Scrap In a Box is Done!

And it only took a year!

Last year this time, Charlotte, at Scrapitude Quilts started the clues for her second mystery, Scrap in a Box.  I kept up to her for a time...well, you know.

I pulled it out again before Christmas and started plugging away, and, Ta Da!

I dragged Mr CQT outside yesterday, which was a VERY cold day, and had him hold it for me.  He even took off his gloves to daintily hold the corners, like I've taught him.  Behind there, he is saying "Are you done yet?  Have you taken any pictures yet?"

I'm really happy with how this turned out.   I started out with this stripe as a guide, and pulled mostly scraps in red, pin, orange and yellow.  I didn't realize the colours would be so cheerful! 

And it's the perfect size for a couch quilt - long enough to cover your feet and wrap around you for a nice nap!

I quilted it with a fun pantograph, with dragonflies and flowers.

Either that pantograph was real easy, or I'm getting better at this longarm stuff.

And, I used the stripe again for a bias binding.

I finished just in time to link up with Leanne's Scraptastic Tuesday.

Scrap in a Box - the Penultimate Clue

There are some words that I really love.  "Penultimate" is one of them.  I'm not one for big words (in fact, I specialize in plain language writing), but for some reason, penultimate tickles my fancy, and I use it whenever I have the chance.

So, we're almost done the Scrap in a Box Mystery Quilt, designed by Charlotte at Scraptitude Quilts.  In fact, the final clue (or should that be the ultimate clue?) should be up any day!

Here are some of the blocks and corner pieces - laid out as I think the final result will be.  But there still are some extra half square triangles left, so I could be wrong.

I'm quite pleased with the look of this, so far!  I even have a name for it - I'm going to call it Tutti Frutti.

Scrap in a Box Part Two

Plugging along on Charlotte's Scrap in a Box mystery quilt.  This was the second clue.



We had to make 82 of these little blocks (4 1/2 inch).  I mixed and matched, so that no one block had two of the same fabrics.



Each of them had to be trimmed just a hair (due to my sewing, not Charlotte's instructions!) and the dog ears removed.  That took almost as long as the sewing!

I still can't start to imagine how this quilt will look when it's done.  But, I 'm still loving the colour combination, so I can hardly wait!

Today is Easter Sunday -- for some reason, we've always celebrated it quietly.  Supper tonight will be just Mr. CQ2 and me, and I've cooked up a big pot of clam chowder.  It will go well with the snow we've had today.

Scrap-In-A-Box Part One

Charlotte, over at Scrapitude Quilts, posted her first clue for the Scrap-In-A-Box mystery a couple weeks ago.

This week, I completed it - 82 of this little block - each squared up to 2 1/2 inches.

I had a little fun trying out different ways of putting them together.

However, there are lots of cut pieces yet to incorporate into this quilt - I'm sure the finished product will have none of these combinations in it!

I have not forgotten about my Drop and Give Me Twenty commitment.  Today was February 1st, and I actually gave Beth about 200 minutes, being Sunday and all.  I cut my binding for the Sand and Sea Glass quilt...

 ...sewed it on the front, and started hand stitching the back.

Linking up to

and

Another Scrappy Mystery

Back last winter, I had a few posts about the Scrapitude Mystery quilt.  I was really pleased with the result (which doesn't always happen for me with mystery quilts).

Here is my Scrapitude top



Have I actually finished the quilt, you ask?  Well, um, no.

But let's not think about that!  Charlotte, the designer of the Scrapitude quilt is running another mystery - Scrap in a Box.  When she did Scrapitude, she didn't have her own blog, so the clues all ran on Sandy's Quilting for the Rest of Us blog.  But this year, Charlotte has her own blog, Scrapitude Quilts, and she is running a new mystery, called Scrap in a Box.  It starts here.

What I liked about Scrapitude, and what will continue with this new mystery, is the slower pace.  I've thought about joining other online mystery quilts, but before I've even made up my mind, they're already on Step 3!!  I'm a slow quilter!  (All of my blog followers are nodding vigorously at this point.)

Charlotte posted her cutting directions in October, and gave us till now to pick fabric and cut. Then, her clues will run once a month.  I can keep up with that.

When I did Scrapitude, I went totally scrappy.  I had never done a scrap quilt before, and was a little nervous, especially in a mystery, with trying to control the colours. And I really liked how it turned out.

But this time, I'm going to restrict the colours a little.  I have this fabric, which I like:

I'm going to use those colours - red, pink, orange and yellow.  The background will be white.  Here are the fabrics I chose.

I've got all my cutting done.  The instructions for the first step went up this week, so I'll be working on it this weekend.

But, on Sunday night, I do have some other plans: