Scrappy Finish

Remember when I talked about cleaning up my scrap bins? I threw all the strings into a pile, and since I did the bins by color, the strings were by color. Then I made these:

I had one in each color of the rainbow. Yellow and blue were the largest ones. I wanted to crochet a rug in rainbow order. So I did.

 This is a pattern if you will, from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. It is crocheted wit a really large hook. She also does one that it knitted on really large needles. The strings need to be three quarters of an inch wide, up to one and a quarter inch wide.

 It is fast and easy to make, this one took me about 5 evenings to crochet. All the details of how to do it are on Amanda Jean's blog.

 I love the colors and how bright they look. This is the best use of strings, I think. Not a smidge is wasted and who doesn't need a throw rug somewhere in their house?

 Some of the fabric strings in this I have had languishing for over 15 years! I am so glad these last bits of some of my earliest quilts have found a home at last.

If you have lots of strings, consider making a rug. The ease and quickness of construction is very rewarding. Have a great weekend. Linking up with Finish It Friday.

...So Eight Years Later...a Finish

I started this quilt about 8 years ago. The first two grandsons were toddlers and I thought it would be great to have a fun quilt we could spread out for picnics or on the floor to play. I got it pieced pretty quickly but then I lost interest, got busy, moved on to other projects. I pulled it out a couple of years ago along with some other long time tops that needed quilting and finally now it is done.

 I chose all these fruit prints and seed packet prints. I thought it was so summery. I loved the bright colors and decited to surround it with black. Not sure why, but it does make it pop.

I think this is where I got stuck. I couldn't figure out a backing or how to quilt it, so I quit. But last week I decided it was time to just get it done! So there was one two yard piece of fabric in my stash that I could not figure out how to use:

V and I did some tie dye a few years ago and I dyed a piece of Kona white. I loved how it turned out, but never knew quite what to do with it. Until now. It looks amazing. The pictures don't really show how vibrant the colors are. It is such a happy fun fabric.

 Have you ever wondered what tie dyed fabric looks like as a binding? So cool, right?

       Now I'm not sure which side of this I like best. It's like having two quilts in one.

I was going to give this to one of the grand kids, but I think I'm going to hang onto it for awhile. And for now, it is on the back of granddaddy's chair and it looks quite at home there. See you soon.

Possible Stolen Quilt

Please, if you see this, share with anyone who you can share with. I made a quilt for my sister a number of years ago. When she passed away a year and a half ago, her husband told my other sister that he would let her have the quilt after he had passed away. He died last December. The executor of the estate has been unable to locate the quilt in the house. That quilt was never off their bed from the day they received it. I know he did not get rid of it, as it was so much my sister. She helped to design it and approved each and every fabric I used.  He also loved it. I am certain he would not have let go of it. I am posting photos of the quilt here. It had a label on it.  The label is hand written, but could have easily been cut off. This is a King size quilt, so quite large. If anyone sees it, I would love to know. It is very distinctive. Missing in the Alpine California area, near San Diego.

I would love to recover this quilt for the family. If you have any ideas for other avenues of recovery, please let me know. My family is heartbroken. Thank you.

What I've Been Doing Lately

I know I don't post much. I am doing lots of sewing, but it takes so much time to photograph stuff and then edit it and write a post. I mean to show everything here on my blog, but then, somehow, I just don't. So here is an update of some goings on lately.

 So there is the scrap bin cleaning project. I have now done all but one of my scrap bins. I cut all scraps to usable sizes and threw away the rest. I only kept a very few small scraps of special stuff in each color bin.

 Before I began, all the bins looked like this one with whites and creams in it. I am so happy to see the progress in this. So far I think it has been 3 weeks in the making. Almost done.

 An upshot of this project is all the strings that are 2 inches or less being cut to one inch size and made into balls of "yarn" for my crocheted rug project. I have made a couple of these from the   Crazy Mom Quilts tutorial. They are fast and fun and use lots of strips that would otherwise be trash. I did throw away a lot of s(crap) also, just straight into the trash.

In between all this cutting and winding I have done some sewing as well. Here is a look at some of that:

 These sweet popsicles are going to be a table runner. I got this pattern from the Fresh Figs site. I don't often buy patterns, but something about this just grabbed me.

 I used only fabric from my stash for these. There are 11 popsicles in all. Just need a backing and to quilt it now. Maybe on my next day off.

Then there is this. I got the pattern for this block from the Fat Quarter Shop blog for free. I found it to be a perfect show case for my Sarah Jane fabrics . Many, but not all are included here and the bigger chunks will be pieced into a back. Still need to make sashing and get it all together.

Then there are these. These are in house printed fabrics from Hawthorne threads. Their designs and digitally printed. I have never purchased this type of fabric before, but the designs were so sweet.

 I got them and they were all printed on two large pieces of fabric. I cut them apart and washed them according to directions. They are a high thread count fabric, and they are quite stiff, even after being washed.

I love the colors and the designs, but I am used to a much softer fabric. I am not sure how much I like these or what they will be used for. Have you ever had anything like these? What did you think of them? Do they soften with time?
Well, that's it for today. Talk to you soon.

Monday Stuff

Just a quick drop by to share a couple of things. First, a finished quilt top:

 I made this for Miss N. I have lots of time to quilt it, since she will be in a crib for quite some time.

 I do love the mermaids and the water lillies. This is all organic fabrics.

 And next, I am cleaning up my scrap bins. This is what they look like now, all sorted by color. They don't get used much though. So I read on a blog recently about cutting them to usable sizes.

So I am. I am cutting into 5", 3.5", 2.5" squares and 2.5 " strips. This is the result.  5 bins done, 8 to go.

Geranium Dress x 2

I wanted to make some baby girl things, besides quilts. I know I'm late to the party, but I just got this baby granddaughter recently. Rae Hoekstra's Geranium Dress pattern is the best! There are several modifications included and you can make it look like a totally different dress with the different options and fabric choices. Here is what I did so far:

 My daughter requested the shorter version that is more like a top than a dress, since Baby N will be scooting and crawling this summer. A dress would not be practical. She said they would be very cute with bloomers. Okay, Google bloomers...found a pattern by Heather Ross in a book I happen to own.

 Perfect. The bloomers call for shirring around the legs. Never done that and was kinda scared actually. Googled shirring...perfect, a tutorial by Rae. I am now a cautious fan of shirring. It still makes me nervous until I am all the way around., but her tutorial is great!

 I found this awesome fabric by Sarah Jane called Sommer. I love the water color gingham.

 The tulip and bunny print doesn't have many bunnies. They are spaced very far apart, but that is part of the charm. After I bought this at my LQS,  I found a couple of fat quarters in pink, which I didn't know existed, and since that was all they had left, I bought that too. A little fussy cutting for the pocket.

                                   How sweet is this pocket? I love the bunnies.

               And then with no bunnies left, just tulips for the other pocket.

 And when you put the bloomers with the matching tops, it looks different, but still really cute. It's like having 4 outfits.

 And now, we are ready for summer. Thanks to Rae for such a great pattern, and Heather Ross for the easiest bloomer pattern ever. Talk to you soon.

Ticker Tape Parade

When the Sunday Morning Quilts book came out, I poured over it again and again. I loved the Ticker Tape quilt. I decided to make some, smaller mini ticker tapes, in specific colorways. I made these over a couple of months, and then did nothing with them...until now.

 I used lots and lots of scraps. There's one in here from my very first quilt.

 This is the only one I ended up making in a different shape. Guess I didn't like the shape much?

 I love looking at all these small bits of old projects. I had some great fabrics.

 It's also a great reminder of all the projects that have gone before. I don't think I could do a large quilt of these.

This was my very first one. Yellow is my favorite color. My computer is rearranging them for me, this was supposed to be at the top.

 Ah, purple...most of these are pretty old scraps. I don't have much purple in my stash these days.

And this is what I finally did with all of them. I love seeing them up there every day. So get inspired and do something with all those scraps. This project is easy! Talk to you soon.