Closer to a FInish

I got a bee in my bonnet about finishing This And That, and sewed steadily on the blocks, sure that I would have units left over. Imagine my horror then, to find I actually need another 5 units. It felt like making those 10 extra HSTs would take forever and I would never get it done. 

Once I put the histrionics to one side it actually took less than half an hour, and I could then sew them into the required blocks and get them on the design wall.

It took a whole evening to sew the blocks into a top. There was much nesting of seams and pinning, but I really enjoyed it.

Because the unit and then the block seams were twirled, every seam nested perfectly, and it was a pleasure to pin and sew. Even if one piece was a little long or short, I could contain that within a 2" area, so the whole thing is flat as a tack. It was very satisfying. As far as choosing borders for it, that wasn't so pleasant; it was a struggle to find something acceptable, but I won that little battle after a few hours.

What have I been doing since then? Sewing on this bright project. I had a mild memory problem calling it Arkansas Traveller, which of course is an applique sampler quilt from the 1800s.  It's actually an Arkansas Crossroads, which I suddenly remembered while I was cooking dinner one night. It's very strange how minds work sometimes.

This will only be a single bed quilt, because I just want to use the leftovers from those bright strips; I don't want to cut a whole heap for this and then have to plan another quilt to use up the excess. What is on the design wall is half of what I need; I think another few nights will see this done and the box of squares emptied out.

I've been playing with another scrap design from Americana Quilting.  I have a box of blue and green scraps from a Bargello quilt and a Many Trips Around The World that I made probably a decade ago.

I knew I had more, and then Mereth unearthed another box of them from the scrap containers.

 Yep, that's a lot. They've been cluttering up the place since 2015, and I was close to putting them all in the bin, but I saw this video first. 

I made sample blocks, and I think it will be a wonderful way to get rid of these entirely. The blocks are a lot of fun to make, and I'm keen to get sewing on them.  I love how the internet can supply all these inspirations that are a solution at last to long term scrap problems. But it would have been a lot quicker to bin the lot of them......

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A Bit of This and That

I'm stalled on this Fox and Geese top.  First up, I sewed a row in the middle backwards, so my carefully arrangement of fabrics and colours went out the window. I did contemplate un-pulling 2 long seams, but I was too miffed to do it. I was so cranky that I hung it on a rack and didn't look at it for two weeks. I guess I shouldn't concentrate on speed above accuracy, but it was late at night and I was determined to get it in one piece.  Well I did, but I wasn't happy.

I've decided that it doesn't really matter, and that I should just put borders on it and call it done. But now the top is being bolshie, and refuses to tell me exactly what it wants.  A big sprigged  cream floral such as the left strip, or a warmer, denser floral like the right strip. I've tried everything I can think of in my stash, and it won't give me a yes or no. It can go back on the rack and think about it's attitude.

When I started to feel better in the early days of this cold I decided I just needed something easy and mindless to sew, and the kitted This and That blocks fit the bill.  

I sewed like a machine, 48 quadrants in one night, and the final count the next afternoon was 72, That's enough for 18 blocks, which is most of what I need. I'm aiming for 56 blocks, and later today I will do a count of what I have and finish the remaining kitted pieces. This is yet another example of a leader-ender fail; I always get to a certain point with them and then it becomes the primary project. But at least it will mean a free project box, which is very welcome.

Incidentally, I found this unit in Blockbase.

No 1326, Cotton Reels. Not seeing it myself, but that's what it says.

My prolonged cutting extravaganza of 2.5 and 4.5" strips produced a flurry of blocks, 50 Square Within a Square blocks, 48 Happy blocks and the blue top in the last post.  This is all that's left of that huge pile of strips.

Not very much. I ended up with a lot of 2.5" squares from the ends of strips, and I'm toying with the idea of an Arkansas Traveller in those brighter colours.

Of course I modified it a bit, and working out the changes kept me interested, and it will definitely become a project. I feel like I need to cut a heap more strips though, so that might happen in the next few days.

It's trying to become Autumn here, but our days are still very warm. I decided it was time to harvest some jalopenos and capsicums.

There are loads more jalopenos on the bushes, but I think the capsicums are over. Considering the bushes are 3 years old I think they've done well. I plan to pull them out and plant anew next year.  My tomatoes struggle on, with about 35 small fruits, but their days are numbered.  Then I can think of planting a few winter things like spinach and snap peas.  It's only a few pots, but it keeps me interested.

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Plague Edition

 Ach, I have a doozy of a cold, flat out misery making.  The last 2 days have been horrible, I slept for long stretches and tried to give myself time to recover. I feel marginally better today, all dosed up with cold medication and stuff for my headache. This is the first time since 2020 that I have a cold that wasn't passed on from my family. I'm always so careful when I go out, but I attended a lot of appointments last week, without a mask, and some germ moved in.  I will get a batch of chicken soup in the IntantPot and that will help I'm sure.

What were some of these appointments? For a start there was a sale at a sewing shop featuring $5 a metre fabric.  Most of the cheap fabrics were panels, and even at that price not a lot of people were interested. Mereth and I certainly weren't, so most of what we bought was $9 a metre.

You can't ever have too many blues or greens.

These are cheerful colours, very welcome, but I wish I'd bought more of that map fabric. Sometimes being sensible is regrettable. 

 I kept within my budget, buying mostly half metres of useful blenders, but there were 2 Martha Negley fabrics that I grabbed. 

Such beautiful colours and patterns.

 I really want to make a Mathemagical quilt, using my Kaffes and other splashy bright fabrics. but I don't have very many now. I need 12 FQs, and I would be scratching to come up with that many, so these gorgeous fabrics will fill the gaps.  I absolutely do not want to walk into a quilt shop and buy more Kaffe FQs, after working to get them out of my stash.

There was also a trip back to the closing sale of a craft shop, because he's now offering a 40% discount.  He's a bit pricey, so such a big discount still leaves some things not cheap enough, We went for widebacks, scissors, some magnifying aids and some spinning supplies.  

Next month, the discount goes to 50% off, so I will have a look at more spinning stuff and some cross stitch supplies. 

What else have I been doing? I got the borders on the blue Square within A Square top, and it looks very nice.

 Snowballing all those corners took so much time, but I do like the look of it. I got the idea from a picture on Jo's Country Junction, one of Ray's charity quilts. It's the 4th photo. There are so many ideas out there, and it was a great idea to make a quilt a bit special.

I think that's only my 3rd finish this year, I've been sewing, but not completing much. I made dozens of blocks from my 2.5" strips, but I don't feel compelled to sew them into tops. I need to have a big shake up when I feel better, and decide what to work on next.

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