Spring 2019 catch up

So much has been going on sewing-wise, but I haven't found the time to blog about it.  Life seems to be a bit of a blur right about now.  And then, the further behind I've gotten in updates, the more daunting the task has become to catch up.  I'll try to dive right in and journal about some of what I've been doing for the past few months....

I've been chipping away at some of my eternal projects.  These are things that don't necessarily have a fully flushed out plan, but are a way to use up scraps and keep me entertained with something different in between bigger projects.

Diamond Log Cabin

I've finished up all the center blocks and decided to make the next ring more orange than yellow.  I have about 6 of them in progress.  I think each block has 18? pieces.  They are tedious for sure!

Wild and Goosey

Also tedious!  I swear I have more than this completed, but I don't seem to have a picture.

Scrappy Log Cabins

These are fun!  I'm taking bigger strips and sewing wonky style.  The scrap pile really doesn't seem to shrink, despite my best efforts.  I think I'll keep making these until I have at least a twin sized quilt.  Each block will finish 12"

Corduroy Totes

I was given 5 yards of red corduroy and 5 yards of black--that's a LOT of corduroy!! Several years ago made a version of a little J. Crew tote bag I had for years and thought that would be a good use for this fabric. With one width of fabric cut, I can make 3 bags. There is enough fabric to make 30 bags!!! That is a lofty goal and I will likely get bored with making these before too long. Lutherdale is having a 'Tiny Treasures' tent at their auction and all items are $25 or less. I thought this might be a good thing to sell there? They did turn out super cute, if I do say so myself! =)

Zippy Pouches

The last thing I'll share today are a few zippy pouches I whipped together a few weeks ago.  The last one is from a hunk of leftover corduroy.

I'll share more about my quilty progress in separate posts.  I have lots of good stuff, including finishes!!

xoxo,
Kristin

ps
Linking up with: Oh Scrap! and Let's Bee Sewcial

Spring Cleaning!

I'm really excited to share my sewing space after my 'Spring Cleaning'!  On Friday, Mary from Sort n' Release came over and helped me get things in order. It was a bunch of work, but so rewarding! 

Here are the after pictures (if you want to see 'before', go here):

The project bins are in the closet (not on the floor), the tops of my fat quarter shelves are tidy!  My cart is so much more logical and I swapped out the quilt on the wall from CatVent to Elephant Parade.  The fabric on my ironing surface is part of my 'homework'.  Since this picture was taken, I've purged a bit from drawers and found a home for (most of) it.

The closet--- Aaaaahhhhh!!!  It is completely transformed! I could hardly step in it before and was just throwing things in and closing the door.  Now each space is assigned a job-- storing completed projects, holding project totes, etc.  I can't believe that it looks this good! But it is more than just looks, it is functional, too.

Here is the view of the design wall side.  I didn't manage to take any pictures of the cutting table and cubbies.  Trust me-- they are looking good!

Here's my pile of sell/donate:

It has a bunch of felt I haven't used for years, some things from cardmaking days, some fabric and notions and storage containers that I didn't 'love'.  Part of the process was-- If I don't like something, why keep it?

Before the big clean, I wanted to finish up my On Ringo Lake.  It needed just a few more inches on either side, so I did a simple border of bricks of the coral/orange/pink/yellow leftovers. The size is much better.

I hope to quilt this in 2 weeks, so I need to think about backing.  I've done a bit of looking and wasn't finding anything, so I placed an order for an assortment of yardage in the colors of the top.

On Friday night, I had my Late Night Sew Night at Blue Bar Quilts.  I would have been perfectly happy to collapse on the couch after such a busy day, but I couldn't.  Sew-cializing needed to happen! I grabbed my log cabin diamonds as a simple, small project to work on.  Now that I have a handful done, I can see how cool this is and I want to devote more time to them.  I'm not sure if I should switch to orange for the next ring?  It might give the quilt a bit more interest...

And lastly, part of my homework was to go through some of my tubs and thin the scrap herd.  They have multiplied into 3 small bins and I know that is not necessary. While sorting, I did a bit of Wild and Goosey with some of the scraps.  After the first few of these blocks, I wasn't too keen on them.  I've now switched to using only really light fabrics for the background and it is making the difference-- I like these better now.

And to finish this long post, I've got a cute picture of Finn to share. He kind of looks like a doll in a box! 

xoxo,

Kristin

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Mondays, Lorna's Let's bee Sewcial and Cynthia's  Oh Scrap!!

Eternal Paper Piecing Projects

I have a tendency to start projects without a plan.  Things that don't have patterns, but are interesting. And I'm ok with this!  For me, quilting is more about the process than the final result.  A few years ago, there was a talk at our knitting guild that discussed how people either are either focused on having results or feel satisfied merely by the doing.  I'm a process quilter!

Yesterday I pulled out all kinds of my 'Eternal Paper Piecing Projects'.  I don't know what motivated me, but I was ready to 'move the needle' (a phrase people use at my work!) on a few things. I was working on 5 different projects at once!! Bananas! But as long as I was paper piecing one project, might as work on others.  It's hard to alternate between 'regular' stitching and paper piecing, because it is too much to change the stitch length back and forth.

At my January retreat, I started a project that makes me question my sanity.  It's a log cabin diamond pattern from "Little Bits".  I've done 2 other patterns by them and really loved the results.  The diamond shape definitely adds a bit more difficulty! I decided to use the scraps from the many yellow and grey quilts that I've made in the last 2 years.  In the picture below, the middle diamond is from January and I started the other 2 yesterday.  There are 24 diamonds in the final pattern! I don't know what I have gotten myself into!! =O

Another project I worked on yesterday was my 'Little Ladies'.  I'm not sure exactly when I started this? 2008? (yes! I looked in my blog history!) The little ladies went missing for a bit after my move last summer. They turned up in a box that hadn't been unpacked yet.  I thought it would be fun to put them up on the design wall and see how they have progressed. I have a few more light background than I do dark, so I decided to work on a another dark background yesterday.  They look animated and fun when they are in their parts waiting for the final block assembly! =)

I've had these trees for a while.  Some of them were not 100% completed, so I finished those up.  I have patterns for quite a few more, but I don't have very much of the grey in large pieces (but I have a ton of little chunks from trimming up another quilt).  What to do?  I could try and order more of the Moda Bella that I used? I know the dye might not match up perfectly? I could make more with black? I saw a cool pattern on Pinterest that might be a fun layout, where the trees are spaced far apart with quite a bit of negative space.  For now I will let them age!

And the last eternal paper pieced project I'll share today is my micro-itty-bitty pineapples.  Of course I can't seem to find a photo of the other colors I've made.  I have quite a few others completed- 10? There was a purple and I'm pretty sure it committed suicide by falling off my design wall into the garbage!! =O  The grey has been sitting half finished for quite a long time (notice a trend!!).  This photo is still not complete-- It needs another piece on each corner. The clover clip and foot are there for an idea of scale.  These guys are super tiny!

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

xoxo