Crafters, January 11 through January 17

CJ- where do you find all these cool patterns! The ribbon block is pretty- so is the socialite one. Got any plans for either of them or are they all just test runs to see what you can do? I agree that the socialite one should be great for the rainbow scrap challenge...guess you have enough background fabric to accomplish that. Gosh I hope you were able to get the scent out of the delectable mountains- there must be some protocol available on the internet to remove the smell of perfume. I might be tempted to use baking soda in solution, as it seems to be one of those all around clean anything type household chemicals.

Ruth, that is too bad that you could not schedule groceries pick up for when you wanted. Guess its quite a balancing act getting the time you want on a day when the weather is good. Are you getting any of the snow I have heard about in the mid west? Hope you did get your housework done.....I have some to do here. Oh well it can wait.

I am in shock. Got an appointment for the covid vaccine in early February. (Seems almost like a miracle as ALL the states web sites have been crashing and are overloaded.) gives me time to ask my doctor this Friday what he thinks of the shot- I will try to get the immunization closer to home, as I have to drive to the next county for mine, but I am very thankful for this appointment. I did, literally, get the last appointment they had. Thank you lord.

BBL
Ginny

Hello

Ruth - Sorry you couldn't get a good pickup time for groceries, hope you can find a daytime pickup this week.  

Ginny - You were fortunate to get an appointment for the vaccine, it sounds like it's really difficult to get one all around the country. I find a lot of patterns just looking at so many quilting blogs and then seeing what quilters are making. The one block is from a quilt along at Fat Quarter Shop but it's a big quilt and I think it goes on until June. I just check out the weekly blocks to see if I like one. That website where I got the ribbon block has loads of different patterns.

The fabric pieces I soaked and then dried in my dryer lost the smell, but the quilt blocks I made didn't. I may just throw them out, it was just a test block anyway and I don't have enough fabric to make that many more.

I have my blocks set for the monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge now - the Ribbon Block, the Sewcialities block, the Squares in a Circle block and I'm saving 2.5 inch squares to make the Sudoku quilt later this year. I've finished all the PINK blocks for this month.  That will give me 4 quilt tops by the end of the year.



And each month I'm sorting my scraps by color and any pieces that are less than 1.5 inch strips I'm throwing out. Then I'll cut 1.5 inch and 2.5 inch strips and 5 inch squares, the rest will be kept in larger strips/pieces. And whenever I work on a project I'll make sure to follow these "rules" so that I don't end up with several large plastic bags of scraps again

I cut some fabrics today to make another test block that is a barn/house. I found this website and she did a quilt along last year (I missed it but the patterns were still there). I saved them and I'm going to try making one of the barns and see how I like it. I don't think I'd make a large quilt, but maybe a wall hanging. Here's a link to some pictures/info:

jessicadayon.blogspot.com/2020/10/little-village-quilt-along-fabric.html

jessicadayon.blogspot.com/2020/12/little-village-quilt-along-week-6.html

It's really nice of these quilters to share these free patterns with us.

I'm going to take some time and really think about what quilt patterns I really want to make. I feel like I'm just spinning around looking at so many different ones that I'll never get started. I probably need to make a list of what I have ready to work on, since I like making lists

Take care

I really like those little village quilts and especially like the house with the picket fence. Some people are just so creative!! I think it's a good plan to decide what ones you want to make and then make a list.I know that if I didn't make lists I'd get bogged down on collecting more and more patterns and never get anything done

Ginny, I really think that your doctor, although he may not know all the specifics of the vaccine, would advise you to take it. And gee, Ginny, so sorry you have to make a trip to HL for fabic   Can I go with you?

Yes I think that dgd will like the tote. I know the youngest one would because she's told me she loves pink (a pink camera) I did ask this one what her favorite color is if she has one and she hasn't written back yet so hopefully she's ok with the colors I chose for her pocket shawl, a twist earwarmer, and this tote.

My dgds here and my dd picked out which pocket shawl they wanted from the four I took over. I didn't wrap them or designate  each one to a particular person. My dd took the one made with Homespun.She chose first but if one of the girls wanted that one they would have told her. They aren't afraid to speak up. After making that I have a new viewpoint on that yarn. It was easy to use with this pattern. and I just now had an "ahaa" moment and remembered I have some in a color the dgd who I'm making a pocket shawl for next likes so will use that to make hers if I have enough.

Hello Everyone

Phyl - I'm glad you were able to find some Valentine's Day fabrics at JoAnns. Hope you are enjoying making the Jelly Roll Snowflake quilt, I've seen some really beautiful ones posted on Pat Sloan's Facebook page. Hope you can get back to your sewing machine this week.

Ruth - That Homespun yarn looks pretty and sure comes in a lot of different colors. I bet it makes a pretty shawl. I'm glad your granddaughters are enjoying the pieces you make for them.

Ginny - Hope you found some more of the fabric you need for your Falling Charms quilt, I look forward to seeing a picture of it when it's done. I am happy I came up with a scrap management plan for this year. I'm tired of stuffing pieces of fabric into plastic bags

I tried a test block of the house/barn block this morning and it's pretty easy to put together. I did have a problem with the churn dash block. It didn't turn out to be 6.5 inches like it was supposed to be. That might be my piecing not being accurate, but who knows. I had to trim it down to close to 6 inches and then trim the other side of the "house" to 6 inches too, once I sewed them together and sewed them to the top piece I had trim off some of the side of the top piece.

Also, I thought using a different fabric for the small quilt block would be nice, but the blue is too dark and it stands out and makes the house fade away. I think I might try figuring out the dimensions to put in 1 or 2 windows in place of the quilt block. Since all that piecing was pretty easy and went quickly after cutting all the pieces of fabric first.  I wish I had more of the light blue fabric, but I only had a fat quarter. I have a bunch of Little House on the Prairie fat quarters that I've been wanting to use for years and I think this block might work for them. I'll have to get a picture of those fabrics and show you and see what you think.



Take care everyone

Here are some pictures of my Little House on the Prairie fabric line fat quarters. First picture is all of them, second picture would be possible house blocks (darker for the house, lighter for the background).

I also have a layer cake (10 inch squares) and  jelly roll (2.5 inch strips) of these fabrics.  It's funny but there are only about half of them that I really like that much and I don't like them all together.  There is a separate group of this fabric line, I think it's called Walnut Grove and I made a quilt with those fabrics. I guess I must have thought I should buy the whole line   I'd sure like to use some of these this year.

The more I look at these I think if I was going to make house blocks it would be better to have a standard off white/cream background to balance the darker fabrics. There is just such a mixture of colors, designs and scale that I've had trouble finding a project they would work well with. I also thought maybe a log cabin or courthouse steps quilt might be pretty using these fabrics. What do you all think?

Happy Sunday all!!!

Ruth, The pink camera DGD is going to love this pink tote bag for sure! kids do not usually deviate much from favorite colors and if so, that usually happens around the age of 12.....perhaps later. SO glad you found a way to use up the dreaded homespun- a yarn that is so very pretty but I feel is such a bear to work with. What colors of it do you have? What is so striking is the way it tends to interweave several colors so they all are seen together- unlike a variegated yarn where each color is by itself until it transitions to another color. Were you surprised by the shawls that DGDs and Dd selected?How is Dd feeling....hope that she is fully recovered and feeling well.

Phyl- well sometimes we all have to take a break from the machine. Glad you were able to find Valentine fabric!! I wonder if they are having supply problems, not everything is as available as it was pre covid and I do know that textiles were impacted. What plans do you have to decorate with the fabrics?

CJ- ok here goes...yesI agree that an off white might work best for those fabrics. Regarding the house block, indeed a shame you do not have more of the light blue floral. Thanks for sharing with us how you did experiment with the fabrics, and it does seem like its better to stick with fabrics of the same color intensity in each house. Courtyard steps would be perfect to showcase these fabrics, not sure I would use them all however. If you were going to make more houses I would make combinations like the 2 blues. (Top row, 1rst fabric and bottom row, 6th from left). I can see brown houses, yellow houses, orange houses, green houses - and then if you needed to make different house color combinations- just vary how each fabric is used for the house. Think there were many different house designs...so the houses would look different by both design and fabric application. think I would stick with the smaller patterns if you opt to make a log cabin or courtyard steps quilt. There’s two beautiful yellow fabrics in the middle row, but they are a less dense print, not sure if a courtyard steps would do those prints justice. And now I have voiced my opinion WAY too much. You have some really really pretty fabrics (I love small florals!!!!) Have fun with them.

Got my quilt and fabric measured so I know what I am doing tomorrow at HL. I will have to buy more fabric for the quilt backing- just depends on which fabric HL has in the store. The fabric I got for the backing earlier is really nice quality- and if It was 108 inches wide, I would not have to buy any more.

Think I am going to crochet.....
G