Squared Away Quilt Block

September already!

Our colours for this month with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are dark blue or neutral, so I’ve picked dark blue to make September’s Squared Away block.  Mari from The Academic Quilter says:  “This block is called Queen Charlotte's Crown, a Nancy Cabot block from the 1930’s.” 

I had fun looking through my blue fabric scraps to pick complementary fabrics for these blocks. 

With one month to go on this project, here are my blocks to date.

I’m missing August, so hope to get caught up before the end of the year.

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ~ Michael Altshuler 

September’s One Monthly Goal

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for September is to quilt and bind this Sea themed quilt.  In this picture the quilt is folded in four. 

A combination of 16 patches and blues, many of the fabrics in this quilt have a water, or under the water theme.  Perhaps when I post the finished quilt, I will take some close ups so you can see the fish and coral and other watery images.

I found a waves fabric for the backing. 

My plan is to quilt it with the Seaside pantograph by Kathie James.

Here is another picture of part of the quilt top with the backing peeking through. 

Check out what others hope to finish this month at Elm Street Quilts OMG link-up.

I couldn’t resist this lovely poppy from my garden. 

Beauty of expression is so akin to the voice of the sea. ~ George Matthew Adams

Orange scraps

… are what we are playing with for the month of August and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  So I started by checking out the scraps in my orange scrap basket. 

There were a lot of strips in there so I was able to piece four new Quarter Log Cabin quilt blocks. 

Our alternative colour for August is brown, so when sewing my Cog quilt blocks I made some in orange as well as brown.  They look a bit faded in these photos, I think the bright sun light drained the colours a bit. 

We’ll see how the month goes and if I have time to do anymore orange or brown scrappy projects.  My husband and I will be vacationing for the second half of the month, so this might be all I get done.

Wonky Churn Dash quilt

My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for July was to quilt and bind this Wonky Churn Dash quilt. 

 My friend Terry Morberg designed this quilt for a class that she taught at Out of Hand, a local quilt store.  I thought it was a great quilt to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with, so each month I pieced colours of the Rainbow wonky churn dash blocks, until I had enough for a nice twin size quilt.

Every month as I’m trying to finish my OMG, it usually gets down to the wire, so I bring my quilt into work to sew the binding during lunch hour.  I work in a Library, lately I have been sitting in front of our Maker Studio and finishing my projects, consequently I’ve been joined by others, so now we meet weekly for Finishing School and some friendly chatting. 

I found some lovely fabric for the back and needed just a little more length so I expanded it with the colourful bits left over from my churn dashes. 

Quilted with the Popcorn pantograph design by Jodi Beamish and a black and white variegated thread called zebra. 

Am I the only one who thinks that the churn dash looks a bit like a hash tag?

I’m inspired to have a monthly goal by Patty blogging at Elm Street Quilts, so far I’ve been completing one quilt or project each month, it feels so good.

Fun in Red

I’m having fun playing with my red and maroon fabric scraps, the colour of this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC).  First I wanted to get my Squared Away blocks sewn up, I decided to participate in this year’s RSC sampler, and each month we get a new block pattern to sew in the colour of the month.  This block is Round the Corner, a Nancy Page block from 1920.  Mari, blogging at The Academic Quilter has written up the instructions. 

 With still more time to sew and enjoying playing with my red scraps, I made a set of High Five blocks. 

The High five block pattern is from the book Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.  Here is what I have so far. 

That’s it for this Saturday, you can see lots of other Red projects at Soscrappy, where we all link up on Saturdays for the RSC.

When in doubt wear red. ~ Bill Blass

July is Red

I love participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC), it helps me to sew through my fabric scraps with some focus.  The colour for the month of July is Red/Maroon, which reminds me of Ruby the birthstone for July, my birth month.

With more than one project on the go, I always have something that needs the colour of the month.  For this week I started with my Cog quilt blocks, focusing on the Reds and got these five finished to add to my collection.  I'm hoping to have five blocks in each colour by the end of this year's RSC.

Next up was some Quarter Log Cabin blocks, as I had still more time to sew and play with my red scraps.

Yesterday was my birthday, I enjoyed the morning in Addie's Creative Fabrics (quilt store) in Cochrane, AB.  Addie's give you a discount on your birthday, so it was the perfect time to pick fabric for a couple of quilt backs.  I was greeted with a Happy Birthday from my friend and quilting buddy  Carolyn (who works there a couple of days a week). 

Have you ever seen of Freddy Moran's vibrant quilts?  Freddy considers red a neutral.

A Goal for July

This month I would like to quilt and bind this Rainbow Wonky Churn Dash quilt. 

This quilt was one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects over the last couple of years.  I finished the last of the blocks for the top in September and then assembled the top later in the year.  

On a recent trip to the Central Alberta Quilt Show in Red Deer I found the border and backing fabric.

In the picture you can see the top folded with the black and white backing peeking out and on the right side are strips that I made with left-over fabric from the blocks, I will use these strips to expand the backing as I need a little more than two widths of fabric to make it long enough.

I’m playing along with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal(OMG) link-up, it really helps me to keep on track and complete my UFO’s (unfinished objects).

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. ~ Tony Robbins