A Never Ending Job

Every once in awhile I have to make a committed effort to tame the scrap monster.  No matter how many scrap quilts I make it seems like I end up with more scraps than I started with.  I’ve had this stack in my sewing room for quite some time so I brought them upstairs to do a little cutting whenever I have a few spare minutes.

It took many years for me to find a scrap system that works for me.  In 2000 Debbie Caffrey came and taught at our shop and she recommended cutting scraps into 2-1/2” strips.  This was around the time she published the book Open A Can of Worms (still one of my favorite scrap quilt books). So that’s how I started cutting scraps into usable pieces.  This was long before jelly rolls and the myriad patterns developed for 2-1/2” strips.  This worked for quite awhile especially since I led a Strip Club for several years and was making a quilt using those strips every month.  Eventually I wanted to branch out so I started cutting several different sizes of strips and some squares.  Now I strips 5”, 3-1/2”, 2-1/2”, 2”  and 1-1/2” wide.  I cut the same size squares:  5”, 3-1/2”, 2-1/2”., 2” and 1-1/2”.  Here’s what I’ve cut so far from that big stack of scraps.

I store them in rolling plastic drawers.  When a drawer get full I start looking for a pattern to use that particular size.  When I’m making any quilt I start my fabric search with strips or squares that are already cut.  My Sunny Side Up quilt is cut from the scrap drawers.  I wanted to make mine a little bigger so I’m making 12” blocks instead of the 9” blocks that Judy made for her quilt.  The bonus was that I was able to use 2” strips and 5” strips that were all ready to go.  Win-win! 

This system doesn’t work for everyone.  It may seem like a lot of work to cut all these strips that may never be used.  Several of my quilting friends just keep bags of scraps and root through the bags when they need small pieces of fabric.  I’m all for anything that works as long as those beautiful scrap quilts keep coming?

How do you organize your scraps?

Technorati Tags: cutting,scraps,scrap quilt

Progress on Sunny Side Up

Judy at Patchwork Times recently had a quilt along for her Sunny Side Up quilt.  I pulled fabric with every intent of sewing along but it just didn’t happen.  This week I finally got busy on it and am very pleased with my progress.  The top should be finished in time to start her next quilt along, Road to Llano.  If you would like to sew along with everyone on that quilt, the fabric requirements are here.

This is my stack of chain blocks for Sunny Side Up.  All 18 blocks are finished and pressed.

Now I’m working on the Ohio Star blocks.  I’m really liking it so far. 

Jim is out of town for meeting the next couple of days so it will be pedal to the metal sewing while he’s gone!

The instructions for this quilt are still on the Patchwork Times website here.

Technorati Tags: piecing,scrap quilt,Sunny Side Up

Design Wall Monday: Knowing when to quit

Two weeks ago these blocks were on my design wall and I was trying to decide which way to cut the striped fabric for the inner border (post here).  This week the completed top is on the design wall (back fence actually!) because I decided the top is finished.  The striped fabric didn’t make the cut, nor did the great border fabric I had purchased for this quilt.  Neither one added any pop or interest to the quilt center so I’m leaving them off.  I’ll probably use the stripe for the binding though and save the border fabric for another project.  I’m happy enough with this top and will probably donate it somewhere and whoever receives it will never know of the border dilemmas!  

Check out what’s on other design walls at Patchwork Times.

Technorati Tags: piecing,athena's puzzle

Week 21, 2013 Recap and Stash Report

This quilt has already made a couple of appearances on the blog but now it is here for the final time because it is FINISHED and even better, it’s made entirely from stash!!  I’ve made so many quilts from this book and love them all.  There is a nice variety of styles, the piecing is easy and they use scraps—lots of scraps.  What’s not to like?

This one is Scrappy Pinwheels.

It is quilted with a pantograph called Hurricane by Kristen Hoftyzer.

I missed last week’s stash report and it was a good thing because I would have reported a net loss for the week.  I went on a bit of a buying spree for a couple of special projects.  I hope to get started on them very soon but right now I need to concentrate on a few UFO’s.  Today I plan to get the top sewn together for the Athena’s Puzzle quilt. 

The weekly stash report:
Used this week:  20 yards
Used year to date:  178 yards
Purchased this week:  17
Purchased year to date: 55 yards
Net year to date:  123 yards used

Be sure to check out other projects and stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Technorati Tags: scrapbasket surprise,pinwheel,piecing,quilting,2013 finishes,stash,scrap quilt

Another Charity Finish

Yesterday I finished quilting this bright Rails and Chain quilt then sewed the binding on this morning.  Yea!!  Another one finished and ready to go. 

This one was quilted with overall swirls in the center, meandering in the outer border and a little “up and down”  (or back and forth) continuous line in the inner border.  Very quick and easy!

This quilt is nice and bright and should bring a little cheer to someone. 

I just finished quilting another one and am hand stitching the binding this evening.  Hopefully there will be another finish to report tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: piecing,quilting,charity,2013 finishes

Back to the Drawing Board

For several weeks I’ve been toying around with a quilt design in my head.  I drew a rough diagram in EQ then started cutting and sewing.  I’m not entirely happy with it but it has some possibility.  My main issue with it is that it’s square and I’m not a big fan of square quilts.  It is made from a layer cake and I didn’t have enough blocks to add another section at the bottom.  I might try again and make it one block narrower, then add borders.  It’s a start anyway!  This weekend I should have some time to spend in the sewing room.  It seems like forever since I’ve been able to spend any significant time in there.

Technorati Tags: piecing

Design Wall Monday: Hemming Pants

This post would be better titled “Life Gets in the Way.”  Last week I spent almost NO time in the sewing room.  It was book club week (The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King) and it took me a long time to get through the book.  Then I picked Jen from school on Thursday and brought her home with a van load of stuff.  Friday and Saturday we spent the day shopping for professional clothing along with steel toe shoes for her so she would be prepared to start her summer (paid!!) internship today. 

So today I’m working on this:

 

It’s one of my least favorite things to do but if I take it to the tailor I catch flak for not doing any “practical sewing.”  It really doesn’t take too long so it won’t be bad, but I am so ready to have everyone gone today so I can get back to quilting.

Congrats to our daughter-in-law Laura and her brother Eric for completing their first half-marathon.  We went up Green Bay yesterday morning to cheer them on.  She stopped by this morning before driving back to Milwaukee and she looked great—just a little sore!  She’s been training for the past few months and it paid off.  What a nice accomplishment for them!



Be sure to check out the other works in progress at Patchwork Times.

The Elephant In The Room

Since Thanksgiving I’ve had this in my sewing room.

It’s a twin bed!  Just to the left of it is a sofa.  There is just enough room to walk between them to get to the sewing table and about the same amount of room at the end for cutting table access.  Worst of all, it’s a flat surface so stuff tends to accumulate there—patterns, fabrics, papers, etc.

This is an extra bed and is only used when we lots of friends or family stay over and usually that only happens once or twice a year.  For the past eight years we’ve had at least one kid in college.  Neither of them has lived in the same place two years in a row or had the same roommate combination two years in a row.  That means we’re always storing furniture that’s not being used in the current year just in case it’s needed the following year.  In addition to beds, we have sofas, futons, tables, chairs, lamps, and bookcases taking up space here. 

I decided that today was the last day I’m going to walk around that bed in the sewing room.  Now that it’s summer I can walk outside so I folded the treadmill, moved a loveseat and then hauled the bed into the downstairs family room.  It’s tucked away along the wall that leads to the storage room so it won’t be in anyone’s way.  Since no one needs to sleep on that bed and it’s pretty dark down in that corner I think I’ll bring out some quilts that are folded and stored in the closet and stack them up flat on the bed. 

Now I could dance in this room.  It feels so spacious.

The next project?  Put away all this stuff that I moved off the bed and onto the couch.  I gotta have my thinking couch!!  Let’s hope that tidiness leads to productivity.

Design Wall Monday: Athena’s Puzzle

Yesterday I started cleaning my sewing room.  Over the winter too much junk has accumulated in there and it’s time to get rid of things, put stuff away and get a little better organized.  In the process of doing so I found these blocks.  They are made from Heather Bailey prints from a pattern called Athena’s Puzzle by Blue Underground Studio.  It’s a fun little log cabin variation.

The blocks are all pieced but the project was derailed when I couldn’t decide on the border.  There is a diagonal stripe in the line that would make a great inner border.

However, when I started to cut the border I realized the stripe goes the “wrong” way.  If I want that great diagonal (left), there would be seams every 18” since I only have a half yard of the fabric.  If I cut it the other way, across the width of fabric, the stripe doesn’t work, it’s more a zigzag (right). 

In the big scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter.  I just need to get in there, cut it and GET THIS  FINISHED!!

Be sure to check out all the other great projects in process at Patchwork Times.

Week 19, 2013 Recap and Stash Report

Happy Mothers’ Day to all moms!  We will be celebrating a little later because both of my kids are in the thick of finals.  Jen will finish up later this week and I’ll go down to Madison to pick her up.  She has an internship here in town this summer so she’ll be back at home.  I’m really excited since I wasn’t sure she would ever be home again for any length of time.  Then next Sunday, my daughter-in-law, Laura is running a half-marathon in Green Bay so we will go up there to cheer her on. Hopefully, we’ll have another chance to see her while she’s in town.  Unfortunately Bryan won’t be coming home with her since he’s studying for boards. We’ll go down to Milwaukee in a week or so for a quick visit with him.

This week almost went by without a single finish but this afternoon I got busy and finished up the first rails and chain quilt.  This ended up being a pretty big quilt—60” x 80” so it used quite a bit of fabric.  Everything in this quilt was from stash; 2-1/2” strips, chain fabric, borders, binding and backing.  I wasn’t sure the binding would be finished by dark so I took the picture earlier in the day right after it came off the frame.  The binding is now finished and this one is ready for donation.

The quilting on this was very quick and easy.  The center is overall meandering and the borders have feather quilting.

The weekly stash report:
Used this week:  11 yards
Used year to date:  158 yards
Purchased this week:  3
Purchased year to date: 38 yards
Net year to date:  120 yards used

Be sure to check out other stash reports at Patchwork Times.

Note to self: read instructions first!

I’ve been quilting a LONG time and over that length of time I’ve found methods for piecing that work best for me. All along, I’ve taken classes from many, many different teachers and have learned lots of different techniques.  I’m almost always willing to try new things in an effort to increase speed and accuracy in my piecing.  So usually before I cut a new project I look at the instructions to see if I plan to piece it according to the pattern or use a different methods. 

This morning I finished piecing the blocks for the quilt I’m currently working on and pulled out the pattern to see how the blocks are to be set together. The blocks are rectangular instead of square and they are set in vertical rows. I had a bunch of extra strips cut so I also checked to see where they are supposed to go.  It was very disheartening to find out that instead of sewing the blocks together into rows and adding sashing, this pattern called for you to add a little sashing strip to every block and then sew the rows together.  That means there are 54 more seams in this top than is necessary.  It would have been SO much faster to piece the rows—well actually the columns and then sew a strip of sashing between each column.  Fortunately, I had some extra sewing time this morning and I almost have the top together so that tedious process is just about behind me.  It is a reminder though, to always read through the pattern before cutting!! 

This is a picture of the top so far—obviously before it has been pressed.

A Little Mindless Sewing

“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come.”  Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (NIV)

Yesterday when I left for work all I could think about was that Bible verse.  It was truly a glorious day and the first day this year when I thought winter is really over.  The grass is green, birds are singing and we may have tulips by the end of the week.  It was too bad I had to work!!

Today is nice too but I had an eye exam this morning and my eyes are still dilated so  it’s painful to go out in the sun.  A little later this afternoon I’ll get out for a walk and enjoy the fresh air.  Now, however, I’m just doing a little mindless sewing.  My small group meets on Thursday and I’m trying to finish up a couple of things for show and share.  I’m winding down the fabric from the “box of stuff” (original post here).  This is the last charity quilt from that fabric.  There is still a bag of leftovers from the Bliss line of fabric.  I’ll probably get two more lap quilts from these “scraps”.  There is also fabric for two pillowcases and an apron panel.  It will interesting to see how many projects came from the fabric in that box.  I’ll have everything finished by the end of the month and then photograph the big pile of projects from that one little box.

This pattern is Off Track by Cluck Cluck Sew.  It’s a simple pattern and the blocks are coming together quickly.  This was kind of a crummy “jelly roll” because there were only about eight prints in the bundle and 20 of the 50 strips were of one print.  I set aside 9 of those to use for binding and added a few more fabrics for a little more variety.  Oh, well.  The point of these quilts is to bless someone who has very little. 

So far I’ve sewn the 56 blocks I need to make this twin size.  Now off to sew the sashing units.

Design Wall Monday: Strip Pieced Rails and Chain

A couple of weeks ago I showed a Scrappy Rails and Chain quilt top that I made using 2-1/2” strips (post here).  I’m still trying to use up some fabric from that box of stuff I found and I thought that would be an easy quilt to make.  Since I had fat quarters it was easier to strip piece the quilt than to cut individual rectangles.  Be sure to check out what everyone has on their wall at Patchwork Times.

If you’d like to make one of these, here are the basic instructions.

Fabric Requirements
12 fat quarters
1-5/8 yards background fabric (includes enough for inner border)
5/8 yard binding fabric

Separate the fat quarters into two sets of six. 
From each fat quarter from one set of six cut one 8-1/2” and one 2-1/2” strip. 
From each fat quarter in the other set of six cut one 4-1/2” strip and one 6-1/2” strip. 
Save the leftovers from all the fat quarters.  Later this week I will show you another little project that will use them up!

From the background fabric, cut (14) 2-1/2” strips.  Cut each strip in half along the fold so you end up with (24) 2-1/2” x about 21” strips.  You will have a half strip of background left over.


Sewing:
Select an 8-1/2” strip and sew to a 2-1/2” background strip. Press toward the 8-1/2” strip.  Make six strip sets.



Cut each strip set into eight 2-1/2” segments.


I like to stack press the strip sets (see post here for stack pressing info), then cut three at a time with my favorite ruler—the June Tailor Shape Cut Plus.




Select a 6-1/2” strip and sew to a 2-1/2” background strip.  Select a 2-1/2” print strip and sew to the other side of the background strip.  Press both seams away from the background strip.  Make six strip sets.



Cut each strip set into eight 2-1/2” segments.



Select a 4-1/2” strip and sew to a 2-1/2” background strip. Select another 4-1/2” print strip and sew to the other side of the background strip. Press both seams away from the background strip. Make three strip sets.



Cut each strip set into eight 2-1/2” segments.



Lay out blocks as shown below.  Each block uses two segments from the first strip set, two from the second strip set and one from the third strip set.



Sew segments together to make a block.  Your block should measure 10-1/2” square at this point (10” finished).  Make 24 blocks.




To make piecing the blocks an even speedier process, I chain piece all the segments from strip set 1 to the segments from strip set 2.  These are the top and bottom pieces of the block. Then sew a segment from strip set 3 in the middle.  It’s so easy!!

Make sure all blocks are pieced the same way.  It’s easy to turn them and then the chain won’t go the correct way.
This is the layout I chose for my quilt—every other block is rotated 90 degrees.  You could also lay out your blocks so the chains all go in one direction diagonally.  Or in any way that strikes your fancy!



You do not have to add borders to this quilt but I did.  This is what I did for borders.
Inner border:  Cut six 2-1/2” strips (depending on the width of your fabric, you may only need 5 strips).  Sew strips together.  Measure length of quilt top through center and cut two borders this measurement.  Sew to both sides of the quilt top.  Press toward the border strip.  Measure width of quilt top through center and cut two borders this measurement.  Sew to the top and bottom of the quilt top.
Outer border:  Cut six 4-1/2” strips.  Repeat steps from above to sew on outer border.

Quilt as desired and bind.  Your quilt should finish about 52” x 72”.

Here is my top:



My original quilt top that I made from strips is now on the frame being quilted and this bright one is all ready to go once that one is finished.  Maybe I’ll be able to show both completed later in the week.

Week 18, 2013 Recap and Stash Report

This morning I finished hand sewing the binding on the last of my charm quilts on the drive to and from church.  This one is Falling Charms from a Missouri Star Quilt Co. tutorial (here).

There is a block turned on the lower right-ugh!  I’m keeping this quilt so it’s not a big deal!

Here is a close-up of the quilting—and the border.  I just love the way the border makes this quilt.  The quilting is a pantograph called Plumage by Willow Leaf Studios.

I missed last week’s stash report so this is a two week recap.  I finished five projects:

Baby Geniuses Grow Up-La France:  3 yards
Jumping Jacks-Marmalade: 3.5 yards
Jumping Jacks-Spring Song: 3.5 yards
Falling Charms-Christmas charms: 7 yards
Grandma’s quilt: 5 yards (back and binding only)

After having a few weeks with no fabric purchases I fell off the wagon this week.  Some of it was jelly rolls that I need for a pattern I’m working on—I can ALWAYS justify purchasing fabric!

The weekly stash report:
Used this week:  22 yards
Used year to date:  147 yards
Purchased this week:  14
Purchased year to date: 35yards
Net year to date:  112 yards used

It’s still going down!  Check out the links at Patchwork Times so see how others are doing on stash reduction.

It Used To Be Fun To Fly

Here’s the laugh for today.

Remember when it used to be fun to fly?  It was such an event that we would even plan what we would wear on the plane.  It didn’t matter how much luggage you brought because it was all checked for free.  A most professional, well-groomed “stewardess” would bring drinks and a meal while you watched a movie and relaxed.  Now, most people wouldn’t even walk to the mailbox looking as sloppy and unkempt as the flight attendants (both male and female) were on my last trip.  I’m not ripping on the flight attendants, I’m just pointing out a decline in service and professionalism further exacerbated by no meal service, crowded cabins, dirty planes, trash left from previous flights and fees for everything from checked bags to headphones.

Why I even bring this up is that I received an email this morning from Frontier Airlines listing their further reduction in service.  I wasn’t sure that was even possible, but apparently it is.  It was totally laughable.  For example, if you book your flight through Expedia, Travelocity or another third party you may no longer use an overhead bin for free.  You will pay for that privilege although the email does not specify what the charge will be.  By booking through the third party, you will also receive only 25% of actual miles flown for frequent flier points.  Everyone who flies what is called “Basic” or “Economy” will pay $1.99 for coffee or soda.  The email made a point of the fact that you will now get a full can of soda.  Probably the funniest thing about this new policy will be enforced by the flight attendant who will check your boarding pass to determine that you paid enough for your flight to be entitled to that $1.99 soda.  You just can’t make this stuff up. 

Of course, all the other airlines will follow suit of these service reductions so it probably won’t help to boycott Frontier.  I just hope my weight loss plan succeeds so I can wear four sets of clothes at once and still fit in the little coach seat in order to avoid paying the overhead bin fee!  Like I said, it used to be fun.  I’m just glad I don’t have to travel for work. 

So I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to join the Sunny Side Up Quilt Along at Patchwork Times.  I don’t really need another project, but I like the quilt and I LOVE pieced borders. A color theme didn’t occur to me until this morning when I thought about making it red and green for Christmas.  I have plenty of both colors in my scrap bins and when it’s all finished there will be about 15 yards less in my stash.  With the fabric selection made, the Part 1 instructions being posted today and a free day to sew since Jim is volunteering on a church project I’m ready to jump in.  Here are the fabrics I’ll use for the chains.  Now I can’t wait to start!

Auditioning Borders

A border can really make or break a scrap quilt.  When I had the quilt shop customers frequently came in for help in choosing a border for a quilt and we were always happy to pull lots of fabric to try out.  I always think it’s a good thing to not have your heart (and mind) set on a particular color or print for a border until you’ve auditioned several fabrics.  You really can’t know ahead of time which one will really make your quilt sing!  Since I use so many fabrics in scrap quilts it can sometimes be a challenge to find the right border fabric. Sometimes a fabric that I think will be perfect for a quilt just falls flat. I’ll often pull 20 or 30 fabrics to find one that truly accentuates the pieced center.

This is an example of a border that just doesn’t work. 

The colors are good, but the print has too much light fabric and doesn’t coordinate with the center.  Even the inner border is distracting.  That’s the biggest reason this is still in my UFO pile.  I’ve contemplated  taking the border off and either replacing it or leaving it off completely.  It’s partially quilted though so that would be a pain.  What I think I’ll do with it now, is just bind it, donate it and move on.  Really that’s the most sensible option.

A couple of weeks ago, I made this charm quilt.  Originally I had planned to use a little tone on tone dark green print from the same line as the charm squares.  I wasn’t crazy about how it looked and then I found this printed plaid in my stash and now I love the quilt.  The border just adds so much to it.  I just need to hand stitch the binding and it will be finished.

This morning I finished piecing this chained rails top.  I’m still not liking the chain fabric too much.  It just didn’t have enough contrast, but I was too far into the project to change it.  Again, I’m just going to move forward, finish it and give it away.  I’m hoping the borders will help it out a little bit because it is a nice quilt otherwise.  Here are a few fabrics under consideration.

There is a lot of green in the quilt and I thought maybe a green border would work but this one is kind of ho hum.  Next I tried a brown but up close I didn’t really like the print.

I usually really like plaids for borders on scrap quilts.  I thought this might be a perfect fit because the quilt has a lot of blue and red.  It doesn’t work because of the light in the plaid.  The quilt doesn’t have any other fabrics that light.

Brown was still my top choice so I tried a dark brown.  It looked pretty good but I still thought there might be something better.

Red wasn’t a color I had even considered but I saw this fabric and I think it’s my top choice.  It’s a little black and red homespun plaid check.

I’ll add a narrow black stop border, then the red check. 

I’ll get the borders on and quilt it then show a picture of the finished quilt then you can decide if I made a good border choice or not!

No News Must Be Good News

Here’s your laugh of the day. Appleton is a sleepy little town where there’s rarely any big news but the top story in today’s paper was ridiculous even for here.  The lead story, no kidding, was about the most popular dog name in the city.  Apparently, the investigative reporter combed the dog license records to glean the top name. The article took up about 3/4 of the front page and there was even a picture of a couple who had a dog with this name. I guess it’s better than reading about robberies and murders,and I'm grateful for that, but honestly, this isn’t news anywhere, on any day!  Oh, and I know you're dying to find out---the most popular dog name in Appleton, Wisconsin is---Molly.

Today I quilted another of the quilts in my April UFO parade.  This was a teaching sample from several years ago.  I used the 7" Crazy Curves templates from Elisa’s Backporch Design.  Every time I taught the class I started a new sample so I must have made about 10 of these quilts!  I LOVE the templates, though and it is a very easy quilt.  This one used a lot of “Whimsical” fabric and I had the plaid border in my stash.  I hope I still have enough of it for the binding.  Tomorrow I’ll sew a machine binding and the quilt will be ready to donate.  This will be my third finish from the UFO Parade—that’s one a week.  Now if I can only keep up that pace.  The picture is a little awkward because it’s POURING rain and I was trying to take it on the front porch.

Finished Charm Quilts

During down time in Milwaukee over the weekend and on the drive home I managed to finish two more of the charm quilts. 

This is made from charm squares from the Baby Geniuses Grow Up line and is the Villa Rosa pattern La France.

I quilted it in wavy vertical lines.  After quilting the Marmalade charm quilt with straight lines last week I got smarter and did curvy lines on this one.  Much easier and you don’t have to worry about keeping them straight!  It looks really cute on this little baby quilt.

Also finished is Jumping Jacks from the book Quilts from Sweet Jane made from charms in the Garden Song line by Benartex.  I really like how this one turned out.  It’s really soft and pretty for spring.

It is quilted in overall swirls.  This is always my go-to quilting design when I want to finish something quickly.  I really need to expand my quilting repertoire.