Splendid Sampler

 I was looking for a block of the month to work on this year, and this is the one that grabbed me, Splendid Sampler. I love doing block of the month/week projects with a group because it can be so inspiring and it helps to keep it fun and fresh as the year progresses.

I knew I wanted to do soft colors for this one since I am on overload with brights.  Even as my go-to favorites, I need to take a break now and again. I chose to pull out some fat quarters that I bought a long time ago--Robyn Pandolph's Folk Art Christmas (I think the first grouping of this title. I believe she had a few different Folk Art Christmas lines). That will be my base for the 100 blocks, but if I find other fabrics that would work well, I will add those too.  The fabrics are a brushed cotton, and I also added a creamy yellow flannel to use as the background when needed. So far, I love it. I know I will be sick of the fabrics in time, but for now it's my happy place.



Today I did the first, second and seventh blocks. I pieced together what needed it, and then did some needle turn applique for blocks 1 and 7, and embroidery with my Valdani thread for 7.



ugh... I'm obviously too lazy to make sure there were no stray threads before pictures. I am definitely too lazy to take another round of pictures! :)

For the pieced and appliqued quilt in block 7, I pieced together some scraps of 1.5" into a nine patch and then tilted it a bit to fit the pattern.  It helped to add a little whimsy that the original line drawing for the embroidery has.


I played around with the layout for block 2, and I like it. If I had a blue on hand, would have added that so it would have been more scrappy.


I don't plan to post every time I finish a block, but perhaps I will do a weekly update on the progress.  I have four more blocks to make to be caught up, and then the newest will be out on Thursday (two blocks each week).   I already have my ArtBin case all prepared for this project :)  This is officially my first project of 2016!

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Cake Auction

Tonight is the Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner and with that we started adding the cake auction instead of an actual auction that was done in years' past.  The regular silent auction took a lot more time than what the benefits would show.  When our pack merged with another, we added their tradition of the cake auction a few years ago and it has been popular.  I wasn't planning to take part in it this year, but decided to go ahead and do it yesterday.  Darrin had a half day at school, so we baked a Mississippi Mud Cake (from my grandma's recipes, but I see it online all over now).  Browsing pinterest, I saw this idea and went with it.  The best part?  No need for globs of frosting!



Our sandy dirt is ground up Girl Scout Trefoils because our graham crackers have a nasty flavor to them.  Did anyone know that they really taste gross when they are beyond their best buy date?  The smell from the packaging alone might be the worst part.  I am wondering if packaging plays a role because I had a sleeve of Saltine crackers end up with that same chemically pungent smell.  Anyway...


Sandy Trefoils and the worm dirt is ground up Oreos.  We went to Big 5 and picked out some bobbers and fishing lures.  Overall it was a fun project to do with Darrin, and he did at least half of the work (he told me to make sure that I don't take full credit for the creation--I told him of course not!  I was thrilled he wanted to make it!).

This is how I will feel after tonight if we end up with cake....
I will need a belly lift :)

Millennial Quilt Top

I finally put together the 2000 squares that were to become my Y2k aka Millennial Quilt.  In 1998/99, many swaps were going on in various email and BB groups to trade fabrics to create a Y2K quilt.  I think I participated in one or two, but the majority of my fabrics came from my stash, my mom's fabrics, and a couple of manufacturers that started putting together charm packs of fabric lines.  Mr B's from Benartex was one that I liked.  Those fabrics were 2" square, so I decided in order to be able to use those fabrics that my squares would be 2".  So my Y2k quilt has 2000 1.5" finished squares.  Because I chose this size, I didn't do too many swaps since the majority were at least 2.5" swapped squares.  Each fabric is a different fabric.  Some have the same design but different colorways.



Right now the quilt is approximately 60x75".  I am planning to add a plain border around all those seams, probably about 3-6" in size.  It was hard taking a picture with my phone (I broke my regular camera!), so just know there are 8 columns of squares on both sides of the 2000.  It is centered--my picture taking skills are not!


Though many of the fabrics aren't the best quality, it was fun to remember some of them as fabrics that were in my mom's stash or others that were inherited from when we moved my grandmother to her assisted living home.  The blue stripe fabric came from Mom, she used that fabric to make me a blouse when I was a teenager!

Adding the 2000 was a last minute thing.  I was nearly halfway through sewing the top when I had an "I wonder if this would work" moment.  If I was planning better, I wouldn't have used the light fabrics all the way to the edges of those 9 rows.  I think it would have been better if it was more of an oval vignette to showcase the year.  But it doesn't bother me enough to remove the fabrics, so it stays.



So next time I post about this quilt, hopefully it will be when it's ready to put in the "DONE" pile :)  When I explained to Kevin why this was a Y2K quilt (both for the year 2000, but also for the 2000 fabrics), his response was... "so we do have a quilt shop in this house?".  No comment!

Hippy Circles: a Finish

Yah! UFO #5 on my list is complete.  I was thinking about gifting it to a friend's daughter, but it is really more of a baby/crib sized quilt.  I will likely hang on to it until the time hits me to gift (likely to a young child/baby).


I started this quilt just to play around with circles, I actually enjoy curved piecing.  I really love the prints and the Cherrywood hand dye solids.  If I hadn't run out of the fabrics I would have made the top larger with the drunkards path blocks.  I considered other fabrics that I had at the time, but nothing really worked.  Either I needed to start another border pattern or end it.  Since this quilt has sat in my ufo bin for years (2008!), I wanted to finish it up... plus it's a fun quilt to look at.


I ran out of my variegated red/yellow and two other spools of red threads in the process, at least I used it up!  It feels good to use up fabrics and threads rather than just watching them sit.


This is one of my Finish-a-Long Goals.  On to my next finish!

Newly added to the fleet...

I haven't tested it yet, but unpacking it... I held my breath.  I decided to look for a new featherweight (I came up with all sorts of reasons to rationalize my purchase) and found one on ebay.  I made a "best offer" and it was accepted.  I halfway thought about sending a link on how to pack it to ship, but I didn't.  I received it today via fed ex, and when I saw the outer box was the same size as the machine case, I think I verbally uttered "oh no....".



Do you believe that shipping companies read and follow these words on packages?  No....

The handle... :( To think my box cutter could have easily sliced into it.




This box was was created around the case.


And inside....


The spool pin is visible with a single layer of bubble wrap, you can see where it has gouged the case (may or may not have been from this shipment):


There was more bubble wrap surrounding the case than inside! That is it!


I am SO VERY LUCKY that the spool pin was not broken or bent.  I am not even sure how that didn't happen.  The machine's case is a newer 1950's type 5 style not original with this machine.  I also think the attachments are from other machines and not original (one is a blackside attachment).  I glanced at the motor and found it was black with gunk, so it is going to take a bit of time to get her back in working condition.




Overall it is a pretty 1940 model.  There is some mold within the case, so I am not sure if I am going to just ditch it altogether and get a new one or keep it.  I need to find somewhere to put it for now (and not in my sewing room).  I already have a new felt drip liner, new LED bulb, and a couple of other items for it.  I just need to do a spa day on it and evaluate.

Another ufo bites the dust!

#8 WASIQ quilt group first swap from 1998 is now complete!  This one is a part of my Finish-a-Long goals as well.  It feels good to mark another long-waiting quilt to be finished.  This was started so long ago and I would pull it out occasionally just to see if I was ready to quilt it.  Because the sashing isn't really perfect, I would put it back... but I decided this was the year for it to be checked off in the "DONE" column.  The quilting isn't perfect, but this was an example of "passion over perfection".

Washington State Internet Quilters swap #1, 1998:


Can you see the WSU logo and GO COUGS? The quilting is all there, but blowing up the image distorted it a bit.  And btw... I was thinking about this, if kids aren't taught cursive then how will our future quilters be able to do freemotion words?  Or what about cake decorators?  Cursive is the way!


Lots of fun stuff going on; slugs, bears, goldfinch, etc:


Farming, fishing, ferry....


Around 2000 I finished up a quilt from the 2nd WASIQ swap to create a crib quilt for my now-15yo. And to think that I still have so many more blocks left to make more WASIQ swap quilts!


I'm happy to be finished.  Today I worked on the binding while watching season 2 of Broadchurch.  If you like detective/mysteries, this was a good one.  There are just two seasons, and the ending was satisfying.  Seeing David Tennant in his role was great too.  The twists and turns!  Netflix, and get comfy :)

Hexie Love

If I could put a heartshape in the o of "love", I would :)  Last night the youngest had a birthday party to attend at a trampoline place.  It was a rainy night and it was during rush hour. I decided that instead of dropping off and going back home, that I would just hang out in the "lounge" area and prep some hexies.  I was able to baste a little more than 30 in 2hrs, perfect!  I answered curious questions, and maybe some of those with questions might just give English paper piecing a try.  After I got home last night I pieced together the other half of the second row and today I put it together.


Just some hexie facts as we go:
1. The even rows will have 86 background hexies in each.
2. The odd rows will have 66 background hexies in each.
3. For now, with just one outside hexie row on each side of the quilt (I might do two rows) the count is 49 hexies in a row.
4. 75 flowers with 19 hexies in each.

Background count: 1,116 (unless I do a second outside row, then add 100 more)
Flower hexie count: 1,425
Total: 2,541
Along with basting (I sew-baste, not glue), it is over 800hrs of piecing, and likely much more.

I am undecided if I want to do another color ring around the whole quilt when I am done, but for now, I am focusing on just putting everything together.


I'm hoping as the rows go along that I won't mind the large grey areas in the even rows.  I'd hate to have to rip them out, but at least each corner is knotted so I won't have a huge problem of unraveling.

The values are pretty similar, but there are some dark flowers coming up.  I am surprised when checking out the picture in black and white how the pink reads so light.  Oh well.  As I said before I am done with black right now, and I did not want white.  I am ok with the similar values as this quilt has been a project in patience, emotion, love, and family--15+yrs worth of history all wrapped up together.

Happy weekend everyone!