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I'm crazy?  I finished sewing the last block today for my OMG project and sewed them all together.  I laid the top on the bed to see how it looked.  I think I want to add a border or something around the outside.

Every block has fabric and/or a hexie from the original 'unloved' quilt top.  Since every block has a focus center, I guess it's sort of an 'I Spy' quilt.  I'm anxious to see how it looks when it's quilted.

I also made two more bags for the Bag It 2017 event.  One is a zippered bag using a 12.5 inch block I made and quilted during the 501 Quilt Blocks Project.  The other bag is one I made using this tutorial by Susan Claire-GourmetQuilter using 10 inch squares.  You may notice that all the zippers are dark colored.  Years ago, I purchased 10 each of blue, black, brown, green, purple and magenta -- all dark colors because that's usually what I sew.  What can I say?  I got a good deal.  I'm determined to use them up.

Hope you had a good day.

-- Pat

New Long Term Project

I've decided I am going to create a project to make all the paper-pieced blocks in this book.  I'm going to call it the '300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks Project'.  How's that for an 'original' name? 

As of yesterday, I've made 59 blocks.  I finished another four today.  Only 237 blocks to go.  I expect this will be a long term project.  It took two years to finish the 501 Quilt Blocks Project.  I imagine this will be about the same.  Here are the four I finished today:

# 38

# 108

# 107

# 119

After a little break from sewing these blocks, my intention was to sew a few blocks from the '501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks' book by Judy Hopkins.  But...I found some 4 inch fabric squares I've had for at least 5 years and I just HAD to put them together.  It's very scrappy!  My intention is to quilt it with the 'white' one as the backing fabric and the other as the top.  If it turns out okay, I hope to use it to make something else.  I can't talk about it yet but I should be able to in the next week or so.

Hope you had a good day.

-- Pat

Goals & Challenges

Some of you know that I worked my way through 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins back in 2010-2012.  I made every block at least once.  I still use the book fairly consistently.  But today, I've been trying some old skills.  I made one of the paper-pieced blocks from the book 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks by Carol Doak.  I tried to remember all the little details without actually reading the instructions in the book.  I think I covered my mistakes pretty well by adding a border and cropping the photo to look somewhat straight.  I'll have an easier time on the next one but just for fun, I think I'll take a look at the instructions before that.

# 37

I'm considering taking the book on as a new challenge to myself.  I've paper-pieced some of the blocks already for this wall hanging I made for my daughter in 2013.

I didn't use all the blocks that I pieced but I only have 241 more to go to make goal.

The other skill that needs refreshing is fusible applique.  This is the simple block I made.  It comes from the book 505 Quilt Blocks by Better Homes and Gardens.

K13

I haven't decided if I'm going to add this to my list of long-term goals or not.  I've had the books hanging around for quite awhile.

As you can see, I enjoy all types of sewing.  Every day is something new.  Variety is the spice of life or something like that.

I just realized that today is Slow Stitching Sunday.  I missed last week because I was busy with something else.  I can't even remember what but it was not hand stitching.  And it looks like I'm going to miss out today too.  If you're interested in what others may be doing today, pop on over and take a look.

Hope you're enjoying your day.

-- Pat

Where there's a will...

Some of you know I adopted a cat a few months ago from the Humane Society.  She is 1.5 years old and has had a litter of kittens.  She has also nursed 3 kittens in addition to her 4.  So I think since she's come to me, she's stepped out of her 'adult' role and is living her 'kitten' stage.  We've had some adjusting to do.  She's kept me on my toes.  One of the things we've had a problem with is chewing on cords.  Not so much the cords, but the connectors on the ends.  I've found a solution that appears to be working with regards to my iPad power cord.  My apartment doesn't have many outlets so I had purchased a longer power cord.  I decided to try to wrap it in some way since it didn't seem feasible to put it into some sort of channel.  I had some scraps with batting that I had cut off before binding a quilt so I stitched that all along the cord.  It appears that Speckles doesn't like the taste of batting.  I stitched it by hand and left the excess.  Because the cords tend to give out around the iPad connector end, I reinforced a portion of that end using a straw and cable ties.  Here's the result:

Earlier this week, I pieced another block from the 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks book by Judy Hopkins.

Cut The Corners

Yesterday, I spent most of the day working on my OMG - One Monthly Goal September project.  While I am using the original flimsy for the project, I've taken an entirely different path with it.  I'm not sure if I'll post photos along the way or just wait until the end.  The original flimsy was unloved and tucked away in the closet for many years.  Recently I added hexie flowers and was encouraged.  Monday, I shopped for fabric and hoped for inspiration but was unsuccessful.  After watching a ton of Youtube and Crafty videos, I chose a different direction.  So far, I'm delighted with it.  The idea was to turn the flimsy into a fun twin-sized bed quilt.

Hope you have a good day.

-- Pat

Peek-a-boo

'Hey Mom! Whatcha doin'?

Every now and then, Speckles goes crazy, jumping from one piece of furniture to another.  Sometimes that includes jumping on the counter, to the fridge, to the top of the cupboard...at top speed.  This was the sight this morning.

Yesterday, I finally broke down and bought a new ironing board.  I was shocked to find out that the one I wanted cost so much.  I bought my last one 10 years ago.  I guess if I divide the price for the new one by ten years, it doesn't really cost that much.  Today is the first day using it.  It's a wide one and so much more sturdy than the last one.

 Here's today block, Crown and Star - 61 pcs.

Crown and Star

Hope you had a good day.

-- Pat

Scattered

I've bounced around from one project to another these past two days.  Yesterday morning before church,  I moved all my bins & storage racks from the spare bedroom closet to my closet.  That puts all my sewing things in one room.  It seemed as though every time I sat down to sew something or prepare to sew, what I needed was in the other room.  This is much better.

This morning I took an inventory of all my blocks & flimsies.  I'm trying to put them in some sort of logical order.  (like that's going to happen!)

I only sewed one block today from the 501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks book.  It was such a simple block but I couldn't settle in to sew another.

Cotton Reels

I was reading Julie Rose Quilts blog this morning and she wrote about a flimsy that she's had tucked away for a long time because she didn't like it.  I know exactly what she means.  I have one like that. Later, on another blog, I noticed a quilt with a pieced background with huge flowers and leaves appliqued on it.  I began to get a notion that I could do something like that with mine.  As usual, I didn't take a before picture but this is the next step.  I decided to use some of my hexie flowers to embellish the quilt top.

I've sewed a few flowers on and am so excited about it that I tried it on the twin bed and I think it could be a really fun bed quilt.  Who knew that flowers would make the difference?  So I imagine that's where my focus will be for the next few days.

Hope you had a good day.

-- Pat

It's in the bag!

Actually...it is the bag.  The block I quilted the other day has now become a zippered bag.  I'll be putting in thread, needles, scissors etc. -- supplies I need for hand projects, so I can grab it and go.

And...I've finished two more blocks:

Chisholm Trail

Contrary Wife

Hope you had a good day.

--Pat

A New Beginning

Seven years ago, I started the '501 Quilt Blocks Project' under the blog name '501quiltblocks'.  The goal was to make each of the 501 quilt blocks from the book '501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks by Judy Hopkins.  It took two years to complete the project.  Most of the blocks were used to make table toppers, table runners, bags, wall hangings and quilts.  I also donated blocks to various causes to be used to make quilts for those in need.  Along the way, I dabbled with embroidery, applique, knitting, zentangle, hexies and tried a number of other techniques.  Since that time, other than a few small quilt projects, I've taken a break from sewing.  Last year I failed to renew my domain name when it came due.  That blog is gone.  From time to time, I'll be including photos from the '501 Quilt Blocks' Project.

That brings me to now.  I've chosen 56 blocks from the book mentioned above to make a queen sized bed quilt for myself.  And I wanted to document it as I go.  I'll also be including other crafts and projects.

This new blog's name  is Quilt blocks and more and is found at Quiltblocksandmore.blogspot.com  It's a lot like starting over from scratch.  I've forgotten a good share of what I knew about registering a domain name, creating a blog, taking and editing photos and who knows what else.  So bear with me.

Today I've completed three 12 inch blocks.  Let's see if I can remember how to include them in this post.

Album

Calico Puzzle

Southern Belle

Phew!  I did it.  Confession.  It took almost as long to do this post as it did to cut and sew the blocks.  Enjoy!

Have a great day!

-- Pat