Blue Tom and Jerry Quilt

My Scrap Attack goal for March is to make something from the Tom and Jerry fabric I have had stashed away for almost 10 years.  It wasn't just fabric that was stashed away, though.  I had actually cut out two pairs of pajamas from it for my grands.  Then I stashed it away!  This week I pulled out the blue fabric to decide what to make.  The cut pieces plus the leftovers added up to plenty, so there's enough for a toddler quilt.

I decided on a simple "Over and Under" pattern with white for the sashing. 

Strip piecing made for simple sewing, and the blocks went together fast.

It didn't take long to get the rows put together.

Getting all the rows into a top didn't take long either.




















It needs a plain white border, right?  That's the easy part, right?  Hah!  I think I spent more time on the border than I did on making all the blocks and putting the whole thing together.

I didn't want any seams in the borders, but a width-of-fabric strip wasn't long enough.  (Or I messed up.)  I decided to just put squares in the corners.  It didn't work.  (Or I messed up again.)  Then I decided to put a filler piece on each side.  I cut them wrong.  (Yes, that means I messed up yet again.)

Every quilter knows to walk away when things are going this way, right?   The time to take a break is actually when things first start going this way.  I kept working and finally finished, but I am definitely not happy with the results. Maybe if I put enough quilting in the borders it will look better.  Right?

Finding the perfect backing fabric in my stash saved the day, so tomorrow will be basting day.  Then quilting.  Then done.  

After all the fussing I really do like this quilt.  It will end up going to the 2018 Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  If you're a quilter you should definitely think about joining the challenge.  This year they've chosen three charities to support with quilts - Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, and Victoria's Quilts Canada.  Little Lambs is the perfect place for Tom and Jerry for sure.  I'll have it ready to mail before you know it!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

SaveSave

Scrap Attack 2018 - February Report

February did not go anything like I thought (or hoped) it would.  Between having the flu for 8 days, recovering for several days, and playing catch-up with cleaning and laundry, I didn't get into my sewing room much at all.

My February Scrap Attack goal was to cut up my green stash into useable pieces.  This was a much bigger goal than I had set last month which was to cut up the blue stash, and I didn't have a lot of time to do it.  This is what it looked like before.

As with my blue stash a lot of the pieces actually looked like this .....

..... so they definitely needed some attention.  Not loving attention.  I didn't really have time for that.  Just your every day run of the mill attention.  It seems like cutting was all I did last month.  You can see in the first photo a lot of the fabrics in the back row were really those between-green-and-blue shades .  When there were only a few days left in the month I tried to convince myself I didn't need to bother with them because they weren't really greens.  I couldn't do it, though.  I had to do what I had to do.

These are the squares, strips, and bricks I ended up with.

This is what is left of my green stash.  (And those between-green-and-blue shades.)

At one point I had actually become so tired of cutting that I pulled out a few greens and made some pillowcases.  No. That is not cheating.  That is stash-busting.

It's time to pull a slip from my handy dandy Christmas gift bag of goals. I'm really hesitant.  The last two were not fun, and I don't know if I can handle cutting up any more scraps. Okay.  Here goes.

Whew!  I am so relieved.  I get to make something out of the Tom and Jerry scraps.  My grandsons used to love watching Tom and Jerry cartoons.   I think the DVDs we bought were just about worn out when they outgrew them. I had bought Tom and Jerry fabric to make pajamas for them, and even cut them out as you can see, but I never got around to making them.  It looks like maybe they were about 1 year old and 6 years old at the time.  Maybe 2 and 7.  So, they outgrew the PJs as well as the DVDs.   (I hate to admit this, but they are 12 and 17 now.)

I should be able to make a baby quilt or two from this.  Hopefully, this month will go a little more smoothly.   Fingers crossed!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict Scrap Attack. 

Scrap Attack 2018 - January Report

I can't believe it's already time to report on what I accomplished for January's Scrap Attack and to set a goal for February.  I was glad my grandson pulled "Cut Up Blues" from my bag of goals last month.  I knew it would be easy because I am definitely not a blue person, and I don't have much of a blue stash.  This is what it looked like then .....

It looks like I had way more than I did, mainly because when I unfolded them most of the pieces looked like this .....

.... and this.

It didn't take long to press all of it and get to cutting.  See what I mean?  Lots of odds and ends and bits.

Anything about the size of a fat quarter or larger I kept in the stash, and the rest got cut into squares and bricks, a few strips, too.

This is what my blue stash looks like now.  I don't mind one bit that there isn't a lot.

February is here so it's time to pull a new goal from the bag. None of my grandsons were around, so it fell to Hubby.  As long as it wasn't "Cut Up Greens" I would be happy. Anything else, anything else, anything.......

Well, Phooey!  I guess I'd better get busy.  I have a lot of greens!

At least it looks like some of them are the size of a fat quarter or larger.  Fingers crossed, maybe most of them are!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict Scrap Attack.SaveSaveSaveSave

Scrap Attack Goal - January

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it's time to see what my Scrap Attack Goal is for January.  I had my grandson pull a slip from the bag.

Hooray!  It's an easy one.  The first goal for the year is to cut up my blue scraps into useable pieces.  (Can you tell I'm glad?)

Fortunately my pile of blue scraps is on the smallish side.

Well, maybe it's not that small, but wait until you see the greens!

I've started with the smaller pieces, pressing and stacking. The plan is to cut them into 2", 2.5", 3", and 3.5" squares, and 2.5" x 4.5" bricks.  What's left will be cut into strips, and pieces less than 2" are going into the trash.  (Don't tell anyone.)  By the way I'm only cutting up scraps - not stash.  I want to make sure I have large enough pieces left for other projects.  

I'm hoping to get this done quickly.  I have lots more goals to work on, and I need to get busy!

I'm linking up with Sarah's Scrap Attack 2018. 

Scrap Attack!

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict has put forth a Scrap Attack challenge for 2018.  Here's how it works.  I have chosen twelve scrap projects for the coming year, written them on slips of paper, and put the  strips in a little gift bag in my sewing room. At the beginning of each month I'll pull a slip from the bag and that will be my scrap goal for the month along with whatever else I'm working on at the time.

Here are my twelve.

1.  Make something using some of these 2.5" batik strips.

2.  Make a string quilt from my strings basket.

3.  Use up all the strings in these large containers, then recycle the containers. 

4.  Make at least one baby quilt from these Tom and Jerry prints.  (I cut out pajamas for my grandsons about 9 or 10 years ago and never made them!)

5.  Make at least one quilt from my overflowing supply of novelty prints.  (Yes, there are stacks behind the stacks!)

6.  Use these leftovers from Savannah and Sahara's baby quilts in a project.  (You can see their quilts HERE.)

7.  Use strips to make a quilt like this one on Carmen Geddes Quilts Facebook page.

8.  Make something with these fat quarters given to me by a friend.

9.  Cut up green scraps into squares.

10.  Cut up blue scraps into squares.

11.  Cut up pink scraps into squares.

12.  Cut up yellow scraps into squares.

All this is in addition to my plan to finish Josh's T-shirt quilt, finish Debbie's batik quilt, make Aaron a rag quilt, and make A.J. a black quilt.

Whew!  I think I should probably ask you to wish me luck. Looks like I'm going to need it!

I'm linking up with Sarah's Scrap Attack 2018.