March RSC2020 Turquoise Blocks

Scraptastic Star

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for March is turquoise (or aqua or teal). Back in the early 2000s I collected aquamarine depression glass and developed a deep love for teal, aqua, and turquoise. I've sold most of it since then, but I still love it! Our kitchen and family room are decorated with aqua with touches of red and gray, and fortunately my husband likes it too!

Geese Migration

Since I have a lot of turquoise in my stash, I assumed I would have plenty of scraps to work with this month. I was wrong! I have many blue scraps, but not so much of the colors I needed. I broke my rule of only using scraps and delved a little bit into my stash. Please don't tell the scrap police!

Cynthia's Irish Chain

My blocks are Scraptastic Star, Cynthia's Irish chain, and Geese Migration. I was not able to finish any strings this month, so I will squeeze those into one of my posts next month.

I'm adding my post to all the fun at Angela's Scrap Happy Saturday and Cynthia's Oh Scrap!

Stress-Free Quilt Along

Myra over at Busy Hands Quilts is hosting a Stress-Free Quilt Along! I have purchased several of Myra's beautiful patterns (see my Home Awaits flimsy right here), and she has the most thorough and well-written instructions of any patterns I've ever made. She is powerhouse of activity with amazing productivity and is encouraging all of us to "just BE" during these stressful times. You may read her post about it right here, join her linkup, and see what others are doing with fabric.

This quilt along comes at a good time for me, because I've found myself a little bit unmotivated in my sewing room lately. Last week we reorganized my sewing room, and I love the new arrangement and feel happy when I walk into the room. I have plenty of projects ready and nothing stopping me from sewing except the distraction of my mind. Myra's encouragement to "just BE" is appealing though, and I am just allowing myself to get a few things done with no pressure.

My main goal right now is to quilt the flimsy I have sandwiched and ready for quilting (you can read more about that here), and I am working on blocks for RSC2020 and Monthly Color Challenge. I will also participate in Creating a Quilted Legacy, an upcoming blog hop in memory of Paula Budinger. You may find information about all these projects by clicking on the appropriate button in my sidebar.

Although I haven't gotten much sewing done, the thing that IS getting done is gardening. We added a flower bed to the front of the house, did a lot of trimming and raking, and added mulch to the rest of our beds. We prepped a smaller area for the vegetable garden this year. It will be roughly half the size planted last year. I started tomato seeds in milk jugs in January, used a heat mat for seedlings under them, and this week planted 18 beautiful plants! For those of you that are interested in such things, they are Black Krim, Sungold, Climbing Triple Crop, and Indigo Pear Drops. Also in the ground are Romaine lettuce, Texas Sweet Onions, pimento and bell peppers, and I have peach trees and blueberry bushes blooming. Life in the garden flourishes during self-isolation and social distancing!

My hope is that you are all safe and healthy and coping well. Since we are retired and living on 5 acres on a dirt road, social distancing has not been a major adjustment for us. It is affecting our kids work-wise, but we are all still in good health, for which we are thankful. Whether you are making masks, making quilts, or dreaming about how to use your fabric, I encourage you to join and linkup to Myra's Stress-Free Quilt Along linkup!

March Monthly Color Challenge

The representative bird for the Monthly Color Challenge for March is the Baltimore Cardinal. Since my orange scraps are depleted from last month's RSC, I decided to go with the female Oriole, who has more muted gold/orange/yellow feathers than the brightly colored male. You can click on the 2020 Monthly Color Challenge button in my sidebar for more info. It isn't too late to catch up!

This block is formed with HSTs and with flying geese using the no-waste method. Am I the only one who forgets to press the seams after the first cut? I always have to rip stitches! Also I have a little difficulty trimming the geese using a regular ruler. Some day I shall purchase a ruler made for trimming flying geese, and my life will be perfect.

February's Indigo Bunting block enlarged from 8-1/2 to 12-1/2 inches

The block patterns produce a 12-1/2 inch block, and I had forgotten that last month I reduced the block size to 8-1/2 inches in order to accommodate my scraps. Sooooo, although I really liked the 8-1/2 inch blocks, I went ahead and added fabric to the borders of the January and February blocks. It's just asking too much of myself to remember to make that adjustment each month!

To enlarge January's Goldfinch block to 12-1/2 inches, I cut into some long

hoarded Michael Miller fabric called Summer Soiree by Paula Prass.

This month's RSC color is teal, and my overflowing scrap bin is ready. I'll be making a Scraptastic Star, string blocks, a Geese Migration block, and an Irish chain block. Hopefully that will help reduce the overflow somewhat. Before I start, I plan to use Preeti's suggestion of separating my scraps into greenish blue and bluish green! We are good to go on groceries for a few days, and with no visitors or activities scheduled for awhile I should have plenty of time to get going on scraps.

I'll be linking this post at the end of the month with Jen's 2020 Monthly Color Challenge for March.

Beverly's Quilt Flimsy

I've had so many squirrels come my way in the past few months, you probably don't remember this squirrel that came to visit last year. You can read about it here and here, but long story short, I saw a vintage quilt on Instagram I wanted to recreate.

This is the vintage Instagram quilt

I spent some time carefully putting nine-patch squares together before I realized I wanted a more scrappy look. I ditched the "careful" in exchange for "fun" and away I went.

The nine-patch blocks are framed by strips and cornerstones. I'm happy to say that thanks to enthused encouragement from Diann and Janine, I decided on this yummy pink vintage-y looking fabric for the cornerstones. My husband suggested a dark red/burgundy for the binding and even offered to take me to buy what I needed, since I don't have the perfect color in my stash. Can't ask for a better offer than that!

I had intended to keep this quilt for myself, even sentimentally naming it Cottonwood after my favorite childhood tree. But after seeing this post by Louise at Quilt Odyssey, I decided to gift it to the older sister of my childhood best friend. Beverly is wheelchair bound but active in her assisted living apartment, and I think she might like a lap quilt. I'm reserving the name "Cottonwood" for a future quilt and renaming this one simply "Beverly's quilt". I hope to finish it this week!

I am sharing this post with Cynthia's Oh Scrap! Go and check out all the scrappy goodies!