But... but... I'm not done with orange, yet...

I've been busy with Halloween costume sewing (not for me) (grandkids, ya know), but managed to squeeze in a couple of piglets and some other orange bits.

First, these two little stars -

And I do mean stars, literally!

And then, my new favorite piggy ever!  (Thanks, Sally!)

Cuz what could be better than piglets and chickens together?!?  (That's ham and eggs right there, folks.  But don't tell them...)

As 2016 starts winding up, I'm giving some thought to RSC2017.  One block that had caught my eye was the Centennial block, so I found a version of the pattern that finished to a 6" block.
(It was actually a paper-pieced pattern, but life is too short for paper piecing, so I translated the pattern to use strips and squares.  You know, piecing piecing...)

I plan to make a few more just because I like the block, and then make a decision for next year.

And while my guard was down and all those orange scraps were flopping around on the cutting table, this happened:

And it looks like it's liable to keep happening...

Linking with Soscrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see the last orange bits being turned into pretties!

Who stole three quarters of my October?

Apparently time has been whooshing by this month without me noticing.  October is almost over already?!?

Time to get some more rainbow blocks done, I think!

A piglet, of course!

I think she said her name is Twiggy.  Or possibly Autumn.  It was hard to understand since she had a mouth full of polkadots...

After a bit of searching (because I had put my orange/gold/yellow strips in a place for safe keeping, and you know what that means), I finally got some pieces cut out for some of my other RSC blocks.

And I even managed to sew a few together!

Along with some hourglass leader/enders, too.  Those are starting to add up enough that I'm tempted to play with them. 
Maybe even use some in another medallion quilt...


Linking with Soscrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday - come see all the scrappy fun!

I think the worst of the fever has passed...

It all started innocently enough.  My daughter and I were out running errands, one of which was to pick up a bag of cat litter.  While we were in the pet store, I decided to take a look and see if they had lizard litter, aka crushed walnut shells.
Aha!

Indeed they did.  They were out of the 5lb bag, but the 10-pounder was only slightly more expensive than buying a half pound at a quilt shop, so I grabbed one.  Then the very helpful young man who worked there told me that there was a sale - buy one, get a second one at half price.  While the thrifty part of brain was going "Ooooo!", the sensible part was asking "Just how many pounds of pincushions are you planning to make, exactly?", so I just got the one bag.
Which is probably just as well.
The other day, I left you at this point -

but I didn't stop there.
There were more.

Many more.  Originally I was just going to make two.  Honest.  Three at the outside.
I don't know where it all went off the rails.
And even with that stack up there, I still kept having more ideas.
Like fussy cutting this cute little kitty.

 And making a log.

The log was the first one I completed - stuffed and stitched and ready for action.
Because I needed a place to park my needle while I filled the next one, of course

I've been making four-patches for leaders/enders for over a year, so I always have lots of those laying around.

And I got to use some cute fabric for the backs, too.

A three inch Ohio star was fun.

Especially with this on the bottom.

For this one, I not only got to test out my Dresden ruler,

but I also got to learn how to do the buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine!

That cushion is bigger than the last bunch - finishing at about 5" - so I framed a 3.5" square for the back.

This next one is my favorite, I think.  I used a modified monkey for it.

And then I though, "Why settle for just square shapes?  Why not branch out a little?"
So I made this.  From the top, it just looks like a pinwheel -

but step back a little and you'll see it's a biscornu.

And then...  And then I remembered that I'd just spent 5 months playing with improv and make-it-up-as-you-along and being liberated, so I just grabbed the closest scrappy bits and made a more freeform sort of construction.

I'd gotten down to the very last pincushion when I had one of those slap-myself why-didn't-I-think-of-this-an-hour-ago moments.  From the very first step, I'd been struggling to keep my homemade paper funnel lined up with the opening in the pincushion, while simultaneously trying to dump in walnut shells.  Three hands would have been useful.  Possibly four.
It finally dawned on me to just pin the funnel to the fabric.

Duh.
The last one definitely went a lot more smoothly...

So here's the whole gang!

Well, except for the log.  That one's already been put into service and didn't make it into the group shot.

And I still have about half a bag of lizard litter left.  In other words, I only have half a bag of lizard litter left!

Do you suppose that sale is still going on?

Can't talk now...

Making pincushions.

No, I don't know why. 
I'm sure it will stop soon...

Pigeon Pie

At least, that's what she said her name was.

Sort of like Sweetie Pie, but with more feathers...  (And I think the background looks like birdie footprints!)

And there's this little floral gal -

And this little piggy, too.  I'm not sure if he's into geometry or astrology.  Or Dr Who, maybe.

And here's my new favorite piggy of the lot -

I'm crazy about that feathery print!

And lest you think it's all kaleidoscopes and piglets around here, I've also been bravely trudging  rowing along with my Storm at Sea bits.  Or, rather, Sea of Tranquility.  Since there's not much storming going on, I'm taking Sally up on her suggestion of renaming the quilt.
Still dithering about how to lay it out.

I'm really liking that on point setting better.  I'll have to do some math, though, to recalculate how many components I'll need.   (The mathy part of my brain just went squeeee...)

Linking with Soscrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Be there or be square!

More kaleiding!

Once I start, it's hard to stop!
I cut six more light 2" strips, and six more dark 2" strips, paired them up and stitched, stacked strip sets light to dark and dark to light, and reached for the kaleidoscope ruler.
Six kaleidoscope blocks cut out.  But if I'd proceeded from here, I would have ended up with three pairs of matching blocks.  Can't have that.
The three sets on the right went to sit by the sewing machine.

The three sets on the left were split up

and shuffled slightly in order to have a bit more variety.

Ready to head for the machine.

I sewed pairs,

and then combined pairs to make halves,

and halves to make wholes.

Tada!

The sharper eyed among you might have noticed something a bit odd in the mix, though.  Take a closer look at that first photo up at the top.  In the stack furthest to the left, there's a funny little seam showing.
Here's a closeup of the two oddballs.

I didn't have enough of the orange polka dot fabric to make a whole 18" length strip, so I sewed some orange chevron on the end to make it longer.  The center of the block in the next photo shows three dots and a chevron.

 And a whisper of the seam shows up in the block below.

A bit closer -

Yep.  Scraps are my life!


Linking up with ScrapTastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew and Sow's.  Come see all the scrappy fun!