Still a mess ....

 I've been putting way too many hours at work ... all work and no play makes Carole a dull girl! Time for a change. I've taken a couple of weekends off to spend time with myself. 

The first thing I scheduled was cleaning out the sewing studio. It had become a dumping ground. I've been quite the scattered brain since Covid started and as you can imagine, there wasn't one surface in that room that wasn't covered with something. I also took the time to purge, but obviously, not enough. Sigh!

I have some kits left over from Fibre Junction days that I have no intention of piecing and thought I'd post them on Facebook market place. So far no bites ... the bite I did get (which makes me wonder why I even posted that in the first place) were 2 small Artbin boxes. Not sure it's worth my time to coordinate the exchange of goods. Oh well!

After the cleaning, I actually sat down in front of my sewing machine and started piecing a nine (9) patch quilt I had started cutting last year. I had cut up all of my reproduction charm packs (another attempt at de-stashing). Some were acquired at Market; new 19 Century reproductions fabric lines coming out etc. It will make a nice memory quilt. I'm using muslin for the nine patch block with 19 Century shirting as the alternate block.

Sadly, I did not have enough fabric to make another similar block, but I can make one that is different. I'm thinking of using those blocks to make a smaller quilt using prints in between the nine (9) patch blocks.

Seriously, what else could I do with that bin of scraps?

The pattern is from the book Preserving History by Julie Hendricksen. I love that book!  I also have another flying geese feedsack quilt project going from that same book. I did blog about it here and here.

I first saw the nine (9) patch quilt at Market and fell in love with it.

The original size of the block is 1.5" finished. NO way was I going to turn that into a queen size quilt. So I've increased the block size. It makes it much more manageable!

I haven't continued on that project because ... well my cutting table is still a mess from the hexe project.

I really do need to clean that up. I mean, I do have a fair amount of bags made up of hexe blocks to keep me busy for some time.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. Hope you are keeping busy! Catch you later! Cheers!

Plugging away ...!

 I've been in a funky mood. Covid is getting old ... It feels like Ground Hog day ... I'm so eager for some change ... but, looks like it may take quite some time to happen ... sigh!

In the mean time, I've been stitching away on that 1/2 inch hexagon quilt. There's something about emptying a spool of thread ... Ah, what an accomplishment! lol

 

I've been hand basting the hexagons. This allows me to use spools of thread that I have no idea why I bought ... A hot pink hand quilting thread ... what was I thinking! Oh well, all gone!

I've been thinking of ways to remove the hexagon papers without causing too much damage to the template, allowing me to re-use them multiple times. The smaller the template, the harder it is to remove. To facilitate the removal of the small template, I use a 1/8" hole puncher and punch a hole in the middle.

In the past, I used appliqué pins to secure the template as I basted, but I found that to be cumbersome, damaging and prickly! Now I use a glue stick, which minimized the damage to the template. The trick to using glue is not to apply too much. You only need a little bit for the fabric to stick. 

At first, I used a pair of hemostat to remove the template.

I could not master the art of removing the template without creasing it to death. I lived with it for a while until an uncommon tool popped into my mind ... a seafood pick.

It fits beautifully into the hole.

And the template pops right out.

With minimal damage to the template, making it reusable ... Voila!

So far, I have a nice little stack of blocks completed.

What have you been up to? 

Thanks for stopping by. Catch you all later! Cheers!

A free TV ... so it would seem!

Believe it or not, I have never owned a TV. I'm not one to sit and watch programs on the television. I mainly stream and pay for what I watch and do so on my lap top computer.

My friend, Mary, decided that she wanted a bigger television screen and gave me her small TV. I thought about whether I wanted a TV or not ... I mean, it is fun to watch people's reactions to "you don't own a TV?" Even my neighbour's grandchild made mention when he walked into my home "where's your TV?" lol

I gave it some thought and decided that it would nice to watch my programming on a larger screen rather than on my small lap top. Actually, because I tend to view documentaries, I don't really watch the program, I mainly listen to it. So, I gladly accepted the free television.

Voila!

Of course I cannot own a television without a dvd/blue-ray player ... then came the Amazon Fire Stick to stream from the internet. So all in all this free television ended up costing me $150.00! LOL I just think that's funny.

I have been enjoying the free one year subscription to the Food Network Channel that came with the Amazon Fire stick. I guess you can say I now listen/watch cooking shows too! lol

That's pretty much it for me at the moment. Hope all is well in your world!

Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

Time to declutter .... Squirrel!

 I decided that I needed to uncluttered my quilting life. I have so much quilting stuff, some left over from the Fibre Junction days ... fabric and more fabric. I'm not sure what to do with it all except make more quilts. Not that it's a bad idea, but I already have so many projects going at the moment. For instance ...

This half inch hexagon English Paper Piecing (EPP) quilt ... started quite a while back ... perhaps 5 years ago. It's an ongoing project. The goal is to have a queen size quilt!

As I started to tackle the quilting studio, I came across a bag of 19th century reproduction (less than two (2) inches) fabric scraps. Squirrel! Great! I can get rid of the scrap bag by cutting the fabrics into 1.5" inch squares for this EPP UFO project I'm working on. Perfect way to purge! Off I went to start cutting ....

First I organized the scraps into colours, then started cutting ...

Realizing that the bag of scraps was not enough ... I reached for my bins of reproduction scraps.

As I was cutting the fabric, it dawned on me ... Why don't I also cut for that scrappy 3/8 inch hexe quilt that I have in mind to piece? 

Suddenly .... I realized that I was standing on the edge of insanity! At what point/size will I consider a piece of fabric trash? I quickly crabbed on to the ledge of my sanity and went about continuing to cut for that half inch hexe quilt. 

Shush! Don't tell anyone but I started a bag of 3/4" fabric scraps! Just in case I change my mind! LOL

Three days later ... I'm still at it ... 

Oh but I have a pile of fabric trash to show my progress ...

My cutting table is still a mess and the carpet needs a good vacuuming ... My quilting studio still needs purging .... but, I've got a bag prepped of hexagon blocks for when Chookyblue does her next Zoom quilting meet! lol

My hand piecing progress ... Queen size??? I may have to rethink that!

At what point/size do you consider fabric trash? 

Ever since I started to English Paper Piece, I have a difficult time throwing fabric away. You just never know! The smallest EPP hexagon is 1/4 inch! Turn that into a queen size quilt! ROFLOL

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you later! Cheers!

A different type of piecing .....

 Not sure if any of you know this, but I'm such a Lego fan. As a matter of fact, I have to be careful when I go on their site ... I can easily drop quite a few dollars in no time. 

Funny thing, Pumpkin loves Legos too. At first, I would indulge my love of Legos by buying her sets. Now, I just buy for myself ... like last week! lol

Pumpkin came up a couple of weekends ago and we decided to continue working on the Saturn V rocket. We started the rocket late July 2020. There were 14 Lego bags total for building the model. The first seven (7) bags was just for the first stage! 

Working on the other stages of the rocket went much quicker. We were done in a couple of hours. Voila!

The little astronauts by the Lunar Module are to scale. You can just image how huge the rocket is. All of the stages stack together just like the real one. It's so cool!

Once the Saturn V rocket was built, we went shopping for more Legos! lol Pumpkin fell in love with the tractor ...

I've always wanted a tractor! I guess that will do for now! lol

Last but not least .... Here's T

Better watch it ... he's scary. So much so that Stella did one of her funky black cat jumps when she saw T. It was hilarious to see! lol

Well, I do hope you are keeping well. Thanks for stopping by! Catch you all later!