Some of This and None of That

Some sewing done and none of that snow came here. Yet! Fingers crossed that we don't get any for a little longer as the roofers aren't done redoing our roof. Hopefully, they will be able to finish it on Monday. 

My leader-ender project became somewhat the leader-ender to my other leader-ender project. 

Nine-patch were done while sewing Shallow Pond. That's one way of getting things done. Lol. 

Units 

blocks

Last week, I showed you some masks made out of jeans scraps. Here are this week masks made with jelly rolls of gorgeous fabric. 

In my usual way, I had a mind to undo them and use the scraps. Unfortunately, that won't leave much scraps because they are cut for masks, with a curve on top, or worst they were cut at an angle! leaving only the middle strip as useful.

Instead of undoing them, how about sewing them up ... like ... like an apple core pattern ... type of pattern ... like maybe? 

After a few attempts at making something out of them, I decided that the best thing (for now) is to put them back in the bag. I might, yes, might, applique them as they are. It could become a commemorative Mask Quilt of the year no one wants to talk about. 

Unless, you have a better idea which I would truly appreciate you sharing it with me. Thank you. 

I satisfied my urge, need, desire to get rid of some flannelette pre-cut scraps. Another baby quilt is assembled. Here's #3 with rockets.

Not quite completed though. All these colours were put together in a project bag. I thought they played well together. My fingers were itching to see it complete, so, I got it out and started searching for a design and a layout. I'm tempted to add something at the top and bottom before adding a final border all around. Presently, it is only 22.5" which is not big enough even for a baby quilt.   

Almost the entire bag was used. All the orange ones are used. A lighter orange was called on board to finish it off. The argyle print is the same ochre as the solid one but it didn't play well with the others. It got benched for this one but it will find another project where it can shine, I'm sure. 

This weekend, I'll dive into the flannelette bins to hire a suitable border. 

That's all I have. Hope you have a lovely weekend and a productive week. 

;^) 

Also planning on joining these talented ladies; 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Cutting, Cutting and Mending

Not much sewing done. Got a few mending done (read boring stuff). Fix the cat "bedspread" which is an old piece of terry cloth. I wash it regularly and the holes get bigger with every wash. It was time to do something. (Yes, I agree, it was ready for a fixing a long time ago, lol.)

At the top of this photo, you can see the size of the holes (ashamed). On the bottom, I quickly stitched some batting to replace the missing cloth. Then, I took whatever fabric to cover it. A simple straight stitch over the folded edges was all that was done. Nothing fancy. 

I know that he will claw at it again whenever he feels it's time to make "biscuits", producing more holes but for now it's somewhat decent.  

Side A and 

Side B. The pink and blue fabrics are flannelette; the brown and yellow are cotton. You can see the sewing around the blue patch is beyond the patch. Those stitches are from the yellow piece on side A. I didn't measure; just winged it. He's happy to have his blanket back on his bed. And that's all that matters to him. 

 

I received some bags of scrap along with 12 masks made of jeans. Yes, jeans as in denim. 

First, aren't we all fed up of making masks? Second, who can breath through all this thickness? So, in my usual way, I'm taking them apart, cutting out the inside because ... 

I want to use those little bits of cotton. The jeans pieces are thrown out. Sorry, but I have no intention of unsewing these awful stitches.

There were lots of wonderful fabrics in those bags. I'm slowly cutting them in usable pieces. 

I want to show you this Winter Cactus because it's blooming. A beautiful, vibrant coral colour. I'm in love with it. 

I'm happy about this because this is MY plant! And it's blooming! I'm a serial plant killer so this is like AMAZING news! I bought it last June, or was it May, anywho, at a garage sale. It was just a tiny little thing. I transferred it in a bigger pot and it survived ... and it's blooming!

Also these Mums from last year that I kept inside all winter long. It came out of the house last Spring and it tried to survive the heat of the summer. Now that the weather is cooler, it's blooming too. 

Granted, it's not the prettiest plant ever but it's blooming. I'm sock! 

They are calling for a glorious unseasonably warm weekend. I plan to enjoy it to its fullest by sitting outside with a hand sewing project. Yep! I'm taking Ohio Star Shadow out of its summer hibernating state and get it moving forward while I watch the clothes dry on the clothesline. 

The last time I worked on this was on April 12, 2024. Let's finish it. 

That sounds like the perfect weekend to me. How about you? any plans? 

Enjoy! 

;^)

Also planning on joining these talented ladies; 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Spinning My Wheels

I am still pondering about my RSC2022 options. The list is way too long and I find it hard to remove some contenders. Anyone else with this kind of problem? 

The 9-Patch and HSTs are still on ... like forever! Haha.

The crumb bricks too as I don't have enough to do anything with these. 

Chaser Crumb Blocks

Chaser Crumb to be trimmed and sashed

What if I make a mask every month? It looks like we will be needing these for some time still. One thing I forgot to say in my previous post is that we are working from home again. I go to the office two mornings a week to distribute incoming mail and to mail out what was printed by the caseworkers. I like this routine as it gets me out of the house without meeting anyone. Win-win. 

Masks done in November.
The cat one has been washed already and the fabric shrunk
but not the liner so I have to redo this one.
The yellow one is not finished. 

I would love to do a Scrap Jar Star quilt. So I will start sewing 4-Patch blocks (or 16 Patch blocks) (same thing). Do I sew the block in rainbow colours or one colour? 

Both are pleasing to me. Sigh! 

Then the strings are demanding some attention. I have an idea that would be an opportunity for some of them to shine. Still on the drawing board but here's what I have so far. 

The solid coloured fabric from my mother's stash is also something I would like to use up and I love this quilt. 

from Google search

There's also this. 

Hmm! It could be interesting. No, I don't know the name. Yes, I know where I'm going with this. 

I would also love to make another Hidden Gems quilt

or a Burgoyne Surrounded but for a big quilt this time. 

How many hours of sewing do I have in a month? Darn!  That really cramp my style. 

There's also my Personal Rainbow UFO Challenge. The colour red calls for a new project but that's for another post. Stay tuned. 

Oh! Almost forgot. I have two finishes to show you. YES! 

First, it's Stars in Blue, labeled and all. My first finish of the year! Yay! 

Remember this panel I salvaged from a year ago? It was quilted with only batting. No backing. See this post for the story behind it. It was the perfect size for Stars in Blue. Win/win! (I know it's not straight but it'll do.)

The binding is built with dark blue scraps.

I think it was the only solution to my dilemma since nothing looked good from the front and the back. 

Then, there's this finish. 

Phew! Made it. Looking at the fabric for clues of who goes with who was impossible in the Spider Web quilt. Once I organized the yellow pieces together, pointing in the same direction, it went so much faster. 

All I had to do was to turn the pieces in my hand and search for the yellow piece going to the right. 

The rest of the pieces were picked as per their unique shape. 

Now, I'll take it apart and put it away so my son can work on the puzzle he received on New Year's Eve. 

It's nothing interesting so I won't keep you posted on this one. 

The original post was supposed to finish with this paragraph. 

I am sorry to announce that the year didn't start on the right foot for us. Raven disappeared on January 3. I've been very down and still am. I'm pushing myself to sew as I know it will help me (and you will too with the comments and your posts about wonderful stuff). Thank you for being there. 

BUT 

After 10 days away, he came back home. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw him on the deck. He lost a lot of weight but is otherwise okay as you can tell from this picture. 

He's still sassy! Haha. I'm so happy. 

Have a great one! 

;^)

 

Joining my quilting friends

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict

Back to Sewing

It's a long weekend and I intend to sew! I hope the weather will let me sew outside again this year. 

I am late to the party because I don't have much to show again and thought of skipping making a post.  😊

Going back to the office meant less sewing time. Having to make black masks for DS2 meant not much "interesting" sewing done. Haha! Son changed job and at the new place, he can only wear black masks. I had bought (a while back ... ok, long ago) 2 yards of black cotton to make a quilt. It is now relegated to mask making. 🙄

I did cut into the mask panel and did a few of those for me. 

Some HSTs ... of course

... and a second aqua tulip block. That is all I did in the last two weeks.  

How about some real flowers, like those around my house. 

My very first Dahlia. Every time I planted this tuber plant, the chipmunk would eat it. Now that the big green-eye monster lives with us, the chipmunk left the dahlia alone. Horray for Raven! 

Don't know what this is but it grows wild and quite tall behind the shed. It's actually cute. 

My Rudbeckia (aka Black Eye Susan) around the clothesline post. They enjoyed all the rain we had this year. 

September's colour is ORANGE! No kidding I'll have more sewing to show you next Saturday. 😁 Can't wait to dig in. Stay tuned! 

My Personal UFO Rainbow Challenge is Hole in the Barn Door from 2016. The blocks were made with tiny little bits of whatever fabric and the colour of the month. Don't know if I need more blocks or not. I'll look at it this weekend. 

Whatever the outcome, there's always something pleasant in each day. Enjoy it!


;^)


Joining
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts
Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Beth for Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
Pat at Life in a Scrapatch

April RSC Challenge

I haven't talked about my personal RSC Challenge for April because it took me a while to locate it. Haha! It's hiding since 2014! Time to do something about it. But what?

It is a BOM (Block of the Month) that Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times did (I think it was her first BOM). I was so excited about it because it was my first BOM too. Then, something happened and Judy had to quit before the BOM was finished. So I made enough Spool blocks to assemble the blocks into a 44 X 35.5" baby quilt. 

Not the best colours for a baby quilt but it was supposed to be a much larger quilt. Anywho!! This is the quilt I have to work on in April. So, do I add borders? What colour? Or do I just call it done and quilt it? 

It has been folded for a long time. 

Meanwhile, we had a four-day weekend and some sewing time was well spent. Look at my Smile quilt! 

It stalled at this point back in February. 

And now ... 

Yellow blocks quilted! 

Blue blocks quilted! 

Sorry, Aqua but you got quilted with blue thread too and I have to say you look pretty good.  

Green blocks quilted! 

The dark green thread looks better on the dark green block which seems to be MIA. I'll redo this block whenever I get a lighter green thread. (Yeah! Right! 🙄)

Purple block ... 

got fixed! Funny how I just skipped around the black section of the last part of quilting. I'm funny that way! 😁

Rainbow block quilted! I used white thread for this one. 

And that's it!! All the coloured blocks are quilted. Isn't that wonderful? I am so happy for the progress done on this one. It feels so good to have my quilting mojo back. 

The black and white sections will sport a loose meander design. 

I also did a pillow for my lovely little black panther-cat. 

It was cat-approved right away. 

Yes, there is a cat in there, sleeping with his little snowman. 

He was purring so loud. He loves the "house" my sons did for him and now, it's a 5 Stars Penthouse! haha! 

I did some masks for my sister's boyfriend.  

Got some blues in there. Her masks are coming up shortly. I played thread chicken and I won. (see the bobbin to the right of the masks? It was close.) 

Did all the large HST for HST quilt #2. Yes, I did the dark blue too because I was on a roll. All the large HSTs for this quilt are done. I'll make the 4-Patch HST unit as leader-enders. Pictures in the next post, I promise. 

Phew! That's a lot of sewing. Wish I could have another long weekend because it was fun! 

Take care! 

;^)

Joining friends at 

So Scrappy 

Patchwork and Quilts

Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Life in a Scrapatch

Confessions of a Fabric Addict