Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 9, 2020

The extra Saturday this month has made it possible for me to finish all the blocks for my various Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects in orange. Shown here are 25 Orange Peel blocks (most of them were stitched last year), one Scrappy Bear's Paw block, and 30 Square Dance blocks. 

I'm very happy with how all of these projects are looking so far, and I'm eager to get started on a new color for March. Hurray, I just saw that our next color is teal, a favorite of mine!

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Saturday Sampler quilt top finished!

Last weekend I shared the blocks that I had made over the past eight or nine months as part of a Saturday Sampler program at a local quilt shop, and today I am happy to show my finished quilt top from those blocks! 

Saturday Sampler quilt top
50" x 63"

The setting triangles and border are from one of my favorite prints--I wish I had a whole bolt of that fabric! I used a layer cake of light grey prints for the backgrounds on the blocks. Here is a closer look at some blocks and the fabrics.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 8, 2020

The latest change to the stash total is 1.25 yards used for the backgrounds on a set of blocks for the Saturday Sampler quilt program at a local quilt shop. Each month we received a packet with 2 block patterns, 2 layer cake squares, and two pages of triangle paper. If we made our two blocks and brought them with us the next month, we got the next packet for free. I kept up with making all my blocks, but missed the meeting time one month because I had to work. Here are all my blocks at the end of the program. 

My background fabrics were a layer cake of pale grey prints. I need to rearrange the blocks some more, then figure out what to use for the sashing and borders.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            1.25 yards

Used year to date:                        7.00 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        0.0 yards

Net used year to date                 7.0 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. My main project over the past week was the Saturday Sampler quilt, but I have continue working on my hand appliqued Orange Peel blocks too.

15 Minute Challenge:  

2/16 - 2/22                7 of 7 days

2020 Total               52 of 53 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 7, 2020

The stash totals continue to slowly move along, with just 1/4 yard of fabric used last week. That fabric was used in my latest Scrappy Bear Paw block for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This block was lots of fun to make, especially choosing the different orange fabrics to include, and I love the way it looks set on point!

The best news about the stash is that no new fabric has been added yet this year! I may need to buy some soon for sashing and borders to finish off a set of blocks--it's time to dig deep and see if there's anything here that will work.

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            0.25 yards

Used year to date:                        5.75 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        0.0 yards

Net used year to date                5.75 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. My perfect record came to an end this week on Valentine's Day. I didn't do my usual hand stitching in the morning because I didn't ride the train to work, and we went out to eat in the evening. By the time we got home, there was no energy left for quilting.

15 Minute Challenge:  

2/2 - 2/15               13 of 14 days

2020 Total               45 of 46 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 7, 2020

Work on my different projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is getting into a regular routine, which makes it easier to stay on track each month. I have three different RSC projects in the works. The hand applique Orange Peel blocks were carried over from last year, and most of my time stitching on them happens on my morning train ride. The only prep for these blocks is choosing a 3.5" square of dark background and bright color for each block, then drawing the orange peel shape onto the top fabric. I shared my orange and green blocks in last week's post HERE.

Once we find out the new color assignment for the month, I spend several hours pulling together squares for my Stash-buster Square Dance blocks. Besides the four small squares of solid black, each block uses two other fabrics. For each fabric, I need one square at 2.5" and two squares that match it at 1.5". This was my first block that included orange, our color for February.

Stash-buster Square Dance block

After all the parts have been prepped for the Square Dance blocks, I can go through my remaining 2.5" squares for a Scrappy Bear Paw block. This block uses 33 squares of the assigned color, and I am able to get the background pieces out of two layer cake (10") squares. I love blocks like this that combine many fabrics of a single color.

I'm looking forward to making more of these blocks in other colors. It's hard to keep from working ahead, but I'm trying to make just one block each month.

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 6, 2020

Progress has slowed down considerably, but I am still hand stitching more Orange Peel blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made close to 150 of these blocks during 2019 and don't need too many more.

Green was our color for January, and orange is February's color. I am shooting for 24 blocks in each of these colors, so I'm close to my goal on these sets. I think there are a few more finished green blocks around here somewhere--I wonder where they are hiding?

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I'm also linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 5, 2020

The stash totals for the first month of 2020 are looking good, with 5.5 yards used and no new fabric added so far this year! Last week's usage is .75 yards on my light/dark green Square Dance blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Most of the usage so far this year was on the Jelly Roll Zigzag quilt top. Since I showed the parts for that quilt last week, here is a photo of the finished top. You can read more about it in my blog post HERE.

Jelly Roll Zigzag
59" x 75.75"

2020 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                            0.75 yards

Used year to date:                        5.50 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                        0.0 yards

Net used year to date                5.50 yards

Kate's 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces has us tracking how many days each week we get in at least 15 minutes of quilting time. There was one day that looked like I wouldn't get any quilting time because we had evening plans, but I was able to do some stitching on the train ride home that day. I'm holding on at 100%!

15 Minute Challenge:  

1/26 - 2/1                  7 of 7 days

2020 Total               32 of 32 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. Many thanks to Donna and to Kate for continuing to host these link-ups!

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 5, 2020

It's a new month, and that means a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for February is orange, which our hostess Angela was kind enough to let us know last Saturday. I was happy to start pulling our orange squares for more Square Dance blocks. 

 My plan for this quilt uses two different colors in each block. I gathered together a wide variety of squares in both orange and red. Then I realized that the orange/red combination should go together when we get to the red month. I need to be using orange with yellow this month. Back to the scrap bins!

I still have several more yellows to add to the collection, but there's enough here to get me started. I will use half of these orange squares this month with yellow, then save the rest to be combined with red when that color is chosen.

I had to take a few minutes to make my first block on this first day of the month. There will be plenty more of these bright, cheery blocks soon.

The Square Dance pattern is the 2020 Stash Buster Challenge block at Border Creek Station. Their instructions make a 6" block. My stash had mostly 1.5" and 2.5" squares available, so my blocks will finish at 4". 

I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday and with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. Be sure to check out all of the wonderful projects that everyone is sharing! 

Julie in GA