Busy, busy, busy

At my age, I should be retiring, slowing down. However, going downhill usually means speeding up. Oh dear, that is not funny. My hubby is 80 next year and still working. He loves it. I am so busy too that days never seem long enough.

Our calendar for October includes four birthdays, a wine/cheese party, several dinners including Canadian Thanksgiving, three quilt-related meetings, my hubby's last golf maybe, before winter, and a business trip where is is gone for a week. We already had a road trip to visit family on Saturday, and the usual church Sundays and Bible study group on Mondays. DH may have dentist/doctor/massages booked too. I keep telling myself we don't have to say yes to every invitation. Right now I'm thinking a few naps for me too???

Anyway, I am having fun. I started this quilt with a 14" block, then added some 5" blocks around it, all scraps, then went nuts and it is heading toward a 72" finish (or bigger?) and the thing is all scraps. I am likely going to call it "Oops, I spilled my Crayons" and, NO, I have not counted the number of pieces in it. Some people already think I am crazy!

I'm just adding at the top the blocks etc. to make that a corner, and will do the same with the part showing at the bottom of this picture. The side 'corners' are already on, actually very large triangles to make this baby a big square. And to make my scrap bins less stuffed. 

The Final "After"

 I posted the beginning of an improv where a boring block was chopped up and added to until it became interesting (see post here), but it was not done. So I added some 8" scrappy and wonky log cabin blocks and a few other things and wound up with this. It is 37.75" x 47.5" and the quilting is simple: mostly straight lines with a few odd lines thrown in to keep me from getting bored. This one is hanging in my sewing area and I really like it. Besides, it made a great dent in my scraps, at least those colors. Now to hit the rest of them. . . 

Finally one is ready to show. . .

This was once three orphan blocks in three different sizes, plus a bit of extra fabric. I added my own for the backing and binding. It is now a large table runner or a queen-size bed runner. Needs a label, but the local guild group does that and then will find it a home. Not a great photo, but time to take photos is at a premium. Clicking on it might show off the colors a bit better. Sorry it is so fuzzy. 

I've about fifteen more tops/backs/bindings that need batting cut, sandwiches made, and quilting done with binding put on. It sometimes feels like a fabric invasion in my sewing room!

I bought a new sewing machine today. My 1630 Bernina still runs but at age 29, it does not owe me anything -- yet parts are no longer available. If it conks out on me, I cannot do anything but piecing as my BabyLock does only piecing -- at about ninety miles a minute. No zigzag, etc. The newbie is another Bernina, a 575 Quilters Edition. Just out of the box at this point.

 

 

Before and After

I'm still working on the odds/ends from the guild, but now have all tops done, and was able to get one sandwiched and partly quilted. Since there are fifteen of them, it might be a while to do 'my' stuff, but I did take a break and made a few random blocks from scraps. One of them looked like this:

Boring. A library book on making modern improv quilts got into my head so I decided to slash up this boring block (about 16" square) and add some scraps leftover from various things but in colors that worked together. This is the "after" picture. It is 19.5 x 32 but not sure if the strip on the right side will be sewn in. Kind of like it though.

This sort of goofing around is my favorite way to quilt. Just make it up as I go. I even woke in the night and planned a quilt around it, so who knows what will happen. In any case, I've not yet run out of scraps!

Later...

 

 

Odds into quilts. . .

My guild considers me the one to take all sorts of orphans blocks, donated fabric and scraps and "make something" from them. I love the challenges yet sometimes they are like squirrels running through my house. 

One helpful book from the library gives me new ideas, so I ordered the book and now like working on all these odds even more. The book is called, "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting & Living Courageously" by Sherri Lynn Wood. For me, worth every penny. I had it in a day because our city has a few Am. . . warehouses in the outskirts and they are enormous and many items can be delivered in a few hours. If you like making orphan blocks from your scraps, you will love this book.

Also just found a link to an exhibit of the results of an online mystery quilt event. Many of the quilts must have followed the color selections for the pattern as there are dozens the same, but those who picked their own colors make this LINK a delight to see what color changes can do and how creative quilters can be. Check it out!

I've not had time to take pictures, but have lots hanging about the studio waiting for me to focus on that little task. Soon.... Nag me. . . please.

 

 

Still quilting. . .

No recent posts because I am making two large quilts for refugees. The queen-size needs a label and some clue where to put it to take a photo. The twin top is about half done, and required making it up as I want because the inspiration for it was not the right size. So when both are done, I'll post them. 

I've also started a EPP that has only three shapes but is a big size and likely going to take me years to finish. Guess I need to get out of the habit of only posting finished quilts!

Life is busy. We traveled to visit a granddaughter who teaches in a private academy in BC. are visiting folks, and it seems every day has something extra in it, like planting veggies (never have done that for years) and replacing a dead bush, and once again, harvesting rhubarb. Not had any in our yard for decades. Love it!

 

So be patient. I'm still making quilts -- and using up my stash! Also trying to get all of the ones I've done on line. Note sidebar. . . but the labels are not all true. Still have many to post. The last one done was #327.  Above is #163, a request from a granddaughter who at that time was enamored with Japanese culture. It was to have that Japanese Cherry Tree in the middle, but when it was done, I refused and framed it, then made the kimono to go there instead.