Another Scrap Squirrel

  
The scrap bin has no bottom...I've been making string blocks again, I've decided they are messy and create more scraps than they use up.

But they are very easy to make...

I found five or six small crumb blocks in the bin a few days ago...they turned into this...

I added a few orphan blocks to it also. I've decided I don't like making crumb blocks (I actually decided this ages ago but this reminded me again). I have no idea what I'm going to do with this. I do have a few other orphan blocks I might add to it or maybe I'll stuff it back into the scrap bin. I'm not feeling any great need to make this into something.

I finished block 4 of the Threadology quilt. I didn't realize until I was pressing them at the end that I made an extra small one. Oh well.

Since retiring I've had more time to read honest to goodness books with real pages. Here's a picture of Bella pretending to be a lap kitty while I'm reading. Have I mentioned she's a big girl? Almost 12 pounds. She goes from a lap kitty to a lap stone after about 10 minutes.

Almost a Finish

 
I spent most of last week arm wrestling the scrappy zigzag quilt. I wanted to quilt straight lines through the zigzags...should have been easy right? Not. Please explain to me why I quilted the quilt on my little itty bitty Bernina 125 instead of taking the nice large Juki off the frame and using it? And, yes, I did think of it after quilting a couple of the lines. No need to slap me upside the head I've already done it.

But it is done! Almost. Just need to hand sew the binding down. I picked up a couple of DVDs at the library last week so should have the binding finished tomorrow afternoon - the DVDs are due back at the library on Wednesday (I love my local library, they have everything!)

I put an ultra soft flannel on the back.

The quilt is 45 x 54 and has everything in it including two Christmas fabrics, a Halloween print, flames, cats, baseballs, and some sewing/quilting themed fabrics.
  

Squirrel Finish

 
So way way back in January 2014 I started two other scrap bin quilts. Three years later the string quilt was finished...five years later the scrappy trips hadn't been touched. I actually kinda sorta lost it but last week I found it at the bottom of the big scrap bin - now who would have thought to look there. I laid it out on the design floor and decided I needed more blocks. I made a significant dent in the 2 inch strip scrap bin (woohoo) making nine more blocks. Then laid it all out on the design floor again...this was okay, but I like to have things even, to me it needed another column on the right and I didn't want to make any more blocks.

This was okay also (got Nancy's vote), but again not even, needed another column on the left side...nope, still not making more blocks.

I decided this layout was just right. It is about 45 x 54. I'm not going to put a border on it. It is done!

Now to get it quilted and the binding added. Can I get it done by next Monday's post? That is my goal so hold me to it. Okay so maybe it was this Monday's goal but instead of sewing yesterday I spend the day reading a good suspense book.
 

More Scrap Starts

 
I'm blaming this project on Shasta of High Road Quilter. She calls them butterfly wreaths and as she says, they are addicting. The blocks are small so this one could take a while to finish. I'll stop making them when I run out of the background fabric.

On another blog, someone had staggered piles of flying geese blocks. I really liked the look. I toyed with this layout for about a minute...

But this was the look I was originally drawn to and this is kinda sorta the plan, lots of trapezoids with a flying geese thrown in periodically.

It won't take long to finish this quilt since the trapezoids are 2 x 8 finished and the geese are 4 x 8 finished. I have a lot of the background fabric so I may make a couple of quilts like this one.

Hopefully the three scrap projects will make a little bit of a dent in my scrap bin.

New blocks were revealed on March 1 and I've finished both. Kathleen Tracy's mystery:

And the Threadology quilt along:

I've determined that if I want to make a quilt similar to Melissa Corry's, I need to make two of the large blocks - I'll spend this week making them. It will be more like a day making them, so far the blocks are large and very easy.