as if...

i needed to take time away from UFOs to make something new, but i did....saw this in a friend's book and, well, it's blue and that decided it.  just a narrow border with some little 4-patches in the corners and it'll be ready to baste....

and was cruising the library card catalog again and found a few titles that interested me.  the tula pink is a great little book, 100 mod 6" blocks....it's the fabric that makes a lot of these but i like the way the book is set up and plenty of inspiration for anyone.   the other by lynn harris had some ideas for scraps with plenty of space for hand quilting for me.  i love a good scrappy and this book doesn't disappoint.  if you see them, give them a look; i think you'll like them too. 

during my recuperation, a friend brought by her tried-and-true family favorite casserole and it was delish.  she gave me the recipe and i tweaked it a bit leaving out salty things and cutting back on the pasta. now i have enough for the 4077th i'm pretty sure....it is delish and now that i can almost taste things again, it really satisfies.  i wish i had thought to freeze half the sauce before adding the pasta, but will see how long it lasts.  tonight i had half a cup with a piece of fish and will have some kiwi for dessert. 

yes it IS as good as it looks!  it almost has a pizza taste, which is good any day of the week!

new post....new me

finally made it to the hair salon today for a much-needed clip, nice and short which should do me until summer is well under way.  sporting that winter washed out look as it's not quite warm enough to sit out and catch some rays, but very soon i would imagine....thankfully neither of these prevents me from sewing like mad!

definitely spring...

well, spring-like anyway....temps near 50, sunny, grass greening up, trees budded...oh yes, i can't wait!   but first thing today had a bit of a chuckle....would you believe the management delivered THIS to my apartment to solve the smelly neighborhood problem?  me either...

to reiterate, the lease clearly states no smoking and no overpowering fumes/odors allowed...but for the entire weekend was nearly suffocated with same.  this has been going on since november with multiple reports of incidents but as yet no resolution....until today.  to be fair, some might be coming from the roof vent for the laundry, but not at 3 am certainly.  my clothes closet reeks of perfume and worse, my cardiac status has deteriorated over the weekend due to this heinous, obviously illiterate perp.  after all, if he/she could read, they would have read the lease, right?  unfortunately in this complex, low income is equal to a certain amount of riff raff.  i can tell you, this never happens in the homeless shelter; the staff actually enforces the rules.  sheesh....*** as if i needed a new project, been working on a small piece seen recently in a friend's book.  almost ready to show too!  that plus double wedding ring arcs have been keeping betty humming. 

the weekend's here...

and plenty of sewing plans on the to-do along with some (drat) cooking duties...the many pluses to a healthy diet do not include quick-to-fix processed foods, so more time is taken up with meal prep and cleanup, but doing all i can to streamline the process to maximize sewing machine time...did finish block #2 in the antebellum album sew along PLUS finished all the setting blocks. 

block #2 (right) is made with some gorgeous jo morton prints....ah, i just love her fabric designs and anxious for may when a new line of neutrals will be out.  for now will focus on the scrappy DWR, a new applique gardening angel block and quilting the donation quilt.  a march finish?  that would be good but it's a busy month so probably not.  *** with the sighting of a skunk today and the sound of early morning birds, spring is definitely almost here.  time does indeed fly!

head start

remember this?

with february's goal completed early (the scrap basket), moved on to sewing up some foursies from a stash of 2" squares, but for march it'll be this scrappy project....

i need to make 240 of these arc pieces, plus cut 120 melons plus the curved outer pieces for this flimsy.  have made a good start with these and with plenty of scraps, should meet this goal easily.  i have made 2 DWR quilts so far...but i am a scrappy girl at heart and have long admired them from afar.  ***  also in february made a start on this wallhanging....

all the color pieces are ready but more of the backgrounds are still needed before this can get started.  these projects plus quilting on the big quilt and doing an applique block for a guild member have kept my needle flying this month.  but also got a head start on this...

it's a loaf of irish soda bread!  this is my tried-and-true recipe (sans salt) from the boston globe cookbook published eons ago, quick to make and delish to eat.  i could have put the teaspoon of salt in it, of course, as that's my daily ration and spread out over 4-5 days would hardly have been noticed, but it's just something i do regularly and it didn't affect the taste one whit....there is nothing like St. Pat's Day in Boston, and a bit of trivia here, in Boston proper it's a holiday as it's also evacuation day, the day the British left town for good.   *** thankful that i've squeaked thru another month; without my little job the budget is back to serious penny pinching and juggling for the necessities of daily living...now it's time for your own head start!

a whole week?

has it really been a week since my last post?  i guess so but don't think i haven't been sewing....idle hands are the devil's workshop, as my grandmother often said.  been working on the hand quilting of my donation quilt, of course, plus an applique project that is about 3 hours from finished.  also spent some time on guild project and meetings.  another stack of scrappy brick blocks are done too.   finally yesterday got back to this stack of blocks...

these are setting blocks (left) for the brackman sew along "antebellum album."  another block will be out wednesday but thought i would get these done.  managed to use up a fair amount of muslin from the bag-o-scraps posted previously...here is what it looks like now...

makes me feel uber-frugal to find a use for the scraps and use them up.  have no plans for the remainders as of yet.  as february winds down and hints of spring are all around, hoping can finish the donation quilt in march and continue on using up more of the stash in my own little shop. 

saturday and sunday sewing

it was a sampler of sewing this weekend....first up, replenished my bow tie busy box for future hand work...this should hold me for a while and get me closer to a flimsy. 

next, from my cut-up scraps, assembled what bricks blocks i could.  now i'll have to pull from stash for more, which is good indeed.  it seems like sewing from scraps is all i do without even using any of the stash waiting...

next, pulled fabrics for a new project and these were from stash.  happily have all i need except for a dark pink batik but might have something else that'll work just as well.  thought this would make a cute door wallhanging....

found this on the internet...free pattern...and the bright colors really caught my eye....no surprise there!   and lastly, the most recent star block from mid-appalachian quilters was posted.  got right to work pulling kaffe fabrics for this, which was the most difficult part.  so many gorgeous prints from which to choose...it was paper pieced making it easy to assemble.

this is going to be one eye-popping collection!   some quilting got done while olympic watching....and gosh darn, wish the skating was on a bit earlier....have missed some due to late hours.  it's monday again, no big plans this week other than more sewing, continue with exercise and more olympics.  

off to the quilting pile

that would be the orange scrappy mod top...finally done, well almost.  have decided to add a very narrow white border to it to "stop" the eye and then it'll get bound with a gray solid which should pull out the gray in the alternate blocks as all those oranges are a bit overpowering.  and that aurifil variegated orange thread is perfect for quilting this!

this pattern came from the book "modern neutrals" altho would hardly call it neutral!  but it came out exactly had envisioned it would be and really like it a lot.  this one is a keeper....and yesterday was the monthly meeting of the bee; brought my little solid bow ties and got a small stack sewn.  still need quite a few, like 180 or so, to finish off this project but there's no deadline....basically to use up scraps and stash. 

am also quilting on the donation quilt and sewed up a small stack of 2" squares into foursies.  next up is the latest of the star blocks with those yummy kaffe prints and finish up an applique block PLUS kit up 20 blocks for a QOV for the guild...whew!  still missing my little job--and especially that nice little paycheck--but managing to keep busy regardless.  lots of quilty events coming up this spring and hoping can squeeze a bit out of the budget to attend at least a few.  now back to regularly scheduled sewing!

monday is some day

you know "some day"....that mysterious and hazy point in time where put-off tasks finally get done...for "some time" now have been shoving muslin scraps into this bag kept under the ironing station.  on vacuuming day it gets moved and thoughts of "some day" always crop up.  today is finally "some day". 

while i'm still in "scrap attack" mode, am cutting up some of these muslin pieces for Antebellum Album setting blocks.  there are 13 blocks in all and hoping to have them all done long before the sew along ends in december for an early 2019 finish.  not all these pieces are big enough for what i need, but some of them will be used.  while i didn't pay anything near today's prices for this yardage, it wasn't free so it needs to be used.  and one last look at this, for it probably won't be empty for long....

all the carefully cut units have been filed away in their respective shoeboxes waiting for inspiration and opportunity!  what can you attack today???

PS...for those of you of a "certain" age, you know that today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  My first recall of his birthday is sitting at my desk in primary school where mimeographed silhouettes of both Abe and George were passed out for us to color, cut out and tape to those cold, wintry classroom windows.   Today, of course, the two have been combined for the ease of retailing no doubt, a pet peeve of mine.  how would you feel if your birthday were moved just so there could be a giant sale weekend? 

solid scraps attack

tucked in the basket were some solid scraps leftover from various projects, which got set aside.  in one of the elfa drawers, there were more plus a whole bunch of inchies that someone gave me--looked like manufacturer samples all neatly pinked--plus some little blocks.  sat at betty and sewed up a whole bunch of twosies, foursies and ninesies to go with those on hand.  in deference to my neighbors, quit at 9:30 and finished up today.  every last inchie got sewn to others....a job well done if i do say so myself!

it was the top organizer that held all the inchies, now sewn.  the bottom left has 2" strips and squares still waiting and the other has finished little blocks.   far right are some 1.5" strips, most fairly short, waiting to be used.  and my mom asked what i did with such little squares....well this is one idea...

recently a few requests came my way for quilts for veterans and i honestly didn't have a single one to give away.  plan to rectify this situation and make up some twin size and keep them on hand.  our vets deserve my efforts and i feel bad i couldn't assist.  these blocks are a good start.  i know, the charcoals are not exactly the same shade, but it'll be warm and colorful and besides, i'm no blue ribbon quilter anyway.