Patience and Prudence

←This is Patience she measures in right now, before borders, at 64" X 78". She has all but emptied out my bin of 3.5" square scraps. Hallelujah! This was a great stash/scrap buster! Fifty 8" squares of every shade and hue. Im glad that I stuck with this one, it makes me happy. Patience has a baby sister, too:

This is Prudence↑. She's made with the leftover HSTs from her big sister; she measures 25" X 38". (Since one definition of "prudence" is: "skill and good judgement in the management and use of resources" it seemed to be the perfect name.) Isn't she cute? I do plan to add borders to Patience this week. But, you know how it is... things keep coming up, we'll see. I used to keep up with this blog, it's a wonder to me now how I ever did it. I'm not making any more promises to get better about posting. Speaking of things coming up:

Ta-da! Quiltdivajulie has been posting pics of her glorious Amaryllis bulbs. Here's ours... it's always fun to watch these emerge and climb high before bursting into glorious blooms to brighten the otherwise bleak winter days. Every day there's a visible display of progress and growth!

Dad had this photo sent to me. I told him that I wanted to see his smiling face but he told me to "get over it". Even in his current situation he's kept a great attitude and sense of humor. That's a blessing. The pillow that he is holding here was presented to him by his nursing team last week. It is made from a jacket that belonged to my mother. 💖 As sad as I am that Dad is no longer at home I am comforted by the fact that this facility is staffed by such loving and compassionate individuals that they would do something like this for him!  Acts of kindness such as these make a huge difference in the lives of those that they're caring for!

I'll close today with this picture of Lynnleigh, we spent the day shopping with her today to celebrate her 13th birthday! Yes, THIRTEEN! I know. sigh.  We're no strangers to birthday shopping trips throughout the years but they're no longer to the American Girl store. Sigh. So, what did the birthday girl choose for her outing? We shopped for books, craft supplies, accessories, a pullover, skin care items and, naturally, we just had to end our special day out with an ice cream sundae! It just doesn't get any better than that!

Life is Good!

Snow Happens...

How does that saying go: "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"? Well, sometimes SNOW happens too! The best laid plans, one for a retreat weekend with my quilting friends at a not-too-far-from-here state park, was preempted this past weekend for this forecasted snow event. Since the retreat was supposed to commence on Friday I jumped right in at home. Disappointed, but resolute, I pushed forward with determination to  make the weekend count!

Working solely from precut Tumbler scraps I was able to get this lap quilt (58" X 70") pieced by the end of the day on Friday, the snow began falling in the early afternoon. This is one of many that I've made this way (Leader-Ender style). I will quilt it up later this year and pass it along wherever it can be best used. The scene at the top was taken outside the sewing room window on Saturday morning. We had about 4" of the white stuff and it was done snowing by dawn. 

Our son and his family drove out to our house for some outdoor fun: rural-road sledding and snowman construction. Gregory had already called it quits by the time Frosty was complete and was indoors with Nana making hot chocolate!

Staying snug and warm inside, the remainder of Saturday and Sunday (church was canceled) were spent getting "No Scrap Too Small" joined into a 60"X 80" flimsy. Another lingering UFO comprised of 4-patches that had gone together L-E style for the past year, at least, were finally set together; I'm calling this one done. ✔

Here's the 10" block. Each one has 43 pieces, the bitty 4-patch sub-units finish to 2". I loved using them up and combining them with Low Volumes that I have squirreled away. All in all, it was a productive weekend.

Naturally I missed my friends, but it's not like I was alone in the sewing room, not at all! Our group has already rescheduled and have our collective fingers crossed that the snow won't return again, at least not this season. 

And sew, the decks are cleared and could that be an entirely new project already in the works? You betcha! This weekend was a perfect illustration of the fact that we are not in control, He is. So, it is up to us to turn an unexpected event into something else, something positive; to learn and to be thankful for whatever comes our way. Sometimes the unexpected might just be white flakes falling from the sky, and that's okay. What a great lesson! 

Life is Good!

Removing Bricks

"Zippity Doo Dah" is all quilted, off the rails, trimmed up and ready for binding. This quilt measures 76" X 64" and removed 192 light colored 2.5" X 4.5" "bricks" from my precut scrap bin. That might sound like a big number, but I still couldn't manage to even get the top on the bin; it remained full-to-overflowing. I knew that I could do better. As I posted last week and the week before, the Potato Chip quilt took shape, leader-ender style, as I was piecing a different top. 

 

As of this morning the Potato Chip quilt (on the wall) is fully pieced and measures in at 64" X 80"; a good, usable size. This little endeavor helped to remove 640 bricks from the bin! I'm on a roll, and now, not to be defeated by my own scraps, I'm moving on to another design while still working out of the same bin! Yay! You can see the blocks on the table and how they combine; again, using light/dark contrast to make the columnar setting stand out. I was inspired here; this scrap quilt design showed up in my Pinterest feed and the time was right. I guess this must mean that I'm working on a series~ a first for me!

So, the brick removal continues and with any luck at all, the bin's contents will begin to dwindle. Another 4, 5, or 6 hundred and I should be in pretty good shape, at least I'll be able to place the lid on this bin and hear it snap shut! Oh, happy day!

Sew, what's next?

Life is Good!

How One Good Thing Leads To Another...

Have a look at the fast-accumulating Potato Chip* blocks that are appearing, L-E style, as I continue to set together the Stitching Kindness quilt. That one is currently residing on the design wall as the rows are being stitched which is why these blocks are currently occupying the design floor. I just love the happy, chaotic, scrappiness of this one. The original idea behind this leader-ender diversion was to empty out the 2.5" X 4.5" scrap bin. As you can see, even with this many blocks done, I've barely made a dent. ↓

Which makes me think that perhaps I need to make another one after this. Yep, I can see why this one was called the Potato Chip block; in my case, I can't (or shouldn't) stop at just one!

 Life is Good!

* See here for previous post.

Stitching Kindness

Accepting the challenge that my small stitching group threw out there earlier this summer, last week I began setting together the blocks from Susan Ache's "Stitching Kindness" sew-along. As someone who has a deep love for all things red and white, this was an easy one for me to participate in.

The block sub-unit looks much like the Swiss flag to me! This one goes together in rows rather than blocks.

I stitched up the block sub-units and copied the embroidery designs for hand stitching this way, using a light box. 

This is how far I am as of today; I have almost all of the embroidery finished and am working totally from my red stashed scraps, the only fabric that I've bought for this one is the background setting pieces. I am using my all time favorite DMC floss: red #321. It will be SEW much fun for us to all get together later this fall to compare our finished quilts! I know that two of us are using all reds, but Quiltkeemosabe, who has an impeccable eye for color, is striking out on her own with an alternate colorway; I can't wait! The one thing that I wished I had thought to do is to have prewashed my red scraps, or at least soaked them in Retayne before I began piecing. I am considering soaking the finished top in a Retayne/water solution for color-fixing that way before I quilt it. Does anyone have any experience in using the product in that fashion? Or, would I be better off to quilt and finish it and then soak it as described? I'm really unsure how to proceed. Any and all advice is welcome!

On the other side of the studio I've loaded "Zippity Doo Dah" onto Snowbird and quilting has commenced. I've chosen "Flying Paisley" as the pantograph and am using a light silver gray thread to blend in with the chambray linen. 

This one has the very BEST BACKING fabric of all time! I had been saving this on the shelf for a long time and decided it was time to use it (I still have another 2 yards! 😉).

It's a rainy, gray Labor Day Monday here today; how are you spending your holiday? 

Life is Good!

Betcha Can't

What to do with a full-to-overflowing bin of 2.5" X 4.5" bricks? Grab a fistful and put together some Potato Chip blocks! I found this free pattern somewhere on the Internet, it was all the inspiration that I needed and this has become the perfect leader-ender  project, going together sew quickly I can hardly believe it myself; plus, this is so much fun! I should easily be able to get a couple of good-sized quilts from this bin alone. Scrap busting! 

Here's one block, easy-peasy.

And here are four blocks joined, for reference. The only thing that you need to pay attention to is light/dark placement and turning every other block a quarter turn to make the design come together. Go for it!

Betcha can't stitch just one.

😉

For those who asked, I had to so some searching; this is the picture that I found on Pinterest, 

the one that inspired me. I'm sorry to say that I can't give credit to the quiltmaker, that person is unknown to me. 

Life is Good!

Battening Down

This is what happens when snow is predicted in the south; naturally there's the insanity that occurs as everyone runs for bread and milk at the grocery stores but, then, the conversation turns to anticipated snowfall amounts and, ultimately, how long folks expect to be stranded. I'm not too worried: we have firewood enough to last and I have an adequate supply of books and stitching projects piled up to get me through at least several storms. Yes, finally the weather has cooled seasonably, and those of us lucky enough to live in the south are battening down the hatches in preparation for winter storm Izzy and whatever she brings! 

This tree ꜛ is a trial quilt block. Carrie Nelson is currently hosting a quilt-along for Moda called "Branching Out"; Quiltkeemosabe had tried the block and had difficulty with the directions given for the trunk. She asked me to try it out, as written. I did find it necessary to make an adjustment in the trimming of that pieced trunk unit. If any of you are doing this I might suggest dropping that diagonal cutting line to 1.25" instead of the 1". Once I changed that I had no difficulty at all in constructing this 8.5" block. The current weather forecast undoubtedly impacted my fabric choices for this one!

In other news: I managed to finish up the Wonder Flutters runner, learning to use the Wonder Curve ruler this week. 

I don't usually show customer quilts but I've fallen deeply in love with this scrappy beauty while it's been here under the needle this week. The pattern is Summer Wedding by Black Cat Creations. The quilting is Curls by Beany Girl Quilts. 

Something else that I'm enamored with is that Folded Corner Clipper by Creative Grids. I'm finishing up the outer borders on the Great Granny Squared quilt using it instead of the old stitch-cut-flip method. Those sweet little corner clippings could simply be discarded. Nope, I couldn't bear tossing them!

I trimmed these to 1.75" after stitching. I know, it's craziness; but aren't they adorable?

But, to top it all off: this happened today! We blinked!! Happy birthday, sweet girl. 💗

We can prepare for the onslaught of winter weather, 

but nothing's preparing me for time passing this swiftly!

Life is Good!

A-MAZE-ing!

Last weekend, to usher in the New Year, I had a heavy date with my Accuquilt die cutter. Slowly and surely I worked my way through all of the scraps from 2020 that had accumulated in the bottom clear up to the top of my basket! By Saturday evening this was a most welcome sight: 

Each and every scrap had been cut into the largest, usable, pieces and the bins had been generously fed!

As of today I have this scrappy quilt top together. The pattern is Mazed by Kristi Daum. She has other scrap-friendly patterns at this (linked) site too. Mine has been modified, size-wise, by the amount of the white background that I happened to have lurking in the stash; this will finish up at 54" X 66" which will be a generous lap-sized quilt. It is ear-marked as the first donation quilt for this year. I barely made a dent in my over-filled 2.5" squares bin!

Here's the bin after using 396 squares out of it to create the "Mazed" top, at this rate I can make many more with little (to no) fear of running low anytime soon. 

This was a fun activity: Lynnleigh spent lots of time arranging (and rearranging) the blocks on the floor to create her own custom labyrinths. I believe that she is old enough this summer to begin piecing blocks by herself on the machine; this might be a good one for her to start with. 

There's really no rhyme or reason the layout, each block can be twisted and turned as you go. I pieced the entire top by webbing it together (top left photo). I have good luck with that method and the seam allowances, when pressed alternately, mesh together nicely for a smooth finish row to row. So, what's your first top of the new year? I've got something on the quilt frame now, too. Stay tuned for that "ta-da" finish. 

Life is Good!