Baskets Galore

 I'm having so much fun making basket handles that I need to start sewing them at the sewing machine so that they don't lose the other pieces to them.

This is the tool that I use when I make basket handles.  I sew the bias strip right sides together and slip the purple part of the tool (the tube) into the casing.  I push the edge of the fabric down into the tube.  Shove it through and TA DA!  I won this notion at a quilt guild event as a door prize.  At the time I never thought I'd use it.  But look at me now!

Matched sets ready to sew!  The bottoms of the baskets need made.

Hopefully I'll have some pretty baskets to show off for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Basket Handle Emergency

If you told me ten years ago I would have an applique emergency because I'm stitching them too quickly I would have laughed and laughed.  But that really was the case yesterday morning.

I quickly found some multi-colored fabrics in the scrap bin.  I cut them on the bias, turned and pressed.

I sewed four more basket handles in the "beach" room.

I partially sewed one handle while waiting on my bowler to be done with practice.  The quilt pattern is called Charm Basket by Laundry Basket Quilts.  It is an Edyta Sitar design.   I have no idea how many baskets I will need because I don't know what size quilt I will make.  I do know that I am totally enjoying this process way more than I ever thought I would!  I'm also happy that they are starting to look more uniform.  Practice, practice, practice.  Someday I'll be making something as fancy as Gretchen at Gretchen's Little Corner.  I just love her applique project she calls Blueberry Pie!

Here's a photo of our driveway.  The snow is very pretty.  We don't usually plow the driveway when the snow is this deep.  If we do, it melts and freezes on the hill.  Then the hill becomes all ice.  We drive four-wheel drive vehicles.  Most of our guests have four-wheel drive as well.  The Amazon van seems to be able to make it up the hill ok.  

I changed my substitute schedule to jobs that are all elementary level for this week and next.  I'm sooooo glad that I did.  Yesterday our son's bus was 19 minutes late.  That means he would have been standing at the end of the drive at about 20 degrees F during that time.  With my elementary schedule I can sit with him at the end of the driveway until the bus comes.  He also has to take a bowling ball and a backpack to school.  That's a lot in the snow.

Here's another photo of the snow in the woods.  Quite boring, but very peaceful.  Our son does beat me home of non-bowling days.  It's not that bad for him to walk up the drive with his backpack.  If he doesn't stop to throw rocks and sticks into the creek, he's inside within three minutes.

Clue #9 Units Are Complete

 I'm still plugging away at the Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Old Town.  I finished sewing the Clue #9 units.  Now all the exciting stuff starts to happen -- block assembly.  I love it when I have the variety of scraps like I do to build the blocks.  Each time I build a block my brain says, "Now that's a pretty block... that block is prettier than the last... BEAUTIFUL!... I remember that fabric and where I got that..."  Let the good times roll!

You might be able to tell by the shadow that I sewed until later in the evening.  I'm so excited that this part  is complete.  I'm proud of myself for keeping up with it during the snowy days.  I have my piecing mojo back.  Can't wait to see what all of the blocks look like together.

Sewing Basket Handles "On The Beach" in a Snowstorm?

 Monday (yesterday) was an interresting day.  Most of our area schools were closed due to incliment weather.  The district where I work was open.  Only 50 percent of the kids were there in the morning.  Many of them filtered in.  Classes were combined to be more productive in groups.  I had an extra planning period.  Is stitched four basket handles during my planning period.

It's 26 degrees F outside here in Ohio.  But the teacher I subbed for has her room decorated with a beach theme.  There are little cabanas where students can silent read.  There are fake palm trees, fish, and hibiscus decorations.  It's fun for kids.

Once I was home it didn't take Teenager long to come in for a snack, a cuddle, and a nap.

Clue 8 Old Town Mystery (Bonnie Hunter) Complete

 Clue 8 is now complete.  I'm excited to start the last part for the Bonnie Hunter Old Town Mystery.

This part of the process had an interresting work area.  I took the bin to the muffler shop and trimmed pieces with scissors while waiting.

It made 160 little pieces of the neutral corners.

The corners were run through my smallest Accuquilt die to make neutral HSTs.  There was just enough to fit the dies with minimal scraps.  After carefully placing the pieces on the die I would run 24 pieces through at a time.  This is what was left from one run through.

The little pieces cut will come in handy for the final clue!  I don't have to cut ANY because of my scrap user system.  Woohoo!

Snow day!  Our son is excited.

I chose to go to work today.  But he'll be busy playing his 

Charm Baskets Slow Sunday Stitching

Hope I'm not boring you with my simple baskets (that need trimmed and squared).  I'm still plugging along with them.  Happy 2025.

I stitched the handles to these baskets a couple of weeks ago.  I put them on a pile near my sewing machine.  I only get to a few of the finished baskets here and there.  They are squeezed in as leader/enders.  I LOVE leaders & enders!

The quilt pattern is called Charm Basket by Laundry Basket Quilts.  It is an Edyta Sitar design. 

I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

WINTER 2025 (Ravelry UFO Club) Project List

Here is my project list for the WINTER 2025 (Ravelry) UFO Club:

1.  Old Town Mystery (Pattern by Bonnie Hunter 2024-25)

Units for clues 1-6 are complete.  Clue 7 has been started.

2.  Rail Fence 3.5" blocks

I need 900 blocks for this quilt.  I have to count them and clip sets together.  I'll work on this one during the RSC25 colors of the month.  

 

3.  Piccadilly Circle

I started making this quilt in 2014 for the RSC.  In 2021 I made only three of the border pieces (yellow, light green, and dark green).  I made one yellow and one dark green Piccadilly Circle blocks in 2022.  I still need to make circle blocks in dark purple and lime green.  I also need the other border parts.

4.  Kite Girl

All of the Kite Girl blocks are made.  All of the embroidery of the flower stems and kite strings are complete.  This quilt will have an antique look with mint green sashing.  I plan to work on it during the month for light green.  The inspiration for this quilt appeared at Q is for Quilter. I believe I started this project for the RSC in 2014.

5.  Folk Art Birds

I need to locate the paper bird template for this one.  It could be with another bird I had made.  This was a 2016 RSC project start.

6.  Bitcoin Crib Quilt

This quilt is quilted.  It needs a binding.  It's the quilt I have closest to a finish.

7.  Maroon Sampler

This quilt is a combination of different sampler quilts.  I want to say this was around 2013ish for some of the first blocks.  I need to count to see how many I have and go from there.

8.  Bitcoin Double Sized Quilt

I have cut strips in multi-colored fabrics (fabrics that are more than one color and don't fit into a specific color family bin for sorting purposes.) I have several strips sewn together in anothe strip bin.

9.  Random Ohio Stars -- Started in November, 2022 (needs quilted)

10.  Vintage Flower Garden Blocks -- Top completed 11.23.2024 (needs a back)

11.  Blue Embroidery Quilt, top completed Summer 2024 (needs quilted)

12.  HST Quilt, Three Six Nine RSC22 -- (needs more HST made and rows completed)

13.  Tree of Life Quilt -- I only have three blocks completed, (orange, aqua, and yellow)

 Tree of Life block in orange was made this week.  This is a die from Accuquilt.  

14. Scarborough Fair -- more blocks need to be made.

15.  Unity Quilt (Bonnie Hunter 2020 Quilt Along). I still can't figure out how I want to make this quilt larger and finish it.  I may just do a 3.5" scrappy neutral border and call it a flimsy?

16.  Card Trick -- needs a back made and then quilted.

17.  Acorn Harvest

Photo from the front of the package:

18.  I finished cutting all the HST for Sail Away crib quilt.  It is now a complete quilt kit.

I'll be lucky to finish more than two of these project the first quarter of 2025.  At least I have enough projects to get closer to a finish.  I have a longarm machine.  It is kept in "the other" house that has been under construction for YEARS -- because we are doing everything ourselves.  (The brick and concrete were completed by contractors.). The area is for the most part unheated.  When it gets too cold in the room (below 32 degrees F) my Nolting starts to skip stitches.  It is very expensive to heat the area with fuel oil.  I'm afraid to run the kerosene heater too long--not because of carbon monoxide gas--but for the fumes collecting on the unpainted drywall and making it hard to paint in the future.  (This happened to a rental property that I had.)

Thank you, Joy @ The Joyful Quilter for inviting others to join this challenge.  I'm linking up at the Winter 2025 UFO Club on Ravelry.

Old Town Clue #7 -- Sentimental Fabrics

Today I'm working on clue #7 of Old Town (Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt). The big reveal came out today.  Clues are availble for free while the mystery is still live.

The fabrics in this clue are sentimental.  The top row of blocks have neutrals sent to me from Linda at Art in Search.  As with many quilters, Linda and I have a cherished connection.  She sent me fabrics that were left over from her Horses Quilt.  I have finally found the right pattern to use the other large prints that she sent to me in this collection.  Eventually I will be putting them to use in a Dinner Party quilt (size yet to be determined.)

The other sentimental fabric is the Ohio State pieces.  It's always fun for my sister-in-law (who is a HUGE  OSU fan) to find the OSU fabric in my scrap quilts.  Go Bucks!

There is a BEAUTIFUL blanket of snow outside.  Great day to sew and get caught up on clue #7.

Happy New Year! Hot Mess Tamed

Yesterday I worked and worked at organizing my quilting/sewing/desk area.  See it here if you dare.  I'm happy to say I am much more calm about my organized area now.  Even the fish tank got cleaned.

I now have a little shelf to put things on temporarily!

Project bins only have one to two projects in them.  That big striped tote has all neutrals ready to cut.

Yes, I realize that file drawer is overflowing.  That was cleaned up later.  I keep all the receipts and paid bills in that drawer.  Every year on 1/1 I put them in a box and label them for that year.  It's a messy filing system, but it works for us.

See the birdhouse on the very top shelf in the pic above?  That's the security camera that the kid doesn't know about.  Tee hee.  It's nice to be able to check on him when I have to without invading his privacy.

One of my favorite organizing bins is also on that top shelf.  It holds my 1.5 and 2.5 inch strips.

Accuquilt dies are nice and flat.  I have room for a few more.  The big dies are on the top shelf.  I have a love/hate relationship with the BOB dies.  There seems to be a lot more thinking involved on my part...  Some of them I have to make sure I have the fabric the right side up.  I typically run the two different fabrics through separately...  It's different from the OG (original gangster) dies...

My basket pieces now have their own little bin and can be easily grabbed for a leader/ender.

All my 1.5" squares are in the bins and not squished.  Behind those are four mini milk crates that contain 2.5" squares in neutrals and prints and 2.5" HST in neutrals and prints.  I love to grab from these bins.  1.5" and 2.5" are my favorite sizes!!!

I really need to keep up on taking my blood pressure regularly.  I am now on FIVE pills a day!  Hopefully this is the year I get it all together.  The good thing is that my recent blood work all came back in the green.  Sometimes you have to get healthy before you lose weight.  I will be trying to stick to a ketovore lifestyle this year (which was successful for me in the past).  If you have any tips/tricks, please share!

I still have to work on that stack of books/printed patterns above my computer monitor.  But that's just a drop in the bucket compared to the huge mess I had.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Hoping for a productive 2025.