Paradise, CA

  
This makes me happy...

Debbie's Quilt Shop in Paradise, CA has re-opened! She is a few doors down from her old shop.  She is having a "fire sale" and getting ready for the Northern California Quilt Rush which is April 10-13th. The link is to her Facebook page where you can see some of the quilts that have been made with the house blocks that were sent by people from all over the world! I've always loved Debbie's selection of reproduction fabrics so when I heard she was open again I knew I had make the drive (about 100 miles) even though it was pouring rain the whole trip. I definitely showed my support with some significant retail therapy.

It was a little strange driving up the canyon road to Paradise, it has rained here so much this year that every thing was really green...until you took a closer look. The ground cover was green but the trees were black and still bare when they should have had leaves and or blossoms. It was very sad to see all the white crosses for those who died in the fire as you enter the town. Once in town it was surprising to see totally burnt out buildings right next to building that didn't look like they had any damage. Then there would be a whole block that was leveled by the fire and shells of burned cars next to new construction. I am very happy the town is rebuilding but it looks like it will be slow.

Another thing that made me very happy was winning Melissa Corey's Terrific Tuesday Giveaway. I won this wonderful bundle of fat quarters from the Fat Quarter Shop.

I want to play with all of my new fabric but I'm determined to make the three scrappy quilts I've started. I'm still making string blocks...I think I figured out I need 90 of them. I currently have about a third of them made.
 

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.
 

More Little Finishes

  
I got a couple more small table toppers quilted and the binding added during the last week.

Again, no fancy quilting, but they are done.

Hehehe, I "staged" the mug rug  photo.

I think I have four small table topper / wall hangings left to quilt then I need to start in on the larger quilts.

I hit the scrap bin again this week and actually made a dent in it...sorta. I found there were a lot of 2.5 and 5 inch strips that I had dumped in the bin, I pulled them out and sorted them into their own bins. I can almost see the bottom of the bin.

I've finally settled on three scrap projects to make from the scrap bin. Here are the test blocks for the first one...

Sharon at Vroomans Quilts had a tutorial for the 3-D string blocks and I really liked them.  They are not very big, 5.5 x 6.5 unfinished. These were quick and fun to make. My plan is to do a few a week. I don't have sample blocks for the other two projects but they are cut out and ready to sew so stay tuned.

It has been cold here the past week. Here's Bella snuggled / burrowed into a bunch of pillows trying to stay warm.

We are suppose to get another week of rain, so I should have lots of quilty things to show you next week...unless my house floats away.
 

The first two sets of blocks are done for the Threadology sew along...

I am still really happy with my fabric choices.

Unfortunately the colors are not showing up in the photos. 

Years ago I bought this ruler at a garage sale (really really cheap) thinking it was for cutting out fabric strips (which it could be used for), but its actual purpose is to square up hour glass blocks.

It was a little awkward at first but I ended up really liking it. I'll be keeping it close at hand in the future.

I quilted, added the binding and gifted this little mug rug.

My imagination has been failing me lately so no fancy quilting.

Nancy came over to sew yesterday. While she worked on sewing blocks I tackled the scrap bin again.  Four hours later I had some lovely piles all over the family room (should have taken a picture) but again barely made a dent in the bin. I did decide on a couple of scrap projects I going to make with the strings and the small strips. Hopefully I'll have a few sample blocks for you next week.

Cussing out the scrap bin didn't stop me from buying scraps. My new favorite thrift store is the Habitat for Humanity Restore. I could have done some serious damage there but I decided I really didn't need a pallet mover, or a claw foot tub, or wood working magazines, or...