Replacement Irish Chain

    I had to make a replacement Irish Chain for myself.  I invited a friend to come over and shop my quilts last month.  She fell in love with my favorite Irish Chain that I made with Tanya Whelan rose fabrics.

     This is the front of the original Irish Chain that I made for myself a few years ago.

This is the back.

  The original quilt was a little small but I loved the fabrics I used in it.  My friend took it home with my love and I tried to forget the quilt, but I knew I wouldn't be happy until I made a replacement.  Not a carbon copy but an Irish Chain using fabrics I love.  I used a green and pink floral for my nine patch blocks and the backing/binding fabric is a lovely light green with tiny bees all over it.  The fabrics are great and I even made the quilt a little larger than the original.  So my replacement Irish Chain is finished.

        I don't have any more quilts that I want to make, so I'm going to continue making string quilt blocks for more string quilts.  I have two big boxes with lots of scrap strips from my stash.   I make my tops with 49 blocks which I think make a good size top.  I make an additional 7 blocks to piece the backing.  So each quilts needs 56 string blocks.  I've been using full size paper towels which measure 10.4" x 11" which I cut down to 10" after I sew my strips on.  Using 10" blocks is so much fun for me.  I love the 7 block rows x 7 rows and this layout makes it easy to line up my backing fabric with the row of blocks in the center.  I line that row up with the fourth row of the top and that centers my back with my top really nicely.   The paper towel rolls have 96 sheets in them so I can  make almost two tops with one roll of paper towels.  While I'm making my string quilts, I'll be on the hunt for a great quilt pattern with some great fabric.

Another Great Way to Use Up My Stashed Fabric

      I started a second quilting project today.  I made my first scrappy string block using a paper towel as the foundation.  This was fun to make.  I will have to take some time to cut fabric strips, but that's as easy as sewing the block together.  I will make the center strip white on all the blocks so when I put the blocks together a border will be created with the white strips.  Very cool.

     And I'm still working on my scrappy 16-patch blocks.  I have 12 made so far.  I need 23 more for this quilt top.

     I have the fabric for my paper pieced stars (wallhanging) and it's been washed.  I just have iron the fabric and print out my paper piecing patterns to get started.  You can see the pattern and the fabrics here.

Change In Sewing/Crafting Strategy

    I'm changing my sewing/crafting strategy.  Instead of only working on one project at a time, I'm going to try to work on a couple of projects at the same time, one big quilt project and one smaller project. I'm hoping I can work my way through my big storage box of projects which include all the patterns/fabrics/findings to make each one.  The projects include:  a doll pattern, a teddy bear, a Gadget Girl Tool Kit bag, several embroidery/cross stitch projects, another dog harness, a table topper kit, a lap quilt, and a jewelry project.  

  I had no business planning two new projects with all the items I have waiting, but I did.  I'm cutting fabrics for a scrappy 16 patch block quilt with a white sashing.  I'm making the scrappy blocks with 3" squares cut from my stash.  I also ordered the white fabric for the sashing on Saturday.

    I have this almost full box of 3" squares ready to be sewn together.

   And yesterday I picked out a lovely foundation paper pieced pattern on etsy to make a wallhanging for my living room.  I also bought some fabric (on sale) at Connecting Threads for the wallhanging.

   Pattern:

Fabrics:

   I've only done a couple of small paper piecing projects so this should be fun.  I'll probably get the fabric next week and I should be finished with my current project by then.  

   I'm currently working on my red plaid Christmas nightgown.  I finally ironed the fabric last night, next step is cutting my pattern pieces out.

Fabric for nightgown:

   That's all I'm working on now.  I'll let you know how the new sewing strategy is working for me. 

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt Start

   I have started my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt that I have been dreaming about for a while.  The flower centers will be bright yellow, the second ring will be scrap fabrics, the third ring will be white, and the finally ring will be light green for the garden path.  This will be an ongoing quilt project for the next year or so.

    I bought a hexagon paper punch last year to make my own 1 inch hexagon papers and I did make some hexagon papers from some old greeting cards last year.  Last week I pulled out some 110 lb. cardstock from my paper stash and made more hexagon papers.  I can punch out 19 - 1 inch hexagon from one piece of  8.5" x 11.5" cardstock.

   These are my first ever hexies and they were a lot of fun to make.

Cutting Scraps

   I spent some time the last couple of days cutting up the scraps I created from the fourteen project bags I made last week.  I cut the scraps up into 3" x 3" and 2" x 3" sizes.  I ended up with a lot of little squares for a future quilt project.

   I bought myself a tote bag from the Ravelry website to help support a wonderful message board.  I love the crazy artwork on this bag.

I Found A Use For Some Old Scrap Wood And A Broken Bird Bath

   Last week I was cleaning my old iron bird bath and the base kind of fell apart.  The screws had rusted and pieces had fallen off the base so I couldn't keep the bowl fastened to it anymore.  I replaced it with a bird bath from the front yard and bought a new bird bath for the front flower bed.

    I was going to take the broken bird bath to the iron scrap place and get a few dollars just so it wouldn't be left in the yard with no purpose.  While I was trying to decide whether I wanted to scrap the entire bird bath or use it as yard art, I saw a pile of scrap wood left over from a fence support project done a while back.  

   These pieces of wood are fat and no piece is the same length so I had fun putting them together to make a base for my old bird bath bowl.  I was going to use some adhesive to put it together, but I realized the base would too heavy for me to move and it works great with the pieces just stacked together on a level place under the trees.  I hope the birds like it.