Down the Rabbit Hole and Up the Squirrel Tree!

I had a day to MYSELF yesterday!

It was GLORIOUS!

Not that I don’t like being around people, but honestly – I can’t remember when I had a whole afternoon into the evening of SOLITUDE.

And it was a Sunday – mail doesn’t have to be dropped off until 4:00pm this afternoon so, I made the most of every blessed minute.

Super Bowl?  WHAT SUPER BOWL!?

The only bowl I was concerned with was the bowl of ice cream waiting for me at the end of the day.  But until then:

Bottomless bucket of small shirt pieces and parts.

This bucket never seems to go down in volume.  We have made so many quilts out of this bucket!  I have handed it off to Mona.  We both got Scrappy Mountain Majesties quilts out of it when it was full of larger pieces.

What’s left isn’t so large any more.  It’s the trimmings that were left after cutting our squares. There are yokes from shirt backs, pockets, plackets, sleeve caps - just the small stuff, really.

And I left the pieces odd-sized because the recycled shirt strip stash is still quite abundant and I thought I might want other sizes.  Maybe 6 1/2’’ squares?  Maybe 5 1/2’’ squares?  What about 4 1/2’’ x 8 1/2’’ rectangles.  Could they be needed at some point?

Yesterday I tackled a bunch by cutting sashings for my current Jack’s Delight project -

Enlarged top now awaiting borders!

The block pattern is in the current March/April 2020 issue of Quiltmaker Magazine and found in my Addicted to Scraps column. (The Quiltmaker website is currently undergoing a re-do since they have been acquired by another company again. So stay tuned on that.)

As things stand right now I am approximately 60’’ x 76’’.  I really want somewhere around 70‘’x 90’’ to fit a twin bed with enough drop to cover the box spring and side rails. 

I do NOT want to make MORE BLOCKS! (Gasp! I know, right?)

I mean – I could right?  But is there something at the QPO that I can use for borders?  We will see later today.

Once I’d gone as far as I could on this one – and the burgeoning bucket of recycled shirt parts was still at hand – One idea lead to another, and then another – all inspired by yesterday’s Quiltville Quote.  Did you see it?

SUGAR LOAF BLOCKS!

I have wanted to make a quilt with these for the longest time.  THE. LONGEST. TIME.  But it has been on the back burner for eons.

Do you see all of those plaids and how the grain goes in every which direction?  Guess what my heart was doing?

Yep! Down that rabbit hole!

Or up the SQUIRREL TREE!

Can you see now why I really don’t want to go backwards to making more Jack’s Delight blocks?  I want to go forward into Sugar Loaf blocks while still depleting the parts of the still very full recycled shirt part bin.

I pressed and pressed and pressed, and cut and cut and cut kits – so many block kits!

And from the small bits?

I kitted up more Shoo Fly Shoo Leader & Ender blocks as well.

I will be making Shoo Fly blocks until we get close to our July reveal of what the NEXT Leader & Ender project will be.  It’s not too late to join in.  These sweet blocks are so simple, and stitch up so fast. They are so cute and use an abundance of small scraps. 

If you don’t have a current Leader & Ender project going – Make a few!  Make 4 and turn them into a cute rug mug.  I dare you to not become addicted.

This morning’s sunrise.

SO INTENSE! 

Photos and video can’t do it justice -

But click to play, anyway!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bonnie K Hunter (@quiltville_bonnie) on Feb 3, 2020 at 4:12am PST

I did get about half-way through the back log of Quiltville Store orders on Saturday that came through while I was in Phoenix.  Those will be dropped off at the USPS on my way to the Quiltville Post Office where I will be finishing up today.  

And if I’m a good girl – I may be getting those latest 6 placemats loaded into the quilting machine.

Did you catch the Row-by-Row license plate placemat tutorial I posted YESTERDAY?  You’ll also find it under the Free Patterns tab at the top of the blog.  I’ll work this week on getting the printable PDF copy linked up as well, there are just some things that have to happen first.

And for those who didn’t know – the license plates themselves are/were sold through the quilt shops that participated in the row-by-row program. So check with a quilt shop near you.

If you don’t have license places, or a participating shop near you, you could trade out the license plates, and substitute in some string pieced rectangles that measure 8’’ x 4 1/2’’.

Our March/April Quiltmaker 2020 Gift-Away is still going on – enter to win ON THAT POST.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Found in Thomasville, North Carolina.

Start the daily practice of not letting the little things bother you. If the little things ruin your day, what's going to happen when the big things come along?

And I may have greatly screwed up last week, but I can do better this week.

I fell in love with this simple single Irish chain and all of its scrappy variety. Such a simple quilt, and so timeless.

Get out and enjoy this Monday!