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...

WITB #10 -- Pink and Blue Coins

It's a top!

Pink and Blue Coins

40  x 60

At the end of last month  I posed the question WITB? 

(What's in the 11 x 13 x 8.5 inch box of 3 inch width scraps?)

This is comfort quilt #10  that I've made from those scraps ! 

And I still have some scraps in that box!  

  I decided I had enough length on a lot of the pinks and blues to cut at least 3 rectangles - 3 x 4.5. I decided on 4.5 because I wanted not only to use the 3 inch width scraps but I also had a few pink 4.5 inch width scraps left from making the pink and gray Wonky Windmills this month. 

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept. 25 - Mailed 6 quilts to Wrap-A-Smile   AND I received some fun animal skin prints from Cheryl! 

 

WITB #9 - Quiet Time

It's a top!

Quiet Time

Low Volume

57 x 76

The other day I posed the question WITB? 

(What's in the 11 x 13 x 8.5 inch box of 3 inch width scraps?)

This is comfort quilt #9 that I've made from those scraps ! 

And I still have some scraps in that box!  

I was able to make all 48 Nine Patches from the pastel and white squares in the box of scraps. I was just going to make a Nine Patch quit but then it just seemed kind of boring.  I'm not really fond of pastels or white on whites and a lot of those squares in the Nine Patches are old florals.

I decided to turn the Nine Patches into Hot Cross Nine Patches - an old Block Lotto block we made in 2012.    To frame the Nine Patches I used an little pile of old white on white scraps   And for the insert strips I cut some of the 3 inch width pastel scraps into 1 inch strips and when those ran out I used a few pastel scraps from my little box of pastel scraps. 

Well, I don't know what I was thinking when I started down the Hot Cross Nine Patch path...I don't really like to make blocks that get cut apart and then put back together like these. I'd rather just make the finished block than cut them apart because sometimes I am not a precision piecer and sometimes I may cut a little wonky. I'll blame it on bad eyesight.   But now all is said and done and I've moved on to WITB quilt #10.   I only have a few more days left in the month to empty that box of 3 inch scraps!

And sew on...

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept. 22 - First day of Autumn!   This time of year when I walk around the gardens at sunrise it looks like there is a golden glow on everything. I wasn't able to capture it in a photo.

Sept. 23 - Finished a book! - Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson and Brian Sitts.   Three private investigators with famous last names and mysterious pasts work together to solve crimes. It is the first of what is to be a series. The book was okay reading but nothing like Patterson's detective Alex Cross series. Not sure I'll be all that anxious to read the second book in the series when it is released. 

Sept. 24 - Echinacea or Coneflowers.   I added several new varieties to the garden this year. 

Also this year I learned about Aster Yellows. It is a phytoplasma spread to plants by leaf hoppers. The plant then produces some green alien looking flowers. Once a plant gets yellow asters there is no cure for it and plants should be pulled out of the garden. So far I haven't had the heart to do that on my two infected coneflowers -- a white swan and purple coneflower I grew from seeds and have had for a long time. But I guess it has to be done But I don't have the heart to pull up a plant I have had for a long time even if it is now deformed. They are in my native wildflower area and I'm not sure what mother nature would do with these. 

 

WITB #8 - HST Four Patch

It's a top!

HST Four Patch

50 x 70

The other day I posed the question WITB? 

(What's in the box of 3 inch width scraps?)

This is comfort quilt #8 ! 

And I still have some scraps in that box!  

Yes, there's a few oopsie blocks in the quilt. 

Not sure how many more quilt tops I'll be able to make from that box of 3 inch width scraps. I'll work on those scraps until month end and then show you what's left in that box if anything. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept. 21 - Roses!  I still have quite a few roses blooming. All of my roses are scented so every once in awhile I stop to smell them. 

 

WITB #7 - Unchained Melody

It's a top!

Unchained Melody 

(I like that song as sung by the Righteous Brothers)

55 x 70

The other day I posed the question WITB? 

(What's in the box of 3 inch width scraps?)

This is comfort quilt #7 ! 

And I still have some scraps in that box!  

For this one I used the cream, tan, brown 3 inch width partial strips and squares. 

I did a rough sketch of a quilt to use those scraps. 

Then I cut 616 (22 across and 28 down) 3 inch squares from the scraps in the box.   I also collected triangles in all colors of the rainbow from my box of crumb pieces. 

I sorted my squares into light, medium and dark. Then I made one row at a time keeping in mind that I wanted the rows to transition top to bottom from lighter to darker squares.  And the little triangles sewn to the corners of the squares I kept in rainbow order across the rows to form chains across the quilt. 

When I got to the darker squares I tried to keep the reddish/rust browns at the beginning of the rows and the darker squares toward the end of the rows. 

And sew on...

*****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept.. 17 - A beautiful harvest moon which was also a supermoon. I didn't stay up late enough to see if I could see the partial eclipse of the moon. 

Sept. 18 - Finished a book! - Damage Control by Robert Dugoni. It's a mystery thriller.. A woman has quite a few problems going on in her life yet finds time to help a detective solve the mystery of the death of her brother. She also manages to resolve a few of her problems before the end of the book. 

Sept. 19 - Onions! In between fictional books I've been reading a little bit now and then of Herbal Antibiotics; What Big Pharma Doesn't Want You To Know by Mary Jones. In Chapter 6 - Top 45 Wondrous Herbs Onions and Garlic is listed as #1.  "The sulphur compounds in onions and garlic are a key ingredient in antibiotics. They destroy bad bacteria and kill off infections."  I remember reading elsewhere that during the Spanish Flu epidemic it was recommended to eat more onions to ward off the flu.   Not sure if any of that is true; however, I do eat a lot of onions and garlic every day and don't remember the last time I've had the flu or a cold. (I've never had a flu shot and only (regretfully) had the first two covid vaccinations and will not get anymore. I'm not totally against vaccines - just flu/covid for me)  Well, anyway...I do grow my own onions too. A few years ago I started growing them from plants (not sets) I purchase from Dixondale Farms.   Since hubby no longer is able to eat garden produce (he has a G-tube) I cut down on the number of onions I plant. I tried a long day onion sampler this year of Walla Walla, a white onion, Ringmaster, a yellow onion, and Redwing, a red onion. I ate a lot of them as green onions. I should have watered them a little more than I did to produce larger onions but I'm pleased with my harvest that should last me through the winter.   Oh, and one last thing about onions...did you know that white onions are usually sweeter and the best to eat raw? They have less sulphur content.     I keep a pot of canola oil on my stove and make myself some onion rings almost every other day. I love them! 

Sept. 20 - Quilts Beyond Borders!   The latest blog post shows some of my donated quilts and the places they are going -- Comfort Cases and Jeremiah's Hope.  (My quilts show "Cathy L" as the maker in the blog post).