Flowers

The daffodils have been beautiful this year.  The weather conditions must have been perfect for them. I have about 12 different varieties in my yard.  They are the perfect bulb for my yard because the rabbits, squirrels and deer leave them alone.

The red buds been pretty too.  This is one of my favorite trees.

The azaleas are starting to bloom now too. I think I want to plant some more azaleas this fall.  

Right now I'm waiting on the irises.  Several of the short ones have purple buds on them.  One actually bloomed last week, but it was short lived, and I missed getting a picture of it.  The columbine is popping up all over, and I've seen a few buds on those plants.  

Stash Report, Design Wall, Bradford Pear Snow

I missed stash report Sunday, but I have both added and used fabric.

Used this week: 3.5 
Used Year to Date: 25.75 yar
Added this week: 5 yards (red and white fabric)
Added Year to Date:  30.375 yards
Net ADDED: 4.625  yards

I spent yesterday cutting out my next quilt.  I'm using the left over Day Sail fat quarters from Henrique's quilt and added some fat quarters from Promenade Hazel by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I was surprised by how similar the colors are.  I still have to buy the background and cut it, but I put the fabric up on my design wall to play.

Off topic, the pear tree in the middle of the cul de sac is snowing petals today.  The petals are blowing all over and drift in the gutters.

Linking up: http://www.patchworktimes.com/2016/03/28/design-wall-march-28-2016/#comments

RSC, Crocus is the Color

This month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple with yellow accents.  I've made two inverted star blocks:

And 15 purple string blocks:

I still have a lot of purple scraps left, so I may get a few more done this month.

Linking up: http://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2016/03/last-purple-saturday.html

http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2016/03/i-may-have-scrap-problem-but-at-least.html

Red and White Ohio Star

My friend and I were in an antique store a few weeks ago and saw a beautiful red and white quilt hanging on the wall.  It was so striking, she went back and bought it the next day!  I decided to make my own red and white quilt with a different block pattern.  I used the same layout as the antique quilt:  alternating red pieced blocks with plain white squares.  I'm hoping to get this one custom quilted.  Here's the finished top:

This is the smallest quilt I've made in a while, 45"x 63".  I'm planning to hang it in the foyer eventually. The piecing in this quilt is not perfect, but if I were making my usually scrappy quilt it would look pretty good. As it is, there is no way to disguise missing points.  The red is Bella Solids Christmas Red, and the white is Kona Ultra White.

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2016/03/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-twirly-dress.html

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2016/03/ticker-tape-tiles-mini-quilt.html

Just an Idea

My foyer would be perfect for a quilt display if I could figure out how to hang quilts on the walls.  Let me know if you have any ideas.  We don't have a ladder tall enough to do it ourselves. And even if we had the ladder, there is no way my husband would get on a ladder that tall.  He doesn't like heights. I would have to pay someone to install the hangers.  In a perfect world there would be some kind of pulley system I could use, so I could change the quilts and wash them when they get dusty.  If you have any ideas, please let me know.

I'm working on a red and white quilt to hang above the banister. 

Stars Around the Corner, Clue 3

I've been working on mystery quilts this week.  I'm up to clue 3 in Charlotte's Stars Around the Corner,  I really don't know if this will be the layout, but it's a pretty good guess.  Charlotte's mysteries tend to be set on point.  http://scrapitudequilts.com/about-scrapitude-quilts-and-me/

One of the things I like about Charlotte's quilts is that she talks more about value than color.  Value and good contrast are important to a successful scrap quilt.  My Stars Around the Corner quilt has all kinds of scraps in it:  batiks, Civil War prints, novelty prints, blenders, and  a full range of uglies, but I can already tell this one is going to work.

Unlike Gyleen's Bricks,Cobblestones and Pebbles,  which I consider a scrap quilt fail.

The only directions we were given for this quilt were to chose a soloist fabric and not to use the soloist in the rest of the quilt.  We were encouraged to use disparate scraps, but this approach didn't work for me.  I've seen  this pattern work well with a  controlled color palette. but if a designer of a mystery says any scraps will do, I trust the designer.  This quilt top is a good size now for donation, but I have already made more of the nine patches and a few of the kleenex box blocks.  So I need to decide whether to do the next round or not.  

I think quilt fails are a necessary part of quilting.  If you've never had one, maybe you aren't stretching yourself.  Get out of your box and try something new with your scraps.  They are just sitting there taking up space.  Use them up and donate the top if you don't like it.  An ugly quilt will keep someone warm  just as well as a beautiful quilt.  My BC&P quilt would be great to take to a soccer game, the beach or on a picnic.  I might keep it in the trunk of my car or send it to college with my son.   It's the kind of quilt that a kid could spill red kool aid on, and you wouldn't really care.   

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2016/03/21/design-wall-march-21-2016/ 

Stash Report, Spring Report

I missed Sunday stash report again because we were out of town at my family's early St. Patrick's Day celebration.  My mom makes corned beef and cabbage the Sunday before St. Patrick's day every year and invites all the kids. This year  four of my siblings and their families were there plus my sister-in-law's parents.  There were about 25 people in my mom's small house.  It was fun!  We had a big meal (hot dogs and mac and cheese for the non-corned beef eaters) plus several green desserts: key lime pie, pistachio cake, cupcakes, lime squares and sugar cookies.

 As far as my stash report, I'm getting closer and closer to having some yards used to report.  

Used this week: 6.0 (Allietare top)
Used Year to Date: 22.25 yards
Added this week: 5 yards (backing for PoD 2 and 2 pillowcases)
Added Year to Date:  25.375 yards
Net ADDED: 3.125  yards

Spring moved in fast this year.  One warm week, and over half of my daffodils are in bloom.  I have hundreds of them in my yard.  Daffodils are my favorite spring flower.  After Andrew died last fall, my neighbors gave me a huge basket of daffodil bulbs to plant.  A lot of them haven't bloomed yet, but they are getting ready to.

Last week, the red buds  and forsythia weren't in bloom.  This week they are just starting.

Last year my first daffodil bloomed March 13, so you can see how much farther along we are this year,

Allietare Top Done!

I finished another of my March goals:  getting the borders on Allietare.  I do not love this quilt top, mostly because of the colors, but I did use up scraps, and that is always my main goal of a mystery quilt.  If my scraps are all sewn into quilts, I do not have to organize them.

This quilt is 96 1/2" X 81".  

Linking up:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2016/03/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-scrapalicious.html

http://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com/2016/03/lets-bee-social-116.html

Stash Report and More Fabric Choices for Scrap Quilts

Stash Report:

Used this week: 0.75  (binding W&G)
Used Year to Date: 16.25 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date:  20.375 yards
Net ADDED: 4.125  yards



I want to explore my idea from my last post that the most successful scrap quilts have small pieces.

This spider web quilt is one of my favorites:

The webs are about 9 inches across.

I liked it so much I decided to make another spider web quilt, this time with bigger webs, about 16 inches across, the better to use up scraps. Unfortunately,  I just don't like this one, maybe because of the bigger webs, maybe because of the gray background.  It has been hanging in my closet, waiting to be quilted for several years.

Another scrap quilt with small pieces,  Scrap in A Box, works for me even though I used some of my oldest and ugliest fabrics.   There are many unattractive prints in this quilt, but there are no big pieces of ugly fabric that draw attention to themselves.  The uglies are cut in little triangles and no one even notices there is a pink print fabric with black and white cows.    

My zipper quilt doesn't work as well.  I like from a distance.  Up close it is a mess!  No one ever looks at this one and says they love it.  Not that I blame them. I made it, and even I don't love it! My zipper quilt  is always called 'interesting' or 'unusual' or even 'a great use of scraps'. 

I will probably continue to make scrap quilts, and I'm sure I'll make another ugly scrap quilt again.  My goal will be to make fewer ugly ones.

Linking up:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2016/03/06/stash-report-march-6-2016/

Wild & Goosey Bound and Fabric Choices for Scrap Quilts

I got one of the items on my March to-do list done this week:  Wild & Goosey is bound! This may be my favorite scrap quilt ever.

It is 91" x 91", large enough that it is hard to get a good picture of the whole quilt.

 This was definitely a long term project.  I started making the little paper pieced goose 3 1/2 inch goose blocks on December 17, 2014.  I've come to a realization about scrap quilts:  unless you are doing a controlled scrap quilt, small pieces are best.  I don't think anyone would say my W&G looks like  (forgive this term) 'scrap vomit' even though I did no planning.  I did not purposely include or exclude any fabrics at all.

The next two scrap quilts aren't  as pleasing.

Bricks and Stepping Stones would have looked better to me, if I'd used smaller pieces or a more controlled palette.  It is ok, but it doesn't have that 'wow, what a great quilt'  feel to me.  

 I chose fabric the same way for the next quilt:  Gyleen's Mystery,  Bricks, Cobblestones and Pebbles. Because the pieces are so big, I can already tell  this quilt won't be  as pretty as W&G. I have two more rows to try and salvage it.

Linking up: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2016/03/catching-up.html

http://persimondreams.blogspot.com/p/scrap-quilt-challenge.html