Goodbye Yellow!

 Angela gave us yellow as October's colour of the month.

 Ten 6" Scrap Snap blocks made this month:

All but the last two seams were leaders and enders while I was sewing a Christmas table runner. Both blocks and table runner top were finished yesterday.

This pattern was presented as the "FaLaLa" SAL by Jacquelynne Steves, and is available on her website until the end of this month (or so). Or at least not for much longer, as the QAL has finished and the pattern will only be available from her shop in future.  

I am not adding more borders as suggested in the pattern; that would be too much for my table. The blocks came together really quickly once I'd finished the embroidery. I haven't embroidered much over the last forty years !! so progress was slow. The satin stitch holly berries gave me the most distress, but these are the best ever - by me - though they wouldn't win any prizes! In the pattern some of the centre pieces had text in them, but as not everyone here reads English I only embroidered pictures.

My goal for October, to quilt my shoo fly quilt, didn't happen. I'm toying with the idea of having a UFO-only year next year; I wonder if I'll be able to resist the temptation of starting something new.

I'm linking this post to:

  

 

 

 

 

Click on the buttons to visit these link-ups.

 

 

 

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Some progress on several projects

For the last six or seven years (I haven't counted!) I've taken part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, organised by Angela at SoScrappy. Speaking of rainbows, heading for my "Rainbow" box on Sunday I saw this:

 It was brighter when I saw it first, but I needed to grab my I-Pad.

The reason I was going for my rainbow box was to make an overview of my bead blocks:

  

I wanted to see how many more I need to make into a lap quilt.  I'm almost there! I have three red, two pink, two purple, one yellow and one orange that didn't fit on the wall, but I still need more for an on point layout with an odd number of blocks in each direction. Three more of both light and dark blue will make two blue columns, and one turquoise, and one green block will make the number of rows right too. I won't be making brown or black beads - this is dark enough as it is!

My other RSC project still doesn't look like much.

 

Clockwise from top right: AA units, B units, AAB units waiting, AB units ready to sew.

 

but the Scrap snap blocks have been serving as leaders and enders this week too.

I finally made a start yesterday on row 11 of the Sugaridoo Bernina QAL:

A year ago I avoided foundation paper piecing like the plague! Even though I had had a personal demonstration from Irene (Sugaridoo), herself! In this quilt along she has included several foundation piecing rows, and demonstrated two methods which don't involve tearing out the paper at the end. That's one headache less, but the process still makes me nervous.

 

Neither EPP nor FPP in the Hemisphere QAL organised by Sheila Christensen, but straightforward machine piecing. This is my block 13:

 

And these are all my blocks so far:

This is definitely not the final layout! The blocks are all too pretty to be stealing one another's thunder.

  

I completed three of the four embroidered panels for the FaLaLa QAL organised by Jaquelynne Steves.

 I don't like the fourth panel, so I will probably make a second star.

Finally this week, a trip yesterday to Aphen aan den Rijn (about 80 km round trip) to buy yarn for a shawl I intend making from the pattern of the Queen CAL by Tinna Thorudottir Designs on Ravelry (#tinnahekl).

The pattern uses seven colours in a small blanket, but I'm just using these two. I want it to be finished this winter, and it will be approximately one third of the size of the original blanket which would keep me hooking for years. Anyway with so many quilts, who needs a crochet blanket? Not me, at the moment anyway.

starting chain is a start!

Until I came to write them down I had no idea I had so many projects actively on the go. I'm not sure it's such a good idea to have so much on the go, and also know there are more waiting for attention.

I'm linking to: 

Click on the buttons to see what others are making.

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Yellow's the colour!

Yes this gloomy month is brighter in the sewing room because of Angela's decision to make this the yellow month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here are my bead blocks:

 

 

My Scrap Snap blocks as yet look like this: 

 

There are 3 joined pairs of squares on the right; they are the only leaders and enders I've made this week because I've been doing reverse appliqué in row 10 of the Sugaridoo Bernina QAL (the link is to row 12, but there are links there to all the rows):

No yellow!

The blocks are all finished, but still have to be trimmed before joining in the row.

 

I made block 12 of the Hemisphere QAL at Quilting with Sheila

 

Not much yellow here I'm afraid!

 

I also spent some evenings embroidering motifs for the Christmas table runner SAL, run by Jacquelynne Steves.

Ah, more yellow!

The motifs all measure 4x4", too small for my embroidery ring, but the star puckered. I scoured the Internet for a 10cm (4") ring, and "scoured" is the word as most handwork suppliers had nothing smaller than 15cm (6"). I'm pleased the chosen supplier could deliver only 48 hours later. The wreath isn't puckered, just creased from the ring. I shan't be making any of the blocks until I've finished the 4 embroidered panels.

I shall link this round-up of this week's sewing to:

Wendysquiltsandmore

RSC 20

Oh scrap!

Keep safe and healthy 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Red Scrap Snap blocks

Angela at Soscrappy has chosen red as September's colour in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here are my red Scrap Snap blocks:

Until yesterday they were serving as leaders and enders, but in my current projects I can easily chain piece so only need leaders and enders at the beginning and end of the sewing session. At the rate I was going over the last 18 days I wouldn't be finished at the end of the month! Moreover these pieces were taking up too much space on my sewing table. I quickly finished the last five once I'd finished yesterday's project, giving more space for the next cutting round.

I'm linking to

Click on the button to see more reds in action. 

Keep safe and healthy.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Red September

September's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red.

My red pieces for my Scrap Snap Quilts have been cut, but as yet none are sewn. 

I'll be sewing them as leaders and enders, but at the moment I'm sewing reverse appliqué that starts in the middle of a block, as part of the Bernina Sugaridoo QAL; no L&E required until I sew the row together. I hope that will be finished by the end of the coming week, so next week I should have more red to show.

I'm linking this post to:

            

Click on these buttons to see what others are making.

Stay healthy,

Happy Sewing,

Marly.

Purple Snap Scrap

Purple is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour of the month.

 

I posted a photo of my beads blocks earlier in the month, but here are my ten Snap Scrap blocks for August:

 

and here are all my Snap Scrap blocks so far:

 

 4 months Scrap Snap - provisional layout.

You can read more about them here.

That's all the purple sewing I've done this month.

Purple beads and more purple sewing

This month's RSC colour is purple. I've made my purple bead blocks:

and made a start on the Scrap Snap blocks from the fabric I had prepared last week:

one block finished

(looks blue here, but really is purple)

For the person who wrote last week that she didn't understand the blocks here is a summary of the process:

the second block in the machine

the next two ready to sew

the box of parts still to go

The blocks are made from the partly assembled units in the box. Each month there are ten finished blocks in the colour of the month, and each block has a different layout of the parts.

I sewed the first block as leaders and enders while making the bead blocks, which is why the second block, although nearly finished, is still under the needle. Next time I start sewing it will be the leader into the next seam. For more on leaders and enders check here.

I'm linking to:

     

and at the weekend to:

     

Click on the buttons to visit.

Happy sewing

Stay happy and healthy

Marly.

It's a purple August

Angela at soscrappy has chosen purple for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colour this month.

No sewing in purple yet, but I've cut the purple pieces for the Scrap Snap quilt.

The first part of making the blocks each month lends itself very well to being leaders and enders, so that is how these will be sewn together.

I'm linking to

Click the button to see more scrappy progress this week.

Stay safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Dark blue Scrap Snap

This month's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dark blue. No Beads blocks this month, I'm afraid, but here are my Scrap Snap quilt blocks.

These blocks work very well as Leaders and Enders, so as I needed more L&Es I cut dark green fabric and made May's blocks as well,

while I was sewing the blocks for the Sugaridoo Bernina QAL row 8 (this link is to the Dutch version of the blog, but if you click on the tab "taal" at the top right of the page you can go to the English and German versions of the post.) :

I'm linking to :

Click on the buttons to join the parties!

Be safe and healthy.

Happy sewing

Marly.

A new scrappy project

Angela at SoScrappy gives a colour each month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and a lot of us pick out our scraps in that colour and use them.

I showed my pink bead blocks last week, but while I was looking round on the SoScrappy and Oh Scrap links-up last weekend I saw something intriguing. Julie in GA showed a photo of her progress in her rainbow project. However much I looked at it I just couldn't work out how Julie had made the blocks. She kindly pointed me towards the Scrap Snap QAL and I'm hooked!

Here are my first Scrap Snap blocks:

The blocks all finish at 6" in the quilt and are made up of different combinations of just four pieces. That makes the cutting easy and the piecing not boring! I made these this week as leaders and enders while working on another project.

The QAL started in January so I'm rather late, but I'm not going to play catch up; I'll just make the other colours next year as we come to them.

I'm linking to:

 

Click on the buttons to see more scrappy projects.

Stay safe and healthy,

Happy Sewing

Marly.