Field Trips in Fiber - Adventures in quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art.

Modern Crumbs

Around the time I was finishing up the Blogger BOM quilt I actually said out loud at a guild meeting that I would not make any more crumb blocks. Within 2 weeks I was sewing together the feedsack scraps into crumb blocks....as usual!

Modern Crumbs

38 x 48

I took my inspiration from the modern quilts and set my crumb blocks into blocks using old sugar sack fabrics. I had picked up a stack of old sugar sacks from eBay or somewhere and was just waiting for the perfect project.

I love the faded prints from the sacks mixed in with the feed sack blocks.

I quilted this one with parallel straight lines. This is going to be my TV quilt. It's the perfect size to drape over my legs without getting hung up in the ottoman or in the way of whatever project pile I have nearby.

I used Warn and White batting in both quilts so that they would crinkle up nicely in the wash. Both are washed, crinkly and ready to go.

Hijacked by the scraps...again

You know it's an old story with me. I finished my Blogger's BOM quilt top and started clearing up the leftover fabrics and scraps. I woke up 3 days later......

I started by sewing together the small squares, rectangles and strips into crumb blocks. It was only a few weeks ago that I said I was done with crumb blocks but I just can't throw out feedsack fabrics!

I had 20 blocks and first thought I'd make a little baby quilt but then I found a stack of old sugar sacks in my sash and I came up with this.

When finished it will be about 40" x 50". I know it probably looks just dirty to you but I think it's pretty cute with the sugar sack prints spread randomly around it. 

Here you can see some of the prints a little clearer. This one will get some sort of simple quilting like parallel lines.

When I was picking up all of the tiny cut off bits I found one more block on the floor.

So I put it with the leftover sugar sack fabric and made this little round placemat.  This little table is attached to my favorite chair. This is where I watch TV, do applique and eat about half of my meals. I decided that I should have some placemats for this little table and this is my first one. Now when I spill some of my morning smoothie I will only soil the mat.

Finally I took all of the tiny bits and fused them (with Mistyfuse) to an 18" square piece of old fabric. I quilted it all down with diagonal parallel lines. I haven't made anything with this yet but I think it's destined to become postcards or notecards.

The feedsack projects are officially done for the time being!

Why is it that these scrap projects excite me more than a brand new project?

 

A great start to the weekend!

I love my boss! He called in today and told our admin that we could take the afternoon off! She didn't argue and I got a jump start on my sewing weekend. I finished my QFAH Star blocks so I am caught up on Judy's instructions. I even got my Doubles quilt top together. Based on your comments I used layout A. In the end I chose to continue with the original border plan.I can tell you that it looks much better than the photo. The outer border has more blue and brown than what shows in the photo.

This quilt is from the book Quilts on the Double. You cut out two quilts at once. It's a terrific technique and I will make others. My Mom is making the matching quilt to this one but she's been so busy killing snakes that I don't think she is done with hers!

It's time to review last week's list and make a new one! Here are last week's goals:

• Make a new batch of soap with hemp butter done! I made Hemp and Shea Butter
• Quilt Kim's quilt. I got it loaded Sunday and started the quilting and I like how it looks so far - not done
• Start Judy's Quilt for an Hour project. This will also include a trip to Quilting Adventures to take advantage of the batik sale. My QFAH will be made from bright batik fabrics and I need one more. Besides I think I deserve a present for my great week at work! LOL!  I'm up to date on this
• Finish my samples for my machine quilting class - uh, not done
• Work on my QOV project. The top is done!

Tomorrow a friend is coming to visit and learn to make fabric postcards. That should take about 10 minutes so we might have to go to the fabric shop for a while! My other goals are:

• Quilt Kim's quilt
• Make the backing for the Doubles QOV quilt, I think I have something in my stash that will work. If not, I will dye a backing once my dye studio is back together. More on that later....
• Finish my samples for my machine quilting class
• Make postcards for 2 swaps and for all of the May birthdays that I missed

That should keep me pretty busy! Chris is going fishing Sunday and has a friend coming in to fish with him Monday and then he's going to a cookout Monday afternoon (it's outdoors so I can't go). That means that I will have lots of quality sewing time!

Quilting Progress

I made some progress on both of my QOV quilts! Thanks for all of the feedback on the "On the Double" quilt. It's nice to have some many people close by to help out with a different view. I talked to Mom and she does not have the two pieces that I am missing so we must not have made enough. The first thing I did was to make up more brown pieces so I could finish that one block. Mom, yours are going out in the mail tomorrow. The second thing I decided is that I do agree with the majority of the coments that those borders are not optimal but I'm going to go with them anyway. I already have them cut and it is a charity quilt - not for show. I think it will still be a pretty quilt and I will have learned another lesson. Lessons are good!

I organized the blocks in 4 different layouts. Do you have an opinion? Well, I know you have opinions! Do you want to share yours? I labeled each sample in the lower left corner.

I also made some progress on my QFAH quilt.  I'm probably about a half hour behind. I think I should have finished all of my star points tonight but I have 6 sets left to make. I did construct 1 star to make sure I had cut everything right. These star point fabrics are from a big set of hand-dyed fabrics that I bought when Lunn Studios were going out of the dyeing business. Now they design some really awesome batik fabrics. I have used these fabrics a lot and I love them. I think they are fantastic for these star points.

Typepad had given us a new and improved editing interface. I think I'm going to like ot a lot but it's going to take a little adjustment! 

Story for the day: I am terrified of snakes and had to kill one in my house about a year and a half ago. I was a mess. I called my Mama panicked (Chris was half way across the country) and drank about half a bottle of scotch before I got up the nerve to kill it. To make my humiliation worse, the snake was little. My Mom (and everyone else I know) loves to remind me of it. Today Mom killed the first snake at her new house - she has pointed out before that she killed a rattlesnake with a piece of glass once. Today she sent me this email:

Killed my first snake.  It was a black snake about 2-3 ft long.  I was planting Begonias around the light post and this soil is such you dig out a hold and replace it with good soil.  I was taking it around back to throw over the hill and noticed something hanging out of the top of the propane tank.  I had just cleaned it out. Wrens try to build nest and just make a mess.  I sprayed it with 409 and it fell out of the top behind the tank.  I got the Deer repellent made it come out so I could use the hoe and shovel.  Dee held it down with the hoe and I hacked it with the shovel.
I knew you would want to hear all about this adventure.

Lesson #1: Do not mess with my Mother or you will get a squirt of 409 in your face and your head chopped off.

Lesson #2: Never show Mom your weakness, she will never let you forget it!

My family is so much fun!

 

Weekend update - Quilt For an Hour

I  had grand plans for the weekend to cut out the new Quilt For An Hour project and to get most of Kim's quilt quilted. Things aren't going to plan. I've been very tired all weekend and finally realized that I have a cold or something. It's taken all weekend to get the QFAH cut out. You can see that I chose a bright palette. The pink will be the border. It's a piece that I dyed. I was trying for a true red - it's not but it works well with the print batik. I think I will like this one but as I said earlier, it still risks being obnoxious. Regardless, it's going to be a nice counter point to the brown and blue QOV that I cut out two weekends ago. Fortunately I will piece noth of them with medium gray thread. I'll probably alternate an hour at a time on each just to keep myself interested.

So, that's it. That's all I've accomplished this weekend and now I need a nap!