Saturday, December 30, 2017

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!

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

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!

Monday, December 18, 2017

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!


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