And that’s it for this week! Keep your fingers crossed that The Orange Menace is sent packing come Tuesday, and that he can be a man and accept his defeat gracefully peacefully.
CRAZY BY DESIGN
Saturday, November 2, 2024
This and That
Saturday, October 26, 2024
Sewing and Remembering What I Forgot
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Behind the Scenes
Most of my creative work this week - and I use the term “creative” loosely - was behind the scenes. Or maybe I should just call it not picture worthy.
Last Saturday afternoon I basted two quilts. The first was It’s a Jungle Out there, and the second was a rescued quilt top from the grandmother of a friend of Ruby’s (Julia). Ruby, at the request of Julia, had cut out the good part of an old worn quilt into a top about 45x55”. It contained pieces of fabric (most likely clothing) ranging from the 1940s through the 1970’s and was haphazardly pieced with random seam widths. Ruby trimmed it, added a white 5” border and made a red gingham backing. On Sunday I quilted the newly-basted vintage quilt (no pictures) and Ruby took it to Julia to trim and bind, which was going to be a basic teaching moment for Julia to learn to do those tasks.
I also quilted the inner panel of Jungle; the checkerboard blocks will be done this week. I’ll have pictures next week. The final uninteresting thing I did was to hem two pairs of palazzo (wide leg) pants for my daughter-in-law. I still have one pair of my own to do. These are a royal pain in the posterior.
But I did get to some fun sewing only just yesterday. Here are some of these blocks on the design board. I’m working with my black scraps this month in keeping with our October challenge of dark neutrals for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I had to re-work the sizes of the strips and blocks to accommodate the scraps I had. The center black-and-bright strip is 2.5”x5.5” and is bordered by two solid strips of blue cut at 2”x5.5”. Sewn together they yield a block that is 5.5” unfinished or 5” finished. I’d like to get an entire kid-sized quilt top, but I don’t think I have enough of these fabrics to do that. So I’ll probably alternate them with brightly colored solid squares. We’ll see how it pans out. I saved my wider cuts of black-and-bright fabrics to make 4–patches from 3” squares, which should also measure 5.5” unfinished or 5” finished. Who knows, maybe they’ll end up in the same quilt (some ideas are noodling around) or maybe not.
Other than that, it was just mostly mundane stuff this week. I had a dental appointment to have a crown replaced, played cards with friends, did some HOA presentation planning, and assorted other Suzy Homemaker tasks. It rained for two days, which was lovely. It’s supposed to be sunny today, though. I will probably get out in the courtyard and pull the remaining annuals and bring in the flower pots and patio furniture. Bruce had a mostly good week too, and even Zoom’ed with some old Army buddies. So, that’s it from here. Short and sweet, just like me! :-)
Life is good!
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Quiet(er) Week
It wasn’t a quiet week, just a quiet-er week. We still had friends visit, two appointments to get each of the cars new sets of tires, a contractor visit to measure for a gas fireplace insert, my Weight Watchers workshop, cards with friends, a meeting (actually two) to plan for the upcoming annual HOA community meeting and getting the grocery shopping done. When I had downtime, I was sewing.
This week I finished all my brown string scraps into blocks. I know this picture looks suspiciously similar to last week’s picture of the brown string blocks, but this time, they are stacked in piles of 15. Fifteen is the quantity most useful to our Quilts for Kids chapter to pair with a fun solid fabric and make into a 30-patch top with two borders. There are a lot of cute fabrics with dinosaurs and animals that have browns in them, and I imagine these will be well received for boys’ quilts.
So, here are my 92 brown string blocks. They still have their papers on…
When these were complete, I put away the brown scrap drawer and took out the gray and the black scrap drawers. I spent several great hours fondling and sorting each drawer.
My scraps typically come from several sources: my own sewing leftovers, generous friends, the giveaway tables at the annual Worldwide Quilting Day event we attend in March, and from my local Quilts for Kids group. Our chapter is always getting fabric donations, and the scrappy bits aren’t usually suited for kit-making for the members. There are a few of us who take the scraps and turn them into blocks and tops.
So this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, we’re working again on dark neutral colors, or light neutrals if that’s how your stash leans. Personally, I’m tackling black and gray in October. I decided to postpone string sewing of those colors until next year so I can work on other ideas.
Over the years I’ve saved Black + Bright scraps, and have several small yardage cuts as well. Within the scraps were these two blocks (the four-patch needs its center seam sewn) that inspired me to make more of the same. So, the first step will be to measure and cut the black fabrics and solids to see if I can eke out a couple quilt tops from what I have. Should be a fun change from the strings! I’m not sure yet what I’ll focus on for the gray scraps, but that’s for later in the month.
Today I’ll be basting several - hopefully between 2 and 4 - quilts for quilting over the next couple weeks. It feels soooo good to have the time and sewing mojo to be creating again!
Also, it occurs to me that I need to snap some photos of the season here in our courtyard and the condo community here as autumn advances (awesome alliteration). Were due to have beautiful weather, more akin to September, for at least another week. I probably ought to get the garden cleaned up and some bulbs planted as well, but there’s always next week!
And a gratuitous feline picture for you - Alfalfa living his best life in the morning sunshine.
Darla is more camera shy. She’ll usually yield the morning sun to her brother, but she gets her share on my side of the bed in the afternoon. Here’s an oldie but goodie of Herself.
Have a happy and healthy week!
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Autumn Leaves, Sewing String Blocks, Kitchen Remodel Before & After
It’s going to be a picture-heavy post. It was such a beautiful and busy week and we took lots of photos along the way, so let’s get started.
This week I was able to sew about 32 string blocks from my brown scrap strips. The top pic is from last week, the bottom one was taken after the 32 blocks were sewn. I think there’s at least another 30 blocks’ worth in there to sew up, what do you think??
I doubt if I’ll be able to start quilting it this week, but maybe I can get it pin basted. The backing is mostly sewn and ready. But I want to finish off those brown string blocks first and then figure out what other things I want to sew in October in the way of black and gray scraps. I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog.
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So that’s it for my sewing for this week, folks! So if you’re not interested in the remodel pics or those of our mountain day trip, I won’t be offended if you take your leave at this point.
BEFORE
Let’s look at some “Before” pictures first. We bought this condo, built in 1980, and moved in at the end of March of this year. It was very clean but very dated, with virtually everything original to the build. These before shots were taken on a whim just to have them, and I did no staging or picking up (obviously) first. And there was much still to unpack.
AFTER
The following three photos are not part of the remodel per se, but the entry did get a new plant shelf and light fixture. It will likely be painted in the same sage green as on the family room accent wall.
The old radio faces the front door. As you enter, you You go left into the living room or right into the kitchen/dining area. The entry wall and hall got new light fixtures to match the kitchen’s pendant lighting. The entry landing is flagstone which I love, and it matches the fireplace which I don’t love.
So that’s it for the house pictures. As we begin working on other areas of the home next year (master bedroom and both bathrooms), I’ll bring you along.
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There are years in the mountains of Utah that the colors rival that of New England. While this year was not one of those years, the trees were spectacular nevertheless. I’m just going to upload a few without much commentary of our day. I’ll be getting more pictures (of Bruce, Ruby and me) when Ruby’s daughter sends them. If there’s anything worth sharing, I’ll do it. But for now, here’s a sampling of some of the lovely sights we saw as we traveled around the canyons of the Salt Lake Valley and east to Park City. It’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid territory!
Rock face at Timpanogos Cave area, Alpine, UT |
Guardsman Pass, Heber Valley |
Trailhead at Cascade Springs |
Coming down Big Cottonwood Canyon, almost ready to drop down into the Salt Lake Valley |