A Gift for Me

It isn't very often that I splurge on something just for me.  But recently I bought Victoria Findlay Wolfe's book Playing with Purpose.

I am so happy I did!

The book is a hard back quilt retrospective of her work. The pages are filled with beautiful quilts constructed in unique ways using interesting colors and fabrics.  

I am also drawn to her concept of Playing with Purpose.  That has always been how I approach my quilting processes.  I am okay with producing less than desirable pieces because it fine tunes my style.  I love the successes and the failures (almost) equally.

Is there a book or quilt artist that you find inspiring?

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Oh Scrap! : Start, Stop or Continue

I have been spending time in my sewing room this week evaluating a number of projects.  Which ones do I want to focus on and finish up, what projects will continue on into the new year and how many new scrap projects do I want for next year?

Friday I shared my flimsy finish of my RSC Garden Quilt.  I have also decided to sew up the last blue and pink color block for a second Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  I just need to sew up the rows and I hope to share this one later in the week.

Sorry, I am going to make you wait to see the blocks all together!

This quilt is not an RSC quilt, but I am still cutting up my tiny scraps into 1.5" squares and making 9 patches from them.  So far I have 55 blocks.  I will need hundreds of these blocks to make a quilt so I will continue to make them as I come across tiny scraps.
This project is going to be very on-going!

So that means I get to start thinking about what Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks I will make next year.  I have pared it down to seven candidates - although the star blocks don't excite me as much as the others.  The rail fence and the basket block are in the lead right now.  But I am thinking I need to start five projects so I can make the others too!

Do you have a favorite?

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It is now your turn to share what you are making with scraps.  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! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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Linking Up:

Love Laugh Quilt (Monday Making)

Em's ScrapBag (Moving it Forward)

End of the Garden Season

I don't have a finished quilt to share this week but I did finish up my Rainbow Scrap Challenge garden quilt top.

Sorry about the glaring sunlight in the upper corner.  There is only one spot in my fence that I can get a photo and I had to wait all day for the sun to pass.  And I couldn't wait any longer to get this post written.  (I am not gonna complain too much - it was a beautiful fall day!)

I had a lot of fun making the blocks for this quilt throughout the year.  Once a RSC color was announced, I started thinking about what garden items worked for that color.  It was fun finding or designing blocks.  I tried to stay fairly true to the items that actually can be found in my garden.

When I went to put all the blocks together, I did have to modify some of the blocks a bit to make them work with the quilt.  And there were a few previously made ones that went into the orphan block suitcase.  They will need to be used in another quilt - they just didn't make the cut!

I made my birdhouse block with the little nuthatch bird during the winter, so it was fun to see that it was a bit prophetic.

For the first time, a Bewick's Wren nested in one of the birdhouses.  It acts just like a nuthatch - and it took me a bit to figure out what kind of bird it was.  

This little mama sure kept the bugs down in my gardens!  I hope they come back next year.

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Linking Up:

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

From Bolt to Beauty (Brag about your Beauties)

Alycia Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

So Scrappy for RSC19