Tidy Up Tuesday - Rainbow Finish {Sort of...}

Welcome to the next edition of Tidy Up Tuesday!!  It's been quite some time since the last post.  If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you may remember the Decrapification Project.

Angela from the So Scrappy blog recently announced (in the last paragraph) that she would be hosting a NEW monthly LINK PARTY to encourage the RSC Quilters to FINISH some of their Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects (instead of simply collecting blocks.)  The plan is that the link-up will be held on the LAST day of EVERY month during 2017.  Check it out HERE!!

During the month of January, I took THESE blocks:

Sewed them into rows at the beginning of the month:

Finally, joining those rows into a quilt top toward the middle of the month:

This is how it progressed...

With pairs of rows sewn:

An assembled top still needing to have the rows pressed:

It's a bit crunchy!!  The paper is still on the quilt back:

Here are some "beauty shots" for your viewing pleasure...

Rainbow rows:

Rainbow columns:

Splayed in all its 54" x 60" splendor:

I debated about the need for a border (or two.)  It was determined to be a perfectly good snuggle size, as is.  The next step was to choose (or construct) a backing.  I took THIS 4-Patch block out of my "large scrap" basket...

... Along with 29 of its friends, to assemble the quilt back:

That quilt back wasn't going to be QUITE big enough to allow room for quilting on the longarm, so...

I scrounged around and found the leftovers from my last completed T-shirt Quilt.  This will be used for sashing and borders to bring the quilt back up to size.

After all that,  it was time to pick out the paper.  Ugh!!  NEVER again!!!  Next time I will do String Blocks on a FABRIC foundation because THIS takes FOREVER:

Please celebrate with me... ALL of the paper has been removed from the back of the quilt!  Yes, I got things a little backwards:

I went a little crazy and hoped to pop this puppy on the longarm to see if I could finish it by the end of the month:

 Unfortunately, THAT didn't happen.  :o((

Because...

There has been a change of plans!  Another row of GREEN strings needs to be added to the bottom of the quilt.  It's just not QUITE long enough.  There is not enough length for a "toe tuck."

I was only able to make a start on those additional blocks:

Completed quilt NEXT month???  Maybe sew, maybe no.  Check back at the end of February to see.

Wishing YOU...

Scrappy Finishes!!!

Mail Call Monday - Recipient Alert

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  This week is all about packages that I mailed off to two special recipients.  Pin cushion packages, to be exact.  FUN!!

HERE is the pin cushion FRONT...

... That corresponds to this pin cushion BACK that you might have seen while scrolling through THIS POST on my blog:

This one was made for my friend Belinda, who requested to trade a hand woven kitchen towel for one of my pin cushions.  Can you BELIEVE it?!?!  Surely, I am the one who made out on this trade.

This shot shows a close-up of the quilting...

... And this one shows the pin cushion in a different light:

The colors look a bit faded in the photo above.  :o((

Belinda is a friend from Maine who I have "known" for 8 years, but never met in person.  She is one of my Ravelry friends.  We met in one of the forums over a comment with a "magic link."  She had no idea what that meant and I was the person who explained it to her. We've been writing back and forth ever since!!  (Love ya, B!!)

The second pin cushion BACK looks like THIS:

You didn't see this one because it was a SURPRISE that I alluded to in THIS POST and since it has arrived, I can now show you the FRONT, too:

Here it is again from another angle:

This pin cushion was made for a Surprise Giveaway that I had here on the blog.  You can read more about that in THIS POST.  The post that spurred the drawing was my post about planning for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

The winner of the drawing was Kathy, from Kathy's Quilting Blog, who posted the winning comment.  (Thank you, Mr. Random Number Generator!!)  I was thrilled when I found out that she was the lucky winner!

Why, Joyful???

Well, the reason is simple.  She has been instrumental in easing my learning curve with my Loricles Circle Lord Template Boards.  She explained the value of the boards and encouraged me to give it a try.  When I tried it out and didn't have a clue how to line up for a second pass, Kathy answered all of my questions and even sent pictures to help me figure out the "roll factor" on my longarm quilting machine.  Without her, I would probably STILL be waiting to give my template boards a test run!!

Until next time...
Show some quilty appreciation!!!

Sew Some Love Sunday - Another One for the List

Welcome to another edition of Sew Some Love Sunday!! Today's post is to tell you about the charity that Cathy over at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting made a quilt for.  It's an organization that I hadn't heard of, so I thought maybe YOU hadn't heard of it either.  I wanted to pass along the information, in case this cause pulled at your heartstrings.

The organization that Cathy donated to was Wrap-A-Smile.    Wrap-A-Smile is a partner of Rotaplast International, Inc. an organization committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities.

In other news...

I've got a date with these Red, White, and Blue scraps:

Cutting is on the agenda for this afternoon.  Here's hoping that I have a quilt top to share next week!!  My quilt group will be distributing these Law Enforcement Appreciation Quilts in a few weeks.  This needs to be finished up very soon!

I'll be joining the Sew Some Love Link-Up over on the Kat and Cat Quilts blog on Wednesday.

Until next time...
Sew Some Love!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC17 - Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  Last week was a productive week and I'm hoping for more of the same.  Only time will tell...

I'll walk you through my week and YOU can be the judge:

SUNDAY - I chose some fabric for my Law Enforcement Appreciation Quilt.  You can read more about that in THIS POST.

MONDAY - Knit Group in the morning followed by paperwork in the afternoon.  Yippee!!  Too bad I couldn't just stay at Knitting all day!!!  Alas, the bills and such require my attention.

I did take a quick tour through my favorite consignment shop.  Take a look at the  PURPLE goodness that I found...

A dress and a chair:

An interesting (difficult to photograph) PURPLE chaise lounge:

AND...

A dusty lavender coat - which took ALL my willpower not to buy:

TUESDAY - Working on some quilting in the morning was followed by lunch with a friend.  More quilting during the afternoon hours with GiGi here to keep me company:

Only FIVE more T-shirts to stabilize.  :o))

Wait!!  What's for dinner???  Oops!!  Leftovers, it is!

After dinner, I turned the 2nd corner on the binding of Think Spring:

Halfway to a completed quilt... I'm SEW happy!!

WEDNESDAY - I was hoping for a TON of work to get done today, my one truly FREE day for this week...

Stitched some more on Think Spring's binding, finished up the stabilization of the T-shirts:

AND finished ripping off the paper from the back of Rainbow Strings:

Did you notice the PURPLE strings???  :o))

I also linked my Sew Some Love Sunday post with Kat for her Sew Some Love Linkup.  She is encouraging us to make quilts for ANY charitable cause (not just quilts for Covered in Love.)  It makes me SEW happy when I'm quilting for others!!

THURSDAY - I began my day with some hand stitching. The PERFECT start... and I got a few more inches done on my quilt binding on Think Spring!!  Since I already had star points made, fabrics were chosen for a second PURPLE Scrap Jar Star:

FRIDAY - Not much quilting got done.  I did manage to stitch up that 2nd Scrap Jar Star Block:

It needs some trimming and a good press.  Not quite sure WHAT was up with my stitching!!  The evenings activities included:

Ripping!!!  :o((

SATURDAY - HOW can it be Saturday?!?!?  I better get my act together and finish this post!  It's time to join Angela's LINK PARTY over on the So Scrappy Blog.  (My FAVORITE day of the week!!)  Follow me over to check out all of the wonderful PURPLE projects that the RSC Quilters have been sewing this week.  See YOU over there!!

After I clear away this mess from the dining room:

Some jobs are just too big for the sewing room!  Especially with the longarm taking up a fair chunk of the space in there.  (That's OK... it's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make.  I just ignore the grumbling from the rest of the family.)

Linking up with Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Mail Call Monday - MSQC Edition

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  A couple of weeks ago, I fell prey to the Missouri Star Quilt Company's Deal of the Day.  Last week, my package arrived.

What did you order, Joyful??

Well, I had seen a quilt in BlogLand sometime last month.  Sorry!!  I can't recall where.  This quilt was made with a Giant Orange Peel template.  It was really cute and used BIG scraps.

You know how I feel about scraps, right??

I absolutely LOVE them!!!  And this Orange Peel would be the PERFECT way to use up some of my large scraps.  When I remembered that I recalled seeing the necessary template in my MSQC catalog, so I went online to have a look.

Here is what I found:

Want to hear my little secret???

I got the Orange Peel template AND the FREE Rhombus template - a $14 value - for $10 (INCLUDING shipping!!!)  

You see, the Orange Peel is normally $20, but I saw an ad for an off-cut for $5.  PLUS... the Deal of the Day was FREE and their fabulous $5 shipping.  Wow!!

I am one happy camper.  Thanks, Jenny!!  (That would be Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Company, of course.)

Disclaimer:  The off-cut measures a bit bigger than 10", so while you won't be able to use it on a Layer Cake, there are still some available for those of you who have larger scraps.

WARNING!!!  Do NOT order unless you are willing to get a TON of emails in your inbox each week.  MSQC is BIG on sending ads!

Until next time...
Shop wisely!!!

Sew Some Love Sunday - A List for YOU

Welcome to the next edition of Sew Some Love Sunday!!  Last week, on Wednesday, I remembered to join Kat's Link-up.  In case YOU didn't follow my link or see her post, I clipped the list of charities that she gave... in case you want to do MORE charitable sewing.

The List (as seen on Kat's blog)...

Some Quilt Charities:
Covered in Love - quilts for mourning families
Margaret's Hope Chest - several programs for children and adults 
My Very Own Blanket - quilts for children in foster care
Project Linus - quilts for children in the hospital
Quilts for Kids - quilts for abused and ill children
Quilts of Valor - quilts for veterans
Threading Hope - children and families in poverty and war torn countries 
Victoria's Quilts - quilts for cancer patients
Wrap Them in Love - quilts for children

Kat invited people to alert her to other charities, so if you know of some other really good ones, I would love for you to post those in your comments.  Thanks!

A portion of my charitable work for this week was actually done on Friday.  I went to my local police station to ask for one of their sleeve patches:

Sorry for the TERRIBLE evening photo!!

Anyway, in light of all of the recent negative publicity that has surrounded the police nationwide, my weekly Quilt Group decided that we would make Law Enforcement Appreciation Quilts for all of the agencies that serve our members.  We want them to know that we support them (and their mission to serve and protect.)

Today, I chose some fabrics...

... For THIS quilt, designed by one of our members in her EQ computer program:

HERE is an example of a (nearly) completed quilt... made by one of my friends - Sorry, Candy!  Apparently, I didn't make that clear:

While it may not be a traditional donation quilt, these quilts will be donated to local law enforcement offices for display.  Maybe YOU could make one for your local agency!!

I have to tell you, the receptionist (dispatcher?) is so excited about getting my quilt... and she hasn't even SEEN it yet!!  She wants it to be hung in her office so that everyone who enters the station will be able to see it.  (You gotta love a happy recipient.)

I'll be joining the Sew Some Love Link-Up over on the Kat and Cat Quilts blog on Wednesday.

Until next time...
Sew Some Love!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC17 - Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This week was filled with some rainbow sewing and some quilt finishing. Well, that was the plan!

The reality was this...

Sunday was a Sew Day that started with preparing this binding:

Freeing this quilt from the longarm:

HERE is a better look at the quilting:

Full disclosure, yes, I did quilt the quilt to the leader:

Monday was a Holiday/Knit Day followed by some shopping therapy...  where I spotted PURPLE in the wild:

Do YOU decorate with PURPLE???

I swore (to myself) that I wouldn't outline my week in full this year. However, I'm finding it difficult to compose these posts in any other format.  I suppose I'll just roll with it (or adopt some sort of hybrid post.)

I took quilting to Knit Group:

Monday afternoon was busy, busy, busy... SEWING:

This is a little pin cushion for a swap that I'm in, I'll show the other side once it has been received.  Cool fabric, huh?!

I also did some cutting of my neutral Zen Chic FQ Bundle:

So... Tuesday morning was spent making progress on:

My Scrap Jar Star block!!  The photo above shows the block parts. (Well, MOST of them.)  I think I have some more cutting to do, but I had to leave for my hair appointment!

During the afternoon, I did some additional de-papering:

Tuesday evening I got the last bit of cutting done:

On Wednesday, Kat over at Kat and Cat Quilts held her first Sew Some Love charity Link-Up.  This new link party will be held weekly and encourages us to share our Charity Sewing adventures.

Kat had been missing WIP Wednesday.  That Link-Up was discontinued.  You don't have to be sewing for Cover in Love. ANY charity sewing post may be linked.  Here's my linked POST, if you would like to see the block I made.

I also spent some time on THIS (future) quilt back:

It's going to be getting some sashing:

After all of the cutting, there were SCRAPS for future use:

After cutting, Think Spring (aka Learning Curve) was still in need of squaring up.  I decided to make use of the mat, cutter, and ruler:

Let's just say that I use that term "squaring" loosely.  I'm not quite sure WHAT happened, but the borders were a BIT off.  Oops!! Lucky thing that it's mine, all mine.  LOL

Thursday and Friday was spent with friends. That part is pretty much how this year is going to go each week.  Although, there is an hour (or four) to do some quilty work before dinner.  :o))

On Thursday morning, I did manage to trim up the HSTs for my Scrap Jar Star block in PURPLE:

But... that wasn't it for the day!!

Thursday evening, saw the completion of the SJS units:

AND...

The binding was applied to Think Spring:

NOTICE:  I most definitely will NOT be finishing that quilt today!!  I decided that a hand project would be better than a fast finish, so the binding was applied to the FRONT for me to stitch it by hand on the BACK of the quilt.

On Friday morning, I made progress on that PURPLE quilt block. So much progress that my Scrap Jar Star block was completed:

Friday evening, I packed the car for NT Sew Day and assembled the quilt back for my Rainbow Strings:

Click HERE, if you'd like to see the process that I went through.

My plan for the week turned out to be a pipe dream!! However, progress was made on Think Spring AND on Rainbow Strings.  It was a REALLY good week.


It's Saturday morning, now.  Time for joining Angela's LINK PARTY.  You may want to check it out... especially if you like PURPLE!!!  (I'll catch up with you later, as I'm on my way to a Sew Day with my quilting friends.)

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!