Puttering

I'm very much looking forward to finding out what the prompt will be for the next step in the liberated medallion quilt along. I've got my medallion ready to show and link up on Friday. In the meantime I've pretty much caught up on friendship block requests for members of my local guild. I didn't get pictures of all of them but here are two:

Those who didn't hand out a specific block to make seem to be getting sawtooth stars from me! These will finish at eight inches.

I've made a few other stars out of scraps too. Technically I guess the green Ohio stars would qualify for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for the month of June. ;- )

These Ohio stars are nine inches each as opposed to the 12" blocks I made last year for the RSC.

I also dug an assortment of crumb and crazy pieced blocks out of the Parts Department and sewed them into a 24" x 40" panel.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. My first instinct is to use it as the beginning of another medallion style quilt for a child. We'll have to see what the Parts Department coughs up next!

I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge bloggers over at SoScrappy Saturday morning. There's a world of wonderful scrappy goodness to be seen. :- )

Guided by the Stars

I've had my head down, working on two separate projects this week. When I wan't suffering from debilitating physical circumstances that is. Let me express my appreciation for the positive feedback I've received on recent work. I haven't been able to face a computer screen most of the week.

To begin with I finished up the child's quilt top I was building out of my Parts Department. This is how it looked when last you saw it:

Those postage stamp stars in the corners of the ship round bothered me. They seemed too big and awkward in those positions. My first thought was to carry the blue of the water under the ships around the corners. That made it imperative that I use smaller blocks in the corners. I considered my 6" Shoo-fly blocks but they also seemed too large and somehow inappropriate. So I quickly made up 4" pinwheels out of scraps.

Oh yes, much better!

This is the completed flimsy. The quilt will measure about 40" wide by 56" long. I also made backs for this one and the heart medallion top I created a week or so ago. All we need now is batting. (Honestly, sometimes making backs is more challenging than piecing quilt tops!)

I'm linking this post to the RSC party this weekend over at SoScrappy since this top features blocks made out of my rainbow scrap blocks. Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the other project I've been playing with. ;- )

Parts Play Continues

I didn't make any new blocks per the RSC color palette this week. However, after completing the quick quilt top out of the Parts Department I had the urge to see if I could do it again. There are still a few 12" Ohio stars remaining from my RSC efforts in 2015. I put four of them on the design wall.

The colors are a bit washed out in this photo.

Next I went through the 8" blocks because three 8" blocks also equal 24" like pairs of 12" blocks.

I began with the baskets and then filled in with postage stamp stars. It works but... feels a bit crowded.

What if I used some of the ships I've been making lately?

Oh, I like that! Let's see, to make that row work I'll need sashing between the ships and something to bring those rows up to 8" overall.

Now the basket cornerstones don't make sense. Ships and stars go together but baskets seem out of place. And if I add one more row of postage stamp stars on the top and bottom edges I'll end up with a nicely rectangular quilt top for a child.

I haven't yet sewn these rows to the center square but that's what I plan to do next. There's room for a narrow border all the way around the outside. We'll see whether I have enough of something to pull that off!

I'm linking up with the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge bloggers via the link party over at SoScrappy.

Scrap Happy in June

After building the back for the wedding quilt, and having made two larger quilts just prior to that one, I decided to play around with a smaller project for a change. I've had my basket medallion out and I know what I want to do but I haven't been able to give it the attention I want to due to a series of headaches. When all else fails, go to the Parts Department!

I opened the box of 12" blocks and pulled out the ones in brighter prints and colors with a quilt for a foster child in mind. I put what I had on the wall in a basic grid. It became evident right away I wasn't going to be able to get away with something that simple. A medallion setting was the next thought that occurred. (Gee, I wonder why?) Pretty soon I had a 12" heart framed with 6" bow ties and whatever those pinwheel-type blocks are called.

So far, so good. But I want this to be another rectangular quilt. That's when I remembered the hourglass units I'd made some time ago. A string of those, maybe with a narrow strip along the top and bottom to build the row up to 6" again, would do the job. I had plenty of hourglass units but most of them were in more muted tones. That sent me to that towering pile of scraps I mentioned in my last post. A few hours later I had a stack of patches and the beginning of several new scrap blocks to assemble between seams (aka leaders and enders).

I cut squares and triangles to finish at 4", 3", and two inches. There are a couple smaller triangles and parts for 9" Ohio stars and sawtooth stars, and 6" Churn Dash or Hole in the Barn Door and Shoo-fly blocks. Oh, and I made a few more 3" hourglass units too. :- )

I strung them together and added those narrow strips to achieve six inches. Except I miscalculated. I only had five inches. That called for an alteration in my plans. I removed the narrow strips from the top and bottom of the hourglass rows. I'd already figured on a two or three inch sashing to separate the medallion from the side border blocks so I just used that to separate the medallion from the top and bottom blocks too. It probably worked out better than what I'd have done if I hadn't made the miscalculation!

That's it, the top's done! I had to make a couple of 12" blocks to fill in empty spots. This liberated star:

And this Ohio star:

I'm pleased with the way this spur-of-the-moment project turned out. The flimsy is 52" X 60."

I'll make a back for it later on. I think I might be able to tackle my liberated basket medallion now.

To see other scrappy goodness go check out the blogs listed by Kate at TallTalesfromChiconia. :- )

Stitch Along Update

It's been three weeks since I showed you the embroidery I started when I got bored with the needlepoint I'd been doing. This is where it was then:

And this is how it looks now:

I've been working with a limited color palette, partly for the challenge of it and partly to keep it simple (less time spent trying to make color or value decisions). I'm not quite sure what to do about the outlines of the girls arms and head and neck. I haven't been through all of my floss yet. Probably there's something appropriate in there.

If you want to see some other really lovely needlework check out the following blogs:

• Avis at sewingbesidethesea
• Claire at claire93'sblog
• Gun at rutigt
• Carole at aslightobsessionwithbooks
• Wendy at thecraftersapprentice
• Lucy at  lucyannluna
• Jess at everthecrafter
• Kate at talltalesfromchiconia
• Constanze at  textiledreamer
• DebbieRose at sewrosey

And we'll be back in another three weeks to see what additional progress has been made!