Two Months In–Leader & Ender Check!

While I can’t share much of what has also been going on behind the scenes (It’s that time of year!) I can show you just what was accomplished as Leaders & Enders in just YESTERDAY’s round of sewing mayhem.

These little cuties have just stolen my heart.  Have you jumped in on this year’s Shoo Fly Shoo Leader & Ender Challenge?  We just started in July.  It runs all year long.  There is no specific completed project, no particular block size to shoot for – the objective is to use your scraps.  To cut block sets out ahead of time, and keep them by your machine and to build the blocks using the pairs and pieces as “sew-betweens” during the making of your main focus projects.

The basic directions are found under the Free Patterns Tab at the top of the blog, and I’ve given cutting directions for two sizes – the small ones finish at 4’’ and the larger one at 6’’.  Pick your favorite size – or choose some of both.  It’s up to you.

If you follow along, you’ll also get very good at “webbing” the block – instructions are included for that too.  Just wait until you see how it improves your quilting productivity.  It’s a game changer!

Storing mine in a favorite basket.

I like to pin things in sets of 10 so it is easy for me to keep count with how many are in the basket.  For right now, I’m not really shooting for any particular number, and if I end up with enough for two quilts, so be it!  The beds at Quiltville Inn are the perfect place for Leader & Ender quilts to land.

And I’m having a wonderful time choosing scraps from my Scrap User’s System and cutting out the little block sets.

10 sets ready to go!

At the left of the photo – my overflowing bin of 2 1/2’’ squares.  Oh the variety in here!  It’s my starting place.

Choose a square that entices you, look at the colors in it – and then head to the 1 1/2’’ strip bin and choose an accent color to go with the 2 1/2’’ square.  Many of my strips are left over from our previous Checkerboard Rails Leader & Ender challenge from a couple of years ago – I cut FAR too many for that quilt (Just couldn’t stop myself, I was on a roll! LOL!) and the strips are just the right size to cut 4 half-square triangle pairs with one 1 1/2'' square left over for the 1 1/2'' squares box. These scraps keep on giving!

I also found that neutral 5’’ charm squares are the perfect size as well – I can get three 1 1/2’’ x 5’’ strips from the 5’’ square and that is enough for 3 sets of half-square triangles for the small Shoo Fly block corners.

If you have 5’’ squares that are languishing, pair a dark one and a light one with right sides together, cut three 1 1/2’’ strips of matched pairs – and then cut the triangle pairs form the matched sets of strips with your Essential Triangle Tool. 

Sometimes we have to get inventive to move the fabric that has been neglected for whatever reason.

Far right above the rotary cutter – 2 1/2’’ strips of neutral – You can cut the 1 1/2’’ x 2 1/2’’ background rectangles from either a 1 1/2’’ strip or a 2 1/2’’ strip, but I found that I did better cross cutting a 2 1/2’’ strip at 1 1/2’’ rather than the other way around due to the strip length needed.  My short 1 1/2’’ neutral strips were great for the corner triangles, but never long enough to get four 2 1/2’’ rectangles from them. 

My plan this morning?  Kit up 20 sets and see how long they last me today – because I am sewing up a storm!

I am in time out!

Allison shared this with me yesterday and I just cracked up.  the “She believed she could…..” is something I have kept in mind from the time I first planned to acquire Quiltville Inn and turn it into a retreat.  Each step we make, each line on the to-do list we cross off puts us one step closer.

This week I have been in time out – and perhaps I have getting the bronchitis-ear infection-sinus infection thing to thank for making me slow down, no matter how uncomfortable it has been to really do little to nothing for the first few days (just hand sewing, naps and copious amounts of Netflix) to finding myself on the mend and being able to manically sew on the Crooked Courthouse Steps blocks, to what I have going on behind the scenes now that things feel a bit better.

I’m not completely out the woods yet, but I slept last night with no Nyquil to keep me down.  The sinus faucet still runs like crazy, but the hacking is less.  The voice is still barely there, but the time I’ve had alone here with just Sadie for company has helped in that “restful quiet” scenario that is restorative in and of itself.

Time out this week has also allowed me to grieve and reflect over the loss of Mark.  Today is the anniversary of his memorial.  Boy, did I have to scroll through those memory photos in my Facebook in rapid fashion.  Maybe next year when they come around again it won’t be so touchy.

Mark’s son Spencer and his wife McKinna had their first baby recently.  Atley Grace Wilkinson arrived September 5, 2019 at 5:01am. 8lbs 1oz and 21 inches. Such a big sweet girl!

My niece Emilee and her husband welcomed Harrison Mark McRae into their home in May – What a way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  He is so precious.

I’m a great Auntie twice over since May – Mark has two new grand babies that entered the world never having had the chance to know him.  So a lot of this stuff has been going through my mind as I have sewn and sewn and sewn and sewn.

And so life marches on and on and on -

Quiltville Quote of the Day

Narragansett Blues quilt from MORE Adventures with Leaders & Enders.

Let's turn this one up a notch! Find something you've taken for granted simply by being unaware, and shower it with gratitude.

This morning? Connectivity. While I've been recuperating, The Hubster has been in China on business. We have been able to video chat twice a day. Technology is amazing. If I look back 25 years, this would not have been possible. I can't imagine life without it now.

Oh, and that dream I had about 3 weeks off with nothing to do but stitch my brains out? That's my reality right now.

Before he comes home I will need to vacuum up all of the sewing machine dust and threads that are all over the house.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone.