Finished (or NOT) Friday

These name banners for my girls were not on my To Do list for this week, because the little metal hangers I had ordered for them had been delayed so I had no idea if they would actually arrive this week.  But they did arrive on Monday. 

Once those hangers were here it only took about 5 minutes each to hand stitch the hanger to the top of each banner. An unexpected finish to report!!  Yay!!

Another small finish this week - the winter snowman mini banner.  It's so cute!!!  This is another of the Shabby Fabrics kits, and ALL paper pieced blocks.  I did add a little pearl button in the center of both snowflakes to hide the spot where those points all meet in the center.  I really love this one and it's hanging right behind me in my office where I can enjoy it every day.

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

This and that

This coming Saturday morning The Pin Cushion will begin the new session of Saturday Sampler.  Some years it's a mystery, and some years we see the finished product at the beginning.  Some years we get the fabric and the monthly pattern when we come each month.  Some years we shop our stash.  And EVERY YEAR the Show and Tell at the session is so inspirational. 
 

This year we know our pattern - "Anthology" from Southern Charm Quilts.  Each month we'll do parts of this quilt.  There are so many different possibilities for this one.  I'm going with batiks because I have so many in the stash, and keeping the colors on the cool side.  Do you see the snowflake templates in my project box in that first picture?  Well, since this quilt offers a mix of mostly piecing with some applique my plan involves snowflakes for applique.  Now that I have my fabrics gathered, I can't wait to get started!!

I just had to show the new kitchen towel I bought myself for Christmas.  This was a purchase at a holiday arts and crafts show.  This should be my theme song!  I plan to track fabrics In and Out this year again, after not doing it for a few years.  But I really want to use up more of what I already have, so maybe tracking it will help hold me accountable.  Have I made any purchases in 2026?  Yes - a wide back for a UFO, and a half yard of a color I "needed" for an on-going project.  

Midweek already?

This week is already flying by!  On Monday I had 2 visits to the clinic - labs and PA appointment to renew prescriptions.  There were so many sick people wearing masks in that waiting room that I was afraid to touch anything or breath deeply.  Yikes!!  Then I met 3 friends at a 4:00 movie.  We saw Song Sung Blue, and I'm so impressed with the musical talents of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.  Wow!!  After that early movie we went to a restaurant for an adult beverage and supper.  I should have taken a picture of my burger - Sweet Heat.  The restaurants here in town are doing a Burger Showdown during January.  This one had pepper jack cheese, pepper jelly, and pepper jelly glazed bacon.  It had heat and sweet - delicious!!

Yesterday morning I had lots of sewing time because I was awake way too early - again.  Finally got my snowman banner quilted.  I ended up doing a stitch in the ditch but with a decorative stitch.  There were a couple of times the thread broke, but eventually I finished that decorative stitch just around the blocks.  Now I can get that binding stitched down, add a couple of embellishments, and hang it up.  

I change needles fairly often because I put a lot of hours on my machines.  How do you dispose of used needles?  I have an old prescription bottle that holds a lot of used needles.  I also have a "chubby" prescription bottle that holds used rotary cutter blades. 

Lots of blue scraps have been on my cutting board all week, so there should be plenty to share on Saturday's RSC post.  All of the string blocks, BH mystery blocks, Quilt of Valor blocks, and other Rainbow Scrap blocks that were cut out and started - are now done.  More cutting has been happening however.  These are the parts for a brand new RSC block that I think I'm going to play with this year.  A couple of additional QOV blocks are also cut out and ready to sew.   

Today I have a DAR meeting late morning, and am getting my new crown attached at the dentist in the afternoon.  Those things may keep me out of the sewing room today. 

Cutting & binding

 

The binding is done on 2 placemats, the first 2 of 2026.  The other 5 still need quilting, but a little at a time will get them done.

Some cutting and sewing happened for both Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the BH mystery.  I cut 5 more sets of Clue #7 but only got 2 sets sewn.  And on the right is the beginning of a new Give It a Whirl block.  The HSTs are sewn and ready for the white corners.

I had to go to the clinic yesterday morning for a blood draw, and then return mid-afternoon for an appointment to get my prescriptions all renewed.  Our family doctor retired in December and the PA I'll be seeing now requires a face to face appointment every 6 months in order to renew meds.  I hated walking into the clinic as there are so many influenza cases right now.  It was a busy busy place.

The other task for yesterday was taking Christmas decorations back to storage in the basement.  I made a lot of trips up and down those steps yesterday. 

Design Wall Monday - January 5

 This will be a busy week, but I'm optimistic about the amount of sewing time I'll be able to get in anyway.  And I've prepped a few things to work on in short increments as time allows.

Clue #7 of the BH mystery are sets of 4 neutral rectangles with light blue corners.  I have 3 sets done, but will need a few more.  These sew up really fast. It will probably take longer to cut them than sew them. 

The mini banner is sandwiched and ready for some quilting.  I haven't decided yet just how I want to quilt it - other than keeping it simple.  Maybe just some stitch in the ditch? 

Also sandwiched and ready for quilting are more placemats.  And there are 2 additional ones that are quilted but need binding.  By the end of the month these should all be finished, even if I only tackle a couple at a time. I really like how those blue and cream square-in-a-square units (leftover from a past BH mystery) look all together in the placemat. 

A few Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in blue are waiting to be cut out now that one of the design boards is empty.  I like to lay block parts out on the design boards to reduce the chances of sewing pieces in the wrong spots.  A couple of Snails Trail blocks and a couple of Give It a Whirl blocks are on the agenda for this week. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC26 - Week #1 in BLUE

Blue is the biggest scrap bin that I have, and it's always overflowing for some reason.  The Quilt of Valor scrap bin is probably the second biggest - and obviously also has a lot of blue in it.  I've been working on a scrappy Quilt of Valor again the past couple of months.  It's a pattern called Gleam. One more block was added to the stack. 

In an effort to do some sorting, I've been separating the light blue scraps from the dark and medium blue scraps in the bin.  From the lighter blues, a couple of string blocks were born.  These are only 6" finished. 

And in an effort to get that Quilt of Valor scrap bin under control - 2 more placemat flimsies are ready to quilt and bind.  In that scrap bin were 2 layer cake pieces with the red trucks.  They hadn't been used yet because I didn't want to cut them into small pieces for blocks and lose that cute print.  So they will now become the first placemats of the new year. 

Speaking of QOV scraps, there was the project box still containing the leftover units I had after finishing the RWB Indigo Way (past Bonnie Hunter mystery).  Lots and lots of 3.5" leftover units.  I need that project box for one of my 2026 projects, so it's time to empty it.  There is a lot of blue in this box to play with. 

There were enough of these to make another placemat.  This unit was originally for the border, but I used a plain border instead.  Now they will have a purpose.  

 These blue and neutral Square-in-a-Square units are also 3.5".  About half were sewn, and the other half were just clipped together in the box.  Time to turn all of these into a placemat too.  That will leave a few more random units, probably destined to become more mug rugs this year.  

Let's go see what everyone else is playing with already for 2026 . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

A paper pieced snowman

                                           One of the New Year's projects has begun . . . 

The blocks for this little vertical banner are paper pieced, and I started with the easiest one - the snowman.  The sections are ready to sew together.  The other 2 blocks are paper pieced snowflakes with a ton of pieces in each.  I'll work on this again today. 

Yesterday morning while enjoying my first cup of coffee I worked on my annual UFO challenge list/spreadsheet.  It's not complete quite yet, but I do have the highest priority items on it.  For every month, I list 3 things - a high priority project, another UFO from the closet, and a PIG that is usually still a kit.  This year I'm actually starting the year with #1 on the list - which is the Jackrabbit Stars quilt.  I don't expect to finish it in January, but I hope to have it cut out and maybe started.  The secondary project on the January list will be a flimsy to be selected yet.  And the PIG for January is the snowman mini banner (started).