It's a Flimsy! String Stars

 String Stars

63 x 81

It's a flimsy! 

 30s reproduction 1.5 inch scraps and Kona Spring. 

For some reason I always think string quilts should be made from scraps and it took awhile to accumulate enough 30s scraps to finish the blocks. 

My December OMG (One Monthly Goal) was to get blocks made into a top. 

Goal accomplished so at the end of the month I'll link up to OMG at Elm Street Quilts. 

And now a bag of leftover 30s 1.5 inch scraps has joined with other 1.5 inch scraps in the Spider Web shoe    project box. 

Low Volume String Hearts

Low Volume String Hearts

I mentioned yesterday that in 2019 I want to concentrate on using selvages and strings. One of the string projects I'm working on is low volume string hearts - a February 2013 Block Lotto pattern.  Looks like I already hopped out of the low volume box. 

More later...

Edgy

 Selvage Star 

34 inches

This year I tried to get my crumb scraps under control and although I still have a ways to go I'm pleased with the progress. Next year I am going to concentrate on reducing selvages and strings.  This week I started on three different quilts that use selvages.  

This Selvage Star...

 ...will be combined with some nine inch black and red and selvage squares. 

 These are two selvage strips 30 x 10. I made the longest pieces first and now have to make some some selvage squares. 

 The selvage strips and squares will be combined with some black and pink fabrics for this quilt. 

The third selvage quilt requires pieces cut from seven different grays which I have done to be sure I had enough gray fabrics. Now I need to make some squares in a couple of different sizes which will later be made into HSTs. 

I probably have enough for a few more quilts after these three. We shall see how it goes. I used to only leave a little bit of fabric with the selvage edge so it takes a lot of sewing to get a good sized square.   For the last year or so I quit saving selvages. I cut as close as I can to the edge and then the selvage piece goes into the "garden path" box of scraps that I spread on the flower garden paths to keep weeds down.  If I cut a long selvage close to the end I now throw that into the "garden tie" bucket.  So after the boxes of saved selvages are gone I don't expect I'll make anymore selvage quilts. 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Go Figure

 

 For a couple of years I've been making these blocks from 1.5 inch scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. The blocks measure 6" x 14".  I have been keeping my 30s reproduction scraps in that size separate from other scraps so I could finish some String Stars.  I finished the 30s String Star blocks so recently made these blocks (and then some)  from those scraps. 

I've been calling these blocks Whatchamacallits for lack of a better name but then I saw Sally at The Objects of Design was calling them Bitcoins and I think I prefer that name so that's what I'll call them moving forward.  

 Speaking of moving forward...I decided I should figure out how many blocks I have and how many blocks I need. So I took count. I have 52 blocks. I want to set them 14 x 6 for an 84 inch square quilt. The colors will all be mixed up so I don't need to worry about how many of each color I need. I'll continue just using whatever shows up in the scrap bin. 

So if I make 32 blocks next year I'll have the makings of a quilt. 

I've also been making these little 3 inch rail blocks from 1.5 inch scraps for a couple of years. 

It's also time for me to figure out how many of these I have an how many I need. 

 I sorted them into piles of 50.  And was surprised I had that many.  Again, these will be all mixed up in the final quilt and not separated by colors into rows or columns so I don't need to worry about how many of each color I have. I can just go where the scraps take me. 

I like big quilts so decided I'd aim for one 90 inches square.  (You know I've never liked square quilts but it seems that's what I've been making lately for some reason).   As of today I have 591 blocks. I need a total of 900. So if I make 309 in 2019 I'll have the makings of a quilt top. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Wagon Wheels

The latest Wagon Wheels.

Genealogy is another one of my passions. For some reason while I was making these Wagon Wheels  I thought of a maternal great, great grandfather I never met named Jacob Messer. 

Fairfield Ledger

Fairfield, Jefferson, Iowa

February 6, 1878

     This week again the LEDGER chronicles another of those accidents on the road which resulted fatally to one of Jefferson County's good citizens. Thursday last Jacob Messer who lives about eleven miles northeast of the city, started for town with a load of wood in company with his cousin, each having a loaded wagon. When near the Blakely farm, about eight miles from town, Charles, who was ahead on the road, was startled by having the other team come dashing up the road, frightened, and breaking the wagon to pieces. As soon as possible he secured his horses and started back to look for his friend. He found him a short distance back lying in the road bleeding profusely, his head crushed and lacerated and life extinct. The body was carried to a neighboring house and medical aid summoned, but of no avail--the spirit had fled. It is the thought that by breaking some part of the wagon the man was thrown under it, probably dragged some distance, and then, unable to extricate himself, the wheels bearing their heavy load passed over his head, crushing it and causing instant death.

    Mr. Messer was an industrious and thrifty German citizen about 35 years of age living in Walnut Township, where he was much respected. He leaves a wife and two children, we are informed, in comfortable circumstances. His body was interred in the Lutheran Cemetery near Germanville on Saturday.

You Win Some. You Lose Some.

 Periodically I play the Lotto. There's no money involved - just fabric. 

One of the Lottos I participate in is one at the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild.  Each month there is a theme and if you want to join in you make 12 inch blocks with your interpretation of the theme.  The blocks are made in multiples of two. One block goes into the drawing and the other goes to the lady who runs the Lotto to make quilts for Wrap-A-Smile or Quilts Beyond Borders.   If you are a winner you are free to do as you wish with the blocks. 

The October theme was Sunshine and I won 16 blocks. 

 I made 20 Flying Geese and used 15 of the Sunshine blocks to make this quilt top 42 x 60. 

 The other Lotto is Block Lotto.  There's a block of the month and if you participate you can make as many blocks for the drawing as you wish up to the maximum. 

A Nine Patch Star was the block of the month for November. I wasn't a winner so I now get to send them to the ladies who did win. 

December's Block Lotto block of the month is a scrappy six inch Sawtooth Star in blue or purple.  I made the maximum of nine blocks.  Do you think I'll be a winner or loser in December?  I think I'll be a winner. You know...the power of positive thinking...

Both Lottos give me an opportunity to try new blocks and new color combinations and very often use scraps.  Every once in awhile I win some blocks and have fun figuring out how to set them. I also have fun looking at all the fabrics everyone used in their blocks.  

Can You Tell That Sewing Rows Together Is Not My Favorite Thing To Do?

Looks kind of like a pile of dirty laundry. It's not. But I guess I'm airing some. Can you tell that sewing rows together is not my favorite thing to do? I end up with piles like this from time to time next to my chair at the sewing machine. When it gets pretty high I do something about it - I force myself to start sewing together rows before I can do any other sewing related thing. Depending upon what needs to be done I make little goals about how many rows need to be sewn together each day or how many blocks need to be completed each day. 

So what's in the pile this time?  Are you curious? If so then read on. 

 There's a bunch of nine inch Triangle Tile blocks ( I think that's what they are called) that need rows sewn together. 

After these HSTs are sewn into blocks and the webbed ones are made into blocks I should have 56 blocks that can be sewn together into rows and thrown back into the pile. 

 And then there's my little butterflies. All blocks are sewn together into 20 rows and now I just have to sew those 20 rows togetherr. 

 Also in the pile are rows of Happy Animals. 

 And then there's the String Star blocks for my One Monthly Goal all sewn together into rows now. 

 Then there's a pile of these little Whatchamacallits that need to be sewn together. I made these from some of the 1.5 inch scraps left over from the String Stars. More on those later. 

 And there are some of these little rails in the pile. All they need is ironing. No rows to sew together on these. 

And finally there's an orphan block partially sewn together.  I started sewing it together but noticed I hadn't used the same solid or tot for one of the colors, darn it. So I tossed it aside and made another one the right way. 

And that's the process for some quilts. Not all follow the same process though.