January is almost over. It has been a busy month in the sewing room. I decided to slow down on making community quilts for a while. I will have the completed tops on the basting frame to baste in evenings while watching tv, but the actual quilting will be on hold.

A baby quilt is finished and will be heading to Florida for a friend shortly. The blocks and pieces of blocks were won at a teacup raffle many years ago. I just had to complete the unfinished blocks and put the quilt together.

There was a small box in the corner of the sewing room. When I finished a quilt, I cut the scraps into 1/2″ strips or small square pieces. They went into the box. One day this month, I decided to work on these tiny pieces. They were jammed in and pressed down. My sewing machine has been working hard to put these pieces together.

This is just a small image of the mounds of small squares. I sewed two together. Then, two twos for a four patch.

Four of these squares will be sewn together for a 4 x 4. I’ll keep sewing until I have a bed quilt or two. There are a lot of tiny pieces in the box. This is a no think quilt. Just a dark and a light. While sewing, I was thinking about what people would say when this was finished. They would say “Are you crazy/”? It’s a good name for this quilt. There are times when you just have to sew and not think about what you are doing. The seams are pressed so that they nest. There are so many fabrics that color doesn’t matter.

I follow a blog that is called Daily Fiber. Laura Kate is the ultimate artist. She belongs to a group that does Stay At Home Round Robins. The SAHRR has started for 2023. I have never met a round robin that I didn’t like. I’m going to follow along after Laura Kate gives the clue of the week. The center block is a found item in the sewing room. I have auditioned several pieces. At first, I found two blocks that were made with Robert Kaufmann Japanese fabric. They were both too big. Then, I found some blocks for thread painting. They would take too much time. Down in the bottom, I found a strip of three small blocks made with the Japanese fabric. Perfect. I’ll use one of them for the center. It fits into my plan for purging all the Japanese fabric. The next row is a spool block. I’ve already thought about how I would attach spool blocks to the center. I’m not sure which block will be the center.

There is also another block of the week pattern on another blog. It’s supposed to be blue baskets on a white background. I have lots of white scraps. They don’t have to be the same white. I could also use some of the Japanese fabric for the baskets. If there is any fabric left after that, I could cut the remainder into a Potato Chip quilt. Or two. You can’t make just one. Then, there is a pattern for strips that I found on the internet this morning. That Japanese fabric will be gone by the end of the year.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

Miss Molly is 13 years old today. She is doing very well for a dog of her age. Because of her age, she had to have a blood test which showed everything was working well. Her saddle is turning gray and red from a very dark black, but her energy is the same.

Miss Molly when she was a baby.

Miss Molly’s hole.

Miss Molly’s best friend, Mr. Max.

Miss Molly inspecting a quilt.

Miss Molly’s beauty picture.

There are days when I call her “that dog”. It’s when she steals my thread, pencils or anything else she can find. She likes all things that are mine.

I have gone back into the sewing room. A friend has graciously long armed 10 community quilts for me. They are back and the bindings are on most of them.

I have also quilted others. All the unfinished community quilts are organized in four piles. Pile #1 is the quilt tops that need a batting and backing cut to fit. Pile #2 is the pile with the backing and batting cut, ready to baste together. Pile # three is quilts that are basted and are waiting to be quilted. Some of the quilts are machine bound after they are quilted. Pile #4 is quilted quilts that the binding was sewn to the front and will be hand tacked to the back. Pile #4 is in a basket in the living room. It contains anything that needs hand sewing or hand quilting.

When I go into the sewing room, I can decide what I what to do for the day. I can even start with a pile #1 quilt and finish it in the same day.

When I decided to make quilts from all the unfinished blocks and cut scraps in the bin, I didn’t think that it would be such a large job. Now that I have had help in the quilting and are organized, I can choose to either work on this project or go on to something new.

Some of the finished quilts

Miss Molly inspecting the quilt.

Made with quarter square triangles that came from someplace else.

Cute rabbit fabric. Also, from another person’s sewing room.

Pinwheels from who knows where.

I did sew this one. Many, many years ago.

I have been following the justgetitdonequilts blog. Karen Brown is doing her second sewing room declutter challenge. I did the challenge last year. I’ve realized that I didn’t clutter much this year. Most everything is where it’s supposed to be. When I get around to declutter, I’ll do it my way It will be area declutter, not item declutter.

There is a new block of the week challenge that I may do. It’s supposed to be blue, but. I can make it in any color that I want. Instructions are coming soon. 2023 will be a fun year to quilt.

Have a great day and happy quilting.