Progress

When I got started yesterday I thought I would be forever getting everything sorted into colors.  I soon realized that I would get nowhere going through all the bags and pulling out one color and then go through them again and pull out a different color. I am not sure why I even thought to do it that way. I guess I didn't realize just how many mixed up bags I had and how badly they were mixed up. I switched gears after I did that once. I made piles of different colors on my tables and floor and I am amazed that I have all the colors sorted.

This is where I am now. There are 4 - 2.5 gallon bags, 13 - 1 gallon bags, and 2 pint bags. That pile of empty bags that held all of the mixed up colors has 11 zip lock bags, either gallon or pint size, 2 quilt batting bags, 5 plastic grocery bags and a couple of quilt shop bags.

Beside the scraps sorted by colors there is one bag of fusible pieces. I also found many 2.5 inch squares in a small bag (I might throw those away), some scraps that are sewed together (they look like starters for "made fabric"), lots of 4 patches, many half square triangles, pieces of strip sets, and a bunch of folded prairie points.

My next step will be to go through each color bag or bags and sort out smaller pieces from larger pieces and of course there will be scraps for the  dog bed donation.

I won't say that this is never going to happen again but I hope that I have learned my lesson from this mess. I will remember how easy it was to forget to go back and sort the scraps, at the end of a project,

once everything was out of sight. At least I hope I will remember, my memory is not what it used to be.

Taming the Scraps

I have decided to tackle my laundry basket of scraps. At one time it was well organized and easy for me to get everything out and organized for sewing. Not too long ago I was looking through what I have and realized that it is a mess. Over time I cleaned up in a hurry and shoved what I had left over for the scrap bags into a plastic bag. I meant to go back and sort it all out into colors when I had time. Right now I have more unsorted bags (10 bags) than bags that are sorted by color.  So I am taking time out from sewing and I am going to put this in order.

The laundry basket is 16 inches across at the top and 17 inches high. Here is oneshot  from the side and one from the top. You can see that the basket is over stuffed.










 This next photo is a few of the bags opened to show what is inside, all colors, unsorted. I have started by making piles of scraps by colors as I go through the unsorted bags. I will probable do some sorting by size after I get the color sorting finished.









This is a reason that I have decided to get this  done now. My grandson's wife wants to learn to quilt and she wants to use my scraps. She is going to make a Disappearing Nine Patch.  She is a very accomplished busy young woman, working full time as an ER nurse and going to school. This quilt will take some time but little by little I am pretty sure she will see it through. 

Jenna working on and showing off her first block.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

February is a pretty easy month for decorating my sewing room. I seem to have a lot of hearts.

This is the narrow design board on the wall adjacent to my bigger design wall. 

The red heart "log cabin in the round" quilt is about 15 inches square and has, at the center, a little house square that Beth Shibley sent to everyone the first time I participated in her Neighborhood Block Party.

The 2 black and white "broken hearts" are my 2 different ways to interpret Zentangle inspired hearts. One in patterned fabric and the other drawn on cloth with a Pigma pen and quilted with black thread. I used the same heart shape for both.

The pink square was drawn with a red pen and quilted on the lines with red thread. I'm not sure why I used pink fabric; all I can say is that it was when I was experimenting. 

The 3 improv patchwork hearts were left over Valentines that "didn't make the cut"when I sent  them to my friends one year.

The Black and white square with the red heart is a participant's square from one of the Basement Divas Annual Jelly Roll Races. It has the signatures from all participants on the back.

 This little 12 inch square is another zentangle inspired heart that I drew and then copied  on my all in one  HP printer/scanner and changed the color in my photo program and then printed on fabric and stitched with blue thread. I'm not sure if I made it blue to use with the yellow and blue fabric or if  used the yellow and blue fabric  to go with the blue heart.









I made this 36 inch square color wash heart along time ago when I made a lot of color wash quilts. I used to hang it in the living room from January until Memorial Day when I changed out all my quilts for red, white and blue until Labor Day. For 3 years, I didn't have an available wall to hang it. Since our last move it hangs over our bed, where it  compliments the colors in the bedspread and quilt on the bed and the curtains.
I didn't plan it that way and it was only after I hung the quilt that I realized how good it all looked together.

I took all  these photos with my new camera that arrived on Monday. It is  supposed to have an image stabilization feature for people with shaky hands. I'm not sure how well that works or it it is something for which I have a setting. I will have to spend some time with the manual. I am just happy to have a camera that takes a picture when I push the button.

A Flimsy and Some Hearts

 I finished adding the borders for this quilt early this week but my camera was not cooperating and then I moved all my furniture back to it's non quilting position and I can't get to my design wall. However, I found a way by pinning along the top of the flimsy to the edge of a foam panel and then laid the panel flat on top of my bookcase.  For some reason my camera has been working most of the time again so I did get a shot of the flimsy. (I think my camera is working now because I ordered a new one yesterday from Amazon.) The sashing and border fabric was given to me for the back of a quilt that I was given by my friend Lynn. I admired a flimsy she was showing at the Basement Diva meeting and she gave it to me. I had already layered the top with something else when she gave me the border fabric so I hung on to the fabric for this one. Thank you Lynn, that is two quilts now that I love.

After I moved all my furniture and put all the things away from the fancy Forest quilt I got out my box of Valentine fabric. I made these 4 hearts yesterday and today. I may use them for a new February table runner. I pieced them on a paper foundation just so I would get them all close to the same size. This is not like paper piecing for precision for a specific pattern. Although I did finally learn to do that after my friend Kathy taught me how to paper piece.  She gave me a lesson so I could make a migrating geese wall hanging  you can read about it here.

I have good friends. I need to see them more often.

Another January Finish

So my big list for January has 2 sets of finished Hexie potholders. I found the 4 pieced fronts when I was putting things away after finishing the Fancy Forest and Drag Around quilts. The colorful stripe from the back and borders from those 2 quilts was still laying on my cutting table and I decided to use it for the potholder backs. The one showing the back is like the purple and yellow one next to it. I have been using my Christmas potholders so I was  ready for something new.











The Fancy forest shown here did get a binding; I used the colorful stripe. I had just finished the binding and clipped off any hanging threads and had gone over it with a lint roller when  my daughter called and wanted to pick it up on her way home from work. My camera would not cooperate so no pic with the binding.

Fancy Forest

Drag around