Full Stop March Block - Brackets

  

Start with 1.75 inch strips in background and in green.  These will be sub-cut into all of the needed pieces.

• Green strips 6 inches - (2)
• Green squares 1.75 inches - (4) 
• Background strips 6 inches - (1) 
• Background strips 3.5 inches - (2) 

Sew one square onto each end of the shorter background rectangles and press toward the green.   

Arrange the strips in the following order

green rectangle, pieced rectangle, background rectangle, pieced rectangle, green rectangle

Sew all 5 of these rectangles together and press away from the pieced units.  

To set these together into a row, you should make 5 to 7 blocks.  Then sew them together with dividing strips of 2.5 by 6 inches of background fabric between each block.  Press the seams toward the green to reduce the chances of the dark showing through later.   

I had 5 different greens and so I made that many.   Because this is a random length row by row, we will add enough background onto either end to bring it all up to the desired size at the end.  If I can find another green before the end of the month, I might add one more block.   If not, I think this looks good.  

Here are all three months together so far.  I am debating evening up the rows now and adding sashing strips in between, but I haven't quite committed to a width yet.  I think that the quotations will be the largest row, appearing in pairs made it a big boy.   

Sunday Funday

 I finished quilting two tops yesterday.  That means today is for binding! I love binding.  I am going to sit on the balcony and look at the ocean and sew the day away.   

The sunrise was beautiful today.   Just a peek above the clouds.  

And then just minutes later it was showing its colors.   

Now back to quilts.  Frameshift got little contiguous half melon wedges on the nine patch area, and zig zags surrounded by ribbon candy for the sashing strips.  

Here is the back, a frame around orange and yellow.  

And her is the front.  I think that I have a nice yellow and green stripe for the binding.  I do enjoy striped bindings.  This was from the 2020 RSC.  All of this year's quilts were finished right on time thanks to all that extra time at home from March until July.  

Then the Row by Row Sampler quilt from 2016 got finished right after dinner. I loaded it on the frame sideways and then just quilted each row based on the block pattern.  It went quickly as it isn't a large quilt.  I can't believe that I am just now quilting the 2016 sampler quilt!   It feels good to be clearing up some of the quilting backlog.  No photo of the back of this one as it was quite dark already.  I'll get a final photo after the binding.  I have a dark purple that sort of resembles the hand dyes that will work for this one.  

I'm off for a grocery pickup, but then I will spend some time checking in with Oh Scrap! and Slow Stitching Sunday before the day gets away from me.   

ScrapHappy Saturday

 

It is the last yellow Saturday.  I am finishing up my odds and ends this weekend, including an extended time with hexies while on an all day teacher training via ZOOM.  Next month is going to be green!

Plodding Through

I pieced together all of the extra batting strips to have enough to load the framed nine patches up for quilting.   As soon as it was ready to go, the new roll of batting arrived to our front door, so the next quilt will be easier to prepare.   I think that I have two more rows to go on this one, but it is late for  a school night.  Binding will be a nice project for the weekend.  I have a training session that the state of Florida has mandated for all teachers so that we can be "Mental Health First Aiders". While it is a nice idea to support kids, my mental health will not be improved by spending 6 hours on Saturday on a ZOOM session.   I did finish my mandatory homework though.   There always seems to be something new to add to the list.   

Lacrosse season has started and so we are spending two nights a week at games.   I'm trying to get just a little bit of sewing done on other evenings though.  I got a few hexies sewn while I was doing on online tutoring session Tuesday.   Then I got a few more blocks quilted  tonight while waiting for a batch of cookies to come out of the oven.  Pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough, but still so tasty.     I feel like Monday and Wednesday there were games, and so that is the week so far.    

We sent home another big batch of kids for quarantine on Monday.  It had been so calm for a while that we were all starting to feel like it was a getting better.   My test came back negative though, and Sydney's as well!  Hopefully numbers will continue to decline and we can start to take reclaim little bits of normal.   The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon as I leave for work each morning.  It feels good to watch the days getting longer.  

ScrapHappy Yellow T Minus 2

 

Just two more week of yellow.  I hope that you have made a dent.  Sunshine isn't usually a huge color for quilters as it can quickly overwhelm a quilt.  It can also add a bit of happy and we all need more of that at the moment.  I got some of the Garden Lattice blocks done for this month along with just a few more of Shoostars and Sister's Choice.  Now it is mainly an issue of digging through the partially completed crumb blocks to find the rest of the pieces for this months blocks.  There were a surprising number of yellow crumb scraps this month.   

I also got just a few more of the itty bitty loggie blocks done.   It would be nice to round out the orange and yellow rounds.  Green is a bit of a missing link.  I will be sure to fix that when green gets its turn.  

How are your yellow scraps coming along?   I hope that you are able to stay warm wherever you are.   The news in Texas right now is just so disturbing.  One of our guidance counselors was visiting family there last weekend and has been unable to get back to work again.   She sent photos of the snow to us all.  Snow isn't something we really see here.   

Sunday Progress

 

I saved out the bigger scraps while ironing some strings for little log cabin blocks.   I will work on those during virtual tutoring from 4 to 5.  I used to have extra help available during our lunch hour at school, but we have three lunches now and so we have been having online sessions on Sundays instead.  There is no way to know how many people there will be, or when they will come, so having something nearby will help pass the time if there are lags.  

My main goal today was to finish this quilt for Kurt's friend from work.   It took most of the afternoon yesterday and 37 flights of stairs to get everything assembled and ready to go.  By that time I was too tired to quilt!

So first thing this morning I decided to jump in.   I was about halfway done when my top thread ran out!  Well that put a bit of a damper on things.  I had another spool which was the same color, but it was much thicker and didn't tension the same.   I have a line of quilts ready to go, but I'll have to find the right thread first.  Joann's was out, but they have a truck coming tomorrow.   I have a spool ordered online, so we will have to see which works out first.   I hope you are having a restful or productive Sunday.  Having both never seems to work out, but if you have any scrappy or hand stitching to share, but sure to check out Oh Scrap! and Slow Stitching Sunday.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Sunshine and Happy

 

Welcome to the weekly linky party for those using their scraps, one color at a time. This is the yellow month, and I hope that you are enjoying a little sunshine and cheer.

The weather has suddenly turned glorious here, so I think it will be busy at the beach.  We got in our walk this morning, but will avoid the crowds the rest of the day.  Kurt is going to help me set up the quilting machine this morning and then I will be sewing the day away.   I ordered a big roll of batting, but I think there is enough to keep me busy until it gets here.  If desperation sets in, I an always piece together enough scraps for at least one or two quilts.  

 

A Plan for the Crumbs!

 

I started framing out the yellow crumb blocks with white and black borders.   The blocks are 4 inches, and the frames are 1.5.    The end result is a 6 inch framed block.   Each row is separated with strips of the opposite color which should visually link the alternating rows.  I grabbed a couple of pink blocks as well to see the combination.  I will need some half blocks for the offset rows, but I think I am enjoying how this will come together.  I'll do some math and then make decisions about how many blocks to make each month.   There are still some yellow crumb chunks hanging out in the strings, but I started to sort through it all last night and had a little ironing party while I was listening to an audio book.  I'm thinking of calling this Interlinked.

Our bathroom tile has started to come together.  I convinced Kurt to hire a contractor, which is really hard for him to do.  He has been super busy at work though, and the remodel we wanted to do was beyond our skill level.   So far Dave has had to build up the floor and level it under where the jacuzzi tub used to be and then replace all the backerboard with waterproof versions.  He took out the raised box that used to hold the shower and moved the shower plumbing to remove a wall.  He made the nook and installed the smart shower control unit.   

It is starting to feel like spring here.  After several chilly weeks, it is so nice to enjoy fresh air and sunshine again.   

Slowly Comes the Sunshine

I am steadily adding yellow to the design wall.  The Sister's Choice blocks are leaders and enders.  I think the last two are somewhere in the mix.   I'll shift to Shoostar blocks when those are done.   I've got almost enough yellows pulled and cut for the Garden Trellis blocks.   I'm having trouble mixing the buttery yellows with the brights with the golds.   So that it forcing me to segregate colors together which is making me dig deeper into the scrap bins.   Speaking of digging into the scrap bins.  There were large chunks of crumb fabric all mixed in with the yellow strings.  I've trimmed those up to 4 inches and added them to the wall.  I really should decide on a layout and sashing ideas before I get too much further.  I was thinking about a black border all the way around and then an interrupted white stripe to separate those.  I found an idea on Pinterest, but now can't find it to save my life.  I also saw one called Chain Link on Connecting Threads though, and that would be super cute.    If I just frame half of the blocks out in black and half in white, the rest should be easy to recreate later.   

February is always such a long month at school.  The Christmas excitement has passed and it is still a long way to spring break.  We usually have a day off for Presidents day, and that would have made the upcoming weekend 3 days, but they have taken it back for COVID and we are all missing it right now. We had bunches of quarantined students return in the last few days, so I think my classrooms will get pretty full again.   Every day is full of surprises right now and students seem to show up randomly on line or at school.  I am just thankful that they are showing up though!   I know it has been hard on all of us.     

Little Loggies

 I pulled out the these mini log cabin blocks yesterday to add a few more yellows to the mix.  Each block finishes at 2.5 inches and has 13 pieces.  This one is absolutely what could best be described as a long term project.   All People Quilt shows 30 different layouts, but without the traditional names.  Quilt Social has the traditional names for the more basic arrangements.   The Spruce Crafts also has a nice show of different layouts in actual quilts. I started with the idea of Sunshine and Shadows, but now I am pondering a nice Barn Raising design, or perhaps a Spiral.   Any design that could be achieved with half square triangle blocks, could also happen with log cabin blocks.  Coffee Rings Studio has a nice post with HST layout ideas.   Those asymmetrical diamonds are pretty close to what was swirling through my mind in the wee hours of the morning.   

There is still plenty of time to continue to ponder that decision.  I don't think I have enough of any one color to worry yet about how many I will need.  Still time in February for a few more yellows.  I found lots of great partial crumb blocks hiding in the string bin, so it will be fun to add those to the wall as well.