Rainbow Scrap Challenge Top

One year ago I started this quilt, inspired by the official Rainbow Scrap Challenge on the So Scrappy blog (which by the way is awesome).

Each month, on the first Saturday of the month, a color is announced on the So Scrappy site.  Participants make as many blocks in that color as they like.  You can make any block.  They can all be the same or all be different.  You can make one block of each color, or lots of blocks in each color.  No rules.  This is my kind of challenge.

The idea is to use up your scraps, and since scrap quilts are my favorites, this was perfect.  I decided to make my 2016 quilt mostly from my overflowing reproduction scraps.  The block I chose is called either Country Lanes or Cross in the Square, in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Some of the colors were a challenge to find in repro scraps.  But never fear, I have all sorts of stuff. Yellow, orange, teal, gray, bring it on.
Everything in the quilt is based on a measurement of 2 in. finished, including sashing and the pieced border. 
One of the best things about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is seeing what everyone else is doing through the website links.  I have been so inspired by all sorts of different scrappy quilters.

I chose this block because I had once made another quilt in this pattern, probably 30 years ago.  That quilt was well-loved by all of us, and adopted (abducted?) by my oldest daughter when she went to college.  It had a poly batt and a flannel backing, and was tied, not quilted.  So naturally it didn't hold up, and has since gone to quilt heaven.

I still like the idea of a flannel backing, but this quilt will be quilted, not tied.
I can only hope it will be as well loved.  Looking at it brings memories of sewing on Saturday mornings, listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on NPR.

The new challenge is already starting for 2017.  The first color is purple.  Are you in?

Happy quilting, and Happy New Year!

Shop the Stash

I'm definitely not a good photographer, but I have the perfect model--my perfect youngest grandson.

Today's finishes are brought to you by my scrap and fabric stash.  Shopping the stash is perfect for this time of year.  You don't have to leave the house, it uses up stuff that's taking up space, and it's already paid for.  Win, win, win.

Today's finish is a quilt for the Volunteer Center.  It's a small twin size.  I pieced it several months ago, and turned it in to the charity quilts group at our guild, who quilted it.  I added the binding, so now it's actually ready to go to its new home.

Here's the back.  It's a print of quilt ladies doing their thing.  Quilt til you wilt!

I didn't buy anything specifically for this quilt, just used scraps and yardage on hand.  I love all the dots, and of course all the novelty fabrics.   Especially the frog print.

I turned it in for the last time at our meeting on Wednesday.  I'm sending lots of love and best wishes to whoever ends up with it.

In other news, I'm waiting (patiently?) for the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt to start the day after Thanksgiving.  That's only a week from today!  I don't know if I'll make the quilt this year, but I do love the colors.

Because I was thinking about the mystery quilts last month, I got out all the gold and shirting four patches I made for last year's mystery and didn't use.

I tend to make the same mistake with the mystery quilt every year.  I look over the list of colors, and decide to change it, usually to incorporate reproduction fabric scraps, which I literally have by the bushel full.  I follow the steps and make the sections, and then I don't like something about the colors when we get the reveal.  Totally my fault.  With Allietare (last year's mystery) I just couldn't stand the gold with the red, gray, and black.  So these four patches were left out.

At the retreat in October, I made them into Jacob's Ladder blocks.  I cut beaucoup (my grandmother would say boo-koo) triangles with the Accuquilt cutter in fall colors.  These just happened to be the same size I used to make the leaves in my fall leaf quilt, which is still sadly under construction.  (Actually, it's languishing, waiting for a new idea.)

Here's the flimsy, all done.  I also used the same size triangles for the chevron border.  There are thirty 9 in. blocks in the center, a 3 in. finished red border, a 6 in. finished pieced border, and a 4 in. finished outer border of brown and black plaid.

It fits pretty nicely on the twin bed.
This quilt was also made from scraps and yardage already in my stash.

I'm learning more about pieced borders as I go along.  Because I didn't really plan this out on paper, I ended up with two corners one way and two corners another way.  If I had made the inner red border 2 in. instead of 3, it would have fit better.  I'm not a huge fan of the narrow inner border idea, but I would have done it in this case.  Oh well.

Now I just have to quilt it.  And about 20 or 30 other tops.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, and also with Busy Hands Quilts.  Linky parties are so much fun.  I can't wait to see what everybody else has done this week.

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Quilting!
Sylvia at Treadlestitches