ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC26 - Week 3

Welcome to Week 3 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  This week we have a guest arriving.  That means extra cleaning needs to happen and some of my usual events may be altered or canceled.  Will any BLUE scrap sewing take place??  That remains to be seen.

Here's how the week passed...

SUNDAY - ProjectQUILTING

Please follow the link provided above for the story and a frontal view.  Here's a preview of the back:

Weekly Morning Art Zoom found me grabbing my Care December journal for a quick little collage.  A few pieces of paper for Day 11's prompt.  Since there's no Junk Journal January from Meg Journals this year, I'm slowly continuing with the prompts I missed last month:

Day 11 of the Declutter Challenge at Just Get It Done Quilts - The IRONS, RULERS & MATS - I focused on my pressing station during the HOTSPOT day.  That leaves the cutting station for today's efforts.  There are no tools to go, so I'll try to clear away some of the mess on my cutting table.  No guarantees about success.

No Weekly Zoom Call with Knittingsuek, but we enjoyed a phone call instead.

MONDAY - National Gluten-Free Day... Who knew?!

My day began with a few errands before lunch and a quick bite prior to Tammy Kaye's FREE Watercolor Workshop.   No added pen marks this week.  We stared with a beach scene.  My horizon line is straight, but the page curled:

AND...

Moved to this beautiful floral bouquet:

 After the class, I focused on cleaning the house for the arrival of an overnight guest, but took time for an abbreviated version of my Weekly Zoom Call with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color when she was texted that she was ready to visit:

Day 12- The SEWING MACHINES - Clear up some space around it.  Give yourself a little more room to work.  If there are random machines that you no longer use, consider moving them along.  Either to a long-term storage area or out of your house completely.

TUESDAY - MAJOR Laundry Day

Lots on today's agenda.  This morning, I enjoyed  chatting with my SIL who stopped over on her way to Florida to visit my MIL, but as today's heading indicates, there was laundry to be done.

Yes.  There's a story, but it's not mine to tell.

Suffice it to say that I ended up doing no less than SIX loads of laundry, but took a quick art break between loads and joined Collage Breakthrough LIVE with Cat Rains,  Along with her collage techniques, she also shared this fun way to frame 4"  x 4" art pieces with magnetic acrylic frames:

Later I dropped by Open Studio with Barb.  I opted to work on a mini quilt for January's Rainbow Scrap Challenge:

Day 13 - The NOTIONS - If it's damaged or deteriorated, toss it!  Karen said that it's also the day to remove the vestiges of other crafts that you no longer actively participate in, if you didn't do that on a previous day of the Declutter Challenge.

Enjoyed a beautiful winter sunset this evening on my way to...

A (Delayed) Holiday Dinner with (a few of) my Knitting Friends:

WEDNESDAY - More loads of laundry and a NEW Joyful Art Zoom...

With my friend Belindybe in Maine:

Day 14- Karen declared this as CATCH-UP day - Work through a prompt you might have missed, one that needs further attention, or even a day to catch your breath and relax a bit.

I actually ended up staying up until 2:30AM to try to finish all the laundry so that my SIL could repack her RV and be on her way.  Machine errors delayed the process.

THURSDAY - Weekly Quilt Group @ DeeDee's, but no photo today.

I had a quick errand to run afterwards, but headed to Britt's for a quick lunch first.  Thanks, B!  Sorry that I didn't have time for arting today.  I made stop at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop and headed home for...

A fun FREE Loose Watercolor Workshop with Yana Ivannikova to paint Northern Lights:

I dipped into my big box of scrap binding to see if I could find something to go with this week's RSC project which will  soon be revealed:

Day 15- The KITS & PRECUTS - Tackle these with the same question Karen offered in previous days.  How much storage space do you have for this category?  Do you even like working with the precuts and/or kits you've used?  If not, they are often great for resale. I don't have many of either variety and have one small shelf for my precuts.  No kits.  I finished up my last QFK kit last year.  I'm going to work on a UFO this evening, instead of revisiting another prompt.

FRIDAY - Knit Group met this morning... 

I switched to a smaller size needles, but two things went wrong.  First, when I transferred the stitches, I had the needles going two different directions:

And then...

SNAP!!!  My brand new needles broke after only a single round:

Later, after a few errands, I spent the afternoon at the NEW Friday Friends Open Studio on Get Messy.  I worked on another page in my Collage Scraps journal:

Later, during my Weekly Evening Art Hangout, I worked on yet another two pages in my Care December journal which began with hand painted flower stickers from my art table:

Day 16 - The UFOs - Fortunately, I finished my UFO Challenge quilt for January a week ago.  I'm not willing to put more effort in until next week's ProjectQUILTING entry has been started and finished.  I've got a list of 15 projects in a variety of sizes and stages of completion on my UFO Club list.  That's 3 more than the challenge list. I'm working through them and don't plan to part with any because I fully intend to finish them all at some point.

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.

In scrap sewing news...

I did THIS over the course of the week and bound it this morning.  A BLUE scrappy mini measuring ~ 4" x 5" made from scraps received from Maggie not long ago:

AND...

Day 17- The FABRIC SCRAPS - I knew this day would arrive!  Today is the day Karen asked that we climb Mt. Scrapmore in our sewing spaces.  As many of you know, fabric scraps are my jam.  Nearly EVERY project I make uses fabric scraps.  In the spirit of the challenge, I'm going to go through this giant tall kitchen garbage bag:

The bits that I know I won't use will go back in the bag to be taken to the next stop on the Fabric Scrap Express....  Yes. It's coming for you, Carol.  The ones that I believe I will use will be filtered into my Scrap Center once some sorting takes place within its cubbies:

Until next time...

Get SCRAPPY!!

ProjectQUILTING - Season 17.1 - A Clean Slate

 A Clean Slate

Welcome to The Joyful Quilter!!  And... Welcome to the wonderful world of Project QUILTING hosted by Kim Lapacek @ Persimon Dreams!!  This is my 6th year of participation in the Challenge.  Trish Frankland @ QuiltChicken is the creator of the crazy challenges that participants will face during the next 12 weeks.

Sassy @ Farm Quilter got me started at the beginning of Season 11 by inviting her readers to join in the fun.  I accepted her invitation and the rest is history.  I'm not sure if I will be dragging along my friend LeeAnna @ Not Afraid of Color for this season, as she has had some other things on her mind recently.  Would YOU like to join me in this creative journey?  I believe that LeeAnna is up for the challenge, but we'll have to wait and see.

BEWARE:  It's a wild ride, but oh SEW rewarding!

Challenges are given and start to finish you have ONE WEEK to complete your project.  PQ 17.1 can be found at THIS LINK:

Step One...

Read the instructions to see what is required of the first challenge.  Here's what Trish had to say:

PQ 17.1 A Clean Slate

Each year I try to provide a Project Quilting challenge built around the Pantone Color of the Year. This is the kind of thing I get totally into: I'm obsessed with Pantone, and I eagerly await COTY announcements (even though I often hate their choices).

Again, this year's choice is a conversation starter for sure: they made the unprecedented choice of white. Well, technically Cloud Dancer, but let's be real: it's white.

I pondered how to work this into a challenge. Force you into an all white or low-volume project? Whole-cloth project on white? I feared many would revolt in protest!

Instead, I'm letting you decide how you'll start this year with the proverbial "clean slate" - we're each receiving the annual pressure to do/be better in the new year, and Pantone's choice is at heart an open space to breathe and let creativity sing.

I'm inviting you to block out the noise, sweep everything off the sewing table, and carve out a little time for quiet. When everything's not yelling, what do you notice has been whispering for you to listen? How about you make that?

Step Two...

PANIC!!!  I truly believe that my brain short circuited on the announcement that Pantone's Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer, is the basis for this week's prompt.  I simply couldn't focus on coming up with an idea that meets the challenge.

Step Three... Breathe.

Read Trish's prompt instruction, again.  More slowly to see if I could gain clarity on what was being asked of participants.

Step Step Four... Any ideas, Joyful???

Well... Once I relaxed enough to let ideas flow, I decided to take my inspiration from Trish's words to create another small quilt for my Words and Phrases series.

Step Five...

Review the rules:

Rule One: Your project should represent 2026 creativity starting from a clean slate. You get to interpret what that means. Start fresh, stay loose, and listen to your muses.

Projects need to be created during the week of the challenge (started on or after January 4, finished by January 11).

Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these three requirements:

• include patchwork

• include appliqué

• have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.

  
  

Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline.

Link up by Sunday, January 11 at noon CST

Each piece must stand alone as DONE to count.

Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these requirements: include patchwork, include appliqué, have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.

Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline.

Step Six... Gather Supplies:

As a nod to the PQ17.1 color inspiration, I dug into my light neutral scrap baskets to find some Cloud Dancer-seque fabric scraps for creating a background:

Step Seven... PLAY!!!

Pantone's choice is at heart an open space to breathe and let creativity sing.

Here is a bit of my construction process...

(Scroll down to the bottom of the post NOW, if you don't care to see a blow by blow of the making of my quilt.)

Within an hour of the challenge's posting...

 I was already piecing parts of a background:

Where to next, Joyful???

 

That's a good question.

Keep reading...

I selected a few fabrics from my BLUE quilted scrap basket for what comes next:

After my Watercolor Workshop with Tammy Kaye on Monday...

Only 1 day into the challenge, I stitched the quilt top's background together:

With more time remaining...

I dug out my stencils and drew out the letters required for my idea:

Those letters were cut out during my Weekly Zoom Call with my friend LeeAnna:

Then I began arranging on the selected backing fabric and scrap batting:

On Tuesday, things happened quickly...

Gluing down the letters:

Pin basting to prepare...

For the quilting that came the next day:

After the quilting was done, it was time to trim the quilt for binding:

Which I finished on Thursday afternoon and this is the view back:

Wonder of wonders...

With 3 days to spare, I present my completed entry for PQ 17.1 - Let Creativity Flow:

There is usually a reason that I participate in these challenges...

... And this time, it was because at this point I can't think of a better way to kick off my creativity for the year than with the ProjectQUILTING challenge!!

There you have it...

Process, product, and the REAL reason for accepting this Challenge.

Follow THIS LINK to the Season 17 overview.  Check back on the Challenge release days (or sign-up to be notified automatically) and there may be one that YOU just can't resist. I'm pleased to have joined the Link Party with a little time to spare.  Yay, me!  :o))

It's a SHORT turnaround time!

Depending on the size and complexity of your project, that doesn't HAVE to be insurmountable.  With a little creativity and a few evenings, you really CAN do this!  My project was planned out shortly after the prompt was announce but was finished with 3 full days, but my post was completed with just less than 1 hour to link up until the deadline.  Whew!  That was a little too close for comfort.

Until next time...

Challenge accepted!!!

Remember:  If I can do this, YOU can do it, too!

(Plus, there's a spot to post your completed Project QUILTING inspired projects AFTER the deadline for any of the challenges.)