Scrappy Saturday

Pink scrap blocks

I finished my log cabin blocks and my heart/alternate blocks in pink for the month. I have some other projects I am working on so am probably done with pink scraps for the month. Will see what color June brings.

Treadlestiches posted about a disappearing 9-patch recently. I had seen quilts with this block but never understood how it came out of a 9-patch. Now I get it! Seems like a great scrap-buster block. Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting also had a some good scrap-busters a while back: checkerboards in RSC colors with a constant background (green in her case) and Cheerio blocks which are adorable. I am really enjoying doing the RSC so am trying to keep track of blocks I might want to make from scraps going forward. 

 I am linking up with Scrappy Saturday at So Scrappy and Oh Scrap! 

Sunday Stitching Post #16

Since my last update I have done quite a bit of sewing. I finished my August OMG and have been working on baby quilts from my scrap bins. I'm going to try to complete a top for a baby or lap-size scrap quilt each month and ideally quilt one as well. All the finished scrap quilts will go to my Guild's charity quilt project. I have made 2 tops since the beginning of August so am on track so far. I have been collecting ideas from instagram (the hashtag #scrapquilt is great for this) and various blogs in an effort to try some new patterns and to use up fabric. 

My very next project is to try out some new machine quilting patterns. I borrowed some quilting books from the library, picked out new-to-me designs to try, and have a pile of squares layered and basted. This week I hope to get the machine set up for quilting and dive in. I also have quilting to do for this month's OMG. 

My most recent scrappy top

I have also been considering starting an applique project so I have some handwork to do. Quilting at the Cro's Nest posted a super cute quilt called Farm Girl Vintage which led me to Lori Holt's website Bee in My Bonnet where I found Let's Bake. Both are adorable and might be good projects for me. (probably smaller versions using some of the blocks). I was also considering a Baltimore Album project but after reading some books I borrowed from a friend I think that is more ambitious than I am ready for at the moment.

I am linking this post in Oh Scrap!

Sunday Stitiching Post #13

In 2019 I was doing the 15-minutes-to-stitch challenge at Life in Pieces and was posting my progress (sporadically) as Sunday Stitching Posts. I am not doing that challenge this year but decided to go back to doing these weekly update posts on my sewing projects as it will provide a way for me to see if things are actually getting done over time. 

I have been doing quite a bit of sewing this week. It has been hot and muggy here in New Hampshire and sewing in the AC is a good escape for me. I worked on quilting my Scrappy Irish Chain. I am quilting it in 3 sections so I can do it on my Janome and I finished the skinniest section and am about half-way on the largest section. This method will require extra binding strips to cover the seams on the back, but has worked well for me in the past to do big quilts. 

Panel appliqued and quilted 

I also did some testing of a machine applique technique to put the leaves on my Tropical Whimsy Quilt. I don't do a lot of machine applique so wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing before I started adding to my mariners compass blocks for this quilt. I had bought a beautiful green batik fabric to do all the leaves with when I started the quilt (10 years ago?) and when I finished the blocks last month I cut out some test leaves and put them on the blocks to see how they looked. I'm glad I did that because I didn't like how the fabric looked on the quilt--it overpowered the blocks. I decided to use the 4 test leaves to make a tote bag (because the fabric is gorgeous, it just doesn't work in the quilt) and that went well. I bought different fabric to use in the quilt and now I am ready to move ahead with that applique and I have the outside panels finished to turn into a tote bag. 

I have also been making masks which are being sold through a local brewery as a fundraiser for the NH Hospitality Employee Relief Fund. If you are also making masks you might want to check out the post at The Sewcialists about a mask-making survey. 

In my blog visiting this week I also came across a very cute block at Making a Lather -- country roads -- which I might want to use for a scrap quilt project.

Overall it was a very productive sewing week.