As the Needle Sews

 Hi quilting friends!

I thought my quilt blogging days might be over as I lost my blogging mojo somewhere during the second half of 2022.  I decided to take a break from blogging and see if I was well and truly finished with the medium.  It's only been in the last few days I've thought about giving the blog a visit.

I don't know how my blogging efforts will carry out in 2023, but I'm going to make a start and see what happens.

Even though I lost my blogging mojo, I didn't lose any quilting mojo!  Here are a few finished projects from 2022.

 

I finished this mini quilt in June, 2022 with plans to share it for Wendy's  (The Constant Quilter) monthly mini challenge.  I never got around to posting it, as I got called away to help my mom move to an independent living facility.  The selvedge basket blocks were made in 2016 for a blog hop celebrating Diane Knott's first book, Scrap Quilt Secrets.  It doesn't show up in the pictures, but I hand quilted some flowers inside the basket handle, then machine quilted the basket outline.  Now I have the perfect Easter wall hanging!
 

Yay!  I finally finished Blackbird Designs' Gathered Harvest quilt!  Well, it's still waiting for binding, sleeve, and label, but I should have that finished by the end of January.

Undercover in Chicago V - a mystery quilt by Debbie Caffrey.  My local quilt guild does a mystery quilt every year.  As a new member, this was my first year to participate.  The goal is to finish the quilt and share it at our annual Christmas meeting in December.  I'm happy to say I met the goal!  I still need to add a label, so I'll share more pictures when that's done.

Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Chain.  The blocks were made as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project and finally assembled late last summer.  The finished quilt has already been gifted (and I forgot to take more pictures!).

Another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project - Burgoyne Surrounded - which got started in 2017.  The picture only shows the block arrangement prior to assembly, but they got assembled and are awaiting their turn to be quilted.

 Mardi Gras Memories, pattern by Diane Knott.  My regional quilt guild - Gulf States Quilting Association - will be holding their quarterly meeting this month in New Orleans.  My local guild (Cotton Pickin' Quilters 😁) is co-hosting the meeting, and our theme is Mardi Gras (Mardi Gras will be celebrated February 21 this year).  The call went out for Mardi Gras-themed quilts to decorate the meeting venue, so of course I had to contribute.  Fortunately, I had started the quilt much earlier in the year, so it wasn't a huge hurdle to finish. 

OK, that's enough for now!  I still have some holiday projects to talk about, and then there's that pesky planning for 2023 quilts.  Maybe the blogging mojo is returning?

 

Scrap-Busting Block Bonanza

I've been digging through the blue chunks, strips and scraps this month to fulfill the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for July: dark blue.  

I have an abundance of blue fabrics of all types and sizes; revisiting them this month was enough to create a desire to do some serious scrap-busting.  I've played with several block patterns, looking for good candidates to use up lots of scrappy chunks and bits.  I haven't completely decided on a plan of action (I find it hard to stay focused on anything for long these days), but I've had fun playing!

One block I played with is called Wishing Ring in my resource book (501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins).  I started with the large size, trying to use up bigger scraps of fabric; it finishes at 10 inches.  Maybe it was the fabric choice, but I didn't love the 10 inch block, so I tried the smaller size (finishes at 7.5 inches).  I'm putting this idea on the back burner for now, but will probably return to it at some point.

I started making these blocks as a prototype for a much larger version of the block I was mentally visualizing.  I pulled some 2 inch strips to cut for the HSTs and 1.5 inch strips for the center parts.  After making a couple of these, it occurred to me they looked like a Bonnie Hunter pattern.  Turns out I was making Little Monkey blocks.  

I may keep making these as an RSC project, but I really want to try making a larger version, maybe something in the 10 - 12 inch finished size.

Speaking of Bonnie Hunter, I also made a few Carolina Chain blocks with dark blue scraps.  This block has been a leader-ender project for me for the past year or so.  I have more than enough blocks to make a quilt, but I don't have a complete set of rainbow colors yet, so I'll keep making these a little longer.

Now here I may have found something that will keep me occupied for a little while!  I found a big chunk of scrap fabric with blue and white seaside scenes.  They're the perfect size for the center of an Irish Chain alternate block.  There's enough fabric to fussy-cut 20 or more of the vignettes, and I have some other fabrics I can use to fake it if I need to.  The Irish Chain blocks go together quickly using strip piecing, and I have lots of light and dark fabric combinations to use up.  This could be the Project of the Week!

For more scrappy quilt inspiration, check out the Rainbow Scrap Challenge weekly link-up.

Fabric Therapy When We Really Need It!

It's been a crazy week, for sure! 

I've been relying on sewing, reading, and binge-watching shows from streaming services to keep down the stress levels.  

One of my goals this year is to make lots of quilt-oriented Christmas gifts.  To that end, I pulled out a well-aged jelly roll (Flurry by Kate Spain) and looked for some inspiration.

I'm not a fan of jelly roll pre-cuts - I think they're too limiting - but I really liked this fabric line, and the jelly roll was ON SALE!  Once I settled on a pattern recipe (this type of pattern is all over the internet), it didn't take long to sub-cut the fabric strips and assemble all the parts.  The border fabric also came from the stash - a Moda Grunge called Sugar Cookie.

I love the crisp, colorful look of the fabrics.  They're festive, but don't scream "Christmas".  Not sure who the lucky recipient will be, but I've made a start on my goal.

I've been making Carolina Chain blocks as a leader-ender project this year.  The Flurry quilt needed lots of leader-enders, so...

I chopped up lots of teal and aqua fabrics, as that's the theme for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This is just a few of the RSC blocks; I think I'm actually going to end up with enough blocks for two quilts by the end of the year.

I've been working on hand-stitching the binding on this quilt (English Garden by Kaye England).  I decided to get 'er finished this week and dialed up Season 3 of The Crown (Netflix) to keep me entertained while I stitched.  I finished the binding and hanger, just need to appliqué the label and the quilt will be finished.  Pictures soon.

One of my favorite forms of escapist reading is mystery/detective stories.  I think it comes from my childhood love for Nancy Drew.  I've read many different authors over the years and I love finding a new-to-me author with a series of mysteries that capture my imagination.  My latest find is the Tess Monaghan series by Laura Lippman.  Tess is a private investigator in Baltimore, Maryland and I think I enjoy the descriptions of Baltimore (a city much like New Orleans) as much as the detective adventures!

Stay safe out there, everyone! 

A Few Orange Scraps and a Ring of Stars

It's a new month and a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  

This month's challenge is to use up orange scraps.  

So far this year, I'm only piecing one RSC project - Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Chain quilt.  Here are a few blocks I've assembled from orange scraps.

I'm making the blocks leader-ender style, so it's handy to have a stack of pre-cut block parts at the ready.

And I've been putting those leader-enders to good use as I've assembled the Ring of Stars blocks started during the 2019 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I still have one more row to stitch together, but the quilt top is essentially finished.

I really enjoyed making these blocks in rainbow colors, but I'm not sure the visual impact of the quilt is the same as when the blocks are all made from the same color family.  I think the secondary circular design gets a little lost with all the color changes.  Maybe I'll make another version using all one color!

Find more rainbow scrappiness at the weekly RSC link-up.

Scrap Life

Angela of Soscrappy has been hosting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for quite a few years now.  The challenge behind the project is to use up fabric scraps from prior quilt-making efforts.  Despite several years of RSC participation, my collection of scraps has not diminished.  Honestly, that's OK with me, as I don't participate to use UP scraps, but because scrappy quilts are my favorite type of quilt!  

In fact, this month, I decided some new "scraps" were needed, so I pulled lots of fabric bits (which were clogging up the fabric storage drawers) in the RSC theme for January:  light and bright greens.  I sliced everything into standard scrappy sizes:  3.5 inches, 2.5 inches, 2 inches, and 1.5 inches.  I keep all my scrappy strips in plastic bins, ready to be pulled for future scrappy projects.

While I was digging through the bins, I noticed my 1.5 inch strip bin was getting really full.  

That inspired me to start making new blocks for my Lego quilt.  I put this project aside two years ago because I thought my scraps weren't providing enough variety.  

Maybe the scraps of 2020 will be the boost needed to finish this quilt!  I'll keep slicing up new 1.5 inch strips in each monthly RSC color and working them into the Lego quilt blocks.

I started making Carolina Chain blocks last year as a leader-ender project. 

As I was cutting green strips, I sub-cut pieces for some green blocks.  I'll continue working on these blocks in 2020, too.

These Sugar Bowl blocks have been an ongoing RSC project.  My plan was to set the blocks in groups of four, with narrow sashing and a cornerstone in the center of each block.  I assembled a couple blocks in this manner, only to realize the cornerstone drew the eye and the blocks got completely lost.  Out came the seam ripper!

Instead, I opted for a traditional, on-point setting with alternate plain blocks.  I found the perfect fabric for the plain blocks in my stash - and I had enough of it for the entire quilt!

It's a fun fabric, and I'm so happy I found a great use for it!  Now comes the fun of stitching all those pieces together.  

If you love the Scrap Life, be sure to check out the RSC weekly link-up!

Missing in Action

As usual, the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s were a blogging break for me.  I don’t necessarily plan it that way, but time and desire to blog seem to disappear during that time frame.  Lucky for me, my quilting mojo didn’t disappear, so I have a few things to report on before we turn the page to a new year.

Our oldest son (Andrew) moved to Denver, Colorado at the beginning of September.  When he left, he only took the stuff he could fit in his car, and left his remaining belongings and dog with us until he could retrieve them later in the year.  He flew home for Thanksgiving, and by Saturday morning we had packed his stuff into Dear Husband’s pick-up truck and headed for Denver (dog included).

I won’t bore you will all of our adventures, but I will say I look forward to flying to Denver next time around!  We came back to New Orleans using a different route in an attempt to avoid some bad traffic congestion along the Texas/New Mexico route.  All told, we traveled 2700 miles and passed through seven states!

Just as we returned, our youngest son (David) flew in from Dallas.  It just so happened to be the perfect time to celebrate David and Dear Husband's December birthdays.  David is also a huge fan of his alma mater's football team - LSU - so his Dallas friends surprised him with an LSU football-themed birthday cake. 

Dear Husband and Bailey

Right before Christmas, our dog Bailey, a black lab mix, succumbed to a rapidly spreading form of cancer.  Bailey came to us as a puppy twelve years ago.  She was left on our front door-step in a basket with pink toys and a pink blanket.  Since she arrived just before my husband’s birthday, he considered her the Best Birthday Present Ever, and they were bonded at the hip.  The house feels pretty empty now, since Andrew’s dog is gone, too.  Our sweetheart yellow lab, McKenzie, doesn’t quite know what to do with herself.

In between all that, I managed to do some stitching here and there.

Project Numero Uno was to finish the black and gold Endless Chain quilt I started for Andrew.  I completed the piecing before Thanksgiving, and Diane Knott (Butterfly Threads Quilting) was able to long-arm quilt it for me while I was adventuring out west.  I’ve been trying to get the binding stitched and label attached so I can send it to Andrew as soon as possible.

I also made some blocks for Barb Vedder’s Oh My Stars swap.  Oops!  I didn’t take any pictures before I sent the finished blocks to Barb.  I did the Modern swap this time, and I’m looking forward to playing with my blocks later in January!

Thinking toward 2020, I knew there were a couple of Rainbow Scrap projects that needed some attention.  I made a batch of yellow Ring of Stars blocks, but I still need red blocks before I can assemble my RSC efforts on this quilt.

I also cut up lots of scraps for Carolina Chain leader-ender blocks.  Some Christmas fabric scraps made it into the latest batch of blocks.

There’s more to share, but I’ll stop here for now.  I’m not in much of a mind to do a retrospective of the quilts of 2019, but I have been giving a lot of thought to what stitching projects will be under the needle in 2020.  Let’s hope it’s a great year for quilting!

A Few More Purple Scraps

September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was purple.  After finishing my planned purple scrap blocks, I didn't have a lot of scraps to stitch up blocks for the Parts Department.  Usually, having a month-long focus on a color pushes me to pull bits and pieces from the fabric stash and slice them up into useful sized strips and squares for the scrap bins.  That didn't happen with purple, because I got focused on some other projects.

I did have some two inch squares and strips to turn into 4-patch blocks and Carolina Chain blocks.

I also kept up with making Tiny Tuesday blocks, although I veered off course for two of my blocks.   The top left block is Crow's Foot and the top right block is London Roads - both from Judy Hopkins' 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks.  

The bottom two blocks were provided via Angela's Tiny Tuesday blocks:  Card Trick and Bright Hopes.  

The theme for October scraps is to use dark fabrics like black and brown.  That fits in nicely with one of my non-RSC projects: a black and gold Endless Chain quilt.

My oldest son recently moved to Denver, Colorado.  He requested a black and gold quilt to remind him of home (black and gold being the colors of the New Orleans Saints football team).  This will be a planned scrappy quilt, so I spent some time experimenting with different fabric combinations to see what would work.  I knew my son would not be a huge fan of metallic fabrics, so I stuck with several variations of gold-colored fabric instead.  It reads more like brown in the photograph, but it looks more gold in person.  Instead of cotton batting, I'm planning to use wool - I figure he'll need the warmth!

For more inspiration on using black and brown scraps, be sure to visit the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link up.

Dog Days of Summer, Chapter 2019

The Dog Days of Summer usually end in late August, but my dog days continue a little longer.

These four fur-children are my summer companions.  The black lab mix and light yellow lab mix (foreground) are my dogs, Bailey and McKenzie.  The dog with black spots is my son Andrew's dog, Moose.  The darker yellow lab is my son David's dog, Jozy.  Moose and Andrew have been living with us for the past two years while Andrew went back to school.  Jozy visits for about six weeks every summer while David is in California for work.  I call my house Doggy Day Care!

Tomorrow I get to drive to Natchitoches, Louisiana to meet up with David and hand over his dog.  Natchitoches (pronounced "Nack-a-tish") is about half-way between New Orleans and Dallas, where David and Jozy usually live.

In another week, Andrew will be taking off for Denver, Colorado and a new career since graduating from school (second time's the charm).  The plan is to leave Moose with us for a little while until he gets settled.  Then I guess another dog-delivery trip will be in order!

In spite of all the four-legged assistants, I did manage to do some Rainbow Scrap Challenge stitching this month.

For example, some Tiny Tuesday blocks with light blue or bright blue scraps.

Random 4-patch blocks that go to the Parts Department.

These Carolina Chain blocks look a bit chaotic, but they should be fine when all the scrappy colors are done and put together.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week.  Thinking of friends and family in Florida as Hurricane Dorian churns offshore, waiting for the forces of Mother Nature to figure out where the storm will land.

Scrappy Times

I never get tired of making scrappy quilts!  I added a new project to my Rainbow Scrap Challenge list last month in an effort to use up more of the strips filling my 2 inch scrap bin.

Carolina Chain is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.  It's a variation on a 9-patch block which results in light and dark chains criss-crossing the quilt.  This makes a great leader-ender project, as the cutting and piecing are quick and easy.  I'll keep making these for the next year or so until there are enough for a quilt.  Hopefully, they will put a dent in the 2 inch strip bin!

I also paired up some random 2 inch scraps into 4-patch blocks.  These go into the Parts Department and will eventually become part of another scrappy quilt.

Tiny Tuesday blocks are great for using up small scraps.  I'm glad I tried my hand at intense flip triangles for Sally's pink piglet.  I chose the pink and brown fabric for the piggy body as it reminded me of chocolate-covered bacon!

No pink scraps were harmed for another Burgoyne Surrounded block.  I only need three more blocks for the BS quilt, so I'm looking through scrappy chunks of multi-colored prints on white backgrounds for block inspiration.  I love these little birds, so decided to give them their own block.

Ditto for this multi-colored fish print.   It is now part of the Burgoyne scrappiness.  Only one block left to make, and I'm having trouble deciding on colors and fabrics.  It probably won't be this month's RSC color, light blue, but who knows where inspiration will lead?!

More scrappy goodies to be seen at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up!