If I could think of a title, it would go right here

This isn't much of a year-end post, I admit.  I'm not one for setting goals, and I never make resolutions.  (My last New Year's Resolution was years ago - it was to never make another New Year's Resolution, and it's been the only one I've ever managed to keep.)
That being said, I'm trying to get a little bit more organized by investing in some bins.  And some labels.  (I'm told that labels are very important for organizing.  I'm testing it out and will report back later.)

The monkeys said that bright light hurts their eyes, so they prefer to live in the shoebox.  Privately, I suspect they just like to plot their shenanigans out of sight.  I'm willing to play along, but if they get too rowdy, I'm getting the duct tape.
Most of the blocks I made for RSC2016 will continue into RSC2017 - the Jacks & Sixes, the Buckeye Beauties, the Whatchacallit Star, the Rainbow Regatta wee ships, and Chantal's Pinwheels.  I'm also making Centennial stars, which caught my fancy in October and clamored to be included.  Since I'd planned to stop making piglets after Higgledy Piggledy was done, I figured I could add another block to my rainbow tsunami.  But, I'm probably going to just keep on making piggies, since I have almost enough left over to make another quilt anyway, and besides, I'd miss making the little rascals every month.
And my beloved Kaleidoscopes...

Angela says purple is the color for January, so since I have all those purples out for En Provence anyway, I decided to go ahead and make a purple kaleidoscope.
So, this is either the first block of RSC2017, or the last block of RSC2016.  Tough call.

Linking with So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the fun!
And that kaleidoscope means I can link to Kaleidoscopes of Butterflies over at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting.  Come see!

With holiday hugs for all

I'm guessing I won't get much sewing done in the next few days, so here's a look at the triangles I got put together for clue 5 of En Provence.

And I played with a few of the bits we've done so far.  I'm sure it won't be anything this simple (we've still got two colors we haven't even touched yet!), but I like the look of this. 

Now back to our regularly scheduled holiday program - I've still got cookies to bake!  And eat! And company's coming!  Happy happy!



Linking with Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.  Come join the party!

Also linking with the Mystery Clue 5 linky party at Quiltville.   Go see what the non-slackers (ie: everyone other than me) are doing with En Provence!

This can only mean one thing...

I checked my camera's memory card and found these -

Huh.  The monkeys are now taking selfies...

En Provence clue 4 - still slacking...

I've continued to putter along with En Provence. 
A few of the first three clues

were joined by a few of the clue 4 patches...

I've mostly been using them for leader/enders for the other projects I've got going on.  There'll be plenty of time in January for catching up with the fun.

In the meantime, I've got presents to finish!

Linking with the En Provence weekly linkup party over at Bonnie's house.  Come see what everyone's doing!

Higgledy Piggledy - all bound up!

Done, done, and done!

I kept the quilting simple - wavy organic lines.  (I love 'organic' lines.  I meant to wobble.  Really.)

And as higgledy piggledy colorful as this quilt is, the binding just had to be colorful, too.

I'll try to get a better final picture after the holidays.  For now, it's done done done!

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 main event is complete!  But since I still have a couple dozen piglets left over, I think I might just carry on making them for RSC2017, too.
One can never have too many piglets.

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see what everyone else is doing to finish up RSC2016, too!

I'm also adding a link to the first RSC finished rainbow quilt party.   Come see what rainbows grow up to be!

Only six!

Yep, I'm a slacker.

That's all I got done for clue 3 of Bonnie Hunter's En Provence mystery.  I've got some strips cut, though, so should be able to make a few more after I finish quilting those piggies.
Pigs before purples, after all.  Priorities...


Linking with the Mystery Monday at Bonnie's house.  Come see all the fun!

That's a heap of piglets

I've been working on the quilting for my Higgledy Piggledy quilt.  Yesterday I managed to get about to the 3/4 point with it, but the third time I'd been happily "air quilting" across because I'd run out of bobbin thread again, I dumped the quilt on the floor and took a break.

I'd been grumbling away for a while a couple of days ago, trying to keep the presser foot from snowplowing across the quilt, when it suddenly dawned on me that I now own a walking foot.  Out came the manual to check how to attach it, and off I went.
I really really like the walking foot.  Really.  I love to hand-quilt, but machine quilting is something that I've always regarded as a necessary evil.  Something that has to be gotten over with so I can say "yay, done" and get on to the binding (which is a fun part, though not quite in the same league as the piecing).   So anything that makes machine quilting easier is a big plus in my book.

In hopes of continuing the feeling of motion, I'm quilting horizontal organic (ie:  wobbly) lines across the piglets.  I'm thinking of it as the 'whoosh' lines that you see in cartoons, where a character is suddenly moving fast.  "Beep beep" and gone.

It's probably all in my head, but it's making me happy and it's keeping these little piggies headed for the big finish line.

Beep beep!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the RSC2016 projects coming together!

Piggyback!

 My top has a bottom!  Or my front has a back!  Or something!

When I first thought of making this quilt, way back at the beginning of the year when I decided to make piglet blocks for the RSC2016, I figured I'd make a dozen or so blocks and turn them into a lap quilt.  Maybe a small throw, tops.  So I only bought a yard of that fabulous bacon fabric, figuring I could supplement it with some scraps and it would be plenty.  (I know!  What could I have been thinking?!?)
But I hadn't reckoned on how much charm those little piggies have.   I made tons and tons of piglets.  I ended up with a bigger quilt than I'd planned, and I still have blocks left over.

So I had to stretch that bacon.

Once again, it's tough to get a picture of the whole thing when it's on the design floor.

I had a nice leafy print in a bright limey green, and I used that fall leafy print, too, since the black background helps balance the bacon background, and the reds and yellows echo those colors in the bacon print, too.

 A couple of those leftover piglets are bracketing the label up near the top of the quilt.

And I used some bits of farm print to finish off that pig/label panel.

At 64"x84", this quilt came out a mite bigger than I'd planned, but I know my dad will put it to good use!
By late afternoon, I got it sandwiched and ready to start quilting.  Yay!

And I got some more starpoints done for the En Provence mystery, too, while I sewed together all those piggyback bits.

(As you can see, I'm using orange instead of magenta.  Not that I have anything against magenta, but orange!)  I'll keep plugging away at them over the course of the week.  Can't wait to see what the next clue is - still hoping for purple, though I gotta admit that orange always makes me grin!


Linking with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see the fun!
And also linking with Bonnie herself at the Monday linky party.  Another fun place to visit!

I can practically hear the giggling...

My piglets are all rounded up, and  assembled into a top.

If only I could get them to hold still long enough to get a good photo...

There are a few going the wrong way, which is just how the average piglet round-up goes.  (In real life, we spent an hour the other day trying to recapture fourteen of the little rascals.   I started to wish I had a horse, as I trudged back and forth from one end of the farm to the other, but then I realized that that meant we just would have ended up having to chase horses at some point.  Sigh.)

In order to get the maximum jumblyness, I offset their little hills when I was setting out the rows.

Now onward to the back!

I've got this lovely bacon fabric that I got especially for this quilt.   (Please don't tell the piggies what it means...)

In En Provence news, my four patches continue to pile up, as I use the mystery bits for leader/enders.

I even got some starpoints cut and assembled for this week's clue, though apparently I forgot to take a photo. 
The trickiest part of making those starpoints was finding what I'd done with my tri-recs rulers.  I knew I'd taken them with me when I went visiting (because I took all my rulers this time), but I hadn't come across them yet in the home-again unpacking.  I finally found them in my bin of random bits and strips leftover from my Gwennie Medallion.  The second time I looked through it, mind you...


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, because this piglet quilt wouldn't have been made if it wasn't for the RSC.  Thanks so much, Angela!