Against all odds

Hey, look!  Finally a post!  There are lots of pictures, too, since I've been sewing a bit here and there.
Last month I inventoried my Centennial stars and decided to make purple ones for September instead of dark blue.  (I had lots of blue stars that I made last year, but only one purple.)
And as long as I was playing with purple, I might as well play with pink, too, right?

And that cleared the way to make some green stars for October

 And as long as I was on such a roll, another pink and a yellow/gold showed up with the last two greens.

Inventory time again.

I'm not done yet since I really like making these, and they're only 6" blocks, so it's going to take quite a few to make a good-sized quilt. 

Next I turned my attention to my Jacks blocks - another block I really enjoy making.

And where there are Jacks, there are buckeyes, since I usually make them in tandem.

When I first fell in love with these little cuties, they were set in a quilt like this -

and that's how I'd intended to use them when I'd accumulated the hundreds that I'd need.  (4" blocks.  Hundreds might be optimistic...)
But after seeing Bonnie's leader/ender  Jewel Box Stars this year,

I'm kind of tempted to set them like that.  I've got lots of time to decide, since I'm nowhere near having a lot of these yet.

When I put away the Jacks and Buckeyes (and you'll notice that they even share a bin - they really are linked in my brain!), I decided I might as well count them up, too, as long as I was in a counting kind of mood.

And a good thing it was, too, since I found a few wanderers hiding in amongst the Jacks.

A 4" broken dishes block.

Two little red chicks that should be in the Cluckers bin.

And a pinwheel and a Hope of Hartford block.  The pinwheel belongs in the pinwheel bin, of course, but the Hope of Hartford doesn't have a home.  (It's a block I auditioned for RSC a couple of years ago.  Looking at it now, I'm tempted to start cutting a bunch more...)

And the real surprise was these five itty bitty kaleidoscopes that I'd completely forgotten about.

Good thing I got my Kaleidoscope Shot so I don't come down with THAT infection again.  Maybe I should make these up into potholders or something so I'm safe from starting a quilt.  (I wouldn't actually need that many more to make just a tiny little quilt though, right?  Maybe a couple of blues and another orange or two...)

Uh oh.  I'd better hurry up and link to SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap before I do something I regret...  Come see all the scrappy fun!

Red buckeyes meet the green clucker

Now that I'm home from my nice long visit, I've been moving my sewing studio up to the house for the summer.  Given the fact that I'm not the most organized person, even on my best day, things are more than a bit higgledy piggledy lately.
I did manage to get a red Jacks block done in the midst of the chaos.

And a couple of cute little red buckeyes happened, too.

Here's a fun fact that I don't know if anyone else has pointed out yet:  if you take four buckeye beauties (sorry, I could only find three for the pic) and lay them out like this -

you'll have a block identical to Bonnie Hunter's new leader/ender challenge, the Jewel Box Star.  I feel so ahead of the game since I've been making these buckeyes for a couple of years now for RSC.  Though I'm afraid if I use the Jewel Box Stars as leader/enders for my Buckeye Beauty quilt...  well, I'm just hoping I don't tear a rip in the fabric of reality.
I am seriously thinking of folding the completed buckeyes into this challenge, though.  It's the only way I'll ever finish, I'm afraid.

As long as I had the reds on the cutting mat, I tried to recreate the improv chicks I want to use in my Cluckers quilt.  (And I was horrified to find that my last blog post about that quilt was last September!  Argh!)
And then, since green had gotten short shrift back in March, I rummaged through my greens and made one of Sally T's racing chickens to add to the flock.

Luckily my block map with notes wasn't buried under a mountain stack of scraps and orts, unlike Every Single Other Thing I've been needing this week.
I've heard being organized is quite pleasant - I hope I get there some day.

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh, Scrap!  Come see red with us!

Last of the crazy orange cluckers

As September heads off into the sunset,

we wave goodbye to orange.   (My clucker seems to be waving goodbye with her tail feathers...)  I'll miss orange, but they say all good things must come to an end.

Okay, October, ready or not, here you come!  Bring on the next color!


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the scrappiness!

Orange party chick

Since I'm swiftly running out of September, I really buckled down with my orange scraps these last few days.
As long as I had that fabulous fluffy orange print on the cutting table, I did a bit more cutting.

A Jacks and Sixes -

and a cute lil red orange hen.

And once there was one clucker on the table, who should come racing up but this wild girl.

Don't let those staid feathers in her wings fool you.  I'm pretty sure she's covered in ice cubes - probably from some kind of spiked orange punch.  Definitely a party chicken!

And once more with that orange print.  I've got a four patch project in mind to use some of those hundreds of four patches I've been sewing for leader/enders for the last few years.

And for leader/enders for that project, I'm making nine patches for my Burgoyne Surrounded sashing.

Some days it's just all about the itty bitty squares.


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come see what all us scrappy folk are up to!

This clucker's got stars in her eyes

Or, more accurately, she's got stars in her butt, but eyes sounds better...

This little biddy went together a lot more smoothly than her predecessor.  Hardly any swearing at all, and that's counting the fact that the background is all stripy and not completely whacked.
I think I'm making progress!
I really didn't get a lot of blue done this week for the RSC, but since this Burgoyne block has some blue in it, I guess I can claim it for this last Saturday in July.

This is now Burgoyne #13, which means I'm apparently not stopping at twelve.  I thought I was stopping at twelve.  The plan was to stop at twelve.  But for some reason, I'm still choosing colors and cutting bits for more Burgoynes.  I think Cathy's gorgeous finished Burgoyne flimsy might have a certain amount of blame inspiration to it.  Can't quit now!

Speaking of not quitting, the Mad Monday Minis were quite a trial this week.   Seriously?  Itty bitty 36-patches?  Itty bitty 36-patches composed of 1.25" squares?  Itty bitty 36-patches composed of 1.25" squares that measure 4"?  FIVE of them?!?

(Edit:  Diann's comment reminded me that the squares were actually 1 1/8" rather than 1 1/4", which  made it even more ridiculous.  So, the following paragraphs should refer to 1.25" strips cut into 3.5" sections to make the strip sets, and 1 1/8" slices for the actual assembly.  (Note to self - don't just rely on memory for blog posts, especially when hungry...))

I immediately tossed out that 1.25" squares idea.  Nope.  Not going there.
I cut 3.75" lengths off a double fistful of 1.5" strips and sewed together a bunch of pairs, then trimmed them to 1.25" wide before pressing the pairs open.  Then I sewed on another 1.5" strip, pressed, and sliced them into 1.25" units of three squares.

I sewed these units together in sets of six, trimmed them to size, then sewed pairs of the 3x6 units together to make the 36-patches.

The directions said that if they didn't come out to exactly 4" square to adjust the seams.
Nope.   Not going there, either.

Most of my blocks were a bit too big, but no way was I going to mess with seams.  I centered my ruler on the center seams and slivered off a smidgen from each edge.  At this size, there's no way that such a tiny discrepancy is going to show.  (If anybody comes at this quilt with a magnifying glass and a ruler, I'll just gently show them the door.)  (Well, pretty gently...)

Amidst all that work, I did manage to get a few more blocks built for Long Time Gone.  (Maybe I'll call it "Are We There Yet?")

I'm going to have to make that sashing decision soon.  In the meantime, I'm still liking the golden yellow.
Though that stack of oranges over there on the shelf are starting to make hooting and whistling noises...


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

Cussing a blue streak

Since I didn't get many cluckers made over the last couple of months, I've gotten a little out of practice with my foundation paper-piecing skills.  Not that I had much in the way of skills in the first place, but the hiatus sure didn't do me any favors.
Not to mention the fact that it was about 9000 degrees in my studio yesterday, which made it entirely too hot to think.  My valiant little box fan tried to help, but failed to make any difference whatsoever.
After a certain point, my brain just refused to participate any further.
This made paper-piecing ridiculously a bit more difficult than it is even on a good day.
I swear, for every seam I sewed, I ripped out two.  Sometimes three.  I put pieces in backwards, upside-down, sideways, and/or the wrong color.

So, I believe this clucker's name is "%&$#*&!%" -  a blue streak for a blue chicken.

In other news, the auditions for sashing color for Long Time Gone continue.

I only had some small pieces of gold handy, but I like the warmth of this color.  I'll try a buttery yellow next, I think.
And orange is on the horizon.  Gotta give all the other colors a fair chance first, though...



Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see what's up with blue this week!

Just Clucking the Blues

I'm trying to do better with blue for RSC than I did with last month's yellow.

Blue clucker -

check!

Some Centennial Stars (sadly neglected for months!) have also been made.

I keep forgetting how much I love these stars until I start making a bunch of them again.   Luckily they finish at six inches square, so I have an excuse to make lots and lots of them!  (That's a good thing, right?)

I may or may not go back and try to catch up some yellow blocks.  In the meantime, I've got a big stack of blues to play with, so let the good times cluck!  Er... roll!

Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see what others are doing with their blues!

I've got a Bee in my Bonn... er, umm... Blocks

I'm so in love with this old yellow bee print that I seem to have used it in every block I made this week.
Like this Chantal's Pinwheel, for instance.

And this racing hen is just chock full of bees.

(That might explain why she's in such a hurry.)
(That's Sally T's pattern, btw.  Go here for the tutorial.  You know you want to make some racing cluckers, too.)

And Burgoyne #10 is done, also full of bees.

And cats, too, if you look closely.  It's just been a critters kind of week!


Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come see all the yellow fun!

With a chick chick here...

When it came time to make a chicken block this week (I'm getting behind on my cluckers!), I reached for my stack of scrappy strips in this month's RSC color - yellow.

Then, as I thought more about yellow and chickens, it occurred to me that yellow chickens could easily be chicks.  So, lacking a pattern for a chick, I decided to wing it.  (Sorry...)

I cut pieces from 2.5" strips and from 1.5" strips, and just slapped them together.

A little squaring up, and I had a couple of cute chicks.

Though that little fellow at the top of the photo bothered me a bit.  His head had a bit of a lumpy-grumpy look.
So I grabbed Lumpy and did an emergency forehead transplant.

There.  That's better.

But when I set him down next to his little buddy Buzzy..

it looks like Buzzy will need surgery, too.

A while back, a very dear friend and I were joking about names for this chicken quilt.  I laughingly suggested something that would necessitate adding some chicks in with the hens.  Naturally, she double-dog-dared me.  So, now that I've added the chicks,  I just might have to name this quilt "Mother Cluckers".  (A double-dog-dare is a double-dog-dare, after all!)


Linking with Angela at SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Come watch us play with our best yellows!

Biddy, Bags, and Blocks

The Retreat Bag pattern that I showed off a couple of days ago actually comes in two sizes, so, flushed with success and with fabric left over, I made the smaller size bag, adding handles and an outside pocket.

I like this one, too.  The larger one has been pressed into service as an organizer for block pieces for quilts I'm not actually making, so it's a good thing it's got a lot of room...

And believe it or not, I actually got a block for the 365 Challenge done.  I dropped the ball on this quilt project last year around this time, so I'm trying to get it up and running again.

That's the block for May 23.  Now I just need to back up and sew the 18th-22nd, and then I'll be ready to roll.
Well, that's the plan, anyway.  Some of you are familiar with my plans...

About the only RSC sewing I got done this week was a spool, a couple of hourglasses, and a little red green hen.  She's going into the Clucker collection with the other biddies.

Oh, and another Glitter.   Had to make a little Glitter, ya see.

The pieces are cut for the next Burgoyne Surrounded block.  I think I've now got a pretty good handle on the best way (for me) to sew this block.

It involves laying out all the 1.5" x 6" pieces, so I don't get confused while making the four patches and nine patches.

Not that I would get confused, of course.
It's purely a coincidence that my seam ripper is showing signs of wear...



Linking with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday's last week of scrappy green goodness, and with Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh, Scrap!  Come see all the colorful fun!

It's still squirrely around here...

Because one good thing leads to another.

And another.

Anyone see any green?   It's pretty clear than I'm not even trying anymore to convince myself that this is for the RSC.

Yep, full-tilt squirrel.

So I'm up to four blocks (and at 15", these blocks are huge to me) and naturally had to gather them together to see how they play with each other.

Hmm...  Straight set?

Maybe a narrow sashing?  Cobblestones?

Well, that's a decision that can be put off for a while.   (And I have no idea how to get rid of that bunch of red 'text's in the middle of that last photo.  If there's an undo button, I sure haven't found it...)

I did manage to rein myself in long enough to do a couple of blocks that really are for RSC.  One Chantal's pinwheel block

and a green crazy chicken.   Or a crazy green chicken.  Tough call.

I'm continuing to work on my foundation piecing skills, though it really reminds me of what they say about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire - "Sure he was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, ...backwards and in high heels."
I feel like this kind of paper-piecing is also backwards and in high heels...

Linking up with SoScrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and with Quilting is more fun than Housework on Sunday for Oh, Scrap!  Come see lots of pretty scrappy goodness on display!
Oh!  And I almost forgot Scraptastic Tuesday!  Even more scrappiness!