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Thursday 15 January 2015

Sewing for Squares

I had a lazy day yesterday, only a little crafting, some visiting and much chatting. When I was at Cross Hands Hilary gave me a bag of scrap fabric, the offcuts from her kits and charm packs.

I tipped it out this morning and sorted through it, some is a bit too small but will be used for stuffing. The rest has been pressed and put into a zip lock bag for later.

While I was at it I turned out a plastic box of strips and scraps and started pressing and sorted. After a while my mind was wandering and log cabin blocks floated around. Boom.

Out came the rotary cutter and I soon had a stack of 1 1/2" strips in 2 piles, light and dark.

This is what I have to show for it.

 
 
I am quite pleased with the layout, I just pulled strips at random. I am making 2, they will be a pair of cushions.

 
 

 
 
Here are the next 3 strips from left to right anti clockwise, I want to get them 18" square.
 
Now all this creativity has a down side, I did not get through the plastic box and I pulled some more colours out from other boxes.
My table now looks like this,
 

 
 

 
I thought that a break to share this with you was in order, and a cuppa, then I will go and restore peace and harmony. I will finish the blocks tomorrow and get them layered and quilted, I have the backing fabric ready. Not a WIP but a fair inroad into the scrap ocean.
 
We have had rain, hail and snow, all at the same time at one point. The wind is high and we have had thunder and lightening to boot. We also managed a few spells of blue skies and bright sunshine, a bit of everything really.
 
My dinner was Fish Chowder and was very good, I will be making it again, soon.
 
That's all for now, my tea needs my undivided attention.
 
             TTFN                                                              Pam.
 
BTW, someone left a comment on an old post regarding TTFN,
it is Ta Ta For Now and was a catch phrase for Jimmy Young, the radio presenter.
 
 
 
 
 


22 comments:

  1. Your piecing is beautiful, such a clever blends of colours

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    1. Thank you froogs, I thought much the same about your dinner. I like lots of colour on my plate, I aim to eat a rainbow every day.

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  2. Love the latest colour combinations, particularly like the contrast of light and dark colours. TTFN is also a favourite catch phrase of Winnie the Pooh's mate Tigger.

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    1. I had forgotten that, I think that given Tiggers age Jimmy must have borrowed it from him.

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  3. Nice looking log cabin, its funny have one thing leads to another and before you know you have gone off on a tangent to what you have planned to do. :-)

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    1. I know, I have everything planned and then a thought wiggles into my head and I am off, full pelt in the opposite direction.

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  4. Successful morning at the 'meet the groups' morning for the U3A. I came home and started to sash the play mat I am making for my GGD due next month......wish I hadn't so far I have sewn the sashing on the wrong way round and sewn the wrong bits on, sorted that and started to put the long strips across the middle, sewed the wrong bit on again....gggrrrrr blessed thing was upside down. My unripper has been doing sterling service. I feel like throwing the blooming thing in the bin. I need a medal for ripping out!!

    Do I really need to teach 12 newbies to quilt?????? I think I need to go back and start again myself. It has not been a good afternoon. I gave up in disgust, will go back and have another go tomorrow.

    I had made up 10 bag kits for the first quilting meeting, have to do another 2 there are 12 in the group.......

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    1. I have a knitting WIP that I could have launched into orbit, it is festering under the sofa waiting to be resurrected and dealt with. I have never made a Bears Paw block correctly the first time, it will happen one day and shock me rigid.

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  5. You are very clever. Looks great!

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  6. Have you thought of using the 'mile a minute' technique for using up odd bits and orphan squares etc? One of the ladies at the group I attend is making one by this technique and it is stunning. Have actually finished a PhD (project half done) today. Segmented balls are a tad trying and this is the eighth I have made. One more to go and then somebody will have to push very hard to get me to make another one!

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    1. Never heard of it, do tell me more. The only Mile a Minute that I know of is the plant.

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    2. Basically sewing all your scraps together in a random manner then cutting the resultant length of fabric into big squares (on the diagonal looks really good) and then sashing together with a really strong colour. The lady doing it hasn't thrown anything away scrapwise in her 30year patching career. she was hoping to make a dent in the resultant heap. No such luck.

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  7. I love log cabin, it stitches up so fast and is so economical. The "Mile a minute" technique mentioned by Buttercup, above is another great way of using up scraps. I love your colours too.

    My OH had to dash madly across to Wales on Saturday as they rang to say our caravan awning had blown down - it was a real heavy duty one - supposedly! Anyway, it isn't ripped just the joints have buckled, it must have been a terrific wind you had. We've got it now- you aren't missing much! Lxxx

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    1. We have had some mighty fierce blows, it is going for it now, but at least it has stopped raining.

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  8. Well, who knew it was called that. I just looked up mile a minute and I do that sometimes, my really little scraps I piece onto paper in much the same way. I use
    copier paper cut in half lengthways, I keep a few by the machine and run one up every now and then

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  9. We have had ice then snow dusting early today, wind came up but thank goodness was not bad. Hope we do not get the chance of flurries tonight called for. Ground is sponge. Need to get to our storage shed this weekend! Lovely logs!

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    1. I like log cabin but am a bit OTT about straight lines being straight, I square up after every seam. I did more pressing on those two than I sometimes do in a week. I also like thin logs so have to grin and bear it. We have rain and wind for the next few days, lots of sewing time.

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  10. It is soooooooo neat! I think this is my favourite pattern of yours that I've seen x

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    1. I read somewhere that the light and dark sides represent day and night and that the centre square is the heart of the Cabin, which is the hearth and therefor should always be red. I have made the blocks using wider strips but love the skinny ones here, they finish at 1" wide. It is a fantastic way of using the last little bit of fabric.

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  11. Lovely way to use up your fabric, I really need to do the same before the boxes of fabric take over!

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    1. It is fantastic, I am having a glorious time. Mind you the dining table has disappeared for the duration of this project. There is hardly any waste, just the selvedge edges and the sliver trimming. Anything bigger than 1" is going back into the box ready for the next session, there will be more I am loving it.

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