Warpping Up (in) January

 Our corner of the world has had a very mild winter up until this week. Suddenly we are experiencing below freezing temperatures overnight and well into the morning hours. There's even a chance we'll see a bit of snow in the next couple of days. I'm actually glad to have this change in the weather as it feels more appropriate to the season than what we've had until now. Still, winter has never been my favorite time of the year. 

The prompt for Tori's (KoolKookyKreatures on YouTube) postcard sew-along this January was "Snow Day!" I wasn't excited by this prompt - as you may have guessed. But I found some crazy patchwork I'd done all in white several years ago. That made for a great base.

I'd picked up that large applique somewhere along the way and it put me in mind of wind blowing. I used some bits of lace to create mounds of snow and a mini pom-pom trim along the top and bottom edges. A few snowflake sequins and a charm, some tiny white cross stitches scattered in the background, and I was done! I was pleased at how quickly it all came together once I got started. The prompt for February is "Feathered Friends." So far I don't have a clue how I will approach that one. Plenty of ideas, of course, but nothing in the planning stage yet.

The other project I've been working on this month is a little fabric book I'm calling "Just Ducky." It began with a vintage child's handkerchief. I folded it in half with a scrap of quilt batting between the layers to create the cover.

Inside I'm layering other fabrics and laces to create the pages. This is the third or fourth such book I've made so far. They began as needle books but are gradually evolving. This one will have a few pockets in it and a wool page that could be used for storing needles and pins but is less utilitarian than previous versions. (Come to think of it, I don't think I've shared previous versions with you. I'll have to make sure to do that soon.)

This is one of the embellished pages in "Just Ducky." And below is another.

When it is finished I'll share every page. I'm enjoying the challenge of working with vintage hankies. This is also giving me a place to use the charms and beads and laces I've collected over the years. It's about time I started using more of the treasures that have come into The Magpie's Nest! 

Scrap Happy in January 2025

 Belated New Year's greetings! Here in the Magpie's Nest I've been continuing my scrap reduction efforts. For my first project of 2025 I decided to focus on the 3.5" square patches that were overflowing their container. The easiest, most logical approach seemed to be simple four patch blocks. 

Eventually I realized there would be enough for half of my typical 60" x 80" quilt top. Once I had all 65 blocks sewn I arranged them in diagonal runs of color.

This also involved getting out the extension to my design wall. It's another piece of Warm & Natural quilt batting suspended from a dowel. Unfortunately, it hangs in front of the wall heater that keeps the studio warm. Of course, I began this project just before truly cold temperatures hit our area. During the day that's not a problem, especially with the iron in use. But I have to take the extension down overnight which means I have to keep the pieces of this project well organized. That's not always easy.

The next question was how to fill the gaps between the 4Patch blocks. I briefly considered using some of the 6" Hole in the Barn Door or Shoo-fly blocks I have in the Parts Department. Then I remembered that I had some squares cut to 6.5," mostly fussy-cuts. 

There were only enough for about half of the quilt top. That gave me the opportunity to dig into the older prints in the stash to cut some additional squares. 

And this is how far as I've progressed at this writing. Again, keeping all these pieces organized while I sew them together will be the challenge. I do love a super scrappy quilt though. 😁

Scrap Happy Day is an opportunity for us to share something we've made (or are making!) out of scrap materials. The scraps can be anything, not just fabric. Below is a list of the folks currently playing along. They may not have something new to share every month but their blogs are worth checking out anyway. And if you'd like the motivation to do something with your scrap materials just leave a comment on Kate's blog.

Kate, Eva, Sue, 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 and Maggie

The Last Post of 2024

 In this final week of December I have managed to make the last two entries for my 2024 Stitch Journal project. Between the holidays and other things I wasn't sure that would happen. It feels so good to have created a stitchery for every week of the year. In the past I would have fallen behind and dropped out well before December. I make no promises for any year in the future. 😉

The first week of December Kathryn had us make assignments for each of the six sides of a die then roll the die and stitch accordingly. This was fun! My six options were couching, adding a patch, French or Colonial knots, chain stitch (or a variant), Spider web rose, and blanket stitch. In order I rolled a 4, 2, 6, 5, 1, 4, and 4 again. This is how it turned out:

I am quite pleased with this one. 

For week 50 we were to stitch some text. I had so many ideas for what quote or thought to stitch that I couldn't decide what to do. This one languished until today (Dec. 31). Frankly, most quotes were long enough to be intimidating. This is how I got around that...

 Week 51 was a stitched take on grid journaling. My journal pages are only six inches wide so my grid squares are only two inches each. Kathryn stitched her grid in black; I opted to just use a Micron pen to outline my squares.

And to wrap up the year Kathryn had us do some wrapping of textiles.

 I wrapped a satin ribbon off a small box of chocolates I was given for Christmas, a strip of denim off of my husband's jeans (including a bit of the hem), a scrap of muslin, and a piece of batting. The batting is wrapped with a specialty yarn. The others were wrapped with various weights of perle cotton. There's also a gathered/ruched piece of lightweight fabric (the bow?). If I hadn't felt the crunch of time I might have done more decorative stitching in the background on this piece and on the stitched text piece. 

Kooky's postcard prompt for December was Happy Holidays.

Once I found the "gifts" in a piece of quilter's cotton I had a lot of fun creating this one. 😀 

I'm currently thinking I will keep doing Kooky's postcard stitch along next year. However, I think I want to do more of my own work rather than whatever Kathryn has up her sleeve for 2025. There are quilts to be made too of course!

I wish all of my readers the very best in 2025. Happy New Year!

Scrap Happy in December

 I don't have a lot to show but, for what it's worth, here goes.

If you were here a couple of weeks ago you'll have seen this before:

 These two stacks of scrap strips were each at least six inches high. Maybe higher; I didn't think to actually measure them before I started cutting them up. It took me four days of effort - and one was a full day of nothing else! - to get them cut to 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3", and 3.5" strips. I also cut 3.5" and 2.5" square patches, 3.875" and 2.875" half square triangles. These are the sizes and shapes I use most frequently. 

I haven't done anything with the longer strips yet. I hang them from bulldog clips in color families when I am motivated to do some organizing. Otherwise they just live on the end of my ironing board in piles according to width. The 3.5" squares and accompanying HST's went into the tin where they are accumulating until I figure out what I want to do with them. I am seriously considering simple 4 Patch blocks to begin with. They will get added to the Parts Department until I have enough for a quilt project. 

I did spend some time playing with the smaller squares and triangles. 

The taller stack are eleven Shoo-fly blocks waiting to be sewn up and the shorter stack will make six Barn Door blocks (6" each). If I don't just sew these up for something to do one day I will assemble them as leaders and enders as I work on another project. 

Let me leave you with this nod to the season. 

 The blocks in the middle of the quilt were made by friends in my local quilt guild. I added the blocks down either side. Apparently I finished this quilt in 2008! 

I hope all my readers can stay healthy and fully enjoy the holidays. And if you find yourself with some free time check out how the folks in the list below have used scrap materials or done some upcycling. 😊

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

 

November Stitching

 It's past time for me to get you caught up on the stitching I've done for k3n's stitch journal project! 

To begin with, in the final week of October I couldn't bring myself to do the prompt as Kathryn presented it. She suggested we blindfold ourselves - properly prepared with threaded needle(s) and scissors at hand - and try stitching without being able to see what we were doing. Something deep inside rebelled at the very idea. So I stitched this instead:

The following week Kathryn introduced us to various embroidery stitches often found on kantha, the quilts made by women in India. 

And the week after that she gave us an opportunity to use those stitches (or as many/as few as we chose) the way they are used on kantha, to create a tree of life design or fill in animal or other shapes. 

The last week of November we were inspired by another embroiderer, Sue Benneton. She does something she calls wrinkle stitching. Crumple up a piece of fabric and then stitch on the creases. The next step is to fill in the negative spaces between the stitched lines. In the beginning it looks a bit like a map. However, I found that once I started filling in I couldn't stop!

 KoolKookyKreatures' postcard prompt for November was monochrome (working only in shades and tints of one color). I chose to work in a hue I don't naturally gravitate to:

Now it's time for December's postcard. The prompt is fairly straightforward: happy holidays. Hopefully I'll be back before next year to show you how I've responded to that one. 😊