Green Bow-Tie Blocks Finished

I spent half an hour gazing at the green Bow-Tie block pictures for this blog post, completely smitten, and all I could muster up was, "I adore these!"   In the wise words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

So, again I'll share the link to the quilt block pattern I used to make these blocks.  You can find it here. 

Maybe as you scroll you can play a little game of "I spy a fabric I have in my stash too!"

The new green blocks have been added to the others in the storage box. Later this week, I will begin cutting the next set of 100 Bow-Tie blocks. 

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More Bow-Tie Quilt Blocks

Hello Quilty Friends!  It's been a couple of weeks since I worked on the Bonnie Hunter Bow-Tie Blocks.   There's something oddly satisfying about making these little cuties.  So, what the heck, let's make a hundred more before putting the final touches on the Twinkler quilt top.

To keep the Twinkler quilt in the rotation and not forgotten I thought it would be a good idea to put it on display.  That way when the green Bow-tie blocks are finished I can easily jump back to working on the Twinkler quilt.  But there was a problem, I couldn't fit all 42 blocks on the design wall.

The issue was resolved in roughly 5 minutes by moving the sewing table. Now, I can access the entire design wall.   The 42 blocks barely fit on the wall and are not in the proper order. The block layout can wait.  I'm ready for Bow-Ties!  Whoo-hoo!  See you soon!  

Today's post is being link up over at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework!  Hop over to be inspired!

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All The Twinkler Blocks Are Finished

Yippee!  All 42 Twinklers are finished! I'm itching to dive into quilting this one. I haven't quilted a quilt on the frame since the first week of July.  Throughout my quilting journey, the actual quilting has always been my least favorite part. Yet here I am, strangely thrilled to get stitching, it's an odd but pleasant twist!

In my hurry to finish these blocks, a couple of minor mistakes were made.

This was one time that I was glad to have a little scrap leftover from each jelly roll strip.  I'm mulling over the idea of incorporating the rest of them into the binding or perhaps the backing. As they say, only time tell.

  

  The mistake pieces will be trimmed down into HST's and added to the ever-growing HST's stash.

Today's plan is to once again trim down the last of the bonus HST's. I'm not looking forward to that process.  Imagine if there was a tiny gizmo that could trim HSTs at the push of a button and voilà, a perfectly trimmed HST in any size!  Think of all the extra time for, well, more quilting!  To think about the price tag on such a magical contraption...HAHA!  Way out of this thrifty gals budget!  But it's fun to dream! 

Before I end this post, I wanted to let you know why this quilt is taking so long to assemble.  It's my girl Khaleesi.  She's needed a lot of extra attention the past few weeks.  As of last week, the vet finally put her on topical and oral antibiotics plus a steroid.  The diaper is to stop her from licking her bum.  The vet is unsure what the problem is right now.  It's a process of elimination for the next few weeks.  The irritated bum could be caused by nervous licking, allergies or Perianal Fistula.  I'm praying the antibiotics and steroids work.  If they don't, it could be Perianal Fistula.  From what I've read it's an autoimmune disease that is difficult to treat and my vet can't do a test to be sure.  We would need to find a Veterinarian Dermatologist.  So right now I'm doing all I can to keep the bum clean and dry.  Which means no alone time when she outside and the diapers off.   The cone of shame was also suggested but I just can't do that to my girl.  Anyway, the big girl panties are so much cuter!

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Shopping And Chatting

 Hi Quilty Friends!  Today, I'm dedicating the entire day to sewing. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!  

Yesterday didn't go as planned, I didn't sew a single stitch. I had to take the weekly homemade meal over to my dad's place. Since my mom passed away in 2017, he's been eating a lot of processed foods. So, I make sure to prepare him at least one homemade meal each week, typically something my mom would have made. I couldn't just leave the food and dash off, so we ended up spending some time reminiscing about the good old days and discussing current events. Time flies when you're enjoying good company.

Heading home, I swung by the Dollar General for a 'quick' grab of cleaning supplies. But in a town where everyone knows your name, there's no such thing as a quick stop. It's like an impromptu high school reunion in every aisle!

Oh well, socializing is a good thing. I see it as the world telling me to stop and smell the roses and take life as it comes. After chatting with an old high school acquaintance, I picked up the cleaning supplies and wandered around the store to see the new additions since my last visit months ago. I always leave the store with more than just the items on my list, and yesterday was no different.  A must have drying rack for the Studio.  I think this is just what I need for letting fabrics dry a bit after starching.

The assembly was quite easy. Currently, it's neatly stored next to my ironing station. I'll be putting it to the test when I begin pressing and starching the next set of Bow-Tie quilt fabrics. I'll update you on how this $10 rack preforms under pressure.

The rest of the day was spent using the cleaning supplies, walking the dog and cooking for Mr. Podunk.  Oh well, at least I got some stuff done and freed up today for doing anything I want.  The chances of me getting out of my jammies is pretty slim and I'm most definitely not leaving the house.

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Mount Scrapmore

Hello Friends!  I'm happy to report that the scrap sorting is finished.  Well at least for now.  The chances of me needing to do this again are pretty good.  Playing with fabric is a chore that never gets old, unlike doing laundry or washing dishes, UGG.  

I found a few purple and orange fabrics to add to the scrappy Bow-Tie quilt.

The rolling cart has been converted from scrap basket storage to a works in progress station.  I love it!

After washing the fabric baskets, I decided to cut them into scraps.  I'm pretty sure the orange basket is a print I don't have in the scraps for the Bow-Tie quilt.  

Before I could return to my sewing, there was still one task left. I needed to create a small cutting mat out of the light blue one, which would be dedicated to squaring up half-square triangles. As shown below, this isn't the first time I've repurposed an older mat, having previously trimmed it and attached it to the end of my cutting table.

A 6.5" square seems ideal for squaring up half-square triangles. Since I don't recall the previous method used to cut the mat, I attempted to cut it with a small razor knife.

It was not very effective. After approximately ten attempts, it only managed to score the top layer.

The scissors worked but it took a lot of strength.  It was worth the effort.  I could have purchased a small mat, but this one will work just as well and costs nothing. I own a 12x12 rotating mat, but it's too large for small HSTs.  To be honest it was a waste of money.  All small mats are easy to spin, even without the spinning base.

By the early evening the cleanup was complete.  My workspace is once again tidy.  I managed to cut the remaining background fabrics for the Twinkler quilt and prepared a few blocks for assembly.  This morning I'll finish loading the design boards, find something to binge watch and then let the stitching begin.

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Baskets Of Fun

Welcome to my messy studio! The disorder you see is the result of sweeping and mopping the floor. What began as a quick tidy-up turned into a 12-hour cleaning when I discovered a large dust bunny under the longarm. It clearly needed it, given the time it took. It's interesting how things turn out; just look at what was hiding under the longarm – scrap baskets! 

This cart has been storing small scraps for my Vortex quilt. I haven't worked on it for months and have no plans to anytime soon.

Making the fabric baskets and filling them with matching scraps seemed like a great idea initially.  Now it seems like a waste of storage space.   I will add these scraps with the others, allowing me to use this cart as storage for the works in progress instead of having them piled up on my cutting table.

I'm excited to find these and to sift through them for fabrics to use in the Bow-Tie quilt.

Before I could sort and store the fabrics, I had to get back to the cleaning, from the ceiling to floor. My old broom was put through its paces. Interestingly, did you know that almost all brooms can stand upright by themselves? It's like a little bit of magic!

While cleaning, I discovered an additional box of scraps that I had set aside for string quilting. They were added to the cutting table along with all the other fabrics to be sorted.  

My agenda for today now that the dust bunnies have been conquered...organizing and storing these fabrics.  I hope to find some cuties!

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Breaking It Up

Hi Quilty Friends!  Come on in and pull up a chair while I dig through my stash.  I'm a woman on a mission to find enough orange and purple in my stash to make 100 purple and 100 orange Bow-Tie quilt blocks.  The hope of only working from the scrap bins isn't doable.  A couple of you graciously offered to send me your scraps.  Thank you so much!  I was overwhelmed by the kindness and giddy at the thought of new fabric.  But I think the best thing for me to do is work with what I have.  That means I'm going to break my rule of only scraps in the Bow-Tie quilt.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that I would like to use the smaller precuts in my stash because I'm tired of storing them and looking at them.  Anything smaller than a fat quarter must get out of my fabric cabinets ASAP.   So, here's the new plan.  I pulled the precuts that had orange, purple and gray.  I'll pull out the fabrics needed for this quilt and the rest will be put into the scrap bins.

Yes, I opened them all!  Can you believe it?  The days of coveting and hoarding cute little fabric bundles are over, and it feels so good!

It didn't take long to have all the orange I needed.  As you can see some of them are not orange.  Some look red but they are that goofy Cambell's Tomato Soup red.  If you lay the fabric beside a real red fabric, it looks orange.  If you lay it beside a real orange fabric, it looks red.  GOOFY!  And because I was still coming up short a few fabrics, I threw in some dark yellows and an aqua fabric with orange-ish flowers.

Digging for purples didn't go so well.  I did find a few that I'll share later.  

These hideous creatures below will not be a part of my quilt. They were from a Benartex Jelly Roll and didn't look this ugly on the roll.   I can't deal with the shiny gold accent.  

Since I'm still short a few purple fabrics, it's time to dig deep.  Here's my stash cabinets.  The one on the right is my LOVED fabrics.  The one on the left is the not so loved older fabrics and is the one I'll be digging through.

When I first started the Bow-Tie quilt I knew I would fall short on the 100 different prints for each color.  If I fell short I would either add a floral or a fabric from another color.  So, my first dig after the purple fabrics was the calicos.  These should do the trick.  

Then it was onto the larger florals.  Some of them have a tad bit of purple in the flowers.

And while I'm digging, I might as well look for some more orange fabrics and anything else I think might play well in the quilt.  What a fun day I had playing in the stash. 

Here's how the purple turned out.  The green box shows the fabrics pulled from the precuts.  The rest is what was pulled from the cabinet.  Not all of them are purple but that's okay because y'all know I'm not a fan of purple.  That's why I don't have a bunch of it in my scraps or stash.

  

The rest of the opened precut fabrics were neatly tucked into this basket and will be sorted at a later date and put into the scrap bins.  There are a few fat quarters that will not go into the scrap bins. They will go into the fat quarter stash.  

Right now, all I want to do is make some Bow-Tie Blocks!

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