Wrapping up the Year!

 Lots of things getting ready and finished. 

Holidays have begun, visits are happening 

and lots of fun is going on. 

Movement in the sewing room is really stacking up.

Things have moved from here,

to blocks sewn, 

to tops made, 

to backs chosen,

to layered and pinned,

to quilted and binding made,

 

to complete!

 Six Irish chain quilts are now complete! 

 The yellow has gone off to a 

Veteran's residence along 

with a blue log cabin.

The remaining complete chains will 

hang out over the holidays and 

may be impromptu gifts should they be needed. 

The last two Irish chains are multicolored. 

One is under the needle today!

 

It is being quilted with diamond pattern. 

I am still a little hesitant about free motion

quilting with my Bernina but I will be 

brave later. I did do some maintenance

yesterday and oiled the bobbin race.  

Every little thing is definitely confidence increasing! 

The diamond pattern will let me vary my 

quilting designs but still keep the 

speed of the straight line. 

 The other is waiting to be layered with 

a beautiful butterfly backing.

If I can get them both completed,

I can close out the year on RSC 2024!!

]

Woot woot!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

Design Wall Monday

RSC 2024

Monday Sew & Tell

Quilting & Patchwork

Sr Salon Pit Stop

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Oh Scrap!

Midweek Makers

Wed Wait Loss

Design Wall Friday

Finished or Not Friday

Free Motions Mavericks

Next up to Layer

 My new quilting partner is getting a 

bit of a break while I layer up some 

more tops. 

The workroom quilt rack has 

five more tops paired up with backs 

awaiting pinning. 

This well seasoned Christmas top

will be paired up with a green winter flannel

back to make a nice chair throw. 

Another well seasoned top is getting 

a complimentary garden backing 

and finally be finished. It is a 

row by row from a long ago 

group of quilters. 

The last of the Irish chains will 

be paired up with this stunning 

butterfly fabric. It will be such a fun

quilt to work on!  

These 100 pyramids is a found top 

from an estate I helped with and will 

likely stay in my collection.  I have 

been working on a partial one for 

years and will combine my blocks

to finish the edges and pair it with 

this exciting orange and brown pieced backing.

 Lastly my saucy curved nine patch will get a 

fabulous black background paisley print  back. 

The postage stamp border will pick up the colors in 

the back but should not clash when 

separated by the binding.  I've got some enjoyable

work ahead and can't wait to get started. 

Happy stitching to me!

Stay safe and sew on!

Planning Ahead? What does that mean!

 Wow, if the end of the year is time 

for reflection, the beginning seems like time 

for planning and motivation!  

I'm going to do both in the name of  efficiency! 

Trying to get my UFO list in order is a challenge!  

I keep getting distracted by 

projects to work on, lunches to have and patterns to explore.

I do have a few rules for myself for my finishes and progress. 

A project is not finished until the binding is on!  That means

the fabric quantity used can't be counted if it is just a flimsy!

That motivates me a bit. I count a queen sized and 11m, 

twin as 6m and crib/baby size as 3. Still not sure how to count 

scrap supply; bag, tub, bin, mountain?  I am sure a way to add 

them all up will present itself. 

This past year has seen my stash turn over but my 

scrap supply is still generous!

Look at these beauties that just walked in the door!

Thank you so much Good Buddy!

Many of the scraps I receive are already in 

great usable sizes. Planning for the next 

RSC and the projects I'd love to do has 

been fun and productive!

Here are my current ideas!  Like any plan, 

it comes with a disclaimer!  These items 

are subject to change or not!!

The bin for 2023 still has a few items

to finish up or combine so that will be 

at the top of the list. They may be 

combined with the 2025 focus , which is 

strings and strips!

My cup runneth over with both so 

I have plenty of supply!

One quick trip thru my strip

binder and a nice evening scrolling, 

and my string project list is building. 

I found some of my old projects, 

and would like to do a variation of 

the string stars border, using string

made 1/2 squares to make classic

designs.

A 1/2 square with light and dark 

halves could produce all sorts of 

great designs.  Straight furrows, 

streak of lighting  etc. 

I want to so some variations of this

blast from the past, (2022) and 

use all strips with color families being the 

design maker. 

This circular design by Melody Crust has 

always caught my eye .  A bit intimidating 

with all the circles but , I can do it! 

It will be so much fun to make the colorful circles, 

imagine the variety and different placement possibilities!

It was published in 2002 but is sure to be a classic. 

I can't wait to see what wonderful 

ideas the cyberverse of quilters will come up with next year!!

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Wednesday Wait Loss

Put Your Foot Down

Midweek Makers

Free Motion Mavericks

Design Wall Friday

Finished of Not Friday

RSC 2024

So Scrappy !

Another Clue Has Landed!

 The mystery quilt continues to move forward.

A trip down memory lane  is always good too, 

so here is a little review of my first mystery quilt ever!

This project called for 3 different colors.

I was a real novice and still have a 

minimal color sense, so I chose

red, white and blue.  It was destined 

for my elder brother but ended up 

staying in our house where ever it landed. 

It started off with 4 patches which was good for me,

so definitely decreased my mystery anxiety!

The next clue was a wealth of half squares in 

a variety of color combinations! I managed that 

well but did get a bit overwhelmed keeping 

them all in the right order!

Then the final push was more flying 

geese than I've ever seen! Also in 

 

many combinations. Can you see them? 

It did all come together but 

the next time I jumped into a mystery was

well into the next century!

I have joined in a few sew alongs and 

some block of the month groups but 

the mystery definitely was on hold!

 Wish me luck on my current endeavor!

Clue number 5 has just arrived!

Stay safe and sew on !

What to do , what to do?!

Well if anyone noticed, I've been getting way 

behind on my stash reporting.

The reason for this of course is the influx

 fabrics to my sewing room.

Our local group helped clean out a an estate of a 

buddy and we all ended up

with quite a bit of beautiful fabric.

Now I have to find a way to incorporate into my stash,

and get sewing it.

I'm going to say it was an influx, conservatively, of 70 m.

They're also project boxes of wonderful quilts to be completed.

They may not all end up as they were intended, but

I will give it a good try. 

The last Legacy quilt was completed on Monday.

It is the pale green quilted in a zigzag pattern.

It is off to a women's shelter and will provide 

comfort and warmth where needed. 

There is a small angel wing stitched into the corner

of each of the Legacy quilts to send my friend's 

memory out into the universe. 

Some of my stash was used to back a few of the Legacy quilts

so here are my totals for the year.

Fabric Purchased: 8  m

Used since last report  15 m 

Fabric In to date: 25.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 90

Scraps in : 20 m

Scraps out : 0 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m (June) 70 ( Oct)

Net Fabric in YTD:  72 m

I think I did well moving some fabric in 

and out, so I call the year a success!

The Christmas quilt is on the bed, 

and the cookie dough is chilling!

The holiday season has arrived!

Stay Safe and Sew On!

Linking up with:

Sunday Stash Report

Design Wall Monday

Midweek Makers

Sew and Tell

Sr Salon Pit Stop

Monday Musings

Wednesday Wait Loss

Free Motion Mavericks

Put Your Foot Down 

Needle & Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday

Design Wall Friday

Bolt to Beauty

RSC 2024

Oh , What is this?

 Well what have we here?

This looks like a box of leftovers 

from last year's rainbow scrap challenge!

Assorted crumb strips, 

 some chopsticks blocks, 

some weave blocks,

and it looks like some four square strip colour

 family blocks that were left over from 

a wedding quilt project and put in the rainbow scrap box.

( The wedding is next week!)

Lots of quilt seeds in here!

Last week was retreat and I think it's time to work on

all these leftovers.

I received another delicious box of scraps

so I'll start there by making some more crumb strips 

out of the little pieces.

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by my scraps,

so I'm using the divide and conquer method 

to get them under control.

I'll put a random bunch of crumbs in a small bin,

and just sew them up.

Since the favourite in my sewing room is colour families,

I can take my random bunch right 

out of my scrap drawers.

The ideas are percolating for next year's 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects!

There may be strips and strings involved!

Stay safe and sew on !

 

Mystery is Moving Along!

 Galloping ahead on the mystery quilt, 

I am glad to say that all the cutting is complete.

Except for the borders of course, they will come later. 

My effort is of the scrappy variety so 

the borders will get chosen with the overall

quilt in mind at the end of stitching.  

The major colors are green, blue and red with 

white on whites and a few low volumes for background. 

The first clue with stitching instructions came

thru yesterday, so after drawing lots of lines, 

I am off to the featherweight to start sewing!

My scrap bins look exactly the same!

I was hoping to use up more fabric!

Anything helps tho, so let's stay positive!

Great progress on the stitching

for the mystery. 

All the first round of sewing is complete 

and this morning is the Get Goin' Sewing trim up . 

I put my retreat prize to work and tried the

slotted trimmer for the first time.

Trimming off corner points will 

be a new experience for me. 

I usually just sew thru them!

Well , everything is trimmed, but 

I had no idea how many little 

dog ears would litter the floor!

We love a mystery and a vacumn!

I had a good time sewing up a storm!

Whoops!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up to :

Design Wall Monday

Sew & Tell

Monday Musings

Salon Monday

To Do Tuesday

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

Free Motion Mavericks

Of the Wall Friday

Patchwork & Quilts

RSC 2024

Oh Scrap!

Psssttt! What's that?

 We all remember the clean out, organize that 

came  over us a while ago?

Well one thing that didn't get "sorted"

was a steamer I "left behind -inherited" 

when one of the offspring moved lodgings.

It is a Conair clothing steamer!

My BB has recently started

using a small steamer purchased by her husband.

When she waxed enthusiastic about it,

I remembered I had one sitting in the bedroom!

I dragged it out, filled the ample reservoir wit water,

and voila. Great to press large pieces of fabric,

and does fairly well on smaller pieces too, but my iron with the

 charging station is more suited to that.

The steamer allowed me to press a quantity of backs.

Now almost all my pins are used up and I can get busy stitching

the half dozen Irish chains I have all layered!

Everything old is new again!

If only that worked for our skin, hair and energy!

Happy stitching.

Stay safe and sew on!