It's a Finish! Boho Roosters

Bohemian Roosters

80 x 80

hand quilted

It's a finish! 

 Sunburst pattern is from the book Making Quilts by Kathy Doughty. 

The rooster fussy cut centers were cut from a fabric in my stash  - Bohemian Rooster Click by Susan Winget. 

I then found enough stash fabrics that I thought were boho enough to coordinate with the centers.  All sunburst points are yellows from stash. 

The quilt was started in November 2017. 

I hand quilted a flower in the middle of the blocks in aqua thread.  I used a stencil and the eight petals extend out into each sunburst point.  

I hand quilted in yellow an eyeballed 1/4 inch inside and outside each starburst point.  I made a template for quilting in extra sunburst points between each sunburst point.  I also used yellow to quilt an eyeballed 1/4 inch outside the inner circle.  I hand stitched in the ditch in red around the outside circle. 

I used the same eight petaled flower stencil and hand quilted in red in the area where blocks meet. 

I used some of the same fabrics as used in the blocks for a scrappy binding. 

Even though I've been on "no buy" for over a year I did have to buy batting (Hobbs Heirloom Premium Cotton Batting) and backing fabric (deeply discounted) in order to complete the quilt. 

I've spent months of Slow Sunday Stitching (and every other day of the week)  so time to celebrate with other hand workers at Kathy's Quilts. 

This was my goal #2

for Q2 Finish-Along

And on to the next one...

Yellow 1.5 Inch Scrap Edition

 I worked with 1.5 inch yellow scraps and neutrals this week and made :

3 inch rails...

...a 6 x 14 Whatchamacallit...

...and some 3 inch Nine Patches. 

And that about wraps it up for my yellow scraps. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Garden Patchwork

There's a fairy door at the base of my sundial in the fairy garden. 

They grow some miniature daffodils (about as tall as a crocus in foreground)  in their garden but I especially love it when the miniature roses and miniature lilies are in bloom.   

When I go out to work on the garden patchwork the fairies always stay still like statues.  I never catch them dancing, singing or playing.  So you will never find me cavorting with fairies. 

I have several different varieties of daffodils but they aren't quite in full bloom. I sure love these miniatures, though, that I have planted here and there all along the flower garden pathways. 

Some of the garden paths are blue when scilla is in bloom. 

This little six inch tall flower appeared out of nowhere. I've never seen it before and don't think I ever planted it but I've identified it as Bloodroot.  Maybe the fairies planted it. 

  

I have several different varieties of species tulips blooming now too. 

I'm surprised I have any little species tulips or hyacinth blooming along the paths. I can see where rabbits and deer have been eating the growth on most of my daylilies, hyacinth and other bulbs, darn it.  I'm grateful to have anything blooming. 

I only had a few crocus blooming here and there. I could see where the green growth was eaten all the way down to the ground. 

I've been working on my garden patchwork the last couple of days and will continue as long as the weather is nice.  Asparagus is popping up, so is lettuce and spinach. I'm waiting for the sugar snap peas to sprout. Maybe this year the groundhog won't eat them to the ground. Well, that is if a vole or field mouse hasn't eaten my seeds already. 

Why do I suddenly have the urge to go work on my Down and Dirty Gardening quilt? 

It's a Flimsy! School of Fish

 School of Fish

40 x 60

It's a flimsy!

So...I'm really a slob. It takes me awhile to put fabric and scraps away. My cutting mat usually has about a two inch square of space left on it before any organization happens. I had gray scraps leftover from Blue Collar Work next to some school themed fabrics leftover from making a few school themed Happy Blocks.    And I just finished making some small crumb fish blocks so fish was on my brain.   And our brains work in mysterious ways...so School of Fish happened. 

It's a Flimsy! Blue Collar Work

 Blue Collar Work

A Kaleidoscope quilt made from men's shirts from the thrift store plus bits and pieces of several shades (not 50) of gray solids I had in the scrap chunk crate. 

80 x 88

Ten inch blocks sewn together pretty much in random fashion - no design wall or floor or bed. 

I divided the blocks into piles of "with red/orange", "with brown", and "with blue/lights".  Then I tried to use evenly from the piles while webbing the blocks together.   I kind of eyeball and remember what is in each row as they grow. This is usually my method of madness. 

Sometimes I get to the end and find I have a lot of similar fabrics left so they end up next to each other.  Does it really matter?  Well, not to me.  This is a big quilt for a big bed so who is going to notice?  It will generate the same warmth if like fabrics touch or are evenly distributed. 

I think I have enough of a black (or navy?) cotton gingham for the back but I'm not really sure since I haven't yet measured.  And I think I have enough black perle #8 to do some big stitching. 

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Crumby Yellow Stuff

 Two 12 inch slabs with heart centers.  They came out of a box of crumbs. 

 Crumbs?  Those little odd sized bits and pieces of scraps.  I have several boxes of them. I go through them each month and sort out the pieces in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  Then I try to make quilt blocks out of them.  Later in the year I will make a bunch of comfort quilts out of the blocks I make all year to donate to a few of my favorite places. 

 I also have a Wonky Box of crumbs.  These are extra little HSTs or wonky HSTS or waste triangles sewn together, etc.   I pick through here too. 

So what else did I make besides the slabs from crumbs?

Four twelve inch blocks. 

A ten inch block. Well, actually it's supposed to be 10 inches, I think but I haven't squared it up yet. These HSTS were in the wonky box. I put them together and didn't worry about matching points, cut off points, etc. 

I made several ten inch Mendota Blocks - instructions found at the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild.  The group owner, Carol, drafts a block every other year named after the place where a quilt retreat is held.  Last year was the Omaha block and the ladies at retreat made over 180 quilt tops at retreat. I did not attend but sewed along at home.  The retreat will be held in Mendota in 2019 and this is the block everyone will make this year to be sewn together next year at retreat. 

Anyway, these are 10 inch blocks with five inch centers.  So any big scraps at least five inches square went into the making of these blocks as well as some five inch crumb blocks.   I decided I will border primary color centers in primary colors and secondary color centers in secondary colors.   So yellow got bordered with some red scraps...

...some blue scraps...

...and a variety of yellow scraps bordered some five inch crumb centers. 

I added seven 8 inch crumb stars to the pile. When I make these I add the complementary color.  Good thing Sawtooth Stars are versatile. I meant to make the star points yellow and the background purple but got mixed up when I cut the flying geese pieces for the star points. 

And from Cathy's Crumby Confectionery Company - Crumby Yummies in a variety of flavors. 

An eight inch block for the orphan box. 

A few Itty Bitty Nitty Gritty Fish. 

A variety of six inch (or close to it) blocks. 

And a variety of four inch blocks and a strip for a Chinese Coin quilt. 

The 16 gallon box that holds the four inch parts is getting full. I may have to do something with them sooner than later.  I have a few ideas. 

And now you know about the Crumby part of Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting! 

I'm turning Crumbs into Comfort Quilts! Crumbs for Comfort! 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

It's a Flimsy! Fall Festival

Fall Festival

60 x 75

It's a Flimsy!

Several years ago I participated in several themed Chunky Churn Dash swaps - patriotic, 30s, fall, floral.  I wanted to challenge myself to set them all differently with alternate blocks.  This is quilt #3 using the fall themed blocks.   I originally intended to make a bigger quilt and use two different 15 inch blocks like above - one with four Chunky Churn blocks, geese with dark corners for sashing, 3 inch 9 patch for center and another with four framed four patches and light corners on the geese sashing.   I intended to make 18 of each and set them 6 x 6. 

After I made 18 of the blocks using all my Chunky Churn Dash blocks I didn't feel like making 16 more blocks (I made two for a test run) using framed four patches so decided to make a quilt with 20 blocks instead - 18 with Chunky Churns and 2 with Framed Four Patches. 

 The two blocks with the Framed Four Patches blend in but also stand out. 

 I love quilts with fall colors. 

It looks like a pile of leaves I'd like to jump into. 

 And there's some secondary patterns.

I kind of like that too. 

I have a flannel sheet I might use for the backing. I think I will have to let out the side seams because the width of the quilt top fits just inside those two seams with no fabric left to spare and I think I need a little wiggle room in order to quilt this on my DSM. 

It's a Flimsy! Salmagundi Road

 Salmagundi Road

89 x 89

It's a flimsy!

I was inspired by a picture of a vintage quilt from the Jim Tharpe collection posted by Audrey of Quilty Folk. 

I did not know the block name but figured out from the photo how to make the blocks. 

Later Dot (aka abelian who is a no-reply blogger so I couldn't say thanks) left me a comment saying the block name according to Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia #1911 is Buffalo Ridge by Nancy Cabot or Grandmother's Fancy.   #1912 is Buffalo Ridge or Country Roads - the only difference between #1911 and #1912 is whether or not the block sashing is the same size as the quilt sashing. 

Although I didn't use it I did find free block instructions at Quilter's Cache for a Country Road block if anyone is interested. 

Nann of With Strings Attached  had suggested to me at one time that a good name for one of my quilts might be Salmagundi.   (The definition? a general mixture; a miscellaneous collection).   And so Country Roads turned into Salmagundi Road as a name for my quilt. 

I used a lot of chunk scraps and men's shirts from the thrift store to make the quilt in warm colors. 

I first made 25 blocks with the intention of adding sashing wider than the 2.5 sashing within the block.  I couldn't find enough of any fabric I had on hand to use for the sashing so made 11 more blocks with the intention to go without sashing between blocks.  But then I decided I didn't like the blocks without sashing. 

I finally decided on a narrow dark brown (Kona Coffee, I think) sashing.  I didn't add it around the outside edges but I have enough Kona Coffee left for the binding. 

Getting this sashed and to flimsy stage was my April One Monthly Goal (OMG). so I will link up to the Elm Street Quilts OMG finishing party at the end of the month. 

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to Piece a Backing

I auditioned fabrics for sashing for Salmagundi Road, picked one, and left the rest of the pieces in a pile at the end of the ironing board.  As I came across other possible backing fabrics I kept adding them to the pile.  I thought I would piece some of them together later for a backing for Salmagundi Road.   

And then before the backing could happen...I decided to to make some Salsa and do a little Salsa Dancing instead. 

 These are 18 inch blocks. 

The pattern is a free one from Anna Maria Horner called Spinning Stars.

I made one in 2015 I called Petunias that was made from fabrics leftover from a Pickle Dish quilt.  

I thought I would make one 72 x 90 for my husband (he's tall) to replace the old Winery quilt he currently keeps on the back of his recliner but I wasn't sure if I had enough Salsa ingredients in my stash for 20 blocks. 

First I made the above four blocks to see how they would look. Sometimes I get some crazy ideas, you know, so that's why I usually make a few trial blocks to see if I want to go further or want to throw them into the scrap orphanage and abandon the crazy idea. 

I liked them. 

And then I  cut wedges from my tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, tortilla chips (yes, I have tortilla chip fabric in my stash),  and parsley I pretended was cilantro.  I was hoping I could cut 160 wedges for my 20 blocks and I made it with little to spare.  Then I  looked for some reds, greens and reddish browns I could use for the outside rings and sewed wedges and ring pieces together. Now I hope I have enough yellow, orange and orange red tone on tones for the corners. I'm not sure I do but I'm going to scrounge around. 

Now, what to do for that Salmagundi Road backing??? Hmmmm....

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt