Scrappy Teal Saturday 3/8/14

My teal LeMoyne Stars for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have been coming together slowly. I spent most of my evenings last week making a shirt for a birthday gift, and that cut into the quilting time. Yesterday I finally got back to playing with my teal scraps and finished a few more stars.

I have also been basting lots of teal, turquoise and aqua hexies. Not too many left to baste, then I can start joining them together. They will become a star and a snowflake or two like the ones here.

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! I am also linking up to Hexie Weekend at A Quilting Reader's Garden and to the In Hand EPP Link Party at splish splash stash.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 3/3/14

My design wall has the collection of LeMoyne stars that I have been making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This grouping started with a few stars on the black background that were made at least 10 years ago. I decided to use them as my RSC project this year. Blue and pink were our assigned colors for January and February, and I made 8 or 9 small stars in each color (6" finished) plus the 12" pink block. For March we are working with the blue-greens like teal and aqua. I finished four blocks in those colors with the white background yesterday, and I hope to make at least four more with black background this week, plus maybe a 12" block.

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

Julie in GA

Scrappy Saturday--Pink to Teal

February just flew past, didn't it? Of course the fact that the month is a few days shorter doesn't help.  I managed to finish my planned projects in pink for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, including one bonus block, and now it's time to switch over to a new color.

Here are my pink hexie star and snowflake.

I finished up the 6" LeMoyne Star blocks by the middle of the month. Then I decided to try making a scrappy 12" block. The first version had the white print as the background, but I decided the star would show up better against the black and remade it. This block was very challenging, but I love the way it looks. Maybe I will go back and make another 12" star in the blues from January.

I am so happy that Angela selected teal/turquoise/aqua for this month's color. I have tons of scraps in those colors left from previous projects. So far I have only managed to make a mess all over my cutting table with them as I pair them up for the LeMoyne stars.

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

Quilting Goals for March

I am going to continue to post monthly quilting goals, at least for now. I find it very helpful to keep me focused on these goals rather than bouncing around between too many projects. That doesn't mean I won't ever get the impulse to try out a new pattern, but this public proclamation of my goals definitely helps me stay on track!

March 2014 goals:
1.  Red, White & Blue Sampler--finish making blocks and join together. This is also my March goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

2.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make 6-8 LeMoyne Stars in next month's color.
3.  Scrap Hexies--make RSC hexie star & snowflakes.
4.  Tell It to the Stars (Judy L. mystery)--make March blocks.
5.  Spend at least 15 minutes each day quilting--cutting, sewing, designing, etc. Computer time looking at quilt blogs doesn't count (that adds up to way more than 15 minutes some days!)


February 2014 goals:
February was a successful month for my quilting goals. I ended up 4 for 4, including one completely finished quilt.

1.  Bowtie Baby Quilt--finish quilt (finish making blocks, assemble quilt top, and get it quilted/bound) DONE 2/22

2.  Scrap Hexies--make RSC hexie star & snowflake in pink   DONE 2/21

3.  Rainbow Scrap Challenge--make 6-8 LeMoyne Stars in pink DONE 2/23

4.  Tell It to the Stars (Judy L. mystery)--make February blocks  DONE 2/25

That covers my quilting plans and goals for March and my results from February. I hope to reach the goals that I have set for the next month. Watch for the next update at the beginning of April.

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 2/24/14

Today I have before and after photos of my design wall. The before shot shows the LeMoyne Stars that I have been making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

After having this up on the wall for a day, I decided that the big star would look better with the black background instead of the white print. I took it apart yesterday and replaced all the background sections. Yes, I redid all those y-seams! I am much happier with the result now.

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

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday--2/17/14

Nothing new to show on my design wall today. The pink LeMoyne stars for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are still up there. These are 6" blocks, and I have been thinking about making some 12" stars to go with them.

My main focus lately has been the quilting on the Bowties Baby Quilt that needs to be finished by the end of next week. 

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

Julie in GA

In the Pink

This has been a great month for playing with my pink scraps! That is the assigned color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month. I started out making lots of bowtie blocks in pinks (plus yellows, aquas, and a few lavendars.) You can see my bowtie quilt top here.

I have also been stitching pink hexies, and I am getting close to having both a star and a snowflake assembled.

We had another "snow day" this week which gave me time to make some pink Lemoyne stars. These will join the blue LeMoyne stars from last month.

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! I am also linking up to the Hexie Weekend at A Quilting Reader's Garden, and I just made it in time for the In Hand EPP Link Party at splish splash stash.

Julie in GA

Scrappy January Blues 1/18/14

This has been a good week for using up blue scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I finished up five blue LeMoyne Star blocks with light background, to go along with the stars on black background. I am planning to alternate light and dark in my quilt.

I also completed my Scrap Hexies Star and am now working on a snowflake or two in blue. I need to replace the outer points in the light blue star at the bottom right--they just disappear against the background. This has been my hand-stitching project since last August.

Lastly, I made a batch of little nine-patches that finish at 3". Not sure what they will end up going into, but they are a great way to use up scraps.

Check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posts every Saturday to see how others are using up their scraps. So many beautiful projects! I am also linking up to the Hexie Weekend at A Quilting Reader's Garden

Julie in GA

Design Wall Monday 1/13/14

I finished a few more LeMoyne Stars blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I started out using the black background and have added the white background to the mix, with the idea that I can alternate the two in the finished quilt.

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 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

January Blues

This is the beginning of my second year of participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge which is hosted by Angela. Each month has its assigned color, and every Saturday we all link up blog posts showing our progress. Saturday is one of the blog-reading highlights of my whole week when I get to see what everyone has been making. I always come away with way more ideas than I have time to make!

This year I've had a little trouble settling on my rainbow project for the year. The current top choice is to make more 6" LeMoyne stars like the ones below. These were started many years ago and have been sitting in a box ever since. It's about time they were allowed to come out & play!

So far I have made 4 stars in blues, our January color. The three bright ones look great with the previous set, but that one at the lower right is not going to make the cut.

My carry-over project from last year's RSC is my scrappy hexies. I have been basting blue hexies and hope to start sewing them together next week.

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

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