Star Light Star Bright QAL - Corners

I find it hard to believe that we are already nearing the end of Melissa's Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long.  In the next post on this project, I will be sharing the finished quilt top!  Guess I had better make some room on my longarm schedule to get it quilted up so I can link it up to the parade of quilts scheduled for April 2nd.

 This week has us sewing up the corners of our blocks.  With only 4 big blocks, whipping out these 16 units were easy peasy!

 Can't wait to see it all together!

  It is such great fun to see what fabrics others are using for thier quilts.  you can head to Happy Quilting and see for yourself how beautiful they are all turning out.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times, Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Sunday Stash - Rewarding Myself

I recently spent some time organizing my fabric closet and I was so impressed with how much I have reduced my stash in the last 6 months!  

I have been making a concerted effort to use what I have and it really seems to be paying off.

So how do I reward myself?  With a little fabric shopping of course!  Navy blue has been in my thoughts for quite some time so I picked up these three pieces during a recent visit to the LQS.  The top fabric is Botanique by Joel Dewberry and the bottom two are from the Dear Stella line.  Not sure what they will become but I am enjoying them just as they are!

 And I just couldn't leave the store without buying this piece.  It is 'pet piranha" by Alexander Henry.  I know someday I will NEED this fabric and now I have room for silly little purchases like this.

 I also picked up some stash fillers from the sale section. It feels good to freshen up the stash a bit.

A Stitch in Between is hosting Sunday Stash this week for Molli Sparkles.  I will also be linking up with Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch.  Hope to see you there!

More Lovely Scrappy Finishes!

I am continuing to see more quilt finishes inspired by my Scrap-A-Palooza scrap series and I thought I would share them with you.  All of these quilts were influenced by January's Horizontal Bar quilt.

This fun one was made by a friend from a bunch of scraps left over from a couple of recently finished quilts. 

The light colored sashing really sets off the playful colors in the scraps.

 It was quilted in a pattern she has dubbed "Snail Trails". 


The bright red thread added even more character!

At first glance, this one appears to have random scraps but looking closely, every fabric has black in it.

This is a perfect example of the "Naming your quilt".  I think this really helps to create a successful scrap quilt.

I had the pleasure of quilting this one and I found myself spending way too much time looking at all the fun fabrics.











And this one I have shared before but I just finished quilting it up for a friend.  It too was made from leftover scraps from a previous project. 

I love the variation in the bar widths. 











A friend from Portland stopped by to share her quilt top with me.  This one was made with donated fabrics and will be passed on to a charity when it is finished.

It will definitely bring a smile to someone's face!

And finally, I wanted to share Joanie's Valentine's quilt.  I thought it was brilliant how she lined up her colors in vertical columns.    You can read more about this lovely quilt on her blog here.







I thank all of you who are following along with the series and I love to see what each of you create.  As more quilts get finished, I will be sure and share them.  I truly enjoy seeing all the different variations and having others see there is beauty hidden away in those scrap bins!

To see all the quilts in the series, you can also check out the Scrap-A-Palooza Quilt Gallery.

Linking up with Pretty Bobbins, TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts,  Scrap Basket Sunday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

If you are sewing along, don't forget to link your Scrap-A-Palooza quilt over at FairyFace Designs for Sarah's Put Your Scraps To Work series.

A Lovely Year of Finishes - March Goals

It's a brand new month so that means choosing a goal for this month's finish as part of A Lovely Year of Finishes hosted by Sew Bittersweet Designs. So far this year I am 2 for 2 so I hope to keep the momentum up for at least a few more months.

I recently quilted this lovely appliqued wall hanging for a customer of mine.  It is from the Kaffe Fassett book Quilts in the Sun.  Seeing it reminded me that I had a finished top just waiting to be quilted up.

After a few minutes of searching, I found my pastel version in the back of the closet (along with three other wallhangings...sigh).  So I have decided to make quilting this my March goal. My longarm schedule is booked solid with customer quilts this month but I will just have to squeeze it in somewhere!

To see what everyone else is planning for the month, you can find lots of links here.


What fun plans do you have for March?

I will be sharing this with the following linky parties. Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, and WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced. 

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #3 Part One

I don't know about you, but I am tired of this cold, dreary winter.  The sun did peek its head out this morning, but before I could get out and enjoy it, the sky clouded up and the rain set in.  So if we can't get sunny skies, I opt to find sunshine in this month's Scrap-A-Palooza quilt!

As I store my scraps by color, I decided to go bright this month and grabbed my bins of red, pink, yellow and orange.


I can see some sunshine in there already!

 

In looking at the scrap sizes in these bins, I see quite a few "strings" of varying width.  So these will be the inspiration for this month's quilt.

My vision for this quilt will be to use scrappy strings to create a rainbow color block quilt. 

 

As I am getting ready to take a bunch of quilts to various charities, I am going to only use the hot colors of the rainbow and make my quilt baby size so it can be added to the pile.

So the first step is to get the strips pressed and trimmed.  I am planning a 10.5" unfinished block so I just rough cut all my strips to be at least 11" long.

 

 

If I don't cut to precise lengths, I find I can do this step while watching TV or cooking dinner. The blocks I am planning can easily be squared up later.

How much to cut?  

Well, we are making 10" finished blocks so first you need to determine the size quilt you want.  Once you have your block count and know the number of colors that will be in your quilt, to determine the amount of strings to cut, you need enough strings in each block to create a piece about 9" wide.   

 

We will also be using a bit of sashing with these blocks so you might want to plan ahead and see what you have in your stash.  I will be using a a white on white remnant from an old project in mine.

 

 

 

So how about it, are you ready to sew some sunshine out of your scraps?!?

 

 

 

As you sort through your scraps for your own inspiration, remember to narrow your fabric choices down to keep your quilt cohesive.  This is what I refer to as "naming the quilt". You are not giving your quilt a name, but you are defining the fabrics that will be used.  In my example, I have named this quilt my "Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow Color Block String quilt".  As I cut my scraps, I only used fabrics that would fit into that definition.  I truly think doing this is what helps to ensure a successful, eye-appealing scrap quilt.

 

It is not necessary to pull the bright colors like I did.  This quilt is lovely in the jewel tones, earthy batiks, or add turquoise and lime to extend the rainbow.

Now off we go to finish cutting up our scraps. I will meet you back here in about a week and we will start laying out our quilts.

Here's an overview of the important stuff to do before the next step!

• "Name your Quilt" or determine your block colors
• Pull your scraps/stash.  Think about what to use for the sashing fabric
• Cut your scraps into strings
• And most importantly, get creative and have fun!

Each month, I see more and more of you joining in.  I would love to include some pictures and links to your projects. Feel free to grab the button in the sidebar to share with your readers so they know what you are up to.

And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Now let's get this Party started!

I will be sharing this with the following linky parties. Anything Goes at Val's Quilting Studio, Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, WIP Wednesday with Freshly Pieced and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.  Be sure and check out these blogs for even more quilty inspiration.

 

More QAL Progress

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to share any of my progress this week.  

Technology is great but when it goes south, before you know it, you have spent hours and hours getting everything running again!

 So with a little coaxing, I was finally able to talk my camera into downloading my pictures!

This week's assignment for the Star Light Star Bright Quilt Along at Happy Quilting was to sew up the sides of our blocks.  With very few seams, I had these all done in an evening!

They are so pretty all laid out!  I can't believe that in a couple of weeks, we will have a finished quilt top!

I have really enjoyed seeing everyone else' quilts coming along.  You too can check them out here.

 I will be sharing this Anything Goes Mondays at Stitch by Stitch, Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River.

Scrap-A-Palooza! Quilt #2 Finish (Part 4)

Did February just fly by for you also?  With it being a short month, keeping up with this month's scrap quilt has been a little difficult for some but there are others who are working diligently on their scraps bins and I will continue to share everyone's progress!

But in this post, we are taking a look at the finished  Quilt #2.  At this step, the quilt should be quilted and bound and ready to share!  If this is a quilt you would like to try, you can find all the links in the Scrap-A-Palooza quilt gallery tab above.

In Part One, we narrowed our colorways and pulled our scraps.

We also cut our scraps to size. 

I really enjoyed playing with these two colors.  So spring-like!

Part Two had us getting our squares up on our design walls and finalizing a layout.




We also determined what fabric to use as sashing.

Last week in Part Three, we added measured, pinned and sewed in the sashing.  We also talked about some possible quilting ideas.

And just how did I quilt mine? 

 

I decided to quilt a fun ruffled swirl in a cream colored thread as an allover pattern on my quilt.  I thought it worked well with the soft colors in the quilt.

Spring is arriving and we finally got some nice weather so I was able to snap some outdoor photos.


Pictures here in the gray northwest can be quite challenging sometimes!

And remember me saying you could also use your 2 1/2" squares for this project?  With the scraps left over from the quilt above, I sewed up these 4 patches....

...and made this adorable little baby quilt using the same process.

For the quilting on this, I simply did some straight line quilting in the prints and some "e's and l's" in the sashing.

The quilt is not that big but it is sure big on sweetness!

And now for a few statistics:

Small Lap Quilt

Size: 44 x 56"

Fabric: 30's reproduction scraps in oranges and greens as Inspiration.  Partial fat quarters were used for this project.

Total Pieces: 112 4.5"squares

Sashing Fabric Used: approx 1 yard

Small Baby Quilt

Size: 32 x 32"

Fabric: Made with scraps from quilt above.

Total Pieces: 48 4-patches made from 2.5" squares

Sashing Fabric Used: Not a lot

 And some other photos to share using this pattern:

Alycia at Alycia's Quilts has started this quilt from some 4.5" squares she received from a friend.  

She also shared this quilt she had made years earlier which was made from strips.  The style is certainly the same!

I have lots of finished quilts made by others from the first quilt in this series to share with you.  I will do that soon in a separate post.  If you are sewing along, I would love to see what you create with your scraps!

Curious what Quilt #3 will be?  You will have to wait until the first week of March to find out!  I will tell you that it will be bright, modern and uses strips.  Hope you stay tuned.

Why Scrap-A-Palooza?  Because Quilting is more fun than Housework!

Linking up with Pretty Bobbins, TGIFF, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts,  Scrap Basket Sunday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

If you are sewing along, don't forget to link your Scrap-A-Palooza quilt over at FairyFace Designs for Sarah's Put Your Scraps To Work series.