Sorting scraps......................

There were 2 project boxes full of Kaffe collective scraps plus a pile I had collected in the basement.  This is a 12" x 12" project box opened, with strips in the left side.  On the lid on the right is a bag of scraps large enough to cut 2.5" squares, a bag of tiny scraps, and a bag of scraps with a seam, cut offs from projects.  I have no interest in working with these.  I have too much yardage calling my name right now.  The good news though is that it is sorted and hopefully I can keep the groups separated.

 Last Friday I had shown a group of these magazines with work by Shirley Nilsson and Tuesday this week I found I had a book by Shirley Nilsson in a pile under the workbench.  The magazines will go to recycling but I think I'll keep the book.

I checked the tomato and cucumber plants yesterday afternoon and they definitely needed to be watered.  Storms were predicted but it didn't look too likely we would get the rain.  I decided to wait and see anyway and thunderstorms rolled through starting around 9.  The electricity went off for a few seconds around 10:30.  It was a long line of small storms one after another.  More rain predicted this afternoon.

Thinking ahead.........................

As I was working on cleaning off the last section of the basement workbench, I was thinking ahead to what quilts I want to make in the future.  One of my favorite blocks to make is the Bear Paw.  I looked back through my photos and these are the only ones I could find that I had made.  I thought there were more.  The 2 with Kaffe blocks on the left are just 2 layouts with the same blocks in 3 sizes.  I sewed the bottom one in 2013 and sold that quilt top. I had several of the largest size (14") blocks and a few of the smallest (7") leftover and used them in at least 2 more quilts, one as the center of a medallion, and 3 large and 3 small in an orphan block quilt.  The 2 quilts on the right were donated for raffles.  I could make another batik one easily because I have so many batik scraps.  Maybe I should made a one color quilt next time.  There are so many possibilities and I'll keep thinking about it as I work on the workbench reorganization.

Outside I cut off bottom leaves from several tomato plants.  I planted a few marigold seeds in each of the pots and they are starting to grow.  We had 2.25" of rain on Sunday.  They are predicting more rain Wednesday but we don't need any more this soon. 

A little more................

I misjudged how many day in a row I could stand on the basement floor so I only cleaned 8" more on the workbench surface.  This wood thread holder had a thick layer of dust on it so that was the first job, cleaning it.  When I worked at Quilting Books Unlimited, a man visited our store and showed us these racks that he handmade.  We ordered some and this is the one I bought.  I think the only place I might use it now is near my embroidery machine, and I use that so seldom that this would just become a dust collector again.  It goes into the maybe sell container.

This was next to the thread rack.  It is from my childhood, 1950s, and I think my mother is the one who wanted it.

I remember enjoying listening to the records, 4 of them, 2 sided, so 8 sides to play.  I have a record player but I'm not sure if I have the center thing for these 45s.  Now you can see that it isn't only sewing things on the workbench top.

I didn't take yesterday's 12 squares off the design wall yet, but instead added 5 more that I cut yesterday.

Even though the steroid shots to my SI joints has given me some relief, I'm not pain free, so I continue to work at the pace that I'm able to do.  Good days, lots of progress, other days, a little progress and I always keep moving.

We got over an inch of rain yesterday morning and the severe storms mostly went south of us in the evening.  

 

Quilt trimmed, table piece finished.................

Another quilt is back from my longarm friend Robin.  I got it trimmed yesterday afternoon.

Since I needed to turn on the iron, I also pressed the binding fabric and cut the 7 strips needed.  It is Kaffe's Woodear fabric.

I also cut the binding strips for my Christmas table runner and got it sewn on and since it is for me, I hand finished the binding.  It is 14.75" x 34.5".

I also finished the second dishcloth from this color ball of yarn.  15 dishcloths have left my home since the beginning of November so I'm playing catch up to fill the basket again.

While the iron was on I also pressed this striped flannel for the back of this baby quilt.  It will be the next one I baste to prepare for quilting.

I also chose this pinkish red check flannel for the back of the flannel tumbler baby quilt.  I need to press it and find a piece of batting for this one.

When I was cleaning the area around my dryer (for the repairman) I found this Raggedy Andy outfit.  It was for the first Raggedy Ann or Andy doll that I made, when my son was little (he's 64 now).  The dog we had in the 1970s totally destroyed the doll but didn't hurt the suit.  I'm not sure why I am keeping this other than for nostalgic reasons.

Bowtie quilt finished....................

I finished the quilt top in August 2020 and now, finally, it is a finished quilt.  The fabrics are Kaffe collective.  I used 2 sizes of Bowtie blocks, cut with my die cutter.

The back is another Kaffe fabric.  The binding that was used is the same fabric as a couple of the larger bowties.

It is 61.5" x 76" and has Hobbs 80/20 batting in it.

I was in the basement doing more organizing and found a bag with these pieces in it.  It is a precut Christmas tree skirt with fabrics from the 1980s.  I taught that class so many times.

There are 4 sizes of wedges in each fabric, except one.  The top light fabric is missing the smaller piece.  I think I always thought I was going to find some more of that fabric in my stash and cut the 2 missing pieces.

This is how the pieces line up.  It's too bad no one would want these old fabrics.  It's going to hurt to pitch the pieces into the trash.  (Update: the fabric has been claimed and will be mailed in a couple days.)

Some dear friends stopped by yesterday afternoon so I didn't do any cutting yesterday.  There is plenty of time today to work on that.

Surprise audition................

This is not what I had in mind for the 4 patches I have been making, but I had to try them as a border for this second busy little quilt top.  They definitely work and maybe I just need to use them and scrap my idea for starting another quilt top.  I could add another row of 4 patches on the top and bottom to make it more rectangular.

The early Peonies are coming up.  There is ne group slightly behind the birdbath and another group to the right of it.  There is a patch of jonquils or daffodils in front of the left tree trunk.  There is even a Forsythia bloom in the top right corner, out of focus because it is right outside of the window where I took this photo.

This is the strangest of all of the photos that came from my grandparents' photo collection.  Doing a little research, I think it is a Woodmen (or Foresters) group from around 1905 -1910.

In this closeup you can see they are all holding the handle of an axe.  Using a magnifying glass, I don't recognize my grandpa or his brothers in this photo.  I'm not sure why they had this photo.  Maybe my grandma's brother is in there.  I think he died at a young age so I didn't know him like I knew the 4 sisters (Grandma and 3 great-aunts).

 

Sorting, stitching................

I still had the bin of my parents' photos on the dining room table since the day my cousins visited.  I decided they weren't going to sort themselves so I spent 3 hours yesterday, making some progress.  Most are from my mother's side of the family.  I sorted into piles of 3 generations, my brothers and me, great aunts and uncles and their families, and one pile of "who is this?".  I will need to go back through some of the piles again but for now I can put them back into the bin with labels inserted into each bag.

I got 39 four patches sewn last night and have 13 cut and ready to sew.

I think the snow will stay north of us today but we will get rain and about 45 degrees, another good day to stay inside.

I can see some peonies growing in the back garden and the first sighting of pink in the Redbud trees.  I hope we don't get another freeze.

 

Sunday's doings............................

I started out the day yesterday pressing a big pile of batik strips, usually end cuts from other project cutting.  I will be cutting these into pieces for my colorwash quilts.

Then I was in the basement looking for backings for several table topper pieces.  Photos later.  While down there I saw this book and decided I should donate it to the thrift shop on my next trip.

Look at that date!  50 years ago!  This was one of the few patchwork books available in that time period.  1975 was the beginning of my teaching career, first teaching speed tips for clothing sewing and the following year I began teaching quilting.

We must have had Marjorie as a guild program. I never met the other author.

This book was a valuable tool at the beginning of the quilt revival.

The pattern pieces in the book are without seam allowance.  The book suggests making the template, drawing around it on the wrong side of the fabric, then using a ruler, draw on the 1/4" seam allowance.  We have come a long way since then.

I sewed 14 more sixteen patch blocks last night.  

In the indoor garden I have 4 blooms on this champagne color cactus.

At the other end of this table there is another champagne color cactus with 2 blooms.

I have one more to bloom, one bud on a deep rose plant.

They predicted 67 degrees for today.  Will it happen?

 

What is in the project boxes........

You will have to humor me, I need to have this post to come back to later.  There may be a second post like this.  I'm starting to search through the boxes to see what I have in the parts department.  Box 1 had these 3" batik 9 patches and 4" 16 patches.  There aren't enough to make anything other than table runners at this point.  I'm having discussions with myself on what I want to make more of, and what I will settle as a small project.

Box 2: I made these blocks from the Kaffe yarn dyed woven stripes many years ago.  Again there aren't enough to make a decent size project.  I think maybe I can convince myself to make a few more blocks later this year.

Box 3 has squares and rectangles and assorted scraps of the neutral batiks from which I have made 6 quilts and tops.  I do have a few yardage pieces of these too.  This won't be tackled soon but it is possible I'll make one more quilt with them.

Box 4 has 301 four and a half inch batik 9 patches.  This is 3/4 of a batch of blocks and I have already made one quilt top with the other 1/4.  There are 3 alike of each combination of 99 of them and 4 of one of them.  It is pretty likely I'll do something with these.

I only sewed 24 more of the flannel squares.  Total now, 54 + 58 + 51 + 24.  I still need to cut more light triangles to match up with the rest of the dark triangles.

Northern Texas got more snow that we got here in Northern Illinois yesterday.  They have predicted snow for Sunday and the first forecast was up to 3"; now it is a trace or mixed precipitation.  We have maybe had a total of 4" from 4 storms so far this winter.  Normal would be over 12" by now.

I'm not looking forward to shoveling the sidewalk so I guess I should be celebrating.

Some things I found..................

I did my grocery run yesterday morning and I couldn't settle on doing any one thing the rest of the day.  I started going through things in a bookcase and found these 2 magazines, from 1997 and 1998.  The Beanie Babies at that time were so hard to find because everyone was buying them.  I have given all of my Beanie Babies to the great-grandchildren, a few at a time.  It is so hard to throw pristine magazines into the recycling bin (but I sure don't need these).

Then I was cleaning out a bin on a shelf in my studio and found this box of Kaffe Fassett thread that is too pretty to use.  Pathetic, I know.

Next I was looking through the project boxes in a little shelf unit made especially for the boxes.  I know I started cutting these triangles before May 2011 because that is when I bought my Studio die cutter. From that time on I cut the triangles with a die, and the corners are nipped off the triangles on the die.  These triangles have sharp points so they were rotary cut.  I'm really not interested in this color group any more, rust, purple, green and gold.

Then I decided to open the box of blue and green 6" triangles.  This is the same box the pink (pink/gray quilt) triangles were in.  There were a few squares already sewn, leftover from my pink/blue triangle quilt so I laid out a pinwheel block.

The rest of the blues in the box could be considered light fabrics so I could cut some 6" triangles from dark blues to pair with them and make a quilt top.

I decided to sort through the greens while the box was open and then it was late and time for bed.  Not a wasted day, just a day of miscellaneous.

 

#3 finish for June 2024

It was a beautiful day yesterday with 73 degrees and a 50 dewpoint.  There was even a nice breeze.  Even thought the grass hasn't totally recovered from the dry spell, I mowed it because my neighbors had mowed theirs. 

 

I spent the rest of the day cutting the binding, sewing it on, and hand stitching to finish.  This is the one that was started in 1996.  I pulled it out several times thinking I would finish it but it didn't happen until this year.  This post explains the day I started it.  The method of designing it was in Baker's Dozen Doubled by Mary Ellen Hopkins.

The backing fabric is one of my favorites that is in the quilt top.  I decided it should be the binding too.  It is small, 35" x 41" and after washing it will go in my stack of baby quilts to be gifted.

I'll do my monthly recap tomorrow and also will have some more fabrics in my de-stash sale.  I was too tired last night to write that blog post.

Hard work.................

I can't believe it took me almost all day yesterday to prepare 2 huge backings and cut batting.  Well actually I didn't start until after lunch.  This was the larger of the 2 and the backing pieces were 91" long, to press, seam, and cut the excess backing fabric off.  Then press the seam.  The batting was cut off the roll and then refolded the other direction so I could trim off the excess.  The only good part is my Fitbit thought I was walking as I was flinging my arms to keep moving the backing while ironing it, so I call them bonus steps.

Repeat for quilt number 2.  They will be heading off to my longarm friend since they are large.

Yesterday someone said there were several Wanda Hanson accounts on PayPal and she didn't know which one was me.  That lead me to do an internet search for Wanda S Hanson and see if any other ones came up.  Well, I was in for a surprise.  No there weren't any more but there was one thing in the search that intrigued me, "Vintage handmade quilt Wanda Hanson" so I had to click on it.  It was an Etsy shop and the quilt pictured had already been sold.  Now just in case you are going to look this up, remember there weren't quilt shops in the early 70s so quilts were made from scraps on hand, in my case from making clothing for my daughter and several other people when I was a custom seamstress.  Also, be sure you know the current slang that the young folks are using: the word sick is a high compliment.

When I clicked on it the search title I found photos of the quilt and the review from the person who bought it and a reply from the Etsy shop owner.  Click on the little photo of the jacket under the seller's response and read the whole review (the buyer was so excited!).  The buyer gave the Instagram name for her shop so I was able to read the comments and her replies to her readers about the jacket.  She also made a second jacket and used the red convertible block on it.  (I know some of you don't have Instagram accounts so you won't be able to see her entries.) The seller had purchased the quilt at an estate sale in IL.  I always wonder what happens to the older quilts I made.

One last quilt top for April.............

I am so happy I finally finished this quilt top, started in 1996 while teaching a class.

It is 36" x 42", another one I won't have to piece a back for.  I have enough of the parasol fabric for the back and binding.  I'm glad I kept the fabrics together all of those years.

I rarely make quilts with just 5 fabrics but this one turned out great, those wonderful 1990s fabrics in it.

I have to document those last blooms on the cactus because I'm not sure I have ever had one bloom this late in the spring.  I remember several in mid-April over the years but not one that will still be blooming on May 1.

I spent a lot of time outside yesterday.  After watching the weather forecast I decided it was safe to plant the first garage pot of Coleus.

Next I planted the Pansies in the pot that sits on a small table on my front porch.  The tag on the yellow ones says they are Wave Pansies.  I'll believe it when I see it.  In the center is one little group of purple ones with golden centers.  After they revive a little I'll take a closer photo of them.  This is the pot that the squirrels and chipmunks un-plant.  I need to find some plastic forks to line up all around the edges.

I dug out a Hosta that got sunburned in this spot last year and gave it to my son.  I bought a Coral Bell that that the tag says gets large to put in the hole.

I started preparing the 3 pots that sit on the porch steps but decided I had done enough for one day.  

I'll work on my monthly recap today and post it tomorrow.