Recycle those signs again and update.

I am re-recycling part of an old post.  Right now is the time to replenish your stash of yard signs.  Clean up the landscape and put those signs to good use.

 

Mini-bolts!

  About 4 years ago, I began using the mini-bolts for storage.  When I first  began this, I was using a thin plastic insert.  Later I switched  to using  foam core board.  The foam core  can be purchased at the Dollar Store in the 2 foot by 3 foot size usually.  I cut the size-- that works best for me-- 11" to 12" high by 8" wide.    It's easy to cut with a craft knife.  I often end up with smaller sections of the boards and they work great for shorter cuts--- those under a yard. 

Today, I am even more frugal.....I use old  yard campaign signs or yard signs of any kind that I find....like house for sale, or other advertising.  They get knocked down or the wires rust out.  I collect them, wash them up, and cut  to the size I like.    I'm saving the land fill (if they would ever make it there) and keeping my dollars for fabric and thread.  

 Fabric is folded just like it comes off the bolt.  Then one more fold---bringing the folded side over to match the selvedge edge.  Roll it up and pin the end.  

     The mini-bolts make it easy to see what I have to work with.  I am  known to be pretty messy and scattered, so this really helps me neater.   And what fun to shop your own fabric store in your stash closet.

And one more idea.....portable design boards.  

  I use old yard signs.  This one is the plastic type 

of corrugated sign.  I cut mine to 12'' by 16'', 

along with a layer of batting and muslin about 

 1 1/2'' larger on all sides.    Grab the glue stick......

I use the glue stick for a temporary hold.  Run the glue stick along the edge of the board and fold the fabric over.  Press down with finger tips.

Remember the colorful duct tape?  

I found a good use for it here. 

 Pull off a piece long enough for the side.

  Lay the covered board face down onto the tape.  Put the tape around the edge and press down 

onto the back covering the edge of 

the fabric.   I trimmed the ends 

of the tape so that they were flush with the ends.

 

 Done!  A small work surface that

 easily moves from sewing table 

to ironing board....safely.


  What a time around here......we endured a hurricane, Halloween, and a blue moon,

and a time change.  Sir Old Man had a skin cancer removed from his nose and is 

healing.  One more to go and then we see if he needs the plastic surgery.  

  

                                                      

 I survived the stress level by sewing

 units and rows together......to make a top 

with borders out of the spool blocks!

  This is about 1/4 view of the top.

I had 3 extra spool blocks and hated to throw them into 

the orphan box of blocks.  Instead I used them to

extend the pattern to the outer border by inserting them

when I joined strips.  I also used up all the blue  fabric for 

that border.  
 

  

   

I continued making the hourglass blocks. 

 These are ready to be trimmed up. 

And I sorted, and sorted, and sorted 2'' squares

that I have been throwing into a box!

I have a new assortment of floral 2'' squares

to work with from my cutting block pieces.  

I found some inspiration and think it is time to return

to working with them for a while.  So if I don't

surface for a bit, that is where I will be.  

Happy stitching.  

    

Little progress on the spool blocks

  

  I finally decided I had enough spool blocks.  I am beginning to join the rows.  I did the arrange and re-arrange thing on the design wall, got tired of it, and just began to sew.  When it is so scrappy, you can spend a decade moving things around to make it perfect.  Not happening here..... I just need to see some progress here.

 

    And the leader and ender project continues.   For every 2 blocks I made of the spools, I put together one of the Easy/Breezy blocks.  I have a stack of them already.   So they will continue to be my L/E while I am putting together the hourglass blocks.  

    A few of the hourglass blocks from this week.  Again I am working very scrappy because I am using whatever I find  in my bin.  I will plan my placement a little bit with this in time to get some nice dark pinwheels to appear in the block on point.   

  FYI....I am beginning with 5'' squares sewn on diagonal.  The hourglass block shown here are 4'' unfinished.  

    We took a day trip to NC for apples and stopped for lunch.  Actually, it was the first time to eat out in 7 months!  What a treat!  The fall colors were appearing.    This year of 2020 has altered my perspective of so much.  It was nice to be somewhere other than here for a few hours.   

   

  Days have warmed back up for the next week, night are cool.  I keep checking on the large hickory tree out front.  It has the most glorious golden yellow when our leaves hit the peak.  Otherwise, life is much the same.  

Happy stitching.                                                         

And I found another

   Did you read the post at Cluck Cluck Sew?  Click here for the post and her great tutorial and pattern for an Hourglass project.     I loved the idea to make a set of hour glass blocks each day.  Keep it easy, make it fun.  It reminded me of the Quilty 365 Circles project from a few years ago, which I really enjoyed making.  So I thought I could add it to the list of on-going projects.  

  And then I discovered these large HST units!  A large stack already begun for a similar pattern.   They will be easy enough to turn into hourglass blocks.  

   All of the units, pattern sheets, and a stack of paired squares ready to sew went into another bin.   It seems you can never have enough of those bins.   I need to decide or figure out how I want to proceed, which pattern to go on with.  The choice is between   the Scrappy Pinwheel idea or the hourglass a day idea.  

   I will figure out which by the time the spool blocks are finished up.  

To up-date the vision eye problem .  I tried to reply to all who commented, but in case I missed you.  The doctor did several scans, and such on both eyes.  What I thought was the "good eye" now is showing damage to the retina from the lack of B-12 from 4 years ago.  The optic nerve appears stable with no damage, but a small cataract is growing.  So that leaves me in a wait and see mode.  I return in 4 months.    In the meantime, I am adjusting and finding ways to compensate for the blurry and often triple vision aspect of it all.  

  It takes intense concentration to do most things, like read a recipe.  For dinner last night I made a new recipe and glanced at the time and temp.  I saw "200 minutes at 3500 degrees".......a tilt of the head and a second look corrected that.  So it is what it is.....please bear with me when I rant.  Otherwise, life is good.  Happy stitching.    

Hourglass leader/ender units

  Like the rest of those doing the Quiltville Mystery 2017, I began pulling fabric.    I ran across this fabric in a bin that I had intended to do as a bargello.  It has a very similar color palette, maybe just a bit more red than orange.  I will put it in the coral stack and see if it works.






    I found a lot of scraps for the blue/aqua/turquoise.  My pile runs the gamut from light to darker tones......it will depend on the placement as to what will work best in the mystery quilt.




  I'm not going to photo share all my scraps as many are just strips and chunks, not good FQ size.  I can always add or pick up extra as I go along.    And I am still debating on the brown....chocolate I love but have little of in the stash.  And then I ran across this color palette on Clever Chameleon.  A very similar color set....with the addition of purple.  I am wondering if the brown could be shifted to plum and burgundy. 

This is not a race, but lessons in cutting, accuracy, and following directions.  LOL.....not the best in any of those areas now, so let the mystery happen to me.


   What I really wanted to do this weekend was get the Double 4 Patch together and pressed.  I have one more row to go and it will be ready to join the 2 sections I have created.  I mentioned that along the way I was working on another type of leader and ender.

  So here is a tip/trick I picked up when trimming HSTs---or in this case hourglass units.   Once you have sewn on the diagonal lines and cut the sections apart, trim before you press open.  I marked a ruler using painter's tape to point to the line I want to line up with the sewn seam line.   That is the sewn seam line, not the cut edge of the fabric.  You can see my cut edge is wobbly.....but the seam line is straight.  I line up the marked line on the sewn line , and the vertical arrows on this ruler are perfect for keeping the hourglass blocks straight.  Then I  trim the HST before pressing  open.....as the block in the upper left corner.



   My hourglass blocks are ending up at 3 1/2'' unfinished.  I started with 4 1/2'' square or larger.  I say that because I am clearing out a mixed up blend of extra squares, unused squares, charm squares.....any square leftover or not used that is 4 1/2'' or more.  I will just stack these up for now, either intending them for a border---I think they would look good just strung together---or turn them into block units.

Along the way, I pulled out my old iron for pressing.  It is a Light n' Easy from about 1985....lol.  And it is much lighter that my Rowenta.  My wrist and hands have been so painful and sore with the season change, I knew I could not use the larger iron.   Maybe older is better for me.
Happy stitching.