About That Day I Was Taking A Break From Sewing

One day last week, I found myself caught up on all my sewing commitments. I put away all my rulers and cutters. My sewing table was completely clear for the first time in forever. I even put the cover on my sewing machine, something that rarely happens. I left the room confidently, saying to myself...I'm going to take a break from sewing.

All was good that day. I had plenty to do and did not give sewing any thought at all, except maybe I thought about my scraps a little. Just a little. Maybe my next quilt should be one of Bonnie Hunter's scrap quilts. I've always wanted to make one of her patterns. It was a passing thought.

The dog crate is in the sewing room. I was only going into the sewing room to zip up the dog for the night. And then I thought, well, while I'm up here I should take a look in my scrap bin, you know, just to see what's in there. Wait, where did that come from? I didn't know I had started a second bin for scraps. When did that happen?

As you can see, my sewing table did not stay clear for very long. And I became hugely inspired by all these ridiculous, I mean, beautiful scraps. I sorted and ironed and planned. And now I have, ahem, four quilts underway from all these scraps. My sewing table looks a bit like a boxing ring.

In the first corner, coming in with 2 1/2" squares and 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles, we have Oklahoma Backroads.

In the second corner, we have strips being sorted by length.

The strips seem to be winning at the moment, on their way to becoming a strippy diamond quilt.

In the third corner, the 2 1/2" strips are becoming a scrappy trip around the world quilt.

And in the final corner, we have the crumb and triangle bin, bound to become a beautiful crumb quilt someday. These poor scraps keep getting pushed to the floor to make room for other action on the table.

So much for a sewing break. It's okay. I really like the plot twist in this story. We'll have to wait and see what happens next as this sewing saga continues.

Works in Progress - Treadle Piecing and Machine Quilting

No finishes to share yet this month, but certainly some fun in progress happenings are going on. First, I'm in love with my grandmother's treadle machine which returned very recently to working condition.

I'm making a scrappy trip around the world quilt using Bonnie Hunter's tutorial. I have a basket of strips next to the machine and every time I have a few minutes to spare, I sit down and sew a strip or two. This is going to be a fun, long term project that will hopefully, make a great dent in my scrap pile. My family is a little bit nervous about this one, since I am intentionally using fabric that might otherwise sit neglected for years. My husband, Duane, isn't so sure he wants to be sleeping under ladybug fabric, but he knows better than to judge a quilt by just one block. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one develops.

My other major work in progress is this triple Irish chain quilt.

I want to say this is the third quilt top I ever pieced, back in the 1990s, but I'm not positive about that. It's at least among the first five. My stash was very limited then and I remember deciding on the color scheme simply based on which color I had the most of. I pieced and layered this quilt, then promptly set it aside. The quilting step was way too scary back then. 

Since this is a year for finishes, it was time to get this one done. Also, the quilting step is becoming one of my favorite parts of quilt making these days. I decided to quilt a large flower in the center of each block. It is from Leah Day's Flower Ball free motion pattern.

The rest of this quilt will be taken care of with my walking foot. I plan to cross-hatch all the cream squares in the Irish chain, and then think about how to quilt the borders.

This shouldn't take too much longer to finish. I'll be sure and take some daytime pictures once this project is completed.