RSC17 Wrap Up

It's the last Saturday of 2017, which means it's the last link up for the 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This was my first year participating in the casual, choose-your-own-project link up, and I have really enjoyed it! Everyone has been lovely, and you can't go wrong looking at a lot of colourful projects every week.

I started the challenge halfway through the year, and made a few of Bonnie Hunter's Talkin' Turkey blocks each month.

This is a photo collage, since the top is still not sewn together! The grey background is just the back of my cutting mat, and I actually love the way it works for photos. The camera seems to "see" the colours more accurately, and there's less shadowing with the seam allowances. In fact, I like the grey so much that I've decided to use grey instead of pink for the sashing on Moth in the Window, which you'll see again with my New Year's resolution in a couple of days.

For this project, Technicolor Turkey, I decided late in the year to make a pieced beige sashing, which is part of the reason it got delayed. But, it's looking good, and the first quarter is sewn together:

With scrap quilts it is always a challenge to keep pieces of the same fabric from being sewn together into a clump. I realized that if I use a completely different set of fabrics for the sashing, I will be home free! Fortunately, I had just restocked my selection of beiges, so I used many of the new fabrics in the sashing.

Now it is just a question of buckling down and sewing the rest together. I won't let myself start on my 2018 projects until this is done!

And, there are two 2018 projects planned. This ambitious rainbow layout, that I shared before, is on. It seems that everyone loves a rainbow! You'll see the full horror drama of that plan when I actually start it.

The second, more relaxing, project will be another Bonnie Hunter design, Garden Party from her book Addicted to Scraps. I'll make those blocks only when the colour of the month is a flowery colour -- pink, purple, red, orange and yellow. And maybe white too! I plan to change the setting a little, and it'll be shades of green, blue green and aqua.

Katie has just finished her pretty RSC17 version of Garden Party, which you can see here. I think she had a smart idea to make this quilt as an RSC project, since it has so many blocks and so many small pieces. So I am following her lead!

There are other wonderful finishes too in the RSC link up this week. But really, I recommend the whole month of December, which you can see if you click here. I'm looking forward to 2018!

Daydream Baskets Flimsy

Last time you saw this project, I was thinking about using the fabric crumbs left over from the improv pieced baskets to make the setting triangles. I spent a couple days sewing, and a couple more days thinking, and then I threw all the bits out. It was just a distraction, and didn't help the design in any way.

There are two main stories in this quilt -- the improv piecing, and the colour scheme. For a small wall quilt, that's enough. So, I just sewed the blocks together and cut simple setting triangles from the same fabrics already in the blocks.

Daydream Baskets flimsy, about 37" (94 cm) square 

Two of my reject blocks were cut up to supplement the crumbs, and went in the bin with the rest. But, one had survived, and I used it as a setting triangle on the lower right there. A bit of Japanese influence to go with all the Asian fabrics!

I will say that as a rule, it would be better to use sashing or alternate blocks of solid fabric with these blocks, because there are a lot of heavy points coming together in the seams. There is quite a bit of "problem solving" happening in the seam allowances on the back!  Anyway, my plan is to free motion quilt it here at home, so hopefully I can work around the lumps.

This quilt was inspired by the #basketswu sew along started by Barb, and my improv inspirations are always Ann and Kaja. Check their blogs to see what else is happening with the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters as they wrap up 2017!

I will probably be back again in a day or two with some Ringo Lake progress. I'm making changes!

Happy Holidays

Well, the holiday crunch is on, so I'll take a moment now to wish everyone a great holiday season, no matter what your holiday is. I'm still sewing in my spare moments, and I hope I'll be back between Christmas and New Year's.

I'm taking a "wait and see" approach to Week 4 of On Ringo Lake. I'm not sure it will look good in my fabrics (blue and red), and I'll have to see a bit more of the big picture before I decide on that. Maybe it will be ok, maybe I'll add another colour (pine green?), maybe I'll tweak the design. In any case, it's a busy time, so I'm happy to have an excuse to wait!

So, be happy, be safe, and take a moment to appreciate the successes of the past year. And maybe make a plan or two for next year. That's what I'm doing!

Daydream Baskets

"Daydream Baskets" is the name I have settled on for this quilt inspired by a daybed at Windsor Castle. I think that hits the right tone -- it is a potential minefield!

All three of the blocks I shared last week have gone into the reject pile. I realized that it is crucial that the centre triangle be darker than both the basket and the spikes.

I also realized that five blocks would not be enough, and added another round to bring it up to thirteen blocks. Thirteen allows for a better exploration of the block and its variations, and it just seems to make more sense.

So, here they are:

Way better, eh?

Now I am debating the setting triangles. I have been thinking about sewing together the crumbs from the piecing for some "made fabric" triangles, but I'm not sure there are enough. I've also been see-sawing on the issue of sashing. But, now that I am studying the photo, I've had an idea about that.

We'll see how it pans out! In the meantime, please check out the rest of the improv at AHIQ #27, right here.

Life is Good

So, in my last post I said that I was going to pass on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year. But, first thing Friday morning, before breakfast, I was downloading the clue. It looked pretty easy, and even better, it wasn't the HSTs I was expecting. (Although I am sure they are coming!)

One of the many colour schemes I'd considered was primary colours -- red, blue and yellow. As soon as I saw Bonnie's nine patches I knew that would be the best choice for me. I put on the coffee and got to work.

In September I stocked up on white prints, specifically for that pattern I won in August, but also for this mystery. So I decided to rough cut both quilts at the same time, and I was stressing about how best to optimize the fabric, and then I thought...relax. I have plenty of fabric!

And then I came across that perfectly framed piece of selvedge for The Good Life, and I realized that I can stop worrying about all of it. Yes, I have more WIPs than I want to count. Yes, I want push my artistic boundaries more than I have been. But, there is time for all of it. This is not an "or" situation, it is an "and" opportunity.

Everything that needs to be done will be done. Right now I'm just going to relax and enjoy the ride. Life is good!

So, here are the first twelve, and the rest of the strip sets are cut and ready to sew throughout the rest of the week.

AND I'm ready with all new baskets for AHIQ tomorrow!

But in the meantime, check out the rest of the On Ringo Lake participants in the Week 1 link up, right here.

Improv Baskets

For some reason I thought AHIQ would be starting today. Oh well! I'm ahead of the game for once. :D

Almost a month ago Barb (Fun with Barb) and Kelly (Pinkadot Quilts) started a basket sew along ( #basketswu ) inspired by an antique basket quilt. They have both posted excellent tutorials, click the links by their names to find them. I thought I would have a crack at an improv version:

I had the idea for a small improv wall quilt with a red background right away. For some reason I always want to do improv on a red background! Then a week or two later I watched a documentary about the watercolours of Prince Charles, which was quite interesting. It included some B roll from Windsor Castle, and this outrageous day bed:

The combination of scarlet silk damask on the walls, pale jade, lavender and copious amounts of gold gilding caught my eye right away! A colour scheme was born.

I'll admit, it's a challenge to translate to my stash! But, at least the improv piecing is going well.

I'm determined to keep this quilt small, so only five blocks are planned. Three are made:

I'll probably have to make the one on the right again. I did plan to put the lavender in the spikes and the gold in the centre, but somehow I mixed them up when cutting. Argh! Since there will only be five, they will all have to be fairly strong on their own.

I'm not thrilled with the values in the other two either, but, I think the next three will have more contrast and that will make it all work. I hope! Anyway, that is the beauty of a small quilt -- it's not a big investment so it's easier to take a risk. I'm planning to make small quilts my focus in 2018 as well.

In the meantime, happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers! Technicolor Turkey is coming along, but it won't be a flimsy by Thursday. I still have two quadrants left to join, and the border as well. Definitely by the end of the year, though!

And, every day for the past two months I've had a different plan for On Ringo Lake. Right now I think I will have to pass. As part of my decision making process I've added a new page to my blog that summarizes all my Bonnie Hunter Quiltville quilts. I am happy with all of them, and I think it will be better to move them along rather than adding another.

So, that's my update for today. See you again next week for AHIQ!