Bookmarks

No, no quilts to share this weekend. There's a very good reason. We spent the past week with two of our grandkiddies while their parents took a vacation on the coast of Oregon (which, from their photos, was pretty amazing with lots of blue sky and sunshine). We got to take the kids to their sports (basketball game and volleyball practice) and play some raucous indoor scavenger hunt games, and we even got outside on an almost-spring day for some frisbee throwing, batting practice and scooter riding. The kids have grown up so much in the two years that we have been mostly apart that taking care of them 24/7 was a breeze. They had off from school on Monday, so L and I spent a little time with a sewing project inspired by a bookmark that Bernie from Needle and Foot sent me a couple of years ago.

It was just the right project for a young sewist. Just challenging enough (all that corner turning) but quick enough to maintain interest. She did all of the sewing and most of the turning herself. In the photo she is sewing her own bookmark. Do you see the pink one off to the left? That's the one Bernie sent me. 

Here are all the ones L made on Monday.

The ones with the black flower print background are for her and five of her friends, the baseball one is for her brother (both have scraps from pillowcases I made them last year), the coral one is for her other grandma, and the black and red is for her mother. That one is from scraps of a vest I made for her mother nearly 30 years ago. About time I used those scraps!! The orange dots are from L's baby quilt and bed quilt. 

This was a fun project. I wanted L to focus on the sewing, so I prepped the bookmarks before I left home by cutting the fabric squares and pressing on the interfacing. The whole project fit into my Singer Featherweight case for easy transport. I don't know who the originator of these bookmarks is--there are tutorials all over the internet, but they are a great project. Even if much of our reading is on a device of some sort, there are still enough paper books around for them to be useful. So thanks to whoever invented them!

I'm linking up today with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework. 

I hope you have a chance to sew sometimes with a little. It's such a treat.

The Turquoise Bin

I finished my projects for Rainbow Scrap Challenge (hosted by Angela at So Scrappy) early this month, all because the backing fabric I had ordered for two quilts took its time getting here. So let's look at turquoise.

First, I made four more blocks for 52 Weeks of Scrappy Triangles (pattern by Leila Gardunia).

If you want to see the rest of the blocks, just click on the label on the right side bar or at the bottom of this post. I guess I'm on week 60? I'm still following the RSC colors for this, but next month might be the last before I break out on my own and just make all the rest of the blocks. After I get the Confetti quilt finished I'll be eager to finish this one.

Next, I made another quilt-as-you-go strip-pieced placemat. 

If I had been paying attention, I would have positioned those two center strips a little differently. Oh well. These aren't meant to be works of art. I'm just using up old strips. 

I found a piece of aqua for the backing.

It looks kind of solid here, but there's a little light figure in it. I had four (!) solid turquoises to choose from for the binding. More fabric out of the way. This placemat looks quite different from last month's red one. That did not have as much variation in value. I like them both, though, and am looking forward to using more strips this way throughout the year. This placemat is 14 by 18 inches. And the batting is Hobbs 80/20, I think. 

I got kind of carried away with the adding machine tape foundation piecing this month, but I was still waiting for my quilt backing to arrive, so I just kept sewing. Altogether about 20 feet of turquoise scraps!

I was going to sew one long strip, but that was a bit unwieldy. I cut the strips about as long as my sewing table. The colors are more vibrant than you see here. Winter light is tricky for indoor photos. It's either dark (snowing) or way too bright if the day is sunny, and you have a lot of snow (we do). 

It took two cones to roll these strips this month. I'm so glad I have a use for these old cones.

Sheesh. More bad lighting, but that's the way it is.

And now, drum roll, please. This is all I have left of turquoise print scraps. My bin is pretty much empty.

I could have cut these up for the adding machine tape, but they are big enough and versatile enough to easily use in other projects. 

I made more Bear Paws with solids, focusing on turquoise scraps. The solids bin is overflowing, but we'll not think about that right now. 

Still mulling over how that print will come into play. I do have another idea bouncing around, but there will be lots of time to figure it all out. 

Then, just when I got all of this done, my fabric arrived after a long trip through all kinds of nasty weather. It is not as vibrant as the last batch I ordered of this print.

See how the lower piece has more punch? Not a problem as I didn't plan to use the old piece in the backing, but that's interesting isn't it? It doesn't say that this is a digital print, but it is a print that can be ordered with custom scaling, so maybe? I was a little disappointed, but the lighter print is fine for these quilts. I did get both Confetti quilts (Rachel Hauser pattern) basted this week and am about 3/4 done with the quilting on one of them. I'm doing my "Piedmont" walking foot quilting, which is so fun, but there is a lot of thread burying in the evenings. That's okay. It's cold here, so having a quilt to work on in my lap is cozy. Here's a peek at my progress. 

I think those confetti bits are going to look like they're swirling around in a breeze.

I'm linking up with Angela at So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap on Sunday. 

Next time you see a post from me, I hope I'll have a pair of quilts to share....Until then, have fun with your scraps and rainbows or whatever else strikes your fancy.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)