Making A Lather

I am home again from surgery. I had a spinal fusion from the lumbar 2 - Lumbar 5. I think I am getting better every day. There have been a few steps back as well, but forward is the best. My mind still thinks I am normal. But, My body laughs. I sure appreciate all the good wishes and prayers. I took a picture of my new shelves just before I had to stop working on it, as a place holder in time. And to keep a positive thought. I feel very blessed.


I also really worked hard to get this quilt to the hand binding stage for after surgery. We are still at the crossed eye stage of pain management. We can only watch those shows that I don't want to remember.



I am linking to:

I have raided the green scrap drawer for the fabrics I will need for the turtle quilt. I have anything less than a 1/2 yard in scrap drawers. I hope to cut it out at Friday group today. I don't like to cut in a group, but I am not getting it done here at home. I gravitate to sewing On ringo lake - just one more block here at home.


I am still plugging along on the mystery quilt


I have a mountain of mess I am sorting. Sew one block, clean a minute, sew another block, repeat.


But, the best news of all, is I found my bag of 150 glitter blocks that had gone missing. I was seriously worried they were gone for good. I had taken them to my Friday group to help others make their own glitter blocks. I spent the time sewing twosies. Oh! I am so happy, I could do the dance of joy!

Hubby made an early Christmas present, and I am soooo excited. I dread ironing big quilts on a regular ironing board...
 He cut the plywood 22 x 62
We used 4 layers of batting and an old wool blanket. It works like a dream.I tried it on my finished top of En Provence. What I noticed is, that as I sprayed water on it, I was able to iron it dry better. I won't be able to quilt this for this month's one monthly goal as I have 5 customer quilts to do first, and they are for Christmas. I am so grateful they are not waiting until the last minute. So mine will have to wait.


On my list for next year's rainbow scrap challenge is Almost Amish by Jo and Kelli Kramer ( Jo's Country junction) I have it all cut and ready to go. It fits in the brown month.




I am linking to
 SewCan She

I set my timer for 15 minutes, put my 2 inch strip cutter on the accuquilt studio, and started cutting through the bucket of 2 inch strips. When I had sorted a basket of scraps earlier, I had separated them according to what strip size I thought I could get out of each scrap. It was time to tackle the 2 inch bucket.



I use this size the most often and always need more in my strip drawer. so I am overly generous when dividing the scraps in favor of the 2 inch bucket.


I have an assortment of strips and leftovers.


These were the pieces left after the first pass that I wanted to send onto the 1 1/2 inch bucket.




These are the pieces I threw away





The bin is getting full, I will need to sort them by color and put them into a bigger drawer. This drawer is just one I keep by the cutting table for easy drop in when I am cutting. I wait until the drawer is full before sorting them and putting them away.

I am linking to:
needle and thread thursdays
oh scrap
I may have a scrap problem 

Does our templates look like this? ack..

Many of these templates are still in their original packaging. Why am I not using them?
I bought a new template at the quilt show
I still haven't used it. I have my favorite templates, and that is all I think about when it is time to cut.

While talking with my daughter, I added the side pieces to the bargain basement blocks. And now I have a puzzle. the cutting directions called for 3 x 9 1/2 inch rectangles to complete the block. The actual directions say to add the 3 1/2 x 9 1/2 inch rectangle to the block. I cut 3 inch hmmmm. It's measuring time!


I uncovered a baggie of twosies of red and white 4 patches. The bag had 100 written  on it. I didn't recount, but I did sew them together. I was going to do it leader/ender style, but they were so cute and addictive, I just kept sewing and sewing... tee hee they are so cute. I don't remember why they were left undone, or what they were meant to be. They are made from 1 1/2 inch strips and are 2 1/2.


another clean up job, is the leftover tumblers. from this quilt -what to do... I thought I could make an orphan block with them or, maybe, a border.  In the back of my mind, I felt that my piecing skills were not the best on the tumbler quilt, so I want to prove myself, too. But, like chips and salsa,  it never comes out even. I have to cut more light tumblers, so I am not really "getting rid" of the tumblers. sigh...
I used 2 1/2 inch tumblers and I tried a zig zag setting. This setting is much easier to be accurate. And it used a ton of little scraps.
I am linking to:
needle and thread thursdays
oh scrap
I may have a scrap problem 

I bought 4 scrap bags at the guild silent auction. I don't know how to count that so I won't :p.
 I have been cutting scraps down into useable sizes. I have emptied 3 grocery bags. My drawers are filling up, but the scraps are reproducing at an alarming rate. And I bought some more, because I love them ...love them. There is something amazing about a little scrap of fabric, that seems almost free. So many colors and prints that I would never be able to purchase any other way. I love them. And I love cutting them for a reasonable amount of time. What I don't like, is that my accuquilt was so messy and overgrown with scrap weeds, that I didn't want to use it. So I hand cut strips and pieces.

That is just silly, so a clean up is in order.

I am only showing the showable portion of the mess haha. It was so bad on the other side, that I couldn't roll the tray to that side without really pushing it into an avalanche of throw off.


I have a day for string piecing, and a day for spinning wool, I need a day for die cutting and maintenance.

I have set up boxes and baskets for pieces that I want to cut into certain sizes. So, for an example, when I am cutting something I need for 2 1/2 inch strip I can clean out that bucket. The trays are big and wieldy so I am not going to switch them out for just a few strips. But I need to regularly cut through the buckets and boxes before they are overwhelming.



clean up is complete! now I don't want to make a mess by cutting anything. sigh...

 this is what I throw away after cutting -nothing very big or useful So a trash can nearby is essential and a pair of scissors.


Here is the beginning of a new batch of strings and crumbs


My categories are 2 1/2, 2, 1 1/2 inch, chunks for triangles, tumblers, small blocks. and definite triangles or hour glass blocks, and strings/crumbs
I have the 3 1/2 inch strip die but I prefer to cut that size as needed.
I love Bonnie Hunter's scrap user system
and Jo of Jo's country junction uses it too

I plan on hand stitching a binding today as we enjoy Father's day.......

Stash report

Fabric Used this Week 1 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 221 3/4 yards

Fabric Added this Week:0  yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 174 3/4 yards

Net Fabric for 2017: 48 yards more used than added

I am linking to:

My husband's hand surgery went well. I felt a huge surge of relief after talking to the doctor. I hadn't realized I was that concerned. I have definitely been off track.
Tonight, I have been asked to teach a lotion making class at Church, I will share that later.
I have been trying to rediscover my cutting table
Yes it is that bad... It is a result of trying to organize which is another word for "sort the stuff into piles then move it until it is all jumbled up and then sort it into piles and then move it and so on and on.."
But this is so much better and a thing of beauty..
 4th Shelf on the right is fabric I have hand dyed. I had forgotten I even had it. I should actually use it, but now that it has a place in my museum, it will be safe.

I have received my hexies from my swap partner in Australia. I asked for the stepping stones to go around the blocks I already have, so the cream ones are a new addition.
I have all the blocks for my Off Track quilt made and I am adding sashings.



I am linking to:
 Needle thread and Yarn
Needle and thread Thursday

Time for Jo's Country Junction Bonnie Hunter UFO challenge. I have gotten a few ready for quilting, but there are many more. So, It was time to check the project shelf and boxes. This is in a storage room with a shelf set dedicated to my quilting. There is also a shelf dedicated to my wool for rug hooking. But that is even more embarrassing.


I pulled out one of my boxes and found three Bonnie quilt starts, and the oldest one I was looking to find.  Here is Boxy stars scrappy with all the blocks done. I need to sash and assemble.


But this is the oldest Bonnie Hunter, I don't have finished. It was a mystery quilt in 2008.





I'm not really sure why I tend to quit at the assembly stage, but I do. Maybe it's because The surprise is over. Or maybe, I don't want to finish and say goodbye. Or maybe, there are just too many new quilts I want to to try.


I am linking to
Jo's Country Junction
Let's Bee Social
Midweek Makers
WOW
Silly mama quilts

Somebody needs a time out ...

I read a great blog post by Karen Kahle.
She is a rug hooking artist I greatly admire. And I was so glad to read this

2. Chaos ensues.
No matter how good your intentions may be, even if you start with a big table to work on you end up having about one foot of usable work space. I actually first read this on a fellow crafter’s blog, and I get it! In the heat of the moment, with fiber flying and ideas morphing, the scissors and cup of tea disappear under some gorgeous tidal wave of inspiration, and the there you have it: C H A O S. And so what do I do? I end up working on the kitchen counter, then the living room floor, etc.

I had to laugh and confess I get it too

I have been putting basket blocks together. I need to start trimming, but the messy cutting table doesn't have enough room :) so I need to take time out to clean. Where's the fun in that?









I'm linking to
fabric, thread and yarn
and oh scrap
needle and thread thursdays