Little Baskets

 

Little Baskets

4 inch finished

Goal of 110 blocks met!

Started February 2023

I should have counted blocks before I made these last two batches because I have actually exceeded my goal and have 125 blocks. But that's okay because I think some might be a little wonky. 

I started making Little Baskets to go with some fabric I had with Little Baskets. And I had the book Scrappy Fireworks Quilts by Edyta Sitar with a pattern for Lil' Baskets Quilts that I liked.  I did not make my Baskets the same way she did.  There's more than one way to skin a cat, you know. Weird idiom. Who would even want to know one way to actually skin a cat? 

Well, I was going to use my basket fabric as the border, side setting triangles and alternate squares for the blocks but I see now I don't have enough so I had just enough of a brown with red flowers to use for alternate squares. 

Now...some assembly required. 

"Itty bits, fiddly bits" has been the theme in my sewing space this month to move UFOs forward. I still have lots of bits!

And sew on...

Monday Musings at SongBirdDesigns

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Sheesh, I can't believe I slept 11 hours. That rarely happens!

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Today is oldest son's birthday. I can't believe he is 52 years old today. Gosh, mentally I still feel like that 21 year old I was back then. Physically, everything is just a little saggier. And some things creak. 

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I finally have replaced my laptop that died this summer. I have been using my husband's Kindle Fire tablet to get around. I just hate touchpads and like to sit and type like the wind at a proper keyboard. I'm getting used to Windows 11 and all it's weirdness with wanting to put everything on Onedrive which I don't want. And I don't need synching up to anything because I rarely even use my phone. My camera cable no longer works to upload photos so I had to buy a card reader since laptop came without one and that is how I have uploaded the photos. But then again the darned photos are on Onedrive and I want them on my local PC.  Then I have extensive family history files, photos and docs...most research done before there was an Ancestry.com and DNA to do all the work for me...and my FamilyTreeMaker program (that I bought as a DOS version way back when and have upgraded along the way to FTM 2005) no longer works with Windows 11. It barely worked with Windows 10. So, I think I had all my family history files backed up to an external drive and I have purchased a new genealogy program called RootsMagic 11. So I'm getting used to that and want to better organize my family history files, photos and docs and then write stories about some of the folks I remember and stories about some of the things that have been passed on to me ("stories about stuff"). I wanted to get all this done before gardening season kicks in but now it is time for winter sowing. I am hoping to do some of that today. 

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Oh joy! I received a surprise package of scraps from Dawn! It was so fun to sort through all the pieces and think about what they will be when they grow up and become a quilt.

Little Baskets

 

Little Baskets

4 inch finished

Blocks 62 - 73 of goal of 110

Started in Feb. 2023

The theme this month in my sewing space to move UFOs forward is "Itty Bits, Fiddly Bits". 

And sew on...

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The sky at sunset the last few days was painted with pinks, yellows and oranges. Oh, what beauty! And the Wolf Supermoon has been casting a glow over the land at night.

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Oh joy! I recently received a package of backing fabrics for comfort quilts from Barbara and scraps from Virginia. 

Little and Big Baskets

4 inch  (finished) Little Baskets (aka Cake Stand blocks). 

The theme this month in my sewing room to move UFOs forward has been "Baskets". 

I now have 61 blocks toward my goal of 110 Little Baskets. These will alternate with 4.5 squares in a quilt. 

In 2023 someone gave me a bunch of fruit and veg triangles - 10 inch squares cut on the diagonal. I decided to make the warm colored ones into 15 inch Cake Stand blocks. In 2023 I made 6 blocks. My goal is 18 blocks. So maybe in the next few days I'll complete my goal. Maybe...

And now I have 9 blocks toward my goal of 18 blocks. My cup is half full! 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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I have been spending most of the month in my gardens but I have recently finished a couple of books- Faulty Bloodline and Sin City Treachery. They are books 2 and 3 in the AJ Docker Series by Gary Gerlacher. The thrillers are described as M*A*S*H* meets detective Harry Bosch. 

 

May Baskets

The theme in my sewing space for May is Baskets. I have five UFOs with baskets that I'll be working on all month.   

Do you remember making May Baskets? I guess it was late 50s or early 60s that I made them - construction paper rolled into a cone shape and a  string inserted at the top foor the handles. The lilacs were usually in bloom and we filled the baskets with lilacs and sometimes a little note or poem and hung the baskets on the door knob of older folks in the neighborhood, rang the doorbell and ran off. I remember...that's why I thought I would make Baskets my theme for May. 

I got started with making a few Little Baskets that finish at four inches to my collection. I now have 41 and I think my goal is 110. Hmmmm...will I make my goal by month end? 

Eventually they will be set on point and alternate with squares of that red fabric with baskets. 

I'll blog about the other four UFOs with baskets as I work on them this month. 

And sew on...

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Received a box of scraps and fabric from Nann.

My mammogram showed no problems. 

Boxed up two boxes with a total of 11 quilts to be dropped off at UPS today when I make a trip into town to pick up new prescriptions for John. The quilts are going to a coordinator for both Wrap-A-Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. She will put them to use where they are needed the most. 

 

The Blues - Chapter I

Little Baskets

4 inch

All baskets have cream/tan/taupe backgrounds and brown baskets.  When all is said and done these will be set on point and the blocks will alternate with squares of a basket print. 

Blue is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for June.  This week I worked with all the 1.5 inch width pieces I found. 

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6 inches

So named because originally I meant to cut 1.5 x 2.5 pieces.

Windmills

4 inch

Switch Plate

3 x 5

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

May 28 - Finished a book - The Big Dark Sky by Dean Koontz. Good vs. evil, synchronicity, quantum physics, AI and the power of positive thinking and hope. 

May 29 - Found my second four leaf clover this year. Poor thing was in some weeds and it looks like an insect or two took a few bites. 

May 30 and May 31 - I noticed the roses have started blooming and I had not even properly pruned, weeded and fertilized them yet so I spent several hours for  two days amongst the roses. It's always nice to stop and smell the roses too.  I also said a few prayers and did quite a bit of positive thinking. We are once again waiting to hear if my husband John has cancer. 

In The Pink Part I

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6 inch finished

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for May. 

This week I dug into my pink scrap bag and took out all of the 1.5 inch width pieces I could find. 

Little Baskets 

4 inch finished

Windmills

4 inch finished

Switch Plates

3 x 5 inch finished

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

May 3 - Finished the book Elsewhere by Dean Koontz. The Key to Everything might have been a better name. (I know I would not ever want to be trusted with the Key to Everything).  The book is a fantasy that explores the multiverse theory and travel between parallel worlds. What if?  Also I had to laugh a few times when I read about bad guys with names like Yessman and Canker and a scientist that invented travel between parallel worlds named Harkenbach.  

 

Green Scraps Chapter I

Boo Boo Patches

3 x 6

The Boo Boo Patches are a result of a mistake I made last August when I intended to make an 18 patch with 1.5 x 2.5 inch strip sets but measured incorrectly and ended up with an 18 patch of 1.5 inch squares.  So I turned a mistake into a new quilt and will carry on making Boo Boo Patches. 

Green is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. I keep my scraps by color and then within the scrap bag I sometimes have separate bags of different widths of scraps. If I know the width as I sort and put away scraps I put them in the appropriate scrap width bag within that bag of colored scraps.  My intent has always been to get the bags down to scrap chunks but you know how scraps just happen around here.  Then it just so happens that I usually have a different block going as a RSC project to use each size width of scraps. I have found this a good way to use scraps and have fun doing it. I can make scrappy blocks a few at a time each month and before I know it I have enough blocks for a quilt or two. Sometimes I have to wait for scraps to happen in a particular width and color. If I don't have any scraps in a particular width and color then I skip making that block or I cut a width from my scrap chunks. 

It is always a lot of fun to see what scraps I get to work with each month when a color is declared. So, anyway, when green was declared the color for January I pulled out the huge green scrap bag and within I found a whole lot of green 1.5 inch width scraps. So all the blocks this week are made from those scraps. 

Lil' Baskets

4 inch 

I started making these little baskets last February. I made a few pink ones and then must have promptly forgot this was a RSC project and never made any more.  These will be set on point and  alternate with squares of a red fabric with baskets. Pattern from the book Scrappy Firework Quilts by Edyta Sitar. Background fabrics will be all creams, baskets will be all browns and HSTs will be in he RSC color of the month.

Potato Chip Blocks

6 inch

I started making these in September 2022 and have not gotten very far. There are usually not many 1.5 inch scraps left by the time I get to making these blocks. When I started making lots of blocks from 1.5 inch scraps I had a bin of 1.5 inch scraps I was trying to empty. This is actually the last block I make with 1.5 inch scraps if there are enough 1.5 x 2.5 inch pieces for a block after all other blocks are made. 

Windmill

4 inch

I also started making these back in September 2022 and have quite a few of these. 

Switch Plate

3 x 5

I've been making these since May 2022 and have quite a few.

And then I cut what was left into 1.5 x 2.5 pieces for the Lego project box. And then I cut 1.5 inch squares for the Postage Stamp Strippy project box. 

And sew on...

Got scraps?

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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CELEBRATE:

Jan. 5 - I won 27 FQs!!! Stashbusters UFO Challenge 2023 year end random drawing. 

 

'30s Thursday

Little Wonky Baskets and Hollow Nines

in '30s reproduction fabrics.

58 x 72

It's a flimsy!

You know how one thing leads to another. Well, once upon a time (back in May) I made a Churn Dash quilt top from '30s repro yardage.  Then with leftover 5 inch scraps from making Churn Dashes  and some 2. 5 inch scraps left from other projects I made an Indian Hatchet (Ribbon Candy) top in October.  

Then the cutoff corners (waste triangles) from making those Indian Hatchets led me to make some Little Wonky Baskets that finish at 4. 5inches. I used muslin bits and pieces for the background because muslin (and Kona Snow) seems to go with '30s fabrics. Then I thought the Little Wonky Baskets looked kind of plain all by themselves so I used some 2 inch 30s repro scraps and muslin to make Hollow Nines as an alternate block for this quilt top. 

And now I still have some leftover cutoff corners I will turn into little Dinky Wonky Hourglasses. 

My next task will be to evaluate any UFOs in pieces I have made with '30s reproduction fabrics and decide what I need to do with each of those UFOs. 

 

'30s Thursday

This week I made the halfway point on my Little Scrap Baskets and Hollow Nines. Then I ran out of blocks. 

I figured out I needed 36 more Little Scrap Baskets so I made those. Now I just need to make 45 Hollow Nines. First I need to cut 360 little 2 inch squares from various sizes of scraps and that takes a whole lot longer than just cutting up a few 2 inch strips. But I have been trying to work on something each week that uses '30s reproduction scraps so I guess I know what my next task happens to be. 

This week I also made 56 Wishing Rings with "dark" corners. I used more of those '30s reproduction 3.5 inch scraps to make them. 

These Wishing Rings finish at 3.5 inches and I've been making them for a couple of years as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project. The sides I've been cutting from 1.5 inch scraps. The 2 inch center and 1.5 inch corners I've been cutting from 3.5 inch scraps. 

Remember last week when I mentioned I still had a bunch of 3.5 inch scraps left after I made 120 Economy blocks with 3.5 inch centers?  Well...here is how I cut the 3.5 inch scrap for those Wishing Ring centers and corners.  I'm left with a tiny bit of waste and I also get extra 1.5 inch squares for the pencil box of 1.5 inch squares I've been using to make PSP20 (Postage Stamp Pandemic 2020) blocks. 

After making those 56 blocks I still have some 3.5 inch scraps leftover but I'm setting them aside for a bit now until I evaluate all the UFOs I have going that use '30s reproduction fabrics. 

 So now that gives me 280 Wishing Rings with dark corners toward my goal of 312. They are made in a variety of scraps and not just '30s reproductions. Only 32 more blocks to go after all these years! I already have 312 with light corners. The light and dark cornered blocks will alternate in the finished quilt. 

'30s Thursday

 Remember those Little Baskets I was making out of waste triangles left over from making Indian Hatchet blocks with left overs from Churn Dashes made of '30s reproduction fabrics? Well,  even though I don't have enough Little Baskets or Hollow Nine Patches I decided to start sewing the blocks together in a diagonal layout.  I think it measures around 56 inches across at the top right now so I'm not quite half way finished with it. I'm aiming for a quilt around 60 x 80. And now I need to go make more blocks.