So much for making a plan

Yeah....well.... sometimes we follows the plan....and sometimes we don't.

Didn't get to the Shady Lanes sashing fabric that I wanted to cut out.  Didn't make crumb blocks.  Didn't make string blocks.  I got distracted...  I started out to make crumb-along blocks, but about the time I pulled the 30th skinny strip out of the jumble that is the crumb pile, I lost patience with the whole mess and sat down to sort the entire bin.

I pulled out all the skinny little strips, and put them in a separate container.  These are the ones I'm joining and subcutting for my next crumb project as leaders n' enders.  I've already built up quite a pile of 1.5" wide subcuts.

I threw out a few handfuls of bits that are really too small to be bothered even trying to sew.  And this is what is left in the crumb bin.  I can actually see the sides of the bin, and the bottom.  Not to worry, as I trim those scraps from the big scrap bin, this thing is sure to fill up in no time.



And as I sorted, I found quite a pile of partially formed crumb blocks that I lost track of in earlier crumb piecing sessions.  They ended up at the bottom of the jumble - probably from fluffing the mass in search of colours and specific sizes.

And by the time I was done with all that, it occurred to me that if I wanted to watch the World Series game 2 tonight, that maybe I should attach the binding on my next UFO quilt so I could have some hand stitching to do.  I have two quilts still waiting for binding.  One is huge and I want to make bias striped binding for it, so I chose a smaller Christmas colours lap quilt.  It's been sitting in the waiting for binding pile for a couple of years.  I wasn't sure about this binding until I had it attached.  There's no black in my quilt top.  But now, I'm really liking how the gold lines curl around the quilt edge.  Just as well, since I have no intention of unsewing it now that it's attached.

No plan for tomorrow.  I think I'll just wing it - wait to see what I feel like doing.  No plan and nothing gets done... too many gotta-do lists in a row and it starts feeling like household chores.  There's got to be a happy medium in there somewhere.

Monday's block is done - Bring on the Crumbs

It's Monday, and that means it's time for the next instalment of Modern Monday.  I find it's just as easy (almost easier) to make two blocks instead of just one.  Are you making these wonderful blocks?  I started a Flickr Group Pool  - please join and upload your pics.

I pulled out the crumbs and strings for tomorrow and may work a little on Crumb-Along blocks tonight.  Jo's progress on hers has been amazing, and I feel so far behind.  I cut some 2" squares to make more wonky stars. That's how I want to border my crumb quilt.  I only made two star blocks last week and never got back to it.  Now that I've got some 2" neutral squares ready to work with, I can make stars on a whim.  It's fairly easy to find the colourful bits for star points and centres in my crumbs and they work up really quickly.

Or, I might work on the String Quilt w/ 9 patches instead.  I pulled out three strips to use as the centre stripe in making my next six string blocks.  (Six seems to work out just right from a time perspective for me and it's the number of string blocks I need for each row.)  These fabrics are wonderful, at least two of them are from Sandy Gervais collections (I'm not sure which one(s) anymore).  I starched my foundation fabric blocks.

It finally cooled down enough to be able to iron the flannel without dying of heat prostration.  I cleaned up my cutting area, trimmed my daily quota of HSTs and put the final stitches into the binding of one quilt (and started stitching down the binding on another UFO).

Crumb-Along - Week 2 (Stars n' Hearts)

This week, we're making stars and hearts.  Jo's pictorial and instructions are posted here.

So far my only complaint is that they weren't posted at 3:00 am - when I had a bout of insomnia.  Just kidding!  Jo is doing an amazing job of leading, encouraging and contributing to the delinquency of quilters and all while she's celebrating two new additions to her family: Betty (a sassy little featherweight) and Mildred (a sturdy reliable Singer).  I hope they are sleeping through the night.  Congratulations Jo!

The Crumblers have begun uploading pics of their blocks to the Crumb Along Group Pool on Flickr and visiting each others' blogs (especially those linked at the bottom of Jo's instruction posts) and leaving encouraging comments.  (Don't forget to check your comment settings Crumblers.)

My approach to crumb quilting is to grab a handful of crumbs and not worry about the colours.  There's a real hodge-podge here: country, civil war repros, brights, novelties.  I figure it will all work out in the end.  When I have enough blocks made, I'll put them on the design wall and see if I need more of a particular colour at that time.  I had fun with the heart blocks.  I started out cautiously and made two red ones.

Then I made a pink one.

I think this is my favourite one.

And I made two stars.  They went together so slick!  I'm really pleased with how wonky they are.  I stayed away from my cutting mat, my ruler and my rotary cutter this time and it worked perfectly!  I even stayed away from the iron, proceeded by finger pressing, so the trips to the ironing board were few and far between.

I can see myself making a lot more of the star blocks.  They were a lot of fun, and the seams butted into place without pressing.  I only stopped at this point because I had promised myself I could get started on the string quilt blocks.  I went fishing in my 2" strip bin and pulled out a red, a yellow, and an orange strip to get started.  And when I couldn't decide on one, I just shrugged and used them all.

And I got 6 string blocks made in hardly any time at all.  Donna had suggested starching my foundation fabrics and that worked like a dream!  A pic of the quilt I'm going to make and Donna's advice for proceeding on the string blocks w/ 9patches is here.

The clean up phase.  Honestly, if I didn't have so many UFOs that need finishing, labeling, binding, etc, I think I'd just leave the crumbs and strings out and keep having fun.  But I have a list of must-do work and a pile on my kitchen table waiting for it`s turn at the sewing machine.  The rather optimistic deadline I`ve set for this work is this weekend.  So I reluctantly put a stop to the new blocks.  Would you believe my string box is big enough to accomodate both bags of finished blocks!

And here, it's all back on the shelf and waiting for my next crumbing session.

I think my cat ate a few fabric snippets off the floor, he's been walking around clearing his throat for the last half hour.

Crumb Along Started Without Me!

I came home a day late with bags, parcels (and meat) and the disaster I created by unpacking further delayed my race to the sewing machine for Jo's Country Junction Crumb Along so I'm two days late getting started on my crumbs.

Our first crumb block is wonky flying geese.  I've got a 6" square ruler so will be trimming my blocks to that size.  Here's a couple of pics of my first attempts... I may revisit making this block next week.

Hmmmm.... not so, um, well, wonky.  I try.  Honest, they start out really wonky but somehow by the time I'm done with them, they're starting to look unwonky.  Sigh.  And the effort certainly created a mess on my sewing table, cutting mat, ironing board and even on the floor (notably the path I tread between all three locations).  But I'm satisfied.  I made four somewhat wonky geese blocks and I opened all the crumb and string containers and had a great time with all the fabrics I have in them.

It may take me a few attempts to make really free form crumb blocks.  Somehow I've just got to let go of the internal perfectionist.  Up til now my preferred method of using up crumbs has been log-cabin style.

My last crumb quilt is a double-bed sized one with black sashing.

My crumbs and trimmings lend themselves to making these log-cabin style blocks by the dozens.  Maybe that's the problem.... my crumbs just are not wonky.  I do have a box full of weird triangles trimmed off charm squares after I've cut out my two shapes for long-term charm quilt projects.  And I ran off a pile of blocks mixing them with the other straighter bits.

Okay... that's better.  These look free form and I have to admit that I like this style of piecing better than the paper piecing I was doing with them.

In fact, I had so much fun making the combo triangle and string blocks that I didn't stop until I had made 15 of them.  I can tell I'm going to enjoy this project.  The only problem I can see with it is that it isn't going to result in a serious reduction of the crumb and string collection.  I'm thinking of starting a string project to work in tandem with the crumbing assignments.  There is this gorgeous string quilt I saw recently....

Come Crumb Along With Us!

A Crumb Along is starting today at Jo's Country Junction and I'm going to play.

It's in my nature to give in to temptation.  That's why, despite my promise to not start anything new until I finished at least five unfinished projects, I'm not only giving in to temptation but am doing so without guilt.  I'm so excited about starting something new.  I love crumb piecing.  It may seem counter-intuitive to be both a perfectionist and a devoted crumb piecer - kind of like wanting to colour inside the lines and outside the box at the same time.  Crumb piecing is liberating.  It is exactly because there are no rules about colour, shape or placement that makes it so attractive.  It lets the subconcious quilter out to play for awhile.