Happy Weekend!

It was finally nice enough yesterday to walk on the beach.  I am not getting my steps in these days!

It was also science fair award day.  Sydney has already figured out that she was likely to win first place, based on the judges that she got.  It was a nice surprise though as everything went wrong with her project this year.  From not having an appropriate lab to not being able to get her planned procedure approved.  She persevered though and will be able to move on the the state competition which was a sad all virtual affair last year.   

These are all current and former students who are so excited.   I counted a lot of my AP Bio and homeroom students among the award recipients.   So proud of them all!

I got New York Beauty loaded up on the frame first thing this morning.  I added a simple border yesterday and got everything prepped.   Just simple wavy lines for this one as there was a lot going on with the patterns and colors.  

Lizzie jumped on the batting as soon as I loaded it up.  She is magically attracted to any quilting related supplies on the floor.   

Here is the quilted New York Beauty Quilt.   I have the binding cut already, so that will be next on my list.   I will check out Oh Scrap! first though, and catch up with ScrapHappy Saturday from yesterday. I hope your Sunday is scrappy AND happy as well.      

 

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.  

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.   

Superbowl Sunday

 

We were lucky to get in our morning walk before the rain started this morning.  It is really pouring now!   I hope it has moved out of Tampa ahead of the big game tonight.  

I don't really follow sports all that much, but I have some hand quilting to enjoy during the game and we are having appetizers for dinner while enjoying the commercials as a family.  I finished the December block during some family TV time last night and decided on half circles for the border.  I'm still trying to decide whether the circles will be a single or double row.  Plenty of time for those decisions.  I think I still have three more months to finish before the border becomes top priority.  

Yesterday I worked on pieced backings.   This was the challenge quilt for RSC in 2016.  It has been done since then, but just sat waiting for its turn on  the quilting machine.  I added a thin grey border, more for ease of quilting than for aesthetics.  

Then I found some extra hand dyed fabric and used it to spice up the backing.   

Frameshift was next on the list.  It was from the RSC in 202, and I got some fabrics last week to put together a backing.  I just don't have any large quantities of fabric on hand these days, so backings is a good excuse for necessary shopping.  

The floral is heavy on pinks and limes, but I am trying to enhance my scrap stash in the areas of yellow and orange, so I got some of those instead.  So now I've got two more quilts ready to go the next time I set up the quilting frame.  I've got a quilt that I said I'd finish for a coworker of my husband, so I'd like to get several quilts finished while the frame is assembled.  

What are your plans for today?  I'm off to check out slow stitching Sunday with Kathy and Oh Scrap! with Cynthia before I see if there is enough yardage squirreled away somewhere for another backing. Then there is laundry, an online tutoring session and a grocery pickup.   

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.   

Finishing Fun

The end of the year always kicks me into high gear as far as finishing.  I had a closet full of quilt tops ready and waiting in case we had another long school break for hurricanes, but thankfully that did not happen this year.  I think I finished 6 quilts during Irma last year.  I'm working hard to match that number, but without the extra 7 days off of school.  There are now three in the finished stack!  From top to bottom, Running Stitches, Four Patch Surprise and Oh My Stars.  All in need of binding.  There is definitely a movie marathon and hand stitching party in my future. 

Here is running stitches.  Two running themed fabrics that I ordered back when I was doing marathons.  I'm only doing halves now, which is a nice distance for me.  I always thought this one was too bright, which is why the finished blocks sat for so long.  I think that a lime or teal border will finish it off.  

 Here is the back.  I used up SO many strange bits and pieces here.  The long border print was part of Ryan's nursery ensemble.  I cut off a long strip to make a ruffle for his crib I think.  The yellow fabric in the upper left was from Sydney's nursery.  Then there are a few extra blocks and a few random fabrics that just seemed to fit in.

I got borders on Four Squared this morning.  It is all ironed and ready to load on the frame.  As soon as I pick up some batting that it.  I'm reaching the end of my usefully sized extras for piecing.  

 I just need to piece up the back first.  There is plenty of brown fabric there, but it just seemed like too much darkness.  So I pulled out a few more 16 patches to add a little color variety.  I'm linking up with Oh Scrap! this morning.  I can't think of much that I do that doesn't qualify as scrappy.  We are off to See Ralph Breaks the Internet as a family this morning.  Then Sydney wants to go short shopping so that her behind doesn't hang out quite so much.  After that, I need to flesh out the details for next year's RSC Sampler quilt.  Then I will get a quilt loaded on the frame.  I'm sure I can fit it all in there somewhere. 

Sunday Puttering

 We are having company next week.  My sister is going to be at Disney over the holiday and will come to stay with us on her way home.  To stay in the guest bedroom that isn't very guest ready quite yet.  Today was the start of turning my "sewing studio" back into a bedroom. 

 All that cleaning let to a break to walk around the block.  The sandhill cranes were out and about enjoying the fall weather. 

It isn't quite done yet, but it is starting to look more like a bedroom I think.   I am thinking that there is still time to do a bit more sewing first. 

While digging around in the closet, I couldn't resist the urge to pull out a quilt in need of finishing.  These stars were hanging nicely with fabric waiting to be pieced into a backing. 

There is a pink and blue chevron that I thought might look good with a bit of blue and pink or red.  I should have time to get that on to the next stage before my sister gets here. 

Then, I pulled out my hexies so that I can work on some hand stitching after the sewing room is completely pulled apart.  I think I'll go and visit Kathy to see what handwork others are up to today and Oh Scrap!  To get more scrappy quilting inspiration.  

Quiet Weekend at Home

It has been quiet on the homefront if not in the world outside.  Kurt and Ryan arrived in Pittsburg last night.  Not the best timing to be sure.  I showed Kurt a map of the area and let him know which parts he should stay away from.  Ryan is supposed to sleep on campus tonight.  He has a sleeping bag and will be paired up with a current student.  Kurt has a hotel, and it seems to be away from the crime scene.  I know that I worry too much, but it just keeps getting scarier by the day.  Anyway, right now they should be at an information session for the college of engineering.  I haven't heard much, but Ryan always sends a picture of a streetlamp whenever he is away. 

Sydney was at a slumber party last night which left me home alone.  That never happens!  I celebrated by getting some carryout sushi and eating ice cream straight out of the container while streaming romantic comedies on Netflix.  Then I sewed lots and lots of string blocks.  After tearing off the paper this morning I laid them out to get an idea of which colors to make next.  I guess I got carried away with pink and green.  No definite plans for these blocks yet.  Right now I'll just try to even up the block count a bit. 

Despite 20 hours in the car last weekend I got amazingly few diamond hexies sewn.  Most of the driving was at night and I was enjoying an audiobook from the library to pass the time.  Even a couple of hexies will still make a nice addition to the slowly growing collection.  

I was out first thing this morning at early voting.  There were quite a few people out already and so many campaign signs!  It will be nice when all the adds end after the election.  It has cooled off around here and feels just like fall! Such a nice change.  I was running yesterday morning and felt almost chilly.  That never happens in Florida.  I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.  

I'm going to link up with Slow Stitching Sunday and Oh Scrap.  It's been ages since I was able to do that.  

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.  

Not So Slow on Sunday

Somehow yesterday turned into spring cleaning day.  I hadn't planned it that way, but Kurt got out the pressure washer and one thing led to another.... You know how it goes.  So today was going to be my relaxation day.  Somehow a morning run led to a grocery store trip and then the errands began.   My mind is still not adjusted to the time change yet, so I'll sit and ponder that a bit.  Florida has just passed a law to stay on daylight savings time all year round.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I think it will lead to a lot more of going to school in the dark.  The more evening daylight part will be nice though.  

 Just back now from picking out fabrics for Katherine's T-shirt quilt for graduation.  I don't usually take commission quilts, but I made one for each of her older brothers.  One thing leads to another again.  The request was for Tiffany blue.  I couldn't find just the right shade, but I am really fond of the flannel backing.  The fabrics are in the washer now, so I think I'll just sit here and rest for a bit while they finish up.  I promised a final layout before the end of the day. 

 I've been sewing a few more hexies in the evenings.  Just blue and purple so far, but green is up next. 

I went through all the lime green scraps to cut one of each for my collection.  Then I found some extra circles and background fabrics cut away from behind the circles of two years ago and turned all of those into still more hexies.  It looks like I'll have plenty of handwork to keep me busy on the next long trip.  I've got flights to Paris and Kansas City to look forward to this summer, so hexie diamonds will be a nice way to pass the hours. 
Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday and Oh Scrap!

Puttering Away a Sunday

I've been pondering the border for this four squared quilt.  After much stewing and sitting, it decided to ask for an extra round of four patches all the way around.  I scrounged up this many in random colors, but was reluctant to make more.  I always seem to gravitate toward monochromatic blocks now.  

 A little more digging led to another bag of 16 patches with 20 extra four patches saved for the alternate blocks.  Not quite enough, but a pretty good start.  I could easily disassemble some of the 16 patches for the rest.  As much as I hate to unsew, I also love to put what I have to good use.    If you are one of those use what you have kind of quilters too, you are sure to enjoy Oh Scrap! at quilting is more fun than housework. 

My next task is to find a new long term hand sewing project.  I've got a few bits of applique hanging around, but those always seem to get bogged down in the preparation stage.  I thought I would try some LeMoyne Stars with Inklingo, but they are very preparation intensive too.  I want something I can keep ready to go for whenever hand sewing time might pop up. 
I've been admiring all the hexie quilts and thought about starting a medallion quilt of my own.  Though I've sketched a few ideas of graph paper, I've not settled on anything quite yet.  If you are thinking about hand work, be sure to visit Slow Stitching Sunday to see what long and slow projects other quilters have in the works.