"Bright Shiny Things"

       Obviously I am not much of a blogger am I? I hadn't done much quilting for a while and wasn't very inspired so I had nothing to write about. Then a couple weeks ago I decided I needed to finish some stuff up and that started my crazy journey chasing bright shiny things (as my daughter calls my amazing ability to be distracted by just about anything in front of me). 

      It started by me choosing a box at random with a project in it. It was the green chain quilt. I started making little 4 patches like crazy. As it grew I decided the 4 patches weren't killing me so I pulled the red box of the same block and went a bit nuts doing those. After they got to the laying out stage I needed to start something else.

      Next box I grabbed was leftover pastel pieces from another project. I didn't want to make that same quilt again so I started sewing the pieces together. There were small crazy quilt pieces in the box which I used in the first quilt. That gave me the idea to use some of my crazy quilt blocks with the strips for the next one. I pulled out my collection of crazy quilt blocks and used some in the main part and cut some in half for the borders. The pile was getting smaller and since making crazy quilt blocks is a favorite of mine I spent the next week making more blocks.   

     Well....as the crazy quilt blocks grew my collection of pastel scraps
got smaller and smaller and I needed some longer strips that were a busy fabric. That reminded me of my box of floral blocks so I looked to see if there might be some strips already cut in there. Well, guess what was on top of the box. A bag of half square triangles, which made me think of my friend Kate LePard who also likes to make stars so I made some star blocks with the triangles which I will put together with the crazy floral blocks in the box. At the moment that one is on the design wall to be organized and completed.

lots & lots of  blocks

       
 

      Now that is the sewing room projects. I also set up the big table in the living room to layer the pastels and since it was up I quilted 2 baby quilts and  sewed on 2 bindings and machine quilted a 3rd quilt, using a new ruler I wanted to try. I am getting the hang of the ruler thing but need more practice so that sent me to the internet to order another ruler for the border. 

      

 Lordy...chasing all these bright shiny things has left me with quite a collection of UFO's to assemble. Oh, and I also have 1 empty box... Progress...

Sandie's Specialties Part Deux

One of the first batches.
All silly &'no two alike

    This is a crazy, scary, different time. We are living through this pandemic
in a way that  we have never done before. My personal experience has been a little different. I am working more hours than usual, 6 days a week. I don't really know what it is like to stay home all day and my "family" is the people I work with in a close space every day. I never ever imagined myself in a job where I am considered "essential".
      When the governor said he was asking everyone to wear masks in public I realized that I could make myself and my co workers masks to wear. After all, I have hundreds of yards of fabric, lots of leftover bias tape, and some elastic. Well....thanks to the magic of Facebook it has turned out to be a huge thing. People are coming to the pharmacy for free masks all day long. I have completely used up dozens of packages of bias tape from a past life, all the elastic I can find, cutup t-shirts, and even ace bandages. Strangers have brought me elastic, given me money to buy more (which I will use as soon as I find a place to buy it!) I am completely out of cream, beige, and dark gray thread and am resorting to using pink thread! Can't even get more on Amazon! On the other side, I have not even made a dent in my fabric stash!
       As I am sitting at the machine for hours a day, I am having flashbacks to the old Sandie's Specialties days when I would sew as many free hours a day as I could then spend the rest of the time trying to sell the stuff. I would do a show and if something was selling well I would go home and sew until midnight. Now I am sewing before work, coming home, and sewing till I can't take it any more. I am proud of myself that I am able to still do it, 40 years later! I am very happy that I had that drawer full of bias tape from the 80's which has finally come to a good use. At the moment I am taking a night off because I have no elastic left and just needed a break. I feel like the women during the war rolling bandages for the troops, doing what I can for the cause. Who knew that sewing would become an essential skill in our times? People everywhere are digging out their machines and helping out. It is kind of exciting to see my favorite pastime getting its due and quilters and seamstresses are suddenly important.
      I am doing it because I CAN. It is something I can easily do and even though I am physically aching most of the time ( I ain't as young as I used to be!) I feel better than I have in months. I am busy all the time and have a purpose every day. It embarrasses me to be congratulated for doing something that I am getting so much out of. I was pretty depressed and wasn't doing much every day, so this is very good for me.  Yes, I still sneak in time for Pokemon Go and Animal Crossing every day, I have a TV right next to me and am constantly watching something. That Tiger King got me through an entire Sunday! Big Brother Canada is an every day go-to. My house is a mess and I don't care. No one but me will see it.
       We're all in this together and I hope others find something that gives meaning to this craziness. Keep on keeping on!