Barely Alive But Still Kicking

I wrote (it seems like such a long time ago) that I had found a job. Thank you all for your good wishes. It breaks my heart but, unfortunately, the job was short-lived. My back didn't like that job, so I had to quit. Sigh! My back is more important to me than minimum wage. I spent the next three (four?) days in bed nurturing the cranky back in question. I gave it a try is all I can say.  Now, I'm at the computer, searching for a job. Fingers crossed again. 

And life goes on. 

On a more fun note, let's talk scrap!

Remember this picture from the beginning of March? Let's see what happened to it.   

Along with all the purple sewing I did here, here and here, I added a "raspberry purple" Stained Glass and a 6.5" square. 

A reminder of the mess crumb sewing makes. 

I tried to separate the different purples, but they kept walking all over the desk. Sigh! 

I started to create some 4.5" crumbs because another quilt took shape in my mind ... it is now annoyingly haunting me. The little "blueberry purple" is for the Hole in the Barn Door quilt. That border needs help. 

Little 3.5" 9-patch blocks were also added. 

I needed the help of brown fabric to please this finicky purplish wine, far right. I tried so hard to use them all up. But the month came to an end. 

Crumb blocks that are half done. Sorry for these bits but they returned to the bag and await another purple sewing session. 

This is what's left of the purple scraps. 

This is the smaller of the two bags in the first photo and it is this flat! 

I'm so happy! The goal is to get all the bags holding the smallest scraps into ONE drawer. If I may blow my own horn, this is an excellent start. (insert happy dance here) 

Challenge accepted! 

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered )

I didn't manage to declutter this week but my son came to my rescue, unknowingly to him. He emptied the dishwasher and declared that I had too many cups. He couldn't put them all on one shelf. Well, then. Let's get rid of some. 

5 cups and 2 travel mugs later, I had decluttered. Thanks, son! (The metal cut on its side is where I used to work.)

On Tuesday, we had our Artisanat meeting and the Take-Away table had something EXTREMELY interesting: FABRIC!

I came home with 1 meter of orange fabric, 3/4 of a meter of black/grey/orange fabric, half a meter of red fabric and some big scraps of blue, about a quarter of a meter. Free! Yay! 

Also, a quilter friend gave me a lettuce box full of scraps. I am so spoiled! Thank you, Michèle. She also brought me two quilts to donate to the Quilts for Survivors. But more on that in another post. 

So, now for the next week: Yellow. I happened to knock two birds with one stone (not that I would do that literally but ...) The Table Scrap Challenge's theme was "bird". This challenge is hosted by The Joyful Quilter. Click on this link to see all the beautiful birds. My entry has a bird and it has purple and it has an umbrella and it has yellow! Now Table Scrap Challenge's theme for this month is "umbrella" and Angela called Yellow. What are the odds of that? 

Anywho! Back to yellow. This is what I have to work with. 

Let's see how light these bags will be at the end of the month. 

Have a great week, everyone. 

;^)

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Purple Scrap and Crumbs

This week, lots of purple sewing was made. Little bits were turned into 9 patch blocks as leader-enders... 

(For the block on top, I had to find a piece of aqua as none of the purples was nice with it and I was determined to sew it.)

... along with whatever else I found in the 2" drawer that wasn't 2" anymore. 

In the crumb department, the bigger pieces (that aren't big at all) are sometimes cut up to make more crumbs. 

Some scrap has little to work with, but I managed to cut some good pieces from this one. 

Crumb blocks 8.5" X 6.5" and 6.5" square. Not yet trimmed to the correct size. 

A light purple stained glass and crumb block were added to the pile. 

I looked around my sewing room to find more purple pieces as I was running low on variety. I spotted the string drawer overflowing ... 

... I got a piece or two out of it but GOSH! I have to do something with this. Back in the drawer, it went. 

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered )

✂✂✂✂

The 2" scrap drawer got done. The skimpy fabric was trashed (in the fireplace) and those not quite 2" were cut down to 1.5 inches. The tub is almost full. I love this purple fabric in the top right corner. It is almost all gone. 

The blue strings were at the bottom of the drawer. I don't remember cutting these bands. It is too narrow for binding, but it could be used as sashing. 

I found 5 pieces of burlap in one corner of the sewing room and a large piece of ... some kind of fabric that is not cotton. They are heading to the second-hand store. 

Well, Dory got tired of cutting 2" and playing with purple, so she made me sew these up. 

Tiny triangles were discovered in a zip bag and they asked to be sewn. How can Dory say no? Lol. 

I am hand-quilting the Ohio Star Shadow quilt. I've reached the first corner. Only three more corners to go! (I prefer saying 3 corners than 24 blocks!) Some points will be cut off by the binding on this one. Oh, well. 

That's all for me. 

Happy sewing week to you. 

;^)

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Moda Mauve

This block is from the Moda Free Pattern page. Moda calls it "Love". (See webpage here.) (PDF Pattern here.) It's a nice name, but I don't see the love in there. It is so versatile in the sense that depending on where the values are, you can change the look of the block and quilters love that. 

So, I searched for another name. Spent a lot of time with Google and some translation websites, trying all the possibilities with Star, Nova, Comet, Shining, Rising, Morning, Praising, etc.  

It finally boiled down to two options: Rock Star ... or ... 

... Double Halo Star. Which one do you prefer? I'm open to suggestions, as always. 

Do you remember when I did the red one I said that the back of the block was a hot mess? I decided to construct the purple one as a 9-patch block, to see if it would be easier. 

The corner piece... 

First row second unit ... I don't know what happened to the middle unit's picture but it's basically a square-in-a-square block. 

It was easier to assemble and it lay flatter. 

To catch up with the RSC colours already called a green block had to be done. Out came some green scrap and ... 

This one was assembled as per Moda's instruction. The direction says to sew in rows. Well, this was the toughest of the three to do (for me). I had to refer to the picture constantly while sewing the pieces into rows. I ironed the HSTs in the wrong direction (too often), and the points won't align properly (that bugs me) due to the long rows. I might unstitch some parts and fidget with it. IMHO, this way is harder than necessary. 

The next one will be assembled with Flying Geese units and a real square-in-a-square unit. I'll let you know how that works out. 

Although I've not posted a picture of my bloopers for a long time, you can be sure that I still do them frequently. Here's my latest one.  

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered ): 

Some cutting, some cleaning, and some decluttering occurred this week again. 

The drawer of the 3" scraps was emptied and cleaned. It now houses my crafting and graph papers. 

The top drawer still holds the "bigger pieces" scrap, then two cleaned drawers (originally the 3" and the 2.5" storage drawer), and next will be the 2" drawer. The last drawer holds the letter paper and notepads. 

Don't have many 3" scraps left but they are nicely settled in this tub and stored in the bookcase...

... and look who I found at the bottom of that drawer! 

Another piece of the M&M millennium fabric. Yes, millennium! Gosh! will I ever live this fabric down? Haha!

This mini bookcase, the size of a lectern but with a flat top, is my cutting table beside my sewing table. It will be so easy to grab the tub I need now. 

The decluttered things being sent to a second-hand store include a photo album, a binder and some patterns. 

Did you do any Creative Glass? I had a lot of fun with this craft. It's a liquid leading that sticks to glass and then you paint the inside. I did the entire window next to the principal door with leaves way back when. 

I'm leaving you with a picture of Raven. He's not happy because I'm taking pictures of scrap instead of petting him. 

Poor thing! How will you feel when I'm sewing all day because it is International Quilting Day? 

I have a few projects lined up for that. And you? 

Have a great one! 

;^) 

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Simple Purple

A busy week with lots of cleaning tried to keep me away from my sewing machine. I persisted in sewing something anyway. Ha!


On Tuesday, at the Artisanat meeting, I received a big bag of scraps. (Sorry, no picture) Of course, I didn't say "No, thanks!" (See this post for the beginning of that story.) There was a lot of black fabric ... so much black! I cut some up already to make more Stained Glass blocks, trying to salvage as much as possible. 

Purple Stained Glass and crumb block. A lighter purple Stained Glass will be assembled this weekend. 

On the "Free" table at the meeting, there were not one but two embroidery/cross-stitch frames. I took both! This one needs a screw and a butterfly nut to hold the stand. 

The second frame is ready to go. So many of you make wonderful things with floss that I've been thinking for a while now, that I want to pick up floss again. ( I think I hear someone calling me Dory. Hahahahaha!) 

Sylvie gave me 17 magazines. (I guess she is decluttering too.) I already had only one of these magazines. Many hours will be spent looking into these projects. Thanks, Sylvie. 

I completed more Shoreline blocks this week as I wanted to finish the black thread bobbin. So, the total of blocks is now 84. Still have 172 to do. 

Well, that makes a scary emoji! 

A grey Stained Glass block was also assembled because ... you know, black thread bobbin. 

I am in love with this one.

Now that the black bobbin is empty, let's get into lighter colours and get the Moda block assembled. Gotta find a better name for it. 

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered ): 

I cleaned more than decluttered this week. I remain committed to reducing the scrap though. So, when I find a piece like this lovely purple that never gets used because of its bold white flowers, 

instead of putting it back in the scrap bag, I cut it down to 2 inches or whatever size. It will look great in a scrap quilt. 

 

Right now, the scrap bag corner is my pet peeve. They have to slim down and get used. 

So many scraps, so little time

Happy sewing everyone! 

;^)

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever