Saturday, May 8, 2021

More Fabric Scraps

Last weekend, I attended our monthly Quilts for Kids workshop. I turned in 17 scrap quilts, all made since our January meeting. Three of the quilts were made and donated by my friend Terri, and the rest were made by moi. To punish reward me for using up so many scraps, our leader Sandy brought me two more garbage bags full of scraps. One of them was just strips, cut 1.5 to 4” by WOF (width of fabric). Now, keep in mind that last week was the new carpet install, for which I had to clean out my studio, then bring back in at least half the stuff (machines, cutting tools, fabrics, WIPs, etc) in order to work. So then I had to sort through the two new bags of scraps and put them away in their new homes. NEXT week the carpet guys are coming back to install the coving (carpet baseboards), so the fabric (more of it now) will all have to be moved out again. Luckily, this time much of it can just be piled on the four tables in the center of the room since the installers only need access to the baseboard areas. And they’ll move the furniture out from the wall and back again once they’re finished.

I did manage to get one of my monthly blocks done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday to share. Meet the red momcat and her litter of five kittens. 



I had good intentions of sewing more blocks, but the week got away from me. I did use up some red alphabet fabric that Angie sent me, along with some red and yellow and blue scraps. Some of the red and yellow had already been sewn into three four-Patches, so I continued with that, and this top came together very quickly. Honestly, I used lots of chunks and strips for the backing and that took longer to sew up. This will get basted and quilted this week and I’ll show that crazy backing, too.


So what did I do in the sewing room, then? Well, Cousin Kim and I spent Wednesday afternoon cutting the new scrap strips and solids into zipper blocks. I’ll be doing a scrappy workshop for QFK in either September or October, and have chosen the zipper block to show them. The zipper blocks (see Lynn Dykstra’s tutorial here) finish at 6x9”, and we will be doing 48 blocks per quilt for a youth quilt measuring 48x54”. So far, between cutting strips and squares, matching prints with contrast squares, pinning block pieces together and bagging, we have completed about 6 kits. I need at least that many more. I probably won’t get them all done this week, but I don’t need to. It was just an easy way to tame the piles of new scraps.


That clear bag (upper left of picture above) has five bagged kits in it, with another kit waiting to be added. Once I make  another zipper quilt to show them, I’ll prepare a handout to include in each bag. Kim and I will probably work on these tomorrow. I know it’s Mother’s Day tomorrow, but we decided that’s how we want to spend it. 

Scraps!! Red scraps in front, zipper scraps in the piles behind. We have our “work cut out for us”, hehe. If only...


On Monday, it was Bruce’s birthday. The day was picture perfect, and we enjoyed a nice walk to the park. Some of the family came over in the evening and we had the much-anticipated mud pie. It did not disappoint. 

Bruce had an appointment Tuesday with his prosthetist to have his prosthetic arm checked. No issues and all is well. Then we went to Home Depot to get flowers for the front garden pots and planters, plus new fluorescent lights for my studio. The coolest thing we got was a wagon (a Gorilla Wagon, LOL) for Bruce to use in the garden since he can’t use a wheelbarrow. We’re having 2 cubic yards of soil delivered later this week, and will have several young men from the neighborhood coming by next week to help Bruce haul it to the garden planter beds.

Cousin Kim was here on Wednesday to sew, but as I mentioned, we cut zipper blocks and made kits. Oh, we also went to JoAnn’s because I needed to get straight pins for the zipper block kits. Some fabric may or may not have come home with us...

Thursday was a work-in-the-garden day, with another trip back to Home Depot to get more sprinkler parts. And a side trip to get iced coffee at Barnes and Noble. 

Friday was grocery shopping, laundry, making strawberry-rhubarb compote (a huge batch to begin stocking the freezer), and more zipper block cutting. Soil was delivered, window washers came by, and things are shaping up ever so slowly!!

By this time next week, my studio will all be put back together , I’ll have lots more RED scrap blocks sewn, the flower pots will be planted and the garden beds will be ready to plant. Life is good.

18 comments:

  1. Busy week, and Happy Birthday to Bruce! Sounds like fun to have Cousin Kim over to cut and organize for the kits. Thanks for the link to the zipper block - I've been wondering about dimensions for those!

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  2. Those zipper block would make a quick quilt and use up lots of scraps

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  3. What a lovely busy week you have had, Cathy. The red Mommy cats and her kittens look great. You and Cousin Kim worked hard on those Zipper blocks quilt kits! I hope you didn’t end up with sore backs, standing and cutting scraps. It must be lovely to have all those new scraps to sort through and cut up to make a variety of kits. Hope the garden and carpet edging projects go well this week.

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  4. Wow, you have had a busy week. Glad you can make kits and get help for the garden as well. The idea of a gorilla wagon sounds like a great idea. I am sure you will have a few more creative uses for it in the future. Beautiful reds.

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  5. Hi,
    Sound like a really busy week. I really like your
    Mommy Cat block...so pretty. Have a great day!

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  6. You're lucky that you don't have an orange mother with her kittens or you wouldn't have gotten anything done this week.

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  7. You have certainly had an extra busy week, with one thing and another. Love your cat blocks, are they all playing nicely together when you put them away each month, no hissing and scratching I hope.

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  8. Way to make quick work of that scrap infusion, Cathy!! Good luck on getting the rest kitted up, so that you can get back to RED scrap sewing.

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  9. That's the best thing to do when you're given scraps - use them right away and don't let them take up residence for too long. Can't imagine the upheaval over the carpeting - hope it's soon all done and you can get your sewing space back to a workable condition.

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  10. You both, and Cousin Kim too, amaze me! I got almost nothing accomplished this week! Did get my machine back from its annual cleaning and oiling. Pickup a different truck for DH. Got a new to me iPhone and got service transferred! Had a sew day with friends, but truthfully we visited more than we sewed! 😃

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  11. There's something really satisfying about cutting and bagging kits. It turns mounds of scraps into neat little packages of potential! I'm sure your group will be tickled pink to make zipper block quilts :)

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  12. Happy Birthday to Bruce! Sounds like everything is moving along nicely with you and Bruce. I smiled when you mentioned the Gorilla cart! I had to have one of those myself to move chicken food groceries, recycling stuff, etc. to various points on the farm, what a great cart!
    We had birthday bashes this week, My birthday on the first, my grandson's first birthday on the seventh. He was my best birthday present EVER!
    Those kits you made up are great! I should do that for myself with all my strips of scraps, maybe I will be moved to finish up with some scraps I have.

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  13. We had to move all the furniture, in every room with a window, when we got new sliding doors and windows installed a few years back. yikes! What a mess! We discovered some more janky turkeybird spaghetti engineering from the former owners self-repair, in the walls that had to be fixed before they installed one of the doors and the kitchen window. Adam was able to fix the one by the door, Yay! the other took some major construction because they (Frmr owners the hasidic rednecks) cut a support beam for the window and the roof!
    Found all the cat toys though!

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  14. It's a good thing you're so adept at processing (and using) scraps as you seem to attract a never-ending supply of them. Nice that Cousin Kim could help you out and that you aren't responsible for sewing up all of them. But I bet you produce more finished kid quilts than anyone else in your group. I love your cat family blocks. Despite my good intentions, I've managed to not get back to making RSC blocks this year except for doing a Table Scraps piece each month. Maybe I'll declare July as a new starting point and go on from there. It will be nice to have your studio put back together.
    Pat

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  15. Two garbage bags of scraps? Holy moly. That is beyond an embarrassment of riches. Thank goodness Cousin Kim was there to provide assistance. Happy birthday to Bruce!

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  16. So fun that you'll be teaching a class on the zipper blocks! I hope you get lots of QFK results from that! Sounds like your gardening endeavors are about a month-six weeks behind us. We're already starting to get some produce. Hope you have a great garden year!

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  17. That is a relatable situation - going to Joann's and some fabric accidentally or intentionally jumping into the cart :-D Wishing Bruce the happiest of birthdays. With so many lovely blocks, flower pots and garden beds too, you are much too organized compared to the most of us :-D Big Hugs.

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