Throw another log on the fire!

Or, at least, throw another log on the cabin...

I laid all the finished cabins out yesterday, to see how many I had -

Turns out there were fifty-three.

Since then I've finished a few more, but didn't get another photo.  I'd laid them out on my cutting table and I had to gather them back up in order to have room to cut some more logs.

Not that I'm obsessing over tiny log cabins or anything.  But I am running low on a couple of log sizes...

My method thus far is to sew a 1" strip to a 1.5" strip of that red polka dot that I'm using for all the block centers, then subcut into 1.5" pieces.  No way on earth am I going to cut 1x1.5" pieces and sew them to 1.5" squares.  (The neighbors would complain about all the cussing coming from my sewing room, even with the windows closed...) 
At first I was then sewing these pieces to a 1" strip and then subcutting (the mile-a-minute technique), but the blocks were coming out a bit too wonky.  I think that blocks using wider logs work fine that way, but at this scale I'm better off cutting logs to size and sewing them on individually. 
I've been cutting 1" slices off the ends of my pre-cut strips (2", 2.5", etc) but was grumbling to myself about the sizes that I don't normally have on hand - 4" strips, for example.  Then I had one of those 'duh' moments when I realized that I could just cut any length off a 2" strip and slice it longways into two 1" strips.  Two inch strips I've got aplenty - and cutting more all the time since I need them for my Demented quilt.
Logging on!

Linking with all the other Log Cabin Loonies at Julie's place.  Come admire the logs!

Whoosh goes September!

September has completely gotten away from me.  I did manage to get some sewing squeezed in (finally) but bogged down on the energy needed to post about it.  So, here I finally am, with fistfuls of pictures.

One last blue Jacks for this month's RSC.   I'll be doing a quick paw-thru in the other bins to see what blocks I need to make in blue for the last week of the month.   Jacks, Buckeyes, and Centennial stars are all in good shape.  I need to haul out the clucker bucket and see what would look good.  I also need to make my Squared Away blocks for this month (and last month as well.)

Since I have plenty of blue Centennials, I went back and made some purples.  How on earth I'm light on purples, I'll never know.
I fixed that!

There!  Five new Centennials.  Now I need to hit the greens and the pinks to bring those totals up, too. 
Today was a good cutting day:
Centennials -

and lots of loony little logs -

and a few more potato chips (though I was careful not to get too close to that tray of temptation...)

Also finished this week was Sunflower #5 and I started testing for centers.
Purple, maybe?

This Kaffe print is brighter in the photo than it is in person.  (It seems to have lit up the whole block, for that matter.  My camera got all excited.)

And a green that looks better in real life than this photo shows.

I couldn't get a good bead on that green color until I noticed that photographing this Centennial star next to it brought out the true hue.  (Check out the photo above of that purple star - I left in that green corner when I was editing)

It's hard enough to get my camera to show purple properly - now it's going to mess up green, too?  Argh.

And I'm still plugging along on my Demented bits. 

Because what else could I be but Totally Demented?


Linking with So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday (late again!) and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see all the fun!

September sings the blues

Well, I revved up my blues this week for the RSC, starting with a Jacks block

and continuing with a Buckeye.  Since the Jacks block needs six HSTs and the Buckeye needs two, I cut them all at the same time with my Easy Angle ruler.  It's just as easy to cut eight sets as six (even easier if you stack double deep like I do - six doesn't come out even, but eight does...), so every little bit of efficiency helps.

That's the same polka dot print in both those blocks, but the color is more accurate in the Buckeye, for reasons unknown.

It's a small start to the month, but I've got my blues bin at the ready, so hopefully more progress will follow!

In the meantime, I also pieced another sunflower block, shown here sitting on top of the fabric for the center.  This is the first of these blocks where I decided on a fabric for the center right at the start and then built out from there.

I kind of miss the dither, though.

I've cut bits for the next sunflower, too.

And look - there's even some blue!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come join all the fun!

Logging loonily away

I've been chugging along with my little log squirrels cabins, accumulating a nice bunch of them.

Since I'm just making log cabin blocks for the heck of it, without a clear plan, it's unclear how many I'm going to need.

Of course, since I had bits left over -

I might as well keep going.

And I did.  I've got thirty done so far.

(Or rather, I've got 29 and 11/13ths blocks done.  If you look really carefully at the one in the upper right corner, you'll see that the last two dark pieces are missing.

Gonna have to cut a few more bits.  Or a lot more bits.  It's still a toss-up...

Since I don't have a plan, how will I know when I'm done?



Linking with Julie's Log Cabin Loonies!  Come see all the fun!

Farewell orange, hello blue

September already?  I think my calendar is broken.  Seems like it was just the summer solstice and here we are at the edge of Labor Day.

I finished up August orange with a Centennial star to add to my collection.

Then I got curious and counted up what I've got so far.  These were a carryover from last year's RSC, but I haven't always been as diligent as I could be with them.

Only one purple?  It's even worse than I thought.  We've made two passes at purple and I only ended up with one block - clearly I need to backtrack and fix that oversight!  Red and green could use some love, too.

Unless I've misplaced some blocks instead of putting them in their bin...  I do have a history of that...  hmmm...


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see what the more diligent people are doing for their rainbows!