The Confetti Chain and Other Warm Weather Happenings

This is what I'm calling "Confetti Chain",  as it stands right now, 24 blocks. I hope to add the same number more; making it a generous 60" X 80" quilt. Eventually.

Here's the basic block unit laid out. Each block has forty three pieces! I can't remember where I ever saw this and I can't find a source. My version uses lights and darks out of the 1.5" scrap bin for the 4-patches. The background is all different low volume prints (one of my fondest weaknesses) cut into the following: 7 - 2.5" squares, 2- 2.5" X 4.5" rectangles and 2- 2.5" X 6.5" rectangles. That's it. I keep these going by the machine all the time and stitch them up leader-ender style as I am assembling other things. I needed to get this together so that I could fold it up and get it off the design wall for now to start auditioning different projects that are also in the works.  

The birds are out in force! We've got five baby bluebird hatchlings in the birdhouse and various birds nesting everywhere around us! It might be hard to tell in the photo but this determined Mama decided to build her nest and start her family directly on top of a flood light under our eaves! We have to be careful not to turn that light on accidentally when we go outside after dark; talk about a rude awakening!

And this... totally unrelated to anything else in this post. Those of you who've followed this blog for a long time will remember when Mason, our oldest grandson, was born. He's now almost driving age and serving as a Jr. Swim Coach for his neighborhood pool this summer. Our daughter sent me this picture yesterday. Here is Mason holding one of the youngest swimmers that he coaches; at a meet last evening. Could this moment be any sweeter? I don't think so, at least not for this Nana. 

Don't forget- today, June 13th, 

is the day; make it count!

Life is Good! 

One Stitch At A Time

During my bone-mending "sabbatical" from this blog I have been stitching away. Smaller, close to my body movements such as cross-stitch and piecing didn't over-reach my capabilities. I HAD to do something other than sitting still and reading! This Blackbird Designs sampler spoke to me. I'm drawn to "bee" patterns especially, maybe because my first name is actually Hebrew for bee. 

This began taking shape on the design wall at the same time. The smallest pieces are totally out of my 2.5" squares bins, and the background squares and recs are from my Low Volume stash. This is a fantastic L-E project; I love the secondary design that is emerging. I'm not sure how much farther I'll go with these 10" blocks; if I stopped now it would be a good table-topper size for our breakfast area (but will I?). These blocks grew as this, below, was being joined:

and sew it goes,

buzzing through the projects here, 

one stitch at a time...

"His labor is a chant,

His idleness a tune;

Oh, for a bee’s experience

Of clovers and of noon!"

excerpt from: "The Bee" by Emily Dickinson

Life is Good!

Making Lemonade

I'm looking on the bright side these days; if I didn't, the whole situation of living in a construction zone would drive me over the edge. I knew that I had to shift the focus to that which I could change for the better. As someone who craves order and tidiness I am faced daily with my biggest enemies: disorder, clutter, chaos and dust; piles and piles of it! My challenge is to deal with all of the above and make constructive use of this current state of our home! When the new drawers were installed, including the one that would house our silverware, Mr. G. had already outfitted that one with custom dividers, I no longer needed the cutlery insert that I'd had before! Hmmm... I thought... would it fit in the top drawer of my cutting island where I keep thread? Would it EVER!! Not only did it fit nicely but the sections were the perfect size for my small spools to be arranged by color. No more rolling around and getting mixed up with each other every time I opened and closed that drawer! SCORE! My next victory is with spices, extracts and baking supplies. Since all of the cabinets that contained those have been removed, I am now intimately acquainted with each and every bottle and tin that we have. Those that were old, dusty and of unknown origin have all been discarded, as have multiples of the same item! Now to separate those remaining into like categories and alphabetize them before they're restocked; this will be a HUGE (much needed) accomplishment! Likewise all of the no longer useful and questionable cleaning supplies that had been stored beneath where the kitchen sink used to be: gone, gone, and gone! Getting that future space under control in a neat and orderly way will be a breeze now!

We've gone from left photo to the right one this week, the backsplash has already been removed and the wall resurfaced; fingers crossed that all of the new cabinetry will be installed this weekend.

While Mr. G is working on the kitchen re-do and I've done as much as I can on that front, I've been escaping to the sewing room and a precious scrappy quilt loaded for clamshell quilting. A friend brought this to me, it has such a wonderful story: her mother had begun piecing this before she was diagnosed with a fast moving illness that ultimately took her life, it was out of the blue and completely unexpected. Following her death the unfinished quilt top sat for a long time until recently, her father picked it up and finished piecing it! It's huge: 96" X 102", entirely made up of three inch squares; yep, that's 1,088 scraps of love! My friend wanted double batting for a weightier, more substantial quilt. Sew it goes, this is destined to become a treasured family heirloom. 

Augie's been hanging out with me while I quilt lately, the sewing room is a peaceful place for him too. We're rising to the current challenges by squeezing lemonade out of the "lemons" that our construction zone has presented and making the best of it. Someone asked me the other day if this wasn't worse than moving; "no, not at all" I answered, emphatically, "I don't ever plan to move again, if I can help it! When this is over, and the dust settles, it will all be wonderful" (and tidy and better organized than it was before!). 

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the laundry room not only for doing up the dishes by hand 

but even for plugging in the crock pot for tonight's dinner. It's all good!

Life is Good! 

New Pantographs and Block Boards

I saw a pantograph that I really loved and had to have; in true "one thing leads to another" form I found myself ordering more than one once I had logged onto the website, a dangerous place for me to spend too long! Anyway, one of these new (to  me) pantographs, that I didn't even know that I needed, is "Malachite". I'm excited about the resulting texture on this scrappy Maze quilt that I had pieced a year ago. The Malachite gemstone is a said to bring transformation and promote harmony. I'd say that this quilting design is well named, as it has provided both to this piece. 

I backed it with a length of fabric that I had found "by the pound" at a Pineapple warehouse sale some time ago; it was the perfect amount.  Now the binding's in place for the finishing handwork. 

Do you use Block Boards? It was high time for me to replace the ones I have been using, my old ones were ratty from years of use and abuse. If you'd like to make your own here's a how-to video. Mine are scrappy (I love the look!) because I'm using up the last of a fat quarter bundle that has already  yielded a full sized quilt, a throw, two doll quilts and now the edging for these block boards! Aren't they cute? The sizes that I have here are 18", 15" and 12"; I've found that these are the best sizes for my purposes.

The way that I use mine are as a help for block layout before carrying the pieces to the machine. 

I like to "web" my blocks (less pinning, greater accuracy) by chain piecing, this way everything stays in order and the proper sequence as I stitch the pieces and units together. 

Here's the completed block (on what becomes a great display board too 😉), "Stair Stepper" from the Wonderful Curves Sampler book by those smart and talented Sew Kind of Wonderful women.  Check it out. That's it from around here; a few new things to share and a new month on the horizon... how did that happen? Just when I thought that March would go out like it arrived, lion-like, the lamb has quickly crept in. What's new with you?

Life is Good!

Stitching Up A Storm

Scrappy Shining Stars 65" X 83"

Remember all those piles of scraps that I have cut? Well, they're being used. I am holding fast to my guiding word for the year: VISION. I have a goal of making up stacks of scrap quilts in 2020 using what is right under my nose. Here's my first idea. This one will utilize 3.5" squares  in  9" 9-patches combining with 4-patches (2" UF squares for a 3" finished 4-patch) inside of wonky stars. My constant fabric will be a charcoal Essex linen which I've had on the shelf for years. I designed this setting for the over all quilt in EQ. If the border blocks make the whole look too busy I may ditch the border, we'll see.

This one will use us 2.5" squares stitched into 16-patches with X-blocks alternately. Again, all from the stash. I was inspired by this one when I did an  Internet search and found this layout.

Next up on my cutting table were these two blocks to get me caught up with the latest BOM at my LQS. You might remember that I made four of these blocks into placemats for my son and DIL a few months ago; these will receive the same treatment, giving them a set of eight for their kitchen table. 

Today our youngest granddaughter turns seven years old! 😲 Santa brought her a camper trailer for her American Girl dolls for Christmas. When she showed me how the table turned into a bed for the camper we decided that her doll needed a sleeping bag. I found just what I needed to create one, and a pillow, by shopping my stash. Score! Yep, VISION-- I can see more scraps being used up! I believe she'll like really like this. I found a few online sleeping bag patterns and combined three of them.

All that scrap sewing uses up load and loads of tumblers when they're used as Leader-Enders. 

More scraps being used, more quilt tops appearing; it's all good!

Life is Good!

Up next: A Finish and Another Sew-Along

Keeping It Quiet?

 It all started innocently enough (don't all great adventures?), I was having lunch with Quiltkeemosabe and she mentioned to me that she had been playing with Deb Tucker's new Shaded Nine Patch technique sheet. "Do you have it yet?" she asked. That's all it took. No, I didn't have it, but now I knew that she did; and, of course, I wanted to play too!
I had one of these technique sheets in my hot little hand that afternoon before returning home. "I don't need to start anything new-- I don't need to start anything new", I kept repeating that over and over to myself on the drive home. As are all things Deb Tucker (Studio 180 Design), this sheet was quite compelling. "How bad would it be to just quickly work up one block. One teeny, tiny, 6" block"? I have an ever-growing collection of low-volume prints. I cannot force myself to stop collecting them! And, I must say, for low volume prints they can get mighty boisterous when they want to be used; I was powerless to ignore them. Yes, there's a pattern of loss of control here, I am aware of that! 😉 Well, as you can see, one block combined four of those teeny-tinies into a usable 12" size block. One thing led to another, as it usually does.

"I wonder how two blocks would look, side by side, with scrappy sashing from a jellyroll that I  just happened to have on hand?" Hmmm... in my own humble opinion they look twice as nice. 

Oh, yeah; you know where this is leading. This Shaded Nine Patch technique is a winner. If you would like to watch Deb demonstrate this herself in a short video click here.  Don't say that you weren't warned. Even though I am using soft, low volume fabrics it's hard, for me, to keep this one quiet!   

Life is Good! 

A Link In The Chain

This quilt top came to me through a circuitous route, along with other tops and tote bags full of fabric. They came from a dear friend and fellow church member for our group to tie and donate to North American Lutheran Church Disaster Response; should the need arise, quilts will be ready. This particular top languished in the closet. It is a spectacular work of scrap usage and meticulous workmanship. Since it was foundation pieced onto muslin I realized it might be a bit thick to tie by hand and decided to load it onto Sundance for a quick panto. As soon as Christmas and all the festivities were winding down, the last few days, it was time. I loaded up his scrappy beauty and set to work.

As is always the case, when working on a quilt with a back story, this quilter began to wonder about the woman who pieced this and hoped that she would smile on its intended new purpose. I asked my friend to tell me what she knew about the top's piecer. She answered: "the quilt maker is the mother of one of my Mom's classmates. The mother was a wonderful seamstress and quilter. As she developed dementia they allowed her to cut and piece as long as she was able. Eventually, they (her family) had to move her from her home and clean out her quilt room. When they did, they kept or donated the fabric, tops and pieces that they found." She went on to say, "they (she and her daughter) both did excellent work; they always washed their fabric and ironed it neatly before cutting and sewing. Their scraps were more nicely stored than most fabric in stores!" That was obvious to me as the quilter; this top was as straight and even as any quilt I had ever seen, nothing shoddy or haphazard about this one. I found a lovely purple backing and quilted it with a soft lilac-colored thread. I hope and pray that it will bring comfort and love to the recipient.

As my friend stated: "many scraps and many hands will get this where it needs to be". 

Let's suffice it to say that I don't keep my scraps stored more nicely than in fabric stores!

But, keep them I do (albeit crammed into plastic bins)! Here's a heap of 2.5" strips. Just the thing to build some houses. I want to thank CityMouseQuilter for leading me, through her blog post, to Lori of Humble Quilts' (click for link) blog and the request for house blocks to be donated to the survivors of the California Wildfires last month. Grabbing my scraps and following the pattern on her website I quickly stitched up a few houses for donation. I mailed them yesterday. Seriously, these three houses only took me a few hours (it took me as long to decide on the colors and fabric placement as it did to stitch them up). If you have the time, and a handful of scraps, there's nothing to lose; join me as another link in the chain!

When disaster strikes, quilters rev up their machines! It's like I told my friend who donated the quilt top above: "I feel like a link in a chain of love here. The experience of bonding through needle and thread to an eventual , and unknown, quilt recipient is a reverent one for me". I pray for peace and comfort through each and every stitch. 

Life is Good!