Pass the Marmalade...

A few weeks ago I joined in for a sew along at SewCanShe.  It was a simple log cabin block sew along.  The blocks were to have 3 logs on each side and finish at 4.5 inches before being sewn together.  (You should go check out the winner,  simply stunning!)

I happily delved into my stash and came up with several fat quarters and quarter yard pieces that I had at one point grouped to use together.  Some of them were from the same line of fabrics and then there were a few additions from my stash.

I cut lots and lots of 1 inch strips and lots and lots of 1.5 inch centers.  I cut enough centers for 150 blocks.  I had in mind to make a small lap sized quilt.  I even had a recipient in mind, which is uncommon for me. LOL.

Well somewhere along the way I misjudged how much fabric I needed or there was more waste than I thought, or something... because after adding two logs to each side of 150 blocks, I came to the realization that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to finish them all with the amount of fabric I had left. In fact, I was no where near being able to finish that many.  Really, only about 25-30 were going to be able to have all the rounds of logs.

Now, it has been a few years since any of these fabrics were on the shelves anywhere, so I knew finding more was out of the question. Bummed, but still trying to be resourceful, I tried to decide what to do.  I still wanted to participate in the sew along, but that meant that at least one block had to be the proper finished size.  So I thought some more and decided to finish 25 blocks and make a wall hanging from them and use the rest of the blocks to make a runner for the top of my piano.

I worked on squaring up  the little blocks a few nights ago, but I got bored with them.  This is a common occurrence for me as I will share in an upcoming post.  I think I will need to do this in small doses until I have them all squared up.  I still have this many left to do.

So, because I got bored with it and I still had some sewing time left, I decided to look into my one of my UFO bins and see what was lurking in there begging to be finished.  I found these little drunkard's path blocks that I had cut out and played around with a couple of years ago.  They never became a full sized project because I got tired of cutting out the pieces. (Imagine that!)   I sewed them up into blocks and then sewed them up into this little piece.  I think I will use it for a throw pillow.  My living room needs some color!  The pink scraps I used are left over from various projects.  One of them isn't even finished and yet I no longer have any scraps from it!  Like I said.... I get bored easily. :)

What are you working on this week?  I'd love to hear about it!

Orange Marmalade

I finished my little project for the quilt a long with Sew Can She.  I came in just under the wire as the finished project needed to be posted by tomorrow.  :)  I had to deviate from my original plan to make a lap size quilt when I realized that I had severely miscalculated the amount of fabric that I would need.  Instead I made a small wall hanging. I am loving the play of orange and green with the lighter fabrics!

I was constructing the blocks in a sort of chain piecing method when I realized that I was going to run out of fabric way too soon. I had all but the last round completed on all of 150 blocks when I realized that it just was not going to happen.  SO.... I have 125 smaller blocks that I am going to square up and use to make a matching runner to put on the top of my piano.  More on that at a later date, LOL. :)

New Year Sew Along...

Ok, Ok, so I wasn't going to start another project until I got a few more UFOs completed.  But I found this sew along (or rather IT found ME, LOL) and it looked like fun so I hopped on the bandwagon.  Its just simple mini log cabin blocks, but I am enjoying the social aspect of the group posting on Facebook.    A friend invited me to join the group, so I did, that's what I mean by IT found ME. :)  As much sewing and quilting as I have done in the last several year, I have never actually officially done log cabin blocks.  

Here is my fabric all ready to go except for the last light value fabric that I decided to add later.  The centers are cut at 1.5 inches and the "logs" are cut at 1 inch.  Everything was pulled from my stash which is a great thing!

And here is the first finished block.  I am loving the play of light and dark!   I can't wait to get more blocks done and start playing with the layout! 

Randomness - Finish It Up Friday

My niece, Claire is turning twelve in a few days.  She requested a drawstring backpack for her birthday this year.  Sniff... Sniff... I think she might be done with the fun little dresses... They grow up way too fast. I kind of followed this tutorial and finished this up this week to mail off to her.  I did change the dimensions slightly since this is going to a 12 year old and not a toddler.   It was nice to use up a couple of odds and ends I had lying around, too.  The rickrack was the perfect size and color, I had just a little bit of green already cut ruffle size and had a piece of turquoise polka dot just the right size and color, too.  I even had the zipper in my stash! All in all a pretty easy little project.  

I also finished up these blocks to send to Margaret's Hope Chest for their "A Mother's Hope" project.  There is still time if anyone else wants to join in.  These quilts will go to women who are in a program to help them with post-partum depression.  

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts with these things today.  

On a sad note, I received word that my father passed away early this morning.  I will be dealing with family matters for the next several days, I'm sure, so I will not be around blogland for a little while.