To See Such Fun ~~ finished!

And another finish! This little quilt is a 62 inch square of pink and yellow scraps to be given away this weekend. 

The pattern is Amanda Jean Nyberg's from her book No Scrap Left Behind. (The link goes directly to the QAL.)  I made another quilt (here) during her June Quilt Along in 2017. 

I made several changes with this quilt. Mostly I turned everything into  4½" blocks and then sewed those into strips. The center sections create large four-patch blocks, the cornerstones are made of broken dishes blocks and finally I made the 4½" strips in to square blocks and didn't worry about which way they got turned. 

My original version of this quilt
following Amanda Jean's directions.

Nope, wait. One more difference is that I didn't use the on-point setting. Hmm, is this still Amanda Jean's pattern? I'm not sure, but it was definitely inspired by her design.

To quilt it, I decided to use some of the curvy medium-sized motifs that are such fun to drop in. They are smooth and easy and, if I keep them large enough, are easy to see and appreciate. The quilt should be really soft and wrinkly when it gets washed. I haven't washed it because it's going to its new home this weekend after the church fair. We will have a silent auction, which I agreed to run, so I decided to add a quilt to the mix. (More on the fair and the silent auction early next week.)

For the back I used a fuchsia linen and some lighter, wide pink strips left over from previous projects. Every bit of fabric came from my stash or scraps. My latest roll of batting came in just days before I loaded the quilt, which was great timing. 

The title To See Such Fun is from a line of the "Hey Diddle, Diddle" nursery rhyme, so this quilt goes into that series. I just couldn't resist the title because everything about the quilt is simply fun.

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	To See Such Fun
	Size:	62" X 62"
	Fabrics:	4½” pink strip scraps, 4½” yellow scraps
	Pattern:	Inspired by Amanda Jean Nyberg QAL
	Backing:	Pink cottons and linens from stash
	Batting:	100% Cotton
	Binding:	Pink scraps from stash
	Quilting:	Mid-size curvy graffitti motifs

Oh, the LINK UPS!

The Scrappy Camper, who has her first linky party today. Good luck, Amy!
Alycia Quilts - Quiltygirl blog for Finished Or Not Fridays 

My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thurdays

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant

AmandaJean's QAL ~~ Finished!

Last week I posted that I'd finished the quilt top that I'd been working on as part of the Crazy Mom Quilts QAL. This week I managed to get it quilted and bound. When I took these pictures there was no label on it yet, but after working on the quilt stats, I decided to sew it on before posting it. So now it's completely finished. 

I really love this little quilt. It's big for a baby quilt at 50" square, but it's perfect. 
That crazy orange, which I got at Hancock Fabric, was really, really cheap. I don't know how cheap, but I assure you I would not have bought it for anything close to regular price. It is definitely not in my comfort colors. However, ...

When I decided to join in the QAL, I also decided to do one thing that I would normally not do. Just one thing. The crazy orange became that one thing. Believe me, it was enough. I almost chickened out. 

I'm so very glad that I didn't. 

I was supposed to take the quilt outside for a photo shoot, but dang, it's hot!  I didn't make it. I died right outside the door. Seriously. Died. Didn't even make a second step. The thing that saved me is that I was holding on to the doorknob. I managed, in my weakened state, to drag my body to the slit of cool air escaping through the crack. You can't know how delicious a sliver of chilled oxygen is until you've died in Louisiana in July. 

I was forced to wait until I could wrangle someone into helping. The photo shoot was delayed for the wedding of Icy and Trin Penguin. They were married right in our living room on the coffee table. Marley was the maid of honor and wore her favorite night gown (gown being the operative word). After the lovely couple was pronounced husband and wife, they kissed and danced. Icy tossed his hat and Trin threw her scarf. Then they posed for pictures. 

Happily, the quilt made a beautiful backdrop for the wedding photos. The preacher was doubling as wedding planner and held the quilt, then discreetly switched his hat to quilt model so that I could get a few (exactly three) pictures before running off to help the newlyweds with their luggage. Mr. and Mrs. Icy Penguin are thankful to have such wonderful friends willing to serve as hosts for their wedding. They will live in Evergreen, La., after a wedding trip to Disney World in Florida.

Quilt Stats Name: AmandaJean's QAL  Size: 50" X 50"  Fabrics: Scrap fabrics from stash Background: Yardage from stash  Binding: Scrap fabrics  Pattern: June from No Scrap Left Behind Quilting: practice quilting / variety of motifs

Linking up with:

Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

        Myra at Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday
 Julie and Linda's Sew Stitch Snap SHARE 

     

Do you like linky parties? Did you know that I have a tab with a list of linky parties that happen almost every week? Look at the tab across the top and click on the one that says,  " UPDATED: 60+ Linky Parties."  The link will take you to two lists: the first is in alpha order and the second is in chronological (daily) order.

AmandaJean's QAL ~~ Top Finished!

A Finish! Just last night I was whining about not getting anywhere this week and in desperation (almost) I made a little bag just to make myself feel better. 

This morning I checked on Crazy Mom Quilts to see whether AmandaJean's quilt along instructions for week four were up. I'd decided to participate a couple of weeks ago. While working on all those blue scraps, I sewed up enough for this QAL, too. (I've been eating up some blue scraps, let me tell you!) There you go--a project with a purpose!

Because I had everything already cut out, it took almost no time to get the pieces on the design wall. I have to admit that it took a couple of minutes to wrap my head around the on-point setting. Perhaps the fact that I'd somehow missed one set of triangles made a difference. (There's a block E?) Ha! I cut those out and suddenly everything fit together! 

Once I got past that niggly problem, it was off to the races. Well, race when some grandie wasn't hanging around "bored." Now you know I heard enough of that with my own kids. 

In no time all the pieces were connected to create one wow quilt top. I love it! I think it's that crazy orange, which had to be turned around at random because the print didn't match up along the edges where the quarter pieces are. No problem, I switched them around before sewing and then didn't look at it again. I really liked AmandaJean's use of two different aquas, so I did the same with the reds, but it's not terribly obvious unless you know it. 

I can't wait to load it on the long-arm. Hopefully that will be tomorrow and I'll have it quilted before leaving for vacation. I haven't measured it but it's big. Much bigger than I expected, but that's a good thing. 

Are you participating in AmandaJean's QAL?  If so, how is it going? Remember to include her hashtag: #JunequiltQAL

Linking up with

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

TGIFF (Thank Goodness it is Friday Finish)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or not Friday)

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish it up Friday)

More scrapping in blue

Tuesday 6/13/17
You'd think that after making two quilt tops (one to be posted later since it's not complete) that I'd have caught up with some of those blue scraps. Well, guess what! I decided that I need more variety in the blue strips that are already cut. Yeah. Variety. That's the ticket.

So I was down to about half a bucket of scraps when I decided to use some 2.5" strips from an abandoned project. And since I was making one project, I may as well make two. All the same I figured. 

Check it out--organized! Skinny strips for
the QAL, 2.5 strips sort of arranged by lengths.

What I didn't figure was that I'd really get into this blue phase. After finishing the first quilt and taking pictures, I thought it would be a good idea to cut a few more strips in preparation for the June Quilt Along with AmandaJean of Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Why not use blue? I like blue. I have tons of blue fabric. I want to use up some of that blue. 








Wednesday 6/14/17
I got an early start and decided that I'd continue working on the Crazy Mom QAL. AmandaJean writes really well so her directions made the project seem relatively effortless. I already had gobs of skinny strips ready to go, and I felt that I could really make some headway today. 

Everything goes to the ironing 

board to get pressed.

And I did.

I thought I'd share my process. Bear with me if you will.

First I pulled fabric, which is relatively easy since I am not very discriminating: I took out everything I don't like or was especially small and all bits I know I'll never use. Maybe I am discriminating after all. 

Isn't this a pretty picture?

The next step is to cut. I tried to cut mostly 2.5" widths and learned (the hard way) that it's a good idea to divide the strips into three piles. No numbers used here. Just put the strips into any pile it fits. Sort of. Get close. Don't stress.

As I cut 2.5" widths, I also cut a few smaller widths for the Crazy Mom QAL. Anything between one and two inches is AmandaJean's recommendation. 

I dropped some 2.5s in anyway. Can I claim it's for the sake of variety or do I have to admit to lazyiness? Ha! Believe what ever you want.

The QAL strips I also chopped into 5" lengths so that I could easily sew them, press and then cut the whole blocks into 4½" X 8½".

At first I tried to be very methodical about sewing the pieces together. Then I tried to mixed the pieces up and pick up two without looking. That drove me to the brink of insanity. 

And I realized that I didn't have enough pieces anyway. So back to the stash and the pressing and the cutting. And about that time I said, "Screw the whole thing and make a mess and get it over with." I sewed like a mad woman, which I may have been. And sewed. And sewed. 

And you know what I got for my money and time? Pairs. Not blocks, mind you. Pairs. Those have to be sewn into quads. And the quads have to be sewn in whatever makes 8½ inches. Basically it's a crap shoot because I clearly have not thought that far ahead.

I do have something else to show you, however. 

I mostly aim for the trash can. And I mostly make three pointers. I'm not so good on the foul shots, but then I never was.