So what's next?

Since I just finished a quilt I am looking forward to what is next.  I remember a time when I just couldn't wait to start the next project.  It seems now a days I like to put a bit more thought into what I want to spend my time making.  I have wrestled with what to do with a bolt of solid red fabric I bought several years ago. I really love two color quilts and know that is the direction I want to move.  So I narrowed down my choices for a red and white quilt to an ocean waves, lady of the lake, or broken dishes.  Well, I have made my choice Lady of the Lake.  Not quite as many of those HST's as Ocean Waves which is helping me with the decision.  Piecing has alway been a challenge for me!  So to encourage me to start I ordered Bonnie Hunter's essential triangle ruler and I hope with her experienced advice I can become a more accurate piecer.  I need to dig out my white bolt of fabric and see if I have enough to start but hopefully that will happen over the next few weeks.

As for today, I really need to relax.  It has been a crazy week here.  I spent a  lot to time working on the lawn.  The previous owner did nothing to control the weeds.  I had some weed with a purple daisy looking flower that are actually winning the war between it and the burmuda.  I also have been tilling organic matter into the soil that will be my little kitchen garden.  We will see??  It has come along way this summer at least all the rocks have been removed and the sod has been busted. Now to let the organic matter and worms do their magic over the winter.  So it feels good to take the afternoon off and add some leaves to my trailing vine quilt.  It's my go to project in between any others.  So glad it is there.

Pieced and prepped leaves for Trailing Vines

My granddaughter Aria put in a request for a quilt for her doll Leah.  She told me Leah would love to have a quilt just like the one that I made for her. So this is what I cameup with this week.

Aria'a Wonky Star Quilt

Leah's wonky star doll quilt

Hopefully, this will work! 

RSC2014 Finish

Last year I linked up with Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014!  It was a very new experience for me. I had been working on using up some old stash and had some brights that I needed to use. I wanted to make a pickle dish quilt and decided if I used the black and whites I had and added a neutral gray I could use up my bright scraps.  Then I saw a wonky star that another quilter had made and decided I could stretch those scraps to make one more block a month.

So  twelve months later I had twelve wonky star blocks and a quilt was born. I had so much fun linking and sharing my progress and the enjoying the  progress of the other quilters. We only had to follow Angela's lead on which color to use each month. All of the other decisions were ours to make.  It was so much fun to see all the creative blocks each Saturday.  I decided that my wonky star would go to my only granddaughter Aria. She loves everything princess and will soon be four.  But first, I needed to get it quilted.    I took a craftsy class on straight line quilting and decided this would be  a perfect opportunity to practice what I had learned. Why not start with something simple. Straight lines across the quilt at a 45 degree angle. Sounds simple doesn't it.  Well, after starting I wondered what I had gotten myself into.   It is so much different than hand quilting.  In my book, it was so much harder. I know my arms got a workout.  I also know why the instructor kept saying take it slow. Getting and keeping those lines straight is a real job.  My lines are not perfect, but I reminded myself this was my first attempt at a larger project.  So last night I finished the binding and threw it in the wash.   I love the way it turned out the texture is wonderful and the cotton batting softened up and has a great drape.  I also made a pillow case to match out of the few scraps I had left.  So today I am linking up with So Scrappy to share my finished wonky star.  Thanks Angela for hosting RSC2014 I really enjoyed the challenge! Now to get that Pickle Dish quilted!

Even though it is pretty dreary here early this morning, I still like the way this quilt sparkles!

The picture up above shows the back of the quilt!  I solved the problem of not having enough width by adding a band of squares. It as also an opportunity to use up the rest of the scraps.

matching pillowcase

October Brings Us Brown!

Well, I am off to a bit of a slow start this month!  Angela has chosen brown as our color of choice.  At first, I thought "Oh my! Brown will never work in my RSC quilts."  I read thru Angela's post and she suggested we make the blocks and then decide.   So I went to the sewing closet to see what I could find.
I knew I had some browns to use, but they are not the bright fun fabrics that have made up my other blocks.  Then I pulled out the gray and black whites that I have used in all of the other blocks.  " There is no way this is going to work!"  But I decided at the beginning of the year I would stick to using fabrics from my scrap box or at least my stash.  So I printed off my paper patterns and off I went to work making up the pieces that I would use to make the three pickle dish blocks that I need for this months challenge. Once I sewed them together, they started to grow on me. The real test will be how they will play with the others.

Three brown pickle-dish blocks!

I also pulled out a lot of other browns to make the four inch squares for my wonky star block.  I decided in my head if I used a lot of different browns maybe it would be able to fit in with the other bright fun blocks I had already made in the past months. This was the result!

Brown Wonky Star

I took a minute to lay out all my wonky stars to see if the brown block would work!  I must say I am a bit surprised that it looks pretty comfortable.  Not sure what the final layout will be yet.




Ten wonky star blocks!

I also put together a few nine patches this week.   I wanted to try  Barb's tutorial for the little nine patches that she and a group of bloggers are swapping!  They are fun to make and I plan on adding to my collection.  Hopefully, someday they will become quilt!


I am linking up with Angela and the rest of the RSC participants to see what others are doing with their brown, black and gray scraps.
 

Orange Wonky Star

I was able to almost get my orange wonky star done.  Three more seams this am and it will be complete.  I was out of town part of last week and this week visiting family. We spent part of one day going thru things at my mom's house and I found a bit of fabric with some orange in it.  I just had to add it to this block. I think this fabric is from the sixties, but I am not really sure.

It makes me happy that this quilt will have a bit of great grandma's fabric in it since my granddaughter Aria will be it's recipient.

I also think the black background of the fabric will add a bit sparkle to the quilt! Sometimes the unexpected is just what we need!