Its still spring

I quilted two more tops. I just put the blue orphan blocks together. That might be a record for how quickly it was quilted after finishing the top. I made about half the blocks over the years. The others were donations made to our club. The pile of orphan blocks is getting smaller. You wouldnt know I enjoy working with the orphans for as long as some of them have been there. 

The other was a top of dd's  that she made for donation just last year. She'll take it to the Community  Center  next week and ask the ladies there to bind it. 

I've also made a pile of 4-patches for club projects. Mindless sewing for when dd is here. She has set aside her beads for now and is sewing again. Yay. Motivating for me. 

It's getting more challenging  to work in the garden as I get older. Lots of weeds to deal with. I had lots of seeds getting  old. So I threw the oldest in.  Waiting now for the rain thats forecasted.. If it weren't so windy I'd like to take my machine out to the porch again cause I really just want to be outside. As I typed this it just occurred to me that I could do the bindings outside.  Piecing doesn't work in the breeze but I've got a binding pile of 4 or 5. Those would be perfect to finish outside. I machine bindings both front and back.  I'll want a little breeze to keep the bugs off. Now I just need to figure out which machine to use.  

Spring in the Sewing Room

 One more quilted for the fun of it. This was my pattern from one of my scrap books around 15 years ago, maybe more. Obviously not from scraps though. I quilted it with an all-over loop and heart design. I saved matching backing and binding. It's trimmed now and in the growing binding stack. 

I've really been in a mood to cut lately. There is always something to cut. I started to cut what more I needed for this group quilt for club. This is just 5 blocks set side-by-side. There is a pieced sashing that goes between them when done. 

I've also got random scraps to trim from this pile and sashing to cut for those blocks. Oh make that 2 piles of blocks.  I've several bindings to cut. Yes I seem to always juggle various projects rather than focus on one or two. 

It seems I have a new habit of loading a flimsy and then not quilting it for a week or more. I'll need to change that. I don't mind the rate of one quilted per week but that's not what is going on. And no doubt I will be using Spring as an excuse to move them faster. I might be praying for rain again just so I stay in the house and sew. Rain today! I will be sorting through tops and backs in preparation for quilting. 

And One of Mine

 I finally got back to the longarm. The first I quilted in a while was one of my tops.  Finished up 2 weeks ago. It went in the "to be bound" pile I believe the quilting pattern is called Popcorn. 

The next was from a lady at church. I loaded it a week ago but finally quilted it today. I love the loops and stars pattern I used. Sometimes I substitute hearts for the stars. I'll take it tomorrow to quilt club for her to bind. 

I'll be on the phone again tonight. Maybe I can figure out beforehand which is getting quilted next and I can load it then. 

Before my ankle was healed I was crawling around on my hands and knees at the edge of the garden. So glad I did. We've had a week of rain since. Hopefully it will be dry enough to get back out there tomorrow. It will be difficult from now on to not overdo it outside. I must remember to not push my body so hard. Maybe that means I won't be too tired or sore to both garden and quilt in the same day. 

I just noticed a quilt top I recently finished I forgot to post. I finished it in the last month too. I used a pattern called Asparagus Tips but mine is in rusty oranges and I'm calling it Burnt Carrots. I've used few patterns so I  don't know if I can follow a pattern to the letter. I made a few revisions to the layout. I made 3 dark columns and 2 light. Yum! I love it. 

I have 3 other flimsies close to done so stay tuned.

Sitting around

 I am not much of a tv watcher and I don't read as much as I might like. Nor do I do hand applique. Goodness, what's a girl to do with a bum foot? Well, knowing I have boxes of organized scraps I brought one from the closet to the sofa. It was the 3" finished pieces. I sorted out sets of four light and dark triangles. Then I paired right sides together for sewing. Maybe only 30 sets of four. Plenty of singles left for another day. Later I sewed and pressed them.

  

                       Options to consider.

  

         HSTs ready for some friendship stars.

Now I am undecided what to do with them. I'm leaning toward the friendship star block. Filling in the background of the block  is where I'm stalling. I'll  probably go with scrappy light squares to use some of the many squares in the box. 

                        Pairs of 3.5" squares

 I moved to the floor to sort the squares. I noticed there were lots of pairs of dark squares. So I sorted those out as I picked out the light ones. No plans for them yet but I have a few ideas in my head. One thought is to just pass them on to the church ladies at quilt club. It was just something quiet to do while I chatted on the phone. 

          The box was full. These are the singles.

We've had high winds and now blizzard warni gs. I took another couple of boxes of scraps off the shelf. These were for the 2" finished pieces. I had decided to do the mystery quilt my friend is doing with her guild. I had to cut background fabric but it was a quick job with the Go cutter. Standing on one foot wasn't a problem.  I needed to make 4"  finished hst units too. All caught up with 4 steps. Clues will come one a month for the year. I'll put these aside now for a few months. 

                             Mystery pieces

I need to label the boxes in the closet so DH can locate what I want more easily. I push myself around the house in an office chair or crawl on hands and knees till they get sore.  No need to do stairs! Keep warm everyone.

Finished Flimsies

 I finished the 2 SAHRR projects weeks ago. No not quilted. I didn't add more to the first one but the second I added the last borders of my choice. Again I had leftover pieces that worked perfectly.  I didn't have enough to fill the corners of the last print. I settled on dark blue squares after auditioning many options. I will bind with the dark blue.  I really enjoyed these 2 projects. 

I also did the binding on dds quilt to get it out of here. Hours later she gifted it to a friend. 

Next I hoped to get back to longarming. Its been a few months. It'll be nice to get a few quilted before spring  arrives and I'm outside all day. 

A week ago we had a gorgeous spring day. I went for a walk in the woods across the street. It was the first time in 5 months. So happy to be there. Then I stepped in a hole and rolled my foot . Twice!. Then fell. Rested a bit. It didn't hurt much  since the nerve damage from slipped disk last fall. After I sat a bit I finished my trek to the top only a short distance. Slowly walked home maybe half a mile. Then half an hour later I took off my socks and found  my ankle had swollen. Off to urgent care for a short visit and confirmation that I broke my ankle. Oops.  Rather, Damn! There was a reason I saved the walking boot from the metatarsal break 20 years ago.  Rolled the foot that time too. 

So I didn't get to the longarm like I hoped. Now I hope to sit at the sewing machine soon. I'm pretty tired of the sofa.

Deadlines

 In the past I was always good with meeting deadlines. I wonder if retirement changed that. I am not so good anymore. And where the 2026 SAHRR  is concerned I think it's my tendencies to being a control freak. 

But I am caught up in time to post pictures before I start the final round! If I choose to do them. 

I might have mentioned I was working on 2 SAHRR projects. I tried to use some pieces from the parts dept. I dislike white and want to finish with more color. I won't even begin to guess what the last round will be. But obviously I can incorporate more color. Yay.

The curvy borders below were a bit of a challenge. I chose to piece them. Would have been better to applique. I thought I might add more of the dark blue but it hadn't worked out yet. Again. It will depend on the last round suggestion. 

I need to spend more time here so I can link up to some parties occasionally.  Maybe tomorrow. 

The way I count

 Today I finished round 2 + 3 of the first SAHRR  that I am making. 

Round 2 called for a "double"something/block. I used the Double X block. Round 3 called for anything animal (on fabric, appliqued or block name). The block I used is identical to the Double X block with the exception that an additional fabric is used. It's called Fox and Geese and those went in the corners.

 The book has a funny way of counting. Just cause the block uses different colors or took a quarter turn it counts as a different block. The piecing plan is shown colored another way yet in the Anvil block where the 2 small inner squares match the color. I've seen other colorations in other books, of course. This book lists the "same" block with at least 8 different names. I bet you're not surprised. 

Maybe tomorrow I can get to the other quilt. I have yet to add round 2 and might skip round 3.  I don't want either of these to get to big. 

ROUND 1 DONE

 I'm trying to remember to sew earlier in the day when I have more energy. Part of the problem with that plan is that my social calendar is full of doctor appointments. My least favorite hobby. 

Round 1 of the SAHRR  was announced last week. Wednesday I think. I finished  my Hourglass border this afternoon. I've  been tempted to do another one because I have a pile of hourglass units already made. Maybe I'll look at those when I can't sleep tonight. I might need to make the center block for those hourglass blocks. Big deal. NOT.

These orphan blocks needed a lot of help to look this good. I rarely would use a scrappy sashing but the quilt was lacking color otherwise. I think there are still enough orphan blocks for 5 quilts. But it seems each pile of blocks that work together need one more block in the right size or color. No hurry. 

I started these flower blocks over the weekend. I'm sure most quilts I've seen with this block have triangles sewn into the center but I didn't want to fuss that much. I could get the same effect with fused squares, though I might cut them with bias edges to minimize fraying. Or I could do the circles like I've cut here. Not sure how many I  will make. These are 8". There all so cute I can see making more.

Have fun quilting everyone.

Its just a quilt

 I've done little bits of this and that. I finally put a border on this little red and green sampler. Then I noticed the middle row was flipped. Oh well. It's just a quilt started with a few orphan blocks and scraps. 

I decided to join the SAHRR  hosted by Quilting Gail and friends. The center block I'm using was appliqued by a friend. Her work was excellent and I'm happy to have hocked it from what was left of her sewing room passed on to our club. Later today I hope to work on the first border. Hourglass blocks will go on this first.

I spent a good while on kits for club and turned those in last Tuesday. I have a few more in mind I think I'll get together right away. That'll give me more room in the closet I still want to rearrange a bit. I'm just waiting now for some handsome visitor to stop over to help with moving the two stacking shelving units up from the basement. 

CW Flimsy

 The Civil War sampler blocks are together. Probably won't get a border. I'll enjoy it on the flannel wall for a while as I work on more kits for quilt club. Then I'll decide.

I will plan to rearrange my closet after that. Im stalling a bit cause of my leg pain from pinched nerves. At least I can sit and sew for a while. I will remove a weird assortment of big bins and boxes and move in some new shelves. Most of this will be club fabrics but some of mine  too. Not a big need to separate cause mine is pretty much included if the quilt needs it. 

When that is done I will go to the Community Center closet and organize our fabric there. Other people sneak in poly fabrics and decorator weight stuff and don't seem to understand where the scraps go. I might remove some old uglies that have been ignored forever and see about putting together some kits from what is there. We have a huge bin for finished quilts then regular bins each for tops, kits, kids prints, precuts and chunks like half yards and FQs. And 3 bins with big pieces for backs and such. I must have about 4 or 5 bins worth here. Too much? Never😆

Where was I?

 It hasn't been that long  but I need to change focus. Right after Christmas the 3 of us here got the flu. Wasn't too bad but no energy. All is good here now. I hope you all stay healthy.

I've dabbled at my quilting. My niece came and selected some quilts for me to finish up for her. I also sent with her my most recent top for her to practice some quilting.

The bowties were leftover from a project I did years ago. I didn't realize there were so many or I would have done something sooner. I liked the setting called a half-block drop. Maybe enough to plan another in brighter fabrics. 

I decided on an arrangement for the CW sampler blocks. Almost together. 

Today was quilting in town. I only took 3 kits. The others need some work. It's time for a big reorganization effort of our group stash. Haven't done it at the Community Center since we moved there. They have strange hours so I need to check that. Maybe first I'll get my own done.

Time to go sew.

Four more

 Merry Christmas to all. 

I had a chance to sew this morning and I decided on the last 4 blocks I needed for the sampler. This was after I decided on a setting. I am combining 6" and 12" blocks side by side. I found five 12" blocks tucked away with other orphan blocks. They aren't scrappy but that would make it way too busy. So the last 4 blocks aren't scrappy@ either. 

I dug out a few 1 1/5" strips to make these. A good thing.  I would like it a bit bigger but not by adding another 16 little blocks. And I really don't like sashing. One last option I might consider is more 12" blocks. Yep I have more orphans though I'm not sure what size. 

More scrappy sampler blocks

 I made more blocks. Coming up with variations was easy enough. 

Then I made more.

And more.

Not sure that I'm done. I came across some leftover bowtie blocks so this sampler has been interrupted.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Sampler Underway

 I've made a good start on the sampler blocks from the 2" scale pieces. I need to decide on quantity and setting before I get too far. 

I'm having fun arranging the pieces. There will be a few duplicate blocks but that's okay. I expect to sew more tonight when my friend calls. 

This is it so far but more are planned. Look for more tomorrow. I have to take the car to the garage and decorate a little for the season when I get back. Then if I don't nap I'll sew. 

WITB

 WHATS IN THE BOX? Or bag or bin or basket.

More specifically my 2" scale Civil War scrap box. I knew what I had in it for  the most part. Let me show you.

The 2" scale refers to the finished size of the square and the pieces that would fit with it. So I include:

 2 1/2" squares

 2 7/8" triangles

2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle and 6 1/2" long too

4 1/2" squares and

4 7/8"triangles 

A little pile of 2 1/2" strips 

And miscellaneous quarter square triangles and other leftover parts and even these orphan blocks. 

For whatever reason I pulled the box off the shelf and removed the bag of small triangles and 2 1/2" squares. I wasn't sure what I was doing with them yet but it wasn't long before deciding on the stars shown last post

After I made the 12 star blocks I thought I'm never going to use all those triangles.   I better start sewing. But what?

Silly girl I just told my quilting buddy I was interested in making another sampler. This would be perfect. I already made one with my niece that used the same size pieces plus some 1 1/2" strips/squares. I even had a few blocks made.

This was a fun project. She designed them and I sewed them. It was an introduction to the 9-patch setup and blocks using some of those pieces. 

So let's see what I can come up with. 

But Pink? is Quilted

Quilted this one snowy day recently. I think I finished the top about a year ago. A ruler kept the lines mostly straight. I like it so may bind it and keep it around a while.

I like simple basic quilting and straight lines on quilts with Civil War fabrics. Adds to the authentic look. Though it should have more quilting for that. 

I finished the 8 stars and made 4 more. I think I'll pass these on to the ladies in the church group to finish up the top. They can surprise me with what setting and border they choose.

These stars barely made a dent in the bag of triangles. So I'm gonna keep sewing when I get phone calls.