Quilting, cleaning, and weeding - oh my!

I vowed not to waste any time this weekend. I finished quilting the t-shirt quilt. I will work on the hand quilting and embroidery before I bind it so this won't be counted as a finish for awhile.

I decided to clean up my pile of flannel. I had made a bunch of nine patch blocks for last year's family xmas quilt.

The leftover bits were in a pile so I decided just to clean it up to see what I had left. I cleaned up the scraps and cut them into 3" wide strips which I can use to make more blocks and I think I will have enough to also make a log cabin flannel quilt.

And then I have these odd and end units that can be made into blocks for a real scrappy look. I tossed some really small scraps and now the flannels parts are neatly stacked and ready for sewing. I still have some flannel yardage, but I will cut it as I need it.

Next it was onto the anniversary quilt. I spent all day Saturday sewing together blocks then cutting more fabric, and making more blocks. Then digging into my stash to try and find more fabric to make more blocks. Part of my issue was getting the blocks arranged into some kind of visually interesting look. This is what I had at first and it did not seem to be going anywhere.

After searching for a bit of inspiration, I came up with this. Much better contrast - a big nine patch! I did have to go and make more blocks then as some of blocks did not have enough contrast.

So Sunday and Monday I spent time trimming the blocks to 16" and started sewing the rows together. Right now I have the bottom three rows sewn together and two of the top three rows sewn together.

The blocks for the top row are trimmed and ready to be sew into a row so I almost have this top done!

Here are the blocks that did not make the cut.

I would have finished this top on Monday if 1. I hadn't of spend 3+ hours cleaning up the front flower beds, 2. vacuuming out the car, and 3. going to an acquaintance's house to pick up some sewing supplies she was getting rid of. Here is the main flower bed before Phase 1 of the clean up. Phase 1 was to get the weeds and grass pulled, and rake up leaves and debris left from last year's plants. I also sprayed weed and grass killer along the edges after I removed the bulk of the weeds. We have not had rain in quite a while and the ground was like concrete. After this I vacuumed the car. I was hot and tired. I had to get cleaned up so I could head out to pick up the sewing supplies.

Here is the after. Phase 2 will be going back and pulling any weeds I missed in the first go around, planting zinnia and lavender seeds, and then spreading mulch. I will wait to do this this coming weekend after hopefully we get some rain this afternoon and tomorrow. I did fill two wheelbarrows full of weeds, etc.

I also got slowed down sewing as there was a Top Gear marathon on BBC on Monday. I saw a couple episodes I hadn't seen.

When I came back from picking up the sewing supplies I also brought back this chair and footstool. She was going to put it out to the curb. I plan on recovering them and using this in my studio. Yes, it just fit in my car.