1016 Blocks!

Yep - you read that correctly. One thousand sixteen Crumb Chaos blocks. I never in a million years imagined I was making that many. I just kept going until I was sick and tired of sewing crumbs to strips for the first step. Obviously this will make several quilts - but for now the blocks will be set aside at least until I finish sewing sleeves on all the antique quilts. The saddest, craziest thing is this - look at how many crumbs are remaining in my crumb drawer!

Part of the problem is caused by making the blocks themselves. I've come to the conclusion that making Crumb Chaos blocks from crumbs is a never ending, cyclic, crumb producing endeavor. Why, you ask? Because as soon as the blocks reach a certain size, there is a crumb size piece left at the end of each strip. I know that's why my drawer isn't emptier.

I'm going to deal with this in a way that was shown by someone posting about heartstrings blocks months ago. I sure wish I knew her name so I could give her credit. Here is her solution - she sews strips from the crumbs and rolls them up into large rolls, then uses these strips in string quilts. I kept a couple pictures from her post for inspiration - it seems like maybe she has her own blog. I'm hoping she'll recognize herself in my description and leave a comment with a link to her post so she can be given proper credit. I've sewn a bunch of mine together already and wound them around toilet paper tubes, and have tossed a bunch more for sewing into the now empty bin that used to hold 1 1/4" strips. I'm going to do this with all my crumbs until I get sick and tired of making strings of crumbs. By then I'm hoping the drawer is MUCH more empty. Then I'll start making string blocks again in an effort to empty that drawer also. Or at least get a good start on emptying it. Right now it's stuffed to the gills!

I have the first antique quilt laying out on the dining room table waiting for it's sleeve. I'll sew the muslin sleeve when I get home from work tomorrow, and then start stitching it on at Tangled Threads. This is very much a utility quilt - nevertheless the quiltmaker made an effort to create interest by the way she stitched the dark and light fabrics together. It is tied with wool yarn and backed with mattress ticking. It was sewn on three sides and the turned inside out, at the same time putting the filling inside. One edge is folded over to the back and stitched down. It is in good shape for a utility quilt - there is only one warn spot that I can see where the fabric has broken down and the filling shows. I believe Rick said this one was from the 1880's. Right now it's the least interesting of the four that I have. The other three are all rolled around acid-free paper tubes, but this one is in a large acid-free box. I decided to start with it so I could get the bulky box out of the living room as quickly as possible.

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Gratitudes:

1. A fun work day today - volunteering to assist at the Parks Foundation Golf Tournament

2. Unexpected dinner with the kids

3. Fresh pineapple from a sweet neighbor

4. Finished CC blocks!

5. Continuing beautiful weather