Twelve hundred and more

Hi everyone!  Here we are at the end of another week, and that means we're another week closer to spring.  Can you tell I am counting down? 

Today I have a finish to share, but this has been a very dramatic week for our family and there is some public service information at the bottom of this post, so if you are just looking at the fun pictures, please at least read the last paragraph.  We'll get to the drama in a minute, but first, here is this week's finish:

This is another finished UFO from the closet.  Whoo-hoo! And it's all scrap pieces, too, which is a double whoo-hoo! More scraps actually used, not just sitting in the bins.  The white sashing is plain old Kona white, though there are some pieces of Kona Snow in there as well.  Not by design, really, just that they got stuck in with the white pieces.  It all worked!

The blocks in this quilt are 100-patches made from scrap 1-1/2 inch squares.  I started this way back in 2016 when we had just moved to the east coast and were living in a tiny condo.  (I still think of this as "the dark times.")  We bought our house and moved and this got moved into a closet  and was left unfinished.  It happens all the time, doesn't it? 

I made the 100-patches using a very light fusible interfacing to get all the squares aligned and make the rows easier to stitch.  You can see how I did that HERE.  It worked pretty well, and I would make blocks that way again.  I have lots and lots of 1-1/2 inch squares, so I'm thinking of making some up into 25 patches.  Not soon, but I'm thinking about it!

If I had to pick a favorite block, it would be the black one.  Surprise! I was really surprised at how much color there actually is in this block.  I didn't know I had that many black pieces in the bin, but they look great together.  The white block is similar and was another surprise.  Of course, all of the blocks have a lot of color variation, but most of them don't have quite as many prints.

This quilt is destined to become a charity quilt for Sarah's Hands to Help challenge, which is why I only used 12 blocks.  The quilt is a nice lap size, about 48 by 65.  I have four more finished 100-patch blocks that will become a baby quilt a little later this spring, though I can already say that I won't be using the same sashing and cornerstones for that quilt.  All of these little squares made for a *lot* of seams and the top is already a bit heavy, plus they were a bit maddening to keep track of.  There are currently little squares all over the floor in the sewing room, which you know is making me crazy. I will definitely be cleaning up this weekend.

So, there is my finish for the week!  One more out of the closet and soon to become a comfort quilt, which makes me feel super happy that I finally finished it.  I am making serious progress on my piecing UFOs, which also makes me really happy.

And now for something completely non-quilt related:

On Tuesday morning, my brother (who works nights, so it was about 9:30 am) heard a weird noise, so he got up to investigate.  Turned out that the house was on fire and it was moving rapidly.  He and his partner managed to get out with the dogs and were unharmed, and my nephew was already at school, so he was unharmed as well.  The house, however, was a total loss.  They lost literally everything except what they were wearing.  The roof ended up in the dining room. Not to worry--they will be okay. There is insurance and they will be able to rebuild their possessions, so it will turn out.  And no one was hurt, which is the best possible news! So here's the public service announcement-- grab your phone and make a video right now, walking around every room of your house, opening every drawer and closet, and showing everything you own.  Narrate this as you go, as in "here's the antique dresser we got from Aunt Phyllis" and "those shelves hold about 300 yards of fabric" and "this is the Viking sewing machine that I bought in 2018."  Email the video to yourself or otherwise store it somewhere online. Your house doesn't have to be clean! It just has to show what you own.  If the worst ever happens, you won't remember or be able to make a list of everything you've lost, from the number of forks you own to how many towels you have, and sometimes insurance companies want proof that you actually had a new refrigerator instead of a 20-year-old Kenmore.  So do yourself a favor and make the video.  If you're worried about how the house looks, you can always make another video after you clean up!

Okay, end of lecture. Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Next week is spring break and I plan to spend it doing some outdoor work if the weather cooperates, and sewing if it doesn't.  I'm really looking forward to both!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, and Oh Scrap!

Black and white

Hi everyone!  We are back from our visit to our grandson and I already miss him so much!  I'm also missing the cooler weather and the clean air, but not as much as those baby fingers!

Since we travelled this week, I didn't get a lot of sewing time, but I did manage to make up these:

As they used to say--do not adjust your set! A black block and a white block for the postage stamp quilt!  I tried laying out the 16 blocks that I had and decided that I want the quilt to be rectangular and not square, so I need 4 more blocks.

I wasn't planning to make a black block or a white one, because I was afraid that either one would be too dull and would act as a "hole" in the quilt.  I was so wrong!  These two turned out to be a couple of my favorite ones!  There is so much to look at in each of them.  I'm really glad that I went for it.

I swear to you that this block is straight!  The photo lies!

So I still have 2 more blocks to make, which means more sorting, which is frankly the worst part of the whole endeavor.  Don't know what color they'll be, but I want to wrap this up by the end of next week, because we move in 3 weeks!  No tiny pieces left behind!

I have these two little pieces left over.  I couldn't decide if they were black or white, so I left them out of both.  Where would you have put them?

In other news, I have finally joined Instagram!  I wasn't planning to, but there are some fun things happening over there that I want to participate in, so I took the plunge.  Come on over and join me @academicquilter!

Everybody have a wonderful weekend.  I have brought out the boxes and am beginning the task of packing up the condo.  This is a happy thing, right?

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Oh Scrap!

Not a lot of sunshine

So far, this has not been a great week for me.  The whole world appears to have gone mad, we made an offer on a house and couldn't come to terms with the sellers, and as I sat down to write this post my daughter called in tears to tell us that she has to put one of her cats to sleep.  She's heartbroken!  And I'm heartbroken for her!

Best to turn off the TV and just sit down and pet some fabric or something.  Still working on the tiny squares quilt, and look what I've got here: 

A red block!  I didn't really know that there would be enough squares for this one, because I seldom use red, but there definitely were.  This is the 16th block for this quilt, so it's time to put the sashing on all the rest and see how the layout goes.  Also, I'm happy to say that the freezer paper has held up through all 16 blocks.  Win!

In other quilt-related news, Val over at Val's Quilting Studio had a piggy bank challenge where you saved your change for the year and then counted it up and had a nice nest egg to spend on something quilty.  I didn't sign up or anything, but I did save my change for the year.  I ended up with $104.25!  How great is that?  I spent some of it on this:

Quilty software!  This is the software version of Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia, and it is awesome.  I've been playing with it and finding all sorts of things.  I know there will be several quilts coming from this purchase.  I still like paging through the book, but this is great. Plus I had money left over and now I get to buy some more fabric!

So I guess there are some things to feel good about after all.  But the world has still gone crazy.  Anybody want to join me in a quilt fort?  I'll be the one obsessing over the real estate listings.

Hope you all are having a better week! I promise to be happier next time!  I'm ending with a picture of Athena.  Thank you kitty--you were great. We will all miss you.

Sharing at Let's Bee Social. 

Squares everywhere

H everyone!  I hope you are all having a really great week! It's warm as all get out here, and the air is very "heavy."  Still getting used to the summer!  The sunshine is nice, though.

The big thing going on here in the the "sewing area" is that tiny squares are taking over my life.  They seem to be migrating into other areas of the house, too.  We've all had a project that we were kind of doing "on the side" and then it took over everything.  That's how I feel right now!  I've been putting together some more of the 100-patch blocks from the eleventy-billion 1-1/2 inch squares that I've been collecting forever. Check out these new colors:

Artsy photo on a boulder!

Lavender, brown, and teal/turquoise! I also made up a tan block:

Color matched to the mulch!

Beige is not my thing, but this worked great!

I'm making these blocks using a very thin interfacing (see HERE for the method I'm using) and it's working out well.  The important thing is to use the thinnest stuff you can find, and I'm using Pellon 906, made for sheer fabrics.  It's little more than tissue paper, but it's just the right weight for this project.

After I made the blocks I started with the sashing, which I think really makes the blocks.  Being an impatient sort, I had to see what it looked like all put together, so then I ended up with this:

A little windy!

It's going to look great!  The four blocks together measure about 31 by 31 right now.  Not sure what is going to happen with outer borders or anything yet.

I now have 12 blocks and have sorted out the pieces for 4 more, which is where I think I might stop.  I do have enough of the pink for a second block, and the yellow, too, and I probably have enough greens to make 3 blocks, so I might expand to 20 blocks.  We'll see.

Finally, this past week I was at my parents for my dad's birthday and my mom pretty much had a mini-stroke right in front of us. One minute she was fine, the next she couldn't speak.  Just gibberish, no words.  She's fine now!  We got her to the hospital quickly and she got meds and is now home.  But I just wanted to remind everyone to go hug their parents.  Life changes in a second, and they won't be here forever.  Hug them while you can!

Enough of that!  Happy sewing, everyone!

Sharing at Let's Bee Social and Oh Scrap!

Back from vacation

Hi everyone!  I was gone for a while!  The hubs and I went on vacation to see our daughter in Maine.  It was great!  Maine is so pretty.  If you know Bernie from Needle and Foot, she wrote a great little column talking about good things about Maine, which you can find HERE.  Of course, the best thing about Maine for us is seeing our daughter!

We got back a little bit ago and I've been writing like a madwoman. I have to get some things on paper while I still remember what they are!.  I did finish up this star:

This is the aqua star for the Framed quilt, which I think will be done this week! No promises, though.

I also worked some more on the quilt I'm making with 1-1/2 inch squares:

I now have 9 of these blocks, with more started. I have enoughsquares for another pink block, though next up is lavender, followed by turquoise/teal.  Really amazed that I had enough of each of those, but I did.

After these come the greens--lime, dark green, and light green.  It's looking like I'll have 16 blocks at this point, which I think will make a nice sized quilt.  I'm really hoping to get 20 blocks, but the sorting is really tedious.  Really wish that I had just made blocks and not sorted by color.  And what do you think of a tan/ beige block?

I'm on the fence.

While we were in Maine, I had the opportunity to meet up with the aforementioned Bernie of Needle and Foot!  She was vacationing with her family in Maine the same time we were there, so we met up for lunch and a bit of quilt shopping. (Her post about our lunch is HERE.)  It was really an amazing thing that we got to meet since she lives in California! It was really great to talk (and talk) and shop. Here's my picture of us:

Don't we look like people you'd like to go fabric shopping with?

On the way back from vacation, the hubs and I also got to stop and have ice cream with Nancy of PugMom Quilts and her husband Mike.  And LarryPug! He is the sweetest pugboy ever, and he even got a bit of ice cream. It was great to sit and talk with them and have a nice, relaxed time.  I wish we lived closer so we could get together more often, but it has been wonderful to get to actually know some blogging friends.

Have some great sewing time folks!  I have to go do some actual work now, but I really am planning to have that Framed quilt done really soon.  Cross your fingers! 

Bridge to Canada in Lubec, Maine!

Sharing at Sew Fresh Quilts and Oh Scrap!