Going Neutral

This year I opted for 4 different RSC projects.  All of the colours to date have worked well with the blocks but light neutrals will be a challenge.  Here's what I found in my stash.

Not much variety and some of the fabrics have been around for at least twenty years.  I just may use some of them up this month.  I will use the wrong side of one of the fabrics to give it a lighter look.

Before putting the blue blocks into the project bins I put all the blocks up on the design wall to check them out.

The Cracker blocks were my first choice for a project.  

The blues add a lovely spark to the layout.  

I'm not sure how the light neutrals will play with the rest of these blocks.

My second project is nine patches with alternate hourglass blocks.  

The hourglass blocks are low contrast white and cream.  

My fear is that the light neutral nine patches will be lost with the alternate blocks.

Now when I look at the H blocks I think the light neutrals will work with the yellow ones to create some lighter areas in the layout.  Bonus!

My last project is the tumbling blocks.  

If you look at the neutrals photo you'll spot the white and grey pieces on one of the neutrals.  

I think using the wrong side of the fabric will work.

Before putting the blues away I made a few little monkeys.  These little guys will join the others to make a grand total of 50 little monkeys.  How many will I need to make a lap quilt?  I'll have to do some math to figure that out.
Linking up with Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Bye Bye Blues

The Row by Row challenge from 2015 is getting closer to completion.  Two more blocks were added to the waterfall and beach chairs. First up is the offering from The Quilt Place:

I love the silhouetted image of the blue heron scouting for his supper.  

The second was from the Hobby Horse and offered one of the styles that the shop is known for and that I tried for the first time.  Clearly if I'm to make other blocks like this I'll need a workshop to figure how to layer the colours.  It's a crayoned row and not quite finished.  The flower tops and outline embroidery are missing - a job for a handwork day.

                                                                          

The "H"blocks in blue are among my favourite this month.  I love the intensity of these bright blues.

The nine patches are cut and waiting to be pieced.  Last night I prepped the English paper piecing tumbling blocks.  Lots of handwork left to bring blue to finish and only three days left. The last minute dash for a July finish is on. 

How did your blue July finish up?  Linking up with SOSCRAPPY and looking forward to reading about your blues.

Blue Skies shining on me

Since the blue colour was announced for July we've had beautiful blue skies up our way.  It's been wonderful working in the garden, dining outdoors and taking an evening stroll.

My goal has been to finish the 2015 Row by Row blocks and I am happy to say another one has made the design wall.  This is a cute little beach scene that proved to be quite popular with Row by Row enthusiasts.  So here it is cool sands, blue water and fair skies.

This is a 9.5 by 36.5 row that will join the others in a quilt or stand alone as a wall hanging.  

Three of  my RSC projects were prepped early in the week and one was crossed off the list. 

The blue Cracker blocks came together nicely.

Linking in with Soscrappy and looking forward to see what  other RSC work has been completed in beautiful cool blues.

The last of the yellow

I must thank two fellow bloggers for their inspiration to finishing off the week with yellow.  Last week Kathy posted her little sprouts and shared the link.  I followed and used up a few of my 2.5 inch squares.  I think I must have been anticipating blue for July.  Love the little pops  of blue in some of the scraps.  This may just be the start of something.  They were fun and quick to make .

The second blogger, also a Cathy at Cathy's Crazy by Design, suggested making the pineapple.  It used up 1.5 inch bits and I may just make a few more for a sunny tablerunner.



These two blocks round out my yellow work and as I said I must have been anticipating blue because I pulled out this Row by Row Experience project from 2 years ago and started to put  it together.  The theme two years ago was Water.  Just love this cascading waterfall.


My last little project is one I picked up on this year's Row by Row Experience. A skinny little runner with the cutest message.

And now I'm off to celebrate Canada Day 150.  Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadian bloggers.  Don't let the showers stop you from celebrating Canada's 150th birthday.

Hopping over to Soscrappy later today to see how everyone else wrapped up Yellow.  

Wrapping up the Yellow

I can't believe I've got all the yellow projects finished with a few days to spare.  Usually I'm scrambling on the last day and there have been months where the English paper piecing didn't get finished but this month not only did I finish the yellow but I also finished the multi coloured and green English paper pieced tumbling  blocks.  






A few monkeys got finished  up this week too; I'm now at 42 little monkeys hanging out on the design wall.  These little blocks are so bright and colourful; they just make me smile.  Linking up with Soscrappy and the rainbow scrap challenge.

Monkeying Around

Well my iris finally opened up and she's a beauty. (Pardon the weeds in the photo, I was waiting for another bag of mulch to be delivered before getting rid of all the weeds in this part of the garden.)

Within two days, the rest of the buds on this iris and the others also were open.  They added a lovely sunny touch to this corner of the garden.

Now on to quilty things.  The nine patch/hourglass combinations are finished in yellow.

I used up a few 1.5 inch strips to make these but had to cut into a bigger scrap to finish the required12 blocks for the quilt I plan to make.

And then it was time to let the monkeys loose again.  I am having too much fun playing around with the possibilities.  I discovered a bin full of strips tucked in a corner last week and took time on Monday to cut them into either the 2.5 or 1.5 inch strips.  I now have so much to choose from but one thing remains constant - that yellow centre square.

The dotty green fabric just makes me smile.

On Wednesday a group of quilty friends and I went to CQA and I'd like to share a few scrappy quilts with you.

Slab triangles put together to create this interesting design.

This Colour Wheel piece was so interesting.  The centre section was completed like Celtic Knots.

And how is this for scrappy.  I liked the use of neutral grey sashing and white in the blocks.

Now this one  took some thought to get the transition blocks just right.

By the way, thought you might to like to see Best in Show -------

The embroidery, bead work and other embellishment on this piece was incredible.  

That's all from me this week. Hopping over to visit with scrappy quilters over at Angela's blog link up

English Paper Piecing

What do you do when it's too hot to do much of anything on a hot, humid Sunday afternoon?  Pull out the English Paper pieced tumbling blocks and find a quiet spot  in the shade.

Oh my,  I really do have to get in for a manicure next week.

Multicoloured blocks are pieced, now on to the green and yellow.

Glorious Sunshine Days

It always amazes me how much more energy I seem to have when the clouds clear and the sun comes out.  What a wonderful week.  I managed to find time every day to do some stitching or at least some playing with fabric in organizing the pile of scraps (I think some of your posts have inspired me).
Not knowing how the week was going to shape  up I thought I'd better at least get the H-blocks completed.

Check.  Got that done.  Now I love to always play with the blocks as they are complete so next up was seeing how the yellow helped the overall effort.

Looking just fine.  

I always seem to have a pile of scraps on the cutting table and rather than cleaning them up into the proper bins, the Little Monkeys appeared.  The first group of Little Monkeys materialized with the HST dark side in the corners and the white  next to the centre yellow square.  I thought I'd try these opposite so the corners are light and the colour is next to the centre yellow square.  (Notice the yellow left over from the H-blocks got used up right away as light corners.  Most of the centre strips are left over from the nine patch blocks in each colour we've used to date.  This is such a wonderful little block to make to clean up all the bits left over from 3 of my RSC projects this year.)

Now look what happens when they play with the first Little Monkeys.

The centre strip in each block now has an interesting white-colour strip running through it and the hourglasses formed where the corners meet have a light-dark pattern created.  I like this look and have to make sure I keep track of numbers in each variation. 

I found a bin of fabric scraps that was forgotten in the corner of the shelf and pulled all of the 1 1/2"  and 2 1/2 " scraps or pieces that could be cut to this size without losing too much fabric and pressed them.  Now all that's left is to cut them to size, pair them up, and cut the HST units using the Easy Angle ruler and produce more Little Monkeys.   

Linking up with soscrappy and looking forward to seeing what you've been busy with this week.

Bring on the Sun

Well, it seemed like Angela's post about June being yellow brought on the the sunshine for us.  After days of cloud covered skies with many thunderstorms and torrential rains, the June is Yellow post cleared the clouds and it's been glorious.  There's something about sunshine that makes you want to get outside and get moving.  I've spread the mulch and even got some yellow work done inside.

The yellow and green (May's colour) for my EPP tumbling blocks are all prepped and ready to sew.  And .... I even managed to piece the cracker blocks in yellow.

Every shade from lemon to butterscotch in this lot.

For those who are wondering, my sister saw the orthopedic surgeon on Friday.  He suspects there were hairline fractures in her knees and possibly on her shins but after 7 weeks they are healing and she should just keep up with the physio and that was it.  My sister is so frustrated with everything.  It seems if  there is an evident break it is easy to diagnose and handle but if it isn't, good luck.  The good news is she was up on crutches and walked into her appointment on Friday - she was slow but made it into the office.  At this point I was so happy not to have to lug the wheelchair in and out of the car for her.  Who knows she may be driving again soon and then what will  I do when she has appointments?  Ah, I know, more sewing time.  What have you done this past week?  Checking in with so scrappy to see.

Going Strong on the Greens

My life has not been my own for over a month now and I have found it difficult to find sewing time.  The Monday after Easter, my sister took the children of  a Syrian family she is helping transition into our community rock climbing at an indoor venue.  It was a day off school for the children but the parents both had to work.  Although old enough to be at home on their own, she felt it would be a long day for them and hoped to provide a morning of fun and activity for the two boys.  Well ... to make a long story short, she decided to try rock climbing too and  had a misadventure.  The two second slip down the wall, with a not too glorious landing, has resulted in serious damage to her legs.  There were no breaks but she is still not able to bear weight and has been in a wheelchair  for over a month now.  Between visits to the doctor, physiotherapy, x-rays, MRI's, nuclear bone scans, blood work, etc. etc. and doing all the laundry, cleaning, gardening, meal prep and shopping that she usually helped with I have been one very busy girl.  ( I have become quite adept at helping to transfer her from the wheelchair into the car and then folding the wheelchair and stowing it in the back seat.)

This week I did eke out some time for sewing and am almost caught up on my projects for this year's RSC.
Project two was the nine patches and hourglass blocks.

I love the bright spring like greens but felt I should throw in a little dark for some contrast.

This is turning out to look just fine. I wonder which colour will be next to join the party.

Project three is the cracker blocks. More lovely spring greens.

And here they join the mix with January to April colours.

Project four is some English Paper Piecing for tumbling blocks and I have to get those prepped for some hand stitching.  I really should have done  this first so I had some hand work to take along to all the appointments.

I previously mentioned that I was attending a guild workshop and would be working on the house blocks I won in a block lotto.  I put the rows of houses together but will be quilting them in a quilt as you go style.  Some initial quilting is complete on one row and I'll have to work hard to find time to quilt the others and join the rows.  I would love to embellish this quilt with some neighbourhood touches.  I'll see how that goes but street names such as Dots Circle, Batik Boulevard and  Bunny Hill Lane are coming to mind.  Wouldn't it be fun to put up some street signs?  And perhaps  a little landscaping.  I'll see how that goes.

I haven't checked in with RSC for a while and am looking forward to some green eye candy.

Get Going Green

A few weeks ago I participated in Bee Day with my guild.  Kits for our Community Outreach Programme were precut and all we had to do was sit and sew.  What a great day!  I put together this  flimsy - can you see the green in it?

The great thing about a Bee Day is that you get to put quilts together that you wouldn't make on your own. Hopefully when this is  quilted and bound it will provide comfort to someone in our community.

Our Guild past presidents issued a challenge to members to make completed quilts from their stash for Community Outreach.  I made the flimsy early last fall but only this past week quilted it and delivered it to our Outreach team.

If you look closely you will see some pale green squares and green  bubbles.  I know, I'm pushing it to include it in a green post.

A few weeks ago, (Week Two Swimming in Sea Green) I shared some wonky houses I had made for the block of the month challenge.  The committee selected enough of the wonky houses to make a quilt for a draw and I won!  As you read this post I'll be busy stitching the wonky houses together to make a quilt at our Past Presidents' Day workshop.  I'll share what I accomplish next week.

I did make some green blocks for one of my RSC projects.  Here are my green H blocks.  My sister figures it should be her quilt because she sees I's and H's in the blocks ( her initials).

And here's how all the  blocks work together so far.

I'll be checking in with soscrappy to see what green goodness you've created after my workshop.

The Greening of May

I was thrilled to read a few days ago that May's RSC colour would be green.  I thought perfect.

My whole world is turning such wonderful shades of green thanks to the steady rain we've had over the past three days.  Just look at all the beautiful greens from the gray-green of the utility box to the various leafy shades to the grass.  It's such a beautiful colour - the colour of life in spring.

Even the blossoms on the burro's tail are green.

So I dove into my green bin and look what I found:

Not nearly as rich as the green found in nature but I think I can find some green to work with this month.  I'm amazed at how many yellowy-greens I have.  And look at that gray-green in the bottom right corner.  Some will probably not make it into my projects but it was fun digging them out.  I'll hopefully have time  to do some planning of my 4  project blocks this afternoon and maybe a bit of sewing.  First I've got to finish quilting my Community Outreach quilt.  But now let's check in with Angela and see what scrappy green goodness is going on.

Mad Dash to finish Multi colour blocks

April has been busy with little time to sew or blog but between events I squeezed in a few minutes to work on my RSC projects for this year.

I did finish up my nine patches but have a few more hourglass blocks  to finish up.

They're pretty stripey looking but definitely multi coloured.

And I prepped my tumbling blocks...

It was a sunny day so pardon the shadows in the photo.  

A quilting friend agreed to do a little workshop for a group I belong to.  We spent a fun day one Friday working on water.  I managed to finish my little effort - it measures 6 inches by almost 12 inches.

And finally I finished up the cracker blocks.

Aren't they bright and colourful?  

I'll be linking up with Angela at soscrappy and finding out what others have accomplished.

A Wild Start to April

I am trusting that Angela's choice of multicoloured fabric is not an April Fool's prank because I'm quite excited about being able to use some of the multicoloured scraps I have lying around.  But before I get into April, here's how I finished up March's red.

I finished up the seagreen blocks and three of the red blocks (the final two are just placed but not stitched.)  I don't know what I will do for multicoloured, perhaps some stripes where each block will end up being quite different. I can't use anything with a black background or the illusion of tumbling  blocks  won't work.

Here's the first multicoloured scrap I selected.  The fabric was used for borders in a child's quilt and there was a small section left over.  Don't you just love these wild kitties?

These will definitely add a fun punch to the H-blocks.  Take a look.

Linking up with Angela at soscrappy and looking forward to seeing what multicoloured scraps you've taken out to play.