Can Scraps Ever Be Used Up?

I've really enjoyed participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 at So Scrappy .  Each month, I have pulled scraps to make postage stamp blocks, but still have odd 2.5 inch scraps leftover.  Instead of putting them back into the scrap bucket, I decided to sew the strips and charms into 9 patch blocks to make the Gumdrops quilt by Sherri McConnell that was featured in Better Homes and Gardens, Sew Scrappy magazine in October, 2011.  Sherri blogs at A Quilting Life and has lots of lovely things to look at and features some great tutorials.

The blocks are addictive.  Every time I sit down at my machine, I find myself making more.  The quilt requires 48 nine patches.  I have already made 94 and can't bring myself to stop. The blocks are sashed with white and the resulting quilt looks bright and crisp.  

.I also made one yellow block for my June Rainbow Challenge postage stamp collection.

And discovered enough orange scrapes to make one orange postage stamp block.

I added a few more scrappy centered Sawtooth stars.

Sorry for the distracting shadow.
I haven't been able to quilt any of the tops I was hoping to get done.  They are too big to baste on my kitchen table and I am unable to kneel due to an injury to my right knee.  Hopefully, the physical therapy will resolve the problem.  I am linking my rainbow blocks to this week's block party at Sew Scrappy.  Drop by and see all of the other blocks people have completed this week.

I lost a month. Time to find it again.

My sincere apologies to everyone waiting to find out the winner of the fat quarter bundle.  I'm desperately trying to catch my breath after a very busy period.  I won't bore you with the details, but the craziness doesn't seem to be slowing down.
On to the drawing for the giveaway for the 8 luscious fat quarters of Laurie Wishburn fabric.  Drum role please!

Number 23 is my lovely follower Lisa Marie, who said:

I am a fan of pieced backings -- they add a little surprise on the back. I am participating in Hands2Help. Got an early start this year, so I have one quilt done and another underway. Congrats on your follower milestone!

I will be emailing Lisa Marie for her address so that I can send her fat quarters in a timely manner.

I actually did manage to sew a few things since my last post.  Hopefully, I can post them tomorrow.  Right now, I am off to physical therapy.  The therapist is a lovely woman, but I always leave the office feeling as though I have been stretched on a rack.

In Appreciation of Followers

April is just about over and I haven't quilted the 3 tops that were on my list.  I did sew the backings for them.

                                                                                                                                                 I prepared the small apple backing for a project that never got off the ground so I added green borders to make it big enough for one of the Tetris Quilts. I think it would make a great tablecloth, but unfortunately I don't have a table it would fit.

It is the last Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013 at So Scrappy.  I did manage to finish 3 green blocks for this month's challenge.  I am linking up to Sew Scrappy for the last green Saturday of the month.  Other participants will be displaying their green projects for April.

I completed 4 more Saw Tooth Star blocks.  Although I did not finish them during the season of Lent, I still managed to complete my goal of 40 blocks.  I will continue this project until I make a dent in my box of crumb blocks. I have a pile of HSTs waiting to be trimmed so I might have another group finished next week.

 I made one more pink block for my rainbow postage stamp blocks.  I decided that I would like to have 3 of each color so this will finish the pink group.

Over the last few months, even though I have not posted very often, I have acquired more followers.  Thank you to those of you that have been following me for a while and welcome to any new followers.  I planned to have a giveaway when I reached 100 followers.  I now have 101  so it's time for the giveaway to proceed.  If you would like to be the recipient of 8 luscious fat quarters of Laurie Wishburn fabric, please leave a comment.  The name of the winner will be drawn on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 12th.  I will ship internationally so that all of my followers may be included.

If you are participating in the Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge, please indicate that in your comment and you will receive and extra chance in the drawing.  If you are not already signed up to participate in the H2H Challenge, it's not too late.    The quilts will be donated to two very deserving charities and many generous prizes have been donated to award to participants.  The button is on my sidebar.
Sorry, this giveaway is for followers (new or old) only.  

April Goals

After finishing only one UFO in March, I decided to recommit myself to the quest of finishing more UFOs in April.  I have chosen 3 projects to work on this month. They are exactly the same and need backing prepared, layering, basting and quilting.  They are the three Tetris tops that I pieced over Super Bowl weekend.

I enjoyed making the blocks as part of the Tetris Quilt Along at Happy Quilting last summer, but once I finished the blocks I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.  Over Super Bowl weekend, I participated in a quilt along with the Sunshine Quilters online charity group.  The group is devoted to making quilts for WAS (Wrap a Smile) and WTIL (Wrap Them in Love)  .The quilts are given to children  undergoing cleft palate surgery as well as to children in orphanages worldwide.  At last, the blocks could have a home.  The tops have been sitting for 2 months waiting for backings to be made so they can be finished.  This is the month it will happen.

I am linking up with Carrie at Passion for Applique and A Lovely Year of Finishes at Sew Bitter Sweet Designs so that I will have some accountability.

Last Saturday of the Month

For Christians, today is not just the last Saturday of March, it is  Holy Saturday.  The most important feast of the year takes place tomorrow, Easter Sunday.  I promised myself I would finish a lot of UFOs this month, but I only finished one of the items on my list.  Instead, I have been making small cloths to be used on a shelf in front of the tabernacle in my church.

It is hard to see the details of the embroidery because most of it is white rayon thread on white linen.

The machine embroidery patterns are from Embroidery Library.  The fabric is 2 layers of  Irish linen sewn pillow case style with braiding around the edges.  After seeing how wrinkled they were in the photos I starched and ironed them again.  We were so busy preparing the church for Easter that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the cloth on the  altar.

I completed a few orange blocks for March's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and will be adding my photos to the link up at Sew Scrappy.  I have enough strips and triangles cut for a few more  blocks, but that will have to wait until April.

 I found more pink strips so I added another pink block to my Rainbow Challenge from January.

I did manage to complete one small UFO. It's now put away to be used on a small table under my poinsettia plan next Christmas.

I have been trying to make one Scrappy Sawtooth block for each day of Lent.  Traditionally, Lent is considered to be 40 days, but this year the time from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday stretched to 46 days.  I only managed to make 37, but I have more crumb blocks and triangles ready to go.  These are the latest Sawtooth blocks added to the pile.  Although they look like a rose color in the photo, the star points are actually an odd brick color.

Sorry to place so many photos in one post, but I am just catching up with my completed projects.  I  needed to replace my camera.  After 7 years, the battery refused to charge and they no longer sell the battery it needs.. Our local Walmart is closing their camera department and I was able to purchase a Canon at a great price with more mega pixels.  Hopefully, that will improve my photo taking.      Happy Easter to all who celebrate

Hands 2 Help Challenge

One of the things I like best about the quilting community is how generous quilters are with their time and resources.  Quilts cost more to make than the average person would be willing to pay, but quilters continue to donate their handmade creations to people  they will never meet.  Sometimes the quilts are sent to places they will never visit or countries they can barely find on the map.

Sarah, of Confessions of a Fabriholic, runs a thriving quilt ministry at her church.  For the past few years, she has also sponsored an annual charity quilt challenge called Hands to Help.  This year, 2 charities will be the recipients of the quilts made during the challenge. Sarah always manages to find quest blogger's who offer tutorials and lots of prizes.  To read all of the information about the challenge and how you can participate, visit Sarah's blog.  If you sign up by tomorrow, March 30th, you could win a prize.

The Traveling Stash Box Moves On

We are expecting a snow storm starting later today with sustained wind at 50 mph.  Ugh!  Hopefully, the Traveling Stash box will make the winner's day a little brighter.

My macho assistant, Retired Guy, has consented to draw a name.

Congratulations Sherry.  I will email Sherry for her address and the box will be winging it's way to a new home.