No Place Like Home

I'm back from an awesome Florida vacation!  10 days, 11 nights, hiking, canoeing, biking, and beaches!

While I was away the crumb quilt was in the Tyler quilt show and got 2nd place in modern quilts!! I wasn't able to attend, but several people took pictures for me. This was my first show to enter a quilt in and I worried that things like uneven quilting or my habit of back stitching repeatedly rather then burying threads would make my quilt sub par to the others there. Needless to say, I was tickled pink to win a ribbon.

Even from the best vacation, it's always good to get back home. All the better to arrive to a pile of mail for Cil!  There were 4 sets of blocks waiting for me and a goody box from Summer and her friends in Houston!

Thanks to Summer, Sheila, Barb, Marion, Karen, Caroline, Lillie, and Carolyn for the blocks, fabric, and thread! (Rory also really enjoyed the plastic bag that the blocks were in).

The March block drive is wrapping up shortly but there is still plenty of time to send in blocks if you want to. Meanwhile, the April block will be a bit more complex! The post is scheduled to go up soon (Thursday? I think.)   Also remember, we are featured in the Hands2Help charity quilt challenge this year so be sure to follow along with all the fun tips and link ups there.

I have a paper to finish for school today and then I am going to settle in for a quilting marathon. The to-be-quilted pile is getting out of hand!

"A Lot of Fight Left" in These Crumbs

Finally! At long last the crumb slabs quilt is done!  I went back and looked, my first post about this one was way back in May of last year.  It's really unusual for me to have a quilt in progress that long!

 This is the latest in a line of crumb quilts I've made.  I store my crumbs in a large glass jar and whenever it fills up I make something with them. There was the Sherwood Forest quilt, Crumb Jar Nines, and Scrappy Paint Boxes. I love using scraps!

This is the first crumb quilt to be made entirely from scraps. Even the background pieces are sewn together from low volume fabric scraps.

I used FMQ to quilt the top heavily with overlapping spirals.  I use a scoop shaped foot with measurement lines on it to help keep the spacing even. (You can see the foot in this post).  FMQ as opposed to a walking foot makes for much less shifting and wrinkling of the fabric.

This quilt is going to be in the Modern section at the Tyler Quilt Show this weekend. This is the first quilt I have ever had in a show!  I don't think you are generally supposed to wash show quilts but I just couldn't stand the idea of not washing a scrap quilt. They don't feel done until they have that krinkle.

I ended up facing this quilt so that the design would continue right out to the edge.  It just felt right. First time I've tried that, and it went surprisingly well.  The quilt is also closer to square than I ever dared hope it would be!

The backing is a favorite IKEA fabric.  It makes your eyes do funny things to look at.

When I was working on this back in the fall I kept thinking about the lyrics to "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten and how they related to this quilt. Even the smallest scraps can have a huge effect!  I wrote part of the chorus on the label and the quilt is names "A Lot of Fight Left."

"Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion"
...

"'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me"

Linking to Finish it Friday and Oh Scrap!

Arranging and Rearranging

I worked 4 days this past week, but before and inbetween I've gotten some sewing done.  The second Feb Split 9s quilt top was arranged and sewn together.

I had 7 split 9s blocks left and after staring at them for a while on the wall next to the Forest QAL blocks my do. Good Stitches bee mates made I decided the two belonged together.

I got into my scraps and made up enough neutral 9 patches to finish the top.  My initial scrap sort-and-cut was only 3 patches short of the total amount I needed! I began playing with all three types of blocks on the design wall.

This one has gone through a lot of iterations. I like to put it on the wall and stare at it for a while.  I actually don't have pictures of the first couple arrangements.

I made an extra split 9 block.

And finally I think I've settled on this arrangement with the double bend.  But I haven't sewn it all together yet, so it may change again. We'll see.

Finally, with the Tyler Quilt Guild show coming up next weekend I finally got the crumb quilt done! Full finish post coming on this one next Friday.

Also, could someone please explain to me how this little peanut grew into a big cat overnight?  I swear it was just yesterday she was palm sized!

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Quilting in Circles

I'm still working on my crumb project.  We're into the quilting stage now :)

I'm doing spirals centered on each crumb block and letting them overlap where they intersect.

For the backing I had just enough left of this neat IKEA print.  Gotta get some more of that.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

The Crumb-splosion is a Top!

Whew! After months of work, on and off, the latest crumb project is finally a top!

It measures just shy of 50"x70" and I can't wait to get started quilting. I'm planning on doing intersecting spirals.

Rory watched the final stages of this come together from her nest in the string pile. She's going to be really disappointed when I finally clean these up.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: Scrapping Away

 Happy Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who left encouraging comments on my last post about my crumb project.  I made pretty good progress on Sunday. I just have a little left to fill in and piece the whole thing together.  There will have to be some partial seams to tackle.
 

I'm going to keep working on that top today, and in between there are these string blocks sent in for the monthly block drive. Three tops worth here ready to be assembled :)  FYI, the post announcing November's block drive will be up sometime tomorrow.

Remember, this week is the beginning of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  You can see my entries here and here.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

A Little Personal Scrapping

It's a rainy Sunday here in Texas, very badly needed rain.  I am taking to day off charity sewing to work on a little personal scrap quilting.  These crumb slabs have been in progress for a while and I'm working on filling in the gaps to complete the top.  Happy Sunday Sew Day :)

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Crumbs Coming Along

I've been working on these scrap blocks forever but I finally got them all sashed.  Now I can start arranging them and filling in the spaces.

Don't get your hopes up, this phase of the top will probably take a really long time, too :)  Meanwhile, I finished the top from the purple and orange blocks the ladies in the Tyler Modern Group gave me Covered in Love.

One of the ladies in the group long arms and she's going to quilt this one. Check out Jeriann's business page at AnnieMcHugs.com. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she does.

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Black and White and Red All Over

Q: What is black and white and red all over?

This top for Covered in Love is being sewn up out of scraps and stash. It actually started because I had cut 24 of those red squares for another project but ended up not using them, so they went into scraps. I needed a way to use those squares in a top and then I saw this tutorial: perfect!  FYI, I used 5.5" squares and 2.5" sashing (both unfinished measurements).

And here is the latest progress on my crumb blocks. 8 sashed, 3 to go! I am doing pretty good if I can tackle one of these per day.

 

Also, I had this baby panel and a couple of coordinating prints in my stash for some reason, probably a remnants bin find.  I stitched it together and, in the interest of trying something new added prairie points.  

For anyone interested, this is the tutorial I used and it worked great.  Since the front is so muted I think I may go with something nice and bright on the back ;)

Linking to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Working on Route 66

I first posted about this Route 66 quilt last WIP Wednesday.  This week it is still up on the wall, but finally almost done! I cleaned out my space last week so that I could expand my design wall and I am sooo enjoying the extra space. You can see my crumb slabs up on the left there. Just plugging along slowly on those.

I have a stack of 4 quilt tops and backings ready for basting. Time to have a basting party ASAP!

Linking to WIP Wednesday at FreshlyPieced.

400th Post! (and it's scrappy!)

 My design wall has been humming!  The do. Good Stitches hot and cold blocks were still up there (I am lacking one set to put it together).  I'm still enjoying playing with the design possibilities, too!

I took the hot and cold blocks down so I could start putting up the crumb slabs as I sash them.  I am using my white-ish crumbs mixed with a little of the focal color in each block to border them. FYI the layout will be more random than this, just throwing them up on the wall here.

 
Hoping you have a fun, productive week! I'm linking to Oh Scrap and Design Wall Monday.

Scrappy Sunday

My crumb jar was overflowing again, so I dumped it out and started sewing slabs of fabric by color. I love this kind of quilt. Something from nothing! And it's totally reflective of what was in my scraps at the time. It's the quilting equivalent of opening up the pantry and making dinner from whatever you can find rather than going from a recipe.

I've got 3 shades of blue left to assemble.  I have a really cool idea for setting these. I just hope it works out like I am imagining it!

Linking to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than housework.

PS: Every week Adrienne at On the Windy Side has Caturday Wisdom. It's always adorable and this week it's extra cute because my boys are there! Check them out!