24

I MAY become known as a Quilt Rescuer.
A friend had a friend who had this BEAUTY - but did not want it any more.

I MAY have said "Yes" to another unfinished project.

Here it is - bundled on my lap!  SWEET!

Here you can see the wonderful choices of color and placement of the Yo-yo's.You can also see the.. love that it needs to repair some not-so-perfect sewing.

And it came with a gallon bag of Vintage Fabric Circles - if I need to make more Yo-yo's.

Dirt - A Mother's Day Gift

MAY 23rd I received my Mother's Day Gift, as promised.
Dirt.
A LOT of dirt.
A Dump Truck with dirt.
 Dirt = Love

The Dump Truck left it on the driveway.
4 Cubic Yards. 
Our Oldest Son spent the day hauling the dirt from the driveway to the backyard.
My project for the day - spreading the dirt in the flower beds in the back yard.

Oh!! The plants MAY really love this!!

22 - Physics Project

Yes.
I know.
This is not a Quilting or Crafting project.
But the High School Physics class I teach had Project Presentations today.

The teacher MAY be more happy the class is finished
than the kids are happy that the class is finished!

Now, on to other projects!!

Black Jack! 21!

Black and White and Bright Blocks
From a Block-of-the-Month ... Don't know when.

I plan to do this quilt-as-you-go so it is easy on my little sewing machine.
I have chosen solid colors that MAY frame the blocks and back the blocks.
(you can see the backing fabric in the box...)

It MAY Happen....
MAYbe.

Twenty - Tea Time!

The Old Blocks I pulled out to work on for MAY 15 were quite a challenge.
I lacked OLD material to put these together.

I DID find some old muslin - but it was far too clean, far too white.
So...  it's TEA TIME!
Time to tea-dye some fabric to use with so many vintage blocks I have collected.

Here's a new way to look at a Pot of Tea

The Muslin is ready to take a bath..

Letting it soak.....

Mission Accomplished!!!

I found some old Quilt squares in a box in one of my closets ... Squares that used nice, old, cotton fabric (the PINK vase above) and then some other scraps (double knit, seersucker) that were not so appropriate for quilting.  I cannibalized those blocks so I could make little vases for my flowers.

I am still working on these blocks... and think the vase needs to be a little bit bigger. 

I MAY figure that out this weekend.

Nineteen

This is a Batik Block-of-the-Month that I did... Don't know when I did them.

Sigh.
MAY 19, they are on the design wall.
Hoping their presence will inspire me to know how to put them together...

The Teens (16, 17 & 18)

It MAY be hard to keep touching another un-finished object every day.
Interesting that my rebellion against those guidelines come during the TEENS.

These are scrap blocks that my friends in the Quilting Bee made for me ... in 2014.
They each made me TWO 16-patch blocks from squares I had in my stash.

I put them together.....
32 16-patch blocks
31 Setting Squares (well - "X" shaped blocks...)
63 blocks in all

And then STALLED because it was not large enough for our bed.
STALLED for ... it MAY have been YEARS.

So for my MAY Challenge... I brought it out,
hoping it MAY Happen in one day.  Hoping to add enough blocks for it to fit on my bed.

It did not happen in one day - but it DID happen in my teens.
May 16, May 17, & May 18.

Now it has:

50 16-patch blocks ( I made 18 more)

49 Setting Squares (well - "X" shaped blocks...)( I made 18 more)
99 blocks in all.

And I added a 4 inch border all around.

DONE.

In MAY.

I MAY save up my pennies and take it to a long-arm Quilter. 
My little machine will not accommodate all this beauty.

I am happy to be soon be out of the TEENS.

Fifteenth

Today I MAY consider this pile of lovely blocks.

These are orphan tulip blocks I adopted.

The three petals of each flower were foundation pieced onto paper with a machine.  I found tiny scraps of very old magazine paper.  It was brown, like maybe old newspaper would be, but it was shiny like the paper of a magazine. 

After the petals were sewn with strips of fabric onto paper, the three triangles were also sewn with the machine. 

Then the hand-piecing began.
The tips of the flowers were attached to the petals by hand.
The curved edge and the pointed petals were seamed by hand.
Then, last of all, the leaves and stem were appliquéd by hand.

I MAY add a flower pot under 9 of the blocks from some old fabric I have.
Then the quilt will be a rectangle, with one block to spare - that I MAY use on the back.

Two Weeks of "It May Happen"

I have set a goal to work on a different project each day in the month of MAY.
I have had the attitude that IT MAY HAPPEN.
And, on the whole,  YES!!  And I FINISHED a FEW of the projects!!

Let me present BEFORE and AFTER pictures.

                   

Cathedral Window Quilt Block
BEFORE

Cathedral Window Pillow Cover
AFTER

Collection of empty Medication bottles
BEFORE

  Progress made on crafting them
DURING

Door decoration for our favorite nurse on National Nurse's Day

AFTER

                     

Old Music Books
BEFORE

Heart Music Paper Chain
AFTER

Box of CRAZY quilt blocks.

Pieced.  Embroidered.

BEFORE

CRAZY QUILT

FINISHED!!!

Fourteen - OUTSIDE

Today's project happened outside.
With the help of a seven-year old... but I did not get her picture!!

We have Strawberries in the backyard.  And the weeds have encroached.

BEFORE

Since this raised bed for the strawberries involves FOOD - stuff we eat,
I do not use chemicals to limit the weeds.  So they can get .... weedy.


We spent a lovely morning weeding the strawberry patch. 

AFTER

And I am delighted with how my Strawberry Spiral is flourishing.

Ten and Three

It MAY Happen.....

This is a quilt from a quilt exchange that is just not large enough.  So I am going to make 20 more blocks.  I think it MAY fit on our queen-sized bed if I enlarge it.

You MAY be able to see the quilt and some of the next blocks.

And here you MAY be able to see the sketches I am using as I expand this quilt.

And you MAY be able to picture that I will add two rows across the top
and two columns down the side... To make it big enough for our bed.

Twelve - A Dozen Days of MAYBE

I MAY be CRAZY.
But I decided to FINISH this Crazy Quilt.
I like it SO MUCH!!!

Eight of the blocks were made by friends during our BEE CHALLENGE of 2016.
The primary fabrics are 

Teal Silk (It was a dress of mine)

Print Corduroy - black background, pretty flowers (another old dress)

Red wide-wale Courduroy

Purple cotton Velveteen (maternity dress from... 1985)

and an amazing silk shirt I bought at a garage sale.  

This shirt had ALL the right colors AND had embroidery and beads on it.

The Back is Velveteens and Corduroys from old clothing I had.
The binding is a Dark Chocolate Velveteen from a jumper I had in the 1980's.
It is SO SOFT as a binding!!!

Now I have to vacuum and dust my sewing room.

I have NEVER seen so much fuzz!!!

Nine. Ten. Eleventh

Nine.  Did I work on a new project on Saturday, MAY 9?
As they say in German... Nein. 
No.  No new project on the ninth.

Ten.  Music paper project.
Music saved for some project. 
Making paper chains.

Eleven.
It MAY be CRAZY here on MAY 11.

Eight. 7 ate my time.

OK.
It MAY not Happen.
Today I want to work on Project 7 a little longer.
Yesterday I ironed all 56 blocks.  It took a long time. 

Today I plan to
get them into a quilt top.
I believe I will use 54 of them, 9 rows of 6 blocks.

I MAY
Sandwich them with batting and backing

I am so excited.

Garage Sale Seven

Day 7 of It May Happen

I bought this stack (and another like it) at a garage sale.
For next-to-nothing.
Tied together with black thread.

It had this little note pinned to the back of the stack:
"56 pcs. For Twin (or with other stack, it will make a Double or Larger)"

You can see in the above picture that the center 8-pointed stars are HAND-PIECED to the Yellow Squares and then HAND-PIECED to the blue-print diamonds.


As I ironed them in preparing to work on them, this MAY 7th,
I am confident they were all HAND-PIECED by the same person.
At some later point someone sewed the corner squares on with a machine.

These corner squares are all prints with red and white - that read.... pinkish.
The OTHER stack of 56 squares have pink corners. 
I believe I will make 2 twin-sized quilts from the 2 piles.

While the stacks of blocks are my MAY 7 BEFORE pictures...

Here is a picture ALONG THE WAY:

(This one is going to be so fun!)

Six

What day is it, MAY I ask?
I believe the answer is six...

Which was a favorite song when my kids were younger.
Your kids might like it too.
By Trout Fishing in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLI1_SFUaIk


This is a quilt top from a batik challenge - December 2015.
I plan to layer it on this sixth day - in order to quilt it here at home.

Cinco de Mayo

Project 5 - It May Happen

Before picture:

May the Fourth

Fourth Project.       It MAY happen.

I got a pile of shirts from my friend.

And a handful of other friends are going to help me make a quilt from these.

We have made quilts like this before.

In SIZE LARGE

and in SIZE MEDIUM

... which contained POCKETS.

The smaller blocks all contain the pockets from a variety of shirts.

MAY the Fourth's job is - packaging up the blocks to go.

And these blocks are mine to make.

They will be half-sized blocks for the top and bottom of the middle column.

AFTER pictures MAY follow for Projects 1.  2.  3. and 4.

Cathy

May 2 and 3

I MAY have plans to touch these two projects for May 2 and May 3.

May 2

BEFORE Picture  - of Cathedral Window Block.  

I MAY make a full Cathedral Window Quilt in the future.

But for now I have a test block that I MAY make into a pillow.

For May 2

May 3

BEFORE Picture  - of Disappearing 4-Patch Quilt.  

I MAY have finished this quilt top 5 years ago?

From 4-Patch leftovers from my Mom.

I MAY quilt it for May 3.