Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Retreat, Retreat!!

 Wow, just got back from my second retreat for the season, 

(sadly my last this year) and yowzah, I got loads complete!

First of the first of.. ( notice all those firsts?), the black crazy

log cabins top is complete. The zig zag border started on a 

beautiful fall day at Gull Lake, Alberta, was finished up 

on a beautiful fall day at Lake Isle, Alberta.


 It would be so nice if that was a trend but unfortunately, 

no more lake time for me. 


Sixteen inside blocs were joined using a scrappy sashing. 

Then, after an addition of a one inch frame, a scrappy zig zag

chases around the outside of the quilt.

Five inch squares were bisected and then the

 1 1/2" cut strip of random scraps were stitched down 

the middle and the block reassembled. 

Effective when done and fun to do!  

The corners were a bit fiddly but welcome 

assistance from the other retreaters got 

me on track and a cheeky corner treatment was added. 

One top done!

It even has a flange!

The second finish of the retreat 

was another RSC item, a yellow 

log cabin, court house steps arrangement. 

The previous retreat saw one top completed

but more blocks were needed for the second. 

They were finished up in the past week 

and the top itself was stitched first at the retreat since

we could chat and the layout was not too complex.

It will get caught up in the next wild

pinning frenzy and get shipped off 

to our local child's service charity, Zebra,

in December.  Discovering more yellows

hiding in a drawer, really helped to bump

up the tone from golds and orangey to 

yellow and bright.


  This top received 

many sunny compliments at show and tell time!

The second of the black crazy log cabin quilts

was assembled at retreat and time just ran out

before the border was complete. 

It was finished up in bit of a sewing afternoon, 

after a good nights sleep to recover from all the retreating!

The center squares were joined together

without a sashing, in a 5 x 6 arrangement. 


The border on this is a simple pair of the 

scrap pieced strips with mitered corners. 

There are enough blocks in the bank for 

two more of these black, scrappy wonders. 

I just need to come up with some border treatments. 

The original inspiration for these black tops is

an article in  QNM for the April 2002 issue. 

Janice Gunner is the designer. I, of course,

changed the pattern to fit my skill and resource levels. 

A  lesson reaffirmed while making up these 

tops is that scrap quilting makes for a lot of threads!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with : 
















15 Minutes to Stitch

















Ohh , Shopping Trip!

 Well, with the recent events, my stash reporting feels a bit 

like a confessional! 

 I had a great time at a fabric clear out. 

I did find some treasures and beautiful quilting supplies. 

A conservative estimate of the new to me quilting fabric 

is  30 meters. It was part of a creative estate sale and 

I could not resist the great bargains nor the beautiful fabrics. 

A majority of the haul is in color coordinated scrap bags. 


A few good bits of flannel yardage was snapped up too!



Now I get to sew even more!! A few more log cabins will 

be zipped up this year and I am looking for a new 

go-to scrap busting pattern for 

next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

So here is the updated stash report.


2023 STASH TOTALS

  Used last week:     0 m


Used year to date:       133  m

                                      Scraps out               0.0 m   

                                   (1 bag=/.5 k=.5m)  

                                      Scraps In                0.0  m

Added last week:        30 m

                                 Added Year to date:            177 m bolt 27m, bucket batiks 15m

destash gift 68m

Net added in 2023         9.5 meters


I will definitely enjoy working with these wonderful

fabrics . I even have a place to file them. It will 

just need a bit of repositioning my shelves and 

I can set up the new additions for optimum usage.

Let's get sewing!

Linking up with: 

Stash Reporting


15 Minutes to Stitch


Monday, October 16, 2023

Determined and Bound!

The Pinning quilting and trimming frenzy the last little 

while gives me the opportunity to bind up 

some quilts and finish some  projects.

I am also attending my first sew day with a new guild!

First up is yellow softer granny squares.


This top received a nice binding that 

matches the back of the quilt. 

The soft yellow color is quite saturated and 

highlights the yellow squares.

Stay stitching and trimming up the edges of 

the quilt really make applying the binding much easier.

All my bindings are done by machine. I start by

 applying a straight of  grain 2 1/2 " strip, folded in half. 

Then it is flipped to the front and top stitched 

down using the stitch in the ditch foot.

 The needle position is the far right.  The foot gives a nice even

 placement of the seam line.  

The application of the binding by machine 

 really encourages me to finish up tops. 

Next up is a twin size multi colored wonky log cabin. 

This quilt is getting a binding straight out of the scrap bags.


 I dug in and found an assortment 

of two and a half inch strips and sewed 

them end to end to make 

a nice multi colored binding. 

It turned out nicely framed

 and very complimentary!

Last up of this group, 

is a baby-sized green log cabin, 

courthouse steps arrangement.


This little green beauty also received a 

scrappy binding, complimenting the scrappy 

logs very well. 


Stay safe, and sew on. 

Linking up with:

 Monday Musings 

Show & Tell

Design Wall Monday

To Do Tuesday

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

Needle and Thread Thursday

Put Your Foot Down

Friday Nite with Friends

Finished or Not Friday

TGIFF

Peacock Party

Off the Wall Friday

Whoop Whoop

Foto Fun

 








Stash Reporting, lots of binding!

 Finally , a few finishes in the pile 

to change up the numbers a bit. 

Two larger quilts and three smaller

quilts were bound this week . 

A courthouse step log cabin- twin,


a granny square twin



 and these little baby quilts.



The two above were bound by me and 

pieced by Lori S.  They are Ricky Tims Convergence quilts

They turned out so interesting.





 Yay me!

The totals this week are:

2023 STASH TOTALS

  Used last week:     21 m


Used year to date:       133  m

                                      Scraps out               3.5 m   

                                   (1 bag=/.5 k=.5m)  

                                      Scraps In                 .0  m

Added last week:        17.5 m

                                  Year to date:            147 m bolt 27m, bucket batiks 15m

destash gift 68m

Net added in 2023         -20.5 meters

Linking up to: 

Stash reporting 

Stash busters

Oh Scrap!

OMG October

Monday, October 9, 2023

Yellow Softer Granny Squares

 Sometimes, best laid plans go awry, and we just can't force a fix. 

I did my hero stint at the blood donor clinic 

and woke up the next morning

with a scratchy throat and developed a 

full blown cold by Thursday.  It is 

still sticking uncomfortably around for the

 weekend but I recovered enough

to host a wonderful family dinner. 

The weather cooperated and most of 

the day was spent outside. There is even a larch 

in the neighborhood to lead in the fall colors. 




The view from the yard is very nice this time of year. 



This softer Granny Square quilt was

 stitched up just prior to the arrival of my cold.



The bright sunny colors were a joy to work with 

and I repeated the pattern used a few months 

ago for the Blue Twin Granny. It can be found in 

the MSQ tutorials

The built-in cutter got a lot of use, but once I remembered

the sewing order it was easy to do.

 The little eyelash threads

left will be trimmed off in the final de threading of the quilt.


I used my stitch sample to program the machine.  


 It does take longer to 

do a stop and start pattern than an continuous one.

The serpentine pattern in the lattices really sewed up fast.


The quilt has a lovely soft colored yellow print on the back.

The cut offs from the edges will be used as 

binding to finish out the quilt. 


Here it is, sans binding, in the sunshine 

with our small houseguest. 


There will be much binding complete as soon as 

this cold leaves and my sewjo returns!

Just had to squeeze in a picture with these

"twins" in the living room !




Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with : 

















Oh Scrap!




 


Quilter's Lending Library

 Our guild recently had a members yard sale. 

We set up long rows of tables in an adjoining meeting hall and 

after coffee time we all went shopping. The purpose was to raise

some money for rent and we ended up having a fantastic 

social time and finding new homes for everything from 

rulers to yardage! Fun was had by all and the guild got funds!!

My stash did increase a bit and here are my lovely finds. 


These wonderful 1 m pieces to add to my collection and


6.5 of this swirly Batik, 


and lastly, 6.5 m of this interesting house fabric

With all the great deals to be had, my totals for the 

year now look like this!

2023 STASH TOTALS

  Used last week:     0 m


Used year to date:       112  m

                                      Scraps out               0. m   

                                   (1 bag=/.5 k=.5m)  

                                      Scraps In                 .5  m

Added last week:        17.5 m

                                  Year to date:            147 m bolt 27m, bucket batiks 15m

destash gift 68m

Net added in 2023         4 meters


Back into the positive.  I do always aim to be 


positive so I am okay with the result.  Lending 


all of  ours goods to each other, until the next sale, 


is fun too.  My usage will go up soon. There are quite a few 


quilts waiting for binding under the table. 




A bit of time at the ironing board making binding 


and I should be well on my way to finishes soon.


Stay safe and sew on !


Linking up with :


Stash Reporting



Sunday, October 1, 2023

Stash Report - end of September

Well, I added 7 meters back into my total 

but the fabric is lovely and inexpensive!



Isn't it nice?  It will make a fine backing 

with lots left over for scrappy endeavors. 

I had a wonderful time chatting and folding 

material for a stash busting sale too!

We all need to have a plan for our fabric stash.

My plan is to sew it all up!! Isn't it nice to have dreams!?

Here is the new total for the week. Still into 

the negatives and a few more bindings 

will put me back on track!

2023 STASH TOTALS

  Used last week:     0 m


Used year to date:       112  m

                                      Scraps out               0. m   

                                   (1 bag=/.5 k=.5m)  

                                      Scraps In                 .0  m

Added last week:        7 m

                                  Year to date:            129 m bolt 27m, bucket batiks 15m

destash gift 68m

Net added in 2023         -14 meters


Older UFOs on my shelves should really be included in


the mix to work on, but it so much fun to finish up  a 


newer project! I may browse thru the stacks this evening. 


Till then Stay safe and sew on!


Linking up with :


Stash Reporting