Which Way to the Chocolate?

Update on Which Way to the Chocolate...

I've finished big stitching around the flying geese using various colors of brown perle #5 (a tangle of threads from my stash) and have started on the maze of brown sashing. 

In the sashing I'm using different weights of thread and colors of brown I have on hand.  So far I have used a variegated brown perle #8 and am now using some 20 wt light brown thread I have in my stash that I have used for crochet and some tatting trials.  I'm not using a hoop or marking lines...just going with the flow and trying to chase away those winter blues. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

Triangle Star and Then Some

Blue Triangle Star

18 3/4 inch block

I first saw this block on Gayle's blog, Mangofeet.  I loved the pic of a vintage quilt from a magazine and went searching for a similar pattern.  I wanted to use my civil war scraps and a pumpkin background to make that star.  Gayle's post mentioned it was from American Patchwork and Quilting, October 2009. That was enough to lead me to a free quilt pattern for the Triangle Stars that was inspired by the Vintage quilt called Wildest Dreams. 

Before I started on my civil war scraps I thought I would give it a try with some pieces from the scrap bin.   I had a few problems but it was easier than I thought.  It looks like I don't have 1/4 inch seam near all those star points but I think I can fix that.   And, so I'll practice on my colorful scraps and make one each month for Rainbow Scrap Challenge with the background color in the highlight color of the month. 

And while I was in the blue scraps I sewed up a few 4.5 inch crumb blocks - 30 of them.  I was going to make some crumb fish like I made in 2013 (below) but decided against it for now.   They will probably get made into a donation quilt in the summer when I make smaller donation quilts because I don't have air conditioning and it makes it toooooo hot to quilt larger quilts. 

Crumb Fish 

Donation Quilt 2013

Blue is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Use some blue and join us. 

Kaleidoscopes of Butterflies

Last year someone commented on my blog that a flock of butterflies was referred to as a kaleidoscope of butterflies.  You learn something new every day.  How fascinating...I love butterflies AND I love kaleidoscopes. So...I decided I needed to have my own kaleidoscope of butterflies that I could appreciate all year long and a quilt was born.  Well, actually 2 kaleidoscope of butterflies quilts were born.  I have lots of butterfly themed fabrics.   

This one will combine flowers and butterflies and will have all blue floral corners...kind of like flowers against the sky.  I'm going to also alternate x and + blocks - darks in different positions in the block so they form an x or a + in the center -  so there will be a secondary pattern.  These are all + versions.  I decided on 10 inch blocks because I had pieces of floral fabrics left over from...

...my unfinished butterfly garden quilt above that were cut at 5.5 inches so might as well start there.  

This is Kaleidoscope of Butterflies quilt #2.  I used the same butterfly fabrics but a consistent neutral fabric  and same fabric for corners.  I may mix up the corner fabrics. I was hoping this layout would also form a different type of secondary pattern - where the corners meet surrounded by the neutral. 

 So...I was reading Ann's blog, Fret Not Yourself, and commented on her post about Monarchs and Milkweed that I had recently found out that a flock of butterflies was a kaleidoscope and had been thinking about making a kaleidoscope of butterflies quilt and she suggested a monthly link.  See her blog post today. 

Pic I took of Butterfly on my Zinnias 2008

Let's keep it casual. Here are the parameters:

1. Celebrate butterflies and other pollinators with photos of butterflies, pupae, or larvae in your area and/or the plants they feed on AND/OR2. Use butterfly fabric OR3. Use any kaleidoscope or butterfly pattern (Don't forget those fabulous designs by Paula Nadelstern!)

Another pic I took of butterfly on my zinnias.  Note zinnia fabric in first photo on bottom right. 

So, here's looking at you, kid! 

Let us know if you're interested in the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies link up starting February 1. 

Let's celebrate butterflies! 

Lozenges or Suppositories? Take Your Pick !

Lozenges (aka Suppositories)

76 x 90

That means there are 760 little 2 x 4.5 little lozenges (aka suppositories...more on that later).  That also means I sewed on to those lozenges 3040 little 1.5 inch corners. 

I started making these in March 2014.  Bonnie Hunter was making them that year as a leader/ender project.  I'm not a leader/ender kind of girl so I sewed a few up each month as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  They were easy to make but rather a pain in the patooty to make because they are so boring.  So, I lovingly started referring to them as suppositories. ( I think a sense of humor can get you through anything). 

I thought each lozenge was a unique scrap fabric but when I started sewing them together I saw a few duplicates.  I guess that happens when you make units over a couple of years. 

No design wall here so I just sewed them together as I pulled them out of the light bag then the dark bag.    I quilted it with vertical straight lines (using a walking foot) on both sides of the seam allowances on my plain Jane Janome. 

For the backing I used a 100% cotton sheet in excellent condition that I found at the thrift store. 

I forgot to take a pic specifically of the binding but I used a black and white floral print. 

I declared this goal #1 for  the 2016 Finish Along. 

Well, this quilt definitely used a whole lot of scraps so I guess I'll go visit the

 Oh Scrap! party over at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  

And since I moved this all the way forward to the finish line I'm linking up to

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag.

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. 

Let's Go For a Spin

Vintage Spin

65 x 78 

Pattern from Kathy Doughty's book Adding Layers - Color, Design & Imagination. 

It's been difficult to get good pics because the winds have been strong and until today temps were in the teens. 

Each block is hand quilted in either navy, green or orange hand quilting thread...

...in concentric circles. 

I was hoping the circles would make the blocks look a little like they were spinning plus give the quilt some nice texture. 

I used this navy/aqua fabric from stash and bound it all in some polka dots. 

This was my goal #5

 for the 2016 Finish Along. 

Whooping it up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

WAIWO? Short Strings and Quilt Wrestling.

What am I working on?  Scraps. It's Scraptastic Tuesday! 

I've been sewing some of my short string scraps around some b/w 5 inch squares for some 9 inch wonky Happy Blocks. 

And I've been wrestling with my lozenges (aka suppositories) quilt - a scrappy catalog of 2.5 x 5 inch pieces of fabric (aka scraps) leftover from quilts I've made or quilt blocks I've made that are now hiding in boxes of UFOs. 

I have a dinky harp space on my DSM and a big quilt that needs to go through there. I'm only quilting a few straight lines, thank goodness, and it will all be over soon.  I think I will win the wrestling match...this time. 

Got Scraps?

It's Scraptastic Tuesday. Let's party!