What color did she say again?

oops! i just realized that although i up loaded my aqua crumb blocks from April, i forgot to write the blurbs and post the pictures!

just like the orange blocks, aqua can't really decide what color she wants to be, either...

teal, aqua, turquoise, mallard, light blue, sea foam, slate... all those colors were in my scrap jar.

never-the-less, i pieced 35 of the "teal" blocks for April, and the pile continues to grow! (and the jars that i keep the scraps in- 1 gallon glass pickle jars- never seem to get any emptier!) but they are pretty to look at on my shelf...

go look at all the other pretty blocks at soscrappy...

one square at a time...

there are a few colors that I would consider to be woefully lacking in my stash- sea green is one of them...

 

but if (as Angela suggested) we expand that palette to include the scraps that play well with neither blue nor green, we all seem to have more than we thought! a plethora of delightful hues and colors have appeared right before our eyes!

what is it about those low volume squares? don't know... but they're fun to work with. above a 5X5 layout with a LV plus in the middle. (those + are pretty popular and fun, too!)

4 more 16 patches have joined their purple sisters from last month.

be sure to go see what everyone else has been working on- I promise it will be an inspiring click!

I'm still here!

the garden is growing well, and we're very busy planting, tending and harvesting... every once in awhile I'm able to sew for just a little bit. (but not this week!) it's taken me a couple weeks to get my photos uploaded, but here I am!

I'm loving my low-volume plus quilt. (are you an old-enough quilter that you can remember when we called "low volume" our "neutrals"?) ha! every month my LV+ quilt is the first one I go to... it's easy, and soothing to piece.

the granny squares are going fine, too. I have all the aquas done, and a few pinks. I still have a couple greens to finish up from May.

My Simply Woven quilt blocks are all done. here my daughter, A, and our friend B are laying it out at Scraps to Wraps for me. the rows are pieced together, now I just need to sew the rows together. next time I want to do a quilt like this, please talk me out of it! it didn't' go together as easily as I had hoped... (but I'm sure it will all quilt out!) I have a big bag of 2½" strips that someone gave me for S2W, and I plan to use them to make a Scrappy Trips quilt ala' Bonnie Hunter.

 

I haven't even worked on my RSC16 Column-Along! it's in the back of my mind, though, and I have all intentions of finishing it. I love column quilts, and have always wanted to make one. I just need to take the time to look over my stash of Konas, and see what I still need. our local Ben Franklin has the Konas for $5.49/yd every day! how fantastic is THAT?

 

be sure to pop in over at Angela's blog to see what everyone else is making!

Snippets of aqua

a jot of aqua... a morsel of aqua... a chunk, a dollop a shred of aqua... a speck, a dose, a pinch of aqua... Roget's was helpful with my boring title, but I guess i'll stick with snippets...

the gardens are doing well, and we have enough help, and every oncet in a while I have a bit of energy AND time and sneak off to sew some of my aqua RSC16 June. (I'm still a faithful visitor and sporadic commenter to all you more productive RSCers, though...)

I have more aqua than I thought- I got 14 crumb blocks, 12 of which are pictured here.

a few granny squares have made it into the pile, and I'm still working on finishing up a couple green grannies, as well as my green crumb blocks.

the nights have been blessedly cool, and I've been watching Mr. Selfridge on amazon prime. a nice way to wind down after a long and hot day!

what a colorful riot of blocks!

we're halfway done with RSC15 (can you believe it?!) and I have quite the pile of blocks. with no further ado:

 

9 patches (monochromatic) with Kona white and black. 

strippy scraps- not sure what i'll do with these, but I'm sure an idea will strike!

16 patches- possibly my mostest favorite so far! I have 112+ of these guys (and I even got the green, purple and aqua ones ironed!) I'm thinking that I'd like to make 2 quilts out of these- either for the guest room beds, OR one for a tablecloth for family holiday dinners, and the other as a tablecloth for my table at Farmer's Market...

4 patches: I'm not loving this stack, but there are oodles of possibilities.

the dreaded D4P. some are from last year, and a goodly amound from this year. my friend did a D4P with a very simple setting, and it's a great looking quilt. i'll probably end up doing the same.

crumb blocks (6" finished): this is what started all this rainbow goodness for me- I was piecing these blocks sporadically, but when I stumbled onto RSC14, it was all over, and I haven't looked back yet!  

here is the stacks of blocks for my zigzag quilts. I plan on making two: one horizontal, and one vertical. I'm excited aobout these 2 quilts, and can't wiat to see how they turn out! (there is a picture in this post of a small sneak preview of the layout...)

 

and last (but not least) a recent re-stashing of neutrals for my RSC15 projects. it takes lots and lots of neutrals to keep these projects rolling- more than I would have ever thought, actually. recently, one of our LQS had a 40% off sale as part of their grand re-opening.

clearly, it would have been irresponsible NOT to go and save all that money!

ha!

I couldn't ask for more!

it's a rainy Saturday morning, the garden chores are done (or at least done enough until Monday morning!) and I'm upstairs in the sewing room, making the rest of my D4P. (3" squares)

if you need me, don't call me- unless it involves bleeding from a major artery, or a broken bone.

ha!

a very busy week, but still time for a *tiny* bit of sewing...

 a couple relaxing evenings of sewing up in the sewing room, and I pieced, pressed AND trimmed 25 crumb blocks. who knew there were so many shades of green?

I'm going to hold off a bit on making my green sawtooth stars until I see how the RSC15 sampler quilt is laid out. i have so many different greens that I'm not sure which ones will look the best...

4 16 patches of aqua, and another green. I can't believe how many 16 patches (and all the other blocks) I have! funny how just a bit at a time really adds up over months of diligence....

it's also quite evident that I need an ironing fairy!

 

you can click and like here to see what I'm up to the rest of the week when I'm not in the sewing room. (and also see why I'm often too tired to even go upstairs for a bit of sewing!)

 

click over on Saturday morning to see all the other RSC15 projects.

Aqua and a bit of light blue...

 

a very small bit of sewing time this week, but I was able to sort out my aquas, and make 12 crumb blocks.

 I took 2 light blue crumb blocks that I had already made, and sewed them up into the sawtooth stars for this month's color. I guess the 2 aqua stars that I did might end up being extras...

all the rest of the rainbow loveliness can be found on Angela's blog.

just a bit of aqua...

I don't have too many light blue scraps- I used all my blues back in January- it was easier for me to use the light AND dark, rather than separate them out. so this month i'll be working in my aquas, and also catching up with the greens, since I didn't quite get them finished.

 

first up is the scrappy 4 patches- and pressed, too!

I did get my scrappy 9 patches done (kona white, and scrappy black center). but once again, I did not manage to get them ironed. sometimes, you know, that iron is just too heavy to lift and push around after a long day in the garden...

 

 

last year (or was it two years ago?) I made the girls matching quilts for their beds. usually I cut off a 2½" strip from my fabrics, and toss them in the strip bin. i had many, many strips (still do, actually!) and wanted to make a smaller sized quilt that would match their bed quilts. Bonnie's scrappy trips to the rescue! I pulled all the bright colored strips from the strip bins and put them in my colander. (yes, I store all these strips in a VERY large, restaurant sized aluminum colander. it's really cool! I'll show you sometime...) the girls pull sets of 5, and then sometimes in the evening, i'll make a few blocks. it's relaxing and mindless- just what I need sometimes. (and those of you with an eagle eye will notice that 5 of the blocks up on the design wall are not pressed. I see a pattern here...

 

here's where I pieced my light blue, and a few aqua strip sets for my zig zag quilt.

 

I also pieced 2 aqua saw tooth stars that I show here.

 

so: that's that! visit Angela's blog to see more of the RSC15 projects. I'm sure you'll be inspired! 

another week of sewing...

despite the fact that the weather has truly broken, and spring is here, I was able to sew in the sewing room for 2 evenings this week. sometimes (usually?) it's not always a matter of time (in the evenings) it's just that I'm too tired to go upstairs and sew!

 

we worked outside all day yesterday, and were able to plant onions, kale and the collard greens. the high tunnel is ready for tomatoes on Tuesday, and we also planted 5lb. of sugar snap peas.

 

today we're going adventuring: down to Harrisburg to the MCC relief sale. can't wiat! there are always hundreds of quilts- lots to inspire! and the best part? Quilter's Attic. think yard sale- but only quilting stuff- fabric, books, thread, orphan blocks and projects, magazines, you name it! and (another) best part? fabric is only $2/yd. wowzers....

 

I made- and caught up- with all my D4P. (3" blocks started) I pieced 24 blocks this week, but only 12 are shown. phew- I'm glad this is done for this month.

my sawtooth stars with crumb centers are finished for this years rainbow sampler. I made the aqua blocks a few months ago- I thought I saw a sneak peek on someone's blog that aqua would be the COM for March.

 

13 (6½") crumb blocks (plus the 2 in the center of the sawtooth stars)

 

 

and now the "keeping it real" part of my blog post for this week: ^ see above^ . this is the basket/organizing part of my sewing room. the shorter baskets and shelf are about chest high, the higher baskets on the right are about 5½ feet tall. it would have been lovely if I had cleared off the shelves, and made it look neater and less visually overwhelming. (and less like a bomb went off!) but- I was too tired/lazy.

 

each basket holds a specific kind/style of fabric- red, orange/yellow, green, blue, purple/aqua, neutrals, black/brown/grey. then there is Christmas, vintage, FQs, flannel and (some of my) pre-cuts. there are also drawers for WIPs, orphan blocks, the girls' craft and school stuff, notions and a drawer for Scraps to Wraps (S2W), our church sewing ministry.

 

the second drawer from the left, on the top, is my RSC15 drawer. it's getting a bit stuffed. someone asked about my drawer last week. one of these days i'll do a post with (neat) pictures of my sewing room. I really do have a nice, big and light room to sew in, and I'm really blessed!

 

go here Saturday morning to see more purple pretties!