Wednesday, April 18, 2018

A tub full of triangles

I haven't been feeling well the last few days.  It's been a combination of a bad cold plus what's best called "intestinal distress,"  which is probably brought on by cold meds.  This means that I've been kind of laying around, pretty bored, with a headache and some bad tv for company.  Of course I wandered into the sewing room, too, even though there are many sharp objects in there.

To amuse myself between naps, I pulled out the basket full of leftover triangles to see what I could play with without messing up any of my current projects.  I don't know about you, but when I feel sick and try to sew something, I know I'll have to rip it out and redo it later.  Maybe it's the meds, but it's safer just not to work on anything important until I've been feeling better for about 24 hours or so.  Here's what I started with:


That's a lot of triangles! Many of these were leftovers after projects were finished, some were mistakes made in the wrong sizes, others were made in the wrong colors, and some I just ended up not using.  I don't generally make what some people call "bonus" triangles unless the pieces I start with are really big, so all of these were deliberately made.  Okay, almost all, because in that mess were some like this:


Yep, those are very tiny!  I'm not sure where they came from, or what they'll be used for, but here they are.

Of course, as soon as I dumped out that bin (and isn't the bin itself cute?), I had to sort the triangles to see what I had:


I didn't count them, just kind of put them into piles.  Then came the trimming.  Most of these were untrimmed, and so I cut them to  standard sizes and tried to figure out what I could do with them.  I managed to make three small projects from the triangles so far:


The first one is a mini quilt with the blue and white triangles, which were a decent size to start with.  The hsts were 2-1/2 inches square, and this little piece is now about 14 by 16.  I think it needs another border, but I didn't have the brainpower to choose one today. 


The second piece is a little set of pink and aqua broken dishes that's about 8 by 12 right now.  I think I might layer this with insulbrite and use it outside by the grill.  I know, it seems too pretty for that, but it's leftovers that make a pretty small piece.  If you can think of something better to do with it, let me know. A Barbie sleeping bag is not in the cards, sorry!

The last is that little 4-1/2 inch green and black square, which I didn't take a separate picture of, but it's destined to be a little pincushion.  Do you all quilt your pincushion tops before you layer them, or do you just leave them?  I can't decide.


After all that, I was too tired to go on, so the rest of the triangles will have to wait for a little longer.  Depending on how I feel in the morning, I might work on them some more, but I haven't thrown any of them away, so they'll be waiting whenever I get to them. 

That's the news from here!  I hope you're all feeling well, don't have any more snow, and are enjoying all kinds of good things.  If you have some good ideas for the rest of those triangles, be sure to let me know! And I certainly hope this post made sense.  Not sure I can tell right now!


Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Oh Scrap!

16 comments:

Libby in TN said...

So sorry the crud caught up with you. You did very well with your bits and bobs, all things considered.

Lisa J. said...

I had some very interesting but incorrect colour combos the last time I sewed while not feeling well. I love the colours in the pin cushion. I'm beginning to think I may live in a country called winter.

somethingrosemade14@blogspot.com said...

I hope you feel better soon so you can sew more clearly even though you did a pretty good job with these triangles. I have a bunch of those too which could be sewn up. Thanks for the inspiration.

piecefulwendy said...

We have plenty of snow, but it's disappearing since we had a 40 degree day yesterday. Sorry you're not feeling well. Way back when I started following Beth at Cooking Up Quilts, she wrote a tutorial for hot pads for 9 x 13 dishes. Your little pink/blue combo would be a pretty one. For pincushions, I like to use a piece of fusible fleece on the design, quilt it a bit, and then construct the rest of the cushion. Hope that makes sense.

Margaret said...

It's snowing as I look at inspiration on line -- trying to pretend that spring is here. Love your colours and ability to be positive even while feeling yucky!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

For being sick - you did well!! I hope you feel better soon!!

chrisknits said...

What a wonderful use of scraps! I love the red and white ones at the bottom of the post.

Louise said...

Mindless sewing is a great distraction! I hope you're feeling better now. The broken dishes in Barbie's colors is my favorite little piece in this post. One thing I've done with that size block is sew it to a backing and fill it with rice. That can be heated for about a minute in the microwave to make a nice little heating pad that lays nicely on a sore shoulder.

BJ said...

Hope you feel better soon - it's no fun being under the weather! I often make mug rugs with my leftovers. At first, people had no idea what I was giving them. Now they sometimes ask for special colors, holidays, or seasons ☺. Coasters are a similar idea. I also make them up into 10-12" squares as a quilt sandwich so I can practice FMQ. I'm working on one now, as a matter of fact. Thanks for sharing your adorable pieces!

Preeti said...

So sorry for your distress, Mari. If you have Netflix, I recommend the movie - I am not an easy man. Much better than bad tv. Love the turquoise and blush HSTs. So beautiful - makes my heart ache for spring. Feels like winter today :-(

Bernie Kringel said...

Ugh, no fun being sick. I hope it isn't too long-lasting. I do pincushions the same way as Wendy. I like the little bit of quilting on the tops. I also agree with whomever commented that the pink rectangle makes a nice hot pad for casserole dishes. But it is fine for the grill too. May as well get some use out of this! Feel better soon. (Julia is home with it now - horrible cough and a fever. The never-ending illnesses of 2018!!)

Danette said...

They are cute! I would use it for the grilling purposes. Will brighten up your grilling. I have a small box of hst's waiting for something. Thanks for the inspiration!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Great way to pass the time when you aren't well -- and you'll have some fun little projects as a result of your efforts. Good on you!!

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

On the blue one - a dark blue 1” border would really frame the quilt and then a white border - Zinger time.
When feeling bad it is best to do mindless sewing! On the pink I would put a 1” border to stop the pink, like a darker pink or black, and a white border. Now for the red. I would take all the HSTs and just make a small block! Hope this at least gets you to thinking. I have certainly been where you are and I do hope you get well! No fun!

Kate said...

Great job of finding a home for your "leftovers". Hope you are feeling much, much better now.

Karen said...

Yikes! I don't get that much done when I'm feeling fantastic :) Hope you feel better soon