Yellow Wedding Rings

 Two inch yellow scraps got made into Wedding Rings this week. These finish at 7.5 inches and I now have 127 of them after making them from scraps for a couple of years. My goal is 144 blocks so by year end I hope to meet that goal. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

In The Pink

Pink Plus Postage blocks.

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June.  (No, it's not June quite yet but it feels like it should be).   These blocks are made from 1.5 inch scraps except for the red plus sign and finish at 10 inches.  The blocks are inspired by a pattern and quilt designed by Susan Ache that appeared in American Patchwork and Quilting in April 2016. The pattern instructions call for strip piecing but I sew the squares together individually so I can make use of my 1.5 inch scraps. 

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From Green Scraps

Wedding Rings that finish at 7.5 inches and a couple of 16 patches that finish at 6 inches. 

 Dark green is the May Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month for May. I used most of my green scraps in January when the color of the month was light and bright green but I have accumulated a few green scraps since that time so I sewed them all up into blocks for my current RSC projects.    

 Plus Postage blocks that finish at 10 inches made from 1.5 inch scraps. 

 Wishing Rings that finish at 3 inches. 

Double X Mosaic and Snowballs. Blocks finish at 4 inches. 

I think the rest of this month of green I will try to finish a bunch of RSC tops I have in the pile.  I also need to add a scrappy green border to an old UFO. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Wedding Ring Blues

Wedding Ring blocks that finish at 7.5 inches. 

This is my second year of making these. I usually use 2 inch scraps but didn't have many in blue so used scrap chunks. Light and bright blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for April but I used all blues to make these.  I thought I made twelve blocks but only found 11 at picture taking time. 

I'm ready for a new color!

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More Blue Scraps

 From 2.5 inch scraps...ten Dakota Farmer Stars. (Sheesh, that's a lot of HSTs)

From 1.5 inch scraps...four Plus Postage blocks. (Sheesh, that's a lot of little 1.5 inch squares)

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Some Blue Scraps

 The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is light and bright blue. I used two inch scraps in all the shades of blue to make 62 little houses that finish at 3 inches. 

 I've been making these since mid year 2018. My goal was to make 540 of them. 

After I made those 62 blue houses I only needed 41 more toward that goal...

 ...so I made 43 more houses from other colors of 2 inch scraps and made my goal. 

Now I can start assembly! But my sewing machine flywheel froze up this week after I heard a big kerplunk. Last year when that happened my feed assembly needed to be replaced.  Of course my sewing machine repair shop has been closed and I'm not sure when they will reopen.  I do have an old Janome and even older Kenmore. The Janome was sewing along just fine and then it turned into a  tension headache (one of the reasons it was replaced with the Brother) so I may get out the Kenmore today. Or not. I may just do some hand quilting and binding and putz around in the gardens. Or not. 

I made more Wishing Rings that finish at 3.5 inches. 

I am now halfway toward my goal of 624 blocks. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

A Few Light and Bright Blue Scraps

This month the new Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color is blue...just the lights and brights though.  

I made a few Double X blocks and the alternate Snowball blocks. Since these blocks consist of both 1.5 and 2.5 inch pieces I cut a 1.5 inch strip and a 2.5 inch strip from a chunk scrap to make the blocks. Leftovers go into blocks I made from those sizes of scraps later on in the month. This quilt was inspired by a vintage quilt. Blocks finish at 4 inches. This project started last year and will continue until I run out of that minty green background fabric. 

Giant Churn Dash blocks that finish at 13.5 inches. Pretty wild, huh? But that's where the scraps took me. I'm sure they will look fine when combined with other blocks in a quilt.  All the parts for this block can be cut from five inch scraps but I don't have a bin of scraps in that size so I cut these from scrap chunks too.  Sometimes I cut that middle accent pieces from a 2 inch scrap. 

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Garden Watch 

Weather permitting I've been taking a garden walk every day. This time of year new things seem to sprout up every day in the flower gardens.  Scilla is a little blue flower about five inches tall.  Bees love it. 

I started with a few little bulbs several years ago and now it has naturalized in patches here and there throughout the flower gardens.  As soon as the Scilla finishes blooming Bluebells will bloom here. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frog enjoy the Crocus in the Fairy Garden. 

More Crocus in front of a miniature gazing globe that marks a rose bush. A lot of times I do not get to enjoy the Crocus because rabbits and deer eat the leaves and buds. 

Species tulips in bloom. 

Yesterday I planted lettuce, spinach, mustard, radishes, snow peas and sets for green onions and sweet onions.  The asparagus bed is cleaned up but no shoots yet.  And I do see lots of rhubarb leaves unfurling in the rhubarb patch. 

Plus Postage

This week I worked with my blue-green 1.5 inch scraps and only had enough for one Plus Postage block. 

This pattern is from American Patchwork and Quilting April 2016 called Plus Postage. It is designed by Susan Ache.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Speaking of the Red Cross...I recently finished reading The Beantown Girls. I'm a fan of WWII historical fiction but I had never heard of the Red Cross Clubmobiles and the Doughnut Dollies until I read this book. 

Blue-green 2.5 Inch Scraps

This week I worked with my 2.5 inch scraps and made some Dakota Farmer Stars...

...and Hourglass blocks. 

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Blue-green Two Inch Scraps

This week I worked with blue-green scraps in the 2 inch bin. 

Little Houses Made of Ticky Tacky

They finish at 3 inches. I've been making these for a couple of years. 

Wedding Rings that finish at 7.5 inches.  This is my second year of making these. 

 Little Stars that finish at 4.5 inches. I've been making these off and on for a number of years. I use 2 inch scraps for the background and little waste triangle pieces for the star points. I'm really trying to concentrate on making more of these this year. At year end I'm hoping there will be enough for a couple of small donation quilts. 

 Sixteen Patches that finish at 6 inches. I've been making these for a couple of years too. Last year I was thinking I would combine them with an alternate block but then decided against it and will just be using Sixteen Patches in a quilt. At this point I should count how many blocks I have and decide how many more I need. 

This month I've decided to make Hourglass Four Patches from 2 inch scraps. A single Hourglass finishes at 3 inches. The foursome finishes at 6 inches.  And since I cut the Hourglass pieces with a Companion Angle ruler I use the Easy Angle ruler to cut the beginning and ending pieces which results in little HST pieces I made and also combined into little foursomes. 

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Scraps of Blue-green

 Churn Dashes that finish at 13.5 inches

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month is teal. It's also aqua, turquoise and blue-green . When I was growing up I called it all turquoise. I think they are all different hues of blue-green and aqua is lighter than turquoise and teal is darker than turquoise but I'm definitely not a color expert. In order to know what color I should call my blue-green scraps I guess I would have to see scraps of all the blue-green hues together in one place and sort them accordingly into light, medium and dark piles. Not going to happen! Girls just want to have fun with scraps no matter what the color.

  First off I usually start off the month with my scrap chunks which are larger than 4.5 inches and less than a fat quarter (FQ).  I've been trying to make two of these large churn dash blocks each month for donation quilts. I think 24 will be enough for two small or one large quilt. 

 Double X Mosaic and Snowballs that finish at 4 inches. 

This is my second year of making these blocks inspired by a vintage quilt. 

These pieces require 2.5 and 1.5 inch parts so I cut those pieces from my scrap chunks. I had a lot of that light green yardage I'm using for the background in my stash. I'm making blocks until I run out of that light green yardage. 

 Wishing Rings that finish at 3.5 inches. 

This is another project started last year and continuing into this year. It takes a lot of them to make a big quilt. 

I cut pieces for these from scraps from the 3.5 and 1.5 scrap bins if I have them. Otherwise I cut from scrap chunks.  The center which is 2 inches unfinished and the corners which are 1.5 inch squares are usually cut from a 3.5 inch scrap.  The sides usually come from the 1.5 inch scrap bin. 

 Then since I was in the 3.5 inch scrap bin I made Broken Dishes blocks that finish at six inches. I think this may be my third year of making these blocks. Someday they will make it into a quilt. For now they are a good use of scraps. 

Hourglass Blocks that finish at six inches. 

I just started making hourglass blocks from my 3.5 inch scraps.  I'm also going to start making them from 2 inch scraps. Those made with 2 inch scraps will finish at 3 inches. I'll combine both sizes in a quilt someday when I have enough of each. For now I'm just using bright scraps. 

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Orange 2.5 Inch Scrap Edition

 This week I worked with my orange 2.5 inch scraps.    

This block is called Dakota Farmer and I found the instructions for the Dakota Farmer blocks in Bonnie Hunter’s Addicted to Scraps column in the Nov/Dec ’13 issue of Quiltmaker. But I didn't follow the instructions. I used 2.5 inch scraps instead of 2 inch per the instructions so my blocks finish at 8 instead of 6 inches. 

 This is an Hourglass block. I started making these as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project because I was a winner of Block Lotto in December and received 28 of these blocks.  I thought these might make a nice twin sized donation quilt.  Right now I think I will set these on point but I have a whole year of making these out of scraps before I need to decide. 

 This year I'm trying to get rid of the banker's box of 2.5 inch width scraps so after I make my blocks I cut any remaining scraps into 2.5 inch squares. I'll deal with all those squares next year. 

After that any pieces that are less than a 2.5 square get sewn into strips. Long ago I used to throw those ends into the crumb box but the last few years I've been sewing them into strips instead. I think at year end I will have a lot of strips to play with and will probably make a Chinese Coin quilt. 

I have quite a few colorful strips now. 

Now I just need to work on my orange 1.5 inch scraps and crumbs. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Orange 2 Inch Scrap Edition

 This week I worked with my orange 2 inch scraps. 

I made these Wedding Ring (aka Single Wedding Ring or Odd Scraps Patchwork) blocks that finish at 7.5 inches.  I started making these blocks last year. 

 I also started making these Sixteen Patch blocks last year. They finish at 6 inches. 

 I've been making these little Wonky Stars off and on over the years. They finish at 4.5 inches. 

 I use little waste triangles for the star points. 

 Then I made a few Little Houses from my 2 inch scraps. These finish at 3 inches. 

 Before I made the latest orange batch of  houses I had 351 out of a target of 540 houses. 

 Then I was in Little House making mode and felt the urge to cut some 2 inch strips of 30s reproduction fabrics with little characters so I could make more houses. Now I have 399 out of a target of 540 Little Houses.  And I added some scraps left over from making these houses to the 2 inch scrap bin. 

 But I didn't throw the orange scraps to the 2 inch scrap bin. Instead I made those into more Wedding Ring blocks and a Sixteen Patch. 

Then I cut the remaining orange 2 inch scraps into 2 inch squares and if there wasn't enough for a square it was sewn into a strip for use in a Chinese Coin quilt at year end. 

And next week I hope to show blocks made with my 2.5 inch scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday