Finished Commission....Finally!

 In Mid-August I finally finished up all of the medical procedures to get my eyes taken care of and once again see clearly.   Being able to see clearly and once again be able to thread needles (both hand needles and sewing machine needles) has meant that I've finally been able to finish up the two commissioned t-shirt quilts that I've had for a year.    Once I find a lint roller to clean up the quilts I'll be able to ship them back to my customer this week.   I'm looking forward to that!    

Layouts of the quilts were decided by the customer and she wanted the front/backs of the shirts to be together.   I used solids for the backs - a light blue, and dark green.   Bindings were a blue and a green print from my stash.

Next up for commissioned work - 

- quilting a rooster print fabric to use in making 2 pie carriers

- quilting a quilt top that is to be a gift for an adopted nieced

- more t-shirt quilts have been talked about, but nothing has been firmed up at this point.

Gratitudes:

1. For clarity in vision and eye procedures being done, I'll never take my vision for granted again!

2. For a few days of cooler temperatures coming this week.

Memories and Why I Quilt

 One of my best friends texted me a picture this week of her daughter's office space.  And hanging in her office was the quilt I had made for her daughter 27 years ago when she was born.   

This is why I quilt and seeing this warms my heart.

The quilt was made with hot air balloon blocks from a long ago swap.  And was "so much" fun putting them all together when they were all different sizes. lol

Gratitudes:

1. Seeing one of my quilts from yrs ago still being used.

2. For the relationships with friends and family that have been and are a constant blessing to me.

ScrapHappy - August 2026

   Welcome to Scrap Happy Day where we post about the scrappy projects we've worked on over the past month.   

Be sure to check out what everyone else has done with their scraps this month - Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, SueL,  Vera, Ann, Dawn2, Carol,  Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney, and Hannah

As my eyes have continued to heal, and I once again could see well enough to see to cut fabric for blocks, I started to work on a long-term project that will be a wedding present.   It's made with new fabrics, so won't be featured here.   

For my scrappy projects this month, I started with a buttoned pouch, Corner bookmark, and regular bookmark all made from scraps of a line from Moda.   The fabric is a lightweight canvas weight, and the scraps were bought 5 or so years ago at what used to be a fav quilt store for me.  Lace applique was one I picked up here in Phoenix probably about 15 yrs ago.

This mini wall-hanging started with an orphan block, bought 5+ yrs ago at the same quilt store as the above scraps.  Borders and backing were from remnants that I'd found at some point in the past.  Found the hanger online.   This was given as a gift for a cousin who got married 3 weeks ago.

Quilted postcards were the other scrappy projects finished up this month.  Bits of an orphan block, embroidered roses from a denim shirt I cut up years ago, a bit of embroidery from a piece my mom had started decades ago, and a scrap book finding were used for embellishment.   Fabrics were all scraps.

Bits of fabric leftover from previous projects, a silk flower and leave, button, and iron-on butterfly were used for these.

Iron-on appliques and a remnant of lace were used for embellishment.  scraps were leftover from the butterfly quilts of last month.

Tiny lace scraps, more scrapbooking trims, silk flowers, and buttons were used for these 4 cards.  Fabrics were scraps.  The two on the right started with bits of fabric with sayings about friends &B gardening.

And more scraps were used to make the backings for the postcards.  Some were pieced from pits and strips of light colored background fabrics.

Gratitudes:

1. I'm finally coming to the end of a very long 13 1/2  months of dealing with eye issues resulting from the torn retina and all that ensued after that.   Last appt (post op check) is today.

2. So thankful that with all procedures on the eyes are done and that I can finally see well enough to thread my sewing machines and needles!   Now to get back into the flow for cross-stitch.

Wedding Quilt Started

 Finally got to start a new project as my eyes heal!  My niece is getting married the end of September this year, and now that I can see clearly I'm finally feeling like I can trust myself to cut the strips needed for each block type I need to make.   The quilt pattern is based on the pattern found here - Sweet Retreat Bed Quilt.  Quilt is a take on an Irish Chain pattern.

Changes being made are to use an overall floral print instead of the large scale floral print used in the original, and colors have been adapted to what my niece said she likes.   Colors will include 3 shades of yellow & gold, 2 shades of green, the large-scale floral print featuring hydrangeas and roses, a coordinating smaller print, and a cream batik for the background fabric.    Final quilt will be a queen-size.

First 4 block 'types' are done - 2 sets of full blocks, and 2 matching sets of half blocks.  

Still to come - another set of full blocks and a set of matching half blocks, and a set of background blocks.

Gratitudes: 

1. For being able to find the coordinating print that I needed to make the block sets.  

2. For finally getting started on dealing with more health concerns.  Why does it feel like my "warranty" has expired and things are starting to wear out?

Mini Wall-Hangings

 I'm in a small group at church, and have known the other 4 families in the group for many years.  

In prior years, I've always tried to get something for all of them at Christmas.  With all the eye issues over the past 13 months that didn't happen this past year.   So when I found a panel with 4 mini panels in it (panel was a remnant) I decided to make 4 mini-wall-hangings for them.   

And instead of waiting for Christmas to gift them, I'm going to gift them and personalized notes to everyone as a surprise to them at our next meeting in a couple of weeks.

Gratitudes:

1. Longtime friendships

2. For working AC.

ScrapHappy July 2025

  Welcome to Scrap Happy Day where we post about the scrappy projects we've worked on over the past month.   

Be sure to check out what everyone else has done with their scraps this month - Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, SueL,  Vera, Ann, Dawn2, Carol,  Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney, and Hannah

Final scrappy project for the month was this toddler sized quilt.  Made with 5" finished squares of assorted frog fabrics left from alphabet quilts I'd made years ago, and from a swap with others.   White squares were all from a lot of solid white scraps and remnants.  Next photos a larger pic of the 5 frog prints I used up.

Next up was more piecing of bits and pieces of various white, WOW and other light toned fabrics.   Top one in the pic to the right was actually made from 2 scraps of bias tape.  Eventually I'll add the wonder under to the back of these and then cut postcard backs from them.

Assorted WOW's, light grey, and creams in this bunch.

And the final bunch of scrappy goodness for this month was spent in finishing off a bunch of scrappy bowl cozies that I'd prepped more than a yr ago, probably at least 18 months or 2 yrs.

All total 18 cozies were finished up.    All were made with scraps (some from my stash, some bought in scrap bags like the prints to the right).   Batting squares in the cozies were cut from scraps of batting leftover from quilts (I've been using Warm 100 by Warm & Natural lately because it is 100% cotton, even the scrim).   These will either end up as gifts or being sold.

I was able to make 7 matching cozies with this lovely sunflower fabric.   It was the leftover bit from what had been a border print.   I forget what I had used the original for, might have been a quilt back.

Reverse side of the sunflowers. TOT yellow striped remnant that has been in my stash forever and a day.

The last bunch of cozies were made from scraps of Coca-cola brand fabric, along with scraps of various red and black fabrics.  

Backs were all cut from a remnant of red TOT print that was leftover from another project.  The pieced fronts were all quilted before making the cozies since that they were pieced from small pieces.

Gratitudes - 

1. The mobile sold!!!!
Closing should have been on 6/30, but due to unforeseen issues on the buyers part ended up delayed.  Sale finally closed on 7/07.   I'm so thankful to not have that to deal with with anymore.

2. I have a new AC at the house which replaced the 14 yr old one that decided to die just as the temps rose to 118 degrees.  I'm looking forward to seeing if it makes a difference in my power bill.

3. Thankful also for my work computer because my personal laptop has decided it was on life support....sigh, time to go shopping for a new one.

Scrappy Churn Dashes

 I've got lots of swap blocks and orphan blocks that I haven't put together yet.   One of the sets of blocks that I had are 6 inch finished churn dash blocks.     20 blocks used, still have several more though to use in something else.  Border fabric was a peachy pink that I'd bought thinking it would work for another project only to find the colors clashed...oops.

And I had some scrappy strips that I'd pieced using adding machine tape paper and the tiniest of scraps from fabrics I'd inherited after a friend passed.  I used 4 of the strips for alternate rows between the churn dash blocks. No measuring on placement, just eyeballing them to alternate direction.

Gratitudes:

1. Eye sight is better now that I'm back on eye drops.

2. Temps are supposed to cool off starting this weekend from the 118-120 degrees it's been running this week.

ScrapHappy - June 2025

 Welcome to Scrap Happy Day where we post about the scrappy projects we've worked on over the past month.   

Be sure to check out what everyone else has done with their scraps this month - Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, SueL,  Vera, Ann, Dawn2, Carol,  Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney, and Hannah

In unearthing various tubs of stuff, I found these two butterfly panels.  They are only 24: wide, so a border was a must.   The first one I used my pre-pieced blue string stips for the final border.  Strips were trimmed to 6" wide.   I did not use all of the pre-pieced strips.  Black inner borer was cut from a remnant leftover from a previous project.

Same panel and black inner border as above.   Used up all of my purple string strips that had been pieced several years ago.  

Found a bag of precut 2.5" batik squares as I was going through items in a tote, I decided to sew with them instead of just putting them somewhere else.  So far I've made strips of three from them and have 90 of them.  

And am debating on how I want to put them together into blocks.  At the moment I'm debating about 9 patches, or set nto blocks along the lines of this pick.  Or who knows what..   Anyone have a good seggestkion?   I do plan to eventually donate this quilt when finally finished.

Gratitudes:

1. for my new glasses, even though my eyes are will making it difficult to work on the computer

2. for a reasonably close computer repair store that I can take my personal laptop to for "spa treatment" (aka a diagnosis and fix for the fact that I can only see the BIOS screen now....sigh).

3. For there being a strong potential buyer for my mobile home (and no, I won't even clear full expenses of mortgage and realtor commissions if it goes through, but I'd be out from under the monthly expenses which would be a huge blessing)

ScrapHappy May 2025

Welcome to Scrap Happy Day where we post about the scrappy projects we've worked on over the past month.   Be sure to check out what everyone else has done with their scraps this month -

Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, SueL,  Vera, Ann, Dawn2, Carol,  Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney, and Hannah

With the weather warming up here in Phoenix, I've moved to working on things inside the house.   This weekend I worked on moving stuff around in one of the rooms in order to get other things that need to be able to be gone through and gotten rid of.  And in doing so I am often distracted.

First distraction was finding the decorative tin that I had a bunch of ornaments that I'd finished the stitching and beading on, but never actually finished.  So instead of just putting them away unfinished, I pulled out the wool felt scraps I had in the same tin and finished the ornaments off.

The Mother ornament was made from a little cross-stitch piece I found at the 2nd hand store.  2nd two were ones my Mom had stitched but never finished.   All are backed with wool felt.

Next distraction found me working with more strings and scraps that had been laying around to make postcards.   Scraps and trims from my stash made the fronts.

Light toned scraps and strings were used for the backs

Next up to find the light of day (aka going through a tote and deciding what to do with the fabric/projects in it).  All of these except the 2 at the bottom right are a canvas weight and all were from a line made by Moda.   I picked up the assortment years ago at a quilt shop in TX.  The narrow piece in the upper left corner will become backings for bookmarks that are in progress.

I decided that I'd make a zippered pouch with part of the fabrics.   For part of a friends Christmas gift this year I'm doing a book themed gift similar to ones I've seen posted on Instagram,   The postings have lots of little things included in all around a general them.   I've started collecting stuff for it,  This pouch will be used to hold all of the goodies that I collect.

Back side of the zippered bag.

Gratitudes: 

1. I'm enjoying being in the house and slowly making progress here.

2. Cataract surgeries are done, and vision is much improved!  One more procedure in July to clear up a minor issue (at present) with the new lens in the left eye.

Finally.....

 Finally starting to settle in a little more here in the house.   And for me that means being able to display some of my quilts.

These 4 wall-hangings are some of the 20+ yrs worth of quilts I've made for the art-quilt challenge that I take part in.  They were made for challenges in (left to right) 2021, 2020, 2023, and 2018.

Gratitudes:

1. Slowly getting medical issues taken care of.   One more doc to call and get an appt set up with and an order for another test.

2. For AC now that the temps are warming up

ScrapHappy - April 2025

Welcome to Scrap Happy Day where we post about the scrappy projects we've worked on over the past month.   

Be sure to check out what everyone else has done with their scraps this month - Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, SueL,  Vera, Ann, Dawn2, Carol,  Preeti, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa, Tierney, and Hannah

First up was piecing lots of bits and pieces of prints and solid looking scraps to make yardage to cut postcard backs from instead of just cutting into FQ's or yardage.

Then I started piecing strings and scraps that I'd bought as part of a scrap bag (think a brown paper lunch bag) from a local quilt shop.    These were the orange / peach scraps.

Backs for the peach cards.   The bits that look like miniature quilt blocks were from the leftover bits and pieces from a panel that had been in a quilt kit from Moda.

Final bunch of cards for this month used the blue and turquoise scraps from the same bag of scraps.  And then I used the scrap left from the fusible pellon used for the postcards to make a bookmark.

Backs of the postcards and bookmarks.  A variety of pastel and WOW scraps in them.

The last bit of the panel from the kit was used to make this little mini-quilt.   This was the pre-printed "picture" on the panel so the person making it would know what it was supposed to look at.  I added a button in the center to make it look more like a pinwheel.    

Backing of the mini quilt was from a batik scrap that came from somewhere.  Binding was leftover from a project finished in the last year or so.

Gratitudes:

1. First cataract surgery has been done and eyesight is definitely better, but still a ways to go.

2. Slow progress continues to be made in going through things here at the house.....now if only the mobile home would sell.