Batik Butterfly & random sewing

I have a UFO finish to share that was actually done in June.  But I forgot to share it at the time for some reason.  I present the Batik Butterfly . . . 

This is the 6" block version of the Sewcialites 2 sew-along.  I did blocks in all 3 sizes with different colorways for each.  This final one is all batiks and set into a butterfly design.  My plan for this quilt is to give it as a wedding gift for a fall wedding coming up.  

This zoomed in photo gives a more accurate depiction of the saturated colors and it shows off the pretty quilting much better.  The thread is a colorful variegated.  

We really didn't have any plans for the 4th of July this year, so of course I spent some time in my sewing room working on some very random blocks.  

This is another Carol Doak paper pieced block.  It was the block she released to celebrate reaching 14,000 members on her social media.  I just couldn't resist giving it a try, and since patriotic blocks can always be used in a QOV sampler that's what I did.   This is a definite winner.  I'll make this one again sometime.

The other random block I made yesterday is a Christmas block from Fat Quarter Shop's free Star of Wonder sew-along.  No plans to do the whole sew-along, but you never know.  I used fabrics left over from the Christmas tree skirt I made for myself this spring.  This first block is 16" finished, and the whole project is only 48" square - IF I make the rest of the weekly blocks.  No promises!  One 16" would make a nice pillow or a nice start of a table topper.

Sparklers for July 4th

Happy July 4th!!

Sparklers is the name of the 2024 Liberty Box project from Fat Quarter Shop.

My version is a completed flimsy, all ready to be quilted.  I made just a couple of minor changes.  The pattern called for 5" outer border, but I felt like it was going to be too much white, so my borders were cut 2.5" instead.  I like it.  And there is a red strip at the top and bottom of the center panels, which came from my stash.  The pattern used one of the medium blue fabrics in the kit.  But there wasn't enough and those fabrics have been unavailable to order online - so I just pulled from my stash.  

I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday, celebrating America's birthday.

Mid-week progress

 The watermelon door hanger is a completed flimsy!  Yay!

The vine and leaves and the watermelon seeds are all appliqued.  And they added so much to this project.

It need a good pressing.  The perfect backing was in my stash, and so now this one is ready to quilt. 

 The Circle of Friends block #1 (Carol Doak) is all finished.  There will be 12 different paper pieced blocks in this sew-along, but I'm not really committing myself to making all 12.  I'll decide when I see how each block looks, and they'll only be released once a month so it isn't going to be time consuming to do them all if that is my decision. 

This afternoon I'll be going to a Quilt of Valor award event taking place at a family reunion.  I always look forward to these events as it is an honor to be involved. 

Happy July 4th tomorrow!!!

To Do Tuesday

Yesterday was cool, windy, and drizzling so I'm very glad I took my walk early before the rain.  And that left me with lots of sewing time.   

Happily, this small project is coming together very quickly.

The Riley Blake kit for this door hanger looked kind of complicated, but turns out this was really quick to make.  I still have to applique the flower vine, leaves, and watermelon seeds.  But I'm feeling optimistic about getting that done by next week.  

One Night Vision block is finished in this month's RSC color - aqua.  Two more to go in this color.  But I haven't dug very deeply into the aqua scraps yet to choose more 3.5" by 6.5" aqua pieces. 

And yes - there may just be a small paper pieced block happening.  I've been following Carol Doak's work for several years.  I have her book on 50 paper pieced star blocks for 50 states in the US.  And I've been lurking around her online social media lately.  She began a new BOM called Circle of Friends.  I'm not sure I'll make many of the blocks, but I am working on the #1 block.  I like paper piecing in small increments, but had I promised myself I wouldn't do another whole quilt using paper piecing. 

Design Wall Monday - July 1

 The July 4th week has arrived!  I sure miss the days when we gathered with neighbors and family to set off all the fireworks together. My husband seemed to try every year to outdo whatever he bought for fireworks the year before.  As our kids got bigger, so did the fireworks.  Such fun - even the year he and my cousin (visiting from Minnesota) had to go shopping for fireworks again the morning of the 4th because they fired off too many the night before. 

So, what's on my design wall this week?  A new project is on the design wall. 

The next seasonal door hanger is my priority this week.  It's a watermelon theme, so should be perfect for the second half of summer. This is watermelon growing country after all.   These door hangers are Riley Blake kits.   

I've begun the process of cutting all the parts for the door hanger.  The background and the greens still need to be cut and clipped together with the little alphabet clips.  So far, I've only cut the reds, orange, and yellow parts.  The picture on this pattern looks complicated but now that I've read through it a couple of times I think this door hanger top will go together quickly - except for the appliqued flower stems, leaves, and watermelon seeds.  

The backing for another UFO has been prepped, so this one will be ready to take to a long arm quilter this month.  There is enough of this pink to use on the back of the strawberry bed runner too, with just a little piecing to make it long enough.  

The new color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge is aqua, so there will also be some aqua scraps coming out to play.   And I have plenty of hand stitching to finish on some bindings, and some Big Stitch quilting on a couple of little projects. 

I'm linking up today with Design Wall Monday . . . 

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

& Monday Musings . . .

https://songbirddesigns.blog/