Saturday, March 23, 2024

Scraps

One of my 2024 goals is to significantly reduce all my scraps. What do you classify as "scraps"?

Over here, anything that is too small to fold and put away is a scrap. I also don't save very small pieces of fabric.  I have friends who will gladly adopt these.

My first step was to take ALL the scraps and cut them into 2.5" wide jelly roll strips. I was AMAZED at how many strips I ended up with! I then sorted them by color because I am not a "just grab one" kind of girl. "Intentional scrappy-ness" is more my kind of thing.

Our guild donates hundreds of quilts to local charities each year.  That, combined with the fact that I'm getting a new quilting machine soon (stay tuned for a post full of excitement) and will need some quilt tops to practice on, kicked me into gear.

The first quilt was one I posted a couple of weeks ago, inspired by one I saw at show-and-tell at a guild meeting. I love it but it took a LONG time to put together.

So, the search began for a simpler pattern or two.  Pinterest is a mecca of jelly roll quilt inspiration.

Up first, the Color Stack quilt from Jennifer at Hopeful Homemaker.

Here's the result:



It took about a day to piece and I kind of love it! Her tutorial is great but, if you don't feel like figuring it out yourself, there is a pattern.

Being someone who does not like repeating things and gets bored really quickly, I am now on the hunt for the next idea.

Stay tuned.


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Challenges are fun!

I recently joined another small group, the focus of which is to challenge your creativity. And it's so much fun!

Every quarter someone from the group presents a challenge word or phrase and we have 3 months to make a little quilt interpreting that phrase. We are restricted to a maximum size of 20" x 20".

Sometimes I'm really inspired, sometimes not so much.

These are my quilts from the last 3 challenges:

"Round and Around We Go"

"Slow"

"Twisted Triangles"


I encourage you to challenge yourself! You'll be amazed at how creative you are, even if you think you're not.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

A Finish!

Finishes have been few and far between the last couple of years. In fact, my last list of completed projects was for 2016!

I saw a quilt like this at "show and tell" at my guild and it spoke to me. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the design, since no one seemed to know which pattern was used.


This is Aila. She joined our family in March 2022.  She's getting a much needed bath today. :)


I partially chose this design because I have a whole tote full of 2.5" strips that need to go. I still have piles left, so another quilt (or two, or three) is in my future.
Perhaps a rail fence quilt? I think that will use more strips.

This is the show and tell quilt. Isn't it amazing? Because mine is meant as a charity quilt and they need throw quilts, not king size quilts, I reduced the size.
A note: If you want a symmetrical quilt, you have to make it square.  I only realized that when I was pretty much done with the top.

The pattern was eventually found. It you want to make the quilt, you can find it here:

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Bottlecap Pincushion Fun

I seem to be trying all kinds of new things this year.

I do a lot of hand appliqué and have a little container to have all my supplies for a project contained and portable.

The small pincushion I was using was just a teeny bit too tall. When I close the lid, all the pins and needles get pushed down and I tend to lose needles never to be seen again.

I've wanted to make something a little smaller for a long time. When I saw a bottle cap pincushion on Pinterest (where else?), I knew this would work!

This took me about 45 minutes to whip up. It's a little wonky but not too bad for a first attempt.

I used wool from my wool appliqué stash. Wool felt will yield a more "perfect" result, but this is what I have.  If this becomes and addiction, which it could because it was SO much fun, I may invest in some.

I used the cap from a half gallon milk container, which yielded a pincushion about 1.5" in diameter.


See how perfectly it fits?

Saturday, January 20, 2024

A New Adventure

In 2022, we built a new home. We love it, but old "stuff" doesn't always fit into a new place and we now have an empty space above our fireplace and nothing to fill it with.


Even though I do not consider myself an artist AT ALL, I thought I'd try to make a little something to fill the area while we search for the perfect piece of art.
Something neutral and unobtrusive...


 Apparently, I don't do "neutral and unobtrusive" very well.

This may be a forerunner to the final product, but I am loving the process. It may just take me the rest of the year to complete though.

And we may find the perfect piece of art in the meantime.


Friday, January 19, 2024

It's 2024 already?!?

 The older I get, the quicker time seems to fly by.

I took stock of all my UFOs like I usually do at the beginning of the year. I have 5 more projects than I had at the start of 2023! Not good!

The plan for 2024 is to work on the projects that are closest to completion in order to shorten this list, but there are SO many distractions!

This was my biggest accomplishment for 2023. It was Sarah Fielke's 2023 BOM. I may actually quilt this!


New projects for 2024:

What are your quilty resolutions for 2024?





Saturday, October 7, 2023

It's October!

This morning it hit me that there are less than 3 months left in the year! Perhaps because the temperature dipped below 40 degrees for the first time, making Fall really sink in.


I decided to have a look at my WIPs and check how much I accomplished this year. The answer is "very little".
Still, it is nice to have a record of what I have in bins and totes. 😆
I use a spreadsheet to keep me abreast of things.


I found this idea somewhere a couple of years ago and customized it for my needs.

After a glance at the spreadsheet and because it's Fall and I don't have a single Fall quilt, I decided to get going on quilting the Bella Solids Leaves in the Forest quilt.

It's basted and ready to quilt!

I've assembled a couple of kits. They're available in the store right now.



If you'd like to make a list of your own, I have uploaded a blank Excel template to the "Twiddletails Quilt Alongs" Facebook group. Unfortunately I cannot upload Excel files directly to the website or the Facebook page itself.