Scrappy Mountain Majesties Day!

Mona and I finally got our Snow day Sew Day yesterday!

And what a good time we had!

I took this photo mid-afternoon when we were in full production mode. The lighting was perfect and I could see not onlu the sun shining on the snow, sparkly white, but the mountains in the distance were also in full view against a beautiful Carolina blue backdrop sky.

I had started out in the morning preppeing and cutting shirt parts into 8 1/2’’ squares – matching a light to a dark and slicing them on the diagonal so that they were ready for Mona to sew.

In this tag team game of ours it’s a One for You, One for Me kind of situation…and it is really going to go fast this way.  I cut, she sews, we divide!

The Pull From Pile!

I admit that I have ulterior motives with this bin of shirt parts.  It’s a MESS!  I last dug into here when I was making my brother Mark’s quilt in a hurry due to his brain tumor diagnosis and surgery, and aggressive radiation and chemo that followed.  I had no time to be organizational about this.  I cut what I needed and stuffed it back in the bin to deal with later.  Well, later has arrived!

Cutting Down!

As I am ironing shirt parts, finding pieces large enough to cut 8 1/2’’ squares from, I am taking what is left after cutting the squares and putting the Scrap User’s System back into practice.  Everything left over from any shirt part is getting cut into 1 1/2’’, 2’’ and 2 1/2’’ strips.  I’m going to pass on the 3 1/2’’ strips for right now as usually there isn’t that much margin left after cutting the 8 1/2’’ squares out.

This is a reminder to me that it is time to start thinking of some more fun ways to use up the recycled shirt fabrics!  Oh, and there is a bag of strings growing on the side too!

Mona sewing triangles!

I always get asked why I sew cut triangles instead of draw a line and sew 1/4’’ either side and cut up the middle.  It’s simple.  Drawing a line and sewing either side is a waste of time.  These triangles are slightly over-sized anyway so you are going to have to trim them down.  Just cut, sew, trim and go.  You have an extra 1/8’’ of margin to play with.  If your squares are coming out too small from the get-go then your seam is simply too wide.  Fix it.

Mona trimming!

To trim, place the diagonal line on the ruler (Here we are using a 9 1/2’’ square) along the diagonal seam on the block and scoot the ruler as far as you can to the top edge. Trim up one side and across the top.

Turn the block so the square corner is now down at the bottom left. Use the 8’’ lines on the ruler on the nice square corner you just trimmed, and square the block at 8’’.

Two triangle squares, matched and sliced in 2’’ increments!

Place two trimmed units with right sides together, dark on light, and light on dark so the diagonal seam nests.  This is important so that you get one uphill block and one downhill block at the same time.

Whoowhoo!

Simply peel the first layer on top UP, laying the strips as shown so both blocks are right sides up.  And then the magic begins!

re-arrangem and sew back together!

Mona is brand new to sew first, slice and sew back together.  The first time we did it is with her current disspearing 9 patch and she is loving the technique.  Remember being a new quilter and having someone show you how you can do this?  It looks so much more complicated than it is.

Stacking in piles of uphill and downhill!

If you are wanting to jump in and join us, you can find the free pattern for Scrappy Mountain Majesties under the free patterns tab at the top of the blog.

Dinner out with Carmen!

We finally got off mountain late yesterday afternoon for a birthday dinner out of Mexican with Rick, Mona, and their daughter Caitlin, and of course, baby Carmen!  Isn’t she a cutie patootie?  I am getting as much of her as I can as she will be heading back to Ohio soon.

Two more rows added!

After Downton Abbey was over last night, I stayed on channel and watched Mercy Street.  Have you seen it?

I think it is very realistic due to the time period.  Things were not pretty, nor politically or racially correct in the 1860s.  Women were still inferior.  I’ve heard comments saying that they don’t like it, that there is too much prejudice. 

I also think it is important to view things as they were, really were, and learn from them.  Yes, we feel uncomfortable about certain situations because YES! We HAVE come a long way, baby!

I’ll give it a couple more episodes before I make my decision to continue or not.  The costuming is fabulous, however!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Hello, Monday! It's a brand new week. With a brand new attitude. Let's make it a good one! Please note that this quote applies to how you treat yourself, as well as how you treat others.

Kaleidoscope quilt in blue and yellow made by me somewhere around 2003.

Plans today have me working from here.  I’ll likely cut some more squares, and do more clean up on the pile of shirt parts, which as now largely been separated into a pile with pieces “Big enough” to cut the 8 1/2’’ squares from, and a big pile designated as “TOO SMALL” for this project, and another project will have to be decided to use those up.

Roads here are now mostly clear and I should have no trouble getting the van down the mountin by myself by tomorrow afternoon when I plan to head home.

Enjoy your day, everyone!

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