Thank Goodness for Sewing Therapy!

OK, my burning question of the week (politics aside), is - has anyone else been experiencing issues with Blogger? Every comment has all of a sudden been coming across as No-Reply. Every single one, even those of you who have been reading and commenting for years. And that means I can’t reply. Have you had that issue on your blog (if you have one)?  How do we get it fixed? I’ve searched everywhere on my Blogger dashboard, inquired of Blogger and Google, and have gotten no answer. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!

Getting back to sewing. . . .  Again, thank goodness for sewing. It’s been one hell of a week in American politics, as you are all no doubt aware. Being of the blue persuasion myself, the results have been a gut punch, a kick in the butt, a head-scratcher and whatever other body part cliches you want to throw in. All I can say is that if Trump does what he’s threatened to do, the red voters will be suffering along with everyone else. No, that’s not a good thing, but at least we’ll be able to say “I told you so” smugly while we all shake our heads and wring our hands together (more body part cliches). 

Now let’s REALLY get back to sewing. This week I finished all the remaining blocks - I needed 78 - for this Quilts for Kids scrappy quilt top started last Saturday at the workshop. Here is the finished top.

You can see in the photo above that the white pieces form a pattern, a sort of stair step, when they come together in the correct way. That’s the pattern you get when you’ve sewn every block in the same orientation. But we didn’t do that, so it’s a free-for-all in this top. And by “we” I mean most of us who didn’t get that part of the instruction in our workshop. But in the end, who is really going to care? I’ll sew the next one the correct way.

And there will be next ones. I took a couple days and went through all my bins and bags of novelty or multi-colored scraps and chunks and cut them up. If the scraps were large enough to cut 2.5x8.5” strips from, I did that (top right in the picture below). The shorter lengths were cut into 2.5x 4.5” pieces (top left). If those shorter pieces contained four or more of the same print (which came from different scrap pieces), I separated out the fours to make windmill blocks (bottom left). Chunkier or odd-sized scraps were cut into 3.5” or 2.5” squares. All of those together take up less than one shoebox-ful of space and are ready to go for future use. 

As a reward for all that work, I ordered 2 yards of four different bright solid colors. I’ll be able to use the solids with these cuts and wherever needed as I work through the large box of quilt “kits” and scraps I’ve set as my 2025 goal. I’ve also narrowed down my selection of potential 2025 Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks to about 6, but I’d like to cut it down to 4-ish so I can concentrate more on finishes. Have you made any 2025 sewing plans? I’d love to hear about them. 

Oh, and I have finished trimming the quilted It’s Jungle Out There quilt and have made binding. But my friend Ruby, who is the tallest among us and is my quilt holder-upper, is gone for a couple weeks visiting family, so I won’t finish it or get glamour shots until later in the month. 

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We had the electrician in this week to prep the fireplace (install electrical) so that the insert can be installed on Tuesday. It will be the same manufacturer (Chaska) as our unit in the old house, which we loved. It can actually heat up a room (the remote control has lots of settings) instead of the heat going up the chimney. We never really noticed much of a bump in our gas bills, either. 

From manufacturer’s website

The kitties are anxiously awaiting its snuggly warmth! Have a good week!

This and That

It was another great week full of friends, family, sewing fun and weather - from rain to sunshine to cold temperatures and stiff breezes. Autumn colors, the crisp air and falling leaves remind me how much I really do love the coming cozy months. I wouldn’t want it to stretch out longer than the season typically lasts, but as a respite from the stifling heat of the summer, it’s an invigorating change. The only thing that could have made it better was lots of chocolate. Enough said!

Last Saturday when I left you, I was headed out to a Quilts for Kids workshop. It was more sparsely attended than usual, but fun nevertheless. We were at The Quilters Lodge in Sandy, and it was good to see some friends (hi Sandy and Patty!) that I haven’t seen for a few workshops.  It was a scrappy, kit and tutorial workshop, and I was able to sew all 78 of the kit blocks that measure 4.5”x10.5”, unfinished. I have yet to sew them into a top, which will measure approximately 52x60 when complete.

Does anyone know if there’s an official name for this block? It’s really ideal for kid quilts because it can be made with interesting novelty prints and the solid constant can be varied from quilt to quilt (blue? red?) as a unifying element.  These blocks will go in line to be sewn up, but my goal is to have it made up as a quilt, along with a half dozen others, in time for our first meeting in January.

Some quilting was done on the It’s a Jungle Out There quilt; endless crosshatching this week. It’s larger than my usual quilt size, so to avoid wrestling it through the harp of my Bernina 570QE, I’ve been trying to quilt it in creative ways that keep the bulk of the quilt sandwich to my left. I hope to have it finished by next week, but I may be glued to the TV more than usual next week, so we’ll see what the quilting and political gods have in store. I’m sure I’ll be on pins and needles in more ways than one.

I got a wild hair to sew some string blocks, which was *not* on my dance card for the week. But nevertheless, when the (metaphorical) dust cleared, I had 62 string blocks (6.5”) sewn, and a deeper appreciation for the music of Billy Joel and the late Hilary Stagg (check him out on YouTube, especially Dream Spiral and Sweet Return).  

Half of the string blocks still need their papers removed. I only got half done while watching The Los Angeles Dodgers clobber the NY Yankees in Game 5 of the World Series, clinching the title. Apparently, I still bleed Dodger Blue! But anyway, this finishes my block sewing of dark/neutral scraps for October’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge. For the rest of the year I’ll be concentrating on turning blocks into quilt tops and quilt tops into kid quilts. 

Alfie and Darla got some new toys this week. Their particular favorite is a stuffie, Lambchop (“the Legend” according to its tag). They had no respect for The Legend, batting it around, carrying it around in their mouths and tossing her up into the air. And then looking so innocent. HA! 

But even these ferocious creatures eventually succumb to warm sunbeams. Here they are, recharging their batteries. 

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.