Taraxacum

Another week gone by. I was sick most of it with flu. This one is a real stalker that won't leave me alone. Sigh! 

Nevertheless, I sewed. With green. 

This is Ladies Wreath. I did a test block back in 2023. Now that I have the cutting measurements on my design wall, it's easy to spot fabric that would work for each project. Maybe I didn't do such a good job at picking out the fabric for this block. 

Hopefully, it will blend in when more blocks join the party.   

I also had fun with this gorgeous print. I wish there was more in the bag but nope. That's all I got to play with. 

Some fabric were permitted to audition for the Puss in the Corner block. In green, of course. 

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

Which one is my favourite? See the end of this post for the answer. :^D 

Table Scrap Challenge, hosted by the lovely Joy, was design and started. It will have many greens as the theme for this month is "Fresh Cut Grass".

It all started with the tree fabric. (I don't know why the photo has a discoloration in the middle like that. The fabric does not.)

I added the sky. 

Then the field and my backyard, and finally the cut grass. 

Granted I could have used a better fabric to represent the flower row but, good enough! 

See. It looks like my backyard with "Fresh cut grass". And the next day, what happens? 

This happens! Every time we mow the lawn, Taraxacum show right back up. 

Taraxacum! Better known as dandelions! (I've learned that this "weed" grows all over the world, except Antarctica.) I cut a few circles for the flower and sew them on top of the mini quilt. I was aiming for a rag quilt effect so I cut the "petals". I "roughen up" the petals and realized that this fabric does not unravel. Lol. Oh well. I still like it. 

You can reach Joy here for more "Fresh Cut Grass" version. 

Decluttering: following Joy's lead in this endeavor, from The Joyful Quilter.

This bin is a time capsule. We had to "depersonalized" our home when we put it up for sale. This bin hasn't been opened since 2013. It holds my jewelry box and pictures but I don't remember what else. Do I still need the "what else"? 

It's such a beautiful day that I decided to open it outside. It turned out to be a very good idea. 

I had a little collection of little perfume bottles. (Forgot about those) I am now allergic to perfume so these are leaving. Pee-yew, it sticks. A mandala astray? Nope. A little bottle of rocks? A souvenir from somewhere. Nope. Not keeping any of this. 

Matryoshka Babushka is also leaving. She used to guard my watches. 

Before working with children, I had quite a collection of watches. I'm keeping these two. The crystal bird was a gift to my foster mother. They gave it back to me when she passed away. I'm thinking of getting rid of it. The frosted glass box, bought on a trip, is a keeper. The silhouette of a cat is clear on the etched glass.

When we got married, I told my DH I would buy him a Ferrari one day. 

I kept my promise, lol. You can see the cat on the glass box better in this picture. Okay, so those are keepers along with the children's photos and the jewelry box gifted to me by my to-be-father-in-law on my first Christmas with my DH's family. okay, enough of walking down memory lane. Let's declutter and not much is happening here but I regained a large bin. 

Now, let's see here. One pair of very tired oven mitts, an old burned frying pan, cake decorating thingamajigs, 2 pens, another pair of shoes, two very used bath towels and a purse. Yay! Also a fancy cardboard box. 

Many Christmases ago, (you can see how faded it is under the lid) it held fancy soaps and lotions, and whatever not. It sat on the self in the laundry room, catching whatever was found at the bottom of the laundry machine after washing pants (mostly screws, nails and electric things). Well, no more. Thrift store, here I come.

Thanks, Joy for reminding us to part with things we don't use anymore. 

Back to our regular programming. 

I finished Shallow Pond ... AGAIN! While cleaning the cutting table, I found more blocks components for Shallow Pond. 

Well, since the pieces cut for this quilt are out and close by, I decided to add a row and get the quilt a little bigger. 

Sew up more blocks. Then I realized that the discovered blocks were some of the first I did and they were not assembled in the "right" direction. In the top left block, see how the green pieces are going in the wrong direction? Some unstitching happened. 

Then I attached the new row of blocks to the quilt. And I'm done, right? Rrrriiiiight! 

I don't understand why some projects become real "b*tches" when you are almost done. 

This is the last row. Yep! A rat nest on the back and not just a little bit ... 

All the way. 

I walked away at this point because I would have murdered that quilt! 

It did get fixed ... eventually. 

While working on it, I separated the two blocks that were side by side with the same fabric. Now, here's Shallow Pond as a top... for the second time. Not sure I want a border of birds anymore. We'll see. 

So what happened with Puss in the Corner? 

Was it your choice too? 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I know I will! 

;^) 

Come visit my stitching sisters for more inspiration. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Long Weekend Sewing Report

EDITED - 

It was so wonderful! Can I have another one please? Even the thunderstorms didn't bother me. 

This is a treasure I found in the gifted bags. It's only 28.5" so borders or something will be added at some point. But not now. I'm having too much fun elsewhere. 

Free binding was also found in the bags. The blue one is 154" long and the solid caramel one is 175". Wow!  

This is what the living room corner looks like still. I kind of lost steam at one point. DH asked me when will all of this disappear from the room. That's a good hint that he's losing patience. It's my top priority this weekend. 

But did I sew? Yes, I did. So many goodies came out of those bags. Let's see. 

One more green Stained Glass block and ... 

another one in the work. The prints are obviously from a collection (except for the first on the left) and they were cut on the bias. I decided to sew them together before they go wonky on me. 

Now with the black all around. I'm not impressed. I didn't trim it yet as I think they won't play well with the others. What do you see? The colours are truer in the first picture. 

I also worked on these little blocks. 

Shallow Pond (a.k.a. County Clare by Bonnie K. Hunter) has been a nice interruption in my regular program. 

I like it. It's a cute block, it's blue and green which I love, but (you knew a but was coming, right?) I don't need another leader-ender in this busy sewing room. 

I finished the last blocks needed to reach 25. Over the long weekend this happened. 

Shallow Pond is a baby quilt. I'm moving on with other projects that can easily become my leader-ender, like the crumb triangles for Stained Glass, or the rail fence blocks for 9 Patch Path, or Bonus Points, or ... you get the picture. 

It is 30.5" squares at the moment. Border? Yes because it looks very plain like this. I'm thinking birds. Yes, birds. Ponds always have birds, right?  

A little oops! Two blocks of the same fabric side by side but I'm not changing it. 

Since Shallow Pond is "done", I can start another project, right? 

Remember Puss in the Corner? So many fabric are lining up for this project, it's overwhelming. But this one came together. 

What can I say? It's green, okay, granted there are snowmen too but on GREEN. The red snowflake was in the same gifted bag so, what's a girl to do? 

This one is gorgeous in my eyes but it's a tough one to please. 

The centre print and the solid rust were together. I love it. I can't match the dusty baby blue from the centre and I'm auditioning dozens of fabric from all range of colours. This one is more seafoam then blue but it might work. 

Next. 

There's little yellow/gold flowers in the print and this gold fabric pulls them out ... I think. Or is it overbearing? 

I even tried some browns. I like this one. It's not demanding at all. What do you think? Maybe I should continue searching? 

They are so much fun. I have more centres sitting on the sideline. 

EDITED: The search is over. 

All the blue fabric were removed from the bags. I dug into the pile in the hope that she had something that matches. She did! I love it! Next, please. 

Table Scrap Challenge, hosted by the lovely Joy, was design and started. It will have many greens as the theme for this month is "Fresh Cut Grass".  

Mine started with the tree print. More on that in another post. There's plenty of time for you to join us. 

My official leader-ender this month is 18 Bars and Bonus Points blocks. 

The red one needs a few more stitches. They are made with little bit of 1.5 X 2.5". 

New Sewing Room Resolution! 

With all the fabric coming into my world, I had some long discussion with myself, lots of brainstorming, this past week. A plan to reach accomplishment is needed. I came up with this.  

 

First, I put up my cutting instruction on the clothesline. Literally. 

In an attempt to be more productive, I want to see what I need for each project when I am cutting fabric. I start a lot of projects; I also kit some that are stored. I keep forgetting about the kits, like Crossroad to Jericho, and Ladies Wreath, and Jewel Box. Anywho! Having the measurements front and centre on my design wall will help ... I hope.  

Second, I've detailed my week. 

I want to do this, and finish that, and that WIP, and organize this corner; so many other things demand my time I just end up all over the place (so easy for an ADHD person). So, I thought if I know what I'm going to do (during the week nights) I might not waste 20 minutes pondering what I want to do or what needs to be done. 

Here goes: 

Monday, I will cut fabric (check the clothesline) AND clean the cutting table. 

Tuesday, I will take care of people, friends, (meetings are usually on this day). If it's a week with no meeting, organize things for the next meeting. 

Wednesday, I will sew or quilt (or pin for quilting) (need to fix the problem with the Janome) or organize backs or/and binding. 

Thursday, I will hand quilt (because I seem to never find the time to do this anymore). 

Friday, I will blog and sew (RSC blocks first and whatever after. Do not start another one). 

The weekends are all about cutting and sewing, and shopping, and cooking, and cleaning, and all the boring stuff like that, lol. 

Even if I work for only 30 minutes/evening, I might be able to accomplish more this way. Will it work? Time will tell. 

Okay, now, enough of this blah blah. Let's get to work ... I mean sew. 

Hope you have a fun weekend. It looks like we might have a little bit of sunshine today. Yay! 

Enjoy! 

;^)

Come visit my stitching sisters for more inspiration. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

All Fun and Play Time

It's a long weekend here in Canada and all I want to do is sew!

I revamped my miscalculated Framed 9-Patch and it will now be a Puss in the Corner quilt. Problem solved. Some blocks will have the traditional square in the centre and some will have the 9-patch because this is how I roll. The block stands at 13 inches, to finish at 12.5". It will use the big prints or the multicoloured prints that are not eligible for RSC. No more discrimination. These bigger prints will be used and will be accepted in RSC2026. (Oh! My! Have I just jumped to 2026?) 

Let's get back to 2025 and some green. 

Three April Fool blocks in green. I am now working on Flying Home and Joy's Table Scrap Challenge. Oh, lots of green in the one. 

That's not much to show this week but I have a valid excuse. 

This came home. 

When someone called and said she has a few bags of scraps for me. I had never picture this in my mind. 

The blue bag on tops has flannel. It is sitting on a bag full of tops. 

A regular Ziploc bag next to one (of the four) I just received. It is almost as wide as one seat of the loveseat and half as deep. I'm having so much fun. My living room is such a mess. My DH is so patient. God bless that man. 

Let me show you a few things. No, I am not done going through all of it but I'll share some of the treasures found so far. 

I love when I get more than one colourway of a print. I don't know why but I love it. 

These are small, maybe 3 X 6.5 and a little bit more for the aqua one. 

These are bigger and folded in two. 

Some wanna-be-Batik but failed. 

Interesting one. Also folded. 

The pinkish/purplish one at the bottom didn't photograph well. It is so pretty in person. 

And then, a SHIB!! 

Oh, that rooster is singing my name loud and clear. It is the first thing I will sew today. 

Is this SHIB #2? We don't have Joann stores here in Ontario so I know it has traveled a lot to reach me. I'm so glad it did. Love it.  

The biggest of the bags held some tops. I don't know what to do with these, so your thoughts would be very appreciated. 

These are made with broadcloth. A very thin cotton. Sorry for the dark photo. They are calling for thunderstorms and rain most the weekend. I hurried outside this morning, braving the mosquitos, to take pictures. 

Second top

Some of the prints. The orange one is not pieced; it is printed that way. 

Third top using broadcloth. 

No border on this one.

Are the blue and yellow the same in different colourways? Not sure. 

Dog ears and all. 

The next ones are made from a very thick polyester something that Mother called Gabardine (in French). I have no idea what it's called in English. Take a look. 

First top is huge. 

Fussy cut. The purple piece on the bottom left is very soft and is not textured like the rest. 

Second top

The seams in the middle are messy. You can see the texture and how thick this fabric is. 

Top #3. It looks like it was made in a rush. The sewing is even worst than the other tops. 

My friend, who gave me all these, also had 2 (3?) bags of the same fabric all cut up in different sizes. I said no thank you. I took the tops but don't know why. What to do with these? 

My son said to finish them as weight blanket. They sure are heavy enough, but who would like to received such quilts? 

In the pile of fabric my friend had received and was giving me was a large piece of corduroy. 

I like it. I'm thinking a pencil skirt with a short blazer, maybe with aqua accents. I still fit in a pencil skirt. Not my tummy but that's beside the point, lol. 

I still have lots of sorting to do and more cutting, cutting, cutting. I better close the computer and get to it. The thunder is rolling right above my head now. Fingers crossed we don't have a power outage. 

Enjoy your sewing time. 

;^)

Please, visit my stitching sisters for more inspiration. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever