So, You Made a Scrappy Quilt

and you THINK you've mixed all the scraps up so that the colours are well balanced across the whole quilt. You've looked at it and looked at it again and again, from every angle, and you've removed certain prints to add more variety or you've moved them around several times to see WHERE was the best place for this or that pattern. You made all the decisions yourself to make sure everything was perfect. 

Riiiiigghhtt!!!! 

And you are so proud of this beautiful scrappy quilt that you decide to hand quilt it. 

The brain is such a wonderful piece of art. Since the beginning of time, humans have sorted and stored things. Innocently, it started with grains and seeds to grow them again the next year, making sure not to mix the seeds, etc., and things evolved and we started sorting and storing bigger things by groups and categories, and labelling everything, etc. 

I believe this process is now in my brain's DNA. Look at a close-up of the image above. What do you see? 

Circles,  

Circles, 

Circles!! 

These 3 prints are one above the other one, meaning in different rows but same column. My brain told me the colours were evenly spread. I forgot to ask my brain if the PATTERNS were repetitive! 

Now, if we look at the left of these circles, we will see a fox (and circles)

Look up at the print above this one and you will find 

a fox ! 

I am NOT kidding you. Go back up to the second image and look at it again. You'll see. It's all there. 

Did you see the green dot to the left of the fox? Guess what? 

Yep! 

Dots, dots, dots!! 

I have one of the craziest brain. Even when I don't want to overthink something and have it all sorted out, I do it anyway! I'm SO good. 😇😂 

I've been doing very well with the quilting on this quilt - Friends' Favourite. 

If I quilt one block a day, it will be done by March 18, 2027. That is the challenge. 

Meaning on Monday, August 17, I should have 40 blocks done. Instead, I had 48 blocks done, INCLUDING the sashing. Three rows were done. Yay me!! 

The hardest part is the first and last block of each row. As you can see the quilt is so big that it's very close to the frame. It is very awkward and cumbersome to sew the end blocks. It takes me longer than the rest of the row. 

 

Some crumbs got together

There are 16 blocks per row. So, I was thinking:  if I quilt 2 blocks a day there would be 14 blocks done at the end of the week. So, if I were to quilt 2 blocks and a bit, I could finish  one row every week. 😲

More crumbs

I know I shouldn't push myself like this because I don't want it to become a chore. It is a relaxing exercise and I want to keep it that way but GOSH! it's tempting. 

Just one more crumb block, I promise

With September sitting on my doorstep, the winter routine will start soon. Actually, September first is my group first meeting, so I wouldn't be able to quilt that evening. Then, the baby quilt drive will take center stage once again, not to mention a retreat in October. This means many evenings with no quilting time. As life gets busier, it will become harder to keep that fast pace of 2 blocks and a bit per day.

Did a crumb star instead, lol. 

So, on Monday, August 24, I had the fourth row finished. WHHAAATT!!?? Yes, because I though I might as well make the most of it while I can because soon I'll be too busy. There are days when I don't really feel like quilting and then I hear myself say "get the sucker done and move on" and I just do it. Lol. (Blocks required : 47 - Done : 64) 

Now that my fingers and wrist are stronger compared to the first few days of quilting, I can quilt longer. The issue now is my back. It's started to complain. It doesn't like the long sitting session, bent over the quilt. It will be another thing to take into consideration in my 2 blocks and a bit per day shenanigans. 

This one, I did do on purpose.
They aren't the same print as the little piece
is not perfectly arched like the square one is but they are so cute. 
Maybe this is where my brain thought it was okay to do associations? 

While I sewed some pieced-backings for the baby quilts, I managed to get a few crumbs blocks together. And a star. (Shown in the photos today)

Hope all is well with you and you get to sew a little bit every day. 

;^)


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 Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Another Week; Another Bag.

I've returned to work this week so not as much sewing as I would have liked but still a few things got done.


I challenged myself again this week. I'm starting to like this kicking-my-own-butt-into-action attitude, lol. Let's have a look. 

Crumb stars were quickly done because the centres were already assembled. One aqua and the other is whatever-came-out-of-the-bag. 

A yellow 18 Brick block was also assembled with little 1.5 X 2.5 " bits. As I looked around for the yellow rectangles for it, I found quite a few of yellow with pink, so 

Challenge #1 was to make another block with only yellow and pink print. 

Ta-dah!  I know some are more red than pink but I worked with what I had. The batik one doesn't show up very well in the picture but it's yellow and pink. Then, when all was sewn and pressed, I found some more pink on yellow bits, lol. It never fails! 

Last weekend when I visited her, Pink gave me a bag of scraps. This week, I went through it to put the scraps away as my new morning routine permits to. 

There were many fabric in the bag. 

Challenge #2: empty Pink's bag. 

After putting all the bigger pieces away, this is all that was left. 

Look! Pink on yellow, lol. These were cut in useable sizes and put away too. 

This purple one is so beautiful and there was enough to make a Buckeye Beauty block so, in the kit bag it went. 

Okay, so, that wasn't much of a challenge. How about another bag? My right brain said : yes please. 

Out came another bag of gifted scraps for Challenge #3. Nann asked me how many bags do I have. More than fingers and toes. Lol. 

I grabbed this one. It doesn't look like much but I had some big surprises out of that one. Let's see. 

First thing I saw was a little bag of rectangles about 2 X 3.5". Set them aside to measure them properly later. 

Then this beautiful purple came out. I had this print in so many colourways but it's my first in lilac. Love it. Set it down in the purple scrap box. Also two brown HSTs came out to play. Sent those to the HST box. 

More brown pieces followed. They joined the others in the brown scrap basket. The strings close to the rotary cutter went in the string bags I sorted two weeks ago. 

Next, what I thought were strings of lovely prints turned out to be blocks.  Lots of blocks. 

Then some more . . . 

. . . and some more . . . 

They are obviously from different projects so, what am I to do with these?? (The brown geese are prettier in person. Just saying.)

For now, they are sitting on the bench. Something will come up, I'm sure. 

But wait, the bag is not empty yet. These were the next ones to come out. 

I believe they are part of *Disappearing 4 Patch* or maybe 9 Patch? I'm not very good at figuring which block becomes what when you cut them over and over. Anywho! These are all the blocks I have and no scraps from the bag matched this batik. They too shall become something . . . someday. 

At the end, the bag surrendered and gave up the last of its treasures. 

A 2.5" strip in leafy green, a strip of 2" in dark blue, 70" of blue binding and pink strings. The red and the little pile of scraps on the right were cut to useable sizes. 

Well, this bag is finally empty. Such a generous one. I believe it was from Françoise. The same lady who bind some of the baby quilts for me. 

On Wednesday, I went to Lucie's place again for some garage sewing. I went directly to her house from work to deliver an office chair with wheels. She could use one more in her garage she said and we had one we didn't use, so, win-win. I took some pictures but that will be for another post. This one is long enough as it is. 

Although I didn't take a picture, Friends' Favourite is slowly progressing. 

As always, I hope you can find some time to sew. 

Have an AMAzing weekend. ;^)

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
Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Galactic Project

At work, some of my tasks have changed. The one I'm really happy about is starting at 10am instead of 8:30. It gives me more time to do things in the house while I have the energy to do it. So . . . 

I gave myself a little goal : cleaning the disaster in my sewing room. A little goal, lolll. It's more of a galactic proportion but if I keep at it, a little every morning, it will get done, right?

Because of my super power, (see last post) the top of these boxes was piled high, full of *stuff*. I grabbed all and dumped it on my chair. This is what I have to do this week. And on the sewing machine table, yes, you are right. 

I don't know exactly what's in there but there are flannel backings for the baby quilts and a whole lot of *miscellaneous* fabric. Surprise! 

So, I sorted, cut and/or folded and put away. 

Here’s an example of what’s in the pile. These scraps (maybe 25 pieces) are left over from the fabric we cut for the baby quilt' tops. I didn’t have the time or the energy to trim them and put them away properly when they returned to me. They were just *piled* (stacked). Now, it's time to cut them into useable sizes. 

The end result : (4) 5" triangles, (2) 2.5" triangles, (2) 2.5 X 4.5 rectangles, (8) 3" squares, (8) 2.5" squares, (2) 2" squares, (3) 2' strips of different length, (3) 1.5 X 2.5", (3) 1.5" strip of different length and (1) 1.5' square. I was so happy about this little "clean up" that I grabbed another one and cut some more. 

It's a leftover too but I really don't like this fabric. The teddy bears behind the white grid do something to me and blur my vision. It's worst in person. The camera lens kind of lessen the effect somehow but I think you can see what I mean. Anywho! I was still determined to cut it up. Started with the bigger chunks and worked my way down. 

 

The end result : cut strips at 2.5" for binding; there was enough for 228" long binding. Whoohoo! Then (3) 5" squares, (3) 4.5" squares, (1) 3.5 square, (1) 3" square, (2) 2.5 X 4.5", (4) 2.5" triangles, (3) 2" strips and (2) 2" squares, (2) 1.5" squares and (2) 1.5 X 2.5" rectangles. I'm glad this one is behind me. Phew! 

Needless to say that these cutting sessions are adding bits and bobs in the bag I want to empty. Scraps of fabric will exist as long as the sun rises from the East. Haha.

The chair is still full of stuff. I will continue to work on it this weekend. 

I found this box. Thinking it was leftover fabric again, I thought I could put the fabric away and get rid of the box but, wait! It's a project. 

I had to look it up because I couldn't remember the name of this mystery by Bonnie Hunter back 2016. It's *En Provence*. 

So many pieces cut and sewn but not much put together yet. I gathered everything in a plastic bag with more instructions and set it aside. 

It prompted me to have a place for my "started" projects. It will be easier for me to know what I have and mostly where it is. When I leave for a sewing retreat, I'll just dive into this milk crate and get a few projects out to bring along. As you can see, En Provence didn't stay alone in there for long. Lol. 

A quick scan around the sewing room has revealed more PiGs. I'm sure more will join these one as I continue to declutter.

It brings me to show what I did sew last weekend. (nothing got sewn this past week. Too much cutting! Ha!) 

The purple crumb block you see on my sewing machine in the last post now measures 6.5" square (untrimmed). I added an orange one and a little 4.5" square for the Crumb Star project. I also added the points to this centre to have a second aqua star. This one has dusty rose fabrics from light to very dark. 

I was also able to find enough of these "in-between" reds to finish an 18 Bricks block. 

From dusty rose to bloody orange along with watermelon, salmon, coral pink and tomato reds. All the fun ones are in there. 

Lastly, I got Friends' Favourite on the frame (FINALLY!) and hand-quilted one square. Only 255 to go, lol. 

It's raining here this weekend. More time in the sewing room for me. Hope you get to add a few stitches to whatever project you are working on. 

;^)

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!

Canada Day

July 1st is a holiday in Canada and what did I do? 

Nothing!! 

Why? 

Because my press iron decided to quite on me. Traitor!!

Yes, this is Friends' Favourite. I needed to press the back again before trying to roll it, again, on the quilting frame . . . straight!! Doing things outside is always so nice, right? 

While my DH was changing the electric cord on the iron, I decided to move a piece of furniture closer to the stairs. My SIL wants my old sewing cabinet. Yes, please. Get it out of here since I'm not using it. Make room. Anywho! I digress. So DH comes down the stairs and gives me back my fixed-iron and says: 

Do you really think you can bring this upstairs all by yourself? 

My reply: Is that a dare? (Lol.)

DH comes around the cabinet to help me but his foot caught on the stairs/cabinet and he loses his balance, fell on his side where the furnace is. Fearing the worst, I panicked for a minute. Somehow his head missed the furnace corner, somehow his wrist, arm, hip, knee  didn't break when hitting the cement floor that hard, but he cut his thumb. Badly! One trip to the emergency later, he now has 5 stitches on his thumb and they weren't done by me. (We still haven't figured out on what he cut himself.) 

By the time we came back home, the storm was in full swing and we had a power failure. No sewing! I was so annoyed that I went to bed. Such an ugly and frustrating day off. Not fair. I want a refund.

(My patience level)

P.S. Yes, the cabinet made it up the stairs and into the garage, waiting for SIL to pick it up. My sons did the hauling. 

Anywho! On the 2nd of July, we had a new girl starting at the office. Yes, I'm the one training this one too. Danika will be our receptionist as I am being "promoted" to different tasks. I get home very tired because training someone takes a lot out of you. So, again not much sewing. 

(The clean space beside my sewing machine didn't stay clear for long. Sigh!)

But things will change soon. Once Danika is comfortable at the front, I will move at the "back" of the office and do accounting and paperwork stuff. I will still be the receptionist during her lunch break and vacation, but I'll mostly be away from phone and clients. I'm SO looking forward to this change I can barely wait. Yeah! No more phone calls. 

Can you see the *beautiful* yellow plug my press iron now has?  Lol. I don't care. It works and that's all that matters to me. A few weeks ago, I got a neon light under the window because in the evening this corner gets very dark. 

DH added a plug for the neon and it can accommodate the iron plug too. This makes it easier on me as I don't have to bend down behind the milk crates anymore. Yay! Not very pretty, but again, I'm the only queen who will see this. Ha, ha! 

Do you have a super power? I do. I'm a *Piler* ! 

I'm excellent at piling things on any AND every flat surfaces. (Maybe I should add this skill of mine to my job resume, lol.) Under this pile of fabric is the box of crumb blocks made through the years. Instead of just removing the box from the bottom, I sorted, folded or cut and put away every single pieces. 

Awh! I'm so proud of me. Now, my goal of emptying the bag of bits can continue. 

Speaking of! I finished the red star and did a second one in the colours of the month. I used a green centre. 

Needless to say, it will be a very interesting quilt. 

While working on emptying the bag of bits, I found a tiny little piece that I couldn't throw away because the letters C and P are on it. 

So, I turned it into a mug rug just for ME with lots of orange and aqua. 

You know what the C stands for and I bet you can figure out what is the first letter of DH's name. I'm such a romantic. The scraps in here come from the bag except for the cat strip on top. I dug it out of the "dark whites" because I wanted more cats. It's ready to be quilted. 

I had lost Angela!! *So Scrappy* and *RSC* posts weren't coming to my Reading List anymore. I went to the list of blogs I follow and clicked on the name of her blog and all I got was her June 27th post. No newest post. I clicked on that, the post opened, clicked on her Home page in order to have the latest post. I unfollowed her blog and closed the page. Reopened the page and clicked on Follow in order to have her back in my feed. Sigh! 

Is this happening with the comments too? If Angela was to comment on my post, would I get it? 

I wonder what will Blogger think of doing next to get on my nerves!! How many others have I missed because of its shit-nanigan?

Anywho!! DH is getting the stitches out today. Hopefully, he will return to being a useful partner. Lol. And I have to continue sewing the flannelette backings for the baby quilt. I am not as far along as I would like to be. Pedal to the metal, girl.  

Some pieces are measured. Need to figure out which one will go with what. 

Have a happy sewing week! ;^)

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!