New Fabric = New Project?

I'm tired this morning. Just so very tired. Slept well last night but the previous couple of nights were shorter than what is normal for me. I'm trying to take it all in stride but it's not easy. There are so many things I keep feeling I should be doing. At least I've finally learned that when the word 'should' crops up I need to pay attention. I've been working hard over the last several years to eliminate that word from my vocabulary. So I will not be pushing myself today.

My LQS had a sale on Saturday - the clearance department was overflowing again. Because it was only a one day sale I had to go in where I might otherwise have waited for a day with less traffic. Before I was overcome by the fumes I put together a decent pile of goodies.


There were some fat quarters for $1.50 each; I bought four. Two of them (on the left) are flannels.


Mostly I went in to look for potential backing fabrics. I discovered that it's hard for me to buy backing "on spec." I want my backs to coordinate with my fronts and if the front isn't made yet I don't know what to buy for the back! In spite of that I picked up these two prints that I thought would work with any of the tops I've been making from my scrappy blocks. I'm a long way from done with that scrap basket. ;- )

There were only two yards left of this tropical print. I took it all. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet but these are the colors I want to be working with when it becomes permanently gray around here.

Maybe I could start using my 15 minutes of play to make blocks in these colors and reduce my scraps to leaders and enders for the time being...

What 15 Minutes Can Lead To

I've been sewing out of my scrap basket inbetween other projects, first the little bits and then the strips. Before I knew it I had a stack of some 75 blocks. They wouldn't fit into the baggie I was using to store them in anymore!


I chose 15 blocks, set them 3 x 5 and then bordered them with some leftover yellow prints from my stash.


After that I wanted something dark to frame up the yellow:

At this point I'm looking at all the really old prints in my stash to see what I can use up. The dark stripe has the same pinks and greens as the rose print....

but looks much better when cut down to just a narrow run. The brighter pink adds sparkle.

I wanted to use more of my scrappy blocks but the top wasn't ready yet. It needed the stabilizing effect of the blue print. Once I had that in place I went all the way around with a row of liberated log cabins. The challenge then was to find something to bring the top up to my desired goal of 60 x 80 inches. The width was almost there but I needed length. This was my first effort:

I was happy to be able to echo the yellow again (with a relatively new print by Mark Lipinski) but the blue/gold print at the top and bottom just didn't look right to me. The next day I had to take it off. It was kind of fun to replace it with the same stripe as I had on the sides but in a different color:

Unfortunately I ran out of the stripe before I got all the way across the top and had to stretch it with another print:

The consensus around here is that it actually makes for a more interesting border.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out. I started with only a vague idea of a format I wanted to try and ended up with something I really like. During the construction of this top I've made still more scrappy blocks. I'm back up to 41 blocks already. Guess it's time to come up with another vague idea, maybe one that will require even more blocks. ;- )

Stitching in the Rain

It would appear summer is truly over here in our corner of the world. Our temperatures have dropped, the clouds have moved in, we've had some rain and the prediction is that more is on the way. {sigh}

Someone recently asked me how small the scraps are that I save and use. These are probably some of the smallest triangles I've used:

Note that the block, in its' raw state, measures less than 4 inches not 5 inches.

Since I've been making the scrappy liberated log cabin blocks I'm learning how small is too small (for me personally; I'm not into making miniature blocks!). I've actually started tossing out the skinniest strips and tiny odd pieces.

Now, back to the quilt for our friend who is battling cancer. Here's a detail shot in which you can see the fabric I used for sashing the strips together.

Here's another look:

And the completed top:

I opted to use the sashing fabric as outer borders down the long vertical edges but not across the top or bottom. We're binding the quilt with the pink print you see in the diamond panel. I think that will provide all the border needed at the top and bottom. It came together pretty well even though we didn't consult with each other beyond vague discussions about color and techniques. :- )

Two Quilts

First, "From Here to Eternity, the Alzheimer's Journey" has received its' registration number for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. I just have to ink the number onto the back and send it off. Here it is bound and finished.

I couldn't figure out a way to quilt it that would enhance the design so I just tied the layers together through six buttons. It's not like it needs a lot of quilting to hold things together since it's only 8" x 12."

The second quilt isn't quite a quilt yet. Remember this panel?

Yesterday I collected the other two panels for our friend's comfort quilt.

You can see that C~ was inspired by Tonya's free pieced letters. She'd been looking for an excuse to play with that technique and this was a perfect opportunity.

The diamonds were inspired by a quilt in Kaffe Fassett's newest book and all done with KF prints. It's much longer than it needs to be because the math was a bit overwhelming for the maker. No problem, I'll just whack it off at the appropriate length!

I have an old Hoffman print that has all the colors of the rainbow in it that will tie the three panels together beautifully. So getting this top set is my job for the holiday weekend.

I have a couple of other projects in my lap that I haven't shared with you yet. One is pretty close to completion already. The other is something completely different and the foundation for it just arrived. Stay tuned! ;- )

While We're Waiting

My little Priority Quilt inspired by the Transitions challenge is bound and waiting for its' registration number from the AAQI. Before I send it off I will show you how it turned out. In the meantime, I've been reading this lately:

I have learned so much about my husband from this book! Obviously I bought it with myself in mind but holy cow! it explains so much about what's happened in the garage (and every other room my husband takes over for any amount of time). I would love for my husband to read the book himself because he and the author are two of a kind in many ways and he would find it uplifting. I may have to settle for trying to work in as much of the advice as I can from the sidelines as it were, because DH is pretty overwhelmed by his job these days. I'm getting some good ideas for myself though. It may not be evident here on the blog but hopefully it will make a difference in the rest of my life. (I have a terrible time making appointments. Once they're made I'm okay, but I put off making the phone call until it's nearly too late.)

I haven't sewn since I finished the Priority Quilt but I am thinking about what to tackle next. I still have two and a half ornaments to make for the Bead Journal Project: May is about half done, I need to do one for June and now August as well. Guess I'm just not that interested in hand sewing at the moment.

I have 76 six inch liberated log cabin blocks that I've made as a result of random 15 Minutes of Play.

I don't know why I'm so anxious to use them up somehow, but I am. This morning the thought came to me that I could sew the blocks up into a medallion of whatever size and then border the medallion with strips of leftover fabrics, log cabin style again, until I had a top big enough to cover someone. I've always wanted to try the "single giant log cabin block" kind of quilt.

See this? This is what my mother referred to as a pie basket. I believe she was given this one as a wedding present. That would have been in 1953.

It had two trays that sat on top of one another and would hold a pie each. I've used it to transport cupcakes and cakes but I've never been a big pie maker. That's my sister. I sew and bake cookies and cakes, she knits and bakes pies.

Anywho, before I even read the book at the top of this post I took the trays out of the basket and brought it into the studio for storing those larger pieces of leftover fabric. It's been very helpful to be able to grab the basket when I needed something bigger to cut patches or strips from and to have a place to just toss prints that were nearly gone but not quite.

This is where I'd like to pull those bigger strips from for my giant log cabin quilt block. At least to begin with. I'll probably have to resort to my stash of older prints eventually. Or improvise in another way. ;- )