nature abhors a vacuum....

with the completion of flimsy #2, the shoebox was empty, but not for long. in went another in progress UFO, the amish ocean waves pieces. even though the shoebox is no longer empty, i think this is real progress. ***** today i spent a good portion of the time working on another UFO, the red/cream north wind squares. this has been in the shoebox quite a while and the top at least needs finishing. i have to make 130 of these little 5" squares, and each square has a bunch of little and 2 larger triangles. **** i have spent most of my time lately doing machine projects, but also working some on the lone star to get it hand quilted. it's coming along and i'd hoped for a march finish, which still may happen but might not. the best part is i am seeing a change in the amount of fabric i have in my elfa drawers, always a very good thing. it is completely mind boggling how slow a reduction in stash occurs. i can't just fling it to the thrift because i feel i have too much. i paid for this fabric and intend to use it up if at all possible. i am happy to share but don't feel as though i can just just toss it; it wouldn't really be frugal at all. and truth to tell, i don't think i have too much but certainly enough for the foreseeable future.

another flimsy

one of the local shops sponsors a buck-a-block and 2 years ago (i think) i signed up and got this pattern and this fabric. today i got the top done with muslin sashing and the binding will be next (after basting). this quilt will be tied, not hand quilted, and probably donated at some point. i really am quite determined to finish everything on my UFO list. **** our snow is nearly gone and we are hoping for no more until christmas time.

a done flimsy

it's the boston commons scrappy style! the photo doesn't really do it justice but i think it's still gorgeous. truly a beautiful scrappy quilt. there are about 1000 little squares in this top that the pattern classifies as twin/full. no way would i ever make one any larger than this. there won't be another border on it at all, just bind it with white, i think. i'm not big on adding borders just to make quilts larger. yes, that's my hawaiian pillow up in the corner. that led me down a slippery path to wanton excess, meaning the bed size hawaiian i now have in progress but oh what fun. ***** it's a beautiful pre spring day here in maine, temps around 40 and sunny, a true portent. i've spent most of this day (2 pm right now now) adding the last border section on the above and also putting together another flimsy that i hope to finish today. that'll be two in one day!

scraps and strips and squares, oh my!

spent most of saturday morning with the trusty rotary cutter and some scraps that got cut into strips and squares for current or future projects. the largest stack is for the boston commons, of course; the batiks for a pineapple blossom scrappy; the green for a moda bakeshop christmas wallhanging and the smallest strips for an autumn scrappy in progress. the last little bits are for an ongoing postage stamp project. after those were done, i pulled out the hawaiian and finished basting the last little corner. it's 100% basted now and all my little applique pins are back in their tiny box. sunday is going to be a sew day! **** i told you about new england weather, right? well, early friday am it was 0 degrees, and then early saturday am it was 29 degrees....gotta love those warm fronts!

finally!

this top is finally basted down! i think it's stunning....actually there is a little corner left, 2 leaf groupings that still have pins, but it's almost done! done enough to oooh and aaah over anyway. besides pinning it down in the first place, this was the most time consuming so far. next comes the needleturn applique, another time consuming portion but i don't care, it'll be an heirloom when it's done. i really love it....

one to go

here is the first side border on the boston commons. that leaves one long side left, but first must cut the 200+ squares for it. i am totally delighted as i think it's a gorgeous scrappy quilt. i'm spending odd moments strip piecing thinking of how i will quilt the scrappy parts. i already have a stencil for the white border, but not sure about the other places yet. with all those seams, it will probably be an all-over design of some type. and binding color? could be anything but might just stick with white.....the quilt will "speak" to me when the time comes i'm sure. i don't consider this an "heirloom" quilt but it's one i will definitely keep for all the memories in those little patches. ***** i'm using my "inchie" project for leaders/enders and i've nearly enough strips to make a square. these are 1.5" squares sewn in strips to become squares of postage stamps or pieces that finish at 1" square. if i can't get a 1.5" square out of a scrap, it gets tossed. that is my limit, even at $10 per yard which isn't my stash at all. that is the going price now at quilt shops and makes me more diligent in shopping my own stash.

view from here

yes, that's the old viking and more strips of those pesky squares! i totally underestimated the amount of time it would take to finish off the borders of this quilt. the sewing time is minuscule compared to cutting up the squares. course, i took a detour and organized my strip bin too. good thing i have nearly endless time available. the two weeks i was sidelined with bronchitis and a sinus infection was also a hindrance and would you believe, my sinuses are still not clear? pretty much at 100% baseline now, though. ***** don't know about you but i am pretty sick of seeing bad behavior on the news of so-called stars. these privileged people don't deserve all this airtime. they are to be pitied for sure. ****** i can cautiously say spring is definitely near. despite a couple of days of frigid temps, after that they modulate quite a bit for a long stretch; 40s in the daytime is very good.

Vote Tomorrow!

Check the left side of my blog for the button SewCalGal. Starting tomorrow, March 1, you can go to her website and vote for your favorite quilter. There are a number of categories and you can nominate the influential quilters in your life. You have until March 15th (beware!) to vote. ***** would you believe i still have 220 squares to cut for my boston commons borders? i've one side border just about done but it used up nearly all the squares i had cut previously. i'm closing in on finishing this flimsy....sort of.

sorting strips

after getting all my boston commons squares cut, i pulled all the strips in the mini-tote and did a little reorg for when i have to revisit this stash. no doubt there is at least one scrappy top in this little container. thankfully, my entire stash is nowhere near barbara wilkinson's, who was featured on OWN's "enough already" last night.

that makes me really happy as i am using it up as fast as i can. ***** happy birthday george! those of us who were school kids in the 1950s know that today is your REAL birthday, no matter what the calendar says. ***** where, oh where, are the warmer temps? 30s daytime, single digits overnight....ENOUGH already!

basting party

as i mentioned, got these 3 little projects all thread-basted and they are waiting for hand quilting. due to a winter-to-spring cold, i've not done much of anything for a couple of days but hoping to get these done fairly soon and off my UFO list. the lone star comes first, though, once the box of kleenex is no longer my BFF. i've also been dabbling with some larger UFOs, doing some prep applique work and, of course, assembling the boston commons borders on the machine.