Scraps

I finally have these blue scraps put together.

I kept thinking about one of my food professors who hated left-overs.  She said that the problem with leftovers is that 1 cup is too much to throw away, so you save it and add 2 cups worth of new ingredients.  Then you end up with a cup.  So you do it again.  By the time it's all eaten, the original ingredient is 2 weeks old.

Yep.  That's what happened with this quilt too.

There are some blue calicos from my second ever quilt project in the late 80's.

But I did throw a big hand-full of small bits of blue into the trash as soon as the last rectangle was finished.

I just finished pin-basting this to bamboo batting and a white Ikea sheet.  Hubby and I are going to hop on the bikes and take a several hour break for lunch and winding roads.  Machine quilting when I return.

Guilt & Scraps WTFFQ

In the process of creating the new sewing room, I discovered that the blue scraps appear to be mating.   I have made several blue scrap quilts...and yet look at all this fabric!

My first inclination is to chuck everything in the trash.   But that's just not in my nature.  It's like changing the locks on the house so certain family members can't get in....no matter how tempting it is...I just can't do it.  Far too inappropriate.  *Sigh*

I'm a couple hours into piecing scraps together and I'm starting to quit hating those fabrics.  I'm kind-of understanding the scrap appeal.  It's a trip down memory lane!  The blue batiks from Emily's wedding quilt.  The berry fabric from the Quilt From Hell (Lone Star).  Several blue fabrics that I bought to match the new color scheme at a workplace and bought fabric at JoAnn's for lab coats that matched the trim.  And why would I EVER think I needed a home-spun?

That blue floral never actually matched anything I ever owned as it was an off-shade of blue.  I tried for decades to work it into a quilt.  2 of the blues were left from a reverse applique Mum that I made for my mom.  There's also some fabric I bought for Quilts of Valor.  There are also some random blues that I bought for Baltimore Album quilts...which at a distance resemble cut glass.  There are also a couple pieces that I SWEAR I have never seen before.


Seriously...I think that my quilting friends are sneaking fabric into my stash just to mess with me.  Come to think of it...that's actually a really fun idea.  I may start carrying random fat quarters in my purse and just tuck them in with something similar at my quilting friends' houses.  Tee-Hee-Hee....I'm calling them WTFFQ.   I am a girl with a mission.

Oh... BTW...You are welcome to blame me for any WTFFQ that you find in your stash...no matter where you live.  It's all my fault.

A little hexing

I have pulled out Rita's Hexi project.  This is a traditional English Paper Piecing hand project that I started a couple summers ago.  Over the past couple weeks I've managed to stitch together the upper left section (above the blue strip) which doesn't seem like much until you realize that it is 14 rows of 7 hexies each.

No quilting for me this weekend.  We took our daughters rock climbing.  It was the first time they'd shown interest in a decade.  Seems that my harness shrunk since I wore it last.  I'm told that's a common affliction of equipment ignored for years and years.  Looks like we may be spending more time away from home, pursuing the original helmet sport that was the reason my hubby and I met and started dating.

Finished Top

I decided to just suck it up and finish with my original plan for this scrappy tile border.  Thanks for all your suggestions.  I no longer totally hate it.  Maybe 6 of 10.  My issues is that I just don't like scrappy.  Even when it's monochromatic.  I was trying to push outside my comfort zone in the hopes it would add some texture and weight to the border to anchor the applique.

Next step = hand quilting.  I am going to use a silk batting that I've been saving for some special reason.  I'm still a little iffy on what design I'm going to use in the very center.  I've been reading up on silk batting, and am not sure if I'll get the same shrinkage texture as with cotton. (They both claim 5% shrink).  Anyone with experience w/ silk batting?  I'm open to advice.

Mis-estimation

I did spend entirely too much time making this full sawtooth border.  I was going to make it with HST but opted for the pointer triangles that were part of Esther's original pattern.  Although it took me twice as long , I am happy with the end result.  On  10 point scale of how happy I am with the results, I give the applique 9.3 and the pink sawtooth border about 8.7 (it was only an 8 until I saw this photo and the things that bug me are not evident from a distance. )  I like the contrast between the curvy applique and the triangles.

I've spent all of today making this green border.  Because I was using up the leftovers from the leaf fabric, I did some simple estimate calculations to be sure that I had enough fabric to pull off this look.  Earlier today there were many things that I didn't like about this look, which rated it only a 3.  I forgot that the top and bottom strip needed to be 17" longer than that side, so had to go back and add more fabric to the original strips.  And just when I thought I was about ready to stitch this all together, I discovered that the sawtooths (sawteeth?) finished at 2.25" not the 2" I had assumed.  This left me about 7 rows short on each side.  Bah. I would probably had as many issues if I'd spent the time to do detailed calculations.

But what now....
Should I
A)  continue fixing the tile border that I am only luke-warm about.
B) buy a solid dark green batik for an 8" outer border.
C) do something entirely different.