WITB?

 WITB (What's in the Box, Bin, Bag) is the theme in my sewing space for the month of March. I've been trying to see how many bags, bins and boxes I can empty to move a few UFOs forward.

I've also been working with yellow scraps this month because that is the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color. 

And I don't always follow the challenges issued by the Scrapbuster group but this month the challenge is 1.5 inch scraps. I have been trying to empty a couple of boxes of those this month.

Rail Fence

5 inch blocks

Rail Fence

5 inch blocks

On a post at the beginning of the month I showed a couple of boxes of 1.5 inch width scraps I had sorted into bags.  One bag held strips greater than 2.5 inches.   I pulled out that bag and cut pieces into 5.5 inch lengths, sorted by color and sewed 5 strips of the same color together to make 78 Rail Fence blocks. 

BAG empty!

Four Patch

6 inch blocks

I emptied a little baggie of Four Patch parts in red, white and blue. I think these were left over from making Americana.

The resulting Four Patches are now in the red, white and blue orphanage. That box is overflowing so I might have to make a red, white and blue orphan block quilt soon. 

Another one of the bags in my 1.5 inch width scrap boxes held pieces longer than 5.5 inch and at least 14 inches long. I matched a colored with a neutral and cut 14 inch lengths. I didn't have enough neutrals so had to cut a few of those from scrap chunks.  I emptied my bag and made 92 strip sets. 

Those 92 strip sets are now going into the Boo Boo Patch project bag. Moving forward I will pull out the ones in the RSC color of the month, subcut and make into my Boo Boo (or 18) Patches. 

I currently have 168 Patches and when I use those strip sets to make 92 more blocks I will reach my goal of 260 -- 3x6 inch blocks. That will be enough for a 60 x 78 quilt (20 blocks by 13 blocks).

I emptied another baggie of 1.5 inch width strips that were less than 5.5 inches. 

I cut those into rectangles 1.5 x 2.5 and 1.5 inch squares. 

The 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles went into the Potato Chip baggie. 

The 1.5 inch squares (postage stamps) went into a bigger bag of 1.5 inch squares. 

I've been using those to make my Gum Wrapper Chain strips. This one has been stalled for a bit because I ran out of 1.5 inch squares. However, I recently received that big bag of 1.5 inch squares so I can work on this Postage Stamp quilt once again. 

And remember I had two boxes of bags of 1.5 inch width scraps at the beginning of the month? 

Well, now I only have one box because I emptied the men's size 13 shoe box. 

The box of what I have left for 1.5 inch width scraps - a baggie with some longer pastel strips I will put with my pastel scraps, a baggie of multiple width of fabric (WOF) strips of the same fabric, a baggie of neutral pieces all lengths to be sorted and cut, a baggie of black and whites I will put with my black/white UFO, a baggie of pieces left over after making Waffles, Rails and Boo Boo Strips that need to be sorted and cut for WIPs/UFOs.  

Oh, and I did put some 1.5 inch width pieces long enough for 4 HSTs into my Little Baskets (4 inch) project box.  I have 35 Basket Blocks and my goal is 110. 

I emptied another baggie that someone had given me with Tumbler pieces.  I sewed those together into 9 strips 3.5 x 40 inches long. I figured I could use that length of strips in a row/strippie quilt. 

Someone also gave me a baggie of 4 Patch parts so I made those 15 - 6 inch blocks and emptied that bag. 

I have a little bag of old calico bits and pieces so I put the Tumbler strips and Four Patches in with those- Fodder for a future quilt. 

I'm keeping score of what bags and boxes emptied this month:

Boxes:

1- Coins

2 - Legos

3 - 1.5 inch width scraps

Bags:

1 - Kaleidoscope

2  - solid 1.5 inch strips for 51 Waffles

3 - 1.5 inch strips for 9 Legos

4 - Windmill blocks

5 - Happy Block parts

6 - Posies

7 - 1.5 inch strips for 78 Rail Fence blocks

8 - Four Patch parts

9 - 1.5 inch strips for 92 strip sets for Boo Boo Patches

10 - 1.5 inch width strips cut into rectangles and squares

11 - Tumblers

12 - Four Patch parts

And sew on...

A Finish! Peacock Feathers

It's a finish!

Peacock Feathers

60 x 80

If you are interested you can read about the making of this quilt from beginning to quilt top 2017 - 2021 on my December 2021 blog post. 

The tumblers were cut from 4.5 inch width strips with the EZ Dresden ruler. The scraps were left over from making a Peacock Fan quilt (in the quilting queue since 2017). 

Back in 2017 peacock fabrics must have been the rage because I remember there sure were a lot of different ones in the stores. I think I must have bought a 1/4 to 1/2 yard of dozens of them. 

I quilted it on my DSM (Brother PQ1500SL) with squiggles and loops in a variegated thread. 

The binding is scrappy - different purples from the leftover binding box. The backing is half peacock feathers and half dotty. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

October 18 - I treated myself to some new fabrics. It's been quite awhile since I've bought any fabric. I received an email from Marshall Dry Goods that they had a new line of "vintage florals" for $5.99 per yard. I had to look. Then I had to buy some - a yard of about a dozen different florals. Most featured roses. I do love roses! 

October 19 - Shipped 6 quilts to the coordinator for Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap-A- Smile. She will get them to the programs where they are needed most.  And speaking of shipping....I ship packages using the free Pirate Ship software. I have found it easy to use, compare costs and print labels. Then all I have to do is drop off packages at a UPS drop off location. 

October 20 - Finished a book! - This Savage World by Anna Housego.  Historical fiction. A woman in England is sentenced for theft to transportation in 1790 to Australia leaving behind a young daughter. 

October 21 - Received a box of scraps from Donna! 

October 22 - I bought new work boots.  The bottoms had started to come off my boots so I duct taped around the top of my shoes hoping to get through the rest of the gardening season that way. BUT while digging with a shovel the duct tape broke, snagged on the shovel and sent me tumbling. I went on line and ordered new boots that same day. 

October 23 - Finished a book! - The Innocent by David Baldacci. Mystery thriller. #1 in the Will Robie, government assassin, series. It was definitely a mystery thriller. 

October 24 - Finished clearing an area of invasive honeysuckle for a new goth/moon garden. More on that later. 

October 25 - Rain!  We haven't had much lately and are in a severe drought area.  This is the first time in over 30 years that my little man   woman made pond has run dry. It had several inches of mud in the bottom so I dug all that out and put in my veg garden.  

 

A New Top! Peacock Feathers

It's a top!

Peacock Feathers

60 x 80

It's made of long skinny tumblers (or champagne flutes?) of peacock fabrics and solids cut with a Dresden ruler. 

Actually, this is made of scraps left over from making a quilt top back in July 2017 called Peacock Fans that is still after all these years in the to-be-quilted pile. 

After that top was finished I sewed up the extra Dresden fan blades into a "Before-I-Forget" strip in September 2017.   Then what did I do? Immediately forgot about it until December 2020. 

In December 2020 I assessed the UFO and decided that I would cut more tumblers/champagne flutes.

In January 2021 I had cut over 700 tumblers/champagne flutes/peacock feathers and put those pieces into the "Some Assembly Required" box.

This month I sewed the pieces together as a sort of leader/ender project while making all my "Roses in December" quilt tops.  I sewed them together randomly (mindless, no-thinking sewing) into pairs then fours then eights and so on. There are 66 pieces in a row and 15 rows.  

Another UFO moved forward to the to-be-quilted pile!

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

 

Oh Peacock Feathers!

Some members of the Stashbusters group have decided they are going to make some Tumbler quilts in 2021. It's always fun to join in the fun and see the variety of quilts that are made. So joining the fun helped me decide which one of my UFOs to work on next...these unconventional Tumblers I called Peacock Feathers.  Back in September 2017 I blogged about what I did with some leftover Dresden Fan blades  a.k.a Tumblers a.k.a Peacock Feathers-- I sewed them together into a big long strip that measured 13 x 88.  After that I threw the strip, the leftover blades and extra fabric into a plastic bag and then threw the bag into a UFO bin. 

The fan blades were leftover from a top I finished back in July 2017 that is still in the hand quilting queue. I was never in a hurry to finish it because after I made the top I wasn't sure I really liked it all that much but now that I look at it again I am not sure why I didn't like it. 

Ok. So back to those fan blades a.k.a Tumblers... I dug out the bag and mulled over what to do with that big long strip; how to move this UFO forward.

I've decided to shorten that strip of three rows and take off nine Tumblers a.k.a. Fan Blades a.k.a Peacock Feathers at the end of each row. That would be about this section shown here.  That will make the strip about 80 inches long. This will be the length of the quilt and the Tumblers a.k.a. Fan Blades a.k.a. Peacock Feathers will lay sideways and look more like a Chinese Coins type of quilt. Then I will add 12 more columns of Peacock Feathers so the quilt will end up approximately 60 x 80. 

So that means I need over 700 more Peacock Feathers a.k.a. Tumblers a.k.a Fan Blades. That pile on the right is a pile of Peacock Feathers that was in the plastic bag along with some fabric cut to size. I guess I had better find my ruler and get cutting.