Scrap Happy in November

 Well, without Scrap Happy Day every month it looks like I wouldn't be blogging at all! However, this old dog has tried a new trick. I've actually repurposed some existing items instead of working from scraps or yardage. 

When our daughter was having her babies I made several flannel receiving blankets for them. Some time ago she returned them to me with a request to sew them all together into something bigger and useful for the members of her family now, 15 - 20 years later. I have finally tackled that project.  

 I didn't take a head count of the number of blankets before I started cutting them apart. I wish now I had. Spoiler alert: I've made a 60" x 76" top and a 66" x 83" back out of the flannels and still have quite a bit leftover!

 This is a sampling of the prints I had to work with. There are a couple of solid colors and tone-on-tone prints that are not in this photograph. My first step was to cut off the hems of the blankets. They were all only two layers sewn right sides together and then turned and top stitched. A few of them were large enough that I'd done some stitching in the center to hold the layers in place. It was tedious work to take out those stitches.  Only one of the blankets had any patchwork. I trimmed up the raw edges of that one and used it for the center of the new quilt. 

 Then I framed it with the pink print border and cornerstones. That was all the plan I had in the beginning, just cut strips and add them round and round the center panel. 

 Eventually, of course, I had to start piecing the strips to go the distance on any given side. Once I'd reached the desired width (60") I just kept adding strips to the top and bottom sides. I was delighted to discover that I had enough of a pink and white polka dot to make a final frame all the way around the top.

 There are a couple of minor design changes I would have made if I hadn't been working with old flannels. Daughter is less of a perfectionist fortunately. 

 I have only just completed piecing a back out of some of the same prints and a couple that didn't make it onto the front. I'll have to be sure to get a picture of it to share later. And then there are the flannels that are still leftover. I'd like to do something with them as well but at the moment I'm not sure what. There might be enough fabric for another, smaller quilt top. In the meantime, check out what the other participants in this monthly hop have repurposed or made out of scrap materials:

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

 Scrap Happy Day is hosted by Kate (at the top of the list) every month on the 15th. If you'd like the motivation to use up your scraps or show us how you've repurposed something leave a comment on her blog and she'll be happy to add you to the list!

 

 

Scrap Happy in January '24

 When I realized Scrap Happy Day was coming up I also realized I hadn't done any patchwork to speak of for a month or more. That's shocking in a way. Well, surprising at the very least. There's always plenty to work with around here though. The first thing that came to hand was a pile of scrappy flying geese. I'd been sewing them up between seams of other projects and just setting them aside. Up on the design wall they went, just to see if I had enough to do anything useful. 

Not enough - to my way of thinking anyway. But I knew there was also a pile of triangles cut ready to become geese. They just needed background triangles cut and sewn into place. The next day I had enough to really play with. I tried out a few traditional layouts and then remembered the Remixed Geese design.

I didn't have enough geese to follow the pattern exactly. The original design makes up into a 54" x 66" quilt top. I was short by more than a dozen flights of geese. I still had some triangles I could make up into geese...

After I make and insert one more flight of geese (to go into that lower left corner) the quilt top would finish at 54" x 60."  I may choose to stop it there. I understand that quilts for folks in wheelchairs prefer quilts on the smaller side. Even that may be too big to keep from getting caught in wheels or dragging on the floor. Heaven knows I have plenty of scraps I could cut up into more geese! Now that I've been motivated to sit at the sewing machine again maybe this will finish at the size indicated by the original pattern. 😁 I won't wait until the next Scrap Happy Day to finish it up though. One way or another, this quilt top will be completed soon. 

Scrap Happy Day is hosted on the 15th of each month by Kate in Australia and Gun in Sweden. Participants span the globe, posting according to their own time zones. If you'd like some motivation for using up scrap materials hanging around in your nest leave a comment on either of their blogs. Theirs are the first two links in the list below. And then be inspired by what's being done to recycle, repurpose, or otherwise keep things out of landfills around the world. 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  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 and Hannah

What Happened to the End of April?!

It's true: time flies whether you're having fun or not. I have been busy with happy things but the last couple of days have been a challenge. I may have mentioned that Luna has begun having seizures this year. (Or was it the tail end of last year?)

 

The vet put her on phenobarbital in an effort to keep them under control. It seemed to be working, up to a point. Then suddenly she had five seizures over the last 24 hours and three in the 12 hours prior to that. They are very stressful to witness, to say nothing of the lack of sleep involved and cleaning up afterward. You must know they don't occur during the hours I'm awake and alert. We have increased the dosage and so far have been without another event for over 12 hours. The poor dog is now blind and practically deaf. We have no idea how old she may be because she was a rescue. Fingers crossed we still have a few good years with  her. I won't be getting another pet. I'm just not able to be the responsible pet owner I want to be anymore. 

On a happier note, I have begun a new quilt project. The youngest of my nephews is finally getting married. They won't be getting a bed size quilt, nor will it be ready before the wedding takes place. Nevertheless it sounds like they will be pleased to have a couch quilt in colors the bride suggested. Or as close as I can get given differences in perception. 😉

She originally sent me a picture of a low volume quilt. The next photo she sent featured colors very similar to the starry quilt I just made.

Which apparently I need to get a picture of in its' finished state! Instead of more stars I have decided to do another version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips quilt. It's a process I'm comfortable with and can be worked up fairly quickly. I have also decided to have a go at a more low volume palette.

The original palette suggestion was ivory, tans, and sage green. The second photo was more teal and ivory and included shades of cinnamon. The teals in my stash were too bright so I've chosen to tone down the green overall and focus on the cinnamon instead. 

There has been some hand stitching since my last post, and the completion of the secret project (except for binding). In addition, James had the opportunity to do some quilting for a friend of one of my SIL's. 

This liberated log cabin was hand pieced long before liberated patchwork became a trend. Strips were pieced together to get the desired length, bits were added to corners to make it fit to the next block, and blocks were chopped in half. The outer border was sewn on with apparent disregard for any kind of consistent seam allowance. James used a handmade template to help create the fan quilting - all of his quilting is hand guided, not panto or computer generated stitches.

I don't know who made the embroidered label on the lower front corner.

 It will never be a square quilt but I trust it will be cherished for the family history built into it. It's pretty obvious that the fabrics came from a variety of sources. We've identified everything from pajamas to curtains and tablecloths. It's a true time capsule!

 

Starring William Morris

 I have been working on a new quilt in bits and pieces lately. It's been hard to stop in time to keep the pain at bay. On a couple of occasions I have regretted not stopping sooner. {sigh} When I first undertook to make this quilt I thought it would be my fairly standard 60" x 80." I have since decided it will be a little over 60" square. The intended recipient is taller than me but I think even a 64" square will be sufficient for naps or just keeping warm. I'm working to her color palette - as best I can. It's been a challenge to make a more controlled design when I really want to go nuts with scraps. Still, I think it's coming along nicely.

I chose to fall back on the Variable or Sawtooth Star block. Originally I thought I would make some with 16 patch centers but when I found a couple of prints that could be fussy cut for the 4" center squares I decided to go whole cloth all the way. 

 The first one is a William Morris reproduction print, the second has that same feel but I believe must be a new design. It's called "Orkney" by Morris & Co. from Free Spirit. These two prints gave me color clues as to what I could use to flesh out the overall design.

I debated about the number of blocks to make too. It looks like 36 is going to be the final tally.

I bought some Fossil Fern in shades of green and blue that I hope to use for sashing and maybe the outer border as well. 

I am committed to getting this top completed before I become embroiled in some other quilt project. I sure want to get into the Parts Dept. to see what I can come up with though! Cutting has to be kept to a minimum for the time being but I ought to be able to pull enough blocks out of the Parts Dept. to get something else well under way. 😉