Did you really think...

...that I could let the birthday of my country go by without making something more in Red/White/Blue? Seriously now, how long have you been following along? I am a sucker for patriotic themes. There was this post, then this one, and this one, and ...well, you get the idea. I can't resist the red, white, and blue.

So this is what happened in the all-too-rare sewing time I grabbed yesterday. These are table toppers based on the pattern below, which was in my recent swap package with Randy. These won't get quilted in time, but they may just grace a tabletop for now anyway.



The colors in the photo on the pattern didn't grab me, but I knew I was free to take it where I chose--and I chose red/white/blue. Anyway, who can resist a pattern named "Box of Chocolate"?



There could be a lot of wasted fabric in this pattern. You construct it by making strip sets and then cut out the wedges with a 60 degree ruler.

Look at those leftover triangles on the sides. Something had to be done with those. So something was.


You can click to enlarge the photo and see how things were lined up to trim down the waste.
All of my seams were pressed open, so it didn't matter which half I matched with what.

 
Stitch two of the newly trimmed triangles together and proceed to create another table topper from your scraps. It just reverses the fabric order. It will be almost as large as the original. I think my "scrap" topper is less than 1 1/2" smaller in diameter than the original. A nice save, I'd say.
In the photo at the top, the one on the left is the original, and the one on the right is the "scraps".


I was stitching the details on at the reunion, but the Buttermilk Basin wall hanging was finished in time for the auction. Here it is hanging al fresco, awaiting its turn up for bid. My older sister bought it.

It calls for buttons in the sunflower centers, but when I laid them out, it made this look like a button sample card, so I opted for randomly placed Colonial Knots, instead. When I was choosing the binding, I was going through my plaid shirt stash trying to find something in red/white/blue that would work cut on the bias. Everything that matched was too large a scale for this little piece. Then I recalled that DH had just donated a shirt to my stash, and I had just washed it. I found it in the laundry and it was just what I wanted.


Have I mentioned before that I am a lazy quilter (I believe I have)? And do you know what this lazy quilter doesn't enjoy about quilting small wool pieces? ALL of the thread color changes!!
It is not just rethreading the quilting machine--it is the tension check required after each change of thread color, brand, and weight.
Nine different colors and three weights and brands were used in quilting this, and sometimes I would finish with a color, move on to the next one, and then see that I had missed a place with the previous color. Arrgh!






But I persevered and got it finished. Here you can see the back before buttons were attached and knots stitched. Other than the quilting, it was a pretty fun piece to stitch.





My sewing room has turned into a disaster area, so before it requires federal funding, I decided to do a little cleaning here and there. I have had to dig into the shirt stash a time or two lately--and always when I am in a hurry, so rather than being tucked away afterward, shirts were strewn all around the room. I was stepping over them to get anywhere. Last night, on another steroid induced sleepless night, I tore the shirts out of the closet and let the fun begin.
I should have done the before/after photo thing, but I never think of it until after.

This may not look very neat, but believe me, this is organized!! Shirts that have been deconstructed are in baskets by color or project, or there is that one neat shelf of folded blue deconstructed shirts. Most of my shirts are still intact, and I hack on arm or front panel off when I need the fabric. But I have found that I can squash more shirts into a cubby when they are rolled, so that is what I do. I don't have enough cubby space, so the purple shirts are down to the right side and there are some low level piles on the floor. Hopefully I can get more shirts taken apart and free up more space. I don't like having the floor piled up, but this is so much better than it was. I tossed a large box of shirts that I realized were just not great fabrics to work with, even though they are 100% cotton.



Up on a high shelf in the same closet I have a couple more piles. These are mostly teals and pastel stripes. I'll have to get the step stool to get to them, but it isn't that hard. 
It feels so good to have that done.







And while cleaning, I came across a bag of really small Kim Diehl fabric scraps, so now there is another one of these in the works.





 Have another small quilt swap coming up. Just trying to decide how to quilt it.


Oh, how did this post get so long? I didn't think I had that much to say. I'll be quiet now.
Until next time, 
Janet O.