ScrapHappy - May 2024

 Welcome to ScrapHappy!   I'm glad to have you stop by and see what I've been doing with scraps this month.    Also don't forget to check out what the others have been doing as well.

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

First up, this month I used up most of the remaining novelty print rectangles.  The only ones left are those that are directional prints.  Border print used was the leftover fabric from a long ago scrub top.

The strips at an angle made from cotton single fold bias tape from my stash. I plan on donating this top.

Next up was finishing this top.  The center part had been finished for a couple of years.   I pulled a remnant of fabric from my stash to use for the striped border.   The yellow perfectly matched the yellow used in the center of the quilt.  A leftover pieced of white was cut into the white cornerstones of the border.   This will be donated.

My hand project this month, in memory of a dear friend (Susan N.) who passed away the end of April, was to start working on this square again.  Pieced with scraps from my CQ fabric stash (linens, silks, batiks, and specialty cottons), this top was started as a way to finally finish up a favorite piece of cross-stitch.  I'd gotten the left-hand tree done with an owl charm added this month, flowering vine around the kitten, and the big branch at the top.  First up was finishing the leaves with scraps of embroidery floss, and beading the hanging clusters of flowers with some of the many beads that I have.  Leftover bits from the left tree had me adding a tree branch at the bottom with a birds nest that I added 2 fresh water pearls to as eggs.  Final bit to be added has been decided for that bottom right corner.  This will be also used as my project for a blog hop in June with a bird theme. Hence the additions so far, with more to come.

While not my piecing, I couldn't resist posting pics of the next two quilts that were found in a box in the garage this month as I was working with my girlfriend to get things underway out there.   I think they were pieced by my mom, but with a mixture of scraps from her mom and her own scraps.   They are double sided, no batting.   Fabric is all polyester and finish out to a double size.

And finally, lots of scrap is being generated as the work at the house I inherited last year gets underway.   Kitchen counters has been dismantled and all the scrap is waiting to be hauled off.  Pantry shelves have been taken down, next up is the ruined drywall (old water damage in there) and removing the floor tiles in this area.   Bathrooms are then on the horizon for remediation as well.

Gratitudes: 
1. Work on the house is finally underway.   Lord willing I'll be able to live in the house by the end of June without too many surprises along the way.

2. For another round of commissions that will help pay for extra goodies that aren't in the budget presently.

UFO's - Cross-Stitch and CQ

A friend asked me this week where my CQ UFO's were..........well, I have three of them....and these are them.

The first one is this pile of what was to be the front piece on cross-body cell phone bags.  Have had them pieced for yrs, but have decided that I'll used them to make quilted postcards from.   Will trim them to 6:" square to use all that I can from the pieces. 

Probably won't do any embroidery on them, but I've got plenty of trims, beads, buttons, and other assorted items that I can use to embellish them.

This piece started with a piece of cross-stitch that I did years ago.   So it counts as a double UFO.....lol.   I added the vine (embroidered and beaded) several yrs ago and then couldn't figure out what to add next.  Fabric colors were laid out to give the impression of the sun in the upper left, sky along the top and upper right, and then grass/bushes and soil at the bottom and sides.

Still trying to figure out what to add next, but this is one that I do want to finish at some point.  Guess I need to do some searching online to see if I can find some ideas.   Any one got any good ideas of where to look for something more along the lines of motifs vs just seam treatments?

Close up of the kitten and the vine.

And then there are these 4 blocks.  The fabrics, well most of them, came from a CQ kit that I had been given years ago by a friend as part of an annual Christmas swap that I take part in.  I had bought the silky prints of the kittens and combined the two into these blocks.

I have laces, trims, beads and I'm not sure what all that also came with the kit.  The kit was put together by another quilting friend of mine.

The blocks have been made for years w/o me working any more on them.   I think part of the problem is that I don't normally work with pastel colors so that makes it really hard for me........

At this point I have no idea what I'm going to do with them....I do know I won't be making more blocks tho to go with them even tho I have more of the fabrics.....lol.

Gratitudes:
1. For having plenty of projects to work on so I can't claim to be bored.....lol.

2. For knowing who provides all things in spite of how it looks after not getting paid for 4 weeks.

Packing Up and Moving to CA

Last week I posted about the car accident that I was in on Monday Night. What I haven't had time to post about was on Tuesday I received a job offer for a contract position in Northern CA and have accepted it. That's the good news.....the bad news is that they have no idea of how long the contract will actually because of things going on at the company where I'll be working. Could be a month or could be 12 months, or I could get out there to find the contract evaporated before I could get there to even start work. You wonder why I accepted the contract and am going to CA when they can't tell me how long it will last? Well I didn't have a choice in reality, because unemployment 'rules' says that I have to take any valid job or I lose unemployment. And that would leave me without an income. Time will tell what God has planned for me.

And to make life more fun, I have a second (in-person) interview with Lockheed Martin the morning of Friday April 10th from 8:30 to noon. The job is a permanent position and one that I'd love to have. Wondering why I'm still following through on the interview - well this job possibility started before the job in CA, and it's one that I would love to have. (Not to mention it's a perm job!) Well, when I accepted the contract position I made it clear to the recruiter that if either this job, or a second possibility in northern Illinois come through, I will accept them and give notice to the job in CA.

One of the things that I have to do as I get ready for the move is to put all of my stuff into storage before I leave TX because the house is for sale and hopefully will be under contract soon. And as I do so, I'm getting what I want/need to take with me ready. Part of that will be my sewing stuff because there's no way I'm gonna go w/o my quilting so that I stay 'sane' in the midst of turmoil. One of the projects that I'm taking is a CQ block. Pics of it are below. I've got a couple of others to get made before leaving because I'm not planning on taking any of my CQ fabrics with me. The stitching that I've done on this piece so far was inspired by a picture of the CQ quilt that won best of show at the AZ Quilters Guild show in March this year. I'm hoping my friend Susan sends me more pics of it because I love the inspiration.

Gratitudes:

1. For the job that God has provided for me.

2. For the 2nd interview that I have this coming Monday.

Peaceful Saturday

This week has been productive quilt-wise for me, partially due to the fact that when things get stressful I quilt – and usually a lot! I’ve finished up a quilted postcard for a monthly swap that I'm in. For the theme this round, everyone picks a "holiday" or "day of" to design a postcard for. For September, I chose September 3rd - Skyscraper Day. As I was doing my postcard, I was thinking of Boston and the view of the skyscrapers in downtown from the Boston Commons. A view that I really miss a lot. This will go in the mail on Monday and will wing it's way to SC.

Today I spent several hours working to straighten up my cutting table so that I could actually see the top of it again and use it. Now what most people don't know is that I have what would normally be a kitchen island for my cutting table in my sewing room. It is 6 feet long by 40 inches wide or there abouts.........and I had managed to cover it almost totally. After all my work I can actually see the top of it......and no, I didn't manage to get it totally cleared off but at least there's a little bit of room now. Still to come is figuring out what projects I'm going to be taking with me to the quilt retreat that I'm going to in October. The only thing I know of at this point is the fabric for two sets of swap blocks and maybe a queen-size quilt for American Heros.

One of the other projects that I worked on today was putting together the center part of a quilt I'm making my niece Bekah. I've still got the borders to go yet but it's getting there. I'm happy with the way it is turning out even though it has driven me crazy at times........... I'm turning over ideas on how to quilt it in my mind, so if you've got ideas let me know in a comment. =)

Next week I'll start working on the CQ block that I've received for the round robin that I'm in. I've got some ideas in my head for what I want to do and am looking forward to working on it. =)

As for my pineapple quilt that is in the works, I've now finished 31 blocks and 2 more finished blocks will be heading my way before long. That means I've only got about 23 more blocks to get made before the end of September. Am trying to get at least one per day made, and aiming for 2 or 3.....now if only I don't get too distracted I can make it.