Two finishes

 Do you ever feel like you should have gotten more done for the week? Even though I have two finishes I felt like I didn't have the energy/motivation that I usually do. I can't even blame it on the heat as we had a couple of really nice days. Granted these two finishes are larger than I normally do. 

First was this scrappy orange pineapple quilt which I pieced over the winter. Quilted it on Saturday and bound it Tuesday, by machine of course. This will be put aside until fall when we see our son and DIL and I will give to her for her church group to hand out to someone in need in their community. This marks the second donation quilt done for the year.

When searching through my donation fabrics I had a hard time finding anything that would go with orange. This one has gold/orange fruit and that was as close as I could get. 

A quick meander seemed right, get it done and with a larger design the quilt remains more cuddly. I used a poly batting on the thinner side so it didn't get to poofy. 

Sunday I pinned this quilt on the frame and quilted it with a freehand feather design on Sunday morning and Monday in between doing other things. We went for a bike ride on Sunday afternoon, after that I didn't do anything! Wednesday I got the binding on and had it's photo shoot on Thursday. 

Also pieced over the winter using a Jelly Roll that I had won a while back. I used a brown for the binding

Picked up that backing from Hobby Lobby when it was on sale. The pattern for the quilt is from Missouri Star called Sticks and Stones. I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing one Melva had made. Mine has made it's way into my Etsy shop.

There are so many fall things I want to get made in the next two weeks and get them listed in my Etsy shop.  So I need to get motivated somehow and soon! The first thing is to see if I have a backing for that leaf quilt or can make a scrappy one.

Here are a few peeks of pretty blooms in our yard. Garden Phlox in different shades of purple and a white peeking out here and there. They are in the fenced garden area. 

These are in a pot on the deck. Aren't the reddish orange and yellows so pretty. I forget their name. And the purples are so dainty.

Can't forget the purple coneflowers on the south side of the house. 

Linking with the Friday parties-TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, Finished or Not Friday, Off The Wall, I Quilted This and Oh! Scrap

Processing scraps

 I have kept a bin loaded with all the fabrics I used for my maple leaf runners. There was parts, strips and chunks in there, some leftover from when I did paper pieced leaf blocks. It was getting to be so messy, so Saturday afternoon I did something about that. I processed a lot of scraps into 2.5" squares. 

If it was a WOF x 2.5" strip I didn't cut it up, that way I can make strip sets and then cut. My bin looks much neater now! Squares are in one bag and leaf parts in another bag. The strips and sashings are in one pile. There are a few chunks I didn't process yet, I'll do that as needed. 

Then I got to making the borders for these two runners that I pieced on Friday. All ready for quilting soon as I am out of these. I love using up some scraps in the process!

Linking with Oh Scrap! 

Leftovers

These two runners are for my Etsy customer. She saw one in my shop but wanted two of them for her end tables. So I made two new ones identical for her. She was happy with that and they are now on their way to her home. The pattern for this is called Leftovers and is from a book by Calico Printworks.

These use up a lot of scraps, but there are always more as you all know!  I just heard about a fabric estate sale 1/2 hr from me this week, should I go? Do I need more, no I do not, but it is hard to pass up a sale! I don't know the prices which I wish I did as that could be the deciding factor.

A new project was started this week...I'll tell you more about it after I get it quilted.

 

Linking with Oh Scrap! Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday and Sew and Tell Monday.

Nine Patches

Once upon a time a friend gave me a bag of squares to do something with. The squares were not all perfectly cut so I recut them into 2.25 inch squares and added a neutral fabric to make nine patches. I even started making a few blocks and then back into the baggies to wait their turn to come out to play again. 

In the interest of getting some UFO's to flimsy stage, I took these blocks/scraps out of storage and made more blocks with more of the scraps. In the end I sashed them with a lighter blue solid fabric and ended up with this child size quilt. This will become another donation quilt. The coloring is really off in the photo below, I had to take it during a rainy day so I could get it off my design wall. 

Linking with Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday Beauties Pageant, and Oh Scrap!

On 6/30/24 Accuquilt will have free ground shipping with CODE: no code needed

Have a great weekend! Will you be sewing/quilting or something else? 

To the Flimsy stage

Two Bits is to the flimsy stage! Pattern by Cynthia who blogs at Quiltingismorefunthanhousework. Oh I am love with how it came together. After sewing the blocks and rows together I framed it with a solid black. I had extra scraps(imagine that!) so the colorful borders are all strings pieced together for the right length. 

The scraps for the borders were all cut at roughly 5" in length, meaning I laid the strings out on the cutting mat and just rough cut at 5" intervals. Pieced them and then trimmed to 4.5" in width. This quilt was so fun! I will be a donation when finished.

And onto the next UFO.  A long time ago I started making these blue blocks along with green ones and tried a new to me technique to add the sashings in tan and brown. This method worked out great and hopefully I will have another flimsy ready soon:)

                                            

Our Peonies are doing great. We counted at least 100 buds on them. Hubbies hand to show you the size of the bloom. 

Just a small part of the group of peonies.

Linking with Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF, Beauties Pageant, Off The Wall Friday, Patchwork and Quilts, Oh Scrap!

Brown Scraps and knitting

Yesterday I pulled out the brown fabrics bin and refolded and stacked neatly back into the bin-it's like a refresher course to remind you what you have! In the process I pulled out this scrappier looking pile. The plan is to cut these into usable rectangles and squares this week.  A lot of it will go into the potato chip blocks.

In the evenings I like to have some handwork so I searched the internet for a hand knit slipper pattern for kids.  The first one I found and tried I didn't like.  Then I found one called Grandma's knitted slippers.  After running to JoAnn's to get size 8 Bamboo needles. For yarn I used a 4 ply Red Heart variegated along with a sport weight soft pink, it gave just the right feel to the slipper. 

That was fun to make so I started another pair and used the variegated yarn with a fingering weight aqua.  The slipper takes on a bit different color leaning more toward the aqua now. I am adding a few rows to the foot and to the toe for a little larger slipper.  At this point I am just making them to have something to do, I'll end up donating them somewhere. If I stuck to it I could knit one slipper in an evening. But I don't want to overdue my wrists so I am limiting to a little time here and a little there. 

This is the best photo my phone took of the northern lights. Not great but a verification that we did see them! 

Happy Mother's Day to all you momma's out there, what will you being doing today?  We are going for a nice bike ride on this beautiful day, supposed to be 84 and sunny with a few clouds.

Linking with Oh Scrap!, Monday Musings and Sew and Tell Monday

Scrappy Sunday

For today I hope to make more of these potato chip blocks with my 4.5"x 2.5" bricks that I have been cutting this week. These are the first four blocks which will add up quickly as they are 12.5" each.

It's a way to eat up some scraps quickly.  My piles of cut bricks are growing, the neutral pile is 3" in height. Doesn't sound like much but there are many in that stack! 

Linking with Oh Scrap! , Sew and Tell Monday

Morning Glories and scrap processing

I am so in the spring mood!  Over the weekend I pulled out and went through a bin of some floral fabric that I had purchased for making purses(which I no longer am making). These morning glories caught my attention and I remembered I had made a wedge runner with them before. That one having sold I could use another. Quilting on it should happen this week.

My scrap bins are out of control and they have been that way for a long time. No time like the present to go through a few and cut for a potato chip block. One stack of bricks cut on Saturday and one on Sunday. Didn't even make a tiny dimple in the scrap bag, in fact I swear it grew instead of shrink!!!  I am so itching to sew a few blocks but I am still thinking if I want to do each block in a colorway or just mix all the colors in one block. 

Linking with Sew and Tell Monday, Design Wall Monday and Monday Musings.

Help-my strings are swallowing me!

I am drowning in scraps and it's time to work on some of them.  This weekend the grandsons came over on Saturday. They spent some time with grandpa and then I asked if they wanted to sew. The youngest who is now10 said okay when I told him he could learn to use the sewing machine. After teaching him the safety things about the machine I thought he would be good at piecing strings onto phone book pages. I was right, he caught on quickly. 

I pressed the strings during the process and he made two blocks quickly. After I trimmed them up he asked if there was a way he could put the two together and make a tiny pillow.  So that is what we did, he wanted me to sew them together, then he turned it and stuffed it with scrap batting I cut into smaller pieces.

He wasn't quite done sewing yet, he wanted to make a couple more and make a small quilt to match. We forgot to get the photo of that, but it looked the same.  He took them home and gave them to his little sister for her dolly!  Before he left he said I didn't know sewing could be so fun!!   His older brother wanted to try this method out and he got one block made and agreed we could continue another day.  They just made my day:)  

With all those strings laying out and making a giant mess in the room I continued making string orange and gold blocks on Sunday and Monday, so relaxing and fun. But I won't run out of strings any time soon!!  I was planning on using these for fall runner backings. When my hubby saw them he thought they should be made into a quilt instead. We'll see.

The squares on top have been worked on last week and will eventually be a donation quilt.  Yesterday I sewed up 10 more green blocks, working my way toward a finish.  I also cut up a bunch of patriotic scraps and pieced them into a backing for this runner.  

Even though it didn't make even the smallest dent in the strings/scraps it felt good to finally be using some.  I have a feeling there are several people out there in the drowning boat with me...am I right?  Well if you are looking for me and can't find me come on over and look in the string bin! Perhaps you could even press some strings for me while you are here, hehe. 

I'll be linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers and Put Your Foot Down.

It's a string thing flimsy

Yay, I am finally at the flimsy stage with the string snowballs!  I would have been done sooner but I had to go back and make two more blocks of each color. At least I had strings cut and ready to go.  I added 2" neutral sashing between the columns, much easier than dealing with all the seams of the string blocks coming together. I could make a dozen more of these easily if I had the neutral for the background!  The strings never end, LOL.  

This will now go into the 'to be quilted' pile. It will be a donation quilt at some point. I was thinking I'd use it for Hands2Help if it happens this year.  Anyone hear anything about it yet?

Linking up with Oh Scrap! and Wednesday Wait Loss

On a Quest...

To use up a fat quarter bundle, that is what I am on a quest for.  These pretty fabrics have just been hanging around too long.  They started off as a quilt and then the leftovers (aka scraps) just sat there.  Next came a table runner that I showed you on Friday, you can see that HERE.  It is now time to use them up or at least get close to using them up!

This one has a totally different look, nothing like the one I showed you Friday.  But it's from the same pattern book,  Anka's Treasure's book called On The Run Again.  I confess I did go out and acquire a few more fabrics, just to use up the FQ bundle...hmmm does that even make sense to buy more to use up some, LOL.  Oh the mind of a quilter😂😂.

The two polka dot fabrics were purchased and am I ever glad I did.  At the time I wasn't intending on using them both in the same runner.  But after quilting it I grabbed the solid navy to use as a binding and then spied the navy with white polka dot and bam! It's perfect for it😋

An allover quilting of lettuce leaf feathers around a swirl seemed just right for this one.  I used a light gray Glide thread and an 80/20 batting. 

Here comes the next runner with the same fabrics.  Also from On The Run Again.  I mean while I had the book out I might as well see what else I can whip up.

This one just seemed to need a solid navy to pull it all together.  Although the three runners have all used the same FQ bundle fabrics they all seem so different don't they?  It's been fun seeing them come together.  Guess what, there will be more as I still have fabric left!!!  This bundle is really getting stretched out.

I love that I had the perfect backing in the stash, both of these used the same one.  Linking my scrappy projects to Oh Scrap, and Design Wall Monday.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter!

scrap winnings plus...

 Way back during the early days of this year Selina from Selina Quilts was giving away some fabric scraps.  Those who waved their hand got sent a box of scrappy goodness!  I was one of those people.  Since we were gone at the time I had her send it to my daughters and I picked it up when we got back home.  Just look at all that red and blue, I see patriotic in a bit of it don't you?  There was even a little stack of 4 inch squares already cut, that might just be a hint;)  There was even a patriotic fabric that is big enough for the back of one of my runners, which you might get to see later this week if I get it quilted.

And as if that wasn't enough, a few months later Selina participated in the Kitchen Stitchin blog hop. She was showing her dish mat and towels that she made.  If we left a comment we were entered into her giveaway. Well guess what!!!  I won!!  She asked me what color I would like, I said I would use these in my fifth wheel and I decorate in teals with a dash of brown.  OMG you guys these are just perfect for it!  Can't wait to use them.  Thank you so much Selina, you are very generous!

Wishing all Mothers everywhere a Happy Mother's Day!!

Linking with Oh Scrap!

Scrappy squares

The craft season is almost done, it's been fun but I am so ready for a nice winter break!  Time to work on using up some of my mounds of scraps.  A few weeks ago the grandsons, age 6 and 8, were here for the day.  I had them help cut a few 2.5" squares with my Accuquilt.  Then they were anxious to sew but we didn't have enough time. 

They were supposed to sleep over tonight, but the oldest one wasn't feeling too well.  The younger one still wanted to.  So it was playing legos a lot of the time. However he remembered we needed to sew those squares!  Into the sewing room we went.  We decided on 5 blocks of blue first, he picked and arranged the squares while I sewed them.  I only gave him one rule, don't use the same fabric twice in one block.  He did very well.  Next we moved onto 5 green blocks. 

I know it didn't use much scraps, but it sure felt really good to be playing with the scraps again.  I am not sure that I have taken time all year to play with them.  If you ask what I'll be making, all I can say is a quilt of course.  No idea what the layout will be yet or how many blocks I'll need.  

I hope you'll check back Monday for my Island Batik 3D challenge project.

Linking with Oh Scrap!

Triangle messiness

In an attempt to use up some triangles from other projects I was playing around.  Not really loving what I did, but done is good and it will keep someone snuggly.  Plus it is out of my closet!  Last week I posted #5 finish for Q2 FAL.  At the time I forgot that I had not posted #4, this is it.

I tried out Susan's Dragon Fruit freemotion design.  I wanted it as an allover so I did it on a larger scale.  

This is one of the donated backings from a friend.  It was a stretchy terry type fabric. Since it was a little stretchy I handled it with care and had no problem.  In fact it turned out great and was super snuggly when it was off the frame and bound.  And look at the great texture. 

This will be a H2H donation quilt.  I will be donating six quilts this year to our local Crisis Nursery Center.  

Linking with UFO Busting,  Oh Scrap, Q2FAL and Sarah's H2H. 

From Paducah to Memphis

As I promised you, I am sharing what we did for the week after attending the Paducah spring quilt show.  The original plan was to spend the week at Land Between the Lakes(LBL) still in KY.  But, we kept watching the weather and mother nature decided it would be a great time to rain, rain, rain most of that time there.  And we knew we would be wanting to spend lots of time outdoors there and the rain would not allow that. 

So we canceled our reservations there and were able to get a spot at Tom Sawyer campground in West Memphis Arkansas!  Yes if you cross the river you are in AR.  So we added another state to our travels:) The campground is right on the river and our site was right next to the river so we enjoyed watching the huge barges go up and down the river.

As you can see in the above picture we still got rain, but not as much as LBL did.  We managed to get in three bike rides, two across the Mississippi River by taking this bike bridge.  There was also a train bridge right next to the bike one, like only 6-8 feet away, but we were separated by lots of steel so it wasn't scary at all when a train came through right beside us!  If you look at the pic where it almost looks like blue steel, that was the enclosed bridge where we rode.  We wished a barge would come through when we were up there so we could see the top of it, but no such luck.  It was so beautiful for a peaceful ride through a park alongside the river.

We also rode bikes on a great trail at Shelby Farms in Memphis TN.  It's so easy to go back and forth from state to state.

When in Memphis, of course, you have to see...  Do you know whose house this is?

 If not maybe this will be a giveaway...

Graceland and Elvis Presley Museum.  So glad we got to visit and learn a few things we didn't know. Like, did you know he had a twin brother that died when he was born?  Seeing all his cars and his famous jumpsuits he wore was fun!

We also went for a river cruise and to the humongous Bass Pro Shop.  We are not big into fishing but it was a site to see with lots of ponds and 🐟,🐊, more 🐟, ducks.  Oh the alligators were behind a glass wall:)  This place was huge!  It was a great rainy morning activity.

Our friends recommended we visit Beale Street, so we took that in late in the afternoon and then we ate delicious BBQ ribs at BB Kings while listening to a live band play some upbeat music.  

 And all too soon it was time to start the trek back home.  The first day was a very long driving day, all the way from Memphis to Mt. Pleasant IA.  We were not sure when we would want to stop driving that day so we did not make camp reservations.  We just knew we needed to get through St. Louis before rush hour and we made it.  We pulled into Mt. Pleasant campground around 6 pm, tired and hungry.  Luckily they had plenty of space for us, the perks of camping/traveling before high season begins!  The next day wasn't all that long, but we got up and left camp at 6 am and arrived home by 11 am.  We knew the winds were going to pick up and we didn't want another head wind and low gas mileage.

The trip was lots of fun and much needed after a long winter.  I did get some sewing done while camping.  I had cut strips from orange string scraps before we left, the first night on the road I cut them into the right size logs I needed for a log cabin type pumpkin block for table runners and wall hangings. The next morning while waiting for the wind to die down a bit I got out the sewing machine and sewed a few rounds.  That night I sewed a few more rounds.

 Since being home I started using some of the fabric I bought in Paducah-these are from a fat quarter bundle.  They have since been used in 3 table runners, which need to be quilted.

And I have been back on the longarm trying to catch up on runners I have pieced over the winter. Here is one of four that I managed to get quilted this past week.  Yes I am not letting any grass grow under my feet, LOL  Speaking of grass, ours is all nice and green again and our trees are budding out more and more every day, today was 80 degrees-it feels wonderful to have Spring in MN once again!

Since this post does have some scrap usage I am linking up with Oh Scrap