Scrappiness, and Temp Quilt

Sewing-wise, all I've been doing is handling scraps. Every bin and container of scraps has been touched and sorted through, with some pieces (not all!) pressed, re-chopped, added to piles, and sewn into usable pieces that will eventually become quilts. This is my happy workstation.

I went through two bins of solid fabrics to find every piece of aqua, and light and medium blue I could find so as to sew three more blocks for the Boulder MQG improv challenge. Last week's prompt was "curves."

Initially, I was concerned that my scraps were too small, but I managed to come up with these 9" to 10" improv curve blocks using fabrics only from the pile shown above. I used only scissors for cutting. I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out.

Alongside all those solid scraps is a TV tray's-worth of print scraps. Most of the bits are a result of chopping strips into useable pieces. They're sorted into piles by value: light, medium, and dark, and then joined into columns.

The trimmed strip pile on the left is bits put together in no particular order; the pile on the right is untrimmed strips pieced in value order - light to dark. I don't yet know what I'm doing with them, but sometimes I need mindless piecing like this.

From my scrap bins I also cut four sizes needed for a Snap Scrap quilt, as explained on the blog quiltsforthemaking. The basket on the right was almost full already of 2-1/2" X 2-1/2" squares that had no purpose, so I added more to it. On the left are the three other Snap Scrap block sizes needed: 4-1/2" X 4-1/2", 2-1/2" X 4-1/2", and 2-1/2" X 6-1/2" - the last size being the most difficult to come up with from my scraps. 

Then, I pieced Snap Scrap blocks. Each color is sewn into ten different 6-1/2" X 6-1/2" blocks using a combination of the four different patches I showed above. I found it expedient to sew two blocks at a time - no need to break thread in-between. I'm all about efficiency! Ha, ha. 

At my big Bernina 770QE I've continued to quilt my 2019 Temperature Quilt. I stuck to my goal of quilting a minimum of six blocks a day, and did enough that when the end was in sight, I slogged through to finish quilting on May 4. Hooray! What a relief to be done! By my rough calculation, these 378 four-inch blocks each took 15 minutes to quilt (that counts any unstitching and re-quilting, and tying and burying threads), so I spent at least 94-1/2 hours quilting this! No wonder I'm sick of it. 

This morning I hand-washed it in the utility sink, then set it to spin in the washing machine. Have to admit that bits of the fluffy Quilter's Dream wool batting was everywhere. But I adore the texture wool batting creates.

After cleaning the tile floor, I laid the damp quilt on it, measuring multiple times to square it up/block it. I tugged and patted it so when I measured diagonally, from corner to corner, both directions, the numbers were equal (90-1/2").

I also used my laser square to make sure block edges were straight. I pulled and patted those into place too.

I'll give it another day to dry and then add ombré binding. I showed Instagram followers different binding options, and by a "score" of 46 to 21, they helped me decide that the best choice is a rainbow ombré binding, rather than a black and white striped binding. 

I've had a problem lately finding good books, especially after so many fantastic reads in 2019! Last week I began listening to two different books that I didn't finish. It's unusual for me to not finish a book, however, the first book had so much profanity and innuendo, I couldn't handle it; and the second book sounded so familiar that after a couple chapters, I realized I'd listened to it several years ago! Argh. So, I began a third book, and this is it.

Waking Up in Dixie by Haywood Smith is about the Whittington family, and their high profile lives in Whittington, Georgia. Elizabeth is the long-suffering wife of Howell, an unfaithful husband; their two children, one of whom is extremely selfish and ungrateful; and Elizabeth's mother-in-law, the witchiest woman I've ever encountered. Howell's offensive behavior changes  dramatically as the result of a stroke. He comes out of a coma a different man with a personality and behavior so drastically different that the entire family has a difficult time accepting him. Howell's mother isn't happy with the man he has become - a man whose renewed faith in God compels him make amends for past wrongs. A couple sections in the story seemed unnecessary - I couldn't find the point in including them - but overall it was a pleasant listen.

Linda's score: 3.5/5.0

Our governor's orders that begin to lessen quarantine restrictions, haven't changed anything for us. Locally, the swimming pools have reopened with enforced restrictions limiting pool time to one hour; lounge chairs six feet apart (couples cannot sit together); and mask-wearing. I don't need to go to a swimming pool that desperately! My exercise time continues to be happily spent doing Leslie Sansone "Walk Away the Pounds" videos with hand weights, and power-walking. Through quarantine, I'm discovering that I've become a home-body. With a wonderful hobby like quiltmaking and sewing, how could anyone not be content? Linda