Odds and Ends

School starts for teachers the day after tomorrow.  I am soaking up each and every last minute of vacation and using it to cross all the odds and ends off the list.  Productive things like detailing the mini van and polishing the hard wood floors.  Also fun things like finishing quilts and whipping up small sewing projects.

 I ordered some slipcovers for our tired and torn kitchen chairs.  They came with nifty zipper cases.  I hated to throw them out, but I'm on a roll right now with clearing out.  Instead I harvested the zippers and used them to make four little zipper cases for silverware or pencils.  There never seem to be any forks in the teacher workroom, so I'm going to put one of these in my mailbox and stash one in my desk for lunches.  Anna has one for college too, as she is supposed to provide her own silverware for the cafeteria.  They are very environmentally aware at her school and don't like disposable silverware. 

I added one more row to the framed four patches.  

Then cobbled together the back out of leftover four patches.  I might like it a bit more than the front honestly.  

 

More four squared blocks were next out of the bin of bagged WIPs.  I used extra fabric from the back of the framed four patches to create the alternate blocks and then webbed the top together yesterday afternoon while binge watching an entire season of Grey's Anatomy in the background.   

There is enough of this brown fabric for a border and matching backing.  

That frenzy let me cross the first three projects off my list.  I think that the next two might be doable as well, after that it looks like more effort might be required.  We'll have to see how far I get. 

Cleaning Up

I emptied a bin yesterday!  I can't show you the quilt yet, because it is a surprise.  

Here are all the bits and pieces that still need to be cleaned up.  I have a ton of extra sashing strips because I started trimming them to 7.5 inches which is the finished block size instead of the unfinished size.  I remade one set of blocks, and I'm much happier with how it all came together as a result.  

 I've been in cleaning up mode.  I emptied the Tupperware and put everything that didn't have a matching lid into a quarantine basket.  The kids are under strict orders not to put anything back that isn't complete.  I did the water bottles and to go coffee cups at the same time.  We'll see how long the organization lasts. 

The last time I went on an organization spree, I put all the blocks ready to sew together into the labelled bags in a nice basket with a table of contents.  

After much contemplation, I pulled out bag number three which is framed four patches.  The note said that they had been pinned together into rows and were ready to sew together.  There were extra four patches to piece together into a backing. 

Here is the top sewn together, but I think that I might add one more row onto the top to make it a bit longer.  

These four patches will make a nice back along with some rows of white to spread them out.  With a bit of luck, this one will be ready for quilting by the end of the day.  I like to have a stash of quilts ready to finish in case of emergency.  Last year I quilted up a long list of tops during hurricane Irma.  We were home for days and day watching it rain and it was nice to have plenty of quilts to finish to use up all the nervous energy.  I'm linking up with Oh Scrap! today.  Be sure to visit and see what other scraps are being turned into today.  

ScrapHappy Saturday - Last Red Day

Hopefully you are making great progress on our red scraps.  I've got quite a few bits in the pipeline that have been working through as leaders and enders while I was sewing other projects.  I can't show you any of those quite yet, so I'll just enjoy the red projects you all have to share.  Next Saturday will be a new color, so I hope you can take the next few days to polish off the last bits and bobs of red. 


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Scrappy Happy Red Day

 We saw 4 states on our family Yellowstone trip.  This was obviously, Idaho.

 We stayed at a ranch east of the park in Wyoming.

 Which is also where the Grand Tetons where.  Sydney thought the name was hilarious.  She is taking French in School.

Check out these moose chilling in a meadow.  The kids eye spied them on a hike and we tiptoed on by.  

We also stayed in West Yellowstone which is part of Montana and flew in and out of Salt Lake City where we visited Temple Square and listened to an organ concert at the tabernacle.  After all that it was fabulous to come back home again and sleep in my own bed again!

For me it really is a red letter day.  It is a scrappy Saturday and I am home!  It feels like ages since that has happened.  Nothing on the schedule, chores caught up, and ready to sew!  Even though my main project this week was finishing up Anna's blue dorm room quilt, I managed to finish a gigantic stack of leaders and enders while I was putting all the blocks together in just the right order.  Some of them were even red!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Binding Time

 I just finished sewing the binding onto Anna's dorm room quilt.  I'm settled in now with Princess Bride on HBO ready for the hand stitching.

  It has been great to have a few days at home.  In between sewing there have been exciting summertime projects like organizing the tupperware an scrubbing the tile.  I just got my welcome back letter from school.  Still a few days to go though, so I'll enjoy them while I can. 

Back to Quilting

I was happy to see that the ScrapHappy Saturday post went up as planned.  It is always a little scary to be away from all technology and know that there isn't any way to fix a problem if it pops up.  By Saturday, we were on our way back from Yellowstone to Salt Lake City getting ready to fly home again.  I'll post some vacation pictures soon, but for now I have quilting updates.  

It feels good to be back home again and to have time to spend in front of the sewing machine. It has taken the better part of the last three days to get Anna's dorm room quilt to the flimsy stage.   

 We ordered some extra wide backing fabric for the reverse.  I think there will be enough leftover for pillow shams. 

 The half hexie pattern was slow and required lots of starts and stops.  These are all the leader and ender squares I finished while making sure all the pieces lined up row by row.  I'm just about out of 2.5 inch squares.  The four patches will be joined into 16 patches and add to the collection of blocks for later. 

While emptying photos off of the good camera, I found 429 pictures of Sydney playing lacrosse.  Her summer season if over and she is chilling at home doing not much of anything for the next few weeks until school starts again.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

I am scheduling this ahead and hoping that it works.  I didn't have great luck last time I tried, and so if the linky is broken, maybe you could leave a link in the comments?  We are on a family vacation right now visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton out west.  We are going to be home tomorrow though, so if there is a problem, I promise to fix it then.  I'll also be sure to show lots of pictures of mountains and geysers and such.  There is going to be rafting and horseback riding and rodeoing.  The kids are even willing to hike with us.  They hate to hike, but they are willing to humor us old folks for a few miles along the way.  I have my handwork zipper case in my carryon, so hopefully a hexie or two will get accomplished along the way. 


   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Sunday Puttering

The girls had a garage sale this weekend which led to some much needed tidying up and clearing out.  We let them keep any money they made, so the motivation level was high.  While moving things around, I found this blue Dear Jane block from last summer which just needs a little bit of hand work on the applique.  Most of the block was paper pieced, but the triangles at the bottom need a bit of slow stitching time. 

Ryan is having a birthday party today, and though I am mostly trying to stay out of the way, I pop out every now and again to make sure people have something to drink and to refresh the snacks.  In between that, I've been getting rid of junk mail by turning it into move hexies for my slow stitching project.  Anna punched them for me while I was working on her quilt for a bit, but she has moved on, leaving me to punch my own paper piecing templates.  It is actually quite fun to see what little bits of text show up while I am sewing the hexies diamonds together.  Sometimes it is a coupon for a discount on air conditioning and sometimes it is a new dentist offering free consultations.    It is nice to put all this wasted card stock to good use. 
The house is starting to look pretty spiffy with all of these summer projects.  I'm sure it will all be back to normal soon enough though.  Entropy has a way of getting the better of all of my good intentions.  Speaking of which, I think the laundry just buzzed.  I'll go move it along and then head over to visit Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

Welcome to the month of red!  In the heat of summer, red sounds just right.  Since it is the first Saturday, the new Squared Away pattern in also available from Mari.  So be sure to check it out.  I'll whip up a quick PDF version and post it here, as well as on the squared away tab at the top of the page.

I haven't jumped too much into red yet as Anna's blue dorm room quilt is taking up my design wall.  It is coming together slowly, row by row. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

New Month -- New Color

A new month is always an exciting time.  Nothing is more fun than a new color.  For July, it is time to roll out the reds.  Red with shades of maroon for darker accents if you need them.  Just in time for Canada day and for Independence day.  

Slow Sunday

 Nothing is better than a lazy Sunday!  As much as I picture summer vacation as a long string of lazy days, it never seems to work out that way.  I have gotten a lot done though, so a day of rest is definitely a great plan.  Today I will iron. 

I will trim

 And I will continue to add more blue hexies to the wall.  Slowly and steadily, the blue dorm room quilt is coming together. 

Most of my stitching so far this summer has been on the slow and steady hand work variety.  In fact, I really should get some more hexies ready to go.  We have a trip to Yellowstone coming up and there will be quite a bit of traveling time to get some more blocks sewn together.  If you want to see what other handwork is keeping everyone busy, head over to Kathy's quilts to see lots of lovely slow stitching.