First Finish for 2024: A Flutter

I've been trying to shift my perspective to appreciate progress at least as much as finishes. I'm still working on making that shift.  But the truth is, the goal for every project is to get it finished. This one has been on the "to be finished list" for quite awhile.  

The blocks were started as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge sponsored by SoScrappy (Angela has done an amazing job of keeping this going for so many years).  My first post on this project presented this mock up as my RSC project for 2013.

The first block wasn't actually started until 03/26/2013.  I started with a trial block and then made the first one for the quilt.  The second block wasn't finished until January of 2014.  The last block was finished in March of 2015.  Then the blocks sat waiting for me to decide on a setting.  Finally in July of 2021 the final look was decided and I got busy on construction.  So almost 11 years from the construction of the first block, Scrappy Butterflies became the finished quilt, A Flutter, on 3/18/2024.

I'm happy with how it came together, maybe not so much with how long it took. But I do love it. It's currently on my couch and I've already snuggled under it a few times.  

Trudy quilted big swirls to look like wind. 

The same blue as the final border was used as the binding. The label was also framed in that blue fabric.  I didn't have enough of the blue/white stripe for the backing, so I added in a strip of a blue bonnet fabric that's been in the stash for awhile. 

A Flutter was my 4th oldest UFO. It definitely feels good to get this one off the UFO list and onto my couch were I can enjoy all the colors.  

Linking up with Finished or Not Friday over at Alycia Quilts and with Favorite Finish over at Quilting JetGirl.  

Best of Life In Pieces for 2022

Just a few more days left of 2022.  I'm ready for a new year, 2022 wasn't one of my better years on several fronts.  I'm hopeful that 2023 will be happier and more productive than this year has been.  Maybe this year more than past years,  it's important to look back at what did go well. Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is encouraging us to look at the Best of 2022.  

 

Here's my best of list for 2022 for Life in Pieces. 

1. Most Views (368): Still Mostly Here

I took an unannounced break from blogging from early June to late  September this year.  This post was written in response to the many emails in June/July asking how things were going on my end. Thank you to everyone who reached out.  It wasn't a good time for me and I'm not sure I would have have come back to blogging without your encouragement. 

2. Most Comments (22): First Finish of 2022   

Cabins and Fans (Fluorescence) was one of only two finishes for 2022.  The quilt started as my 2017 Rainbow Scrap Project and the setting is self designed.  It's one of my favorite finished quilts.  

3. Most Link Ups for 15 Minutes to Stitch (19 - Weeks 2, 6, 18)

All three weeks had 19 link ups, which is better than the max link ups in 2021 by one.  The average number of link ups for 2022 was 13, which is the same as 2021.  I really appreciate all bloggers who came back to link up after 4 months of hiatus. Thank you!  

4. Most Fun Finish: Finishing Potions

Potions (Reactive Intermediates) was made specifically for Grad Girl's undergraduate research advisor.  I will admit piecing those flasks gave me a few fits, but it was such a fun project to work on. The filling solutions were all pulled from my scrap bins. I had such a good time deciding on the colors and fabrics. 

5. My Favorite Family Photo Challenge Post: Week 34 - A Panorama

It's hard to pick a favorite set of photos from the challenge, but the panorama shots are some of my most favorite from this year.  It's been such a fun family activity because Grad Girl can still participate from college.  It's been interesting to see how we each interpret the prompt each week.  We still have 3 to 4 months of cards left in the deck.  My Guy got a new deck of photo cards for Christmas, so the challenge will continue once this deck is gone.  

That's my Best of Life in Pieces for 2022.  It was a year of real highs and lows for me, I'm hoping that 2023 is more of the highs and a lot less of the lows.  

The Next UFO

It was a steamy weekend, though not as hot as it can be here in July.  It was a good weekend to stay in and stitch.  One project on the stay in and stitch to do list for the weekend was to pick which UFO will replace Morewood on my WIPs list.  I limit my "in progress" list to 4 projects.  Morewood is in the process of being prepped to be sent out for quilting, so  a replacement will be needed before the end of the month. There are still 8 untouched quilts on my UFO  list for 2021.  

      

After a bit of dithering, I went with the next quilt on the list, Scrappy Butterflies.  

 Scrappy Butterflies
Block is available in EQ8 Block Library

These butterfly blocks were my Rainbow Scrap Project in 2013.  I made the blocks and then stalled on how to set them together which is why they've been on the UFO list for so long. Just sashing the blocks wouldn't make a very big quilt and I really didn't want such a simple layout.  Over the years, I've played around with settings, but just couldn't come up with anything that clicked.  There were twenty something versions in EQ for finishing this project. I kept coming back to an Irish Chain setting. 

 

But I'm not a fan of square quilts, plus just slapping some borders on these blocks didn't appeal. I finally figured out a rectangular setting last week. 

Still not a fan of the plain borders. What if I repeat the Irish Chain block in the border?

That actually worked out.  Yes it will be a lot more piecing, but I really like how this version looks.  I have enough background fabric to make all the blocks, but couldn't find the enough of the right blue in my stash to use as the contrast.  The local quilt shop gives a discount during your birthday month. So the Scientist in Training and I stopped in on Saturday to check out what they might have. We came home with the blue on the right (the background is on the left).

All that's left is to work out the cutting and piecing instructions. Hopefully I'll have that done by the time Morewood is all prepped and ready to sent out for quilting.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Monday Making. 

Postscript on follow by email: I wrote in yesterday's post that I had tried Mailchimp as a replacement for the Feedburner follow by email function.  Turns out there is a limit on the number of emails you can send per month and I exceeded that with yesterday's post. It was prohibitively expensive to add enough credits to send emails for the rest of the month. Staying with that service meant I'd have to go with weekly emails, but even then the count wouldn't reset till 8/2.  So I've switched to FollowIt (fingers crossed that I've done the set up correctly).  Hopefully the emails will go out later this morning.  For those that follow by email, thank you for your patience.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Channeling the 60s?

For the first time in the seven years that I've played along with the Rainbow scrap challenge there is no new project to start in January.  Since 2012, I've started nine RSC projects and only four of them are finished projects.  In sticking with my word "Finish" for 2020, I'm going to focus my efforts there this year.  So the plan is to make some progress on the Wild and Goosey blocks that were started as last year's project.  

The green and orange combo in the photo brought to mind images of the green shag carpet and mod looking orange chairs from the 60's (thankfully we had hard wood floors in those days, I never liked the green shaggy stuff at grandma's house).  Sorry for the history detour, back to the Wild and Goosey blocks.  These blocks are little, but with 13 pieces in each 3.5" block, they aren't a quick assembly. This may end being a multi year project, it's going to take a lot of these little blocks to get even a throw sized quilt. 

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Oh Scrap.  

2020 Rainbow Scrap Challenge

For the first time since I started participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I didn't end the year with a set of blocks ready for setting.  My 2019 RSC project was a rainbow version of Bonnie Hunter's Wild and Goosey pattern.  Those little blocks take a lot of time to piece, so I didn't get very far.  

Modified Wild and Goosey
Based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern in Addicted to Scraps

Not a bad stack from last year, but I still need to add purple and red-violet to the mix.  Plus I need lots more of each color (I have it figured out, but I'll spare you those details).  Since I'm trying to focus on finishes this year and limit new projects, the plan is to keep adding to the stack of Wild and Goosey blocks from 2019 as the 2020 RSC project. 

Linking up with Soscrappy for RSC Saturday and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.   

Scrappy Stuff

There's not been a Rainbow Scrap Challenge post on my blog since last March!  I knew there hadn't been many this year, but none in almost 6 months?  When I think about it, there are a few obvious reasons.  Both my personal and my professional schedules have been a bit nuts this year.  I don't have as much time to draft blog posts, I've chosen to stitch rather than get photos together and write.  Plus this year's RSC project, Wild and Goosey, isn't coming together very quickly.  Those little blocks take a while to get done. This is all I've gotten done so far this year.

Modified Wild and Goosey
Based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern in Addicted to Scrap

I just finished cutting a bunch of purple scraps for this month's color, but don't have any purple blocks started.

But there are some purple scrappy blocks back up on the design wall.  These are the blocks from the 2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Twinkle Stars

Tutorial by Andrea Feldbush of Soscrappy

It's way past time to get these into a finished flimsy. 

So I've got two rows back up on the design wall and have started sewing the blocks together.  I'm excited to get this quilt to the finished stage.  My One Monthly Goal was to get all the blocks sewn together.  Hopefully I can do that by Monday!  

Linking up with the weekly RSC linky party and on Sunday with Oh Scrap.   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Slow Progress

It's been slow going on this year's scrappy project.  I've wanted to make a version of Bonnie Hunter's Wild and Goosey since I first saw it.  It seemed like a good scrappy project.  It is, but those little blocks aren't a quick assembly.  So my progress on each month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been pretty underwhelming.  But as it's the last Saturday in the first quarter of 2019, it seemed like a good time to report on the progress so far.  

For March, there's one green block finished.

The darker greens look much brighter up on the design wall.  I've done a bit better with January's red and February's yellow blocks.

Seven red blocks, 2 yellow and 1 green is the sum total of scrappy stitching so far.  I'm still trying to decide on a final layout of the blocks. That's needed to determine how many of each color to make.  Here's the two front runners. 

This is My Guy's favorite.  He likes the warmer colors in the middle.  My favorite has the warmer colors at the edges. 

Either layout needs at least 16 blocks of each color, so I can keep making blocks till I get to that point. At that point, I will have to pick a final layout. Looking at what's been made to date, it will be a few more months before I have to decide between these two or come up with something else completely.  

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and with Oh Scrap.  Happy scrappy stitching this weekend.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Radiant Red Stitching

What a week!  The first full week of work after the holidays is always rough for some reason.  It was nice to get home last night and head to the sewing room for some in depth stitching therapy.   I was in the mood for some mindless stitching, this year's Rainbow Scrap Project seemed to be just the thing to work on. 

I was able to finish off the first two blocks last night. 

 Modified Wild and Goosey
Based on Bonnie Hunter's pattern in Addicted to Scraps

These blocks are 3.5" squares, that's relatively tiny for me. Each block has 13 pieces, so it takes a bit to finish off one square.  Even with all the tiny pieces, these two were a lot of fun to make.  The planned layout needs 320 blocks.  In addition to the red, the plan is to make pink, magenta, purple, blue, turquoise, green, yellow and orange blocks.  So with 320 blocks in 9 different colors, that's about 36 blocks of each color.  With those kind of stats, this project is likely to take a couple of years. We'll see if I can move it along a bit faster, but even if I can't, it's using up some of those little scraps, so how can that be a bad thing? 

Linking up with Angela over at Soscrappy today and linking up with Cynthia for Oh Scrap on Sunday.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019 - A New Project

It's the first Saturday in the new year, which means it's time for new project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Angela's color for January is red.  So I pulled out my red scraps and got to cutting. This is what I ended up with.

These are all from my scrap bins. So what  are they going to become?

It's a paper pieced block, one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns, Wild and Goosey.  Black will be the constant, used as the "wings" for the geese.  That block is only 3" finished, so this may end up being a multi year project as the blocks are  fiddly and they are slow to make.  But I've had Wild and Goosey on my quilt plan for the last two or three years, it was time it became a real project.  I think the final quilt will be well worth all the effort.  

Linking up with Soscrappy for the first 2019 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Linky Party.  And I'll be linking up with Oh Scrap on Sunday.  

2019 Quilting Ambitions

It's that time of year to assess how 2018 went on the quilty front and what quilty aspirations should there be for 2019.  Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl is hosting her annual Planning Party to encourage some goal setting for the upcoming year.  

For 2019 I've decide not so much on a set of goals as on a set of strategies to help me manage my sewing time.  

1.  Use a quilt plan.  My sewing time can be pretty limited so it's helpful if I've made decisions about what projects are my focus for the year.  Last year I played along with the American Patchwork and Quilting's UFO Challenge.  I'm going to do that again this year, but rather than follow the numbers drawn each month, I have a prioritized list.  I'm starting with number one and working on each project till it hits completion.  That strategy worked well for me in 2017 when I finished 7 quilts.  We'll see if that pans out for 2019. This year's complete quilt plan is posted here, but here's the condensed version.

2.  Work in 15 minutes of stitching time each day.  My definition of stitching time is anything that moves a project towards completion.  So that means working in EQ on layout options, designing labels, and selecting fabrics. The weekly stitching report and linky party that goes live each Sunday will continue in 2019.  

3.  Sew from the stash.  I'm not setting expectations for fabric usage or for fabric purchases for 2019.  There are three mystery quilt programs scheduled by the local quilt shop.  Those are great projects to use up existing stash, plus Bonnie Hunter's 2019 mystery and hopefully a new mystery from Meadow Mist Designs will round out new projects that use stash fabrics.  I've decided on Bonnie Hunter's Wild and Goosey blocks as this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project.  I have lots of scraps that need to find their way into blocks.  

So that's my approach to 2019. Defined goals with metrics have not been working for me, I'm hoping the strategic approach will give me a good basis to make progress with.  Good luck with your ambitions for 2019.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: Squared Away Isn't Yet

Weekends are so very necessary.  I was certainly glad to see Friday roll around this week.  It's performance review season at work.  We had a compressed schedule this year, two weeks to meet with personnel, complete performance summaries and write feedback.  The deadline was the 31st, I didn't get to bed till early morning on the first of November.  I'm so glad that's over for another year! 

Consequently, there hasn't been a great deal of stitching this week.  I'm still working on getting the final borders on the Inverted Star quilt.  However, the last of the planned blocks for Squared Away did get finished. Here's all of my versions up on the design wall. 

 Squared Away Sampler designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

I made a first attempt at a layout, but it's obvious I need to spread out those orange and yellow blocks a bit more.  The on point setting works for me, I'll play with a straight setting before making a final plan.  Sashing will definitely be involved, I'm just not sure what color to use.  So that has to be worked out too.  It was a fun project for the year.  Now to decide what's on tap for next year.  I'm looking forward to the dithering.  

Linking up with Soscrappy today and with Quilting is More Fun that Housework on Sunday.   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Playing with Colors

It's Fall Break in our neck of the woods this week.  The Scientist in Training is home for the long weekend.  I expect she'll sleep in this morning as she didn't get the chance to yesterday as her car had to go in for service.  That meant an early departure for Tulsa yesterday morning. But she got some shopping and cheesecake out of that deal.  While she's sleeping in, I'm hoping to get caught up on email and my blog reading before heading out to the local quilt shop for the second Christmas Mystery Quilt clue. 

There's been a fair amount of scrappy sewing going on.  Two of October's Squared Away blocks are up on the design wall. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

There's not much dark or sage greens in my stash, so I decided to switch to red-violet for this month's blocks.  These may look purple, but they definitely are more "pinkish" then my purple blocks.  I've got the background cut for the last block, but don't have the focus fabric cut yet.  The last block should get finished this weekend.  Then I can play with layout and sashing options for the whole set.  Maybe I'll actually get this year's Rainbow Scrap Project finished before I start next year's.  Thank you Angela and Mari for such a fun RSC project this year.  

The other scrappy project sharing design wall space with the Squared Away blocks is my 2014 RSC projected, the Inverted Star blocks. 

Inverted Star:  Center blocks by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy as a free download.  Setting by Kate

The scrappy sawtooth stars for the next border have been moved here and there on the design wall this week, but a final layout did finally come out of all the fiddling.  I'm hoping to get all the sawtooth star blocks stitched together this weekend.  

Linking up with Soscrappy for this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge party and on Sunday, linking up with Oh Scrap.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: The Dark Side

It's been cold, wet and rainy much of this week.  Autumn has definitely made it's appearance.  On the one hand it's nice, there is more reason to spend time in the sewing room. On the other, the earlier sunset seems to sap my energy to do anything.  

I did find the energy last week to finish off September's dark neutral blocks for the Squared Away Sampler. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

I changed up the blocks just a bit from Angela's and Mari's version.  This block would make a really cool quilt, but for now I'm stopping at three.  There has been progress on the October blocks, but not enough to be photo worthy.  I'm deviating from Angela's dark and sage green theme for October by using red-violet for my blocks.  Hopefully, I'll have something to show on that front next week. 

Happy stitching this weekend.  Linking up with Angela at Soscrappy for this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   And linking up with Oh Scrap on Sunday.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Dark Neutrals and a Switch-Up

We were definitely ready for the weekend.  It was a long work week for both me and My Guy.  No better way to kick off the weekend then a marathon sewing session on Friday night. My main goal was to finish off my Halloween mystery blocks and make some head way on my Squared Away blocks for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler.  It's the middle of the month already and there hasn't been a lot of progress on those blocks yet.

I've really enjoyed working on the Squared Away sampler this year. Mari and Angela provided such fun blocks in the sampler.  But this month's block just wasn't working for me (sorry Mari and Angela).  I played around in EQ trying to work out fabric placement that worked for me.  I finally ended up with this:

Pretty much the same, but some of the HSTs  got moved around the background pieces to changed up some .  I don't have a lot of dark blue, so I had already decided to use some dark neutral scarps for this month's block.

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

Both the gray background and the black floral batik came right out of the scrap basket.  It was fun playing around with this layout. Though I tripped myself up a bit by cutting the double sized gray background pieces.  I had to un-sew a couple of pieces from the rows and then restitch them in columns in order to fit all the pieces back together without using partial seams.  Now that the first block is done, I'll know better with the next two.  

Linking up with Soscrappy on Saturday and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Orange is a Wrap

I am ready for a weekend, it was a really long week.  I need to catch up on a few work things, but I'll wait for tomorrow for that. My brain needs a bit of a rest from budgets and emails. 

I got an early start on my mental health treatments for the weekend by heading to my sewing room right after dinner.  I wanted to finish off the orange Squared Away blocks as this is the last weekend in August. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

My paler oranges aren't as bright as I usually go.  I'm hoping these will look OK with all the other blocks.  

Twinkle Stars is up on the design wall at the moment, so there's not really any place to lay out all the Squared Away blocks.  I'll put them all up when Twinkle Stars comes down next month.  I've been wondering about how I'm going to set all these, so I did a bit of mucking about in EQ8.  This is my lead contender at the moment. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

I definitely like the on point setting, though it will need two more blocks than the plan, but I'm OK picking a couple of blocks and making two more.  I like the idea of a pastel for the sashing and the setting triangles.  Not sure it will be teal, it depends on what's in the stash.  At least I've got a good starting spot.  I usually end up stalling on finding a setting and my RSC blocks end up hanging about in UFO-land for several years.  I'm trying to not let that happen this year.    
Linking up with Soscrappy for this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge and on Sunday with Quilting is More Fun than Housework's Oh Scrap.  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge: All Caught Up

I'm declaring today a NBS day (nothing but sewing, a term borrowed from Barbara who blogs over at Cat Patches).  Work has been rough with project deadlines, instrument failures, and changes in direction/programs.  A day of stitching therapy to fortify myself for next week is sorely needed.  

As far as Rainbow Scrap Sewing goes, I'm all caught up on the Squared Away blocks.

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

 The reds look a little dull in the photograph, but they are actually very vibrant up on the design wall.  Maybe I'll take some time this weekend to put the whole set of blocks back up on the design wall and see if I can come up with a setting plan.  

Linking up over at Soscrappy for this week's Rainbow Scrap Challenge post and linking up with Oh Scrap over at Quilting is More Fun than Housework on Sunday. Happy stitching this weekend.   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Teal and Red

It was a long work week, I'm definitely ready for a weekend and some stitching time.  The forecast says we've had a cold front come through so our highs this weekend will be in the mid to upper 90F range (around 35C).  That's down a bit from the high of 99F we had yesterday.  Still it's too warm to do much other than seek refuge in my nicely air conditioned sewing room this afternoon. 

It was a pretty productive week for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, the Squared Away Sampler.  All the teal blocks are now finished. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

I really like how they turned out.  With those done, I was able to make a good start on this month's red blocks and actually have one finished. 

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

These are fun blocks, they go together pretty quickly. The last two red blocks are under construction over at the sewing machine.  There's one more weekend in the month so I may actually get caught up this month! 

Linking up with Soscrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge today and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.  Stay cool and stitch (my motto for July).   

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler Progress

We took off the first half of last week, which made for a very short work week and really messed up my ability to know which day it was.  Thursday really felt like a Monday, and just a day later it's Saturday.  I could get used to that kind of schedule!

There was one day of stitching in the time off.  I used that opportunity to get caught up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler Blocks.  Since we've just passed the half way mark for the year, I put the finished Squared Away blocks up on the design wall.  

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter) and Angela (Soscrappy)

It's a very diverse set of blocks. I should start playing with setting ideas or this one won't get finished by the end of the year.  

Since putting these blocks up on the wall, I finished the last pink block.

So that caught me up to just needing June's teal blocks, of which just one got finished up. 

I've got a good start on the second teal block, but the third one isn't cut out yet.  Mari (The Academic Quilter) just posted the July block to be made from our scrappy reds.  So I'm slowly catching up, but not quite there yet. 

Linking up with Soscrappy for the weekly sharing of scrappy goodness on Saturday and with Oh Scrap on Sunday.