Quilty Adoption Offerings

My husband and I will be celebrating 19 years of marriage this May.  One of the triumphs of our marriage is the level of compromise we have reached when it comes to STUFF.  I am a packrat; he is a minimalist.  We've had a couple battles around this difference in approach, but I've gotta say, mostly it has been me drifting over to his way of doing things.  It turns out, letting go of things lightens me somehow.

My sewing room, however, is the place where I feel no guilt about keeping any and everything I want.  But looking at some of my UFOs lingering in limbo, knowing that I'll never get around to finishing them, saddens me a bit.  What makes me HAPPY is participating in Cynthia's Quilty Adoption Event twice a year!  I am able to give away my UFOs to people who actually finish them! (Really, I've seen pictures!)

This time around, I have three projects I am ready to release into the quilt-iverse.  If you are interested in adopting a project (or two or three!), leave a comment, making sure there is an email address so I can contact you if you are a winner.  I will draw winners using a Random Number Generator on Monday, March 25 with hopes of having everything mailed out by Tuesday, March 26.  I am happy to cover postage in the US and Canada (so sorry to all my other international friends).  There are no restrictions on what you do with your winnings - make something for yourself, for a friend/family or for charity.  I'd love to see a photo of the finished project if you think of it (closure, you know).  OK, here goes!  Ready for some scrappiness?

A.  PLUS Blocks

Back in the fall of 2016, I joined in the Charming Plus Quiltalong.  I enjoyed making these scrappy 6.5' blocks as a leader/ender project for a while, but I've lost interest.  There are 27 of them.

B. VIOLETS Blocks

Back in the spring of 2016, I won a bunch of Violets blocks in Block Lotto.  I love participating in Block Lotto, but I'm terrible about putting the blocks together if I win.  I should just participate without throwing my name in the ring to win.  There are 43 of these 6.5" blocks: blue, purple and pink flowers with yellow centers on black/white/gray backgrounds.  Note that they are made by a bunch of different people, so actual size may vary a bit.

C.  FLANNEL BUZZSAW Blocks

I'm not exactly sure when I started this flannel quilt based on Aunt Betty's Attic in the February 2003 issue of McCall's Quilting, but definitely by 2009.  It is now 2019.  Time to "fish or cut bait", don't you think?  Actually, I wanted every block to be a different pattern, but when you make a block, you actually get pieces for two blocks.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a quilt that was twice the size, or if I'd have pieces for two quilts.  I've decided I want to keep one set of blocks, and give one away.  If I am making the smaller size, I am more likely to finish.  Please note that only 31 of the 36 six-inch blocks are pieced, but there is material prepped for six more (an extra for some reason). 

 I'll include the magazine article with the instructions.

Please know that 1) this will only include the blocks, not additional fabric for the borders, 2) I just cut up whatever flannel I had at the time so there is no color scheme or theme and 3) this was early on in my quilting career and I think it was my first time using flannel.  The quality of the materials and my piecing are both questionable...

Be sure to visit Cynthia's blog for more items up for grabs!

Orphan 9-patches

Well, basketball season is officially over for my family.

My youngest and me at the game, wearing our pom poms on our heads.

My husband's team lost in the semifinals yesterday (by TWO HEARTBREAKING POINTS!!!), so all of a sudden, I have a little more free time.   Time to visit my sewing room that I haven't set foot in for quite some time.  I did a little tidying up, and then unpacked a bag of scraps that someone had recently given me.

Lo and behold!  What's this?

There were nine 9-patch orphan blocks in the bag, too!  I could have thrown them into my orphan block drawer, but chose instead to throw them up on the design wall and play around with them a bit.  Add some snowball blocks and some setting triangles from other fabrics that I found in the bag, and I may have the beginnings of little quilt here.  It's busy, but it reminds me of the old-timey scrap quilts that I love.  Hopefully some big, dark borders will calm it down some.

It isn't sewn together yet.  Gotta let this marinate, not sure I'm committed to this.

As a leader and ender while making the snowball blocks, I sewed together a couple more Charming Plus Blocks.  Still not sure what I'm going to do with these, but I love seeing each one come together.

Play time is over, though.  Work calls; I have many college admissions files to read before March 1.  Meanwhile, I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

Sunny Day Sewing

I love my sewing room, particularly when the sun is streaming in the windows, warming up the space and dancing with all the colors.  Monday was such a day, so I spent hour after hour down there, working on several different projects.  (As a shopkeeper, my "weekend" is Sunday and Monday.  Sunday is more of a family day, but Monday is all about ME since the kids are at school and I am off.)

First off, I pulled some neutral strips and starting sewing together some 4-patches.  I bet a good number of you can guess why.

Yep, I'm jumping on the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt bandwagon!  I've made several of her quilts and have all of her books, but I've never done a Bonnie Hunter mystery.  When describing En Provence, she mentions being inspired by lavender fields.  That was enough for me - lavender and lilac are my two favorite flowers and anything inspired by either appeals to me!  I'm a week behind, but I'm sure I'll catch up.

I made a couple more PLUS blocks.  These are fun to make as I work my way through my scrap bins.  The idea is that once I pull a fabric out of the scrap bin, I use it up completely, either by putting it into a quilt block or cutting it down to one of my precut scrap sizes or both.

And I thought I had made all of the strippy four-patches that I needed for this quilt, but it turns out I'm missing one.  Only one set of 10 blocks has been sewn together so far.  I'm hoping that making the strip sets to go in between the 4-patch strips will use LOTS of scrap strips!

When I wasn't sewing, I was knitting.  The color in this cowl makes me happy, the way it pops out against the black.  The yarn is Bamboo Bloom Handprints, and the pattern is Interrupted Cowl.

All in all, one of the most productive weekends I've had in quite some time.  It feels GOOD!  I'm linking up to Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

A start and a finish

I finished sewing together the Community Quilt top and sent it off to the long arm quilter.  I'm going to the fundraising dinner and silent auction for Project Horizon where it will be offered up, and I plan to bid on it for myself - well, for a family member.  Part of me hopes it sells for more than I can afford, but part of me hopes it stays within my price range.

It measures 64.5" x 80.5"

Meanwhile, I made the mistake of visiting some blogs...I love blogs for the inspiration, but I'm too darned ADD to stick with just one project from start to finish without getting distracted by other possibilities.  Have you seen the Charming Plus Quilt Along?  Yeah, I started that, too.  I was cutting up scraps that had been donated and thought "why not cut them into the sizes needed for the quilt along?"

I haven't sewn the blocks together yet...

My goal for the end of this week, though, is to get caught up on the Westering Women BOM.  8 blocks done, two blocks to do to get caught up.