Design Wall Monday

WahHoo for a UFO Finish!

Judy L drew #8 for the March UFO and I finally have it finished.

Jamestown Landing may well be my new favorite quilt.

I worked hard to get if quilted last week and the binding on

so  could take it with me to the beach to finish.

I wanted to use our fence for picture.

I really wanted to take it down to the beach but never did.

I am a scrap addict and use them whenever and where ever I can.

I love a scrappy back and a scrappy binding.

After finishing the binding,

I pulled out my little embroidery project to work on.

As I'm stitching, I start thinking about the needle.

It's like sewing with a nail!

I am so used to my thin #10 needles. 

So I had to do a comparison picture. 

We are home now for a couple weeks so have plans to get another quilt or 2 finished.

Next week it's retreat weekend, then back to the beach. 

Check out all the cool design walls at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts Design Wall Monday.

Beach Life

Our beach property is a no hunting zone.

This makes my hunter a bit anxious.

Not really.

We see deer all over, I've heard there are bear.

I saw a porcupine.

I want to see a bear.

From the pickup window.

This fat coyote was standing in the middle of the road one day.

He finally moved to lay down under this tree.

Boardwalk Quilts in Long Beach is closing.

I am sad to see this happen but the owners want to retire.

I understand.

So I helped reduce the inventory on a recent trip to the property.

The scrap bin was my first stop.

Do I have a scrap problem.

I don't think it's a problem.

I filled one lunch bag with neutrals that will be used for my On The Road Quilt

and a table runner that I will quilt and use in the bus.

This time I went to the scrap bin and loaded up my lunch sack with all kinds of zip baggies.

Open the baggie to get all the air out and roll.

I stuffed that bag full. 

I guess I could have emptied the baggies but it was more fun squishing the air out.

I saw this fabric and passed on it.

I had Ernie stop on the way home because it haunted my dreams.

I bought 3 yards.

 I love it so much.

Retro typewriters bring back childhood memories of my Aunt Sharon.

Walks on the beach are nice.

Tony dog runs like a crazy dog.

My little Brother machine now lives in the bus.

I took a few projects to work on.

I needed to applique some blocks for a swap.

Then my Dresden Plates were all appliqued down. 

I wish I would have thought to use the walking foot sooner. 

It made the applique so much smoother.

The blocks were sewn into rows.

I brought them all home because I need a good hot iron.

That has now been added to my bus bag.

Some of the items are already to go on the next trip.

I love this beach life. 

I'm so glad we finally achieved my dream.

I really happy that it is now Ernie's dream as well.

He took a long time to think about it.

Like 40 years. LOL

OK, when's the next trip???

Design Wall Monday

I spent some time this week working on my Splendid Sampler blocks. I have the 2 embroidery blocks to finish and the new block from Sunday and I'll be all caught up. Hopefully before the new block comes out on Thursday.

I got my first t-shirt finished. I still need to teak the pattern just a bit but I really like this one. It has a black back. Like I said before, that pile of knits is going to be use up. Mixing fabrics has never been a problem for me. LOL

I also worked my scrap problem...I was looking for a certain piece of fabric and while digging, I decided to make a pile of cut it up fabric. So there are new tumblers, strips and strings along with enough backing squares for another quilt as you go string quilt. With the Sampler blocks, several sets of 2 tumblers were sewn together waiting to be mixed in with the new fabrics.

It was a good week in the sewing room. See what others are working on at Patchwork Times. I was quite excited to see Judy L is sewing again.

April Scrap Busting Plan

I have a Grand Plan.
(Don't I always!!)

I really, really want to get my scraps and my stash under control.

For April, I plan to use up this stack of t-shirt knits.

In my past sewing life, I made clothes.

Lots of clothes for me and my kiddos.

Jeans, western shirts, t shirts, shorts, pjs, cute undies, cute dresses...

Right now I am in desperate need of new shirts.

I hate to go shopping for clothes so it's time to get this done.

And I want to free up that space the basket of fashion fabrics is taking up.

I love sewing with my serger so this gives me a lot of serger time.

(Can you believe my spell check didn't include the word serger?!? I does now!)

The bottom knit is already a shirt.

It is my "muslin" for fit.

It's not too bad,

I'll wear it around home or to sleep in.

I'm excited to use these up.

This morning I'm listening to the latest Quiltcam.

She read an email from someone that was cutting with her Go Cutter.

The light bulb in my head turned on bright.

I put Bonnie on pause and got out my own cutter and small tumbler die.

I need more variety in my tumbler boxes and while making string blocks, 

I found a nice bunch of fabrics in my string bin that were too big to turn into strings.

It's time to get working on my tumblers again.

They will not be my focus this month but will be ready when I'm ready to work on them.

This morning I will finalize my basic t-shirt pattern

and maybe cut out a couple more shirts.

It's fun to have a plan.

And now I must get to it!

The Sting Quilt Story

2016 Finish #7

Thursday I finished my string quilt.

The one I've been working on as part of the Scrap Problem challenge from 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

I brought it out and layed in over the recliner and

before I picked up my phone to take a quick picture,

Miss Polly jumped up and made herself comfy!

I love that cat!

I posted this picture on Facebook because cats on quilts are adorable.

I knew I would get great comments from my friends and family.

It always makes me feel good to know they like what I do.

I did not expect Cousin Julie to want to buy my quilt.

She did.

This is the first time I've sold a quilt.

I love that she loves it and wants it.

Today it will get de-threaded and take a spin through the washer and dryer.

Then I'll lovingly box it up and get it ready to ship.

One of the funnest things for me is after 2  blocks or rows are sewn together,

I look at the back. I never worry about if 2 of the same fabrics are next to each other.

I call it blind artistic expression.

It is a great way to use up my not favorite fabrics.

It's also amazing how much I really like some of these after they have been used in a quilt.

Weird, I know!

Thanks Julie for loving what I do so much that you want it to be part of your life. 

Now I need to decided what to focus on for my next Scrap Problem challenge.

My Scrap Problem Progress

At the beginning of March, I found this blog post by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

She had me raising my hand up high!

Yes, I have a scrap problem.

So I focused this month on strings.

My crammed full, can't put another piece of fabric into it, sting bin.

I started out making 3" blocks,

using phone book pages and scrap papers as my foundation.

I am a tear the paper off the back as soon as they are trimmed up girl.

For me, it's easier to do it small bits rather than in one huge paper tearing session.

This is the results of my month of little blocks.

(Not a good angle to see how high the blocks piles really are!)

I do have a plan for these and when Bonnie Hunter's new book comes out,

(She shared the picture on Facebook and for the life of me I can't find it again.

But it is in my head.)

I'll have a good head start on that quilt.

For now, these will just wait for that time.

There is a good stack of twosies on the right waiting to be pressed.

And the 4 stacks are waiting their turn to be leaders/enders.

When these are made into foursies,

I will be done making 3" string blocks for a while.

After the first week of sewing on 3" string blocks every day,

I decided to go bigger.

The batting scrap box came out and I started making 9" quilt as you go blocks.

That helped in reducing the strings.

50 blocks were made.

(I only needed 48 but 2 blocks had cutting booboos and will become a pillow.)

Yesterday I started sewing the blocks into a quilt.

I have all the joining strips cut to size and I'm ready to get this quilt finished.

But this week we have sunshine, 

so sewing time is limited to early in the day.

I tried to get a picture of how much scraps I used.

Miss Shirley loves attention and insisted on being in the bin.

She wins!

I win!

Not only is my string collection reduced,

I used up quite a bit of not my fabric fabrics for the backings

and my box of small batting scraps is greatly reduced.

Thank you so much Sarah for confessing you problem and 

encouraging me to confess mine and do something about it.

I'm going to finish my blocks and finish my quilt.

Today Sarah shares how she did and

 is having a link up party for others working on the scrap problem. 

Read all about it here at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Scrap Addict Wednesday

.

I do have a scrap problem!

And a phone book problem!

Not really.

I don't see these as problems.

I see them as projects.

I've lost my paper that had my 3" block count on it.

I turned it into a block and didn't realize it until I took the paper off.

I decided to stop counting.

I'm well over my goal of 155 for the month.

I'm pretty much sticking to my sew every day.

Yesterday was the first day I didn't sew strings.

I sat on the couch nursing my sore hip and hand stitched.

(Tripped over the dog, had to catch myself, tweaked my hip instead of falling.)

(This morning I'm fine.)

Miss Shirley also needed quite a bit of attention.

Today's post at Confessions of a Scrap Addict is full of scrappy inspiration.

Oh boy, I think I see a squirrel!

Danger, danger, danger.

I will stay focused on my strings. 

I will stay focused on my strings.

I will stay focused on my strings.

SQUIRREL........

Scrap Addict Wednesday on Thursday

Wednesday is my day to spend in town, first with my Binding Friends sewing group, then errands and maybe groceries.  But my whole day was messed up. No big deal....

I continue to work on at least 5 string blocks a day.  Today while working on them all I could think of was what a mess!  But I soldiered on and made my blocks, trimmed and de-papered them and cleaned up my mess.

My little box is getting full. I think I am at 120 now. Should I start making a plan for them? No, I know one day the light bulb will come on and I will be ready to get working!  Later today, I plan to make a few more of the larger quilt as you go blocks. It's been a couple days since I did any more of those. Good news is, my string box looks like it might be a bit emptier. Yesterday it looked like it exploded.

Sarah at Confessions of a Scrap Addict wrote a great blog post yesterday with several scrap cutting options. Of course you know I am a Bonnie junkie so I try to follow her scrap users system.

Will I ever have my system perfected? Probably not but I'm working on it. One scrap at a time.

Design Wall Monday

I've had the itch to make a new bag. I love this City Tote by RLR Creations.  I'm quite sure the recipient will love it too.  It was a pretty straight forward sewing project. I did had to muscle the turning of the bag through the lining hole but that's normal for bags that are made with lots of interfacing and foam or fleece inside.

Wonder Clips are fabulous! No more pin pokes!! Easy to clip on and off. I often use binder clips but on something like this, I want my cute little red clips.

I'm still working everyday on my scrap problem (check out Sarah's inspiring posts). I added to my string block collection. On Wednesday I had 65, and think now I am at 85 on the little ones and 14 or 16 on the larger ones and not much of a dent in my string bin. I have all of the backs cut for the 9" blocks, just need to figure out what I'll use for the sashing and binding. That won't be too hard, especially since they don't have to match. I'm kind of excited to start sewing these blocks together.

Head over to Patchwork Times and see what exciting things are happening around Blogland.

Scrap Addict Wednesday

When our Granddaughter Taylor was little, her favorite movie to watch with Poppy was Monsters, Inc. They had a ritual, get ready, hide under the quilt, get ready, wait for it, SCREAM!!! 

Mike Wazowski, the one eyed green guy, said I've got my eye on you.  Since then, that has been our saying. And because I can't wink, everyone does the Gramma wink (cover one eye) and says I've got my eye on you! So when I found this string in the box, I had a giggle fest! Oh the things we remember at the funnest times!

I've been having a blast with my string blocks. It's so easy to make more than the 5 a day I had planned to to. Since I have no other projects ready to work on, I'm just making strings blocks right now. My goal for 155 blocks for the month is quite reachable.

Eight days into the month, (7 days making string blocks) I have 65 blocks sewn, trimmed and de-papered! Go me!!!

Since 3" blocks use up so little fabric, I also have 9" quilt as you go blocks stacking up. I finished #10 yesterday.  Less not my favorite fabrics and fewer batting scraps. It will take more than one string quilt to tame those batting scraps!

While working in the string bin, I am finding larger than strings. I have 3 chunks that will be turned into backing squares and several pieces to run through the Go cutter for tumblers. Today I am babysitting so it will be a good day to run the Go cutter with a 4 year old as my helper. She loves fabric so it will hold her attention for a few minutes.

I am still hoping to have my string bin empty by the end of the month. Am I a dreamer? Probably but that is my plan. It was fun to read Sarah's post this morning. I love being inspired by other quilters. I also love that I am not alone in my scrap addiction. It's still hard to toss out those itty bitty pieces but I don't see myself ever making another quilt with such tiny bits. I keep telling myself it's good to let go.

Design Wall Monday

What a week!

There seems to be a lot going on in my world. 

Nothing serious, just busy, busy.

After reading about Sarah's Scrap Problem, 

I am making time to sew.

I want to sew every day this month.

I'm making 5 (or so) string block a day to try to decrease the amount of strings in my bin.

I wrote about my scrap problem here

.

Thursday morning, I had an epiphany,

Only making 3" string blocks will take forever to reduce the strings in the bin.

And then I had a huge brain storm! 

I will make larger quilt as you go blocks in addition to the 3" blocks.

10" squares of no longer my favorite fabric were cut for backing.

The batting scrap box came out and scraps of batting were layed out on a backing square.

Starting with black center strips,

9" blocks are being made.

Look at all the stuff that is being used up!

It's a stormy, rainy day here today,

hubby will work out in his shop

(he is newly retired, sort of)

and I will sew!!! 

It's a great day for string blocks.

 

After  much searching on my blog, 

I didn't find the picture of my last finished quilt as you go string quilt.

July 2014

I'm glad a had a picture of it on my computer!

This quilt lives in hubby's pickup.

The new one will live in my car.

You never know when you will need a quilt!

See what others are working on at Patchwork Times. 

I May Have A Scrap Problem...

Confessions Of A Scrap Addict wrote a very intriguing blog post this morning.

She was talking directly to me!

How did she know that I have a serious, overwhelming problem.

I am out of control. 

I cannot toss a scrap.

I want to blame someone but I am the one to blame.

No one else.

insert sad face here

(I'm hoping I can figure out how to put her badge over on my side bar.

This stuff is a challenge for me.)

This is the top of my string big.

This is the side view of my string bin.

One of them.

another sad face inserted here

This is my table top string bin.

My goal is to empty it.

Use each string until it is gone.

Then grab the next and the next.

After reading Sarah's post, I decided I needed a plan.

In September for National Sewing Month,

I sewed every day.

September 25, 2015 was the last day I made a string block.

Until today.

I made 5 early this morning.

I will make 5 later on today.

( I don't want to fall behind on March 2nd.)

I plan to make 5 a day, every day in March.

If I do that,

 I will add 155 3" string blocks to my collection.

What will I do with them?

Oh no worries about that.

These make awesome borders for string quilts,

fun quilts like Bonnie's Love Shack that I will make someday.

But not today.

I have to empty that string bin down some first!

So I am going to do like Sarah and 

challenge myself every month to get my scraps under control.

I have a good plan for March,

I'll have a good plan for April.

I'll have a good plan for......

you get the idea.

Wish me luck, I'm headed into the abyss.