I’ve just started this today, and I still have five of the star points to do, there is time to decide exactly where this will go. In the meantime, I’ll have some fun, bust some tiny scraps, and join up with Scrap Happy Saturday.

Scrappy Saturday....... yellow

It has taken me all month to finally get this month's Silly Car from Fat Cat Patterns done. I love this pattern. It is just so very cute! This is the only sewing I got done this month for the SoScrappy colour challenge. And technically, this doesn't really count as sewing, since it is only fused down, but not sewn yet. I found some yellow variegated thread in my thread stash, and I'm going to use it, and a decorative stitch from my machine to stitch this down. I have all those hundreds of stitches on my machine that have never been used, so these cars are the opportunity. While I was drawing the design out onto the fusible web, I did up a second one at the same time. I'm thinking, now that it's all drawn out, all I need is the information on next month's colour, and maybe I can get it done before the last minute.......... yeah right...... like that's gonna happen. I always leave things to the last minute. (sigh). If you click on the SoScrappy link a couple of sentences up, you'll find my post, and a bunch of other folks that have been playing in the yellows.

It's a Lazy Saturday.....

I was up early today for a Doctor's appointment, and then Scott and I went to the downtown market for a little bit of shopping. We picked up some meats and vegetables.... from local growers, rather than the large grocery chains. I like the idea of supporting the farms and growers in our area. But the early morning has meant an afternoon slump. I did get some of my blues done for the Scrap Happy colour challenge. I have more blues ready to do more of the nine patches, and more triangle and hexagon shapes ready for hand sewing. The nine patches are getting done as leader/enders while I'm sewing the 32 rows left on my plus sign quilt. It's not quite half done yet. There are more rows than nine patches, so I'll have to pull out some other leader/ender to finish it off.
I'm linking up to Scrap Happy Saturday, and I think I'll spend some time there looking around. Then it just might be a knitting while watching season 3 of Call the Midwife on netflix afternoon.

Scrappy Saturday Projects

Today was the last Saturday of the year. I know I'm not really saying anything there that most people don't already know, but it sure is surprising to me just how fast it came around. This was my first year participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. At this time last year, I decided that there were three projects I wanted to work on through the year. I had all kinds of lofty plans that I could work on a different project each Saturday of the month, which gave me a spare Saturday each month, just in case something happened and I fell behind. I don't know who thought I was kidding, besides myself, that I'd ever be able to keep up. However, the good news is that I did get one project to the finished top stage. This Triple Four Patch was finished up at our guild's sew-in days back in November. It's still waiting for quilting.

 Another project that I was working on in the first part of the year were these pinwheels. Once the summer hit, and my sewing time decreased due to being outside more often, these blocks were left to languish. I'm thinking I have enough here to make a small child's quilt. Each block is 14 inches square. I'm just not quite sure what to do with that centre area. I don't particularly want to do another of these blocks. Any ideas out there for what to put in that centre section?

These Bow Ties were another project that I started at the beginning of last year. This is a bit of what the lay out will look like. These stalled because the colours for some of the months were too light to show up against the background fabric I'm using, so it too languished in the colour challenge box. I'm going to pick this one back up and work on it again this year. I think I might be a bit more flexible with the fabric choices for the bow ties this year, and go for multi-coloured prints containing the colour of the month, or at least put in some prints so that the colours flow better.

And then there are these nine patches, made from 1 1/2 inch squares and Kona white. These will work with the lighter colours that are chosen throughout the year that won't work with the bow ties.



These nine patches will eventually end up in this quilt. I need 125 of them. Nine down and 116 to go.
I'm linking up to the last Scrap happy post of the year.

Scrappy Saturday, sew-in day 2

What a wonderful couple of days, so much fun, and I got so much done!! My triple four patch that I started last November for the Scrappy Saturday Rainbow Colour Challenge, is a finished top. And I love it!! There's something wrong with the right hand border.... the end units are turned the wrong way, somehow, but I don't care. It's staying in it's imperfection.


After I finished the triple four patch quilt, I started on these squares. I have a whole bag full of these little four patches, so I'm going to make them up into these Sister's Choice variation blocks. They'll use up those four patches, and some more yardage and also some 2 1/2 inch scrap strips for the triangles. The plan right now, is to use orange in the same place in all the blocks. I'm not sure if I have enough bright bold oranges, but I'll use up what I have and go from there. I have enough triangles made up to do three more blocks. But I think I'm done sewing for the next day or two.... I've kinda over dosed a bit, but it sure was fun. I'm going to link this up to Soscrappy for the rainbow challenge saturday post. This month's colour was actually light blue, which I didn't get anything done with. But the finish of the quilt from last year is rather exciting. After I post this, I think I'm going to just sit quietly and knit.

Sew In day 1

Just a quick post to show what was accomplished today.
All of my triple four patches are sew together into the top. Tomorrow, I will finish off the borders.

The Blooming Nine Patch is now a finished top. And it also has a finished backing.  There's a close up here, of some of the really cute animal faces poking out behind the balls of yarn, and the blue berry bushes. I'll get better pictures out in the daylight, some other time. It was a fun day, with lots  accomplished. And I'm hoping to get lots done tomorrow, too.

Stash and Scrappy Saturday Report, week 18, 2014

I'm late, as usual, getting my Scrappy Saturday post written so, as usual, I'll combine two in one.

I finished my eight triple four patches in this month's colour of green at about 9:30 last night. I had all the stuff cut out on Friday, but no time to work on them until yesterday. With all of the distractions, this contraption I am currently typing on being a major one, it was late when they were finished, and my brain wasn't functioning well enough to write, so I decided to follow my usual pattern, and delay writing it until tomorrow, which is now today. I'll link this up to Scrap Happy Saturday.
As for stash use, just a little bit went out, and nothing in. Once I get to the point where all the blocks for Three of a Kind are done, the totals will go up, because there is a big wide border in it. In the meantime, I'm back into positive stash used numbers.... barely.

Used this week:                              1.3 yards
Used this year:                              37.6 yards
Added this week:                               0 yards
Added this year:                            37 yards
Net stash used:                                 .6 yards

That net used amount will be going up more this coming week, as I cut into the Thomas the Tank Engine fabrics for Avery's third birthday, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. Two pillow cases and some pajamas are on my to-do list for this week. I'm linking to Judy's Stash Report, and then I'll cut some pillow cases.

Stash Report and purple scraps, week 17, 2014

I'm a day behind on my Scrappy Saturday purple blocks, but I finally got them done today.

These are my scrappy pinwheels. I'm doing 2 blocks of these each month in the colour of the month. I'm challenging myself to use the complimentary colour in the 2 inch squares and the outer framing. These have added a bit to mu used column in my stash report. Unfortunately, I went to a quilt show on Friday, and added a little bit. A bunch of black and white fabrics, only fat quarters, jumped into my hands and insisted on coming home with me. I have plans for them, really fun plans. Teresa, at a Quilt and a Prayer is making some really fun blocks that she's called Happy Dance. I love the design, and the colours and everything else about the blocks she has, enough that I'm collecting fabrcis so I can make my own version.

Used this week:                 1.5 yards
Used this year:                 36.3 yards
Added this week:              2 yards
Added this year:              37 yards
Net added:                           .7 yards

I'll be linking up to Judy's Stash Report.

Purple Triple four patches

 These purple strips from last week,

became triple four patches this week. I really enjoy working with this colour. I think it's one of my favourites. Although, thinking about it now, I don't wear much purple. I wonder why that is, when I like the colour so much? I just might have to do something about that, sometime. I'm halfway through getting the squares I need for this particular quilt. I'm doing an 8x10 layout for it, requiring 8 blocks in 10 different colours. I have lots of single four patch blocks, as well as double four patches that will go into borders for this quilt. It is fun working on this particular quilt for this rainbow scrap challenge. There are lots of other people working on fun projects at Scraphappy Saturday

Purple Saturday

Well, I can't really say that today has gone even close to the way I planned. The plan was to get all kinds of blocks made for the scrappy Saturday challenge. The actuality was, taxes time. Shall we all give a great big YUCK!! Made even worse by the fact that we found out the hard way that there has been no income tax with held on some of DH's pension. So, instead of the refund we were expecting, came a bill instead. Not anywhere even close to the way I wanted this day to go. (insert big sigh here). I did some organizing and cutting of my purple fabrics last night, which was a good thing, or I wouldn't have gotten even this far today,

eight pairs of strip sets made for the smallest part of the triple four patches I've been making each month. But I'm so bummed out over the rotten tax situation, that I really don't feel like sewing any more. What I do feel like is going out and getting some comfort food.... chocolate cheesecake comes immediately to mind. However, I will behave, and stay home, and cut up these strips into the requisite pieces needed for the four patches..... not anywhere near as fun as chocolate cheesecake. I'm linking up to Angela's Parade of Purple and lots of fun stuff to look at.

Aqua scrappy Saturday

I just finished the 2 pinwheel blocks I've been doing monthly for the SoScrappy Rainbow Saturday. I wanted to get both of them done today, because there is a chance I'll be going on a road trip next Saturday. Said road trip just might involve some friends and some fabric and yarn purchases, so I wanted to get them done today. I've had a few distractions today, though,  the main one being DD and the garment sewing I've been doing for her. I remember now why I make quilts. The fitting of the skirt wasn't right, of course, so I had to rip out, and alter and then sew back together. It now fits, but it needs a lining. I think it's going to wait for a while now. In between working on the skirt, I've been sewing these pinwheels, which are a whole lot more entertaining. As usual, for these blocks, I've done the pinwheels in the monthly colour, and the frames in the colour directly opposite on the colour wheel, in this case a kinda redish/orange/pink. And now, I have hanging sleeves to do.

Scrappy Aqua for March

I've been working on the Rainbow scrappy blocks today and yesterday. All of the triple four

patches are done. The colours in this picture aren't quite accurate, the colours are a bit brighter in real life. But the sun was down, and I'm taking the picture by indoor light, so this is as good as it gets. I spent the afternoon over at Gail's and finished these there. Then I got the binding for my Thanksgiving Leaves all sewn together. It needs its final iron, and then, after I make a hanging sleeve, I can get the binding onto it. Yeehaw!! Everyone but Scott and are are away from home this weekend, so I think I'm going to throw myself a quilt trimming party, using their dining room table, which is the biggest free standing surface in the house. There might be some wild jumping up and down and happy dancing done once this monster of a quilt is finished. In the meantime, I'm linking up to the Scraphappy Saturday.

Seeing pink

I spent part of yesterday, and then this evening working on my Rainbow scrap challenge pink pinwheel blocks. I decided to do both of them at the same time, rather than one this week and another next weekend. There's a sew-in day for the guild next Saturday, and I didn't want to spend it doing one of these. So, my pinks are done for the month. I'm having a hard time believing that February is half over already, more than half, really. I've done very little with my UFO for the month, which is the other reason I wanted to get these done. Now I can focus on working on that.
I'm linking up to SoScrappy ScrapHappy Saturday

Tickled Pink

 I had a lovely afternoon today. A group of four of us got together at Gail's, aka The Cozy Quilter, for a sewing afternoon. I spent the afternoon playing with my pinks. I did up all the pink bow ties that I had prepared, and also finished the last four of the triple four patch blocks. which means I'm on schedule for all the blocks I want to do for this years ScrapHappy Saturday challenge. There are lots of other really fun projects showing up on the SoScrappy blog. So many good ideas, so little time, and I want to do them all.

Last Saturday for the Blues..

I did another pinwheel block in blues today. I am so really enjoying doing all of these different blocks for the Rainbow scrappy challenge. Why didn't I do this years ago? I hadn't actually expected to be able to get another one of these done today. I was supposed to be going to a quilt show planning committee meeting, but the meeting got cancelled due to the weather, so it was a free sewing and jammies day.  I'm really excited and impatient to know what the colour for February will be? Will it be classic red for February? Here are all of my January blues blocks laid out together, eight 3 inch bow ties, nine 6 inch bow ties, nine triple four patch blocks, and the two pinwheel collection blocks.

I'm linking up to SoScrappy for the last of the January blues.

Scraptastic Saturday

This is the third Saturday of the month, and time for another scrappy blues block. This is the one I designed up on graph paper and then in EQ7 based on the question, what would happen if I tried to combine 3 inch, 4 inch and 6 inch pinwheels. The answer, a very easy looking block that wasn't at all easy to put together. Turned out I had to do a couple of partial seams in order to get those small pinwheels onto the corners. But, it worked, and I'm happy with it. I might do up another one of these next weekend. I have all kinds of fun kid prints in various colours and sizes to use up. I think they'd be great in these blocks. I'm going to do some colour wheel play with all the colours that get chosen for these blocks. The month's colour will be the pinwheels, and the colour directly opposite the main colour on the wheel will go in the squares and the narrow borders. It will be fun to see what they look like as more of these blocks get added
I'm linking up to Scraphappy Saturday, where there are lots of other people playing the blues.

Playing the Scrappy Saturday Blues

I have this week's group of Scrappy blue bow ties done.  There are nine 6 inch blocks.

And there are nine 3 inch blocks.

And seven out of eight of the triple four patch blocks are done. One more of these, and then I can work on the pinwheel block. I'm devoting one weekend each month to each of these different sets of blocks. I think that makes it manageable, and maybe I'll be able to keep up. It certainly didn't take long to sew up those bow ties up there. I'm heading out to Gail's Saturday afternoon, for a sewing afternoon. I'll take the last of the triple four patch blocks with me to finish up. But before we sew, we're going to check out a yarn shop. I might be coming home with a bit more yarn. I just might also be coming home with a BOM that we both really like started, which will make for another new project started. I'm taking my fabric pulls for it with me, so that's what I'll be working on. I'm linking to Scraphappy Saturday. Lots of fun stuff to see there today.

Scrappy Saturday, browns continue

I managed to get 2 more brown scrappy triple four patches made last night.

I've been using my recliner chair as the setting for most of my pictures that only need a small area. It has the Ott light behind it, so I get the most accurate colour representation there. But that's why there has been that burgundy fabric in the background of some of my pictures lately. I have a portable one that I should dig up, and then I wouldn't have to use the chair, I could spread out on the floor, or something. But anyway, this works, for now. With the shorter days, daylight pictures are harder to come by.
I'm hoping to go over to Gail's for a couple of hours sewing this afternoon. I now have Lazy Sunday completely finished, although no picture yet, I'm waiting for the wind to die down so I can get one outside. If not, I'll take it and pin it up on my design wall later this morning. But, with that one done, I am now moving on to Thanksgiving Leaves. I pulled it out of it's box last night, and found that I have 6 blocks done, and a seventh started. I need either 12 or 16, depending on the size I decide to go with. So, that is next in my line up of attempts to finish without starting anything new. This scrappy challenge is a new start, but it barely counts because it's such small amounts each week. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. I'm linking up with Soscrappy. There are more fun brown scrappy things to see there.