She's got the Rhythm ...

... and I got the Blues.  (song by Alan Jackson.)

Oh Yes, Baby! I got the blues alright and they are all done .... for July that is. Yay!

Chain piecing has a different meaning when one works with pieces of one inch

Boy's Nonsense - 17 pieces

There's a way to piecing such small parts. You cut them bigger and trim them down to size ...

... like this. Those "ears" are the triangles needed to make the little sliver of dark blue next to the azure blue. Showing this just in case you were wondering. 😊


Cactus Basket - 14 pieces  The brown block is trying to capture all the attention. I don't like that. I hope it will behave better once in the quilt. 😒

Cut the Corners - 33 pieces  I just LOVE this one.

Symmetry in Motion - 13 pieces but I added some. Yes, it was calling for some Y seams and I just did it MY way. No regrets! 😀

And to finish the month beautifully, an easy block called Basket Weave with 18 pieces.

The total of pieces for the month of July is 765 in 31 blocks.

Care to see them again? Here we go.

The block Temple Court is missing in action because it is already sewn to the quilt. I asked Basket Weave to replace it in the pictures. 😉

Joining Cynthia this week at Quilting is More Fun than Housework.

I'm off to see what you have done this week.

Catch you later. ;^)

Mini Blues

I just have a few mini blues to share with you today.

On the left: July 22 - Double Z - 20 pieces.

On the right: July 23 - Schoolgirl's Puzzle - 20 pieces.
Now, in my days, this one was called Old Maid's Puzzle. I guess that name is not politically correct anymore so they changed it to Schoolgirl's Puzzle. Whatever the name, it is still one of my favorite blocks. Don't let that upper right corner get to you. I know it is twisted but I like it too much to change it. :^D

Here we have Devil's Puzzle. I don't think he bothered to give us much of a challenge with this one.  13 pieces.

Another one of my favorite is the Cat's Cradle block.  33 pieces

Then came the Big Storm on July 26. It's a cute name but it gives the impression of a hard, complicated block which it is not. It has only 8 pieces.  A total of 94 pieces for this week. Not bad. All these blocks are finishing at three inches.

So that's all the bits of blues I played with this week.  Today, I'll be at Angela's place, admiring more blues in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Come and join.

Sunday's here, and I'll be with Cynthia for more blues on Quilting is More Fun than Housework. 


Catch you later.

;^)

Back with the Crazies

No, I am not talking about my friends, hahaha! I am talking about the 365 Challenge - the Ultimate Sampler.

Pieces cut at one inch. This is the center of a block.

The last time I worked on this horrible, stupid, fabulous quilt was in February of this year. I believe it is time to give this quilt a little push forward. Care to see what I made?





July 18 - Tangled Briars (or as I know it, Barrister's Block) - 44 pieces

Oh, yea! Forgot to mention, all these blocks finish at 3 inches (3.5 inches in the pictures)



July 19 - Propeller - 17 pieces

July 20 - Grandmother's Favorite (I doubt that!) - 33 pieces

Don't let its simplicity fool you. It is a tricky pattern to make and I doubt Grandma liked it.   😝 The tiny beige triangles are half an inch in height. I can make Barrister's Block with 44 pieces real straight and this one only has 33 pieces but didn't want to cooperate and @#$%^&^$# ...  The block is not straight and I don't care. NEXT!!


July 21 - Cock's Comb - 24 pieces

You saw part of this one in the very first picture. Another one that was pretty fidgety but i managed to do a most decent job. I just wish my "light" fabric was lighter but ... yeah, it works.

Needless to say, the leader-enders between these units had to be very easy and mindless. So I made this ...

... mug rug made with strings a friend at the Wednesday Sewing Club gave me. These are African fabrics. They are like batiks in the sense that both sides are the same and I got one backward. I guess you can still read it. It says "Fabrique au Nigeria" and it's "veritable super sagesi". I don't know what "real super sagesi" is but it is just gorgeous fabric. It needs to be quilted, trimmed and bound. By Wednesday? Hmmmm!!

I also work on this ...

... long column of blues, some little pieces and some strings were called in to construct this one. What is it for? I don't know. It hasn't told me it's name yet. It was just nice to sew it.

So that's my week. What about you? Care to share with Oh Scrap? Come and join the fun.

Catch you later.

;^)

Dusty projects

Got up at 6am (as usual) this morning and the house was so quiet, it was eerie. Nothing at all, not even husband snoring! I check the clock and oh! power outage. DARN!!

We always have the furnace's fan on to make the air circulate otherwise it gets muggy in the house. I was starting to feel it already. The power has been out for only 2 hours so far . Oh Gosh!

Got the kettle and stepped outside to heat the water the old fashion way.

There was a slight breeze but it was very humid. Yuck! Not opening the window. So now that I am armed with my coffee, what am I supposed to do? Can't finish laundry; can't bake breakfast. It's a good thing I did some muffins last night.

Zucchini muffins

Grabbed one and went downstairs. Looked around the sewing room and Oh no! I can't log in and see what's going on at Kathy's place and Cynthia's place. Double Darn!! It is my tradition to sip my coffee with these girls on Sunday morning.

I don't want to clean, it's Sunday morning. There's NO cleaning on Sunday morning! I've done enough on Saturday of that. It is getting so humid in the basement, it is now to the point of annoying me. I'm glistening, hahaha! Gosh, I need air.

Okay, let's find something to do. Think of something else. Then I spotted my new die-cut. Oh fun! Let's give this baby a try.

I haven't played with my big Sizzix in such a long time, it was dusty. Put some scrap on it and turned the handle. And ta-dah!Eh! What?

It didn't cut all the way through. What's with this? Well, that deflated my balloon quick enough, thank you. Took everything up and placed it back on the dusty shelf.

Siiiiggghhhhhhhhhh! What now? (The silence is deafening.) Oh, there's something.

I could kit some blocks from the 365 Challenge. I could use them as my leader-ender blocks. I haven't worked on this one in a very long time. Grab the box and oh, yes, it's dusty too, hahaha. Then, ... it dawn on me! The patterns are in the computer which is powered by ... ugh! electricity! ARRRRGH! Double triple darn!!

Come back electricity, I need you. I need my usual Sunday ritual. (gosh, maybe I am more OCD than I thought) And this silence is getting on my nerves!!!  I need to get busy, think of something else than the lack of sounds. Let's get another coffee.

The amount of dew this morning made it impossible to sit outside, which was a bummer because, by this time, it was nicer out. I'm thinking of all the slow stitching projects joining Kathy's place and ... oh wait! ... I DO have a slow stitching project. YAY!! Let's get that.

I unfold my Quilt of the Century and (cough, cough) it is so dusty. It has been waiting for some attention since August 31, 2016. Yep, two years, almost to the day.

This is the last thing I did with it. Remove all the "border" hexagons.


Now, Michelle from the Wednesday Sewing Club told me to add three hexagon on the sides to make them straighter. It will be easier to attached the last border to it. Sigh. Why have I removed them in the first place? Don't remember! Anywho!

Good thing I never got the chance to undo them as I am now piecing these back to the quilt. Ironic? (I am surprise at the speed I located these pieces, wow! Maybe I am more organized than I thought.)

But now that I have something to keep my hands busy, I feel better. :^) It's Sunday Zen Time again!! Ahhhh!



I'll join Kathy (Slow Sunday Stitching) and Cynthia (Oh Scrap!) whenever the electricity gets back.

Happy Sunday Morning to all.


;^)

Hi, Long Time No See

I haven't been ignoring you, sweet blogger friends, I have just been out of commission for a bit.

Now it's time to catch up and see what I did managed to do.

So I had a flimsy that looked like this the last time I posted. It had its first border on and was looking for a second one.

After some tester blocks that wanna-look-like cogs, my son and I have settled on one design. Yeah, I went with his idea since it is his quilt.

Then, it needed some corner blocks. Back to the drawing board. I was thinking real cogs this time. My son too but apparently REAL cogs are not crooked. Who knew?

Guess which one is my drawing?


Machine appliqued cogs.

They aren't as straight as my son's drawing it but they're okay.

Did some sewing on the back porch once the sun was out of the corner. It is still so hot around here but I won't complain as I live in Canada and we all know what's coming next. ANYwho! So, did some sewing in the shades. Also did a pajama for son, that's the fabric you see hanging from the table and on top the chair. It's a patchwork pajama to match the quilt, lol.



Finally did the last border and ta-dahhhhh!

Oh look! I think the border is shy. Let's try again.



Ta-dah!

I love this picture with the sun through the quilt.

and the corner block. Not bad at all. Now I need to bring the ironing board back out again and give this quilt a good press.

Of all the fabrics I cut, this is what is left. Not bad at all.

I'll be piecing a backing for this huge quilt (which was supposed to be a twin size) at 93 X 77 inches. Oh yes, it'll be a scrappy backing. :^D


On another note:

I have started some sew-a-long projects and signed up for some de-stashing projects. You might have noticed that I am not participating much anymore. I took a real good look at myself and said: "You can't do like them, (other bloggers) you are still working full time. And have children at home. (Okay, they are adults but they are still my children and they still live here. So it counts.) You need to slow down and do things at your own pace. You can't do as much as they do in their sewing room. You put too much stress on yourself trying to finish projects in time and you feel like dirt when you fail. So stop this."

Now this said, I have decided to quit Scrap Attack which I loved. Sorry, Sarah. It is a great idea and I am keeping my little jar of challenges. I might get back on the wagon someday. I will participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge whenever I can and not try to make in on every Saturday (because I am obviously failing at that).

There is so many wonderful linking party out there but I need to pace myself. Please understand that I still love, love, love to see what you're making and to leave you comments. I still love your visits and appreciate your comments so much. I will just take it down a notch or two for awhile. Hopefully it's a short while.


Bye for now.

Don't forget to smile. The world does need the warmth of your smile.


;^)

Standing at the Cutting Board

So there I was at the cutting board and many ideas were sprouting in my head.

"Stay focus, girl. You'll never finish this if you're all over the place."

After ten minutes, I went upstairs, grabbed my son by the arm, removed the headset, towed him down to the sewing room and asked "what do you think?" (With a white sashing between each cog, it would be perfect. This one is only 2.5 inches in height unfinished.)

Instead of like this 

A discussion followed about my different ideas. I didn't had to sew a tester block for all my ideas as he was quick (surprisingly) to decide what he wanted.

He picked the same one as before (ugh!) but on a smaller scale. The "teeth of the cog" are only 1 3/4 inches wide by 3.5 long.

I dug up the leftover pieces of the first crumb quilt's border.

and chopped them down to size.

Then I got lots of fabric out to cut, cut, cut and ... maybe I can do this outside? Darn, too windy!!

Needed to cut, cut and cut more of the longer pieces too.

Now I can sit and sew ... but it's so nice outside!!!  Hmmmmm.....


;^)


Joining Cynthia for Oh Scrap! Come see the wonders others are making.

In the Shades

Yes, you've heard me complain about how hot it is at the moment in Canada but I want to finish the flannel quilt for my son.  Our emblem is the beaver for good reasons; we don't give up easily.  Or maybe I'm stubborn.

I had a lot of ironing to do. I mean, an entire quilt to press ... in the heat. No way, I am staying in the basement as I am stuck indoor all week long at work. So what's a girl to do when it gets hot ... she gets smart.

I brought everything outside ... in the shades of a maple tree. This maple tree might not be very big but it did a good job at keeping me cool. (Never mind the stack of branches in the background. It's not from our trees.)

The reverse and ...

... the front. Phew! Done.


Then, the inner red border got on, either early in the morning or very late at night.

Here's a better view of the robot fabric.

And now for the outer border ... what do to?

I thought of Piano keys as I like it when others do this kind of border. Pinterest has so many suggestions that I got lost and also lost a few hours of daylight. Darn!

A blogger friend suggested something different that got my cogs going. You know I love different.


This is what she said:

1. 
   gayle7 July 2018 at 17:38

   I've been living in that same oven! Today it only got up to 80, and it felt like a cool spell! 8)
   Maybe you can make the piano keys look like cogs?
   |_|____|
   |____|_|
   |_|____|
   |____|_|

Well! Isn't that smart!! Thanks Gayle! ♥
So a quick drawing. 

Plan A : just straight

Plan B : emerging together

Son (the future owner of the quilt in question) says he prefers Plan A but could I do it all in gray instead of all kind of colors? No, as I don't have a lot of gray flannel and it is a colorful quilt. 

So I did a test block

No sure I like it. :(
This block measures 10.5" long. I'll have to measure the quilt and see how it will fit. I have an idea for the corners but maybe ... if I try it like ....

Back to the cutting board.

See you soon.

;^)


Joining Cynthia for Oh Scrap!