At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts : July 2023

Sunday 30 July 2023

Try, Try, Try Again ... and Again

It's the most positive title I could find for this post as everything else (a red mess, a series of unfortunate events, a collection of bloopers, big waste of time, etc.) sounded too negative. But they described it so much better.

It all started with Joyful Quilter reminding us of her challenge: ABC (Table) Scraps Challenge. The letters A and G and the colour Red are the honourable guests this month. Since all my blocks for the month were made, I thought I could join in the fun.

Right away, I thought of Angels and Gabriel as it is my youngest son's name and I often call him my angel (behind his back because he doesn't really like that). Anywho!

Looking for a way to make a mug rug with an angel.

Pictures taken from the Internet for inspiration

Something like that but not Christmas-y.

Looking, and looking, and wasted a lot of time looking and thinking how to do that. While looking in books for inspiration, I grab this old book from 1985 by Maggie Malone.

There are lots of blocks I want to try in this book, so I flipped through it, knowing full well that there's no angel in it, but by then, my mind had forgotten about the angel challenge. (ADHD) So, I found this block that I loved for a long time. It's called Spider Legs. In French spider is Araignée. It's a start, right?

I pulled out some fabrics and started to trace the patterns because, in this book, all the pieces are traceable from the pattern pages.

Sounds like fun, right? No!!

Got all my little papers ready to trace onto the fabric ... can't believe they used to make quilts like this. All. The. Time! What a waste of time.

Don't forget to add a quarter seams allowance on all sides.

Finally, I started to sew.

Wait. What? That's not right. The white triangles are wrong. What have I done wrong? I looked in the book again, found the pattern and yes, all the measurements were correct; so what? So, there's a mistake in the text? The piece A-1 is NOT the right triangle for this block. I had to figure out which one of the other triangles was the right one. Needless to say, that took way too much time. Then, a lightbulb moment, I thought: just draft it.

Yes! Drafted, traced, cut and pinned.

It was correct on one side but not on the other, so I redrafted and redrafted. In my defence, my choice of black fabric wasn't the best. Even though it is cotton, it is as flexible as polyester and somewhat stretchy. An unpicking hour was an understatement.

At one point, the result was both ends were not right.

I give up, I said. "That's it, I'm done! Hands in the air, white flag and all. I don't know how to sew angles, that's all."

Go get another coffee.

"What am I doing? I'm no quitter!"

Rolled up my sleeves and went at it again. And again.

One perfect section was the reward. "Okay, make that again, just like that one ... please!" Another mistake I made: not starching the black fabric. That would have helped me with the sewing.

By the time I got to this stage, it was late Saturday night and there was still one section that didn't behave. Well so be it. (Thank goodness, the link party for the challenge is open all weekend long.)

Sunday morning saw me quilting and binding this little beauty.

Some ladder-like lines in the red and straight echo lines in the white. Nothing in the black. I am snubbing that one. The middle where all the triangles join is a big mess, but I manage to lay it flat.

If you think it looks wavy, yes it is, and I don't care because it is done! I might add a big button in the middle to create the spider's body (and to hide the mess).

So, this is my ABC (table) Scrap Challenge entry! It's an "araignée rouge (red spider). What do you think?

- Chantal, did you do something for G?

"Do the words' Good Enough' count? LOL

This cute "little angel mug rug" has metamorphosed into a 16 inches block.

G is for Giant! Une Araignée rouge Géante! Voilà! (added to my wall of fame)

Although I've learned some valuable lessons this weekend, I'm happy this project is over. I will revisit this block someday ... in the distant future, haha.

Have a great day, everyone.

;^)

Joining these talented ladies:

Joy for the ABC Table Scraps Challenge

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Saturday 22 July 2023

More Than Just Red

I've been busy sewing up some red scraps. But not just the reds got my attention. Let's check it out.

Four Irish Star blocks were added to the 3 I did at the beginning of the month.

Two bright reds, one orange-red and one purple-red.

Sorry for the dark photos. The weather is very temperamental lately. The sun shines intermittently and so is the rain. Taking pictures outside is slightly better than in the basement.

After the stars, I worked on my red Friends' Favourite blocks.

I ended up with 12! The top right block is black with red dots. It doesn't show well here.

Then, all the RSC blocks for the month of July were done. I decided to finish one project: Scrap Jar Star. I really love this quilt so it was easy to work on it. There were 3 blocks missing and while I constructed these blocks, some blocks were produced as leader-enders.

Three 25-patch blocks for the Irish Star quilt ...

... and eight more Paper Chain blocks.

Scrap Jar Star needed one yellow block with a multi-coloured centre.

One dark green with a multi-coloured centre

and one dark blue that turned into a rainbow block

A day was spent working on the sashing (and leader-enders) and Ta-dah! Scrap Jar Star is a top!

Again, sorry for the dark photos. I will switch the orange and the yellow blocks in the corners. The two orange ones are in the same row and the yellow ones are on the same side of the quilt. Why didn't I notice that before? Anywho, now I just can't "unsee" it.

I will add a white border. Not sure if I have enough of the fabric used for the sashing and there was none left at the shop. I've ordered another white print online. The waiting has started.

You might have noticed a dark spot in the bottom right of the Paper Chain picture. It wasn't my foot. Here is the full picture.

Raven made sure the wind wasn't disturbing the blocks. He was so cute.

Now what? All is done for July with plenty of days left. Maybe Jacob's Summer will finally have the attention it deserves.

It was an awesome week. Praying to have another one just like that. I'm hopeful that your week was amazing too. Enjoy!

;^)

Visiting these lovely ladies' blogs this week.

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Saturday 15 July 2023

What Can I Say?

First, I want to thank everyone who left a message on my last post. I appreciate your help, suggestions, and recommendations. They have boosted my confidence to tackle this job. Thank you. 💓

At work, a supervisor said something to a new employee on probation, that sounded like a threat. This new employee is too kind or too shy to defend herself so I did for her. I did such a good job that the supervisor took my comments as a threat. Guess who lost her job? Yes, yours truly. What can I say? I can't stand injustice and the abuse of authority. I have a very big mouth, big enough to get my foot in it, and I know it, I've done it before but I can't help myself. I can NOT be the kind of person with her mobile phone, just standing there, recording the event and not getting involved. I'm still very upset about the whole situation. Yesterday, I found out that others have gotten involved in the incident after I was sacked. I was so happy to hear that. That supervisor will learn not to mess with social workers!

Besides running in circles in my head, I did a little bit of sewing. Nothing much as my brain is still reviewing the conversations, over and over and over and over ...

Some of this got done ...

... a little bit of that ...

... but mostly, I'm working on this one.

Don't feel bad for me. I'll get back on my feet again. In French, I say: "Mon nom est Joe Meilleur, si ça ne fait pas ici, ça va faire ailleur." I don't know if you have that saying in English, but it would go something like this: My name is Joe Best, if not here, it'll do somewhere else. I believe things happen for a reason. Something better awaits.

Meanwhile, my sewing machine is waiting ...

Let's enjoy it!

;^)

Visiting these lovely ladies' blogs.

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Saturday 8 July 2023

I Need Your Advice, Please

Another week, another project. But it's not the kind I like.
Let's see what happened this week. Some red sewing happened, that's for sure.

I started with Scrap Jar Star.

I did the multi-coloured centre one ...

... and early in the morning, I took a picture with the original block. I assessed how many more blocks are needed for this project to be completed. The magic number is 3. So I'll just do those and get this quilt together. Can I get a reveal before the end of the month?

Then came Star Bloom. It was missing two red blocks; so two red blocks were constructed.

I always take pictures of these blocks in this setting, but I'm wondering:

do they look better in this layout? Your comments are welcome, as always.

And now, for the newest project. Ugh!

My youngest one moved to another room and I helped, of course. He had my Kitchen Party Quilt for a while now and I noticed this poor yellow block.

He has the bad habit of sleeping on the quilt instead of under it. This fabric didn't survive the treatment.

Now, how would you fix it? Do I just fix the yellow pieces? Do I make an entirely new block, applique it to the quilt and redo the quilting? The white fabric withstood the treatment but for how much longer?

Then I saw that the block's sidekick set in the border had the same look. Dang!

It was an old piece of fabric and shouldn't have been added to an every-day-quilt. Even the batting disappeared in the wash. Let me know how you would handle this, please.

That's all for now.

I'll catch you later.

;^)

Visiting these lovely ladies' blogs.

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Saturday 1 July 2023

Red July - Happy Canada Day

Oh! Finally, the long weekend is here. Can I get three days of sewing? I doubt it but I'm not greedy, I would settle for two days, hahaha.

Let's see what happened in my sewing room this week.

I did a few more Paper Chain blocks for a donation quilt. These blocks finish the third quadrant.

There are 8 blocks in each quadrant. (Quadrant is used loosely here.) I have to stop using purple as the corner block. It's becoming a problem.

I also worked on the Irish Star quilt. Look at this gorgeous red-wine-coloured fabric my friend shared with me.

It is so rich it is almost Royal! Just a wee bit left and I will carefully use it in another quilt I want to keep for myself. Yes, the Friends' Favourite quilt!