I’ve been working on a small quilt for the swap hosted by Lori of Humble Quilts. I started with this:
But it was lacking. So I decided to add more and got to this.
Better, but I’m still not in love with it. It seems too simple, too predictable, too……something. Or maybe not enough…….
While sewing these together, I started using the small scrappy squares as leaders and enders.
I am making little 16 patches like the one you see here. Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts.
I have a large enamelware container that I have been throwing all my little civil war repro scraps in for my paper pieced log cabin blocks. Now that I have finished these blocks, it was time to deal with that overflowing container. I think it looks worse than when I started! Clearly my 64 log cabin blocks didn’t make a dent!
Last night, I decided it was time to get to work on this mess. These are all quite small pieces. So I pulled some small dies out for my die cutter and went to work. I have an idea for a quilt using small rectangles so I used this die with the bigger scraps.
And ended up with these.
I also needed 1 1/2″ squares for a project so I used this die on the smaller scraps.
And got these.
I may even use these as leaders/enders. I had quite a few very skinny strips that I hated to throw out so I pressed them and put them here for a future paper piecing project.
These are all about an inch wide or less. Crazy, I know. Again, I have an idea for for these.
And now that container? It’s empty! I did throw out all the scraps from cutting the pieces shown above. It’s amazing how much less space this all takes up!
I have another overflowing basket of civil war scraps that I need to tackle but that has much bigger pieces. It will wait for another day.
A while back, hubby brought home these snap together containers. They are perfect for storing precut scraps like those I created last night.
Have a scraptastic a Tuesday!
Linking up with Free Motion By the River.
We had a gorgeous weekend here weather wise! My outdoor sewing room worked out so well! 
The enamel pan to the left holds my scraps. I put the tray on top to keep my pretty scraps from flying away in the breeze. The one on the right served as my trash bin.
I finished the last 9 blocks that I needed. Here they are on the design wall.
These proved to be a perfect piecing project for working with the hand crank. Here is my stack of 64 finished blocks. They will finish at 4 inches.
Between loads of laundry today, I plan to play with designs on EQ7.
I mentioned our gorgeous weather this weekend but in the midst of that, we did experience an earthquake. But we are tough people here in Michigan as shown by this post from Facebook.
Have a great day! Linking up with Patchwork Times.
A little bit different slow stitching today:
I am working on my paper pieced log cabin blocks on the deck with one of my hand crank machines. This is a a singer Model 99 and it dates to the 1930’s. Here is my first block of the day.
Back to work!
Where does time go? It whizzes by impossibly fast. Here it is already time to take a look at what I accomplished (or didn’t) this past month. My April goals:
1. First off is to finish the last QOV top that I have at home. I hope to have this one done this week. DONE! And I quilted 7 more tops for the Stitching Sisters group. Here they are all in one place for my own records. Scroll on by since you have already seen them!
2. I want to make 6 more Sawtooth Star blocks. This feels like a winter quilt to me so I may end up putting it away instead! Done! And I did put it away for a while after that!
3. 25 more City Sampler blocks. Done! Actually, I only made 23 more blocks but I finished the entire quilt!
4. 13 4″ paper pieced blocks. Ideally, I would like to have this pieced, quilted, and finished. But I will settle for just having the blocks done. Not done. I made a few. 
5. I have a lovely FQ bundle of Betty Dear fabrics given to me by Daughter #1 for Christmas. They just say spring to me! And I have a couple ideas of how I want to use them. First, for my plan to work, I need to find coordinating solids. So for this month, I really just want to get the fabric in hand and pieces cut. This will be a large quilt. Not done. I have the red and white that I need but not the yellow or blue and no cutting has been done.
6. Quilt the Metropolitan Fair Churn Dash quilt. I have been putting this on my list forever. It is time to just make a decision on the quilting and get it done already! Still not done.
So what else did I get done this month?
A small quilt for my coffee table.
A small quilt made from vintage fabrics.
The April challenge quilt for the Small Quilt Talk group.
And now some goals for May.
1. The SQT group challenge for the Month is to make a Log Cabin quilt. I think that makes it a perfect time to finally finish these 4″ blocks and make the quilt already!
2. I also signed up for the small quilt swap being hosted by Lori over at Humble Quilts so I need to get something made for that. I have been toying with a few ideas and made a few HSTs before work yesterday morning.
3. I want to get this Quilt of Valor completely finished. I have a recipient in mind and time is of the essence!
3. I would like to make a baby quilt for a gift from this fabric. If I run out of time, I have another baby quilt already made that I can give.
4. In pondering the SQT Log Cabin challenge, I remembered this vintage top that Mr. Wonderful gave me for Christmas in 2013. I would love to quilt this up this month as well.
5. I also have these lovely Amy Butler strips patiently waiting to be pieced into blocks.
6. I signed up to do a Pay It Forward gift on Instagram. I would like to get those packages together and sent this month as well.
Instagram is a fun way to follow quilters. It takes less time than reading blogs as you are just scrolling through pictures with only a line or two of text to go with them. Daughter #2 suggested to me last summer to have a separate IG account just for quilting and it was a fabulous idea! Until then, I really only used it for family and I keep that IG account private. But my quilting IG account is public and I have found so much inspiration there. My user name there is katyquilts if you would like to follow me. I try not to post the exact same things on both my blog and IG. IG shows more “in progress” quilts.
Linking up with Lily’s Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day and Sew Can She for Show Off Saturday.
I have two Quilt of Valor finishes to share today. These were both pieced by members of the Stitching Sisters QOV group. They will go back to them for binding, labeling, and presenting. This lovely star quilt was made by Susan.
I used a panto on this called All That Jazz.
This next one was a group effort.
This one was custom quilted with ruler work, templates and freehand quilting. It took almost three times longer to quilt than the star quilt done with a pantograph but I think for a medallion quilt, it was the right way to go.
I have one more QOV that I finished a few weeks back and had forgotten to share here.
This was quilted with a panto called Cool Beans.
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts, Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
I’ve been working away on Quilts of Valor this week and will share a couple of those finishes tomorrow. Today I will share a couple quilts made before my blogging days. The first one is hand quilted so you know it’s old!
And yes, that one patch was intentional. I usually hang this so it is in one of the bottom corners. I get a twisted pleasure out of watching people when they notice it, somewhat afraid to ask if I realize I did that or not.
This next one was mostly hand appliquéd. It was machine quilted on my 1955 Singer Model 201.
You can see here why I stay away from applique!
My piecing skills are better.
I like to think of this as folk art :).
Have a great day! Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation.
I finally finished the last few hourglass blocks needed for this QOV top. They are not sewn together yet.
I also got the next QOV top loaded into the frame.
I would love to get this one done before I hand off my stack of finished ones tomorrow but it isn’t looking likely.
I signed up for the small quilt swap over at Humble Quilts. I have had a look through these two well loved books and I think I know what I want to do.
Time to get something done before work today. Linking up with Freshly Pieced and Sew Fresh Quilts.
I spent time arranging my oldest quilts on my ladder yesterday. Our foyer is two stories tall and has the stairway in it. I was able to tilt the ten foot ladder towards the first landing to place the quilts in the top rungs. It is difficult to get good pictures in this tight space but here goes.
I covered each rung with old cotton dish towels so the quilts would not be in direct contact with the wood. It took longer than I thought to arrange and fold to size each quilt but I am so pleased with how it turned out!
Linking up with Free Motion by the River.
I had a lovely weekend with the family that lives here in town. And yesterday I got a bit of sewing done as well. Have you seen the One Hour Baskets everyone seems to be making? KelbySews has offered a free tutorial and you can find all the details here. It is a great pattern, very easy to follow. Here is my version.
This will be part of a gift. The pattern called for fusible fleece but I didn’t have any so I quilted the outer layer using Warm and White batting. So mine took a bit longer than an hour. I am trying to figure out how to modify this pattern to make bigger baskets. I used canvas for the exterior and the lining.
In other non-news, I have the same QOV on my design wall this week.
I’m hoping I can at least finish the hourglass blocks for this today. I am also trying to decide how to quilt this next QOV. Isn’t it lovely?
Saturday we went to a bunch of area garage sales. I found something I have wanted for a long time, a vintage ladder to hang quilts on for the princely sum of $5!
It is ten feet long and this looks like the only place it will fit without cutting it down! I am loathe to do that. I will cover the rungs with muslin to keep the quilts from direct contact with the wood. I love that it has the makers name stenciled on the side.
It is in a good place to keep the quilts out of direct sunlight.
I have an extra day of work this week and am planning a trip home to visit my parents next week. That means I have a lot to get done today so I best get to it. Hope your week starts out wonderfully!
Linking up with Patchwork Times.
KatyQuilts 