Teal, Aqua & Turquoise

Honestly, I find these Teal, Aqua and Turquoise names confusing.  Different websites will label fabrics differently. Kona and Bella have additional names like Lake, Bermuda, Lagoon, Pool and Seafoam etc.

For simplicity and clarity I have divided my stash into Greenish Blue and Bluish Green.

Greenish Blue

Bluish Greens

Picture this - Leaving the Blue station, the train will stop first at Greenish-Blue and then at Bluish-Green before coming to a halt at Green station. For all the colors that lie between Blue and Green (but are neither Blue nor Green), March is the month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2020.

Greenish Blues on the left, Bluish Greens on the right

Paul: So, what is Cerulean?
Me: Simple Answer - It is a blue.
Paul: And what is the complicated answer?
Me: Cerulean is one step away from Blue in the direction of Greenish Blue.  Think of it as an exurban area of the City of Blue, but still much closer to blue than to Greenish-Blue.
Paul: (Huge eye roll)
Me: Here is a ColorWheel. Enjoy!!!

Let's ignore Paul (for now) and focus on my RSC March blocks.
A couple of readers asked for a tutorial on these blocks. Basic Directions follow.

1. Border a 3.5" background square with 3.5" wide strip of focus fabric 1.

Framed Square 9.5"

2. Place RST with 9.5" background square. Make HSTs.

RST with background square

3. Repeat the process with focus fabric 2.
4. Once you have 4 HSTS, snowball the colored corners before making a giant four patch.

Airy and Lovely!!!

Here are the other blocks.

Greenish Blue Blocks

Bluish Green Blocks

And of course RSC Project#2

I have decided to frame some in medium gray so that the overall quilt has a checkerboard look, rather than just colored squares floating in a murky ocean. What do you think?

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In other quilty update, I am testing a pattern for Mell Meyer. It is called All the Diagonals.

Fabrics

All blocks are paper-pieced. And I am trudging along slowly.

All the Diagonals, pattern by Mell Meyer

More blocks in process

This yummy fabric is from the line Speckled by Ruby Star Society.

Connecting Threads has this Speckled FQ Bundle with all 32 fabrics and you can get it at 20% off using the promo code QUILTLOVE.  But hurry, the code expires on 3/22/20.

Speckled FQ Bundle, 32 fabrics

As quilters, we sew in happy times to celebrate.
In sadness, we sew to cope. In times of uncertainty we sew to prevent ourselves from going crazy.
If we do not have a sewing machine, we will sew with a needle and thread.
If we don't have new fabric, we will re-purpose old clothes, feed-sacks and tea-towels.
There is never a reason to not sew. In that way, this time is no different.
The sewing just goes on :-)

I'd love to hear your thoughts - be they about color or calamity...
I will be sharing with Angela and all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar. We are in this together.




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100+ Quilts and a Giveaway

Have you seen the movie The Jane Austen Book Club?
The movie is about five women (and one man) who form a book club, with each member leading a discussion on one of the six books by Jane Austen. How their lives reflect Austen's stories and their characters relate to Austen's characters, forms the  narrative of the movie.

Work in progress

There is this one scene in the movie where Prudie (played by Emily Blunt) is pouring her heart out to Bernadette (played by Kathy Baker) talking about the temptation in her life.

"He looks at me as if he is the spoon and I am the bowl of ice-cream."

Best. Line. Ever.

Speaking of temptations, have you seen the new 70% sale on Connecting Threads?

Connecting Threads Sale ends 7/23/18

So I just splurged on fabric.
And I am not even feeling guilty. Because, unlike ice-cream, the fabric won't go to my hips :-p

Whether you want fabric or ice-cream or both (why choose), this giveaway is for you.
Why, you ask.  Well, I completed 100 (went over actually) quilts and this calls for a celebration = GIVEAWAY!!!

2 FQ Bundles - 6 solids from Kona

There are six prizes!!!
Two FQ bundles - six solids from Kona (picture above)
Two FQ bundles - four cool prints, four warm prints (picture below)
Two scrap bags - one cool and one warm (picture further below)

2 FQ Bundles - Warm and Cool

Super simple rules.
1. Leave a comment on this blogpost, telling me what is tempting you at this time - food or fabric :-)
2. You may leave an additional comment if you follow my blog

Assorted Scraps - Pinks/Reds

Assorted Scraps - Blue/Green

You are welcome to these scraps because I just completed another Scrap Vortex flimsy.  Thanks to the nudge from Julie ;-)
Will write the blogpost after the quilt is complete and finish taking pictures.

Scrap Vortex Flimsy - Basted

Forgive the Squirrel distraction. So going back to the giveaway. Here is a funny conversation about how I realized I had exceeded 100 quilts.

Muggle: So how many quilts do you make in a year?
Me: I'd say a dozen in a year, sometimes more. A quilt per month is a decent average.
Muggle: So if you'd quilt for the next 30 years at the rate of say 10 quilts a year, you could make enough quilts to keep a small village warm.
Me: Sounds right. Don't forget the quilts I have already made. I may be able to keep a large village warm :-D
Muggle: How many have you already made?
Me: Let's see. 11+16+28+16+20+13.
Muggle: That is 104.
Me: I crossed 100 quilts???
Muggle: You did not know?
Me: Duh, I am busy making, not counting.

At this point, I excused myself and began writing this blogpost and assembling the bundles for the giveaway. It is your turn now.

To celebrate 100+ quilts,  I'd love a tall cake (or ice-cream sundae) made up entirely of your comments :-)

Pieced Backing for the Scrap Vortex above

If you are a no-reply blogger, please include your email.  The winners will be announced on August 1, 2018.  I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties, see sidebar for the full list.


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Stash Statement Blog Hop - Fire Pit

 Welcome to my turn on the Stash Statement Blog Hop.  Here is my version of Fire Pit.

Finished Quilt

I was thrilled when Kelly asked me to be a part of the blog hop. That was the easy part. But it was tricky to pick just one because there are several pretty quilts in this book.

Finished Flimsy

I picked Fire Pit, because it is such a striking pattern. This pattern requires Tri-Rec rulers. I have had these rulers for a while but had not used them and this was the perfect opportunity.

Secondary Pattern - the Star

Kelly's new book - Stash Statement Quilts is all about Structured Improvisational Piecing. This means two things in this order (just my opinion)
1. Go crazy with your scraps (all shapes/sizes) and experiment with improv piecing
2. Rein it in with Kelly's techniques of structure (block creation methods)

Warm Chaos

Cool Strips

THEN we get to the patchwork, followed by quilting and binding. 
I spent a whole month just making the blocks.  Why is that?
1. I chose a finer grain (smaller scraps)
2. I chose to make a twin bed size quilt instead of the lap size in the book.

Shall we start at the beginning?  I started with warm colors for the square blocks.

Chunky

I made four blocks. I stepped away from the design wall to admire my handiwork. Looked good, but the block looked chunky.

So, I cut them up, and re-stitched to end up with a finer grain, so that the block was made up of several smaller pieces than a few large pieces.

Chopped

A more cohesive look

I like this look much better. And the tone was set.

I was having so much fun that I ended up with way more blocks than required.

Needed 25, Got 42!!!

Is that a problem? Of course not.
I'll just make a larger quilt.

Next came the cool blocks, the triangles that required the tri recs ruler. Since this was my first time, I figured - let me make a couple of test blocks. When I placed the ruler/template on the improv slab, I realized that the ruler is bigger than the slab, by just a smidge.

Slightly bigger than 6.5"

A smidgen more than 6.5"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

See, that is why you make audition blocks. I chose to cut the next slab a 1/4" larger, allowing some wiggle room.

Cool Slab

Cool Triangles

42 blocks were arranged in a 6 by 7 grid, resulting in a flimsy that measured 72" by 84".

Design Wall

This is when I stretched the quilt (a little imagination and lots of scraps) by 3" on top and bottom to get a top measuring 72" by 90".

Finished Top - About 72" by 90"

This was now a perfect size for a twin bed.   I chose this green wide backing to speed things up.

Quilted it simply with my walking foot and wavy line quilting. For binding I chose a striped brown fabric.

Does the striped binding on green background remind you of a snake in the grass?  Don't worry, I have tamed the beast :-)

Who is the boss now?

In the end, what you get out of it (life, school, workout etc.) depends on what you put into it. And for the six weeks that I put into making Fire Pit, I am thrilled about it.

Setting the Fountain ablaze

It was a gorgeous sunny day and I got carried away. So here are a few more pictures.

My sunshine

bee happy, stunned owls, and dancing stick figures (can you find them)

Since my stash includes a lot of cute fabrics, you can see a glimpse of them in the picture above.

Getting Close

smiling snails

sheep and chick - deep in conversation

Labelled

Stay Still

Loving it

Finished!!!

But I am dying to know what you think. Only honest opinions, however brutal they may be...
I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties.  See sidebar.

Every week, two quilters showcase one quilt from the book.  Here is the entire line-up. 

Stash Statement Blog Tour Schedule-

4/16- Grand Bazaar    Shelley @ Cora's Quilts

                                    Connie @ Freemotion by the River

4/23- Louvered  Lindsey @ Primrose Cottage Quilts 

                           Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts

4/30- Precarious  Jess @ Quilty Habit                       

                             Myra @ Busy Hands Quilts

                                                            

5/7- Beach Retreat  Sarah @ Sarah Goer Quilts                               

                                 Liz @ Savor Every Stitch 

                                                           

5/14- Fire Pit   Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts                                          

                         Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts (you are here)

                                                            

5/21- Detour    Laura @ Slice of Pi Quilts                         

                         Shelley @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts

                                                            

5/28- Murrina    Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl             

                            Leanne @ Devoted Quilter

                                                            

6/4- Scattered    Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal                      

                           Christine @ Triangles and Squares 

                                                            

6/11- Bloom Chicka Boom   Chris @ made by ChrissieD            

                                               Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

                                                            

6/18- Regatta   Susan @ Quilt Fabrication                             

                          Debbie @ A Quilter's Table    

                          Christa @ Christa Quilts

                                                            

6/25- Catch a Falling Star  Cynthia @ Quilting is More Fun Than Housework        

                                              Anja @ Anja Quilts

                                                            

7/2- College Prep   Hilary @ by Hilary Jordan                 

                                Lori @ Crossquilt

                                                            

7/9- Take Flight (bonus digital pattern)  Kelli @ Seriously, I Think It Needs Stitches 

                                                                 Paula @ The Sassy Quilter

Stash Statement is available from the following:

• Kelly Young’s Shop – buying it here will get you a signed copy!
• Martingale – Stash Statement by Kelly Young
• Amazon – Stash Statement by Kelly Young