Zig Zag Rainbow

Zig Zag Rainbow

or Chevron Rainbow if you prefer. 

64 x 80

I've been making these blocks from scraps since, according to my blog, August 2014 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project.  I guess it took me that long to come up with 4.5 inch scraps to use but now I have a whole box of scraps that size. 

This quilt is an eclectic mix of fabrics. I like that art deco lady with the poppy hat smoking a cigarette in a cigarette holder.  How often do you see someone smoking these days let alone a smoker depicted in fabric? 

In Zig Zag Rainbow Land Mickey Mouse and Santa mix with spiders and fruits and veggies...

...and cats with hats, owls and rabbits.   The fun part is that you can't tell what all is in the quilt from afar but up close you can find lots of treasures to smile about. 

I quilted it on my DSM (yes, lots of starts and stops to do pivoting and to force the darned quilt through the small harp on my machine) following the zig zags. I used white thread in the neutral areas and used up old bobbins of thread in all the colors of the rainbow in the colored sections. 

Don't look at the back for too long...you may get dizzy. 

Don't know what I'm going to do with this quilt. For now it will sit on a shelf. 

This was my goal #3     for   Q4 Finish-A-Long

This was also my OMG (one monthly goal) for October 

 OMG at Red Letter Quilts

Also linking up to: 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework 

Finally a Flimsy: Rainbow Chevrons (or Maybe they are ZigZags)

64 - 4 inch HSTs

16 to a block

4 blocks to a row

The red row(s) have now been added to...

...the Rainbow Chevron quilt. 

I see from a search of my blog it looks like I started making these Chevron Blocks from 4.5 inch scraps back in August 2014 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project so I guess it's about time I at least finished a flimsy. 

Rainbow Chevrons

(or maybe they are Rainbow ZigZags)

64 x 80

Red is the September color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

It's going to be a short sewing month for me but I'm still going to declare getting this finished by the end of the month  my

OMG ( One Monthly Goal) with Heidi at Red Letter Quilts  

Edited October 5:   My husband had surgery so this goal did not get met in September but I'm hoping it will in October. I want a finish!!!! 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) with Heidi at Red Letter Quilts

Chevrons

I used some 4.5 scraps this month to make HSTs and then made the HSTs into 16 inch chevron blocks.  I've been making these as an RSC project when I have had 4.5 scraps since August 2014.  

I assembled all of the rows so far into a quilt top.

I have orange/yellow, green, blue/indigo, violet rows. 

 I'm just missing the top row of red now and I'll have a flimsy 64 x 80. 

Got scraps?

Join us each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Orange

Orange is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've been making these stars each month from miscellaneous scrap pieces.  I found I was very low on light orange but made it work best I could. I'm challenging myself to actually use scraps and nut cut into anything except for the background.   The background was in my brown stash but with the oranges it sure looks dark orange now.  

The rest of this week's blocks are from the 4.5 inch scraps. 

I made a chevron block plus had some leftover 4.5 HSTs for the "kitchen sink" pile.  I only needed one more orange chevron for my yellow and orange row. 

I made some of these 4.5 inch "things" which seem to have a lot of different layout possibilities from what I've seen in books and in blog land.  At the end of the year I will have a rainbow of them and decide what to do with them then.

And finally from the 4.5 scraps I made some Flying Geese.  If the color of the month is a secondary color I use primary colors for the sides - also from the 4.5 scrap box. 

Got scraps?

Use them up and join us each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Now Grandma's Nipping at the 4.5 Inch Blue Scraps

This week for the RSC I worked on my blue 4.5 inch scraps.

At the end of the year when I was taking stock I found some scrappy chevrons I think I made during RSC 2013.  I don't think I had many 4.5 inch scraps until this year so I've decided to resurrect this project.  I made one 16 inch chevron. 

I'm making geese this year.  I use the easy angle and companion angle rulers to make these.  I tried them out last year when green was the color of the month.  I decided that if the color of the month was a primary color then the geese sides will be secondary colors and vice versa.   I'm not sure what I'm going to do for final layout. I have plenty of time to think about it. 

I also made these, for want of a better name, fractured units.  Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession has many different layouts for these units.  I didn't see the one I happened upon on the right in her books but I'm thinking I kind of like that.  These are easy peasy units to make so I'm sure by year end I'll have enough for a couple of quilts.  If I had short pieces that was at least 4.5 x 5 I used them in these units. 

And then I have the 4.5 inch block kitchen sink pile - a few HSTs left from the chevron, a few 4.5 inch squares (both blue and neutral) and anything less than 4.5 inch square was sewn into a long strip.  I'll have fun with all my different sized strips at the end of the year.  And this might be the year I do something with that 4.5 inch kitchen sink pile...the sink is getting full. 

I think that's it for the 4.5 inch blue scraps. 

I know you don't remember when I said last week that I had saved a few long 2.5 inch scraps for this week so I won't ask if you remember but this is what I did with them - Interlocking Chains - a fourteen inch block. 

Got Blue Scraps?

Dig them out, sew them up and show us what you've done with them each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Still Blue

The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is still light blue.  

I've used some of my scraps in four 8 inch string blocks...

...a  16 inch Chevron block...

...four 8 inch kaleidoscope blocks...

...and an HST block. 

Got Scraps?

Use them up and show them off each ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Orange

This week I made my usual combo of 12 inch Kaleidoscope blocks - RSC color of the month (orange), color of month plus its complement (orange, blue), color of month plus color of previous month (orange,green). 

I decided to add two more blocks because I want to have 42 blocks at year end.  So I added orange with analogous colors (yellow,red) and secondary colors (orange,green,purple). Unfortunately I think the secondary color block will go into the orphan block pile and then into a donation quilt. I sewed together my usual 6 strips and then found out I either didn't use a scant 1/4 seam or cut one strip too small so ended up with a 6 inch strip instead of 6.5 inch in width strip. I thought I'd fix that by adding a 7th strip and cutting off either side to even up strip set to 6.5.   Arghhhh...that was not a fix and block is wonky. 

Those blocks, believe it or not, are a real crumb buster. I use crumbs for the corner triangles on the blocks.  I didn't have enough orange crumbs so combined with a few red and yellow. 

From some 4.5 inch strips I first cut a few pieces off the end for a Dresden Block.  I'll continue these into next year. I haven't yet decided what color or colors to use for background or centers. 

From same 4 .5 inch strips I made lots of 4.5 inch HSTs. A few HSTs ended up in a 16 inch chevron block and 12 inch HST block. 

I usually don't post pics other than quilt related but...speaking of orange...

last weekend the grandkids came over and helped to pick pumpkins and other things. 

Jacob had ambitious thoughts that he could push the full wheelbarrow up to the house. 

This is the other orange stuff I worked on last weekend.  The kids helped make pumpkin pies (homemade pie crust too) for dessert and pumpkin muffins for breakfast.   . 

Got scraps? (Orange this month)

Join us each ScrapHappy Saturday and show us what you've done with them. 

Midnight Fantasy Garden

This is my work on Lyn's Midnight Fantasy Garden block. I stitched some fuschia in silk thread. I didn't take a photo of the bottom of the block but she has a deep purple patch there and the fuschia picks up the color in that. There is feather stitch with variegated orange bullions, an embellished chevron stitch seam and a chain stitch and french knot motif both in variegated threads. 

Celebrate Life Challenge - My Grand Finale

I participated in a "Celebrate Life" challenge over on the CQ For Newbies Yahoo Group. Basically we learn new stitches or a different way to apply old ones. I've finally finished my 12 inch block I call Midnight Fantasy Garden.

To recap..week one was outline and and stem stitches.

Second week was buttonhole stitch.

Third week was cast-on stitch.

Fourth week was whipped spider wheel and whipped chain. I also challenged myself to make some angelina fiber leaves.

Fifth week was herringbone and...

...chevron stitch.

Sixth week was turkey work (or is it knot?) so I made some thistles with it.

Sixth week was also spiral trellis. I had a difficult time seeing where I was to put my needle for each stitch so you can see a few little holes where I missed a few stitches (or was that where I decreased stitches and shouldn't have?)

That was it for the required stitches but we also had to add two extra elements from a list of several. I did a spider and her web and it looks like the albino spider has a broken leg. There is a black spider hidden in there too. Both of them made the web but I think they were into the booze when they made it. The other element was a silk ribbon motif so I added some silk ribbon roses.

So that brings me to the finish of this block. The fairy body is painted with glow in the dark paint and I may also add stitches over the paint in glow in the dark thread. Or then again, I may not.

And that brings me to the end of this "Midnight Fantasy Garden". I have several others in the works, though.

TAST - Chevron and Lazy Daisy

These are my lazy daisy stitches for the Take A Stitch Tuesday Challenge over on PinTangle. This is the first stitch I ever learned to embroider. My grandma taught me to embroider on a stamped dresser cloth over 50 years ago. She taught me lots of things. I miss her. 

This is last week's stitch and I just got around to getting a pic taken of it. Actually I have avoided even trying this stitch because I thought it might be like the cretan stitch. I just can't get the rhythm of cretan. This chevron isn't bad. I like it and will start using it more. 

And these are my sampler blocks sewn together so far. A TAST lapquilt draped over the back of a folding table in my messy sewing room. One of these days I will doodle stitch in the margins. And one of these days I'll clean the sewing room.