RSC 2018 Yellow April

RSC 2018  April last Saturday yellow pieces.  I paper pieced this yellow to join the purple, blue and green. This block finishes at 11 inches. 


Worked on the circle log cabin.  The yellow strips are  cut 2 inches and the white pieces are 1 1/4 inches. Block is made with 4 9 inch units so the block is 18 inches.

I made the Arkansas crossroads that I continue to work on using only my scraps.  The block finishes at 8 inches. 

Tulip Quilt

I love snow days.  I have started a paper pieced project as part of the RSC 2018 Challenge.  Although I got the paper pieced template from Pinterest, I adjusted the size and decided on sashing with cornerstone in the middle.  The template was bare bones and had no directions/suggestions included.
I still need to make the light/lime green block from March. January blue, February purple and April yellow are done.
I used the method of paper piecing taught at a workshop taught by David Sirota Quilt Maven.  The technique is called "No More Tears" paper piecing.  He does workshops at many of the quilt shows in the East. Well worth the money I spent for the class! Delightful presenter.

Blocks measure 11 inches across.  Block units are right triangles with hypotenuse measuring 10 inches. 

Circle Log Cabin

 I got a late start on the RSC 2018 Challenge  this year because I was determined to finish RSC 2017 Challenge, a bear paw quilt that had to be hand quilted. Green, purple, blue, and yellow curved Log Cabin was made using Craftsy pattern from Log Cabin class.  Each block measures 16 inches and is completely done with scraps.  No yardage was injured in the making of these blocks.  There are 10 months to the challenge so I will have to figure out which color to repeat so I can create a 3 block x 4 block quilt. 

Fusion Quilt measuring

 approximately 36 x 42

Many very snowy days gave me the luxury of "playing" in my workroom.  This was inspired by a fusion quilt (I didn't know that was what it was called at the time) posted  asfusion quilt on Pinterest.  I used a Romantic floral layer cake from Keepsake Quilting. I cut these in quarters, sandwiched cotton batting and orphan floral fabrics and sewed around the edge.  Turned them right sides out, pressed, and blanket stitched around the perimeter with Aunt Lydia crochet thread .  The blanket stitch became the anchor for my crochet around the edge. 

 It was similar to making a Granny square.  The picture had crocheted flowers but after several tries I was dissatisfied with those flowers.  However, I did not like the way the four corners came together.  An art teacher who crochets suggested yoyos at the corner.  She suggested a button in the center but I felt this was just made the piece too heavy.

The pictures don't do this justice.  It is soft and flirty.   I am planning a second one at the present time but using the entire 10 inch layer cake pieces and quilting each of the blocks before blanket stitching them.  One with Kaffe Fassett fabric would give an entirely different look.

There was a discussion on one of the FB quiting groups about how to organize your projects.  Although I never have more than 3 projects going on at the same time, I do plan future one.  I use a quarter inch graph paper composition book.  I place page labels on the edge of each page and write the name of the project.  Green means they are complete and red stickers means it is still be worked on.  If there is no sticker, it means I haven't started the project yet and it is only in the planning stages. 

This is a chart I have where I mark all the different steps in making a quilt - fabric, backing, batting purchased, sandwiched, quilted, label finished - checking them off as I finish that step.

  

Bear Paw Quilt

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2017 complete.  Bear Paw is one of my favorite patterns.  I started this in January 2017 and finally finished in St. Patrick's Day 2018.  It is the most heavily hand quilted piece I have ever done.  Every block is a different fabric from my batik stash.  The background is a beautiful soft color from Wilmington called Paisley cream aqua and is no longer made.  The backing is pieced from a Fireworks batik and the binding is simply the backing rolled over to the front.  I purchased  wonder clips from Amazon and they were so much better than using pins to hold the binding.......I wasn't constantly poking myself as I turned the quilt.  I have just draped it over my sofa so I can look at it every time I pass by.  I love it.

We had three nor'easters dropping as much as 22 inches of snow in one storm.  Beautiful view from my porch. 

This was after the plow went through.  We were out of power for 4 days.  It was a good thing that I am a hand quilter because I could continue to work on projects.  The LED TAC lights that are sold were incredible.  They produce incredible amounts of light.  I could even read by them!