Table Scraps Challenge - October 2022

This month's Table Scraps Challenge prompts were lime/light green and joy, however you may wish to interpret that. 

I had some pieces of pinkish-purple and green batik fabrics which had already been sewn together into strips (see them in the middle of the left-hand side of the photo below).  These were part of the thrift store haul of batik fabrics a few months back.

I had enough of the strip sets to make something small.  I followed a fun tutorial from Connie Kresin's blog, Freemotion by the River, called Hidden Wells.  By sewing a couple of strip sets together and cutting them into squares, then sewing those together per the tutorial, I made this cute little table topper.

Mine turned out about 20-1/2 inches square (my starting squares were a bit smaller than 8-1/2 inches, more like 8-1/4). I had juuust enough strips to squeak this out, which was great!  

The joy part is the fun of making things like this; also, I'm finding a lot of joy in the fall season and the beautiful colors we've enjoyed over the past few weeks. 

 

We found these cool ginkgo leaves on a walk through the park. I loved watching them turn from lime green to greenish-yellow-brown in the space of a few days. 

I was tempted to try to applique some ginkgo shaped leaves onto this table topper but decided to save that idea for another time.

The back (above) is pieced from more batik strip scraps and another piece of fabric. That side maybe looks more fall-like.  Flip a coin—or flip sides—I like both! 

Linking to:  The Joyful Quilter-Table Scraps Challenge

~Paulette 

Table Scraps Challenge - September 2022

I'm back with a Table Scraps Challenge item, after having missed July and August's challenges.  

September's prompt was PUMPKIN along with LIGHT BLUE as the RSC color of the month.

I've been working on some secret holiday gift sewing that I can't talk about without spoiling the surprise.  However, from working on that came an idea for this month's Table Scraps Challenge.

I took a light blue gingham check fabric and cut a tea towel from it, which I then edged in a scrap of fabric left over from a fat quarter.  I had to piece the edge strip together, but it blends in.

Then I cut some applique shapes from other scraps for the pumpkin and fused those pieces down and then zigzagged around them.

Finished with a loopy vine in a running stitch with dark green pearl cotton thread.

Quick and easy!

Linking to:  The Joyful Quilter: September 2022 Table Scraps Challenge Link Party

~Paulette

Table Scraps Challenge - June 2022

The idea for my take on this month's Table Scraps Challenge came from a Facebook friend who was making these and shared the link to the YouTube tutorial with me, and also necessity.  

See, we had just replaced our old Corelle dinnerware with new stuff, and I don't know why but the new bowls get HOT in the microwave!  I don't know about you, but I'd like to start my day without burning my fingers on a freshly-nuked bowl of oatmeal, thank you very much.

Bowl Koozie tute to the rescue!  Although for the rest of this post, I am going to call it a cozy because I am old and crotchety that way.  Also, if you're interested in the difference between Koozie, Cozy, and Kozy (like I was), have a listen to the explanation here. 

Word nerdiness aside, this really was an easy to follow tutorial and my first attempt came out fine.  I didn't have much in the way of 100% cotton batting scraps, so I used an 80/20 scrap on half of it.  Since I don't intend to microwave the cozy itself, it should be okay.

(Second bowl cozy with thrifted striped shirt interior)

For the second cozy, I did make a trip to Joann for some Wrap & Zap batting, which is made for projects like this.  It struck me as odd that a package of 100% cotton Wrap & Zap was half the price of the same size package of Warm & Natural 100% cotton batting, and it basically looks like the same stuff (and made by the same company).  But that's neither here nor there, just interesting to note.

Both cozies are BLUE and have STRIPES, which were the two prompts for June's challenge.  No matter that they match nothing in my kitchen decor (seasonal runner aside), but white bowls go with anything, so there's that.  Also, they do coordinate well with the blueberries that adorn my morning oatmeal every day. :)

So that's the Table Scraps Challenge checked off for this month.  Before you go, though, I thought I'd show you another BLUE/STRIPE score this month.  

I've been pretty lucky at the thrift store lately, and more on that in future posts.  For now, I'll show you one item I was super excited about.  

I had just changed out my comforter set for this one (not my bedroom...I wish):

(Image source: Kohls.com)

I just love that it's airy and kind of beachy looking, and it's lightweight enough to throw off and on multiple times a night when the hotness flashes, lol.  I didn't have any wall decor to match when I bought the comforter, though, so when I spied this triple-matted piece of wall art at Goodwill a week or so later, I practically jumped for joy!  On the inside, of course; in the store, that would have been weird.

Here it is on the bedroom wall.  Perfect, no?

Hope you're having a great day!

I'm linking to The Joyful Quilter: June 2022 Table Scraps Challenge.

~Paulette

Table Scraps Challenge - May 2022

This month's Table Scraps Challenge prompts were "sage/forest green" and "square."

I thought I had a lot of sage green scraps, but it turned out, not so much.  Enough for a couple log cabin blocks, but not much more than that.  

So I switched to forest green, or close enough, for the other two blocks.  I didn't want a stark contrast between the sage and the other greens, so my interpretation of forest green gravitates toward the medium dark vs. deep dark range.

Together the four blocks made a nice square table runner.  And, of course, it all starts with a little red square and builds outward.  

Some of those fabrics have square bits too.  Squares covered!

Linking to the Table Scraps Challenge May Link Party at The Joyful Quilter.

~Paulette

What I Did When I Wasn't Blogging - Part 1

I made progress on a few things during my March and April blogging hiatus.  I finished a couple of quilt tops I'd been working on.  Here is my Scrappy Trip Around the World.

I usually got a better sense of this quilt from a side view as I was putting it together.  Not sure why that is, maybe just the greater distance as I stood in the laundry room door versus straight in front of it.

And here's the Hole in the Barn Door quilt top.  I love the colorful scrappiness of both of these.

I wasn't sure how to border this quilt at first, but it seemed to be asking for more color beyond the blocks themselves, so I sandwiched a strip of scraps between an inner and outer gray border.

I've sent these to local longarm quilter Sandy and I'll probably see them back in a few months for binding.  There's no rush as I will probably be keeping these, at least for the time being.

* * * * *

A few weeks ago, I sent some quilts to Rachael and Becky of Quilted Twins.  Becky has been  heading up a massive relief effort for Ukranian refugees in Poland.  She and her husband and team of helpers have been doing great work providing supplies and other essentials to Ukranians displaced and otherwise affected by the war.  Her sister Rachael in Florida was gathering quilt donations to be shipped to Becky through the end of April.

* * * * *

The hubs and I enjoyed some nice nature walks, even though winter seemed to be taking her sweet time leaving.  We caught some early spring migration as we walked the marsh trail one cold but sunny March day.  It was fun to see and hear gorgeous trumpeter swans, as well as other swan species, geese, and red wing blackbirds.

A pair of trumpeters flew so low over our heads we could hear the "zizz-zizz" of their wing feathers vibrating.  Who knew their beating wings made such a neat sound!  Their trumpeting sounded like the honking of an antique car horn to me, but that was really cool too!  (Click the link to listen to a sample.)

* * * * *

I read and/or listened to some interesting biographies and memoirs, including the audiobook versions of Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper, The Boys by Ron Howard and Clint Howard, and Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci.  Two thumbs up on all of them!  

The audiobook versions were narrated by the authors, which I enjoyed.  I will say that on Vanderbilt, though, I also got the hard copy of the book from the library to read some of the chapters myself.  While Anderson Cooper does a fine job overall, he read a little too fast for my liking on some of the more descriptive chapters about Gilded Age parties and opulent decor and who wore what, etc.  I needed to imagine those scenes at a more leisurely pace.  (I also found it a bit odd, to be honest, that he pronounced "satin" like "sadden"—and there was a whole lot of satin in one chapter in particular, which, incidentally, did not sadden me one bit!)

* * * * *

My sister came over to sew with me, and we made some throw pillows together.  Probably 10 or more years ago, she gave me some Debbie Mumm Christmas fabric of six different Santa panels.  She'd bought it for herself in the 1990s but didn't make anything with it.  I didn't do anything with it either after she gave it to me, just put it away in a drawer.  When I was decluttering the sewing room in the beginning of the year, I showed it to her again and we decided to make a day of it and sew the panels up as pillows for her.  This fabric was truly "old enough to vote," as my dad used to say.  (I say: Can we procrastinate or what!)

As it happened, I had some nice coordinating fabrics in my stash for an assortment of different borders and pillow backs, so we sewed up all six pillows over the course of what ended up being couple afternoons together.  It was fun to have a sewing partner and to finally get them done—months before next Christmas, I might add!  ;)

I'm going to break this catch-up post into two parts.  Stay tuned!

~Paulette

Table Scraps Challenge - April 2022

I missed the March Table Scraps Challenge.  Among other things, I was trying to get over a GI flare (which is probably TMI already) and needed to make a concentrated effort to get a handle on my diet.  I think I finally figured out that tomatoes and peppers are an issue for me, so I stopped eating them.  Things improved, and I'm grateful for that, but I won't lie what a bummer it is to give up ketchup and chili and pasta sauce and tacos and enchiladas, and the list goes on.  I decided to cut out sugar too, because I know too much of it does my digestive system no good, and I'd gotten into a habit of baking treats a little too regularly.  So all of that took up some mental and physical bandwidth, and blogging fell by the wayside.

But I've adjusted now to the new normal, and hey, it's spring!  Or so they say, because it's been a long, cool one here in the Upper Midwest.  I can't wait for warmer weather and flowers (any day now, Mother Nature?).  So in addition to the Table Scraps Challenge brief of "pink" and "words" for the month of April, I added my own challenge to create something with flowers.

I was thinking I'd make some kind of tulip block into a little table mat, but nothing really inspired me yesterday when I sat down to the task in the sewing room.  I switched to sorting through my pink scraps instead when, lo and behold, a tiny square of fabric sifted through my fingertips.  Hello inspiration!

I decided to applique an improvisational string-pieced flower on a string-pieced background of pink.  For the flower, I pulled all the wordy fabrics I could find, which was not many, but I sewed up a big enough slab to cut out not one but two flowers.

A little bit of jumbo rickrack and some kind of stabilizer strip from the box of trim became other parts of the flowers.  Finally, they seemed to need some kind of foliage, so I pulled out a black and white polka dot scrap and freehand cut a couple of leaves.  Everything got fused down and edge-stitched.

I went with a wavy stitch pattern on my machine for the quilting.  I didn't consciously plan for it to mirror the curves of the rickrack, but it kind of turned out that way.  Serendipity!

I found a black 2-inch strip of fabric with what I think is Japanese lettering on it (but I could be wrong), which sufficed for the binding.  

And there you have it!  It's about 12 inches square and will probably go on my nightstand.

Linking to the April 2022 Table Scraps Challenge at The Joyful Quilter.

~Paulette

Table Scraps Challenge - February 2022

This month's Table Scraps Challenge prompt was IMPROV.  So I used a pattern.

Ha ha!

No, really.  My table topper for February had a Valentine's theme, because, well, it was that time of year and I wanted a cute heart-shaped topper.  Enter the free "Be Still My Heart" pattern by Quilt Jane.  Mission accomplished.

I did not expect the roses, but the hubs came through, and they were beautiful together.

But I did make some scrappy roses at the end of January (see this post), so maybe I was on top of it after all.

They haven't turned into anything finished yet, but I see the prompt for March is FLOWERS.  So maybe I'll get it together, with both improv and flowers, by the end of next month.

Linking to The Joyful Quilter's Table Scraps Challenge.

~Paulette

A Couple of Small Quilt Finishes

I finished a couple of small quilts this week.  Hooray for progress!  I also finished physical therapy for my hand.  Whoop-whoop!  

Fortunately, I didn't need the splint for the left middle finger that may be developing trigger finger.  I'm just supposed to keep an eye on it and make an appointment with the hand clinic if it gets worse.  The left pinky finger that had surgery will just take time to heal completely and the swelling may last up to a year, she said.  I went down a size in the compression sleeve, from a large to a medium, so it feels like things are going in the right direction.

Anyway, quilts...  Last time I mentioned I was able to practice my quilting again on a small scrappy piece.  Since then I finished binding it and have given it to my niece's little girl, Jade, as a doll quilt.  

Jade's going to have a new little sibling around Christmastime, so I'll be starting a quilt for the expected baby soon.

This little doll quilt was made from scraps of scraps of scraps!  Scraps from mask making were turned into a Scrappy Rail Fence quilt, which yielded scraps for this doll quilt. 

The other small quilt finish is what I'm calling Little Farmer, for the farm-themed scraps it's made from.  These were leftover bonus HSTs and other scrap pieces from the County Fair quilt I put together recently.

Don't you love it when you get another whole quilt from the main quilt?  I had enough leftover fabrics for the pieced backing too.  It ended up about 45 inches square.

I imagine little ones, as they get a bit older, playing with toy tractors on it, weaving through the "fields" of corn, hay, wheat, etc.  Here it is with the John Deere tractor and wagon that my daughter and her cousins all used to play with at Grandma and Grandpa's house some 30 years ago.

I quilted it with a simple meander in a gold colored thread.  I think it turned out really cute!

This one will be donated, but I'm not sure where yet.  I have to review my list of donees and see where the best fit for it may be (size-wise, etc.).

Linking to:  Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Table Scraps Challenge - September

I've missed a few of the Table Scraps Challenge, but I'm getting back on board this month.  A couple days ago, I put on my quilting gloves for the first time since my finger surgery in early July.  Yay!  

I did a little practicing on a scrappy piece that will probably become a doll quilt.  Just some easy loopy free motion quilting, but boy, was I rusty.  (I'm going to use my oddball gray binding scraps, which I was auditioning in the photo below.)

I had another practice piece sitting on my sewing table from an orphan block.  It's actually the first test Four-Lily Block I made way back in 2012.  Earlier this year, I had come across the block in the orphan box and decided to sandwich it together as a practice pad to test the stitch tension on my machine.  So one of the petals was quilted (happily, the tension was fine), but the rest of it was not.

Hmm...why not finish quilting the block to practice my rusty quilting, and then (provided it doesn't turn out to be a total piece of garbage) bind it and make a little table mat?  It sounded like a plan.

Here it is after quilting and trimming.  Size is about 16-1/2 inches square.

I think I tend to do better quilting smaller things, maybe because it feels like I have more control over the area when I'm not wrestling extra fabric.  At any rate, it was good practice.

I bound it in a pumpkin colored solid fabric to play up the brown and orange bits in the flowers.

Here's a view of the quilting from the back.

So that's how my September table mat came to be.  It will go on a small table in my bedroom.

Linking to the Table Scraps Challenge link party at The Joyful Quilter.