Apple Cores!

This project is speeding along!  Mind you, this will be a wall hanging instead of my usual huge bed quilts.

The centre core measures 43" x 43".  Fabric is being auditioned for borders and there may be a border of applique at the top.

Cherish you day!  Cherish your life!

Batting time!

How am I amusing myself during our virus shutdown?

Do you remember seeing this photo in a July 2019 post when my young great niece was visiting and after coming back from using the bathroom and the look on her face said it all?  Well, since then, more batting pieces were added and the shower stall was bulging almost to the top and bags kept falling out of the opening.  Time to deal with them!

For now, just the 80/20 cotton/poly batting pieces are being used.  The 100% poly batting pieces will be dealt with later.

Not all batting are the same.  These two batting pieces can't be used in the same quilt as the one piece on the left is a tad too thin.  So, they will be split into separate groups and the bags will be labelled accordingly.  One day they will get used up.  There are not enough batting pieces to work for this size top, so I will just cut a piece off my roll of batting and then another project will be going to the LAer.

There are enough of these pieces to make a full batting size needed for this top.  Zig zagging the pieces together is how these will be sewn.  I butt the seams together and zig zag across to close the seam sides.  When finished, the batting piece will look awful, but it will be inside the quilt and until the front or back starts to fall apart, no one will ever know.  I refuse to throw these small pieces into the garbage ..... so wasteful to me.  So, I will take the time to make a batting.

I do have a large bag of small batting scraps.  These will be used for a wall hanging or a tote bag or a table runner or placemats.  Use them all up and keep them out of the landfill!

Backings are being made also.  There are 11 tops waiting to be machine quilted and they will be dealt with.  With the recent death of my aunt, my frail cousin will follow soon and now this pandemic .... why am I holding onto tops?  Waiting for what?  Time to get them quilted so that they can be enjoyed.  Life is just too short.

These apple cores are also keeping me busy.  I'm in the process of adding the dark cores.

Viola, another row added!  Yeah!

There are so many quilt alongs happening right now .... but I will try (no squirrels allowed here) to resist and will work instead on my 34 ufo's.  That is how I ended up with so many ufo's ..... squirrels kept appearing.  LOL

During this time in history, hubby and I are staying at home.  We each have more than enough to keep us amused for a few more weeks or months, depending on the virus curve.  Hope it flattens out soon so that the world can slowly get back to normal.  A niece will be picking us some food items for us this week, thus eliminating the need to venture to a grocery store.

Crazy times ..... sad times ..... fearful times!

Cherish your day .... cherish your life!

Cassandra's Circle - Block 2

I'm keeping up with this free BOM and have block 2 done.

There was an issue with the placement for me and whatever I tried, it just didn't work for me.   This is just one layout that a photo was taken of.  Those yellow leaves just didn't work.  The fabric was reused to make circles and the leaf pattern was adjusted and reused.

So, without further ado, my version came along and viola .... block is done!

Here we have blocks 1 and 2 on my design wall.  There will be sashings to break them up.  The blue background fabric will be used for the 18" blocks.  The white is used in the center medallion and will also be used for the borders.  Different shades of cheddar and greens will be used along with my Shweshwe fabrics.

These blocks have been safely tucked away in a bin until the end of this month when the next pattern is available.

Another ufo has been pulled out to work on and that is what I'm going to be doing today.

Cherish your day!

The rebel in me!

How many of you are doing Cassandra's Circle Free BOM?  I am and my first block is done.  36" square unfinished (read more below).  My stash of indigo Shweshwe fabric will be used in the process.  It was time to use this gorgeous fabric in a project.   This fabric was purchased years ago from https://meerkatshweshwe.com/ and if I need more, I will be giving Celeste a call.

The fabric is a wee bit heavier than normal but absolutely gorgeous to work with for applique.  Especially in those curves.  The fabric doesn't fray as usual and I'm asking myself why I didn't work with this fabric before instead of sitting in a bin on my shelf.

This is where the rebel in me showed up.  The plumes were to be placed in a spiral mode, but I decided to do it differently and reversed four of the plumes to face the other four.  Love it!  As more blocks are done, this block will be revisited and more things added to it.

Now, getting back to that 36" square unfinished.  It should be 36-1/2" unfinished.  What happened to that extra 1/2"?   When I cut out the white background fabric, an extra inch was added to the measurement and the fabric was ripped across the WOF.  My grain is not straight  and after squaring it up, my piece is not the full 36-1/2" that is needed and there is not enough extra fabric to redo!  Darn, darn, darn.   So ..... this is where my creative side will have to visit and do something to make that centre piece the correct size.  I will have to stew on that idea for a wee while.

This is how my block looks on the design wall.  Big.

The other project that has been worked on over the past few weeks, is putting another label onto my quilts that have won ribbons in any quilt show that they were in.

My friend Karin did a talk about this at guild and the appraiser also told me to do that as well.  The appraiser also said to put a label on any quilt that has been appraised and the value.  So that will be the next step to do.  This will be a good way for future generations to know that their quilt has some kind of value and to treat it kindly.

Cherish your day!