Tuesday, November 28, 2017

AHIQ monthly report and my a busy four days!

First, I have to thank Hilda and Vicki of http://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/ for their help yesterday to get the links live for the blog tour of Rayna Gillman's new book Create your own Improv Quilts". Today you can leave a comment on Victoria Findlay Wolfe's blog http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/ thru Dec. 8th for a chance to win an electronic copy of Rayna's book.

My four day weekend involved sewing, lots of cleaning, laundry, and a bit of shopping. I will write about the sewing! Lately I have been making herringbone quilts which is not improv piecing, but left with lots of small pieces and with trying to start using up my mountain of scraps I decided to dig out the pink scraps to see what I had to work with. I think this fits into the spirit of the AHIQ philosophy of using what you have. I had leftover 6 1/2" blocks from making zig zag quilts and it was time to put them on the design wall to see how many I had. I did find some strips of pink and Kona snow that were in the box so it was time to sew those together and cut blocks.

Then there is almost always a dab left of the strip so I found a bunch of those in the scrap box and cut 5 1/2" blocks for another baby quilt.

I found a few pieces of leftover binding just big enough to sew into a block and cut at either 5 6 1/2" or 5 1/2".

I continued finding scraps, sewing them with the Kona snow, and trimming them into blocks. By the end of the day Friday I had three step zig zag baby quilt tops. I got one of them sewn together Sunday and here they are:

With all of this effort sewing bits and pieces together to make blocks, the scrap box still looks about the same - FULL! It is going to take some serious sewing to make a dent in my scrap pile! I did find some other little gems aka scraps in the scrap pile that I plan on making into baby quilts.

I did mostly on-line shopping for stuff for myself this weekend. The sales were too good to pass up! I don't spend much money on clothes, but it was time to get a few new things including a couple shirts and pants that were 30% to 40% off and free shipping. Superior had discounted their King Tut because they are changing colors around. The cones were 30% off so I bought a blue for when I get into making blue baby quilts and the darker colors for t-shirts quilts. Of course I bought enough I got free shipping too!

I did breakdown and go to a brick and mortar store. JoAnn's had embroidery floss on sale so I stocked up for my next t-shirt quilt for the High Art Prize.

I got a few one yard pieces of flannel. I have been trying to use up what flannel I have, but I need just a bit more to make a decent sized quilt.

Then I got a bit of this Cleveland Indians fabric just because.

I have the gray and pink herringbone quilt quilted. I used a light gray thread. Tonight I will work on binding it

My birthday was earlier this month and yesterday I got a present from my sister with a beautiful card. She knows how like minions so now I have a minion Xmas ornament! She bought us matching bracelets. I will think of her every time I wear it.

10 comments:

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

I didn't think you would have that much pink fabric. You are definitely set for girl quilts.

Vicki W said...

I'm glad the links are working now! Now that I'm getting well (thanks to the miracle of antibiotics) I'm hoping to reach your level of productivity by tomorrow!

Janie said...

Thanks for the tip, to enter and maybe win the improv book.
And thanks for sharing your process and projects.
All that embroidery floss is gorgeous.
The zig zag quilts are beautiful!

KrisR said...

I'm tired just reading your blog. :) Great job on all of it and your purchases are fab.

Ann said...

So much in this post, Patty. I love using what's on hand; there's almost always more than we expect and they can make some great quilts like your pink and snow zig zags. And you have more in the works. Wow. Utility quilts rule!
Congratulations on the wonderful threads. Always useful and these are all beautiful.
Happy birthday. Thanks for linking your work with AHIQ.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

I am so totally amazed you have this many pink scrappies! I am dying to jump in and make a couple of these too!
Love the quilting. You are amazingly good!

Kaja said...

I like the way you are working through your pink scraps, sewing little pieces together to get workable chunks,and the resulting quilt tops. I also love the little 'treasures' you have unearthed as you dig through the boxes. Rayna's book looks good, doesn't it?

Kaja said...

Nearly forgot to say thanks for linking up with AHIQ!

Marly said...

You've used a lot of scraps this weekend! In like your herringbone piece especially.

audrey said...

Great use of your scraps! So productive.:)