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!

September Stitching

 The first week of September Kathryn (k3n.clothtales) gave us the opportunity to do some needle weaving for our stitch journals. My first attempt didn't work out. I think I used the wrong threads for the fabric base I'd created. With the right combination of threads and fabric I enjoy needle weaving. I used variegated threads for both the warp and weft in this case.

The second week of September Kathryn invited us to do a representation of home. Many stitchers depicted the homes they currently live in or their dream home. I couldn't bring myself to do that. Instead, I made a collage of the elements that make a house a home for me.

 The third week of September we explored texture. Kathryn was inspired by lichen and taught us a fair amount about it. I chose to begin with some tangled threads I'd saved from pre-washing new yardage. They led to other orange elements. I also included bits of a white polyester (possibly organza) I'd put through an embellisher some years back. 

A detail shot

Oddly enough, after I created that monochromatic piece the following week the assignment was to work with a monochromatic palette. Somehow I ended up using the same colors!

 Kathryn has been making "wonky Wednesday" videos in addition to the stitch journal videos. They are hand piecing projects (or have been so far). That week she shared information about the Gee's Bend quilters and the blocks they call Housetops or Pig Pen blocks. I found this a fun way to use up some of my skinniest scraps. There might even be a few more of these in my future. 😁

The postcard prompt from Kool Kooky Kreatures for September was Autumn Hygge. I wasn't feeling particularly creative when I had the time to work on the postcard so I went with something very familiar and simple.

What's more cozy and comforting than a quilt?

Stars for Pat

 My sister-in-law enjoyed sewing and was an avid hand quilter. Sadly, she developed macular degeneration and now can no longer see to sew. She asked me if I would be willing to make a version of a quilt I'd made a few years ago out of fabrics she'd accumulated and saved. Of course I said yes. 

This is the quilt she referenced:

And this is the one I made out of her fabrics:

About 65" square

 They were some lovely colors and prints to work with but they turned out to be highly toxic to my system. They'd been pre-washed in one of those laundry detergents that chemically bonds to the fibers. Even though I re-washed every piece they let off toxic fumes with handling and especially under the iron. It was a struggle, but I was happy to be able to assemble this quilt for Pat. I only hope her vision will last long enough for her to truly enjoy the fruits of my labors.

Scrap Happy in September

The 15th of each month has been designated as Scrap Happy Day by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. We are invited to share something we've made from scrap materials or something we've repurposed. There have been some pretty ingenious transformations among the regular participants. My scrap material tends to be fabric, and I most often turn them into quilts of one sort or another.

Over time I have developed a system for cutting patches and strips from leftover fabrics. I begin with the blocks that require the largest patches or the highest number of patches and work my way down to 1.5" squares. I let these patches accumulate until I feel the urge to do something with them. That's when blocks get made that tend to end up in the Parts Department. Eventually those blocks are used to make a quilt top.

Recently I noticed that my basket of 2" wide strips was pretty full. About that same time I had a series of headaches to deal with. One way I cope with them is to do some mindless sewing, whether by hand or by machine. Last month it was machine piecing I turned to. Without much thought I selected 2" strips from that basket and sewed them together, end to end, until I had pieced strips 12.5" long. Eight of those strips were then sewn together to create 12" (finished) blocks, I call these my Lego blocks. 

Sometimes when I make these blocks I only do a couple and then set them aside. This time I just kept making blocks until my basket was nearly empty. Before long I had a whole quilt top's worth of blocks. Well, a skinny quilt top. So I pieced together some 3.5" wide scraps for side borders and found a length of fabric to sash them. Another couple of strips added to the top and bottom gave me a flimsy about 61" x 82."

I will have to purchase backing fabric for this (and batting of course) but the whole top has been constructed solely from scraps. 😊

If you'd like motivation for using up your scrap materials, fabric or otherwise, leave a comment on Kate or Gun's blogs from the list below. And be inspired by what you see in the other blogs!

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

August Stitching

 For week 32 in the stitch journal project spearheaded by Kathryn of k3n clothtales we took inspiration from an exhibit of Judith E. Martin's work. One piece of Judith's that I found particularly inspiring was a long, long scroll of fabric couched down with embroidery floss. You can see pictures of it here. My sample piece is only 5" wide and 6.5" long. 

This is the front...

And this is the back of my piece.

The following week we observed the nature of cloth in the making of a fabric collage. I only used various cotton cloths whereas others included silks and linens and other materials. I did include a strip of handmade paper on mine: the pink in the upper right hand corner.

 

 

 We used the mola's of Panama as inspiration for week 34. The women of Panama do needle-turn reverse applique in their work. Some of it is amazingly intricate, made of many layers of different colors of cloth. My sample was only made of three layers and I left the edges raw. (It's meant to be a snake in case you were wondering.)

 

 

 

 The last week of August we used our orts - leftover pieces of thread long enough to be useful. I made rectangles of satin stitched embroidery floss out of my longer pieces and French knots with the shorter bits. In the end I had some room left over so I made cross stitches with a few strands of perle cotton too.

 

 

Kooky's postcard prompt (KoolKookyKreatures) for August was "Harvest Home." I chose to celebrate the fact that honey bees harvest pollen and store it in their home with some couched yarn and tiny bee charms.

 

 

 

 

 And now we're in September. The postcard prompt is "Autumn Hygge." I'm not sure at this point how I will approach this one but it will be fun to ponder!

Scrap Happy in August

 I've been playing with my tiniest scraps lately. When I'm processing scrap fabrics anything that's less than an inch and a half wide goes into one of three lunch size paper bags: one bag for warm colors, one for the cool hues, and the third gets all the neutrals (black, white, gray, ecru to brown). I've discovered I really enjoy stitching these pieces down in fabric collages. One format to use is a strip or scroll rather than a square or rectangle. The base I used for this scroll was a strip of muslin only 2.5" tall. I've wound the completed scroll on a wooden clothes peg.

Unrolled, the scroll measures about 24" long. 

This is the back of the work.

I used a variety of threads, stitches, and embellishments. Most of the threads are Sulky 12 weight cotton or size 12 perle cotton. There's regular embroidery floss too.

I don't have a plan when I make things like this; I just stitch according to what I feel like doing in the moment.

This end is actually where the scroll began. You may not be able to see, but that gap in the stitching in the first section is where the white-on-white fabric is printed with the word CRAFTS.

Now my little scroll is all tied up and living in a pretty glass dish I picked up somewhere along the way. 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. I invite you to visit the regular participants who are listed below. And if you'd like to share what you've done with scrap materials or how you've repurposed items you can leave a comment with either Kate or Gun to be included the next time around. 😊

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

The Great Big Little Stitchery Swap Round 3

 In my last post I shared the 4" stitchery squares I sent out for Round 3 of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. Now it's time to show you the wonderful squares I received. 😊 

I only sent out 5 squares this time around. (In the first round I made and mailed out eleven. In the second round I sent out eight.) Life hit one of my swap partners really hard before she had a chance to do any stitching so I won't be receiving a square from her. 

This first square was made by Laura in Colorado. She claimed this was the first time she'd done any embroidery. I choose to disbelieve her based on what she produced! Those houses are barely an inch tall and they are embellished with tiny stitches to create the details. Lots of little French knots too. 

 

This square came all the way from Margaret in New Zealand, my only international swap this time. (In previous swaps I have received squares from the UK, Canada, and Australia.) The colors are a little washed out in this photo. I actually find this very peaceful to look at.

Oops - this photo is sideways. Obviously, the button flowers should be on ground level. More French knots, some fly stitches, and a lovely piece of lace. There are beads decorating the butterfly applique too. This was created by Sue in North Carolina.

The first square to arrive this time was from Diane in Maryland. The head of the daisy is all tiny knots. I love her composition of the foundation layer with all those different pieces of fabric.

I have probably been remiss in not sharing photographs of all the other stitchery squares I've received in rounds one and two of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. I have 22 in total. That just feels like too many to put in a single post. However, Annie, the instigator of all this stitching and swapping, has created two galleries where you can see photos of the squares their makers submitted. The gallery for the first round can be seen here. And the gallery for round two will be found here. Annie is still trying to collect photos from round 3. The next edition of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap will kick off in October of this year and come to a close on 31 December. It's too early to say whether or to what degree I will be participating. It's a lot of fun to make and receive the squares. The challenge now is to figure out what to do with what I already have!

Scrap Happy in July

 I'm going to take this opportunity to share the stitchery squares I made for the third round of the Great Big Little Stitchery Swap. This swap was instigated by Annie Claxton on her YouTube channel last year. It's been fun to make 4" stitched squares and trade them with ladies around the world. Most of my squares stayed in the United States this time around. Only one went overseas, to New Zealand. All were made with some of my smallest scraps, various embroidery threads and embellishments.

 

I purposely kept them as flat and lightweight as possible so they could travel in a card at regular first class postage rates. The next round of swaps is scheduled to begin in October of this year. I'll have to do a follow-up post to show you the squares I received from my partners! 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. Everyone in the list below may not have something to share every month but there's bound to be inspiration to be had in all of them. 😊

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, Amo, Alissa,
Lynn, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie