Rainbow Scrap Challenge and More String Blocks

I promised myself that I would sew something other than string blocks for the Covered In Love String Fling this week.  It was a lot harder to resist than I thought it would be.  I made 35 string blocks.  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy used light blue for January, but I had to sneak some medium blue into the 7 blue string blocks.  I also made a  Dresden Plate block with 3.5 inch blades.  I didn't fasten it to a fabric base.  I am waiting until I have all of the blocks finished so I can decide where each color will be placed.

These are the rest of the string blocks I made this week. 

I won some lovely scraps from Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting.  Many of them were 2 inch strips so I immediately used them in my string blocks.

I really enjoyed making the string blocks and will probably continue making them throughout February.  Hopefully, my scrap pile will be a few inches lower by the time March arrives.
I am linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge at So Scrappy and Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. 

Tied Up In Strings

Yet another week has passed when I have been lured by the call of scraps to play and not work on the baby quilt for my One Monthly Goal project.  Kat and Cat Quilts is having her annual String Fling block challenge for Covered In Love.  This is a wonderful way to donate blocks or quilts to a special cause run by Kat.  She's a nurse who distributes quilts to grieving families in the East Texas hospital where she works with patients near the end of their lives.  I'm always on the lookout for ways to use up scraps and this is a "win/win" situation.  I lower my giant scrap pile and quilts go to people who are experiencing sorrow in their lives and can use a warm hug.  Do stop by her blog and read about her work and donate some blocks.  The drive runs through January and February and she is offering 2 jelly rolls as ways to tempt you to help.

I have finished 20 blocks so far and they are definitely addictive.

I'll be whooping it up with Sarah and lots of other great quilters at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap.  Go over and take a look at what everybody else is working on.

Just A Little Bit Off Track

This week, I was determined to work on the low volume baby quilt for my January project for One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.  It didn't happen.  As I tried to put the blocks together, I saw that I ironed all of them the same way so they wouldn't nest properly.  I will have to do some serious unstitching before I can assemble the quilt top.  I am currently in the throes of a sinus infection and it hurts to use my brain.  Instead, I chose to play with a scrappy "nobrainer" project.  The siren call of scraps often pulls me down the rabbit hole.

During the month of June, I was inspired by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict to Attack My Scraps.  I spent weeks cutting ugly fabrics and bits of leftovers into 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces.   I was able to cut some of the larger fabric into 1.5 inch strips which made it a bit easier.  I was smitten by a quilt in my LQS Christie's Quilting Boutique.

Christie sews samples for Kate Spain and made the quilt with scraps from a sample quilt she made for Kate's batik line, Paradise.  I LOVED the quilt (now sold) and had to make one.  Unfortunately, all of that cutting caused Trigger Finger in the middle finger of my right hand.  The project lay abandoned until November and was put on further hiatus during the Christmas holidays.

This week, it came out again.  My version is composed of years of scraps with no rhyme or reason.  It may seem bizarre to start from two opposite corners, but I wasn't sure how large I wanted to make it,  I decided I would see how much I liked it before I committed to a size.  I love it and have decided to make it large enough to fit my queen size bed.  This is truly a labor of love and will be an ongoing project.  I'm sleeping in wrist braces to avoid any further damage to my hands, but it is worth it.

I am linking up with Sarah at  Confessions of a Fabric Addict so I can get a Whoop, Whoop for my itty bitty scraps and at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap!  There are lots of great projects on both of their blogs.

One Monthly Finish

When I wrote my last blog post on January 2, 2017, I sincerely believed that I would be creating lots of great quilts.  I thought I would be posting regularly and featuring lots of pictures of my work.  I was wrong!  I did not complete one thing in 2017.

I did start a few new projects, but I found it difficult to track my progress, or lack there of, as easily as using the blog and a record of what I was doing.  I'm not sure how many online quilt alongs, BOMs, or group activities I will take part in, but the first thing I am committing to is One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.

I'm not going to beat myself up about the amounts of UFOs  that lurk in my sewing room.  I am hoping to finish one project a month, whether it is new or old.  This month, I will be working on a quilt for the new baby daughter of my husband's godchild.  The pattern is Baby Go Fly A Kite by Dragonfly Fibers.  I've wanted to try making a low volume quilt so I chose the butterfly print from Tanya Whelan's, Zoey's Garden in the pink tone and the white.  I  found that  I needed something to break it up a bit, so I chose a green and white polka dot. 

The blocks are finished.  There will be a 1.5 inch border of the green dot and a four inch border primarily made of the pink print with some of the white print squares pieced in.  You'll have to trust me that the quilt looks a lot better in person.  The lighting in my dining room does nothing to flatter it.  The quilt finishes at 44 inches square.  I'm linking up my baby quilt at One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.