The Bella: My Helper

Here's my Bella. Sometimes she is my sewing room shadow. She loves to play with the tiniest pieces of fabric; to cover up her toy ponies, or to lay out her own blocks. Sometimes she also loves to cut apart my chains of piecing; stacking them up neatly on the ironing board for me, too!

And then, sometimes she just like to hang out with me. Which is just fine with this Momma, I enjoy her company.

Bella being a caterpillar, NOT a worm.

And now for something completely different!

Here's a shot of the backing I pieced together for the UFO top in the last post. I used the leftover scraps from the main blocks to sew up some scrappy blocks for the back! Hardly wasted any fabric! I just love scrappy.

The larger pieces of pink on the sides was the last of a gifted bolt of fabric. I've used it in tote linings and quilt backs and now all that is left are some chunks and crumbs. To me, a chunk is anything smaller than a fat quarter and a crumb is anything bigger than a quarter (the coin) but smaller than say, my hand. I know, some people think it's nuts to save those pieces, but I love them!

In fact, I just spied a cool crumb paper-piecing pattern on Quiltville that I want to try. Bonnie Hunter drafted up a block in EQ software. Since I don't have EQ, I dug out my graph paper and ruler and came up with a block of my own to use my crumbs. (Now I'm regretting having shipped most of my crumbs to TX! agh!

But, here's a picture of my crumb bin before. It was crammed full and shoved in; just packed to the gills. My DD loves to play with these little pieces, too. I only saved a handful or two from shipment to work with until I move. Ah well, every project makes crumbs and chunks, so I'm sure I will have more in no time.

Here's the block I drew up.

 These should finish at 4 inches. I'm still playing with the inside and the color pattern, so stay tuned!

UFO top done, and I love it!

I finished sewing the last outer border on this sweet UFO top today. I just love the pastel colors of it, it reminds me of Easter and Spring. The little four-patches started as leftovers from another project and they languished on my UFO pile for over a year. I've been inspired by some of my favorite bloggers to get stuff finished up and outta here!
I did make a measurement error when I was trying to do the pieced border of hourglass units. My husband suggested the spacers that are in the middle of each of those borders. Not exactly what I wanted, but I already had all those units made up and didn't want partials in that border. And really, I don't think they are too noticeable. (Except that I just pointed them out to you!)

Triangles and I have some work to do with each other still. They are not my best skill.

Homemade laundry soap

I've been using this homemade laundry soap for a few months now. I absolutely love it! I found the recipe on this blog: http://whynotsew.blogspot.com. Check out that blog for the full recipe and instructions, its' pretty cool!

I've been using Irish Spring bar soap, since that's what I had on hand. I store my finished soap in half gallon mason jars. It looks very pretty in the jars, sitting above my dryer and I am quite proud of myself for making something at home that is so basic, yet necessary.

One of my monsters helping grate the soap!

The blog suggests using 1/2 cup per wash load, but since we have a rather large washing machine, I have started using closer to 3/4 cup each time. There are MAYBE a few suds in each load and the smell is not very strong. I never understood the appeal of laundry that was so smell-good anyway. On top of perfume, deodorant, hair products, and lotions, I don't know why we have to have laundry that smells, too. Just sounds like a migraine waiting to happen!

My hubby was all for saving some money by using this soap. At first, I needed his muscles to pick up the pot and pour it into the jars for me. But an edit in the blog mentioned above says she is just leaving her soap in the pot after it cooks, instead of messing with the jars. I'm gonna start doing that, too, since it saves a step and some hassle.

This was my first batch and my DH. I tried to melt the soap in the pot, before adding the water and it turned the batch  brown. The next batch was a pretty shade of Irish Spring green!

 On the sewing front, I've been making progress on the sweet pink UFO top. I will be finishing the last outer border today and I will post a picture of it later today. Then, I get to move on to another UFO from my basket! Feels so great to get something finished! I'm usually a 'topper', since my machine and space can't really handle machine quilting outside of some basic straight lines. I used to laugh at the idea of someone who didn't finish their own quilts! ah well....

Look, Look! I'm so excited!

This is the pieced border that I made for this cute little top. I love it! Now, I'm going to add a final simple strip border along the edge. But what color should I use? It will be a print, as I do not have a lot of solids in my stash. (I am also strictly 'nothing new' in the fabric department, until after we move.) I'm thinking purple......

I love the soft colors of this top and the scrappy-ness! I just love a scrappy quilt.

OK, I'll post when I get the last border attached. Then, off it will go to my quilter!!! I think I have a person in mind for this one, too. I met her recently here in Valdosta; she is a displaced Texan just like me and expecting a baby girl soon.

First Moving Day

We sent out our first shipment of stuff last week. Wow! Why do we have so much stuff?! Sorting through the house for the last few weeks and talking with DH and the kids about what we can live without for a few months got me to thinking. If we don't NEED it for a while, why do we have it in the first place? Ah well.

Here's the huge truck the crew came with to pack up our stuff.

Four very nice gentlemen came with and took no time at all wrapping, hauling and arranging our shipment into this big truck. And look at this!!

It's a Ward truck!! lol! Too cute.

So, now we have empty rooms in the house. This is just fine and dandy for me. Less to clean!!! :)

Little UFO top

This top started out as leftovers. I am really enjoying putting it together and watching it grow.

Here is a sneak peek of the pretty fabric I chose for the setting triangles. I love it because it is colorful but not overpowering or too busy. Normally I would have gone for a solid or tone-on-tone for these triangles, but this one worked out really well. I'm trying to use up some stash before our big move and I don't want to have to send my fabric to storage. It's been a lot of fun to really dig into my piles and see what is in there!

Getting ready for a move

This is seriously no fun at all. I don't know why we have all this STUFF! And I am a chronic anti-packrat. It drives my DH crazy. I had to make him a promise that I wouldn't get rid of anything else that was his. :)

Here's a picture of my living room today. We are trying to get most of the stuff for this shipment in one location, since we aren't sending everything at once. This is about half the weight of what we are sending. Trying to pack up part of your life and plan on what you will need for an unknown amount of time is a big tiring on the mind.

The kids are being surprisingly good about this whole thing. The idea of being parted from toys for up to six months doesn't seem to bother them that much and I am impressed! I haven't had to bribe or cajole or threaten or anything.

We got quite a lot sorted and taken care of today! And with that I am off to work on my UFO pile! That little pink, purple and green UFO top is coming along nicely! I am having fun with the borders and will post more on it soon!

Have a great Saturday!

Earth Worm Rescue!

After the big rains over the weekend, we took a walk to see the swollen creek down the road. On the way, we kept stepping over earth worms that had washed across the road. Some were even still alive! My kids took great pleasure in gently picking up the worms and putting them in the grass and dirt by the road. They must have saved six or so worms!! We live on a relatively quiet country road and we enjoy a walk-about on a regular basis.

 Of course my kitty, d'Artagnan, had to follow us down the road, too. (Yes, he's named after one of the Musketeers.)He was yowling at me the entire time, like he was worried about us or something. Sometimes he is extra talkative and other times he won't have anything to do with me. I love the way he will follow us on our walks, just like a loyal dog.

 Just down the road is this little creek. It easily overflows its banks after a big rain and the kid like to toss in pine straw and sticks to watch them swirl around and away.

Little strings

After trimming up those cute, wonky framed four-patches, I had this pile of slender, short strings leftover. A string being any piece of fabric that is at least 3/4" wide and probably tapered along the length. Well, I saw this pile and just didn't want to throw it away!

So, I started to sew them together! I have a few little blocks made up, that will go nicely in a pieced backing for one of those UFO tops I made. A little bit of fabric really goes a long way.

I love the bright colors and the crazy shapes. And I love that I saved this fabric from the trash!

Is that a UFO?!

Time to dig out the UFO's from my sewing room and get back to work on them! I finished this simple and scrappy top this week and am working on another similar one. The squares were leftover from another project, so I made them into four-patches, added some sashings and viola, two cute tops.

Here's the first top:

My original layout was too simple and I started to really not like the plain, pink squares. So, I added some machine appliqued circles. They came out slightly puckered and I'm wondering if that is because the pink fabric is so thin?
I'm starting to put the second top together this morning and have decided to go with an on-point setting. Using the measurements on Bonnie Hunter's webpage, I am going to cut some side and corner triangles. Here's a link to the chart Bonnie so generously provided! http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/on-point-quilts.html

Now, which fabric to use for the setting triangles? And, with this layout, I'll need to make one more block to finish off that bottom corner. I tried for a wonky frame on these and learned something. You have to flip some of the blocks over and cut them from the back side, or else all of them turn out to be 'leaning' the same way when you slice up the sashings/frames.

I've recently discovered that I work best and am much happier when I am working on more than one project at a time. I get bored quickly with large on-going projects and will get up to stretch and just wander off and not return! So, I started keeping another piecing project on-hand to use as a leader/ender. In between the UFO's pieces, I am piecing on the latest mystery from Bonnie Hunter, Orca Bay. Such a beautiful quilt in the end, but boy-oh-boy, are there a lot of pieces! Not sure I am even half way done with Orca Bay. I tried to keep up with the cutting as Bonnie posted the steps during New Year's, with some piecing in between. My favorite part of this mystery was definitely the string blocks. I'll make a separate post about that quilt later. I'll leave you with a quick pic of my UFO in the machine and some tiny Orca Bay subunits ready to go in next.