It's a Top!

Another week has gone by and look what I did. I'm SO happy!!

Friends' Favourite was missing a border (?), sashing part (?), whatever, it was missing a few little bits of scraps. As I sew the quadrants together, these little bits were added. And then . . . 

TA-DAH! 

I couldn't take a picture outside as it was raining here last week. This morning, before I thought of taking more photos of it, I started (and finished) setting it up on the quilting frame. It is way too big for my little domestic machine so it will get the hand quilting treatment. Lucky one! 

It's 100 X 100 inches and it was quite a workout to get it all straight (not even sure about that) and on the frame. 

Luckily I found some yardage in my stash. Yards and yards of this rainbow dot print was given to me a long time ago. At the time, I thought I could get 2 or 3 backings out of it but nope. It mostly all went in this one. 

Notice anything peculiar in this photo? Nothing is the right answer. There's nothing at all in the selvage. No company name, no designer name, not even "100% cotton", etc. just the colours and they aren't even aligned properly. Ever seen this before? 

I'm happy to be using it because there's a big empty space on the shelf now. 😁

While putting away all the fabric needed to make a scrap quilt like Friends' Favourite, I found these bits. 

It's a dizzying print in person. They weren't cut in any size I could used, so I trimmed them all down to 2.5" squares. They were joined to dark green scraps and grew into this. 

I found the same print in brown and chopped it too and used dark brown this time. It's easier in the brown colourway to see how dizzying this print really is. 

I have to admit that the polka-dot one is not my favourite. It might go to OR this weekend to have a "face lift", lol. I have no idea yet where these blocks are heading. Time will tell. 

Reply to comments from previous post: 

Thank you all for your lovely comments. 

Nann suggested to continue sewing the pastel blues together then applique colourful flowers. I SO love this idea, Nann that I will get on it this weekend. I'm thinking a nice little placemat for lovely self. Thank you for the inspiration, Nann. 

Cathy wrote about my issues with comments not coming to my email: 

As far as comment notifications to email...I go into the blogger settings and under the EMAIL heading there is a "comment notification subscribers" section. In the box under there enter the email where you want to receive the notification. That's what works for me. - that way I am a subscriber to comment notifications! Also, I don't know if it makes a difference but I don't moderate comments.

Well, paint me yellow and call me shameful!  I have to be a subscriber to MY OWN blog now? Everything is by subscriptions or with cookies now a days. Sigh!  Anywho! I went straight to the settings and subscribed to my own blog. Fingers crossed (again) that it works.  

Cathy also said that some of those pastel blues look like TriRec Ruler cuttings. 

You are right and I'm thinking of just adding the missing triangle in the middle. They could be use as a border for something, right? They are now in the spare-parts box. 😊

That's all I have for this week, friends. Hope you stay cool (this week, we almost hit 40 Celsius because of the humidity and it's only June!!) hydrated, and able to sew. 

Take care. 

;^)

As always, 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

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

And Sew I Did.

(For some unknown reasons, your comments are not coming to my email box again! So tired of this shenanigan. I'll try to reply in my posts. Thanks for understanding and your patience.) 

or is it "And Sew, I did"? Lol. Either way, I did sew. Whoowhoo!
It was not all orange but some orange went under the needle. 

Edith from Inch by Inch said in her post : 
Orange - symbolizing creativity, passion, and vitality. Well, no wonder I love this colour. Lol.

In the middle of March, I reached the half point on the Friends' Favourite quilt. (See this post)

Since then, I was able to sew 6 more rows. (Plenty of Pink and Orange in there) I do these 4 squares at a time. Meaning the units look like this:  

Yes, everything is included. I'm sure a kitchen sink can be found somewhere in there, lol. By sewing them up this way 2 rows are done at once. Although, there are 2 rows missing, I only have one to go. Yes! I'm at the last "rows". 😁

More photos. These quadrants aren't sewn together yet. 

Rows 7 and 8 to be done this weekend. (partially done this weekend). Yes, I know, Rows 3 and 4 are missing the sashing on the right side. I keep forgetting to add that to the last unit. 

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday. On my way there, the clouds sank! Like a sinkhole. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen clouds do. 

This one was taken from the side window which is tainted a little bit. Mother Nature is having mood swings! 

Anywho!! Back to the sewing room. I'm having mood swings too. The decluttering kind. 

Poor Elvis! Still waiting to be hang on the wall. Sigh! 

This is the mess to the right of my computer desk. It's a mess: agreed and fed up. Those bins hold the flannels and it's quite a task to reach into these because the space is quite narrow, so . . . 

I switched my cat Raven's bed for the bins. He sleeps on this bench while I'm in the sewing room. The bins are now in the middle of the sewing room and they will undergo a major cleaning/decluttering. Again 😁! The little white table with a drawer will be reassigned a position in a bedroom or the playroom. To be determined. 

I am not showing all the decluttering that's happening around here but with all the baby quilt done from my stash, you know that a lot of fabrics are being used and have left the room. 

Always when we clean our sewing rooms, we find little pieces that were meant to be sewn but weren't. Like these:

They became these: 

I did one more Bonus Point block. It's peachy in colour making it a nice transition from pink to orange wouldn't you say? 

Other things were found but were given away. I know I could have done something nice with these but they aren't my style. I prefer to keep my precious time for make things that appeal to me. Out they went. 

Surely you know that decluttering is contagious. While I'm doing my sewing room, my friends were inspired to do theirs. And their stuffs ended up at my place, lol. 

There must be close to 50 magazines. Some I've perused already, took pictures of pattern I want to keep and have disposed of the magazine already. These are the remaining ones. I have all the intentions to go through these this weekend and passed them along. Not keeping one of these. Not one! That's the plan, lol. 

Another thing that came my way because of a friend's decluttering . . . 

Sweet Lucie added 2 borders to this panel and then she put it away. That a long time ago, before we met. Upon rediscovering it in a drawer, she had no feelings for it anymore she said. Then she thought I might like it. Gosh! I don't understand why she thought I would ever like this!! Bwahahahaha! It's blue and purple, so it's hard to photograph. Oh yes! I am SO KEEPING this one!! I have such wonderful friends! 

Another thing I kept for a long time and now decided to recycle it instead. Or upcycle? Whatever! 

This is what I received within a bag of scraps. I set it aside. Well, no longer. I decided to use it. 

The previous owner zigzag stitched the applique, very tightly zigzag stitched it. True to me, I undid it. It was a long and tedious task. Upon removing the first part, the heart, I found way more stitches than I first thought was possible. 

All the branches are connected. Why? Sigh! But having that nice, big piece of white was a prize I wanted to win. So I kept unstitching. This white on white was/will be used many times in Friends' Favourite sashing bits. 😁

To all you mothers out there, I wish you a lovely and pampered Mother's Day. The best hood is motherhood. 🧡

Enjoy! ;^)

Check these ladies' link-party for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Cool Aqua During a Heat Wave

This week the temperature was like 3 degrees to cremation. Some companies closed their services in the early afternoon because of the heat. The humidity was so intense!

Some of us (like my cat, Raven) aren't bothered much by the heat. I wish I could sleep through this wave too. 

Let's leave that behind and dive into some cool aqua fabric.

I ironed this aqua forest for my April Fool block. Then I saw "it". Whoah! There's something looking back at me in the forest. Lol. How "cool" is that? (It's an abominable Yeti waving.)

Two light aqua blocks were assembled last weekend and a dark one this week. I'm not sure about the teal. Will it play nice with the others? If I remember correctly most of the blocks are light to medium. Is it the only dark one? I need to check this out. I've to search for more aqua fabric too. 

Baby Quilts Kits

I cut more fabric this week for the kits. Since I have a lot of dark blue, I'll make a kit with blue instead of black for the "I Spy with B/W" kit. 

Got the dark blue scrap basket out and from this 

I got this. (I don't know why the photo is so blue. Too hot for the camera to function properly?)  Anywho! 

The basket holds what is not right or not the right size for the kits. The plastic bag has the little bits for crumb blocks. On the left of it is the pile of the "good" dark blue for the kits, to the left of that, Surprise!, some teal was hiding in there as well. On the top step, there's a binding piece and some too-light-to-be-there blue. 

I'm so happy with this progress of scrap sorting that I got the red basket out. I can kit a red and white "I Spy" quilt, right? It would be different. We'll see what comes out of there. 

Same steps as in the previous photo. My deck is not blue. 

Then, I got bored one evening. Fed up of the heat. Too hot to cook or bake. Too hot to clean. Too hot to sleep. Too hot! Too hot! Too hot! I just didn't know what to do with myself. 

In other words, I felt like a teenager looking for trouble. 

Well, trouble was found, lol, in the form of 2.5" squares 

and some strips. Maybe sashing? Nah! 

Got the box of 1.5" squares out and started sewing. 

Still have a long way to go (boy, there's a lot of squares in that little bag), this is what they'll be. The pile of square is close to 2" high still and I got quite a few done.  Will there be enough for a baby quilt? Hopefully! If not, borders will be added. I'm having so much fun with this, instead of working on what I'm supposed to. 😝

EDITED: there are 120 blue squares. How did she packed them all in the little bag is amazing. Anywho, I have 60 done. The count-down is on! 😊

I also did these. No, I'm not starting a new project. Well, indirectly. 

The Hollow 9 blocks are examples to use when we gather for the "Build Some Kits" day at the Artisanat. Some girls in the group might not know what a Hollow 9 block looks like. I'll also bring the  Potato Chip block.

And finally, the usual little 9-Patch blocks made with whatever I get my hands on. 

Hope your weekend is amazing and cool. 

Happy sewing. 

;^)

Want more inspiration? Check these ladies' blogs. 

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

Still Sew Purple

There was just a tiny little piece of this beautiful purple. What to do with it? 

I had to do a make-do to finish a purple Stained Glass Block. The piece was not large enough for the tip of the Stained Glass window. So ...

Yes, I sew purple, orange and red with red thread. Someone has to use up Mother's stash of thread too. :^) I just couldn't get the pattern to align properly. I tried, tried, and tried again, until I realized that it is directional and I was holding the little piece the wrong way. It sure fooled me. 

Now it is beautifully framed and ready for the next stage: adding the white triangles. 

While I was at it, I framed the two pink ones done back in January. 

Can you find the little piece of scrap from the first photo? 

Crumbs blocks not finished and finished and one 18 Bars blocks. 

The usual 9 Patch blocks along with some Rail Fence blocks. The flower print in the middle blocks is just one long strip. You might see it again paired with yellow, red and maybe blue if there's enough of it. 

Cathy shows us her gorgeous Black-eyed Susan flowers. I miss my yellow rudbeckia. 

 This picture is from a few years ago. The rudbeckia around the clothesline post. 

My clothesline was to the left of this picture. Because the branches of the spruce tree were growing in the way of the clothesline, my DH decided to move the post to the right. I wanted to cut the tree down but the post got moved instead. The grass is mowed but I asked DH not to mowed the rudbeckia bed in the hope that they will grow back. It doesn't look like it will. :^( 

I couldn't find one rudbeckia leaf in the usual spot but if I look behind the hostas ... 

Peek-a-boo! I will move them to the other side so I can admire them from the kitchen once again, next year. 

The end of the month means scrap bags comparison time. Let's see how purple did. 

July first: 

I didn't had much to begin with and ... 

I have even less now. Oh, I'm happy about that! 😸

Baby Quilts Kits

The cutting is still happening. I didn't cut much purple this month but got lots of novelties cut for Happy Blocks and I Spy kits. Hopeful that some will be completed this weekend. 

Today, I'm diving into Aqua! But first coffee! 

Have a wonderful weekend with plenty of sewing time. 

;^)

Meanwhile, I'll be joining these ladies 

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

Playing with Purple

but photographing blue. What?

The Flying Home blocks look blue on the camera lenses and purple on the computer's monitor. I'm not sure which colour they will turn out to be at your place but they are purple, just believe me please.

I am still decluttering my sewing room (when I get tired of cutting fabric) and did another trip to the thrift store. To donate that is. But yes, I just had to walk to the fabric and bedsheet section. If I didn't, I knew that I would turn around and come back into the store before reaching the car so ... here's what I got. 

This panel is big enough to be a baby quilt on its own. I'll add a few pieces of green, brown, yellow and orange, and kit it just like that. Whoever grab this kit can add another border or make blocks, or not. Priced at $3.99

These were also too good to leave behind and besides, I don't have much pink in my scraps. Although these are not scraps; one meter and one and half meter for the number print. Priced at $4.99 each. I love the pink scooter. 

I think the best deal was this blue whale one. It's a little over 3 meters for $7.99. It was a "Start the car" moment. Lol. (Check IKEA ad Start the Car)

I've been cutting fabric to make kits and going through my quilt magazines. I'm saving the ideas I like from the magazines and then giving them away. Too many, waayyy too many!  

I love the flying geese in this setting. Haven't see this one before. 

They call this beautiful block in plaid, Road to Oklahoma. Funny, but all I see is Buckeye Beauty. Either way, I love it. 

 

And my usual 9-Patch blocks measuring 3.5" along with a few Rail Fence. 

I have more purple scraps under the needle, trying to finish another Stained Glass block and some crumbs. Hopefully, the purple scrap bags will be smaller for next weekend photo session. 

Have an amazing and cool week everyone. 

;^)

Want more inspiration? Check these ladies' blogs. 

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