Marginalia: A Quilty 365 Project

February Circles

Since Nov 4, 2015 I have been making a circle a day. That's 118 circles if I counted right.  I choose fabric that kind of highlights something from the day, match muslin with fabric for a HST background then buttonhole stitch by hand around each circle. 

In February I:

•  finished four quilts that were UFOS - Which Way to the Chocolate (hand quilted), Fireworks on the Rails, Wonky Logs and Pentland Crackers 
• read two books - What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
• celebrated three birthdays - son -in-law, dau.-in-law and grandson
• experienced unusually high winds and unusually high temps
• celebrated Ground Hog Day, Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day and National Drink a Glass of Wine Day
• had a sick computer, a sick sewing machine and a sick body
• enjoyed flock of cardinals for several days and almost ran over 5 deer in the road out front on my way to work at 4:30 a.m
• gas was down to $1.42 per gallon (I've been keeping track monthly for posterity)
• gave myself some advice to "stay calm and eat bacon".

Quilty 365 was Audrey's brainstorm

On March 1 she will have a Quilty 365 linkup where you can enjoy quite a variety of interpretations of the year long journey. 

Pentland Crackers Finished

Pentland Crackers

72 x 84

We are probably going to trade in our ancient pop-up camper that sleeps 5 and has no toilet with a brand new one that sleeps 9 and has a toilet.  Since I will retire next year we will be able to take the grandkids camping in style and more often.  Anyway, I decided I needed a couple more light weight quilts for the new camper.  So there it will go. 

These six inch crackers started out as a swap.  Then last year I used my 2.5 inch scraps and made a few each month as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.    When I was ready to assemble I couldn't decide on a layout right away so just decided to see what they looked like sewn together into groups of four of the same color.   After I had enough four unit blocks I just randomly sewed them all together because I don't have a design wall and didn't really want to muss and fuss a lot with them anyway. I kind of like random. 

Since they looked a lot like flowers in a garden I machine quilted on my DSM with some really, really free motion flowers in each section - no marking and sometimes there were some shaky hands. Before I did that, though, I did some straight line quilting 1/4 inch on each side of the 12 inch blocks (of four crackers) with my walking foot.  

I just used wide muslin for the backing and some really lightweight batting since it's a summer quilt. 

I used two color catchers in the washer but it looks like there might be a little bleeding from some reds. Or since it's so lightweight it might just be the red peeking through from the front. Either way, it really doesn't bother me.  It's going in the new camper.  It serves the same purpose whether or not the bleeding is there or not. 

I used more scrappy binding. I think my leftover binding box is getting pretty low now and I'll probably have to start cutting bindings again. On scrap quilts I like the scrappy binding. 

Broke my sewing machine again while quilting this- bobbin stop broke off.  So while Jane Janome  is out I'll be going back to Kenny Kenmore.   For now I'm off to grandson's birthday party. 

This was my goal #13    for the       2016 Finish Along. 

Linking to:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Brown Twinklers

The fuzzy pic represents my fuzzy headed feeling the last few days.

The only thing I made this week was some brown six inch Twinklers with my scraps. If I make about ten next month I will have 130 - enough for a layout 10 x 13 and a quilt 60 x 78.  I've been making these from scraps each month for the last couple of years as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Crooked; Off-Center; Askew = Wonky

Wonky Happies? Wonky Logs? Just Wonky? 

45 x 54

I used a pile of 5 inch (or were they 6.5 inch?) black & white squares I swapped quite some time ago...

...and framed them with some bright short strings 

I pieced together some leftover batting pieces and some leftover binding pieces...

...and pieced together a nice piece of cotton gingham I found at the thrift store long ago. 

I quilted it on my plain Jane Janome DSM with some free motion squares and rectangles. 

The quilting made it all poofy and cuddly. 

I improvised - used what I had on hand - leftover fabric strings, leftover batting, leftover binding, thrift store backing.    I get a good feeling using up what some others might give away or (gasp!) throw away. 

This quilt will go into the donation pile. I like to have a pile of donation quilts handy for any occasions that arise and at the end of the year I send any left off to their destinations.  This year I'm making some emergency car kits for Christmas gifts and including a small quilt along with some other survival items. So, some of these smaller quilts might go into those boxes.

Some Thoughts on Improv

 I'm afraid you will only see me doing what some others define as "improv" with scraps. Improv to me is short for improvise - use what you have on hand. (Well, on second thought...with that definition of improv alone most of my quilts then would be considered improv since I rarely buy any fabric these days and am using what I have on hand). I really have no desire to cut willy-nilly into my"good stash" paid for with hard earned money, to do without all the rulers and other tools I have at my disposal, to not do my best to match points or seams . I started out like that but now I love piecing - actually I'm starting to enjoy the more challenging blocks to piece more and more -  and have no need to go back to my old ways. I already feel "free" whenever I sew anything or work out in my garden or take off my bra and shoes and socks so no need to get liberated doing any specific type of quilting .  I'm happy just doing my own thing whatever that may be for the day.  But when there's scraps left over from doing what I want to do - then I might get a little wonky or do a little free piecing or some crazy quilting and I might even have some mismatched points.  I like it all. 

If you want to see some other improv interpretations and some Ad Hoc Improv Quilters you just have to visit Kaja's Sew Slowly blog  and Ann's Fret Not Yourself blog.  

Please note: I haven't gotten around to visiting my usual blog list lately to see what everyone has been working on or returned a thank you for each lovely comment because I have been feeling like the walking dead since Monday (as you can see from my Quilty 365 circle ) .  I'm hoping to be around to visit soon. 

Playing in the Rose Garden

Rosebud Blocks

12 inch

I had hoped to get more made this weekend but played lots of board games with the grandkids instead.  We had fun. 

And now I have 20 blocks. I want 49. 

I started this quilt in March of 2014. I feel it is time to work on it again.  I wonder how many more different rose themed fabrics I have in my box of roses now. 

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Jack's Chain

Jack's Chain is still in the hoop and probably will be for awhile. It's a large quilt. 

Right now I'm  using navy thread and just quilting x through the little 3 inch nine patches and quilting 1/4 (eyeballed) inside the triangles and quilting in the ditch around the hexagons.

Later I will quilt this motif in all of the hexagons in different colored threads. 

Since there's a whole lot of slow stitching going on in this thing I'm linking up to:

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

And since there's a whole lot of scraps in this quilt I'm linking up to:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework

Brownies with Pink Icing

Brown is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. We can also use pink for accent.  Here are this month's 14 inch interlocking chain blocks - one in brown and pink and one in all browns. 

Here's some miscellaneous brown scraps - two 8 inch Depression Blocks to add to the pile I've been making for a couple of years, two 4 inch Broken Dishes blocks for the four inch Kitchen Sink pile and a bunch of 4 inch chocolate hearts with some chocolate pieces left over from Which Way to the Chocolate?  Not sure what I'll do with them...but they were quick and easy and used up some scraps. 

That concludes this week's brown scraps. I think I might have enough leftover for some blocks next week. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - ScrapHappy Saturday

There's always an open invitation to anyone with scraps! Be there!