AHIQ Challenge: Chinese Coins

Kaya and Ann at the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters have devised challenges for this year, and the first one, I discovered this past week, is Chinese Coins. (That will teach me to concentrate on sewing for two and a half months and neglect Blogland!) Now I've seen a few Chinese Coins Quilts in blog posts since I started quilting five years ago, but was never really impressed! Sorry! I must have been looking in the wrong place because Ann gave links to some amazingly dynamic stacks of coins, a far cry from the piles of jelly roll cut-offs I've seen before.

So what did I do? I found some 2½" batik strips, from a roll of  pre-cut 2½" batik strips (a jelly roll in all but name!), stacked them, cut through the stack at 17" and sewed them together along the long sides with the darkest at the bottom and the lightest at the top. How boring!

I didn't choose the brightest of colours but stuck with earth tones. I'm thinking the Earth and Mother Nature, sedimentary rocks, peat cuttings. Colour-wise rather like an early Van Gogh, before he went off to the South of France and discovered irises and sunflowers!

If I read the challenge instructions properly I've got one more month to make this into something. Something, that is, other than the resemblance of a stack of peat propped up to dry!

I'm linking to

 

Click on the button to see more improvised Chinese Coins. I am sure there will some amazing variations on the theme.

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 2016 finished top and a start on RSC 2017

Each month Angela gives a colour and worldwide lots of quilters start sewing their scraps in that colour. February's colour is teal/aqua. I wonder what next month's colour will be.

I finished the Bears Paws blocks and have started on some nine-patches in aqua/turquoise/teal

and in purple (January's colour):

Most effort this week, however, went into putting my blocks from last year's challenge together. I decided last week to add "frames" rather than sashing, and give the blocks a frame of in total 6" if you add left and right together: 4" on one side and 2" on the opposite side, or 3"on both sides.

Thus each block went from 14" square to 20.75" square. I changed the relative positions of the wide and narrow pieces in each block. I had intended to put those larger blocks together randomly, but was afraid the empty spaces would become too unevenly distributed. So began my planning headache! The only constant is in the corners; a two inch frame in the corner to help define the whole as a square and hopefully to prevent the appearance of sagging. (I wish that was always so easy!)

Now I have to think of a name. Hmm ... Rainbow Bears?, ... Multi-coloured Bears?, ... Bears in the Paint pot? Any ideas?

I'm linking up this week to: 

                            

Click on the buttons to see more from scraps and a lot of finishes.

Happy sewing

Marly

RSC 16 The last of the Bear's Paws

Each month Angela gives a colour and worldwide lots of quilters start sewing their scraps in that colour. February's colour is teal/aqua, and as I only needed two more bear's paw sections to  finish my RSC quilt from last year, aqua they are!

Here they are with the two remaining purple paws from last week:

The block that didn't make it into the quilt top, but will be incorporated into the back somehow.

And here are the other nine blocks, not yet in their final placement:

These blocks measure 14" square as they are; 13.5" in the final setting

I got so much advice last week about the sashing colour, for which I'm very grateful. Here's a peek at the final block, not with sashing as I suggested last week, but framed.

Maybe there'll be a finished top before the end of this month.

I'm linking up to:

     

Click on the buttons, to see more scraps made beautiful.

Enjoy your week, wherever you are.

Happy sewing

Marly.

En Provence top

Since November I've been working on the 2016 Quiltville Mystery quilt, "En Provence!". Bonnie Hunter published the last clue at New Year and throughout January this was all the sewing I did,
with this result:

Somehow I managed to make more patches than I needed, and to cut more triangle-in-a-square pieces, so at present I'm making a panel to use in the backing in an effort to shift some of the pieces already cut. I know if I put them away "in a safe place" I won't be able to find them when I need them, or, even worse, I'll forget I ever had them!

left-over pieces getting ready to become a panel the length of the quilt back.

I'll use a solid fabric between these blocks and at the side so I can make the backing from one and a half times the height of the quilt, instead of having to buy twice the height and have a lot left over (this measures 69" square).

I hope I did the maths right!!

This is what I was looking at on Saturday, but then decided the large chevrons would be too wide for the space, or too cramped to be effective.

Furthermore I like Friendship Stars; I'll use one of them to make the label.

I'm linking to Bonnie Hunter's blog, Quiltville for the final link up of the En Provence Mystery. Why don't you hit the buttons below and see what other scrappy and mystery quilters have produced?

And with

 

  for more fun scrap projects

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 17 January was purple!

Each month Angela gives a colour and worldwide lots of quilters get sewing their scraps in that colour. January's colour was purple, but the month was past before I got my purple bear's paws finished. You can see other people's purple patches here.

Although this month's colour is aqua I'm showing my catch-up purple efforts. January was a very dull and gloomy month, with very little sunshine, and, one way or another, a lot of purple. It seemed to be taking me ages to get these four pieces sewn. Work was exceptionally busy, and then there were other sewing projects calling to me!

January's purple pieces (made mostly in February!)

Finally I got these finished. Then while I was at it, I went on to complete the block; thus bringing a little warmth (at least colour-wise) into my life.

Two of the purple pieces sewn into their final setting. (Better light today: it's snowing and the reflected light is wonderful!)

All the blocks I made last year I sewed together in November, but didn't get round to posting about them. Here are four of the eight, photographed when I was trying to decide on the sashing colour.

medium grey sashing ...

or dark grey? Choices, choices!

What do you think? Which shade of grey would you choose?

Here is the reason I took so long over the bear's paws.

Something else with a lot of purple

The Quiltville 2016 mystery "En Provence!" which kept me (and some of you too, I'm sure) busy through December and most of January. The top is finished and I'm trying to make a panel from the left-over pieces to use on the back.

the bears crashed the photo!

This was the situation a week ago and it's taking shape with a total of seven blocks so far.

I'm linking up to 

Click on the button to see how well the other participants are doing with aqua.

Happy sewing

Marly.