What to do with Leftovers......

 Leftover fabric, that is....

Remember this Tree Skirt I have been blogging about..almost Forever?

I started out with these...

And used only the bottom two strips for the skirt...

So what to do with the upper pile of strips?

I realize if I don't come up with something soon, the collection of strips will disappear into the back shelf  void.

I snipped off the narrow end...the fifth section of each strip..it would be invisible anyway... and started playing around with them.  I thought right away about some type of table runner...scattered over a white background.  I am not any good at "scattered"....so I started bunching them up together...

And came up with this....

The angle is weird, both sides are equal, really they are...

 and it may end up being a wall hanging instead of a table runner, but it is definitely the beginnings of a Christmas Butterfly.....

There are 14 strips on both sides...The body in the middle will be a little bigger after sewing because of the seams, but it definitely has possibilities...

Now, should I sew each set of strips together and see where that leads me, or sew each strip to the white underneath.....I am leaning toward the togetherness angle.

Or maybe a Butterfly Angel??? Just typed the word "angle"....////  Nah, I'll stay with the Butterfly....

I'll make the wings and then decide whether it goes on a table or a wall....

I love these Sew by the Seat of Your Pants ideas.....

Finished Top...Wounded Warrior aka Zigsaw Quilt

Finally, I have finished this top! It will be donated to the Wounded Warriors in April.  Our quilting group will buy the batting, probably early next year and we supply the backing.  So it will be awhile before this one is completely finished. 

I went back and forth between the two names depending which context I was talking about...Hope I did not confuse you too much...

Would like to put a border on it, but with the WW size restrictions, it seemed better not to have one.

Size:  Min - 65 x 75
           Max - 72 x 82

..and it is roughly 68 x 78, which would only allow a maximum of a 2" border around all the sides.  I had to add another row and column to get it within the minimum size. Hopefully, the binding will add a little closure to the quilt.

I can see this design as a lovely children's quilt...Maybe after awhile I'll make one...At least after my eyes get readjusted.....

....And That's Not All....

In a nice little zippered container, I found all of these. I have run across oodles of scissors while looking through my mother's things...Most of these show the wear and tear (and dullness) of years past.  I know that a lot of them (some not shown) are of recent vintage, but at one time or another, Mother used them.  Some are not worth keeping, but I hate to throw them away.  Some of them,,,ie: left hand upper corner black handled spring loaded one (with notched end), and one on the right next to it, as well as the one on the bottom left, pointing upwards, I really like.  Can  people who sharpen scissors do anything with the rust, etc. on the blades so they will cut again? Are the new sharpeners geared for older scissors? I don't know.

Do any of you have suggestions as to how to clean these?  I thought about using fine steel wool on some of them, but am afraid I'll mess up the cutting edges.  I could google, and probably will, but would love to hear how ya'll would handle this situation.

BTW, slow as slow I am, I only have two more blocks to go before finishing the rows on the zigsaw quilt....

Attention Grabber.....or Lack Of....

I had to post today....

The end of an era....12/12/12.....Last time....My DH celebrated his birthday one year in the past on 08/08/08; Just last year we had the final time of slash lines 11/11/11...Ahhh, memories..

I have been working, a lot of things going on..

But now to quilting...sewing...piecing....

Yesterday evening I sewed on my 7th row on my Zigsaw puzzle and proceeded to kit up about 4 blocks for my final row, which I will get to right after this post.

In spreading the top down on the floor to double check the placements, I noticed this for the first time....

Somehow I had missed seeing the leader/ender piece while sewing on the earlier row. Now that's Concentration! I have one more 4 piece block for my Wash Day Stars quilt than I thought.

Yes, I haven't pressed my final seams down yet..otherwise I would have noticed it earlier. I do like to press as I go, but I was tired and, I guess, lazy, so I haven't done the final pressing on that particular row yet. 

Now, hopefully, I can remember to cut this little block off before I sandwich and quilt it on....