Late Again

for Scrap Attack Challenge hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Scrap Addict. She is doing so well with her challenges each month and I can barely keep my head above water. I did even worst in April. 😒 There's no need to cry over spilled milk; just clean up the mess. So I am rolling up my sleeves and will try harder in May.

Now what will I be working on in May?

WhooHoo! A scrap basket. :^D  I am happy about that. Angela called Pink to be our Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. I don't have a lot of pink, so instead I will do a yellow scrap basket since I have done nothing with yellow last month. :^b

What I have done in April is practice. I am practicing my penmanship so it looks "vintage"-ish.

Some of you already know that I want to write the names of each lady on her own Churn Dash block. The blocks were a swap hosted by Barb from Fun with Barb. I can hardly believe that, out of the 44 participants, 30 people have answered me, identifying a total of 42 blocks. I am so happy with the respond and I thank each and every one of you. I am also very stressed as I only have one pass at writing the name down properly. There's no room for a mistake, misspelled, or misshaped letter. Every thing has to be perfect on the first try. So, I am practicing still. I bought some very good markers to write on the fabric. And while I was at the fabric shop, I got a few extras.

Some black and one orange fat quarters. Yes, the one on the left is orange but it got camera shy and turned bright red. These fabrics are an incentive to work on my Judy Martin's Shoreline Log Cabin quilt.

On the first Wednesday of the month, I joined seven ladies and we sew together. I managed to do 21 centers for the crumb quilt. If you look closely, you'll notice there's a lot of pink in there. They are made with flannel and measure 4.5 inches.

These two are the crème of the lot.  They are pieced with 9 different fabrics (left) and 10 different fabrics (right). What is wrong with my head? Does it mean I am missing  my 365 Challenge quilt?


That's all folks! See next time.

;^)

Joining:
Sarah - Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela - So Scrappy
Cynthia - Oh Scrap!

Scrap Attack April Challenge

Oh! Bother! I am really not good at this game. My March Scrap Attack Challenge is incomplete. Surprised? Not at all. I seem to be stuck in another time zone, like a month behind time zone. Ha!

Let's look at this mess partial success closer.

It all started with this little piece of paper. It calls for a string project. Do I have enough strings to make a project?

Check. The supply is plentiful. 

What got done with the strings? A placemat.

Well, I did say it is a partial success. (It looks as if we are at the beginning of March instead of at the end of it. 😒)
Since I (usually) participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with Angela  (which I seem to be also neglecting lately)) I used some purple, color of February, and some light green, color for this month and ... and ... well ... yep, that's all.


So what happened?

Well, this happened. The February Scrap Attack Challenge is done.

This is my lab coat that I use when I paint. It is NOT coming apart. Ever. But all the other shirts did.

The drawer once looked like this.

I now have all these lovely plaids to play with whenever I want. I am so happy.

There is a lot of shirts in this pile. Come to think of it, I should have count them. Rats!

I was surprised to find some weren't shirts but yardage. Yay! Bonus!

Two of them weren't plaid at all, hahaha. The one on the left was almost all done since it was used for my big hexagon quilt. You can see it here in the before last picture.

Ta-dah! This is the same drawer now full with usable plaid shirts. There's even some room left ... maybe enough for the shirts from the second drawer to fit in? We'll see when I get there.
Thank you Sarah for hosting the Scrap Attack Challenge. I might not be very good at it, but I am not giving up and will get better (I hope) before the end of the year. 😊

So what else happened in March?

I did do a little bit of sewing.

My design wall has Cécile's little baskets challenge. Very slowly, the sashing is added. The deadline is for April 15th. Well, since you know me, you know this won't happen. It will be done on May 15th. Ha!

Two little 3.5 inches block from the 365 Challenge Sampler were assembled.  On top is "Tangled Briars" a.k.a. "Barrister's Block" (with a beard). It has 44 pieces. Below is "Propeller" with 17 pieces. (I have seen this block somewhere before and I really liked it. Hmmm, I think I will do a little research in my Pinterest account.)

I have signed up for a "sewing-a-thon" or something like that. This lady has rented a hall, is setting it up for quilters and called anyone who is interested to line up. I did. It will happen on the first Wednesday of the month for the next three months. (We'll try it for 3 months and take it from there.) The doors open at 8 am until 8 pm. Since I still have a full-time job, I will be there around 1 pm until ... the bobbins run out. I am so excited about this as it is only 15 minutes drive from my place. Someone has answered my prayers.  😁

I will take my little basket blocks and try to get it all assembled. I need to take something that doesn't require much attention to detail as I know I'll be curious to see what the others are sewing and chat with them and ... hopefully, at one point I'll sit down and stitch for a bit. 😉

The Scrap Attack Challenge for April is ...

Cut up the fabric in the Big Pieces drawers. Well, that's not a portable project I could bring to the sewing-a-thon. Wish me luck.

That's all for now. I have a very long weekend off, so some sewing just might happen. Hope you have some fun with fabric too.

;^)

Jail Break

I want to finish the M&M quilt top. So I added a border of yellow and then,

I added the black border ...

and that's when everything went wrong. The party came to a halt! There were police cars everywhere, officers spilling out of them and closing the area with their yellow tape. "Nobody moves! Hands up!"

"You are under arrest for having too much fun!"

I'm like what???? This cannot be!! I have to do something to help them, I mean, yes they are party "nuts" but who doesn't love the M&M clan? They can't be just thrown into jail!!



"Think, Chantal, think. You have to do something." I called Rebel on my eye-Phone.

"Rebel, I need your help. Come quick!" And then, she was by my side and came up with a plan. "We have to break the yellow tape to set them free", she said.

"Here's how we'll do it. It won't be easy but we can do this."


So I started making some Pinwheels. (Can't afford a real helicopter!)

and I added them to the border ...

nonchalantly, like they belong there.  Slowly I got closer to the M&M gang.



When no one was looking, I slipped them their getaway disguises. They have to dress up at the very last minute to avoid suspicion.

(I did the best I could with the little bit of time I had to find some costumes.)

Unfortunately, our plan came up short.

Not one to give up easily, Rebel tried again.


This time it worked. The tape broke and ...

 the M&M hastily split. 

It didn't take long for the cops to take us in pursuit.

Rebel had non-marked transportation waiting for them.

I mean, she had a means of transport for them.  (Com'on! There's no way they could all fit inside General Lee!)

The important thing is that they all got away ...

... to another bash party near you.

;^)



Phew! RSC2016 is a top.

Joining Angela for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Joining Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Joining Sarah for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

March's Scrap Attack

Hello! It's me. Remember me?

I know I haven't been very present in Blogland this month and I haven't answered every comment on my last post but life around here got very serious all of a sudden. I have a funeral tomorrow and then, it shall be sunnier. (Hopefully). One of hubby's old aunt passed away after a very brave battle. May she rest in peace.

I did managed to make all the Churn Dash blocks for Barb's swap project. Yay!

22 reds and 44 oranges sent to Barb's place

I also managed to de-bone a few shirts. I do not de-bone à la Bonnie. It takes me a whole lot more than just 7 minutes, lol.  I un-stitch some seams like the yokes and the "X" on the back of some men's shirts.

X on the back of men's shirt

I remove breast pockets very carefully in order to keep the shirt free of holes. And I didn't have a lot of "stitching" or "ripping" time but 8 shirts came undone.

It is a good beginning ... but not a big one as it barely shows in the drawer.

at the beginning of February 

at the end of February

Oh well, I'll try to keep at it for the month of March, (which should be calmer) and I also want to finish the January's Challenge but ... let's get on with March's own Challenge. I stirred the jar of papers and out popped ... 

... 

a string project has to be finished. Ouch!

This is where my strings multiply are stored.

I don't expect to make a dent in any of these drawers but I do have a little plan germinating in my head. Oh! oh! I can feel a sprout of creativity coming up. (Gosh! It must be Spring. Why else would I talk like this?!!!)


;^)

Thank you, Sarah, for hosting Scrap Attack.

Scrap Attack January

I join Sarah at Confession of a Fabric Addict, in an effort to reduce and organize my scraps a little bit better in 2018.

My list of 12 things I want to do to feel in control get the impression that I manage my scraps are in these jars. I shook the bigger jar real good because I didn't want to get the last piece of paper I had put in. (Don't want to start with that one. :^P). The smaller jar is my back up plan, in case  I finish the first challenge before the end of the month (as if ...).

And POP! What did I get?

#4 - Finish the M&M quilt.


In the post of November 2016, I had this to say:

"As I was picking up fabrics tossed all around the sewing room in my frenzy of last week, I found my RSC 2016 project. Got the fabric out and started to look at the possibility of finishing this one. This year? Hmmm... /:^}" 

Obviously it didn't get done. And I still don't know what to do about the borders. Small inner yellow followed by black? Or red with black? No borders? How much is left of the white fabric? 

The block used in this quilt is Peace and Plenty

The hunt is on!  At the end of the month, I will let you know if I have made progress on this challenge or not. 

You can join the Scrap Attack group at any month of the year. See this post from Sarah for more details. Thanks Sarah for the challenge.  

Since this quilt was made with Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I am linking up with her this morning. I am sure some of her followers, who had seen this quilt grow, would like to see how its journey ends. 

♪♫ Let it sew, let it sew, let it sew ♫♪ ♪

;^)

12 Ways to Reduce My Scraps

Okay, quick show of hands: who has scraps?

Everyone, wow.

Who would like to reduce their pile of scraps by using them up?

Wow! Everyone!

Well, me too. So I am joining Sarah in her Scrap Attack 2018.

Like Sarah, every month I will pull out a goal from the jar and work on it during that month. If it gets done before the month's end, I'll draw another goal from the smaller jar (it has smaller goals). If the main goal doesn't get all accomplished during the month, no big deal! At least it got some progress done on it. And that will make me happy. And then, and then, I get to show my progress on the linky party. Yeeeaaahhh!! 👍👍

So, here are my 12 goals for the year.

1- Take apart the plaid shirts in one drawer ( I have two drawers full of plaid shirts that I can't use because they are still shirts.)

2- Take apart the plaid shirts in second drawer (you knew this was coming, right?)

3- Cut up the scraps in the "Big Pieces" drawer so they are usable.

4- Finish RSC 2016 (with the M&M fabric)

5- Finish the "cord basket" (wherever this one is hiding)

6- Empty tub of fabric in son's bedroom (isn't that shameful? I don't have room anymore in my sewing room, I had to put a huge Rubbermaid bin in my son's bedroom. Bad mother, lol.)

7- Store flannel scraps properly. (I mean look at this mess. Shameful! Scraps deserve more respect than that!)

8- Make a scrap basket à la Fiona. (See this post)

9- Make a second basket à la Fiona. (I'm sure I can find some scraps in a different color to make a second one.)

10- Organize the flimsies and tops. (First, they have to be hunted down. Then I want to store them all at one place so when I feel like quilting one, I'll know where to go to get it. I also want to put my Excel Spreadsheet up to date.) Phew!

11- Make something with the strings. (Yes, pllleeeaaase, make something with them!!)

12- Make something out of the triangles. (Oh! That's a nice challenge. I like it!)

So there you have it. My year of scrap busting is all organised. Awwwhhh! That feels good! How about you? Care to join? It's not too late.  What do you have to lose but scraps?

Thank you Sarah for organizing this challenge and the linky parties.



Let the fun begin.

;^)