Happily Gone to the Dogs

I had a wonderful visit from my daughter last Sunday.  We'd not seen each other since Christmas due to the pandemic, but now she and my husband were both fully vaccinated (my own vax is delayed due to recovering from shingles).  So we planned a get-together to visit and catch up (on hugs, especially), as well as exchange a few things.  

Namely, I had some kennel quilts for the animal surgery and recovery clinic where she works as a veterinary nurse.  It had been awhile since I'd made a batch of them (you can see previous ones HERE).  She reminded me of the size dimensions of the ones that get used often, on gurneys and such, so I pulled out the fabric I had left and got to work.

(Streak of Lightning Quilt)

What I mean by "the fabric I had left" is that whenever I can, I like to use repurposed scrubs for these small quilts.  It seems to wear well and stand up to frequent washings, even with bleach.  I had a lot of scrub jackets left that were all out of the same bright, multicolored fabric, as well as a some light green patterned scrubs fabric and some solid pieces in various greens and blues.

(Square in a Square Quilt)

Here are three of the quilts that came out of that.

(Stacked Coins String Quilt)

One is a streak of lightning type setting, the second is a square in a square, and the third is a stacked coins quilt.

I have to say, my favorite is the stacked coins.  It's string-pieced on 5x11-inch telephone book pages.  I was down to just strips and snippets of the solids by then.  Perfect for string piecing.

(Back of Streak of Lightning Quilt)

Backings are always a chance to get creative with leftover bits, too.

(Back of Square in a Square Quilt)

Along the way, I found some older fabric that had been donated to me this past year that said "doggy" on it.  It wasn't as sturdy as the scrubs fabric, so I began another streak of lightning quilt with the intention of making a baby quilt for donation.

When my daughter saw it, though, she said they'd definitely be able to use it at her work, so she took that one along with her as well.  

The apple pie fabric was another fun donated piece that got used up for the backing on this one.  

She says these quilts are already in rotation this week, which makes me happy and hopefully the dogs a little more comfortable, too.

They have apparently been very, very busy at the surgery clinic this past year.  Perhaps a silver lining in pandemic times has been that people are home more, spending more time with their pets and being able to prioritize to their pets' health needs. I know the staff at the surgery and recovery stay clinic are considered heroes by their clients, working hard to meet the needs of beloved furry family members at a time when their companionship is so important.

I said earlier that we were exchanging some things, and what my daughter brought for me were two big bags chock full of fabric from one of her coworkers, whose daughter had been making masks last year and had leftovers to spare.  Oh my goodness, what a generous infusion of fabric goodness!  I'll have some pics and more on that in another post.  She also brought me a new infusion of solid colored scrubs from a coworker, which have already been washed and cut apart for the next batch of kennel quilts.  And so the circle continues!

Linking to:  Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Recognizing our Hometown Heroes

April Table Scraps Challenge - Mug Rugs from Leftovers

After seeing the 45 record mug rugs I made in last month's challenge, a friend asked if I would make her a set of four.  She told me the colors in her living room:  gray, blue, black, beige.  I found some scraps and made some that I thought might work.  I'll be getting them to her soon and I hope she likes them.

As I was finishing those the other day, it prompted me to get something together for this month's link-up.  I had recently sent most of the contents of my orphan blocks box to my quilter friend Marei (at her request; I didn't do it for spite, I promise), but I set aside a couple things to finish myself as mug rugs.

I had four leftover HSTs from a flannel and corduroy quilt I made a few years back that had such a lovely, soft texture.  I put them together in an hourglass-type configuration and straight-line quilted them.  It's the kind of mug rug you want to pick up and handle now and then just to get that tactile fix.  :)  I'd say it's no longer corduroy and flannel season here, but after this week's late spring flurries and graupel (think Dippin' Dots kind of sleet), that wouldn't be entirely correct.

The other one is from a sample block I made from neckties when I was working on a memory quilt for a friend a few months back.  (You can see how that project turned out HERE.)  In particular, I had tried out a quilting idea, which I didn't end up using in the end.  I saved the block, though, and put a purple batik border on it this week so it's usable as a mug rug.

A couple quick and easy finishes, but it's all good!

Linking to The Joyful Quilter: Table Scraps Challenge.

March Table Scraps Challenge - 45 Record Mug Rugs

"Put some records on and let's dance!"  That's what my 1969 Talking PJ Barbie doll said—or at least that's how I remember it.  She didn't talk for long, though, because I had the bright idea to take her in the bathtub with me.  After that she just gargled/garbled for a little bit before her "talker" broke completely.  Wah-wah.

She was groovy, though, in her mod orange and pink outfit and blonde pigtails.  I actually think I liked her better silent, where I could supply the dialog.

Now I feel like such a geezer talking about records, but records were the thing until the 1980s when CDs came along.  Now even those are passe, along with words like burn and rip (as it pertains to copying them).  

I had an extensive record collection when I was a kid/teenager/young adult.  As a kid, I spent many an allowance on buying 45s so I could hear the latest songs by favorite artists like The Beatles, The Bee Gees, various Motown groups, etc.

One day I came home from elementary school to find my toddler brother playing with my record player on the landing of the stairs.  As he finished "listening to" (aka scratching) each record, he flung it like a Frisbee against the walls of the stairwell where it shattered to pieces!  I cried inconsolably as I riffled through what was left in my records box and took stock of the damage.

As my allowance increased with each birthday (and we got a better stereo), I started buying 33 rpm LP records.  Simon & Garfunkel, Carole King, James Taylor, and so many more, all the way through the early 1980s.  Remember Columbia Record Club, anyone?  You could get 12 albums for a penny, or something like that, when you joined the club, and then they'd send you one a month at regular prices until you canceled.  I don't know how many times I joined/canceled record clubs, but that's how I amassed a lot of my collection as a young adult.

So when I saw some cute record-shaped mug rugs online recently, a wave of delight and nostalgia rushed over me and I knew I had to try making some for the next round of the Table Scraps Challenge.

Somehow, though, the month of March almost got away from me (I blame getting shingles, which I'm still currently dealing with).  But yesterday I got it together and started making the first one.  I was trying to recall cool label designs from the days of my 45s, and one that stood out in memory was the Apple label on Hey Jude/Revolution by The Beatles.  

I had a scrap of vintage apple print, a thrift store find from a few years ago.  Not perfect, but close enough to convey the idea, I think.

For the second one, I just picked a fun scrap of bright pink and orange.  I wasn't consciously thinking of my old PJ Barbie's outfit, but may have been channeling that vibe.

These are fun to make!  Kind of like potato chips, you don't want to stop at just one.  The instructions I followed are HERE.  

I posted a picture of these on my Facebook page today, and my (curious/destructive as a little kid) brother commented that they were "cool!"  I didn't have the heart to bring up the record-flinging incident that he was probably too young to remember anyhow.  He did go on to do stints as a radio disc jockey and mobile music DJ, so he learned something from the experience, I think.  How to push his sister's buttons, if nothing else!

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.

January Table Scraps Challenge Table Runner

It's the last weekend in January, time to link up to the Table Scraps Runner/Topper Challenge at The Joyful Quilter.

My goal this month was to do something with the batik strips I had left over from making a quilt for my brother's wedding in October.

For Christmas, he gave us a couple of nicely framed pictures from their special day.  Here's one with all of us siblings (me in the teal).

One of my fondest memories from that day is the couple bopping down the aisle exiting to their recessional song: "I Feel Good" by James Brown.  :)

The wedding quilt I'd made used 17 or 18 different batik fat quarters.  I had taken a chance and ordered a couple different bundles from eBay, which worked out well.

The way I'd cut squares from the FQs left scrap strips that measured about two inches wide.  That's what I used for this table runner.

My inspiration was something I'd seen on Pinterest, a braided table runner from strips (link HERE).  I started laying my strips out in the way she described.  This runner was going to be as long and as wide as it could be from the strips that were available.  I didn't aim for any specific size.  When I ran out of strips, that was it; that was going to be the length of it.  

I cut some pastel solid two-inch squares for the center.  I also tried a layout with one-color (cream or off-white) squares down the center, but that seemed blah, so I went back to the pastel squares.

Their colors remind me of candy hearts, the ones with words on them like "Cute," "Love You," etc.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any process pictures.  It all went together pretty quickly.  

Once I'd used up all the strips, I trimmed the long piece into a rectangle and then sandwiched and quilted it.  I did a meander in variegated thread, but left the center squares empty and just ditch-stitched around them.  I like that it just gives them a simple pillowy look.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking this runner might work on the dining room table, but it turned out to be pretty underwhelming for that large of a surface.  So I popped it on top of the hall table to take pictures, and, surprisingly, it was the perfect size!

So there you have it, my batik scraps table runner, with centers reminiscent of candy hearts.  A sweet little treat just in time for Valentine's Day!