Lotsa Scarping, Palm, and Winner

My blog title is an intentional misspelling - scarping; not scrapping. I have adopted the word from Char at clothstitched.blogspot.com and made it mean "the chaos that results from delving into bins of scrap fabrics, and the efforts a quilter makes to press, sort, cut and organize those scraps into useable bits of fabric."

I've been scarping daily for more than a week now! I'm happy to say that as of Sunday, I've touched every single printed scraps that was in four aqua-colored canvas bins (on the left). All the pieces have been pressed and organized into color piles. 

Some have been cut into pieces for an Unallocated quilt - free instructions @mckillopmichelle on Instagram, here I'm prepping these pieces to take on Central Florida MQG retreat in May.

The littlest bits have been cut into 1½" X 1½" squares. My 6" deep Longaberger basket is nearly full. 

But my focus has been on making fabric from which to cut shapes to make Harvest Moon blocks. 

I've been making Harvest Moon blocks like the purple background one, on the right and have 11 such blocks now. But then I got the idea to swap out the arrangement, to make a sort of yin-yang block. I like it. But now I must decide whether to make them all like yin-yang, or keep going with the Harvest Moon block, or do a combo. I'm at a complete loss as to which is best.

As you can see, I have a lot of scraps to work with and will just keep making fabric until I decide which blocks to make. (Must share that I was able to take this picture using my tripod, my new iPhone 14, and the three second timer on my new Apple Watch. I just double-pinch my left-hand thumb and index finger, the timer starts, and the iPhone 14 snaps the picture. Cool, huh?!)

Each day finds me with a little hand-stitching time, so I've finished Kawandi #13. It''s 16" X 19½". 

This morning sunshine photo shows all the lovely texture.

Using only neutral-colored scraps, I stitched it with six colors of Wonderfil #12 Spagetti thread. 

Book Recommendations

Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi Ryan is about Lily Atwood, a celebrity journalist whose image is perfect. She has the perfect look; the perfect clothes; the perfect house; and is the perfect mother to seven year-old Rowen. Yet Lily has secrets she keeps even from her producer, Greer - the one who has worked behind-the-scenes to ensure Lily receives all the recognition and awards. Greer is secretly resentful and snarky about Lily's success.

A secret source is providing information that leads to legitimate stories, but Greer learns more about what Lily has kept hidden. What happened to Lily's older sister Cassie, who disappeared from her college campus? Who's Rowen's father? And how is the secret source involved in all this? 

Linda's score: 3.6/5.0

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain begins when it's time for Kayla, an architect, and her four year-old daughter to move into their new, ultra-modern 4,000 square foot home in Round Hill, North Carolina's development called Shadow Ridge Estates. Yet, as excited as they should be about the move, they're mourning the loss of their husband/father, who fell and died while working on the house.

The story line jumps between 2010 Kayla - her trepidation about moving; the exposure she feels because of the house's 50 uncovered windows; the dark woods; a strange, round clearing in the woods; and the proximity of a murky lake - and 1960s Ellie Hockley who grew up in Round Hill, in the old house next to Kayla's new home. In the 1960s, Ellie determines, despite resistance from family and friends, to participate in the S.C.O.P. E. project endorsed by Martin Luther King, Jr.  The program is meant to educate African-Americans about voter registration and civil rights, while the Ku Klux Klan is active, even in Round Hill. Ellie learns there are few people she can trust.

It took a while for the two storylines to merge, but I found that entertaining and enlightening. 

Linda's score: 4.1/5.0

Bad New/Good News

Last Friday was a bad news/good news sort of day.

The bad news came from a tree-trimmer we asked to take a look at our front yard Bismarck Palm, a palm that has been the site of many quilt photos - #quiltinabismarckpalm

In the past few months, Mr. B hasn't been looking very happy. We'd thought to have it trimmed, but then learned it has "twist," likely suffered last November when Hurricane Nicole came through our area with strong winds. Because the palm is above our roof line, it was exposed to high winds that twisted and broke the top center growth spike. 

Because the heart of the palm is broken, it's been rotting from the top downward. This is the rot that the tree man brought down to show us.

We're as heart-broken as the palm, saddened to know we'll no longer enjoy this special palm that we've loved since it was planted on August 14, 2013. It will be removed April 15, 2023. 

In good news, I learned I won an Instagram giveaway for National Quilting Month!

Missouri Star Quilt Company hosted an Instagram giveaway of a "Jenny Bundle" - a can of spray starch; a tube of iron cleaner; a wool pressing mat. and...an Oliso iron! I'm so excited! Thank you Missouri Star Quilt Company!

Not only is March my birthday month (this year my birthday fell ON National Quilting Day) but in March 2021, I won 100 fat quarters of Benartex solid fabrics in their National Quilting Month Instagram giveaway.

I like the month of March. Linda