The Big Rainbow Plan for 2018

...and probably 2019 too.

Blue for January

So, this is my first post of 2018 for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Last year's project was a rainbow version of Bonnie Hunter's Talkin Turkey. I finished the blocks but they are still not all sewn together.

The first colour for 2018 was blue, and I did start my new project back in January. I didn't share it then because I was giving myself time to change my mind. But, it's working and it looks good, so it's on. And it's the project I've been most keen to get moving since my break.

This year, in addition to all the rainbow colours, I'm going to have a range of shapes to keep things interesting.

And the entire quilt is going to be foundation paper pieced. It's slow, but I realized that it will be the easiest way to manage a wide range of scraps, and all the different shapes and sizes I'm going to need.

Is it starting to look familiar to anyone?

How about now:

Yes, it's Sue Garman's Halo Medallion, the 2017 BOM she designed for The Quilt Show, and her last one before she passed away. The pattern is still available this year to TQS members. I loved all the borders and the distinctive Halo Star in the centre, but I knew that a whole month of sewing flying geese, followed by a whole month of pinwheels or HSTs, would never work for me. Then last year I had the idea of superimposing a rainbow over the whole thing:

That way, for each RSC colour of the month, I get to sew a cross section of different things.

Obviously, it's a crazy idea, but I've done a Herculean amount of planning, and so far, so good. My rainbow has 11 colours plus grey and/or beige in the two corners (still TBD), so it's most certainly going to run into 2019.

I was also thinking of doing Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party for RSC this year, but I've come to my senses on that. It will have to wait.

Anyway, I'll get into more details in future posts. In the meantime, check out the rest of the RSCer's at this week's link up.

Old and New Stars

...or "This and That"

...or "Still Sewing, Thanks!"

I know I've been absent from the blogosphere for a while, but I'm just resting my typing joints again. I've still managed a little sewing!

I put together two of the enhanced star blocks for Bonnie Hunter's Allietare:

Now it is just the steady work of putting together all the remaining Allietare blocks.

For a change of pace, I tried out one of the "feature" stars from Sue Garman's Stars for a New Day:

I'm going to be making dramatic changes and simplifications to Sue's design on this one. The fabric I bought for this project has a very low thread count, and a fairly large printed design, so I've decided to enlarge all the feature blocks from 6" to 9". That's a 9" block above, and you can see how much it is fraying, even with minimal handling. It's also quite stretchy. Sue's pattern uses mostly paper-pieced HSTs. My plan is to reduce the number of seams, and use the F&P half and quarter square ruler (that I bought for Allietare) to cut and piece it traditionally. It worked well enough.

Despite the low thread count, I still really like the fabric. I know that with washing it will get nice and soft, and a cozy brown quilt for late autumn is what I have in mind. Scaling up the blocks means I'll need fewer for a queen-size quilt, and a couple of the borders have to be eliminated too. So hopefully it will go fairly fast! (Once I finish all these other things...)

And, I've also finally finished off these old star blocks:

Mysteriously out of focus

Truly, a "soft focus" is a blessing on those blocks! I realized over the holidays that this is now my oldest UFO, started in November 2010 and intended as a Christmas present that year. Chuckle.

I've been itching to clear out some old projects, and this one is maybe a day and a half away from a finished flimsy. Each block will get a jade green border...

...and then the eight blocks will be set with some wintry sashing and borders and it'll finally be done! So as usual I am spoiled for choice around here. I've noticed that every winter and summer I'm in the mood to finish things, and every spring and fall I tend to start a bunch of things. So I'm hoping to make room for the new projects that are inevitably around the bend!