Friday Finish - Rainbow Scrappy Happiness

Another wee Friday Finish! I've been working away at filling this basket with my own little rainbow!

DT are growing like weeds and one of their favourite things is to eat at the big table. And they love to mess with Mommy and Daddy's placemats. Time for their own!

Into the scrap bin I went. Sometimes I wonder why I bother buying more fabric. It seems like all I ever manage to use are scraps! 2½ inch squares are my go-to. For a simple bit of patchwork, a 25 patch seemed  right. I even worked in some fussy cuts... I think I might be addicted to fussy cutting. And there's no 12 step plan for that.

I added a 3 inch strip down the side to bring the placemats up to the size I wanted. 9½ by 12 inches is just right for little plates and little hands!

The quilting isn't fancy - diagonal straight lines. If I were to do it over again, I might consider spacing the stitching a little further apart. Once washed, things got very crinkly!

 The kiddos first colour requests were green for BT and purple for GT

On the second round, GT asked for pink. BT for blue. So much for raising them with attention to gender stereotyping!

Round 3 features an orange placemat that Anja @ Anja Quilts thinks is for her to use when she visits. I don't think GT will give it up that easily! I still owe BT a red mat. I've had to mooch some squares to make it happen. So little red in my stash. Dena @ No Frickin' Blog Yet would be horrified.

  BT's not exactly a wee lad. Here's hoping he doesn't outgrow these mats too soon!

I love having little things that I have sewn as part of our lives. I just don't get it when people say that handmade items are too good to use. If they're not used, all that extra love that's sewn in just languishes on a shelf.  Use it, wear it out. We'll make more!

This sunshine-y basket makes me want to make one in every possible colour! Or maybe I'll use my time a little more wisely and get to sewing those Easter projects I have in mind!

I'm linking up today with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts, as well as TGIFF @ The Carpenter's Daughter Who Quilts. Pop on over and check out some inspirational finishes!

J

Friday Finish - Drunken Rainbow

 I can't hardly believe I've got another finish! Thank goodness for Sew Ins!
This time it's the offering for my swap partner in the first ever MQG swap. Her favorite fabric lines are Art Gallery and Cotton + Steel and she loves bright and colorful prints and solids.The mosaic that she put on her Instagram showed a lot of rainbow, so I went for it!

Off to the scrap bin to pull some rainbow goodness!  I found quite a few Cotton + Steel and Art Gallery prints. Score! I don't quite know what made me choose Drunkard's Path blocks, but they just felt right.

I used my trusty freezer paper to make templates. So easy!

The last curved pieces that I made were the ones in my session with Violet Craft at Glamp Stitchalot. Look, ma! No pins! 

Speaking of Glamp Stitchalot, the blocks from Glamp have taken my design wall hostage. I need to finish the last few, but I keep getting excited about other things to make! Quilt squirrel! As for the lay-out, I wiggled them around on the design wall until I got something I liked. Drunkard's Path (probably not a very politically correct block name) blocks are versatile like that!

I kept my quilting simple with narrow echoing lines in the negative space. I would have liked to keep the coloured sections unquilted. However, with the curved piecing, they needed to be squished down! Looking at it now, I'm thinking that some FMQ in the coloured sections would have been nice. Oh well!

As I often do, I put hanging corners on all four corners of the quilt. That way, the recipient can hang it any which way they want.

My quilts always seem to like getting out in the snow...

I love this backing fabric... Foxy Owls Rain Basic in White by Timeless Treasures. I bought in a lot of colours. Now I wish I'd bought more!

And since I had pieced every scrap of Star Chart I had to make binding, I had to sneak in a little snippet of Rain Basic into the binding.

Some of those echoes ran into each other a little!

For some reason, these canoes just spoke to me. Maybe they're lonely in the snow and ice. They needed their picture taken!

The Deets  

Title: Drunkard's Rainbow
Size: 19 by 19 inches
Fabrics Used in Top: Lizzy House's Star Chart in White and assorted rainbow scraps
Backing: Lizzy House's Star Chart in White, Foxy Owls Rain Basic in White by Timeless Treasures
Binding: Lizzy House's Star Chart in White (I'm really running low!)
Quilting: Narrow echo quilting in negative space, wider echoes in coloured sections, white thread

Favourite Parts of this Quilt: Playing with curved piecing, digging in the scrap bin

I'm linking up today with TGIFF @ Lisa in Port Hope, as well as Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Pop on over and see some more great finishes!

J

Friday Finish - Mini, mini, mini mini.

So many minis!  And so much rainbow goodness!

These wee quilties were created entirely from my Kona stash. Yup. I even had to cull a few from the herd to get it down to 24 colours in the spectrum.

I knew I had to make something like this after checking out this book from my local library. I am smitten. I see a book purchase in my future.

 This one in particular caught my eye... 

Those little rainbow segments... I just had to make some. And then I went a little bonkers with the quilting. Yup. Each of those lines of stitching matches the pieced rainbow section.

 This one's just for Jayne @ Twiggy & Opal. A little rainbow thread money shot...

These minis make me so very happy. I sort of wish one of them was mine to keep. Alas, they are destined to be swapped. Maritime Modern Quilt Guild has partnered up with the illustrious Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. Because we were a little low on participants on our end, I offered to make two.  

Did you notice that matched binding? Sometimes I just don't know when to stop!
These wee girlies with umbrellas just seemed right for the back of a rainbow quilt.

And, given that this quilt is going to another modern quilter, some vintage-y sewing notions seemed apt.
And then there's the mini mini. I knew I wanted to make a little something to send to my quilty kindred spirit, Lynn @ Buttons Quilts. She sent me such a wonderful birthday present/scrap swap bundle (more on that this Sunday). And there was still some rainbow left from my pieced strip...

So much quilting in such a small space... yum. The backing's a hoarded bit of rainbow raindrops... also used as backing on this lovely from way back in 2013. And no, I didn't make a mistake. I always put four hanging triangles on my quilts. That way, the recipient can decide how they want to hang it!

Judging from the number of emoticons (36... seriously) in the texts from Lynn upon opening her squishy envelope of rainbow goodness, I think she likes it. A lot. That makes me happy indeed!

The Deets  
Title(s): Rainbow Goodness  x 3
Inspiration: The Throne Room from Modern Rainbow by Rebecca Bryan
Size: Minis - 13 by 13 inches, mini mini - 7 by 7 inches
Konas Used: Sangria, Cardinal, Lipstick, Tangerine, Kumquat, School Bus, Papaya, Corn Yellow, Grellow, Wasabi, Peapod, Parrot, Grasshopper, Ultra Marine, Breakers, Turquoise, Malibu, Pacific, Riviera, Copen, Heliotrope, Regal, Berry, Geranium (in rainbow order) as well as Silver and Pepper for the backgrounds.
Quilting: Minis - Straight line quilting to match the pieced rainbow segment, mini mini - straight line quilting with varying spacing
Binding: Same as background for each quilt, with a wee snippet of Sangria and Berry! 

Favourite Part(s): Rainbow goodness. And making a quilty friend very happy!

I'm linking up with TGIFF @ Celtic Thistle Stitches, as well as with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. Pop on over and check out some fab finishes!

J

P.S. Don't forget that next Thursday, April 7th is Throwback Thursday. It's your monthly opportunity to link-up a quilt (and its story) from your dark quilty past! Hope to see you there!

WIP Wednesday - A little of this, a little of that...

It's been a while since a WIP Wednesday post... not because I haven't been working on things, but more so that I've been hopping from thing to thing. Here are some sneaky wee peakies of projects I've been picking away at. 

This pic is exactly why I have a Kona stash. I was able to select a 24 shade rainbow without buying a single inch of Kona. I ♥ my Kona stash! Psst... only 17 are shown here!

And once they're sewn together, they're even more awesome. Just you wait until you see what they turn into!

And remember when I showed off this lovely Carkai in my Sunday Stash post and said I already had plans for it. Well, Here we are...

My one little irritation with this fabric is that it claims to be Kona colour matched, but there's nowhere (at least that I could find through extensive Googling) where one can find the matches. Off to my trusty Kona swatches - Storm, Peapod, and Green Tea were the closest matches that were also in my stash!

Then off to the cutting mat and rotary cutter! So many pieces, so much masking tape.

 I bet you can guess who this is going to turn into!

And here's another very wee bit. Can't say too much about it, only that it had to be wee and it had to have green. More on that another day!

I'm linking up today with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts and with the Canadian Needle & Thread Network.

J

WIP Wednesday - The secrets continue!

It's Wednesday and I've actually been sewing this week! Yay! Only trouble is... I can't really show you much. Damn you, Quilting Project Protection Program. That said,  QPP Project #4 is now complete. And I'll be showing it off to you on Friday. Patience, Grasshopper! And QPP Project #2 just needs to be gifted and you'll be seeing it too!

Here's a little sneaky peak of QPP Project #1. I'm making great progress on it - 15 of 30 blocks done!

I will freely admit that this does NOT look very exciting, but it is! It really is! I can't wait until I can share it!

I couldn't do an entire post with just one pic of some squares being sewn together. A while back, Q-D (Girl Guide pal, Q-Squared friend, MMQG guild member and maker of this awesomeness) asked me if I would help sort this pile into a colour wheel friendly rainbow spectrum. With my Technicolor Galaxy shenanigans, she figured I could handle it.

As I dug through the pile, I pulled out all the scraps that had multiple colours in them. I find them hard to use in rainbow palettes. I also set aside the grey prints... not so rainbowy.

As I sorted, I laid them out in a rough colour wheel. Sometimes my workspace just doesn't seem large enough.

No shortage of purples in this spectrum... not shocking given that Q-D just finished a massive project involving a whole lot of purple. I'd insert a link to her blog so you could check it out, only she stubbornly refuses to create one. She makes awesome stuff though... I wish she'd share it in the blogosphere!

I might have to dive into my stash and help Q-D out with this section of the rainbow... not so many yellows and oranges!

I'll be delivering a rainbow sorted spectrum of scraps to Q-D at our MMQG Sew In this week-end. I'm sure she'll be jazzed! 

And, since it's Wednesday, I'm linking up with  and WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts. Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts is the brain behind the Dog Gone Cute QAL. If you're not yet QAL, it's not too late to whip up some super adorable pups. Now that so many of my September projects are wrapping up, I'll be turning my attention to some Dog Gone Cute-ness!

J

WIP Wednesday - Polaroids A Go-go!

A couple Saturdays ago, one of my bees (Q-Squared) got together for a bit of Quilt Therapy. I needed a portable project and opted to dive into a little something I've been plotting for DT. A Polaroid I Spy quilt! I've been picking away at it during naptime ever since...

One of the things I love about the bloggy world is friendships I've made with generous and talented bloggers in far off places! Thank you so much, Lynn @ Buttons Quilts, Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl, and Yvonne @ Quilting JetGirl! There are so many interesting Polaroid pictures here!

I saw an awesome Polaroid quilt a while back that used a rainbow colour pathway for the block backgrounds, but rather than choose just one yellow, one green, etc., I opted to go scrappier and dive into the Kona bins!

Ah... trimmings. And there are a lot of them with this wonky, off centre little Polaroids!

Can I also say that my latest mat purchase - a 12 inch rotating Olfa mat - has really been coming in handy? It's small enough to transport to a sew day without worrying about warping and it fits next to my machine for easy trimming! Here are two of my finished blocks so far... I have 71 made and I have no idea how close I am to done, since I have no idea how big this quilt's going to be!

Once I had used as many scraps as possible, I dove into the Kona stash to cut some strips.

I'm going to shock you a little here... I'm not naming them at this point! Do I have a running list? You betcha!
More gratuitous trimming shots. I can't help myself. I just can't.

 Rainbow-y goodness.

 Sharing space with my other WIP, Technicolor Galaxy! More on that next week...

There are Polaroid blocks in varying levels of done-ness all over my studio. Some fussy cut centres, some with untrimmed white edges, some trimmed, but without their cheery Konas. Honestly, this may end up as the project that never ends!

I'm linking up today with Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, as well as WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Click on over and see what others are creating this week!

J