Inchie center

The center of the Lego quilt is put together.  I only have to decide in which rotation to sew these four blocks together.  [One of my blogging friends commented that she calls these little squares "inchies".]  There are a few HSTs and one 9-patch in the mix.

My plan at the moment is to frame this in some shades of gray-- a subtle frame that might go unnoticed for a short while.  I'll have to see if I have the right grays for that plan.  OR I might use a pile of red and white HSTs, left over from a Bonnie Hunter romp, and make the frame out of them.  Not so subtle.  Then the Lego Blocks will go around the outside.

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We accomplished a lot of music learning and eating and fun at the Women's Chorus two day workshop.  Next Saturday there is another workshop in choral singing by a local expert in which we can individually participate;  not using OUR music, of course.  I'll go and see what more I can learn.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Sun twinkling on the frosty grass and leaves this morning
A dog who likes cantaloupe rinds
Tigers beat the Yankees!

I was warned

When I woke this morning I KNEW how to use up more of those pesky 1.5 inch squares that I had created some years ago.  Sew them into "twosies".

The sew those into "4-sies" and then "8-sies", and then "11-sies".

Then sew those strips all together into one big block.

My plan is to make FOUR of these blocks to put in the middle of my LEGO quilt.  That will make a bigger square that is 22 finished inches across.  I can add a one inch sashing [to separate it a little from the Lego squares], and that will bring it up to 24 inches, perfect to match the 12 inch finished Lego blocks.

Here's an imperfect glimpse of what that might look like:

 So with all this construction going on today,  I got NOTHING done about cleaning up my sewing room.  I WAS WARNED by Clare that this Lego business is a huge distraction from cleaning. [Ask her how she knows!]

Sara


Gratitudes:

Grand Rapids Women's Chorus fall workshop tomorrow and Sunday
With Charlie's push out the door I walked for 41 minutes today
SlimFast makes for a quick lunch
Baseball playoffs start tonight, Go Tigers!  Go Cardinals!

"Lego" blocks

Tonya Ricucci of lazygalquilting has a tutorial for making a "Lego" quilt top, and now I have seen several bloggers that are following her lead.  It uses scraps that are 1.5 inch in width, and I have a whole drawer full of those that I need to get rid of!

So I am sewing them end to end until I have about four yards in length.

Then I am sewing the two lengths together along the LONG dimension.

After pressing that seam, I cut the double strip into 12.5 inch lengths, and sew two of them together.

I now have a stack of 30 of these sets of four strips.
And I'm not making them into "12sies" until I have more made.  Don't want to have to put the same fabric next to itself, you know. And maybe I'll start using more pieces that are longer.

 Anyway later three of these will be joined into a 12.5 inch block.  Something like the last photo.

These are, or can be set in alternate directions, like a rail fence.

Tonya's looks like she is using a lot of short pieces, so her blocks look more like they are made of Legos.  I'm just throwing in 1.2 - 3 inch pieces every third time, because I am impatient.

But this has now caught my attention.  Will it turn into ANOTHER ufo? I'm planning on getting that drawer fairly empty because in general I don't want to work with pieces that small.

Meanwhile I am mentally gearing up for a clean-up and clearing-out of my sewing room.  There is too much chaos here and it has become less than welcoming to creativity.  I need to cull out the projects that no longer give me joy.  Doing that will make me more productive....I hope.

Sara

Gratitudes:

I own enough stuff to make a mess
Other bloggers inspire me with projects and the urge to clean-up
Amazing night of baseball on the night of game(s) 162

Machine problem

I was sewing away, getting my scraps used up--and when I looked up to change my needle position, everything on the sewing machine screen was "8.8", in all the different categories. Hmm, can't get it to change. Maybe if I turn off the machine and wait a few minutes? . . .. . No, everything's just the same. Oh, well, maybe I can just keep on sewing with the old settings. Oh, No. Machine will not do anything.

Unfortunately this looks like a computer chip problem. Took it into the Pfaff shop for analysis on Saturday, but there were no mechanics on duty. Waiting to hear their diagnosis.

Thank goodness my friend Dianne is once again willing to loan me her Featherweight, the one that travelled to Florida with me.

Therefore I am able to keep sewing on these leftovers I found from a much earlier project. I have been combining and then cutting them into 3.5" squares. I have 21 blocks, and I don't think there is enough left for any more. At this moment my plan is to make placemats for the deck meals.

Meanwhile, the temperature is up in the 80's, and a long-haired dog has to find someplace that is cooler to lie down. Zeke finds that ceramic tile in the shower does the job. Or curling around the toilet.

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Sara

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Gratitudes:

Michigan strawberries at a roadside stand

Jazz at the Zoo

Ice maker in the refrigerator--remember when we had to re-fill those trays all summer?

Twelve Apostles?

Some time ago I played with some scraps and white muslin. I made most of them into 3.4" blocks. Yesterday I found them under a pile of other scraps, and still being tired of Yellow, I played some more.

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Last night I chose the border fabric, layered it and went on to finish the machine quilting.

Today I picked out binding fabric, made the binding and applied it. Finished at 17" x 18", an odd size. Can't see that it is of any USE at all, except as an instance of "project improv". And I like it.

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There were 12 scrap pieces to start with--so Twelve Apostles? I think the three pieces I added outside of the 12 ,"in the margin", are Three Women, as usual not included among the apostles, but holding the whole together!

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Also there are a couple of "Invisible" apostles in the quilting.

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Sara

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Gratitudes:

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Brats on the deck for supper

Peter and Lynne came over last evening to play bocce

dogs thought we were playing "fetch"; hilarity!

Lost camera

I don't like to post without pictures.....but I can't find my camera.
No doubt it is in a "safe" place. Some where it will show up--but no photos for a couple ofr days.

But I HAVE been sewing.
1) Using up 6.5" scrap squares to make 9-patches and then some Hourglass blocks.
2) taking 9 blue and white Orphan blocks and log-cabinning them up to 12.5 inch size with blue and green logs. I think this will be a "mostly white" quilt. In fact maybe all of the rest of it will be white.
3) experimenting with my Spoolspinners mystery blocks in an odd size to make them more Wonky.

Sara

Gratitudes:

leftover shrimp for dinner
still the yellow season here, tho' daffodils are wilting
Great music at Women's Chorus tonight

Cutting scraps, cutting scraps

I've CUT scraps off and on for two days. Now I have worked down to the BIG box of scraps. Guess I'll iron for 5 minutes and then cut to see how long it takes to finish cutting the scraps that take 5 minutes of ironing!

I am also working my way through the box of selvages I have collected. Several quilting friends have contributed. A little late I realize that I really only want the selvage side that has the printing on it, and the color dots. So I am sorting through for those. So far I have made a few pieces of "fabric" by sewing some together, and today I made a postcard for a friend who just had her gallbladder out.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Got rid of my gallbladder 10 years ago

Milkshake as part of lunch

Invited out for dinner, hoo-ray!