RSC25 - Week #35

I'm always tickled when the last stitch is done on the binding of a finish. This is Buckeye Beauty, and I love how it turned out.  The black and white prints in the 4-patches allow those bright colors to pop.  Definitely one of my favorite RSC projects, and a pattern that I'll do again sometime in the future.

These blocks are not aqua - but they are for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I began making these 4-Patch Fun blocks with aqua, and now I've gone back to make a few in the previous colors for this year.  This week light blue and orange came out to play but just for these blocks.   

I've added a few more string blocks to the stack.  These all finish at 6" and are sewn on old phone book pages.  I had made the top 2 light aqua early in August.  Then I added the darker teal ones.  This week I added another light aqua block, and also the blue and green ones -  because those strings were in that same bin by mistake.  

Another set of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks has nearly become a quilt top.  Yay!! I'm calling this Triple Triangles.

This one began as triangular string blocks, using the Tri Recs rulers.  The original plan was going to be long columns of the triangles with columns of something colorful in between.  But then I saw something online with sets of 3 - and a whole new plan came to me. The sashing strips are a medium blue, almost a turquoise hue.  

As it is (with the blue sashing) this is about 47 x 54.  But since the sets of 3 triangles have a black/white frame, I'm thinking I might add a wide black/white outer border to make it larger.  Or I might leave it as is.  We'll see how it goes.

Let's see what else is happening in the RSC world . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Full stop this morning

My sewing plans this morning have come to a full stop.  I'll be dealing with a major water issue - and possibly with the installer working on our shower installation.  

Evidently when the plumber yesterday turned the water back on (after 5 hours) the connection to my washing machine blew loose due to air in the lines.  We now have water all over in the main floor laundry room, in the basement bathroom below it, and all around the furnace area in the basement.  The sheetrock in that bathroom wall has even buckled already.  

Could have been worse I guess, but what a mess!  I'll be calling the plumber as soon as they open this morning.

A class project and a messy project

Tuesday evening there was a fun class hosted at The Pin Cushion - not working with fabric for a change, but with resin.  

We each decorated a wooden cutting board with resin mixed with any pretty colors we wanted.  I still need to do the final cleaning of my board so that it's food safe, but I'm happing with how my colors (blue, white, copper) worked out.

As for the "messy project" - I was looking forward to a nice long quiet Labor Day weekend.  Guess that might not happen, as this morning a small crew is arriving to begin demolition of our master bathroom tub/shower and possibly the linen closet area.  They were supposed to come tomorrow - but we got a call yesterday about moving it up a day.  So I've been scrambling to clear out the linen closet and move things in the bedroom so they can work.

And of course this puts a kink in my hosting the card group this afternoon at my house.  I'm hoping the workmen are done and gone before my friends arrive.  I'm sure they will forgive whatever chaos remains here.  After the demo, the guy doing the install MIGHT start on Friday and work through the weekend.  Or he MIGHT not start installing until next week.  I'm not comfortable with "winging it".  

Mid-week finishes

I've been binding like crazy the past few evenings and have actual finishes to report already for this week.  Two of these are UFO quilts and 1 is a table runner that was a fairly recent purchase - that did NOT end up forgotten in a drawer.  Yay!!!

So, I've mentioned how different this Tim Holt line of fabric is. The kit I bought for this Halloween table runner had a really unusual print for the backing.  It looks like a blend of newspaper articles, wanted posters, and vintage fabric.  Hmmmm . . .  I do really like the moths and spider webs on the front.  

The runner was a kit and pattern purchased this summer at the Pin Cushion called Keep It Simple.  It's really a fast one - big squares, medium squares, and a few triangles.  No small pieces or tricky matching to worry about.  I think it took me less than 30 minutes to cut the pieces and sew up the top of the runner.  I even quilted it myself.  

One larger finish this week is a UFO quilt.  I bought the hummingbird panel in Fort Dodge Kansas in 2023 on our road trip to Arizona.  Then in languished in a project box, along with some batik fat quarters that I bought to use with it.  Last winter I finally decided on a pattern to use - Chillingsworth Bicycle Race.  It was a free pattern from Andover.  I really do like the big pieces in this one, and may do it again with one of the patriotic panels I have.  

The original backing I bought for this quilt had swirls of the blues, aquas and yellow.  But alas - it wasn't large enough.  Oops!!  I then found this butterfly print to use instead and it works well.  The other backing will get used for some smaller project eventually.  

There was another UFO that I got bound this week too.  Note the orange backing and black/white binding in that first picture?  That will be shared on Saturday as it's a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  

And I have 3 more projects ready to bind.  Stay tuned!

Table runner progress

The Halloween runner is quilted and the binding is attached.  So hopefully I'll get that binding stitched down this week sometime.  Each of the 3 big squares in the runner have curved quilting.  The small squares got straight lines.  The moth fabric (Tim Holt line) is on the edge of creepy and kind of pretty.  LOL

And I promised a pop of color added to the green and brown Christmas runner.  This is a star appliqued on top of a Christmas tree.  I did a blanket stitch around the edges of the star, but the rest of the runner is just pieced.  The flimsy is all done.  Next step is deciding HOW I want to quilt this runner. 

Speaking of progress - I have one UFO completely bound, and a second one has only 1 side remaining for the binding to be hand stitched.  Yay!!  There WILL be finishes this week!

Design Wall Monday - August 25

What am I going to work on this week?  One of my goals is to get a couple of table runners close to a finish.  

A Halloween runner with some of the brand new Tim Holt fabrics is already a flimsy, but I won't show it quite yet.  I do have the backing and batting ready so I can sandwich this one for quilting this week. 

A Christmas runner is all cut out.  It looks kind of boring with just greens and browns, but I promise there will be a pop of color added.  This one won't take long to put together so I'm hoping to have it ready to sandwich and quilt after that Halloween runner.  I'm determined to quilt them myself because I really need to improve my skills. 

I'm continuing to add rows to this Quilt of Valor top.  Right now it's only about halfway assembled.  

And once I finish binding a blue and yellow UFO project currently being handstitched, these 2 bindings will be next on the agenda.  That means there should be at least 1 complete finish to report on later this week.   

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog    

RSC25 - Week #34

Another RSC quilt is finished - quilted and bound. 
 

This is Night Vision.  I began these blocks in 2024, and finished them up earlier this year.  The 9" block is basically made with 4 Flying Geese, set around a center square half the size of the geese.  A partial seam technique was used, so they spin around that center. All of the pinwheels are made from triangle trimmings as I made the Flying Geese.

I used the lighter background geese around 2 sides, and the dark ones around the other 2 sides.  Two opposite corners are left without pinwheels.  The backing and binding makes me think of those Red Hat Society ladies - purple and red.  I really love this one, and may keep it for myself, at least for now. 

With 2 Gameboard blocks per month, there are now 16 of these on the hanger.  The blocks are 8" finished.  I'll need to keep making these, until there are enough for a baby quilt I think. 

One more Give It a Whirl block in aqua, and another aqua 4-Patch Fun joined the stacks this week.  The 4-Patch Fun blocks are starting to really add up quickly as leaders/enders. I've sewn up all of the colorful ones that I had cut from the scrap bins.  

Some purple and green ones happened this week too, in between working on a couple of "main" projects.  There are 22 of these so far.  I'm using 2" strips for these blocks, but they can be done using any size you want really. 

There are now 3 or 4 of each 2025 RSC color of the Give It a Whirl blocks too.  I think I counted 26 of them so far.  These are 8" finished.  

I've been using orphan blocks and scraps to make placemats all summer, a few at a time.  This past week I dug into a scrap bag with leftovers from a couple of fall themed projects.  Two placemats came together using 3.5" squares on the front, and a pretty leftover on the backs.

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

Blockheads 13th week

 I often wonder how designers come up with block names.  Toadstool Twist is the name Betsy Chutchian gave to this block.  I did a little searching and found several ways to arrange the T unit, and lots of different names.  Double T, Capital T, Queens Cross, and Big T.  Toadstool Twist is a fun whimsical name compared to the other names. 

Like most weeks we made 2 of them, but this time I only changed out 1 of the fabrics in the second version.   Two different dark blues were used.  I'm still working with QOV scraps for these Blockheads 6 blocks so I never know what will come out of that scrap bin.

Saturday Sampler flimsy

 

It always feels good to finish a quilt top.  The only thing I need to do yet on this Saturday Sampler is sew all the way around - to hold all those seams securely.  And I need to find a backing for it.  I'll share more about the pattern once it's all done.  

Another mini quilt

 I'm still plugging away on binding a big quilt in the evenings, while other projects are happening in the sewing room this week.

One more mini quilt - with spools that look like apples.  I should have been working on my Saturday Sampler on Tuesday morning, but instead I got distracted with finishing the September spool mini quilt.  The piecing went quickly after making that little checkerboard section.  Then I quilted it and bound it.  A quick and satisfying finish!  I've looked ahead and October has spool shaped pumpkins.

And because I was in the mood to quilt some small things, I didn't stop with this mini.  I also quilted a couple of autumn themed placemats that I had pieced from already cut squares.  And then I moved on to quilt a couple of Christmas mug rugs.  None of these items have binding attached yet, but they're 1 step closer to done and used up more scraps.

Now, back to the Saturday Sampler and the Rail Fence Quilt of Valor. 

Saturday Sampler progress

The final 2 rows of Saturday Sampler are done, so now I'm ready to start sewing all of these rows together into a completed top.

 

This is how the pattern has the rows layed out.  But because of the colors I used, I'm going to switch the 2 medium width rows with each other.  That is the arrowhead row near the top, and the chevron row just below center.  I think that will give a better color distribution.

On a side note - I've been given a plant to try to keep alive.  My son-in-law's 100 year old grandmother passed away last week.  They were given 3 Peace Lily plants from the funeral, and left one of them with me when they stopped to pick up the dog.  It's beautiful now, but we'll see how long I manage to take good care of it, as I've been accused of being a serial plant killer. For now it's sitting on top of the filing cabinet in my office where I can enjoy it.    

Design Wall Monday - August 18

 Normally I write my Monday morning post on Sunday evening, and set it to post automatically.  But for some reason it never crossed my mind yesterday.  So here I am, with coffee in hand, sitting at my desk.

There are 30 Flying Geese blocks in the final 2 rows in this year's Saturday Sampler project.  The geese themselves are all now sewn, and my task this morning is getting the actual rows put together.  Then I can lay it out for quilt top assembly.  That should not take too long as it's already sewn into rows.

A second quilt top that hopefully can be finished this week is this Quilt of Valor.  It's NOT sewn into rows already like the Saturday Sampler, but is pinned into rows.  Actually 3 of the 12 rows are sewn, so I guess that's a good start.

My reward for progress on the 2 quilt tops - the September mini quilt.  Sew Juicy is supposed to be 3 "spool" shaped apples in a basket.  Hmmm - that checkerboard spool top in the picture doesn't look quite right to me so there could be some changes as I get this one made.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog    

RSC25 - Week #33

Meet Ella.  Ella is a really good girl, but misses her people already.  

We're dog sitting for a couple of days while our younger daughter's family goes to a funeral out in Pierre.  Luckily we are right on the way so they could drop her (and her stuff) on the way through.  They will pick her up tonight when they are heading home.  She's a "Velcro" dog - sticks close all the time.  So I'm guessing that she'll follow me downstairs today when I go to sew for awhile. 

Not much time was spent in my sewing room this week.  But I did visit 6 quilt shops on a shop hop, and I've been working on some binding in the evenings.  And of course I'm dreaming up new projects to keep me out of trouble.  LOL

One of my favorite RSC projects this year has been Night Vision.  I got it back from the quilter this week, and now I'm ready to bind it.  

 

One of the things I bought while shop hopping was binding strips, already cut.  They were in a scrap bag bin, and I picked up 2 bags - yellow and this red.  I used 7 of the 9 red ones for this quilt.  It has a fun purple backing, so with this binding it makes me think of the Red Hat Society ladies in their purple and red.  

Last week I had made some aqua 4-Patch Fun blocks, and cut pieces for some other previous colors.  This block is Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender pattern for this summer and I've already made a lot of them in red, white, and blue.  And now the rainbow has come out to play.  These do make great leader/enders as you work on bigger projects rather than cutting thread between blocks all the time.  From the colors I had cut, only the purple ones remain to be sewn so far.  Then I'll dig back into the scrap bins to cut some more in other colors.

The flimsy for Town Square is done.  I took it out onto the deck for a photo and the dappled sun/shade has an interesting effect on color of course.  But there is a LOT of aqua in this, or maybe it's more of a turquoise.  The cute whale print has several shades of aqua. 

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

Shop hop goodies

The annual Quilt Dakota Shop Hop is going on right now, and I actually won a prize just for registering my shop hop "passport".  My prize was dropped off at The Pin Cushion for me to pick up, which I did yesterday.  Each shop also has you register for weekly drawings when you visit, and there are special prizes when you have visited 10 shops, and again for 20 and 30.  That's a lot of incentive.  

I was expecting maybe a small fat quarter bundle or something, but HOLY COW!  A layer cake of Kaufman fabrics in reds, blues, and pale greys - just perfect for a Quilt of Valor.  A jelly roll of gorgeous neutral batiks.  And a kit for an Elizabeth Hartman quilt called Lookout.  

There are over 40 quilt shops in North AND South Dakota that are participating in the 2025 Quilt Dakota Shop Hop in August.  Before Wednesday I had only gotten to the 2 shops here in town, but that number has grown with the 6 shops that Jo and I got to this week.  

We met up at 8:30 am with coffee and our shop hop passport booklets in hand, and headed east on I-90 toward Sioux Falls about an hour away.  I even had a list of things I wanted to look for to finish out some projects. We began the day by dropping off 3 big heavy seedless watermelons at my daughter's house (in Sioux Falls.)  We live in an area known for fabulous watermelon. Once those melons were handed off to my grandkids and I petted 1 dog - we had the rest of the day to shop.

Every shop is so different, and we both agree that it's really fun just to see the different samples in the shops, how things are displayed in unique ways, and the styles of fabrics carried are different too. Great selections and such friendly staff at every shop.

We visited all 3 shops in Sioux Falls before lunch - Quilters Headquarters, Jaqueline & Joyce, and Dutch Rose.  After getting some lunch we headed south on I-29 to 3 shops that Jo hadn't been to before.  Sew Storm (Alcester, SD), Shanty Stitchers (Beresford) and My Timeless Day (Canton) are all in a row of small towns along I-29.   

My haul includes 3 patterns, a variety of fat quarters, 2 neutral Christmas-y backgrounds for a Christmas project I have planned, 2 blue batiks to use with the blue jay print for the next 3-yard quilt, a couple of yards of fun prints, and a Halloween panel.  

Also - there is one kit. I couldn't resist a Sassy Sunflower "half pack" - and you could choose which free pattern to use with the kit.  Each kit contains 5 coordinated half yard cuts for a nice size throw quilt.  I chose an elegant metallic Christmas line with gold and silver on white.  Jo bought one with rich colors and picked a different pattern.  We're both excited to see how each quilt comes together. 

One of my best finds was 50% off yardage at one shop.  They had a horrible storm a couple of weeks ago, and rain water seeped into one area getting lots of bolts of fabric wet along the selvage edges.  It was not stained - just a little "ruffled" along the selvage edge, and the owner suggested getting it washed right away.  I got 6 yards of a nice dark blue print fabric for backing a project and washed it right away Thursday morning. It's just fine. 

So - a total of 6 shops in 1 day and lots of fun!!

Road trip

 

Yesterday was a fun day on a road trip with a quilting friend.  The Quilt Dakota Shop Hop is going on all of August.  We left town at 8:30 am and returned at 6 pm.

** 278 miles

** 6 fun quilt shops

Blockheads #11

 One of my Sunday tasks was to finish up that big block from this week's Blockheads post. 

This block is 27" finished.  It's called Folk Star by Lisa Bongean.  There are 72 HSTs in this one, which definitely took me some time.  The HSTs were each trimmed to 2" square.  After seeing these posted to the Facebook group I found myself wishing I had chosen some different fabrics in the star itself.  It's OK as is - but not exciting.

While in red, white, blue mode - I think this is the layout I'm going with for the Rail Fence QOV with the stars added.  As I picked up each row and pin (numbered pins) I had to make sure these all turned the correct directions - reds up or pointed right.  Not that I'm looking at the photo, this one may be too narrow.  Hmmm . . . maybe a long red strip added to the left side, and a blue strip added on the right?  

Donations

The large pile of donation quilts and stuffed animals that I put together in July has now been taken to the local safe house.  There were 10 quilts, 12 stuffed animals wrapped in their own quilts, and 5 draw string bags filled with travel size toiletries.  

Because the safe house was moving from their old building into this new bigger facility, they had put a hold on receiving donations of "things" until they were actually moved in.  So I waited, and yesterday morning I finally got things dropped off.

I even got a quick tour of some of the "public" areas - kitchen, playroom, conference room, etc. which was really nice.  They had an open house about a week before moving in, but I hadn't gone that day.  So I was tickled when offered a quick tour. 

Once I got home I refilled my car - with all the stuff I'm taking today to my daughter's house for her rummage sale this weekend. 

Design Wall Monday - August 11

 On Saturday the final row pattern for Saturday Sampler was shared.  There will be 2 identical narrow rows, and then we can assemble the flimsy.  Show and Tell will be in October at the Saturday Sampler session.  

This month's row design involves lots of flying geese.  The pieces are all cut and ready to sew this week.  This will be my top priority. 

Second priority this week is getting the 2 narrow borders onto the Whales 3-yard quilt.  The blocks are all sewn into rows, so the borders will bring this to the flimsy stage.

In between these 2 main projects there will be more Leader/Ender stitching.  I've been sewing these blocks (4-Patch Fun) in red/white/blue for a future Quilt of Valor, but decided to dig into the scrap bins and add some in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors too.  4 aqua ones for this month are done.  One purple, and 4 each of yellow and pink were kitted up on the design board.  One of the yellow and 1 pink are now sewn.

I'm not planning for this to be a very productive sewing week as it's going to be kind of busy.  Monday one of the grandkids will be here.  Tuesday I'm taking a load of things to my daughter's house in Sioux Falls for her rummage sale.  Wednesday I plan to do some shop hopping with a guild friend.  And either Thursday or Friday the plan is to get together with some friends for an afternoon of cards.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog  

RSC25 - Week #32

Aqua came out to play this week, with 2.5" squares being used in Paint Chip and Hollow 9-Patch blocks.  So far these are in the lighter "sea glass" shades, but I'm sure I can find deeper teals for next week. 

I've been doing these 4-Patch Fun blocks in red/white/blue to use in a future Quilt of Valor.  This is a 6" (finished) Bonnie Hunter leader/ender pattern, and they add up quickly when used as leaders and enders.  This week I decided to make some in RSC colors as well.  These 4 aqua versions are the first ones so far. 

Two aqua string blocks happened too.  These also finish at 6", and are pieced on phone book pages.  I haven't removed the paper yet.  

The only bigger project with aqua that I've worked on this week is the Town Square 3-yard quilt with the cute whale print.  The colors are way off in this photo - it's navy and turquoise surrounding the whales in the squares.  All 12 blocks are done, but only half of them are sewn into rows.  Finishing this to the flimsy stage will be a goal for next week.

Let's see what else is going on in the RSC world this week.

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/