Bottled Rainbows

Are you working on Bottling a Rainbow?

I recently took a bloggy break and when I returned I saw these blocks everywhere! I am not much of a band wagon quilter. I have avoided hexi's, I have very little FMF and I would rather poke out my eyes than do a cathedral block.

But on Wednesday WIP posts there were so many wonderful blocks I had to go check it out and see how these were coming together. Rachel at Stitched in Color has done a wonderful job putting together this tutorial. She has great tips and ideas and has set up a flicker that is fully populated with blocks that have been completed.

This was my first block, pumpkin. I had lots of scraps to chose from for this block.

Mustard is next. I love how it is coming together.

Surprisingly the eggplant and ocean blue are two colors that I am having issues collecting scraps for. Guess I am going to have to make a new quilt using these colors so I have more scraps.

I am linking to Sarah's Friday Whoop.

WIP 3/30

I actually sat at my sewing machine and got something done, well not done, but made progress.....

Completed: Nothing New Projects: None

Progress:

We established last week that buying fabric was making progress, so I made a LOT of progress this week. I started swapping too, gathering fabrics for a new quilt that is all mapped out in my head.

Rather than cut in to my new goodies, I restrained myself and worked on a project I had already started, but it feels new since I changed it up so much.

I pulled out my American Jane fabric Peas & Carrots that I had cut for the Square One quilt from Camile Roskelley's Simplify book and started messing with them. After taking another look at the pattern I reminded myself that I hated sashing and that was why the pinwheels blocks had been sitting idle for over a year.

So I took the original block design and added a round of solid, a print and another solid to the block. This will be a queen size quilt so the 15 inch block will work much better than the original 6 inch block. I added some Wee Play, Recess, and Punctuation to the mix of fabrics to balance the colors I had.

Sitting:

Hour Glass Pot holders : Pinwheel Quilt Along : Hope Valley QAL : Stamp QAL :Chubby Stars QAL : Snippet Pinwheels : Leaves D9P : Mandy's fence : HST

Stats for week: New Projects - 0 : Completed - 0 : WIP - 10

Swaps

Have you ever swapped fabric with your online quilting buddies?

I got lured in this past week and have found it quite addicting.

I can visualize the quilt that I am going to make with the fabric I am trading for.

The above are all fabrics I have available to trade and there are more in my flicker Swap Set.

If you see anything you like, let me know. I am concentrating on swapping for fabrics in the Urban Chicks 1974 line, any, not just the ones above.

WIP 3/22

Returning from another bloggy break.... spring break and over all business and I am itching to start a new project! Lets see what I have hanging out before starting something new.

Completed:

(Not really, but out of my house....)

I know, this does not look completed, but I'm done with it.... its going to Sara Craig's Quilt Ministry to be completed and given to someone with lots of love. If you are unfamiliar with Sara and her work be sure to check out this post that tells the story of the last set of unfinished blocks I sent her.

New Projects:

My daughter, the one who didn't want me to make her any quilts, has been bugging me for months to make her another one since she got this one for Christmas.

I started working with what was left from the first quilt but decided to make it more blue. After several different ideas regarding the pattern I decided on the Fenced In quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's Practical Guide to Patchwork. I had made one using this as inspiration as a gift for Christmas and it came together quickly and I can easily make it bigger by adding a row.

So, about 2/3 of the strips are cut, but I am not feeling it right now.... its not calling to me, sew me now... I told my daughter that she shold look for this to be completed for her birthday in June or maybe Christmas.... since it has a nice warm flannel backing.

Progress:

Nothing Nada kaput... I did buy fabric, does that count?

Sitting:

I think I can get one of these to call to me.... I hope.... I tried working on the Pinwheels and it was a no go, so maybe the AM Jane squares or the Hope Valley QAL will see progress in the next week.

Hour Glass Pot holders : Pinwheel Quilt Along : Hope Valley QAL : Stamp QAL :Chubby Stars QAL : Snippet Pinwheels : Leaves D9P : Am Jane Squares : HST

Stats for week: Actually the month

New Projects - 1 : Completed (shipped out) - 1 : WIP - 10

Make Life....

Its Friday and time to Whoop it up with Sarah's linky party!

I have a friend who is very supportive of my quilting. She is very complimentary and even asked me to make her niece a baby quilt. She sews some so she understands the effort required and talks about wanting to make a quilt.

My friend turned 50 this week and I wanted to do something special for her but was not sure what exactly to make her or what materials to use.

Then her husband invited a group of us to celebrate with dinner and the invite specified that we all wear bright colors and the that theme was celebrating life.

I had my answer.... I had a jelly roll of Sweetwater Make Life and the Jelly Filled pattern that I had not yet used.

The backing and inner border is Snow Kona and the binding is Papaya.

And yes, I machine sew my bindings ala-Red Pepper Quilts.

snowy whooop

My snowy day quilt is done! I quilted with straight line an either side of the seams using a light grey thread top and bottom. The binding is yellow corn kona. Backing is kona from my stash in sage, and two unknowns.

This is all new snow from this morning, sitting on top of 2-3 inches of ice. It was still snowing when I went out to take the pictures. I am sure that none of the sports commentators here for the Super Bowl that are complaining about the weather were here a week ago when in was almost 80 degrees.... no kidding, shorts on the golf course last Friday.

I am linking with Sara Craigs Whoop-Whoop linky party. Be sure to check out the other great whoop worthy projects listed.

I had taken a little bloggy/sewing break the past 2 weeks, but am back with some progress on ongoing projects as well as a couple new starts.

Completed:

My latest figure 8 scarf, this one done on the cheap. The others I did as well as the details of the purchase power exhibited for this one can be found here.

Bags made for Pay-it-Forward handmade exchange on Facebook using a Keyka Lou pattern. I have these four done and have another 3 cut out.

New Projects:

This is my snowy day quilt. While huddled in my reading chair yesterday morning I decided I needed a warm cuddly quilt just for me. This quilt had been in my head for awhile, inspired by this quilt from Sara at Kindered Crafters. The squares are NOT part of the quilt, they are my block markers stuck on with tape. After taking the picture I am playing with actually putting some squares on with raw edge applique. The portion laying on the ground is the backing.

Flags are back! I am making 12 of these for the Winter Guard team at the High School. The first competition is this weekend and my daughter leads the program with a solo! Exciting times!

Progress:

Made some significant progress on the HST project. I decided that this project really needed a design wall for layout so I created one with some flannel I had that you can see peaking out on the lower right corner.

Sitting:

Hour Glass Pot holders , Set of 4: Pinwheel Quilt Along :Fishies 2, coins : Hope Valley QAL : Stamp QAL :Chubby Stars QAL : Snippet Pinwheels : Leaves D9P : Am Jane Squares

Stats for week:

New Projects - 2 : Completed - 2 : WIP - 13