A Scrappy Quilter: August 2024

Monday, August 26, 2024

The Logs are Piling Up!

The last of the log cabin flimsies are finishing

up so that makes me only 6 months behind.

I have finished many this year but three more

are on the chair waiting for quilting or binding!

A few colors are missing from the

R O Y G B I V

of the rainbow!

The Red is waiting for quilting.

I did not get to an orange log cabin quilt

and I'm a bit sad about it, maybe this winter?!

There was a saucy yellow one and 2 green quilts to

follow it up. One blue and 1 purple quilt finished the

acronym but there were also 3 pink ones and 2 multicolored

that went out the door to Zebra and other good homes.

There are 3 left to finish up so that would make a

baker's dozen of log cabins. I will call 2023 a

log cabin success. You can see them all over on

the right side of the page under 2024 Finishes.

Only 1 yellow quilt didn't get into the photo shoot

It was just captured as a pair.

I haven't completed many of my real UFOs

but I think the crazy log cabins should count.

So, if I am counting those, which I am ,

the UFO count for the year so far is :

3 crazy log cabins,

2 rainbow scraps string,

(1 gifted quilt replaced and a spare made)

the thrifted triangle square was quilted,

bound and donated .

Last but not least the baby

pineapple was complete with its

challenging satin border well before the

baby shower, so the total is 7!

Yay me!

A quick review of the, "What is that?"

pile, yielded a few projects for an

upcoming sewing weekend and possibly

fall retreats.

Here is the list :

~one flannel teddy bear shaped quilt to stitch up

~this lovely 16 patch pile to do something with,

~Square dance blocks to join

~curved nine patch

Some of the items I have as UFOs

are imposters and not really started, just

compiled. They may be getting repurposed to

make way for other things.

There are still lots of months left in the

year to do Irish Chains too.

I may start adding some orphan blocks

into the background areas to change things up.

There are still 5 stash buster Irish Chains

to quilt up and 3 tops languishing on the

workroom quilt station that

would love a stitching good time!!

So this can be my next goal to

get some of these completed!

Looks like I have some retreat items ready to go.

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Free Motion Mavericks

Off the Wall Friday

From Bolt to Beauty

Finished or Not Friday

Different is Better Too

It turned out to be a very different weekend for me.

No change in my stash report but lots of interesting

things to do.

One of my quilting groups had a weekend

potluck craft day and we tried

our hand at needle turn applique.

I've done some applique but it usually

ends up one of those projects

that never gets completed.

I don't have the patience for it.

We had a wonderful time learning this new technique

To my surprise it was also new to many of

the other attendees. We all had fun learning together.

It is from a beautiful book by Ari Rossmann.

The blocks will all be combined once we meet again make them even more delightful with embroidery accents.

The weekend also involved some mending.

Many quilters get annoyed when people ask them to mend something because it's not exactly quilting.

A little bit of backstory. We have a passel of children.

As they were growing up we let them or encouraged them to be adventurous by taking them camping, doing DIY projects with them building things, taking things apart and generally having a lot of fun.

So they grew up to be adventurous souls.

One son went biking with a group and unfortunately had an equipment malfunction. He told us he was going 42km/hr and the bike stopped but he didn't.

His outfit took a some damage, as did he.

The cycling uniform is from a ride in Jasper Alberta.

The town site has since had fire damage so I was

asked to mend the uniform

since another ride there may be far in the future.

I sourced some suitable fabric and spent the better

part of the day mending.

It actually turned out well. Not my favorite sewing but I think I salvaged the uniform and it can go on to ride another day.

The uniform does have a beautiful jacket.

Stay safe and ride with caution!

Linking up with:

Sunday Stash Reporting

Monday, August 19, 2024

Midsummer Madness

Well a few weeks of intensity and

a lot of progress on many fronts!

First of all , look at these cherries!

A bumper crop this year even tho the

size is slightly smaller than usual, there

are loads of fruit!

We have removed 13 gallon bags

from this tree and it still looks full!

Over in the workroom,

machines have been humming,

seizing and stalling, pins have been dropped

and needles have been breaking!

Even with this bit of chaos, I have a few finishes.

The wedding quilt was delivered last week, gifted

and spread much delight.

Its twin was finished up today with a lovely scrap binding!

Yes, they are identical in all ways except the quilting and backing.

The wedding quilt has an all over serpentine and the keeper

has this lovely zig zag in each block.

One has a four patch back,

the other a piece in the middle backing.

The second is destined for my Cozy Collection but

as we've seen, those sometimes become gifts for big occasions!

To top everything off, the first of the six Stash Buster Irish chains

has been quilted and... bound! Yes a real win for me!

My organization genie really kicked in and there were many

family visits, meetings and a few lunch dates on top of bright

bursts of sewing ! What a midsummer !

Now here is the show off portion of the post!

Cherries , picked then cleaned and washed.

Some pitted , some

gifted, many eaten and 2 pies!

Tops pinned,

quilting done,

some batting to be removed

(yes, your parents were correct, haste makes waste)

and bindings made.

Finally, quilts bound up and complete!

Here's a little stash report too!

Fabric Purchased: 0 m

Used since last report 6 m

Fabric In to date: 25.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 75 m

Scraps in : 0 m

Scraps out : 0 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m (June)

Net Fabric in YTD: -3 m

Now to work on getting labels on every thing!

Happy stitching!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday

Put Your Foot Down

Free Motion Mavericks

Finished or Not Friday

Orange quilt and Saucy binding

This first Irish chain for the Stash Buster Challenge is complete!

It fits in with the RSC color for the month and

has every thing but a label!

The large zig zag quilting was fun to do

and provided good coverage without too

many turns or dead ends.

Looking for a suitable binding lead me down a different road.

This quilt ended up with a binding accented by small blocks of

the feature color. It started off with a 60" strips of scrap

patchwork from the orange drawer.

The grey really complimented the orange top so and idea was born!

The strip wasn't long enough so out came the grey bin and

more length was cobbled up.

The bulk in the seams weren't too difficult to stitch up,

you must stay in charge and not allow the bulk to push

the needle off course.

It turned out very well!

Here is the finished quilt!

Ta da!!

Have a great week!

Stay safe and sew on !

Monday, August 12, 2024

Success & Progress!

A busy week past and another to begin!

Remember my deadline a few weeks ago?

Well, I finished with days to spare!! Yay me!

It turned out beautifully and the label is a copy

of the wedding invitation.

I like to add it to wedding quilts,

since the invites are beautiful and we usually either don't

keep them or look at them after the big day.

Angling the corners of labels has been

working out very well and decrease the frustration

felt when I tried to push out the corners.

It makes the labels a bit more interesting too!

This could be the beginning of something,

duplicate quilts every time? Two for the price of one?

Twins? I think not!!! It was almost the same amount of work

but the scrap piles only had to be com-piled

(see what I did there) once!

There were piles everywhere!

This did instigate a little organizing of bits and

squares of the rainbow colors. The separated colors worked

very well for finishing up the stash buster quilt tops!

So the stash report had a big boost today !!

I managed to finish up binding on a third quilt so I

can adjust my numbers!

Here is how I count my progress:

baby size- 3 meters

twin size- 6 meters

Queen size- 11

So, since I finished 1 twin sized quilt,

and 2 queen sized quilts, I can add 27 meters to

my fabric used this year!!! Woot woot for me!

So that will make the stash report this week :

Fabric Purchased: 0 m

Used since last report 27 m

Fabric In to date: 25.5 m

Use to date 2024 : 69 m

Scraps in : 2 m

Scraps out : 0 m

Big Batch donation : 60 m (June)

Net Fabric in YTD: 3 m

I did have a lovely lunch date today and

as often happens, I received a nice bag of

scraps ! That will add a bit to the total in

but wowzer, I do love scraps!

They are all ready cut into strips and ready for stitching!

Have a great week!

Linking up with :

Needle & Thread Thursday

Free Motion Mavericks

Finished or Not Friday

Quilts and My History

Labels, labels, labels. We get reminded

always to label our quilts but lately I

find I only label who receives the quilts,

not who made the quilt ,where ,why ,basically

the five w s that provide the whole history.

Everyone has their own way of recording

progress thru life and on our quilting road.

My BB has a detailed sheet on each of

her creations. A newly minted quilter

was so ambitious, he was labeling each

of his with a lifetime number!!

My most prolific quilting buddy and also

my morning walking partner, sends her

many donation quilt out to spread joy by

labeling them "Love From" with her name

written on a corner triangle.

My quilts get a label when they are given,

no real label when they are donated and

the ones I keep are labeled when I am forced

to label them for a show.

Recently on the Stash Buster page, I saw one

that had a number for this year, "Quilt 16".

I think that might be doable for me.

Little iron on labels are now going

on my donation quilts:

My excel tracking sheet is getting to seem like just

another chore and I'd much rather be sewing than

tracking which quilts need what. My UFO s should be

moving, or aging and becoming delightful surprise to

be discovered as a treasure on a snowy winter day.

A rethink has made me come up with a few more small

iron labels of my own.

Here is a starter list:

a quilt name, maker, year and location made.

a small iron on when the quilt is in a show,

maybe even a label if displayed at a guild

(could prevent the opps I showed it again problem!)

Have great week and label everything!

Monday, August 5, 2024

Backing up Big Time

Lots of tops ready for layering

and the first step is choosing the backings!

So, here is the line up so far!

I was gifted a bin of yardage bundles and

after a good sort, backing fabrics are almost aligned.

Six of the stash busters quilts

are ready so here are starters for their backings.

A few may be a little lacking in yardage but some

matching bits will finish them up.

The last one to be finished up was the orange.

It turned out well and used up quite a few scraps!

July's rainbow scrap color is teal/ aqua

but I am not sure if I'll get to a

teal Irish Chain on top of all the layering!

A coincidence tho, August's color is orange ! Yay!

All these lovely orange squares can get quilted up this month!

My goal is to get some quilting complete!

First will be the 2 triangle rainbow squares.

One is already on the table, and after a false start at

pinning when I positioned the backing the wrong way,

it will be ready for quilting tonight!!

I also managed to drop all the pins onto the carpet during the

repositioning of the top.

There were some handy picker uppers in my notion stash

that worked to clean up the mess.

Here is the winner !

Then I will pin up one of the Irish chains.

I haven't considered any quilting design for them yet .

There maybe some fans and concentric rings in the future!

My pinning is going even easier since my

DH came across some of my favorite clamps at the home store.

So excited that I can clamp down

all sides of the backing! My magnet tool can even pick them up!

All these great tools made for a productive weekend.

The last of the three crazy log cabins is all

quilted and bound.

The first of the rainbow string square tops is

under the needle today!

The second rainbow top is pinned up, just choosing

some thread.

The orange Irish chain is the also in the

line up. It was pinned late in the evening as

the last act of defiance before I stumbled off to bed!

There is still a bit of a backlog over in the " to be quilted" pile

but my deadline took precedence and I do love to bounce around

to many different projects!

Linking up to:

Design Wall Monday

Design Wall Friday

Show & Tell

Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday

Monday Musings

Gone Stitching

Midweek Makers

Finished or Not Friday

Wednesday Wait Loss

Beauty Pageant

Needle & Thread Thursday

Oh Scrap

Put Your Foot Down

RSC 2024

Free Motion Mavericks

Patchwork & Quilts

Sew & Tell

Stitching Stuff