Saturday, February 2, 2019

Glad to see the end of January

If for no other reason than that my January strip for my temperature quilt was starting to get a little unwieldy.


Here's the last week of the month - the white triangles represent all those nights we had where the temps were below zero.


Now onward to February!  Every day puts us that much closer to spring!  (Can't wait to start working with greens and yellows!)

Another thing I finished in January was my Good Fortune top.  I've tucked it away for now, since I have several other projects queued up for quilting.  (Check out the last Good Fortune Linky Party here, to see all the lovely mystery quilts!)


I do love it truly, and it won't stay dormant long!

With a new month, we have a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - yellow for warmth and brightness at this chilly and drab time of year.
I cut some squares and triangles for Sand Castle blocks and laid out the first one.  (The next three yellows are stacked neatly at the bottom of the picture)


As I mentioned earlier, I'm cutting my string triangles from strips rather than making strippy squares and slashing them diagonally.


I've been cutting newsprint strips of the correct width and as long as my paper would allow, then cutting off my triangles as I go.  The only problem was when I got to the end of the strip and ended up with a rough HST.  It was possible to sew it on to the end of a new strip, then true up the next triangle, but it was a bit of a pain in the butt.  It would have been nice to just add on another strip with tape, but I was pretty sure that tape and a hot iron would make a pretty bad combination.

Oh, if only there were some way to easily attach one thing to another.

Oh, wait...


Doh.
I lined up my papers and stitched right through.  The pencil line was added after the stitching.
Like this:


Those aren't cutting lines, especially since they'll be buried under the fabric strips - they're just there to give me a heads up that seam lines are in the neighborhood and I might want to compensate with wider or narrower strips to keep the bulk under control.  I try to keep plenty of choices available!


Lumpy seam allowances are yucky, after all!



Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the golden delight!



18 comments:

Dorothy said...

What a smart idea for drawing the "in the neighborhood " of a seam

Quiltdivajulie said...

I thought about doing a temperature quilt this year but decided I already had enough on my plate. Glad you love your Good Fortune top - and looking forward to watching your yellows evolve this month.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Looks like you had quite a few below zeros in January. Spring can't come soon enough, can it?! I enjoyed seeing your other projects, too - Good Fortune looks great!

Chantal said...

Congratulations on getting Good Fortune to the flimsy stage. It's awesome! ;^)

maggie fellow said...

what a clever way to get the string triangles for sand castle. I hope I remember that.

Jo said...

You're making good progress on your projects. Nice to see some yellow.

Louise said...

Who would have thought to sew paper?? But of course it is the perfect solution :)

Wanderingcatstudio said...

I made geese for the first time yesterday!!!!
Good fortune is sooooo beautiful!
Love that nice cheery yellow in the new blocks

Lynne Stucke said...

I love the way you are making your string triangles! So smart! As to joining them, you could also join the papers with a thin piece of fusible web?

The Joyful Quilter said...

Lots of fun stuff going on in your sewing room!!

Julie in GA said...

Good Fortune looks beautiful, and I am loving your Sand Castles blocks!

MissPat said...

I have two of the yellows you are using in the Sand Castle blocks. I'm in FL right now so my yellow blocks will have to wait until March. Glad you finished the Good Fortune flimsy. I still have to quilt En Provence.
Pat

Cathy said...

Good Fortune is gorgeous! Congrats on the flimsy!

I don't think I would have had a color for the -33 record setting temp we had a few days ago before it went into the 40s. Sheesh. This sure would have been the year to make a temperature quilt.

Magpie Sue said...

Your Good Fortune top is beautiful!

Mystic Quilter said...

Watching your temperature strips grow is going to be exciting as you go through the seasons.

Sally Trude said...

How did I miss your Good Fortune top? It's gorgeous. And I think if I were to make a temperature quilt I would have to use my old homestead where the weather went from 7 degrees to 67 degrees within a week. Most of my quilt would be a solid sheet of fabric...and I guess in honor of Portland it would have to be gray.

mangozz said...

Great idea for making the neutral strip units. I opted for the easier way of making the neutral strips for Good Fortune and I'm glad I did. Mine isn't quilted either but I found it easier to keep up this year. Yours looks great!

Vireya said...

Good Fortune looks great! I hope your temperatures have warmed up a bit by now.