Friday, August 11, 2023

Playing in the basement...............


It was quite humid yesterday so I went to the basement and started a load of laundry.  I saw this box over by the shelf unit I am slowly re-filling with fabric.  I knew I shouldn't take the lid off.  I get lost in all of the treasures in there.

Back in the mid 1990s I was working at a quilt shop that sent out a newsletter 3 times a year which announced the class schedule.  I taught the Trip Around the World quilt class 3 times a year and sometimes twice in each of the 3 sessions.  I suspect I have made at least 50 Trip Around the World quilts.  I always had two in progress for every class so I could show them how to do every part of the progress.  (Some of the partially made quilts were used for several classes.)  This box contains leftover partial stratas and strips that were cut from the stratas from so many projects.  


Sometimes there was a whole strata left over plus some strips.  I made a lot of baby quilts in this pattern.









There are 10 strips leftover from a batik quilt I made about 5 years ago.









A couple years ago I made a mistake and made one too many stratas for a throw size Kaffe Trip quilt.  There is another piece that I could cut 4 loops from plus one extra strip.  This is the only one that I could make something from.  If my calculations are right it would be about 37" x 40" and would just be a diagonal pattern (like 1/4 of a Trip design).

I shouldn't have opened the box.  I wasted about an hour and a half dreaming about the use of all of the pieces in the box.

I am working on another project which I will show soon.


On the gardening front the Sedums are forming their flower clusters.  This is 2 different varieties.






The Moss Roses are loving the little showers we had several days this week.






In the middle section of the front garden where I replaced some plants, it looks like a Swamp Milkweed coming up in the center plant.  I think I'll loosen the soil carefully and try to pull it out so I can plant it somewhere else.  I used to have them in this flower bed before the top 5" of soil and invasive plants were removed 2 years ago.  It is hard to believe a seed for it would be able to come up through 5" of new topsoil that was added so I'm wondering if it was in this plant when I bought it earlier this summer.

15 comments:

Gene Black said...

I think that those batik strips would mix nicely with the Kaffe strips for a larger quilt if you were so inclined..

Julierose said...

Such pretty leftovers...it's hard not to spend a lot of time dreaming of a use
for them....;))
I love sedums--especially Autumn Joy...I used to have a lovely group of them until something ate them all!!
64 here this morning and 61 DP--a bit cooler but still humid--hoping a nice N'ly wind will come and sweep all this mugginess away...
hugs, Julierose

Linda Swanekamp said...

Wonderful strips! I can see how you would get lost in them. Wondering how my garden is doing after being gone since last week, should find out tomorrow afternoon- hope the Japanese beetles did not devour everything. My patch of swamp milkweed was blooming and I was hoping for butterflies.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

so many strips I would be trying to figure out what to use them for and what fabrics in the stash would go with them - they are so pretty.

Anonymous said...

Swamp milkweed has such a lovely scent, I wish I could get it started in my garden! And your treasure box of colorful bits and bobs, what a creative spur!

Ceci

Tami Von Zalez said...

No time wasted at all. I was intrigued. It is one of my fav activities to take pieces and parts and them put them all together.

JJM said...

I agree ~ that was not wasted time ~ opening that box brought back such happy memories for you. And such lovely pieces to inspire another quilt or more.

Your gardens are always so pretty and fun to see.

JJM

Sue said...

I, too, have a fabric tub I try not to peek into. It’s labeled “Scrap Vortex,” and I only open it to put in bits & pieces, an extra block, a “pointless” star, etc. But it can be very tempting, rather like Pandora’s Box.

Nann said...

LOL. The monster that lurks in the corner of the basement.

Barbara Anne said...

What glorious treasures are in that box!! Lucky you to have them available for use now that they're back in your imagination. Yum!

Hugs!

Nancy J said...

Dreaming is good time, never wasted. The fabrics are glorious in all those colours.And to look back and know what each piece was cut out for, and left over, that is always a special memory.

Libby in TN said...

Beware of Pandora's Box!

O'Quilts said...

My first post from Wanda in forever....joy, I am back in business!!

Patty said...

I am catching up from the last couple days. Too bad about the sun flower and the squirrels. Your garden is really filling in at the front. That was nice of that fellow to give you a hand with the trimming and digging up some more of the redbuds. We all need a break now and then so spending time going thru that box was ok! I wasted time Friday morning wandering thru the gardening section of a big box store when I needed to be heading home and doing something constructive. I ended up buying two succulents that were an excellent price. Once I did get home I had to repot them so there went more time! LOL!

Mystic Quilter said...

Playtime always yields hidden treasures, looks like you have a great find there.