Scrappy all over

I spent the afternoon in the studio today, putzing around with various projects.
First up, I got pieces cut for Libby's Mystery Quilt.  I picked out the red snowflake print for my light right off the bat, but couldn't decide whether to go with red, orange, or purple for the contrasting color.  So naturally I found a batik that included all those colors.  Win!

And I sewed the first row of Burgoyne blocks together, complete with sashing across the top.

I'm hoping if I get it all sewn together that it will forestall any efforts to make more blocks.  Though I think I might actually have to sew a border on in order to really make my heart accept that this quilt is big enough.

Though I might have stumbled on something that could help.  I found this quilt pattern online, see, and then I shared it with my friend  Cathy, who agreed with me that it's pretty phenomenal and phenomenally pretty.
It's here.  Go look and tell me that it isn't just screaming my name.
I've already got lots of triangles after all.

And the blocks are pretty simple to assemble.

And I only need 2048 HSTs.
For some silly reason, they named this quilt Garden Mosaic.
I don't know what Cathy is going to call hers, but I'm calling mine Totally Demented.

Linking with Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what everyone's doing with their scraps!

Surrounded by Burgoyne...

Let's be clear.  I started making a Burgoyne Surrounded quilt because I fell in love with Cathy's blocks when she started hers.
At first I was just going to make one block, to try out the pattern.  That plan lasted about 5 minutes.
Then I figured I'd make 4 blocks for a nice wall quilt or table topper.  Yeah, another failed plan.
Well, nine blocks would make a nice baby quilt.  But I blew right past nine and headed for twelve.
But twelve was totally going to be IT,  3x4, nice lap quilt, done now, no, really.
But.
When I hit sixteen, I was definitely done done done, I'm so done, no more blocks, nice big square couch quilt, no more blocks.
Yeah, right.
Number seventeen happened the other day.

Followed by number eighteen...

And number nineteen is all cut out and ready to go.

And number twenty - fabric pulled, and starting to cut the bits.

I swear on a stack of Quilter's Newsletters that I'm going to stop at twenty blocks.  That's a full-sized big honkin' quilt.  I'm now up to my earlobes in full-size quilt tops.  (Note to my kids - if you see one of my quilts that you really really want, speak up and if I ever finish it, it's yours!)

And look - I really do have to stop now.  Burgoyne is currently also trying to surround Ringo Lake.

If I make any more blocks, it's going to ooze over this whole side of the state...


Linking with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what all us scrappy folk are up to!
Also linking with Sew Stitch Snap Share at kokaquilts.  Come see all the stitchy inspiration!

In a Pickle!

Ya know, Cathy is such a good bad good bad good bad ...umm... strong influence on me!  She says 'squirrel' and I commence to chasing.

Because look what happened...

I got pickled.

Now I've got some decisions to make.  Continue with paper piecing like I did with this pickle?
I'm not wild about the detritus.  I'd definitely go back to my usual freezer paper technique.

And I'm not so sure that hand piecing wouldn't be just as fast (or even possibly faster) than machine piecing.

I'm also thinking I might want to go a little bigger...

Since it's pink, I'll be linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday!  Come see all the fun!  There might be pickles!  And squirrels!

Itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, purple polkadot...

Well, not a bikini.  I've got some purple polkadot hexies though...

This is intended to be a long-range, multi-year project, so I don't mind poking along with it.

As nearly as I can tell from looking at my inspiration picture, I'll be making hexie diamonds, joining four of them into a larger diamond unit, then running a row of hexies all around it for a border.  Then four of those diamonds are joined together, with another border around that.  Then repeat until it's big enough or I'm bored with it, whichever comes first.  Or until I run out of fabric, I suppose.  (Yeah, right.)

I've figured out that I can fit a hexie paper into a 1 1/2" x 1 3/8" rectangle, so I've been cutting stacks of pieces that size out of 1.5" strips.  Then I stack the rectangles with a hexie paper on top and cut them roughly into hexagons with scissors.

I've been cutting my hexie 'papers' out of those annoying subscription cards that they stuff into magazines.  I experimented and found that cardstock was too heavy, but regular paper wasn't heavy enough.  My hexies are so small that it was a real puzzler - until I found those cards hit that sweet spot between those two paper weights.  (I keep running out, though, since we don't get that many magazines.)  (My relatives that do take a lot of magazines will be hearing from me soon.)

If you take a close look at those papers in the upper right corner of that photo, you can see the telltale postage-paid marks!

As for the tiny size of my hexies, it's purely arbitrary.  I ordered one of these squeezy tools

online for cutting out papers (Easy and lazy!  Double win!), and assumed that when they said 3/4", they were referring to the side measurement.  Turns out that quilters and papercrafters measure hexagons differently - that three-quarter inch was the diameter of the hexie, not the side.  The side measures 1/2", so I'm making half inch hexies.  Tada!  (I could have returned the squeezy tool, but a)that's a lot of bother and b)hey, look, a challenge!)  (Which explains a lot about my life, I realize...)

So, I'm slowly stitching away at these little monsters beauties, and will be for years to come.

Linking to Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework (because oh my yes with the scrappy), and with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts (because oh my yes with the slow).

Of course I'm not starting a new project...

Because, you know, I have so many already going.

Seriously.  I don't know where those stars came from.

Linking with Oh Scrap at Quilting is More Fun than Housework, since those entirely imaginary stars are made of imaginary scraps.

I think the worst of the fever has passed...

It all started innocently enough.  My daughter and I were out running errands, one of which was to pick up a bag of cat litter.  While we were in the pet store, I decided to take a look and see if they had lizard litter, aka crushed walnut shells.
Aha!

Indeed they did.  They were out of the 5lb bag, but the 10-pounder was only slightly more expensive than buying a half pound at a quilt shop, so I grabbed one.  Then the very helpful young man who worked there told me that there was a sale - buy one, get a second one at half price.  While the thrifty part of brain was going "Ooooo!", the sensible part was asking "Just how many pounds of pincushions are you planning to make, exactly?", so I just got the one bag.
Which is probably just as well.
The other day, I left you at this point -

but I didn't stop there.
There were more.

Many more.  Originally I was just going to make two.  Honest.  Three at the outside.
I don't know where it all went off the rails.
And even with that stack up there, I still kept having more ideas.
Like fussy cutting this cute little kitty.

 And making a log.

The log was the first one I completed - stuffed and stitched and ready for action.
Because I needed a place to park my needle while I filled the next one, of course

I've been making four-patches for leaders/enders for over a year, so I always have lots of those laying around.

And I got to use some cute fabric for the backs, too.

A three inch Ohio star was fun.

Especially with this on the bottom.

For this one, I not only got to test out my Dresden ruler,

but I also got to learn how to do the buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine!

That cushion is bigger than the last bunch - finishing at about 5" - so I framed a 3.5" square for the back.

This next one is my favorite, I think.  I used a modified monkey for it.

And then I though, "Why settle for just square shapes?  Why not branch out a little?"
So I made this.  From the top, it just looks like a pinwheel -

but step back a little and you'll see it's a biscornu.

And then...  And then I remembered that I'd just spent 5 months playing with improv and make-it-up-as-you-along and being liberated, so I just grabbed the closest scrappy bits and made a more freeform sort of construction.

I'd gotten down to the very last pincushion when I had one of those slap-myself why-didn't-I-think-of-this-an-hour-ago moments.  From the very first step, I'd been struggling to keep my homemade paper funnel lined up with the opening in the pincushion, while simultaneously trying to dump in walnut shells.  Three hands would have been useful.  Possibly four.
It finally dawned on me to just pin the funnel to the fabric.

Duh.
The last one definitely went a lot more smoothly...

So here's the whole gang!

Well, except for the log.  That one's already been put into service and didn't make it into the group shot.

And I still have about half a bag of lizard litter left.  In other words, I only have half a bag of lizard litter left!

Do you suppose that sale is still going on?

Can't talk now...

Making pincushions.

No, I don't know why. 
I'm sure it will stop soon...

Quick Question!

Does this look like a sunflower to anyone besides me?

Or is it back to the drawing board?