Fat Quarters!

The other day, I found, to my delight, FABRIC at a store that doesn't normally sell fabric! Eureka!

'Round here, people have to drive half an hour or more to get to any fabric store ... so, finding fabric for sale in any form at one of our "regular" stores is awesome.

In celebration of the find, and in support of the store's efforts to make fabric available, I had to buy some. Even a little. 

Besides, little fat quarters are so fun for little helpers to stack, unstack, arrange, and rearrange!

   

Since the fabric print & colors seem simple and suitable, I think I'll add bits of these to my Vintage English Paper Piecing, even though these are neither vintage nor reproduction prints ... just because I can.

Little Quilt Progress ...

Lots of progress is happening on my English Paper Piecing!

Eleven stars are done! (That's more than double last week's total. The "doubled in a week" statistic is not likely to happen again!)

(Not sewing the stars to each other just yet.)

Here's another look at the same stars ...

And, in other handsewing news, I have not forgotten about the yo-yos that have been in progress for such a long time ... Here is the latest group of yo-yos ... Long-term project ...

I almost feel like I should mute the colors on this yo-yo photo, after the delicate rainbows of the vintage-y diamonds! The random look of this yo-yo project is fun. It's kind of relaxing to get to put colors together that DON'T coordinate or "look good together". (My oldest daughter laughs at that statement.) 

It's nice to have several handwork/armchair projects going, for those times when it's not convenient to be at the sewing machine. I'm trying to remember to work the yo-yos into the mix, in between the vintage diamonds, the mini hexagons, and the sock-knitting... 

Pieceful Life has a "Little Quilt Monday" link-party every week. Since this is a little quilt in progress, I'm linking this post there. Check out the other neat projects at this week's Little Quilt Monday!

Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see hand-stitched work at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Socks ...

In case anyone was wondering, I'm getting a lot done on those socks I mentioned last week. I like the idea of working on having two sets of knitting needles, and knitting both socks at once ... it's working well. Between a couple hours a week of sitting at kid-basketball practice, and the occasional knitting-during-a-movie, I've gotten lots knitted.

I love the stripes. These stripes are more predictable than the ones in the other striped socks I made (below), but they're still fun! And, I'm loving how fast the "just knit" stitch goes. My lavendar socks had a fun mock-cable pattern, and my favorite socks (below) are nice and snug with ribbing all the way, so this "just knit" seems like a breeze, and it's going fast!

My favorite knitted socks (below) get a lot of use ... they're partly wool (washable!) so they're super warm, and great for chilly days, and I love the color combination! (I knitted these a couple years ago from Heart & Sole "Berry Bliss" yarn from Red Heart). 

I figure, with so many colors, these socks go with everything, right?! :-)

I love them.

Vintage (and Reproduction) Diamonds ...

For my Vintage Diamonds English Paper Piecing project, I mentioned that I was thinking about buying some reproduction 1930s fabric, so I'd have more volume and more variety in the project. So, I picked some fabric (on eBay) and was so excited to get a tiny stack of fabric in the mail!

I'm loving the rainbow-y look! I bought a stack of 40 squares that measure 4 1/2 inches each ... So, out of each square, I cut three diamonds, and there's a little scrap leftover from each that will work with my mini-hexagon project. 

The perfectionist in me wanted to keep the "real" vintage-fabric part of the project separate from the "fake" vintage (reproduction fabric) part of the project. Like maybe using the real vintage fabric as the centerpiece of the quilt, and the reproduction fabric for an elaborate border. But I'm getting over that, and I'm liking the depth that the added fabrics give the ones I had.

The progress is fun to see! This makes five completed diamond-stars, up from the three I mentioned in last week's post!
Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see hand-stitched work at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Also, Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced shows lots of other quilters' works in progress ... I'm also linking this post to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday. Check the link or button to see the latest!

Scout Fleece ...

A long time ago, we saw this Boy Scout fleece at the store. 'Round here, we have a Cub Scout who was eyeing the fleece & wanting one of those Boy Scout fleece blankets. (Boy Scouts turned a hundred years old in 2010, hence the 2010...)

But after a while, when the fabric went on sale, it turned out to be a really awesome deal. The future Boy Scout wanted one of those fleece blankets. Actually, both future Boy Scouts wanted one.

The fleece panel was 50" x 60" -- which is the EXACT size of a few solid-colored fleece throws I've got. Since the blanket would be sturdier and warmer with two fleece layers ... I decided to "quilt" the fleece layers together.

In addition to backing one blanket in blue, and one in brown, so they're easy to tell apart, I decided to add some iron-on letter patches with the boys' names. (Sewn on, too, so they don't fall off!) I was figuring I'd put the letters on the back, but when I asked my oldest son about them, he declared, "That is COOL!", and decided the name needed to be front and center. Right above the Scout logo. Perfect.

I like that the Boy Scout oath is around the edge (good stuff).

It's fun that the guys are planning to put their extra Scout badges (like the Cub Scout ones that they earn but can't wear on their Boy Scout uniforms when they move up) on their blankets, along with any other patches they deem appropriate to the blanket ...

I like that my almost-a-Boy-Scout has pronounced his blanket "COOL"! It's a high compliment from a boy his age.

Since Pieceful Life has a "Little Quilt Monday" link-party every week, and since this is kind-of-a-quilt, and it's kind-of-little, (or at least, it took just-a-little quilting) I'll suppose it qualifies. Check out the other neat projects at this week's Little Quilt Monday!

Kaleidoscope Layouts ...

Recently, I mentioned Kaleidoscope Quilts ...

Here's the latest one I'm working on.
In my earlier post, these pictures showed up:

Here's what those pieces are up to right now ...

It's looking like a 5 x 5 layout of 25 kaleidoscopes that are about 12" each ...

The question is what to do with borders and the little square kaleidoscopes ... 

The squares look good on-point as shown at the bottom of this photo ...

But I also like the idea of the little squares laid out as shown below ...

And, for borders, I've got some more of the same white-on-cream background, and some of the fabric from the kaleidoscopes. More details coming up another day ...

Work In Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced is a fun spot to see stitching works in progress ... I'll be linking this post to this week's Work In Progress Wednesday. Check the link or button to see the latest!

Progress: Upward, Backward, and Very Tiny ...

So, since I finished the Lavendar Socks a few weeks ago, I've been wanting to start some new socks with some self-striping sock yarn I've had for a while.

I decided to try a "toe-up" sock pattern this time ... I've only ever knitted socks starting at the top, so this is new. So far, so good. I'm using this pattern (free, online. Yay!)

It's Upward Progress ...

In handsewing news, on my Vintage Diamonds, I was using a loosely-woven muslin for the stars. I thought it would go well with the vintage fabrics, in keeping with the "homespun" feel. I convinced myself it would be fine. Even though the muslin was SO loosely woven. Even though every completed star felt loose and unstable. Even though my cardstock diamond "papers" poked through the loose weave at the diamond corners.

So. I'm done trying to talk myself into that. I'm redoing the muslin stars with some REAL muslin. I'm much happier with it. Delighted, in fact.

So, it's Backward Progress, in a way. Because, now I have 3 completed stars, instead of the 6 I mentioned before. But they're so much nicer.

I might leave these assembled stars un-sewn-together, as is, for now. Because, needing more fabric for this project, and not having any more actual vintage fabric around, I recently bought some cute new 1930s reproduction fabric. I'll probably reserve the reproduction fabrics for the border, with the vintage as the centerpiece of the quilt.

We shall see ...

And, in Very Tiny Progress:
The Mini-Hexagon companion to the vintage English Paper Piecing ... I've been keeping this project handy for the occasional quiet moment ... (Earlier notes on this project here and here.)

Little Quilt Mondays at Pieceful Life are a great gathering of tiny quilt-y projects - I'm linking this post to this week's Little Quilt Monday ...

Take Your Time Tuesdays are a fun place to see handwork at So Happy To Sew!
I'll be linking this post to this week's Take Your Time Tuesday!

Pink Irish Chain progress ...

Recently, I mentioned starting on some (very) pink Irish Chain quilt tops ...

I did a bunch of sewing pieces together ...

 And then a bunch of pressing and cutting ...

Looking forward to getting this looking like an Irish Chain!

Kaleidoscopes!

A few years ago, I discovered quilty Kaleidoscopes. I love them! 

There are several kinds, but the common factor involves the use of identical pieces arranged into a kaleidoscope. (When I was trying out the concept for the first few times, I searched Google for "quilt kaleidoscope" or "stack & whack quilt" for pictures and tutorials.)

Here are a few Kaleidoscope types I've made:

The six-triangles kind ...

The four-squares kind (also called "stacked posies") ...

And the eight-pointed kind ...

A couple of these kaleidoscope-y things will be showing up in other posts soon ... so, stay tuned!

Leaders and Enders ...

Progress is happening on my stack of Leaders & Enders (I mentioned them here)

After sewing blue (and purple) squares to white (and cream) squares, I stitched them into four-patches.
So, I'm getting quite the stack of blue-and-white four-patches.

To keep things interesting, I'm also working on some square-in-a-square pieces that will be about the same size ...

For an eventual layout that will look something like this ...

It's a work in progress ... more to come ...