I'm Finished With Crazy Ladies of the Lake

Crazy Ladies of the Lake

It's a finish!

90 x 90

I started making ten inch (finished) Lady of the Lake blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC project back in 2017. 

I had a lot of 2.5 inch scraps so thought this would be a good block to use some of those scraps. 

So in 2017 and in 2018 I made blocks each month in the color of the month plus whatever other color suited my fancy - usually a color with a lot of scrap in the 2.5 scrap bin. A lot of the six inch centers were left over from a basket quilt made long ago. I finished the top in 2019 and the Crazy Ladies have been waiting for quilting since then. 

I quilted it on my DSM with spirals in light gray thread. And when I was almost but not quite finished with the quilting my sewing machine stopped dead right in the middle of quilting. So it is in the repair shop again, darn it. That Brother has been nothing but problems from the start and most of the time the problems occur when I am Free Motion Quilting.   Well, I do have my old Janome that has its own problems off and on so I finished up the quilting on Plain Jane Janome. I used two different fabrics for binding. 

Oh, Crazy Ladies of the Lake!

 All of the color is on the front so I used gray on the back. No need for a fancy back for a bed quilt. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

It's a Flimsy! Crazy Ladies of the Lake

 It's a flimsy!

Crazy Ladies of the Lake

90 x 90

 I made a few of these ten inch blocks each month from scraps from October 2016 - July 2018.  It was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project so I used light and dark scraps in the color of the month or scraps in the color of the month plus another. 

 Most of the 6.5 inch center HST parts were left over from making a basket quilt several years ago and the 2.5 inch side HSTs came from the 2.5 inch scrap box.  The 2.5 inch scraps determined how many blocks would get made each month. Sometimes I hardly had any scraps in the color of the month and barely could make one. Other months I ended up with several blocks. 

 When I start making blocks I usually don't know the size of the quilt I'll end up with or how many blocks I'll need. I just make blocks.  I like looking through scraps and combining colors and making blocks. 

 In this case I decided 81 blocks was enough.  And then they sat around for awhile taking up space. I loved the individual blocks but feared I would not be able to combine them into a quilt top without looking like a jumbled mess.   Several times I got the blocks out and looked at them and put them back in the box afraid I would be so disappointed if I sewed them all together. 

 Then one day I told myself to stop procrastinating and just do it. 

So I did! 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Those Crazy Ladies of the Lake

I have finally completed all 81 of the ten inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.

This has been a RSC project for a few years. Each month I made a few blocks from scraps in the color of the month.  Here's the ones I just made that use blue scraps. 

And here's the final six blocks. 

Now I'm ready for assembly. The quilt that inspired this was a vintage one and when I was looking at it again a few days ago I noticed it was set on point.  I'm not sure I'm going to do that. There are many ways to set the blocks in regard to the orientation of the dark and light in the blocks.  I may actually have to use the rarely used design floor and dither a bit before I decide what to do. 

A lot of the centers (six inch HSTs) for Crazy Lady of the Lake are leftover HST halves from this 2014 Basket Bounty (Cake Stand blocks) quilt I made.  The rest of the Crazy Lady centers came from the scrap chunk crate. All of the smaller HSTs were made from 2.5 inch scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

From Orange 2.5 Inch Scraps

 In past years I haven't really had that many scraps to play with when the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color rolled around to ORANGE.   This year I do have a lot of 2.5 inch orange scraps since I made a quilt that used a lot of it. 

So this month I dug into those 2.5 inch orange scraps and made a couple of ten inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks. 

 And I made a couple of orange eight inch Depression Blocks and three brown ones. I've been making these from scraps for a couple of years and I think I only need 5 or 6 more for a twin sized quilt. 

 I made a few sprouts.  I've also been making these for a few years and probably should take a count of them.  

And then I made a couple of these Whatchamacallit blocks.  The pieces are 1.5 x 2.5 so I usually use 1.5 inch scraps to make them but I looked ahead into my 1.5 inch scraps and found I only had two orange pieces in there so this month instead of using the 1.5 inch scraps to make these I used the 2.5. 

And while working with 2.5 inch scraps if any scrap gets smaller than a 2.5 inch square I sew them into a strip like on the right side.  

Then I saw that this month's Block Lotto block, a sixteen patch in California Poppy colors including orange, could be made of 2.5 inch scraps I whipped up four of those. 

And on break times I enjoyed watching all the butterflies that visited the orange Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) in the flower garden. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Red 2.5 Inch Scraps

 This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is red so this week I dug into the 2.5 inch red scraps to make  four 10 inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.  After making these for a couple of years I'm getting close to enough blocks for a large quilt. 

I've also been making eight inch Depression Blocks and those Sprouts for a couple of years. Not sure if I'm close to enough blocks for big quilts now or not.  Maybe I have enough sprouts since I'm not sure how I'm going to use them!   And that little strip at the bottom? I've been sewing all the little 2.5 inch scrap ends less than a 2 inch square into strips. Not sure how I'm going to use those either but I will. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Digging Into the 2.5 Inch Scraps

 This month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month is anything in between blue and green like aqua or teal or turquoise. 

I dug into the 2.5 inch scraps this week and made two 8 inch Depression Blocks.

 I used 2.5 inch scraps for the centers and 1.5 inch scraps for the sides and ended up with some cute little four inch Happy Blocks. 

And combined with some other colors and some six inch HST centers I made three 10 inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.   That makes 65 blocks and my target is 81. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday. 

Pink 2.5 Inch Scraps and Then Some

This week I dug into the 2.5 inch pink scraps.   

I made two 10 inch Lady of the Lake blocks.  The centers are six inch so I used some larger scraps for those. 

I also sewed together pink 2.5 inch bits and pieces usually less than a 2.5 inch square. The strips will probably be used later in the year in a Chinese Coin quilt or as a border. 

 Two 8 inch Depression Blocks. 

I've been making these for years. 

And I made some mini Happy Blocks.  They have 2.5 inch centers and I raided the 1.5 inch scraps for the sides.  I've been making these for years too. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Yellow 2.5 Inch Scrap Edition

I dug into my yellow 2.5 inch scraps this week.  Combined with a few other colors I ended up with five 10 inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.  This is a Rainbow Scrap Challenge carry over project from previous years. I'm hoping to have a total of 81 blocks at year end. 

Another carry over project - Sprouts. 

And yet another carry over project- eight inch Depression blocks. 

I also have been sewing together the end pieces of the 2.5 inch scraps if they are less than a 2.5 inch square. Someday I'll probably use them in a Chinese Coins quilt or a border. 

And I made a couple of little four inch Happy Blocks.   I have a giant pile of a variety of different four inch blocks. Maybe I should find something to do with them. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Those Crazy Ladies of the Lake Wearin' Green

Although I've done a lot of sewing this week not much of it was with green scraps except for these three 10 inch Lady of the Lake blocks. 

This is a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project carried over from last year. 

Today I will celebrate my Irish ancestry.  No green beer or parties here- just the grand kids.  We will probably spend the late afternoon and early evening playing board games and I may read them a few Irish folk tales or fairy tales from some old books of mine (or have them read to me) and tell them a few stories about their Irish ancestors. My paternal ancestors emigrated during famine times from Counties Galway, Mayo and Kilkenny in Ireland and eventually all settled in Emmetsburg, Palo Alto County, Iowa.  When I first became interested in genealogy (way before the internet) I asked my paternal grandmother several times to tell me about her ancestors and each time she told me "the Irish? all they do is fight and drink. That's all I know."   I've done a lot of family research over the years and found that, yes, they did fight and drink quite a bit; however, they did do a LOT more than that in between.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Don't do too much fighting and drinking!

Purple 2.5 Inch Scraps

This week I used my purple 2.5 inch scraps. 

With the addition of a few six inch HSTs  - some cut from scrap chunks but most left overs from the Parts Department - I used my 2.5 inch purple scraps (and  few yellow and red 2.5 inch scraps) to make lots of little HSTS that ended up in six 10 inch Crazy Lady of the Lake blocks.  This is a RSC project carried over from last year. 

And speaking of (very old) RSC carry over projects...I made a couple of Sprout blocks, a couple of Depression Blocks and had a few HSTs left over for a little Broken Dishes block for the Parts Department. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Blue 2.5 Inch Scrap Edition

 I dug into my blue 2.5 inch scraps this week and I sure had to make a lot of HSTs. 

Last year I made these ten inch (Crazy) Lady of the Lake blocks.  I have about half of what I need for a BIG quilt so they are on my to-do list again this year as an Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project.    I found a baggie of six inch  half HST pieces leftover from making basket blocks several years ago so used some of them for the centers as well as some chunk pieces. 

 I don't know how many years I've been making these eight inch Depression Blocks but I have about 66 of them if I can believe my note in the bag with them.  Ok...so these get carried over again this year too.   I limit myself to actual scraps so how many I make depends on my scraps.  But I like BIG quilts so it still make take several years to have enough blocks.  And I'm okay with that. 

And finally I made some Sprouts. Somehow I forgot I had these in the works and skipped over them last year but what was lost has now been found and they are back in the scrap rotation. However many I end up with after this year is how many will be in the quilt, I think. I'm not going to count but just surprise myself at the end of the year.  I'm just going to go where the scraps take me.

And where are the scraps taking everyone else? 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday 

Using 2.5 Inch Scraps and Then Some

I used up some 2.5 inch scraps this week and made three 10 inch Crazy Ladies of the Lake blocks. 

I use scrap chunks to make the centers. 

I'm aiming for a large quilt  with no sashing so this Rainbow Scrap Challenge project will continue into next year. 

I also made a brown 8 inch Depression Block from 2.5 inch scraps.  And I finally finished the yellow one I found in pieces in with the finished blocks.  I've been making these for years but still don't have enough for a BIG quilt so this, too, will continue into next year as a RSC project. 

Speaking of Rainbow Scrap Challenge...you can find an array of Rainbows each ScrapHappy Saturday.  And who doesn't need a rainbow each week? 

Crazy Ladies Of The Lake Are In The Pink

Ladies of the Lake

10 inch blocks

I use scraps from the 2.5 inch box for the outside HSTs and chunk scraps for the six inch center HST.   I found a bag of some 6.5 HST halves leftover from a basket quilt I made long ago and used some of them for the centers. 

I now have 37 blocks and I like big quilts so have lots more to make. This RSC project will continue into next year. 

That pink/orange block may not make the cut. I'll probably change out the outside HSTs to be red/orange instead of light pink/orange. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday where pink has a starring role. 

2.5 Inch Orange Scraps and a Couple of Chunks

Three Ten Inch Crazy Lady of the Lake Blocks

One  Eight Inch Depression Block

ScrapHappy Saturday

Lady Sings the Blues

Lady of the Lake (Sings the Blues)

10 inch blocks

I used 2.5 inch scraps on the side HSTs and went to the scrap chunk crate for the middles. 

They are kind of overlapping in the photo so look a little wonky but aren't.

(Not much room on the batting covered cutting mat I prop up and cover with blocks for photos). 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

July's color is blue

Sing it!

Yellow 2.5 Inch Scraps (and Then Some)

Wild Ladies of the Lake

10 inch blocks

This week I pulled out the yellow 2.5 inch scraps. There wasn't much to work with but I did manage to make a few blocks. 

Eight inch Depression Block and 12 inch Ship Block

I found my pile of eight inch Depression Blocks I have made over the years with my 2.5 inch scraps.  I forgot about them because I didn't put them in the box with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.  It looks like I have about 58 (now 59) of them.   I want a big quilt out of them so need about double that amount. 

Garden patchwork of yellow flowers. 

Snapdragons, pansies, tomato blossoms, roses, day lilies, oriental lilies, roses, dutchman's pipe.

 WARNING: Dutchman's pipe is invasive around here. Gosh...I spend a lot of time pulling this vine out of my flower gardens. 

When it's not too hot or too rainy but when it's just right I work out in the gardens.  

ScrapHappy  Saturday

Green 2.5 Scrap Addition And Then Some

With 2.5 inch green scraps I made some six inch Plus blocks...

...some ten inch Lady of the Lake blocks (six inch centers are from green scrap chunks and HSTs from 2.5 scraps)...

...and a  twelve inch ship with green sails. 

And then I went back to the green scrap chunks and made some improv circles.  Actually these are made from more than green scrap chunks...I've been using red and brown as my constants with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  

I'm not the only one using green scraps this month. You'll see when you visit ScrapHappy Saturday and read all about it. 

I still have 4.5 inch green scraps and some waste triangles to play with for next week.