Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles

Prepare yourself for some color.  My inner 90’s child just wanted to bust out my Lisa Frank stickers and Trapper Keeper when I started these blocks.  In all transparency, I do have a Lisa Frank calendar on my desk at work to look at and enjoy.  You’re not here about obnoxious desk decor, you’re here for the fabric and blocks.

I hit the mother load of scraps during our Indy Modern Quilt Guild Winter Retreat.  Lisa and Erika were gracious enough to just let us go through their scraps.  Take whatever you want.  Lindsay Conner was working on blocks and was just tossing the left over half square triangles away.  I knew they would could be reused in a scrappy project.

I like big blocks and I cannot lie… #imqgretreat

A post shared by Lindsay Conner (@lindsaysews) on

There were so many from her 12 blocks, plus all the other scraps that an idea came to life.  I had 7″ squares left over from finishing the solids string quilt.  Let’s make a scrappy quilt that looks like rainbow sprinkles.  YES!!!

fabric sorted and ready

Sorting through the scraps again was more fun.  I had an idea in mind and could start seeing the palette emerge.  Orange, green, teal, aqua, purple, pink, white and of course gray.  The mix plays so well together.  I made a couple of test blocks to get started.

They felt right so I kept going, unsure how many I would make.

Around 15 blocks I started to get a little bored.  The blocks seemed to be repeating themselves, though each one is different.  I made a few more and decided to test a layout.  Maybe that would be the catalyst forward or the stopping point.

A couple of design options started to flow.  Keep going until there are 42-56 blocks completed for a totally scrappy quilt.  Egh, I wasn’t really feeling the work involved.  The blocks didn’t take long to make.  I was running out the yellow and orange scraps.  Second idea was to add six more blocks and get to 25.  Maybe put them on point and surround with a solid.  White?  Gray?  I remembered a bolt of Kona Robin’s Egg Blue I had in the back room.

The color coordinated well with the blocks and I had lots of it on hand.  New plan was to finish the next six blocks and then finalize a layout.  The last six blocks took forever, I couldn’t seem to get them finished.  Final block count of 25 was all I had in me for this project.  It was enough scrapiness and it left options for negative space.

During an open sew day for an IMQG meeting, I was able to get the blocks sewn together and start ripping off the papers.  Ripping off the paper when paper piecing is annoying, but soothing at the same time.  I even found a few errors that was too late to really fix.  Did you see this gem on Instagram?

Some inappropriate words were said, but I knew I could fix it later.  I added big borders to the top and called it a day.

As the top was being pieced I just kept thinking about rainbow sprinkles.  That’s what the blocks looked like to me.  With the half square triangle in the center, I was thinking unicorns.  So the name, Scrappy Unicorn Rainbow Sprinkles, was given to this quilt.  I think it’s perfect and I’m crushing on this quilt pretty hard.  Not quite New Kids on the Block level, but close. Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite 90’s song I can jam to while quilting this over the weekend?  Leave your suggestion in the comments.


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Confessions Of A Fabric Addict

 

Creative Weekend Retreat at Home

That’s right, at my house.  Over Memorial Day weekend I was given the chance to just have some time at home.  My wonderful parents took P on Thursday night to the lake and I had taken Friday off work.  Earlier  in the week I had written down my to do list to help keep me focused with all my free time.  I was planning 3-4 days with no kid and hubby had some plans too.

What you don’t see on the list are some errands that I wanted to accomplish as well.  I knocked most of those out on Friday morning and needed those errands to complete some home projects.  Spray paint was necessary to make these happen.  Saturday my yard was colored robin’s egg blue and gold/bronze.

We are hitting a few big salvage sales in the area this upcoming weekend to complete some updates to our bedroom.  My husband painted the room two years ago, yep, that’s our speed for home projects.  I’m happy with how these pieces turned out.  They are going to stand out against the navy walls in my bedroom.

Saturday morning I made candles with soy wax and essential oils.  I didn’t follow a tutorial, I just started creating.  Next time I need more oils to make a stronger scent.  They are easy to make once you have the supplies.

I worked on the spray painting as a break from sewing.  My items for the Urban Home Goods Swap on Instagram (#uhgswap) needed to be finalized.  Based on my partner’s request I wanted to make an apron and a pillow cover.  Guess what I had never made before?  An apron.  Pinterest is full of tutorials and ideas and this one is awesome, click here.  My version is below.

I hope my partner doesn’t hate the butterfly print as I used it as the base fabric for most items I made her.  We shall see.  Once the adult version was complete, I whipped up a smaller version for her daughter.  Rather than a fabric waistband, I dug into my vintage lace and found the perfect piece.

After these, I needed a creative break.  I began working on the clouds for the Rainbows and Clouds quilt.

 

Thank you for your kind words on the project.  It took a lot emotionally to create it, but the overall finish was perfect.  The rainbow strips and piecing curves were a nice challenge to keep working on when I didn’t want to keep going.

Saturday night I was able to get the quilt based and ready for quilting on Sunday morning.  As I wrapped up Saturday night I turned to a collection of fabrics I pulled to create the pillow for the swap.  The first pull I made was great, but wasn’t quite right.  The next pull was just right.

I went back to my favorite flying geese tutorial and knocked out the geese in no time.  In the background I was watching new episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and dying.  If you haven’t watched the series, start because it’s hilarious.  In making this pillow, I decided I want to see this as a whole quilt.  Monday I was able to order more of the background fabric and some fabrics to coordinate from Stitch Stash Diva.  The fabrics have already arrived and I will probably start on the quilt this weekend.

Finally over the weekend I wrapped up a few projects that I had sitting around and just wanted to get done.  You will see those soon.  What I didn’t accomplish was the video tutorial just yet for a postage stamp quilt, but it’s coming.  That’s going to take an afternoon and I want to give it the proper time it will require.

Overall it was a great weekend and thankful I was able to make so much with the time I had.  I had been feeling a creative rut and not very motivated.  Having a weekend to focus on creating was what I truly needed.  Look for new quilts and items coming up.

Rainbows and Clouds Baby Quilt

When making custom baby quilts, it gives me an opportunity to connect with a family.  Their friend or family member relays their story to me and I create something especially for them.  I love watching their story come to life in a quilt.  The recipient of this quilt has been through an immense amount of heart break to welcome this new bundle.

“Without the storms there would be no rainbows,” is the quote from their Facebook announcement.  Baby #6 is on the way.   I’m not even sure how to relay the hard part to you as it’s crushing.  However, I assure you this family is elated and they have the biggest smiles on their face in their announcement.  All the babies before have either miscarried or passed shortly after birth.

Did you just get a huge lump in your throat reading that?  I did just writing it.  It breaks my heart to hear their story and work on something special for them.

If you’re reading this and have experienced the loss of a pregnancy or child, HUGS!  Know that while making this I recalled stories of my own friends and their journeys to create their family.  It’s not always sunshine and rainbows.  Sometimes it’s just a shitstorm and it’s not fair.  You’re not alone and many couples have been there.

After some discussion the rainbow idea was born.  To incorporate all the children I would include six clouds.  I put two clouds at each end of the rainbow for the parents.

Yellow was omitted from the rainbow for two reasons:

  1.  I didn’t have a big enough piece of fabric to coordinate with all the other prints.
  2.  Having six stripes of colors also is a tribute to all six children.

You can really see the clouds in the picture above.  The green grass provides a nice contrast to the gray background.  It’s not a solid gray, it’s Robert Kaufman Spot On in Silver.  I remembered there was some in my stash and thought it would be a great background.

For quilting I went with free motion loops.  It gives such a nice crinkle to the finished quilt.  Solid yellow is on the back and rounds out the colors of the rainbow.  Adding black and white binding gives the piece a frame.  Not only did I want this to be a quilt, but later on could be used as wall art.

The clouds kind of disappear and the rainbow shines bright.

One detail you can’t see unless you’re up really close (extreme close up not included) is the thread color around the clouds.  I used a very light blue as the bobbin thread and it gives each cloud a little glow.

The quilt is off to it’s new home this weekend.  I hope the parents enjoy the quilt, but mostly new baby snuggles soon.  Thoughts to them as they anxiously await the arrival of baby #6.

All fabrics are from my stash or scraps.

It’s Okay To Grab The Seam Ripper

 

If you don’t like where a project is going, it’s okay to grab the seam ripper and start over.  It’s a lesson I had to remind myself of yesterday.  Sunday afternoon I started quilting on the Kona HST quilt in my WIP pile.

I had been contemplating the quilting design and decided to just move forward with it.   Starting with an offset triangle and following that design around.  All was well until I had to change the bobbin.  Something wasn’t right after I changed it.  New thread?  The tension is off?  Fingers crossed it isn’t something more, like the timing.

Working on the quilted triangles I started to question my original idea.  After taking a few hours away from the machine, I couldn’t shake that feeling that it wasn’t right.

Yesterday some frantic texts were shared with Rachael to get a second opinion.  She agreed with my assessment.  It’s okay, but not exactly right.  Notice those evenly spaced horizontal lines?  That’s where I want this design to go.

Last night I grabbed my trusty seam ripper and started busting up the stitches.  The first row was painful.  As I went on taking out the quilting became satisfying.  Taking out what I didn’t feel was the right design is time consuming.  Ultimately, I will be happier with the finished product.  For now, this sits in my sewing space waiting for me to get home from work.

Do you have any projects that you’ve taken the seam ripper to?  If so, how did you feel after?

Kona HSTs Quilt

Funny that I had in mind EXACTLY what I wanted to do with these Kona charm packs I picked up a while back.  The vision was clear and the finished project looked amazing in my mind.  As I started to lay out the charm squares for a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt I hated it.  This design was not coming together like my vision.

I walked away from it and went to work on Spring Granny Squares.  An idea struck to create half square triangles.  Hmmm, that could work.  I grabbed my Hera Marker and started marking.  If you don’t have a Hera Marker, get one.  Add it to your quilty items wishlist or it’s a great stocking stuffer.  Every quilter should have one and it’s a time saving when marking half square triangles.

After marking everything it’s pretty easy to just sit down and chain piece.  I find it therapeutic to just piece and have the machine humming along.  While working on this I binged on Frankie and Grace on Netflix.  Great laughs to get through pressing and trimming too.

Once the blocks were trimmed I started on layout number two.  Randomly laid out half square triangles and it just wasn’t right either.  During the quilt retreat one version of the V&Co HST quilt was similar to a flying geese layout.  Hmm, would that work?

This layout took some shuffling around to balance it out and make it work.  Each row has a couple of blocks that form more of an arrow.  At this size it’s a small baby quilt, so I grabbed some solid gray from stash.  It matched one of the lighter grays perfectly.  The finished look is more offset which I really like.

The quilting on this has me stumped.  I have had some wonderful suggestions so far.  Hopefully there is time this week to just sit down and quilt.  Much like the design aspect of this quilt, I’m sure there will be a couple of versions tried before I decide to keep it.

Do you have any quilting ideas for this one?  Leave them in the comments.

 

Scrappy Boy’s Postage Stamp Quilt – Layout

No quilt is easy, but a postage stamp quilt is my go to when I want to just create.  While digging through some old wips (works in progress) I found some leftover blocks from this baby quilt.  There wasn’t enough to make another quilt.  I grabbed the seam ripper and started just taking them apart.  Time for a fresh start with these fabrics.

P and I were messing around in the sewing room on Sunday morning and we started going through my scrap bins.  He loves to pull out colors and mess around with them.  Why not make a scrappy boy’s postage stamp quilt with what I already had as a starting point?  We dug around in my scrap tubs for green, blue, aqua, white, cream, brown, yellow and orange.  I quickly pressed the scraps to make cutting them easier.

During a family viewing of Ghostbusters for the 10th time, I cut the scraps into 2.5″ squares.  Rob taught Porter to say, “Back off man, I’m a scientist!”  He went around the rest of the day screaming that phrase.

I hope to get these squares laid out into a quilt this week.  Would you have any interest in a video on how I chain piece a postage stamp quilt?  I’ve been throwing the idea around and this may be the project to make it happen.


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Confessions Of A Fabric Addict