A bit of sewing...

 This is a little zippered bag that I made for Lorelei.  Every time I make one it is basically an experiment... she does not seem to mind.  She put snacks in this one.

I have been making a few of these economy blocks using solid colored fabric...

Just wanted to share these while I was thinking about it.

Chaos reigns + a funny

I put on a pot of navy beans this morn after breakfast...which consisted of taking Roger through the drive through.  When Lorelei stays with us I always cook breakfast...she was here from Monday till yesterday afternoon.  So Roger was ready to go drive through.  I came home and had a piece of toast and jelly...I was not very hungry.

I ate quickly, and went and tied up the two tomato plants.  They are growing like crazy but I have not seen a single bloom yet.  I had picked up a few more rocks, so put them around the plants.  I am hoping they will do better than the last time I had tomatoes.

I came in and vacuumed and mopped...just a bit of this and that in the house.  Then I headed to the sewing room.

Though this does look like chaos, not all my fabric looks like this.  These are just scraps...some are actually from me...or from my daughter

But a lot are scraps that I bought from the local fabric shop.  They have a plastic bin or tote or whatever you call it always about half full of scraps.  I can fill a gallon bag as full as  I can fill it....I am supposed to be able to close it but they never have said a word.  But I get it for $5. 

I thought I had enough of the scrappy crumb blocks to make a top, but when I went and got them I didn't.  Though I think I need to go look again.  Maybe they got separated.  I only had 35 in the stack you see at the top right in the photo below.  They are 9½ square.

I had a few I have been making the past few days.  And I dug out some more that were started from other times.  I sat and got 3 or 4 or 5 finished, plus some more started.  But I sat in there All afternoon.  It felt wonderful.   I have been trying to spend a few minutes every day this week doing something in there...yesterday was the one day I did not sew a stitch or even play with fabric.

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Most people do not understand how I am about fabric.  Now my girls could come in and get any fabric I have.  Even my Kaffe Fassett fabrics or any of my batiks.  Or my quilting friends, which are not that many and they are on line friends...if I had just the perfect fabric they were searching for...they could have it.

But I have so much trouble cutting even those scraps from the quilt shop.   I get some big chunks of fabric in those bags of scraps and I cannot bring myself to cut off strips or crumbs to put in these crumb blocks.

I don't know if it comes from my mom not having much fabric to work with when I grew up.  What she had was literally leftovers from making dresses and skirts and shirts.  And some of my sisters gave her some of theirs from home sewing.  It was all such a treasure.  I do not know how she made the number of quilts that she made.

Anyway even thought Lorelei went home yesterday, today managed to be an okay day.  I know her mom misses her and she misses her mom and dad and her pets...but oh, it is so empty when she goes home.

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A true funny story follows.  I don't know why it crossed my mind yesterday evening but it did and I have to share it with you:

I don't know how it came about, but Roger and one of his bosses got to talking about embarrassing things.  And he admitted to Roger that one morning he got up, hurried and got ready and headed out on his morning walk.  I don't remember how long he walked, but it was not a ten minute walk..it was a substantial one.  And I don't recall why he was in such a hurry.  But he got about half way through his walk and looked down and he only had underwear on his bottom half.  I never did know if that was tidy whities or if it was boxers...but I get so tickled every time I think of it.  He told Roger he just could not get home quick enough.  They lived out in the country so houses were few and far between...I do think he had to pass some houses, but I don't think any cars passed him.


Hope that gave you a chuckle...I laughed till I cried when I thought of it.  I guess it was funnier for me since I knew him. 

A little show and tell...

This shows the block before I totally finished the applique...  The black basting line is basting the leaf shape to the freezer paper base.  The white stitching stitches the shape to the background fabric.

Showing the stitching...the thread is more orange than it looks in the photo, but not as orange as I wish it were.

Here you see the stitches on the back of the block...

Above you see I have cut the background away from the behind the leaf and am removing the freezer paper.   One thing about this freezer paper, I don't think it is as good as what I used to get.  It does not feel as heavy and makes crinkling sounds.

And here is what it looks like after the basting is all removed and the freezer paper removed.

I have only finished the applique part of a few of them.  All the others I have finished still has the freezer paper and basting in them.  At the rate I am going, it is going to be a long time before I finish them all...have several things going and need to start another one...and yet I do so little.

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I raked a bunch of leaves yesterday...well, 8 big garbage bags stuffed full as I could stuff them.  But that is nothing to what I used to rake at one go.  I had raked 4 a few days ago.  I still have quite a few to go, and keep waiting for the rest of the leaves to fall from a neighbor's tulip poplar and another neighbor's maple tree.  Bubbie was my constant companion through it all.
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I think I am warming up leftover meatloaf for supper...we need to eat on it.  Seems like at times, I love meatloaf and will have made one that is on the small side.  Then I make one a bit bigger, and we don't seem to enjoy it as much.  Anyway, I need to get in there and at least set it out.  I will actually probably put it in the oven later and let it warm up that way.  Most of the time we just warm up what we eat in the microwave.

I should have been outside working in leaves...but I have sat here instead.  And I did sew a few stitches.

I don't know if it was real bad allergies or what, but was sick a couple days this past week...but it passed quickly.  My throat was sore and I blew and blew and blew my nose the first morn.  Normally, Roger never volunteers to stay home for breakfast, but he looked at me and said, 'We don't have to go anywhere this morn....don't even worry about it.'  I don't know if it was how I sounded or how I looked or both.  LOL  I always sound and feel worse early in the morn. 

I hope you all have a good week...I feel like I am forgetting something I wanted to ask but cannot think what it is for the life of me.

A bit of a start....

I did cut some squares this evening...as a start...that is what the orange leaves are going on.  The squares are all shades of gray/white...some have a real warm undertone others not so much.  Not sure how they will work together but I am using them all.

I first fold the square to form diagonal lines...the one line I want to go all the way across, the other is just to give me a suggestion of where the middle is.

I first place the leaf tips on the folded line...and I use one straight pin on top on one end to hold the leaf in place as shown in the above photo.

I hold the other end in place with my hand, and continue to place pins to hold the leaf in place from the back.

And I might or might not move the original first pin to the back.  The reason for doing it like this is till my basting thread will not catch on the pins as I baste the leaf down.

After it is all basted, I remove the pins....

All that is left now to applique it.

Making binding...

First a little video from youtube showing someone using a rotary cutter and how you use an acrylic ruler to cut the fabric.



There was no way for me to photograph myself using the rotary cutter and I did not even think to take a photo of the rotary cutter itself.  This video is only 42 seconds long so it won't take long to watch.  The rotary blade is very sharp and will cut you in a heartbeat if you do not keep your fingers out of the way.  And it is very important to "close' the rotary cutter when not in use.  Mine have a guard that I slide into place.  Some automatically close.  A self healing mat is needed because it would destroy the top of your table if you didn't use one. 
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So last night I got to thinking about the binding I had just made.  I thought about it and things did not add up....and I realized I had made enough for three sides of the quilt...not the 400+ inches that I needed, so today I cut three more strips and got them added to what I already had made.  I took the opportunity to take a few photos.

Above is just a portion the my acrylic ruler.  To being I place post-it notes on the underside at the exact desired width.  I usually use about 3 post-it notes per stack, and this is a 24 inch ruler so I have 4 stacks placed 4 or 5 inches apart.  I don't put right at the edge of either end.  I just leave my fabric folded in half like it comes off the bolt.  I use lines that also go across the width of the fabric to line up on the fold and then cut the end off enough to make sure the end is even.  From there, I can just measure so easily and cut my strips.

I am floundering here...probably trying to tell you too much, and making everything about as clear as mud.  If you ever want to make something, be sure and watch some youtube videos, because there is more to this than what I have told.

Anyway, I cut my strips...and next I get ready to sew them together.

Batiks do not really have a wrong side....they are dyed, not printed.  But if these were printed, the right sides or pretty sides as some people call them would be facing each other.  Notice that one edge of each strip is lined up on one of the mats lines. forming a 90º angle.

Next I use a ruler to draw a line across the strips. 

This is my sewing line...

I put my needle right in the very corner and sew across to the other corner...

It then looks like the above before pressing and before trimming off the ends.

Here it is trimmed and pressed open and then pressed in half...you have to look close to see the seam.

I like to connect the pieces this way rather than just sewing straight across the ends...it just means less bulk in one spot  when sewing to the quilt.

That is it for now...I am very weary and want to sit back and relax. 

Fabric

First I have to show you this Moda fabric I got the other day...it was the end of the bolt so got a bit over two yards for a pretty good price.  BTW, for those that don't know, Moda is a a brand of fabric....you know how jeans have makers such as Levi's, Wranglers, Lee Riders....you would not believe all the brands of fabric.  But Moda is one of my favorite brands...along with all the rest of them.  LOL

Giving the second view to give you scale...the cutting mat it is laying on has lines every inch....but that first photo gives the real feel of the fabric.  I had gotten some of this in a bag of scraps and hated to even use it  I like it so well....and my daughter likes it, so one of us will find a use for it.  Right now, I just like admiring it.  LOL

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I got the binding made for my daughter's Lotus Quilt...she had the top quilted by a shop with a long arm quilting machine.

I just love the fabric daughter chose.  This is over 400 inches of binding.

I wanted to show this view.  First I cut strips of fabric the width of the fabric.  In this case the strips are 2 1/4 inches wide, and sew them together--end to end.  If I had thought I would have taken pics to show how I do that.   But maybe you are not interested in that anyway.  Then I fold the fabric in half  and press, and fanfold it as I get enough pressed.  That way I can put it down by my right side and it does not become a tangled mess as I sew it to the quilt.

Hope everyone is having a good week. 

Lorelei, the fashion model

My phone beeped this evening...and there was this pic.  Don't you just love it.  Do you see all three?

Can you believe how she has grown...of course you are not seeing her standing beside me.  But believe me she is turning into a young lady.  She is still like a ray of sunshine for us.  She is longing to go wading in the creek and they are either way to high to wade,  specially the one that we can easily get to.  Others are not so high, but either  no place to get down to the creek, or if there is, no good sand/gravel bar to be on.

I don't think we have went a whole week without rain this summer.  And most of the time it rains more than one day.  Maybe just a quick soaking shower, maybe light rain all day...but seems like we get rain of some sort at least two or three times a week.

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I have only made 35 of these....I cannot settle down and really work on them.  I sew them just to have something to sew.  But my heart is not in them.

And I cannot leave these scrappy things alone either.  At least when I do sew.  Last week I did not touch sewing at all.  First one thing and then another kept me from it.

Now for a little funny, here you go....I hope you have a nice rest of the week and hope you get a chuckle from the video:

Not much happening...

I have had all those half square triangles on the design wall for ages...

(I would love to someday make a quilt like this...only I would use bigger half square triangles)

These were bonus half square triangles left from my daughters quilt top we finished in January of 2018.  Before my accident!  I finally sewed them into blocks today. 
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I might as well say it...I played with these blocks some more.

I wish I had used any color but gray to do those in the middle of the quilt.  I would say I was using what I had on hand.  But I have about any color you would want on hand!  I am thinking strongly of using this layout...if I do, I will name it Eye of the Hurricane!  LOL

Showing the process

I thought I would take a few pics of the process I have used to make the diagonal string blocks I have been showing.  Keep in mind that there are other ways to achieve the blocks...this is just the process I chose this time.

I start out with a foundation paper the size I want my blocks to be.  Next I chose a strip or string of fabric that will at the least cover the paper from corner to corner, put it on right side up.  I always tend to start somewhere near the center but you don't have to.  Wherever you start, make sure that your strip of fabric covers the paper, even when opened out.

Take the next strip and place it against the first strip right sides together.  The thing about starting with the fabric covering center...from then on as long as your fabric is long enough at the line of stitching, it will be long enough when the fabric is opened up for the next line of stitching.

I almost always use an iron and press the fabric open...

Just continue adding additional strips of fabric...

The purpose is to use whatever strip of fabric you come to...no picky matching....just a way to use little strips of leftover fabric that you couldn't use for much else.

Keep adding strips till the foundation paper is covered.  One thing I do that not everyone is does is that last little corner piece that is added....I try to make sure to cut it till the bias is in the seam and the corner edges are with the grain.  I don't know why I bother...all the rest of the edges will be bias.

I always turn over and use a ruler and rotary cutter to trim the blocks to size.

Before rotary cutters and rulers, one used scissors and trimmed to the size of the foundation paper.

Isn't it magic how it looks so neat with just four cuts.

And one last photo of the paper starting to be torn off.   I have used phone book pages, but with them you have to worry about the newsprint transferring  to your fabric.  Supposedly, after so many years it is cured and won't transfer.  Well, on these blocks I used some that was as old as 'that magic number' and while it did not transfer to the fabric, it did rub off on my machine bed.  I switched to the paper above for the most part.  It is blank newsprint paper...I bought it from Amazon.  I have used printer paper, but it is hard to tear off, even with the shorter stitch length I use in making these blocks.

I hope this was good enough to explain the process to those interested.

Stitch therapy....

Today was a step forward for us...we actually got out and went to Walmart and picked up things we needed/wanted.   We had to go ALL.OVER.the STORE.  But we both did pretty good,  though we were both sure ready to get home when we did.

Roger carried in most of the bags, and I put away things.  By then I was ready to sit for a bit...got my second wind and wanted to sew.  I knew I was not good for going downstairs and standing and cutting.  But I knew I would be good to sew a few lines up here.  So I made a couple string blocks.  They are mindless and do not require exact sewing.   In the photo above I am putting the final piece on one.

I make them by just sewing random strips/scraps together.  Some people will choose a color palatte but I never have.  Though I think one with chosen colors might be in my future.  Anyway, above is one before it is trimmed to size.

And above and below they have been trimmed to 6½ inches in size.

It felt good to do something normal...good health means everything.   I hope your day was a good one...