Rainy Fourth of July

Our Bee group is exchanging these five-inch blocks every month. Instead of making a Queen sized quilt (which requires 410 blocks) I decided that I would make two smaller quilts that could be used on the antique beds in my guest bedroom. This is the first one which got borders today.

Here is a close-up of the border fabric. (Thanks Gail for helping me pick it out.)

(Oops - the border is kind of blurry. Those little black spots are tiny little fern branches.)

Scarf finished

While waiting for the plumber to arrive, I finished up this winter scarf. The yarn is bulky and very silky soft - Deborah Norville's Serenity Chunky Weight. I used a simple knit three, purl three pattern. Don't know if I will keep it for myself, or put it on the mitten tree at church, or give it as a gift. It will keep someone's neck nice and warm this coming winter.

(Why am I waiting for the plumber? Ah yes, the outside spigot needs replacing. There goes my quilting budget for the next two months!)

Stars & Stripes

Finished this little counted cross-stitch piece today.

Stars & Stripes, by Little House Needleworks

on Summer Khaki Lugana, 28 count

Tub of Fabric

A year ago or so, my friend Christine gave me a tub of fabric she no longer wanted. She had, at one time, thought she would try quilting as a hobby, but it never happened and she decided to give her collected fabric to me.

Right away I decided that I would eventually try to make a quilt for her using some of the fabrics. Since there was a wide variety of patterns and colors, I decided to make a crazy nine-patch and used her preferred color of purple as the sashing and borders. The back of the quilt, not pictured, was pieced using the leftover scraps.

In the tub, at the bottom, I found some Christmas fabrics which I turned into two pillow cases and.....

a table runner with six napkins.

Finally, I used the last of the fabrics (some colorful fat quarters) to make a large tote bag.

At last, it was nearing Christine's birthday, and I could surprise her with her tub of fabric returned to her in a different form. Happy Birthday Christine!

Organized

Remember that pile of scraps from last Monday that I decided to organize?

Done! They are in separate bins by color and/or category. Now I need to make labels and find shelf space for all these containers.

Then I probably should get to work and actually sew.

Organizing Again

On Monday I cleaned off my cutting table so that I could start on a new quest to organize my scraps.

Onto the table I dumped two huge containers of all my scraps. Although I have periodically grabbed a handful of scraps and cut them into squares or strips, it seemed like I would never, ever reach the bottom of the scrap bags. I needed a better way to get this mess organized. I decided the best way was to sort by color and/or theme. My categories started - blue, green, gold, red, purple, pink, sewing theme, kiddy stuff, flowers, beiges, browns, patriotic, Halloween, Christmas, mutlti-color prints, etc. I separated and ironed.

Then I went to the Dollar Store and purchased these baskets.

Here are some of the sorted fabrics. During the week I probably spent about six hours sorting and ironing. It is now Friday and I still have a long way to go to complete this project.

In the meantime, Lindsay passed our Round Robin project on to me. She did the straight borders and the purple half-square triangles. It looks great! Now it is my turn and the round is supposed to be squares. I need time to think......

Today I finished this little counted cross-stitch piece which when framed will go to my Ladybug-loving cousin.

Ladybug, Ladybug, by Little House Needleworks, on 28ct Jobelan, using DMC floss.

New Bag

It was fun to make this new bag today. The main fabric was purchased at a quilt show a number of years ago and I have absolutely no idea where I got the border print. The handles were purchased at JoAnns. This bag is called The Smart Handbag, pattern #601 by Eliza Jane Smart. It can be made with interchangeable covers, but I chose to eliminate that part. According to the pattern package there is a website www.thesmarthandbag.com. It was fairly easy to make. The most difficult part for me was picking out the inside pocket fabrics. There are six pockets and I made them red and orange so they are easy to see.