January's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is Pink and I've been doing quite a bit in pink this week. I found a pattern from Moda Block Heads 3 from last year that I will be using for some of my Rainbow blocks this year. I pulled out my pink scraps and put together 3 blocks on Saturday last weekend. I'm afraid that's all the pink blocks I'm going to get in that pattern because I have insufficient scraps to cover the need for dark, medium, light, and pale pieces in each block. So I've pulled another pattern from Block Heads 3 and will be making a few of those in pink tomorrow.
I've also been working a little bit each day on my Peppermint Patty quilt blocks. This is a quilt I started years ago when I learned about doing paper piecing with freezer paper. I had done a couple of paper pieced quilts previously using regular printer paper and had a horrible time getting the paper removed. The thought of not having to sew through the paper at all was intriguing to me so I jumped into a new project and got quite a bit of it done pretty quickly. Then life happened and it got put on the shelf, and that's where it's been for years.
Today I finished my Snowflake quilt top. I chose to use the alternate pattern for block 4 that designed the center rows on the diagonal instead of straight across as in the original pattern. Not having done that sort of piecing before made for a challenging learning experience. I also wanted to extend the borders so it would fit my kitchen table. I wanted the outer border to be solid blue, but I didn't have enough blue left. I did have some extra rows of blue and white sewn together because I had misunderstood the alternate pattern and thought I needed more that I actually did. That turned out to be a good thing. I knew I didn't want an all white border but wasn't sure how I was going to get the blue in there when there wasn't much left. While browsing through Pinterest, I saw a quilt that had borders with some small squares of color placed in the midst of the solid border. It looked nice and gave me the idea to use the extra pieced strip sets to make 2" blocks in blue and white and put them in the borders. I'm pleased with how it turned out.
After finishing the Snowflake quilt I set about cleaning up the tables that had a bunch of fabrics and lots of scraps piled up all over them. I sorted through what was there and either folded the fabric up to put it in my stash or piled it into my colored scrap bins. What I was left with were several pieces of the extra fabric strips that had been cut on the diagonal for the center blocks before I realized I didn't need them. I played around with putting them together in different pattens and came up with some diamonds. Those were also a challenge because I've just not done sewing on the diagonal like that before. After messing up the first one I figured out a way to get them lined up correctly so I could get nice points that came together as they should. They are on the design wall now beside the snowflake quilt. I think I'll use them to make a runner for the top of my china cabinet.
That's about all I managed this week. I have other projects to get to so won't be layering or quilting the snowflake quilt this month, though I did purchase the batting and fabric for the back of it. There isn't any blue in the backing fabric, but the snowflakes all over it keep to the theme nicely.
My One Monthly Goal for January is to finish my string quilt and I started doing a little bit toward that finish today, but I have quite a way to go on that one. I'm playing with Apliquick tools I borrowed from my good friend Kathy. I've only done a little bit but they seem to be promising to work better than needle turn for me.
Stay safe and well. I hope you have a fun and productive weekend.
I'm linking up with the following blogs as their linky parties come available.
Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday
Angela at So Scrappy for RSC2021
Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt for Monday Making
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!
Fredreique at Patchwork and Quilts for Patchwork and Quilts #34
Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down
Jennifer at the Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday Wait Loss
Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday
Nina Marie at Creations, Quilts, Art ... for Off the Wall Friday
Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers
15 comments:
Good morning Janis,
I'm glad to see you have plenty of projects to keep you busy :) I like your peppermint patty blocks, thats going to be a fun quilt, all that pinkness. Your snowflake quilt is lovely, I like what you did with the extra border. Have fun making a topper with the diamonds! Have a great day.
That's all you managed? I think you accomplished a ton. Love the snowflake and Peppermint Patty!
I think you managed a lot!!! I really like your snowflake quilt - that is just so pretty! and the pinks! they are so great!
I can see that you had fun with pink this week. Well played. I love your snowflake quilt. Where did you get the pattern, if I may ask? ;^)
Pretty PINK blocks for the RSC and a completed quilt top, too? Nice work, Janis!!
Those peppermint patty blocks are really neat! I would love to learn the paper piecing technique with freezer paper - it sounds like a good one to know.
You've had rather a productive week, well done!
You managed quite a lot this week! Those peppermint patty blocks look great. I like the idea of paper piecing without having to take out the paper later.
So many fun projects going on in your studio!! I really like those first pink blocks! Your snowflake quilt is amazing. Great solution on the border!
Hey, Janis, me again. I went to look at the other snowflakes on Instagram and I had to come back and tell you that yours is the best-looking one. I much prefer the diagonal feather-like row instead of the straight across. It's incredible the difference this little change brings to the quilt. You did an amazing job. Bravo! ;^)
Pretty blocks==love the snowflake and carrying the design into the borders. It's terrific.
I LOVE your snowflake quilt. And your border interpretation works so well. Hope you get it quilted soon but understand lots of other things might take priority.
Beautiful job done this week! I love your pink blocks, Peppermint Patty made pretty stars as secondary pattern! You found the perfect backing here for your beautiful Snowflake quilt ;)
Thanks for sharing!
Both sets of pink blocks look great for RSC2021. Your Snowflake quilt is beautiful and you found the perfect backing!
Love that Snowflake! Sorry it gave you such trouble. Your pinks are gorgeous--so pretty in those Peppermint Patty blocks. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.
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