Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!! Today, I'm here to share the package I received over the weekend. Hooray for happy mail! Of course, it took some time for the contents to be revealed, but here is a preview:
First the package spent some time in quarantine with the rest of the mail (barely visible at the top of the photo.) Social distancing, you know?! After decontamination, it was ready for processing:
Here's the story... Cynthia @ Quilting is more fun than Housework recently hosted her semiannual Quilty Orphan Adoption. A number of people (excluding my totally slacker self!) signed up with some projects and quilt parts to... well... part with. I put my name in the proverbial hat for a few of them. What can I say?! I'm a scrap addict!! SEW, anyway... One of the items that I offered to adopt was from Erin @ My Patchwork Life.
She actually had a bunch of wonderful scrappy bits up for grabs! One of the items that I couldn't resist was this lovely batch of Bonus HSTs: .
Find out more about the provenance of these lovelies HERE. Thank you, Erin, for braving the line at the post office to get that package in the mail!! I am so very excited to have received these new "toys" to play with. I will make every attempt to find a use for your darling little HSTs real soon! For now, I will sort through them...
... And see if I can come up with a design. So far, all I've got is pretty much a hot mess:
I feel certain that something will come to me. Soon enough. :o)) Until next time... Adopt a project!!!
Welcome to another edition of Sew Some Love Sunday!!! This week, I'm here to share the quilt currently on the frame. Earlier in the week, I chose a backing, prepared that and batting for this quilt:
It's for Mercyful Quilts.I had heard of the program, but have never contributed. Bernie at Needle and Foot Fine Fabrics has expressed an ongoing need for comfort quilts @ Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California. We recently had an email conversation regarding specifics of the program. Here is (my take away from) what she said: Quilts are made for patients who are end of life at the hospital. These quilts are used only for adults. Juvenile fabrics would NOT be appropriate! Quilts of Valor are extra special and are SEW appreciated. NEW quilts only! The hospital does not allow gently used items. Due to patient sensitivity, make sure there is no smoke smell. Gender neutral color schemes are helpful, but not required. Does (quilt) size matter, Joyful?? According to Bernie, there are no hard and fast rules. Your Mercyful Quilt should be lap sized. At that response, I asked for clarification. I knew that some of my readers would want a ballpark size range. For me, I didn't want to send something Mercy couldn't use. Worse yet, I didn't want you to NOT send something because my instructions were too vague!! Specific guidelines, please, Joyful... Your quilt should be: No smaller than 45" in width No longer than 70" in length Anything within (or close to) those parameters will work. What about your quilt, Joyful??? Later in the week, I loaded all the parts and the quilt was ready:
As luck would have it... My quilt was PERFECT for this cause. I was a little worried once I had decided what I wanted to do with the quilt. I couldn't recall what the size was. I needn't have been concerned. It came in at 55" x 69" when I measured the completed quilt top. Whew! Where shall I send my quilt, Joyful?? Contact Bernie at needleandfoot@gmail.comfor mailing instructions. She would be thrilled if YOU want to make a Mercyful Quilt, too!! Meanwhile... This afternoon, I wound five bobbins and I'm ready to roll:
This quilt will be my contribution to Hands2Help 2020. I am SEW pleased that my "Ella" Quilt fits the needs of a participating charity for this event. (My friend Ella will be grateful the "kit" that I put together using her fabric is going to such a worthy cause.)
Welcome to Week 13 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!! Believe it or not... This week was filled with productivity in TEAL. Let's see how I spent my time... SUNDAY - Today, I revealed my final entry for Season 11 of Project QUILTING. Here is a preview, in case you happened to have missed that post:
Sarah announced the Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge 2020 over on Confessions of a Fabric Addict. I signed up BEFORE the official start, but YOU can head over to sign-up now. There are five (now six) different organizations scheduled to receive the quilts made this year. You can choose the ones that best match the type of quilts you like to make. Guidelines for each charity can be found at the link above. (While encouraged to choose from the participating charities,) Quilters are free to donate to an organization close to home, in the event that they need to save on postage or they may donate to an organization close to their heart, as there are only SEW many hours in the day to make the quilts we want to make. MONDAY - I am happy to announce that Maggie's scrap bag mug rug has been completed. I finished this little beauty last night:
Here's another look at it in the light of day:
The backing was compliments of (one of) Ella and Barry's recent (or not so recent) scrap haul(s.) Want to hear the best news?? I even remembered to attach one of my labels to the back:
I attacked this pile of fabric...
... And made these two blocks using some light TEAL scraps...
... In advance of tomorrow's blog post. What fun! I also released a new Sew Some Love Sunday post. What?!?! It's just a LITTLE bit late. :P TUESDAY - This morning, I released a new Tutorial Tuesday post. (It may be the 1st actual tutorial here on the blog.) Special thanks to my friend Tiffany for providing the content!! You won't want to miss the super quick quilt:
Once that was done... Permission to play!! That's what I gave myself with another set from a darker shade of TEAL:
Before settling down to... This pile of scraps (and about 10 others just like it!) arrived on Friday when delivering Ruth S's quilt. I sorted these out (over the weekend) for a project to keep me busy during the last week of TEAL month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Now seems like a good time to decide what to make:
I picked out a few sets of fabric to have a little TEAL fun:
WEDNESDAY - Last night I finished up this Mug Rug made from the scraps from Table Topper that Ruth S. made for the (theoretically) upcoming SECU Family House Volunteer event...
I recently saw a post (sorry! can't find it now.) of a quilter who uses Allison at Cluck, Cluck, Sew's tutorial for applying her binding to the front of the quilt...
... And machine stitching it down on the back. This is directly OPPOSITE of how I normally do my binding application. My review of the method... By using a wider strip of fabric than my norm, this method made for nice crisp corners. (That may have been true of my usual method, too.) I do LIKE the lack of a stitching line on the front edge of the quilt, as it looks more like a hand finished quilt. However, I (personally) am NOT fond of the line of stitches this makes around the perimeter of the quilt. I do LIKE the clean finish the method gives the back of my quilt:
The takeaway... I'm really glad I tried Allison's tutorial. The BACK of my quilt looks phenomenal!! (It may take some practice to get the FRONT of the quilt to look as good.) Would you try it, again, Joyful??? You bet! That being said, I think I will use my "old standby" technique with a wider binding strip next time just to see how that compares (to what I usually do.) Next up... I have been in need of a laptop case for my new(ish) computer. It's just thatmuch too big for the case from the old one. Enter MORE scraps in (a very light shade of) TEAL from last week's gifted scraps. This time, a lone Four Patch block. Just ignore the fact that it's been sliced:
Once sliced, I rearranged the pieces:
Try to ignore the fact that the resulting Disappearing 4 Patch could benefit from another date with my handy dandy iron:
Hmm... what to do next? Let's go back to the TEAL scrap pile and see what pieces and parts might work:
Additional progress will occur AFTER some time is spent on more pressing projects. You know the ones I'm thinking of, don't you? The ones with actual deadlines!! Sigh... To that end, I prepared the backing fabric chosen for the next quilt to be longarmed. And, LOOK!! There's TEAL in that project, too:
The top is currently 55 x 69. Perfect for Mercyful Quilts! This will be my first H2H quilt for this year's drive. THURSDAY - This morning, I attended my first Weekly Quilt Group meeting in quite a few weeks. No!! We didn't meet face to face. We met on Zoom. This was the 2nd week for our Virtual Bee, but I just didn't have it in me to attend last week's meeting. :o(( After the meeting, members will email or text project photos for inclusion in an upcoming post on our group blog. I have volunteered to write up those posts to give the regular CCLQ editor a break. I've actually already started this week's post! :o)) I had planned to share this photo of my new project:
I ended up sharing the three little projects that you've already seen. The other thing I did this morning was release the first post in a new blog series. If you are interested in what my life is like in the time of "Social Distancing", here is a link to the first edition of Quarantine Chronicles. Some of the information overlaps and other bits are Corona-cation specific. I decided that keeping things a bit separate felt better to me than clogging up every post with the sordid details of life specific to the pandemic. FRIDAY - My new mini quilt from the other day found a home! It is serving as my "kitchen quilt"... Until we get April's color announcement from Angela next week. It is doing a brilliant job of filling the room with cheer:
I got the big board out for another project this afternoon, then I pressed the next set of TEAL blocks for my niece's wedding quilt...
Since the big board was still out, this evening I pressed the remaining fabric for my Magic Star quilt:
SATURDAY - It's LINK PARTY day for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over on Angela's So Scrappy blog. If you like shades of TEAL, you won't want to miss it! Since it's the last Saturday of the month, there will probably be some fabulous wrap-up posts. After linking-up with the RSC Quilters, I'm going to go sew the 4 additional sets of TEAL/purple Magic Star block parts that I cut after dinner last night:
For anyone who might be wondering what the Gallery Wire looks like this month:
And from the other side of the lamp, these:
This one from Libby @ Hillside Quilter is the first one that I see when I turn on the studio lights:
Wave at the top due to the wire, NOT due to Libby's binding!!!
Welcome to the new Quarantine Chronicles series here on my blog!! It's my response to our current global health crisis. Rest assured, the series is one that I really wish didn't exist! Knowing that I couldn't cope with a daily post... Corona-cation. Week One. I mentioned in Week 12's RSC post that I had come home for the duration. I expect to use my time wisely. Sewing (and writing up blog posts) throughout this ordeal. That was Thursday, March 19th. On Day ONE... Read the news, first thing. The pandemic has made it to small town America. My county has its first 4 reported cases of corona virus. :o((
Removed client quilt from the longarm. Trimmed up next set of blocks for my niece's wedding quilt:
Moved forward with this week's Project QUILTING challenge Prepared to load my B9P:
It was a very good day!! Until... I realized that I was missing the corners:
They weren't anywhere to be found. The bag they were in was switched for another project and I haven't found the pieces yet. :o(( Even so... At the end of the day, I felt SEW good about my accomplishments for the day. Yay!! I guess I'll just have to choose another UFO to load on the frame. These were the events of the day, as reported to my friend Libby @ Hillside Quilter (on the morning after.) Day TWO, Friday, March 20th... I made a list (to share with my friend Kathy @ Kathy's Quilting Blog.) Apparently, list making doesn't work for me. It became me vs. the list (and the list laughed at me!!) Here it is, anyway: Turn the studio upside down looking for missing corners of my Blooming 9 Patch quilt. (No luck!) Choose and post some Quilty Orphan Adoption projects/fabric/tools. (Didn't happen.) Make additional progress on niece's wedding quilt. (Nope!) Deliver client quilt that came off the rails yesterday. CHECK!! ??? (This is where I spent the bulk of my day. I wrote up a special blog post of early next week.) Yep! Lists DEFINITELY don't work for me. I think I just trundle along and do the most I can with the time I've been given. Day THREE, Saturday, March 21... Start a blog post to mark the time. (You are HERE!) Open-air meeting for quilt drop-off for longarming. CHECK!
** During that meeting, Deborah delivered my Christmas gift:
It's perfect!! I've been wanting one of these Portable Design Boards for ages, but in typical Joyful Quilter fashion, I never got around to making one. This one measures 10" x 15" and is going to come in SEW handy. Thank you, Deborah!! Decide on binding for a TEAL mug rug:
Apparently, my friend Tiffany and Julierose @ julierosequilts are in cahoots. The squirrels are threatening to overtake the studio!
The fabric for Shakespeare in the Park and the tutorial for Magic Stars merge into a single project idea and poor Kevin, along with (Goodnight) Darlene, gets kicked to the curb. (I had decided to use that fabric for Kevin's upcoming - now potentially canceled - class at my local quilt guild.) Enjoyed a video chat with Needleb in preparation for our next Virtual Quilt Bee meeting. Day FOUR, Sunday, March 22nd...
Bind scrappy TEAL mug rug. Finishing up PQ 11.6 post and link-up with the Persimon Dreams. Visit all of the PQ participants. That will take quite a while, so no other goals will be posted for today. Spent several happy hours (multitasking by) sorting through this tall kitchen bag of fabric scraps from Ruth S.:
Thank you for sharing, Ruth!! That bag was filled with a mountain of usable scraps. I'm already planning my first project! Day FIVE, Monday, March 23rd... Squirrel attack!! The fabric stack is being transformed into blocks:
I'm sure I did more than that, but I guess you'll just have to check this weekend's ScrapHappy Saturday post to see what else happened (other than the obligatory checking emails, texts, and my newsfeed every few minutes. Ugh!) Day SIX, Tuesday, March 24th... Today's COVID-19 report is that there are 11 cases in our county. That's up from our original 4 cases last Thursday. I've gotten smart about this new project and decided to develop a better system! Today, I cut multiple pairs of blocks at one sitting:
Check out the tutorial in THIS post, released on the blog today. Day SEVEN, Wednesday, March 25th... This morning, there was progress on my H2H quilt, as this stack...
... Was pressed and the next sections were added:
... Cut...
Sewn and the resulting blocks were squared up:
After my lunch break, I prepared the back of my next quilt for the longarm. There was only one-quarter yard left on the bolt once my pieces were cut for the backing. With this fabric, I'm actually excited to be using it all up. That bolt has been in my stash for more than 15 years!! During my mid-afternoon snack/tea break, I heard North Carolina's latest stats. Our state reported its first corona virus deaths and the current case count is 504. That's up from 106 cases on Tuesday. It's the 2nd day in a row that the number of cases has jumped by 100 or more. Several cities and towns around us are beginning to issue "shelter-in-place" orders. This is really beginning to feel like some sort of science fiction movie. Although, now it's real life!! SEW... There you have it. Contrary to popular belief, I survived a week with limited outside interaction. I know some of my readers expect me to be climbing the walls (knowing how often I go and do.) Honestly, I'm finding self-isolation to be a refreshing change of pace. Not having to be on alert for the alarm clock's buzz is a definite bonus! With nowhere to be, I've been spending a LOT more time in the studio. I'm thankful for the productivity those extra hours have allowed. I haven't done ALL of the projects that I was hoping to knock out, but I'm well on my way. Until next time... That's it for Week ONE!!
