Scrap Happy Saturday - RSC15 - Week 5

I can hardly believe that we have already reached Week FIVE of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!!  It seems too soon, but also long past due, as I have been looking forward to a NEW Color of the Month since the MIDDLE of January.  :P

Sunday, I began this post and added to my Crumb Starters.  Soon, they will be Crumb Blocks!

Monday afternoon, I made THREE Tiny Nines  and FOUR Crumb blocks:

These Tiny Nines appear to need a bit more pressing!

These Crumb Blocks (using my "crumb starters") are more reserved than most of the ones that I make.

Tuesday, after work, I made TWO String blocks...

And before dinner, I made the STAR POINTS for one Maverick Star:

This one is WAY less BLUE than most of the others (but HEY!  It has a blue background!!)

Wednesday morning, I discovered that Angela had announced the NEW Color of the Month.  I'm SO excited!!!  (Even if it's NOT my favorite color!)  I'm waiting for Saturday to make the announcement here... although, I may drop a few hints between now and then.   :o))

On Wednesday afternoon, I made... ONE Maverick Star block:

Here I am, piecing the sections that I made yesterday.

This photo shows the completed block.

 After dinner on Wednesday, I headed upstairs to do an alteration on DS2's new jeans and made TWO String blocks while I was up there.  :o))

Thursday, DS2 had his 2 year studies so we spent the day at Duke University Hospital.  It's hard to believe that it's been 2 YEARS since his Bone Marrow Transplant!!  It was a day filled with too many appointments and tests... no time for sewing.  :o((

The good news is...

He's doing GREAT!!!  All of his tests had positive results and he went back to karate with no incidence of tachycardia.  Hooray!!!  He is well and truly on the mend.   :o))


Friday, after work, I took another look at my BLUE "basket."  I was looking to see if it had another quilt block hiding in its depths...  It didn't.  My mind has already moved on.  Done with BLUE for now.  Plus, I was bone tired from working all day!  Some days are like that.

Every week of BLUE month has been filled with OTHER things to do BESIDES SEWING!!  Overall, I am quite pleased with the amount of progress I've made working through my BLUE scraps.


I must tell you, though...

It looks like I barely TOUCHED the BLUE scraps!!!


In fact, I think they MULTIPLIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL

OK... maybe the "basket" looks a LITTLE emptier. than when the month began.  It's no longer HEAPING full.  :o))

It's Saturday and this afternoon, I took an inventory of the BLUE scraps that I've USED during the month of January.


You've seen the basket, but can you begin to tally the blocks that have been made?  Whatever the number, it CAN'T have been many!!   Or could it???

Here is the total block production for the month:

FOUR (4) Crumb Blocks (Slabs?)

NINE  (9) Maverick Star Blocks

TWENTY-TWO  (22) String Blocks

A BAKER'S DOZEN (13)  Tiny Nines

TWELVE (12)  Bonus Rectangle Squares (Brick?)

For a total of SIXTY (60) quilt blocks made during the month of January!!!

Along with...

A handful of newly trimmed scraps for future use.

I want to thank Angela, over on the So Scrappy blog, for hosting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It has really jump started my enthusiasm for quilting.  I gave me a reason to climb the stairs to my studio on a daily basis... even if I didn't manage to sew every day.  You only that to look at the totals for the month.  Without the RSC15, there is NO WAY that I would have been so productive!!!

Here are a few composite pictures of the design floor at various angles:

I couldn't decide which shot best showed the work so I posted them all for your viewing pleasure.

What a load of SCRAP!!!    :o))


Now, for the moment you've been waiting for...

WAIT!!!

Did you pick up on the clues???


Some were rather subtle and others were quite obvious.


OK...


The time has arrived...


And...


The NEW Color of the Month is...

Ignore the crumpled paper.  This photo was shot at work and the color card belongs to my not-quite-2 y.o. charge.

The photo above shows my PINK "basket" as a point of reference for the end of the month.

DISCLAIMER:  (Ravelry) UFO Club members, I really didn't PLAN to start THREE (er... FIVE) new quilts this month!!  In my defense, I have made progress on finishing The Joyful Scrap Addiction.  (Otherwise, known as my Crumb Quilt.) I managed to get 90 inches of binding hand sewn before my tendonitis started to kick in!  I can assure you that I will make additional progress on that UFO (and others) in the coming month.

NOTICE:  (Ravelry) Austerity Challenge quilters, I'm taking austerity to a whole new level!!!

NOTE:  I'm link number 31 in the link-up on January 31st.  Perhaps, I should go play the lottery!  :o))

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

January = BLUE = Productivity

Design Floor Friday - GIMQ Link-up

Thanks for coming back for the next edition of Design Floor Friday!  No progress has been made on my Paint Chip Challenge quilt so I cleared away the pieces. Today you will see a different project on the design floor.

What now, Joyful?

I laid out my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt (GIMQ) in hopes of figuring out what to do about borders.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame, was (supposed to be) having a link-up today.  I popped over to share my progress (or lack thereof, but I haven't seen the post yet.)  If she's a night-owl, I'll just have to hope that the link-up will be open tomorrow because I am off to bed in just a little while.  Early to bed, early to rise and all that stuff!  :o))

Here are the layouts that I've been contemplating:

Set like Bonnie's.

Alternating the "star points" to point in and then out (just to be different.)

Pardon the feet!  This shows the way I ultimately decided to sew the "border units" together...

However, the verdict is still out as to how I will actually border the quilt.  I'm not quite sure the last photo does it for me, either.  The other option that I've come up with is using a method that Pat Sloan uses on some of her quilts.  It's a sort of color progression, as well as a progression of strip sizes.

Scrappy, of course!

I'll do a couple of "rounds" (yes, I'm a knitter who is currently knitting a project "in the round"!) of say 1" strips of one color (I'm thinking yellow), followed by a couple of "rounds" of 2" strips of another color (Possibly purple or green.)  That will be followed by binding in a third color (Probably whichever color I don't use as the 2nd border.)  Hopefully, Bonnie will have another link-up next month.  I just MIGHT have sewn the borders on!!

I wouldn't hold my breath, if I were you.  I've been known to take YEARS to move to the next step in the process of sewing a quilt top!  :P

That's it for this week.  (Except to add the LINK that Bonnie forgot about in all the comings and goings of her retreat week.  That's OK, Bonnie... we forgive you!!!)  Look for me at link number 29 on Bonnie's blog.

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!!!

Quilts on a Field Trip

NOTICE:  The exhibit has been extended through the month of March!!!  My quilts will be home after that time.  Oh! the stories they will have to tell about their stay.  :o))

Eight of my quilts have gone on a field trip to the UNC Health Sciences Library.  They were displayed there ALL of December and ALL of January and will hang there about half of February, too.  This means that their field trip is drawing to a close.

If YOU are in the area of UNC Chapel Hill, please stop by for a visit!

Why so late with the post??

Well, I really wanted to add pictures of the travelers.  However, the photos that I took right before the quilts left for UNC were taken on the camera and the camera hasn't been working with my new computer.  :o((

For more about the exhibit, please read the following notice which was prepared for the Durham Orange Quilters Guild newsletter.

Bibby Moore's DOQ Newsletter Article:

DOQ Quilt Display at UNC Health Science Library
 Dec 2014 - February 2015

Dear DOQ Members:

Thank you for your generous response to a request for a Quilt Display at the UNC Health Science Library located at 335 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC. Almost 45 quilts were submitted with the small ones (12" ) to be hung in groups of 6.  If you would like to see the quilts on display the building is open during the week generally from 8:00am - 5:00 pm (http://hours.lib.unc.edu/#view-hsl) but check the hours before you go. There is also a small cafe there which you might enjoy.

The Health Sciences Library (HSL) is the primary library for the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and UNC Hospitals, and also serves all of UNC and the general public. The library provides access to a comprehensive collection of health sciences journals and books. The building has open study space, 20 small group study rooms, 2 teaching labs, a collaboration center, two well-equipped public conference rooms, and a coffee shop.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this show:
Karen Wysocki for making the quilt information cards; Volunteers to help hang the quilts: Jean Fetterman, Francine Blouin and UNC Health Sciences staff.
Quilt Submissions from Gail Benoit, Francine Blouin, Nancy Cable, Vicki Childers, Kathy Friedman, Evelyn Judson, Nan Lee, Bibby Moore, Joy Murphy, Paul Britt, Suzan deSerres, Maria Tax and Karen Wysocki. Health Sciences staff for coordinating, advertising, display assistance.

Some quilts are available for sale with 20% of proceeds to go to DOQ as a donation.

For more information contact: Bibby Moore, Education and Outreach 2014, 919-967-2150 or Karen Crowell, Liaison Librarian, Clinical Services, UNC Health Library 919-966-0951.

Article from the Health Science Library's website:
http://hsl.lib.unc.edu/news2014/1418659006

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!!!

(Note to self:  Photos on 11/30/14!!! Add... upon their return, since camera isn't working.)

NOTE TO ALL:  Photos can be seen in THIS POST.

Scrap Happy Saturday - RSC15 - Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

This past week got off to a slow start.  I was too focused on knitting to quilt.  So...

Sunday, I did NOTHING quilty ALL DAY!!!  :o((

Monday, I managed to sew a little bit and made... FIVE Tiny Nines.

Here they are on the 2nd pass through the machine.

This little guy didn't turn out so well.  I decided that it would benefit from a date with the seam ripper.  I'm sure you will agree.

These four turned out fine:

But...

While some would disagree, this little guy was STILL a bit uncooperative!  :o((

Tuesday, after work, I went to WORK!!  (My other job.)  When I got home, I was TOO TIRED to do any sewing, but I took a look at what MAY turn out to be my 2015 DOQ Paint Chip Challenge quilt.  The GOOD news is that it is actually TWO challenge quilts in one!  (It started its time on the "design floor" as my Art Bee Strip Insertion quilt.  :o))

I know you wanna see it, but...SORRY!  Can't share a photo at this time.

Hint: Look for photos on Friday.

Wednesday, after work I added to last week's "Crumb Starters":

And...  picked out some fabrics from the GIMQ leftover pile to make a couple more Tiny Nines:

Needleb's scraps are on the top and mine are at the bottom of the photo.

Thursday...  didn't yield any sewing time.  :o((

Friday...  was a busy day, but I managed to get up to my studio before dinner.  Here's what I did:

This photo shows the additions that I made to my blue crumbs... before trimming.

 Also, did you see my Design Floor Friday post?  That is what I was eluding to when I mentioned the Paint Chip Challenge in Tuesday's quilty doings.

Saturday, I linked to Angela's weekly post HERE.  Unfortunately, I didn't link to THIS WEEK'S post!!!  That's OK because I think I may have figured out her linking process (and hope to do better next week.)  I'm just thrilled to be part of the RSC15 action, slowly whittling away at my BLUE scraps.  I have to tell you though, I feel like I'm running out of steam.  The BLUE scrap block production has significantly decreased this week.  I'll try to be more productive during this upcoming (and LAST) week of BLUES.

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!!!

Design Floor Friday

Welcome to the 1st edition on Design Floor Friday!!!

You may recall that last week I was attempting to merge two projects into one.  Well, it didn't work out so well.

I first scattered the Slash blocks on the floor (aka, my "design floor") and then I tried to figure out how to add an OLD set of BOM blocks into the mix.

Obviously, it needs some sort of filler (and to be in two separate quilts!!)

Well, I'll get back around to that in just a minute...

Monday night was Quilt Guild night.  Needbleb and I arrived early to find out about the NEW Guild Challenge.  (It's the guild's FIRST one!)  We paid our money and waited with the others.

Once all the money was collected, we each drew two paint chips out of a bag.  Apparently, more people than anticipated were planning to participate.  We ran out of cards!

The challenge organizers seemed a bit flustered and didn't quite know what to do.

That's OK, when we ran out, I suggested that we all just tear our cards in half and put the extra bits back in the bag for additional participants to choose.  I tore mine and tossed the second "set" in the bag.

Guess what???

The organizers apparently thought I had a good idea and announced just what I had suggested.  Problem solved.  :o))

Once that was settled, they went over the rules.

The Rules:

The EXACT color on your paint chip MUST be used in your quilt, as much or as little as you want, but the have to be in there.  (And no fair swapping colors because you don't like yours, or don't think the colors you drew go together - that's why it's called a challenge!)  Please hang on to your chips so they can be displayed with your completed quilts.

This is the first time our guild is trying this so something in your quilt must be a FIRST for you (first time using green, first time to hand applique, first embellishments, first time making a Lone Star with quarter-inch diamonds, etc., etc.)

No one side, or the diameter, can be longer than 48"

Have FUN!  Quilts are due at the October 2015 meeting (which is pretty sneaky - since it's our annual business meeting that people tend to blow off!)

SHOW PAINT CHIPS HERE:

After Guild, Needleb came over to have a look at the project on my "design floor".  (See?  I told you I'd get back to the story.)  Here's what she saw:

Why, yes, it IS the same photo as before!  Can they work together???

She looked and looked.  She didn't like my layout... So she moved some things around.  Sorry, I didn't get a photo of this, but I didn't like her design, either.

As we debated the best course of action, INSPIRATION STRUCK!!!

I noticed the gold in the Slash blocks and remembered the paint chips in my pocket...

One was Eggplant and the other was GOLD.  The PERFECT shade to work with the slash blocks that we were looking at!!!  (We were pretty sure that the eggplant could be worked in, as well.)

What happened next??

A full out stash search.  That's what!!  :o))

First, we raided my stash of purples and then the scraps to see if the "right" shade was there.  Let me tell you...  It was SLIM pickings!  (You see, I'm a BRIGHT purple girl... NOT a dark or moody kind of purple girl.)

Next, we filed through the BROWN/GOLD drawer looking for other pieces of fabric to bring this scattering of blocks together into a cohesive quilt.  Thankfully, that selection was better than the purples.  (You see... BROWN reminds me of chocolate and I absolutely LOVE chocolate!!)

Have a look at the comparison of (paint) chips to fabrics:

I think we are really on to something!

Anyway...

Tuesday, after work, I was TOO TIRED to do any sewing, but I took another look at what MAY turn out to be my 2015 DOQ Paint Chip Challenge quilt.  The GOOD news is that it is actually TWO challenge quilts in one!  It started its time on the "design floor" as my Art Bee Strip Insertion quilt.  :o))

It's a rough idea of where I'm heading with this piece.

I'm pretty pleased with the preliminary layout of this quilt.  My goal is to make a MODERN style quilt.  I've never done that before so... Challenge rule met!!  :o))

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!!!

Late Night Closet Make-over

Does this happen to you??

You say goodnight and head for bed, BUT...

1. There is a sink full of dishes, so you stop to wash them.

2. That last load of laundry is ready to go in the dryer, so you stop to change the clothes over.

3. There's a pile of shoes on the closet floor, so...

Wait.  WHAT?!?!

I realize that this particular task isn't one of the normal, run-of-the-mill "just one more thing" tasks that most of us take care of "on the way to bed."  However, late Sunday night I was on my way to bed when a pile of shoes (that had been sitting on the closet floor for MONTHS) finally MADE me do something about them.  They were tired of being a jumbled mess... always getting stepped on or pushed aside as I went about searching for an outfit.

The offending (offended?) pile of shoes.

What changed???

Well, I saw a shoe organizer on the internet and it was available at my local Big Box store.  It had been on my "grocery" list for weeks, but I FINALLY remembered to walk down the Housewares isle to determine if that particular organizer would be a useful addition to our closet.

Not the original organizer that I set out to buy, but one that surpassed it in functionality. This one didn't require taking up additional floor space and was $10 less expensive!

With that handy-dandy organizer and FIVE MINUTES, I was able to tame the shoes and clear the decks.  See?  LOOK:

I headed to bed at 11 PM and the photo above was shot upon completion of the task at hand.

The pile of shoes fit so nicely in the organizer that I had purchased (with room for MORE pairs!):

And just LOOK at the difference it made!  Here's the closet floor now:

BEAUTIFUL!!!  There's almost room to have a dance.

Yes.  There is still MORE to do to get the entire closet "whipped into shape", but for now, the improvement is remarkable and I am no longer tripping over or stepping on shoes when I go in to choose clothes for my day.

I am SO pleased!!!  (And the shoes tell me that they are feeling pretty comfortable, too.)  :P

Care to join me in a Happy Dance???

Until next time...
Happy Organizing!!!

ScrapHappy SATURDAY- RSC15 - Week 3

Welcome to Week Three of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

This past week ScrapHappy Sunday got off to a slow start.  I slept late, had breakfast, and then got busy with paperwork.  Well, not technically paperwork...

A friend and I share a blog about our Quilt Bee(s.)  I post the meeting notes from these quilt groups. (Yes!  I attend more than ONE!  Doesn't everyone?!?!)  Once my computer ran out of power (I forgot to plug it in), I took a break to go sew.

I began with TWO String blocks (since the strips were already on the sewing table.)

I started to call it quits, but then I noticed a couple of background strips up on the ironing board and decided to see how far they would go as 3" squares.  As it happened, those two strips were just enough for the ONE Maverick Star block that I was able to put together before dinner  :o))

It's Monday and I have to tell you...

I'm starting to get the blues!  I think that Angela needs to give us a Color of the WEEK, instead of a Color of the Month.  After TWO WEEKS... I am DONE with BLUE!!!

OK, rant over.

It's still Monday and, after work, I made... ONE Maverick Star and TWO String blocks.

Don't you just LOVE that blue and white bird print background?

I was going to stop there, but more strips were sitting on the table.  What's a quilter to do?!

Well...

Make MORE blocks, of course!!!   Now, the space beside the sewing machine is all cleaned up. (Except for a tiny pile of small strips.  So... not REALLY clean, but I can MAKE something with those.  Just you wait and see!)

SO...  Monday, before dinner, I made... TWO (more) String blocks.

Tuesday, after work, I made... ONE Maverick Star block

What do you think about the pale-ish yellow background?

There was that small pile of cuttings (from yesterday) that I used to make... a BUNCH of Crumb "starters" which will be used some other day.

Just cleaning up the little bits of short /narrow strips.

Tuesday, before dinner, I made ONE String block:

I used the "No Peek" bag method when making this one. Otherwise, that country blue strip wouldn't have made the cut!!

And... took care of some housekeeping.  This stack of Hourglass blocks has been sitting on the sewing table for MONTHS!!

It was time to sew those together and get them put away... or sewn into a quilt. (Wishful thinking on that one!)

Wednesday, BEFORE work, I made 5 Tiny Nines.  More about those in a minute...

Because...  I started off with taking care of those Hourglass blocks from yesterday.  Some of them needed a good pressing to make them lay flat (and a couple needed to be RE-sewn, so that the centers lined up properly.)  The funny thing about these little blocks is... I can't recall where these even came from!!  I know they are mine.  I recognize fabrics from some pretty special quilts that I've made over the years, but I honestly don't know when or WHY these triangles were cut and sewn into pairs!

They looked so pretty all pressed and twirled on the ironing board with their "dog ears" hanging out.

Then, I got back to the task at hand... working with my BLUE scraps!!!  I realized late last night that there were some blue scraps that I hadn't tapped, yet.

What?!  Where???

I think THIS project might be my "real" Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt!  It will be SO satisfying to make something from these small squares that I have been collecting for so long.  For years, quilter friends have asked, "Why are you saving THOSE?!"

THIS is WHY!!! I realized that I had neglected to dig in my 1" strip/square drawer! So I dug in and found my smallest scraps of BLUE...  My 1" squares that I have saved for quite some time and I formulated a new design plan (and made them into 9-Patch blocks.)  Tiny Nines will be the name of the quilt that will come together... EVENTUALLY.

Would you have guessed that they were only TWO INCHES square?!?! (Ruler pictured to show scale.)

These Hourglass blocks are not ALL blue, but there's more blue than I first thought.  It counts!

And... (not related to RSC15, but totally related to cleaning up around the studio...) I got tired of stepping over my Grand Illusion Mystery quilt so I took it off the "design floor" and folded it up to put away (since I haven't been able to decide about the borders.  It obviously needs time to incubate!!!)  Some quilts are like that.  They need time to be.

There was no after work sewing (because there was no work!  It was cancelled due to icy road conditions.)  No further sewing was done because when I would have been done with work, I was at the doctor's office with DS2.  (No worries.  Nothing that a round of antibiotics can't cure.  We hope!)

After those 3 hours of fun, it was off to the specialist's office for nearly 2 hours of more...  Yippee! We found out that he gets to take meds for the next 2 years to fix his thyroid issue (that we didn't know existed,)  Oh!  And he can't take any over-the-counter medicines to treat that nagging cough that he's been walking around with!!

BUMMER!!!

Thursday was a blur.  Here is a trash can's view of all the work I've done in BLUE:

I was busy with friends.  Coffee with the knitters in the morning and lunch with the quilters.

Then Thursday, after lunch, I putzed around with other projects:

I attmepted to merge two VERY different sets of quilt blocks into ONE quilt. (Not sure it's working!)

Are you getting the picture that Thursday was a VERY LONG day?!?!

Here's the swatch that I knit after dinner for the Unraveled MKAL that began YESTERDAY.  Oops!

I wound this yarn before bed.  This is for The Knitting Game MKAL 2015 by Threebagsfulled. I'm late getting started on this one, too!  (That's OK... Hilary is used to my lag time.)

Friday, before dinner, I arranged more Tiny Nines, but didn't have time (or the inclination) to sew.

Saturday, after breakfast, I worked on finishing this post and contemplated ANOTHER block that I might make from my scrap stash.  (I haven't dug into the 2" bin, yet!)  I'm having so much FUN exploring the possibilities!  Thanks, Angela for the RSC.  It's done wonders for my enthusiasm!

However...  I think this is beginning to snow ball out of control.  I'm supposed to be FINISHING PROJECTS, not starting a number of NEW ones!!!  The only saving grace is that I'm actually USING my SCRAPS for these projects that are escaping from my scrap bins.  :o))

And a side note:  In case you didn't notice last week... I have resorted to adding in the greenish range of blues.  I just don't have that many options for medium blues scraps (and, sorry folks, but I'm NOT digging in my stash of larger cuts just to add more variety to my SCRAP stash!!!)

Here's the LINK to this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge post.  I'm posting on Saturday to align with ScrapHappy.  (It's the first time that I've been able to do that.)  You won't see a link back to my blog. I keep trying to link-up with the others.  It makes me sad that I'm having such trouble (as I never had a problem with linking up with Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.)  Head over to see what the rest of them have been up to.  I'll join in IF/WHEN my problem with Mr. Linky is resolved.

:o((

:o))  ETA... Thank you, Angela, for setting me up with a linky!  I'm not sure HOW you did it or what I'M doing wrong, but THANKS!  (Now, let's hope I can join the link party on my own next time.)

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!