Pink and green

Hi all! It's Friday again! I am happy that this week is over and soooo looking forward to relaxing this weekend. Maybe I will even sleep 8 hours at one stretch. I hear some people do that on a regular basis, but I don't think I've ever met any of them.

It happens that both of today's quilts are pink and green. I guess it was a theme. Take a look at this one:

Yes! Celtic Solstice is now all finished, quilted, AND bound!

I could not be happier. It turned out well! This is not exactly how I originally envisioned the colors coming together, but they turned out okay! The back is a print I got on at a super-sale price and it works well with this quilt:

It started raining right after I took these pictures, so they came out a little gray. The colors are brighter in person. Really, really happy this is done! I plan to wrap up in it tonight to watch TV, maybe along with a nice mug of hot chocolate.

On another note, here is the current state of the Drunkard's Path quilt. Mr. AQ has pronounced this one "kinda girly." Okay, note for next year: try to lay off the pink and green. Thanks honey, you've been very helpful.

Yeah, not as much progress as I had hoped. I have everything cut, but I've had little time this week to put the blocks together. Also, I'm wondering about borders. I think that Drunkard's Path quilts generally have no borders or else very narrow borders because the block pattern is the star of this quilt. Trying to think ahead about what I might use for a border.

Both of these have been bright spots in otherwise drab days this week. The forecast for this weekend calls for "light snow showers," so I plan to clean out the machines, change rotary cutter blades, and do other boring things. Then maybe I'll get to sew some more Drunkard's Path blocks. After a nap, of course!

Here's to everyone having a great weekend with lots of sleep and lots of sewing! It's chilly, so be sure to grab a quilt to wrap up in!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along. Be sure to stop by!

Chasing the rainbow

Hi folks! How is everyone today? Hope you're all doing really well. So far this week, it's been great around here. We had our first snow on Friday, but it's warmed up a bit since then, so there is none on the ground now, though there probably will be some later this week. I really felt bad for the trick or treaters, but we had a record number this year, so I guess candy trumps cold. I'm pretty sure it would for me if I were a kid.

I have a few things to show you today. I'm getting excited about finishing up this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts. Coming down to the wire on finishing the blocks, so these are close to the last ones! First up are two light blue 9-patches for RSC14:

Okay, the one on the right is more of a medium blue, but it is definitely blue, even though it looks a little greenish.

Next, I made three multi-colored blocks from the leftover HSTs from the single-color blocks:

These don't have quite the same effect as the single-color blocks, but I think they'll be fine in the quilt.

I've been thinking of using this black and white for the setting triangles:

I'm not really sure about it any more. Going with white would be the super-easy choice, but I'm tired of white and want to do something different. I'll have to think on this one. There are a few more blocks to make before I'm done, so there's a little time.

Other than that. I'm still working on the Drunkard's Path blocks. Not sure how big this quilt is going to be. They are 16-inch blocks. I'm hoping to have 12 done this week.  I'm using the 4-inch templates and am finding this tiny rotary cutter very useful:

The one on the right is a 45 mm cutter, and on the left is an 18 mm one. It's so teeny, but it cuts those curves really, really well. So far I've only been able to cut two layers at a time with it, but it's still way better than scissors. 

That seems like a little, but there's really a lot going on here. At least it feels like a lot to me. And of course I went fabric shopping this weekend and planned another project using these fabrics:

What am I going to do with those? Well, here's a clue--do you want to build a snowman? (Some came from my stash--I didn't buy all of that, though it would be nice to be able to!)

Happy sewing everyone!

Linking to Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social, and also the awesome Angela at soscrappy for RSC14.

Boo!

Hey ho, it's Halloween!  Which also means that it's the last day of October and November starts tomorrow. November! How did this happen? For our part of the country, the first of November opens the betting for when the first snow will fall. Let's hope it's not tonight, because it's pretty cold. Be sure to put those costumes on over a coat, kids!

This week, I finished the Halloween wall quilt, just in time for all the little goblins we expect to ring our doorbell tonight:

I swear that bottom edge is really straight!

This is much bigger than it looked in the magazine. It's about 32 by 16. I seem to have this condition where I'll look at the measurements for a pattern and still have no real concept of how big the project really is. In my mind this should have turned out about half this size. 32 by 16? Tiny. 60 by 80? Should fit a king, right?

No real problem, though, because they're very cute! I added the tabs to make it hang better in my house. Here is the very festive back:

Really, what else would I have used that fabric for? It's perfect here! And you can see behind it that we still have leaves on the maple tree. More raking in our future!

The only other thing I really worked on this week were some new Drunkard's Path blocks:

Gosh, I like this green so much better! And surprise--those pink corners make a very nice secondary pattern when they're together. The thing I like best about these blocks is that the print becomes the "neutral." I think I get stuck on the idea of using white all the time and forget that other fabrics can make very nice quilts too.

I'm really enjoying making these blocks. I never knew they were so easy or else I would have made them years ago! Really, they're each only two pieces. The curved seam takes a little getting used to, but otherwise they go together really quickly. And there are so many cool patterns! I already know that I want to make a second one using a different layout.  I have some turquoise, which I think will make some very nice blocks. Maybe I'll start on those next week. (So much for not getting carried away.)

Everybody have a great weekend! Tonight I'll be guarding the candy bowl and answering the door, then it's more library time for me on Saturday.

Gosh, I hope we have enough!

Hope you get to do something fun. It's cold, so we should all stay inside and sew!

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, crazy mom quilts, and Vicki Welsh's Drunkard's Path Quilt Along. Be sure to stop by!

Decisions, decisions

Well, hi there, folks! Hope you all had a great few days. I have hardly sewn a stitch! It was 70 degrees this weekend, so of course we finished up our work outside while dodging political phone calls. It was massive amounts of no fun, even though the weather was nice. Then I spent a long, long time in the library, which was productive in other ways. But I do have some sewing things planned for this week!

First, here is the Halloween hanging, all set up and ready to quilt:

Hey, if it's done by Halloween, it counts!

I laid out the blocks for RSC14, just to see how many more of each block I'll need. Here are the 9-patches:

Yes, that's the brown ruler print hanging off the edge there. Not to worry, I'm sure it will fit in just fine. I think I need 8 more blocks to finish this. I'd like to have the blocks be 5 across, with 4 in the alternate rows. I'm also thinking that I'll use the extra triangles I have to make 4 blocks that I'll put in the center. I'll probably use just a solid white for the sashing because there are so many scrap white-on-whites in here. I have a black and white print for the setting triangles, and I think I might want a multicolored polka dot fabric for the border. I could change my mind on that one, though.

And then here are the Odd Fellows:

Yeah, not the best picture, but it was so dark out when I was taking pictures at 5 pm. It just didn't work to hang them on the fence. Darned planetary tilt! And it's really hard to take pictures of big blocks!

Anyway, I seem to be missing a green. I'll have to look for that one. I decided not to make the brown block. Just not my thing. I could change my mind on that, too, though.  I think I need at least 5 more, because I want it to be at least 5 by 5. Odd Fellow's quilts are usually set without sashing for the secondary patterns to emerge, but I think I want a very small sashing to separate these blocks because the colors sometimes clash and don't really allow for those secondary patterns. It would also mean no matching, which is always good.

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the Drunkard's Path blocks. I think we all agree on the Wedding Ring layout, but I have to change the fabric. That green is just not working for me. Instead I have these:

This will be a much, much better green. The other was just too light. I essentially had two medium fabrics, which made for a really boring quilt. The only real goal I have for this week is to make some blocks and get this quilt going. If I have time, I'll also quilt up some of those projects I have basted.

Finally, because this post was full of boring pictures, enjoy this lovely fall picture from our front yard:

It was beautiful, but all those leaves are on the ground now. Ah, well.

Hope everyone gets some productive sewing time this week! Linking to Linky Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, and Let's Bee Social, and also the awesome Angela at soscrappy for RSC14.