ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC16 - Week 17

Welcome to Week 17 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  Each month Angela from the So Scrappy Blog chooses a color (or two) for the "RSC Quilters" to work on.  It's SEW much FUN!!  For the past 16 months, I have found this challenge to be a particularly motivating way to get some quilting done.  This year, I go up to my studio to work with scraps in the Color of the Month and stay to work on a UFO or some other project with a looming deadline.  It has been a truly wonderful experience for me (and any number of other quilters around the globe!)

Would you care to see what I accomplished this week???

I thought that you might!  :o))

On SUNDAY, I slept late, caught up on laundry, and completed the LAST block in S's T-quilt:

MONDAY morning found me taking care of some housekeeping duties, but after lunch, I sat down to finish my scrappy version of Block 1 for the RavBOM.  This block was found at Quilter's Cache, an AMAZING resource for quilters.  Wedding Rings 2 is just one of MANY blocks on the site:

Considering Block 2 was released at the end of last week, I'm only a LITTLE behind on this Ravelry Block of the Month program.  In my defense, my block was Block 2 and I had that on my mind... and on the bed of my sewing machine!!  Along with another TOP SECRET thing that will be revealed at a later date, I didn't manage making my Block 1 until now.  (BIG doings in the works and that's ALL to be said about that!!)  :P

TUESDAY afternoon, I spent some time working on this Feathered Star block that I started while the rest of the RSC Quilters were joining in Angela's LINK PARTY last weekend:

I only made a small amount of progress and it wasn't photo worthy.  Sorry!!  I'll try harder next time.

On WEDNESDAY, I had grand plans of finishing S's T-quilt.  Unfortunately, other activities thwarted my plan.  That's OK... tomorrow is another day!  :o))

Oops!!  THURSDAY was NOT a sewing day.  It turned out to be a travel day... all the way to the beach (and back.)  Look closely, you will see some ORANGE along the way.  This was an unexpected request from an old friend (and it was SUCH an enjoyable day!)  Aside from chatting for HOURS, we stopped for lunch at Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn:

It LOOKS like a bit of a dive...

... The food is top notch!!  Fresh and delicious.  I apologize to my vegetarian friends, but I highly recommend the Cuban Pork Burrito... YUM!

Later that day, I stopped to say my goodbyes to Winterpast:

That evening was the end of an era. The dojo officially CLOSED after DS2's workout.  The owner is retiring and this is the first step in the process.  DS2 has been training there since 3rd grade and he is graduating from high school in 6 weeks!!  I feel certain that he is not going to know that to do with himself without karate each week.  :o((

FRIDAY morning, once DH and DS2 were off to work and school, I got busy with the work of preparing S's T-quilt for assembly.  This project has been hanging over my head for TOO long and I want it DONE (so that I can move on to the next BIG thing!!)  Here's a LINK for today's Design Floor Friday post, if you would like to see how this project is coming along.

I didn't get much further than the first seam when the phone rang - requiring me to turn off the sewing machine and deal with the Financial Aid Officers of 2 different universities.  :o((

Decision Day is approaching and 2 schools haven't sent DS2's package.  HOW are we supposed to make an informed decision WITHOUT financial aid packages?!?!?  Ugh... 1 week and this will all be over (and we'll be several hundred dollars poorer for paying the tuition deposit at one lucky school!!)

On SATURDAY, I tried to join Angela's LINK PARTY right after breakfast, but she either slept late or had some sporting event or another with her kids!  (Actually, today may be the district-wide AP Biology Exam that she was helping her students review for last Saturday.  If so, good luck SoScrappy students!!)  I headed up to work on (I mean FINISH) that blasted quilt top.  Now, instead of being an early bird, I'll be late to the party.  Oh, well... I tried!

This just in from Angela:

"Sorry to say that there are blogger issues this morning that can't be fixed from my phone.  Will have computer access again at lunch.  Doing Disney today with the Academic Team"

Well, I've got NO EXCUSE!!  Time to get on with my day.  I'll check back this afternoon, later tonight, or link-up tomorrow.

NOTE:  This post was brought to you be the color:

Have you sewn with ORANGE this month?  If not, please do!  Your scraps are waiting for you!!!

Remember:  Watch for NEXT week's Design Floor Friday post!  S's T-Quilt may even be FINISHED!!  (She says hopefully, in small print.)

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Design Floor Friday - SEW Close

Welcome to another edition of Design Floor Friday!!  Today, I will share the progress that I've made on S's T-quilt.  It's ALMOST ready to assemble into a quilt top.

First, I needed to identify where the blank spaces were...

... And begin filling in the gaps:

Only the top RIGHT corner remains:

Now, I have to trim everything to size...

... And begin SEWING (which is what is on today's schedule!!!)

Until next time...
Wishing you Speedy Stitching!!!

Mail Call Monday {WIN!!}

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  I recently had a happy mailbox.  You will be happy to hear that I didn't order a thing...  I won a drawing.  :o))

The Canuck Quilter was just published in the June 2016 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  You can find one of her patterns inside these pages:

She was SEW happy that she decided to offer up an issue to ONE LUCKY READER...

THAT would be ME!!!  :o))

She even autographed her article/pattern for me:

Thank you, again, Joanne!!!

Another item of interest (for me) was listed in the Q of the magazine title:

This issue also includes a FABULOUS section on COLOR:

If you aren't a subscriber, I would suggest that you check it out at your local news agent!!

Until next time...
Happy (Quilty) Reading!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC16 - Week 16

Welcome to Week 16 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  As usual, I hoped for sewing time.  Are you ready to see how the week panned out?  Please, come with me on a journey through my week...

For those of you who haven't heard...  DS2 is now a First Degree Black Belt in Wado-Ryu karate!! His test was in the middle of ScrapHappy Saturday and, let me tell you, he ROCKED it!!  This is a particularly sweet accomplishment, if you happen to know his medical history.  :o))

The previous announcement was brought to you be the color...

SUNDAY afternoon, I found that Angela had posted the updated instructions for April's Column Along block:

wACkY PiNWhEeL

It looks like a fun block.  If you haven't tried one before, you really should!!

Speaking of trying things...

I recently tried signing up for a few drawings, just for kicks and grins.  Wonder of wonders, I won the Canuck Quilter's giveaway for a copy of June's issue of APQ Magazine.  Hooray!!  That's not one that I regularly buy.  It will be such a treat to see all of the wonderful quilts inside its covers.

The BEST part??  Joanne's own quilts grace the pages of the magazine.  Congrats, Joanne!!

On MONDAY, I thought I'd share all of the projects that I worked on yesterday afternoon...

Block 1 of the RavBOM:

Block 2 of the RavBOM, which is being released on Thursday night Australia time:

O's T-quilt binding:

I'd like to send out a special thank you to my bee mate, Joanna.  Without her, I would STILL be trying to figure out how to sew 2 incompatible angles in order to attach the binding strips together!!!

TUESDAY afternoon, I remembered that I forgot to tell you who won my Second Chance (or third, in this case!) Orphan Adoption.  I did it "old school" with scrap paper, pen, my list of entrants, and...

My eye glass case?!

Congrats! to Deazinn, who has been contacted via email.  Thank you to SueK, Susan, and Nancyknitsforever (on Ravelry) for participating in the drawing!  Better luck next time.

I have got to the local post office to mail off Deazinn's package AND my blocks for Covered in Love (that I shared in last week's ScrapHappy Saturday post.)  I am really enjoying contributing to a worthy cause WITHOUT having to make an entire quilt!!  YOU could do it, too!!!  :o))

Later...

I learned how to knit socks on a 9" circ. Talk about TINY!?!?  It's a lucky thing for Tracy that I didn't drop ALL the stitches... in a poorly lit room where a glass of wine MIGHT have been involved:

On WEDNESDAY, I toured NC State University with DS2.  We had hoped to have lunch with DS1, who is a student there, but it was his busy day.  He texted to say that he was writing a paper... no lunch for him!  :o((

DS2 and I shared a tour re-cap at T.K. Tripp's along with their famous:

TRIPPS HOT FUDGE CAKE

   A RICH WARM FUDGE CAKE ON TOP OF FRESH

   WHIPPED CREAM, TOPPED WITH VANILLA

   BEAN ICE CREAM   5.99

After a brief stop at home and dinner before the show, we headed off to UNC Chapel Hill's Memorial Auditorium for a concert (compliments of DS2's friend, Benny, and his Mom, who were unable to attend.  Thank you for a wonderful evening!!)

While this program doesn't LOOK like much:

It was nothing short of INCREDIBLE to LISTEN to in person!!!  We feel very fortunate to have been in attendance at one of only SIX performances scheduled for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra's 2016 North American Tour.  If THAT was their warm-up, watch out Montreal, Ann Arbor, Chicago, and New York!!!  You are in for a treat for the ears!

THURSDAY morning dawned to one crisis after another.  They ranged in severity from running late for work to our FAFSA being changed by one of the colleges, to reflect a more than doubled EFC (potentially) negating our chance for a PELL Grant.  Here's hoping there is a positive resolution!!

In quilty news, Block 2 in the RavBOM 2016 was released tonight:

The photo above shows my sample Starlight Geese block.  I blogged about its construction HERE.

On FRIDAY, I took the girls to school and then went to Writer's Group.

WHAT are you talking about, Joyful?!?!  You are NOT a writer.

No worries.  I haven't taken up a new hobby.  It's just that one part of my Knit Group is in Florida this week and the other part had other plans.  So... I brought knitting to the Writer's Group.  :P

I started a NEW project (because I haven't been able to locate my Traveling Scarf.)  Besides that, there's a "Garcia" KAL going on in Threebagsfulled's group on Ravelry!  I give you...

Garcia in Autumn:

Errands filled a good portion of my afternoon, but the early hours of the evening were devoted to making some progress on S's T-Quilt.  This bit would normally have been featured in a Design Floor Friday post, but there simply wasn't enough time, after actually DOING the work!!  :P

First, I finished the Smiley Balloon block:

Next, I auditioned some fabrics for the Frog block:

Then, I finally happened upon a pleasing arrangement:

However, by this time it was time to gather the troops and head off to dinner.  We went to I Love NY Pizza in New Hope Commons.  YUM!!!

SATURDAY is the day that I join Angela's LINK PARTY, that task had to wait until after my Feathered Star class with Nancy Mahoney.  She's a renowned quilt teacher and my local quilt guild needed a few seats filled, so I jumped at the chance to make THIS:

I am SEW glad that I took Nancy's class!!!  This has been one of those long-avoided quilt blocks because of its (obvious) complexity.  Well, my friends, the block is REALLY easy when using the techniques from this class!!

Before I go Blog Hopping, I leave you with a glimpse of my favorite ORANGE quilt.  It's my Leaves of Fire quilt:

I found the border print in a little shop in Las Vegas and made the blocks in a Thangles class at my friend Debbie's shop, Quilting Possibilities, in New Jersey.

Until Next Time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Block 2 - RavBOM 2016

NOTE:  My regular readers are welcome to try this at home.

Welcome, Ravelry Quilters!!  This post is for the RavBOM 2016 participants.  Block 2 for our Block of the Month program was my choice.  It's a block called Starlight Geese.

Would you like to see how the block is put together?

I thought some of you might, so here is how I put my 10" block together...

I chose my background fabric and cut it once on the diagonal:

Fabric 2 makes your "geese" and I wanted to do something a little different from the pattern so I chose a nice bold red and cut that TWICE on the diagonal:

Fabric 3 makes your center star.  You need 3 squares.  One is left uncut and 2 are cut ONCE on the diagonal for your star points:

I "audition" my cut pieces before sewing:

As you can see, I chose to build from the star out:

Double check that you have everything laid out properly:

You should have ONE "dog ear" when using these instructions:

This is what one set of triangles will look like...

... And this is what the other set will look like:

FOUR of the star/geese set:

EIGHT of the background/geese set:

HERE is what your interim units will look like...

... And HERE is how you add on your 2nd "goose" triangle for the background.  Make 8:

FOUR will look like THIS, with ONE triangle of each color:

Below, you will see that I pressed my seams AWAY from the central triangle:

The FRONT of the unit will look have "dog ears" to be trimmed:

Trim the POINT so that you have a QUARTER-INCH seam allowance:

The SIDE "dog ears" get trimmed EVEN with the EDGE of your unit:

PAIRS of units are sewn together and then sewn into ROWS...

... Which are sewn together to make the block:

I hope this photo journey through my process helps.

Until next time...
Happy Piecing!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - UFO Club/Q2 FAL Finish

Welcome to another Wonderful Wednesday post!!  Yes, it's been a while.  (And... YES, this IS not actually Wednesday anymore.  You will have to check this week's ScrapHappy Saturday post to get the details on why I'm a day late.)  I've been working on brother and sister t-quilts.  It's a LONG process from start to finish.  Some quilts, like this one, seem to practically make themselves.  Others, like the sister quilt, very nearly refuse to be made!

We're NOT here to talk about the Sister Quilt.

We're here so that you can see that I have (FINALLY) completed O's T-quilt!!  (Hooray! A finish for the Q2 Finish-A-Long!!)

First, a photo of the entire (rumply) ~ 50 x 60" quilt:

And... The "picture proof" that it's been bound:

One down and one to go for a May finish.  Let's hope that the Sister Quilt will begin to cooperate.

Until next time...
Put a finish on it!!!