SAHRR - Week #1

The first week of the Stay At Home Round Robin, we were challenged to use Hourglass blocks with our center block. Check out the Linky Party on Songbird Designs to see how others interpreted this first prompt in their own way.

I had a whole small bin full of orphan Hourglass blocks made with trimmings from Flying Geese blocks a couple of years ago. All it required was squaring them up.  Spoiler alert - I barely made a dent in those Hourglass units, so there are still plenty more for some future project where they will be perfect.

So . . . Round #1 is done!!  I added a narrow purple border onto the center before adding the Hourglass units. That brought the center to 18" (finished size).  I trimmed the Hourglass units to 2.5", and added 9 on each side.  It's very bright and cheery!

RSC26 - Week #4

In 2025 I finished a fairly big Buckeye Beauty quilt, and there were a few block units left over that have been in the orphan block box.  I saw - in this RSC group - an awesome quilt - with the same units (4-patch and HST) in a different layout. Instead of pointing those colorful triangles out, these will have them meeting in the middle. 

So much inspiration in this creative and generous group of people!!  Making a Lather posted a quilt yesterday that she made called Flying Home. Her blocks used the same fabrics/color in the 4-patch and the HST.  It's a really great looking layout too.  It made me realize I could use my orphans as seed for a new set of blocks, similar to hers.  My leftovers have black and white 4-patches. and colorful HSTs.  Now 3 new blue versions have been added to those orphans. They will finish at 8".  I don't know exactly what these blocks will become yet, but I am quite sure I'm going to like it.  Plus it removed 4 blocks from the orphan box.

 Three new 6" Hollow 9 blocks have been added to the stack from last year.  The little white plastic basket behind them holds the collection of Hollow 9 blocks, plus the 6" string blocks I've been making. 

Above my cutting board there are lots of hooks holding the rulers I use most often, plus a few odds and ends.  This fall I hung a couple of patterns there that I was considering for new RSC blocks for 2026. See the pink note?  That was a list I was making of possible new blocks.  I've decided to be a bit more realistic and rein in my hog wild expectations.  So - there is just one more NEW block to play with for now.

I'm just calling this one Scrappy Stars.  The pointy sections are made with the Tri Recs rulers, and the blocks will be set on point.  My plan is to use scrappy black for backgrounds, and colorful scraps for the star points. These will finish at 9".  And that pink note - still has ideas for blocks that maybe will show up some other year.  LOL

Let's go see what everyone else is playing with this week . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Friday Finished (or Not)

It's kind of finished . . .

The Year of Spools kit for February is technically a finish.  But I really feel it needs a little something yet.  Maybe more quilting in the red area.  Or maybe some sparkle.  

The St Patrick's Day runner is closer to being finished.  After taking this photo of the flimsy, I got it sandwiched with batting and backing so it's ready to quilt.  I used up some of the scraps to make a couple of mug rugs - also sandwiched and ready to quilt.  Hopefully there is something in the stash that will work for binding.  

All of the blocks for Lupines and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter mystery) are made.  I chose to keep this a child sized quilt because I'm thinking it will make a good baby quilt for a nephew and wife expecting a baby girl this spring.  There will be borders on this too.

In between all of this, there has been some Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing, and a little progress on my SAHRR project.  

Check out more Finishes (or Not) today . . .
https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Winter arrived

 Winter weather blew in yesterday late morning, and it made my decision easy to NOT make that 80 mile drive to Sioux Falls for the afternoon work meeting.  At times I could barely see the house across the street due to the white-out of snow pushed by 40 mph wind.  

You know what that meant . . . a bit of sewing time instead of driving.  I was looking at some Valentine themed small kits in my "holiday" drawer to play with next, and came across a St Paddy's Day UFO.  You know how easily I am distracted, right?  I think I started this last year but abandoned it when I realized it wouldn't be done in time for the holiday itself.  It's a table runner so it would be a quick project, and ready before March actually arrives THIS YEAR. The parts required some organization but are now layed out on the big design board and ready to move this little thing from UFO to at least the flimsy stage.

Interruptions

 No sewing time today - and there wasn't any sewing time yesterday either.  Today will be taken up by "work" hours.  I'm mostly retired, but technically on call for when I'm needed.  This week is the annual employee face-to-face meetings, training, dinners, etc. in Sioux Falls.  Today is going to be the only day I attend.  

Yesterday I spent the morning getting some Quilts of Valor correspondence and paperwork brought up to date.  Some additional sorting of tops, backs and block sets for QOV was also long overdue.  A box was packed with tops and backs to send off to our state coordinator, who is going to quilt some for us.  I took that to the post office in the afternoon after my haircut appointment.  

The first prompt came out this morning for this year's Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR).  This week's prompt is by Brenda at Songbird Designs, and is to add Hourglass unit(s).  There aren't any Quilt Police so we can add as many or as few as we want, all the way around the center block or just on 1 or more sides.  I think before adding anything to my 16" center block it needs a narrow colorful stop border to give the eyes a break. 

So - there is a little bin of Hourglass blocks made a couple of years ago from the trimmed triangles on Dutchman's Puzzle quilt.  I had no real plan for these but just couldn't waste all those beautiful batiks, therefore the triangles became Hourglass units. These are about 3" square as is, but they could be trimmed smaller if I want.

There are more than enough of these to put them all the way around that center.  Or I could do something asymmetrical with them - maybe just on 2 sides. Let the play begin!

To Do Tuesday

 One little project is seeing progress - the Valentine mini.

The flimsy went together very quickly on Monday, so now it's time to quilt and bind it.  The backing fabric in the kit is much too pretty to go onto the back of something where it will never be seen again.  It is tucked in with some other Valentine fabrics for a future project, and I'm using a leftover backing chunk in it's place. 

Thank you to a couple of readers who suggested a "stop border" around the panel, and then add the blocks.  I have the borders added to the sides and still need to add them on top and bottom of the panel.  And I tested out some of the extra star blocks to see how they look.  I do like the stars better but we'll see what ends up.  We have a couple of different star blocks that could be used too, so there are options. 

Design Wall Monday - January 19

I kept thinking it was Sunday for the past 3 days, and now here it is Monday finally. And a bitter cold Monday morning around here.

The only actual sewing that occurred this weekend was binding, and piecing a back for a Quilt of Valor.  But I did spend a lot of time sorting through the quilts and quilt tops - and block sets - that we have for Quilts of Valor. I paired up 4 tops with backs to give to a long armer for quilting.  And I finished the binding on these placemats. 

Our QOV group has been given several patriotic panels to use in quilts, and I pulled this one out to play with some ideas.  There were more than enough of the 4-Patch Fun blocks to surround the panel.  I think it's way too busy.  What do you think?  Maybe star blocks would work better for this.  

This is the next PIG that I plan to work on. The February "spools" mini arrived in the mail on Saturday.  It shouldn't take long as it has very few small pieces. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/