Rainbow of Bowties

I haven't had much time for sewing on my 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects lately, but that doesn't stop me from playing with my blocks from time to time. I have been trying out different arrangements of my bowtie blocks, mostly working in EQ7 because it is so much easier to change them around with that rather than arranging over 500 blocks on the design wall.

I saw this very unique bowtie layout on Bonnie Hunter's blog a couple years ago and have been dying to make it ever since. I'm trying to decide if I want to make one big quilt with all the blocks or a couple of smaller quilts. Here is my EQ7 mock-up of the same layout without any borders.

If I decide to make more than one quilt, this version would be another possibility .

Fooling around in EQ7 is lots of fun, but now it's time to sew! 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. 

Julie in GA

RSC 2016 Plans and Ideas

As we approach the end of 2015, it's time to finish up some of this year's projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Last week I finished off the top of the applique quilt, Circling the Rainbow, that I have been working on all year, and it has been delivered for quilting. Can't wait to see the finished quilt!

My second RSC project for this year has been bowtie blocks. According to the tally I've been keeping all year, there are 540 blocks done. They will finish at 4". I haven't decided yet how I want to put them together. There is still a stack of teal/aqua squares cut for more bowties, so I might continue making these as leaders/enders with the goal of having 600 blocks at the end of the year.

The other fun part with the RSC at this time of year is thinking about possible projects for next year. I have been contemplating a couple of options for a new hand-stitching project. Since I did English paper piecing last year and hand applique this year, I was thinking maybe it's time to try hand piecing. I just haven't settled on the perfect project yet. Here are a few sample tumbling blocks that I made recently. 

The tumbling blocks were okay to make, but aren't exciting me right now. If anyone has a suggestion of a fun block to piece by hand, I'd be very happy to hear about it. I think I might prefer something that I could piece the blocks by hand, but then end up joining them by machine. The thought of hand stitching a whole pile of tumbling blocks together at the end of the year is just too much for me at the moment.

It's quite possible I will end up doing another hand applique quilt. One option would be hearts--something like this adorable little baby quilt. Melissa Corry at Happy Quilting has a great tutorial for this quilt (although her version is for hearts that are fused and machine stitched.)

I have also been thinking about making a 30's style butterflies quilt. My mother has talked about remembering a quilt like this from her childhood. Here are a couple versions I found on ebay and saved to Pinterest.

There are so many wonderful quilt designs out there, it can be overwhelming to choose what to make next. I'm not committing to any of these ideas yet since I still have a few weeks left of 2015.

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. 

Julie in GA

Ready for Quilting!

I have been pushing hard to finish assembling the top for the appliqued circles quilt that I have been working on all year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I am happy to report that my "Circling the Rainbow" top is finished!

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

back for Circling the Rainbow

I will be dropping off this top and back with my wonderful LAQ Jan tomorrow, which is the reason I worked so hard to get it done. After many, many hours of hand stitching circles while riding the train to work, I am thrilled to have this top completed! I knew Nancy's pattern was perfect for an RSC project, and it turned out even better than I had hoped.

The other top going in to be quilted isn't scrappy, but it does include some light/lime green, our color of the month for the RSC. This is my Boston Fiesta top, along with the wild tropical print backing.

Boston Fiesta  60" x 74"

Boston Fiesta back

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. 

Julie in GA

Rainbows and Bowties

I am nearly done making bowtie blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. This week I finished off the last 13 green bowties, plus some brown ones left over from October. There are still a few more brown blocks waiting to be stitched together. 

It's time for me to get serious about deciding how I am going to use all these bowties. I have been trying to keep track of my number of blocks made each month, and it looks like I have over 500 bowtie blocks completed! That would be enough for a good-sized bed quilt, or I could use them for two or three throw quilts. It doesn't look like very impressive in the photo, but there are 40-50 blocks in each stack.

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. 

Julie in GA

Scraphappy Saturday in Lime Green

This has been a week of bouncing around from one quilting project to another, a little bit of this, then a little bit of that. It's the usual case of short attention span quilting. I just can't seem to settle down and work steadily on any single project.

One of my projects is the appliqued circles that I have been making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. All the blocks are made, and I have started joining them together. I got carried away one evening and wasn't being as careful as I should to make sure I was getting my corners matched up. I might go back and make some small corrections before I continue. So far there are three groups of blocks that have been joined together that run from top left to lower right in the photo. The two big triangle areas still need to have the blocks stitched together.

Last weekend I took a Hexie Bootcamp class at a local quilt shop. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile might wonder why I would take a class since you know that I started making a hexie quilt for the RSC in 2013-14. My hexie efforts up til now have been self taught, mostly from reading blogs and watching some videos. I enjoyed the face-to-face time in class and got some tips for joining my hexie stars and snowflakes together. Here is my planned layout for the  center of the quilt, but I still need to decide about the outer edges.

Rainbow Hexies

I have been playing with some ideas for next year's RSC project, but haven't settled on anything yet. There are too many fantastic rainbow quilt ideas out there--it's impossible to choose just one or two!

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. 

Julie in GA

Great Greens

Despite a long, tiring week at work, I have been making some progress on my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our colors for November are light and bright greens. I have finished 30 bowtie blocks and eight more appliqued circles.

It is very exciting to be nearing completion of all my circle blocks, but I am also sad at the thought that I have only two more circles left to applique. I will be rather lost without this delightful project to work on during my train commute. I have started exploring some options for a new hand-stitching project for next year's rainbow challenge.

For anyone else considering making their own circle blocks, I just discovered that Audrey at Quilty Folk is hosting Quilty 365 where she will be making an appliqued circle block every day for a year. Wow, that's a lot of circles! It will be fun to follow her progress.

Quilty 365

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. 

Julie in GA

Getting Into Green

October certainly flew by this year, and the remaining months are sure to be even busier. It felt good to get my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in brown done a little early, but it left me floundering for something to work on at the end of the month. 

I never did work on a brown UFO this month, so last week I pulled out a project from a class I took 5 years ago. These Shooting Stars blocks finish at 14" before the triangles around the outside are added. I have the pieces cut and partially stitched for two more blocks, but haven't decided what I want to use them for. I love the block pattern, but don't want to keep making more until I decide where they are headed. When I finish those two additional blocks, they will probably all end up right back in the same box as before

Because I was fairly certain that our RSC color for November was going to be light/bright green, I went ahead and started stitching my lighter green circle appliques. These will be the last blocks to be made for this quilt, and I am going to miss having my circles to sew on the train--time to find another little handwork project for next year. 

I have also started cutting away the background behind the circles. Thanks to everyone last week for your input on whether or not to trim. I decided to go ahead and trim all the blocks so they are consistent. Because I plan this quilt to be a wallhanging, I am not so worried about the stability with the background cut away. Boy, do I wish I had been trimming them as I made the blocks! That job gets tedious very quickly, and I have 120 or more blocks still to go. Then they all need to be squared off to 4-1/2" before I can start joining them together. Can't wait to get this quilt assembled!

I needed to take all the circle blocks off my design wall to put up another project, and I wanted to make it as easy as possible to get them all back in the same arrangement. I don't remember where I saw this idea, probably on someone's blog. I took each row down and stacked the blocks in order on a paper plate. The plates are labelled with the row number and also indicate which blocks are missing (those are the blocks still needing to be stitched.) I hope this helps when I am ready to put all the blocks back up on the wall.

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. 

Julie in GA

Scrappy Golden Circles

This week has been a busy one, with less time than usual for quilting. Fortunately, I still had time to hand stitch my appliqued circles for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I finished up seven more blocks in shades of yellow and gold. I believe that is the end of the warm colors for me. All that's left are some light and bright green circles, and I think that will be our color assignment for November.

On some of my blocks, especially the paler colors like yellow, you can see a shadow through the circle from the seam in the light and dark fabrics of the background. I have started trimming out the background behind those circles. 

Here's a question for you fans of hand applique out there--would you cut away the background on ALL of your blocks so they were consistent, or only on the blocks where the seam shows through? I wish I had pressed that background seam open instead of toward the dark; it would not make such a ridge in the circle.

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. 

Julie in GA

October Brown Scrappiness

The month of October is flying past, and I am continuing to add more blocks to my collections for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This week I finished 6 circle blocks (finishing up colors from previous months) and 18 brown Bowtie blocks. 

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. 

Julie in GA

Autumn Scraps

It doesn't look much like fall around this part of Georgia yet, but this week's blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sure have the colors of fall. 

Last week I showed a possible layout for all of my applique circle blocks. The next day I rearranged things a little bit, shifting the yellows to the upper left corner and the darkest blues and violets to the bottom of the quilt. You can see the new layout in Monday's post.

About 20 of those circles still need to be stitched to the background blocks. I finished 5 of the orange blocks this week, plus I made a dozen brown bowtie blocks for my other RSC project.

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. 

Julie in GA

Circling the Rainbow

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for October is brown, but I haven't had any time to pull out my brown scraps yet. It has been a very busy week, both at work and in the evenings, and that has kept me from having much time to quilt. I need to get going on cutting squares for my rainbow bowtie blocks.

I decided a couple months ago that I wasn't going to include neutral colors like brown or black in my circle applique quilt.  If you saw my post from two weeks ago, it included a photo of the original quilt by Nancy Mahoney. Her quilt has the blocks arranged in vertical rows of color. I am thinking I might arrange my blocks in a gradation from lightest at the center of the quilt out to darker around the outside. Here's my first attempt with that idea.

There are a few holes in this grouping, and I would like to add enough blocks to end up with the quilt being 8 blocks wide instead of 7. I will need to make some more background squares, then decide where to add more colors. I know there are several lighter green circles around here somewhere just waiting to be stitched down.

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. 

Julie in GA

Orange Moons

My applique circle blocks keep moving along, with four more blocks being completed this week. I am trying to get a good range of colors from yellow-orange all the way to red-orange, and I like the collection so far. 

The following photo shows the original quilt that inspired my project. This quilt is called "True Colors" from the book Simple Circles and Quick Curves by Nancy Mahoney. As you can see, the colors on Nancy's quilt blend from one column into the next, such as red into red-orange into orange. I am hoping to achieve a similar gradation in mine. Before long I will put all my blocks up on the wall and figure out which colors need additional blocks made.

"True Colors" by Nancy Mahoney
from her book Simple Circles and Quick Curves

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. 

Also happening this weekend at Quilting is more fun than Housework is the Quilty Orphan Adoption Event. This is your chance to pass along an old UFO that you will never finish or fabric you will never use. You can also see what items other quilters are giving away. Check it out HERE. 

Edited 4:30 p.m.--I just added a blog post with two of my "orphans" that are up for adoption. You can read about them HERE.

Julie in GA

Orange Scrappy Fun

My scrappy orange productivity has continued for a second week. I finished 5 more circle blocks and 21 bowties. That might be enough bowties for the month, so I will need to find a different orange project to take their place for a few weeks.

I stopped at JoAnn Fabrics today looking for a fabric to use as the final border on my current UFO project. I struck out on that quest, but did find two clearance pieces that will be great for rainbow projects. The orange piece is flannel, and I am thinking I will make a quick kid's quilt featuring orange with the flannel on the back. The neon hearts fabric is a remnant of fleece that will be perfect as a quilt back on one of my rainbow quilts.

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. 

Julie in GA

Quick Start in Orange

I got off to a quicker start than usual on my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month, mostly because I started cutting up my orange scraps in August. I knew we would be using orange in one of the remaining months, and I had some time available to get a head start on it.

There are already 31 Bowtie blocks stitched up, and plenty of orange squares cut for the rest. I was slowed down a bit by running out of pre-cut background squares, so I have been working on cutting up more light squares. Check out the gradation of colors!

I got totally carried away while cutting orange circles for my applique blocks. So far I have three blocks stitched and three more prepped, plus about 15-20 more circles cut out. I will have plenty of hand stitching to do on the train this month.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday. I am also joining the link-up for Scraptastic Tuesday.


Julie in GA

Indigo and Black

This week I finished making the rest of my August blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I tried to pull out blues that tend toward purple for my appliqued circle blocks. Here they are on the design wall along with all the other blue circles from an earlier month, plus 50 bowtie blocks in blacks and greys.

I also finished the top for my UFO of the month which has quite a bit of black in it. Last week I talked a bit about my method for joining the diagonally set blocks together in this quilt. Check out my post from Monday if you would like more detailed information on that technique. I am almost done piecing the back for this quilt.

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


Julie in GA

Scrappy Circles and UFO 9Patches

My current projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have been moving forward this week. I have been working on bowtie blocks and plan to have them all ready to show next weekend. I appliqued a couple more indigo circles, bringing my collection up to a dozen.

My main focus for the week has been my 9Patch UFO. After my frustrations from the previous week, it felt good to get down to sewing. I finished making the needed 9P blocks, then started joining them together.

I took a Blooming 9Patch class many years ago and learned a very useful trick for joining blocks together, and it works especially well for this design. Instead of sewing the blocks into long rows, then joining the rows together, I start by stitching the blocks into large 9Patch units. Then the bigger units get joined to one another. You can get a better idea what I mean from my photo.

The trickiest part of this is keeping the blocks in the correct positions. The next step will be to make a giant 9Patch from the blocks at the center of this layout, then join the rest of the units into sections that finish it off. I am hoping to get it all put together this weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.


Julie in GA

UFO Frustration

It has been a slow start this month on my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I am using indigo in my applique circles blocks, but only completed a couple of them this week. My bowtie blocks are being made in black and grey, but all that got done on those this week was cutting more pieces.

It took quite awhile to choose my UFO project for the month. I pulled out a few options that included black, but most of those didn't make me want to finish them. I ended up deciding to work with this set of nine-patch blocks that were left over from a couple of quilts I made around 2004. Here is what I had up on my design wall earlier in the week. This is the type of layout that was used for the previous quilts.

I spent many hours playing with ideas for finishing the quilt. I didn't want to make lots more nine-patch blocks, but I would like to get the quilt big enough for a possible Quilt of Valor. I auditioned many fabrics as possible alternate blocks, and setted on three different greyish-green prints, using up almost every inch of all three. I will need to make some more ninepatch blocks, but not too many. Any blocks that don't get used in the quilt top will become part of the back. It's time to get these blocks out of the box of leftovers!

The three blocks with medium brown near the top right will be the center of the quilt, with concentric rings building out from there. I am debating between the grey or the blue blocks for the 2nd round of ninepatches. In the meantime, I need to add up how many more blocks I need of the other colors, and get to work cutting strips for them.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 


Julie in GA

Another Scrappy Saturday

It took me a few days to come up with a plan for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Our color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I ended up deciding to use them all.

For my True Colors circle applique blocks, I decided to add a set of indigo blocks to the collection. They aren't all the very dark blue I usually think of as indigo. I have included a few lighter circles in the mix. So far five blocks are finished.

For my Rainbow Bowties, I am using black and grey scraps. I've still got some fabrics to cut, but there are 20 blocks made at this point. Once again I have combined the circle blocks and the bowties together on my design wall.

I am still considering a few options for my indigo or black UFO of the month. I pulled out one project last weekend, but haven't decided if I'm really motivated to continue with that one. I'm hoping to make a decision on that this weekend.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  There will also be plenty of scrappy projects at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework.


Julie in GA

Seeing Red and Moving On to Black

It took me until the second last day of the month, but I finally finished up the two sets of red blocks for my ongoing projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I don't plan to combine the bowties and the circle blocks in the same quilt, mostly because of the different backgrounds, but I do like the way the shapes play together on my design wall.

I am excited to report that I also finished assembling the quilt top of the red UFO that I showed last Saturday, my Curves and Cornerstones quilt. You can see it and read more in yesterday's post.

I haven't figured out what to do with my circle blocks for August. Our RSC color for the month is indigo (purplish blue), with black and grey as alternate choices. I considered adding grey circles to my blocks, but I didn't like the way they were looking with the black and white backgrounds. I will definitely make black and grey bowtie blocks in August, but haven't decided what else to do. I'm still considering options for a UFO too.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  There will also be plenty of scrappy projects at Oh Scrap! over at Quilting is more fun than Housework.

I am also trying to help spread the news of a new linky party. Krista has started hosting a quilty version of Throwback Thursday. Go to her blog on Thursdays to link up a post showing some of your early quilt projects (maybe pre-blog quilts?) and see other posts of quilts from the past. This week I shared photos of my first quilt, made in 1995. You can see my post HERE, and join in on the fun at Krista Quilts next Thursday.

Julie in GA

My Red UFO

Several months ago I had the idea of working on old UFOs as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. My selection of which project to work on is based on our color of the month. Sometimes I don't have time for a UFO, but I have managed to make progress on a few. I have been anxiously waiting for our red month because I knew exactly which project I wanted to finish.

I call this quilt "Curves and Cornerstones." The pattern is a log cabin variation that was designed by Mary Ellen Hopkins. I started this quilt in a class in 1996! That's nearly 20 years ago! That means it is also one of my oldest UFOs because I started quilting in 1995. I was mostly working with fabrics from my stash, and I didn't have a lot to choose from back then.

I made 36 blocks to start with and joined them all together, giving me a panel that measured about 60" square. (You can't quite see the two sides in the above photo.) I played with lots of ideas for borders to make it big enough for my bed, but none of them were working for me. It didn't help that I had used up two of my fabrics. I packed the whole thing away in a box around 1998. It would reappear from time to time, but I never came up with any brilliant solutions to the border problem. 

A year or so ago I was photographing all of my UFOs and really enjoyed seeing this piece again. I pulled a couple of fabrics from my stash as possible substitutes for the ones that were used up. The new plan was to make 12 more blocks, adding a row to the top and bottom of what I already had, turning it into a good-sized throw quilt measuring around 60" x 80". 

So far I have made 8 blocks and have 4 left to finish. The following photo shows a row of new blocks along the top edge. I hope to finish the rest of the blocks sometime this weekend and get them all sewn to the quilt top. It will be such a satisfying feeling to turn this very old project into a quilt top.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful scrappy projects featuring RED at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Julie in GA