I'm Seeing Red

Well I'm late with my post.  Spent the better part of 6 hours in emergency with my sister.  She's come down with a nasty case of shingles - doesn't look like much but the pain is so severe it was making her nauseous.  After some pain meds, gravol and re-hydrating she is finally sleeping.

It's been a busy week - helped prepare a four course funeral luncheon on Monday, lots of prep work for our upcoming church bazaar Tuesday and Wednesday,  baby sitting Thursday and Friday with the 3 year old staying over night so not much sewing done but I did manage to get the "H" blocks made.

Coral reds, orange reds, blue reds - a little bit of everything.

And here are all the blocks to date playing together.

Not too bad!  Can't wait for the rest of the colours to see how it all works out.  I'll be hopping over to soscrappy later this evening to see all the work the scrap happy quilters have completed this past week.

Good-bye Sea Green, Enter Red

Well where has February gone?  I know it's a short month but this February has just flown by.  I've tried to keep up with the sea green colour and finished up my teal H blocks.

Notice there are only 6 in the upper photo but all 7 appear below.  Our guild was clearing odds and ends from the guild stash and I was lucky enough to find a sea green scrap so I could finish off the 7th H block.  I do love the way the purple and sea green blocks work together.

I belong to a fibre arts quilt group and last month we worked on little prayer flags.  I realize that most prayer flags are rectangular but I found this cute little triangular canvas banner kit and challenged the group to make a triangular flag.  I hemmed and hawed about the word to select for my flag and finally after a trying day last Wednesday it became evident that I had to remember to just "breathe".  The sea green/teal scraps I had looked like a perfect start. I love the way the variegated thread just happened to be pale red/pink at the left side of the "b" - it's almost like opening my nostrils to take in that air and breathe.  The little flags will flutter in the summer breeze just like the Prayer flags hung in Tibet.

Earlier I shared the hearts I made for the guild Community Outreach project.  At our meeting I picked up a few prepared kits and whipped these up.  Notice how many are red.  A great way to begin the new colour of the month.  I'll have to check through my red scraps and prep fabrics for my RSC projects for this year.  Of course I'll check in with Angela and see what other red scrappy goodness has been started this month.

Week Two Swimming in Sea Green

I must say, I am so enjoying the sea green colour.  It is so restful and calming - almost as good as sunning on a Caribbean beach.

What I love about participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is selecting projects to work on for the year and not having to think about what to pull out to do.  Last week it was Cracker blocks and this week it was the 9 patches and hour glass blocks.

The colours don't look quite right but I have joined the 12 sea green  patches and hour glass blocks.  The hour glass block colours have such a subtle difference, white and cream, but I like the pastel look they create with the sea green blocks.

Don't the purple and sea green blocks play nicely together.  The sea green in this photo is more true to the real colours.

I also worked on a block lotto challenge for my guild's Community Outreach Committee.  It was fun making the cute little houses from 10 inch squares.  The process reminded me  of a magic tiles quilt I made many years ago.  I decided to use some 10 inch batik pre-cuts I won in a draw at our guild meeting.  Making them was addictive ....

Do  you think I got carried away?

While I was at it I decided t make some from brights I had lying around.

I think it's easier to see how the four fabrics shift through all the blocks.

Now I can't let February and Valentine's Day go by without making something in red and pink.  The block of the month for the guild was the 10 inch heart block with bonus HST.

It's been a great productive week with all the little projects but I really have to do some quilting and putting quilt tops together.  That will be the focus next week along with my RSC blocks for week 3.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.  Hope your Tuesday is spent doing what you love and with someone you love.

I'll be linking up with Angela at soscrappy and checking out other sea green, teal turquoise projects.

Finishing Purple and Starting Sea Green

As January drew to a close I decided to round out the month with some happy H blocks.  There were quite a few scraps left in the red violet range and they made up some lovely H blocks.

When those were finished I headed into my green and teal scraps to find the new colour - sea green.  The pickings were slim.  Some months are like that.

This is what was left after I cut the pieces for the Cracker blocks.

I tried for a range of light to dark sea green in the Cracker Blocks.

A few fat quarters might qualify for sea green.

Notice I had to cut into one of the fat quarters to make the 10 Cracker blocks I'll need for the quilt. The remaining February blocks - 7 H blocks, 12 nine patches and 6 tumbling blocks - will probably be cut from these as only one of the truly scrappy fabrics is large enough to cut pieces for  a block.

I'll be hopping over to soscrappy to see how you finished off January and started February.

Week Four in Purple and Almost Ready for a New Colour

I have a few more stitches to take on my tumbling blocks to be finished my purple RSC projects for January.

Four lined up all in a now and only two more to add on.

I attended a beading workshop yesterday and now have a repertoire of  a few more stitches and this fun little bag which I started last year just might see a finish.

It will need a corded handle and should be perfect for an evening  out when I don't need to carry too, too much with me.

Hope you have been more productive than I have this week.  I'll be checking in with Angela to see what you have been up to.

A Perfect Sidekick

I struggled with getting the size just right for doing some tumbling block English paper piecing.  The pieces just didn't come together properly with my first effort.  A friend suggested downloading paper piecing patterns from the internet but I guess I didn't know how to use them properly because it didn't make things any easier and then I found this in among my rulers.

If I increased the size of the tumbling blocks to 1.5 inches from the 1 inch finish in the pattern. Sure my mini quilt would be bigger but still small enough to count as a mini.  So I used the Sidekick to cut my freezer paper diamonds.  I cut a 1.5 inch strip and cut out the 18 diamonds I needed for the purple tumbling blocks.

I cut the fabric strips 2.5 inches in width and  placed my ruler 3/8 of an inch from the bottom of the strip.  I used the ruler to line up the bottom of my templates.  I left a 3/4 inch space between templates and ended up with diamonds all ready to stitch into lovely purple tumbling blocks.

Linking up with RSC and checking in to see what other purple fun has been happening this week.

A Passion for Purple

Happy New Year to all!  I am hoping for a calmer 2017.  I had so many distractions and calls for my assistance with a number of different groups that my quilting time was greatly affected  in 2016.  To get off to a better start I decided to set a goal for myself so I could measure my success:  "Quilt every day for at least half an hour.  This could be looking for a pattern or fabric; planning a quilt, cutting or sewing.  Have a handwork project ready at all times - embroidery, beading or other embellishment, applique, binding, knitting."  I also looked at all the quilt tops hanging on hangers waiting to become a quilt sandwich and have identified twelve that I would like to finish this year.  

For the RSC I will work on two quilts I found in Quick and Easy Scrap Quilts compiled and edited by Patricia Wilens.  The first is called Cracker.  Here are the cracker blocks I finished in the RSC colour for January.

There's a lesson or two I learned when making these blocks. 

 #1 Always have good lighting when reading the instructions. 

 #2 If you're not sure if it's 1/4 or 3/4 wait until morning before trimming.

 

Yup, the trimming size was to 3/4 not 1/4.  I wondered after trimming and actually basted the blocks together  before realizing the 1/4 had to be wrong.  Thank goodness I only made 3 blocks and not all 12 purple blocks.  I've definitely been away from the machine too long to make such an error.

The second is Nine-Patch and Hourglass.

Here are the cute little nine patches for it.  I've made the hour glass blocks for this month too but didn't get a photo.

For my handwork project I've opted to make a mini from A Few of My Favourite Miniature Quilts  by Christine Meunier.  I'll have to cut our the diamonds to piece the tumbling blocks and hope to have something to share next week.

One of my quilt groups presented a challenge.  We were to show what happened when colours were mixed.  Here is my attempt to meet the challenge.  This miniature is an adaptation of the calendar quilt that was to serve as inspiration.  It measures about 24 inches square.  I enjoyed the process and if time allows I would like to try to make a smaller original one.

Now this has to be a finish so now it's time to think about how to quilt it.  This is another goal of mine this year - practicing my machine quilting.


So many plans and I'm keeping track of my commitment on a calendar in my sewing area - yes, old fashioned paper calendar so I can see.