Thursday, July 26, 2012

Scrap Jar Quilt block Dare Completed


Karin, the Dirt Road Scrapper dared me to make just one, and I thought hmm, if I make one, I ought to make 9.  NINE the magic number is 9, keep that in mind, since that would be a great picnic size for two little girls.  And due to the the mysteries of how my crazy brain works (not really in any logical sense sometimes/ probably most times) I cut & cut and sewed a lot of components for those blocks and then decided to throw them up on the design wall just to see..... ( I still had a few more parts to sew together but was anxious to see things together).........and the crazy quilt angels who watch over me (who are a bit devilish) burst into laughter and laughed and laughed and so did I........I had 17 centers that I only need 9 of, and not enough of the HST's nor corner units for my 9 blocks, (there was enough for about 7 blocks of one component and 8 of the other,  lol).   SO, I cut & cut some more and sewed a LOT more and put things up on two design walls (one was the floor, lol)  And still was short pieces/parts for the components, those crazy quilt angels sure are entertained when I'm around.  Anyway after carefully re-counting, cutting and sewing,
here they are, yes THEY, lol.   Thank you to Staci, (see link below) & Karin, (link top and bottom) for blogging about Amber's Beautiful SCRAP JAR Quilt.  Thank you to Amber from A Little Bit Biased for coming up with this cute pattern and sharing it.  She has a free tutorial here  for you to try if you'd like to make one of these too. 

 Decided since I had 17 centers, no biggie to make one more plus all the other parts.  Yes they are still tops for now.  I am going to back them with denim, (& maybe no batting??) I think to make them more durable for the ground.  But I don't have any, so next time I travel back to civilization, I will pick some up.  :)They've been done for almost two weeks but I could not figure out how to take a picture of both at the same time since my design wall is only a the backside of a 3.00 flannel backed tablecloth and too small.  And I wanted Karin to see that I wasn't pulling her leg about all the piece/parts, but the only solution I could some up with, was one I was trying to avoid..........taking them outside and risk furry footed dust tracks and furry bodies lounging on them while I was trying to take a picture (imagine about a dozen farm cats all over quilt tops).  So it was when I was talking/emailing Carol about the Stacked Bowls Blog Hop and Karin's challenge that I thought, "oooh if I feed the cats, they will all run up the porch and start eating and I could run out quickly flop them down and snap away.  That MAYBE I could do it without the furry inspectors checking out what was going on in the yard" and told Carol that.  And amazingly enough it worked, I ran down to a shade tree to snap a couple.  So because it's shady, and I was in a hurry they are not the best photo's but the grass is still green under them and you can see that I completed the dare and my goal of one nine block top...... times 2, LOL!!!!

Now I completed these while dog sitting two pony-sized dogs who were really no help at all, had to go out to potty, came in  then they were bored.... wanted out again, too hot.... wanted in, sleep awhile, repeat..... over and over again, lol.  But while there I also zipped together some of the scappy grannies I've been accumulating making them as leader and ender blocks. So below the scrap jar tops is the scrappy grannies.  A baby sized granny, I'll add a couple of borders to and set aside for whenever someone needs a top or a quilt..


Then, do you remember my post about "Art is all about perspective?" well you can go back and read it if you want, but here is my version of HELTER SKELTER, a pattern by Abbey Lane Quilts, done from the perspective I like best, turned 90 degrees.  Still just a top, like all my quilts lately.  But it is just toooooooo hot to have lap full of batting and fabric whether it be machine or handquilted.  Hopefully some rain & cooler weather will be coming soooooooooon?

It is twin sized and will most likely be a Christmas present, this year.....or next? It's brighter than appears here.  The picture was taken in a dark room. .maybe I should try outsmarting the cats again and try for a sunny place?  I don't have any pics of what I put on the design wall this morning but I will post pics on a later date,  Still need to get a flower girl dress done, (is kind of boring going back to regular sewing on navy satin when I've been creating such colorful things!) and finish a baby quilt.  I did the top for a few weeks ago, no pics of that either until after the shower.........mom-to-be has decided on a turtle theme.......so ........no .............hurry.......  ;-) 

And to Karin and Staci, the confused quilter if you have not started sewing your components together, watch the corners, over the course of 18 blocks, 72 corner units, 3 of them almost got me, had one side sewn when realized it was wrong and had to unsew, but the quilt angels snickered again as I sewed the 4th one in wrong on 2 sides!!!!   LOT's of FUN, thanks for the challenge!!! Let me know if you have any others..............;)  Later,  Cyndi


Friday, July 6, 2012

Karin challenged me......no, she DARED me!

but not about this pic,
These are patriotic headbands I made last minute, literally, (it was a last minute thought,lol) for my youngest granddaughters, sorry no pics with them on their heads.  My camera is never where I need it and phone is just about as bad.
But they were cute little patriotic cornballs, one said she was a rock with that headband on and proceeded to jump around dancing with an air guitar,  then the other one started dancing too lol.... the rock star is 5, her sidekick cousin is 4!

This is about what Karin dared me to do.  (insert picture of scrap jar pieces/parts on design wall that the themostat sits in the middle of, lol)

sorry it's so fuzzy

Recently I've seen Scrap Jar Quilts pop up over the internet here and there.
 Beautiful and scrappy, they are.  And then I ran across Staci's Scrap Jar quilt she was starting with Karin and left a message and she said I had to go see Karin's progress, which of course I did and left a message there too.  Then Karin threw down a dare to this country girl......  And I accepted her challenge/DARE to do ONE..... I'll take that dare and do that times 9.  LOL!  Nine is the perfect size for 4 & 5yr old's picnic quilt!!   They're big blocks (16")!  BUT then due to my weird, silly habit of cutting and sewing, and cutting and sewing, and pressing some here, and trimming some there, then sewing more and NOT counting as I go, LOL.. really this is a seriously bad habit I have and it goes back for years, maybe forever.  
Anyway back to the Scrap jar blocks.........When I threw the parts up on the design wall to see what I had done and how they would look, I had 17 center blocks. ( I ONLY needed 9) Had trimmed HST's for about 3.5 blocks plus a few untrimmed and corners for most of the original 9 but not enough for all.  LMAO!!!!   Now I am now making 2 picnic quilts.  I have 17 centers, so why not.  So last night I sewed and sewed more pieces/parts (really, that is a word. lol)
Here's a glimpse of my crazy process..........


Cut some of the pieces/parts apart this am before work......am pretty sure looking at the reds on the right, I may or may not have counted, again, if so, not accurately.  Seems to be more waaaay more reds LOL!!!!!!   What can I say I love to feed my sewing machine!! If there's extra, they'll get used for something, if not.......back to the cutting board with the blues, lol.
One time I lovingly cut of all sorts of purples & lavenders, hundreds, pale to dark parts for my middle daughters desired queen size purple kaleidescope quilt............. I have made 3 queen size quilts from those pieces and still have enough left for 2-3 more.  That has to be the worst case of overcutting I did and it still makes me laugh!! 
More later on a different day about the completion of the scrap jar blocks, for now HOP over to Staci, the Confused Quilter and Karin, Dirt Road Scrapper,'s blogs and see what they are up to. 
Have a great one !  Cyndi