TIGER Baby Quilt

Every disaster movie starts with the government ignoring a scientist.

Quilting

If you follow my posts, you realize I often create baby quilts in series which frequently use leftover blocks and scraps/offcuts from larger ones. Not that I ever tell parents this. People who don't quilt think scraps mean roadkill or something! We know the fabric is still in the $10-15/yard range. 

Once I made a series of Lone Stars; I still have some ideas about that. They started with lots of WOF strips that were hanging around. 

The Word series began from the idea of traditional four block quilts - those lovely, large (usually appliquéd) blocks that fill the entire bed. I could make them smaller for babies and instead of appliqué, use the alphabet because... four-letter words. Wordle uses five-letter words. That made me wonder how many four-letter words are suitable for babies. LOVE came first; eventually a list developed. Not all have been used but I'm running out of Coin sets - only a few left in the scrap bag. 

Combining the last few sets, a yellow and purple group emerged… because my youngest is an LSU grad and surely one of his friends would like a baby quilt in these colors. 

The next step was to find a pertinent four-letter word. Unlike his Arkansas brother, all the words were three or five letters: Geaux, Tiger, LSU. Rats. Eventually I realized the “I” could be altered to take less space. A capital I runs into the letter T but the lower case i solved the problem.

TiGER baby quilt

The purple print was purchased at the closing of my LQS but, as usual, it needed to be widened a bit. Two strips of yellow turned up in a search through my stash. 

Choosing the plainer one finished the back. Then it was spiral quilted and bound with the last of another purple print. 

We’ll see who gets it. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44” x 44”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: yellow Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with a walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Reading

The Black Angels are trained black nurses, mainly from the South, who moved to NY to escape the worst of Jim Crow. There was no cure for TB. Staff members risked becoming patients themselves. With plentiful easier positions available, white nurses quit and/or refused to work at tuberculosis clinics. The authorities advertised down South, promising the women could gain RN status after a few years. 

Cures for TB were not found until after WWII.

Enjoy the day, Ann

REST Baby Quilt

Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts. 

~E.B. White

 Quilting

The previous quilt used the medium green sets but there's still a bunch of dark green ones. They only seem to work with these dark browns. I like the combination although it's pretty old-fashioned. My stash also contained these pastel tan and green solids. That's how this quilt came about. 

The back came from a LQS closing sale. While it's exciting to get the fabric so cheaply, it means fewer choices in the future. I have trouble getting fabrics I really like online - either the colors are off or the fabric itself doesn't have a nice hand.  

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44” x 44”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose Cotton

Thread: green Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with a walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

REST also goes to friends of my youngest. 

Reading

Who remembers Orange Guy's terrible response to the Covid-19 outbreak that led to one of the worst outcomes in any country? Nightmare Scenario was written shortly after the end of his term but I only read it now. What a reminder of horrible actions or lack of actions. Who else recalls that Orange Guy got Covid and then got experimental treatments that were unavailable to regular citizens. So many people died unnecessarily.

Enjoy the day, Ann

SING Quilt

The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us.

~Alexandra Elle

Quilting

Tucked in a bag of scraps are several Coin sets in a variety of colors. I actually remember making these a couple of years ago. Now’s the time to use them in some smaller quilts. First up are the red and white leftovers from the Arkansas series and someone I know could use this.

SING quilt

The red and white look festive; the black and white binding reminds me of piano keys. Once I remembered it was in my stash, the choices below just couldn’t cut the mustard. The red and white stripe looks pink at a distance and the red blends into the background. 

The back is a lovely floral widened with {almost} the last of the red Coins.

Back of SING quilt

It’s almost ready to show to my friend. We’ll see what he thinks. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 45” x 45”

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose Cotton 

Thread: white Superior Masterpiece cotton

Quilting: spiral with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Reading

 After reading a review of Impossible Creatures I pre-ordered the book for my oldest grandchildren and another for myself.  Written for middle schoolers up, it’s a delightful read for adults, too. I’m already anticipating the sequel.

 

While visiting his grandfather Christopher discovers he guards the portal between earth and the Archipelago, the place where all magical creatures live as well as the source of Glimourie. Christopher joins forces with Mal, a girl from the Archipelago, in a desperate race to save them - and earth - from extinction. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Bramble Blooms 1 Quilted

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

~William Arthur Ward

Quilting

How grateful I am to Audrey for hosting the Bramble Blooms QAL. Having done one myself I know how challenging it is to plan for students with varied skills, to explain each step, to answer questions, and to simply get it all together. I adore applique but don't do much so this QAL was the prompt I needed to try it again. Thank you, Audrey!

Not only that, but I used many of the last color group in my old stash - pink/coral/orange. Most other colors are seriously depleted; I can purchase some new fabrics {although I'm trying to be more selective.} What was that acronym? SABLE? No longer a problem for me... as long as I don't go wild replacing it.

Another part of my plan to use everything is to try to finish each quilt as it's made. This was a bit difficult with the Jane Sassaman workshop one month and a visit by Sujata Shah the next. 

Sujata stayed with me before speaking to out guild. We became friends in California; it was delightful to have her visit here. Lots of time to chat, sew, share ideas, and cook.

Here's the final quilt with a more restrained color scheme. 

Bramble Blooms #1 QAL

The first border is leftovers - Coins and wonky stars. Not exactly what Audrey suggested but they turned up and fit better than anything else.

The second border uses QSTs of a variety of coral/pinks and whites. It's stitched-in-the-ditch along the edges then I came back and sewed a diagonal from point to point. The white strips on either side came from an old shirt. 

The center area is spiral quilted. I purchased two-and-a-half yards of pink for the back - a privilege since most of my fabrics are used up {or in the stack for BB2 & 3.} 

Years ago I quit putting labels on the back. Even with archival ink, too many of them faded over the years. My sister offered to embroider some but I usually prefer to free-motion sew my name and date using a narrow zig-zag. You can hardly see it since I usually match the thread to the fabric; however, that green shows up on the back so people know it's there. 

I intended this narrow red and white stripe for multiple bindings but it sat in my stash for years. Because it's so narrow, the fabric looks pink against red borders. Since this border has reds, corals, and pinks, this was the place to use it. Only three more yards left. Haha. 

Finally, here's a visual review of the outer border. As you can see I have a plethora of crossroad blocks. I pulled many colors for the first attempt but decided it took attention from the center. 

Next I pulled all the  "dark" and"blue" backgrounds out. This version is quieter but still too loud {IMO.}

Looking back at the first photo, you can see I pulled more blue and dark X's out. The finish suits me but that doesn't mean it's what you would choose. Isn't it great that we can all follow our own tastes. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 59" x 59"

Design: Medallion with applique center based on Bramble Blooms QAL

Batting: Mountain Mist Cotton

Thread: Superior pink, yellow, and white cotton threads

Quilting: Walking foot and free motion

Approximate yardage: 7 yds

Prevous posts:

1. Pulling fabric and starting center background

2. Adding flowers to the center of the medallion

3. Continuing center flowers

4. Center finished

5. Border ideas

6. Pulling leftovers for the first border

7. Choosing the zig-zag border

8. Crossroads border

Enjoy the day, Ann

Love Two

The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change, until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.

~R. D. Laing

Quilting

The mockup should have helped... and it did in a way. The print/solid combinations are not what I might have chosen otherwise. But the final version is still a surprise. That L looks quite bold. White may be a mistake but I pushed on quilting it instead of setting it aside to marinate like Audrey wisely does. 

LOVE2 baby quilt

Many things stay the same through the "Word series". Spiral quilting; narrow border; similar size; all the various words we use with babies. {Oh, my. Word Series and World Series. Only funny to baseball fans. }

Here's a closeup of those two shot cottons. The pinky-red makes a good background for the white L and the purple border ties everything together. And I'm sure you noticed the backing is the very last {I promise} of the Kaffe fabric that is a skirt and the back of a previous baby quilt. 

The binding is more of the coral-with-arrows so now one of those two pieces is used up. That makes room for more wonderful things. It was hard at first to use my "best" fabrics but the more I do, the easier it becomes. There will be more fabric in stores and I feel free to purchase whatever interests me.

I'm unsure if I'll give this quilt away now or keep it to see what I can do about the white L. So frustrating. Any suggestions?

Quilt Specifics

Size: 46" x 46"

Design: Coin or String quilt

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Premium Natural Cotton

Thread: YLI cotton thread in blue

Quilting: Spiral with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 5.5 yds

Previous post: Reprising Love

Reading

Bridge to the Sun relates the actions of Japanese Americans in World War II. Not the famed 442nd who fought in Europe, but the Nisei who worked as translators and interrogators in the Pacific theater. Their ability to read formal, informal, and casual Japanese script saved Allied lives. Many of these soldiers volunteered for combat, even more dangerous for them because of the risk of capture by the Japanese as well as the risk of being mistakenly shot by Allied troops. I'd heard of the Navaho code talkers but didn't realize the debt we also owe to Japanese Americans.

One section of the book covered an area where my father fought, something I've rarely read about and that he never discussed with me. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Reprising LOVE

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Quilting

Sewing a back for the Optical Illusion was the alleged task but all these scraps are scattered around my sewing area. Although I started to simply push them into the scrap bag, they insisted I pull out more material for a front instead.

I said I wouldn't repeat any words but Love is the greatest thing of all... and I wanted to make one with a different V.  I'm truly running out of fabric (hooray!) but there are these two shot cottons that have been saved way too long because they are so "precious." Who am I saving them for? If I don't get busy, they will end up in an estate sale. So, I set them down to see how to use them today.

Mock up of LOVE2 baby quilt

Reading

Like Alexander Hamilton, everyone knows his name; however, no one knows what happened to him after the Revolution. When John Adams went to Europe before the war, people were excited to meet him until they realized he wasn't his cousin, Samuel. Stacy Schiff researches meticulously. The book is filled with information - names, dates, events, speeches, diaries, and articles; more difficult because always Samuel moved in the background and regularly burned his correspondence. 

It took me several weeks to finish but was well worth the effort. I wonder what Lin Manuel Miranda would have made of this had he taken it to the beach instead of Ron Chernow's book?

Enjoy the day, Ann

Optical Illusion 2 Top

Obsession is a substitute for talent.

~Steven Martin

Quilting

Perhaps my repetition of specific ideas is a form of obsession but I prefer to consider it working all the angles. 

The result is better than expected - despite using only scraps. The design pulls the white center into a slightly curved shape and the subsequent rows and sashing enhance the effect. The blue corner has the best value progression. The corals (lower right) jump a bit more than ideal but I love the colors. As stated, I used fabric on hand, mostly from the scrap bin although some was pulled from my stash {which was already pretty depleted.} Remember how I worried that the sashing would disappear? It turned out a delight. 

The remainder of that original yard of fabric makes the outer border. Another choice of which I was originally uncertain. Finally I realized it could be cut and removed if it didn't work. It's not like I've never wasted fabric before. No seam ripping here!

Now to quilt it. 

Reading

How have I missed reading Firoozeh Dumas all these years? Her humorous stories comparing her Persian heritage with California life illuminate our universal human condition. Her stories of life with her extended family remind me of Erma Bombeck. She had a column in our paper when I was growing up. Who else remembers her? 

Enjoy the day, Ann

A Second Optical Illusion Quilt

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.

~Jules Verne

Quilting

Happy Pi Day! Every year more and more people notice this mathematical celebration for 3.14. (It's easier to remember using the American date notation.. which I've always thought awkward. Most everyone else orders from smallest to largest units day/month/year.) That aside, this day is the perfect excuse to look for  circles. Here I go again. 

Since finishing the first Optical Illusion quilt I've been wanting to try it again with lighter fabrics. What if I switched values using lights for the background and dark sashing? Problem 1: none of my darks interest me or they are too busy in print or value. Eventually I decided to try a blue and white stripe as sashing. However, I'm concerned it won't show against light background. 

I also want to see if I can play with values to make the center pop up even more: lightest in the middle and darkening as they extend out.

The quilt is semi-improvisational or perhaps simply my own style of improvising. I get an idea, tinker with sketches, pull fabric, mess around, sew some stuff, make changes, etc. But they are always mathematically-based. This time the blocks are foundation pieced. I sketched the sizes by imagining a plaid then cut them to size from newsprint. The main diagonal took about three-quarters of a yard and is pinned in place. Yes, I marked where it should fall but realize it will move a bit and the angles won't always match up since the block sizes change. {Go talk to your geometry teacher for a more detailed explanation.}

Here's a vignette of some stages of my progress running from top left to bottom right. The strips are sewed to paper foundation; that's what makes the corners white and sometimes kept me from understanding the color progression. 

Building colors on this Optical Illusion quilt 

The center four blocks are all white but the subsequent blocks are {supposedly} darkening from center to edge. With all these pastels and limited values {because I'm using only scrap bag fabrics,} it's hard to get the progression correct. So I've been laying strips in the general area and photographing to see what they look like. Lots of moving going on. 

I'm having fun and taking it slow. And... chicken pot pie for us today. What about you?

Reading

Emma Straub's This Time Tomorrow enters the life of Alice Stern on her 40th birthday as her father lies dying in the hospital. After a night of drinking, she awakens on her 16th birthday in her childhood room. What, if anything, can she change that day to alter the outcomes of both her life and her father's? 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Woo Pig Sooie Quilt

Life is about that little space between what's over and what's next.

~Norman Lear

Quilting

Like Audrey and several other people, I caught a heck of a cold and have been mostly out of commission for several weeks. Occasionally I manage some quilting time but quickly head back to bed. This silly illness wiped me out. I'm even eating canned soup!

However, my older son's lap quilt is finally a wrap. Red and white are one of my favorite combinations. {I need to make one of my own even though these aren't my college colors.} When it's open and flat like this photo, the phrase is visible. But when he wraps in it the design metamorphoses into ambiguity. Then it becomes a play in red and white. When I first started these word quilts, the letters were set on four light solids but limiting the choices to two solids improves the way the letters wink in and out. I'm immensely pleased with the effect. 

Woo Pig Sooie quilt

Spiral quilting again. This is about the largest quilt I can make with a spiral. Not much more will fit under the harp. I find the design easy now that I've made so many. These days, I'm all for simplicity. Perhaps I will get back to FMQ but not now. No energy and no interest either; I just can't figure out why. My rows are {sort of} parallel. They aren't perfect but you'll never notice. 

Woo Pig Sooie spiral quilting detail

The inner border is fabric purchased several years ago for binding. It looks good here. And it's out of my stash. This is a better use than letting it age in place. 

Woo Pig Sooie quilt - folded to show back and binding

I bought the backing fabric last week because I'm completely out of red... and some other colors, too. There was enough extra to add another border to the quilt. An old "Olivia the Pig" print binds it. I planned to use it for the back until I read underneath each pig. "Worn Out!" Probably not the best choice for a college sports team motto. No one will notice the phrase in the binding as long as you don't tell.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 74" x 74"

Design: String quilt

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream RoseCotton

Thread: Superior red cotton thread

Quilting: Spiral with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 12 yds

Reading

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake looks at our current understanding of fungi. Eight chapters cover various aspects: from yeast to psychedelics, symbiosis with bacteria and algae to parasitism of ants. I'd previously read a bit about fungi connecting plant roots such as aspen groves but found Merlin's version very entertaining. His analogies entertain as well as explain areas of new research which include the beginnings of life on earth. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Going in Circles Slowly

Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the sky and he'll believe you. 

Tell him that a bench has wet paint on it and he has to touch it to be sure.

~unknown

Quilting

The plan was to have the quilting finished by now but instead caught a cold and spent a few days in bed. So I'm still circling. A large lap quilt instead of a baby quilt takes more time, too. The spiraling circle is complete; I'm filling in the four corners now. Progress.

Clear cherry reds may be my favorite color. Too bad it's headed to a new home. I need to make a red and white quilt for myself. Hmm. Wasn't the plan to make some quilts for myself?

Reading

My book club chose An American Quilt for our first discussion this year. One reason I enjoy the group is that we read non-fiction. I expected it to be either a history of quilting or a story detailing the construction of a specific quilt. Instead, Rachel May uses her discovery of a hexagon medallion quilt to research the lives of the enslaved people owned by the family. Finding the wife was from Rhode Island, her own home state, she digs further into the triangle trade that implicates many from the northern states in the expansion of slavery. Definitely worth the time to read. 

Happy Valentine's Day.

Enjoy the day, Ann

A College Quilt

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. 

That is the only thing that never fails."

~The Once and Future King

Quilting

So far DS1 hasn't said much about wanting a quilt jacket, too. Just a few comments I'm not taking that seriously. But he admired the Arkansas quilts I'd made for his friends' babies. Recently I realized a 3x3 grid {instead of 2x2} would make the quilt almost lap size. Besides being my favorite colors, red and white are both Valentine and Arkansas colors. Sending him a secret hug whenever he uses it.

What words? How about Woo Pig Sooie. However, instead of setting the -ooie as a four patch as I did here, I shrunk the width by half. Now the letters fit the available space. 

An "I" on its side looks like an H. Worrying about this, I shortened the bars at the top and bottom. Bad idea. {To me} the fun of this style is the ambiguous visibility of the letters. That "I" stands screaming, "Look at me!" So I unsewed the center and lengthened the bars. Compare the top and bottom photos to see what you think. 

Next up are the borders. Here are a couple of fabric combinations I'm considering. 

I'd like to gift the quilt for his birthday but his dog loves to eat quilts so this may be one he visits at my house until…

FUR (Fabric Use Rate)

I used 9.5 yards this month and so 9.5 yards this year. Woo hoo.

Reading

When an enslaved woman named Rose discovered her nine-year-old daughter, Ashley, was to be sold she quickly made her a sack holding a dress, a handful of pecans, and a braid of Rose's hair. The sack was passed to family members for a few generations and inscribed with the family's tale in the early 1900s. Eventually it was purchased at a Tennessee flea market and sold to Middleton Place, a museum on the grounds of the former plantation where Rose was enslaved. Currently the sack is displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Historian Tiya Alicia Miles researched the women through the few existing written records then used art, objects, and the environment to reconstruct a personal history of slavery, resilience, and love. NPR had an excellent episode with the author.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Green Diagonal String Quilt

News media and public health initiatives target these moms to tell them it is their responsibility to protect their kids from an unsafe, risky, and contaminated food industry that puts artificial dye in crackers, infuses arsenic into baby food, and keeps kid's palates from developing by packing children's menus with cheeseburgers and French fries. Interestingly, moms today get the message that it is their job to safeguard their kids, not that it's the state's responsibility to regulate and monitor industry practices.

~Priya Fielding Singh

Quilting

Finished. How different the quilt looks  photographed from this direction rather than last time's. 

Green Diagonal String baby quilt

A remnant of green print made the best binding. Dark enough to create a border and close enough to the other green shades to blend in. 

Detail of Green Diagonal String baby quilt

My sister {of course} sent this owl panel as a joke. She has collected owls for me since college and that was more years ago than I'm admitting here. It wasn't quite wide enough so I bordered the sides with a blue print. 

Back of Green Diagonal String baby quilt

These three quilts used a significant amount of my scraps but there's still a couple of bags. I'll think about what to do with them while I evaluate the values. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44" x 44"

Design: String quilt

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Premium Natural Cotton

Thread: Superior green cotton thread

Quilting: Spiral  with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 6.5 yds

FUR (Fabric Use Rate)

I used 6.5 yards this month and 59 yards this year.

Reading

Sociologist Priya Fielding-Singh expanded her doctoral thesis on family food access in this book. She includes stories of four families who gave her in depth access to their lives as well as information from other families across the Bay Area. It is one of the most privileged regions in the country but limiting the geography to a single area made the comparisons in her study more accurate. This book is an enlightening view of how finances affect food choices when all families want the best and healthiest life for their children.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Final Set of Diagonal String Blocks

we are each other's harvest;

we are each other's business;

we are each other's magnitude and bond.

~Gwendolyn Brooks, "Paul Robeson"

Quilting

The last of these values in my scrap bag... for now at least. If you followed earlier posts, you know some of these were removed from the earlier quilts. Such quiet values now. They still look good together, perhaps because most are soft, greyed tones. That little bit of blue adds the right amount of interest.

Next I'll sew these together and quilt it since I'm really trying to work all the way through instead of piling up partial finishes. {We'll see how long that lasts.} Keeping the blocks in order and turned correctly is important. This is a small enough quilt to use the webbing method to sew the blocks together. I find that is the most effective way to keep them in order although the webbing can get caught on my sewing table edges. 

Reading

The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett begins a mystery series with Queen Elizabeth as the sleuth. I'm not sure why I picked it up but am delighted I did. No, the queen doesn't wander around with a magnifying glass. Instead, she works behind the scene protecting her staff, guiding her advisors, and using all her intelligence to solve the murder of a young man at her favorite castle. There are several books in this series but who knows if there will be more in future. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

A Quilt from Palette Leftovers

Be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, 

sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. 

Sometime in life you will have been all of these.

~Lloyd Shearer

Quilting

Lots of reworking of this layout, I'm still not sure this is the "best" but I'm sure this is enough messing around. Funny how the colors affect the mood of each quilt. The block is a simple, traditional scrap design with fabric on the diagonal. Examples abound from Rod Kiracofe's Unconventional and Unexpected to multiple books on scrap quilting. It's a classic way to use and/or utilize our fabrics. Perhaps it's not so funny/unexpected that the color choices "make" these quilts. 

Diagonal Scraps 2

Most of the fabrics are my own, purchased by me. A couple are old clothes from our closet. But there's a wide variety of styles including batik, conversation prints, reproductions and 30s. While sewing them I enjoyed combining all these disparate designs.

Most of the back is a rabbit print. Do you see them? As usual, there wasn't enough so two greens fill in the rest. The binding is an orange and white deer print that I frankly thought I'd never use up.

Diagonal Strips 2 back

For all that there are wonderful fabrics in my stash, I spend more time working through my scraps... although the rabbit print was stash. 

Quilt Specifics

Size: 44" x 44"

Design: String quilt

Batting: Hobbs Heirloom Premium Natural Cotton

Thread: Gutterman orange cotton thread

Quilting: Spiral  with walking foot

Approximate yardage: 6.5 yds

Previous post here.

More detailing continued at the house this week as I reworked the hanging mechanism of one of my quilts. Susan on Blue Moon River described various methods she uses to hang her quilt art. Because I'd already sewed the hanging sleeve on my quilt, I modified one. 

Ersatz welt buttonhole allows the quilt to hang

The {poorly made} welt buttonhole would never do on a coat where would be used daily but gives enough space to hang the piece without leaving raw edges. Next time, I'll make the buttonhole before attaching the sleeve. But now, it's above the piano so we can enjoy it daily. The quilt is the first one I blogged about. Funny, that. 

FUR (Fabric Use Rate)

I used 13 yards this month and 52.5 yards this year.

Reading

Aleisha finds a book list while working as a library clerk and starts reading them. When Mukesh comes in looking for a way to connect with his granddaughter, she shares the list with him. And a beautiful friendship is born. I enjoyed the book, the list in the book, and the other list of Sara's personal favorites. 

Enjoy the day, Ann

Palette and Scrap Bag Leftovers

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. 

This is the principle difference between a dog and a man.

~Mark Twain

Quilting

This quilt began with leftovers from the Palette prompt. I added more of the brighter strips from my scrap bag. I am determined to empty that bag... again. How does it refill so quickly?

Now to sew the blocks together and quilt it.

The last few weeks have been focused on sorting the kitchen drawers. Many gadgets were tossed... after putting them in time out for a few months to decide if they'd be missed. I measured and photographed drawers, dumped all the gadgets in a bag, and headed out.

The first drawer was easy since the utensils were already separated. They just need dividers. 

The next two drawers were a bit more difficult. These are they after much culling. So many medium-sized tools.

Drawers before

The store has planning shelves like rotary mats where measurements are marked. Arranging the boxes and checking that the tools would fit inside was easy then. 

Drawers after

More drawers remain but I want to see how this works first. And, yes, I discarded one of those scissors. 

Reading

Nann beat me to this book which I've had on hold several months. Elizabeth Zott's chemistry career detours when she starts hosting a TV cooking show. Despite advice/orders from the producers, she does it her way. 

This is Bonnie Garmus' debut novel but I can't wait to read more from her.

Enjoy the day, Ann