Worth the Effort

I am making a small dent in my pile of tops waiting to get quilted. On the frame now is the crumb quilt that I posted about here.  My pile would go down faster if the ladies at church didn't keep producing tops. But that is what I want them to do. Here is the next one waiting in line. It is a  Roman Stripes variation.

All the strips for this were donated to our efforts at church when I went to a retreat a few years ago. Everyone thought I was nuts when I said I'd take the tangled mess of scraps in the two laundry baskets. They were brought for people to rummage through and help themselves. But I knew mom would enjoy sorting and pressing and trimming the threads. She liked to pick at things. I was right. It took her a while though. And yes, there are some blue and green strips left. These strips were from the pile of strips under
 2 1/2". I don't remember all the other piles she had going.

I remember when I first started organizing my scraps, they were a tangled mess too, though not as bad. I am SO glad I've kept them sorted ever since. No more ironing little scraps and all those messy threads from the fraying. Much more efficient, too. 

Thanks goes to Lousia for commenting on my previous post that the dark purple flower is spinning in the opposite direction. I didn't like that block anyway, so I will replace that. It will probably be easier for me to replace the whole block, than just the purple units. The purple block will join the orphan block pile.

Rough Draft

These blocks are the result of my experimenting with an idea I had. The idea wasn't fully formed, so I didn't draw the design. I call it a rough draft in case I decide to do another one and make any changes.

They started with a pile of 3 1/2" squares sitting in the scrap box that were getting old so I thought I ought to use them. So far this is what I have.   I have 6 more blocks almost done. It ought to be good for something by the time I am done with it. I can see if I did it again that three dimensional centers like the knots in the bowtie blocks would look cute on this.  Too bad I don't do cute. Very often anyways.
It's DesignWall Monday and you know what that means.

Bound to get 'em done

I'm not sure that my cutting marathon is over, but while I was at it, I thought I might as well cut the binding for these 6 quilts. I bet you never guessed that I was putting that job off. Actually, it might not be a bad idea if I go up in the quilt warehouse and see if there are any more quilts waiting to be bound. I really don't mind doing it and I do it all by machine so as long as my shoulders hold out it shouldn't take long.

Also thought you should know that my books are 50% off at http://www.shopMartingale.com. Actually they have everything on sale all holiday weekend long. What a deal. I suppose that means all the e-books and my e-patterns too.

We had quilting at church today.  One thing we took care of was sorting through our quilts to choose which ones were going to be delivered to which charities.. Guess who will make the delivery to Love, Inc. next week. I also brought another top home to quilt - someday. There was lots of show and tell this morning and when I checked the tub of kits I saw that it was starting to go down. So after Christmas I will plan to put more kits together. Maybe I will get a picture or two before they go.

My quilting is on hold now as I get ready for the holiday. Have a good one.

But Flying Geese ARE Birds in the Air

I finished the borders on this Last Monday night and I finally put it up on the wall to photograph. I must be a little tired of blue and green that I used the rust for the borders. I did try several and this was the best.

The cutting marathon continues. I'm finding all kinds of things to cut. I finished cutting the scraps of Civil War prints. One of my rotary cutters broke. It won't stay open. Glad I had a spare. And I am almost done with the quilt down in the studio. That's tonights project.

We don't usually do Thanksgiving dinner here but my fella friend bought a 20 pound turkey  for the 3 of us. After my sister asked to be included we decided to do it here. Not sure if daughter and friend will join us. I think this will become the usual now that mom and dad are both gone. It means a lot to this fella and my sister.
 It's Monday before Thanksgiving.I hope you all get a chance to hop over to Judy's to check out the design walls.

Cutting Marathon Begins

I need to do some serious cutting. "With the Nine-Patch in Furrows" top done and the "Flying Geese are Birds in the Air" top done and the Broken Dishes blocks done, it's time I plan a few more on-going projects. I liked having those big projects to work on a little at a time. Sure I have other PHD's to turn to, but what fun is that. Seriously, I like to cut and I have little already cut to grab and sew when I need to.

The Lemoyne Stars was on the top of the list. So I dug out my box of scrap Civil War prints and began cutting the diamonds. This led to cutting and kitting 4 more projects from that box. I always say there is no sense in handling those scraps more than necessary so cutting for 5 projects at once just makes sense. I will get back to cutting the background for the stars some other time. This  is what else I decided to cut:

1. My continuing charm quilt of Equilateral Triangles.
2. A new block to use most of the leftover squares and triangles already cut that were in the box.  It took a while to come up with an idea for those, but I think I will like it. It has no name yet.
3.  More Bowtie blocks to go with those I found with the orphan blocks when I dug out the old Lemoyne Star blocks.
4. While I sort and cut out of that box, I thought I may as well trim the smallest scraps for strips for another Log Cabin.They'll be perfect.
I guess this means I had a couple already started that I forgot about.  But my biggest problem is that I must be careful not to overdo cutting and remember to change the blade when it gets dull. No sense in cutting till I get sore. With that in mind, I am going to the studio to get some quilting done. After dinner anyways.

High Hopes

I HAD high hopes for getting lots of quilting done last week, but I caught a cold and didn't have much energy.These are the Broken Dishes blocks that I cut from my scraps last week. I have enough blocks made now to make a good sized quilt. I just plan to alternate them with squares. That'll be quick.

 Once again I was glad I had some projects cut out to work on when I felt like it. I see I will have to hold another cutting marathon as my supply is running low,  and I will have to plan another few quilts to have as on-going projects. The Birds-in-the-Air quilt, the Nine-Patch in Furrows and the Broken Dishes were my "go to" quilts for a while and they are nearly all done.

Before I packed away the Lemoyne Stars I made last week, I dug out the others  I knew I had stashed with the orphan blocks. No, I don't care for them together even though they all use Civil War prints.  I will keep them in separate quilts. It was worth checking.

I'm almost done with the borders on the the Birds in the Air quilt. That's on the agenda this week. Last week was the meeting of the Ben Franklin quilt club. I picked up the directions for the next step of the mystery, so I have that to work on this week, too. I have to work on paperwork now and Mark will be home a few days this week too, so there is some distraction to deal with. With just a smidge of luck I will meet my goals for the week.
Thank you Judy for hosting the  Design Wall Monday Linky. It's really motivating.

Quilting First

Straightening my projects, closet or sewing room usually helps me to prioritize and focus on finishing things. At least that is what I always count on. I sorted the scrap basket first, filing away lots of 2 1/2" strips and  lots of smaller pieces for Crumb quilts and Log Cabins.  I cut enough 3" triangles for 16 more Broken Dishes Blocks.

I also sewed these leftover diamonds together for some 8-pointed stars. Here I have them stuck on a piece of plain muslin. The low contrast is very unusual for me, but it is the look I was after. I thought it might really look like an antique quilt. I like them well enough to cut and make some more. Before I get too deep in this project though I think I should finish up the pieced borders on the other two tops.

I was distracted this last week with Mark home a few days and  doctor appointments with my people. Not much on the calendar this week so I should be able to get lots done.

Oh Yes. It's Monday. Time to go check out some other blogs linked up to Judy's. 

Another short list

I made a mess in my room today and the closet needed some attention too, all so I could find something to work on next.  So I spent a little time organizing things to make it easier to prioritize my projects. Here's the short list.

1. In the plastic box are the leftover pieces from a Lemoyne star quilt I made a few years ago.  I'm ready to make another one, but this time use a bunch of faded reproduction prints and mix up the prints in each star.
The Lemoyne star is probably my favorite.

2. Also ready is the border for my Birds-in-the-Air quilt I made  - was that earlier this year. I ended up buying another rust fabric for the border. It is washed and cut and waiting.

3. My Ladies in Waiting quilt  is waiting for me to take it to a retreat somewhere. Anyone know of a good one close to me? Never mind that I also need to make a design decision.

4. The antique Dresden Plate quilt for church probably needs a little attention before our next meeting.

5. My basket of scraps is full enough to sort. This time I will pull out for my Broken Dishes ongoing project and file the rest.

6. I had some 3 1/2" squares that said "play with me". So I started a little pinwheel/flower block. I still have to cut the green and maybe add something to the center. Or maybe just quilt a center for each block.

7.  Binding for a small quilt that I am already using on my living room table.  -That reminds me. I wanted to make a Christmas quilt for that table. It is small so shouldn't take long.

8. My Smokey Mountain Star made in June I think still might benefit from a pieced border that I have in mind.

9. Oops. Edited to add the mystery quilt barely in the picture. I obviously have to wait for the directions for the next step on this one.

This is not a complete PHD list. Just the list of active projects which at any time I could shelve and label it dormant.  So, what to do? Maybe I will sleep on it and go downstairs to quilt. Sew long.