A Scrappy Quilter

Monday, September 8, 2025

Do I Have Enough Pins?

The pinned pile is getting bigger!

I have to admit it is a great feeling to

have a nice bunch of layered quilts

waiting for the needle. Now the

challenge will be to choose quilting patterns

Continuous patterns make the process

smoother so I will pull out my two

favorite reference books to help

in the search.

I like a vine pattern,

but I have to be careful because

they tend to take on a coffee bean shape

toward the end of the top!

A clamshell would be nice on the

two filmstrip edged quilts and the

back and forth of the form will keep the

top moving.

The thousand pyramids will get

a diagonal pattern to emphasize the

beautiful triangle piecing.

The squares might get a diagonal grid

for the center section and a stitch in the ditch

square grid for the colorful border.

Spirals reminiscent of a nautilus shell would

work on the Sea Glass quilt. I didn't

realize I had so many options in mind!

The hopscotch & twin 8s & 10s are good for

an all over design.

Yet another pinned string quilt is hanging on the rack.

There a few pieces left of this style quilt so I'll have to

Have a sewing night to finish it up.

This one might get a different style from the other two quilts.

I'm thinking the Great Big Sea or some gentle ocean waves.

I do love continuous line quilting.

The last on the pinned rack,

is a row by row from a past sewing group.

It will just get some shadow quilting around

each item in the rows done by the members.

It should be a great memento.

Finally, here is a picture of the quilt rack right now.

It looks amazing and so tidy!

I can't wait to get into the quilting!

Stay safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Needle & Thread Thursday

Free Motion Mavericks

Friday Beauty Pageant

Retreat, Retreat!

Five days and counting to the first retreat of the season.

This is new to me since this retreat is held in a hotel!

We've got a block of rooms, and one of the larger

guilds in town is hosting. It should be a great time!

My pile of retreat projects is growing, and

the featherweight is all oiled up, but a

few more are needed to keep me occupied!

So far I have 2 childrens quilts to stitch.

Blue and pink strips will be trimmed

and surround some colorful owl prints.

The second project is a garlic knot top.

Thirty nine blocks are complete and I

need sixty four to complete a nice sized twin top.

A few more projects will round out the

bunch. Diagonal string blocks are always

a good filler project and we're even

playing a game with them!

There are a group of Halloween fabrics

waiting to be sewn into shaded four patches

that would fun and very seasonal.

I even found a banner to add in!

A mystery from last year is waiting for

final assembly so that may come along

to round out my list!

All my bags are packed (almost)!

It should be a great weekend of fun!

Stay safe and Sew On!

Thursday, September 4, 2025

September Goal is Still Rolling!

Great progress is being made in the sewing room !

Last month, the quilt rack finished up like this!

Now , four days into the month, it is

looking like this!

Five quilts are pinned and ready

for stitching! This month is shaping up

to be very productive! Lots of fun too!

Bernie is back in the sewing room

after a healthy bit of work by the

repairman, and there are a few more

tops to layer before quilting begins!

Here's to forward progress! Yay!

On the list are:

~Finishing edging and pinning Sea Glass

~Make back and pin Colored Strings

~Border, make back and pin Country Row by Row

~Adjust border, back and pin Many Strings

It is good size list but I have a retreat ahead and

at least one sew day planned.

Happy Stitching .

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with :

One Monthly Goal

Monday, September 1, 2025

Rolling Along, Another Finish!

I am on a roll!

Two finishes in as many weeks,

might I say wowser!

This quilt finishing, 63" by 67",

was a bit of a challenge for me in the piecing.

I'm not a big fan of curves and this one was loaded with them.

I did use the Quick Curve ruler

to make cutting the curves easier,

but surprisingly it didn't help with the stitching!

I do love the look though.

The most rewarding part of this quilt,

was spending time in my fabric stash

choosing pairs of colors that dazzled.

The pairs of fabrics provide lots of interest,

and each block is a joy in itself.

A multitude of squares and blocks of squares,

were enlisted to make the colorful border.

The quilting was not too complex,

shadow quilting on the inside of the curved block edges,

and an almost stitch in the ditch outline of the curves.

This quilted so nicely and my machine ran smoothly.

The next quilt underneath the needle was not so fortunate,

and my big Bernina went in for

an expensive fix but now works fabulously!

It is actually two for two on needle threading,

which is a real difficulty for the totally

automatic style of this machine.

This finish, a nice twin size,

also precipitates a change in my stash numbers!

50.5 YTD Purchased

8.5m Jan- Jun

Used 5 m donated, 3 m ( baby quilt)

6m ( twin) 6m ( twin)

30.5 total meterage added YTD

Woot, woot!

There are also two waiting on the stairs

for a ride to longarm quilter, so

more finishes are coming!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Linking up with:

Free Motion Mavericks

Needle & Thread Thursday

Finished or Not Friday

Design Wall Friday

Friday Homes Matters

Friday Beauty Pageant

Take Me With You!

Retreat season is nearly here,

and I thought it would be a good time to inventory

the little work drawer in my featherweight!

I can get almost all I need for a weekend away sewing

in the little drawer or the machine box.

There are lots of extras I take to retreats;

larger cutting boards, bigger rotary cutters,

long rulers, but I have sewn for a whole weekend

with just what I had in my featherweight box!

Here's a quick list.

Spare bobbins

Needle threader

snips

Sewer's ease

Chain piecing Cutter

Two small rulers

Emery board

Machine brush

reading glasses

Bag of clips

Machine feet

Band-Aid

Screwdriver

Angled tweezers

Pencil

Pen

Pins

Straight tweezers

Small scissors

Chapstick

Spare needles

Magnifying glasses

Many of the projects I take are

cut out at home so I don't have to

worry about the activities are retreat

distracting me from measurements!

The machine power foot goes into the

main box instead of the drawer to make

room for my supplies.

The retreat pile is growing daily!

Happy retreating!

Stay safe and sew on !

August One Monthly Goal - Great Progress

The goal of working on my quilt rack backlog and

getting some charity quilting done was a success!

The last of the charity quilts were quilted,

actually only one.

This big beauty proved more than enough

for my domestic machine.

I graciously bowed out of doing the second

that was measuring 97"x 97".

The use of various sizes, widths and changes in direction,

give this quilt a unique eclectic look.

Another success for the charity group!

Two items are off the ladder and on their way

to the long arm quilter.

One will probably be a keeper for my cozy collection,

and the other is a gift for my DD

to warm her bed in the winter.

Another cheery twin size quilt,

Hopscotch, is on the table and ready to be pinned.

The top did require an extra bit of work,

as you can see one of the blocks was turned.

I rectified this problem by first

taking out a block that was correct!

Then I went on to take out the errant block.

Restitching everything and giving it a a press

got it back on the pinning table in a timely fashion.

Two others were finished up

using my favorite quilt binding workhorse machine.

The curved 9 patch was trimmed and bound,

and the last of the Irish chains

was quilted, trimmed and bound.

On to the next challenge!

Stay Safe and Sew on!

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Bind It Up!

It's binding time!

Finally I've a goodly stack of quilts to bind.

One is mine, and three are charity quilts.

I don't always get to the charity day,

so I swing by later and pick up,

some quilts that are back from quilting and ready to bind .

I also did quilting on some tied quilts a while back.

I have two more of those to finish up.

The largest ones ended up at the end of the workload,

so I still have those two get started on.

Here are all my binders!

First is the end of the road

for Irish chains from last year's stash buster.

This has all the leftover blocks,

and it really went together in a nice rainbow.

The binding is a medley

of rainbow colors and really pulls it all together.

This is my second finish for the year,

but I many tops close to the quilting stage!

The next one up and done was a smaller, child's quilt

from the charity committee.

It has a dainty little pattern on the front with loads of blue triangles.

The back is a beautiful,

fuzzy fabric that sure to delight any child receives it.

The pale blue binding matches the back and front

perfectly and frames the design nicely.

Then a beautiful orange white and floral quilt

from the charity committee

received a beautiful, matching binding.

This one is called , "Flowers on White".

The simple small block is stunning when

joined with its fellow and the orange border

just enhances it all.

To finish this wonderful quilt,

the longarmer used a loftier batt and

a delightful swirl design to take this to the next level!

The quilting shows up wonderfully in the detail.

I had a bit of trouble with the black backing

thread showing up on the back binding but

a little pickin', grinnin' and restitching

solved that problem.

Last but not least, is a potato chip charity

quilt with pink accents,

highlighted by a pink binding.

I wasn't sure about the pink binding

but once complete it really

bring out the subtle pinks in the top.

Congratulations to the charity committee members

for their beautiful work.

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

Free Motion Mavericks

Design Wall Friday

Finished or Not Friday

TGIFF

Labels

Monday, September 8, 2025

Thursday, September 4, 2025

Monday, September 1, 2025

Tuesday, August 26, 2025