Monday, September 19, 2016

Scrappy Saturday Sewing

It's been a while since I could just sew for the afternoon - apart from trying to keep up with my Quilty 365 project, but today I finally decided to "just do it" as the slogan says!
I've had a HUGE pile of 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" blocks cut since last year - one of the guest bloggers for last year's 'Hands2Help' challenge said that she cuts her scraps into rectangles based on those dimensions and then sews them into blocks.  I started using her method of using up my scraps - it makes for a great Leader / Ender project - and eventually, you get a pile of blocks!  Today was the day I finally made time to put them together.
I made great progress on this top - it still needs another 2 rows to be a "proper" quilt, but I'm pleased with what I've accomplished today!
*And now it's Monday - I put my post on hold to get a picture, but it didn't happen until today - it still needs those 2 rows - they'll get added sometime soon, I hope (before month's end if I have any say in the matter!)
This is what it looks like now:
I see a few rows where I have matching blocks touching each other (of course I didn't notice that when I sewed the rows together...), but I may just leave them.  That's the charm of a scrappy quilt, isn't it?  Thanks for stopping in!

Saturday, September 3, 2016

August Quilty 365 report

It's that time of the month again - time to share my Quilty 365 progress!  I'm a few days late - I had 29 of my blocks done, and had to scramble to find enough time to finish the last two blocks - but they're finally done!
I knew that August was going to be crazy, but I had NO idea how crazy life could get - until it actually happened.  I've been helping to care for my dad in supportive housing; then, late last week, he moved into long-term care.  He had a really rough start, and I wasn't sure that he'd actually still be around by the end of this week, but he's starting to settle in, and I've finally had a sort of quiet day.
I was able to work in my sewing room for almost 2 hours today!  I finished my August blocks, and here they are:


I also finished 10 or 12 blocks for Kat's August block drive for Covered In Love.  I was a little hesitant to commit to participating, because there was the danger of our postal employees going on strike, but that, thankfully, has been averted, so the blocks are somewhere in the postal system.  The day after I sent them, I realized that I'd forgotten to take a picture of my blocks...!  BUT, I loved the block that Kat chose (a disappearing 9-patch with black and white fabrics, surrounding a central block in either lime green, Caribbean blue, or sunny yellow) - and I've decided to take the fabrics that I had left-over, and I'm making my own D9P blocks!  The only difference is that each block will have a different Kona solid at the center of the block - and I have quite the assortment of colours!  I worked on a few of those blocks today, and hope to have time on Monday to cut and re-assemble some of those blocks.  I'm excited to see how the different colours will look together!
And finally, I needed a card today to accompany a prayer shawl that one of our craft group volunteers made for a member of our church.  The prayer shawl will be going to a man fighting cancer, so I needed a masculine-looking card to go with the prayer shawl - and this is the finished card:
  It's a little hard to see, but there's a "patchy" diamond design embossed onto the top of the light card-stock.  I love the image of the tree - strong and immovable - as I hope  his faith is!  
I'm going to link up my blocks to the QuiltyFolk website - there are already a number of blocks posted!  And, as always, thanks for stopping in!