Spoolin' Around

This month my OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to get 783 - 3 inch spools assembled into a quilt top 81 x 87.    If I get it completely finished that will be a bonus (or my Dec. OMG goal). 

I started making a few of these each month in 2014 (or was it 2013? I think 2013. ) as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project after I saw Kathy of Kathy's Quilts making them.   Funny thing...Kathy is  working on getting her spools assembled this month too.   We are using the same block but making quilts that will look very different when finished.  But oh the scraps we have used! 

One Monthly Goal

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Scraptastic Tuesday

Marginalia: a Quilty 365/6 Project

Here's my October circles. 

I discovered I love maple bacon potato chips, dug the last of my potatoes and onions, picked some brussel sprouts after frost which makes them sweeter and ate a bunch and processed a bunch, picked the last of the broccoli and made some yummy broccoli - cheese soup (twice) , missed the grandparent's day ice cream social because my grandson had to have a tooth pulled that was giving him great pain, celebrated my granddaughter's 12th birthday on Halloween, brought in the houseplants from the deck, dealt with the nuts at work, played in the leaves, decided I need to retire sooner than later (maybe Dec 31 instead of March 30????) , felt really, really blah a couple of days, started assembling my spool quilt, finished a chevron and quilt of valor quilt, my sons fixed the metal fireplace chimney and a leak in the roof, found a possum in the cat food and a mouse under my bed (again), made a couple of trips to Iowa City (an hour away) with my husband for follow up Dr. appointments and Oh, Dem Bones, Dem Bones...my husband's leg bone is connected to his jaw bone! (But he's doing well.  We were just there again today for an appointment but don't have to go back again for another month. Wooohoo. That's a long trip there and back for a 15 minute visit - especially when I'm driving and not doing hand work or reading a book! )

I started my circles on November 4, 2015 so tomorrow is my last day and I will have a complete year of circles and marginalia.   I will assemble them in date order 18 x 21 which means I need 12 more circles to even things out.    "Marginalia"  has ten letters for ten circles and a little dot before and after will make 12. 

Stay tuned. 

And if you want to see what other quilty 365 projects are circling around out there click on over to Audrey's Quilty Folk blog and the November Quilty 365 Linkup. 

A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

It's just a top for now

80 x 80

It consists of 64 ten inch blocks

Each block has a floral and a butterfly fabric and corners of old blue florals

I just sewed the blocks together in sort of a random order. I separated the blocks into even piles of blocks with dark fabrics forming an X and dark fabrics forming a + then I just alternated sewing X blocks and + blocks together into rows of 8.

Last year I found out that a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope so thought it would be great fun to make a kaleidoscope of butterflies quilt so I can enjoy butterflies all year long. 

This is my third kaleidoscope quilt so the ruler is finally starting to pay for itself.  All of the kaleidoscope quilts I've made are different and I still have one kaleidoscope quilt UFO that is even different yet using men's plaid shirts and gray solids (for now but that may change later to any gray).  

This was the kaleidoscope quilt I finished in 2015. 

80 x 92

It consists of 12 inch blocks with crumb corners and crumb borders. The wedges consist of 6 - 1.5 inch pieces.  I quilted a spiral in each block on my DSM. I thought the crumbs kind of simulated those little pieces you see in a kaleidoscope before the design forms.  I just randomly sewed the blocks together. 

This is the kaleidoscope quilt I finished earlier this year. 

80 x 80

These were 8 inch blocks with solid corners and wedges made up of 2 - 2.5 inch fabrics. I quilted it on my DSM with all over spirals. For the layout I tried to follow the colors of the rainbow starting with red in the lower left side and rotating around clockwise to the violet in the lower right side.. 

Now it's your turn to share any kaleidoscope or butterfly related quilty progress or pics of actual butterflies you've seen while out and about.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Take the Cure

I only have two more feathers to quilt with perle #8...

...and then I have to decide what to quilt in between all of those feathers.  I've had lots of great suggestions. 

I haven't had much quilting time lately. My husband had major surgery on Sep 29 which left him unable to walk, eat or talk for awhile (they replaced his mandible with his fibula) but is recovering nicely.  I took a week off of work to nurse him through that first week and while he was sleeping I sat near him and did a little hand quilting to bide my time.  When I went back to work I found that the nuts in charge had gone completely mad so when I got home from work I tried to pick up a little hand quilting to keep from going mad myself.   I have had to do my husband's chores around the house now  on the weekends and after work (he's retired and pretty much does the cooking and cleaning and laundry, etc) so I sneak in a little hand quilting at day end to keep myself from falling asleep before it's bedtime.   I'm still cleaning up the gardens without my husband's help and processing the last of the brussel sprouts and broccoli (yum...broccoli cheese soup), picking the last of the squash and pumpkins, peppers and tomatoes...and to me that is as much fun as hand quilting! 

So although my life seems nothing but slow these days I make sure to take time for myself and do a little hand stitching to keep myself sane and healthy and calm and rested (and I might have something to show for it one of these days). 

Take the cure!

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts  

Yellow

Yellow Flying Geese from 4.5 inch scraps.  

Looks kind of like a hidden object game this month.

If the RSC color is a primary color I use secondaries for the geese sides and vice versa.    This project will continue next year. I have about 58 blocks and that's not near enough for a big, colorful, fun, cozy, scrappy quilt. 

Interlocking Chains

14 inch blocks from 2.5 inch scraps. 

By the end of the year I should have enough for a quilt

ScrapHappy Saturday...a division of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

For Tom

Quilt of Valor for my brother-in-law, Tom. 

54 x 72

It's the third of three QOV quilts for family members who are veterans. I want to surprise them on Veteran's Day. Now I just need to remember to get them in the mail. 

I was going to make a Disappearing Four Patch for Tom's quilt but when Alycia posted a block for this year's QOV block drive designed by Jan O of  The Colorful Fabriholic I made a few of these nine inch blocks for the drive (speaking of getting things mailed...yikes, I see the envelope of them still sitting here) and decided to make lots more for Tom's quilt. 

These blocks are quick, easy and fun and I love the layout although I think there are endless possibilities for these blocks. 

I quilted it with loops and stars on my DSM using blue thread in the dark sections and white thread in the light sections of the quilt. 

Bound and washed it is oh so crinkly and soft. 

The back is a 100% silky cotton with stars - a sheet from the thrift store that was in excellent condition.   (Oh,, what sheets these people must have at home to sleep on if these are what they take to the thrift store). 

You can see the pattern on the back too since I used blue thread in sections and white thread in others. 

A big thank you to all of our Veterans! 

This was my goal #2

for Q4 Finish-A-Long

Today I'm linking to:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Stacking and Whacking

Improv circles or bulls eyes. 

In June we made some Block Lotto Bulls Eye blocks using this similar method and I really liked how they turned out and had fun doing them.   So I decided start these as another new RSC project using the color(s) of the month and red and brown as my "neutrals".  I'm using chunk scraps for these. 

I fooled around a little with mixing and matching these, separating them by a thin sashing, etc. but in the end I think I liked the four fabrics stacked and whacked all together in one block.  I started with 8.5 squares of fabric and squared them up to 6.5 inch finished blocks. Four of them together will make a 12 inch block and use up a lot of those chunks of fabric. 

I made enough of these units so now I have (sans border units which are a different size) enough colors of the rainbow to make...

...a quilt similar to this one called Red Centre from Kathy Doughty's book Making Quilts. 

FYI - believe it or not both of these blocks use a similar method of construction called Stack and Whack - stack up pieces of fabric, whack through them, swap out a few pieces in the stack and then sew the whacked pieces all back together again. You get multiple blocks from each stack you whack. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday