My Own Rainbow Scrap Challenge's Challenge

(Hope the title makes sense to you, if not, blame my French roots. :^D )

Back in January I forgot to show you the fabrics I decided to use in my RSC2017.

Last year, in an effort to use up some older fabrics from my stash, I had picked a stars on white fabric and a black M&M fabric. I was very happy with the end result.

Peace and Plenty is assembled and awaits border(s?). Ideas are still brewing for this one.


With such a good outcome last year, I decided to do it again this year. These are the fabrics I will be using. I might have to add one or two during the year. We'll see.

The "wannabe plaid" in blue is from 18 years ago or so. I did a short and shirt ensemble for my oldest son when he was 3 or 4 years old. Still have the shirt fabric too but not enough to use in such a challenge. Since it is 100% cotton, it's in!

The dark "fugly" (as Dasha calls them), at the forefront, came from a scrap bag bought in a store a while back. I don't have a lot but enough for a few blocks. The red and green fabric and the cherry one have been in the stash so long I don't remember where they came from. It's time for them to go too. All in RSC#3. I know they don't go together very nicely but if my plan works like in my mind (fingers crossed), they will play nice in the end. The solid yellow in the background is the constant in the RSC#3.

The grey piece is the background fabric for my RSC#2.


Now this being said, lets move on to this past week when I worked on February's color which is

Sea Green. 

RSC#1 Hole in the Barn Door

I don't have a solid Sea Green or anything that could qualify for such a description so I opted for one which almost read solid.


RSC#2 Hourglass won't sparkle with Aqua, Turquoise and the likes as I need some specific colors for this quilt. Sorry.


RSC#3 Buckwheat

I have to admit the fugly one looks darn good here.


And somehow, a RSC#4 was started without my consent. lol. (Yeah! Sure! Don't we all know how it starts??!!)  It will be a long term quilt as I won't do all the pieces needed this year. Here's what I got done in purple.

This is the extend of my purple stash. Each and every one of my purple fabric is represented here. Will have to buy more ... some day. :^D  I am hunting down the sea green fabric to add to these.

Earlier this morning, I manage to find Aqua and Sea-foam green who were happy to participate in this new quilt.

There! Now that I am all organized, the RSC 2017, in four chapters, will be a breeze. (So she says, lol!)

Until next time ... stitch, stitch, stitch away.


;^)

Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Angela at SoScrappy
Cynthia at Quilting is more Fun than Housework
Nicki at Mrs Sew & Sow

Monday's Promises and Y Seams

Boy, am I proud of my work this week? YES m'am!

Sometimes we don't do much; sometimes we sew up a storm. Well, I did one better: I tackled one of my fears! (\O_ O/)

Let's see.

The Westering Women made it to June on their journey. Then they stopped in Nebraska for a very long time. Well, it's time to get them going again. This weekend, I gathered them back together with the basket of fabrics and started to cut the block for July. It was an easy block.

Courthouse Rock.

Then I cut the fabrics for the August's block; the dreaded Chimney Rock with the Y seams!!

My first plan was to cut the pattern up in order to eliminate all those Y seams but I thought if I want to learn I need to practice. Right? So ...

Armed with patience and much apprehension, I sat at my sewing machine, then I stopped.

I turned the computer on and started to google a few videos.

Needless to say I have wasted a good hour on that ... but did find what I was looking for. (along with a whole lot more not relevant to quilts!)


Now better armed with patience, less apprehension and an undeniably  great technique, I started to assemble the Chimney Rock.

Ta-da!

I truly surprised myself. No cursing, swearing, frustration and no sense of failure in any of the 12.5 inches of this block. I am so proud of myself. Best bonus; it lays flat. Flat like a pancake! In the beginning of the year, we had to make a Gumtree leaf block. (Can't remember which month, but anywho!) I made it with the usual method of sewing Y seams as it is explain in all the books I have.

My block looks like this. It is a very good effort but just an effort nonetheless.  I hope the quilting will tame these "bubbles" in the middle as it doesn't lay flat at all.
With the new (to me) method, I can even show you the back of Chimney Rock with no worries. Not going to do that with the Gumtree block. :^{

Yay! me. Will I redo the Gumtree leaf? Don't know yet.

The tutorial I found is from Kaye Wood. Her technique goes against all technique I have seen, read and hear on how to sew Y seams. If you are interested, you can see Kaye Wood's tutorial here. 
Not sure how that method works when you have rows upon rows of tumbling blocks but for this block, it worked like a charm.

Here are the two newest blocks. The Westering ladies are now in Wyoming and are closer to their goals and so am I. Only four more blocks to go to finish Westering Women BOM. The block for September is also full of Y seams, so I'll put the new technique through another test this week.

Last week, I also squared up some blocks and started to assemble the border  ...

... on the 365 Challenge.
The right border is all done and the left is slowly getting there too.

It will be nice when all the borders are attached and I can get my floor back. The borders are one foot each so it is growing big real fast. I barely have enough room to tiptoe around it. It is now spread for the picture but when you are not looking, it is folded up somewhat.

These are the things that will keep me busy this week. What about your week? Care to share with us? Join us at :

Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward 

Chances are you will be inspired.




Until next time ....  y seams await their faith!

;^)

OMG February

I didn't do so well with my January OMG.  :^{  

The ideas and inspirations took too much of my time and then I was "absorbed" into another quilt. The design was finally decided and it is only a matter of STARTING it now. The first step is sometimes the hardest.

 So, I have put that project on the back burner for the moment as, once again, Plan B has showed up.


My goal for February is to have all the blocks done for two different tops. Is that too much?  In 28 days?



The first one is the BOM Westering Women. The main reason for this is that I need the fabrics. I mean, I usually set aside in a basket or box, the fabrics I intend to use on a project so I don't use them all up on something else. 

projects under the quilting frame

Unfortunately, this method does restrict me.  Sometimes, I forget about a certain fabric and miss using a bit in a great block and sometimes I'll look for hours for it before remembering it's in the restricted zone for another project. :^{ 

There's a lot of fabric here. The basket is more than half full and it measures 24 X 14 X 10 inches deep. AND it's starting to be a mess in there. 

Since the blocks from January to June were made, I need to finish July to December.  I 've kept all the patterns on my computer so I can tackle this BOM anytime. Some blocks have lots of Y-seams or inset seams. Either way you call this, it is still "Yuck" to me. I might have to "reform" some of the units on certain blocks.

January to June blocks in no particular order

The second project is for a new quilt. Yes, I want to make a quilt for a little 17 month old boy. :^)  This means I am starting ( ) another project. (at your discretion, you may insert "yet again" in the blank space.)

I would like something FAST but FUN. I am thinking an I-SPY kind of quilt. I am very inspired by Sarah's quilt  seen here.



The cutting has started.

The stars will be a calm yellow.

Now I am not crazy and yes, I do need to sleep, so my goal is to only make the blocks. If I get beyond that, it'll be a bonus but 28 days can go by so fast.



Linking up with Patty at Elms Street Quilts for OMG! 

Until next time ... I spy with my little eye ...

;^)

A Collection of Mishmash Fabrics

In January, I joined my friends Cécile et Béa, in a log cabin quilt-a-long. The participants could chose any type of log cabin and every colours were accepted. One has to make 8 blocks in a month with the big reveal in March. Well, wouldn't you know that I didn't make the 8 little blocks in January.

I had to finish them this morning, February 1st. Not much was left to be done but it's still a "no cigar" finish. Being stuck in appointments that took longer than expected (and burned up most of my energy) on Monday and Tuesday, the little logs were left on the cutting table, waiting for me to show up and sew.

This being said, it is no excuse for my lack of preparation through out the month. I want to sincerely apologize to my friends from "outre-mer" for letting them wait so long for my post. I am sorry. That was very inconsiderate of me.


A hodge podge, a jumble, or a variety of fabrics have to come together to make my log cabins blocks. From polka-dots to plaids, from repro to modern and even some kids fabrics, all were called in to participate in the building of these cabins.

I want fabrics that talk to me, fabrics that came from friends, or that I won, or bought with a gift certificate. In other words, meaningful fabrics were used here.

Some came all the way from France, some came 90 minutes away from here.

Some show what I love; sunflowers, orange geo, birds, Scandinavian chickens. These little fabrics represent so many friends. In the left block, the hovering bird is a French General piece won in a "leftover scraps giveaway" that Randy so generous gave.

When I got the parcel in the mail, I was excited and so curious, I just had to open the package right away. Randy does know how to seal a package so no pieces get lost. I was only able to have a peek at the loot.

Here they all are after I got my hands on a pair of scissors. I was surprised at how much there was. Thank you so much Randy. I am more than please with the BIG leftover pieces. (No, these are not just little pieces, believe me.) Very generous. Thank you. :^D

Okay back to the log cabin.

For my design, some blocks need to be completely white ... uhmm ... neutral? Again, dots, birds, dogs, metallic, repro, whatever my fancy is, in it goes.

If you haven't spotted the fabrics you gave me, do not despair as I have 8 more blocks to construct for next month.

Don't forget to click the links because so many participants have wonderful blocks and some interesting layouts. Here are the links again :

Cécile at Patchwork Inspirations for the traditional log cabins
and
Béa at Une aiguille dans une botte de foin for the modern log cabins
Go check it out.


I'll also share with Sarah for "Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?" because I am glad they are done. :^D


Until next time ... I'll be logging.


;^)

Hidden Gems; Season's Finale

The last episode of the Hidden Gems Saga.


I was pretty discourage when I pulled the quilt out of the washing machine and came face to face with this blotch. 

I panicked as I had already promised this quilt to someone. There is no way I am giving a quilt that looks like this. I mean, the quilt doesn't have to be perfect for me to give it to someone, but this was way below the acceptable mark. The color catcher had obviously did its job.

So I dried it a bit the dryer. Not a very good idea by the comment of some readers but I was afraid that leaving it wet would enable the bleeding to get further into the quilt. I had to stop it long enough to get some answers from my ever so resourceful readers. I snapped a few pictures, did a quick post and waited for some suggestions. 

I was not disappointed. So many of you wrote back with suggestions or links or even to sympathize with my disheartenment. I so appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you. Some wrote to wash it again with some color catchers pinned to the quilt. Sounds like great advise so I gave it a try.

And tried again. And again. After the fourth wash with very little difference, I decided it was a waste of energy and saw that it was spreading further in the quilt, regardless of the color catcher pinned to it. 

Some commentators linked Vicki Welsh to their comments. (If the name doesn't ring a bell to you, I'll just say that she is the Queen of hand dyed fabric.) She wrote a post that thoroughly explains the results of her experiments with plenty of pictures. Awesome reading! You can find the post here.
 

She declares Dawn Pure (yep, the blue dish soap) as the best detergent to wash a quilt after testing it against 3 other detergents including Synthrapol. Needless to say, this little girl jumped in her car to get some Dawn! 

Vicki also says that color catcher aren't necessary ( WHHHAAAT??) but to let the quilt soak in hot water with a good measure of Dawn. Let it soak from 12 to 24 hours.   Well, it doesn't cost much to try this one, right? So I did. 

Yes, it's the same block. It's like it never happened. I am so, SO happy! It is now ready to leave my household to go live at its own household.  Thank you so much, Vicki!

It was promised to a 17 months old little guy. I am sure he will appreciate the flannel backing as children usually love soft things. 

It must be one of the cleanest quilt in the world after a 16 hours soak and five spins in the washer.   :^D

Pictured on the snow. It makes the quilt appear wavy.

Goodbye Hidden Gems.  I know you will hug the little one with all the love, comfort and warmth I have quilted into you. You will enjoy the squeals of joy, the laughter, the tears, the feverish forehead and the incessant babbling of pretend plays. You were loved and you will be loved even more.


Now, on to RSC2017, or are you fed up of this post? (Sorry.) Let's go through it quickly.

My purple January looks like this. 

 A sideways Buckwheat block from the 365 Challenge inventory of blocks.

 Little 3.5 inches 9-Patch and a rail block ...

... to join the 9-Patch together.

Also made 4 hourglass block. These are 6.5 inches at the moment. Regardless of what your monitor is telling you, they are purple, lol. 



Joining Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden 
Angela at So Scrappy on Saturday
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework on Sunday


Until next time .... I'll be soaking some fabrics.

;^)