2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Review

It's the first Saturday of 2025, and I haven't yet figured out a plan for my 2025 Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. Before I worry about that, I'm going to look back at my projects for the RSC in 2024. It was my 12th year of participating in the RSC, and I have to start off by thanking Angela for continuing to host the challenge every year. I am also grateful for the encouragement and inspiration every week from the other quilters who participate in the RSC.

My RSC projects for 2024 included new projects plus a couple that carried over from previous years. That combination of new and old will also continue into 2025. For this wrap-up post, I'm going to start with the projects that were new in 2024, then work back through the older ones.

In looking back at my records from last year, I was somewhat surprised to discover that I started three new RSC projects in the very first week of the year. The first was the Birthday Quilt 2024 from Laundry Basket Quilts, a block-of-the-week series of patterns. I made my blocks using the RSC colors and alternating between light and dark backgrounds. After eight months, I decided to stop making more blocks, framed all the ones that were already made, and joined them together into a small quilt top in October.

LBQ Birthday Blocks

40" x 56"

Another sampler quilt was also started that first week of 2024. This one was the Hen & Chicks sampler, designed by our RSC hostess Angela. Each month I made four 6" blocks and four matching 3" blocks. You can see how Angela joined her blocks in this post. I decided to go with a different type of setting, and got all my blocks joined together into a top before the end of the year. 

RSC 2024 Hen & Chicks Sampler

41.5" x 55.5"

The third new project that was started in the first week of the year was Hollow 9-Patch. I used 2.5" squares to make 6" blocks in the RSC color each month. These were great to have as a leader/ender project. I ended up with about 80 blocks by November, and I have been working on getting them joined together. The blocks and sashing on the left half are stitched together, and the rest are joined into columns.

The last new RSC project for 2024 was started in February. That was the "Terry" blocks, inspired by Terry Rowland's colorwash quilts, featured in her series of three YouTube videos. These scrappy little blocks will finish at 3". I have approximately 400 blocks made, and I need to go back and make some in colors I missed, plus add more to a few of the other colors. Here are all of the pink blocks from last May.

One of my 2024 RSC projects was a carry over from 2023. I had been making Rail Fence blocks all that year, and by the end of the year I had two quilt tops (see them in this post), plus an assortment of leftover blocks. I discovered that joining four blocks together made a pinwheel-type design. That led to making many more rail fence blocks, and by the end of the year I had one quilt top and one finished baby quilt.

Rail Fence Spinners #1, quilt top

42.5" x 54.5"

Rail Fence Spinners baby quilt

39.5" x 48"

I have one quilt top from 2024 that features our color of the month from July, which was the aqua/turquoise/teal family. I was inspired by a herringbone design from a Kleenex box, and used that inspiration plus a stack of blue-green fabric scraps to make a little baby quilt. I am hoping to revisit the herringbone design this year.

Herringbone quilt top, 33" x 39.5"

One RSC project from 2023 was finished in 2024. I had taken a class in June, 2023, A Maze Zing with Candace Hassen. The original pattern produced blocks that finish at 16" x 24", but I scaled mine down a bit to 13.5" x 19.5". I made blocks using the RSC colors for several months in 2023, then finished them all off as placemats toward the end of 2024.

A Maze Zing blocks (before quilting)

My plans for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2025 are still undecided, although I am determined to finish some of the many rainbow quilt tops hanging in the closet. It feels good to see that most of my 2024 RSC projects are either finished tops or very close to that point. I'll finish up the Hollow 9-Patches soon, and get back to the Terry blocks at some point. I look forward to another year of colorful, scrappy adventures!

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. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Birthday Blocks Rainbow

One of my 2024 projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been the weekly Birthday Blocks at Edyta Sitar's Laundry Basket Quilts blog. Each week a new block pattern was posted, and I followed along, making the blocks in the color of the month of the RSC. Half of my blocks were made with a light background and half with dark.

When the RSC got to September and October and moved into neutral colors like black, brown, and light neutrals, I decided to stop making more blocks. I already had 36 blocks made, each finishing at 6", and I knew I'd be able to figure out a way to get a small quilt out of them.

I wanted the quilt to feature the fact that the blocks have two different backgrounds. Unfortunately, that didn't show up as well as expected in my first layout, shown above. The problem was the differing amounts of background fabric in the blocks, especially if the background wasn't at the block's outer edges. My solution was to add a 1" finished frame of background to each block, which really emphasizes the contrast of light vs. dark background fabrics. Here are a few of the blocks after framing.

To further emphasize the light/dark backgrounds, I went with a basic checkerboard layout of the blocks. They have all been joined together into a small quilt top that measures approximately 40" x 56". I expect to finish it off with a binding of the dark background fabric.

LBQ Birthday Blocks

40" x 56"

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Finishing the Orange Blocks

Today is the last day of August, and I finished making my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge just in time. 

These are Blocks #32 - 35 of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For my blocks I am alternating using a white or black background on each block and combining that with the RSC color of the month. The blocks will finish at 6".

The orange star is not the pattern that Edyta had designed. Her star block was made with English paper piecing, and I didn't want to spend the time doing all that hand stitching. Instead I went through some of my books of quilt blocks and found this Judy Martin design. It is from her pattern "Kyoto Gardens" which was published in her book Stellar Quilts. I scaled the pattern down to make this 6" block, but I'm thinking about making the original size (10.25") as an RSC project for next year.

I believe our RSC assignment for September will be dark neutrals (black and brown.) I need to go through my RSC projects and figure out which ones could use some dark blocks added to the collection.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

July into August with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Our new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month is orange, but before I could start pulling out my orange scraps, I needed to finish up my last sets of blocks in aqua/teal/turquoise from July. First I worked on the Laundry Basket Quilts Birthday Blocks. A new 6" block is posted every week, and these are blocks #27 - 31.

The next thing to finish from July was my set of Terry blocks. These blocks will finish at 3" each, and it takes more time to cut all the pieces for them than to stitch them. I ended up with 60 blocks in aqua, teal, and turquoise.

After completing those, I was able to make a start on my August blocks for the RSC Hen & Chicks sampler. We are making four different block designs each month in both 3" and 6" finished sizes, and I am limiting my fabric choices to batiks. I got all the pieces cut for this month's blocks and managed to get one pair stitched. Those little 3" blocks sure are challenging!

I will continue with the Hen & Chicks blocks this week, plus pull out more orange scraps for some of my other RSC projects.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Scrappy Blue Sampler Blocks

I have nearly caught up with all of the blue blocks for my various Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, making two different sets of sampler blocks this week. Up first are the blocks for the RSC 2024 Hen and Chicks sampler. The blocks will finish at 3" and 6", and I am making mine from batiks.

My other set of RSC blocks for the week were the latest of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For these I am alternating using a white or black background on each block. These blocks will finish at 6".

Since they were all sitting on the cutting table at the same time, I got some photos of both sets of blocks together.

The blue blocks for one of my other RSC projects, the Terry blocks, are not done yet, but there is still a chance that I can finish them before the month is over. I'm looking forward to finding out what our new color is for July (my guess is orange.)

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 6/2/2024

It sure seems like there should be more to include in my stash report this week, but I'm holding off on counting a couple of projects until I get some photos and share them on the blog. What I am counting this week is 1/2 yard used in two sets of blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. These are the blocks I made this week for the RSC Hen & Chicks Sampler and the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                      .50 yards

Used year to date:             35.625 yards

Added last week:                   0.00 yards

Added year to date:             27.50 yards

Net used in 2024:            8.125 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. I finally completed my quilt show entry, just in time to turn it in for the show this afternoon. I've also been making blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, plus pulling fabrics for a new mystery quilt-along.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

5/26 - 6/1                 7 of 7 days

2024 Total          150 of 153 days

Success rate                 98.0 %   

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Pink Sampler Blocks

It took until the very last day of May, but I did manage to finish off my last two sets of pink blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here are my blocks for Hen & Chicks, the RSC 2024 sampler quilt. I'm making these blocks from batiks.

My other set of RSC blocks for the week were the latest of the Birthday Blocks by Edyta Sitar at Laundry Basket Quilts. For these I am alternating using a white or black background on each block.

These blocks work well together since all of them (except the mini blocks) finish at the same size, 6". The little blocks are 3"

It may be a couple days before I have a chance to start digging through the blues and working on my blocks for June. I know there are always plenty of of blue scraps around here (and every other color too!)

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Not Quite Ready for a New Color

Even though the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge switched over from April's yellow to pink on May 1st, I still had some sets of yellow blocks to finish off. 

Up first were my yellow Terry blocks, inspired by Terry Rowland's colorwash quilts, featured in her series of three YouTube videos. These scrappy little blocks will finish at 3".

Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts is hosting a Birthday Quilt 2024 quilt-along. There is a new pattern for a 6" block posted every week. I am alternating using a dark or a light background each week, and my blocks this month all feature yellow.

The yellow Rail Fence Spinners needed yellow strips cut before I could make the blocks. After that, they went together very quickly.

It was a lucky coincidence that the May block pattern for Jen's Color Challenge featured yellow. The inspiration for Jen's color choice was the Electric Yellow Lab, a type of tropical fish.

I'm done with the yellow scraps and hope to have some time this weekend to start pulling out my bits and pieces of pink.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 3/31/2024

It was a productive week, with plenty of fabric getting cut and stitched back together in my sewing room. I was very happy to finish the assembly of my latest Around the Twist baby quilt top (read more about it HERE.) 2.5 yards of fabric was used for this top.

Around the Twist, 38.5" x 45"

I also finished two more sets of purple blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Hollow 9-Patch (shared in yesterday's post) and the Birthday Blocks by Laundry Basket Quilts. I've got a couple of extra blocks that didn't appear in yesterday's post. One is a duplicate because I didn't like my first attempt of the pattern, plus the heart block was a bonus pattern from Valentine's day that finally got finished this week.

Birthday Blocks by Laundry Basket Quilts

6" finished size blocks

The two groups of purple blocks used a total of 3/4 yard of fabric. No new fabric was added to the stash this week.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                   3.25 yards

Used year to date:              25.75 yards

Added last week:                    0.0 yards

Added year to date:               22.0 yards

Net used in 2024:               3.75 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. Besides the projects I showed with the stash report, I spent large chunks of time pulling and cutting fabrics for my remaining Chatsworth blocks, an ongoing Block of the Month project.

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

3/24 - 3/30          7 of 7 days

2024 Total        90 of 90 days

Success rate                100%

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Finishing the Purple Blocks

March seemed to go by very quickly, and now it is time to wrap up my purple projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I finished off a couple sets of purple blocks this week. Up first were my Hollow 9-Patch blocks.

After that, I made the latest of the Birthday Blocks from Laundry Basket Quilts, ending up with four purple blocks for March. A new block pattern is posted every week, and I am alternating using light or dark background along with the RSC color of the month.

LBQ Birthday Blocks

There is one set of purple blocks that is not quite finished. These are my scrappy improv blocks inspired by Terry Rowland (I call them my Terry blocks.) I have these 25 little 3" blocks finished, and another 15-20 more blocks cut and waiting next to my sewing machine.

Besides all the blocks shown above, I also shared a couple other sets of blocks earlier in the month. There were the Rail Fence Spinners and the Hen and Chicks Sampler blocks. I pulled those blocks out of my RSC bin and put everything up on the design wall together in an incredible, scrappy collection of purple! 

I'm eager to find out what our color of the month will be for April and get started on some new sets of blocks!

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

So Many Red Blocks!

February was the month to use our red scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I certainly went through plenty of red. Now it's time to put away the red scraps and make a start on my purple scraps for March. I don't have anything purple to show yet, so I'm posting a final wrap-up of all my red blocks from the past month. (Some of these have already been shared in earlier posts.)

My first red project to get done in February was the blocks for the RSC 2024 Samper, Hen and Chicks. The small blocks will finish at 3" and the larger ones are 6". I'm planning to make all my blocks for this sampler from batiks.

My next project was the Rail Fence Spinner blocks. I ended up with eight red blocks, plus one green block leftover from January. These are also 6" blocks.

I've been participating in the Project Quilting challenges at Persimon Dreams for the past couple of years. One of our challenges in February was to use "Hourglass" as our inspiration. I made a scrappy, strippy red placemat, which is also my entry in the Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter.

Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts is hosting a Birthday Quilt 2024 quilt along to celebrate her birthday. There is a new pattern for a 6" block posted every week. I am alternating using a dark or a light background each week, and my blocks this month all feature red.

Hollow 9-Patch blocks have been one of my leader and ender projects since the beginning of the year. I ended up with nine 6" blocks in red for February.

The last red project for the month was added to the lineup less than two weeks ago. It is the improv scrappy colorwash blocks inspired by Terry Rowland. You can read more about these in last week's post. I ended up with 36 blocks for the month. They will finish at 3".

I put most of my red blocks up on the design wall together, although the Terry blocks are not included. It makes a wonderfully crazy, scrappy jumble of red!

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge every Saturday and Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

Stash Report and Stitching Time 1/28/2024

It has been a very busy week in my sewing room, and I'm a little overwhelmed by the number of projects in the works. It has also been a very productive week, with two placemats being finished and one quilt top nearly assembled. There was 1 yard of fabric used for the placemats. You can see them HERE and HERE.

I've gotten rather carried away with joining quilt-alongs plus starting new projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge already this year. Most of these will be continuing for several months, and it is already proving to be easiest to total up the yardage for all of them near the end of the month. Here's what I've made so far. All measurements listed are for the finished sizes of the blocks.

Hen and Chicks, RSC 2024 Sampler

3" blocks + 6" blocks

Hollow 9-Patch, 6" blocks

Rail Fence Spinners, 6" blocks

Laundry Basket Quilts Birthday Blocks

6" blocks

Jen's Color Challenge, 12" blocks

SAHRR 2024

16" Liberty Legacy block

3" signature blocks

Added together, the fabric used for all of those many blocks totals about 2 yards. The Hollow 9-Patch and Rail Fence Spinners have both been used as leader/ender blocks, so I might end up making more of those before the end of the month. If so, I will just count the fabric used with next month's totals.

2024 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                       3.0 yards

Used year to date:                 6.75 yards

Added last week:                     1.5 yards

Added year to date:                 1.5 yards

Net used in 2024:               5.25 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. The past week had seemed especially busy with different quilting projects, but I was a little shocked when I counted up 9 different quilts having been worked on over the last 7 days. It's no wonder I feel like I'm going in a million directions!

15 Minute Challenge for 2024: 

1/21 - 1/27          7 of 7 days

2024 Total        27 of 27 days

Success rate                100%

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch Challenge at Life in Pieces. Thanks so much to Donna and Kate for continuing to host these link-ups.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA