Squirrels!!!

/ quiltinggail

Do you like or dislike squirrels?  We have black and grey squirrels in our backyard. And we enjoy watching them scurry along the fence, hopping onto the trees and burying nuts in our garden. A friend of mine said that squirrels are just rats with fuzzy tails.  I disagree.  They are cute and fun to watch!

Recently, (like in the past year) I’ve been noticing on quilt blogs that some projects are called “Squirrels.”  I didn’t understand exactly what this meant, and I went searching.  Google searching.  When I researched “squirrel quilts” – that’s what I got – a bunch of links to quilts containing squirrels.  Not what I was looking for.

Googled “squirrel quilts new projects” … BINGO … a definition of what I was looking for.  Quilt Diva Julie had the explanation!  Thank you Quilt Diva Julie! (Photo & Definition is from Quilt Diva Julie’s blog.

The Ad-Hoc Squirrel Club
A squirrel is a sudden distraction that pulls us away from projects already underway. Something so exciting that we drop what we’re doing to enjoy the unexpected. The term comes from the movie UP where the dog named Doug is talking and suddenly his head whips to one side as he shouts SQUIRREL and he’s off to chase it.

SEW … all this talk about squirrels … and yes, I did have a sudden distraction that pulled me away from what I was diligently working on.  Our guild has a Facebook page.  This Saturday, a baby quilt kit making day was happening.  One lady posted the cutest quilt with a baby on it.  Of course, it was scrappy and blue – that’s why I thought it was cute.  I quickly figured out how it could be done … easy peasy.  Then Saturday came and I wasn’t able to make it to the baby quilt kit making day.  Sew, to get rid of my guilt, I decided to make the quilt.  It was easy to start.

  • pulled fabric
  • cut them into 6 ½” blocks
  • sew blocks into half square triangles
  • oops – realized that I should have cut 7″ blocks to make the math work properly … oh well, I’ll just add a wider border
  • ironed the blocks
  • placed them on the design wall

That’s as far as the squirrel has progressed.  I will web this together and figure out if I need 2½” border or 3″ border to make the quilt 40″ x 40″.  And, it’s using up some of my stash! And that’s always a good thing!

img_5612.jpg

Design Wall

Piecing:

Several projects are now in progress:

  1. Smith Mountain Morning
  2. 52 blocks in 52 weeks
  3. Squirrel baby quilt

Quilting

IMG_5603

This Stack & Wack Japanese Star quilt is still being quilted.

 

 

 

Stash Report

The October Island Batik project is completed, but I didn’t use any of my own stash, just fabric from Island Batik – which I’m not counting.

  • Fabric Used this week         0 yards
  • Fabric Used this year:         124.35  yards
  • Fabric Bought this week:   0 yards
  • Fabric Added this year:      65.05
  • Net Fabric used                     65.30
  • –
  • Husband’s Purchases           9.5

Stitchin’ Time

  • January – Aug:  196 out of 222
  • Sept: 15 out of 15
  • Year-to-date: 212 out of 237  =  89%

(Reminder, I’m only counting days that I’m home.)

For more Stitchin’ Time, you can check out Kate’s blog: Life in Pieces

PHD in 2019: Quilting UFOs and Finishing New Projects

 

No UFOs are finished yet this month …

Screen Shot 2019-10-06 at 4.22.31 PM

TO DO

I like to make lists at the beginning of the week, but I’ll still like up to Roseanne & Sue’s Home Sewn by Us on Tuesday.

Last week’s list:

  1. Finish October’s Island Batik Challenge – done
  2. Prep 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks – done 
  3. Sew 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks –  … not done
  4. Finish at least 2 blocks from “Smith Mountain Morning” … 4 blocks done
  5. Quilt “S&W Star” Quilt – in progress … about 1/3 done

This week

  1. Design November’s Island Batik Challenge
  2. Prep 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks 
  3. Sew 2 blocks from 52 blocks in 52 weeks 
  4. Finish at least 2 blocks from “Smith Mountain Morning”
  5. Quilt “S&W Star” Quilt
  6. Finish piecing “Squirrel quilt”

One who sleeps under a quilt is covered by LOVE!

Happy Quilting! 
Gail 

************************************

Linking to:

21 thoughts on “Squirrels!!!”

  3. Your squirrel is turning out cute. And yes, I have both the quilting squirrels and the ones living in my yard. We have a walnut tree that they go nuts over! ha ha, and sadly they seem to like crocus flower bulbs.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Good Morning Gail! I saw the title of your post and thought to myself, oh no – I’m even going to read it. HAHA! But obviously I did . . . and YOU got pulled into a squirrel project, hey?! It really is a pretty baby quilt, and using up stash fabric is a win/win for sure. Plus, it’s in lovely shades of blue . . . can’t be beat all around. I love the squirrel project definition. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Oh, yes, I’m quite familiar with squirrels; they play and frolic quite often in my quilt room. You need to visit Sandra and MMM!Quilts and get acquainted with the DrEAMi Linky Party, dedicated solely to squirrels. Come and join the group – we’re happy to have more friends!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I can relate to both- real squirrels and also squirrel quilting! We have quite few squirrels in our back yard. Fun to watch. They were eve more fun to watch when we had 2 standard poodles. The chase was on. When they get in the attic not fun. They chew wires and that can create a lot if problems. But since we feed birds we will always have squirrels.
    As to quilting dan really relate to that!

    Liked by 1 person

    • We haven’t had any squirrels in the house! Thankfully!
      And when we had our beagle – the squirrels would tease her from the top of the fence. When they ventured down to the ground, the chase was on! However, she never got close – even when she tried to climb the trees! 🙂
      Happy Quilting! 🙂

      Like

  12. Pingback: Sunday Stash October 6, 2019 | quiltpaintcreate

Comments are closed.