Friday ramblings

Where to begin.... Lots of photos to share and answers to some of this week's burning questions.

So, you know I've been working on my scrap users system from Bonnie Hunter. This is where it starts. My cutting board is one I made. It is a piece of plywood with an ironing surface on one side and a piece of cutting board trimmed from one I stepped on and made a hole in a few years ago. It works out great and I can recover the ironing board side whenever I need to with a new piece of cotton canvas.

So, my mistake on the scrap users system was that I thought I had to cut all those narrow strips into squares before I could use them. This time when I read the instructions, I realized I can leave them as strips and strip piece them and then cut them down to smaller sizes. That makes the task much less daunting.

So, that's my scrap bin that never empties. I've taken out the large bag of 1" strips and the smaller bag of 1.5" strips, and the stack of larger scraps, and cut a huge pile of 2" strips into bricks and squares and you can see how full the bin still is. I remember a story of a woman in the Bible whose oil bottle filled back up every night. That's how I think of this bin. Oh, and the penny at the corner of the cutting board? It came out of the bin. Now how did that get there? Glad I didn't hit it with the rotary cutter.

I do work on the floor. I've always been a floor sitter and a floor worker. I can remember my Aunt Jane sewing trim onto my Grandmother's valances one night when all the family was together at the Grand's house. It was the first time I ever saw an adult set up for a task on the floor. And, it was my inspiration. Sometimes the easiest way to do the final sewing on a quilt is to get everything on the floor so the fabric weight isn't hanging.

The scrap quilts I'm working on now do have to be pre-cut into squares and bricks (well, the irish chain didn't have to be, but now I'm so far into it there's no point in changing direction), and this sewing box is where I store them. It sits next to the area where I piece and I can just reach in and pull out what I need. I started filling those empty boxes with 1" and 1.5" squares this morning that I was ending up with while cutting pieces from the 2" strips. They'll be sitting there, waiting for me when I'm ready.

Then, I sew my squares into rows and pin together 5 rows that can make up a block.

And, here are 9 of my 31 completed blocks. Remember this is for an Irish Chain, so there will be more plain blocks that separate these. But even without them, it makes a pretty pattern. But, you can barely see the dark X's that become apparent when the blank spaces are added.

Today was team shirt day. We don't have a favorite sports team or a t-shirt or jersey for any team, so the summer camp counselor suggested team Jacob/team Edward. But, Sydney couldn't decide, so she picked a photo that everyone in it. We scanned it from a magazine and printed it on a transfer and ironed it to a t-shirt. I wonder how many copyrights I've admitted infringing on in just this one post. Oh, well. After today, I'll gladly surrender the shirt.

And, nothing comforts sad people like a puppy. Here's our little Bella with the huge bat ears. They're dachshund size and chihuahua shape and goofy as all get out. I finally got her to sit still for a picture by tempting her with treats and what happens? I move just as I'm taking the snap, so the background is blurry. I didn't have 10 more minutes to try to tempt her to be still.



I noticed that I got a bunch of new followers overnight. I think Bonnie Hunter might have had something to do with that. I heard she gave me a shout out yesterday. Thanks, Bonnie! And, welcome everyone. I hope you find something to interest you, at least once in a while. I admit that I've been off my game for a while with blogging, but I'm starting to feel my mojo coming back and hope that helps me think and write about things that I'm interested in again.

And, I'm going to give a shout out to a Coloradolady that I know lives in Texas. Now, this lady doesn't think she's a leader. But, she always knows the right thing to say and the right thing to do. And, she doesn't have to tell people that. We just know. And, she makes me feel like a better person, just because I'm her friend. I wanna know what better kind of leader can there be?

And, there were lots of questions about Hamburger Aroganoff from this post. I looked up the recipe this morning to share what that recipe was for. Turns out it's a typo in the index. When I got to the recipe, it was really for Hamburger Stroganoff. Guess I should have checked my facts better.

Take care and have a great weekend. We have no big plans and it's a good thing because it's going to be hotter than the 3rd level of hades around here. We're starting to hit 100* and 100% humidity. And, we will for about 6 weeks. 6 weeks when I'll be inside, in the air conditioning. This is quilting season. I can be outside the other 46 weeks of the year.

Lane