Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Strips and spam

For those of you who are working at getting UFOs cleaned out, how's it going?  Over the weekend I decided that I needed a new project in addition to pulling another UFO out to finish.  I did pull out another UFO, an old unquilted top that I sent off to be quilted, plus I have the Christmas blocks all together and basted, but not quilted. I figure those are points in my favor and I get to start something new.  Because you can't always work on old projects, right?  I did start with some old fabric, though:


I had this ancient jelly roll of Kona colors that I never used.  It's so old that the price tag was $22.  It's been pretty to look at on the shelf, but I'm ready for it to be out of here.  So I decided to use it to make a couple of Regatta quilts, a free pattern from Block M Quilts that can be found HERE

The pattern calls for white or another solid with the strips of color, but I thought I might try it with strips of patterned fabric and the solids.  I think I have it narrowed down to these two possibilities:


Here's a better picture of the print fabrics:


 The background of the dotted fabric is an off-white while the little triangles are on a true white ground. I'm planning to make two smaller quilts with the strips I have, so I could use both of them, which would just mean more cutting.  It occurs to me (just now!) that that I could use blues and greens on one background and reds, oranges, and yellows on the other.  Hmm, which would be which?

So that's one new project!  I also have these for another new project:


These are some fun flannels to make a few baby blankets for a dear friend who's going to be a first-time grandma!  It's a boy due in March! I also started a baby quilt, but that's going to stay under wraps for now.

There's another thing to talk about today: spam.  Did you know that *you* (yes, you!) could be branded a spammer by Blogger even if you aren't posting about real estate on every blog you see AND you have been a blogger for years?  It's true! A very nice person that I met through the blog is having a problem with this right now.  Her comments are flagged as spam and not published to any blog she comments on. This means her comment doesn't appear on the post, but the blog owner still gets notified. Then the poor blog owner is left puzzled because the comment isn't on the actual post. I know personally that if you are the blog owner, you will still get the notification of the comment, so you may not realize that it's been flagged, even if you answer it.

There appears to be only one way around this-- checking the spam folder and marking comments from "real" people as "not spam." You can check at Danice's post HERE to see how to check your spam folder on Blogger.  I was amazed at what I found, because there were several comments in there from people who are definitely not spammers. (Somehow the real spam always gets published and has to be deleted.) I really encourage you to read the whole story over at Danice's and check your own spam folders.  And if you have any good insights or suggestions, please share!

Just a pretty picture! Soon, soon. . .

Now that we've dealt with that heavy subject, I'm going to go sort those Kona strips some more and start cutting!  Hope everyone is having a good week, and that your spam folders are completely empty!

Sharing at Linky Tuesday and Let's Bee Social.

14 comments:

Kristi B said...

I am quilting a UFO tonight! I'm almost done, one more day and I think I'll be ready for binding. Also working on a UFO string/solids quilt too. Fun! I love finishing things up!

Kristi said...

Thanks for the spam story, I'm hoping that the way I've commented on the blog works now. The first time confused me a bit, so I'm hoping this works and it doesn't end up in Spam!

Louise said...

Thanks for the spam reminder. I did have one perfectly nice comment from a regular poster in there, dang it! She's been let out of jail now.

If you use both (very cute) backgrounds, I vote warm color with the dots and cool colors with the triangles :)

piecefulwendy said...

I'm not on Blogger, but do comment on several blogs on that platform. I do check my spam folder regularly. Every now and then one comment slips in there. I'm working on a Regatta quilt too, with a QAL group. It's taken me forever to choose fabrics. I'm finding it amusing that I'm working on getting rid of my UFOs, all the while making more new projects too. Hmmm.

Vicki in MN said...

You know I have never checked the spam folder, just did it and yeppers there were quite a few ligit spammers in there. Only one that wasn't spam. So do you know how to set up the word verification on blogger-I see where to do it but it doesn't seem to work.

Preeti said...

You have NOT quilted, not bound and not labeled the Christmas quilt. AND you started this new project??? Tch, Tch Tch. How are you going to conquer the enemies if you keep encouraging them to grow?
I know the colors are lovely and I can totally see that you wanted to be so done with it. I could have relieved you of it. I am here for you, dear friend. Can you see the twinkle in my eyes as I write this :-p

Jayne said...

I have to say the Regatta quilt is hard to pass up! I loved making mine and yours is going to be wonderful too! I've always had a hard time figuring out how to use precuts. When I say this design I knew it was time to use my strips. Love the idea of the background fabric!

Bernie Kringel said...

Hahaha - I see the twinkle. You are so funny Preeti.

Bernie Kringel said...

Love the Regatta quilt you have planned. Great use for the strips - I like both backgrounds and can see where planning the colors with each will be really effective.

SPAM, ugh! I use Wordpress and have a pretty good spam detection process so I rarely find legit comments in the spam folder. I check it regularly. Thanks for the tips.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Great projects, and pretty fabrics!

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Mari,
Really nice solids for the Regatta quilt. I was this close | | to buying some of those same flannels about a week ago. I walked away from them though somehow. I will be interested to see how you use them and what you decide for your Regatta! ~smile~ Roseanne

Kate said...

You've got some great ideas for using up those strips. Any and all of those ideas would make beautiful quilts.

Jo said...

Good advice for spam checks.. Great idea to make 2 quilts..

Danice G said...

Thank you so much Mari, for the mention of my situation. What a nightmare it is and has been for a couple of months. It is sad that just marking one comment as Not Spam won't fix the situation. It must be done for every single comment made by that person. We just want blogging to be fun, right?