Volume and Value

Volume and Value are of critical importance when designing a quilt. Let’s take a look and define what exactly these words mean in quilting.

Value is color. Think about going to the paint store and selecting your paint swatch. That swatch has about 5 or 6 values of that same color. They go from a tinted white all the way to dark, but these are all relatives and in the same family of that exact same color.

Here is a prime example of taking a photograph and seeking out the value of color within. Notice that most of this photo is just the value of green. It is very pleasing to the eye. This swatch was provided by https://design-seeds.com

Every few days or so the above website captures beauty in the value of color. I have bookmarked this site and go to it randomly. It fascinates me! The glorious photo. The wonderful color palette.

Lets say I was making a green quilt, I pick one fabric from my stash, I know the value of the fabric because I am touching it and I can see it before my eyes. The thing with quilt making when you incorporate many fabrics in your quilt, you are blind how it will turn out until you have it sewn. By keeping to the rule of value, you will be a better quilt maker for it.

Lets pretend I have all the greens in the swatches above. Would all these greens play well together in a quilt? Absolutely! Will all these greens play well with other colors? Maybe.

Will my greens play well with my neutrals? Maybe. If the above swatch was my neutrals in my fabrics, then the answer would be some, LOL! Some of the greens would marry nicely with some of the values of the neutrals. The lightest green next to brownish taupe 2nd from the top, the answer would be no.

Value gives contrast. If I used this whole palette of greens with this whole palette of neutrals it would be a fail. Why? Potential placement is the answer. If I took the lightest green and matched it with the lightest neutral there would be contrast. So how could this be a fail? Even though those two values work well together, if I used the remainder of the palettes it is possible that the lightest of green would get placed to a medium or darker neutral. This would then assign the value of that lightest green and make it a neutral. In your quilt pattern, the pattern will stand out if you contrast the values.

Now what about volume? If I were listening to the radio, no matter what I was listening to and turned it all the way up, it would be loud! Right? How does one turn up the volume on something that is color? The print.

Here is a prime example of green fabric. The background is the lightest of green. Some of the foreground robots are green. Is this a green? The answer is yes. But you could also assign it orange or blue since these are dominate in the print.

Notice the ruler at the bottom of the fabric. If I were making a green 4 patch with half the block being in green and half the block being neutral, this fabric may or may not work. If I were making a 4 patch that was 10 inches. This would be perfectly suited for that block. Why? Because you are cutting the pieces 5 inches you are capturing more of the value of the fabric. Because of the high volume of this fabric if I were making 4 patches and they were 4 inches, this would not work. The cut of the 4 patch may have too much orange captured in the 2 inch square therefore reassigning the value of the fabric because the volume was too large and loud.

Here is a neutral fabric swatch. This would work marvelously with the darker green value. Towards the lighter spectrum of greens this would dominate because the volume is too loud. The print is too large. This would work well for a border, but if you were cutting this up into smaller pieces there is black in this print. The value would potentially change for the color. So your neutral just went way too dark.

I encourage all of you to visit the hardware store and select some paint swatches. I have done this many times in the design of a quilt. I will pull my fabrics with the similar value of color. I will then take that paint swatch that matches to the fabric store and match exactly a shade lighter, darker, or spot on. A perfect match every time.

I would say for the most part if you were to define me as a quilter, it would include the word scrap. Working with scraps is a little less formal and the goal is to use up what you have.

When selecting the color on your swatch, it is advised to go up or down from the one color you really like. You can go lighter in value safely. You can go darker in value safely, but not too much.

So, in summary you can mix and match and it will still be a quilt, right? The mystery quilt below is a definition of value and volume. These two mistakes only affected one thing. You cannot see the pattern as intended, that is all. It is still a quilt. It will still cover you up. It is still green and neutral.

So taking advice from my own lesson, as you know if you have been reading my blog regularly, I am remaking the above quilt. I have nailed the contrast with the color selected. I am still using loud fabrics, but I am using those for the larger pieces. Notice the large pieces how instead of looking black it looks blue? That is the volume of the black.

Even though I have been working overtime, I have managed to get a tad farther along.

I am liking this! Who says you can’t manipulate your scraps and make them work for you?

The four outer corners are sewn and I have started sewing the next block to it. Perhaps this will end up a top by the weekend? Perhaps I will rest. Either way it will reveal itself eventually.

I wish I had more to show, but am too pooped. I see quilting in my future near the 4th of July. Until then it will probably be either, work or rest. Or both!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Scrap Happy June

Scraptologists! Welcome! HeHe! It is that time again where us scrappy quilters get together virtually and share our scrap projects.

Last month I worked on the Laundry Basket Mystery of 2021. I still need to bind this. So close to being done. I am thinking of donating this quilt, perhaps to the Sew Yeah brothers for their Alaska quilt drive for the homeless.

It is no secret that I did not like how this turned out, and by adding the green border I like it a lot more. But I have quilts and quilts, and more quilts so this one can go for donation.

Here is the pieced back.

So I decided to re-do this same pattern. I opted for scrappy again. But more of a controlled scrappy. I am going with yellow for the color and black for the neutral. I am still working on the pinwheel block which is the last blocks to sew.

I could not wait to finish that block, I had to see if I had made the same mistake twice in my quilt construction. The mistake being too loud or high volume neutrals. I have sewn a few blocks together, this is the center of the quilt. I am liking this!

What a difference! There is definition! There is contrast! There is still color associated with the black! I am scrap happy with this one!

In the last month I have purchased a non-running vintage sewing machine and got that running. That was a fun challenge. I figured everything out on my own. There is not much info out there about clone machines. Especially how to fix the tension dial. But it is all figured out, rewired, and works like a champ. I have rehomed it. If it’s new home does not work out, that is ok. It can come back here and be dropped into the cabinet.

I uploaded a youtube video of this sewing. I must say, the audio quality does not capture the true sound of a Japanese machine. Those of you who own a Japanese vintage machine know the sound it makes. It makes a hum unlike any other vintage machine. The sound reminded me of my mother’s old kenmore. It also reminds me of my first sewing machine gifted from my grandmother. They certainly have a distinct sound.

Sorry about the autofocus. The camera repeatedly wigged out. Might be time for a new one, or perhaps to start using my phone.

What does the future hold for this scraptologist? I am currently working overtime, so any tidbit of crafts will keep me afloat until I can be back at it with more time.

I have started a new tatting project. A new doily pattern by Jan Stawasz. His patterns are flawless and the beauty comes through with every hitch of every stitch.

In the upcoming month, I will be stitching a couple more flowers for the corriander quilts quilt along. The centers change each month. So far I have these done.

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Maybe I will get back to the 365 quilt block challenge. Or hand stitching on the La Passacaglia

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My options are certainly open. Now if time would permit!

Make sure to visit the ScrapHappy blog posts! There is some amazing projects out there just waiting to be discovered. Please click the links below and see for yourself.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid

Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn

Gwen, Bekki, Sue L., Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera

Nannette, Ann, Noreen, Bear, Carol, Pretti

Edith, Hayley, and Me.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery 2021

The weather did not cooperate, but I did get some photos inside. Had my daughter hold the top while on the top of the bunk bed. It works, but not ideal. This top, due to my chosen fabrics was kinda washed out. I added the green border which really focused the green and helped the top much. Incidentally the border of the quilt is new Edyta Sitar fabric. Her fabrics are scrumptious. It is quilted. I will eventually bind, but am in no hurry.

This is quilted with permacore thread color named camel. The panto I used is called Dragonfly by LEQ 1997. I used 2 layers toasty cotton batting. Quilters, if you really want your design to pop out, use two layers of batting, works every time and it makes the quilt an extra layer warm.

Linking up with Finished Or No Friday by Alicia Quilts and giving a shout out to Quilting Gail as her link back to the linky party Thank you for the linky party, it has been a long time since I have linked up!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

The Quilter’s Squirrel(s)

Squirrel is defined as….

noun, plural squir·rels, (especially collectively) squir·rel.

any of numerous arboreal, bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Sciurus, of the family Sciuridae.any of various other members of the family Sciuridae, as the chipmunks, flying squirrels, and woodchucks.the meat of such an animal.the pelt or fur of such an animal:a coat trimmed with squirrel.

verb (used with object), squir·reled, squir·rel·ing or (especially British) squir·relled, squir·rel·ling.

to store or hide (money, valuables, etc.), usually for the future (often followed by away):I’ve squirreled away a few dollars for an emergency.

I am not too fond of the rodent, or noun version. Had one loose in the house one day. A post for a different day. However, us quilters are a little nuts, and we tend to store things away. Or if we are using the word squirrel in present tense, it interferes immediately with the project we are working on NOW.

All my good intentions of being well on my way to completion of the laundrybasketquilts 2021 mystery for the second time around, did not happen as planned. You see I had this squirrel show up.

I decided it had been over due to stop by the antique mall and have a look around. I have a favorite booth, the one in the corner. They usually have old grain sacks among other oddities that appeal to me. On this occasion, I wandered thru the corner, and rounded the corner in the corner (clever how they have the serpentine path set up to not miss a thing!), and there it was, just sitting there. An old sewing machine. I moved the hand wheel, and it was jammed. Price tag, $40. Challenge accepted. Turns out the thread take up lever was slightly pushed over which caused it to hit the tension. Easy fix!

So I bought said machine, and it has entertained me delightfully several nights this week. I knew this was a rebadged singer, but did not realize that this one is a clone. That is ok. More on this later.

What really caught my eye on this was the 3 leaf clover gold trim. I had never seen this before, and it made me smile.

If this had no decals you would recognize it shape as a singer. What model singer? Well after googling a side tension plate on a singer, this is a replica of the singer 15. This machine was made in occupied Japan which dates this between 1945 and 1952.

So other than wiping the grime and dust of 60+ years from the machine, what did I do with this every night? One night I rewired the motor and oiled the machine. That was the first night. The antique booth seller guaranteed that the motor works. So for $40 this would be useless without that working. Why was it not working?

This was one reason….

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The scary thing about these bakelite plugs, the antique dealer could have only known the motor worked by plugging it in. YIKES! These were in the broken state, and I have no doubt he plugged this in like this to see if it worked. I took the existing cord and found a quick terminator and plugged that into the outlet for safety. Turns out that was not the safest thing to do either. 60+ year old copper wiring has tarnished within and probably cannot carry the same amount of current as it did when it was new. I am not going to say it melted the insulation of the wire, but it caused the inside of the wire to get very hard. Hard enough to the point I could snap the 16 gauge wire with my bare hands. So it worked long enough to know I needed to rewire the motor.

Next night, I had to figure out how to thread this thing. I had never owned a 15, so I had no clue. After trial and error, I got that right. That take up spring was the tricky part. But I figured out pretty quick that someone (unsure if it was the antique dealer or someone before) had taken the tension assembly apart and did not put it back together in the correct orientation. Took me an evening to figure it out. I then figured how to install the needle. Based on my featherweight of the same era, I was close. The scarf of the needle had to be turned the other direction.

Did I mention previous owner also did not know how to install the needle clamp? It was installed on the wrong side and therefore hit the presser foot. After fixing that, I got it to take a few stitches, but they were so tight.

Next night I had to figure out why it was not stitching to a normal length. I moved the stitch regulator all the way up, that was reverse. I moved it all the way down….no change. I engaged the handwheel, and would disengage the handwheel like I was winding a bobbin. I could not change the stitch length. I then realized that I did not press down on the lever all the way. Something clicked, and finally a perfect normal stitch.

At this point, I needed to see after my motor rewire job if it would sew. (Keep in mind this did not come with a foot petal….on order now). So when you plug in a sewing machine motor with no foot control it will sew wide open, so you better be ready. And it sewed so fast and was so quiet. I learned that the Japanese machines actually ran quieter than their “copied” ancestors.

I would entertain the idea of taking a business like card back to the antique shop and giving them my card for selling working machines and getting more money for them. We are upon a quilt hop in town. This machine could fetch atleast $150 with everything working. Far more than he probably paid for it!

After working this for three nights I finally got this off my table. And was able to get back to a brief night of stitching a clue. 9 Patches complete taxi cab color way shown in the upper left below.

And this weekend another squirrel…..I have to work! As much as I want to sew, this has stalled.

I did make the most of my time this week even though it was not sewing since my table was congested with a machine. I picked up my tatting shuttles and really struggled on these oblong shapes. I kept adding in an extra ring! I did not do this once, or twice, but thrice!

Under my tatting belt I can now say I know how to open a closed ring. In one instance I had to untat two rings.

I am using front side/backside tatting and it is turning out beautifully!

I loaded up two very large shuttles and have been using both of these and have gotten this far and not had to reload my shuttles yet. I thought I would dislike the size of these shuttles, but if I hold on to them closer to the tail, they are perfect for my grip. I am not using the dolphin head and have purchased a 1.0 mm crochet hook for this job. Am using the picot gauge as well. I am liking the uniformity of my picots and double stitches.

Perhaps I will get to more clues in the coming week. I mean I do have off on Sunday, so I should be able to get something accomplished. Until then I will just enjoy what I can when I can!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Play it again Sam…

With my recent quilt “fail” on the Laundry Basket Quilts Mystery 2021, it got me to thinking. It actually got into my craw, could not get it out.

The green Laundry basket quilt really bugged me. I quilted this up yesterday, woohoo! And going with the theme of green and bugs, decided to quilt an old Panto called Dragonfly by Linda’s Electric Quilters. I have only had my longarm since 2018, but I had traded scraps for a bunch of pantos someone did not want. So I used this panto for the first time (the date on this panto is old, 1997 LOL). This will probably get shifted to the do not use drawer because this panto does not utilize the shadow of the design at the top and bottom of the continuous line that you follow in the center. (That may be another post entirely).

Anywho, it is quilted. I will bind it, but am not committing myself to the time schedule on that. It happens when it happens. It did quilt up nicely, and I had the perfect fabrics for the backing.

These fabrics more than make up for the pieced other side. Pretty enough to use back side up! (Thank you Matt and Amy for these fabric hand-me-downs, I have put them to good use!) Sorry I did not get a photo of this today because it was raining and far too wet. I am enjoying the rain because with it comes cooler temps. (The yard now looks like a wildlife preserve, jungle style).

So today at 4:30 A.M., I utilized my extra day as much as I could and got to work. The thought presented itself many times after the Green Mystery quilt “fail”, so I got out all my yellows, and all my blacks and got to work. Play it again Sam! I am not usually one who makes a quilt, and then makes another of the same pattern right after. This is a first for me.

Clue one is completed. Two clue is completed, Clue three needs pressed and verify if it needs trimmed or not. Same for clue 4, clue 5 is half stitched, I need to cut out the other half (I counted way wrong this morning). Clue 6 is ready for stitching. I skipped clue 7 (how did that happen…probably lack of caffeine) , clue 8 is stitched ready for press and trim.

I got halfway through this quilt in one day, can you believe that? Here are the neutrals (black) with what I had originally assigned green, now is yellow. This is really going to pop. I see success in my near future.

I suspect next weekend I may have another top to show you. But we will see how the time continuum goes for the 1st week in June. You never know what life has in store.

Even though the black fabrics show color from a distance, it is enough contrast of the main character of yellow to perfectly show Yellow off to its’ full potential regardless of the shade. And boy have I used up the fabric for this already. I have consumed complete pieces of scraps and it feels so good to move them out of my stash. I think I have sewn these pieces into 4 or 5 quilts. It will be nice to update with new neutrals/black.

Whew, I got a lot accomplished this weekend, even got a second post out to readers. Can you tell I enjoyed my time off? That one little extra day lifts the crafty spirits to great heights. And quilting is GOOD therapy!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog! Hit the follow button so you never miss a post!

Quilt Fail

This title is so negative. Us quilters no matter how experienced, do come upon failures every now and again. I must say it has been a while since I have “failed”. But I ask myself if this is really a failure? I have obtained two objectives, with the 3rd missing in action. I have used fabric in my stash, and used up scraps. I have enjoyed the process of the make. The missing in action is actually gazing upon it and liking it. Those are my main quilting objectives. Use, Enjoy, Love.

Two out of 3 ain’t bad, LOL! I like the scrappiness of this. But the competition of darker neutrals with the lighter greens is the problem. I causes the eye not to see the prize. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

The good thing about this fail, I have used up many scraps and have had a purge of green. Some of these fabrics were hand me downs. Better to be used than not.

I did have a little sense of humor with all of this. There are squares in this quilt that are called broken dish. So next to some of these squares I placed my silverware fabric. This just makes me giggle. As a quilter I can laugh about this. I think I will be sending a hidden message to all quilters. I think they would get this joke, HA!

I wonder if this quilt survives for 100 years, long after I am gone, what people would say about it. I would love to hear futuristic comments from readers. Please leave your comments in the comment section. You do not need to be kind or nice. You can be in agreement or not. 🙂

“The poor girl must have been daft”

“The person who made this, must have had gobs of fabric”

“The chap who received this probably stayed warm with all that extra seem allowance hidden in the layers.”

“Green does nothing for this quilt, she might as well have just sewn whites together with other whites and tans”

Antiques roadshow “The quilt was an average quilt of the time, but much of the color has faded and is worth $50,000″…hehehe (a quilter’s fantasy/legacy eh?)

There is a design in this. I would entertain the thought of re-making this with a black background and yellow for the color. I still lack three rows before I can call this a top.

Am I being hard on myself? No, I think I enjoyed getting rid of some loud neutrals (there are rainbow cats, Christmas trees, brown moose, little house on the prairie, V8 logo, circuit board, and silverware in this quilt). I guess I am forgetting the most important thing, eh? It will bring warmth when needed. A hug with it’s use. Appreciation from those who know not this craft.

A quilter’s fail is still a win!

This is a risk we quilters take when we join a mystery sew long. We only know fabric recommendations and yardage. My last fail was also a mystery quilt. The pinks, lavenders, and blues were muddied by their piecing. This was months worth of work, whereas the green quilt above was less than a month.

I like the black contrast of this. This started black friday and this photo was snapped in the following summer (and yes this was worked almost every day from mid january thru march).

The news of the fail for me allows me to grow as a maker. Will I do this again? Fail, that is? Yup, probably. I just hope it is far less frequent than once every 2 years (the time span between these two quilts). The best thing, not everyone sees with my eyes. They will gaze upon this and love it. That makes me happy!

Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!

Mystery/Flowers

This weekend was a whirlwind! It was like something sucked the time continuum to go FASTER! Whew!

Today when I was driving home from work (yes I worked overtime), I stopped to snap some photos of flowers. These flowers catch my eye every year. But in previous years I have never stopped. I do not know what these are it is a bit of a mystery, but BOY HOWDY, they smell good! A good fragrant perfumed flower smell is good at 6 foot away. They must be old (old flowering plants always smell better than new).

Can anyone tell me what these are? They certainly are a vibrant lavender color! April Showers bring may flowers and my goodness the Queen Anne’s Lace in some places is as tall as the hood on the ford! We have had oodles of rain in the last two weeks. I think the sun made a minor appearance on two days. The rest of the days it has rained.

These flowers hang out in the low spot in the ditch, not the high spot. They must like water???

Perhaps before it dries out and the mowers remove these beauties I can get more of a closeup. I was afraid I would sink in the mudd!

And speaking of flowers, I got two more flower blocks sewn for the Corriander Quilts sew along. I am making all my flowers different, including the backgrounds, for a good scrappy affect. We will see how it turns out. Not so sure after I sewed this one:

The neutral gray print is kind of loud!

I do like how the flower turned out below:

And speaking of mysteries, I have made good progress on the Laundry Basket Quilts mystery quilt 2021. I lack cutting some corner pieces from the economy block and sewing those together. And tomorrow will probably be oodles of info to cut the remaining blocks out of just 4 1/2 inch squares in neutrals. I failed to snap photos. You will probably get to see great progress on this next weekend. This reminds me I need to re-install my miniature design wall so I can sew, LOL.

And the last two evenings, I have kicked my feet up and started a new doily. I am using a light pink Lizbeth thread. After not using it for the last doily, I struggle with that darn twist. I need to investigate how to remove the twist out of my rings, because my thrown rings are suffering as a result from this ailment.

This is the center of the doily. When I get to part of the outer rim, it is filled with these rosettes. This time I am remembering to do front side/back side tatting so I don’t suffer from the gapsosis. The next round is several oblong pieces that attach to the outer thrown rings. Crossing my fingers that this will turn out. I find that I know enough to make the stitches, but sometimes have a failure of execution to make it look right. Made by hand is naturally made imperfect. The beauty of this lace is one person could tat this up and it end up looking totally different because of the picot loops being smaller or larger. I am also using a picot gage to keep them uniform. That has helped much. I have also graduated to the large tatsy sized shuttle so I do not have to keep filling my shuttles. I am now also using a crochet hook since my shuttle dolphin nose is ginormous and this is pretty dainty.

I have had a bit of insomnia lately, waking up at around 3:30 and then dozing off about 4:45. The alarm goes off at 5:00. I can say I need a nap in the middle of the day. That did not happen, so I struggle to stay awake now. I will probably be wide awake in the middle of the night. I so wish I knew what was interrupting my serotonin levels….?

The words of this post happened within a matter of about 20 minutes. As this 20 minutes goes, my eyes are getting heavier and heavier. Wish me luck in the sleep dept!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Field Of Clover Finish!

Folks, I have a finish! And it feels like such an accomplishment! I have only worked on this for months….Feb to now, with gaps and pauses of activity and rest.

I got out my bobbin lace pillow and some wax paper and pins from the pin cushion. I started to block this doily. I really worried that it would not block well because of the squirrels in my tatting skills.

My worries were for naught!

I am pleased as punch!

I worried a bit on how to capture this in the camera. I do not have a reflective white surface large enough to get me where I wanted to go. So I got out some Christmas wrapping paper with santa hats on it, and rolled it wrong side out to snap the photo. It worked!

I have put the doily thing to rest….or have I? I had actually planned to start another doily by now. But life has gotten in the way. Perhaps this weekend I can give my Jan Stawasz pattern book a good narrowing down. I have my colors picked out, I have my large shuttles loaded. I am just waiting on father time to permit my next build of knots in thread.

I have tried to keep up with the LaundryBasketQuilts quilt along. I am not going to say my attempts have been unsuccessful. Any stitch placed is better than none at all. I lack a few clues from being caught up. What I really like about this quilt along, on any given evening, I can complete one whole clue. One night this week I completed two clues. Tomorrow is the last clue. I am uncertain if that is when the reveal is, but she has revealed placement of each clue each day, so it will not really be a surprise where this is headed.

Here are some of my blocks which are in the green color way. Half square triangles and 9 patches. Not shown are 4 patches, broken dishes, economy block, flying geese, quarter square triangles, and some I cannot name off the top of my head.

And Corriander Quilts has updated their website to include the next flower in their free pattern stitch along. The new flower pattern has the same stems, leaves, and outer petals. The 9 patch on the inside of the flower changes every month. This month the center will be a churn dash.

Well, I certainly have my work cut out for me on all the goals I have set for the coming weeks. We will see what goes into the finish pile soon. The long weekend is coming! And THAT will certainly help to itch that need to stitch!

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading my blog!

Orphan Scrappy Blocks

I cannot believe it is already the middle of May! What has my scrappy dept been up to in the last month? A recap:

I have started rosettes for the La Passacaglia Millefiori quilt. This is harder than I thought. One rosette down, one still in progress, not much to go for that one’s completion.

I have joined in two quilt alongs, one offered by CorrianderQuilts and is FREE! I have two blocks done. Each month you will sew two more flower tops. You can finish the stems and leaves ahead of time as this is repeatable throughout the quilt. May 17th a new block posts, join in the flower fun!

Edyta Sitar has a free mystery quilt along, and so far this one has been easy. Making 4 patches. And guess what? I had to cut so few pieces to get to this point! My scrappy tubs filled with 2 1/2 inch squares and 1 1/2 inch squares are getting used. These are trimmings that happen with scraps with various projects along the way. I suspect the clues in the coming days will require me to get to the bigger pieces and work from those.

I am working diligently to get my doily tatted! I am on the last round and ready to start a new doily as I have new books with lovely patterns. I would be done with this but ended up cutting out what you see below amount wise. Tsk tsk, I thought I followed directions, but turns out I forgot one while ring to attach to the fourth chain on the previous row’s rosette and I did it twice!!

And my biggest scrappy announcement, orphan blocks! All us quilters accidentally make one two many blocks and then it just sits there or gets turned into a potholder. Some of us try to make it into one big quilt. Things that I have would NOT marry well together in one quilt. Way too many odd shapes and sizes. So I decided to finish my orphan blocks like I would if it were a pot holder and then hang them on the wall together, to create padded walls hahahaha. I mean our hobby is therapy, so why not add a little touch of the padding to help us with the crazies! Some of these are orphan blocks, some are starts with no finish in sight (that would be the bargello). I have moved much off that “orphan” shelf. All of these finishes have happened in the last two weeks.

This was left over from this:

This boot did not make the cut for this baby quilt:

And these baskets I turned to face the inside and this was left overs from this:

And my favorite block was this one, which did not make it into the quilt because it was the first block I engineered and it came out smaller than all my other star blocks from the quilt below:

And even though this wall hanging looks like a ribbon, it is actually a spool block but because this is all the spool blocks I had left, you only see one spool. This actually looks like a scrappy ribbon, eh?

And this was left overs from this!

And here is my padded wall!

As you can see I have room for more! I can even go over the door, or all the way to the floor (It would seem dr suess is in the house, LOL). As you can see my hanging system is just some push pins. This will enable me to add easily and move around the orphans. Just think you could do this for your Christmas orphan blocks and change your wall out with the seasons.

Taking a little detour here, but have you ever heard of acrylic pouring? It is a painting method of masterpiece! I took a local art class and learned how to do this. I decided for Mother’s Day, we could all do a painting for mom. Acrylic pouring is quite scrappy and random. Here is a masterpiece example in youtube form (ours were dry pours, so very different from what you see here.)

I used Dollar Tree paints with some metallics from Hobby Lobby. Certain paints really dominated our paintings, but each is a Mona Lisa from us to Mom. Here are ours:

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I have certainly had fun in the last month especially with my scraps. Let’s see what everyone else has been up to:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy Jill, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Gwen, Bekki, Sue L., Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nannette, Ann, Noreen, Bear, Carol, Pretti, Edith, Hayley, and Me.

As this posts, I have had a migraine for days (thank goodness I do not procrastinate and worked this post last weekend!). As a result, next week’s post will probably be meager. Thanks for tunning in and reading my blog!

Happy Mother’s Day

Today was not a perfect day, but as a Mother, what day is? It started out rather foul, but turned into a wonderful day. Family gatherings, can we get a hoorah!

My Mom made this for me, a free in the hoop design. I have a wonderful new coaster to set my drink on. Isn’t it pretty?

I am preparing a post for the ScrapHappy middle of the month post. There is some nice eye candy coming soon!

In the meantime I will share the tatting doily I am working on. I am on the last round, round six. I sat down yesterday and got all focused and started stitching only to find out, in my knotting, I skipped one whole loop on the previous round on the rosette. How disappointing. I did not catch this until this morning. There is no un-doing. So I cut out all my work and started this round over. I figured out, with the enormity of this, you now have to work on it at the table. That was part of my problem. Trying to keep this untangled while working is difficult. The table helped immensely. I am just a bit past where I was when I cut all this round out. I gave it a good press with the iron. I am very pleased as this one winds down!

This doily was not difficult. It is actually a pretty beginner friendly pattern. I had trouble with round 3 and it shows. I guess I should not have worked with the ball and should have wound a second shuttle. Ah well, such is life!

Happy Mother’s day! Treat yourself to something you love. You have definitely earned your title!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!