Some Assembly Required

Back in December I blogged that I wanted to dig into my skinny strings and make a few quilts.  At that time one of the UFOs I wanted to move forward was a Crossed Block Quilt.  Now I'm happy to say I have made 38 more blocks with my skinny strings (well, I had to use a few fat strings too) and now I have 48 blocks - enough for a nice sized quilt.

The blocks finish at 9.5 inches. 

Now they are going to go into the big "some assembly required" box of complete block sets. 

All month I've been cutting a few "peacock feathers"  (Dresden wedges) to move a UFO forward. 

When I blogged about Peacock Feathers back in December I needed over 700 more pieces.  I've met that goal.

Now Peacock Feathers is also in the "some assembly required" box. 

Last month the "some assembly required" box contained the following block sets: 

 Clarissa (vintage inspired hourglass)

Animal Crackers II

Pastel Roses

Blue Economy Blocks

'30s repro Economy Blocks

Wishing Rings

Wedding Rings

16 Patch

Double X/Snowball (vintage inspired)

Flashes of Brilliance (Sugarloaf Stars)

Dakota Farmer Stars

I've crossed four off of the list because I assembled those tops this month.  

And this month I have added to the box: 

Crossed Quilt

Sunny Lanes

Peacock Feathers

February's OMG (One Monthly Goal) is to assemble at least one top from the list above. 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

I'm Finished With Crazy Ladies of the Lake

Crazy Ladies of the Lake

It's a finish!

90 x 90

I started making ten inch (finished) Lady of the Lake blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC project back in 2017. 

I had a lot of 2.5 inch scraps so thought this would be a good block to use some of those scraps. 

So in 2017 and in 2018 I made blocks each month in the color of the month plus whatever other color suited my fancy - usually a color with a lot of scrap in the 2.5 scrap bin. A lot of the six inch centers were left over from a basket quilt made long ago. I finished the top in 2019 and the Crazy Ladies have been waiting for quilting since then. 

I quilted it on my DSM with spirals in light gray thread. And when I was almost but not quite finished with the quilting my sewing machine stopped dead right in the middle of quilting. So it is in the repair shop again, darn it. That Brother has been nothing but problems from the start and most of the time the problems occur when I am Free Motion Quilting.   Well, I do have my old Janome that has its own problems off and on so I finished up the quilting on Plain Jane Janome. I used two different fabrics for binding. 

Oh, Crazy Ladies of the Lake!

 All of the color is on the front so I used gray on the back. No need for a fancy back for a bed quilt. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

One Thing Leads To Another

For several years I've sewn along with Julie and other Log Cabin Loonies to make a log cabin quilt. I decided to join in again this year and thought I would use a box of civil war reproduction scraps. 

But before I cut up all those scraps I decided to look at my UFO list to see if I had any UFOs that could benefit from those scraps. I found a box with some old Sunny Lanes swapped blocks.  The swap took place back in February 2015. 

In the box I had 15 blocks that finish at 12 inches.  I also had a little baggie of four patch blocks that I think were from a different swap. My first thought was that I would make five more blocks and with a

4  x  5 layout that would make a quilt 48 x 60 which is kind of a weird size. Most of the quilts I donate or gift for adults are closer to 60 x 80.  So...even though I didn't really feel like making 15 more blocks for a 5 x 6 layout and a quilt 60 x 72 I decided I would. 

So on breaks from quilting or top assembly I cut enough of those cw repro scraps to make 15 more Sunny Lane blocks.  

And after I had those parts cut and sewn I still had lots of scraps left so  I started cutting up those cw repro scraps to make my log cabin blocks. 

And then I sewed two rounds of logs on to my 48 log cabin centers. 

I still need to add three more rounds in order to end up with a 10 inch finished block. 

And now I have made 15 more Sunny Lane blocks, emptied a box and moved another UFO forward. 

This complete block set will now go into the big "some assembly required" box with other block sets and will be made into a top later. 

 

I've Been Thinking...

Last year I decided to sort through years and years and years worth of waste triangles. Some I've been making into Shoofly blocks but most of them I sew into dinky little Hourglass blocks. When I get a cigar box full I trim them in the evening. When I say "trim" I mean I trim off the dog ears but I'm not squaring them up. 

I keep a little pencil box of waste triangles all sorted for the Hourglass blocks next to the sewing machine and use them as leader/enders. 

Now the trimmed little Wonky Hourglass blocks are mounting up...

...and almost every week I end up with a cigar box full that needs to be trimmed.  There seems to be no end in sight.  And there was no plan in sight until I saw....

 Competition Quilt. about 1895. hand pieced cotton, silk, linen; hand quilted; machine stitched backing. Neusteter Textile Collection: Gift of Guido Goldman. 2008.406.

(Picture from Denver Art Museum)

I originally saw a blog post about the quilt on day 5 of Mary Elizabeth Kinch's 12 Days of Christmas posts. 

I just love love love to infinity this quilt and decided I would make something similar but use my wonky hourglass blocks instead of HSTs. As I mentioned, I'm not squaring up my Hourglass blocks (because I don't like to square up) so I will just make "made fabric" out of them for the borders and not worry so much about points matching up. Mine is definitely NOT going to be a competition quilt like the original. 

On that note I decided I should make my center star and have it handy. I made all my Lone Star wedges but then ran into a snag because I couldn't decide what to use for the background. I'm still dithering. 

Gray background????

Blue background????

Pink background???

What say you???

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Table Scraps

Zig Zag Table Runner

18 x 56

This week I used pink rose and valentine scraps to make a table runner. Well, actually it is a table runner on a buffet so is it a buffet runner?  

I had been thinking of making placemats, hot pads, table runners and other small items to use scraps and small pieces of scrap batting and then I saw Joyful Quilter issue a Table Scraps Challenge so thought I would quit thinking and start making.  I have LOTs of small pieces of scrap batting that are too small to piece for quilts and a little large to cut up for pillow stuffing so the Table Scraps Challenge might just keep me motivated to make something for a table each month. 

I used a pattern at Instructables.  But I did not topstitch on my sewing machine...I used perle cotton and did topstitching as well as some big stitch quilting in the ditch around the squares.

I used an old piece of pink gingham on the back so I'm thinking this table runner is reversible because I love gingham. 

 I'm not really crazy about decorating with pink but since it is almost Valentine's Day and since I do love roses and hearts I guess I will leave it in place for awhile. 

Now I've made a huge dent in my pink scrap chunks except for some pastels and I think I'll leave those alone for awhile until I can decide what to do with them. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

It's A Finish! Ribbon Candy

Ribbon Candy

It's a finish!

63 x 81

I started the quilt of Indian Hatchet blocks in June 2020. I used '30s reproduction scraps left over after making a Churn Dash quilt from yardage. 

I started quilting this on my sewing machine but then decided to hand quilt so I ripped out the DSM quilting.  I used a variety of colors of perle cotton and big stitched about 1/4 on both sides of all the seams.  

 I used a couple of bird and butterfly themed fabrics that have been around for awhile on the back. 

You can see the hand quilting a little better in the lighter section of the backing.  I used '30s reproduction scraps for the binding. 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's a Flimsy! Flashes of Brilliance

It's a flimsy!

Flashes of Brilliance

The pattern, inspired by a vintage quilt,  is by Pam Buda and was published in American Patchwork and Quilting October 2015. 

I started this in February 2019. 

 Every once in awhile I like to really challenge myself. I really wasn't sure I could actually make these blocks let alone a whole quilt of them. 

Ah, the thrill of meeting a challenge!

I can't believe I made this! I actually made this!  AND I think I have a plan for the scraps. 

Now into the hand quilting pile it goes!

&&&

 My January OMG (One Monthly Goal) was to assemble at least one top from the large box of complete block sets.  This is top #4.    Quilt top #1 to be assembled was Dakota Farmer (Stars).  Quilt top #2 was Blue Economy Blocks.  Quilt top #3 was Clarissa. 

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

 

Two Finishes

Two little finishes. 

#1 

The top was finished February 2020. It is made of 30s reproduction scraps I won that were left over from making a kaleidoscope quilt. I also added in some scraps of my own. 

The quilt measures 48 x 56. 

I pieced the batting and I quilted it with spirals in yellow thread. 

I had a sweet pea fabric left over from some pillowcases I made the grandkids when they were younger that I used for the backing. 

#2 

is a 36 inch square quilt. 

This has been a top since December 2019. 

I received orphan blocks from a friend. The upper right and lower left blocks were already sashed in orange. (Yes, one block is set the wrong way but so be it. I didn't want to take it apart and put it back together again).  I sashed the other eight blocks in upper left and lower right with yellow. Then I sashed all four of those blocks with some of my scraps and then added a border. 

This quilt also has pieced batting and was also quilted with spirals. 

I had a one yard piece of colorful elephants that made a nice backing. And when I was looking around for something to use for binding I came across a splotchy polka dot fabric that matched some of the elephant ears. How about that!

A little birdie (well, actually I guess storks are not that little) told me that my nephew and his wife gave birth to Eva on January 1 so these will probably be heading Eva's way some time soon if little birdie sends me an address. 

And on to the next!