Mug Rugs, a top, and an inside

I think all quilters have scrap baskets, and now maybe more of you have Parts Departments, but do you have a Bits Bin? That's where I toss left-over blocks, remains from strip sets, etc. That's also where I went to play yesterday.

First I finished the "inside" of the 5 &10:

It still needs a border, but the inside is together.

I've also finished the Safari top:

This is another done in the stack & cut method by Karla Alexander. I like the way this came out & will have to get a better pic soon.

Then I jumped into the Bits Bin and cute little mug rugs starting taking shape. They're all about 8"x11" - notebook paper size, just about. (More proof here that black-and-white is this quilter's favorite solution!) Everything came out of the Bits Bin.

I had leftover blocks from a color study, so I used one and part of a left over 7 1/2" strip set for this one.

 I had half-square triangles from YEARS ago (Lynn Provencher, do you remember that quilt?) and remains of strip sets from another quilt, so those bits became the second mug rug. As for the green, a little pop of (surprising) color is good for the soul.

 See the 2 little strips of quarter-square triangle units, below? They were made from remains from making larger pieces using connector corners. They are 1" finished, and were perfect as the focal point for a mug rug. I grabbed a little B&W, and another 7 1/2" strip set, and voila - two more done. 

One really fun thing about these is that they're nice and small and give you (me) a nice size to practice machine quilting. There's never enough practice! And always something new to try. Speaking of that, are you familiar with the Free Motion Project blog? Here's the link. GREAT ideas!

Anytime I see interesting quilting, I'll add it to my Pinterest board. Most of it is on my "quilting" board (link to Pinterest over on the right nav bar, for those that aren't Pinterest junkies yet), but one of these days I'll clean up my boards & "machine quilting" will become it's own board. Till then, I have way too much fun just scrolling through all the luscious pics. So many quilts. So little time.

I'm still thinking about what it means to "live completely". I think part of it includes doing those things I don't want to do. Darn the luck.

So that was yesterday. It's late so I better get started on something to post for today! I don't have to cook - still eating leftovers from the cook-a-thon on Wednesday. That applesauce is STILL delicious!

Thanks for stopping by.

A Leisurely Start to the New Year

I did manage to sew on the first day of the year. I didn't do much, though.

I finished the rest of the already-started wonky stars in the Parts Department box, and sewed the rest of the strips into stripsets. Today I'll chop them up and make more 16-patches for Parts, as well. After that? Anyone's guess!

My phrase for the year is "live completely". I'm not quite sure what that means, so I'm thinking about it a lot while I walk. It'll be interesting to see what I discover.

Much happy quilting to you in 2013. Thanks for stopping by.