RSC Sampler blocks - in Green.

I got a chance to sew today and managed to catch up on a bunch of the RSC sampler blocks in green. I think the block in the top left hand corner is my favorite, followed by the one below it. Truly scrappy and fun. I am ready to move onto the next color of yellow with these sampler blocks.
I also sewed all my crossroads blocks into a top today. It measures 48x60 and I think that will be the size of this top. Now to figure out a backing for this so it can get some free motion quilting sometime this week I hope. Emily is done school now and Aidan has three half day's left. I hope to sneak in a little sewing if I can.

In between the above sewing I have been playing with a bag of scraps from a quilt I made Greg 6 years ago. Quite a few blocks have been made that finish at 4.5 inches and a handful at 3 inches. I am not sure what these will become but I have a feeling they will come out to play again if we get a month of neutrals or browns sometime this year.

It has been very busy at my house this week. Emily is now an official Kindergarten girl. She graduated last night from VPK. This is while they were singing one of the songs.

Aidan had his bridging ceremony to celebrate the completion of Kindergarten and his entry into 1st grade on Thursday night. 

I'll need to get a good picture of her in her cap and gown as I did not get one last night. I did get this shot of both of them before we left for the ceremony last night. Notice those beautiful fingers and toes - Daddy was painting them for her yesterday afternoon when I got home from work. I love walking into the house and seeing him do things like that with the kids. I have a few more hours until I have to pick them up from Grandma's house. Since some thunderstorms are moving in I think it is time for some hand quilting while watching a movie in the nice quiet house. 

I'm linking up to Angela over at SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap challenge. Head on over and check out the pretty green projects everyone is working on before we move onto yellow tomorrow.

Playing with the color red.

I finished hand stitching the peels this week and decided to sew them together into some X and O's. I think they are pretty cute! I need to go back and make sure I have sets of 4 of all the colors I have done so far so I can sew the others together sometime.

Then I got to working on my little apple quilt this week. I cut and made some of my nine patches in red. These are 5 inches and will finish at 4.5 inches once they are into the quilt. I just need to applique the 13 apples down onto the backing fabrics. So far this is a fun little quilt to work on.



Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday and see what other red projects are being worked on this weekend. As for me....... it is a kid free day (thanks Grandma H) and I plan to quilt my purple pineapple quilt. Wish me luck.

Scrap Happy Saturday in Yellow

After dropping the kids to Grandma this morning, I got a pedicure and then ran some errands and finally made it home around 1PM. That allowed me a very quick lunch and then it was off to the sewing room for me.

First I pulled from the little pile of yellow and made these four crumb blocks. Since I had the blue pile out still I also made four blue ones. I seem to have issues with my pink blocks disappearing since there are only three in the bin with the others. I need to go back and make some orange and green ones to catch up. Here are all the crumb blocks so far.

I have been busy working through the blue and cream scraps from last month and have 28 of these wonky log cabin blocks. Each will finish at 12 inches. I have 8 more started for a 6x6 set..... but I'm not sure that will be big enough. I may have to make a few more.

Option one layout (I really like this one)

Option two layout. I've done this layout before in blue and yellow.

Time will tell as to how this one ends up - size and setting. I'm shooting for a full size - so 80x80 would be great. I hope to get it done and quilted with a machine binding to one side by the end of the month. I don't know if it will happen or not but that is my hope. I am also plugging away on another scrappy quilt - same hope for that one - to get completed and quilted and binding attached to the top. I'm trying to give myself something to do in the evenings in Vermont AND keep warm! It does get chilly at the camp in the evenings - down anywhere from the 50's to the 60's. They of course will stay up there when completed so no shipping back to Florida. I'm hoping to get the other one to a top form by tomorrow night. It is the bricks and stepping stone pattern from Quiltville.com in homespun, checks and solids with a cream/black four patch. I just need about 14 more four patches and then I can sew the matchsticks together.
Now I'm off to change and head over towards The Villages to pick up a gift card for my FIL and then meet G for dinner out after he finishes closing the store. Then I get to go pick up the kids from Grandma's house..... oh, I need to grab their jammies so they are ready for bed when they get home.

Head on over to SoScarappy and see what other yellow projects are being worked on today for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Rain rain go away.....

Since the weather is not listening to me I decided to pick out some nice sunny yellow to play with today.

Here are two yellow snail trail blocks along with the others from this year.

I also made my 16 patch block with the 2.5 inch squares. I think I need to make a pink one to add to this bunch.

Then I cut a few lemon peels out for hand work this month. I have a couple of blue ones to finish off first from last month.

Since the kids were going stir crazy inside, I remembered when I was younger Mom making cream puffs and then putting pudding in them. I had to call her this morning to get the name as I could not find   it looking through my Betty Crocker cookbook this morning. It is amazing what water, butter, flour and egg can make. Then add some packaged pudding and you have an instant dessert after lunch. Doesn't it look yummy? I got the leftover chocolate and vanilla from the kids.

Saturday I'll hook up with SoScrappy for the RSC challenge of yellow. Come back tomorrow for a finished reveal........

Saturday in Blue....

This weekend I will relax with a little bit of hand work when I am not working a sale at the store.
This my ongoing orange peels...... which I guess will be blueberry peels this month.
These are the prepped peels so far and a shot of all my hand appliqued peels for the year. The bottom part of the picture is the Kaleidoscope quilt which is sewn into rows. One month and I need that one done and shipped.

Another project is to baste the Fireworks quilt for hand quilting. I think I will just do some straight stitching through the chains and then something with curves on the outside borders. I want a little chain in the white border. The outer border will be decided on later but I have a few ideas running around in my head. Do you use a special thread for basting your quilts? I had a bit of thread left on a spool that was causing my machine to have fits so I am using that end for basting this.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other blue projects are being worked on.

Saturday in blue.....

Sapphire blue was selected for this month over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Since we were to sort into three piles - pastel, teal/greenish and sapphire I figured the dark blues should hit this month. Here are my two snails trail blocks in bright sapphire and navy blue.

And a shot of all my snails so far this year.

I also cut a little 2.5 inch square off the snails and added a few more bits from the bins to make this little blue 16 patch block. 

My niece decided on layout #1 from the last post so I'll need to start making the halves into blocks for the Kaleidoscope quilt but silly me..... I seem to have cut out 128  3.5x6.5 bricks to start a new quilt! It will be leftover homespun, check and solids in blue, green, maroon and brown with black and white/cream steps. The pattern for that is found over at Quiltville under the free patterns for bricks and stepping stones. I want mine a twin size so I'm adding an extra row to the bottom. 

Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday and see what other blue projects are being worked on this week. As for me - I have peels to cut out and a RWB QOV quilt to get quilted on Saturday after the kids miss nap time to attend a birthday party. Friday night we are headed about an hour north to meet up with my other sister who is down in Florida for a working weekend. We are meeting up at a pizza place so we can visit a bit and she can see the kids. I think they have changed a bit since she last saw them in September 2011.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Happy Easter!

I'm a little late for posting for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this weekend. This week to wrap up I have orange peels to show. I have five left to do and will work on those later this afternoon when things quiet down and most of the company has left for the day. I just need to cut out some more background prints first.
It was a busy orange month with some snail's trail blocks, 64 patch square and orange peels.

I finally finished the Halloween top and should be able to get it quilted and bound for Halloween this year.

I never got to my crumb blocks as those scraps are somewhere in the closet that is my parents room while they are here. Maybe I can sew those up next week after they head home to Vermont.
I am hooking up with SoScrappy for her RSC Challenge on Saturday and Kathy with Kathy Quilts for slow stitching Sunday. Head on over and take a look at what others are working on for this Holiday weekend.

Another Saturday in Orange

This week I was able to finish the orange/black block and a few of the orange peels.

All my blocks so far.

Why I tend to wait until the 20th plus day of the month to do these when I have them all prepped at the beginning I'll never know. I guess it is just the procrastinator in me! The rest should be done by next Saturday as my parents are coming back for the week and heading home on April 1 after celebrating Easter and an early Birthday for Emily. I think the sewing machine will be left out of their room so I can sew a bit while they are here. Now to pick up the room and get it ready for company again tomorrow.

Head on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what others are working on in the orange colorway this week. I am so glad I have another week... I still have some crumbs to make!

Saturday in Orange....

This week was about finishing up a few things. I have a few UFO's on my sidebar that I took out and examined. It seems I needed 6 more blocks for two of them before I could start putting them together.

First, I made a 16 patch block to go with the purple one from last month. I  also made a few nine patches that will end up in this UFO.

Then I checked my birds in the air blocks from last year's RSC and made 6 more blocks. Two orange, two blue and two green.

They will end up at some point as a top with these blocks.

I also got some time on Wednesday and was able to finish off my Halloween wall hanging into a top this week. Hopefully this will get quilted and bound sometime before October.



Today is my 'kid free' day so I'll drop them to Grandma for the day and then head to my aunt's house for a paternal family reunion of my Dad's siblings. Then it will be off to meet the hubby for a date night dinner after he is done working. I guess I'll have to pick up one kid after that and the other will be having a sleepover with Grandma. Just another busy day at my house.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other orange projects are being worked on this week.

A finished top

I started working on this little Halloween wall hanging last year during the RSC challenge in September. It started from this little drawing.

 My parents were visiting then and Mom got to see the start and some progress on this. She came down again this month and since orange was the color picked, I had planned to pull this little wall hanging out again. She did ask if I had finished it when she walked in the door last week! Nope - had not touched it since last year. I had not noticed I forgot a couple of the inner borders when putting it together last fall.

After a little frogging....... I made a few more of the four patches and attached them to the right spot.
Next was to figure out the Boo. I had no clue how I was going to do this. Thank goodness I am not a perfectionist as I just drew a B and an O on some interfacing. Cut it out and then made another O and pressed them onto the fabric. I didn't want it to fray... so I tried a new stitch on my machine. Ok, I confess. I have a nice sewing machine and I really only use the #2 straight stitch on my Viking. Well, I decided to try a zig zag... nope. Not what I was thinking. So I tried #28 which was a satin stitch maybe? Anyway... it covered the edges but does take some practice to do curves and corners. It is not perfect but not bad for a first try. This is 24x35 right now.

I am not sure it is done... it might want another border and I do see a spider on a web somehow around that Boo in the quilting. I think I'll let it sit for a week and then revisit it and see what it tells me.

Orange weekend....

The last time my parents were down to visit was in September and the color in the RSC was orange. I decided it was a good time to pick up the project I started then and try and get it finished this month. Mom did ask me about this when she walked in the house earlier this week. She'd like to see it get done and 'experience' the whole project. Mom is not a crafter or quilter. It seems to be turning into two projects as the orange pumpkins just didn't fit into the little wall hanging.
I think I stopped working on it because once I had the final borders on I realized I forgot two of the check borders in the middle! So, this one will get frogged today and after I make some more of the four patches we'll see how it goes together again. I think a pumpkin or two will end up getting appliqued in the middle section..... or Maybe a BOO? Thoughts? I made the parts using some stencils that came with some construction paper for Halloween last year. Kids coloring books are also a great way to find patterns for applique or quilting designs.

The original three pumpkins will become a tiny little runner for the table.... although the thoughts are spinning and I may have another idea for that one.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other orange projects are being worked on this weekend.

As for us - I have lived here for a year and a half and have not made it to the Market of Marion flea market that is just 20 minutes from my house. We are heading there today with the kids. Wish me luck! At least I am feeling much better today than the last few ... I picked a good time to get sick while I had grandparents here to watch and care for the kids for me. A big thanks to my Mom and Dad for taking care of them for me.

Finishing off Purple in the RSC challenge.

Since it is the last day of February I decided to do a little purple sewing. I had enough of these purple 4 patches to make a 64 square block.... and there was enough yellow to make one of those too. I went back and cut out a few more of my other colors so I will be able to make some more of these little guys next week.

Then I got down to some scraps and made a few crumb blocks. I need to go back and make another pink one from last month. I am thinking I might use a bright white 1.5 inch strip and hook these together.... but I'll wait a few months and see if something else pops into my head for setting these guys together.

After this..... I am hoping Angela's 'clue' about orange means that is the color for March.... cause I started some prep work and sewing with Orange today too! That bunch will wait for Saturday's post.

Saturday in purple

I caved. I decided to make a 16 patch block in purple this month too. I'll have to go back and make a pink one sometime. These were 2.5 inch squares from the purple scrap basket. Somehow my light/dark sequence got a little off in the sewing process.

I opened the last box in the sewing room and found a bunch more purple scraps. I see crumbs in my future... after I prep a few more orange peels. I think I have finished all the prepared ones.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other purple projects are being worked on.

Snail trail in pink....

Another Saturday in Pink this week. I made my second snail's trail block so have my two pink ones done for the year. This is a really fun block to make and I can see myself finally making one of the Judy Martin patterns that uses the snails trail - I think it might be Shakespear in the park? I have wanted to make one of her quilt patterns for a while now and I do think this might be the year. Once I organize up my sewing room I think I will put the blue and creams aside so I can prep for that quit.

Tomorrow I plan to finally quilt this one. I put it together in Vermont a couple of years ago.

 I added the borders last year to make it a bit bigger.

This year - it is time to finish it. I was able to get a log cabin quit quilted last Sunday so I really think I can get this one quilted and bound this Sunday. Next weekend maybe Aidan's quilt will finally get quilted! I want to take advantage of these few Sunday's I have off with DH and the kids before the busy season starts again and I am working every Sunday.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what others are working on in Pink this weekend.

First 2013 Saturday in PINK!

This is the first Saturday in 2013 and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is once again on tap for me this year. I have a couple of thoughts on some blocks to work on through the year and have a feeling other things will pop up as well.

For this first Saturday in Pink I made a pink Snails Trail block. I plan to make 24 blocks - 2 each month for a 4x6 setting. I just found this tutorial that will yield a 12 inch finished block. I will be making 2 at a time from now on..... although I did get lots of cream strips sewn together for step 6 of the Easy Street mystery while making this block.

I also prepped some orange peel blocks to work on this month. They are 3.5 inches finished so I will need oodles of them each month to make a good sized quilt.....or maybe this will be a two year project? Time will tell. I just had to make one to see how it would go. I expect my ends will be much better by the time I am done with this project.

Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday morning and see what others are working on this weekend.

A load of scraps for 2013...

I decided to take a shower this morning and leave the bucket of scrap fabrics out for the kids to sort. This is what I walked out to after 5 minutes....... it's an Aidan fabric monster!

As you can see - once it is all sorted I'll have lots of pretty fabrics to work with in 2013 for the rainbow scrap challenge. Pink was chosen for the month of January. I'll have to create my template for the orange peels and get cutting away so I have things prepped for next weekend. The hubby and I have a conference that week and we are heading out a couple day's early without kids. Grandma agreed to stay with the kids and cart them to school and dance classes. I can't wait to dig in and play with some pinks. I think I'll be doing a snails trail in light/dark shades each month along with the orange peel blocks from the 'Remembering Adelia' book. I may have to do some more birds in the air block too.... I need to spread them out and see what I need to finish off my 2012 Rainbow quilt.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what others are planning for 2013. Oh - yesterday was 'project' and craft day for the kids. This was one that they have been bugging me for a week to do. This was after about an hour.

and this is this morning's results.

They also got little felt sewing kits for Christmas and after some frustration in doing the thread/needle part - the yarn kept sliding out of the needle causing some frustration. (Mommy got to do that part) They stuffed them and then added the sequins and/or eyes. Emily did a yellow cat and Aidan made a yellow flower. Sometime they will get to the heart and butterfly.