2015 RSC January Blue Week 5, Sweet 16, QOV blocks

I'm still slowly working up scraps and organizing my sewing area. After playing with blue skinny trimmings, I had a 12.5" string block. I sewed skinny strings onto four 6.5" pieces of phone book paper. After tearing away the paper, I sewed the four blocks together to make  the single block. This large blocks could be the center of a child quilt or the first of 12 blocks for a large lap quilt. Two 4"x 8" scrappy blue batik mug rugs are beside the large block in the picture.
To see what other made with their blue scraps, go here Saturday morning.
Eight "Sweet 16" blocks for a future Hands2Help charity quilt are in the bottom of the picture.

Our quilt guild met Tuesday. I donated these four 8.5" red/white/blue patriotic blocks and the Dr Seuss baby quilt I made earlier this month. Step One of our guild's Mystery Quilt 2015 was passed out during our meeting. They are always fun and I'll post more about the first clue later.

2015 RSC January Blue Week 4

This week I finished cutting my blue scraps into usable sizes. Crumbs will go into a plastic bag. Strips less than 1.5" wide will go into a box of strings for string blocks.
The two 8.5" crumb blocks in last weeks post became another blue crumb hot pad. That's two this month. They make nice gifts. I'll add five 4.5" crumb blocks to my growing crumb block collection. The large blue puppy block in the picture was made with 2.5" squares. I made three puppy blocks last year. Now I have four.
To see what other's made with their blue scraps this week, go here Saturday morning.

Sarah is hosting a Sweet 16 Block Quilt Along this year. See her button on the side of my blog. She is posting 16-patch quilt ideas each week. I have a plastic tub of 2.5" squares that I've cut from scraps. I'm always adding and taking squares from this container. Pictured are four colorful scrappy 16-patch blocks I made this week with squares from that tub. My plan is to make about 48 blocks for a Hands2Help Charity Quilt this year.
Three knitted dishcloths made it into the picture.
Usually I buy Peaches'n Cream or Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn for my dishcloths. However, a few weeks ago I found a new to me cotton yarn brand at AC Moore and thought I've give it a try. Using a crochet YouTube video, I crocheted the BRIGHT dishcloth in the picture. It was fun!  Here's the link to the crochet dishcloth video tutorial I used : ) 

2015 RSC January Blue Week 3 and a Cat In The Hat Baby Quilt Finish

I've been working through my blue scraps this week and will add six 4.5" scrappy, crumb blocks to my collection. The two 8.5" scrappy crumb blocks in the picture will be turned into another hot pad later this week. A cotton knitted dish cloth made it into the picture, too. To see what others made with blue scraps this week, go here Saturday morning.
This year I'm going to work through my scraps and cut them into usable sizes. Scrappy strips almost 2.5" will be trimmed into 2.5" strips. Strips almost 2" wide with be trimmed to 2" wide. Strips almost 1.5" will be trimmed to 1.5" wide. Strips less than 1.5" wide and wider than 1" will go into a basket of strings for string blocks later this year. Scrappy crumbs will be trimmed into 2.5" or 2.0" squares. I'll turn crumbs into fabric. Hope this new system works out : )

Would you believe the blocks in this Cat In The Hat baby quilt were cut from a panel a friend gave me a year or two ago. So did the red sashing fabric and the backing. This little charity quilt was fun to make. Thank you Sharon : )

Just look at that backing fabric. Those little blotches of color remind me of Thing 1 and Thing 2's hair! Perfect for this quilt. It's quilted with two wavy lines through the borders. The rest was quilted with a loose free motion meander. After a go in the washer and dryer, it finished at 38.5" x 42". A new mother and baby will love this one. I'll take it to my quilt guild's January meeting.

2015 RSC January Blue Week 2, A Baby Quilt Finish and A WIN!

This week I played with more blue crumbs and made six 4.5" crumb blocks. I turned the two 8.5" crumb blocks I made last week into a hot pad. To see what others made with blue scraps, go here Saturday morning.
Like many quilters, I have lots of blue scraps. While I have my blue scraps out, I want to turn some of them into boy friendly baby quilts. Sharon Vrooman's "Let's Book It 2015 Challenge" encourages us to pull pattern books from our shelves and use them. About a year ago I won an autographed copy of Rachel Griffith's quilt pattern book called Quilts Made With Love. Rachel's "Bitsy Baby" pattern on page 8 looked like a fun way to use some blue squares cut from scraps. I thought a cannery yellow background would make those bits of blue pop.

A fun blue print from my stash made a perfect backing.

It was quilted with a loose free motion meander, yellow thread in the needle, blue thread in the bobbin. I used yellow fabric like the background for the binding. After a go in the washer and dryer, it finished a soft 38" square. Thank you, Rachel, for creating this sweet baby quilt pattern. This quilt will be either a gift or a charity baby quilt.

Time to brag. Last month, December, I won Sharon Vrooman's Let's Book It 2014 Challenge! Yah! See the cute little barn and charm pin. LOVE IT! I used my Lazy Girl's Runaround Bag pattern in December.

2015 Rainbow Scrap Challenge January, Blue, Week 1

It's a new Rainbow Scrap Challenge Year and we are playing with blue scraps this month.  After playing with my blue scraps this week I'll add the three 8.5" blocks in the first row to my collection. I had a dozen blocks left from the end of last year's challenge. I need 48 blocks to make a lap quilt. The two blocks in the second row were made from blue crumb scraps. Those blocks will become the front and back of a pot holder/hot pad. I have lots of crumb scraps to turn into fabric this year.
To see what others did with their blue scraps, go here.