Rainbow Scrap Challenge AND One Monthly Goal - Complete!

Just a quick post today as we have house-guests for the weekend.

I wanted to show my blocks for February's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Here are my purple blocks for Squared Away, I am making the 7.5" size...

......and here are my purple birds for my Rainbow Birds....

The cutting of all the background fabric for Rainbow Birds, as well as the leg/background piecing, was my February goal for OMG-One Monthly Goal.

Even though it's been a crazy busy month, I was able to sneak my goal in and got it completed...

Not the best picture, but I am glad this got done...it will make the piecing of my Rainbow Birds much quicker every month.

That's all for now! My step-son and his baby are here for the weekend from Alberta. He has just finished his 7-month deployment in Latvia and has a bit of down-time now that he's back. 

This means a big family dinner tonight and a couple of outings before they go home on Monday.

Wow, this has been such a busy week!

I am linking up with So Scrappy for Scraphappy Saturday. I'm looking forward to what the colour for March will be. 

And I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts for OMG- One Monthly Goal.

Have a wonderful weekend!

February - One Monthly Goal

Here we are in February already....Spring can't be far off, can it???

I don't know why, but for me, even though February is the shortest month, it feels like the longest :(

February is my least favourite month. I hope to keep busy and beat off the Winter blahs.

Maybe it's fate that for my least favourite month I am choosing a somewhat boring goal, lol....but one that needs doing and I'll happy that I did it.

My goal for February is to cut all the background pieces for my bird quilt that I am doing for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and complete the legs for all the birds.

 I need to think of a name for this quilt, as the pattern is one of Lorna's from Sew Fresh Quilts called Black Birds...

...hmmm...maybe Rainbow Birds??? I like that name, for now. I don't like getting political, in life or in my blog, but perhaps this quilt will represent inclusiveness to me....so now I like the name Rainbow Birds even better :)



I am linking up with Pomegranate and Chintz today so I can take part in the linky party for the 6 & 6 in 2018. 

I want to show my finished Down the Rabbit Hole quilt top...

.....and my new "start". This is the beginning of the first block of Sarah Fielke's BOM, Simple Folk...

My background fabric is an indigo-coloured Grunge fabric with purple running through it. I think it will show off the brightly-coloured applique beautifully!


Today I will do the final longarm quilting on my Happy Days quilt. I can't wait to take it off the frame and see how it looks! 

I'll have to do a bit of repair on the quilt....right at the top, when I first began quilting, didn't I notice a small blood stain! How could I have not seen that when I was doing the applique! I tried the old hand-quilters' trick of using my own saliva on the stain, but it didn't work this time....I think you have to catch it right away. 

I will fix it, though, because if I choose to enter this quilt in the Fall Fair this year the judges would disqualify it for being stained.

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!.

Happy Groundhog's Day!!

A burst of sewing!

This week most of my work on the longarm has been put on hold as I've been nursing a back problem that pops up from time to time. 

I have managed to get a bit of sewing done as I'm ok in a seated position :)


First up was sewing one of the final borders for Down the Rabbit Hole. I held my breath as I pinned it onto the quilt, wondering if it would fit. Luckily, Sarah Fielke designs a pretty good pattern....

This morning I appliqued the final leaf to Down the Rabbit Hole!!


I also finished my Magnolia Mystery offered by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. This is the second mystery I've done thru' Meadow Mist Designs and Cheryl does a wonderful job!

I am going to hold off on quilting this one until I have the time to really have fun with all that open space.


I've also sewn my blocks for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge....what a lot I've accomplished while off "sick"!

Here are my Squared Away blocks...

The block at the top of the picture actually makes my eyes glaze over a bit because of the fabric choices....but I'm leaving it in.

I also have my three birds done for the month....except for their legs, those will come in February hopefully....

Aren't they adorable!!

I do hope to get back to the longarm today as I'm actually working on one of my own quilts, Happy Days, which was the BOM offered by Sarah Fielke in 2016...

I hope my back continues to improve as I have signed up for the Robbie Burns 8k, which is run this Sunday. I have so looked forward to this race (maybe because I get to wear my kilt, or maybe to start the race to bagpipes?). 

Here I am running in my kilt in the Caledonia Race in the Fall which was a warm, muggy day. We were encouraged to dress with a Scottish theme, but I think there weren't more than ten of us that did!

....and such a special feeling crossing the finish line with a good friend, which doesn't happen often...

Today I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Fridays. 

I am also linking with Sandra at Musings of a Menopausal Melon for TGIFF - Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, and with Angela at So Scrappy to see what others have been working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

RSC18 and PEQ MQG

This month the colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is light and medium blue.

As an added bonus, we are offered a quilty project, Squared Away, to do.  

There are sixteen half-square triangles used in this month's block. I happened to come across my stash of Thangles and thought this would be a good opportunity to use them...

I plan on making three blocks each month, and have two done so far...

I like them! Although, I'm not sure I'll continue to use the Thangles. They are a good method, but I can get the same result with the Easy Angle ruler. By using the ruler I skip the step of removing the papers from the Thangles. I'll have a think about it.

Of course, my other project for the RSC18 is to construct three birds per month from the Black Birds pattern designed by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts that I wrote about HERE. 

Adorable....I think I'll try to get another done this weekend.

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I've also completed Clue #5 for the PEI MQG Mystery quilt....

This step used a nifty trick on trimming the rectangles so that are cut just right...see how the seam doesn't run directly corner-to-corner? There was a suggested video to watch to learn the technique which was a huge help!

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I think I've been holed up too long in the house because of all the crazy weather lately....I feel like an outing today. 

The Ice Wine Festival in Niagara started this week, so we may plan on a nice drive down to our favourite winery, Kacaba Vineyards and Winery, and sample the food/wine pairing. 

It's too easy for me to become a hermit in the Winter.....at least I can take solace in the fact that we'll be looking forward to Spring in two months, right?

I am linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and linking this post to the PEI Mystery Quilt-along post. Also, for the first time, I am linking with Sew Can She for Show Off Saturday.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Oops...poor little bird!

Sometime in the last year or so I saw Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts speak at Norfolk County Quilters' Guild. She was a lot of fun and her quilts were wonderful to see in person.

I bought three of her patterns that day.

Lately, as part of the PEIMQG Mystery BOM, I won two more of her patterns!

Have I started any?...nope....until this week. 

We've had quite the spell of frigid weather here since Christmas, it's just now warming up a bit now. On the weekend I had a lovely sew day and as part of it I thought I'd try a block from Lorna's Black Birds quilt that you can see HERE. 

I don't know if it's one of the pitfalls of being a seasoned quilter, but I think I tend to gloss over instructions and kind of wing it (pun intended).

So here is my first attempt at a wee birdie...

I didn't clue in right away that the piece on the right should have been sewn on first :/ (although, if I'd paid attention and read the instructions I wouldn't have made this mistake!).

Here is a new and improved version...

....much better and soooo cute!!! He will get his legs at a later date. I will follow the pattern (this time) and do all the legs for all the birds in one step with strip-piecing.

Lorna advises in the pattern to press seams open...which isn't how us seasoned (there's that word again, do I mean old-school?) quilters have been taught to do things....but, boy, doesn't the piece lay nice and flat and show off the points beautifully.....such as where the tail and body meet.

It takes a bit of extra time, but, for this type of piecing, will be worth it in the end.

On Saturday, I decided to take part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, including the suggested pattern Squared Away. 

But then I read a blog post by Linda at the Pieceful Kingdom. What she is doing for RSC18 is blocks from one of Lorna's patterns, Dog Gone Cute, in the suggested colour of the month. You can read about it HERE.

So that is what I'll be doing with my birds this year. I will try to do three per month in the colour of the month :)


I've also been stitching away on lots of leaves on Down the Rabbit Hole...

....so, as of now on January 10th, I'm in pretty good shape to get this done by the end of the month. I can hardly wait to see the whole quilt all sewn together!


I am linking up with Lorna today from Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.