Carey Family

Quilting

RSC2021 January week 3

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This week, I worked on finishing the top for my Bonnie Hunter Sand Castles quilt. I made the blocks last year, laid them out in spectrum fashion, then made a piano keys border and finished it up. Still need to piece a back but the top is done. Because I was working hard on that this week, I only got these 4 pink blocks done this week. But I only have one more kind of blocks to make this month, so I’m doing well.

These blocks are from a Pat Sloan QAL from last year. It was called Cozy Things and I really love this star. I’m calling it Cozy Star in a nod to her designing it. It’s Block 6 from the QAL but I’ve shrunk it down from a 12″ block to an 8.75″ unfinished block by subtracting an inch from the dimensions of all the subcut pieces. My plan is to make some of these each month all year, then decide on a setting. Sashing? Straight line? On point? Spectrum order? Scrappy? Whatever moves me in November. LOL

RSC2021 Jan week 2

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I made progress on three more of my projects for this year. This friendship star block is a direct lift from Deb A. I saw these blocks last year in the RSC link up & determined that quilt was in my future. Thanks for the inspiration! They were a great L&E block to do with my other sewing.

I made some more checkerboard blocks to go with the pile I started last year so there should be enough for a quilt later this year. I got this inspiration from Making a Lather, who credited Cynthia Brunz with her inspiration. In a nice circle of coincidence, her Jan 15 blog post is of her newest Scrap Mixology pattern called Chaser, which is this quilt! I’ve purchased her previous modules & immediately got this one. Her approach to designing your own quilts with these inspirations is genius. I have plans for several of these modules in the future.

These cross blocks have an interesting history. I designed a quilt with dark gray squares for background & colored crosses that intersect randomly. I loved how it looked on my graph paper with colored pencils, but as I started making the blocks a couple years ago & sewing the rows together, I lost enthusiasm because it just looked like a mess. So this year I decided to start ripping it apart and turning it into crosses with something in between. I’m not sure if I want squares as the sashing, solid sashing, something colored in the square between the crosses, off-set crosses. Just not sure. So I’m going to make a bunch of these all year in the monthly colors from the ripping & making new, then lay them out & make some decisions.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Jan week 1

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This first week began by deciding on projects and that was really hard. I have three main projects than I have been planning on, but I wanted to do some others. The hardest part was deciding not to do several projects I wanted to do. I reminded myself that there’s always next year as there are only so many RSC projects I can do in a month, but I still have 8 on Angela’s tracking sheet. I crossed off #9 as I was filling it out when I realized I was being totally unrealistic. 🙂 Then I began cutting up scraps and organizing them into project boxes. I am so pleased with my labelled boxes and decided they should be more accessible. So I re-organized my shelves of project boxes so that these projects are at my fingertips. I can pull one down, work on it as L&E’s, box up that month’s color, then pull out the next RSC project. So although marathon cutting sessions are a drag, it’s better for me to have things cut up and ready to grab to send through the machine. I get more done and it goes better with my work flow as I sew patterned quilts for other projects. Then I get to do both things I love: patterned quilts & free-form scrap quilts. Yay! I did listen to a lot of audiobook while cutting this week.

On Friday I managed some sewing and this is my finish for week 1. It’s a start on a quilt using this simple repeated block. I got the idea from Sylvia, who was inspired by Jo’s Country Junction, who found the idea originated with Julie of Me and My Quilts. See how we all inspire each other? I took the block idea, decided to make all my squares lighter grays and turn them around so that the rectangle is in the upper left rather than the square. It gives it a different look that I like. I’m planning columns in the monthly colors for a lap quilt at the end. I will decide later on a scrappy layout or a spectrum layout.

Nov RSC2020-another top

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Each month I’ve been making the square-in-square blocks for the color of the month throughout the year. Then in November I sewed all the B&W strips to the tops & bottoms & sides of the squares. Got the columns sewed and it’s a flimsy! It won’t get quilted until sometime next year because I’ve got tops in the queue already and it costs dollars, but I love this! I can’t stop looking at its colorful goodness.

It started life as a kit from my local quilt store containing the colored pieces and the free pattern. The pattern is Sun Print 2016 by Alison Glass and the fabric pieces are from that collection. So yes, I’ve had the kit for a long time, which is why it seemed like a good RSC project. I figured if I worked on it a little each month I could get it put together this year and get another project box cleaned out. The B&W strips came from fat quarters & sale yardage I’ve been collecting since I bought this kit, so it made a dent in my stash. Of course, I still have a lot left for another project.

November RSC2020 so far

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Rainbow Stairsteps is a flimsy with a backing & at the quilters. The inspiration for the quilt came from blocks showcased by Julie. I fiddled with the layout so it’s inspired by her but has my own take. It’s a fun quilt!

Tumbling Strings is inspired by a selvage quilt by Cathy. She made hers with selvages but I just used scrap strips. I also changed up the layout. I made the rows during the correct color months and sewed some sections together, then did the brown & black rows at the end of October & sewed the rest of the rows. Found border fabrics in my stash & turned it into a cute little baby quilt. This is my first tumbler quilt, so that was fun. This is also at the quilter.

So two of my 2020 projects are complete as to the tops & backs. I won’t get them back before the end of the year so binding will be next year, but I’m pretty happy with my work this first year of joining in. I’ve followed the progress of everyone else for several years without doing it, so it was fun to work on some projects. And I think I’ll get one more top pieced before the end of the year.