String X - Working on It

I have all 48 of the blocks made for a String X quilt. I just need to find time to get it assembled. 

I used Bonnie Hunters free pattern. 

More on the blocks and quilt later when I have a flimsy.

And sew on...

Finished OR NOT FINISHED Friday at Alycia Quilts

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I've been doing a lot of gardening as weather permits.  Here's some of the latest photos I took while walking around in my gardens. I love this time of year. Something new pops up every day. 

 

Rays Of Sunshine - String Quilt

Rays of Sunshine

It's a flimsy!

60 x 80

I've been working with the overflowing string bins this month.  I usually do that in a month after I have a quilting marathon because I end up with a lot of quilt back trimmings. 

And I get some strings from other folks. I never have to cut strings for string quilts - strings just happen. 

When I was trying to decide what to use for the center string I noticed quite a few yellow strings in my 2 inch width scrap bin. Most were width of fabric and were given to me by others. So that is what I decided to use - yellow - rays of sunshine. I cut a few more yellow 2 inch width strips from some yellow scrap chunks. 

I use paper foundations and made 10.5 inch unfinished blocks. I save weird small cuts and triangles of scraps I receive from others or make myself to use as string block corners. I use longer and wider strings to make this type of string quilt. With shorter and skinnier strings I make other types of string quilts. More on that later. 

And sew on...

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On April 8 I posted about state of husband John's health:

"Still trying to get my husband some treatment for his pain due to Osteoradionecrosis of the Jaw (ORNJ) and Osteomyelitis (bone infection) - one of many side effects of radiation received over 20 years ago for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma at the base of his tongue. He went to primary care physician on March 10 for swelling of face and received an antibiotic. Two weeks later he had a CT scan. Finally, he got a referral to Oral Surgeon and now that he has all the records he needs and Easter vacations are over we are waiting for a phone call from that office."

On April 9 the Oral Surgeon's office called to say there was nothing they could do for him so he needed to make an appointment with the Otolaryngologists at University of Iowa (UOI) Hospital and Clinics (state teaching and research hospital) that is a little over an hour drive from here. That is where John went in 2017 - 2018 to have the left side of his jaw replaced with his fibula (fibular free flap restoration). Of course, the doc he had then is now transitioning to a job in Arizona so he will see another doctor. And since it has been over 3 years since he has had an appt. then he will be considered a new patient and needed a referral. Ugh! So, I called in tears to the primary care physician and for a change they got right on that referral!! I heard from UOI on April 10 but there are no appointments available until April 27. The nurse I talked to told me to call once in a while until then to see if there are any cancellations so he can get an appt. sooner. 

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I finished a book -The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany by Gwen Strauss. "The Nine follows the true story of the author’s great aunt Hélène Podliasky, who led a band of nine female resistance fighters as they escaped a German forced labor camp and made a ten-day journey across the front lines of WWII from Germany back to Paris."   What incredible women! 

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Oh joy! Donna and Doris sent me boxes of lovely scraps and fabric and thread. That kept me busy sorting and measuring each piece while sitting with John. 

 

From Fodder To Flimsy

 

It's a flimsy!

Nine Patch

42 x 58

Fodder - n. raw material, as for artistic creation.

This month the theme in my sewing space to move things forward is "strings, crumbs and fodder".

The fodder for this quilt was a small stack of Nine Patches and some pieces for more that I was given. 

Since the Nine Patches were bright and had some novelties I decided to make a small comfort quilt with sashing. For that I needed 35 Nine Patches. After I finished up making Nine Patches with all the parts I needed 14 more Nine Patches so made them with some 2.5 inch squares in my Parts Dept. 

Then I looked for what to use for sashing possibilities. I happened to have accumulated a lot of yellow 2.5 inch strips given to me by several folks so that's what I used. I think there's enough pieces left for binding too! 

The cornerstones came from my 2.5 inch squares. 

And sew on...

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Finished a book! The President's Wife by Anna Stuart. Historical fiction inspired by the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. I enjoyed the book. I have read several other historical fiction novels by this author that I have also enjoyed. One thing that stuck out to me was that the author is English. For example, she wrote about Eleanor knitting "jumpers" instead of sweaters. And there were more than enough references to FDR's infidelity. 

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I signed up to get a free Iowa Lottery ticket each month and April's ticket was an $8 winner. I don't ever buy tickets - just get my free one each month. $8 is the most I have ever won. 

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Still trying to get my husband some treatment for his pain due to Osteoradionecrosis of the Jaw (ORNJ) and Osteomyelitis (bone infection) - one of many side effects of radiation received over 20 years ago for stage IV squamous cell carcinoma at the base of his tongue. He went to primary care physician on March 10 for swelling of face and received an antibiotic. Two weeks later he had a CT scan. Finally he got a referral to Oral Surgeon and now that he has all the records he needs and Easter vacations are over we are waiting for a phone call from that office.  

***

We have been having a cold snap again along with some rain but I finally got my potatoes planted on Monday. I do see some radish, lettuce, beet and sugar snap peas have sprouted. I see it is supposed to get up to 60 today with possibility of rain this evening so I hope to make it out sometime today to work in the flower gardens. I want to get some sweet peas planted. 

***

New Starts

New start...

Wonky Stars

10.5 inch finished

Made with nine 4 inch squares and two 3 inch squares cut on the diagonal.

The plan is to first use pieces in the 3 and 4 inch width scrap boxes and then move on to scrap chunks. I decided to use 4 inch squares for the background because that can be cut from a width of 4 inch fabric with only a little piece left over.  

For now I am going to make them in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) colors of the month. At year end, until I'm tired of making them or when I have piles of them I will just see how many blocks I have and divide them up into comfort quilts. 

Wonky Shoo Fly

4.5 inch finished.

The trimmings behind the Wonky Star points and the itty bit of the 4 inch width piece that was left over from the Wonky Star background was perfect for making Wonky Shoo fly blocks. All I needed to add to the mix was nine 2 inch solid squares. 

The Wonky Shoo Fly is NOT a new start. I have a little baggie of them I made in the past. I have a lo of small pieces of solid fabrics so I am thinking I will process some of them and get ready some sets of nine 2 inch squares. 

Rail Fence

8 inch finished

Made with 1.5 inch width scraps. 

All will be made with pink plus one other color.  I noticed I have accumulated quite a few pink 1.5 inch widths of fabric (WOF). Time to use them. 35 blocks will probably make a nice little comfort quilt. 

And sew on...

 

A Wonky Log Cabin Flimsy

It's a flimsy!

Wonky Log Cabin

48 x 60

This month's theme in my sewing space to move things forward is "strings, crumbs and fodder".  I had a couple of overflowing boxes of strings and after last month's quilting marathon and all the quilt back trimmings my string boxes runneth over. 

I started these 12 inch finished blocks last December and made six of them at that time. This week I added 14 more blocks to the mix and assembled the top. I used mostly brights and novelties as well as low volume  strings to make the blocks and all have 2.5 inch red square centers. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

In The Pink

 

Snowball Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. So I dug into my pink scraps for this week's blocks. I have also made more blocks in past RSC colors of blue, green and red. I have acquired or processed scraps in those past colors and since my goal is to empty the bins of scraps I keep by width by year end I will make blocks in past RSC colors each month if I have them. 

Hollow Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Uneven Nine Patch

7 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares, 1.5 x 3.5 multicolor rectangles, and 1.5 inch square for center.

Four Patch

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares - dark and light of same color.

Buckeye Beauty

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch unfinished HSTs with black and color of month and 2 inch squares. 

Courthouse Steps

7.5 inches

Made with 2 inch width pieces

Giant Potato Chip

Made with 2 x 3.5 inch rectangles.

Each round is in the RSC color of the month so a pink round has been added. 

Currently it's a 15.5 inch square

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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Some flowers are starting to peek out of the very wet ground. We have had some much needed rain so I'm hoping to see more color in the gardens in the weeks ahead. Our last frost date is April 30 so the gardens really get into high gear after that. 

Wood Hyacinth (or Spanish Blue Bells) are starting to pop up in spots all over in the gardens.

Dwarf Iris are also popping up here and there. When I go walking through my gardens this time of year it is like going on a treasure hunt to see what I will find. There's 

Daffodils popping up in the cutting garden. I used to have fancy tulips here and after one year I kept having problems with rabbits and deer eating them as they sprouted up so I've been slowly changing this bed to Daffodils since critters don't really bother those. Earlier this year I broadcast some perennial dianthus seeds in this bed so when the Daffs die down I hope to have some dianthus for cutting in this bed too.   

There are different varieties of dwarf and fancy Daffodil varieties in this bed. 

Bloodroot in the cottage garden.

Planting potatoes on Good Friday is a long standing tradition said to ensure a bountiful harvest. I usually try to get mine planted then but I'm a little behind. Maybe I will get to that in the next couple of days if the weather permits. I have my potatoes chitted and ready to plant. I love potatoes!