Do you see what I see?!?My FAVORITE time of the year in the south – SPRING!
I hadn’t driven up Hanes Mall Blvd in a few weeks, but my errands took me hither and yon yesterday and OH!! I’m stopped at a stop light here….I really wanted to jump out of the car and get up close and personal with the pink!
Those of you in the NORTH – It’s coming….it really is! Don’t lose faith yet!
Some more eye-popping and hope-SPRINGS-eternal shots:
Pink blossoms against that Carolina Blue sky!
A whole ROW of them! YEAH!
I’ve had pink on the brain ever since…..and I had to start cutting right away to capture the pink blossoms in a quilt….something simple….something timeless. Something that could come right out of the 2” strip drawers where pink and brown strips were overflowing.
This is my inspiration quilt, a simple 9 patch from about 1880:
I threw on “World Without End” on Netflix ((Good thing I’d read the series because if I was going by movie alone I wouldn’t understand what was going on!)) and began to cut.
I LOVE my cookie sheets for carrying my strips around from cutting table to sewing station.
It was so easy to pull the baggie of pink 2” strips, and pair it with the 2” baggie of brown strips --- all the variety I needed was already there. Not a single Fat Quarter was harmed in this process! That’s the beauty of tackling your scraps as you make them. I always have a variety of strips in color families on hand for starting a new project when inspiration hits – like the blooming trees I saw yesterday afternoon!
Sets of 10!
Each folded over bundle holds parts for 10 9 patches! This is going to make it really easy to take along and sew. I’m doing the same cutting method for these smaller 9 patches as I do for the center 9 patches on the Sister’s Choice quilt….my rectangles are 2” X 9” and I also cut one extra 2” square of whatever is going into the corner of the 9 patch block.
While cutting down the scraps ---any short ends of strips got cut directly into 2” squares:
Ends of strips trimmed into 2” squares!
My goal in working with my scraps is simply to not have a basket of odd shaped pieces when I am done. As I pulled a pink strip and matched it with a brown strip – I would use those strips until they were GONE. I didn’t want to put half a strip back in the baggie. As they get shorter, they are harder to work with, so use them up ---and trim the ends into 2” squares for the 2” squares bin. Aren’t these colors going to be great?
I know it was overkill last night, but I just couldn’t stop!
Today I am off to sew with some friends on an over night! We will start this afternoon, I’ll spend the night – and we will sew again tomorrow! Whoohoo! A mini retreat! I’ll be home by dinner time tomorrow ((Friday)), so Quilt-Cam should still happen at 9pm Eastern. It’s going to be a short retreat, but we are headed back up to the mountains on Saturday morning to look at some more properties. I’ll take what I can get!
Of course…if I get out of here early enough today ---there are a couple of antique places on my way I’d love to see--but most of all I need some "real-life" friends sewing time to recharge my batteries.
Have a great Thursday, everyone!
Finding time to sew in your own sewing room is fun but getting out and sewing with friends who like the same things as you is great, fantastic, enlightening,superb and thrilling.
ReplyDeleteOkay so I lead a boring life!!!
sounds like a fun day ahead!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
beautiful, I love this time of year also
ReplyDeletegorgeous, as usual bonnie...have a terrific relaxing time....waiting on quilt cam friday, woo hoo!
ReplyDeleteYou get me in trouble!!!! LOL Had to run to EQ and plan out one for myself as I am taking a bin of 2 inch strips to the four day camp retreat next week. At least I can get the nine patches done there. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs!!!!
Bonnie, I love your inspiration quilt. Can't wait to see your version of this beauty. And I know what you mean about the trees. I just spied my first pink blooming tree of the season, driving down my Henderson, NC road a couple of days ago. You just can't beat NC for the Spring flowers! Have a super day!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to include Rocky Creek Road off Winklers Creek Road in Boone. I mentioned this in an earlier post AFTER you went searching last time. We LOVE it there when DH was in grad school. Isolated but very close to town. Happy Hunting.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking out on snow this chilly Pi Day! Bonnie, I've been cutting scraps into strips and squares since before I "met" you. The down side is when I contemplate doing a crumb-type project--most recently, one of Victoria F-W's Bumble Beans patterns where she uses wonky/odd pieces. All my scraps are cut to specific sizes!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to recreate the strawberry/chocolate 9-patch as is, with slab borders? (The wide inner pink is a nice variation.) Or will you add some Bonnification? (Or is that Bonnitude?)
I love those trees over by Target and many times take the long way to the highway so that I can look at them each morning. Your quilt is going to look great and I love the cookie pan trick for transport. I may also be looking at my scraps differently in the near future as I am coming to love precuts more and more and hate when I am looking for a scrappy something just the right size and it comes up short.
ReplyDeleteThe trees are just beautiful, I haven't seen any down here yet! Where do you get your scraps? It seems that you are always making scrap quilts. The nine patch is great! Micki
ReplyDeleteI'm not a pink person but will have to cut out blues and browns for my own inspirational quilt top.
ReplyDeleteSpring may be 6 days away, but this is still prime time for a few more smacks of winter weather here out west.
When I saw the picture of your inspiration quilt, at first I thought you had already pieced a whole quilt since last night! I know you are whiz at piecing but that would really be a fast one.
ReplyDeleteNann, thanks for reminding me that today is Pi Day. I haven't celebrated it since I retired from teaching math a few years ago.
We had Pi in the library staff room today. I brought a quiche. :)
DeleteYour scrap organization is truly inspiring. I admit my scraps are piled willy-nilly into a large tote. Whenever I start to think about making something out of them, I look at the totes (the extent of my organization is that I have one for batiks and one for everything else), sigh deeply, and move onto my fat quarters and yardage.
ReplyDeleteI know of a 3 bedroom log cabin on a mountain in Sautee Nagoochie GA (White mtns-northeast corner of GA) with a killer finished 1fl space that would be an awesome sewing room. Just sayin!
ReplyDeleteI love the pinks and browns. Your organization is as much or more of an inspiration as your creativity! I immediately wanted to run to my stash and see what I could pull out. I will not get side-tracked. I have cut the sashings for my Moth in the Window, and the next thing I do will be sew them onto the blocks and cornerstones. But first we are going to have lunch with our two third-grade DGKs and visit the book fair, and then do the same thing with out fifth-grader. Sigh, maybe later. LOL Have fun at your mini-retreat!
ReplyDeleteGood for you!~ Have a wonderful time, so happy you are sharing time with your friends.
ReplyDeleteLove the future quilt and the inspiration.
Gorgeous! The trees and the pink and brown strips. Someday I will have all my scraps organized, but I am just a beginning scrapper. You are such an inspiration. Have a great overnight. You deserve it.
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! the trees give me hope! our weather has been too cold for this time of yr! but the trees are budding. and April will be here soon.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous !! Can't wait to try this .
ReplyDeleteJan
Lovely quilt, dusty pink and chocolate look so great together.
ReplyDeleteAre you doing all pinks as the outers?
ReplyDeleteOr half and half?
I am asking as I spent the day cutting for these blocks...was doing half brown outies and half pink outies...then started to doubt myself. So, all the pinks are cut and am waiting on your reply before I cut more.
XOXOXOX Subee