Scrappy Orange Medallion

For some reason, none of my regular projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge have seen any progress yet this month. Instead, the majority of my piecing time has been spent playing with a collection of leftover orange (our color of the month for the RSC) half-square triangles. I shared the beginnings of this project in Monday's post.

My center block was made as a sample for a 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. The pattern is Sew Colorful Stars, and it is available from the Fat Quarter Shop HERE. Some of my scrappy triangles were made into 16 Friendship Star blocks, which now encircle the center block. This portion now measures about 38" square.

The rest of the sets of orange triangles were all made into pinwheel blocks. My current plan is to add a row of pinwheels across the bottom and top along with more of the orange/white border fabric. The goal is to get it to a size that works as a baby quilt.

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 

Sew Colorful Stars--Quilt Top Finished!

It feels so good to have my Sew Colorful Stars quilt top finished! This quilt was started in January and has been one of my 2021 projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

60" x 78"

I made one block each month as part of the RSC, plus a couple of extras when we had a month for dark neutrals. The blocks for this quilt were challenging to make with all those triangles, especially getting the seam allowances to nest together and lay flat. My photos show me some spots that really need some more pressing. 

As you can see in the closer photos, my background fabric does have some color in it, although it looks solid white at a distance. The background is Pin Drop by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake, and it is still available at Fat Quarter Shop (and probably at other stores too.) 

The original pattern for this did not include the smaller stars with the sashing, but I wanted to add a little something to break up all that white background. That proved to be the most difficult part of the whole project, as I considered several options before coming up with the little pinwheel stars. I'm very happy with the way they echo the design of the large stars and tie it all together. I used more pastel versions of my rainbow of colors for the small stars in order to keep the focus on the big stars.

This is my second rainbow quilt top assembled from the blocks I've been making all year. It's time for me to decide which one to put together next! This was also my One Monthly Goal for November, and I will be linking up there at the end of the month.

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at soscrappy

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework

One Monthly Goal at Elm Creek Quilts

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Stitching and DeStashing--Week 46, 2021

It has felt like a fairly productive week in the sewing room, with multiple quilt projects being worked on. The main accomplishment was finishing the assembly of my Sew Colorful Stars quilt top, but I don't have any photos of the full quilt yet. Here's a sneak peek at one of the blocks with the little sashing stars surrounding it.

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

I'm going to wait to report my remaining stash usage for this quilt after I get photos of the finished quilt top and write a blog post about it. I don't have any other fabric usage or additions to report for the past week.

2021 STASH TOTALS

Used last week:                              0.0 yards

Used year to date:                     165.75 yards

Added last week:                            0.0 yards

Added year to date:                   130.50 yards

Net used year to date              35.25 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 stitching time. Besides the Sew Colorful Stars quilt, I also worked on a couple of other projects, including pulling fabrics for a possible new quilt. I did get in my 15 minutes or more every day!

15 Minute Challenge for 2021: 

11/7 - 11/13              7 of 7 days

2021 Total          315 of 317 days

Check out more stash reports at quiltpaintcreate and join the 15 Minutes to Stitch challenge at Life in Pieces. 

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA

One Monthly Goal (OMG) for November, 2021

Today is my last chance to share my One Monthly Goal for the link-up at Elm Street Quilts. The problem is deciding which project it should be--there are so many possibilities!

I should probably work on something for Christmas, but I haven't figured out any gifts to be made. This may end up being a rare Christmas with no hand-made gifts (but probably not.)

Before I'm ready to think about Christmas, I need to get my design wall cleared off. At the moment it has my set of Sew Colorful Stars blocks up there.

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

I've spent far too much time debating what to do for the sashing/setting/borders to go with these blocks. I have finally settled on my choice and need to get it done!

I am making little pinwheel stars for the intersections of the sashing. My goal for the month is to finish making these units, then get all the many parts put together and ready for quilting.

You can see what other quilters are hoping to get done this month at the One Monthly Goal link-up at Elm Street Quilts.

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Design Wall Monday 11/1/2021

The majority of my quilting time over the weekend was spent working on the sashing and border for my Sew Colorful Stars quilt. I wrote about this project in Saturday's post, sharing some of the options I have been considering for the sashing. None of those ideas were working for me, but not long after that post, I came up with another plan that is making me much happier.

I am making little pinwheel stars that will fit in at the sashing intersections. The pinwheel centers finish at 2", which is also the finished width of my sashing. I'm using pastel colors so they don't compete too much with the main star blocks. I have 13 more stars to make--lots of little triangles ahead for me!

Check out what other quilters are working on this week:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 44, 2021

The last of my Sew Colorful Stars blocks, one of my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, were made last week, and now I am trying to figure out how I want to put them together. Here is the design from the pattern cover, which uses the background fabric for sashing and a wider border.

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

My background fabric has a little bit of a pattern on it, but it's still mostly white. This is Pin Drop by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake.

My concern is whether the quilt will be too much white. I've been considering some options for adding some color in the sashing/cornerstones. My first idea was little shoo-fly corners between the blocks.

Noooo! That is just way too bright and distracts from the stars. Maybe a paler color?

Maybe...That's definitely better. I could use a different color at each intersection. Should I go even lighter?

This one blends in so well that it makes me wonder "why bother?" What about that fabric as the sashing?

That's okay, but it's not telling me "Yes, yes, I'm the perfect choice!" (Don't your quilts talk to you like that?) Of all the options I've considered, my favorite is the pale aqua shoo-fly. However, as I look at all these options for adding a little something extra to the setting, I keep thinking they all distract from the blocks. After piecing all of those many triangles, the blocks need to be the "stars" in this quilt. I'm leaning toward following the pattern and using the same background fabric for the sashing and borders. 

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 Rainbow Saturday--Week 43, 2021

Another set of blocks for the 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been completed! Yesterday I finished making the last of my Sew Colorful Stars blocks. I didn't get a block made last month, so I have two to share now, an orange block for September and a light green block for October.

I couldn't wait to put all the blocks up on the design wall together. Here is a shadowy nighttime photo of them. They will get sashing and borders of the background fabric. I am considering adding a little something at the sashing intersections like friendship stars or shoo-fly corners.

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

I will spend some time playing with setting options for these blocks before I join them all together. For now, they will hang out on the design wall, waiting for a decision to be made (which is always a challenge for me!)

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 Rainbow Saturday--Week 36, 2021

I've been feeling very unfocused in the quilting room this week, having a very hard time deciding what to do. One reason for that is because I finished off my August blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but couldn't start the blocks for September because our assigned color hasn't been announced (but it has now--orange!) Our hostess, Angela, has been dealing with Covid challenges, both at home and at school, so she has plenty going on already. I hope she and the rest of her family are all healthy and safe.

Our color assignment for August was the blue-green family--teal, turquoise, aqua, etc. I finished off my Bowties for the month, ending up with a total of 40 blocks.

I also finished 8 hand appliqued heart blocks in teal and turquoise prints.

There were several bigger blocks made at the beginning of the month, so I put them all up on the wall together. All of these blocks will finish at 16" or 17".

Top left: Homespun  , top right: Sew Colorful Stars, bottom: Scrap Magnet

I decided it was time to catch up on some of the colors I had missed on my Glorified 9Patch blocks. I made the 9-patch parts in red, orange, teal/turquoise, and purple. The purples have been trimmed to their curvy shapes, and the two purple blocks at the bottom center have the background sections attached.

Now that we know we will be using our orange scraps for our RSC blocks in September, I will have plenty to keep me busy in the weeks ahead.

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

To-Do Tuesday 8/17/2021

It's a very rainy Tuesday morning here in Georgia, thanks to Tropical Depression Fred.  It's the perfect time to update my Tuesday To-Do List. I will look back at my list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing those goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

I got through most of the items on my list last week. Fortunately, I worked on them early in the week before getting completely obsessed with distracted by a new project, the Volcano 9-Patch that I blogged about in yesterday's post.

To-Do List for 8/10 - 8/16

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day   ✔done

2. Hearts Applique--stitch at least one block   ✔done

I ended up with 10 turquoise Bowtie blocks and 1 cute teal heart.

3. Sew Colorful Stars--make 1 teal/turquoise block   ✔done

4. Positivity QAL--make the last 6 blocks   not done

I didn't touch this project at all. This is my OMG for August, so I need to get back to it soon.

5. Make progress on Scrooge cot   ✔done

I worked on this a little last week, but need to do more next week.

My to-do list for the next week includes most of the same projects, plus I'm hoping to finish the quilt top from last week's squirrel project, the Volcano 9-Patch.

To-Do List for 8/17 - 8/23

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day

2. Hearts Applique--stitch at least one block

3. 30's Kaleidoscope--make multicolored blocks

4. Volcano 9-Patch--finish top

5. Positivity QAL--make the last 6 blocks

6. Make progress on Scrooge coat

I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 33, 2021

I've been working my way through my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and this week that included making my Sew Colorful Stars block using my teal, turquoise and aqua scraps.

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished block,

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

I think my RSC project for the next week will be kaleidoscope blocks. I'm using 30's fabrics for those blocks, and I already used the only turquoise print along with the blues, but I have set aside some multi-colored 30's fabrics along with the rest of the pieces sent by my sister a few months ago.

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 Rainbow Saturday--Week 31, 2021

The last day of July is the perfect time to update the progress on my many quilts for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I added yet another project to the line up, bringing my total for the RSC to seven! Yikes! I'm not sure I will be able to keep up with that many sets of blocks every month, but I'm going to try.

The newest project is my hand appliqued hearts, which were started so that I would have a hand stitching project to take along on a recent trip. Here are my first few blocks.

The hearts are cut from 3.5" squares, and the backgrounds are 5" squares. They will eventually get trimmed down to 4.5" when I am ready to join them together.

Most of the other RSC projects were completed earlier in the month. I had to double check my list to make sure I didn't forget anything. Our color for the month of July was dark blue, with brown or black as alternate choices.

36 Bowtie blocks, 4" finished size

30 Kaleidoscope blocks, 6" finished size

Half of these were made in April when our color was light blue, the rest were made in July.

Sew Colorful Stars blocks, 16" finished size

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

Glorified 9-Patch blocks, 6" finished size

Homespun blocks, 16" finished size for the blue block

black and brown 1/2 blocks finish at 8" x 16"

pattern by Modernly Morgan

The four Scrap Magnet blocks were all made in April for light blue.

These blocks finish at 16.5", and the pattern is from Bonjour Quilts.

That's a whole lot of blue scraps, plus some black and brown, that got used up this month. I'm looking forward to moving on to turquoise and teal for August, my favorite colors for quilting!

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 Rainbow Saturday--Week 29, 2021

This has been a busy week for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts, with progress happening on two different projects. I started by making Sew Colorful Stars blocks in all three of our colors for the month--dark blue, brown and black. So many triangles!

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished blocks,

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

After those were done, I pulled out the 30's fabrics to make Kaleidoscope blocks. I have lots of blue 30's fabrics, and I had used half of them to make some of these blocks back in April when our RSC color was light blue. I worked my way through the rest of the blue fabrics and ended up with a total of 30 kaleidoscope blocks for the two months combined.

I know we still have several more colors ahead for the RSC before the end of the year, but I only have one main color left to use in my 30's fabrics, and that is orange. There are also a few multicolored fabrics, plus some extras that my sister sent me, that will join this collection of blocks. I'm getting excited to start putting this quilt together soon!

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

Design Wall Monday--7/12/2021

My Sunday sewing session included making lots of brown 2" finished size half-square triangles, which then became the latest addition to my collection of Sew Colorful Stars blocks. I have been making one block each month as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can see the earlier blocks in THIS POST.

Sew Colorful Stars, 16" finished block

pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

Our assigned RSC color for July is dark blue, with the alternate choice of using dark neutrals (brown, black.) I have started cutting pieces for my dark blue block, and might even get a black one done before the end of the month too.

Linking up with:

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Happy quilting everyone!

Julie in GA 

To-Do Tuesday 6/29/2021

Happy To-Do Tuesday once again! It's time to look back at my to-do list from last week, see how I did on accomplishing my goals, then post a new list for the week ahead. I'm linking up with the  To-Do Tuesday Weekly Link-up hosted by Chris at Chris Knits. 

Much of my quilting time last week was spent catching up on my projects for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (goals #1,4 & 5), but I also found time to keep my other projects moving forward.

To-Do List for 6/22 - 6/28

1. Bowties 365--make one bowtie block per day   ✔done 

I switched over from the 5" pastel bowties that I shared in last week's post to 4" bowties made with darker purples. 8 blocks done so far. 

2. Redwork embroidery--make progress     ✔done

Progress is slow, but I have moved forward from the last photo I shared three weeks ago.

3. Sewcialites QAL--start framing more blocks   ✔done

I have the framing done on three rows of blocks, and there are four rows left to do.

4. Sew Colorful Stars--make 1 purple block     ✔done

5. 30's Kaleidoscope--finish purple blocks      ✔done

6. Positivity QAL--make more blocks      ✔done

A total of thirty blocks are done for my tan and blue version of the Positivity quilt.

Over the next week, I hope to continue to move forward on a few projects, plus start making blocks with a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for July. Since we will be celebrating July 4th over the weekend, it also seems like a good time to finish the borders on my red, white & blue Moda Blockheads quilt

To-Do List for 6/29 - 7/5

1. Bowties 365--make one Bowtie block each day

2. Redwork embroidery--make progress

3. Sewcialites QAL--continue framing blocks

4. Positivity QAL--make last set of blocks for tan/blue version 

5. Homespun--make 2 blocks in new RSC color 

6. Moda Blockheads--add borders

I'll report on my progress and post a new set of goals next Tuesday. I'm linking up with other To-Do Tuesday lists at Chris Knits.

Julie in GA  

Scrappy Rainbow Saturday--Week 26, 2021

It has been a very productive week for Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects here. Our assigned color for June has been purple, and I completed my blocks on three different RSC projects. I didn't think I was going to get all of them done before the end of the month, but here they are, with several days to spare!

I made 25 Kaleidoscope blocks using 30's fabrics, including several fabrics that my sister sent me recently. The blocks will finish at 6".

I also completed 40 Bowtie blocks. These are meant to be "pastel" colors, but I didn't really have enough lighter purples, so I used what I could find. These blocks finish at 5".

The last of my RSC stitching for the week was to make my purple Sew Colorful Stars block. This block will finish at 16".

Sew Colorful Stars, pattern by Fat Quarter Shop

I couldn't resist putting all six of these blocks up on the wall together. I'm planning to make twelve blocks total, and they will have sashing in between to separate all those triangle points.

The other blocks I made in purple earlier this month were the Homespun blocks and the Scrap Magnet blocks. Lots of purple and lavender scraps have been getting used up around here! I'm ready to find out what our color for July will be. My guess is either medium-dark blue or greenish blues (aqua/teal/turquoise). 

Homespun pattern by Modernly Morgan

Scrap Magnet pattern by Kirsty at Bonjour 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