An Annoucement

You may have noticed a new button on my sidebar.  The one with the gecko that says Island Batik 2019 Ambassadors.  That's me!!  I am an Ambassador!  How did that happen?  Late last year I was reading blogs and came across a link to apply to become a 2019 Island Batik Ambassador.  Hmmm, sounded simple enough so I applied.  I thought I would receive maybe a book or some FQs.  And promptly forgot about it.  Fast forward to January.  Received an email saying to watch for shipment from Island Batik.  ???  Okay.  The next day a HUGE BOX was at my door.  I brought it in and checked the label.  NOT Island Batik.  But definitely my name and address.  The outside of the box said "Accuquilt".  ???  I opened the box!  OH WOW--there is a Go Cutter and accessories!  I know I didn't order it, I know my husband didn't order it!  The packing slip only has my name on it.  What to do?  I called Accuquilt.  Yes, its part of the Island Batik Ambassador program of which they are a partner!  ITS MINE!!  I'd love to show you a picture--but I was so excited I forgot to take a picture when I opened the box.  And I can't get a picture to upload from the internet.  But please click on the link to see what I got--Accuquilt

A few days later another box arrived--

I opened it--

And wonderful things began to spill out!

All kinds of wonderful things, fabrics, Aurifil thread, badges, a scarf--

All different kinds of Hobbs batting!  Thank you Hobbs!  

These are new not released yet fabrics that I can play with but not show you--yet!

So for the next 12 months you will see me posting about using these products.  Thank you Island Batik, Accuquilt, Hobbs, and Aurifil for letting me participate in this fun program!

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

PS--I was given all these wonderful things by Island Batik

Design Wall Monday

Yesterday we loaded the gray child's quilt on the Princess--

I chose a new pantograph for this quilt--Clematis by Jodi Beamish--

 Its a paper pantograph that is quite tight, so I enlarged it with a copy machine, its now about 16", up from 13".  Too dense a quilt pattern is hard to do and sometimes make the quilt hard.  Now this pattern is just right.  All the backtracking is not my favorite thing but I do like how it looks. 

On my sewing machine are these block "parts"--

I also have a finish--

A quilt made by Judy B in Minnesota!  Its a wildlife quilt, there are mallard ducks and hawks in the print.  Judy also had a perfect backing--

 

The running horses is a flannel and perfect match to the front of the quilt.  I quilted it and did the binding--so my contribution was 3/4 yd of brown for the binding!  This will be going to the boys group home.  They love these quilts.  

I'm linking with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Moving it Forward, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.   

No goals this week, just sewing like a wild woman!  

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

RSC Yellow

Yellow is the color for February.  I love yellow!  This week I had fun making Garlic Knot blocks--

 and these

and this one

Not all have yellow, I made them because I loved the colors!  25 Garlic Knot blocks this week, mindless sewing!  How many Garlic Knot blocks do I have--

127!  YAH!!  These went in a Ziploc bag with the note telling how many there are.  I have a project tote where I keep all the precut "parts", mostly backgrounds.  Happy Cheery Yellow!  I'm linking with SoScrappy!  

This week I also did a little cooking--

A Gumbo served over rice.  Think of a Gumbo as a Stew.  It had chicken, sausage, onions, sweet peppers, celery, garlic, a roux, beef broth, stewed tomatoes, okra, and Cajun seasoning.  I added lots of carrots because Ken likes carrots, not usually found in Gumbo.  

And a peach pie for Valentines Day.  Ken likes most any pie!

 

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

Design Wall Monday

These blue Ohio Star blocks are on my wall--

Blue is not my favorite color.  I don't hate it, its just not my favorite.  So decided that maybe a wide variety of blues would help and I used Dee's Ohio Star die to cut a blue/white project.  And I used a wide variety of background whites to add interest (thank you 2Rs for sharing your whites!)  The perfectly cut pieces/corners makes it easy peasy to put these blocks together, perfect for mindless sewing.  

I'm linking with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, and Moving it Forward.  

No goals this week, its going to be busy.  Just SEW SEW SEW SEW!! 

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

RSC Yellow

Yellow!  I love yellow!  So far I've made these blocks--

Maybe more gold than yellow but I only used fabric from the never ending box of pressed FQs and Chunks.  Wait, you've never seen that box!  Here it is--

Its a big heavy box!  Two persons to carry it.  An estimated 125 FQs and Chunks.  These are the "scraps" I have left to cut.  All the smaller pieces I cut before I went to Nebraska.  I plan to cut out of this box as much as possible.  I'm linking with SoScrappy!  

Its been nasty cold.  Last night the furnace for my She Shed was sulky.  I'm not a furnace guru, so I set small electric heaters, one upstairs and one in the basement, until Ken got home from work at 7am.  I knew nothing would freeze that quickly.  He cleared a bit of snow in the outside vent pipe and its working fine again.  We're going to have warmer temps, we will get to single digits for a few days.  Then back to below zero for a couple weeks.  Will spring ever get here?? 

~Lori1R in Nebraska~

Design Wall Monday and Weekly Goals

Not my design wall nor my quilt--

It's Lorri2Rs!  This was a Kevin the Quilter mystery called Sapphire Stars.  2Rs gave it to Dee for QOV.  

Last week we were with Dee in Nebraska for a Scrap Attack Cutting Party.  It was beastly cold weather to travel in -- Polar Vortex --  but we made it.  We brought lots of supplies--

We hauled it in with 2Rs wagon and filled Dee's living room--Dee was happy to see us but a bit overwhelmed by how much we brought.  When we said "Scrap Attack" Dee thought small scraps.  Surprise, we meant chunks and FQs or small yardage!  But we started in cutting and were VERY productive!

I sorted my chunks and FQs on Dee's floor, couch, chairs--wherever there was room.  Pretty soon we were busy slashing our stash--

CHOP CHOP CHOP!!!  Dee has a large dining room table we worked at.  What all did we cut? 

I cut two Log Cabins (1.5" strips) two Log Cabins (2" strips), an Ohio Star, a Churn Dash, and 50 Snail Trail blocks (25 for Shakespeare in the Park).  7 quilts!  2Rs weighed the trimmings--I had 4# of slivers.  We sorted off anything usable and put it in Dee's string box--she has two groups that make string quilts for donation.   We neatly bagged and tagged what we cut.  The Go Cutters made quick work of what we brought.  I could have cut more but really--7 quilts is enough for now.  How much did 2Rs cut?  More than I did--she had 8# of trimmings!  And we mean tiny bits!  I brought home lots of pressed FQs and the never ending box of neutral scraps.  Probably 125 pressed FQs and 8# of neutral scraps (yes we weighed them).  They are going underneath the spare bed, they are pressed flat, I'm not folding them up.  

Weekly Goals--

Put away what came back from Nebraska

SEW SEW SEW SEW

Yes, that's the plans for this week.  Its beastly cold again today.  Good weather to stay inside and sew.  

I'm linking with Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, and Moving it Forward.  

Have a great week!  

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

OMG

This month I want to quilt the Bricks & Stepping Stones quilt--

Its going to be a busy month, but I hope to make some quilting progress. I'm linking with Elm Street Quilts.

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

Design Wall Monday and Weekly Goals

Last night I finished sewing the Red/White 9 Patches together--

Its 66x76", a couple borders is needed to frame all those blocks in.  I'm linking to Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Small Quilts & Doll Quilts, and Moving it Forward.

Weekly Goals--

NONE!!!  This week is the Nebraska Scrap Attack Cutting Party, and I plan to SLASH SLASH SLASH!!!   

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

Rainbow Scrappy Challenge and Motivation Saturday

January's Rainbow Scrappy Challenge Color was RED.  While sorting I pulled some red scraps--

Puss in Corner and Garlic Knot blocks.   Looks like a lot of red, but a quilt needs 100 or more of these blocks.  And who says I can only make one quilt??!!  I had a few other scraps to play with and made these--

No red, but they were fun anyway!  I'm linking with SoScrappy.

How are my goals??

Prep a top to quilt--No

Organize the scraps etc I am taking to the NE Cutting Party--Yes

Sew more of the R/W top together--Yes

We had a busy couple of days this week, Max came to visit--

We picked him up Wednesday night and I took him home on Friday.  This is the first time he stayed with us without his brothers.  It had its ups and downs, he was homesick.  He immediately was back to his sunny self when we packed on Friday morning and he asked to stop at McDonalds for lunch. 

 Today he played outside with his brothers--

He had wild hair afterwards!  Boy we miss him!  

Back to packing for Nebraska!  Are you planning a Scrap Attack?

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

Design Wall Monday, Stash Report, and Weekly Goals

The Red/White Nine patch blocks are still on the wall--

I've sewn more of them together.  Yesterday I made some Garlic Knot blocks-

All week I've been sorting scraps and small pieces of yardage.   The smaller scraps have been turned into this--

At least 300 5" charms and 300 Bricks.  And two heaping mounds of 2.5" squares were added to the squares box--

I also made a "Garlic Knots" kit.

 Ready for mindless piecing!  But all this trimming made a huge pile of trash--

If it was smaller than a 2.5" square I tossed it.  Every stack of fabric has been pulled out, sorting off the small pieces.  This hasn't been done for 3-4 years.  Time for Stash Turnover! 

Stash Report--

I added 6 yards of white to dye for a backing

I finished the doll quilt for 3/4 yd

Stash is ahead by 5.75 yards 

Weekly Goals

Prep a top to quilt

Organize the scraps etc I am taking to the NE Cutting Party

Sew more of the R/W top together

I'm linking to Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Small Quilts & Doll Quilts, and Moving it Forward.

Do you do Scrap Attacks?  How do you deal with scraps?  

~Lori1R in South Dakota~

 

Motivation Friday

Friday, time to check my goals--

Press scraps--YES

Prep a top to quilt--No

Sew on R/W 9 patches--Yes

Most of this week has been spent on Scrap Attack.  Its been at least 3-4 years since I did a major scrap attack.  At the end of the month 2Rs and I are heading to Dee's in Nebraska and we're going to do mass scrap cutting.  Hopefully I will get enough pieces cut for four quilts.  Two Log Cabins, a Snail Trail, and a Shakespeare in the Park.  Maybe a Churn Dash. And cut the rest into strips for future use.  

The mailman has delivered three priority boxes of donation fabric in the last month.  Since it doesn't cost me any $$$, I don't count it in the stash report.  I use lots of fabric in the boy quilts.  Specifically picked for me by a friend, there were kits, FQs, and lots of green fabric!  This week I rinsed and pressed most the FQs.  This takes out all the set in wrinkles, removes the excess dye, and preshrinks the fabric.  Notice I said "rinsed", I did not wash the FQs.  Grouped by color I soaked them in hot tap water, then threw them in the washer on spin to remove excess water.  A short trip in the dryer, then I pressed and starched them flat.  These are laid flat in a large tote to take to Nebraska.  We will be using Accuquilt Go Cutters to turn scraps into quilt kits using a Log Cabin die, a Snail Trail Die, and possibly a Churn Dash die.  I've gone through almost all my scrap boxes and organized what there was.  Smaller pieces have been cut into my favorite usable precut bits.  So far this week I cut 292 - 5" charms, 173 - Bricks (3.5x6.5") and a small mountain of 2.5" squares.  There hasn't been much sewing this week so tonight I sewed up a few blocks for fun--

Six uneven 9 patches or Puss in Corner blocks and two Garlic Knots.  Next I will check the shelves for small pieces of yardage, especially for lights.  More organization is needed before I go.  

I'm linking up for Busy Hands Quilts, Let's Bee Social, Nina Marie, and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.

Do you save your scraps for a Scrap Attack, or do you use them immediately?  Or do you not keep scraps?  

~Lori1R in South Dakota~