Basket of blocks...how many is enough?

My basket is nearly full. Guesstimate is 96 blocks. So I think I need to keep on sewing on these.  Good thing they are FUN to make!!!!!!

And yes, I also save the dog ears from clipping the corners. As I add them to the jar, it becomes like a sand painting. Each little layer has it's own color and memory.

Making these Roman Stripe blocks has finished off one of those smaller phonebooks. And the frugal me also had to cut the covers and heavier pages into little hexagons. This is the cutter that Our Bonnie Hunter uses. It is for scrapbookers but works great for this application too.

I have not started anything with this size yet as I have a mission of mercy to do. I was unable to say "no" to a friend of an old friend who has an older Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that needs finished. Some sewing together and then quilting and binding. Why can I not say no? This feels like such a burden to me that I feel guilty sewing on anything else by hand. So I sew on nothing by hand....promises made are promises fulfilled here in Subeeland. I promise myself that I will work on it soon.

Our MaggieMae is shaved again. YEA!!!!!! She stayed awake all day yesterday playing with string and jumping around.
And the tongue out pose is the way she always seems to be. I guess her tongue is too long for her little lower jaw.

Side view. She feels like velvet. And looks like a Russian gal in gray fur boots.
XOXOXOXO Subee

Using things up...

I use things up. Like small amounts of thread on bobbins, same thing with almost used up spools of thread (I save the empty spools haven't found a use for those yet), the small pieces from trimming the phone books for the Orca Bay quilt (they were 3 1/2"), batting and tons of strings from my trimming up of fabric edges.

Look at how many strings I have!!!!! Sorted by color now per Bonnie Hunter...

 What more could I want? Sunshine, a new phone book, a almost dull needle (need to use that up) and tons of strings.

 But after sewing the whole pages of strings I ended up with some short strings.

 And I had those short pages I saved...

 And here is the result of just a few minutes of sewing. Some pinks and grays for a "piano key" border for my two quilts that are still just in unit forms. More to come of course. I was just wanting to sew on something after three days of solid machine quilting. My needle needed to be used up. It was not too dull for paper piecing!!!

 I received a surprise present from one of the swappers on the quiltville swap Yahoo group. Jeanne A. sent me 44, yes 44! pink 2 1/2" strips. My goodness I am so very happy with these strips!

Yes, I am tickled pink! Thanks Jeanne!!!!!

 There are times when it is a miracle that I get any sewing done. I finished quilting the mystery quilt and then pinned up my leftover quilt. All the kitties left the mystery quilt alone. But Bess plopped down on the leftover quilt and refused to move. You know how they get! I say her name and she closes her eyes more and moans. I say her name again and she rolls over into cute position #1. I say her name the third time and she finally opens her eyes and looks as if I am asking for so very much of her. I give in and go do something else for a while. Then we go through the same routine all over again. Poor me. I have to get strict and move the quilt from underneath her. Then she tries to lay in my sewing machine chair. Good grief!

 Anyway...it took me two days but the straight line quilting is all done and it looks great if I do say so myself. But this is a quilt for the kitties...no work of art.

Here is a closeup. Love those long legged stars!

XOOXOXOXOX Subee

Orca Bay beginnings

I love mysteries. I love mystery quilts even more. And to try to explain that to someone who has never done a mystery is hard. They have trouble "jumping" in and trusting the designer to lead them down a successful path to a great quilt!
We all know that Our Bonnie Hunter (http://www.quiltville.com)
is a quilt designer we can trust to take us beyond our own boundries and give us so much quality sewing time.
I have been making a huge effort to not be stingy with myself when I even out fabric edges. That way I can generate more strings for me! And I throw them into this lovely basket. It does fill up fast too!

 You need to make saving scraps easy to do for yourself. I love containers and baskets and use them to help me keep things organized.
I went through all the bolts of neutrals on the cutting table. I cut 8  11/2" strips from each one. Way more than what I need for Orca Bay. I am on a Log Cabin block marathon too. This is the size strips I am using for the Log Cabin blocks. And since that last post of the black/white Log Cabin blocks I have made I want to make another quilt with another color family. Have not decided what color yet, so I am just cutting to feed the bins.

 This container is FULL! WHOOOHOOOO!

 This is the leftover from the Log Cabin quilt. They play right in to Bonnie's color scheme!

XOXOOXOXOX Subee

RRCB progress and This and That pattern

Clue#3

Roll, Roll Cotton Boll!

I am way too frugal. My strings are so skinny. The smallest I save: cut nicely is 1". All the rest go into bags to give to a fellow guild member who crochets with fabric strips. After gleaning through the bags I have not gifted to her yet I did make two string blocks to see if I was comfortable using this small of a string. So, are these strips too small?????

So...here are the bags.

 Yes...I do feed the birds too. The squirrels chase the birds away and the hawk scares them all away. The squirrels have managed to un-nail my feeder from the barrel top. Hubby will have to use BIG nails next time.

Tame squirrel eating her fresh raw peanut. And SNOW on the ground! YEA!!!!!!!

 I used this pattern as my main sewing and used clue#2 as leaders and enders between these blocks. I also double sewed the corner triangles. I have a whole container of these extras! WHOOOHOOO!

 I found this pattern on a new blog I follow. I met the writer of the blog (Jill) at the Shipshewana retreat. The pattern is from This and That and is called Paris in the Fall.
Thanks Jill for this great kit. I am all done with it already!

 I call these swatches my "road maps". I cut each pattern and put them into their own baggie. Since there were 12 blocks I needed that road map to keep me on the right path.

 Here it is all done. I loved the whole process. I may make another one in a different colorway.

And my Precious Pearl test driving the newest quilt top!