Just Scrappin Around!

I am working on my scrappy string basket weave quilt.  As "feeder" blocks or strips, I use my crumbs from the strings sewn onto strips cut from used printer paper. I have a plan for these. I am also making square in a square that finish at 2" for the cornerstones of my crumb strips. These are not my original ideas. I am borrowing from Bonnie Hunter's last quilt cam broadcast.

Here are my cute little square in a square 2 " blocks . . .

 

 and all my crumb triangles. . . Can you see some of the fabrics repeated in each patch?

and my crumb strips. . .

Notice the printed paper? That is actually a health manual that I get every year from my insurance company.  It is about 2 inches thick. You know me, I hate to throw paper away! I cut it down to use for my crumb strips.  I even use letters that come in the mail. They are usually 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  After I finish the project and am stripping the paper away, I save them to use as "kindling" for my wood burning heat stove.

Several people have asked me -- where do I get so many scraps (crumbs) from?  When I cut fabric for my customers I end up with a lot of bags full of scraps!

Here is a picture of the green scraps left from cutting fabric orders.I have several bags of these scraps sorted by color.

This is what the scraps looked like after cutting a hexagon order . . .

 

Can you see the possibilities? There are triangles on the bottom and top; diamonds in the middle and if I cut carefully, I can get a couple of strips from the fold.

Here I am just starting to cut the scraps apart. I usually do this while "listening" to tv with my husband.

One Triangle done!

Here is what I have after I am finished cutting the scrap "sheet" that was left after cutting the hexagons for a customer. Quite a bit of fabric. Isn't it? Combine these with other colors and I get a new quilt, table runner, placemat, pot holder, sewing machine cover, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Of course you have to like working with small pieces, which I do! I guess my grandmother's frugal gene is firmly planted in me.  She made her small pieced quilts out of necessity from old clothing, as did many of our grandmothers and foremothers.  But as a quilter, I couldn't see all this fabric go to waste. My string basket weave quilt, crumb strips and square in a square are all being made from these "scraps"!

If you look at a previous posting about my granddaughter's baby doll quilt, that is made from these scraps too!

Enjoy your quilting . . . scrappy or otherwise!

Aveli

Well Almost Done!

I thought for sure I would finish the pink Irish chain baby quilt for the neighbors great grandbaby today!

But, it seems that although I have finished my hand quilting on the blocks, I can not mark the border for quilting because it is slightly askew!!!

I can't believe that I missed that when mounting the quilt on the frame!  Anyway, I have to fix that before I can finish the binding and I am reconsidering putting any kind of quilting on the border. I so hate ripping things out that I thought were done.  So maybe I can finish tomorrow!  Tonight I am physically finished!  I quilted like a madwoman for the last week and half to get this done and the baby doll quilt too.

I am coming down to the wire to get this done before my daughter arrives next week.  Why do I have to finish it now? Because once my daughter and granddaughter are here we are going to party!  No time for quilting!! Unfortunately!  But she is only going to be here for a week, so I have to make sure every minute is spent with them and enjoying their presence!

Soooo, tomorrow is another great day to quilt!

In the meantime, everyone keep on quilting,

Aveli

Quilting Away on a Baby Quilt Gift

This is the baby quilt I am working on. My dear neighbor's granddaughter-in-law is expecting a girl in September.  She has been so kind and helpful to us since we moved here that I felt compelled to make this baby quilt for the new baby.

 

Here you can see a close up of the hand quilting that I am doing. I am almost done with it.  I will post a picture of it when it is finished.

I have to work on this to get it done before my daughter comes on the 9th so I can fold it up and put it away.  Don't want my little granddaughter getting into it.  But, I also still have to make that little mattress and pillow for the Baby Doll Cradle for my granddaughter.  Hope it all gets done in time.

Meanwhile any other projects or UFO's that I have, including the string basket weave quilt, is on the sideline until after my daughter leaves.

I just heard from my youngest son and he said he will be here when the oldest daughter comes from California!  YAY! Now, if we could only get the youngest daughter to bring her little family also, then we could almost have a complete family reunion.  What fun! 

My youngest son wants to rework the roof on the new storage shed we are building.  We had a severe hailstorm and it ripped up the roofing paper that had just been laid the week before.  That has to be replaced before we can put the propanel aluminum shingles.  Maybe my son-in-law will help a little while they are here.  My husband is not physically able to help anymore since his stroke.

Meanwhile, Keep on Quilting!

Aveli

Baby Doll Quilt Finished!

So Yesterday I finished the baby doll quilt! YAY!

I sewed the backing, which is purple and pink hearts, to the quilt top on the machine. You can see the backing in the picture below. I decided on sewing on the machine because I didn't think I had enough time to hand quilt. After I finished sewing the two layers together I needed to bind it and decided to use the border for binding.

First I trimmed the backing close to the quilt top edge as seen below in the picture.

 Next, I rolled the border back onto the backing and tucked it under itself and pinned. See picture below.
 

 

Here you can see the rolled border from the front -- before and after rolling and pinning.  

 

I hand stitched the binding in the back and that was it! I loved making this little quilt from all my scrap crumbs.(tiny pieces) It really did save a lot of fabric and makes a very nice little quilt for a baby doll for granddaughter! Now that I saw how cute this came out, I think I will use my other scrap strips to make a table topper for the cabin. Although, I wont use white for the sashing, maybe a wine.

Now to get back to the baby quilt that I am hand quilting for my neighbor's granddaughter who is expecting in September. I will post pictures of that quilt some time later this week when I am finished.

Keep on Quilting!

Aveli

A visit from our Youngest

This past week our youngest son has been visiting us while he was on vacation from work.  What a treat!
It is always great to have him come to visit us.  Even though he only lives 3 hours away, it is difficult to get our schedules on the same track.

So the first thing he says when he gets here is that he is going to barbecue.  Even though it wasn't until yesterday that he got an opportunity to do so, it was nice to hear.  He always makes a great meal!

This time he barbecued 2 whole chickens.  They were scrumptious! And today we get to enjoy more of the leftover chicken.  Makes for great sandwiches. . .especially when combined with the indian pueblo bread made by the Santo Domingo indians.  Yum Yum!

Sadly, he had to leave today. He goes back to work tonight. :(

While he was here, I was working on my string quilt. Making the blocks that is.  I started thinking about making a little doll sized quilt for my granddaughter. They are scheduled to visit some time in August, so I bought my granddaughter a small baby doll.  That way she could have a "baby" to play with while she was here.  Now I am thinking she would have more fun if she could wrap the doll in a blanket.  And of course, a simple receiving blanket type would not do. . .it has to be a quilt!!!

So I started sewing the feeder blocks that I make while working on a project.  You know, a little piece of paper with leftover pieces of fabric on it.  I am using strips of 8 1/2" x 2 or 2 1/2".  I mainly want to conserve the amount of trash I throw out so I recycle my printer paper and print on both sides of the paper.  Especially when I am trying out new layouts for my quilts. After printing on both sides, I cut some into fourths for note paper, i.e., grocery lists, notes to self or husband and so forth. Some of the printer paper goes into providing foundation paper for the feeder blocks.  I cut the printer paper in half to make two 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 pieces and then take those pieces and cut them in half again and end up with the 8 1/2 x 2 1/2 strips.

I layed out the feeder strips into a size that would enable my granddaughter to wrap the doll. I didn't like the layout.  So now, I have added white strips between each feeder strip.  It made the blanket larger and looks nicer I think.

I will finish sewing it up and take pictures tomorrow and post them here.