2015 RSC December Turquoise Week 3, Two Totes Made From Deconstructed Men's Shirts

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post. Christmas sewing, totes, tiny zipper pouches, receiving blanket. My back was out about a week. Thankfully it returned. Lol. I have four turquoise occupied happy scrappy houses to add to my collection.
To see what others made with their RSC scraps go here Saturday morning.

I made another Everything Bag using deconstructed men's shirts. A piece of thin interfacing in the side pockets give them some body. Narrow pieces of batting in the handles give them body, too. This tote will be a gift. So far, I've made four Everything Bags. It's not a difficult pattern and people seem to love them. I'll probably make more.

I've made three of these small totes using 1.5" strips of deconstructed men's shirts. I sewed 14 strips onto batting. The strips were about 14" long. The handles were made from lengths of fabric 6" wide with a narrow piece of batting inside to give them body. I have pillowcases to sew and I'll be done.
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas : )

2015 RSC December Turquoise Week 1, "Let's Book It" Star Gazing Quilt Progress

Difficult to believe that it's December. It's time to finish up RSC projects we have been working on each month this year. I've already turned most of my RSC blocks into hot pads/pot holders, mug rugs and small quilts this year. I started sewing four 16-patch blocks and four Occupied Happy Scrappy House blocks each month in the middle of this RSC year. I'll continue sewing both blocks during next year's RSC year as well as turning my small scraps into supper scrappy hot pads and mug rugs. Angela is planning a RSC row sew along quilt next year. Because I LOVE row quilts, I plan to sew along with her and my RSC friends to make a rainbow row quilt.
During this RSC year I missed playing with my collection of turquoise scraps so I'll be playing with them this month. Today I'll add four 16-patch turquoise blocks and a supper scrappy turquoise hot pad to my collections. A cotton knitted dishcloth made it into the picture. To see what others made with their RSC scrappy blocks this week, go here Saturday morning.

I've been working on my November Let's Book It Project this week. I'm using a pattern from a pattern book by Bonnie Hunter that I've had for 4 years. The quilt pattern is called "Star Gazing" and is in her book called "Scraps and Shirttails". I'll be using mostly deconstructed men's shirts and some woven fabrics to make this quilt. As it's a large quilt, I'll be working on it for several months. I'm linking this post with Sharon Vrooman's "Let's Book It" blog post. Sharon plans to continue this monthly challenge into next year. Because of this challenge, I've made some wonderful quilts and totes from patterns I've saved for a long time. Check out this challenge and consider sewing along with us next years. We link up each month.

2015 RSC November Lime Green Week 4, The Everything Bag, Sleepy Baby

The last week playing with lime green and I'll add two 7" x 10" batik mug rugs to my collection. Some 2" HST for the first clue in the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt made it into the picture. A sweet sleepy baby made with a free pattern found here is in the middle of the picture.  Shiny Happy World is a great website for cute patterns, free and for purchase. Also very informative video clips. Check it out. My friend Laura blogged about Sleepy Baby a few week ago and I liked them.
To see what others made with lime green scraps go here.

This week I made another Everything Bag cut from recycled men's shirts. Probably a future gift.

2015 RSC November Lime Green Week 3, Two RSC Charity Baby Quilts Finished

This week after sewing a scrappy lime green 8.5" Eye of God block, I realized I had enough RSC blocks to make a charity baby quilt. Here they are sashed with 2.5" strips. The orange inner border is 1.5" strips. The outer blue border is 2.5" strips.

The backing is a line green fun print, the binding a coordinating colorful strip print. It's quilted with a loose free motion meander and finished at 38" square.

Last year I thought I would make 12 of these dog blocks in RSC colors for a large quilt. After four blocks I lost interest in making them and they sat in the orphan block box. Last week I sashed them with 2.5" strips for a charity baby quilt.

The backing is a blue swirl print. It's quilted with a loose free motion meander and bound with a coordinating light blue print. It finished at 42" square.
This year I've been making Happy Scrappy House blocks and 16-patch blocks in RSC colors. I'll continue making them next year until I have enough for quilts.
It's been another great RSC year and I look forward to playing with my colorful scraps next year. Thank you Angela for hosting another successful RSC year.
To see what others made this week go here.

2015 RSC November Light Green Week 2, Nifty Thrifty Quilt Finish

After playing with my green scraps this week I'll add four Happy Scrappy Houses to my collection. The free pattern for this block can be found on Bonnie Hunter's blog, quiltville.blogspot.com under the Free Patterns tab.
Also pictured are four 8.5" patriotic string blocks that will be donated at my guild's November meeting. I made 11 Tiny Zipper Pouches this week and have already gifted 6 of them. The remaining 5 are pictured. They are made with super hero and Star Wars prints. When filled with gum, hard candy, chap stick, etc, they make nice gifts. I used the video clip found here.
A green cotton knitted dishcloth made it into the picture. To see what others made with their green scraps so here.

Nifty Thrifty is finished. The neutrals, sashings, sashings blocks and outer orange border was cut from deconstructed thrift store men's shirts. The dark units within the blocks were cut from woven fabrics gifted from my Texas friend. Thank you for sharing your woven stash.

This picture shows the backing that was made from purchased blue and tan woven plaid yardage. The binding is also purchased woven plaid, a darker blue than the backing. Nifty Thrifty was quilted with a free motion meander using my domestic sewing machine. I chose a light brown cotton thread for both the top stitching and in the bobbin. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished at 63" x 75". Yes. It is a very soft quilt. I plan to enter this quilt in next year's quilt show to show the possibilities of making quilts with deconstructed thrift store shirts and woven fabrics. The Nifty Thrift Quilt pattern can be found in Bonnie Hunter's book, Scraps and Shirttails.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims in France at the hands of Islamic Terrorists.

2015 RSC November Light Green Week One, Nifty Thrifty Quilt Progress

My goodness how this year has flown. Already into November, Christmas a little over a month away. Not much time left if one is trying to sew Christmas gifts.
This month's RSC color is light, limey green. I love this color. Four 16 patch blocks will be added to my 16 patch collection. Such versatile blocks. So many possibilities. Three cotton knitted dishcloths made during last month are in the picture.
To see what others made with lime green go here.

Nifty Thrifty is sandwiched with batting and a woven fabric backing, pin based and ready to quilt using my domestic sewing machine. The orange border is only 3" wide. The pattern shows a 5" border, but the orange shirt I used was a Medium and I didn't feel there was enough fabric in it for a border wider than 3".  I usually buy XL, XXL and XXXL thrift store shirts. I think I liked the color of the shirt so much I forget to look at the size. I also ran out of the dark brown shirt I was using to cut the 2.5" squares used in the sashing. It was supposed to extend into the inner scrappy border. I had some pale striped yellow shirt fabric that I used in the sashing so I used it instead. Just a few of the challenges when using shirts to make quilts.

2015 RSC October Brown Week 5, Let's Book It Project

This is the last week of October, a month of playing with shades of brown fabrics. This month I finished a brown themed quilt made with deconstructed thrift store men's shirts and woven yardage. Pictures were in last week's post. It was a Let's Book It project from last month.
During the last two weeks of this month, I have been working on another Let's Book It project, another Bonnie Hunter quilt pattern. This one is called Nifty Thrifty and is from her "Scraps and Shirttails" book.  Again, I'm using fabrics from deconstructed thrift store men's shirts and woven yardage. Another brown themed quilt. Hopefully I'll finish this one during November.

My plans are to cut the outer border from the men's shirt under the book. The pattern calls for 5" borders, but I may change that to either a 3" or 4" border if I see I don't have enough of the shirt fabric.
I ran out of the dark shirt fabric I was using in the sashing and will need to improvise the inner border. I'm auditioning a yellow square in the first picture. Seems to look okay.
To see what others made with brown fabrics this week, go here.
I'm also linking this post to Sharon Vrooman's October Let's Book It post.

Here is another cute video clip I found a few weeks ago.

2015 RSC October Brown Week 4, Everything Bag in Shirt Fabric, Scrap Quilt Challenge Aurifil Threads WIN

Week 4 of the RSC and I'll add a brown crumb hot pad/pot holder and a 8.5" Eye of God block to my collections.
I'm getting a head start on my Let's Book It project with four blocks made with men's shirt fabric. You may recognize them as a Bonnie Hunter block. More about these blocks next week.
To see what other's make with their brown fabrics, go here Saturday morning.

Using strips, linings and straps cut from deconstructed men's shirts, I made another Everything Bag. I'm pleased with how it turned out and plan to start using it right away.

Yesterday THIS came in the mail! I entered Fabrics N Quilts "Scrap Quilt Challenge" this year and won a beautiful collection of bright Aurifil Threads in the drawing! Yah! Thank you Fabrics N Quilts and Aurifil for hosting and sponsoring this Scrap Quilt Challenge for a fifth year. I love these threads. I also look forward to using the small package of Sweet Dreams Stuffing to stuff a child's toy. Thank you Sweet Dreams.

Finally. Found this cute video clip a few weeks ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBOQcQO0IFI

2015 RSC October Brown Week 3 Hopscotch Butterscotch Finished

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month is brown. Happily I can post pictures of my finished quilt, Hopscotch Butterscotch, this week. I used deconstructed men's shirts and some woven yardage, lots of browns, orange, some blue, some green, guy friendly colors and prints. Every piece of fabric was either a plaid or a check.
To see what others made with brown fabric go here Saturday morning.

And there's a picture of the backing, a woven plaid.
The Hopscotch Butterscotch pattern is in Bonnie Hunter's "Adventures with Leaders & Enders." It's quilted with a free motion meander. The pictures above were taken before it was washed. After a go in the washer and dryer Hopscotch finished at 56" x 68".

2015 RSC October Brown Week 2, Pooh Charity Baby Quilt, Hopscotch Progress

These four brown Happy Scrappy House blocks will be added to my RSC collection. I plan for all the colorful houses in this fun RSC quilt to be occupied. To see what others made with their brown fabrics go here.

These red/white/blue patriotic 8.5" blocks are ready to donate at the next guild meeting.

This little Pooh print backed strip quilt is finished. I bought the yard of Pooh fabric I used for the backing in a clearance bin a couple years ago.

The front is strips of fabric from my 2.5" scrappy strip collection that blend with the Pooh print backing. Two of the strips are the same Pooh print as the backing. I found them in a box of scraps at a quilt show.
Most quilt shows have boxes of scraps for sale. All the scraps one can stuff in a plastic baggie for a few dollars. I enjoy searching those boxes for treasure! Bits of novelty prints. Discarded strips of fabric.
This little quilt was quilted with horizontal wavy lines using my machine's walking foot. It finished at 36" x 42". The binding is yellow print with teeny tiny butterflies that kinda look like tiny bees. Any hoo.  This quilt went together easily, was fun, fast, and is ready to donate at the next guild meeting.

Hopscotch Butterscotch progress report ... Hopscotch is ready to sandwich with batting and a backing to be quilted.

2015 RSC October Brown Week 1 and Progress of Hopscotch Butterscotch Quilt Made With Men's Shirts

October's RSC color is brown. I'll add four 8.5" blocks made with sixteen 2.5" squares to my collection. To see what others made with their brown scraps, go here Saturday morning.

I've made some progress on my quilt made with men's shirts. Ready to start on the keyboard border. I'm using Bonnie Hunter's Hopscotch Butterscotch pattern from her book Adventures With Leaders and Enders.
Here is a cute video I found last week. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCIpKAIFyo

September Let's Book It Project, Starting a Hopscotch Butterscotch Quilt Using Men's Shirt Fabrics

My September Let's Book It Project is a Bonnie Hunter pattern found in "Adventures with Leaders & Enders". I'm using fabric from deconstructed thrift store men's shirts and shirt fabric my friend Elaine shared with me earlier this year. I've had Bonnie's book for 3 years. Been eyeing this pattern since I bought my signed copy from Bonnie after enjoyed her trunk show.
The blocks are fun to piece. I'm struggling with all the plaids. Still, I'm very excited about this quilt and plan to work on it for the next few months. I linking this post to Sharon Vrooman's blog today.

I found this cute YouTube video clip last week. Enjoy.

Animusic

2015 RSC September Orange Week 4, Rainbow Scrap Quilt Finish, Donation Baby Quilt Panel

After playing with orange crumbs this month, I'll add two orange pot holders. A cotton knitted dishcloth made it into the picture.
It's time to move on to another color of scraps. Maybe brown? To see what others made with orange go here.

I had a novelty panel in my stash and decided to quilt it for a donation baby quilt. It's quilted with a very loose free motion meander. I turned it in at Tuesday's guild meeting before taking a picture of the backing, but it was a cute green novelty print. The binding is an orange print. It finished at 35" x 42".

I sewed my 12.5" Rainbow Eye of God blocks together last week and added a border, batting, backing this week. It's quilted with a loose free motion meander and a red print print binding.

The backing is a pretty blue Paris themed print. After a go in the washer and dryer it finished at 51.5" x 64". A nice size for a lap quilt.

2015 RSC September Orange Week 3, The Everything Bag, Doll Quilt, RSC Quilt Top in Progress

I'll turn these two 8.5" orange crumb blocks into a pot holder this week. Two cotton knitted dishcloths made it into the picture. They're scrappy because I used yarn left from making other dishcloths. To see what others made with orange fabrics, go here Saturday morning.

This week I sashing my 12.5"  RSC Eye of God blocks. It will be a lap top size quilt. Here I'm auditioning border treatments and colors. I want to finish this quilt top, piece a backing, sandwich the two with batting and bast it with safety pins by next Saturday.

I made a scrappy doll quilt for a great grand child this week. After a go in the washer and dryer I think it will finish at about 18" x 18". The backing is a purple turtle print. I see my shadow made it into the picture.

I've wanted to sew "The Everything Bag" for awhile. This week I pulled some 2.5" strips from my collection and gave it a go. The only thing I changed about the pattern was I inserted 1.5" batting strips into the handles.

This is one side.

This is the other side. Both sides and the handles were quilted with vertical lines using my sewing machine's walking foot. It was easy to make.

2015 RSC September Orange Week 2 and the Wilkes Quilters Annual Quilt Show

This month I started making blocks for another Happy Scrappy House Quilt. This will be one on my RSC projects for the rest of this year and most of next. Three of these four orange house are occupied by zombies. I need 48 house blocks for a quilt. To see what others made with orange fabrics this week, go here.

This weekend was our quilt guild's annual quilt show and I entered three quilts and one challenge piece. I entered my 12 Quilt Barns which was a Lori Holt quilt block along. It won a green ribbon!

I also entered my bright, colorful, scrappy Bonnie Hunter Pineapple Blossom quilt.

It won a a green ribbon, too! Was a very good day for me!

The third quilt I entered was my Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Happy House quilt.

My friend Cathy entered three quilts. This soft, lovely batik.

This beautiful black, white and red music themed quilt.

And this fun layer cake quilt.

Our guild buddy, Laura, entered this awesome scrappy star quilt! Love all those colorful, fun prints.

In my opinion, it was one of our best shows. Almost a hundred quilt entries. Here are just a few more pictures. This one is so much fun.

Beautifully hand quilting. Lots of fun prints. I loved everything about this quilt.

Another beauty. Little blocks, beautiful quilting, big quilt. Wow.