Rainbow UFO Challenge: Red to Teal

On the second Saturday of each month, I will (try to) publish a post to show what I accomplished on the Rainbow UFO Challenge the previous month, and what I will be working on during the current month.

January was assigned the colour red and I had tagged "to start a new project". If I had known it was to be called first, I would have tagged something else, but it's all good. Since I used the word project, it didn't necessarily have to be a quilt, right? 

So, here's the story. 

I was gifted some curtains a long time ago.

They are made of very nice, sturdy linen. Love the colour, love the checkered, cute wooden buttons, so I accepted the two panels for my living room. I hung them up and took them down in less than 15 minutes flat. You see, the checkered didn't align from one panel to the other. (Ugh!) Being a quilter, I'm sure you understand that it bugged me to no ends. In the closet, they went. I didn't know what to do with them. 

Fast forward to January 2022. I took the panels out and started to take them apart. You know me, I love to do that. So much more potential comes to the fabric when it isn't attached to something. (Unless your name is Cynthia Brunz. She teaches me so many new tricks.)

It was easy enough to turn the panels into tablecloths. Looks good too. 

What to do with the ties? 

My idea was to make a grocery bag with some jeans scraps I have and decorate it with the ties, with or without the buttons. 

The colours are more accurate in this picture. 

January went by so quickly that I didn't get a chance to work on that. It's only a postponement as I would really like to have the bag I have in mind. Stay tuned. 

February's colour is Teal/Turquoise and all the between blue and green colours. I selected Spinners for this month because it has more blue and green than any other colour. 

This is where I'm at. 

I'm missing one block and I removed one that looked too much the same green as another one. So, two more spinners to do and a gazillion of little HSTs. That sounds like fun! 

It may or may not be the final layout. 

We'll see next month how far along I was able to bring this quilt. 

We should have called this cat Enigma ...

... because his tail is forever in the shape of a question mark! Haha. (Only teasing, Raven. I love your fluffy tail, straight or not. 🐾😻) 

Have a great week everyone. 

;^)

Joining 

Angela for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Frédérique for Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scraps

The Last Red Note

I sewed more red blocks last weekend and added a new block.

This is Jericho Wall block. The Stash Buster Challenge 2022 by Border Creek Station chose this wonderful block. It's a new to me block and I'm enjoying sewing it. The solid burgundy squares at the corners are a constant colour. I have so much of that fabric that I'm sure I have enough for the entire quilt. The black in the middle is another constant colour. I'm using up a lot of white and beige scraps for the rest of the block. I couldn't resist adding it to my list of blocks for RSC. 

Funny enough, the UFO I have to work on during the month of Aqua is also a block presented by Border Creek Station. In my Rainbow UFO Challenge list, I left the colour Aqua empty as I didn't know what to work on. I have now named Spinner as my project for this month. I'll show you what I did during January Rainbow UFO Challenge in another post. 

There are too many quilts I want to make and receiving more fabric from friends only spurs my mojo to sew more and more. I am done sorting all the boxes and bags I received last week. Every single colour basket is overflowing. 

The long strips on top of the middle seat are the fabric I wanted to sew first, turning them into fast 9-Patch blocks. This morning, I can't find them. They must be under another pile of scraps as I don't know where to store all of this anymore. They'll pop up eventually. 

The 9-Patch on the left is my regular 9-Patch block finishing at 3 inches. The one on the right will finish at 6". No, it's not another project I started. Those pieces (4 reds and 6 golds) were already cut at 2.5" and I just thought they looked good together. There's a  little Beijing vibe in there, no? (or are the Olympics influencing my vision?) Anywho. 

I started on the Aqua blocks too. 

I did two solid fabric blocks but the white in the second one shrunk during ironing. That white fabric is now expelled from the scrap bin. 

Thanks to Cheryll for having me over on Friday night for the FNwF (Friday Night with Friends) for a little bit of sewing. I did these. :^D 

Star Bloom

(See the maquette of Star Bloom in this post.)

Jericho Wall

I should have quit after the first block as sewing when I'm tired is never a good idea. 

My first blooper of the year. I was doing so well that I thought I was NEVER going to sew another blooper again! Hahaha. Silly girl. 

That's it for now. 

Hope you are all well and warm. 

;^)

Joining 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Applique

Cynthia for Oh Scraps 

Denise for Put Your Foot Down

Table Scraps, and Scraps, and Scraps, and ...

Early this morning, I finished my placemat made with strings. (Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. No sun yet this morning.)

It is my first time linking up with Joyful Quilter for Table Scraps Challenge. (Yay!) You can read all about it here.  If you look closely at the edge on the right-hand side, there's a snowman. 😊

My goal is to make a placemat each month (fingers crossed but no obligations) for this challenge using only strings as that department is overpopulated.

It's also my first time at machine binding. Not perfect but I'm sure by October, I will be more comfortable with this technique. Here's a picture of the back. 

You probably can tell that this is a quilt as you go. Well, except for the little square and the triangle. I have to give credit to Joanne from Canuck Quilter for the design. She calls it Breadcrumbs. (Very appropriate, I'd say.) She does such lovely things and sells her patterns too. Go check her out. Thanks for the inspiration, Joanne. 💙

My leader-enders were 9-Patch, what else? 

I know they aren't red but how can I leave this little bit of scrap alone? It has its own Rainbow! 

I got distracted and not just by this little piece. I was distracted in a BIG way!!

I got Scraps and Scraps and Scraps ... 

Raven has to sniff any suspicious package, in case there's a squirrel hiding in it. Poor Raven, you can not see the squirrels I see. And there's more ...  (anyone doing an I Spy quilt? Elaine, need some more?) 

A sweet (and very generous) sewing sister and her sister cleaned their respective sewing rooms. I won the loot. This is so impressive that I am speechless. I'm in fabric heaven! Thank you so so much, Anne and sister. May you receive as many blessings as I just got. 💖💖

Two questions come to my mind when I look at this picture. ONE:  How much money?  TWO:  How long do I have to live? 😄 Needless to say, I had to dive right in. I'm still working on it. Hence, two 9-Patch blocks that aren't red at all. 

Early this morning, I did play with red and got my first Scrap Jar Star done. 

I'll sew more red this weekend as I am not about to run out of scraps anytime soon. 

Hope everyone stays safe and I'll catch up with you next week. 

Have a great one! 

;^)

Joining 

Joy for Table Scraps Challenge 

Angela for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scraps! 

Red Hot

I like to go grocery shopping early in the morning (fewer people). This morning, it was minus 33C, yes minus. To those who think heated seats are a stupid invention, around here, it's a necessity. Brrr!

But in my sewing room, it's red hot!   

Yep, 9-Patch! 

I found these little pieces of beautiful red fabric and I just had to make a 9-Patch block with it. I couldn't decide which fabric to match it to, so I did both. 

No matter how hard I tried, it kept looking out of focus. After 10 tries, I gave up. 

The newest blocks that I showed you last week, got finished and they now look like this. 

Two different stars appear when you put four together. 

Of course, it will not be only red, although it is hot in red. 

In my last post, I forgot another contender I could use for RSC2022. Remember this one? Sorry, I don't know its name.

I could do units as part of the RSC and eventually assemble the units with the cross in the middle to make the block. That sounds very doable to me. The original pattern has two white dots before the middle cross so I will change this one a little bit. Love the cat fabric. 

I would also like to have a quilt ready to be machine quilted. I could work on it a little bit during my break since I am working from home and it will reduce the list of UFOs. So I started to pin another red beauty. 

It's none other than Field of Poppies. (I thought I had pressed this top!)

 

That's all for now. 

Hope you have a great one. 

;^)

Joining 

Angela at So Scrappy 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework 

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Spinning My Wheels

I am still pondering about my RSC2022 options. The list is way too long and I find it hard to remove some contenders. Anyone else with this kind of problem? 

The 9-Patch and HSTs are still on ... like forever! Haha.

The crumb bricks too as I don't have enough to do anything with these. 

Chaser Crumb Blocks

Chaser Crumb to be trimmed and sashed

What if I make a mask every month? It looks like we will be needing these for some time still. One thing I forgot to say in my previous post is that we are working from home again. I go to the office two mornings a week to distribute incoming mail and to mail out what was printed by the caseworkers. I like this routine as it gets me out of the house without meeting anyone. Win-win. 

Masks done in November.
The cat one has been washed already and the fabric shrunk
but not the liner so I have to redo this one.
The yellow one is not finished. 

I would love to do a Scrap Jar Star quilt. So I will start sewing 4-Patch blocks (or 16 Patch blocks) (same thing). Do I sew the block in rainbow colours or one colour? 

Both are pleasing to me. Sigh! 

Then the strings are demanding some attention. I have an idea that would be an opportunity for some of them to shine. Still on the drawing board but here's what I have so far. 

The solid coloured fabric from my mother's stash is also something I would like to use up and I love this quilt. 

from Google search

There's also this. 

Hmm! It could be interesting. No, I don't know the name. Yes, I know where I'm going with this. 

I would also love to make another Hidden Gems quilt

or a Burgoyne Surrounded but for a big quilt this time. 

How many hours of sewing do I have in a month? Darn!  That really cramp my style. 

There's also my Personal Rainbow UFO Challenge. The colour red calls for a new project but that's for another post. Stay tuned. 

Oh! Almost forgot. I have two finishes to show you. YES! 

First, it's Stars in Blue, labeled and all. My first finish of the year! Yay! 

Remember this panel I salvaged from a year ago? It was quilted with only batting. No backing. See this post for the story behind it. It was the perfect size for Stars in Blue. Win/win! (I know it's not straight but it'll do.)

The binding is built with dark blue scraps.

I think it was the only solution to my dilemma since nothing looked good from the front and the back. 

Then, there's this finish. 

Phew! Made it. Looking at the fabric for clues of who goes with who was impossible in the Spider Web quilt. Once I organized the yellow pieces together, pointing in the same direction, it went so much faster. 

All I had to do was to turn the pieces in my hand and search for the yellow piece going to the right. 

The rest of the pieces were picked as per their unique shape. 

Now, I'll take it apart and put it away so my son can work on the puzzle he received on New Year's Eve. 

It's nothing interesting so I won't keep you posted on this one. 

The original post was supposed to finish with this paragraph. 

I am sorry to announce that the year didn't start on the right foot for us. Raven disappeared on January 3. I've been very down and still am. I'm pushing myself to sew as I know it will help me (and you will too with the comments and your posts about wonderful stuff). Thank you for being there. 

BUT 

After 10 days away, he came back home. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him on the deck. He lost a lot of weight but is otherwise okay as you can tell from this picture. 

He's still sassy! Haha. I'm so happy. 

Have a great one! 

;^)

 

Joining my quilting friends

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict