A Little Shopping and Sewing

 I got to work on my Scrap Log Cabin a few days ago. It now measures 60" X 60". I'm hoping to make it 80" X 80". That's 5 more strips per side. It works up very quickly. I'm going to try and use whatever fabrics I have on hand for the backing also. I have bought yards of some fabrics that I really had no idea how to use. This might be the time to take them out of the stash and put them to good use! This quilt will be a true scrap quilt!

I bought this cute little sponge to remove stray threads from design walls, clothes, etc. I also heard it's great for pet hair. I have a feeling this sponge will be quite useful!! I hope my two cats didn't hear that!

I had a coupon so I bought this adorable layer cake. I don't usually buy lots of pre-cuts but I just loved the sewing theme and couldn't pass it up! I'm hunting for a nice pattern.

When I went to my local quilt shop a few days ago, it was very crowded and no one was wearing masks except for me and one other customer. It made me a little nervous. I'm fully vaccinated and I know it's okay but I'm just not used to going out without my mask. We have to wear them at work since it's a hospital. I'm going to have to get used to the fact that masks just aren't mandatory anymore. I find it a little scary.

Catching up on Projects

 After finishing this month's directions for Color My World, I have shifted my attention to a few of my other projects. This is the backing I bought for the Star Storm quilt I made a while back. It's 108 inches wide so I don't even have to piece the backing! Nice and easy! I still have to wash and dry it. I'm trying to make a map of exactly how I'm going to quilt Star Storm.

Here's the quilt. Once I load it, I want to be able to work from the top down so I'll need to know what design goes where. I need to pre-plan all the quilting. I'll be lost without a road map to guide me.

I'm also making strips of my fabric stash. I need them for my giant Scrap Log Cabin. I haven't working on it since I got the directions for the BOM. Too many projects, not enough time!

Does anyone know why we had that big warning on our blogs last week?? So scary! It looks like they're all back to normal now.

Color My World BOM Center

I finished the center of the Color My World BOM! It wasn't easy to put this one together. Unfortunately, the angle on the outer road wasn't as easy to see as the inner road. Yup, I attached the outer road upside down the first time I attached the outer road to the small houses. Once I figured out my mistake, it was so much easier! The whole piece was nice and flat. 

Here's my completed outer road before attaching it to the houses. It looks nice and round here but once you picked it up, it wasn't so easy to figure out which side was up. I consider it a learning experience. Next time, I'm marking what side is up! 

I'm looking forward to piecing the big houses next month. I heard they're easier which is a good thing!

 

Color My World BOM - Upper Road

I made half of my upper road today for the Color My World BOM. This road went much faster than expected. I watched the videos that accompany this BOM.  Barbara Black is helping us as we make our way through this quilt. She suggested making 4 copies of the paper pieced pattern so the process would be quicker. 

That's exactly what I did. Each pattern is made up of 6 pieces, 3 black rectangles and 3 "road" pieces. I set up 4 pieces and just fed them through the sewing machine. So fast!! I was done in no time. 

This is just a closeup of the pattern. It's great that making the road was so much easier than I expected. I just hope sewing it onto the houses isn't too difficult! We'll have to see about that!

I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day!

Color My World Roads

There is quite a bit of preparation when making the road portion of Color My World BOM. I strip pieced the little white piece to 2 strips of black. Then, they were cut to smaller pieces. I also had to cut the solid black from strips. The piece with the road had to be trimmed so it would be at the correct angle. I'm not comfortable working with curved pieces, but the prep work made this very simple. There was also a paper piecing method that was made of 2 solid black pieces and 2 road pieces. I had to make 16 of those.  Once you sewed them all together into a circle, it was time to sew it onto the Mariner's Compass.

I matched each point to a seam of the road. I'm not sure how, but it just worked. I pinned a lot and just took my time. This is the inner road. This piece will be attached to the bottom of the houses that are also sewn into a circle. But before I do that, I'm going to make the outer road that is sewn onto the top of the houses. I've got all my pieces cut. I just have to trim to insure the correct angle and then paper piece. This road is going to be so long! I feel I have a better idea of what I'm doing now. Let's hope I don't screw it up!!

Two Projects

 How can it be May already?? What happened to April? Anyways, I worked on this scrap project last week and it now measures 48" X 48". I've already started cutting strips for my next sewing session. All the sides will be made from more than one fabric from now on. Maybe I'll use up more scraps this way? I would love to use them up! (Like that's ever going to happen!!)

Since it's now May, the next set of directions for Color My World have been released. We're working on the two sets of roads that connect the Mariner's Compass to the small houses. One set of roads will be for the outer circle of the small houses. I'm working on the inside road first. Since the pieces are very similar in size, I decided to work on one road at a time. I know I'll end up mixing them up so this way should be easier. It will be interesting to have to sew 2 round pieces together. I'll have to take my time and be ready with the seam ripper! I'll let you know how it goes!

What I've Been Doing

 

I've been splitting my TV time between knitting my shawl and sewing binding on the Pineapple Quilt. This shawl is coming together nicely. I consider this a long term project at this point. Brioche knitting is never going to be quick for me. However, that's okay. It's such a pretty pattern that I want to take my time and do it right. I'm about half done with the binding on the Pineapple Quilt. That quilt is 90 X 90 so that will also take awhile!

I bought this pattern a few weeks ago. I love patterns by Jaybird Quilts. I have her rulers which make the pattern so much easier. The sizes for this quilt range from mug rug to large lap which is about 74" square. I love that having all these size options. 

I bought this wide back from Keepsake Quilting. They're having a special if you buy a 3 yard bundle. I just couldn't resist this gorgeous fabric! It looks like a water painting. I have 3 quilts to quilt so I took advantage of the sale. I have another backing on the way!

I've been off for a few days but will be back to work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that!