Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Focus of a Fig!

 Wow, I am in a high work phase!!

A workroom full of fabric, machines 

humming, programs playing and 

zoom meetings on the screen, 

I am a multitasking queen!

Today I am pulling off the top

of the "to be quilted pile" and 

getting things done!

First up is one of the many log cabins.  


This one will get a cross quilt wave in pale yellow thread. 

Most of the recent tops have been twin sized

or slightly larger.  The gift potential is optimal 

for this size.  Great for a smaller bed but 

definitely perfect for couch sitting too!

Took a break from stitching to go cheer on 

the local team but alas, the boys in blue and 

orange were not successful. 



However, I was, and at the end of a long day of 

stitching, trimming, and thread picking I 

finished up ..... two yellow log cabin quilts!

Here is the second in progress with my 

zoom friends cheering me on in the background!

(More like quietly supportive.)




The second has a linear pattern

repeating across the squares with a 2.5" 

distance between the rows of stitching. 


Yes there are actually two! I had difficulty believing that myself!

 It is a lot of yellow!

The biggest difficulty I have sewing yellow is 

that a few oranges always sneak in and then 

the whole thing starts to look like a sunrise. 

That is not always a bad thing.







I still am enthralled with the 

polka dot center squares. 
 
They just need a good binding and 

then will be tallied up into the stash report.

A great day !

Stay safe and sew on !!

Linking up with : 














Stash Update and a Favorite New Find

Well, sometimes the fickle finger of fate

jumps into a blog post and deletes the whole thing!

So this is a remake of the stash report!

Funny how we feel so on top of tech and 

it still serves us a piece of humble pie.

Enough clichés, let's talk quilting!!

Quilt Canada 2024 was in Edmonton

this year and wow was it great!

We shopped, we chatted we met and we viewed. 

Four days of show and classes and we are 

tired and inspired!

Here is one of my favorites.


The members of one guild made chain links that 

spanned an entire wall! (I will update with the guild name)

Very cool and inspiring! 

Stash wise, I showed great restraint and 

came away with only 3 meters of low

volume fabric, but lots of fun gadgets and samples!

First, the report:

Fabric Purchased: 3 m

Fabric In to date: 25.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 12 m

Scraps in : 0 m

Scraps out : 0 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m (June) 

Net Fabric In: 70.5 m

I am getting closer to whittling down 

the net numbers , but that is for its own post. 

Now my new favorite find!

Wonderful helpers for your machine sewing!



Stick ons that keep track of all

the necessaries while you sew!




I scored a wonderful multicolored set.



Laurie over at Sew Clever

has lots of ideas and items to facilitate our 

creative endeavors!


Linking up with:

Sunday Stash Report

Salon Pit Stop







Monday, June 17, 2024

Such a Great Distraction

 Well, I had a list, I did check it twice !

Then I went off the script and sewed 

some oranges.


Then I made up a label for a 

quilt going off to California!! 



A great adventure is beginning there. 



 I jumped back on the list 

and sewed up some purple alternate blocks too.  

I am getting a nice little pile of blocks

for a rainbow stash buster quilt!


This just fills me with delight!


I wanted to try out a scrappy 2 1/2" border

to enlarge my Irish Chains a bit. 

Here is how it turned out. 



Yeeah,  not very appealing!! 

As my DD would say, 

"It grew up unfortunate looking!"

 I will try a different approach and stitch the 

leftover strips into a long border. Staying in 

the color family may be the answer!!

Meanwhile I will look at this rainbow

pile of blocks!!! Yee Haw!!!




Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with:

Monday Sew & Tell

Design Wall Monday

Monday Musings

To Do Tuesday

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

Needle & Thread Thursday

Pur Your Foot Down

Free Motion Mavericks

Friday Nite Sew In

Finished or Not Friday

Design Wall Friday

Friday Foto Finish

Patchwork & Quilts

Oh Scrap!



Stash Reporting on a Wonderful Monday

Well more came in and 

a few went out!  

The story of my scrap adventure 

always sounds similar! 

 Wonderful friends and fantastic scraps!

Thank you PB, LT, DC and JT.

I will add a good 10 meters to the

fabric count but I am starting on 

quilting up the pile so that will 

gnaw into the total a bit!

Fabric Purchased: 2 m

Fabric In to date: 22.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 12 m

Scraps in : 10 m

Scraps out : 1 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m 

Net Fabric In: 77.5 m

The RSC pile is really growing,

it is very pretty!



I have both blocks done for 

the Stash Busters Challenge in 

few different colors. A nice 

evening listening to a movie 

and joining blocks will get a few 

more tops for the "To be quilted!" rack.

It currently has three small projects to pinned but 

the pinning tables are full of RSC/Stash buster blocks!



The yoga mat over there is the only thing getting a workout,

 someone needs to make some progress!

Linking up with:

Stash Reporting!

 





Monday, June 10, 2024

Those Chains are linking up!!!


 Well, I 'm deep in the weeds on Irish Chains!! 

They are zipping thru my machine at a great pace 

and are great fun to do!

I was scrolling thru the  Canadian Quilt Guild Network

and saw the Blankets of Love donations in use. 


 This is one of my guild charities.  

The Irish chain quilts will be going 

to this group.  I think my 60" x 70" tops may be too

small so I will up the size with a saucy border of 2 1/2" 

squares.  There are lots of leftovers and maybe a rainbow 

border would brighten it up even more!  I will audition 

both and see which works better.




So far I have green and blue centers complete 

and parts for the remaining RS colors are in the works. 

 I love the assembly work and it is 

very satisfying to see piles of parts stack up!

So I have the :

Jan -Green center done

Feb-Red strips cut

Mar-Purple units started

Apr-Yellow strips cut

May-Pink not enough to do

June-Blue center done

There is lots of stitching ahead!

The quilting stack it still waiting too!

Stay safe and sew on !


Linking up with :

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday

Sew & Tell

To Do Tuesday

Wednesday Wait Loss

Midweek Makers

Oh Scrap

Free Motion Mavericks


 


Stash Reporting

 Well, things are happening in the 

sewing room!  The garden is going well too!  





We plant mainly perennials since

 I am a lazy gardener and like to 

economize with the yard plants. 

The bleeding hearts are blooming, 

the ground covers are starting to 

bloom and the other early spring 

trees and bushes are filling our 

bedroom community with fragrance 

and look amazing!

The sewing room is zipping right along, 

2 tops almost complete and parts for

more are stacked and sorted. 



Nothing has gone out lately so the 

stash report hasn't changed too much. 

I will add a fabric purchased section

to my reporting to more correctly 

show how much is spent on fabric. 

Fabric Purchased: 2 m

Fabric In to date: 22.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 12 m

Scraps in : 6 m

Scraps out : 1 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m 

Net Fabric In: 67.5 m

I have a wealth of scraps and some 

yardage from friends so my total 

fabric supply has grown considerably!

It is wonderful so many want to share 

their bounty!

Stay Safe and Sew on!


Linking up with:

Sunday Stash Report





Monday, June 3, 2024

One Montly Goal Routine

 It is getting routine that I miss the month end 

link up and sneak my achievement 

into the next month's goal!  

My goal for May was well met

with nine tops pinned and ready for quilting! Yay!


 There was a WIP just waiting for me so 

I managed to create two more flimsies to start out the month!

The, "What should I do next", pile was toppling over, so 

I spread it out on the work table. 

There were : 

blue Irish Chain bits,

green Irish Chain bits,

25 patch color family blocks, 


36 patch with alternating solid blocks, 


a whole flock of flying geese waiting for direction, 


 some crazy patches,



and some log cabin leftovers waiting for a home. 


The blue and green chains were the most appealing and 

here is the result! I started with the green!

Click the link green to see a small video of the process.


I made a few changes along the way . 

Seven blocks made it too wide, so I 

removed the extras, but that made it too small. 

Just like Goldilocks, I settled on six blocks 

across to give a finished size of 60" x 70".

Then I moved on to the blue stack since 

the green turned out so well. 


These are part of the Stash Buster Challenge 2024 over

at Border Creek Quilts.  Easy to complete and the 

blocks come together nicely .  

This may be my " Log Cabin for 2024"!  

Last year I stitched up a bed load of log cabins 

and the lovely look of these Irish Chains have pulled me in. 

This year (the next half), I will be trying to use up a 

bunch of strips and stitching up a few more of these 

charming Irish Chains. 

My goal for June will be :

                   ~dig into the sandwich pile and quilt a few tops

                    ~organize some color crumb blocks 

                    ~start a few more Irish Chains. 

The work on the two quilts forced me to organize and 

the little OCD bug in the back of my brain had a blast!

My 2 1/2" square boxes was a confused jumble 

so I sorted them by color and used baggies to 

curtail their movement.  I tend to mess up the stacks

when choosing squares so the baggies will 

maintain order more effectively !   Ta Da!



There was even enough enthusiasm left to deal with some scraps.

Here's a nice little row of 2" squares ready for a home!



Happy stitching on the beginning of summer!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :