To Do Tuesday

My goals is to have 2 quilt tops completed this week, and ready to quilt.
 

Well, one of those flimsies is done!  Beehive was a May 2018 Sew Sampler box (Fat Quarter Shop) project.  It had been laying in a drawer - waiting. And since it had so much yellow, it seemed like a perfect PIG to choose for April Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's about 47 x 61, so a good size for a baby quilt. And I was even able to pass along the pattern to a blogging friend.

Next up is the Boxed Squares quilt.  This was a set of RSC blocks mostly from last year.  There were finally enough to assemble into a quilt top.  I have 1/3 of them sewn together so far.  So it's a reasonable goal to have this flimsy done by the end of the week.

As always there has been something new brewing.  Bonnie Hunter had mentioned early last week that she would be doing a workshop on her Pineapple Blossom pattern with the retreat group coming in.  I had saved that pattern a while back.  It's one of her free patterns available on her blog.  And then she shared lots of pictures of the blocks in her Monday morning post. There were so many gorgeous color combinations - from totally scrappy to an amazing blue and yellow version.  I just HAD to play a little with this pattern.  It's a really fun and easy block. This just might be a new option for future RSC blocks, using the various black prints I've collected too.  

The black and white prints were front and center because of the Boxed Squares blocks and the Night Vision blocks.  I made one pink version of Night Vision, but I'm not real happy with it.  That one Flying Goose section on the left is too peachy.  Each month in 2024 I've made 3 of these with the RSC color, so 2 more of these need to happen.  Hopefully this week.  And I will decide later what to do with this one - take out the peach and replace it, or make a whole new block.

One other goal for this week is to make the 2 pillowcases from the kits I cut on Sunday.

So - on the To Do list for this week . . .

** 2 pillowcases

** 2 or 3 pink Night Vision blocks

**  finish Boxed Squares flimsy

** additional pink RSC blocks

** finish a couple more mug rugs

** pull another PIG to work on

Design Wall Monday - April 29

 A new week already!  And almost a new month! 

Last week on Tuesday I took my sewing machine in for a spa treatment - AKA deep cleaning and tune up.  The shop told me they were about 2 weeks out and they would call me when it was ready. That was fine because my smaller machine is a good backup.  However, Friday morning they called and said my machine was ready to pick up. Really - only 3 days?  Awesome!  I hit the road to pick it up.

On my way out of town, in the rain, I stopped at my local quilt shop with the Beehive quilt top in my hands to see if they had a good green for a border because I want this baby quilt top finished.  I bought enough of that bottom green fabric.  Then, while in Sioux Falls, I just HAD to stop into at least one quilt shop.  And I saw another green that was a possibility, so I picked up a yard of that one too.  Once I got home I realized that first green fabric will work even better with the wine bottle print (from the Big Grey Tote) to make pillowcases or bags, and that second green will border the baby quilt.  I'm so glad I bought both green fabrics.  The wine bottle print was found in the tote this week as I was digging, and since there was over a yard I had

Saturday morning before leaving for our granddaughter's swim meet, I decided to work on the Big Grey Tote project for awhile.  Every week that tote is getting more empty! Yay! This gallon size bag was in there with everything I must have felt was needed to finish up the project - extra fabrics, extra embellishments, even fusible interfacing.  

Evidently I was feeling the need for bling!!

Does this not SCREAM 1980s?  What was I thinking!!!  The lavender and minty green, along with that tiny flower print - very 80s.  And yes, I was quilting in the 80s.  I've been enjoying this hobby for many decades.  And obviously leaving UFOs for decades.

String piecing - before I even knew what that was!  And those strings are about 1/2 inch wide!  This crazy project is so close to being done, but completely outside of my taste these days, so I'm not sure what to do with it.  Finish or give it away?  Any thoughts out there?

On Sunday I did a LOT of cutting (borders, pillowcases, block parts, etc., and a little bit of sewing.  And I dug deeper into the Big Grey Tote again to deal with more scraps.  There is a now a pile of Christmas scraps from the tote waiting to be organized and put into the drawer with my Christmas stash.  And I sorted out any pink yardage or scraps from the tote to use in May for RSC projects.  

I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday:
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

RSC24 - Week #17

The Beehive baby quilt is coming together nicely. Yellow is the dominant color,  which is why I pulled out this kit for this month.  It still needs an outer border, possibly green.  One more PIG moved along to the next phase - almost.  The lighting here makes the quilt look so dull, but it was a grey rainy day. In reality it's bright and cheerful with those yellows. 

Lots of scrappy happiness is going on lately. And I've been taking my inspiration from blogland for how to use some of the scrappy blocks I've been collecting.

Loose Goose is becoming a Spinning Loose Goose.  I've been making these 3-D Flying Geese blocks in 2 sizes, finishing at 3 x 6 and 2 x 4.  By stacking them like this with a 2.5" strip down the right side I end up with a 12.5" block.  And putting 4 blocks together, with the direction spinning, I'll end up with a nice big 24" block.  

I'm working on sewing the Boxed Squares into a flimsy.  These were RSC blocks over the past couple of years.  The 6" blocks are basically black and white frames around 2.5" bright centers.  One of the reasons I love doing lots of different blocks for RSC every year is that they add up quickly to be enough for a quilt top.  There were more of these than I had anticipated.  Today we're going to watch a granddaughter at a swim meet, but maybe tomorrow the two-sies will become rows.

Thanks to another blogger I'm playing with an idea to use up the little drawer full of 3.5" Hourglass blocks made from trimmed corners.  This bunch of triangles has colors plus scrappy white, and I think if I turn them into Square-in-a-square blocks using scrappy greys, a fun new quilt will be born.  For now the sample I made plus the picture I "borrowed" from that blog are tucked into the drawer with the Hourglass blocks.  

I did get back to the Big Grey Tote this week, and pulled out a few chunks of fabric that were big enough to cut more Kitty blocks.  These 5 have been added to the growing collection.  

Also in that tote was this completed flimsy - all made with batiks.  It's 34 x 44, so a decent size for a donation lap quilt.   And there was a completely finished Christmas wall hanging that is now in the rummage sale box.  So now I'm mostly down to the loose scraps in the tote, and it will definitely take time to go through those - to cut into useful sizes, put back into the stash, or throw in the trash.  It's a time consuming job. 

Let's see what else is happening in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge world . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Decluttering & sewing

 I'm still working on the decluttering, a little bit at a time.  And so far it's helping me keep at it by being "accountable".  I'm keeping a list (spreadsheet) of items that I'm getting rid of.  Seeing that number climb has been giving me some real satisfaction.

Three random boxes from the basement were the goal to empty this week.  This box wasn't very big, but sure had some interesting things dumped into it - probably when we moved last time. It's a mix of things to keep, and things to get rid of.  The other 2 boxes were mostly books.  Some of those have been donated, and some were books my girls wanted. Either way, they'll be out of my house. Yay!

Sewing happened yesterday too.  The Beehive project is all assembled, except for a final outer border that hasn't been selected yet.  

All of the Boxed Squares (an RSC block set from 2023) have been sewn into "two-sies" and "four-sies".  These blocks finish at 6".  The centers are bright colors, and the frames alternate from dark to light in lot of shades of black and white and grey.  

It has been a productive week again.

I'm linking up with Friday Finish or Not:  

https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

RBD24 - block #13 and This 'n That

Yesterday I was wide awake and out of bed at 5:30.  That gave me a lot of quiet sewing time in the morning, before I left for a 10:30 coffee/lunch date with a group of retired staff from the school I taught at.  Guess I should get up that early every day.

Garden Patch by Minky Kim is block #13 out of 16 in the 2024 RBD (Riley Blake) challenge.  This was sure quick and easy to make.  And if the corner HSTs are turned the other direction this block has a whole different look to it.  

The Big Grey Tote clean-out project continues.  This Christmas banner (or wall hanging) was near the bottom of the tote.  I remember making it and using it, so it's really a mystery to me how it ended up in this tote underneath so much other random stuff.  This has gone into the rummage sale box, for the next rummage sale one of my daughters has.  

A complete quilt top was also in that tote.  This is made of batiks, and is 34 x 44, so maybe a good lap quilt.  It just needs quilting.  

Decluttering continues too.  Tucked away under a guest room bed has been an old art portfolio that I thought contained my artwork from years ago.  Turns out it wasn't any of my old drawings. Instead it was a painting and lots of pencil sketches from an art class my mother-in-aw took with one of her sisters when they were retired.  Somehow it ended up at our house after she passed away 12 years ago. It's time to give this away to someone else in the family. 

Some days I feel like the decluttering will never end.   

Wednesday progress

Not much sewing room time yesterday, but it was a pretty good day anyway.  In the morning I spent some time organizing in my sewing room. Then after lunch I picked up a friend and we went to Sioux Falls.  I dropped off my sewing machine for it’s cleaning and tune up, then we did a little shopping.  Hobby Lobby is always a fun stop for me, and it didn’t disappoint.  My impulse buy was a wind chime for my front porch, and a couple of birthday gifts for upcoming birthdays.

This just might be a coincidence, or maybe good marketing. It also fits in perfectly for a clever turn of phrase I saw on a blog yesterday - a random cloud of inspiration.  Isn't that just a wonderful way to describe a distraction (or a squirrel) that we feel the need to chase?

A couple weeks ago I bought a layer cake that was on sale at Missouri Star.  It's called Shibori Blues, and I bought it because I love indigo prints.  And then last week the Block magazine from Missouri Star arrived - and this pattern was in the magazine.  It's exactly what that layer cake wants to become!!  So, I'll be buying background fabric (white) for this project.  But for now the layer cake and magazine are tucked together in a project box, soon to be a full kit.  

As for other random progress this week. . .  Early last year I made 2 blocks from the Feeling Crabby pattern by Wendi Sheppard.  These were such fun blocks, but once I made them I didn't know what to do with them.  (The border print is actually leftover from my oldest daughter's wedding signature quilt.  She got married in Jamaica on a beach 14 years ago today.)  One Feeling Crabby block is now finished as a mini quilt and is hanging in the beach themed guest bathroom.  The other one isn't quilted yet, but maybe it will become a pillow.  They are 16" square.  The 2 little coasters/mug rugs are made using the same beachy border print, and there are 2 more needing binding.

And from the final little chunk of the border print I made myself a new case for my sunglasses.  

The first of the full sized strawberry blocks is finished.  These will finish at 14" x 18" each.  I'm loving the scrappy low volume prints in the background, as well as the scrappy pink, red, coral, and green fabrics.  There is even a purplish red square in the strawberry.  One down, and several more to go.  I'm thinking these would make a really cute bed runner. 

And I've been sewing on the Beehive project.  Some of the units for the blocks have been sewn, and next they need to be subcut into 2" strips.  There are still about a dozen sets of pieces that are cut, but have no sewing done on them.  I'm clipping the units for each block together so it's easy to keep track as I go.  And the parts and pieces are all laying on a big design board that I can move out of the way as needed, or carry to the ironing board easily.  I see this as definite progress. 

To Do Tuesday

 One more UFO has become a flimsy, and ready to quilt.

This is Sewcialites 2 from last year. These are the 6" blocks from the sew-along, all made with batiks.  All it needed was that outer border.  The border color isn't very accurate here, but it looks kind of like the wings of a Monarch butterfly with lots of flecks of that yellow gold.  

I did dig into the Big Grey Tote yesterday, and pulled several chunks that I could cut into useful blocks.  There are 5 new Kitty blocks cut, and one Zipper block so far.  And a bunch of rectangles for Potato Chip blocks. 

All the cutting for the Beehive project has been completed.  There are 6 blocks sewn out of the 35 needed for this quilt.  

On my To Do list for the rest of the week:

** make a new Riley Blake challenge block

** make more of the Beehive blocks

** work on the hand quilting the Seasonal Cats wall hanging

** bind some small items

** reduce quantity of scraps - HaHaHa

Design Wall Monday - April 22

 Another week! Yikes, this month is just flying by!!

I'm using my "back-up" sewing machine for the near future as my main machine is heading to the repair shop.  It needed a good cleaning and tune up, but when it began to make a weird little noise I knew it was time to stop putting it off.  Sigh - I miss some of the features that aren't on my back-up, but I'm thankful that I actually have a back-up to use.

So, what's on my design wall this week?  I need to finish my bigger strawberry block.  And the scraps and pieces I've collected for additional blocks all need some organization. 

 I've been trying to choose WIPs and UFOs laying around, and getting them at least one step closer to DONE.  One of those UFOs was the God's Eye block that I made months ago - just one block. It is a pretty block and free at this link, but I decided it was a bit "fussy" to make, so I set it aside, along with the fabrics as I originally planned to make a whole quilt.  Then the latest issue of Block magazine (Missouri Star) arrived in the mail last week, and I saw a project where they used bowtie blocks in a border.  For some reason I immediately thought of that God's Eye block.  So now I have a 38" square flimsy, but still without a final plan.  Wall hanging?  Baby quilt?  Lap quilt?  For now it's folded over a hanger in the closet just waiting for more inspiration. 

Once I finished the God's Eye flimsy, I pulled out the next UFO on my list - which only needs a final outer border.  This is the batik version of last year's Sewcialites 2 sew-along.  The border fabric was on the hanger with the quilt top, so I cut 6.5" strips on Sunday and sewed them into longer sections so they are ready to attach to the top, possibly today.  

I also chose one more PIG (projects in grocery sacks) to work on for April, and this one has a lot of yellow in it.  The Beehive pattern and pack of 5" x 10" Jolly Bars were in a Sew Sampler box from Fat Quarter Shop.  I had the note pinned to it to remind myself to buy background and something for the outer border.  I found a pale grey that works nicely at The Pin Cushion a couple weeks ago, but will decide on a border later.  This should make a good baby quilt.  My goal this week is to get the 35 blocks made for this one. 

My "design wall" also contains some binding on a couple of small projects, keeping up with the Riley Blake challenge block of the week, and kitting up a couple of new projects using some precuts already in my stash.  More on that another day.  And - I need to get back to  emptying that Big Grey Tote that I've been ignoring for the past week, and eliminate a bit more clutter from my life.     

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday . . .
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Before and after

 Seems like it was time to change out the quilts hanging up at the bottom of the basement stairs, next to my sewing room doorway.

This autumn quilt has been hanging there since . . . well, since autumn.  I didn't even switch it out to a Christmas quilt this winter.  Oops!!  It is a Thimbleberries quilt that I made about 20 years ago, but still one of my favorites.  The antique trunk is something my dad and I bought at an estate auction in Minnesota over 35 years ago, and the clock is an antique too.  My dad built the wooden base for the clock (from a car) in high school, so late 1930s. It doesn't actually work anymore, but I love looking at it.

So now that wall has a brighter, more spring-like vibe going on.  This is Spooling Around, the Saturday Sampler we finished in December 2023.  I just got the binding finished this week.  This is what we see from the top of the basement steps, looking down from the kitchen.  The doorway into my sewing room is to the left of this.

On the left side wall next to the sewing room door has been a vinyl applique - kind of a sign identifying that space.  Now I've hung up the umbrellas signature quilt made with the hearts all signed by ladies in our Sew Vintage group.  The center is an umbrella applique.  One of the group, Holly, gave our group members each the pieces for an umbrella she cut with her AccuQuilt, and this is what I made with the applique and the signed heart blocks. 

I think of the Sew Vintage group whenever I see it.

RSC24 - Week #16

 There hasn't been a lot of focus on yellow this week, but there was still a lot of scrap usage going on around here.  

I finished a couple of yellow mug rugs.  There are 2 more like these but with the colors reversed.  The other 2 still need to be quilted and bound.

Yellow was a deliberate choice for the Riley Blake challenge this week.  Block #12 is Flip Flopped by Sandy Gervais.  Everything here came from the 30s scrap bin. 

More of the Kitty blocks happened this week again, but only 1 is actually yellow - kind of.  The background of that "house" print is bright yellow.  But all of these blocks used up more small chunks of fabric from the various bins.  

And there is yellow in this small quilt.  It's a Villa Rosa pattern, and is 48" by 60" as is.  I'm still not sure if I want to add an outer border or not.  It might be a more useful size if I add a 6" outer border, but that decision can wait.

Let's see what others are doing with yellow this week . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Spoolin' Around & more finishes

I have some finishes to show off this week, starting with the 2023 Saturday Sampler, called Spoolin' Around.  This is going to hang on the wall near my sewing room doorway.

I really wanted to photograph this quilt outside, but 30 mph winds made that impossible.  Gotta love living on the prairie.  And of course it was overcast as well.  The fun thing about this Saturday Sampler was that we alternated each month with pieced blocks and applique blocks. Because everyone chose their own fabrics for this one, every quilt was unique at the end. 

The other finishes were a couple of mini quilts.  The Grow Banner is about 28" long by 8" high. I'm not sure yet where this will go, but I sure enjoyed making it. I even quilted some leaves above the lower case letters.  The strawberry is the mini version of the bigger blocks we're making in our Sew Vintage group.  This one is 7 x 9, and made entirely from 1.5" squares in my cookie tins full of that size square.  The bigger blocks will use 2.5" squares and we've been exchanging strips of the pinks and reds among our Sew Vintage group members.

The binding has been attached to 5 mug rugs, and that will provide some hand stitching to do in front of the TV in the evening for a couple of days. 

Next in line - Laurel Burch

I'm so in love with Laurel Burch designs - such rich saturated colors and whimsical designs.  I've purchased quite a bit of her fabrics over the years, and now one of those pieces is soon to be a flimsy.

This is the next project in line - a jungle design panel.  I'm using a Villa Rosa pattern called October Sky because it is perfect for a horizontal panel.  All of the pieces for the HSTs were cut from fabrics I pulled from the stash last month for this.  In my head I'm picturing an outer border with leaves, but haven't purchased anything yet as I want to have the center portion all sewn before making a final decision on those borders.

 

And I got a good start by sewing and squaring up the HSTs.  I bought some solid black yardage for the sashing for this one too.  The goal is to have this one a flimsy - except for outer borders - by the end of the week.  That should be manageable.

One other task yesterday was to finish organizing the smaller pieces of leftover batting.  These pieces will be used primarily for mug rugs and hot pads.  I have quite a stack here, but there is also quite a substantial stack of mug rug blocks ready to finish.  

Better Together/Love Birds is finished

This took me WAY too long to finish!  

It's only about 22 x 34 and was from the Missouri Star Cupid Box for 2024.  I got the flimsy done fairly quickly, but was determined to quilt it myself.  That was the problem because I just kept pushing it aside to work on other things.  Until this week when I finally just focused on getting it done.

Next February this wall hanging will be hung in the living room on the rail below a shelf. 

Yesterday we had rain, which is greatly appreciated.  I looked out and noticed the rain drops on the bird feeder looked just like little diamonds.  And look how green the grass has turned this week!  In this part of the country we never know if spring is here to stay in mid-April.  Late April snow storms are not unheard of around here.