Saturday, 25 July 2026

This Week Was Fun

And what a week it was! 

First and foremost, my youngest DS told us he got a job. His formation was on Friday (yesterday) and he's starting next Tuesday. It's a contract for 6 weeks and I am SO happy for him. (Six weeks is better than nothing.)

DH finally got back to work (after two weeks at home, nursing a nasty cut on his thumb) with his sore thumb but he managed to tough each and every day out. Yay! 

Some of you asked about MY work at the office. If I start later in the morning, do I work later in the afternoon?  No. My work hours were cut at both ends. (ouch, says my budget.) From 8:30 to 4:30 (lots of weeks until 5pm), I now work from 10am to 2pm. Or at least that's the plan. I still work until 3:30 - 4pm when there are many meetings to help Danika with the clients. Yes, I know, I used to do it all by myself but she doesn't have an ADHD brain (firing on all 8 cylinders) and the load of experience in customer service I have (she's 19, I'm 63, enough said).  I have good hopes for her. 

Also at work this week, I received my own laptop. My email signature now says Administrative Assistant instead of Reception. My new tasks have also been received. Fun! So, this being said: 
let's sew!

 

Some crumb blocks in whatever-comes-out-of-the-bag and more in aqua. (4.5" and 6.5")


Two 18-Bricks blocks. One in Aqua and the other one in Seafoam Green. Is Seafoam part of Aqua, Turquoise, Teal? Well, I thought it was so I made a block. I know! The butterfly print is in both blocks but I had to use what's on hand, right? 

When sewing crumb blocks, I work on a few blocks at a time (like any true ADHD person would do, lol). Some might be sewn together to reach the perfect size, whether it's for 4.5" or 6.5" or a 8.5 X 6.5" block. The pink one, on the right side, might be big enough for a 6.5" square. I'll iron, measure and trim that one today. 

The chair at my sewing desk is now empty. That big pile has been dealt with. (see last post)
Friday night (yesterday), I challenged myself again. 

The Challenge 

I have (at least) three bags and a drawer of rainbow-coloured strings. I have a drawer (like the one in the photo) for neutral (full) and another one of black (half-full). This rainbow one has been overflowing for years, hence the three bags. Obviously, I still can't close the drawer. It is time to stop stuffing bags and to REALLY tackle the problem. So I did.  

The mess 

One bag down, two to go. 

The progress

Once the three bags were done, I went to bed. My legs were so numb from sitting on the floor. So, this morning (Saturday), the sorting continued. 

Empty, at last

Two cups of coffee and one and a half hour later!! 

The result

Plastic bags are hard to photograph. I didn't pay much attention to the size of these strings. I was watching Project Runway on TV. I did remove some bits and bobs that can't be call "strings" by any definitions. I'm sure more can be remove but won't make much of a difference. The black and greys are together. Other groups include whites, beige, dark whites, yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, pink, purple, red, orange, brown, multi-coloured and a jelly roll. I haven't bought that jelly roll so it must have come in a gifted bag or was free with a purchase I did at some point. Can't remember. Guess what colour the jelly roll is? Pastel! So, Angela!  I am ready for Pastel month next year. Lol. 

What prompt this challenge: Terry! Have you seen her string quilt? Click on the link. You won't regret it. 

Early in the mornings, now that I start work later, what do I do? Have coffee on the deck with the cats, do stretches and then I'm suppose to be cleaning the sewing room but Friends' Favourite keeps calling me.

It is set in the loft (the game room), not the sewing room

I timed myself and it takes 20 minutes to do one square including stitching the neutral frame around the square. Like this: 

(Little kitty watching you from the upper left corner. )


The quilting in the coloured sashing is another 15-20 minutes. I'm sewing straight (trying to keep it straight) down the middle of the frames and sashing. So, instead of sewing 1/4 inch in the square, I decided to go with 1/2 inch there too. I thought of doing fancy flowers and butterflies, but then thought if I want to finish this soon, better keep it simple. 

I calculated that if I sew one block a day, it would be done by March 18, 2027. That's not counting the sashing part. I wonder if I can finish it before that. Dare to bet?  Lol. 

So, that's what happened this past week. Hopefully, I can sew some more this weekend. How about you? Hope you find time to sew something too. 

Take care. ;^)

And I'll try to catch these talented ladies' link-party. See you there.
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Alycia for Finished or Not Friday
Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!



16 comments:

The Joyful Quilter said...

Great work on the AQUA blocks and all that scrap sorting, Chantal! Sorry to hear about your husband's injury, but glad that he's back to work now. Congrats on you son's new job and your promotion! 10 - 2 were perfect hours for me when I was still working. Slow going in the morning and time to get a few errands done in the afternoon. Hoping it fits your needs.

Julierose said...

Loving your crumb blocks--I think they are such fun to make...
Terry's string quilt is gorgeous!! hugs, Julierose

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

You are making great progress with your sorting and organizing! I hope the new hours and job duties wear well so you can enjoy playing at hone every day. Thanks for sharing my RSC blocks. They have been fun to work on each month. I had no idea that they would look faceted when I started!

Lin said...

So glad you had such a good week, may it long continue! What a task, sorting all those strings. I went to look at the string quilt you mentioned - my goodness it's gorgeous! Good luck with your quilting target - lets hope you finish sooner rather than later. Have a good week - again. xx

Angela said...

I love your crumb blocks!

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Ta semaine a été bien active ! Tes crumb blocs sont très réussis, une belle variété de tissus et de couleurs ! Bravo pour le rangement, c'est long à faire mais tellement satisfaisant quand c'est fini ;) Bises

CathieJ said...

It seems that you are looking at the bright side (more sewing) of your decreased work hours. I love Friends Favorite. I think that keeping the quilting simple really lets the fabrics shine. You did an awful lot of fabric sorting. Wow!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

It's always fun to see what scrappy adventures you're having, Chantal! I love your crumb blocks and also those 18 bricks blocks. It looks like the scrap bags are going to give you hours of sorting and sewing pleasure!

Nann said...

How many ziploc bags of scraps do you have? Wait, don't answer that . . . I'm just awed that you keep showing cram-jammed bags every week. Glad your work situation is stable (somewhat) and your menfolk are doing well.

Fiona said...

What a touch choice, less hours of work or more hours of sewing????? Well done with sorting all those scraps..... I think some days you will want to do more than one square of FF so you might get it done earlier...
Hugz

Sue said...

I went through all my strings a couple years ago & sorted them into colors & put them in labeled bins. It was a HUGE chore, so I feel your pain, but it's SO GREAT when I want to sew with them & can pull out a couple bins & go. You will be so happy with it being done.

Cherie Moore said...

Oh, that’s a lot of scraps to sort, good job you! I love, love, love Terry’s blocks. I haven’t done much with string in a long while….maybe it’s time ;-) we are kindred spirits as I love sorting and sewing with scraps…..especially scraps from friends!!!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

You have a lot going on and a lot of changes! glad you were able to play in the scraps and get some amazing blocks done!

Rebecca Grace said...

Your hand quilting is coming along so nicely! I would be distracted by that beautiful project, too! Good for you, putting in the time to get your fabric bits and pieces organized. And congrats to your son on his new job!

Vicki in MN said...

Yes you really need to make a string quilt like Terry's! You made great progress by just sorting all those scraps. I have some sorted from years ago and the recent ones not sorted;(

Vivian said...

Glad to visit since "At the Corner of Scraps and Quilts" is just where I like to be! While a budget hit is never fun, hopefully that extra quilting time will make it a little more bearable. Ahh , the infamous "sorting of the scraps"! Very satisfying to get a project like that done. I don't sort my strings because I want them random when I put them in projects so will only pull specific colors if a project calls for that. That said though, I have a tall bag of them overflowing and have vowed that scrap projects that use strings have to take precedence this year. I have one in the works but still have regular scraps blocks to piece before I can get to the rounds that the strings go in so hope I can get those done soon!