Spring Rains

 

It has been cold and rainy in Florida. Kurt has been gone all week for work and to visit his dad. Sydney is home for the weekend. She is starting to count down days until she graduates from UF next month. Anna is polishing off all of her wedding plans. The first week in May is going to be a lot!

I spent some time sewing together 10.5 inch squares from men's flannel shirts to make a backing for the log cabin quilt. 

This is the last giant quilt that I want to get finished before I collapse the film down to a smaller size. I need to get that one loaded up and then start to work on the binding for Dear Jane. 

It has been years since I did a scalloped binding, that will take a bit of mental effort. I see that the Artemis II astronauts splashed down. That is nice to hear. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend much closer to home. 

How are your weekend plans shaping up?

Crumb Plans

 

I am determined to take care of all the little odds and ends this year. I don't want to use up all my scraps by any means, but I do want to be left with useable bits that can fuel future projects.   

 It was extremely satisfying to sew tiny leftovers all together and square them up into these 4 inch blocks of random happy scraps.   I don't have a plan yet, but at some point I will collect enough in all the colors and turn them into something lovely. 

I was surprised as  I searched through unfinished projects and block collections at how much I have hanging out in limbo.  I tried to update the "My Quilts" tab of my blog with links to help me remember which projects are waiting for attention.   I think that I will rotate some of them into project bins.  With my sewing space in constant flux right now, being able to pull out an individual bin to work on might make productivity a little easier.  I know someday I will have a dedicated sewing space again.  I never would have guessed when we downsized houses that everyone would rush home again to shelter in place during an ongoing pandemic.   I guess life is full of surprises.  

We had a family Minecraft session last night and fun was had by all.  My son Ryan got us all accounts as a Christmas present and we have spent many hours all gathered around the kitchen table since then collaborating in our little digital homestead.   I was keeping one earbud in and monitoring the events in DC while we played, but that is a story for a different blog.   

Pink Play Day 3

 

We were off to a late start on our beach walk this morning.  It doesn't get as hot right now, so there isn't quite the same rush to get home before it is too warm.   

My husbands company sent a tin of peppermint bark as a holiday gift.  The peppermint bark is quite tasty of course, but look at that adorable tin!  It fits my hexies perfectly.   Am I the only one that gets a huge kick out of adorable containers?   I got a nice start on my pink hexies for this month and even cut a few more fabrics as I was sorting through the pink bin.  

 

There are lots of pinks in there, but they are all well sorted and organized.   I think that went through it when I made the bin during "safer at home" this summer.   I have dug out plenty for strips in all the sizes I need for this year's blocks.   

I still have quite a few crumbs to take care of though.  I think that they will get trimmed to 4 inches and framed with some white?  Maybe I will alternate white and black for a checkerboard?  Or maybe I will use cornerstones?   Playing with crumbs will be first on my list today.

Yesterday was all about getting new projects for 2021 organized and started.   I had quite a few empty bins waiting for projects and they are all sorted for my new projects.   I tend to work on a project for each strip size these days, so I continued with that plan.   The bins are numbered, labelled and ready to go with the appropriate strip size and partially assembled blocks.   

I have tutorials for most of my plans posted as links on the RSC21 page.   So after digging a bit deeper into Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party block, I found out that I had misjudged the dimensions a bit.   I remembered that it was based on a 1.5 inch base but that there were some slightly wider parts.  For some reason I was sure that the corners were wider.  Now that I look deeper, my block is not actually the same as Bonnie Hunter's block.  Thanks to Cathy for information on the original source of the pattern.  I found that the original quilt was in Quiltmaker #163 which was published in the May/June 2015 edition.   It is available on the Quilting Daily website as a digital download.    Still, rather than remaking the 12 blocks that I have already made, I am going to call mine Garden Trellis rather than Garden Party and just keep moving forward.  It is quite similar except that the flower petals are a bit thinner which will result in more negative space between the blocks.  

How are your 2021 plans starting to shape up?  I will link up at Oh Scrap!  and Kathy's Quilts to see what other scrap based and hand sewing projects are underway for the new year.   

Sunday Scraps and Stitches

I took my Dear Jane with me to Science Olympiad yesterday.  Even though the kids are all running around madly most of the day, once they are in their events, it gets very quiet.  So I moved the hoop twice during the day.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  A perfect day to sit outside and hand quilt.  Just three more moves of the hoop should get me back to the begining!  While cleaning out the blue scrap bin, I even found the binding that I had made from the same fabric as the inner border.  

Knowing that Jane is almost done, I pulled out the broken dishes stars and got two new spools of hand quilting thread.  I had wanted to try pearl cotton with some big stitch quilting, but I couldn't find just the right combination of sizes and colors.  I think that regular quilting will work better with the scale of the blocks on this one.  

I was going to do the Bonnie Hunter Mystery last year and cut out the first step before I changed my mind.  That left a lot of pointy spikes which I sewed together into a long strip.  I think that I will use them as a border for these bonus triangles which have been hanging out for many years.  They could also go as stripes into a Chinese Coin type quilt.  I think there are enough of them that I could do both.

Finally, I will use today to catch up on my Leap Year quilt.  I've chosen the fabrics and rough cut circle to hold the days toward the end of the week.  Tuesday has stars from the state of the union.  Friday has tiny buckets for all the rain.  Saturday is a rocket ship for science and today I chose little ice skaters in winter coats for the cold front that moved in last night.  Monday is a school holiday which means an extra day to sew!  Looking forward to every minute of that!  I'm linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday as well as Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Wrangling Scraps

 So I still have three drawers of blue scraps, because last year, blue got three months.  It is just one of those colors.  A lot of the blues are already sewn into crumb chunks from earlier years.

So I started pulling out scraps, and ironing and sorting.  

 Then running some scraps through the GO, focusing on Kites, and Geese and Drunkard's Path units.  I was going to use the kites to cut up crumb blocks, but they are smaller than I imagined when I ordered the die.  Maybe I'll use crumb blocks for the geese?  I think there are almost enough of the Drunkard's Path for a quilt.  Maybe I should start sewing those?   I took the girls to see the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie this morning, and I'm not feeling super motivated.  I think I ate too much popcorn.  We got the carpets cleaned earlier this week, and I still haven't managed to get everything put back quite yet.  Maybe I'll do that while I ponder what to do with all these scraps.   If you are feeling scrappy today too, be sure to head over to Oh Scrap!

And Then There Were Three

I remember putting this quilt away hurriedly because I was out of time.  Maybe winter break?  I was smart enough to leave a note though that said I had pieced a back but it was too narrow and that extra fabric was included to enlarge it.  

 So I pressed the back and inserted an extra strip slightly off center to make the back large enough.

 Here is the front which was a motley collection of strings and crumbs that had been collected over time.  This will go in the stack.  Actually I think that I will quilt it first and I will use it to try out the Baptist Fans that I am thinking about for Hawaiian Sunset.  Not tonight though.  Tonight I am done! I think I will settle in with some handwork or maybe a good book.

Crumby Sunday

 I pulled out the crumb jar today and just played.  It was glorious!  As busy as it has been lately, having a bit of mindless sewing was just what I needed.  I squared up the bits that were big enough to 6.5 inches, and the ones that weren't are all 4.5 inches or diamonds now.  Maybe next year I'll try tumbler blocks?

 There were a few more postage stamp stars sitting by the machine, so I worked them in as well.

 Kurt made it back safely from India.  With very careful planning, he managed not to get sick, but even so, he came home tired and hungry!  He said there were cows everywhere, wandering the streets and blocking traffic.  It is wonderful to have him back again, not just because he mowed the yard today either.  He has another quick trip tomorrow, but hopefully after that he can stay home for a bit.

We've been having marathon sessions of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.  I had to sneak out to work yesterday morning and Anna sent this photo of everyone in jail.  Such a bunch of criminals!  It is 9 here and everyone else is already off to sleep.  I don't think I'm long behind, but I'll enjoy the rest of Downton Abbey first with a bit on applique to keep my hands busy.    

So Close

I thought I was done with the flimsy and backing for Strings and Crumbs.

I did the inner border, and the crumb border and even the wide calming outer border.  Borders are my nemesis, so I was doing pretty well I thought.

I almost had just enough for the backing.  Just need about three more inches, of course I don't have three more inches.  I might add a stripe of the inner border fabric to the middle.  Not today though.  I am ready to start cleaning up some of the chaos and settle in for the evening.  I'll write a note and put it with the top so that I remember what I'm supposed to do next time I pull this guy out.  

Out of Chaos?

Out of chaos comes order?  Right now I'm not too sure about the order part, but I am creating quite a bit of chaos with my strings and crumbs.

Taking the paper off of string blocks is always fun.  There are bits of paper everywhere in a little path of confetti leading from the sewing machine to the iron to the floor.  I only needed 6 more crumb blocks for the border, but it isn't easy to make just 6 crumb blocks.  I've got the inner border sewn on, and I think I'l extend it out into the outer border.  It is some sort of very stretchy homespun fabric -- spray starch has been my friend today.  Then the outer border should be pretty easy and this little guy will hang for quilting at a later date.  The quilting machine isn't set up right now, I'll wait until there is a nice little stack of quilts and a chunk of free time.  Christmas break maybe?  Starting to get anxious about heading back to school.  Change is hard.  I had a dream last night where I was passing back papers, but didn't have enough.  I couldn't figure out where all of my papers had gone.  Sigh.  I'm off to sew the crumbs together to make a border.  Happy last day of summer vacation.  

Sidetracked Again

 So I dug out some batting scraps last night.

 And turned them into some quilt-as-you-go fabric

 Which ended up in the crumb box, where I found these crumb and string blocks from my men's shirt phase.

That's as far as I've gotten though, because the morning was our garage sale/lemonade stand.  Until it got too hot.  Then it was swimming pool time.  Which has just ended in favor of a late lunch.  I think we have a turn with a rented pressure washer next, but someday I'll get back to my fabric and scraps.  

Crumbs and Orphans

At this rate I will never need to buy fabric again.  I think I could sew indefinitely with the leftovers of other projects.

 First up were some red crumb blocks.  These were put together using a coin quilt concept.  I also have a stack of HST bits that are almost ready to turn into blocks.  There always seem to be plenty of triangle shaped bits from putting binding strips together.  These all got squared up to 6.5 inches which seems to be a nice size to save for later.  Then the trimmings from all of that will go back into the start of more crumb blocks and the cycle will start again.

Then I put binding on some orphan block potholders.  I'll save the hand stitching for slow stitch Sunday with Kathy tomorrow.  I'd love to make a few more of these, but I ran out of the special batting that goes in the middle.  I wonder if regular batting would work?
Right now absolutely everyone is out of the house.  Kurt has gone to shop for a new laptop for the kids during tax free shopping days.  They got my old laptop when I switched over to the Mac, but it seems to be getting more and more temperamental lately.  One of these days it will just stop working for good.  Anna and Sydney are both playing with friends and Ryan is at a birthday party.   It's just the dog and I right now hangin' out on the couch.  It is almost too quiet.........

Sand and Sea Crumb Blocks Done

The blue crumb blocks were all finished during May for RSC13.  Today I sashed half of them out in tan and the other half in blue -- going for a beach and sand feel.  I even have a border fabric -- usually a big hurdle for me!  There are a couple of quilt requests in the works and I seriously need to get working on them.  Next on the list is Mom's second chemo quilt.   I have a stack of pink 16 patches ready to go and need to decide for sure on the alternate block.  Four Square is one thought like the one here, or maybe an Arkansas Crossroads block like the one here.  Have I mentioned yet how much I like summer vacation?  I could do this year round.
Today was actually an out and about day.  Orthodontist, math camp drop off, free movie, trip to Joann's and then back to pick up at math camp.  After that though, I got have a little quilt time.  Kurt was home early from work and made soup for dinner.  It is a bit damp and drizzly here, some sort of tropical organization so as odd as it sounds, soup hit the spot.  

Finish it on Fake Friday

 Teal Crumbs has been having the binding slowly stitched all week.  It needed to have a moment when I was home during the day to get some photos.  Look at how bright it is in the afternoon sunlight. 

 The quilting consists of some fire like fingers that run horizontally across the quilt. I u sed aqua thread on the front and black on the back.  My thread stash has taken a big hit lately.  I seem to keep using things up.  Maybe I should do some shopping?  I like the professional cones at Connecting Threads.  First I'd better take a color inventory and match it against upcoming quilts.  They do free shipping with a fifty dollar order.  That might be too much thread.  I'd better throw in a few rainbow bits for next years planned Rainbow Scrap Challenge Jane.

Sydney will never forgive me for including boxer fabric in the random black squares that make up the back. She was OK with everything else, but astonished that I put UNDERWEAR on her quilt. 
Tomorrow is a teacher workday and I am signed up for more AP training.  So even though it is only Thursday, to me it feels like a Friday.  I even tried to watch the VP debate last night and couldn't figure out why it wasn't on.  I also went out to dinner with my friend Meisje who just started a new job.  We've been trying to get together for ages, but we have both been busy lately. 
The big news of the week was an invitation in my inbox yesterday to attend a committee meeting for the new biology end of course exam in order to review item specifications.  Attending a meeting didn't seem like too big of a deal until I read down further and realized that the meeting was 4 days long and out of town.  4 school days?!  Yikes, that was a big deal.  So much talking to administrators and negotiating for subs followed along with so much rearranging and planning of lessons.  I'll get everything finished up this weekend and then start packing for my trip.  After talking to a coworker who has been to similar meetings in the past, I will also pack lots of quilting to work on in my hotel room in the evenings. 

Teal Crumbs are Quilted

I just pulled Sydney's Teal Crumbs off the quilting frame.  If I hustle I can get the edges trimmed up before the pizza shows up.  Sunday is pizza night in our house.  It has been for as long as I can remember.  I think it started in college when the cafeteria didn't serve dinner on Sunday.  So now I'd better get busy on the binding.  This one is going to have zebra stripes and Smith Mountain is just plain blue.  If I get them machine sewn today I'll have evenings to do the handwork this week.  I would have gotten more done today, but the girls wanted to go see a movie while the boys were off doing Dungeons and Dragons.  I didn't bring home any school work this weekend, but if I focus this week I think I can get most of it in during the school day.  I think I can......

Bouncing Around

I was already to quilt Smith Mountain this morning, but didn't have any of the caramel colored thread I like to use on scrap quilts because it blends so well with most things. 

So while waiting for everyone to get up and around I pondered the backing for Sydney's teal crumbs.  It is amazing how skinny my stash is getting.  Definitely time to do a little shopping!  Sydney helped me decide on this collection of black prints which I cut in 10.5 inch squares. I love using things up.  So much more satisfying than going to the store and buying a big hunk of generic yardage in just the right color. 

Orca Bay is patiently waiting for binding. Maybe teal?

Still haven't made the binding for the Christmas quilt either. I am thinking of the same red from the inner border. 
Now the hard part -- deciding what to work on!  Bonnie is on with quilt cam, so I'll find something I can do with her. 

#4 on the List - Teal Crumbs

I just finished taking the last stitch in the flimsy for the teal crumbs.  I'll check out the size on Sydney's bed to see if it wants a border, but it is done enough for now.  So I now have three tops ready to be quilted and one who needs binding.  Not bad for a long weekend.  Most importantly, after all the weekend frenzy, I feel perfectly happy now about jumping into Hawaii Sunset full speed ahead!  There are nine patches and four patches in the leader and ender basket and paper piecing patterns ready for flying geese.  Hopefully my order from Connecting Threads will be here soon enough to get used, but until then, I can dig into some scraps and officially get started before Amy leaves me in the dust.
Oh, I also got my long lost Midget blocks sashed and up onto the wall with the new one from the Grandmother's Choice blog.  There is a new photo posted under the Midget tab with all the finished blocks so far.  It looks like there are 103 blocks total.  I really should decide how many I am going to make.  I can't just go on indefinitely after all. 
Tomorrow it is back to school again.  Sydney is moving classes because of some classroom consolidation and is excited to have her second first day of school.  Her new class will be combined 3rd and 4th grade with all gifted students, so that should be a good fit for her.  Generally though, I think it is going to be a calm week. 

Crumbly Fun

Today was a beach day.  It has been rainy all week so it was nice to finally make it out.  We have swapped children for the week with my sister in Georgia.  She kept the girls and we brought Austin home with us.  He and Ryan have been having a blast.  So after we got back and all showered up, I started laying out the crumb blocks.  I still need to cut some more alternate squares, but the general idea is starting to appear. 

More Crumb Fun

Last night while watching TV, I sorted Amy's crumbs into cute little color coordinated piles.  One pile was mixed colors, either because the pieces were already sewn to another color, or because the fabric was multicolored and wouldn't fit into another group. 

I started that group first and worked those into my pipeline of crumb blocks.  How cute are they?  My favorite bits so far were lots of little end pieces from string block trimmings.  Don't they look like little Chinese Coin blocks.  I have more than enough blocks for the quilt now, but I think I'll keep going until the ones in the works get finished up. They will save nicely for another crumb quilt someday soon. 

Crumb Christmas

When we got back from being out of town, the mail was conspicuously missing from our box.  I was sure one of our neighbors had collected it while we were gone, though both of the friends I usually ask to do that task were also out of town, so I didn't make any special arrangements.  Kurt couldn't figure out why I was so anxious, but I was waiting for two extra special packages.  This evening, while I was getting dinner on the table, the bell rang, and a friendly neighbor brought a big stack of envelopes, included among them was a HUGE package of crumbs from Amy!  Look at all that fabric fun! I can't wait to dig in and start playing with all the bits and pieces.  Thanks Amy!  I promise they will all go to good use.  I have 88 crumb blocks done so far and will need just 29 more for the twin sized quilt I have in mind. Now I have to think of something fun to send to Amy in "exchange".  Isn't blogging fun?  Especially when it comes with fun squishies in the mail!  

Cleaning out the Oldies

I love having my happy color sorted scrap jars.  Making monochromatic scrap projects seems so much less daunting than digging into a big bag of everything.  There was still a drawer of partial blocks, and leftovers and extras that didn't fit into any of the jars though.  I started sewing those together randomly and using the 5 inch GO die to square them all up. I have no goal in mind except to empty the drawer, having a quilt at the end is just an added bonus.