UFOs trying to be WIPs

I've been watching my friend Chantal diligently working on her Challenge 365 quilt blocks and envying her progress.
It finally dawned on me that I'd be making progress, too, if I got off my derriere and actually worked on my blocks...
Wading back through photos and blog posts, I decided that the last block I had made was for May 30.  One more block finished May -

and then I started June in motion.

I'm making this quilt in blues, reds, and browns only - a definite departure from my usual color scheme of chaotic rainbows.   I'm trying to decide if this exercise in control is character-developing or crazy-making.  (I keep having to spat my own hand when I reach for the oranges and purples.)

And another semi-long-lost project called for some attention, too.  On Ringo Lake (last year's Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt) was last seen back in February, duking it out with Burgoyne Surrounded.

Burgoyne kicked Ringo's butt and Ringo ended up rolled up in a ball and abandoned set aside.  Burgoyne is now a flimsy (sort of - it still lacks a border) (but I have a plan!) and now Ringo is clamoring for a turn.  Fair's fair, after all.
So I've pulled out the bin of component parts that I stitched up last winter and now I'm figuring how many blocks I want to put together.
With the next mystery getting close to starting, I'd feel a lot better if I got this quilt at least to flimsy stage. 
Even if it's just a lap quilt.  Finished is finished, right?

Linking with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap, because scrappy is my life!  Come join the fun!

A little bit of mystery

With a free afternoon and no snow falling, I finally caught up with Libby's Mystery today.
It was an easy clue she gave us - just sew the rectangles together.
So I did.

And then, I had to play with them, of course.

And then, since I've never been one to leave well enough alone, I cut out some more pieces from another color.

And then I had even more things to play with.

Meanwhile, I was working on this.

Which, to my joy, became this -

Burgoyne is officially Surrounded.  I sincerely love this quilt (it looks even better in real life!), and I'm so grateful to Cathy for making hers and inspiring me to make my own.

Now I just need to think about a border.  I definitely want to run some neutrals around the outside edge, in order to float the whole thing.  It's just a question of if I want anything else.  You just know I want to make some fun fantastic pieced border that will be way more complicated than necessary, because that's what I do.
We'll see if I can restrain myself...


Linking with Sew Stitch Snap SHARE at kokaquilts.  Come see the fun!

Scrappy all over

I spent the afternoon in the studio today, putzing around with various projects.
First up, I got pieces cut for Libby's Mystery Quilt.  I picked out the red snowflake print for my light right off the bat, but couldn't decide whether to go with red, orange, or purple for the contrasting color.  So naturally I found a batik that included all those colors.  Win!

And I sewed the first row of Burgoyne blocks together, complete with sashing across the top.

I'm hoping if I get it all sewn together that it will forestall any efforts to make more blocks.  Though I think I might actually have to sew a border on in order to really make my heart accept that this quilt is big enough.

Though I might have stumbled on something that could help.  I found this quilt pattern online, see, and then I shared it with my friend  Cathy, who agreed with me that it's pretty phenomenal and phenomenally pretty.
It's here.  Go look and tell me that it isn't just screaming my name.
I've already got lots of triangles after all.

And the blocks are pretty simple to assemble.

And I only need 2048 HSTs.
For some silly reason, they named this quilt Garden Mosaic.
I don't know what Cathy is going to call hers, but I'm calling mine Totally Demented.

Linking with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what everyone's doing with their scraps!

Squaring Away some purple bits

I squeezed in a bit more sewing time yesterday and finally got a Squared Away block for February's RSC SAL done.  I'm hoping to make a few more before I run out of month, both for the SAL itself and the fact that it's a fun block to make.  I stuck with just two colors for the first iteration, but I've got plans for throwing lots of purples into the next one.

This little Jacks block was made as a leader/ender while making the SA block. 

True confession - I found it already cut out and ready to go while I was shifting stuff around.   I'm not sure when I actually kitted it, but there's enough purple in it that I'm claiming it for February.  There were a couple more on the same plate, so apparently I'm now cutting blocks in my sleep.  Not dangerous at all, I'm sure.

And ta da!!!

That's Burgoyne Surrounded #20 - the final block!  (No, seriously.  I mean it this time.)  (Except for the problem I'm having with my fabric sorting/organizing project, where combinations keep landing next to each other that make me say "Oh, that would make a great Burgoyne!"...)  (I may have to make a second BS.)  (Help me, someone.)

All the Burgoynes are laid out and I've started stitching them together.  This is so exciting!
I've already started the dithering about borders!


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the rainbow fun!

Purple at last!

Woohoo!
Despite the near-constant interference of the universe lately, I finally finally finally got some sewing time in.
I snatched up some purples (purples!) and got right to work.  Well, play, actually.  Calling this work would be downright silly.

One purple Jacks-in-Sixes/Anvil/Hovering-Hawk/Charlie/Whatever block.   I love this purple circley fabric.

And I got another block done for Rags and Tatters (go here for the pattern - scroll down about 3/4 of the way down the page) which I'm calling "Orts" because same thing.
When I made the first block, I approached the center part like this -

Sally T wisely pointed out that what I really had was the unit we'd just learned to make for On Ringo Lake, with the square-2wingtriangles-bigtriangle.   (I've seen the unit called Cat's Cradle.  Much more succinct.)
Here's the block laid out the easy way.

Two four-patches and two cat's cradles is definitely the way to go.

Then just attach those crazy corner triangles and voila!

That picture is a bit brighter than real life, but purples gotta purp.

So, that's two.

And purple was so happy about finally getting some action that some polka dots turned up in Burgoyne #19 -

and there's even some purple in Burgoyne #20 (last of the Burgoynes, I swear this time)  (no, really) which is now in progress.

I'm linking with Linda at kokaquilts for Sew Stitch Snap SHARE.  Come see all the gorgeous projects!

Surrounded by Burgoyne...

Let's be clear.  I started making a Burgoyne Surrounded quilt because I fell in love with Cathy's blocks when she started hers.
At first I was just going to make one block, to try out the pattern.  That plan lasted about 5 minutes.
Then I figured I'd make 4 blocks for a nice wall quilt or table topper.  Yeah, another failed plan.
Well, nine blocks would make a nice baby quilt.  But I blew right past nine and headed for twelve.
But twelve was totally going to be IT,  3x4, nice lap quilt, done now, no, really.
But.
When I hit sixteen, I was definitely done done done, I'm so done, no more blocks, nice big square couch quilt, no more blocks.
Yeah, right.
Number seventeen happened the other day.

Followed by number eighteen...

And number nineteen is all cut out and ready to go.

And number twenty - fabric pulled, and starting to cut the bits.

I swear on a stack of Quilter's Newsletters that I'm going to stop at twenty blocks.  That's a full-sized big honkin' quilt.  I'm now up to my earlobes in full-size quilt tops.  (Note to my kids - if you see one of my quilts that you really really want, speak up and if I ever finish it, it's yours!)

And look - I really do have to stop now.  Burgoyne is currently also trying to surround Ringo Lake.

If I make any more blocks, it's going to ooze over this whole side of the state...


Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what all us scrappy folk are up to!
Also linking with Sew Stitch Snap Share at kokaquilts.  Come see all the stitchy inspiration!

Maybe I need a minder...

I've discovered something about laying out Burgoyne Surrounded blocks.

It makes me want to make more. 

I grabbed my rotary cutter and some nearby fabric.

By late afternoon, I had one of those two almost completely stitched together.

Looks like it's going to be a bigger quilt than I thought.

Or maybe the first of two?

Uh-oh.

Scrappy is as scrappy does

In non-rainbow news, I'm still puttering with a couple of works in progress.

On Ringo Lake is serving as my leader/ender for the moment.

This means that components for it are stacking up, with the occasional finished block, but it also means no progress is being made on my real leader/ender projects - like the 4-patches I've been making for years, or the hourglasses I started year before last, or the checkerboard rails that I started last summer.
(Hmm...  I seem to have a whole lot of leader/endering going on.  I should probably make a push on one or the other of these projects, but in that case I'd probably just start another leader/ender to work on while I finish those blocks, so maybe I should just leave it alone and see what happens...)

One of the things I want to really move along is my Burgoyne Surrounded quilt.  I've started laying out blocks with sashings and cornerstones, but I have to work on it in short bursts.  Despite the carpet on my design floor, there's only so much these bony old knees can take before they start getting grumpy.  Grumpy knees are not easily placated.

Me and my grumpy knees are headed over to Cynthia's Quilting is more Fun than Housework for some Oh Scrap fun.  Come on along and see what everyone's up to!

Putt-putting along on Ringo Lake

Progress is slow but steady -

Meanwhile, on another part of the design floor -

I think I'm going to have to take up Ringo so I have room to lay out Burgoyne, since I'm giving a higher priority to Burgoyne and I'm not going to be able to make the design floor any bigger...

While I was playing around with the construction of that block I showed yesterday (before it dawned on me why it was kicking my butt),  I thought that center area could be interesting all by itself.

Like maybe as a strippy quilt?

Or possibly a sashing or border?

More play is definitely called for.

Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the pretties!  (Oh, and Cynthia's flashing a Burgoyne block, too!  Woohoo!)

A bucketful of nine-patches

The best thing about the Friday after Thanksgiving is that I don't have to work another Black Friday ever.  Ever ever ever.  Being retired from retail is glorious.

The second best thing about the Friday after Thanksgiving is that Bonnie Hunter releases the first clue of her new Mystery Quilt!
 

Before I knew what hit me, I had a small mountain of nine-patches done.

After stacking them in piles of ten, I found that I had 35 done, with lots more in progress next to my sewing machine.  My original plan was to just make half as many components as Bonnie calls for, so I'd not end up with yet another full-sized bed quilt, but I shot right by that number.  She's taking it easy on us this year - we only need to make 50 of these nine-patches.  Way easier than previous mysteries where we made hundreds and hundreds of four patches or HSTs right out of the gate.

One of the tips she gave this year is the one where you stack your strip sets, nesting the seams, and cut into sub-units - the pieces are lined up and ready to stitch, thus saving lots of time and cutting.

It also works for the other section of the nine-patches - I'd stack the strip sets staggered, nesting seams, then cut.

Two sets for the slice of one!
As long as I was making nine-patches, I made a few more for my Burgoyne Surrounded sashing.  

I also cut a bunch of 3.5"x15.5" strips for the sashing from neutrals, since I had them all out to cut 1.5" strips for the nine-patches anyway.   (I'd been using them without cutting any replacements for a loooooong time.  The cupboard was getting pretty bare!)

Also, my leader/ender project is progressing nicely.

These rails are easy and fun, and having enough to lay out and get a good look is a real stimulus.  I've decided my strategy will be to make and sew the blocks together in pairs.  That way I'll end up with the correct number of each block, and it'll be easier to count the pairs than the individual blocks.  Above I've got six pairs and three singles laid out next to each other, and I'm really liking what I see.

Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh, Scrap!, and with Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday Linky Party.  Come enjoy all the scrappy goodness!


.

Jacks and Nines and Split Rail Fences

Despite my plans to get some more RSC sewing done this week, I got precious little accomplished.

This Jacks and Sixes block is all I have to show for this month's dark neutrals.  At least it's a friendly block - check out that cheery 'hi' in the center.

I did get a few more nine patches assembled for the cornerstones of my Burgoyne Surrounded quilt.   At some point I need to figure out how many I need, but since there's no such thing as too many nine patches, I'm not too worried about it.

And in the general category of projects I'm not starting, these split rail fence blocks appeared.  This is Bonnie Hunter's newest leader/ender SAL, and I've been intrigued by the blocks since she first suggested them.

I had tried to stay focused on sewing the checkerboards together in the same way, but look at the one on the left.  I was kicking myself and looking ahead to a session with the seam ripper.
But wait...

When I set the blocks next to each other to see how they'd look, this is how they'd look:

 Huh.

So, I grabbed that 'wrong' block and tried it instead.

That's better.  And good to know this early in the game.  Imagine if I was months down the road with a couple hundred identical blocks.
You would have been able to hear the swearing from orbit, I'll bet.


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday (late again!), and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what everyone is up to!