Playing with Scraps on a Rainy Sunday

I did some organizing and sorting over the break and made a mental list of block collections in need of love.  The two inch squares bin had a lot of randomly scrappy nine patches.  I was thinking that I could add some consistently colored star points to turn them into Sister's Choice blocks.  Here are my test blocks.  I will let them simmer until the green month comes up.   

I have made as many Irish Chain blocks as will fit onto one design wall.  I'm almost out of the partial blocks.  I'll need to do some math now and figure out how many to make.  I think enough for a twin sized quilt.   If 63 by 87 is a standard twin size, then that is 9 by 12.  I'll need a border as well, so I should make the center 8 by 11.  88 blocks divided evenly between the two types makes 44.  It looks like I've got 30 right now.   So I'll make a note that I need 14 more of each block and set this one aside for now.   

Finally, the red wall!  I spent most of yesterday on crumbs.  I was thinking of turning those into placemats and potholders.   I've finished most of the main projects for the month and was working some cross blocks through to alternate with random scrappy 16 patches.  I think that I will move those over to the empty wall and continue on those as leaders and enders.   So I guess that I have a lot of background projects and should think about a main project, but I always seem to get carried away with scraps instead.  It is a cold and rainy day in Florida, so staying inside where it is warm and dry sounds like a wonderful plan.   Sydney and I are seeing the hand surgeon tomorrow.  Hopefully he will have some good news for us.  She is doing pretty well with just one working hand so far, but patience is not her strong suit.   I'm off to Oh Scrap! for more scrappy inspiration and will catch up on yesterday's ScrapHappy Saturday posts as well.   I got pretty carried away sewing yesterday and never took a computer break.  

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.     

Productive in Pink

 

I tend to be very productive at the start of a new year, so I try to rotate through big colors to start the year.  This year is pink.  It must be having two girls, but my pink bin is always overflowing.  They are practically grown, so I'm not sure I should blame them -- maybe I just like pink.   I made a few more shooflies and stars last night and tried to polish off the last few crumbs bits.   I am squaring these up to 4 inches right now and searching for inspiration.   I thought about alternating between black and white framing squares.  Then I thought about alternating diagonal and straight set blocks.  Then I saw some cute black framed blocks sashed with white and bright solid cornerstones.   Maybe just white with black cornerstones?  They definitely need some sort of dividers, because the bulk is just a bit much, but I haven't settled yet on what they will become.  For now it is nice to not have so many random bits hanging around taking up space.   I was planning on cutting some more green 1.5 inch strips to make Garden Lattice alternate blocks, but I could not find my ruler yesterday.  Anna finally sat down for an evening snack and found it hiding under her chair.  On the bright side though, I tidied everything up as I searched madly for that darned ruler for the last two days.   With all the kids home I am sewing in the family room and can't leave everything strewn allover anymore.   

Tiny Tuesday - Diagonal Set #2

If the smaller setting squares seem like too tight of a fit, you might want to try this slightly larger version.  It will leave you about half an inch on each side to play with.  

 Materials:

• 1 tiny Tuesday sampler block - 5 inches unfinished
• 2 squares of background fabric 5.5 inches each

Cut the background squares in half along the diagonal.  

 Find the center of the sampler block and each of the triangles.  There are several ways to do this.  You may fold each in half and finger press or iron to mark the middle.  You can measure and mark the middle with a pin or a light pencil mark in the seam allowance.

 Match the center of a triangle to the center of the block.  Pin it in place.  Sew a triangle to opposite sides of the sampler square.

 Press the seams away from the center.

 Trim the dog ears of each triangle even with the sides of the sampler block.

 Match the center of the next two triangles to the center of the sampler square and pin.  Sew both triangles to the opposite sides of the sampler.

 The block should be about 8 inches square.  This will leave you plenty of room to trim it to the final size of 7.5 inches.

Forward Progress

 Last Sunday I put together these crumb blocks with a simple navy sashing.  I think I will add an outer border of the same fabric and then maybe some more crumbs.

Postage Stamp blocks were next on the list.  These were all leftover from finished quilts of long ago.  It is amazing that as many different fabrics as there are in these blocks, I still ended up with the same fabric next to each other repeatedly.  

 As part of my continuing quest to clear out orphans and extras, I quilted up this little table topper made from pinwheels of waste triangles.

 Then there is the continuing slow and steady binding progress.  I think this is number three of the hurricane finish parade.  These orange peels were appliquéd and then hand quilted.  After the binding backlog is taken care of, I'll need a new hand quilting project to work on.

Because it is Sunday, I'm going to link up with Oh Scrap! and Slow Stitching Sunday.  

Crumby Wednesday

OK, so it really isn't crumby in a bad way, just in a busy making crumb blocks way.  I started working on these multi color crumb blocks during April, which was the multi color month.  They have been waiting patiently, and are now all squared up.

There is something quite relaxing about making fabric.  whichever pieces ended up at about the same size got sewn together, and then when the fabric seemed big enough, I simply cut them down into either 6.5 or 5 inch blocks.

There is quite a nice stack of blocks now, waiting to come together to make a top.  I was thinking of a diagonal setting for the smaller blocks.  Then maybe a simple straight set for the larger blocks....

Most of the day though, will be spent driving back and forth to summer camps.  Ryan needed to be dropped off at 8:30 and Sydney at 9.  That part wasn't so bad.  Now I've got to pick up Sydney at 2 and Ryan at 4:30.  That part will be a bit more awkward.  Fortunately, though, it isn't far.  Then I'll be back to playing with my crumb blocks again.