August Recap and September Begins

In August I finished Journal for Joy - a scrappy eclectic glue book celebrating all sorts of things that make me smile.  

Holus Bolus, the first of the four Macnas series bonus quilts, was finished.

A stack of harvested Asian bits were transformed into a themed accordion journal.

Pieces and parts were cut, sorted, and pinned into pairs for Scrumdifferous.

I finally finished the long pending Squirrels altered book.

And the set of six reversible scrappy strip-pieced September placemats that were cut out on August 1 had their bindings finished on August 31.

Along the way there was also a lot of stash shuffling and editing, multiple donation boxes were sent out into the world, and the studio squirrels raised a ruckus leading to two more new quilt projects that truly need to wait until after the last three Macnas series bonus quilts are finished.  

And finally, continuing with my year-long series of monthly back yard photos, here is one taken early morning September 1st.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Most people don't want to be part of the process, they just want to be part of the outcome.  But the process is where you figure out who and what's worth being part of the outcome."

Scottie Pippen

Monday Check In

By late Sunday, all six of the placemat sandwiches were quilted.

I also turned 14 WOF into binding.

Quilted with liberated wavy lines using Glide thread in  Dijon.

Having used that kind of quilting on previous sets of placemats, I know they will launder well.

The quilted texture shows up better in black and white.

Meanwhile, our visiting grand-dog Darcy kept a watchful eye on things . . .

* * *

My most pressing to-do item this week is to stand in line for a long time to renew my driver's license and get the Read ID certification on it; otherwise I would renew by mail.  DH managed to get his done in under 2 hours earlier this year.  I hope I'm as fortunate.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"Your smile is a reason for many others to smile."

Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

So Far So Good

The first few days of this week were indeed chaotic but multiple non-sewing things did get handled and/or finished.

Unfortunately another huge to-do made itself known and it is one that needs to be dealt with sooner and not too much later (think paper tiger on steroids).

For the sake of sanity, I sewed the strips together for the backs of the six September placemats, pressed the tops and backs, cut batting rectangles, and pin basted the six quilt sandwiches.

Thread color remains to be decided but I'm guessing it will be some variation on "gold."

I ran across this image early in the week - I keep reminding myself of it when a task at hand seems more complicated than I feel like handling.  So far it has worked . . . 

* * *

There are only ten days left in August and I'm still hoping to get Holus Bolus and the placemats quilted and finished.  

I've also realized  that I'm woefully behind on responding to your comments . . . 

One thing at a time.

Quiltdivajulie

Scrumdifferous - Bits of Progress

I spent much of Thursday prepping pieces and parts for a scrappy quilt to be named SCRUMDIFFEROUS (an adjective for something that is excellent or first-rate).

This is a photo of the un-prepped scrappy leftovers laying on top of yardage that will be used as backing.

This is what all of that was turned into.  

There are 65-70 rectangles (2.5" x 4.5") in each of the five color groups.  Some were left after making the four bonus Macnas quilt tops and others were cut from an array of abandoned 2.5" strips.

The roughly 350 2.5" squares were cut from light rectangles left after making the four bonus quilt tops plus several shorter pieces of yardage that were begging to be finished off.

The plan is to turn these into a quilt in the style of CAIM and COMFORTABLE and Githerments.

At the end of the day all of the rectangles and squares were sorted and paired, ready to be used as leader-ender or mindless evening sewing.  

(Scrumdifferous is the first of 3-4 projects sorted from my overflowing box of gathered leftovers)

* * *

This is what the 35 sewn WOF strip sets from the last post looked like after being pressed.  

This is what they look like now.  

The shorter lengths (18") will be used to piece top slabs and the longer lengths (20" plus) will be used to piece backing slabs for September's set of six placemats.  

(The extra strips on either side are to be used along a side edge if any of the strip sets aren't quite wide enough - I make my top slabs 17" x 24" and the backs 21-ish" x 28")  

Once quilted  the slab sandwiches will be trimmed to 14" x 20" before binding.

Onward . . . 

  

Quiltdivajulie

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"You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining."

Shirley Chisholm

Digging Into New Projects

Over the weekend, that stack of fabrics for a set of September placemats was transformed into lots and lots of 2.5" strips.  There are a few WOF but most are shorter since they were cut from scraps.  

(The small stacks outside the plastic boxes are the 2" wide leftovers)

The 2" strips were sewn together end to end (pinned to design wall).

Using some of the shorter pieces of 2.5" reds, I made six test blocks using the Duckworth Quilt approach (6" irregular/liberated/improv log cabin blocks).  The blocks are not for this project, but just because I've wondered about using that kind of approach for a future scrappy quilt.

Once I got that out of my system, I sorted the rest of the 2.5" strips into WOF and shorter before sewing the shorter ones into WOF lengths.

Yesterday after attending a funeral mass for the wife of our 30-years-plus next-door neighbors, an afternoon and evening power sewing session ensued resulting in 35 WOF yellow/red strip sets ready for pressing.

Over the weekend, I had also pulled out the stack of fabrics for December's set of five utility mats for our living room and cut these many 6" squares.  I also saved the end cuts and not long after this photo was taken, they were turned into 35 bonus scrappy 6" blocks that will be part of the mix when construction happens later in the fall.  

The best part?  There were far fewer pieces of yardage put back into the stash than what I had pulled out, and I didn't even feel guilty about using the last of several fabrics.

And on a non-fabric note, someone very special turns TEN years old today - it has been an amazing journey so far, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Quiltdivajulie

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"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before."

Edwin Elliot

July Recap

Last month I spent time sorting and restacking the yardage in my stash.

There was also considerable editing done, along with culling scraps in the resource boxes.

This photo shows just how much space was cleared as a result.  The right half of the third shelf down is no longer filled with fabric.  

That same right half on the bottom four shelves no longer houses fabrics but a few magazines waiting to be harvested for my journal making adventures.

(the stacked drawer unit and Raskog cart were also cleaned up/out since the paper stuff accumulates even faster than fabric does)

I pulled out these fabrics to make a set of six reversible placemats for September.  

These fabrics were set aside to make a set of five utility mats for our December living room.

And these greens from the stash/resource boxes will become a set of six placemats for use next March.  The reverse side will be made using blocks Lynne sent after finishing her Field of Dreams quilt.

Ruska, a gift quilt, was quilted and finished.

Paint Party, no. 12 of 13 in the Macnas series, was quilted and finished.

And Yutori, no. 13 of 13 quilts in the Macnas series was quilted and finished.

There was also a squirrel invasion in July that led to this quilt top named Nimiety.

I also created Nimiety's scrappy pieced backing.  Both the top and backing are currently rolled onto pool noodles to be pin basted and quilted sometime this month.

No photos for this but I also emptied and sorting the overflowing box of leftover quilt backings and assorted other bits and pieces into six different project boxes for future quilts inspired by designs/patterns I've stashed but never used.   I don't plan to dig into any of these until next year aside from some cutting of pieces and parts as time permits.  But after staying so focused on finishing, it felt good to make plans for new scrappy adventures.

I also moved the two studio plants outdoors for the summer and changed the lower curtain fabric (the other yardage had faded over its 3 year life in that window).

The nearly 5-week month and lots of hot steamy weather that kept us indoors clearly made for more studio time than usual.

* * *

And because today is August 1, here's the monthly photo of our back yard.  The grass is the greenest it will get this summer, the neighbor's crape myrtle adds a big pop of color, our black eyed Susans are at their peak, the azalea bush has grown and filled in so much in the last month, the coleus in the large pot are thriving, but the in-ground hostas as struggling with the intense heat and hot sun but they'll recover later in the year when the weather moderates.   

(The temporary fence is there because we've had the grand-dog for the last two weeks.  Keeping her out of the dirt makes life much easier, especially when the dirt turns to mud.) 

Quiltdivajulie

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"Clutter is the enemy of clarity."

Julie Cameron

Random Progress Teasers

Since taking this WIP photo, Nimiety has become a full fledged flimsy.  

Once the finished top has been pressed, I'll get a photo of it on the design wall.

I've also constructed a seriously scrappy pieced backing for Nimiety. 

It, too, needs to be pressed before I take flat-ish photos of it.

It has felt SO good to actually USE some of the leftover backing pieces and fabrics from the resource boxes; and in doing so,  I've found my next liberated scrappy mission once the remaining Macnas series/bonus quilts are finished -- LOTS more scrappiness and hopefully a lot less overthinking.

While digging in the stash, I pulled these fabrics to make a set of reversible placemats for September when our seasonal theme is sunflowers and apples.   

I also pulled yardage to make a new set of five reversible utility mats for our December living room (fireplace mats, end table toppers, and a runner for the cedar chest).  

The current set is six years old and I'm very tired of the print I chose back then.  Clearly I have the fabric to make another set, so that's what I shall do.

* * *

Elsewhere in the studio, I've made the bindings for Nimiety, Ruska, and  Yutori.  

Ruska will get pin basted this weekend -  right after I finish the rest of yet another edit/sort of the stash.  

Quiltdivajulie

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"It is a happy talent to know how to play."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Relocation-Reassignment Complete

It all started while Lynne was clearing out her studio before the new flooring arrived.

She asked if I wanted the extra blocks from Field of Dreams and I said yes, knowing I had a plan for them.

Last night I pulled some fabrics from the stash and retrieved six of the liberated bird blocks Lynne sent after she finished her Green Bird Quilt.

I'll use the blocks from Field of Dreams to piece six slabs for placemat tops.

I'll use the array of greens from my stash to create strip pieced slabs that will include the birds for the reverse side of the placemats.  

In the box with the green blocks were these extra HSTs from her quilt named Amethyst.

I'll piece them into an insert for this backing for a scrappy quilt that is still in the gathering stage.

I've been stashing leftover blocks and bindings in this project box for another quilt top in the same style as Esperance.  

The leftover tumbler blocks from Lynne's Easter Basket quilt will be worked into this top when the time comes.

And so will the stack of leftover rail fence segments from Rainbow Crush.

My stashed yardage above has been set aside for yet another future scrappy lower volume quilt top.  

Lynne started piecing slabs using her pastels but then lost interest in the project.  I'll use the slabs as part of the backing for my quilt when the time comes.

* * *

One quilter's excess is another quilter's bounty.  Thanks, Lynne.

Quiltdivajulie

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"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up."

Mark Twain

Binding Results

Binding the latest set of placemats is finished - finally.

Mischief is sitting on one of the two bonus mats in this photo.

Here are the six placemats  - all have dragonflies on one side and peacock feathers on the other.

These are the two bonus mats - not quite as large as a Raskog tray but larger than a typical mug mat.

This is the reverse of the two bonus mats.  My hope that there would be enough binding to include both of these came up one mat short so I used a length of scrappy binding leftover from a previous quilt.

* * *

Yesterday (DH's birthday) I sorted out the leftover pieces of batting so I can piece Frankenbatts for June's blueberry-themed placemats and utility mats.  My goal is to get the yardage pressed and get the slabs pin basted so I can quilt them next week.  

My studio squirrels have been busy suggesting new projects but so far I've resisted their chatter. I'm doing my best to stay focused on the many in-process projects already on my radar.

Time will tell if I can maintain that focus . . . 

Quiltdivajulie

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"You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page.  You can't edit a blank page."

Jodi Picoult