What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I keep my rulers in a pile at the back of my cutting table. Or, I used to.

A colleague offered me some cast-off office supplies. And now they hold my rulers. Perfectly. In reach, and out of the way, at the same time. I love unexpected solutions.

ps–HERE is a link to something similar, if you are interested.

I enjoy thrift stores for many reasons, but, while I always check the fabric section, I rarely find anything that suits me.

But today…

WOW! I am so pleased: 14-1/2 yards for $1.60/yard.

Can’t beat that. I see a quilt kit, backs for a twin donation quilt and three baby quilts, and red dots (because a person can always use red dots). YAY!

Susan shared a few of her bits and bobs with me.

The blocks were already 6″, so I did all I could with the assorted half-square triangles and leftover scraps, adding a few other 6″ blocks that caught my eye.

Those strips of 2″ squares became the border.

And, ta-dah!, a cute Christmas table topper or wall hanging. It finished at 30″ square.

Don’t give up on those bits and bobs (or odds and ends, or leftovers). Sometimes they are most of a pretty good idea and just need a little nudge to turn into a quick finish. That ...

This quilt started as the leftovers of THIS quilt. When I decided to size down, the 16-patch blocks were already made.

Too much to throw away. Not quite enough for a complete quilt.

Adding the 4-patch blocks with borders brought it up to 48″ x 60″. A nice throw size.

And the backing is so much fun. It is planned as a gift for a classroom aide at school.

Diane sent me a Second Chances Quilt challenge. She had started this quilt and even cut much of the fabric.

Hmmmm…what to do? I didn’t want to build the tesselated star, but the fabric was already in triangles and rectangles.

Sudden inspiration struck…the triangles could be saved. I could cut a 2″ square and a 1-1/2″ square from each one. Yes, there was some waste, but not as much waste as doing nothing with it at all.

I decided to make snowball blocks in two sizes–6″ and 3″.

Each 6″ blocks uses 4 2-1/2 ...

The kitchen/dining chairs really needed new seats. My father built this set in the mid-1970s after one of their old chairs broke while my mother was standing on it to reach the top cabinet to get down the silver chest for a holiday dinner. She broke several ribs. He was very angry and broke the old rickety set to pieces and made one that WOULD NOT BREAK.

I was given the set when I moved out on my own. What a great gift!

It has been used and used. Four children and all their friends. Meals. School projects. Game ...

At last! The blocks sat for a year, more or less, before I came back to them and pushed towards a finish.

And I am pleased with it. Yes, the picture isn’t great due to size and adverse weather conditions, but you get the idea.

Final size is 84″ x 96″. A useful size and reasonable shape. It will be a while before it is a true finish. I need backing fabric and quilting and binding, but, this is a complete top and I am glad of it!

First border. Narrow–just enough to set apart the blocks, but not to add too much to the height.

I think there are three more borders coming…the end is in sight.

Another tentative step forward on an alternate setting for the blocks I have finished for the Safe Haven quilt kit.

I decided to add 1-1/2″ strip around each block.

Each block gets a different color, one that is contained in the block but not dominate on the side.

All of them are finished and it is time to contemplate Step Three. I am going back and forth between 2-1/2″ sashing in the light tan color that serves as a background in several of the blocks, a 1-1/2″ sashing of the same, and just sewing them all together ...

It is so satisfying to take those small but beautiful pieces of fabric and give them purpose.

Doll clothes are a great option. These are again for the “babies” of our two granddaughters. And include ribbon for the hair or for waistbands as the girls wish. More planned.

This frame has been setting around for a while, wanting to become something.

So, I took all this.

And created this.

It can be used vertically, or…

horizontally, if you take the stand part off the back.

It isn’t difficult. Search “pincushion from a picture frame” and you will find all sorts of tutorials. This one will be a gift for a quilting friend.

Years ago I received a lovely piece of stitchery in a scrap bag. It is done on authentic feedsack material. You can see where the stitches were picked out and some printing on the back.

I didn’t know what to do with it.

I shared it on the blog HERE, and a lovely reader created a pattern for those who might be interested.

But the original languished. I set a goal do something with her in 2021. She has probably waited around 80 years for this moment.

The first thing was to wash. Gently. By hand.

That went fairly ...

The blocks are finished and it is moving towards layout.

It is an experiment. I have yet to determine if it is a successful experiment.

As if life weren’t complicated enough, Husband had hip replacement surgery yesterday, Friday.

Fortunately, the procedure went very well and we are home in less than 24 hours.

We anticipate a speedy recovery, but, in the meantime he needs a few helpful objects so that he doesn’t just have to rely on the helpful wife.

So, this morning I woke up early and made him a caddy for his walker.

Just cut the top (I think I used about 16 inches) out of the top of a pair of jeans. Add twill tape to the side belt loops ...

For several years I have kept and counted my empty spools at the end of the year. Silly? Maybe, but the art teacher enjoys them, and I enjoy the counting.

The total for 2020 is 48.

Here are past years for comparison:

2019: 23

2018: 23

2017: 36

2016: 40

2015: 103 (the year of partial spools and the 52 in 2015 project)

Time for Task Two of the Final Countdown.

This time Shelly suggests that we clean up the fabric storage and stray fabric piles.

I regularly maintain my quilting fabric, but there is another, darker place under that table I cleaned off yesterday.

It is my Big Pile Of Junk. We call it that with greatest affection. It is how I am able to say “yes” to all sorts of people and projects. And, I had been thinking about some doll clothes for the granddaughters.

Oh, that was a dangerous thought…

Looking through turned into making piles.

And piles became outfits ...

Years ago Husband cut up a moth-eaten antique Hudson Bay wool blanket to make a coat for trips and activities with his Boy Scouts. Some people might have considered that sacrilege, but it was never going to be used as a blanket.

For some reason, I saved the scraps.

Lately I have been looking at the wool pressing mats and considering whether or not I really needed one, when those scraps came to mind…Did I still have them?

YES! So into the wash they went. And they came out in good shape.

I trimmed edges smooth and square.

And ...

The grandchildren needed library totes, and I had a lot of my Father’s worn out jeans (Thank you for saving them, Momma). (NO, I don’t know why a few of these pictures insist on being sideways…there are many mysteries in life.)

I did create the pattern, but am just not up to writing a tutorial right now. Perhaps in the future.

And I supplemented the totes with MINI TOTES for the dolls of the two granddaughters.

Sturdy and serviceable (and packed with some fun treats), we hope the grandchildren will enjoy some love from Nana Deanna.

This project came from the book Reinvention, which I borrowed from the local library.

I was so excited to give it a try. I still have a lot of my father’s old jeans that my mother saved for years.  And, I am happy with the results.

BUT, it was not without trial.  I don’t know about the rest of the patterns in the book, but this one had numerous errors.  The measurements were off both in cutting directions and finished sizes of components in at least 4 places.

That is too bad, because it is a great idea ...

It was a big push to finish before I start Teacher Work Days.  Once school starts intense projects are much harder.

This quilt was made for JoAnne by her mother Florence about 1976.  You can tell that Florence was resourceful.  She used the fabric she had.

Every block needed some repair, and that was how I approached it:  One block at a time.  You can read more about some specific repair techniques HERE and HERE.

Since the one-block-at-a-time system seemed to be working so well, I quilted it the same way–A meander-stipple around the birds in each block.  My ...