End of June Basket Challenge

The Joyful Quilter and I had a friendly wager/challenge this month. I started making scrap baskets in May. I made a scrappy basket in dark greens, the May color of the month at RSC20. I got kind of excited, so decided to go back and make the previous monthly colors. January was light or bright green.  Somewhere along the line, I’m not sure who challenged whom, but it happened. 

January: Light or Bright Green  

February: Orange

March: Teal/Aqua/Turquoise

April:  Light or Bright Blue

May:  Dark Green

Which was overflowing from the start and so began the "make more" process. 

It ended up that after Joy stated that she needed a light blue basket and I needed a dark blue basket , or was it visa versa..I said I’ll meet your dark blue basket and raise you a pink basket before the end of June! Pink was the monthly color chosen for RSC20. She accepted my challenge and exceeded it. You can check out her post  here. 

And here is my dark blue basket.....not attached to a month, yet! 

And a pink one for June! 

So Challenge made and met and in the process I have 7 new scrap sorting baskets!  Win-Win!!!

I’m excited for a new color, so I can make another one!   Join me if you are so inclined. I use the tutorial on Angela's blog, So Scrappy, but there are lots of ways to make one. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

Some Pink Geese, Pink 9 Patches and a pink scrap basket

I should be done with Pink. But it is now the fullest of my recently made scrap baskets. To be fair it holds 3 pieces of yardage that needs to find a home elsewhere. But at least I remember where it is for now. It's an issue I have.....putting fabric in a box, basket, tote and then forgetting what is in there, or where that certain fabric is. Mr Busy's favorite saying used to be (when he was a machinist), " out of place is lost"! Neither one of us is very good at keeping track these days. 

So my 2 pink Geese Migration Block are done.  And six hollow 9-patches also. I keep track of how many of each on a spreadsheet shared on Angela's blog. It really helps me. Here is the January post where she shared the link. It's near the bottom of the post. 

I found another piece of pink solid, more peachy when I was putting all the scraps back in this basket. 

I selected some needed pieces to go with it, but they all went in a zip log bag in the RSC20 project box.  I think I only need two of each of the ten colors of the RSC20 colors. But we will see when I get closer to putting the quilt top together.

Yesterday I was out and about a bit. I had to return an item to am Amazon seller so I was at the UPS Store. The young man behind the counter put his mask on as I entered the store. I had mine on too. 

Then I went to the post office to send 3 masks to my granddaughter in Phoenix. Not a mask in sight, although people were paying attention to the spacing and only 4 people in the lobby at a time. I had my mask on. Next stop was the Hallmark store. Again, I had my mask on. It was hot, but I wore it anyway. I had to walk 1/2 a block, so passed several people. No masks on them. Into the store and no masks on any employees or patrons. I came home so depressed. All this, as the numbers even in our little rural town are rising!!  

So this is our last pink Linky party!  I'm off to see what project you all are working on. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy. 

June OMG Finished in time for the 4th!

Pictures taken:  June 17th. 

Hip Hip Hooray!  I finished my June OMG. It is complete with zippered backing!!  All from stash except the 24" zipper. I ordered 50 - 24" zippers. Now I have no excuse for not doing a zippered backing or anything else for that matter. 

The back with covered zipper.

I have even found a pillow form...but it's not as big as I would like. So as soon as I feel safe going shopping for what really is "non essential", I will look for a bigger one. 

It doesn't look too bad, just a little wimpy in the corners. My points look cut off, but that's the plumpness of the pillow. 

A close up of the zipper!  It a pretty good match!

And another photo of the back, while posed in my rocker! I'm linking up with Patti at Elm Street Quilts.

Thanks Patti for this challenge every month. It really keeps me focused and "sewing" when sometimes I just would "veg out"!

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal - June Finish Link-up

Now what will be my OMG for July????????  You're going to be surprised or maybe just  unimpressed!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

Finished or Not Friday - A Finish

I have a finish. It is actually my OMG for June. 

A scrappy project started last October at a retreat. Then put away!

Now it's nearly the season!

The backing has been in my stash for years!  So has the navy star fabric. So I used it. 

Oh, these is a burgundy zipper under the flap. I really like adding a zipper to a pillow back.

I also finished these two scrap baskets. I may have already posted about the dark blue one but here is another look. And it's neighbor on the shelf. Pink!

I have space for one more in the shelf unit in my sewing room. I'll take a photo when it is complete. Then I may have to empty another shelf, because I am loving these baskets. 

I'm linking up with Alycia's Finished or Not Friday. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

This Wednesday is Hump Day

and a bit past the middle day of the month also!

I haven't started on my pink scrap basket other than it's on my to do list!  I have dumped all my pinks on the cutting table and then tried to sort through them to pick the smallest ones to cut into 2" squares for Hollow 9 Patches and the next smaller ones to cut into 2 1/2" squares for Geese Migration blocks. I didn't get very far. 

We ( Mr Busy) are still dealing with the aftermath of the leak in the basement. The water was turned off most of yesterday afternoon while the copper piping was replaced, and a proper shut off valve was installed. I had just started making a Rhubarb Cherry Crisp recipe that a friend had shared. All the ingredients were measured, including a cup of water for the sauce. I said, "go ahead, it OK" to his request to shut off the water.  And I proceeded to assemble my dessert. But I wished I had run a sink full of soapy water to rinse my hands, etc. I managed though, with a bit of water in a coffee cup, soap and the pitcher of drinking water from the fridge!  Cold, but clean. Just so you know the Rhubarb Cherry Crisp was deemed a "keeper" last night after dinner. 

This is my completed project for this week. Ready for the upcoming holiday weekend. I still need to find my 20" pillow form. I put stuff away last winter when our granddaughter and her family moved in with us. I still haven't located everything. LOL

This photo shows how faded my front porch chairs have become! They used to be red! 

This is the backing I finally chose with a covered zipper flap. I ordered a whole bunch of 24" zippers from Amazon. They are great!

A close up of the quilting I did! I might have overdone it!  Blue thread in the blue parallelograms, red in the red ones and because I did not have enough white thread, natural in the light areas. I kinda wish I would have kept track of the time it took me to do the quilting. I did it in bits and pieces of time, but several hours. I still haven't mastered quilting on my domestic machine. I do not own a long arm, so it is what it is! This is my June OMG and I will link this post up when the finish link up is live. 

Off to have a bit of breakfast, do my Wednesday housekeeping and then work on my PINK SCRAP BASKET!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy.

A Pink Explosion or just a Dump?

Still not much pink in my world! I did get one hollow 9 patch on the design wall.

 Then I dumped my pink shoe box tote! It always amazes me how different pinks can be. There is pale pantie pink, baby pink, bubble gum pink, hot pink, raspberry, coral, peach, even some that look brownish! 

I'm ready to start cutting 2" squares, 2 1/2" squares and triangles for flying geese.  Just as soon as I get the quilting done on the scrappy red, white and blue star. I'm more that 1/2 done, so should be finished by Sunday night. Then as soon as the ordered zippers arrive on Monday, I'll get the back done and the binding on it. Block construction can be done in between as leaders and enders.  

I'm linking up with Angela at So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.

 One small photo of some more pink.....a great granddaughter's first time to play in the ocean. That's her daddy holding her hand. Miss you guys!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

More Baskets and an OMG in progress

I finished yet another basket to add to my shelves. 

This one is Dark Blue

Light blue was added earlier and I didn't post about it. 

Joy at The Joyful Quilter and I are having a challenge, of sorts. She noted that I needed a blue basket, she wanted/ needed a dark blue basket. I said I'd match her blue basket and also a pink one before the end of June. Pink is the June color for RSC20.  I hope I can make it happen. LOL

I'm working on quilting the red/white and blue scrappy star for my June One Monthly Goal. 

The blue parallelograms are done. And don't look where my HST do not make a nice even line. Maybe the quilting will help and if not, it's OK!

Yesterday I struggled with what to do for a back. I thought I could use this part of  a panel. I even  added a red piece on the bottom to get it to the right size. I watch a video about inserting a zipper in the bottom seam allowance. I ordered a long enough zipper ( actually I ordered a bunch of zippers.). 

Then the light bulb went on!  If I added the zipper at the bottom, how could I put a binding around the pillow?  I wanted a binding, not a turned pillow cover. So, on to plan B.  Now this is the fabric for the backing and the blue stars will also be the binding. 

and I will use a covered zipper technique, like in this little pillow. 

As soon as my zippers show up and the top is quilted!.  

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday at Alicia Quilts. 

til next time. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy

ps:  thanks to Frederique  at Quilting Patch for her help in making photos bigger in this new blogger format.  It was simple, I just couldn't see the link!  Thanks again Frederique! 

Another Scrap Basket to add to the crowd!

I finally had some time to sew. I’ve been working at using up my previously made crumb blocks to make scrap baskets. I decided  late , so I started in early May with that month's color - Dark Green. 

Then I decided to continue because I have the crumb blocks, or most of them and will go back and catch up with the other month's colors. Joy from The Joyful Quilter commented on my May 9th post that she too needed a dark green basket. So I challenged her. She came through. See her post here. In fact she went an extra mile and did a "bigger boat". See that post.

 January..Light or Bright Green.  Finished May 22nd

And February..Orange. Finished  May 24th

Next was Teal for March.  I sort of went lighter, toward aqua and turquoise. 

I posted about this on May 29th. And that's when Joy made a comment, that I needed to make a light blue one. She already had a light blue one, but needed a dark blue one.  And sort of threw down a gauntlet!  I responded that I did already have a light blue one on deck but would meet her challenge of a dark blue one plus a pink one to be done by the end of June.  (June's color is PINK!)

So here is my light blue basket in progress 

And finished! 

and just finished Tuesday afternoon....a dark blue one. 

Now, Angela has not selected a month for dark blue and maybe she won't. But if she does, I'll be ready and of course I will do a geese migration block and some hollow 9-patches too. 

This week, I had to opportunity to pick up what I thought was a just box of old jeans from a friend to give to another friend. When I arrived at Kari's garage, she also had a whole tote of fabric. Purple on top.....I can't resist purple, so I came home with yards and yards of fabric. Some good, lots really good and most in pieces big enough for partial backing. Don't tell Mr. Busy... he thinks I'm trying to downsize!!!!

I'm beginning my pink sewing this week and will continue to the end of June. I purchased 2 1-yard pieces of two different shades of pink solid, for the geese migration blocks. I am always short of solids and have none in the pink and yellow range. Well, now I have pink, but no yellow solid.