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.

Scrap Happy - March 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

On a trip back home from visiting with a friend in northern Arizona, I stopped by a Goodwill store.  And while there found a couple of bags with novelty prints that had been sewn into what looked like were meant to be handles or straps.   Bought one of them (and now wish I'd gotten both of them!).   Unpicked all of the seams and found that the original strips are 4 1/2 inches wide by about 16+ inches long.  I've sorted them by prints and there were 9 different themes to the prints.

I took the first set of strips (8) and put them together with 3 different remnants that I'd come across as I've been sorting through my stash and put together this quilt top.   When finished it will be donated.

And these boxes, filled with yardage, remnants, and a few scraps of fabric, were donated a couple of weeks ago to a couple of groups that make all sorts of things for foster kids.  A small dent was made in the stash with this going out.

Gratitudes:

1. For 2 months in the house.   Lots of work left to do here, but it's nice to be here.

2. For knowing that I can rest in the knowledge that in God's time the mobile home will sell.

Scrap Happy - February 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

Not a lot of sewing for me this month as I finished up getting everything moved out of the mobile home and into my house.   And added to that is the fact that I needed to immediately downsize the stash so that I could get it into one room.   These boxes are the first wave of donations (actually box #11 is almost full).   Taking them down to a friend in March.

I made time to finally do some sewing this past week.  I'd found a bundle of leftover denim scraps left from a commission from a couple of yrs ago.  6", 3" and 2" finished squares were cut using all of the scraps.   I added a cream/ivory print leftover from a backing to the smaller squares to make 4-patches and 9-patches.

And then in sorting the above fabrics I found a piece of fabric featuring wolves that I'd cut a couple of the vignettes out of yrs ago for a sweatshirt.  Cut enough squares out of what was left to add to the denim and pieced blocks.   Side borders were cut from a remnant w/small wolf silhouettes on it.

I'm planning to donate this one when finished.

Gratitudes:

1. Finally all moved into the house (even if it's going to take a long while to make progress in getting everything ordered)

2. Mobile home is going on the market this next week.   Lord willing it will sell quickly so I can be done with it.

Scrap Happy - January 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

Only a couple of scrappy projects on my plate this month thanks to the work on the house and starting to move.  First up were these scrappy blocks made with the leftover strips and bits from other projects, including one Christmas gift and a commissioned project.   

The orange blocks were made with the leftover bits of a pillow I made for a friend.   She saw them on my design wall when helping me move stuff between homes, but didn't think of anything till after she opened her gift later the same day.

Next where these little ornaments that started with some wooden craft ornaments that were made to put photos into.   I pulled a few small strips of green for these trees.  The pile of trimmings on the desk did go into the trash.

I then pulled some of the itty-bitty teensy scraps that I'd tossed out initially after making the centers of the orange blocks above and used them for these two sunburst ornaments.

Final scrappy project for the month is this wooden plaque that was in the Christmas craft things that the big box fabric store here in Phoenix had this past year's Christmas things.   I picked it up after Christmas and decided to make scrappy trees in the same kind of way as the ornaments.   

Gratitudes:

1. First phase of the work on the house is finally done and I can now live there.  Now to figure out when the next phase of work can be done (3 more steps to get all the needed work done).

2. Almost everything was moved into the house before or on Jan 11th.   Just a few more things to move over and a lot of cleaning to go at the house.   Am so thankful for all the help I've had in getting everything moved into the house.   Next up continuing to downsize so I can get the remaining work done on the house.

House Update....

 The first phase of the work on the house was completed mid-December.  And that allowed me to start moving into the house the weekend after Christmas thanks to a lot of help from one of my best friends.  Most of the remaining items were moved this past weekend leaving some yet to move, a lot of cleaning needed (those dust bunnies got out of hand!), and some painting that needs to be finished.   Next up is contacting a realtor, as well as finishing up everything so that I can get the mobile home sold and out of my hair.   

Family room and dining area.  

Finished kitchen

For the time being my bed is in the living room because what will be my bedroom, along with the master (were my fabric is) and the final bedroom are filled with boxes of stuff and fabric.

My "home" office and sewing area.   Am thankful for the office desk my dad had picked up for my mom years ago.   

My "work" office setup and ready for work on this little pine table that I picked up a couple of years ago at the second hand store just a half mile from my house.

Gratitudes:

1. For all the help from some of the young adults at church in getting so much moved on Saturday

2. For everything fitting in the house (well except for one cabinet that still needs a place to go) and for room leftover for me to be able to move around in.