Saturday, June 9, 2018

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.

Friday, June 1, 2018

Sunset Queen

Hello!

So, I didn't take any of my planned breaks last year, and now I've been on an unplanned break instead. I am fine, it was my dad who went into the hospital with pneumonia earlier this spring. The following day we were met with a phalanx of social workers, and a host of pitying looks from all the staff. They sent him home. His dementia makes him extremely volatile, and they were happy to see him go. Of course, we had to get him settled again. The pneumonia is gone, thanks to the pneumonia vaccine he had a few years ago. And he is relatively steady now, so this week I've actually been sewing.

This little project below has been a finished top for six weeks. I used Ann P. Shaw's pattern Barnyard Queen, and I call mine Sunset Queen:


Ann is carrying on as the authorized teacher of Ruth McDowell's freezer paper piecing technique. For my first try, I liked the idea of a full sized pattern and a forgiving subject like this. I did alter the background and one of the legs slightly to give her a more forward stance. I found the method was very logical and well explained. You are on your own though, when it comes to choosing fabrics. But, I like that part, and it helps to have a big stash. The eye was a lucky find in Kaffe Fassett's brown Jupiter, which is also the long stripe in the tail. Basically it was an excuse to play with fabric!

I may or may not do one of the roosters, too. It was just the right degree of challenging. This week, though, I've been back to my UFOs, and this is the first photo of fabric I've taken in weeks:


Exciting, eh? Those are strings for the alternate string blocks in Rose Boll. I started them last summer, and they are slow going. I'm only about half way through, and I've expanded the strictly beige palette to include pink and yellow, just to keep myself motivated.

I've also dusted off (literally) my RSC 2018 project, and I plan to share the first step soon. I've read no blogs at all for months, so I hope you all can forgive me. It's going to take a while to catch up!
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