All Finished With the String Blocks

Here they are, those string blocks that I almost gave up on doing. While I love and adore quilts made out of the scrap bin, there's just something about the process that requires a certain mood.

String blocks

In this case, it was a desire to bury my head in some well loved fabrics, not have to make a lot of decisions and just chain piece myself into a place of serenity. Or calmness. I don't think there's ever really any true serenity when doing foundation piecing! It worked pretty well right up to the point where I had to high step, jump or practically crawl over the messy little totes of spilling scraps just to get out of the quilt room. And we're ignoring all the bits and pieces of trim-offs scattered all over the floor everywhere. Wowsers! Oh yes we are! The string blocks are completely done though. All 56 of them! After working on them in fits and starts for two days, I went back upstairs last night and powered through the last 19 blocks. Didn't want to push them off for another couple months once again.

Thanks to Kyle for mentioning that she's been a 'sewing maniac' lately. She blew out her wonderful 'Burgoyne Surrounded' quilt top in just days! While I was sewing on my string blocks, her words would resonate with me and inspire me to push through {I don't like foundation piecing at all, though I love the finished product}.

I can also thank Julie for helping to inspire me too. Her blocks have been popping up on a daily basis and though I couldn't even image wanting to make one of these a day, it forced me to consider my languishing project. Like, really deeply consider it! Did I want to have this string quilt or not, 'cuz it wasn't getting anywhere all by itself? lol  

Linking up to Lori's Stringalong. Without this particular QAL, I probably would have never even started this quilt! Next up will be to trim up these blocks and then decide on the ever-other-block fabric that are needed to continue. Or if I want to make the quilt larger and make more blocks. Or if I want to add applique. Or a border. Or any one of the myriad of decisions that I love to torture myself with. Totally kidding! With the foundation piecing behind me, the torture part is OVER....

Loving My Scrappy Tulips Finish

Scrappy Tulips is finally a finish! Yay! I opted to hand quilt this one a little more intensely than I usually do of late. It seemed like it just soaked up the texture like a sponge, so it was a good call.

Scrappy Tulips a new finish!

This one was started back in 2014 sometime, but I can't find the original post. The paper pieced tulip pattern was found in an older quilt book I picked up at a guild yardsale for $1--Quick & Easy Strip Quilting by Helen Whitson Rose. Such a great find!

Loving the hand quilting texture....

The tulips turned out to be a very fun way to use up some of those languishing scraps in the scrap basket. Of course if I'd have known the background color they would end up on, none of the tips would have been red! Which just goes to show that pre-planning isn't always the best way to operate. How could I have known how very much I'd love the fade-in, fade-out effect of those red tips?

Might have to keep this one for myself!

The stipey background choice was pure luck as I was auditioning every color under the sun and not feeling any love. Then I remembered a funky, striped backing fabric I'd bought and thought 'why not?' And the quilt just continued to develop with a mind of its own, like so many of my quilts do!

Such a fun quilt

I worried and fretted about the color of the triple blue, center sashing. Thought it was a bit too dull and 'meh'. Tried to fix it with the next border and then later with a bit of applique. The snowball border was an impulse decision made while I was currently infatuated with the idea of making a snowball quilt. That quilt never happened because apparently this border got all of that out of my system. At least I thought it did! Now I'm wondering if it should be made after all? Those scrappy little bits sparkling in the corners of the snowball blocks really make me happy!

Scrap bin quilts make the best sorts of quilts!

In fact, the entire quilt feels like happiness. It's just one of those that came together very well in spite of all the worries and concerns. Just the right amount of scrappy, great colors and a happy, fun vibe. What more can we ask for? If I'd have only known this kind of result was possible 15 years ago, I'd have pushed myself to be much more adventuresome a long, long time ago!

Linking up with Linda and Julie over at sew-stitch-snap-share!

It's Scraptastic Tuesday Again!

First of all, feel free to check out my giveaway over here. It's open through Friday! I finally made it through all 16 of my paper pieced scrappy tulips. I really, really like them, but honestly, foundation piecing just annoys me.

A stack of scrappy tulips. Keeping it real so you can see the puckers too!

Especially when I have to remove the papers. That's when I do lots of mumbling under my breath about someone thinking up yet another brilliant idea. Not that phone book paper doesn't come off relatively easily--nice trick that. I just hate having to take an extra step before I can sew!

Taking the papers off....

Once the papers were off, then I carefully sewed them together. It's a slight curve, so nothing too traumatic, but because of the scrappy piecing, I did end up getting a very small pucker occasionally. I used a seam ripper on the worst of them, but not all. It is a project from the scrap bin after all! Looking at them up on the wall made me want to do a happy dance. What is it with me and flowers, especially ones made from my scrap bin? Be still my heart! All the paper piecing angst is gone. Poof! Like it never even happened. lol

Looking at them on the wall!

I wasn't sure if I would set them in the original layout of a 4-flower block, but after laying them on this particular piece of fabric? Oh yeah! Ideas are already zinging around inside my head.

And then on a potential backing fabric...

And then, because I desperately need to work on reducing the scrap bin monster in the corner of my quilt room, these crumb blocks came about. I just grabbed bits of similar colored fabrics and sewed, ironed, trimmed, sewed, ironed, trimmed etc. until they were 4" square.

The first crumb blocks

It's a start to something. No doubt we'll be having a chat about that when I figure out what exactly! In the meantime, I am linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday. Can't believe I missed it last month!

Scrappy Tulips From the Scrap Bin & More Happy Mail For Mom

Well, I had to change the angle of the side pieces on my tulips to make the next three flowers work for me. Those side pieces were requiring scraps that were waaay too long to be finding even in my  overflowing scrap bins.

The first 4 Scrappy Tulips

I'm not going to actually sew the tulips together until I get all the individual units sewn. The thing is, I've been moving the pieces around and changing things up as I make each new unit, trying to pretty it all up. Hopefully I can make the most out of my scraps to make {strong looking} scrappy tulips without looking like I'm taking the fussing to a whole new level of insane. Perfect scrap attack quilts would be just be boring!

Getting my papers cut out and ready to go

For now I'm planning on making 16 tulips in all, string piecing with my foundation papers as I go. I prefer to work without the paper, but I'm afraid I'll have too much stretch with these shapes. Whether or not I put 4 tulips in a single block like the original pattern remains to be seen. And of course, if I don't have enough scraps in the right colors--things could could interesting on that front too. For now, I'm just enjoying playing with my scraps again. They really need to be taken down a notch or two and quit trying to intimidate me from over there in that corner.

The scrap monster over in the corner

I've tried different methods over the years to control the monster scrap problem, giving away {it kills me}, throwing others away {cut off my arm now}, cutting and sorting into precise strips widths {what a colossal waste of time-- will never have the right one anyway}, sorting by color etc. etc. Nothing really works for me except for a simple method of pre-sorting specific color ranges into smaller totes for an individual project. I have to say 'ranges' because maybe I want to work with cherry red this time instead of tomato red? And I always push the color clear into another area anyway, such as throwing a few purples in with my browns. Or whatever. Basically I've found this smaller-tote-system to be my personal way of controlling the chaos prior to diving into a scrap quilt. It gives me the necessary order and boundaries {I need} to make it possible to just grab and sew. No agonizing, time-sucking color decisions to make during the actual making.

After I'm done with said project, the scraps either stay in the small totes till the next time, or I just dump the leftovers right back on top of the big cascading pile. I've made about five scrap attack quilts with this particular method so I hereby declare it to be SUCCESSFUL! Honestly, if they all turned out like the current quilt in the hoop, I'd give up my regular methods of quilting altogether and just go play with my scraps full time.*wink

A little bit of scrappy goodness

And for those of you who were wondering? 'Cuz I know you are. My mom is still getting an envelope and/or package in the mail. Every. Single. Day! Pretty cool huh? Quilters everywhere are just so incredibly generous!

Still getting some Happy Mail Delivered!

This latest bunch (16 in all) is from Alabama, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, several from Georgia and California plus these countries as well: Saskatchewan Canada, BC Canada and a handful all the way from Australia. Seriously! Postage from out of the country isn't cheap! One of these boxes is from a few ladies in a guild. A little special something for a fellow quilter in need. All along there have been many notes that expressed sympathy and experience with dealing with the aftermath of a fire, whether from personal experience or by way of family, friends and neighbors. So very touching.

A happy story: That funky chicken fabric (you know who you are!) was extra special sweet because my mom is a chicken farmer at heart. Yes really! She's been raising her crazy chickens since before I was born. Anyway, the day after the fire, the grandkids managed to catch the very few chickens that survived and fix up a place to put them. Within one week, my mom had collected 8 hardy chickens, some half dead from dehydration, that she could tend to and fuss over to her hearts content. She actually hauled water in from another town until the water situation was fixed! Would you believe that those tough little hens have been keeping her well stocked in eggs ever since!True survivors to be getting right back to business like that. lol

I'm linking this post with Scraptastic Tuesday over at She Can Quilt. Maybe I'll stay motivated to clear out my scrap bins a little?

There is Progress Being Made

All of the Wedding Ring/Pickle Dish arcs are finished! No more foundation piecing for me until well.., the next time I get a hair brained idea to do something beyond my normal piecing capabilities. It'll probably be a New York Beauty pattern too. As long as I'm collecting pics of them like a mad woman, then I might as well prepare myself for the inevitable, don't you think? lol

Tracing and trimming

But I'm not thinking about that right now. What I'm focused on for the moment is thoughts that go somewhat like this: Why don't I do the tedious work of trimming and such as I finish up the parts? Ughhh.... It haunts me while I'm getting that cramp in my hand from sawing through fabrics with the rotary cutter. Every single time I find myself trimming for hours and days (a bit of exaggeration perhaps), I have to wonder, Will I Never Learn? (Well, that and duh, it might help to change the blade out!)

More trimming....

I think there are just parts I don't like to do. Period. So I put it off for as long as possible and then suddenly find myself at a serious impasse with two basic choices: trimming or neglect? Einie mienie miney moe and eventually I square my shoulders and start working through the tough bits until everything falls into place. Usually. In a perfect world.*wink

Wedding Ring/Pickle Dish progress

Don't get me wrong. Things are definitely shaping up with this quilt. No doubt about that. It's only taken a year or so, but most of these fabrics will still be speaking to me a year or ten from now so I'm not worried about anything being too dated to love. What I AM beginning to worry about (just a wee little bit) is how these fabrics will all look together in the final equation. Like when they're all laying side by side in the very same quilt.

You see, I always lay my fabric out prior to cutting in fanned out stacks, checking, checking checking, squinting, pondering, maybe pull it in and out of a bag and do some re-evaluation. I make sure it all fits and works together. That's me. Rarely in a rush to commit myself. But then, I usually have my background fabric from the very start too. This time I bought it later. Much later. And it's scaring me. If you know me at all, I like to have plenty of tension in my quilts from fabrics/colors semi-clashing with each other. But what if I pushed it too far this time? I'm sweating it. In fact, I'm not even showing you until I decide what I'm going to do for sure. This is the wrong time to be looking at this pickle dish quilt and wondering why I always have to go and do my own thing. Hopefully this is just part of my very normal process--the roller-coaster ride of me loving and then hating my quilts.

A Little Here and There

I have learned that my Pickle Dish quilt project is not actually a Pickle Dish, but rather a Wedding Ring pattern. The knowledge crept up on me slowly, but finally I am left with no choice but to admit to being an idiot. Drat! I hate that, but making a wedding ring quilt was always on my bucket list too, so all is probably going to be well in the end.

More fans for what was formerly known
as my Pickle Dish Insanity quilt

Now I'm in a quandary as to the name since continuing to call it 'Pickle Dish Insanity' would probably just be confusing? On a good note, quite by accident I learned that sewing my fans or melons (or whatever those things actually are) to background music like Tanya Tucker, Eric Clapton, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill and BTO somehow made me forget about the fact that I intensely dislike foundation piecing.  My quilting room is carved out of the (best) corner of my sons upstairs bedroom and so I don't ever always get to choose the background noise. How amusing to learn that the right music can actually increase production, especially in my case where I love and cherish the sounds of silence!

Prep work for The Big Broken Dish

I also surprised myself last evening by pulling out The Big Broken Dish and mulling over what needs to be done next. I know, check me for a fever. It's not that I'm really interested in appliqueing the words onto the borders of The Big Broken Dish just yet, but recently it has occurred to me that it has been a bit neglected.  It would probably help if the letters were cut out and properly prepped for when that big moment of motivation does arrives as it always does eventually. I keep hearing rumors about our Pieceable Souls group getting together again this coming fall and this quilt is kind of tied in with our last project in the group. Motivation may come knocking sooner than later and won't I look good if progress has been made since the last time we met well over a year ago? lol

Random Sampler QAL Blocks and More Pickle Dish Progress

I always seem to get behind with my Random Sampler QAL blocks. They're so easy that when I do finally get to them, I'm left kind of scratching my head and wondering why I keep putting them off all the time?

Random Sampler QAL blocks

I'm not happy with the heart block at all, just so you know.  Somehow I managed to pin it well enough to get it all sewed together, but there's some stretching that makes it looks terrible.  I do see that and yes, I may have to redo it, but for now I'm calling it good.  Mostly because it's done and that relieves my slacker guilt. We'll work on the perfectionist guilt later.*wink

2 more Pickle Dish sets

Last week I got a lot of encouragement to keep on 'keeping on' with the Pickle Dish quilt. I am taking the very good advice to move the iron closer to my sewing station at least while I'm foundation piecing.  Chain piecing kind of spoils you to doing the ironing in big chunks and that is pretty tough to do with foundation piecing. Also, there was a comment with a very interesting link about foundation piecing if anyone wants to pursue that.  All of my fan pieces have been generously pre-cut for this particular project so for right now I think it's just a mental block in my very stubborn mind.

7 completed Pickle Dish sets out of (I think) a total of 48
YIKES!!

I piled up all of the completed Pickle Dish melons I have completed so far. Then I admired them for a few minutes before snapping this picture in hopes that recorded progress would help increase motivation.  Now I'm thinking that maybe it's time to dig up the money to buy the background fabric and maybe incorporate that into the process too?

It's a Sad Day. I Can't Even Pretend to Like Foundation Piecing Anymore...

I am dedicated to having a pickle dish quilt some day in the future, oh yes I am! It feels really good to get into the quilting room and just do some basic sewing. Foundation piecing isn't quite 'mindless' sewing, but it is so very simple....

2 more completed sets for the pickle dish

I had big plans to sew about four sets of the pickle dish melons before I quit for the day, but I'm afraid that didn't last very long at all.  It's the funniest, unfunny thing really.  I start sewing the foundations in good spirits thinking 'Wow, this is so easy and simple, I could do this just about forever!'.  And I start dreaming about the my Karen Stone book collecting dust on the shelf and the New York Beauty quilt I've always wanted to make.  Why in the world am I not making more of these gorgeous quilts?

Then, like always, I get to the point where I'm fussing with how well the fabric is going to line up with the sewing line, flipping it back and forth, upside down and sideways for the umpteenth time thinking 'Ugghh, I can't believe there are people who actually love doing this!'.  As I jump up and down from my sewing chair to get to the ironing board once again, I'm laughing somewhat hysterically at myself for all the enthusiasm and optimism that I always, always feel at the start of foundation piecing. The straight line sewing, the perfection of the piecing? It's a good trick really.

But reality tends to set in on me more quickly perhaps than it used to.  There's no kidding myself anymore about the truth of something so very basic: foundation piecing is a process that I STILL do not enjoy and probably never will.  So my progress is meagerly.  I can't and won't force it beyond a certain point! Only two sets of melons done before I was gladly fleeing the sewing room for the beeper on the finished dryer cycle of which I'm quite sure I always ignore.

I haven't given up though, I'm just regrouping! Having committed to finishing this particular project, finish I will, even if it takes me all through the summer to somehow work through my foundation piecing angst.*wink

Random Sampler QAL Progress

So... It was time and I knew it.  Time to dig out the Random Sampler QAL blocks and check things out.  Honestly, I have almost bagged this project a time or two. When I look at everyone else's work, it makes me think I'm trying to run with the wrong crowd or something!  Most of the QAL work I see on Flickr is very modern and mine is, well, what it is.

Random Sampler QAL

I flipped through my Gwen Marston book once again (Liberated Medallion) and tried to remember what it was about this QAL that hooked me in the first place. Oh yes!  I LOVE and adore Gwen Marston's free spirited method of putting together quilts and I just knew this could be a great way to slowly work up to a great quilt.  If I can use some of my leftover parts and pieces at the same time, then all the better!

Crown & Star block difficulty

AND if I can stay on track and not get sidelined by my own issues with piecing?? Is it really necessary to use 16 pins so that my block is lining up properly? Oh, and I keep getting bogged down with the details of each months suggested block. This months Crown & Star block (Anita calls it a squash blossom) was one I actually liked, but last months was a foundation pieced wheel block.  Ughhh...  I really, really don't like doing foundation piecing no matter how pretty the block.

A bit of insanity....

Why is why, in the interest of full disclosure, I need to admit to starting a foundation pieced project clear back in ahem, December.  No worries as it's not getting much attention! I've always wanted to make have a wedding ring or pickle dish quilt and in a moment of obvious insanity, I launched into the start-up of one.  It's all Diane's fault of course.  She made it sound like there was absolutely no reason in the world a determined quilter couldn't make one if they put their mind to it.  Clearly, I'm not very determined thus far.....

All caught up for now with Random Sampler QAL

Anyway, no foundation piecing happening with this QAL, at least here on my end. I have to draw the line somewhere!  I'm hoping the shoe fly blocks will provide a little bit of that similar circular motion as the QAL suggested wheel block and they did go together so very sweetly.  (Unlike foundation piecing which obviously does not go together at all around here.)

Random Sampler QAL parts & pieces

In fact, after looking at all of the parts and pieces that are assembled so far, I'd say I could use a few more traditional looking blocks.  I love how the background fabric peeks through the triangles pieced blocks especially.  You know the old saying 'Comparison is the thief of joy'?  It's important to remember that there is a kind of comparison that is actually healthy and beneficial.  Let's not get caught up in the other.*wink