December Fabric Giveaway

It's time to have another fabric giveaway so Buddy will have more room to store his cat toy hoard. In previous months I was moving flat folds of fabric and taking cuts from these for the giveaway. These are stored away so I will be digging into scraps, small cuts (up to 1/2 yard) and yardage. This will depend on what you want such as particular colors, 30s, batik, novelty etc.  I will fill a USPS envelope with that fabric and send it to you.

For a chance to win, leave a comment specifying what color/theme of fabric you would like. If you are anonymous, I will need you to include your email address so I can contact you to let you know you won and to get your mailing address. The comment collection phase will last through Dec. 4, 2023 11:59 pm, west coast time.  The random drawing will be conducted by Molly Kitten Emeritus, which ensures that the drawing will be corrupt, but entirely mysterious.

Unfortunately, participates are limited to those who live in the U.S. (or have a U.S. mailing address to use) due to international postal rates.

And no, that is not my stash in the photo, and I don't think I have any of the fabrics shown. This is a display picture from a local upcoming quilter's "estate sale." I put estate sale in quotes because it looks more like a downsizing sale or even destashing/quilt store overstock sale.. Hint: no set of china or Kitchen Aid mix for sale.

This is another photo for the same "estate sale." The other items highlighted are a sewing machine, a serger, several dress forms and piles of ribbons. 

Green Cuttings

I spent most of the day outside fighting with the last of the runaway blackberries. And their were quite a few neighbors out in their yard too, because our forecast calls for rain that may last for the rest of our lives. And yes, the Northwest can be a bit theatrical about the weather. Even neighbors out walking their dogs were keen to note that this was the last day to be out in the garden.

And for comparison for those who have real weather, the attitude was a bit like expecting the first snow day. 

So it seemed appropriate to cut more one inch strips for the rainbow log cabin...and I've decided to make it as a log cabin and not make it with partial seams. In the photo, the piles on the leftt are finished cuts...4 inch center and one inch strips. The pile on the far right are green scraps ready to be be cut. As I was cutting, both Buddy and Molly took turns getting out of their heated beds to stretch and lay across the cutting mat.

Spiderweb Look Back

 Here is Molly helping me with the first spiderweb quilt I made...a yellow and turquoise version.

Here Molly is checking to see if I need to change the needle...oh wait, no, that's just Molly getting on my last nerve.

And yes, the same bins of strips...just a bit less tidy. And I looked back to see that the last time I worked on the turquoise and orange spiderweb was November 2018.

Switching It Up

Switching it up refers to stitching up a quilt in progress that you find as you're cleaning up the sewing room. I have gotten most of the flat fold fabric settled in their new home.  And then I needed to find a place for this spiderweb quilt. Seeing it reminded me how much I enjoy string piecing. Especially because my other options involve more thinking.

Given these bins of strips were handy, I enjoyed a bright, happy, easy evening of sewing.

Preparation

In your mind, please assemble these one-inch strips into a log cabin block. Thank you.

My scrap bins are overstuffed and cutting fabric for the pseudo-log cabin quilt I showed yesterday is helping to make a dent. And using one inch strips means I can use up the thin misshapen strips. 

Size

I decided to take a longer look at this quilt and try to figure out its size and construction. 

Based on the usual size of a staircase, I'm guessing each of the blocks are about 8 inches which means the strips are probably one inch unfinished (half inch finished) like the block on the right. I also suspect that the center square is 3.5 inches finished like the block on the left. The center square on the right is 3 inches finished.

I don't really care so much about the final size of the quilt, but it seems that some of the quilt magic comes from the proportion of the center to the strips. Of course, some of the charm may also come from random fabric fading.

And as I was inspecting the quilt, I found that some of the blocks were not log cabin construction, but squares using partial seams. So that's how I built mine. 

While I was a bit persnickety in trying to understand this quilt, I think the actual quilt benefits from lots of haphazard. But it is also seriously missing orange.

But the highlight of the day was having Buddy teach me about having perspective.

Buddy

Today Buddy accomplished more than I did. 

I did have a major "unaccomplishment." Following along with the post Thanksgiving interest in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Challenge, I checked out the first part and then checked out of the challenge. I had hoped to use scraps but the first task uses hunks of fabric too large for my scrap bins. And since I haven't cleared up the remnants from the Gridlock quilt, I'm not going to dig out and cut from my regular stash.

So I'm going to join other spectators on the bench and cheer everyone else on. Meanwhile, I am continuing with another challenge of getting all my fabric put away by Sunday night. Or maybe the New Year?