Scrap Happy in March

As per usual, I've sewn up some scrap blocks inbetween work on other projects.

There are 8" Butterfly blocks surrounding a couple of 12" Lego blocks. There's also one 8" postage stamp star off to the left. 

But wait! There's more! I pulled out the scrappy medallion I started way back in August of 2021. So far I've only added another round to it but I think I know what will come next. 

August 2021:

It sort of looks like an overgrown placemat at this stage. It was about 20" high and 26" wide. I had some Chinese Coins units and strips leftover from building this quilt top...

Which is now in the queue to be quilted. There were just about enough to make it all the way around the medallion. I only had to add a few strips from my stash (and substituted some of my own for duplicates in the original pile). 

Now it's about 32" high and 38" wide. I believe I can surround this with stars and then maybe a whole cloth border. That should bring it up to a good size for a child or a lap quilt. That's not going to happen before this post needs to go live however. 😊 ScrapHappyDay is the 15th of each month, wherever you happen to be in the world. It's hosted by Kate and Gun, whose links are below along with all the other fairly regular participants. This month we welcome Viv to the group and look forward to seeing what she's been doing with her scrap materials!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Viv,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose

The Sketchbook Project and Wm. Morris Updates

 Fire damage to The Sketchbook Project collection hasn't been as extensive as first thought but it's still bad. Books have been damaged by smoke and water as well as flames. So far I haven't learned what caused the fire. Some books will be irretrievable, others can be salvaged. The new library space in St. Pete has begun to take shape. Undamaged books are going onto shelves. Apparently the whole of the Tiny Sketchbook collection was safe (that's two year's worth of submissions I think). Those unloading boxes and assessing damage are wearing N95 masks to protect themselves from mold and smoke as much as anything else.

 

  The GoFundMe drive has raised about 2/3 of the monies needed to get The Sketchbook Project back on its' feet in Florida. Every little bit helps. 😊

Meanwhile, the quilt top featuring the William Morris style prints has been completed.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully the intended recipient will be too! 

I sashed and bordered the blocks with a blue+green Fossil Fern print.The top finished up at about 66" square.

 I took the easy road out and purchased a creamy extra-wide print for the back. 😁 

I've also purchased a new rotary cutter. Actually, I bought two but the first one didn't work out. I've returned to an Olfa cutter that has a slightly plump handle. Turns out you can wear out your rotary cutter, not just the blade - who knew?! The washer mechanism had so much slop in it that I couldn't tighten the blade adequately anymore. I'm having a much easier time cutting strips and patches now. Still have to pace myself to keep from aggravating the tendonitis in my left elbow and the carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand and forearm but it's progress. As long as I stay out of toxic fumes I'm a much happier camper these days.

Tragedy for The Sketchbook Project

I thought I would give you an update on Starring William Morris today. When I found the following in my inbox this morning I had to take a detour.

On Monday, February 28th, the moving trailer that was transporting the entire Sketchbook Project collection from Brooklyn to St. Pete (Florida) caught fire while driving through Baltimore. We are incredibly thankful that everyone involved in the accident is safe and not hurt.

 We are pleased to report that around 70% of the The Sketchbook Project collection was saved by volunteers and firefighters who heroically moved the books off as fast as possible at the scene. Following, community members from a local church helped move each box of books into their parking lot one by one. The majority of the unharmed books arrived in St Pete today and are safe and sound. We are beginning to assess the damage, but we estimate we may have lost around 7,000 books of the collection and most of our supplies that helped us operate as an organization.

Those of you who have been with me for a long time will remember that I've participated in The Sketchbook Project a few times over the years. Most recently I filled in a Tiny Sketchbook with an abecedary. Prior to that I embroidered travel trailers for each page. Those are the two that stand out in my feeble mind. There were others. 

I found The Sketchbook Project community to be very welcoming. Participating helped me to see my own artistic vision more clearly. I value the growth I've experienced and their ongoing mission to foster creativity in others. My contribution to their GoFundMe drive is minimal, but every donation takes them one step closer to setting up a new library and starting up their programs once more. If this resonates with you I invite you to throw a few pennies in the pot along with me. 😊

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. 😉

Scrap Happy in February

It's time for the link party hosted by Kate (in Australia) and Gun (in Sweden) wherein the participants share something they've made out of scrap materials. I've actually been able to do some cutting and sewing since last month, for the first time in what feels like forever. Even so, I'm having to pace myself. It's frustrating. 

Long-time readers may remember that I paired up my scrap 3" (finished) HST's with no particular purpose in mind a while back. Well, I decided to go through my 3" squares as well and sew them to the HST's in four patch blocks. There may be a name for this block but I don't know what it is. The unit is frequently found as smaller patches in larger blocks. To me they look like butterflies. 

I made some of these last year or so with 2" (f) patches. I didn't find those 4" blocks particularly inspiring but I can see using these 6" versions in my scrappy quilts. I have a few more ready to be assembled but had to stop sewing when my hand started complaining. 

Meanwhile, James has quilted up the Welcome Blanket I showed in my last post. Once he had it loaded on the long-arm he only spent about 15 minutes doing the quilting, just a simple meander. It only required a small amount of binding too and I was able to use a scrap piece of fabric. James ended up sewing most of the binding down for me once I'd applied it to the quilt.

The photo isn't great because it was hung so close to the ceiling. Below you can see the stripe that I used on the back.

This house image seemed especially appropriate for a quilt welcoming a family to a new home. 😊

Here's the link list for others who regularly have something to show made from scraps. Not everyone will have a scrappy post every month but their blogs are still worth a visit. Also,we are all around the world, and everyone posts on the 15th in their time zone so it's worthwhile to check back a day or two later.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose