Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Looking ahead

Hi all, and welcome to the last post of 2014! Who else can't believe this year is almost over? When I was a kid, the year 2000 seemed soooo far away, and here we are nearly 15 years past it, and still no flying cars.  I would settle for a regular one that's indestructible, if anyone is working on this.

First, I have a picture to show of the only Christmas present I made this year:



I don't usually make Christmas presents, but my younger daughter really needed a footstool, and I couldn't for the life of me find one that I liked in the right size. So I made one, and I even let Mr. Academic Quilter pick the fabric. I was dubious, but she really liked it, so wins all around!

Has everyone finished their quilts for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for this year? Me either, but I am working hard at it. In the meantime, I am planning for a new scrap quilt for this year's RSC, and I thought some people out there in Internet-land might want to join me. Here's the plan:

I want to make a row quilt out of classic quilt blocks, using the colors for RSC15 each month. Here are some of the blocks I'm planning to use:


The center of my quilt will be 60 inches wide, and the length may vary because some of the blocks can be made in various sizes. I chose to make mine 60 inches wide because the factors of 60 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60, meaning that blocks in any of these sizes will make rows that finish at 60 inches wide. That makes the math easy, since these are classic blocks in many of these sizes. I did include some 8 and 9 inch blocks which will also make a properly-sized row with the addition of spacers. It sounds complicated when I type it out, but I've done the math and it works fine. The quilt center should be between 72 and 80 inches long.

If you'd like to come along and make a row quilt using your scraps (or other fabric if you'd like!),  I'll post a tutorial on the first Tuesday of every month for the block for that month. (Don't quite know what to do about September yet, but I'll figure it out when we get there!) You can see that I have a bunch of blocks planned already, but I may change my mind about some of the colors. This could even be made as a sampler with one of each block. Either way, it will be fun!

I hope you'll join me in this adventure! I may even learn to do link-ups if enough people show interest.

Everyone have a great time celebrating the new year. Hope you get a few more stitches in before 2014 leaves!

Linking to Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, and Let's Bee Social.  Be sure to stop by!

5 comments:

Preeti said...

I like how you casually say - "So I made one" It is indeed lovely. How did you figure it all out? That fabric is oh so rich, warm, and caramel colored!!! I agree - Wins all around!!!

JanineMarie said...

The footstool and pillow look so cozy! And I know your row quilt will be neat. I'm looking forward to your tutorials. Congrats on winning Bernie's giveaway on Needle and Foot, and have fun with the goodies!

Anonymous said...

Great fabric choice for the Christmas gift. Very rich.
I am in for the RSC15 row quilt. I've been trying to think of what I want to do for this and your quilt along will be fun. The blocks look like something I can handle without stressing over them.
So.... wonder what color is first!
Happy New Year Mari!

Lorna McMahon said...

Sounds like a great quilt along idea, Mari. You can never go wrong with those classic blocks. Looking forward to seeing what is to come in 2015! Happy New Year!

Ann said...

Very useful footstool. The leg on ours broke and I still need to find a new one. What an interesting QAL row quilt you have planned. I look forward to seeing your progress.