Drowning in the Red Sea (of my Scrap Bin)

Nothing like a little over-dramatization, eh? Actually, my red scrap bin is just right - full but not overflowing, and yielding some yummy scraps and chunks to work with this month. March in the international group Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dedicated to sewing up our red scraps. Every month for the first 10 months of the year, our hostess Angela calls a new color for us to focus on. We make blocks (our choice) and share with the other participants. The last two months are spent either sewing our resulting blocks into quilts, catching up with a color or two that needs more work, or just laying low for the holidays. Personally, I enjoy lots of manic sewing during that time to get things “off my plate” for the following year. 

So let me first show you two quilt finishes that happened this week. My friend Ruby has a longarm quilting machine, and she volunteered to quilt these two little quilts for me so that I could get them bound in time for the World Wide Quilting Day event we’ll be attending next Saturday. Our Quilts for Kids group will be there, and I wanted to get these turned in. 

First up is Night-Flying Geese. This was a Rainbow Scrap project for me last year, inspired by my friend Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting. It measures 41x52”.

I don’t know the name of the quilting pattern, but it rather reminds me of the apple core pattern, or a variation thereof. You can (barely) see part of the pattern in the closeup below. 

The second quilt is this little hodgepodge of blue scraps that I put together in January. I hated all the scraps and it was either sew them up or give them away. So I did both; the resulting blue quilt will go to Quilts for Kids. Heck, I figure it’ll be OK if the kid likes blue and closes his/her eyes when they sleep, LOL!! 

In all seriousness, I guess every quilt isn’t a looker, and I’d rather sew up the scraps than see them in a landfill. It measures 40.5x46.5”. 

I finished sewing the wedding quilt blocks into a flimsy. No pictures, though, because I need to press the bajillion seams and trim threads on the back. Then I’ll sew up a backing so that I can turn it over to Ruby when she’s over on Sunday. She’ll be quilting it, and wants me to come over to pick out the thread and quilting pattern this coming week. I hope she doesn’t think I want to start learning how to operate the longarm, because that is DEFINITELY not going to happen. On a scale of 1-10, my interest level for longarming is at -2.

I also dove into my red scraps (see the title of this post). I had already cut out most of my blocks, and indeed I have sewn most of them, but this week I’m sharing my Gameboard blocks and my Switchplate blocks.

Here are the four Gameboard blocks, which will finish at 8”.

They are really fun to make, but very easy to mis-orient. Ask me how I know. Next, were the Switchplate blocks, also inspired by unabashedly copied from friend Cathy referenced earlier in the post. 

This is the second year I’m making these. The blocks are small, finishing at 3x5”, so it takes a lot to make even a kid-sized quilt. I may be hating life when I have to sew them all together, but I’ll remind myself that it’s a good way to use up 1.5” strips of fabric. 

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I want to thank everyone for their lovely comments last week. After being gone for a month, it was so heartwarming to read your comments. I genuinely appreciate it. I believe I’m back on the right track now after one hellacious winter! Life feels a bit easier these days. Yes, spring is on the verge of popping, but it’s more than that. I no longer feel as though I’m slogging through water as I go about my days. The mental fog has lifted, the Must-Do’s are waning and I’ve been able to actually step back into my mostly-organized routines. I’ve been making plans for the spring and even out into the mid and later parts of the year. 

In early April, we’ll be taking a trip to southern Arizona to visit Bruce’s three remaining siblings. We are looking forward to it. Cousin Kim is also coming (her mom was Bruce’s oldest sister Faye, who died in 2005) and she and I will split the driving. We will take 2 days to get down there, stay a week with the family, and take two days driving home. We haven’t been there since February, 2020, just before the Covid shutdown. Bruce’s siblings haven’t seen him since his arm amputation. Since 2020, we have lost Carrie (Kim’s sister), Doug (Bruce’s younger brother) and our brother-in-law Glenn, husband of Bruce’s sister Annette. Our numbers are dwindling, and we all feel it’s important to gather while we can.

In late April, my daughter Megan is flying out here from Seattle to attend my grandson Easton’s wedding (her nephew). We’ll all drive up to the Logan, Utah area (northern Utah) and stay in hotels so that we can enjoy all the festivities and not have to make the 2+ hour drive up and back in the same day. And that reminds me that I’d better go dress shopping this month!

Also in late April/early May will be the court date (by phone) to finalize my appointment as my late brother’s Personal Representative. The closing on the sale of his house will then follow the next week and I’ll be able to sign all the vehicle titles over to their new owners. Life will be so much easier not paying all Steve’s bills in addition to ours! There are still taxes and things to fret about, but we’ve got a great accountant and he’s already on the job. 

But today is for fun. I’ve set the agenda for the day, since it’s my birthday. First we’re going to our favorite garden center, where we’ll special order in some shrubs and flats of flowers. We’ll also talk to them about the design and sprinkler services they offer so that I can hopefully get our courtyard garden all properly set up with accessible valves and sprinkling systems (more drip irrigation instead of sprinklers). Then we plan to enjoy the weather outside, even if it’s just sitting in the courtyard sunshine and reading. And finally, dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. 

Life is good.