Scrap Happy in November

 I wanted to be making a quilt but had no motivation to start a new project from scratch. Parts Department to the rescue! I pulled out eight and nine inch blocks, figuring that they would make rows just under 60" each. There are 8" variable stars, 9" wonky or liberated stars, 9" Shoo-fly blocks, and 9" Hole in the Barn Door blocks. (They don't show up in the photo below.)

 They really are a random lot. That's all the wonky/liberated stars I had, and I think the Shoo-fly and Hole in the Barn Door blocks are all gone in that size too. 

 As you can see, I used a tone-on-tone blue for sashing between the rows and as compensating strips at the ends of the rows to bring them all out to 60" wide.

 This is the completed top. The quilt will be about 60" x 80" when it's finished. Not my most original or creative use of random blocks but it got the job done. Someone will now have a warm, colorful quilt to snuggle in and perhaps be entertained by. 😊

You can see how others have used their scrap materials or repurposed something that might have been thrown in the trash by following the links below. Enjoy!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Alissa,
Tierney, Hannah, Maggie

Black and White

 For a while now I've been thinking about another black and white quilt. No specific plan came to mind so I rummaged through the Parts Department to see what turned up. There are blocks in almost every size from 6" to 12." I put the 8", 10," and 12" blocks up on the design wall. In full disclosure, there were a few 4" units that I combined to turn into 8" stars.

 I have begun using 6" Shoo-fly blocks as the centers for 12" variable star blocks. At the moment I'm thinking I'll make a total of 25 blocks. The 10" Churn Dash and 8" stars will be framed up to 12."

 Setting 25 blocks 5 x 5 will give me a 60" quilt top. I've found that to be a useful size for a child or an adult. What you see here is only a tentative arrangement. No doubt there will be tweaks as new blocks are added to the mix. 😊

Not Very Spooky

 Not only have I slowed down my blog posting, we've reduced the amount of decorating we do for Halloween. Which could be a sad thing except that quite a lot of "Halloween" decorations actually stay out on display all year long. 😉 

The prompt for #kookyspostcardsal2024 for October was "spooky cute." Not long after I began to think about what I might do I ran across a fabric sample from the late 1990's. It's a large checkerboard pattern with a border at either end featuring very American country toys. In and of themselves the rag dolls looked a bit spooky to me. I found a spiderweb print and then appliqued the dolls on top. From there I fussy cut a couple of ghostly shapes out of another print that is nothing but pairs of eyes on a black background. This postcard was primarily raw edge applique. I seem to be doing a fair bit of that lately. 

I couched the chunky yarn around the perimeter of the card to represent the dust bunnies one would find in an attic. Oh, and there's a spider charm in the web in the upper left corner. I'm calling this one Spooky Cute in the Attic. (I'm nothing if not literal.)

For the first week of the stitch journal project k3n taught us about enso, a meditation practice. This involves calming yourself, then drawing a circle without thinking about it. I drew my very open circle with a watercolor crayon. Wetting it then allowed the color to spread a bit. I stitched over the drawn line and then added other stitches as seemed appropriate in the moment. 

The next week we did some 'scrapplique.' Kathryn and many others made a butterfly image with two or more layers of fabric to decorate the wings. I chose to make a heart to celebrate Gracie's addition to our household. 

The theme for week 42 of the stitch journal project was "all of a piece." We were to take a single layer of fabric and pull threads from it to stitch with. Kathryn used a piece of linen with larger threads and a coarser weave than anything I could find easily in my stash. I ended up using a piece of muslin. 

Part of the muslin was dipped in tea to provide slightly different color threads to stitch with. I pulled my threads from the other side and stitched where the tea stained the cloth. The threads from the muslin were so fine I had a hard time seeing to thread the needle. I did not enjoy stitching through the single layer of thin fabric either. It's an interesting concept though, to use the threads pulled from your cloth to stitch back into it. 

Last week we explored stitching for the senses. Various textures of fabrics of course, but also paying attention to the sound of the thread going through the cloth, any scents embedded in the scraps, etc. 

In the upper left corner I have a piece of huck toweling that had been dyed in a tea that left a faint scent behind. Just below and underneath it is a strip of paper ribbon. I played with a few French knots and a tiny bit of turkey work to create more texture. Felted wool is the foundation for this piece, and the green square dead center is another bit of wool. There's a lot to feel when you close your eyes and run your fingers over this piece. 

As I write this I am debating what to do about the prompt for this final week of October. Kathryn has invited us to blindfold ourselves and see how we can stitch without sight. With appropriate preparations I can see this being a very enlightening experiment. Unfortunately, my gut reaction to this prompt is one of fear. Not of stabbing myself or anything like that. I don't want to make myself that vulnerable, even in my own studio space. I don't understand entirely where this is coming from. I do suffer from a degree of PTSD; maybe that accounts for it. In any case, I need to decide how to address this in my journal. I could write on the page where the stitchery would go, explaining my reason there's no stitched cloth there. Or I could just stitch something else altogether. I haven't yet decided what I will do. In the meantime, those of you who celebrate, have a happy Halloween! 

Scrap Happy in October

 It's that time again, to share something we've made from scraps or something we've been able to upcycle or repurpose in some way. This blog hop is hosted by Gun in Sweden and Kate in Australia. Links to their blogs will be found at the bottom of this post. Everyone is invited to participate. Just leave a comment on either of their blogs. 

This month I have four little quilts to share. Most were made out of the smaller parts and patches from my Parts Department. My intention was that they would be used by cats in our local humane shelter until I realized they may not stand up to daily laundering. There's a gift shop attached to the shelter; I'm hoping they'll be able to sell them to folks who have just adopted a cat. They might also work as doll quilts.

This first one was made from blocks leftover from a quilt top I haven't yet shown you. The blocks were made by stacking, cutting, and shuffling layers of green prints. 

I had a go at quilting this myself with simple straight lines running in opposition to the piecing lines. It's about 18" x 27."

The next one was made from 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles I'd been cutting with the intention of making flying geese. Eventually I got tired of that process at that size so I figured I'd do a simple bricks quilt.

James quilted this up for me with a fun variegated thread. (20" x 26")

This is the quilt I made out of the little flying geese I made back in the day.

Also quilted by James. (16" x 24")

The green quilt below is another made of units I got tired of making some time ago. It's also larger one, about 20" x 26." James quilted it with leaves.

The next little quilt might have to be for Gracie! (see previous post)

Now you can go see what everyone else has done. 😁

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, 
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney, Hannah, Maggie

Introducing Gracie

 We didn't have pets when I was growing up. But as an adult I have discovered that I am definitely better off with animals in my life. This was brought home to me with some force in recent days. When our sweet Luna passed away a little over two years ago I was determined to try to live without a dog. 

 Living with a dog has been a real adjustment for Hubby as he wasn't raised with pets either. He would be content to live without any animals in his life. However, he has come to realize that I actually need the companionship a dog provides. I'm alone a lot due to his work schedule and the fact that my multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) keeps me pretty much home-bound. So I have been on the hunt for a new companion. It has not been without it's ups and downs, let me tell you. If I go into a shelter (because I do not need a pure breed) I will be ill for at least another day afterward. I was prepared for that prospect if there was a good reason to suffer in that way. I filled out applications online for nearly all the shelters and foster organizations in our immediate area. Sometimes I received a response in a timely manner and other times not. There were a couple of potential adoptees that fit my criteria - Chihuahua mixes for the most part. But they seemed to get adopted out to others before I could arrange to see them in person. 

Finally, a local organization with volunteers who foster dogs and cats listed a black and tan "Chi-weenie" on Petfinder.com. She was cute (sometimes the photos of the dogs online aren't the best; you can tell folks have had a hard time getting them to be still) but I was a little nervous about the Dachshund aspect of her anatomy. Turns out she's well proportioned after all. 

She's young, about a year old, and came with the name Gracie. We see no need to try to change that. 😊 And so far she looks to be a very good fit for our household. She's also a good fit on my lap.

 The trick may be to convince her that she can't spend all day there!