on a roll

more improv/slab piecing today.
this time in greens and blues.
not so much a work in progress.
but more like play in progress.
hoping i never tire of quilting.
i'm feeling in my groove today.
and enjoying it very much.

scrap therapy

On Saturday I took some time out to just play with scraps. I ended up making this mini mat for my dining room table. I L-O-V-E it!!! Playing with scraps is my very favorite! I really enjoyed the process of hand quilting it as well. Not to mention starting and finishing a project in a single afternoon. It felt so good...so theraputic!

Also, on Saturday, I cracked open my very first pair of gingher scissors. Oh-my-goodness!!!!!!!!!!! What on earth took me so long? They are delightful. Just when I thought playing with scraps couldn't be any more fun......

finish it up Friday, week 16

Welcome to week 16 (!!!) of finish it up Friday! Can you believe we've been at this finishing business for that long already? Doesn't finishing feel SO good???

I finished my largest knit rag rug to date. This was made using gigantic (size 35) knitting needles. It measures  28" wide by 35" long, and it's an inch thick! It literally weighs almost 5 pounds. It's one of my favorite things that I've ever made.

This is the ultimate scrap project. For the fabric, I used skinny strips, strings and selvages that otherwise would have been tossed in the trash. It feels so thrifty and SO good to make a rug out of those seemingly useless leftovers. The rug looks instantly vintage...like something that would have come from Grandma's house. In a good way! :)

The texture is incredible! It massages your feet when you step on it. An added bonus, I get a sneak peek of some of my favorite fabrics in the rug. So much goodness!!

I worked on this rug off and on for about 2 1/2 months. I only remember that because I got a fresh batch of selvages from Jennifer at the quilt retreat last November and I started it after that. :) Thanks so much, Jen! This is one of those projects that is nice to have going at all times...which means I think it's time to start another!

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finish for the week, then go ahead and cheer on some of the other finishers, too. Thank for joining in my linky party! Happy Friday to you!

hailey's pillow

My daughter and I attended our friend Hailey's 5th birthday party this afternoon. I'm always stumped at what to buy/make/give for birthday presents. Once this idea popped in my head I just ran with it. One scrappy patchwork pillow, complete with personalization! It measures about 18" finished and it has an envelope backing, so it washable. I was so thrilled when Hailey opened it up because she immediately hugged it. I think I have a new go-to gift for the next year of birthdays....hip, hip hurray!!! Now my daughter wants one. Come to think of it, I just might want one, too.

edited to add: the squares for the pillow were cut at 3.5" and finish at 3". For the name I first drew guidelines with a water soluable pen and then I free motion quilted it with 50 weight thread on white fabric. I traced over the letters twice to make them a bit more bold.

strings of hope

This quilt was made with the help of a few of my friends.
We started it a few months ago and I finished it up last week.
It will soon be headed to Margaret's Hope Chest.
I hope & pray that it brings someone comfort and HOPE!

It was made from strings from my bottomless scrap basket. :)
It measures 48" x 60".
I've decided that I've never met a scrap quilt I didn't like.
Shocking, isn't it?

Happy Monday to you!

rescuing fabric

In my post yesterday, I mentioned that I have this thing for rescuing fabric. I really do. Boy, was I glad to hear that a few of you do, too! Well, the situation is getting dire. Maybe after my admission here, I'll be on my way to recovery.

These little blocks are a good example. I cut a bunch of my less than appealing fabrics (nothing wrong with any of these, just not my cup of tea) with my Go! Cutter. I sewed them together, randomly, and it looked HORRIBLE. The problem? I didn't add enough pretties to dilute the uglies. So what did I do? Ripped the blocks apart and set them aside for another day, until I have time to start over. Why couldn't I just toss them or pass them along to someone who could use them? They really aren't worth my time and effort.

Especially when I have so many piles....

VERY pretty piles...

of fabric just waiting for my attention.

Each of the piles in the above photo represent a project that Cheryl and I dreamed up/pulled fabrics for back in March when she came to visit. Now, these are what I should be working on!

So, I don't know why I have this need to rescue fabric. Maybe because I like the challenge of making something "meh" into something great? Because I'm frugal? Because it seems like the quilty thing to do? Because I find great satisfaction in using it all, just like our Grandmas would? Because that's just the way I'm wired? Probably a little bit of each...I don't know. But the more I think about it, the more it bugs me! I wonder if there is a 12 step program that I can admit myself to? Or maybe I need to write one. Ha!

a happy accident

I'm trying to resist the urge to start a new project, and it is becoming harder by the day! I did pretty well last week finishing up some quilts, but there is still so much to do. I really let my WIP's get away from me this past winter, but I'm stubborn to the core and I'm not giving up yet.

So, today I pulled out my string scrap bin and tried to divert my attention from all the new projects calling my name. I made a few more of these free formed coin blocks. I have about 20 ideas of how I could use them. And I just stumbled upon a new one.

I received these blocks, shown above, along with a passel of scraps from someone a few years ago. They really aren't my style, but I have this thing where I feel the need to rescue fabric (I could write a whole post or two on that subject!) and apparently quilt blocks, too. I held on to the blocks because figured I would come up with a way to use them somehow, someday.

Well, it finally all clicked. I don't know what prompted me to pair them with my pieced string blocks, but wow-whee! I am smitten!!! What a difference scraps can make! I love stumbling upon happy accidents like this. The only down side is, I'm going to have to make a bazillion more blocks for my other 20 ideas. :)

One more thing! I'm featured over on Cindy's blog today. If you want to read how crazy mom quilts got it's name, click on over.

Happy Monday to you!

my new baby

Last week I got a GO! baby fabric cutter. The main reason I wanted one of these cutters is so I can cut about a million 2 1/2" squares. I LOVE 2 1/2" squares, as you can see here, here, here, here and here. They are a pain to cut individually, but the Go! cutter makes quick work of them.

I've been getting acquainted with my new cutter by cutting down as many of my scraps as I can, starting with the ugly ones. Or should I say, the less than appealing ones. I'm working my way up to the pretty ones. I've made some progress, I'm happy to say. And just in time...my scraps were ready to take over!

Using the Go! cutter is easy....

lay the fabric on the die, making sure to align the grain of the fabric to the angle of the die,

 lay the cutting mat on top (as you can see, it's gotten some use already!)

crank the entire thing through the Go! baby

and almost instantly, the pieces are cut

there isn't a lot of waste....but if you know me, you know I won't toss all that

a few quick snips with a scissors or a few quick slices with the rotary cutter leaves you with tidy scraps

in the bowl they go with like sized pieces to be used for other projects...like triangles!

my kids love to help! if they are around, they always ask to can turn the crank

It folds up and becomes very compact. It's lightweight and portable, too.

The pieces shown were cut using the value die. It has a 2 1/2" square, 2 1/2" half square triangles, and a 4 1/2" square. The triangles are cut with the dog ears already trimmed, which is extremely handy!

Here are two of the little half square triangles sewn together. This little block will finish at 2" square. Oh, my! But then again, I'm not a stranger to insane scrap projects. I rather like them. :)

pillows

I finished the triangle pillow! And I LOVE IT! The tutorial for the triangle blocks is here. The inspiration for the pillow is here.

I turned my dresden into a pillow, too. I had to add some patchwork to two of the sides to make it bigger. And then I added a few strips to the two remaining sides to make it (almost) square...and then I had to stop myself. :) I love how they BOTH turned out. I think I need to make a few more!

scrapbusting

Laura J started the scrapbusters challenge 2011 group and if ever I needed a flickr group, this is the one!

Even though there are 101 other things I need to be doing today, I played.

I sewed a bunch of strings together and cut them down to 12.5" x 4.5".

They multiply rather quickly.

This is one possibility for a layout....inspired by the Band Together quilt (scroll down) by Fun Quilts.

I'll definitely need to make some more blocks before I decide for sure. :)

Happy Monday to you!