UFOs Are Calling

There's nothing like that New Year = New Projects feeling!  At the start of the new year, you look forward to entering your tidy and organized sewing space, ready to roll with an exciting new quilting project.

That does not describe my 2023 Quilting New Year.

Definitely not a tidy and organized sewing space - because there are too many UFOs!

Time to tackle the boxes and bins of projects that have been languishing.

First up:  Antique Tile blocks.  I started making these in late 2021 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  After laying out the blocks in different configurations, I decided to set them on point and use sashing and cornerstones to add some distance between the colors and fabrics.  

 

My calculations told me I needed to make some additional blocks to get 5 rows of 4 blocks and 4 rows of 3 blocks (got that?).  Since my 2 inch strip bin was overflowing, it didn't take long to assemble the block components.  I found additional background fabric in my stash, so I should be good to go for the sashing and side triangles.  Can I finish up this flimsy by the end of the month?

Another Rainbow Scrap Challeng (RSC) project that got set aside:  Blackford's Beauty blocks.  I started these just to play with the block construction, but I didn't have a specific layout or finish in mind.  I love the chain effect created by the four-patch blocks, so I think I'll speed up my production of these and go for a large-ish quilt (the blocks finish at 16 inches).  The RSC color for January is blue - brights and darks - and I've already prepped two blue blocks.

And then there are the Blackford's Beauty blocks in reproduction fabric scraps.  These might languish a bit longer, mostly because my repro scrap stash is not huge.  I'm thinking this will be a smaller project - wallhanging size, for example.

Then there's this good-sized bin of purple, green, and gold/yellow scraps left over from the Mardi Gras Memories quilt.  I'd much rather use up as much of this fabric as possible than return it to the shelves.

What do do when you want to use up lots of scraps?  Pull out your AccuQuilt 5 inch tumbler die, of course!  

That's just scratching the UFO surface, but these should keep me busy for a couple of weeks!

January Minis

I've had my "Calorie-Free Chocolates" quilt on the dining room display hanger since the holidays.   Looking at those chocolate Nine Patch and Snowball blocks every day inspired me to try some mini snowballs and nine patches this month.

I had just enough chocolate fabric scraps and some chocolate-y brown fabric to make two six-inch mug rugs.  I used Barb Vedder's Nine Patch tutorial to make two sets of Nine Patch blocks.  

I even had some chocolate-dipped strawberry fabric scraps to use for the backs.  

I had designs on making at least one additional Snowball-themed project, but got distracted by other ideas!

 

For example, as I was digging through the drawers looking for French General fabrics, I came across a group of scraps I had saved in a plastic bag.  

The leftovers were from a fabric collection called "Alice's Washday Blues" by Blue Hill Fabrics.  I had used the collection to make blocks for Barbara Brackman's Grandmother's Choice BOW.  

I kept all the scraps together in hopes of using them up in another project, but forgot about them until discovering them earlier this month.  Thinking about Janet's "baggie challenge", I decided it was time to put those scraps to work!

I had a new-to-me 3.5 inch tumbler die for the Accuquilt cutter, and I decided tumbler blocks would be a great scrap-buster.  I thought the Alice scraps might be a little bland on their own, so I found a hunk of red to spice things up a little.  Since my goal was to use up as many scraps as possible, I just kept adding blocks until I ran out of tumblers.

 

A different red fabric for the binding...and I used a single binding this time.  I don't know why I never tried single binding before, but it works great, especially if you follow another of Barb's tutorials. 

A final row of tumblers on the back, two slices of backing left from a previous project, and outline quilting finish the project.

 

 I wasn't going to add a label, but inspiration struck today and I had a name: Alice's Last Washday.  I also found this sliced piece of selvedge, so I'm trying to come up with a way to incorporate it into the label.

And so goes my monthly mini tale!  Many thanks to Wendy (The Constant Quilter) for encouraging mini madness for another year!

Leaders or Enders?

I was a relative late-comer to the concept of using leader-ender projects to increase one's quilt-making output.  I never used the leader-ender practice when piecing, mostly because I never saw the need for it.  But when Bonnie Hunter promoted the idea of working on two quilts at the same time - one as the "main" quilting project, the other as a leader-ender project - I was sold!  Now I feel guilty if I do any stitching and don't use leader-enders as part of the process.

The Queen of Leader-Endering - Bonnie Hunter - has announced this year's L-E quilt along will be Tumblers.  I didn't really want to jump on the bandwagon because I have other quilty ideas in mind that will work just as well as leader-enders.  But Diane of Butterfly Threads blogged about her Tumblers AND her great Tumbler templates and I started weakening.

 

I rationalized that I already had some Tumbler pieces cut and ready to go. 

Inspired by Karen at Nana Girl Quilts, I had cut a stack of Tumbler pieces several months ago.  I had finished making memory quilts from my late father's shirt collection, but I had way too much shirt fabric left over to just toss the remainders (the fabric is mostly poly-cotton blends, so I didn't want to mix the left-overs into my regular fabric stash).  Karen inspired me to make a Tumbler quilt to use up more of the shirt fabrics; I had started cutting pieces, but hadn't progressed any farther.

 

I've done some tentative piecing of the Tumbler parts, but I'm not sure there's enough color variety in my shirt fabrics for a successful quilt.  I'm trying to decide if I want to throw in some random scraps of cotton quilting fabrics that were also used in the memory quilts.  I don't have any of the scraps cut in Tumbler shapes yet, so I guess my next step is to do some more cutting.  BTW, I'm using a Fons & Porter Wedge Template because it was the only ruler I could find at Hancock's when I first started cutting Tumbler pieces several months ago.

I'm still undecided about whether I'll use this as a leader-ender project, but I think a little more experimentation will be a good thing!