Preparing Blocks for Applique

I am getting so efficient at my applique systems that blocks are going much quicker than I imagined.  I take time each week to prep what I need so that my sew-to-go bag isn't empty in time of need.

This week I Accuquilt cut and sewed chisel blocks together to make blocks for my Dicey quilt.

I'm trying liquid starch vs. Best Press with prepping my circles for applique.  Isn't my 50 percent liquid starch and 50 percent water bottle cute?  It's just a vitamin bottle with a pen cap taped to the side to hold my paintbrush.  

I'm using Sta-Flo.  I know I didn't pay this much for it.  It was only like $14 or so when I bought it a couple of weeks ago from Walmart.  It was shipped free.  You can see the bottle here.

 

Charm Basket Stitching

My basket of completed handles was getting full.  I completed 18 more baskets this week.  These blocks are multiplying faster than I ever thought that they would.  They are not perfect, but they are super fun.

 77 baskets of 202 needed for the quilt are now complete.  My baskets are trimmed to 4.25" vs. the recommended 4.5" unfinished block due to wonkiness.  52.5" x 64.5" finished is the quilt pattern size.  I'll most likely go with those numbers--give or take.

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

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

 

These three were stitched in the art room that I subbed.  I LOVE subbing for this particular art teacher.  She always gives me first dibs to cover her absences.  The kids there call me the ART SUB -- and I love it!

I also stitched circles on one Dicey block this week in aqua blue (Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2025.). This block has not been pressed yet.  You can still see the marks from my Frixon pen and the grooves on the outer edges of the circles.  I Accuquilt cut and sewed a bunch of chisels together this week to prep for more blocks.  I like to stay ahead on the prep work because I am really enjoying my slow stitching!

You can read why I started this quilt here.

Dicey -- Aqua Blue -- RSC25

Here's a Dicey block in aqua blue.  I didn't have many darker blues on hand in the house.  I'll grab some from the quilt room in the other house this week.

You can read why I started this quilt here.

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC25 here.

Old Town Mystery -- Sub Assemblies Made

These sub assemblies for the Old Town mystery are now complete.  Woohoo!  It's time to start assembling blocks.

Patty who blogs at Patty "The Quilt Lady" noticed my cactus in the watering can in one of my previous posts.  It normally sits by the window, but with our temps dropping below zero caused me to move it away from the window.  I figured that the wall between it and the cold vs. being by the window was a good choice for it.  I brought ONE little shoot of the cactus with one long root home from school.  It was a start that a teacher that I subbed for allowed me to have.  I love collecting plants from desks of those for whom I sub.  The other little succulents are the survivors of an after Christmas sale two years ago that came from Lowes.  They were originally in a christmas cookie tin.

Old Town is a mystery quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter.  Check out the free quilt along while it is still live on her blog here.

A Pretty Dozen of Charm Baskets

I'm almost caught up matching all of the handles I made in the previous weeks to the basket bottoms.  Here's another dozen finished this week.

 59 baskets of 202 needed for the quilt are now complete.  My baskets are trimmed to 4.25" vs. the recommended 4.5" unfinished block due to wonkiness.  52.5" x 64.5" finished is the quilt pattern size.  I'll most likely go with those numbers--give or take.

I stitched a couple more handles in the waiting area of the garage where I get my oil changed to keep up on the warranty forever service agreement.  There's a nice little table for me to stitch.

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

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

 

I also posted yesterday about the PINK Dicey blocks I made using my scraps for the RSC25.

You can read about my logic behind this quilt on my previous post here.

I did have a little "friend" while I stitched one of the blocks while watching TV:

I left it alone and just kept stitching.  Maybe it saw the dots on the pink fabric from afar and thought it would say hello.

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

RSC25 -- Pink

 I made more Dicey blocks this week.

You can read about my logic behind this quilt on my previous post here.

I did have a little "friend" while I stitched one of the blocks while watching TV:

I left it alone and just kept stitching.  Maybe it saw the dots on the pink fabric from afar and thought it would say hello.

All six dice for this color is now complete.  I wonder what the color for February will be?  

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC25 here.

Snow Day -- Brrrr

We had two snow days in a row.  I continue to work on Old Town sub assemblies.  For some reason I am very distracted with my husband and son home as well.  Oh well... family time.  :)

You can find about the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt called Old Town on her blog here.

I'm enjoying working with this color scraps on this day.  Yes, that says NEGATIVE 16 F.  I needed to go out early this morning for more bloodwork.  At least my truck started fine and I was already off work.

I did make enough blocks to clear out this bin.  I needed a larger bin to store all of my Charm Baskets that are being made quicker than I anticipated.

Here are the two snowmen I made on Saturday, 1/18/25, while our son was at a bowling tournament.

The next day our son surprised me with making more snowmen!

Charm Basket Progress -- Slow Sunday Stitching

Eleven more charm baskets are done!

A week or so ago I did a lot of cleaning of the sewing area.  (It's a first of the year activity and usually end of the school year activity.) I misplaced my bag of multi-colored fabrics that I had selected for this project.  I grabbed some neutrals out of the bin that I keep in my sewing area year round so that my sew-to-go bag wasn't empty.  Here are the five I finished during our SNOW DAY on Thursday.

47 baskets of 202 needed for the quilt are now complete.  My baskets are trimmed to 4.25" vs. the recommended 4.5" unfinished block due to wonkiness.  52.5" x 64.5" finished is the quilt pattern size.  I'll most likely go with those numbers--give or take.

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

How do you clean your cutting mat?

  I think part of the problem with my cutting mat is that my rotary blades aren't really sewing grade.  I believe they are carpet cutter grade.  A lady in my quilt guild years ago was selling blades that her husband got at an auction.  I got 100 of them for $10.  They work great, but leave my cutting mat like this:

OH!  I almost forgot!!!  I have been enjoying applique so much I have started a project to keep by my living room chair.  It's called Dicey.  You can read all the details on the post yesterday.  Now I have a project in the living room AND a project in my school bag.  Woohoo!  It's winter time.  Stitch away.

I really wanted to practice applique circles.

 

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

Speaking of "making things", I made these yesterday.  That wet/rainy snow mix was coming down yesterday.  I was soaked when I came in the house.  The other family members think I'm crazy that a 59-year old woman would go out and do something like this.  I closed my activity ring while doing it.

It's supposed to get really cold the next few days (zero F and below zero temps.)  If that's going to happen, I hope the snowpeople freeze and stay with us for a while.  They are fun until I forget there are there and I get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and see "people" standing in the yard.  Then it freaks me out, I'm wide awake, AND I just go sew because I can't sleep...

Dicey -- RSC25

Of course I started a new project...  

I call this project Dicey.  Unfinished block measures 9.25" x 9.25".  I don't know how big the quilt will be.  It will most likely have scrappy neutral 1.5" sashing with brightly colored cornerstones.

I wanted a fun and unusual project for the RSC.

I wanted to practice applique circles.

I wanted to use an Accuquilt die that I don't often use.

I wanted a project I could keep by my living room chair in the evenings.

I wanted to use more neutral scraps.

I started second guessing myself when I was thinking about how the dots are positioned on a die.  I can't believe I had to print out a pic of a set of dice so that I didn't worry about it.  I used to play a lot of games as a kid.  That's what we did before electronics and such.  I should have remembered the layout.  Anywho... here's my pink die that rolled a "2".

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC25 here.

 

Snow Day = Sew Day

 More snow expected to fall here in Ohio.  Snow Day = Sew Day for me.  My desk area is a hot mess:

The trash is overflowing... The big pieces need to be cut into basket bottoms for my Charm Basket quilt.  The little pieces need to be run through the Accuquilt dies to add them to the scrap user's storage system.

Today is a great day to do it.  100 percent chance of snow!!!  He was mighty proud of his giant icicle yesterday.  Oh, you can see that my husband has a long-term WIP in the garage.  It's my 1992 Z71 frame with a new body on it.  It runs.  The bed is in the pole barn.  He moved a cab and motor from a vehicle his friend gave me that was totaled because of frame damage to my frame which was still very nice someone here in the Ohio winter salt.  It just needs finished and painted.  (It's kind of like a quilt top that just needs quilted and a binding.  LOL)

Done blogging for now.  I need to get S E W I N G!!!  Woohoo!

Charm Baskets -- Slow Sunday Stitching

Twelve baskets were completed and trimmed this week!

My baskets are going to outgrow their little bin soon.  I'll have to get stitching on the Bonnie Hunter mystery, Old Town, to free up a larger bin.  All my units for that is complete.  I'm in the process of putting together blocks.

36 baskets of 202 needed for the quilt are now complete.  My baskets are trimmed to 4.25" vs. the recommended 4.5" unfinished block due to wonkiness.  52.5" x 64.5" finished is the quilt pattern size.  I'll most likely go with those numbers--give or take.

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.

Speaking of crafting...  Here's our son in the garage assembling some sort of Kinnex-type project.  I think he's building a race track.  He found the magnified light head gear thing at the bin store for $1.

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.