On the Banks of Grassy Creek

It's no secret that I love Bonnie Hunter's quilts.  I've made several quilts from her books - and in the case of Sand Castles I'm almost done with my second one - and have participated in her mystery quilts for the last several years.  She's inspired me to work with color combinations I never would have tried on my own.

But when she first announced her mystery quilt last fall, I looked at the fabric requirements and thought "wow, that's a lot of gray."

And as we stitched various components each week, I again thought "wow, that's a lot of gray."

And when she did the big reveal earlier this month my first thought was "wow, that's a lot of gray."

Now I had my doubts going in.  Gray isn't a color I like to work with, even though people assure me that it makes colors pop.  I'll admit that dark charcoal grays function that way, but they're essentially black which really does bring out the color.  Maybe it's just the way my eyes/brain perceive color, but for me gray just leaches all the life out of any color near it.

I assembled the first block to see how it would look.  I really love this block.

Still quaking at the gray, I decided to take some of my spare bits and make up one substituting blue for the gray.

And again, I really really love this block.  As a matter of fact, I can foresee making a happy scrappy version of these blocks for a whole quilt.  (But not today.  Too much to do today already.)

Side by side.

Given the fact that I didn't dislike the gray, and I already had enough components ready to make 12 blocks, I went ahead and started assembling.

I had only made four of the sashing strips that Bonnie had set us onto, because I'd had a bad feeling about them.

And when I laid the first four blocks out with them on the design wall, I was glad I hadn't made all 99 gabillion of them that I was supposed to.

So much gray...  And so many strings.  While I love the look of string sashing, I've been sewing string borders for two Sand Castle quilts and I'd frankly like a break.

I decided that I needed to go in a whole different direction.  I'm making this quilt to please myself, after all.  After a quick toss through the oranges I found a big enough piece of something that would work for the sashing.

It's not perfect - I wish it was a shade or two darker - but like I said, I'm pleasing myself, and the lighter softer look pleases me a lot.  (And of course I always think that more orange is always the best answer.)

I've got columns put together and borders started.   Just trudging along on the banks of Grassy Creek.

It's still a good ways from being done, but I'm happy with the direction it's going.  It's going to end up as a nice smiley throw.

Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the scrappy goodness!

Run, table, run!

 Here we are at the last Saturday in January, which is the last RSC roundup for pink.  I sewed one more Antique Tiles block this month -

and added it to the stack of pinks I've completed.  Ready for February's color!

In the meanwhile, I'd been giving some thought to Joyful's Table Scraps challenge.  Remember these little stars I made last month as a prep to thinking pink?

How would they look turned on point, with purple corners?  

Pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

How about adding a little pink sashing?

And maybe a purple border?

Maybe a splotchy pink with wisps of purple as an outer border?

But that was where I stopped for a bit.  I had a nagging doubt about the squareness of table runners.  Shouldn't they be rectangles?

After a couple of days staring at what I had so far, inspiration struck.   I decided to mimic the hourglass look of the corners of the stars, and got right to work making itty bitty hourglasses.

At first I was going to make a solid semi-border of those hourglasses, but after the first dozen I came to my senses.  

It was time to Invoke Math.

(You know I'm serious when I Invoke Math)

I held my breath as I measured the result - there's often a gap between Theory and Reality - 

but woohoo!  It worked!

I quickly framed in the ends,

and popped on the final border.

So, table runner top completed.  If I manage to get it quilted in the next couple of days (don't laugh, it could happen) (well, maybe) it would be lovely for Valentine's Day decor.  (Not that I'm big on decor...)

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see the last of the pink!

Also linking with Joyful for the Table Scraps Challenge - come join the fun!

Well, golly. January's been a ride so far, eh?

 I'm pretty sure the last time I posted there were still dinosaurs scrumbling around in the underbrush.  I'll try to catch up with what-all I've been up to.

My RSC sewing continued with several pink cake stands,

some pink chips,

and a pink PSP21 block to add to my postage stamp collection.

When I last posted, I showed this pink Antique Tiles block that I had made, inspired by our Cathy.

I made another one,

and then just looked and looked and looked at them.  They're so pink.  So ferociously and unremittingly pink.

After hmming for a bit, I decided to see what they'd look like with a different color for that center ring.

No final decision yet, but I think this might be the way I go with these blocks in the future.  You know me - the more colors the merrier.

Not all my sewing has been pink.  I'm slowly but surely squaring up blocks and sewing together rows for Sand Castles 2.

I've got the bottom two rows of squares to go, then I'll sew pairs of rows together until I have them all assembled.  (It'll be nice to finally be done with all that red)  I'm still slogging along on the (possibly endless) B&W string-pieced borders.  Someday I'll have them finished and I'll do such a happy dance!

I've also been working on a Table Scraps project for Joyful's challenge, but that's going to have to wait for its own post - this one is long enough!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!

New year, new pink

Well, here we are in a brand-spanky-new year and the RSC has us all in the pink!

First cake stand of the year,

and another one all laid out and ready to go for next time.

And here's a moldy oldy -

yet another Jacks 'n Sixes.  I always think I'm done making them, but they're just so easy to cut out and zip together.  One of these days I'll have to pull them all out and count them to see if I have as many as I think I do...

One square-in-square block done,

and peeking in from the edge are these little nines that were inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Grassy Creek Clue 5.  I never met a nine patch I didn't love, and the orange centers for these are particularly perfect!

And just for grins I made some little sawtooth stars.  I have no particular plan for these, but there I was with fabric on the cutting mat and a rotary cutter in my hand - who can stop?

If all else fails, I can throw them into a table runner because I've rashly joined Joyful's Table Scraps Challenge.    (I figure I can be the Designated Bad Example for not finishing anything.  People will be able to say "well, at least I did better than Poor Gayle" and it will cheer them up)

And then, because I've once again fallen under the influence of the Amazing Cathy, and because I was cutting 3.5" and 2" strips anyway for my cake stands, I found myself with one of these Antique Tiles blocks.

Now I just have to resist the appeal of the other dozen quilts she's making using those size strips...

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday (even though it's currently Sunday) and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!

Good riddance to 2020

 May 2021 be kinder to us all!

Happy New Year!  (I hope!)

Last of the RSC2020 posts, plus a little more Grassy Creek

 On Friday, Bonnie Hunter gave us clue #5 for Grassy Creek and I got right to work making little nine patches.  They went together pretty quickly, so next thing I knew I was spreading them out for a glamor shot.

As I marveled over how cute and flower-like they were, I had a sudden thought - wouldn't they be fun in other colors as well?  Keep that orange center and change up the four squares around it.  You know - like an RSC block.  (you can picture the light bulb going flash in my head)

I grabbed the nearest chunk of fabric and started laying them out, just to see how they'd look.

And then I thought - how about as a strippy?

At the point where I started grabbing other fabric chunks to see how varying the setting triangles would look, I reined myself in and put the blocks in the Grassy Creek box before I could get myself into any more trouble.  Even my squirrels are falling down rabbit holes these days.

Part 2 of Clue 5 is a nice stack of flying geese.  I made a few more than the half that I was shooting for, but am totally not worried about it.  Has anyone EVER said "Gee, I wish I didn't have a bunch of extra flying geese blocks laying around"?

Though when I started laying them out to see what else I could do with them, I slapped my hands and put them away.  Two rabbit holes in one day was entirely too much.

I'm still deciding about which blocks to do for RSC2021.  Cake Stands are a definite yes, and those cute little square-in-squares that were dragging me around the other day.  Postage stamp blocks will continue into the new year (PSP20 will roll into PSP21), and I'm thinking of a Single Wedding Ring (aka Georgetown Circle and about eleventy other names) like our friend Cathy has been making over at Squirrel Central.  Though if I'm not extremely careful, Cathy will inspire me into starting eight new projects.  Every single week...

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join the fun!

Grassy clues caught up, plus why I shouldn't visit Cathy's blog unsupervised

First up - I got some cutting and sewing done for Grassy Creek (well, the Half-Grassy Creek that I'm making anyway.)  Here's a stack of clue 4's, plus a couple of clue 3's that haven't been clue4-ed yet.

And into the box they went to await the next clue, which will drop on Saturday.

 So then I got to thinking about a quilt that Cathy showed the other day - one that she's planning to do for RSC next year.  

And then I thought about it some more.  She posts a link to the free pattern, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I could do a smaller block.  Because you know me - the smaller the better.  I love her idea of using black-on-white prints for the corners of the squares, and since I'm working on the borders for Sand Castles 2

my cutting table is literally and liberally littered with black-on-white prints.

So, a test block was in order, right?  I grabbed a 2.5" print square and 2 2.5" b/w squares, sliced the background squares diagonally, and sewed up a sample block.  (Technically that center square should be 2 5/8" rather than 2 1/2", but I can't be bothered to cut a bunch of 2 5/8" squares when I've got a bin full of 2.5" already on hand)

RSC2021 here I come!  I love the little block I ended up with - at 3.5" it will finish at 3" and I can make a gazillion of them before I have to stop.

Speaking of stopping -

it looks like I might have a problem with that.

But I'm absolutely done now with making sample blocks.

Well, almost done.

Mostly done?

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday, no matter what you celebrate!  Merry, Happy, Joyous, all!