Scrappy Summer Sew Along + Update on Pepper

Posted on September 28, 2020 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I posted about joining a scrappy summer sew along a few weeks ago here. This quilt uses your scrap bin to make a 9-patch blocks for a scrappy finish!

I used a bunch of yellows plus pinks/reds to make a “Raspberry Lemonade” scrappy quilt. I started sewing my 9-patch blocks as leaders/enders while working on other projects. Then, a bunch of crazy life stuff happened, and I had to stop sewing for a couple of weeks.

Here’s a look at some of my 9-patch blocks, with sunlight filtering in through a side window:

Scrappy 9-patch blocks

Sunday was the last day to post our finished top on Instagram as part of the sew along. I pulled out the 9-patch blocks that I had completed, and I had just enough for a baby sized quilt. My quilt inspector helped me to sort the blocks into rows and columns.

Romeo inspects the
9-patch blocks

I enjoyed sewing these little blocks together as a sort of meditative time for myself. We had beautiful weather here yesterday so I was able to get a picture of the quilt flimsy, fluttering in the breeze, on a nearby little bridge.

Scrappy Summer Sew Along Flimsy – Raspberry Lemonade!

I’m going to back this little quilt with some soft, cuddly Minky fabric and likely donate it.

You can find other participants and fun quilts from this sew along by searching on the hashtag #scrappysummersal2020 on Instagram.

One of the life events that happened recently is a major (and expensive) surgery for our girl, Pepper. She had the surgery one week ago today, and she is doing pretty well with her recovery. We’re hoping that she’ll be back to hiking with us later this winter or next spring. She needs a full 8-10 weeks for recovery plus multiple physical therapy sessions.

If you’d like to help, I started a GoFundMe to offset some of the cost of the surgery and physical therapy.

Here’s a look at Pepper post-op with her poor, furless leg and incision:

Pepper, resting after knee surgery

Each day, she is getting stronger! We just have to keep this very active dog from running or jumping for 8 weeks. Whew!

Happy quilting!

Jen

Starting a Tula Nova Quilt + Wildfires

Posted on September 10, 2020 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

We are experiencing devastating wildfires here in Oregon, the worst fires seen in over 100 years. We’re in what is called level 1 evacuation, which means stay alert and be prepared. We do not have to evacuate at this time and most likely will not have to evacuate. However, many people just south of us are in the level 3, immediate “get out” zone so my thoughts and prayers are with them!

The fire makes the skies look apocalyptic. Here’s a look yesterday, when the east winds were still blowing:

Wildfires coloring the sky

This morning, the east winds stopped blowing so we have heavy, stagnate air, filled with particulates. It is very dangerous to be outdoors

Heavy smoke in the air

If you want to help the victims who lost everything in the fires, you can donate to the Red Cross.

In the meantime, I started on my first Tula Nova EPP (English Paper Pieced) project several weeks ago. This technique is entirely hand-pieced so it makes for a great project to do in the evenings while watching shows, to take traveling, or to do while my kiddo is in taekwondo class.

I’m using the Disco Kitty fabric from the Quilty Box as my center. I’m also using various colors of 50 weight Aurifil thread for the piecing.

I took this picture several weeks ago while we tent camped along the Oregon coast.

Tula Nova with a Disco Kitty center

When we got home, my quilt inspector decided to help out. He thoroughly approves of my theme for this quilt!

Romeo helps with my Tula Nova piecing

I’ve just finished adding the fourth round, and I went for a purple/pink Tent Stripe fabric by Tula Pink Don’t you love how the stripes add a secondary star around the solid lavender?

Tula Nova – adding stripes

The next round has 10 star points plus 10 diamond shapes to connect the stars. Each round will take longer and longer, but I am enjoying the process and it helps alleviate stress in these crazy times.

Have you made a Tula Nova quilt? I’d love to see it!

Happy quilting and stay safe!

Jen

Sorting My Scrap Bin for a Sew Along

Posted on September 3, 2020 by nwquiltedcat

Hi everyone,

I have a very large shoe box, the kind that fits boots, behind my sewing area where I toss scraps from projects that are large enough to reuse. These scraps have been growing and growing until my box was overflowing.

Then, I noticed that @thehomebodycompany and @the.weekendquilter were hosting an Instagram scrap busting sew along called the “Scrappy Summer Sew Along” with the hashtag, #scrappysummersal2020. This sew along uses a free pattern, which contains some different sizing options for using the simple 9-patch block for the quilt.

I dumped out my scraps and started sorting into color groups.

Sorting scraps

Wow, that got tiring fast in my very warm sewing room so I took a little break. When I came back into the room, I found my cat, Romeo, decided to reorganize things a bit.

Romeo reorganizes the scraps

I convinced Romeo to let me continue sorting by color. As the piles grew, I started thinking about how I wanted my scrappy quilt to look. I decided to do a limited color palette by using just pinks/reds and yellow scraps for a raspberry lemonade theme. My background will be a white-on-white fabric from my stash.

I’m making the rectangular throw size quilt so I needed to cut hundreds of 2″ squares from my scraps and hundreds of 2″ squares from my background fabric.

For the background fabric, I used the XL Stripology Ruler by Creative Grids to first cut the 2″ strips, and then sub-cut the strips into 2″ squares. This ruler is a lifesaver! I cut out all my pieces quickly and accurately without any hand fatigue. I highly recommend investing in one of these rulers.

Here’s a look at some of my pretty 2″ squares, just waiting patiently to be sewn into 9-patch blocks.