September 2023 - ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge - Link Party

Welcome to the September 2023 edition of the ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge here at the Joyful Quilter!!  Thanks for stopping by the Link Party to see what participants have made this month. In my part of the world, Fall fell on the 22nd.  It arrived with cooler temperatures.  Have they begun to arrive where you live?  With October just a day away, the cool mornings have arrived along with cool evening, but many afternoons are hot enough for me to want to stay inside and quilt. What about you?

I host this challenge in conjunction with Angela's (RSC) Rainbow Scrap Challenge @ So Scrappy.  It's been SEW much fun to offer the...

Button credit to Susan @ Desert Sky Quilts, updated by me.

Since basically ANY small quilted item qualifies for this challenge, I scrounge through my scrap basket to see what I can come up with.  

Each month I offer a prompt to help get your creative juices flowing.  While you are NOT required to use it in your project, the guiding word is revealed at the end of each month's LINK PARTY post.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the next month's focus.  It, along with the RSC Color of the Month (as soon as Angela releases it - around the 1st of the month) will also be added to the 2023 ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge page at the top of the blog.

September's letters were:

P and/or Z

It took a while to come up with a design to include both letters, as well as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month.  September's color was AQUA.  As you might have seen earlier this month, I had precious little of that in my scrap basket...

But WHAT could I do with the scraps I found???

Inspiration struck while Zooming with LeeAnna.

And as you might have seen earlier in the week...

Quilting friends to the rescue!!  I was only too happy to use the scrap infusion from Kathleen which arrived right when I was ready to begin:

It's a small quilt and was fast to stich, even with a couple of cutting errors.

The backing and binding arrived just as I finished up the quilt top thanks to a scrap infusion from Mari:

SEW...

I layered up the pieces with a scrap of batting and began the quilting... And the UN quilting:

This is the back of the little quilt now:

Then it was time for binding:

I'm pleased to present my completed ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge entry for September, shown here, hanging on the gallery wire in my studio:

How does the quilt fit this month's theme, Joyful???

Like this:

P = PEAR inspired by LeeAnna's sweet quilt last month.

Z = Zig Zag quilting and ZIPPY use of Mari's scrap in fusion.  Her package arrived on Friday afternoon and  by Saturday afternoon my latest gallery wire mini assumed pride of place on the gallery wire.

What's next, Joyful???

The month of October arrives the day after tomorrow.  To the best of my knowledge, Angela hasn't announced the new Color of the Month yet, but I'll update this post and the 2023 Challenge page at the top of the blog as soon as I find out:

???

October's letters are:

Q and/or T

NOTE:  It seems like this may be another big challenge!  What will YOU create???

And now...

It's time for YOU to link up your P and/or Z projects in the LINK PARTY below.  All entries MUST be submitted by Wednesday, October 4th @ 11:59PM (EDT).

Until next time...

USE those table scraps!!!

#ABCtableSCRAPSchallenge2023

#tablescrapschallenge2023

Wonderful Wednesday - The AQUA Mug Rug for the RSC

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  I'm here today to share this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I usually end up missing post day and just add any project to my weekly RSC post on whatever day of the week I finished it.  This one began as my entry for September's ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge...

And then I remembered the ABC portion of the challenge.  Whoops!!

I was digging through my nearly empty AQUA Quilted Scrap Basket, but didn't see anything that "spoke" to me:

That's when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye.  The groovy bongo player attached to an AQUA scrap from Diane:

As it turned out, the bongo player had brought along their band of friends:

With strips already sew, all I had to do was arrange them and stitch the rows...

(Minimally) Quilt it up...

And bind it off this AQUA Mug Rug:

Thank you to Diane for sharing the off-cuts from this darling 16-Patch donation quilt:

NOTICE:

Quilt and photo above compliments of Diane @ Stitch Studio

I have THE BEST time playing with your fabric scraps!!

Until next time...

Let's go SEW!!!

Mail Call Monday - This Month's Scrap Infusion(s)

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  Last week was bookended by scrap infusions.  Thank you to the following quilty friends...

Diane arranged for a "porch pick-up".  Here is the selection of treasures in the "Bag of Joy" that I picked up on Monday when I swung by on the way to dinner with Needleb:

Thank you, Diane!! 

Francine brought THREE bags of scraps to our Quilt Guild meeting!!  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo because we wanted to transfer the bags before it got dark and it was nearly time for the meeting to begin.  Here's what the back of my car looked like:

Thank you, Francine!! 

Mari @ The Academic Quilter may have dragged her feet getting to the post office (and I don't blame her!), but she came through in a BIG way!!!  Apparently, fat quarters and fat eights are scraps in her world.  Either that or she felt supremely sad for the sorry state of my AQUA/teal/turquoise Quilted Scrap Basket because THIS is what arrived on Friday and it felt more like a stash enhancement than a scrap infusion:

Thank you, Mari!!!  Your package arrived just in time to present backing and binding options for my ABC Challenge entry.  :o))

You might recall that I also received a little fabric bundle from Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing earlier in the month.  Was that just the week before last?!  I wanted to mention her in this post, as well.

Kathleen took pity on me with my nearly empty AQUA Quilted Scrap Basket and offered to send some of her scraps to me.  It had been SEW long since I've gotten any packages that I neglected to write up a post last week.  Here's what she sent:

Thank you, Kathleen!!!  I had fun incorporating them into my ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge project.  Dear readers, there is still time for YOU to stitch up a project of your own!  The link party will be open until Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at 11:59 PM.

Until next time...

Can you say SCRAP overload?!?!

Pardon me while I wallow in the generous abundance go sort these bulging bags of fabulous fabric scraps.  Call for help, if you don't hear from me in a few days:

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 38

Welcome to Week 38 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This week was SEW much better than last week.  Your well wishes SEW appreciated!  The road construction continues and DS2's car has yet to be replaced, but the loaner is still frilling the void, the construction crew is quick to move heavy equipment when I need to leave the house, and nothing else died this week!

Here's how the days passed...

SUNDAY - I opened up the new art supplies that my "personal shopper" bought on a recent trip to Jerry's Artarama:

Thanks, Britt!!

They might be useful during this today's Easy Like a Sunday Morning hangout with my Get Messy art friends where I shared my final entry for the Rolodex Challenge made last night...

After lunch, I decided that it was time to get a start on my AQUA/teal/turquoise entry for this month's ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge.  Some UN-sewing may have been involved:

Then came Zooming with Knittingsuek:

MONDAY - Work, but before I left...

I finally reset the gallery wire for September's Color of the Month thanks to Dorothy @ Dorothy and the Land of Quilts.  Your reminder was much needed!  It wasn't that YOU missed the photo, it was that I had neglected to make the quilt swap:

After work I had an errand to run.  A bag of scraps needed rescuing...

On the way to Quilt Guild.  Tonight's speaker was Linda Hahn @ Frog Hollow Designs.  She delivered a lecture and slide show about her New York Beauty quilt books:

TUESDAY - Work...

Once this guy move out of my way:

Oh!  Oh!  Oh!  Can YOU guess who won the beige Fat Quarter drawing at the September Quilt Guild meeting last night???

Did you guess ME?  That's right, it WAS me!  I took the yard of fabric on the right and brought home the bag on the left:

Thank you to everyone who contributed and to whoever drew my name as the winner.  Have a look at all the lovely fabrics - and check out the pretty bag that I can use in my art journaling:

WEDNESDAY - Wonderful Wednesday

Be sure to click on the above link, if you haven't seen where all of my AQUA/teal/turquoise fabric scraps disappeared to!

It's a lucky thing that today was my day off because I would have had a hard time getting over the trench the workers in the photo below were digging from one side of the street to the other:

Later, I looked out to find a road grader IN OUR DRIVEWAY in front of MY side of the garage:

As if that wasn't enough...

During my weekly Zoom call with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color this afternoon, the studio started shaking because of the compactor and steam roller out in the road:

THURSDAY - Work

Here is the mountain (log) cabin that I shared at Quilt Guild on Monday in September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month.  This improv block was made a week or so ago with the few AQUA/teal/turquoise scraps remaining in my basket, but I didn't want to share it until I had presented it to the membership:

I guess it's time to get busy designing my entry for the DOQ Neighborhood Challenge!

FRIDAY - Knit Group before work:

And afterwards, thanks to Mari @ The Academic Quilter, I arrived to find a happy mailbox:

Watch for details next Monday.

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I'm hoping that you will join me in visiting Angela @ So Scrappy to see what the RSC Quilters have been up to this week.  The technical difficulties she experienced earlier have been resolved and I have join, but will visit all the links when I finish this project:

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!

Wonderful Wednesday - Another Summer 2023 (Ravelry) UFO Club Finish

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  I'm thrilled to share my latest UFO Club finish.  Remarkably enough, this is my SECOND completed project for the Summer 2023 (Ravelry) UFO Club.  You get the first look this time.  I'll share it on Instagram closer to the end of the session.

Here is the story of the quilt...

I started this quilt as a way to try one of my favorite Amanda Jean Nyberg quilt patterns.  You see, my AQUA/TEAL/TURQUOISE Quilted Scrap Basket was overflowing and it spit out a TON of quilt fodder, but...

I needed an alternate color to go with it!!!

Breaking out of my teal/purple or teal/lime combos or the teal/orange sample quilt in Sunday Morning Quilts, I opted for teal and red/pink (just to do something different.)

Have you made a modular quilt???

That's basically what this was.  I didn't follow the directions in the book exactly, but my quilt top turned out quite similar:

You may recall there was drama on the longarm once the layers were loaded...

That was in April and the quilt was held hostage for WAY longer than it should have been:

Once "The Beast" was persuaded to run, the quilting went fairly quickly, until...

It's all fun and games til the bobbin runs out - 6" to 8" from the LAST corner of the quilt:

Shortly after the quilt came off the rails, squaring it up...

And applying the binding was all that remained:

It's finished (and now I need to send it on its way!!!)

Once that's done, it (finally) satisfies my promise to myself.  Too bad it wasn't done in time for the momentous event!!  Thanks for your patience, Friend!  

In case you would like to see a close-up of the quilting...

The sun shining on Candy's back porch and just LOOK at that amazing texture:

Gifting this quilt was HARD for me to do...

You see, this quilt is made of some of my favorite fabrics.  AQUA/TEAL/TURQUOISE is one of my favorite color families.  It includes fabric scraps from a number of bloggy friends and some special projects along my quilting journey.  My last hand quilted quilt (from 20 years ago!) is represented.

The deciding factor???

There is red in it.  Besides that it's one of my favorite quilts EVER!  You know what they say, don't you?  The BEST gifts are often the hardest to give away.  This quilt fits that category while, bringing me back to my 6 year old self, when I had selected an adorable stuffed dog for a dear friend who underwent surgery.  I absolutely DID NOT want to give it away, but that dog traveled with my friend for many years.  She loved it (and I'm hoping this quilt's recipient will love it, too.)  I think she will.

In closing...

I want to end with a BIG thank you to those who helped me complete this quilt, (Katie @ Zana's Ninis, Deb @ Happy To Be Scrappy, and Diane @ Studio Stitch to name a few) and leave you all with a porch swing picture:

This was also the PERFECT finish for September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Color of the Month!  Hope you enjoyed the photo finish!  I would like to complete one more before the Fall 2023 UFO Club begins.  Not sure that will happen since I have another project to finish, as well.

Do YOU have UFOs that you would like to finish before the end of the year???

Yes?  Well, if you have 5 (or more) you are welcome to join the UFO Club on Ravelry's Quilters Knitting group.  Sign-ups open soon and continue through October 7th, 2023.  We'd love to cheer you to the finish line.  (Direct link to follow.)

Until next time...

Mark another UFO off the list!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC23 - Week 37

Welcome to Week 37 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This week, was filled with one surprise after another... And not all of them were good.  :o((

Can you guess what happened???

SUNDAY - Easy Like a Sunday Morning GM Hangout started off my day.  Our theme was Monochrome and my page turned into pink overload:

After lunch, it was time for my weekly Zoom with Knittingsuek:

Surprise Number One...

A weather system floated through, but get a load of that bright spot across the street:

MONDAY - Before work I had a bit of fun with some AQUA scrap sewing:

When I returned home it appeared that the construction workers wanted to make sure we had no trouble finding our driveway... They barricaded the street extension:

TUESDAY - Getting to work this morning was a bit of a challenge, as our driveway is to the right of where that dump truck is blocking the ENTIRE street:

:

My friend Tracy and I met after work for knitting, a snack and some catching up:

Surprise Number Two...

WEDNESDAY -  It was my day off and watched one of Kolbie's Watercolor classes @ This Writing Desk...

Before an early Zoom with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color:

Surprise Number Three???

It was early because I had to go "rescue" DS2 at work because his car died on the way there.  :o((

THURSDAY - Work

Surprise Number Four...

DS2's car is shot!!  It's got a blown engine and now he's got to buy another car or else we're going to have to carpool next week.  :o((

Surprise Number Five...

Look at the lovely AQUA scrap infusion that arrived in the mail from Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing:

Thank you, Kathleen!!!  I know just what I will be making with some of these scraps.  Can you say ABC (Table) SCRAPS Challenge?  :o))

FRIDAY - Work was preceded by Knit Group.  This week we were a Rambling River Mercantile in Haw River, NC:

After dinner, I spent a creative hour with Get Messy friends from all over the country.  I worked on the final pages for last month's 5-Minute Art Challenge:

Photo Currently Unavailable!!

SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I hope you will join me in visiting Angela @ So Scrappy to see what the RSC Quilters have been up to this week.  She got the party started early this morning or else she was like the far-off neighbors who were up half the night (play music loud enough to keep me awake for hours!)

I'm off to my Quarterly Quilt Bee meeting.  Catch ya later!

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!