Getting Back to the Rainbow

It has been several weeks since I had anything to share for the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Looking back through past blog posts, I see that my first year of participating in the RSC was 2013, when I made my Dancing Stars quilt. The Dancing Stars quilt pattern was designed by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side, and it is still available for free from her Craftsy store (although I know they are making many changes at Craftsy/Bluprint, so you might want to grab it while you can!)

Dancing Stars
60" x 77"

2013 was also when I started English paper piecing a rainbow hexagon quilt that is still in the works. Some quilts just can't be rushed, am I right?

My RSC projects for 2019 are still uncertain. I am planning to follow along on the RSC sampler blocks that Angela and others will be sharing. I've started a new hand applique project, but I haven't figured out what my main RSC piecing project will be. Too many wonderful options, and not enough brain power to make a decision lately.

My first few red blocks for 2019 are two 6.5" string blocks, one 5" string block, and two 4.5" crumb blocks. Those may later be used as the centers of some scrappy stars--time will tell.

Many thanks to Angela for continuing to host the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This is my favorite linky party of any out there. I am constantly amazed by the creative scrappy genius of the participants, and I can't wait to see what each of them is planning for the new year!

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

Looking Back at the Rainbows

It's time to get started on another year of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, one of my favorite quilt-sharing groups. Angela is our hostess, and every month she lets us know our assigned color. Everyone works in that color from their own scraps, making whatever projects they choose. Each Saturday we show our progress and share lots of friendly comments.

I have been participating in the RSC since 2013. I enjoy digging through my scraps every month, looking for the colors I need. As I look back at my past projects, it seems that my biggest problem is finishing them. I have only one finished quilt and several unquilted tops. Here are my RSC quilts from past years. The caption under each photo will take you to a blog post with more info about that quilt.

2013 project--Dancing Stars. My first ever RSC project is also my only completely finished RSC quilt. The 6" blocks were foundation pieced. This quilt was finished in May 2015

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"

pattern by Amy Ellis

Scrap Hexies--started August 2013, still in process of joining parts together.

Scrap Hexies

2014 project--LeMoyne Stars. I made LeMoyne Stars in two sizes, 6" blocks and 12" blocks, alternating light and dark backgrounds. I ended up with a baby quilt and two throw quilts, but none of the tops have been quilted yet.

Rainbow LeMoyne, 6" blocks
40" x 48" baby quilt

Rainbow LeMoyne 6" blocks
45" x 60" throw quilt

Rainbow LeMoyne 12" blocks
53.5" x 68" throw

Bowties 2015--Over 500 bowtie blocks were made. About half went into this top, and the rest of the blocks are still waiting 

Rainbow Bowties 56.5" x 72.5"

Circling the Rainbow 2015--All year I appliqued circles to black and white background squares. This top is at the quilter, and I hope to get it back to be finished before long. This may be my favorite rainbow project yet!

Circling the Rainbow  51" x 62"
based on the pattern "True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney
from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

2016--RSC Sampler. This was my first time joining in on Angela's yearly sampler quilt. I changed a couple of things around on mine, but it is mostly Angela's design, and I love it!

2016 RSC Sampler
64.5" x 76.5"

My other RSC project for 2016 was the 3D Folded Box blocks that I have been showing every week for the past month (at least, that's how it feels to me!) I am soooo close to having the quilt top finished! I'm going to wait until it's complete before I post another photo of that.

Thanks so much to Angela for keeping this wonderful quilt-along going. I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with writing my blog posts, and I know she must put in lots more time. It has been so much fun seeing all the amazing quilts that people are making, and I greatly appreciate the encouragement that everyone shares each week. 

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. On Tuesday I will also link up with Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs. Sew & Sow.

Julie in GA

Going for the Greens

Green is the color for May at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Green is also one of my favorite colors for quilting. My shelf of green fabrics is stuffed full, and I have lots of scraps and pieces for use in my rainbow projects. I made progress on four different projects that include green this week (although they are not all scrap quilts, but they do include the right color.)

I made a little progress on both of my on-going RSC projects, the applique circles and the bowtie blocks. I have been stitching circles on the train, and the bowties have been my leader/ender blocks. I will be making more of both kinds of blocks before the end of the month.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney

from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

Rainbow Bowties
4" blocks

The majority of my quilting time over the past week was spent on my green UFO project, the leftover Blooming 9-Patch parts. I finished making more blocks to go with the ones I already had. I had been auditioning a couple of border fabrics last weekend, but was very happy to discover that I had another piece of the darkest green (like the setting triangles at the bottom) and can use that for the border. I have started joining the parts together and hope to have a finished top to show next week.

Voting has begun for the Blogger's Quilt Festival which includes my Dancing Stars Quilt in the ROYGBIV category. This was my RSC project from 2013. You can vote by going HERE and click on the little heart on your favorite to cast a vote.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will also be linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 5/17/15

I made a bit of a dent in my stash this week, but nothing significant. I finally finished the binding and hanging sleeve on my Dancing Stars quilt (which has been waiting patiently for about six months since coming back from quilting.) That used 1 yard of fabric. I also added the border to the Boston Fiesta quilt top. Up next will be the backing for that quilt.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis available HERE

Boston Fiesta quilt top
60" x 74"

TOTALS:

Used this week:                        1.5 yards     
Used year to date:                  61.0 yards

Stashed this week:                      0 yards

Stashed year to date:         51.625 yards 

Net year to date:             9.375 yards used

Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times. 

Julie in GA

Playing with Greens

This was a week where I developed a bad case of quilter's ADD. I just couldn't seem to settle down and work on my ongoing projects. Instead I kept pulling out all sorts of UFOs and playing with the remains from past quilts, trying to turn them into something new.

As part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I have been working on UFOs based on the color of the month. Green is our color for May, and I realized that I have made 3 different 9-patch quilts that were each primarily green. I pulled out this collection of leftovers from a Blooming Nine-Patch that I made around 2005. The box contained leftover blocks plus sample blocks with fabrics that weren't used in the final quilt. There were also quite a few pre-cut strips, some of which were already sewn up into strip sets, plus I have some yardage of all the fabrics.

I have been trying out different arrangements of blocks on the design wall and making more blocks from the pre-made strip sets. I need to find something with a little more punch to it for the center, but otherwise this is coming together nicely.

The other UFO that features green is my Boston Fiesta quilt, which is now a finished top! I finished joining all the blocks together a couple days ago and added the green border today. I have a fabulous bright print that I was planning to use for the back, but when I went to press it, I discovered that it is stretchy on the crosswise grain. There must be some spandex or something like that in there. I bought the fabric at a discount fabric store 10 years ago, so there is no way to tell now. I am searching my stash for other backing options.

Boston Fiesta top
60" x 74"

Boston Fiesta reject backing

Even better than finishing the Boston Fiesta top was completing the binding on my Dancing Stars quilt. This was my first project as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I made the star blocks in 2013, made the top and had it quilted in 2014, and finally finished the binding this week. I have entered this quilt in the ROYGBIV category of the Blogger's Quilt Festival; you can read my entry post HERE.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis

Check out all of the terrific scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I will also be linking up on Sunday to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

Julie in GA

Blogger's Quilt Festival--Dancing Stars

Once again it is time for the spring Blogger's Quilt Festival, the wonderful online quilt show organized by Amy at Amy's Creative Side. There is always an overwhelming array of amazing quilts entered in the festival. I can't wait to start working my way through the entries and seeing the beautiful quilts!

My entry for this spring started as part of the Dancing Stars quilt-along designed by Amy Ellis, our hard-working hostess for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Here is the pattern design from Amy's Craftsy store. Not only is it a spectacular pattern, it's also available for free! 

I made my blocks all throughout 2013 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. The blocks are foundation pieced, and the finished block size is 6". We were assigned a monthly color, and I made about a dozen blocks each month, ending up with a total of 135 stars at the end of the year. 111 of those blocks were used in the finished quilt.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"
pattern by Amy Ellis

The quilt back is just as much fun as the front. The wonderful batik fabric for the back came from a skirt that I bought at a rummage sale. It was made up of rectangular pieces of fabric, which I took apart and pieced back together for this quilt back. The binding is the same solid black as the background of the stars.

QUILT SPECS:

Dancing Stars

Finished size: 60" x 77"

Pattern: "Dancing Stars" by Amy Ellis, available HERE

Blogger's Quilt Festival ROYGBIV Category

Bloggers will be posting their entries in 11 different categories for the Blogger's Quilt Festival until May 21st. Check out the incredible quilting artistry on display HERE. Voting for your favorites runs from May 22nd until the 29th. The rainbow quilts, including my Dancing Stars, can be found HERE.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 3/31/14

Last week was a good one for getting quilt tops together. After finishing my Red, White & Blue Sampler top, I wasn't sure what I wanted to work on next. Then I found a great fabric to use on the back of my Dancing Stars quilt, and that motivated me to finish joining the top together. 

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"

This wonderful pattern is a free download from Amy's Creative Side. The blocks were made as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2013. Every month we were assigned a different color, and I made 10-12 blocks in each color. 

Here is the back for the quilt, which used to be a big, full gathered skirt with two ruffles around the bottom. I took the whole skirt apart and ended up with batik panels that measured about 40" square, plus two long strips that are around 9" x 5-6 yards. I had to work around a couple of rips in the fabric, but otherwise it worked up beautifully for the back of this quilt.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out for tons of amazing ideas and inspiration. I am also linking up to Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Julie in GA

Stash Report Sunday 3/30/14

I have been piecing quilt backs this week, which would normally mean a large amount of fabric in the used column, but unfortunately this time around it also meant a sizable amount being added to the stash before it got used in those backs.

The only backing fabric to come from my stash was this beautiful leafy sun print that is going on the back of my Scrappy Sampler quilt. I have such vivid memories of buying this fabric in Paducah a few years ago, probably 2010. It was a huge panel and cost more than I would usually spend, but I just couldn't resist buying it. I can't wait to see how it turns out on this quilt!

The second quilt backing of the week is for my Red, White & Blue Sampler. I started out hoping to use this Dear Stella fabric, but didn't have enough for the whole back. 

The next idea was to use a panel of that fabric down each side and to piece together some other fabrics from my stash down the center. I just wanted to get something together so I could send the quilt off to be quilted, but hubby insisted that the quilt deserved better than that. We visited the quilt store together yesterday, and he bought this lovely star print to become the quilt back. 

Last is the back for my Dancing Stars quilt. I made the blocks for this quilt as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2013, and I finished joining them together last week. I found the perfect fabric for the back at work--it was a skirt that we were getting rid of from our costume storage. Lucky for me, the skirt was just big rectangles of the fabric all gathered up at the waist, so it was easy to take apart and reconfigure into a quilt back. Here are photos of both the finished top and the back.

Dancing Stars 60" x 77"

Too bad I don't get more tops done, because making backs sure goes through lots of yardage. It will feel so good to send these off to my long-arm quilter, and it will be even better when I get them back!


Used this week:                      15.5 yards
Used year to date:                32.75  yards

Stashed this week:                12.0  yards  

Stashed year to date:           16.0 yards 

Net year to date:                 16.75 yards used


Check out more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/6/14

My design wall is mostly covered with the blocks for half of my Dancing Stars quilt. The rest have already been joined together into two large sections.

The new additions to the design wall are  LeMoyne Stars for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--can you tell I love bright colors on black?! At the lower right are the first 2 star blocks for the Tell It to the Stars mystery. I am going scrappy with my fabrics for that too.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out for great ideas and inspiration.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 12/30/13

My main design wall is totally covered with the blocks for my Dancing Stars quilt. I have started joining them into sections. You can see that the lower right area is all together. I have joined partial rows  on the lower left side and will do one of the upper areas next. My plan is to quilt the four sections separately, then join them all together. I had hoped to have this quilt top together before the end of 2013, but quilting before I finish joining all the parts will slow me down.

I am linking up to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. Check it out for great ideas and inspiration.

Julie in GA

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 + Ideas for 2014

It's time to be figuring out my plans for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014. I have had such a great time participating in the challenge through 2013 and look forward to another year of scrappiness. Angela is the leader of the challenge, and she has even set up a Pinterest page with plenty of rainbow quilt inspiration.

My main RSC project for 2013 has been making Dancing Stars blocks. I had hoped to get them all joined together before the end of the year, but it doesn't seem like that will happen. I've got my blocks up on the wall and have started joining them together, but decided to hold off until I have a better plan for quilting them. I might try quilting in sections, then join the sections together. I need to do some samples before I continue putting blocks together.

My other RSC project from 2013 was my Hexie Stars and Snowflakes. This project was started in August to give me some hand stitching to do on my morning train commutes. I have completed 4 months and will continue making these in 2014.

I have been looking at lots of ideas for next year's project, but am having a hard time making up my mind. One possibility is to make more of these stars, which have been sitting around for more years than I care to remember. They were made after I got the book LeMoyne Stars Made Easy by Sharyn Squier Craig. They look like the perfect rainbow project!

Another option is to combine the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with a new Scrappy Challenge by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times. Judy is going to assign a block each month with the idea that participants make whatever number of blocks they wish in that month. More details are available here. 

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! 


Julie in GA

Scrappy Saturday 11/30/13

I have been making Dancing Stars blocks all year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I just checked Angela's blog post for this week and discovered that there will not be a new color assigned for December. It is our chance to catch up on any colors that fell behind or to start putting our blocks together. That is just the news I was hoping for--I don't think I could wait much longer to join these blocks into a quilt! Here are all the colors together, sparkling against the black background.

At last count, I had a total of 135 star blocks made for this quilt, averaging about a dozen of each color. The pattern calls for 98 blocks to make a throw quilt, which finishes at 60" x 68". I might opt to add an extra row of blocks in each direction to make it into a larger quilt, or else the extra blocks could become a kid's quilt or wallhanging. For anyone interested, the Dancing Stars pattern is a free download from Amy's Creative Side.

My carryover project will be to finish up my brown hexie star and snowflakes. One snowflake is finished, and all the hexies for the star have been sewn into rows that need to be joined together.

I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--check it out every Saturday to see many great projects and ideas. 

Julie in GA

Chocolate Scrappiness 11/23/13

My brown Dancing Stars blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge were finished up last weekend. I hope to have a chance over the long Thanksgiving weekend to put some of them up on the design wall along with the colors from previous months. I can't wait to start joining them all together! 

I have also been joining together my brown hexies. The first "snowflake" is nearly complete, and next I will get going on making the big star.

I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--check it out every Saturday to see many great projects and ideas. I am also linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts to share hand stitched projects. I'm a day late for Hexie Friday at A Quilting Reader's Garden, but I will link up there too.

Julie in GA

Scrappy Saturday 11/16/13

This has been a good week for working on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. I finished basting the brown hexies and have started joining them together. I have more than enough done to make a star and two snowflakes.

I also finished six more Dancing Stars blocks in browns this week. It is so exciting to see all the different colors come together. Only one more month to go with these, then they will get joined together!

I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--check it out every Saturday to see many great projects and ideas. I am also linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts to share hand stitched projects.

Julie in GA

Weekend Scrappiness 11/9/13

I didn't quite finish my black & grey scrap projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge before the end of October, but I did get the last hexie star done just a couple days later. The photo is a little dark, but here are all my hexies from October.

I have been basting brown hexies for November. I have almost enough basted to make one hexie star, and plenty of scraps for cutting more brown hexies. I hope to make one star and two snowflakes by the end of the month. There should be some time to work on these tomorrow.

I have also finished up my first three Dancing Stars in brown for November. There are more of these already in the works which should appear in coming weeks.

I am linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge--check it out every Saturday to see many great projects and ideas. I am also linking up to the monthly In Hand EPP Party at splish splash stash and to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.

Julie in GA

Getting It Done--October/November 2013

Once again, Judy has posted the link-up for this month's Get It Done challenge. I did pretty well on my goals for October, with two completed and two others nearly done, plus two extra finishes that weren't even on the list. 

OCTOBER GOALS

1. Dancing Stars--make a set of blocks in this month's colors (black and grey) for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   11 blocks done

2.  Scrappy Sampler BOM--make this month's set of blocks. 
     Almost done but not quite

3.  Scrap Hexies--continue my hexie hand stitching project.
     2 snowflakes done, one star halfway

4.  Begin at least one Christmas gift.
     2 gifts started


Other projects this month:
Testing Honey Honey paper piecing pattern
Finish 2 paisley placemats

November goals:
1.  Dancing Stars--make a set of blocks in this month's color (brown) for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

2.  Scrappy Sampler BOM--make this month's set of blocks. 

3.  Scrap Hexies--continue my hexie hand stitching project.

4.  Finish at least one Christmas gift.

5.  Finish Easy Street top.


See how well other quilters did at reaching their goals this month and what they hope to accomplish in the month ahead at Patchwork Times.

Julie in GA