Today's post has to start with this photo of some lovely flowers, because all the rest of the photos today are extremely boring:
I needed some spring this week, so I stopped and got myself some flowers. Carnations from the grocery store, not a florist, but still lovely. They certainly have brightened the place up and made me just a bit happier amidst all the gray here in January.
One of my RSC projects for this year will be a Boston Common quilt. Boston Common is a lot like Trip Around the World, but it starts with a rectangular center, not a square. Here's my beginning:
I told you the pictures were boring! As I've said before, I save squares in three small sizes, and I'm going to make the Boston Common quilt from the 2-1/2 inch squares. Even with last year's Squared Away project, I still have tons of these squares. The plan is to make a "round" every month, with a white round thrown in when necessary. I added the whites here because I think the red is likely to conflict with whatever color comes next. This wasn't all of my red squares, but it was close!
My last RSC project for the year involves strings. Apparently it's the year of the string quilt, because they are everywhere! My plan is to make a Scrap Happy Rails quilt from Amanda Jean Nyberg's book No Scrap Left Behind. I made one of these last year and it was super easy and turned out great. Here are my red string sections:
Another dull photo! String quilts are so appealing because every fabric will work for them. Funny story-- last year I cleaned out all of my old scraps, so this year I had no red to work with (I do have just about every other color, though.) I asked friends for some red strings, and they were all very generous, so almost none of the strings in these sections is from my own fabric. They still look great, though, don't they? I have a lot of strings left over, so I'll have to think of a project to use those up, too. I'm thinking donation quilt.
Those are my starts on the two remaining projects! They'll look a lot more exciting as we go along and add to them, I think. I did one more RSC-related thing this week, though it isn't red:
This is the kitten block from Tiny Tuesday. Isn't it adorable? I could see a whole litter of these, in many colors. It happens that my daughter has a gray cat, so of course my cat has to be gray. (She also has a white cat, but that would not have worked so well.) I'm weighing doing this quilt, too. The blocks will be fast and we all know tiny things are so cute, even in geometrics.
We are expecting a nasty weekend with rain and snow, and then a deep freeze and ice. Sounds like a good time to make progress on some quilty projects! Hope you all stay warm and get some stitching time too. Stay in the sewing room with all that nice cozy fabric!
Sharing at soscrappy for RSC19.
18 comments:
Your grey cat is just adorable! Hope that you are able to stay in and sew instead of having to fight with the weather.
I think I will get a second quilt planned for the challenge as well, I have only gotten one block made so far as unexpected things came up and I didn't decide to start on this until last week - I guess I better get busy.
i love the progress you're making! i'm looking forward to seeing how your Boston commons quilt will be coming along- a great idea for those RSC squares! i've been working with my squares since 2014, and can hardly make a dent!
i'm also making the crazy mom quilt- the one on the left that's in the book and the June QAL. it's still a work in progress, and i'm doing mine in neutrals. i love both your versions of the string quilts, though!
we're also expecting 20"++ of snow, so i'm ready to hunker down and sew, sew, sew!
Strings are wonderful, aren’t they? I’m doing several this year, too. I never met a kitty block I didn’t love, and yours is particularly cute! I did 3 kitty quilts using Sally’s kitten pattern (and my own Mama cat pattern) back in 2016 - see them on my quilt page. They’re so addicting!!
Love, love, LOVE the idea behind your Boston Commons quilt!! How nice will it be to have the top completed when the colors are done? A "ready-made" quilt top! :o ))
I love your gray cat! It is so cute. Your Boston common quilt was a great way to use scraps. Also the strips were fine.
I'm not good at using scraps. First I put it in a box, and once in a while I cut squares and strips. I have no plan with the squares, but I think it is a good way to collect the scrap. Now I dared to sign up for the RSC19 in the hope of using some of the scrap and just by visiting a couple of blogs I see that I have a lot to learn and I get many ideas. Thank you for visiting my blog, and thanks you for inspiration! :-)
I love getting a bunch of flowers this time of year - they make me happy! We need that pop of fresh color in the house. Pretty carnations - and pretty strip projects. Your pictures aren't boring - that is what quilting looks like. I enjoy hearing about everyone's progress on their projects! Happy to hear you have a plethora of red to work with this month!
All those reds are nice to look at this time of the year. I am doing something that starts out similar to the red project but with grey squares left over from a donation quilt....I'm interested in what you are doing because It's not something I've heard of.
Nice work!
Those are great blocks to start off your new RSC projects! I love the Boston Common idea. Sounds it will grow as a flimsy, not just individual blocks. Your gray cat block is wonderful, too, Mari!
A good little bit of red sewing. Cute kitty too. Hope the granddaughter is here soon.
I know where your red scraps are, by the way. I'm using them right now. You should've sent me an email, I would've shared them back! Haha. Those flowers are lovely, and I like all of your "boring" photos. Stay warm and cozy while that storm rolls through!
Thanks for the touch of spring in the flowers, just what we needed now. The Boston Common quilt it will be a nice variation from the usual. The little gray cat is the sweetest thing. Have a fun week!
Good for you for giving yourself a pick me up of flowers.
I'm going to have to go look up Boston Commons quilt. Sounds intriguing.
Sally kindly sent me dimensions for a 3 inch kitty. I'm going to make litters of those.
Here's wishing you a winter full of flowers!
Hi Mari! Isn't waiting on a baby just the worst?!! Not really . . . but you're so anxious to meet her that the waiting seems endless. I hope she is here soon, and that mom and baby are well. Our sweet great-niece is just two weeks and two days today! She was LATE after the doctor thought she would be EARLY. Oh the rollercoaster she has us on, and she came when she was good and ready. Then bilirubin issues galore, but sweet girl is just fine now. Eats like a champ, has a good set of lungs on her (not that I've heard though!), and has her days and nights mixed up. She'll figure it out, the doctor says. Meanwhile, mom and dad are walking zombies. We help and spoil her every chance we get!! I'm sending you good vibes and prayers for a healthy birth that's sooner than later. ~smile~ Roseanne
Looks like you have made good progress with the red scraps. I am looking forward to seeing your Boston Common quilt.
You've gotten a good start on some fun RSC projects for this year. I'm ready for spring too. All we got out of the last two systems was cold air, none of the snow. I'd just as soon get some of the pretty white stuff if it's going to be this cold.
Our granddaughter was a full 2 weeks late, then had to be born by c-section. I haven't even had time to prep my HST's for my cut glass blocks & the RSC.
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