February Table Scraps Challenge - Two Table Toppers

Oh my, how this past month has felt like a slog.  Funny how the shortest month of the year can feel so long, not to mention repetitive, a la Groundhog Day.  I tried to stay engaged, but my attention span was hit and miss.  Needless to say, not a lot got done in the sewing department.  And with a long stretch of below zero days, the thought of hanging out in the cold basement didn't have much appeal.  Instead I did some genealogy on the computer, filed and shredded a couple long-ignored piles of paperwork, and prepared and filed my income taxes (yay!).  So there was productivity of a different sort, albeit with a huge side of Netflix.

Thankfully, it's been above freezing for several days now, so we're going on Day Four of getting back into daily walks outside around the neighborhood.  Whew, it feels good to stretch my legs and feel the sun on my face again!  What does NOT feel so good is how TIGHT my pants are after a few months (okay, most of 2020) spent baking treats and indulging my chocolate cravings on a too-regular basis.  Ugh.  I literally sausaged myself into a pair of cords to go walk outside the other day, and when a Kleenex dropped out of my coat pocket, I could not bend over to pick it up!  So, obviously, the time has come to switch back into more healthy eating mode, and move my butt more, in hopes of having clothes to wear once spring finally gets here.

Can you relate?

On to the Table Scraps Challenge.  Having procrastinated until this week to make something for it, I started by looking through a plastic drawer full of vintage fabrics.  Must've had old stuff on the brain from the genealogy work.  Anyway, I started sorting the old fabrics into coordinating color piles.  One thing led to another, and I started making some string blocks inspired by a tutorial I'd seen HERE by Amy Smart.

You only need to make four 8-1/2 inch blocks for this mini, because you then cut the larger blocks to make four smaller blocks from each, or a total of 16 squares.  Then you just rearrange them to your liking and sew them together to make a mini-quilt.  Mine measured 15-1/2 inches square when done.

I backed it with a larger piece of the pink and green feed sack fabric with pineapples.  I'd found this feed sack at a thrift store a few years ago, and it still was stitched together as a sack until a few days ago when I took it apart.  There were even a few bits of some kind of grain or chaff in the inside corner of it, even though I'd washed it when I brought it home initially.  I'm guessing this particular fabric is at least 50 years old, but in excellent shape.

I did crosshatch quilting to mirror the graphics of the pineapples in that funky print.  I don't know why, but I get a Sponge Bob Square Pants vibe from this print, even though it predates the cartoon by  decades.

This mini quilt project was a good way to get my sewing mojo working again.  Easy on the brain piecing, quirky fabrics, and small enough to finish quickly for a hit of good vibes for having accomplished something.

A day or two later I repeated the process and made another one, this time working with some blue vintage fabrics, including two other feed sacks.  One with blue and purple dots, and the other with blue and green flowers. 

I also used that blue and green fabric for the back.  Swirly quilting on this one.  I tried quilting daisies on my test run, but my free-motion skills were rusty and a bit too inconsistent for flowers.  So swirls it was.  

It felt like this sweet blue 1970 Panasonic radio—the Panapet, as it was called—needed to be in the photo shoot.  I had one like this back in the day, but it's long gone.  This is one I picked up at an antique store a few years ago.  It still works!

Linking to The Joyful Quilter's Table Scraps Challenge.