Some rainy day projects here...

Seems kind of funny, after a whole month of rain in September, and so many days again in October, having some 'serious rainfall' now seems as though it's been a long time since. We've had some misty and sprinkle-filled days, but a good solid rain...not since October. Just seems so long ago.

The children brought me what we call an 'overnighter' for the woodstove yesterday. Well, it was certainly a large one. Could have split it and still called it an overnighter, I think. It is still burning...all day yesterday, all night last night, and still going this morning as I've fired things up good again. It's turning into charcoal, really. Nice little lumps of charcoal...not burning like regular dry wood should, ending up in mere ashes. Not that that is something bad, really, but still...I've had an awful lot of clumps vs. ashes lately...guess I'm in the charcoal making business here now.

We pulled some rubbermaid tubs from the barn and went through them. Found my Prairie Primer...my old one, spiral-bound, full of notes and ideas. I bought a new one a couple years ago...anyone looking to buy a new, slightly read Prairie Primer?
And, we came across a bag full of hexagons I had cut for a quilt...probably way back when Johanna was born, so we're talking 14 years ago.
I have 2 blocks done...and a huge assortment of hexagons in waiting. I washed them by hand and dried them, they are ready to be stitched together now. And there's a ready to go 9-patch quilt top washed up, too. I'm all about starting projects and letting them mellow, I guess. In looking over a great quilting blog shared, I have found a future for my tons of scraps here...a Crumb Chaos Quilt (also referred to as a Mile-A-Minute Quilt). LOL...no real, hardcore skill required...I can handle that easily enough I think! I usually cut my scraps up as I get them while sewing (2, 4, 6 inch squares, sometimes 8 inch ones too...larger pieces make doll clothes). Of course, they still tend to sit without a future in mind. But this Crumb Chaos looks really neat, and the finished blocks are fun looking. I'm sure I can do this. Shoot, even the littles with no sewing experience could manage this one here. Look how easy this is (and it's not my sewing, it's her tutorial):
start with scraps of all shapes and sizes and just chain stitch them along a strip of fabric...

Is that not easy enough to do? Just one scrap after another, squares, strips, triangles, whatever scraps you have. Then cut between each and create a new, small block...

Then you simply start sewing those new little blocks together, round and round each other, creating a large, scrapped block. Trim to any size you want...

Voila! A stack of Crumb Chaos blocks in no time! Look at the great quilt produced:

I'm telling you, even I can do this, and I'm no quilter. I had enough issues with a simple ragged quilt for my grandmother's birthday...it kept sliding about, wouldn't cooperate...ugh. But this...I can do this. Actually, the piecing is never my trouble...the quilting is. But I'm sure, between all the great quilting blogs out there, and the tutorials on all sorts of methods they've worked out for easier this and that, I cna figure it out. I'm stubborn. I don't like not knowing how to do something. And this blogger shares some really good tutorials for her quilt creation here.

And in case I don't have enough ideas for projects that would be fun...here's a rag rug made from tee-shirts from another favorite quilt blog of mine. And another using fabric scraps -- we made a bunch of these a long time ago, for table mats, hot pads, etc. They work up so quickly! And several easy and quick home decorating ideas as well. And here (bottom of the page) are several linked projects, quick and easy for holiday giving!


Have fun! We're off to get water...it's not raining...hopefully they have the spring unlocked!
And don't forget to check my right sidebar for the winter craft goodies I find to share!