It's been five years...quilt blocks up for adoption

 Edited 3/23: The Random Number Generator chose #1, so I have emailed the first commenter for a mailing address.

I used to participate in the now-defunct Block Lotto, and loved making new blocks every month.  I even won once or twice!  Five years ago I won some blue and purple Birds In The Air blocks, but never got around to putting them together.  Probably because blues and purples just don't inspire me (I'm an autumn).  Anyway, it is time to let them go.  

These are just up on my design wall, not sewn together

These are the nine blocks I made - the rest came from other quilters

Leave a comment if you are interested in adopting these 50 6-inch blocks.  If more than one person expresses an interest by noon EST on Monday, March 22, then I will choose a winner by Random Number Generator.  I will ship to US and Canada.  Please include your email address if you are a no-reply blogger.  

I am linking up with Cynthia's Quilty Orphan Adoption Event.

Just five more days...

 Just five more days until spring break...I can make it!  I am tuckered out and in desperate need of a break!  I didn't sew nearly as much as I had hoped this week, but I did manage to finish my March Bee Blocks 

as I made some progress with the scrap pile.  Of course, the bag doesn't look any less full, but I've cut quite a few more block components for my various projects.  I think I'll pin pieces together so when I have a few minutes here and there this week I can get some blocks sewn up.  I'm the type who usually just cuts the pieces for one block, then sews them together, rinse, repeat, not the type to cut out a whole quilt and then sew it all together, so having a bunch of pieces cut already is novel to me.  If I sew up everything I have cut out already, that's quite a few more blocks to add.  We'll see!

In other crafting news, I belong to a Buy Nothing Facebook group, and look at what I scored this weekend!  I tied a quilt some years back with buttons, and have been itching to do that again, so I was keen to get more buttons, but some of these buttons really make me want to knit up a garment to feature them.

Some of my favorites:

I love big buttons on hand knits

I can see this holding a cape closed at the throat

I'm ready to knit up a cabled cardigan just to use these beauties!

Can you say baby sweater??

And who is this cute little critter?  Reminds me of a Sandra Boynton character...

So retro! I see another cardigan in my future.

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Sew the Scrap out of March!

 Um, what happened to February?  How did I not post even once during that long, dreary month??  I certainly did some sewing - look what I finished last night?

I think I'm going to call it X-Pop

I love it!  It still needs quilting and binding, but at 36" square, that won't take long.  The baby recipient is due to make his/her/their entrance into the world any day now.

Anyway, I'm joining up with Tea & Brie for her National Quilt Month Scrap Challenge, Sew the Scrap out of March!

I dumped out my bag of scraps...

Size 7.5 foot for scale (and handknit socks!)

My goal this month is to make this pile disappear!  More than sew the scrap out of March, I want to CUT it!  The plan is to cut the scraps to the appropriate size for some of my current projects:

Scrappy Trips for the long strips

                                           

My Barbed Rail Fence is growing - uses shorter & skinnier strips and all those corner cut-offs

No name yet for my 2020 Scrap Buster Challenge Quilt, but these blocks can be cut from chunky scraps

I just added this project to my current scrappy projects in an attempt to use some of the tan/beige/tea colored scraps I have.  I LOVE the look so far.

For the 2" squares

In addition to cutting scraps for particular projects, I will also cut my precut scrap sizes to add to those bins.  My scraps are so much tidier when they are cut to size than when they are crammed in that bag!  And I love just pulling out some precut scraps and sewing - immediate gratification!

I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

Black and White

 I just found out a co-worker is expecting their first baby.  You know what that means, right?  Yup, dropped everything else and started a baby quilt!  Inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest, I got my first nine blocks sewn up today.  Blocks are 6.5" unfinished.  I don't think I'm going to add a border, so this will likely end up around 36" square.

Working on this also made it easy to complete a black block for my scrappy bear claw quilt.

In other sewing news, I also sewed two buttons on today.  I've been putting it off forever (literally for years with the pajama top) and it only took about seven minutes.  Why do I hate mending so much?

Yesterday and I finished knitting my first mitten and made sure to cast on the second right away.

And since it has been so cold, I curled up on the couch to continue hand quilting this Starburst quilt so the quilt could warm me while I worked.  I have yellow, pink and blue finished with purple, green, red and orange left to go.

It looks like we are about to get more snow, but since we are a boarding school, there's no chance of a snow day.  Oh well, I'm just not ready for this crafty weekend to end!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Other people's scraps

 No sooner did I finish cutting up scraps from one friend,

than another box of scraps arrived from someone else!

I've been in SCRAP HEAVEN, cutting for my modified rail fence, 

my 2020 Scrap Buster Challenge quilt,

and my scrappy bear paw quilt, and cutting all leftover scraps down to my precut sizes.  I've also been knitting some mittens as part of a #mmmittalong on Instagram.

Irish Hiking Mittens on Ravelry from mystery yarn

Man, making makes me happy!  I don't so much mind being confined to the house when I have fabric and fiber to play with!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Minor change, but it makes me happy :)

Wow, the resumption of school REALLY cuts into one's sewing time!  I feel like I'm going through withdrawals!  But I did find a couple moments to sew this week, and used that time to make an alternate block for my modified rail fence quilt that I'm making.  Do you notice a difference?

Before - all blocks the same

After - half the blocks w/ HST flipped

I didn't like the way the neutrals switched sides as you followed the HST zig zag trail, so I am making half of the blocks with the HSTs reversed so that the neutrals stay on the same side (bottom and right) throughout one zig zag.  It probably isn't even that noticeable, but I like it better so I'm going with it.

Other than that I did cull some more yardage out of my stash this week to add to my ETSY shop:

because I knew I had a box of scraps coming my way!  

Yippee!!  I'm so much more inspired to sew with scraps than I am with yardage.

Here's hoping I can find some moments this week to sort these scraps and get to sewing!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.

Lots of stitching going on!

I had hoped to get lots of creating in during my winter break from school...and I did!  It started with a mad dash to make a memory quilt for a friend who lost her beloved dog.  I had six pages of printer fabric sheets, so I found some photos of her pup online and made a quick quilt for her.  She is TALL and I wanted her to be able to cuddle in it, so it is pretty large, about 65"x 98".  I can't make a quick quilt that big using my usual little pieces, so the blocks are huge, each finishing at 31.5" square.  What a departure for me!  Probably not something I'll do again, but she really appreciated it so mission accomplished.

Preparing to baste for quilting...

After that, my desire to sew was gone, so I spent a lot of time knitting:

RBG Ornaments

Christmas crowns for my nieces

Socks for my sister-in-law

A Shoulder Cozy for my mom

More progress on my Excavation Blanket

Using up more sock yarn scraps in my Coziest Memory Blanket

And then, just like that, I wanted to sew again!  I joined a Block Exchange and have already completed and mailed January's blocks:

Mother Hen Block

I made two blue Bear Paw blocks  - this is the year I am determined to finish this quilt and give it to my stepfather.

I've been working on this since October 2019 - what's taking me so long???

I've been chipping away at my scraps.  With this bag of scraps and this tin of HSTs,

I am making this modified Rail Fence.

Hmmm...might reverse the HSTs on half of the blocks to see if that makes them all seem continuous...

And making blocks based on the 2020 Scrap Buster Challenge from Border Creek Station.

Haven't decided on a layout yet, just playing around as I add blocks

I'm sad that vacation is over but I'm glad I had so much time to create, create, create!  Now it is back to work, work, work.

Happy New Year, everyone!  I'm linking up with Oh Scrap and Monday Making.