ScrapHappy Saturday

It seems really scary when the hurricane forecast puts a dot right on top of your house, but all the models are moving to the east and I am feeling optimistic.  It is entirely possible that we will avoid a direct hit.  

Our hotel reservations start tonight, and we'll be back when the storm has passed.  Until then, enjoy the end of blue and the beginning of purple.  

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Just in Case

We are currently preparing to evacuate for Dorian.  Just in case things get crazy, I wanted to let you know that next month is going to be purple.  We've all been waiting a long time for purple! 
I'm not really sure when we will be back.  Just in case it isn't before Tuesday, I'll make a Tiny Tuesday block when we are home again safe and sound.  It will be our first hurricane living beach side, so it is all new to us.  We found a hotel in Orlando with a special hurricane rate and they take pets, so we are going to try to pretend that it is a nice little weekend get away. 

 I was successful in getting all of the shutters down.  Kurt has been in Denver all week so it was just me. 

 Thankfully everything worked great and it was super easy. We will pull in all the furniture and batten the hatches when we both get home this afternoon. 

Even though I know Dorian is out there gaining speed, the ocean was beautiful this morning.  It is hard to imagine what it will look like in just a few days.  We are at school today, though not a lot of learning is going on.  Everyone is anxious and worried about what is going to happen next.  

Tiny Tuesday - Hourglass Small

 Here are the Hourglass blocks in three sizes.   You may choose your favorite size or make all three if you have the motivation.  Scroll down for medium and large, this post is for the small size. 

 Start with 3 inch squares.  You will need 5 of blue and 5 of background.  This will make 10 hourglass units so there will be one extra in case one gets wonky.  Wonky can happen when things get tiny. 

 Place background and blue squares right sides together and draw a line down the center. 

 Sew on either side of the drawn line and cut the two halves apart.  Repeat for all 5 pairs of squares. 

 Press the seams toward the blue. 

 Pair the HST units together with the blue and white on opposite sides, and draw a line down the center.  Sew on either side of the drawn line and cut the two units apart. 

 Look at how cute those are!  Press each unit rotating seams and getting them as flat and square as possible.  Thankfully they are slightly over sized, so perfect is not necessary. 

 Now for the trimming.  Each unit will be 2 inches unfinished which means that the center for squaring up is at 1 inch.  Trim two sides. 

 Rotate the block and trim the other two side resulting in a 2 inch square

 Arrange your nine patch with the blues alternating. 

Sew the nine patch together and you are done.  Press the seams open as much as possible to try to get it all to lie flat.  Its a lot of seams, so don't stress about it.  

Tiny Tuesday - Hourglass Medium

This is the second of the variety of hourglass sizes for today.  The directions will be just a bit briefer than the directions for the large, so feel free to scroll down to the earlier post for more complete directions if this is the first hourglass block you are making. 

 This block will end up as a four patch, meaning you will need two of each color of fabric.   You may use the same blues or mix it up for more variety.  Start with two square of blue and two squares of background cut to 4 inches. 

 Layer the blue and background squares right sides together and draw a line down the center of each. 

 Sew on either side of the line using a quarter inch seam allowance and cut one the drawn line.  Repeat the same procedure for each square.  You may trim the dog ears if you like. 

 Press the seam allowances toward the blue

 Rotate the blue squares and layer them right sides together so that the seam allowances nestle in the center. 

 Draw a line down the center and sew on either side of the drawn line.  Cut the two blocks apart and press. 

 Now the slightly tricky part.  Each unit needs to be 2 3/4 inches unfinished.  That means the center of the square is 1 and 3/8 inches.  There is it, just between 1 1/4 and and 1 1/2.  Line the diagonal up on the center of your square up ruler and you are good to go.  Trim carefully.

 Rotate the block and trim to 2 3/4 inches.  Repeat for all 4 units. 

 Place the four patch together so that the blue triangles alternate. 

Sew your for patch together and you are done!

I'll be back soon with the nine patch version.  Wish me luck.

Tiny Tuesday - Hourglass Choose a Size

We've actually done hourglasses already for this quilt, but it is such a great design element, that I though it might be fun to play with it just a bit this week.  Depending on how energetic you are feeling, it is a nice pattern to do in a variety of sizes.  I'll start with the large and work my way down to the small.  You can choose the size you like best, or make all three if you are feeling extra this week.  

 The largest block will finish at 4.5 inches, which means that the unfinished block is 5 inches.  In order to allow for oversizing and seam allowances, you should start with 6 inch squares.  One blue and one white will yield two finished blocks. 

 Layer your 6 inch squares right sides together and draw a line down the center of the white square from corner to corner.  Sew on either side of the drawn line using a quarter inch seam allowance. 

 Cut on the drawn line.  Trim the dog ears if you like.

 Press the seams on both blocks toward the blue fabric. 

 Rotate one block and layer right sides together so that the blue and white are layered on top of one another. 

 Draw a line from corner to corner perpendicular to the existing seam and make sure that the seam allowances are nestled snugly in the center.  Sew again a quarter of an inch on either side of the drawn line. 
Cut on the drawn line to result in two hour glass blocks. 

 Rotate the seams and press so that the center of the block lies nice and flat. 

 The center of the 5 inch unfinished block is 2.5 inches.  Using that center point as a reference, trim the slightly over sized block first on one corner. 

 And then on the next to make a 5 inch unfinished block. 

 Here is the finished block.  I chose the one out of my two with the nicest points in the center.  I'll be back soon with the medium and smaller sizes.  Wish me luck!

 Exciting news on the home front!  I started to officially assemble my sewing studio this weekend.  First I had to clear out all the refuse left my my daughter as she went off to college.  So far it is mostly stashed in the room next door belonging to my son who also went off to college.  One step at a time. 

I did lots of laundry that they were kind enough to leave behind, did massive cleaning and started to unpack so many fabric goodies that I have not seen in o so long.  It was a little bit like Christmas all over again.  

I didn't get everything done yet, because the air conditioning decided to break this weekend and it was toasty!  It got fixed just in time for us all to start the tropics watching as Dorian seems to be headed in our general vicinity.  This will be our first potential hurricane living in a mandatory evacuation zone, so there will be lots of things to think about in the next few days.  The kids at school are all rooting for school cancellation of course.  We will have to wait and see how things develop in the next couple of days.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

 This will soon be my new sewing room. 

 Right now it is full of all of the things Anna left behind.  It will be wonderful to set up my machine again and get some real sewing done. 

The sunrise was late this morning due to a big cloud on the horizon.  So glad it was a Saturday so that I could stay and see it come up. 

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Tiny Tuesday - Quarter Log Cabin

What I have for you today isn't so much a block as it is a block starter.  Tomorrow is the day that we will deliver Anna to school in Sarasota.  I've just finished off my sub plans and my students are not at all happy that I'm going to be gone AGAIN already.
Right now, the house is officially all torn apart!  I broke down the quilting frame after finishing a quilt on Sunday.  It is temporarily stashed in Ryan's room.  He didn't exactly clear out when he left and there are lots of reminders of his presence all over the floor of his room. Today was the first day of classes at the University of Florida.  He wasn't exactly impressed with the fundamentals of programming, but it is required and they would not take any of his AP credits to replace it.  Anna was also required to take fundamentals of biology despite her AP credits, but she survived it well enough and was able to move on to more interesting materials soon enough.
The most exciting news though is that I will have official sewing space again very soon.  I think this weekend will be a time for deep down organization and settling in. It will be such a treat to be able to have a dedicated studio again -- its been a while!

Cutting directions

Collect together 1 inch strips of white and bright blue.  To avoid duplication you will need 5 whites and 4 blues.  You will cut these strips into rectangles of regularly increasing lengths.

White 1 = 1 inch
Blue 1 = 1 inch and 1.5 inches
White 2 = 1.5 inches and 2 inches
Blue 2 = 2 inches and 2.5 inches
White 3 = 2.5 and 3 inches
Blue 3 = 3 inches and 3.5 inches
White 4 = 3.5 inches and 4 inches
Blue 4 = 4 inches and 4.5 inches
White 5 = 4.5 inches and 5 inches

Start with the short strips and gradually build your way out.  I'll be back as soon as I can set up my sewing room with some real life photos to illustrate.  

ScrapHappy Saturday

And so we begin the transition.  Ryan is now officially off to college.  We drove him up on Thursday and got him all settled in.  He's in a triple, old style with bathrooms at the end of the hall.  Neither of his room mates had shown up yet before it was time for us to leave.

He took his t-shirt quilt.  I finished the binding on Wednesday night just in time to run it through the wash.  It might be the last time this quilt sees the inside of a washer.  

There was a beautiful full moon this week.  I read that it is called a sturgeon moon.   I find it so fun that full moons all have names.  

We are still trying to see the sunrises each day, though it get more difficult as they keep creeping later.  School is one full week in and we are all making the transition as best we can. I have a great schedule this year and I am really enjoying my students.  I've still got a quilt on the frame to finish up this weekend.  We had to move it out of the way because Ryan had a party on Wednesday before he left.  We are also working on the stairs some more this weekend.  We got the newel posts last week and just picked up the handrails yesterday.  Step by step the pieces are all coming together.  

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Tiny Tuesday Times Two

I am so thankful each and everyday for the gracious and awesome quilters who read my blog.  It is no secret that I am in a bit over my head right now with the start of school, getting two kids off to college and getting through the move and remodel on the new house.  I have one makeup block and Libby was so kind as to whip up a super simple block for us all to enjoy.  So here is a double nine patch, along with a nine patch and rails.


Double Nine Patch

 Start with 1 inch strips of blue and white.  The first set is white blue white and needs to be at least 3 inches long.  The next two sets are both blue white blue and they should be at least 5 inches long.  You can add more sets of strips to increase variety if you like. 

 In addition to the one inch strips, you will also need 4 squares at 2 inches each. 

 Sew the strip sets together and press toward the blue for all three sets.  Notice that the white blue white set has the seam allowances meeting in the middle, this is how you know that your quarter inch seam is perfect. 

 Here are your strip sets ready to go. 

 Sub cut these sets into 1 inch pieces. 

 You should have 5 of each set. 

 sew one piece from each set into a nine patch with the white blue white set in the middle flanked by the blue white blue sets.  Try to randomize the placement of the flanking pieces if you can to make the block look more random.  Open the seams and press carefully to reduce bulk.  Again, if you seam allowance if perfect, the seams should meet in the middle.  Each nine patch should be 2 inches. 

 Take your five completed nine patches and combine them with the four white squares. 

Sew as you would any nine patch and press the seams away from the bulk if you can. 

The makeup block from last Tuesday has kindly been provided by Libby.  Follow the link for directions to this great, simple and quick nine patch variation. 

Nine Patch and Rails