It's a Finish! Rocky Road to Kansas

 Rocky Road to Kansas

A string quilt

63 x 63

hand quilted

 Last year when my string box was overflowing I separated out all the pink and white strings for quilts.  Most of them were long quilt back trimmings.   I wanted to make a quilt I hadn't yet made of strings so started looking through some bookmarked patterns I wanted to try someday. 

I happened to run across a quilt called Chance in the book Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty of Material Obsessions.  She constructs the blocks with triangles but I thought I could modify the pattern and use strings instead.   

These are actually 31 inch Rocky Road to Kansas blocks and were a great use for long strings.  (I used the shorter strings in another quilt).  I happened to have enough of that pink polka dot for the centers and then couldn't decide what to use for the background. I finally decided to try some of that red calico with little black and light blue flowers. I bought a lot of it on sale a long time ago to use for quilt backs.  I figured a darker background would help the white and lighter pinks stand out. 

 I hand quilted it with pink perle #12.   In the triangles I just quilted across with straight lines with no marking at irregular intervals.  In the background diamond shaped areas I quilted concentric diamonds at 1/4, 2 and 3 inches in from the sides and then I put a little tie in the middle.  No matter how I tried to take a picture of that quilting it just didn't show up. 

 In the center I used an old cardboard template my daughter picked up for me at a garage sale, marked around it with mechanical pencil and hand stitched. 

I used a gray calico with pink flowers on the back and filled in with some pieces of pink gingham.  With the light shining through from the front you can kind of see all the hand stitching. 

That light shining through was the result of a beautiful sunrise. 

This was my goal #22 

for

Q1 Finish-Along

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Ticky Tacky Town

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

May the roof above you never fall in and those gathered beneath it never fall out.

I made a few Irish Ticky Tacky houses for the occasion. 

And today I celebrate my Irish ancestry. 

My paternal ancestors emigrated to the U.S. and Canada from Ireland. 

In loving memory of those Irish immigrants: 

David Joynt and Bridget McDermott Joynt, great great grandparents

Michael Joynt and Bridget Brennan Joynt, great grandparents

John Walsh and Margaret Herron Walsh, great great great grandparents

James Brennan and Catherine Walsh Brennan, great great grandparents

Myles McNally and Mary McDonnell McNally, great great grandparents

Green Two Inch Scrap Edition

 This week I dug into my green two inch scraps. 

First I made seven (one didn't fit on my batting covered cutting mat) Wedding Ring blocks.  These finish at 7.5 inches. 

 Next I made twelve Sixteen Patch blocks. These finish at six inches. I just combine 2 inch green scraps with any other scraps that suit my fancy from the 2 inch scrap bin. 

 Next I made 20 Kitties that finish at 3 inches. I will combine them with 3 inch Nine Patches from a bin full of little Nine Patches I've made or swapped over the years. 

 Then I made some little Wonky Stars. I use green waste triangles for the star points and 2 inch scraps for the rest. 

 Then while I was playing in the 2 inch scraps I decided to make more Carolina Chain blocks. I started on these blocks last year while I was making my Fractured Rainbow quilt with two inch scraps but haven't worked on them for a long time. Since I didn't use black, brown or gray in the Fractured Rainbow quilt I've been using them in Carolina Chain blocks that form the light chains. I've been using dark rainbow colors in blocks that make the dark chains.   

I was going to tell you to turn your head at an angle to get the the full effect of the chains since these blocks are set on point...

...but I turned the camera instead.  As you can now see the light chains will run across the quilt and the dark chains will run down the quilt. 

So maybe by year end I will have an empty 2 inch scrap bin.

Now I need to dig into the 4.5 inch green scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

A Flimsy of Sunflowers

 Sunflowers

It's a flimsy!

74 3/4 x 98

I love Sunflowers.  I've grown Sunflower houses out in the garden. 

 Once upon a time I saw a Sunflower quilt that I loved.  But I figured I'd never be able to make one.  The blocks looked way too complex for my skill set. 

Then I found a pattern. And then I tried.  Surprise! 

I have to highly recommend the book Treasury of Quilts by Betsy Chutchian and Carol Staehle.  Thanks to their pattern and well written instructions I now have a Sunflower quilt. Well, it's almost a Sunflower quilt. I still have to quilt it but the difficult part is finished. 

 I used fabric from stash. And since I usually buy 1/2 yard pieces of fabric I kind of had a difficult time coming up with backgrounds for the 14 inch blocks but I managed. When it came to the side setting triangles I wasn't so lucky to have enough of any one fabric. I started out thinking I could make all the side setting triangles scrappy but I didn't have enough pieces big enough to do so.  I used the only two remaining civil war repro type fabrics I had that I could stretch enough to use for the side setting triangles.  

I'm not sure I'm really in love with that option since there is such a contrast between those two side setting triangle fabrics but I'm keeping it that way and it will probably grow on me (hopefully not like a fungus). It's for a bed, for Pete's sake and not for a wall. The most important thing is that I DID IT! And I almost have that Sunflower quilt I've always wanted! I'm excited to get it quilted. 

I'm going to hand quilt it.   I still have to cut away the backgrounds behind the Sunflowers and trim up the sides but I'll wait to do that until I'm ready to hand quilt. 

Getting this to flimsy stage was my OMG (One Monthly Goal) .   At the end of the month I will link up to OMG at Elm Street Quilts. 

Peppa and Friends Flimsy

 Peppa and Friends Baby Quilt

It's a flimsy!

36 x 36

This will go to Jack's Basket when finished.  

This is one of several quilts going toward the Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge charities this year.  If you want further info and/or are interested in participating this is sign-up week. 

I actually started out to make all 12 inch Hole in the Barn Door blocks in red and gray with farm animals as the block centers but when I started digging around for barn animals an old remnant of Peppa and Friends was the first thing I ran across so the plan changed.  That's probably a good thing since I don't think I had enough red solid to begin with. 

The Green Green Scraps of Home

 Green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  I usually start off a new month with the scrap chunks.  I had a lot of green chunks this year. They have been accumulating since I used them all in 2014-2015 in my 56 Shades of Envy quilt. 

 I define a chunk scrap as something bigger than a 4.5 inch square and smaller than a fat quarter.   

First I put all the fall-ish looking greens aside to be used with a couple of autumn themed UFOs. 

 I set aside all the light greens to be used in my low volume String Hearts. 

If the remaining chunks were big enough to cut pieces for a cat then I made a cat.  I've been using some gray scraps for backgrounds. 

Then, since these Double X Variation blocks use different sized pieces (1.5 and 2.5), I cut chunks that were big enough into 1.5 and 2.5 strips and made blocks.   These blocks finish at four inches and this quilt is inspired by a vintage quilt. 

I evaluated the rest of the green chunks and cut them into sizes of scraps I keep separated by size - 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 and strings. 

Then I dug into the green scraps in the 1.5 inch bin and made some little rails. I've been making these for several years so by the end of this year I'll probably have enough for a large and very scrappy quilt. 

I've also been making these Bit Coin blocks for years.  

I think I have about 58 of them and am aiming for 84 so maybe this will be the year of the Bit Coin quilt too. 

After I use a 1.5 inch strip to make the Rails and Bit Coins the remaining piece goes into the Spider Web quilt project box. 

Then I dug into the 2.5 inch green scraps and made some Garlic Knots - a new block I started this year. 

I also made some Plus blocks from 2.5 inch scraps. I made a few several years ago and then forgot about them so I'm resurrecting this as an RSC project this year. 

I keep the 30s repro scraps separate from the other scraps in the 2.5 inch scrap bin.  I had quite a few greens in there so made another Bit Coin block this time using 2.5 inch scraps instead of 1.5. 

Next up was the 3.5 inch scrap bin. 

I cut these Church Window Variation blocks from 1.5 and 3.5 scraps. 

The 3.5 inch scraps were also made into some Broken Dishes blocks...

...and some Sixteen Patch stars. 

If any remaining 3.5 inch scrap was less than a 3.5 inch square it was sewn into a strip. I've been doing this for a couple of years instead of throwing the pieces into the crumb box.  I think I'm going to have fun playing with a rainbow of scrappy strips one of these days. 

I have the 2 inch and 4.5 inch scraps left for the rest of the month. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Out of the Blue

 I've been making these blocks using blues for the triangle sides and warm colors for the points that form a star.  Last time I posted about these blocks I wasn't sure if I had enough blues to make 128 blocks.  Well, out of the blue I received a box in the mail from a quilty friend with blue fabric bits and pieces. 

Thank you, quilty friend! 

That was enough for 39 blocks. I now have a total of 67 blocks toward my goal of 128. 

I'll get by with a little help from my friend. 

You made my day and you've helped make my quilt!

And I've been looking for a name for this quilt.  The pattern calls it Minnie's Stars since it was inspired by a quilt made by a lady named Minnie.  I'm calling my quilt "Out of the Blue". 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More