Sunday, February 13, 2022

Kaffe Fassett prints - UFO busting 2022

I decided to pull this out of the UFO closet. It was tucked away for a little over a year.  I started sewing it during evening babysitting for my daughter and then packed it up, brought it home and didn't pull it back out.





I have quite a few blocks to sew still and I haven't decided on the layout. I don't want it really uniform.  I'm favouring the third layout picture. So we will see how it goes.  Check back here for progress.....in say a week?  I'm severely sleep deprived. Circadian rhythm is out of whack.   I want to sew tonight but don't know if I have the juice.  But these blocks are so fun and colourful I know I will be drawn back to them soon enough.

Until next time,

Mavis

Monday, February 7, 2022

Scrappy nine patch blocks

As I was digging for 1 1/2" squares for my Plaidish quilt in the previous post, I found a lovely inventory of nine patches in various stages of construction.  Some were leftover from my Tumalo Trail Quilt which I just realized I never put on my blog lists. That might be because I haven't quilted it yet.  Oh my, that just sunk in.  It's been over a year awaiting its turn.  Best get on that!



Some were leftover from another quilt called Chippewa Nine Patch that I finished in 2017.

Chippewa Nine Patch.

I've been a lover of small pieces as far back as I can remember.  These are all constructed from 1 1/2" strips and/or 1 1/2" squares.

So I have an assortment of nine patches, about 43 so far, and I am entertaining some ideas to make them into blocks.


I'm going to play with them on the design wall and see what if anything comes to me.  If nothing else, they have been pressed and counted for a someday quilt that needs 3 1/2" nine patches.  But I'm really hoping I come up with something for them now.

Check back for status update!

Mavis



Sunday, February 6, 2022

Binge Quilting (AKA how I deal with an attitude I'd rather not be having)

I'm betting that title caught your attention. 

I've heard of people who 'angry clean' their houses, or cook or bake to deal with their frustration.  Me?  I find that sewing soothes me like not much else can. And last night I "angry sewed" into the wee hours.  

Here's the thing...I know God wants our hearts and He wants us to walk in forgiveness.  If after praying  I'm having a difficult time letting something go I find that keeping my hands busy doing mindless tasks helps me push through to the point of working it out.  It's just the way I'm wired...fidgety-like!  If I'm left to sit quietly and process something I short circuit. I mean really I do.  As soon as I can push fabric through the sewing machine my heart and mind are free to pray and receive peace and process problems.  This is not the time to tackle those complex quilt patterns but it's a perfect time for easy scrappy quilts.

So ANYWAY!!.....yesterday I saw a quilt posted on one of my quilting Facebook groups.  For some reason, I globbed onto it.  


1.    It was scrappy 

2.    It was not huge

3.    I loved it!

Pretty right?  When I saw the pattern was a free download I downloaded it and saw that it would make a great dent in my bin of 5" charm squares.  It is called "Plaidish" and can be found on the  Kitchen Table Quilting website:  Free Pattern Here

I proceeded to sort into values (dark, medium, and light). (scrap quilters' secret weapon is value!)  I pulled out some 1 1/2" strips from my bins and subcut some of those.  Now I was ready to sew.   So I put on my Sabbath worship playlist on Youtube and just started sewing fabrics together. And the tension I was feeling slowly dissipated as I took in the beauty of the colour and texture.  And the truth of God's Word in song definitely lifted my spirits and turned my heart heavenward.


I shared my progress with a friend on the same Facebook group last night and we had a brief discussion about matchy matchy perfectionist tendencies vs scrappy abandon.  I encouraged my friend to be  not control the process. I know it's hard for us perfectionist types. I was liberated from matchy matchy in 2010 when I did my first Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt (Double Delight).  Here are some blog posts about my liberation process:  Double Delight mystery quilt.  I've been a scrappy quilt lover ever since. 

So let's show you some progress!

The first block

Three different variations.  Tested all three! Dark, medium and light blocks. I subsequently lightened the light blocks.

And slowly it grew and the piles of charms went down.

Production line

Getting it done.

I can see the secondary design starting to emerge.

So that's where I left off last night (or should I say early this morning).   All the blocks were done. Today, I sewed them into rows and decided that I would sneak it in for quilting before I start back to customer quilts tomorrow. 

Ta da! Pressed and ready for quilting.

Loaded and ready for quilting.  Now to choose pantograph.

I chose 'Feathered Hearts' for curves and movement.





Well, that was fun! And now I'm on a roll in the scrap bins.  It's such a nice diversion from the not so fun stuff of life.

I've got another idea brewing.  So stay tuned and see what happens on the design wall.

Until next time!

Mavis