Trying to Catch Up!

I am no different than most quilters alive today. I have too many projects! I got behind on the RSC Challenge but I pushed to finish up yellow blocks this week. 

 Here are the rest of the blocks I have finished. I did not do the multi-colored blocks in April.

Blue is the color chosen for July. 

I made more blocks with the floral strings. 

But I have now put these aside because I am working on a graduation quilt; yes, it will be a belated gift. But I am not showing any pictures as I want it to be kept a surprise.

I'm linking up with 
http://superscrappy.blogspot.ca/2017/07/new-month-new-color.html

Two Projects and a Surprise

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of production for me. I made a banner to hang in the church sanctuary, reflecting the current sermon series...

Size: 72"L x 42"W

 I used the book Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci to build the words. It was a new technique to learn, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process!

My nephew and his wife had a baby girl, so of course I made a quilt! I choose the colors based on the fabric used for the window treatment. 

Front, using mostly Cotton and Steel fabrics

Back, luscious minky!

 I quilted it on my Juki sewing machine, using the Baptist fan motif. 

And for the surprise...
I work the garden beds at church, and there was a small tree sprouting in the bed right next to the building. Of course I had to remove it. I never expected this!

That is a sprouting walnut! (Somewhere there is a very hungry squirrel looking for his lunch!) It was such an unexpected surprise; I came home and planted it in a pot in my backyard! I hope I can keep it growing.

I'm linking up today with Beth/Monday Making at http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2017/06/monday-making.html

Piecework

I started to make a baby quilt last week but it did not get finished in time for the baby shower. 

Just Keep Swimming

I need to add a couple of borders, but it is set aside for now. Instead I am busy working on another baby quilt. Here is a sneak peek!

I Spy Quilt Finished and Delivered

A family in my church recently birthed a baby, a second son. I decided to finish up an I Spy quilt that I pieced a year or two ago and gift it to them.  The two boys can have fun playing I Spy together in a few years!

(The 5" squares were collected
through an online I Spy swap.)

 I had a very puffy polyester batting that I used because I thought it would be so soft and fun! It is just that, but it was a bear to quilt on my machine. The lines were rather wavy in spots. You can see how I quilted it on the back...

What a mess!!

I've been trimming down my stash of floral fabrics. Sure makes a mess in my sewing/dining room!

I am cutting 5" and 2" squares for a future project, then strip cutting the rest.

I made two more 9" string blocks. Just playing around with them...

            

             

They really look like watercolor blocks. It will be fun to play with layouts when I complete more units.

Linking up today with 
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Trial Blocks

I am going to sew a baby quilt, but before cutting into my chosen fabrics, I decided to sew trial blocks. 

These blocks are cut in stacks, then the fabrics rearranged. Finished size of blocks are 5.25".

Next are scrappy stars. I was looking through a book from the library and fell in love with the little stars. 

Since I have so many scraps cut into squares, I knew it would be quick and easy to make these.I used 2" squares, and my blocks finish at 5.75"

Earlier this week I read a tutorial on a quilt blog regarding string block construction without using a foundation or paper. I had to try it!

It worked beautifully! Finished block size is 9"

Here is the back, nice and neat. I ran a basting stitch around the outside to keep the stitching from unraveling. 

I'm linking up today with http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2017/02/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-quiltcon-2017.html

Two more...

I found I had two more charity quilts made from the stack of fabric squares a friend passed on to me. I assembled them last year, but they kind of got buried during the holidays!

The first one is a simple baby quilt. There were so many of the blue floral squares that I put them in their own quilt. 

The second one is a lap quilt; I thought I should try to make at least one masculine quilt!

I've passed these on for quilting and binding. Glad to have them all out of the house at last!

What a difference!

I put borders on the charity quilt. Such a difference!

Here it is without the borders: Not all that attractive, just okay.

And here it is with the borders! I really like it now!

Here are the other quilt tops I sewed with the same large pile of squares from a friend. I am thinking they would have benefited with added borders. 😕

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

For two years I have been watching the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/. Angela, the blog hostess chooses one color each month, and she challenges her readers to use scraps in that color to make blocks. Eventually a participant will have enough blocks to make a quilt in the colors of the rainbow.Well, this year I am playing along! 

The color in January was purple. 

The February color is aqua.

I start with 2" squares, and the finished block size is 9".

A few years ago I was trimming red scraps into usable squares. What to do with the leftover bits of fabrics that were too small for squares but too large for the wastebasket? I made slab blocks!

I decided to make more slab blocks each month in the chosen color.

I simply sew together the scraps until the slab measures between 6 and 8 inches square. The backside of the slab shows many seams, making the blocks thick and heavy. 

Eventually I will come up with a plan for the slabs, but until then I will keep making them!

Linking up with http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2017/02/scraphappy-saturday-teal.html

Determination

I've had a mess on my dining room table, and I have been determined to get it cleaned up. 

I had been sorting some fabrics and also cutting up the teal blue scraps into usable squares.

Here is the result of perseverance! 
*The table is cleaned off. 
*Nice piles of teal blue squares will be added to the storage boxes. 
*There is a pile of leftover scraps that can be sewed into improvisational blocks. 
*I also cut out enough colorful fabrics to make six additional blocks for a charity quilt.

I sewed those six blocks together, then got busy arranging the squares into a pleasing design. 

I like this one best!

This setting is kind of fun, but it does not look so nice using these unrelated fabric scraps.

I'm working on using my pre-cut scrap squares to make these blocks. More on that in the next post.

Completed purple blocks

Teal blocks ready to sew