How About Pink?

I found some Kona pink in my stash and cut triangles for the string blocks. I cut 3" squares and cut them diagonally into triangles.  I should have cut 4" squares; my triangles were a little too small. I decided to go ahead and use them, and just trim the blocks down a little. 

The finished blocks will be 3.5". I can pull the papers off when I'm watching TV. Pretty soon I'll need to put these aside and get back to my "finish-it-up" list. 

String Bin Overflow

I guess most quilters save scraps--we all love fabric, and it's gotten more and more expensive. I throw all the narrow pieces into plastic bins and use them for string quilts. It doesn't take very long to have more than enough strips, and no matter how many I use, they never seem to get used up. I think they multiple in the bins while I'm not looking. The result:

And this is only two of the bins. There are two more just like them. 

I like string quilts. They have such a humble, homey look to them, and best of all, they are like a archive of whatever I've been using in my quilts. The challenge this time is lots of smaller pieces that were trimmed from bigger blocks.

I generally don't keep anything shorter than two inches, but still. What can I do with two inch strings? I saw the cutest little doll quilt on Pinterest recently that had string-pieced X's with yellow triangles. No pattern of course, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out something similar. I cut some strips from an old phone book, 2.5"x6".

I'm thinking 20 blocks will be enough for a doll quilt. Here's a piece with the strips sewn on.

To trim them to the correct shape, I marked the halfway mark on each short end of the paper and used the 45 degree line on my square to cut the points.

The trimmed pieces:

I still need to add the triangles on the long sides. I want to use a solid, just need to decide what color.

First finish of the Second Quarter

The first one is done! It helps when you have the binding cut, pressed and ready to go. Unfortunately, I'll have to get the binding prepped for the next two. 

I did a free-motion design all over, including the borders, in a variegated green thread, and did the binding by machine. Here's a close-up of the quilting.

The log cabin blogs were an Internet block swap from six or seven years ago, so it's past time on getting it done and gone. My plan is to donate this quilt to Nazareth Academy for their Fall Festival auction. It feels good to finish--now onto number two.

The weather seems to have cleared up and it's looking good outside. This was my view from the office window for the past three days.

I hope it will be pretty this weekend.

Round Two

I thought I was through blogging. I totally lost interest. Totally. Well, things change and then come full circle. In the past few years I've done a few charity/donation quilts. They generally have pretty tight deadlines, and I was in a hurry to get them done and out the door. Consequently, I have no record of them. Maybe if I had been blogging, I would have at least been inspired to take a picture and get it posted before the quilts were gone. 

Not blogging made me lose some quilting accountability and get really strung out I've started so many things that haven't gotten finished and have lost track of whatever goals I once had for older WIP's.

A few other bloggers have blogs I read regularly, and on one of those I read about the 2016 Finishalong. It looked like a good idea for me, but I discovered it too late for the first quarter session. So I've been waiting, and the second quarter has started! I'm going to give it a try and see if I can get motivated to finish a few projects that are just lingering. Things that should be finished but aren't. 

Here's my list:


1.  This is a quilt top from a nine patch swap I did several years ago. I used the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern, and it still needs to be quilted, labeled, and bound.

2. Label and bind three quilts. Binding is not my favorite thing and tends to get postponed for as long as I can ignore it.

3. Finish tops for four more charity quilts. I have two tops done,

and the blocks are cut for three more.

 All will need to be quilted, labeled, and bound.

4. Finish sewing the top I cut from this fabric.

5. Make jeans and shorts for my "Doll in the Box" charity project. More on that later.

6. Figure out something to do with all these blocks

7.  Make a couple of headbands. I've got the interfacing and the elastic; I just need to choose the fabric and get them made.

8.  Finish borders on Hanging Gardens quilt top. I can't find a picture. I'll try to get one taken and added later.

9. Get the batik jelly roll blocks assembled into a quilt top.

I realize that finishing a quilt top doesn't count as a finish as it's technically not a quilt yet, but that's okay. I still want a complete list of what I want to get done this quarter. That way, maybe they can get on next quarter's list to get completely finished.