Sunday, October 30, 2016

Oh Scrap! : Sunday Stash

I had the opportunity to go on a quilt store adventure Friday with a friend so I don't have any scrappy quilting to share this week.  But I do have a few little purchases to show you!



I guess I was in a navy, gray and white kind of mood because almost all of the half yards I picked up for my stash were in those colors.  No plans for these...I just really liked them or they were just too good a price to leave behind.



I bought only two larger cuts on my travels - the grunge is for a pillow project I hope to share soon and the yellow is for a backing.  My yellow stash is really slim right now!



Check out this Paintbox Basics layercake  Yum!

But my favorite little purchase....



 In a tiny store in Sweet Home called Seamingly Creative they had a bunch of pre-made sewn items.  Among them were some little towel dresses to hang on your oven door.  The orange and turquoise one was just too perfect for my vintage kitchen and for $5 it was snatched up quickly!

The weather was beautiful and my co-pilot did a great job keeping us within the Oregon state lines.

Here is a list of all the great stores we visited....

JanniLou Creations in Philomath
Finally Together in Lebanon  (huge store with the entire Grunge collection!)
Bolts to Blocks in Salem
Seamingly Creative in Sweethome

We purposely skipped my favorite store in Corvallis (aka Quiltwork Patches), or we would have spent the whole day there!

How about you?  Did you get any scrap sewing accomplished this week?


  *******************************

Here are the details for linking up:
  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
  • This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
  • Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!
Quilting is more fun than Housework

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!








Linking Up:

Molli Sparkles (Sunday Stash)
Love Laugh Quilt (Monday Making)
Patchwork Times (Design Wall Monday)
Cooking Up Quilts (Main Crush Mondays)
Em's ScrapBag (Moving it Forward)

Friday, October 28, 2016

Patchwork for the Win!


 I have been in need of some mindless sewing lately - and what perfectly fits the bill is some simple patchwork sewing!



Remember this big basket of goodies?  It contains little baggies of scraps sorted by color, designer or collection.  Many are leftovers from projects that I know can be easily turned into a quilt.  This week I decided to pull one of these bags and make something cute!




Way down in the bottom I found a bag containing some yellow and gray chunks of fabric.  I decided to cut them up into 4.5" squares and see if I could come up with enough for a baby quilt.  I thought a few more squares were needed so I pulled a couple scraps that were a bit more on the taupe/gray scale and really liked the interest it added to the quilt.


Almost every fabric in this quilt is directional.  This can sometimes cause a bit of chaos but I find if I make sure I always keep a certain fabric going in the same direction throughout the entire quilt, it seems to make things seem a bit more cohesive.



There was even a large chunk in the bag that I was able to use for most of the backing.  I just needed to add a piece of gray - which I also used for the binding.




I used up most of the scraps from the bag in the baby quilt but I did have a few leftover strings.  I decided to turn those into 4 string blocks.  When I went to toss them into my tub for string blocks, I instantly became a bit distracted.



Laying right on top were the yellow string blocks I just finished. 
Of course I instantly had to start playing....

I haven't decided if this will become another baby quilt.  Right now it is just up on my design wall brightening up my sewing room!

Happy Friday!






Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Charming Plus Progress

I am just popping in today to share my progress on the charming plus quilt (A quilt along being hosted by Quilty Therapy).




I decided to cut my squares at 3.5" and use only two fabrics in each block.  Once I had everything cut, I paired up fabrics and have them stacked up next to my sewing machine so I can finish them up as a leader/ender project.

Hopefully soon I will have a pile of blocks to share!





Linking Up:

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Oh Scrap! : Rainbow Scrap Challenge Blocks

The month of October means that the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2016 is coming to a close.  This year I also participated in the scrap sampler Angela hosted and have now completed all of the blocks. 




Recently, she posted the directions for the last block design.  She decided to change the design of the block into something with less background.  I really liked her initial block so I decided to design up something of my own.  I already had all the pieces cut when I discovered my little math error but I still like the resulting blocks.

Now it is time to start playing with a layout and work on getting this quilt top ready for quilting!

What scrappy projects have you been working on.  Please share!


  *******************************

Now it is time to share what you are using your scraps for.  Here are the details for linking up:
  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
  • This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
  • Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!
Quilting is more fun than Housework

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!







Friday, October 21, 2016

My Summer Solstice Finish

This time of year, it gets a little bit difficult for me to get my own quilts into my quilting queue.  The smaller ones I can squeeze in here and there but the bigger ones usually have to take a back seat to my client quilts.

So when I blocked out a portion of my schedule to spend time setting up my new computer, I thought I would sneak my Summer Solstice quilt onto my frame.  So today, not only do I get to share my finished quilt with you, but writing this post is taking far less time then waiting for my last PC to limp along while I hoped it didn't crash mid post!




The weather here has been stormy and very wet so getting photos has been challenging.  I finally decided to just move my longarm out of view and pin my quilt onto one of my larger design boards.  This quilt certainly is an explosion of color!



This quilt was made using the Summer Solstice Quilt Along design by Melissa over at Happy Quilting.  Rather than have all one background, I decided to use both a teal and a turquoise.  I really like the depth it gave to the blocks.




I really wanted the quilting to direct the eye and accentuate some of the alternate patterns going on in the quilt.  So I went with a lot of straight line and matchstick quilting.




Here is a view from the back.  As you can see, I used the same teal thread on both the top and in the bobbin. I am not one that worries too much how the back looks - I want to only see lovely stitches on the front and the slightest tension issue that reveals the slightest bit of bobbin thread on the top drives me crazy.



Here is one more photo.  I love its bold design and intense colors.   
This one will be going directly into my personal collection!

(I hear a great sigh of relief from my family...)






Linking Up:

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Oh Scrap! : Fabric Pull

Last Friday, Tisha at QuiltyTherapy released the first part of her Charming Plus Quilt Along.  Because I am playing along, I thought I would share the fabrics I pulled for my quilt.




My backgrounds are going to be black and white prints with turquoise, yellow and lime green for the plus symbol.  I want to only use two fabrics in each block so I needed to pull some of my larger scrappy chunks.



Many of you may not consider these scraps, but I keep any large chunk smaller than a fat quarter that can be folded on end in large drawers.  I sort by type and then color.  I always try to use my smaller scraps first but if I need a certain color, I can always pull from here.

 At what point do you consider a piece of fabric a scrap?

*******************************
Now it is time to share what you are using your scraps for.  Here are the details for linking up:
  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
  • This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
  • Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!
Quilting is more fun than Housework

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

Friday, October 14, 2016

When Friends give you Scraps...

About once a month, I sew with a couple of good friends.  And more often than not, I come home with a handful of scraps.

At the sew day in September, a friend had sent a couple of quilts to me for quilting.  Along with the quilts came a handful of the leftovers to toss in my scrap bin.  Well, once I got home I realized they were already all trimmed to the same width so rather than toss them into an already full tub, I just threw them up on my design wall.



I added some horizontal strips in Kona snow, some easy straight line quilting and ran it through a quick wash for a fast little finish.



My other finish to share is the fence quilt hanger in the background.  Which was not fast or easy!  
But it sure looks nice now that it is completed!



 Oh, and here is my friend's quilt using the same fabrics.


 I decided to quilt a splashy allover swirl on it - I am sure my inspiration is our current weather!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!



Follow Me on Bloglovin'          Follow me thru Email          Follow me on Feedly

 


Have you seen Craftsy's new look yet?   They have launched a new website that is worth a look.  There are lots of new features like reviews and the showcasing of projects. And to celebrate, for a few days they are having an October Supplies Event.



 



Linking Up:

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Rainbow Scrap Challenge New Blocks

Lately, I have been finding myself with a bit of a scrap problem.  I have a great storage system for my scraps that works really well for the way I use them.  My problem is that my precious bits of fabric are out-growing their space!

With the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge coming to an end, I have been thinking what I want to do for 2017.  My goal is to come up with an idea that will really bust some scraps.  Initially, I was toying with the thought of making a complete scrap quilt every month in the assigned color.  But I knew that could just lead to a bigger list of unfinished projects.  My brilliant solution?  Each month I will just make a big stack of string blocks.  





With October being yellow, I decided to start my quest a bit early.  My yellow bin was so stuffed it no longer closed so I decided there was no time like the present.  I cut up a huge stack of 10.5" muslin foundations and started sewing using this method.  As I pulled my fabric, I tried to focus on using up some of my really old and tired looking scraps.  In no time at all, I had completed 14 blocks.




 So I decided to stop there.  Why 14?  No reason - it just felt like a good stopping point.  The challenge that I am taking on this year is to see how I use these blocks throughout the year.  I may add in older stash yardage, use different colors in combination or even make more blocks in a certain color at a later date.

All I know right now is that my yellow scraps are now down to manageable level and I am happy!

 So as a reader, I hope you like string quilts because there might be quite a few in my future.  For those of you who don't, no need to worry.  I have lots of other types of quilts planned for the next year too!







Linking Up:

So Scrappy for RSC16

*This post contains an affiliate link. If you click through and make a purchase, I may make a commission.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Oh Scrap! : Scrappy Charming Plus QAL


Are your scrap bins overflowing?  Do you need a fun project to inspire you to sew them up?  Tisha at QuiltyTherapy is hosting a Charming Plus QAL and it is a perfect design for using scraps!




I plan on joining her - I have WAY too many scraps right now!  The QAL will start on October 15th and run through November 15th.  But you have until December 15th to link up your finished quilts.  If you are interested, you can read more about it here.

If you do join in, I hope you also share your progress here on Oh Scrap!
I would love to see your progress.

******************************* 
Now it is time to share what you are using your scraps for.  Here are the details for linking up:
  • This linky party is for any scrappy project - It can be in-process or a finished piece.
  • You can link up your blog post (not your homepage please) or Instagram photo from the past week that features your use of scraps.
  • If you are linking to a blog post, I ask that you link back to my blog somewhere in your post. So if you are writing about scraps, just get into the habit of including a link as there will be a linky party available every week!
  • If you are using Instagram, please use the hashtag #ohscrap.
  • This is a party so remember to socialize and comment on the posts of others.
  • Following my blog is not necessary but it sure would be great if you do!
Quilting is more fun than Housework

So if you love scrappy projects, feel free to grab my button for your sidebar or posts and get ready to share all your wonderful projects from scraps.  And if you have a great idea for using scraps and would like to be featured, feel free to contact me!

Friday, October 7, 2016

Every Last Bit



Remember these little trimmings I just couldn't throw away?




I have been using them as a leader/ender project to make these little blocks.  I used a 2.5" pre-cut square for the center, sewed a frame around it using those trimmings and then framed the whole block using some leftover binding pieces. The only precise cutting I really had to do was to square up the block at the end.




For colors, I tried to only pull scraps that were in the blue, green, black and gray colorways. 




I used up every one of those trimmings and ended up with this sweet 42" square quilt.
I even used scraps for the binding!



I am not sure yet what to do with this quilt so I kept the quilting easy - swirls are definitely my go to pattern!  I used a medium gray for the thread.



And I was able to use some really old stash pieces for the backing!

I find it silly that I made a whole quilt just to save a few little trimmings.  But I enjoyed the process and loved that there was virtually no cutting.  

Plus, I think the little detail added by those scraps is kinda cute!





Linking Up:

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

A Splendid September

September was a splendidly busy month.  Not only did I decide to complete a number of the block designs for the Splendid Sampler, but many of them were pretty intricate.





Here are the eight blocks I added over the last month.  These bring me up to a total of 50 blocks.  I plan on putting my quilt blocks on point so I will need less than the 100 block designs to make a nice sized quilt.



Block 58 Homeward Bound
This paper pieced block is a favorite! 



Block 61 The Traveler



Block 62 Hen and Chicks (I really like this block!)



Block 64 Rising Star




Block 65 Stripes and Flowers
(Far from perfect but all those 1" HSTs about did me in!)



Block 66 Happy Thoughts



Block 67 Bobbin Chase  (My modified version)



This final one is a block released by Quiltmaker for their 100 Block Sampler.
 
Both the Splendid Sampler and the Quiltmaker 100 Block Sampler are for 6" blocks.  I have been using my Kaffe Fassett scraps which requires a lot of fussy cutting due to many being large florals.  It can be a challenge but it is a project I have been enjoying!
 
 
 
01 09 10