Design Wall Monday - December 12

On Saturday's post I showed the project box storage units I use in my sewing room for storing all the parts for particular projects - and there were questions asked about these units.  Don't let this fool you into thinking I'm a really organized person.  In this case yes, but the rest of my sewing space leans toward chaos most of the time.  However, this does help me keep patterns and fabrics pulled all in one spot. And the project boxes are portable so I can just grab one to take to a class or retreat. Example: there is a box for the Sewcialites 2 weekly block project.  It's holding the patterns, the finished blocks, and any fabrics that I plan to repeat in those blocks such as a background.  And there is a box for Saturday Sampler, a monthly sew-along.  

Mine were ordered from Amazon.  It's called a "rolling scrapbooking storage" unit, and comes in white or black.  They come with 6 clear plastic project boxes too, but the ones I already had from Walmart or Hobby Lobby also fit.

 

I left the wheels off mine, and stacked 2 of the units.  They are more stable without the wheels.  I have just ordered one more unit.  I may or may not put the wheels onto the new one, but it will fit under the table in my sewing room, which is a bonus.  I tape a label on the front of each 12" project box that tells me what's in them.  Once I completely finish a project then I empty that box, file or give away the pattern, put the leftover fabric into the stash, and pull off that paper label.  Then it's ready for a new project and a new label telling me what's in it.  

The top of the unit even has little indented tray areas to hold "stuff".  

Today I'm working on getting a couple of these boxes ready to hold projects that will be my priority ones for 2023.  A fresh start for a new year, right?  

What's on your design wall today?
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Lots & lots of scrappy blocks

This week has been mostly scrappy sewing, with a few pillowcases thrown in for good measure. 

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I accidently dumped a box of 3.5" squares on the floor, which then prompted me to sort out any sets of 4 that could work in an I-Spy quilt.  There were LOTS, and they've been really fun to sew.  Most of these 7.5" blocks have scraps from various baby quilts and baby burp cloths that I've made over the past several years. For example, the 2 doggy print blocks on the right are from grandson Mason's baby quilt.  

These are mostly scraps from some recent guild baby quilt blocks, plus some pillowcases.  And the red/white/blue one on the top left is leftover from Quilt of Valor quilts.  I'll keep adding in polka dots or stripes or other prints that are fun. 

I made a total of 14 of these (Lori Holt pattern called Plaid) on Thursday, added to the 7 previously made.  And there are still a few sets of squares waiting for the sashing strips.  Knitting sheep, birds, dogs driving cars, monkeys, raccoons wearing hats and sweaters, cats - and more.  This should be a bright fun little donation quilt.  Or baby gift quilt. 

Now that this block collection is growing - and will continue to grow - I looked through the labeled project boxes to see if there was a box that I could empty out to use for these Plaid blocks.  That is still to be determined, but . . . I did find one more set of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in one of those project boxes.  I had forgotten all about that particular set of RSC blocks.  

The project box contains dozens of 3.5" x 6.5" bricks that were also cut from remnants of baby quilts, baby burp cloths, and kid pillowcases.  I see lots of the same prints that I am using in the Plaid blocks.  The box also contained a couple of sets of 4 blocks sewn together - basically the beginning of a quilt.  Each block is a brick with a 2" strip sewn to both long sides, so they are 6.5" square. 

Bonus find - there was also a big stack of finished 6.5" Brick blocks in the project box.  There were over 60 blocks in that box, more than enough for a child sized quilt.  Looking back at my blog I realized I had made most of these blocks late in 2021 and ending in summer 2022.  So they aren't too old, but I had completely forgotten about them.   

It was very exciting to find enough finished blocks for a whole quilt.  I'm going to try to get this top finished by the end of 2022.  And there are plenty of parts left in the project box to keep making more blocks during 2023.  

I'm linking up with RSC today:
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Another pillowcase

 Grandson Jack's pillowcase is done.  That makes 3 of the 5 completed.

This one has a fun Steam Punk theme to it.  I didn't find any wrestling fabric for him, but I think he'll like this just as well.  

UPDATE:  We have a winter wonderland outside today.  Finally received some much needed moisture in the form of 4-5 inches of fresh snow, with more expected next week.  The snow looks so much prettier than the frozen brown landscape.  

A mix of projects

Do you work on more than one project at a time? And if so, where do the pieces go when you switch from project to project?  Mine end up on the end of my ironing board - which I'm not going to photograph this week because it's embarrassing.

I made the effort on Wednesday to clean off that ironing board.  First up was getting Olivia's pillowcase made.  It has a piano key print. She's into music and swim team right now.  That makes 2 of the 5 finished for the grandkids' Christmas stockings.  The other 3 are now pinned and ready to sew.  I use the "sausage roll" method so there are absolutely no raw edges on these.  Maybe I'll get them done today.

Next up was prepping the binding for Hello Birdie.  I picked it up from the quilter a few days ago, and now it's ready to do the hand stitching down of that binding.  The quilt and binding strips had been draped over - guess where?  The ironing board.  

There were some partial string sections mixed in with some other various block parts and pieces underneath everything else on that ironing board.  I've been using them as leaders/enders as I worked on other projects lately.  So now those partial string blocks are completed Rainbow Connection blocks, and hanging neatly in the closet with the other 9 made during 2022 for Rainbow Scrap Challenge months.  They finish at 11", so more will need to be made during RSC23 to make a nice big quilt. Have I mentioned that my color sorted scrap bins are still overflowing in spite of so much scrappy sewing this year?  It's just ridiculous to have so many scraps and never seem to use them up. 

The other block parts and pieces (Plaid and Scrappy Irish Chain blocks) laying on the ironing board were also sewn.  No more partial blocks are laying there, which doesn't happen often.   

However - now there are block pieces laying on my cutting board.  Do you see the overflowing small box in the upper left corner?  That is the box for 3.5" squares cut from scraps and I knocked it off the table accidentally, making a whole new mess.  It was actually already a mess because it's overflowing.  Still is overflowing.  But while putting squares back in the box, I sorted out any that I thought could work in an I-Spy quilt using that Plaid block pattern below.  For each block I need 4 squares (3.5"), 1.5" strips, and a postage stamp (1.5") for the center square.  These Plaid blocks will make an excellent I-Spy quilt for donation.  

And yes - I'm still procrastinating about that applique I'm avoiding.  But the ironing board is now cleaned off, at least until the next WIP project moves over there. 

Pillowcases & plans

 Well, I do believe that I've got the grandkids' pillowcases all nearly in the ready to sew stage.  

Yesterday was a good day to run errands and do a little Christmas shopping.  I probably should wrap up that new roll of stamps I just bought and put it under the tree.  Yikes!  Those stamps should be gold-plated at that cost, right?  

Design Wall Monday - December 5

 December is here, ready or not.  And I’m NOT.  We’re possibly doing our family Christmas gathering on New Year’s Day and that might give me time to be actually be prepared. 

Only 1 of the 5 new pillowcases for my grandkids is actually made.  The chess themed one is for the oldest grandson who does enjoy chess.  One more is cut and ready to sew, but the other 3 are still in the “thinking about it” stage.  I’m really hoping I can find some wrestling themed fabric for the little wrestler in the family.  The plan for this week is to get the second one made, and hopefully find fabric for the others.  

On Sunday I did manage to get the Sewcialites blocks for last week all done.  I’m viewing the 3” versions as a personal challenge.  And this one was a challenge for me.  But they’re done.  

This 6" version went together almost as easily as the green 9" one did, thankfully. 

Saturday was a busy day with guild in the morning and then I attended a DAR meeting as a guest. The DAR meeting was held at the local Carnegie Resource Center, a beautiful old Carnegie Library building that now is a historical society center.  This display was just inside the door. Isn’t it lovely?

The vintage dress was carefully taken apart, and the top was used as the top half of a Christmas Tree, with the tree branches forming the skirt.  The hat is definitely the perfect touch.

What is on your design wall today?
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Another RSC quilt top - Nanci's Stars

One more RSC project has reached the quilt top stage.  This is Nanci's Stars.

The darker blocks in this quilt were made using the monthly colors during 2022.  The lighter blocks were made this fall to alternate with the dark ones, and to make the quilt bigger.  It began with the blue blocks below that were part of a batik table runner kit I was gifted.  The kit and other quilty goodies were given to me after a friend (Nanci) passed away suddenly.  Her stash was divided up among friends and various charities, with the hopes it would be used.  All of the rest of the batiks used in this quilt came from my own stash.  

Once this one is quilted, I plan to give it to her sisters to choose an appropriate charity to donate it to, possibly as a fundraiser.  Or just to a needy cause.  Nanci and her late husband were community minded people, so I think it's fitting for me to donate the quilt that began with Nanci.   

There was a bit more scrap busting going on this week, but this was based upon pure procrastination.  These blocks will most likely be a part of my scrap challenge for next year.  But I made a few now -  just because I wanted to play with scraps.  And because I'm avoiding the applique project currently laying on my ironing board. 

I'm linking up with Rainbow Scrap Challenge today:
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/