56 - Not Bad

A few each morning while everyone else was sleeping.  Now I have 56 - Not bad at all.

Now on to borders, I'm figuring on a 2 inch border, a scrappy piano key, and then a slab border.  Scrappier and scrappier.

Sandhill Cranes and Scrappy Star Struck

Yesterday we got quite a rain and when we got home there were 7 sandhill cranes enjoying the puddles in the pasture behind our house.

The last big storm had some wind and you can see the dirt where the trees were, and behind the living tree you can see where they bulldozed the dead trees. 

Sometimes it's hard to see where one starts and the other ends.  I think there are 3 in this picture.

The first 9 blocks of my Scrappy Star Struck.  Unfortunately, I think some of my lights are too dark and some of my darks are too light, but I'll persevere and I don't think I'll mind too much in the end, it is scrappy after all.  I need to find more scraps and cut more though, next time I'll know that when you use the chisel die on the accuquilt for this quilt you need to cut all the fabrics the same.  No folding them right sides together and then cutting, I have a pile of chisels that won't fit in as they are cut wrong.  I'll find something else to use them for though, so not a big problem.

Mail Call and Shopping

I answered a question on Ravelly1's blog and today I received this really pretty fat quarter.  Not bad for a good guess, and it matches the skillet I bought today, too.

I got this set of king sized flannel sheets on ShopNBC, supposed to be regularly 99 for about 29 dollars, and free shipping.  I think convervatively that comes out to about $1.50 a yard for good quality flannel.  Partially, it is destined for the back of my Star Struck, but I'm sure it'll be on the back of 1 or 2 others, also.  I pictured honeysuckle as more yellow, but peachy is ok with me, too.  The King Tut thread was in my package that came from Hancock's of Paducah.

This was the rest of my Hancock's order, all on sale for $3.98 a yard.  The stars on my Star Struck will be scrappy, but all the small triangles will be the red and grey.   The peacock feathers are for the border, and the gold polka dots for the inside border.  I see another scrappy binding in my future.  I can't wait to see it, do you get that way when you're working on a quilt?

Scrappy Lattice Finished

My Scrappy Lattice is finished and I love how it turned out, Old-Timey looking as all get out.  It may be one of the two or three favorites that I've made.

Sorry about the bad lighting.

It's huge on every side, but it hasn't been washed yet.  I don't think it'll be too small if it shrinks a few inches.

The back, not gorgeous, but it's flannel and cozy and the band of scraps lets me know which end is up.   I won't have to write in sharpie pen "short" so I'll know how to make the bed, that's what I do to some sheets and mattress pads.  Everything about this quilt is scrappy, even the binding.

Soscrappy's First Blue Saturday

This is 12 of the 30 string blocks that I'll need to do another lap sized Roll Roll Cotton Boll from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.  I thought that since it's been put away awhile and Angela from Soscrappy is having blue this time for her Rainbow Scrap Challenge that maybe it would be the kick in the behind that I need to get back to working on my string blocks.  Unlike most quilters, I don't like to do string blocks much, although I love the looks of them in a quilt. 

These are some of the leftovers that made me decide to go for another one.  This one will be pinks, blues, browns and from the looks of things, some greens.

The little HST's will be light blues and dark blues, and there will also be some dark blues in the blocks, it's been so long that I'm not sure where at this point.  If you want to see some more blue from quilter-bloggers who actually know what they are doing, Soscrappy has a linky.  Click on this.

After Quite Awhile, More Pillowcases

Not very good lighting on my pillowcases, the one on the right is very washed out.  The backdrop is my Scrappy Lattice that I basted yesterday and the pillowcases I made today.  They are for my niece's little girls, the ones who are getting new quilts when we see them later this month.

PS.  Here are a couple of good tutorials for the pillowcases.  I didn't do the band trim and I also topstitch the cuff after I sew it on to the body of the case.  I don't like little gobs of fraying material lumping up inside, so I encase it in stitching.  You can see the topstitching on the first two cases since I was too lazy to change my thread and did it in gray.  

 http://www.maryquilts.com/pillowcase/

 http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/easy-pillowcase-pattern.htm

Happy Fourth of July and Shopping

Happy Fourth of July

I ordered these fabrics from Connecting Threads to make the light stars on the Star Struck (From Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville) that I am planning.  I decided first to cut a few from my scraps and I couldn't believe it, especially after having used mostly just my scraps for my Scrappy Lattice, but I got all that I needed from my scraps.  I guess I'll have to save these for something else.

Then I decided to cut my darks going first to the scraps, and I had more than enough of that, too.  I have some sale fabric from Hancock's of Paducah coming that I will use for the small triangles so those won't be scrappy. 

Today I got up early and went to a quilt store in the Orlando area, Sewing Studio in Maitland, and took advantage of their 40% off everything sale.  I didn't know that I would be standing in lines for about two hours, but I did save some money on these.   I went straight to the 50% off area and these were all from there.  It started out over $200.00 then I got the 50% off, then they took off the 40% and it ended up at $61.00 including tax.  I think that I got about 19 yards.  Not bad.  I decided that if I get time I'll use the pinks to make pillowcases for the 3 little girls that I made July quilts for.   I think that they use the previous pillowcases that I made for them all the time, so I think it'll be nice for them to have a change.   I hope that all who celebrate it had or have a great Fourth, and that everyone else has a great day.

Quilts In Use

Kerri, my brother's daughter, her husband and her 4 youngest children are visiting her dad in Georgia from Iowa.  Her 3 youngest girls look to be resting well after their approximately 1200 mile ride, with the quilts and pillowcases that I made them 3 or 4 years ago.  They are the recipients of 3 of my July quilts, as they are outgrowing their toddler quilts.  Oh, to be able to sleep anywhere.

Hat in Hand

Here I am back after a break from blogland.   I felt too guilty for being so behind on responding to comments that people had been kind enough to leave and was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all I had to do.  I missed being part of things though, it's not the same having a blog and not sharing.   I apologize in advance for the fact that I'll likely get behind again in spite of my good intentions.  I've been seeing the "Blogging Without Obligation" logo on my blog and I don't think it's entirely true, but

it kind of made me feel better, lol.  

Back and Label Scrappy and Ready

Big mistake, I got up this morning and thought DH is still asleep, I'll work on the back for my "Scrappy Lattice".  About 6 hours later I finished, which wouldn't have been so bad except I was supposed to be getting ready for company.  I had a flannel sheet set and that is what I used for the blue parts.  I used the flat sheet, the pillowcases and the sides of the fitted sheet, all that's left is the center of the fitted sheet.  This thing is huge.  This is one quarter of the back.   Obviously, I also used some flannel scraps to round it out.  The quilt is 10 blocks by 11 blocks and I like to know what side is up when I start making the bed, so the side of the backing that is pieced will help me know as it will go up and down.   It's a bigger quilt than I thought at first as when I figured I was figuring 10 inches finished on my blocks, but they are 10 1/2 inches finished.  Doesn't seem like much, but it is the difference of 100 by 110 and  105 by 115.5.

I thought it's a scrappy anything goes quilt, why not a scrappy anything goes binding.  It didn't seem to make much of a dent in my leftover binding box.

Now I really need to put it aside, but when I'm ready I'll just have to (maybe) add a little to one side of the king sized batting I ordered for it, baste it and quilt it.  I'm anxious to see it on my bed.