There's something about spring ...

There's something about spring ... that makes me a bad blogger!  Sorry, I don't know if it is the rainy weather; spring allergies;  the countdown to the Quilt Show; there's a million excuses!  And I've been using them all!!

But I have been nose to the grindstone all weekend!  One of my QOV quilts is done-done!  Alleluia!!  It will be presented over Memorial Day weekend - no last minute sewing for this one!!  I'm presenting a QOV today to a local veteran.  He can't come to the Memorial Day Presentation, but his family is visiting this weekend, so we're giving the quilt to him today.

AND I'm working on a "color-block" quilt for my DS's family.  Have you tried this?  I first saw it on Pinterest (trouble maker that it is!)  Since I have been saving scraps forever, they were taking over the closet space.  I had sorted them into medium boxes by color.  Something had to give.  This method has many names - the 'mile a minute' method should be easy and fast ... right??  The answer is 'kind-of, sort-of!"  

Here are some of the blocks on the Design Wall.

I'm currently working on the end of the Orange blocks.  

Red, purple and blue are finished.

20-something blocks made YESTERDAY!!

There are threads and stacks of color all over the condo!!  I did make 20-some 8 inch blocks yesterday!!  I have definitely gotten the routine memorized!  

* Sort scraps by length

* Start by sewing 2 small fabrics together

* Press and trim if needed

* Pick a scrap the right size to add

* Sew together.  You're basically making a log cabin quilt with scraps of varying widths.  There are alot of choices and variations to get bogged down with!  But it's fun to see those stacks of fabric disappear!!

Just have 3 more colors of scraps to 'block'!  Fingers crossed it will be ready to 'top' this week.

Ladies - keep those engines revving!!  Sew like the wind!

You've heard about something new ... Now let's see something that hasn't been reported yet!!

We were able to display our Mod Squad projects from last year at the library again.  This year's display was just as interesting!  So interesting that we already are committed to March 2020!!  The display cases are in the lobby and they're HUGE!  Here are this year's challenges:

 The double cases with free magazines underneath.

Challenges included 'Thread fabric', A Bird and a Word, Hide this Fabric!, and Trapunto

Displayed in second case:  Vacation, 50 Shades, Doodle Art and Mandala

The intrepid Hanging Committee!  Thanks Ladies for your help!

It doesn't feel like fall today!!

We've had stellar weather the last few weeks. A little windy at times - but sunny and blue. The last week of water aerobics outside broke our hearts!! It was perfect and it ended for the year!!

Last weekend we scurried up to Portland to get Miss P. The weather and the tide tables looked promising for entertaining a 4 yr old Granddaughter. And we had a great week. Miss P has grown so much. She's much more adventurous now. Climbing the playground equipment and climbing the rocks and logs down on the beach.

Oh yeah - and she has grown into that chatterbox stage. Not Papa's favorite trait!! She announced that she was getting a new baby sister for her birthday - she was going to trade in Mr M! I told her that all brothers and sisters want to trade in their siblings ... but she convinced me she was really serious about it!!

To celebrate this long weekend I moved my sewing space out into the diningroom - with the view. I got into my bag of "too small to use but too big to throw away" scraps and pieced 4" log cabins. It's an addiction - I want to tell you!!

I started making these little blocks back in Nebraska - yes, I moved them and the bag of scraps - get over it!! But the bag was in the way during this new rendition of my sewing space and I was trying to decide if they should just be tossed! The answer was a resounding "NO"! Some of my favorite fabrics were in that bag - and it was like sewing with 'old friends'! I had 21 blocks from Nebraska - I now have 78!

The bag is maybe 2/3 of it's former glory! And there are strips sorted by size in little boxes ready for the next sweatshop session ... I have no idea how many blocks the bag will make!! I did have to break into a few nickel squares for that last log. I was running out of dark choices in that size. But everything else is from the bag! I'll keep you posted how many blocks come out of the bag!

What am I going to do with these blocks?? No clue!! I have a 48" size wall hanging space here - if I run out of steam I can make a wall quilt for that space. That would be about 144 blocks - easy peasy!! If I'm still on a roll - it could be an almost twin size lap quilt for watching tv OR a kingsize quilt for the bedroom!! If it ends up king size I'll add another round of logs to make the blocks almost 6". Then it would take only 400 blocks compared to 900 four inch blocks!!

Oh, by the way, don't think I can't do it!! [insert seriously evil laugh here!] I can probably do it without ever touching what I consider my 'regular' stash!! I have nickel squares and assorted size squares and strips and scraps galore - not counting my 'too small, too big' sack!! And remember - I moved 2 1/2 years ago - I gave away alot of scraps and strips and squares then!!

What can I say - I'm a scrap quilter!! And it's so much fun!!!

Summertime is fleeing!

Just settling in to normal life again after wedding rush. My computer had to go into the shop - he said to bring any computer programs I wanted him to load - and silly me, I thought, I have everything on here I want. Oh--h, he meant RE-load after he wiped the drive clean!! The computer is still not running well [crap!!] - and I have to find my photo software so I can load all the pictures from my camera! Until then - you'll just have to make do without pictures.

We were in the Valley last week - traveling from Newport to Portland to Talent ... and it was really, really hot! We are simply not acclimated to 100+ degrees anymore. The average temp in Brookings is 58 in the month of July! [I know - we were amazed too!]

We took the Portland grandkids to the park early in the mornings while it was still tolerable. Tried to interest them in movies in the afternoon after nap. Miss P is almost 4 and she has changed so much. She loves climbing the playground equipment now - that's new - before she was pretty much a big chicken! Mr M wants to do anything Miss P can do. He wound his way up and thru the equipment to slide down the 7 ft slide so many times he was staggering on the last trip!

We ate out and shopped too. I ordered new glasses this trip - should be here next week. DH doesn't like the wire rims I've had for 3 years ... the next ones are black plastic rims. [Hello, Buddy Holly!!] But I'll be glad to get them. These have been a pain lately - falling off every time I lean over!

In Talent we stayed with the newlyweds. We went out to dinner and breakfast everyday. DH went golfing and J2 and I went shopping in Ashland for a whole day! Two quilt stores and an awesome consignment store we both love. Bargains were had!

After six days out and about in the heat - coming home to 63 degrees felt wonderful. It's been grey [but cool] ever since. I'm putting back together my sewing space. I've got to get that under control soonest!

I need to 'spread out' enough to work but not so much that I can't quickly stash it all away to bring back in the twin beds for company. We hung the quilt racks in there this week - two of them that fit perfectly along the long wall. So I got my design wall back up. I thought I'd need it ASAP for Miss P's new nap blankie - and I might have IF I hadn't made a cutting error with the rail fence blocks. [For goodness sakes, how long have I been doing this?? Long enough to know better!! (or not)] I had a weird size block I needed to make - due to wanting to use every inch of a focus fabric I had - and figured the size out BUT forgot to add the seam allowances. I frog-stitched all of them [grumpy, grumpy] and will recut the middle rail tomorrow. It's the only fabric I have enough of to recut bigger!

Honestly, between making a 'non-scrap' quilt and using stash for most of it ... I think I need to go back to my usual: Carefree scrap quilts that grow like zucchinis in August!! Enjoy!! Photos soon, I promise.