This, That, And The Other Things

I cleaned up the leftovers from making the Coin Toss top the other day.  I cut the pieces I could into 3 inch squares and the other pieces less than a square were sewn into several strips. If I had 8 squares of the same color I made Hollow Nine Patches otherwise I put the squares in my Squares Bin. 

I made some pineapples and apples from 1.5 inch squares which was one of my goals toward my Asymmetry/Tea Towel Challenge. 

I assembled all of the sashing and cornerstone parts for Diagonal Bars blocks  I won in a 2014 Block Lotto.  I'm not going to put them in with the other block sets in my "Some Assembly Required" box. I'm going to try to get the top assembled in August. 

And I made a couple of "before I forget" blocks. I ran across a piece of Christmas fabric in with my scraps. I was too lazy to unstack my boxes to get down to the little box of Christmas fabric just to put this FQ into it. So I decided to use it. How about some Christmas Cactus Pots? I do love a play on words. The Cactus Pot block made in Christmas fabrics = Christmas Cactus! 

And also while I was thinking about it...I gathered some 3 inch nine patches from a big bin of the little cuties. I only picked out ones that had dark corners and center  and did not have a neutral for the other four squares. 

I tried them out in some Path and Stiles blocks. Ok. I like them. I'll carry on. 

And that brings me to a box of orphan blocks...

...and this box of orphan blocks. I've kind of sorted them into different groups of blocks I think would look good together. In August I am going to see how many 40 x 60 donation quilt tops I can get made. And hopefully I will be able to remove two empty boxes from the sewing space. 

My OMG (One Monthly Goal) for August is to assemble at least one top from those orphans. I'll give myself a smiley face, a big star and bonus points for any more than one top!

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

I thought I had better declare my August goal now because in a day or so I'm going to be gone for over a week of camping with some of my husband's family - a mini family reunion. 

 

Wednesday Wandering Through The Zinnias

This is the time of year when the Zinnias are the star of the flower garden- all different shapes, sizes, colors and varieties.  Usually they are covered with butterflies but I have not seen as many this year as in past years. Not sure why. Maybe I am just not outside at the same time they are flying by.  

I love Zinnias!

 

Coin Toss Top

Coin Toss

It's a top!

65 x 80

Back in June I blogged about some 3 inch width of scraps I came across while sorting through boxes of scraps that came from a clean up of my cutting mat over the years.  I used to put leftover scraps from a project into bins of scraps sorted by width but I never did have a 3 inch width scrap bin so those pieces usually went into a box with other odd sizes of scraps. 

So, anyway, I also blogged that I would make a Coin quilt and so I have. Well, it's not actually a quilt yet but it's much closer to being one than the last time I blogged about those scraps. 

I like making scrap quilts from actual scraps because I usually have a difficult time figuring out what fabrics to use in a scrappy looking quilt.  With actual scraps all of the decisions are made for me. I like it when scraps happen!

I didn't have quite enough 3 inch width scraps in my little starter box for this size of quilt so I dug through an overflowing box of quilt back trimmings for the rest of the of the pieces. 

I sewed two fabrics together and sewed up a bunch of strip sets which were then cut into 5.5 inch lengths and sewn together into blocks of varying lengths and then those blocks were sewn into columns. The columns are joined with sashing that consists of more 3 x 5.5 pieces. 

I was surprised by the number of aqua and orange fabrics in the scraps. I didn't even realize I used that much of either color but I can remember most of the quilts that used those fabrics on the front or the back. 

Like usual (and like grandma) I sewed everything together randomly. A comfort quilt doesn't get hung on a wall so I usually don't dither away my time arranging and rearranging my blocks. I know no arrangement would probably ever satisfy me.  And with that said...now that I see it hanging on the line it appears to me that there is a purple "hole" in the middle - two purple fabrics without much contrast. And it is kind of weird that the two six patches of googly-eyed monsters and solid blue ended up in the same place in two different columns.  And..

 

Grandmother's Flower Garden

I finished five more Flowers this week. I've been working on them a little each evening. They make a nice end-of-a-hot-day project to relax with before bedtime. 

Now I have one and a half to assemble and I will have 30 Flowers. At the beginning of the month I gave the backstory on these Flowers- I was given a nice bouquet of 15 flowers and the seeds for 15 more. 

Now I know myself well enough to know that I will get very bored if  I connect these Flowers together with hundreds of white hexies as in a traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden. And very soon this garden would wither and die. I don't want that to happen. So...

...I found a few chunks of low volume florals in my stash I think I can use. I've cut some of them into 13.5 inch squares and will applique the flowers to the background squares. Well, actually...I think I will blanket stitch the flowers to the backgrounds with various colors of variegated embroidery thread. Then I won't get bored and Grandmother's Flower Garden will continue to grow. 

Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

 

Blue Bits And Pieces

I used up a few 1.5 inch pieces of blue this week to make some Double Irish Chain blocks. I have been using the RSC color of the month as well as a dark brown for the chain and a light brown or cream for the background. I started these some time last year and I now have 39 out of the desired 63 blocks.

 And then I made a few other odds and ends and the last little blue bits then got cut into 1.5 inch squares and went into my postage stamp pencil box which was almost empty. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Purple Mountain Majesties

Purple Mountain Majesties

It's a top!

60 x 72

Back in 2016 I was one of the August Block Lotto winners of Split Nine Patch blocks in a purple, gray and white colorway. 

Late last month I pulled out my winnings and assessed how best to move those blocks forward and into a top. 

 I knew I wanted a nice sized donation quilt so I made enough blocks to add to my winnings to equal 120 blocks to be set 10 x 12.  For the longest time I could not decide on a layout because there are so many different ways to use Split Nine Patches. Actually you can use a Split Nine Patch any way you would use a 6 inch HST (half square triangle). 

And now I think that leaves me with two more sets of Block Lotto winnings...

 

HSTeria

Last week we had a week of rain. So this week I need to catch up on weeding the gardens. HSTs (half square triangles) are a nice quick thing to work on between weeds. Cut some, sew some, trim some and repeat.

So, I have now finished 572 HSTs in rose themed fabrics and I've cut a bunch of squares. Now I have a new project all kitted up and ready to assemble into a top. There are no blocks to make but it will take some concentration to lay out the rows in a certain way so I will leave the assembly for a later time when I actually feel like concentrating. 

I also finished 240 HSTs for a red, white, blue quilt. And I also cut some squares. Everything for a quilt top is now in a project box. 

This one will not take as much concentration because I will be making 20 blocks. So you may see this one sooner than later. Or not. Time will tell. Stay tuned. 

Hodge Podge of Hand Work

I just finished the candlewicking on a 14 inch pillow cover. There was not quite enough thread in the kit so a few of the colonial knots are done in a slightly different color. 

This kit even came with the pillow cover all put together and a zipper in back. Pretty fancy! 

And it only cost me 95 cents! Back before retirement I used to pick up kits like this at the thrift store thinking I would work on them when I retired. Four years into retirement I guess the time to work on these things is now. They make nice summer project when it is too hot to hand quilt.  There's another 95 cent Candlewick pillow cover waiting for some embroidery. I'll probably skip the lace on it because it is that scratchy and stiff type of old lace I don't like.  I plan to make some pillow forms out of muslin and batting scraps when I have all of these embroideries finished. 

This week I finished five more flowers for Grandmother's Flower Garden. That makes 23 flowers out of the target of 30. I inherited 15 blocks and the parts to make 15 more 

This is another thrift store find. It included the stamped cross stitch dresser scarf/table runner and needle but no lace like the card said. I'm sure I can find some here in my crazy quilting supplies.  I have plenty of embroidery thread so no problem there. This is about the extent of the cross stitch I can do anymore because my eyesight is failing and it has never been that good. The stamped embroidery reminds me of my grandmother who taught me how to embroider on a stamped cloth and also on gingham. 

 I will use this as a buffet topper or pie safe topper when finished. I do love roses! 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Nine Patch Metamorphosis

You may or may not know that last year I entirely cleaned out my 2.5 inch width scrap bin. The very last blocks to come out of there was Nine Patches for the Parts Department. And after I emptied that scrap bin I have been making Nine Patch blocks every time I have 2.5 inch scraps left over from any project.   So now the Parts Department has a lot of Nine Patch inventory and the Nine Patches are in their own bin.  I thought since this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color is blue I would dig...

...through the Nine Patches and pull out the blues. I also tried to divide all of them up into stacks for future quilts. 

First I pulled all of the dark blue nine patches out of the bin and combined them with some red HSTs and light blue HSTs and made some of these four teen inch blocks (don't know the name so I'll call it churn dash variation).  So from now on whenever I end up with dark blue nine patches they will get made into these blocks until I end up with 20 blocks for a quilt. I am keeping with this colorway for these blocks so no other color of nine patch will be used in the centers.

Then I pulled out the pastel/light blue Nine Patches and made some ten inch Sister's Choice blocks. I sorted out a stack of other light colored nine patches and those will also be made into Sister's Choice blocks.  

The bright blue nine patches will be combined with other bright blue nine patches and made into an Irish Chain quilt.   The red and yellow nine patches will be made into framed nine patches.  I have a few other sorted piles and am still thinking of what I will do with those. Maybe Sawtooth Stars or set on point or  maybe alternating with snowballs or hourglasses or...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

There's a Hole in the Barn Door

Hole in the Barn Door

It's a new top!

40 x 60

I wanted to use up some old florals and quilter's calicoes and try to make a cute quilt for kids.  

I used some of those old florals for the backgrounds of some ten inch Hole in the Barn Door blocks. I used some red scraps for the "barn" and some small animal prints appeared in the hole in the barn door. 

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

 

Old and Blue

Old and Blue

It's not too bad.

I really thought it was going to be on the really ugly side.

 It has a lot more white space than I like these days.

 It has not been doing anyone any good cooped up as a UFO in a bin for years and now it is a little closer to the finish line. 

The top is made of old Double Disappearing Nine Patch blocks I swapped c. 2012.

I used to love to swap. I could buy one or two fabrics and make several blocks with those same fabrics and then receive blocks back with a variety of fabrics. I like quilts with a variety of fabrics. It's even better if those fabrics are scraps. 

So, anyway...I unearthed these blocks and a different set of old and blue blocks at the beginning of the month and declared my OMG to finish a flimsy from at least one set of those blocks in July. 

 I actually started putting together the other set of blocks but discovered that I first need to cut pieces for a quilt that has most of my dark blue tone on tone fabric pieces reserved. 

I made 12 more blocks from pieces set aside with this UFO and then it was pretty easy to get the top assembled after that. . 

The top is 60 x 82.5 - a nice sized donation quilt. 

I have a nice gently used sheet from the thrift store that is white with blue stripes to use for the backing. And I think I have a spool of variegated blue thread to use for quilting. 

OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts