RSC25 - Week #37

Brighten is a flimsy!!  Yay!  This top is 47 x 62, so a good size for a child.  It's bright and happy, which is definitely what I need this week.  There are 5 blocks left over, and they will be "seed" for another RSC quilt in the future. 

Light blue is the dominant color in this flimsy I finished this week. It's actually kind of "dusty" shade of light blue, and does NOT show up accurately in this photo.  

I did work this week on a small project from August.  This little doll quilt (24") was something I cut parts for in August when our color was aqua.  But then I got sidetracked.  This week I sewed it together, sandwiched it with leftover backing and batting pieces, and even got it quilted.  The binding is yellow and ready to attach. 

  And the next set of RSC blocks for flimsy assembly has been chosen - Windmill.  These blocks kind of chose themselves, as the 2 hangers these blocks are clipped to were so full the blocks were coming off.  Looking back at my blog I see these blocks were part of my RSC sewing in 2023 and 2024.  

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Still stuck on red, white, and blue

 Yup - I'm still working on red, white, and blue.  I had 3 sets of Quilt of Valor blocks going on this summer - or 4 if I could the Moda Blockheads blocks.  It was time to get those block sets finished and assembled into tops so I can clear off some workspace again for new projects.

The Spools top and the Rails & Stars top were finished in August.  I really like how both of these came together.  

Next up. . . is Ribbon, by Alycia.  I had a good start on the blocks in August, but finished the last few blocks on Wednesday this week.  I chose to do these scrappy - with a variety of white-on-white backgrounds, and different blues and reds.  I'm excited to begin laying these out today and hopefully pinned into rows.

Here is this week's Blockheads block - #16.  It's Cloud Nine by Debbie Maddy.  There is only 1 of this particular block.  The blocks this year have been 3 different sizes.  Most blocks have been 9" finished, but there was 1 finishing at 27", and so far a couple that are 18".  Sometimes the 9" blocks have said to make 2, and sometimes like this week, just 1. 

I'm linking up with Finished Or Not Friday!!

Blue Jay flimsy

The Blue Jay project is now a flimsy.  

Because I had the rows already made, it only took me about half an hour to finish the flimsy yesterday morning.  I did make the decision to leave off the final skinny border on this one, but it's still about 45 x 58 without it.  The color isn't at all accurate in this outdoor photo.  Even with an overcast sky, the colors look very washed out.

 

And under my "daylight" lamp in the sewing room, it isn't showing up as bright as it actually is.  Imagine the colors really are somewhere in between the 2 pictures.  

The pattern is Town Square from this Fabric Cafe 3-yard quilt book.  It might be about the fastest and easiest pattern in all of the books.

One more flimsy is done as well - maybe.  I needed a break from blue, and this was already kitted up and waiting.  This will be a doll quilt.  As is it's only 20" square, so IF I can squeeze some borders out of what is left of the solid colors, then I'll add a little border.  If not, then it will work for a small stuffed animal.  

Two new runners

 So far this week I have finished 2 new table runners.  

I thought I had this Pine Tree runner all done, but then felt that it needed something more.  That something turned out to be big red buttons to look like Christmas ornaments.  Now it's actually finished.

The pumpkin runner is also finished.  It didn't take long to quilt this with a simple diagonal grid, and then bound it in brown.

Now I can return to working on the rows and rows of blocks waiting to become 2 different finished quilt tops.  

Rows and Leaders/Enders

There was progress made on this week's goals, in spite of one small squirrel appearance.  

The Blue Jay blocks have all become rows of 3.  It won't take long to assemble the the rows into a top now.  Remember my fatigue with blue?  Once the rows were done I just had to move on to something more colorful for awhile. 

Brighten is definitely colorful, and is also taking shape.  The 7 rows are all done, and 4 of them have been sewn together.  Like the Blue Jays, this top should be a quick finish.

And what about the Leader/Enders and that squirrel I mentioned?  My Leaders/Enders began with just those floral Half Square Triangles.  As I sewed yesterday, I was thinking about what to make with them and remembered a doll quilt I kitted up last month during the aqua month for RSC.  But OOPS - I didn't get around to making it in August, and nearly allowed it to become a UFO.  So I am adding those aqua/yellow HSTs as Leaders/Enders this week too.  I'm still not sure what to use the floral HSTs for yet, but the little pile of finished ones is growing.  

I'm happy to say that the stack of parts, pieces, and blocks that have been cluttering the end of the ironing board are gradually moving toward flimsy stage.      

Design Wall Monday - Sept 8

At our guild meeting Saturday, one member gave a fun demo on the Accuquilt cutting tools.  I learned something new right away - that you could add fusible to fabric BEFORE running through the cutter, and your applique parts would be ready to iron on.  Duh!!  That seemed so logical, yet it had not occurred to me.  

The demo also gave me a nudge to go home and pull out my own Accuquilt out of the closet, and reacquaint myself with what I actually had.  I have the Accuquilt ME, which is a small one.  There were 3 dies in with my things - a Hunter's Star die, and 2 different size triangle dies.  And - not surprising - there were some UFO parts and pieces in a bag with the dies. 

Obviously I had cut a pile of triangles from a flower print.  What was I planning to do with them?  I have no idea, so I pulled out some leftover speckled neutral, and cut the same number of triangles to go with the flowers to make HSTs.  These will be my Leader/Ender project this week as I work on my focus projects. 

Laying on the "design floor" right now are the Brighten blocks that I've been making for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I still need to do a little color rearrangement, but basically it's ready to set into rows.  There are blocks left over - "seed" for another quilt maybe. 

The Blue Jay blocks are also ready to set into rows.  There are 12 blocks, plus a couple of narrow borders for this quilt.  Another possible flimsy by the weekend? 

For hand stitching this week, I'm going to finish the pumpkin table runner binding first.  And after prepping many many yards (16 WOF strips) of red binding yesterday, I have a Quilt of Valor and 3 patriotic placemats ready to hand stitch the binding.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog    

RSC25 - Week #36

One more set of RSC blocks has become a finished quilt top this week.  And this one is an example of Design As You Sew. 
 

Triple Triangle began with a set of small string triangle blocks.  Changing my plan for the layout of these blocks happened midway through making them, with the new plan becoming sets of 3 framed with black and white prints.  The blue sashing brightens up the whole thing, and this week I added that black and white print border.  It is 58 x 66.  

String blocks in this lighter shades of month's colors made a really good relief from my other sewing this week as I was mostly focused on red/white/blue projects and a nearly all-blue project.  When I got bored with those colors I would add a green string block to the mix.  

Light blue string blocks happened too.  Again, these were a nice switch from those deeper shades of blue.  

 One light blue Brighten block was added to the collection.  This is the next set of RSC blocks that I plan to begin assembling into a top.  I have a plan for a simple staggered layout and hope to work on that layout over the weekend.  

And I played a little bit with some 1.5" strips to make these log cabin blocks.  There is no actual plan for these yet, but they were fun to make.  Maybe if I make one more these could be the center of a new doll quilt.  

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

More red, white, and blue - Finished (or not) Friday

I think I'm nearly tired of blue.  This has been a week with lots of blue, in particular paired with red and white.  One more Quilt of Valor top is done, which cleans up another set of blocks that have been waiting for attention.

Spools was the name of this pattern.  The blocks are made with 2.5" strip sets, with 2 high contrast colors.  I used neutral prints with reds, blues, and a few gold strips.  The red border was hiding deep in the QOV yardage bin.  It's 60 x 72.  

Another QOV project is the 4-Patch Fun blocks that Bonnie Hunter shared this summer as a leader/ender challenge.  I've been making them in patriotic colors, and also in Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors.  Each little block finishes at 6" but I've now sewn all of the red/white/blue ones that were done into sets of 4.  There are 12 of these hanging up now.  There are parts for 2 more blue ones still on the design board, and I'll probably cut more sets from the scrap bin.

This week's Moda Blockheads pattern is Petal Pusher by Crystal Manning.  It's a 9" block and we only made 1 of them this time.  I like this one a lot.  It's interesting and different. 

The next Quilt of Valor that needs attention is Ribbon, designed by Alycia at Quilty Girl.  It was a beautiful mystery quilt she shared this summer.  Yesterday I made 6 more of the red/white Hourglass blocks, and 2 more of the blue/white 25-patch blocks.  I have about half of the necessary blocks made so far.  

All this week when I got tired of working with red/white/blue I switched to working on some scrappy blocks in green and in light blue for Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Switching to a new color for me is like a palette cleanser.  

Click on this link to check out Alycia's Finished (or not) Friday link party and see what other folks are trying to finish.

Family visits

We had a lovely visit with one of my cousins and her husband yesterday.  Connie and Ted were on a little road trip from their home in Kansas.  I sure enjoyed the afternoon catching up with them. 

About an hour was spent in my sewing room yesterday.  That was just enough time to get the 2 narrow strip sets for Blue Jays sewn and cut into sections for above and below the big blocks.  Today I should be able to do the same with the wide strip sets.    

Small finishes & new projects

 I was on a binding marathon the past week or so, with some big finishes and some small finishes.  There are still a couple of small UFOs to bind, and I'll get to them.  

The new Christmas table runner is done.  This was a "new" project and doesn't actually scream Christmas.  The pine tree block pattern is in Lori Holt's book Prairie Home.  The runner is simply 2 of them back-to-back with an appliqued star connecting them.  I even quilted this one myself.  

A second finished project from the same Lori Holt book is the Sunflower wall hanging.  There are actually 4 of them in the book, with different seasons represented in the place of the sunflowers.  I haven't decided whether or not to make the others.  But this one is covering my big round coffee table in the family room for now. 

Now I've been able to finish several UFO projects, I feel the urge to begin some new projects.  Mostly my little list of new projects are small to medium items, with one larger quilt. 

** Blue Jay (3 yard quilt)
** new Christmas stocking
** Candy Lane Christmas lap quilt (kit)
** Blue/white Tim Holt table runner

Yesterday I did quite a bit of cutting, but very little actual sewing, except for borders on a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt I'll show on Saturday's RSC post.   The strips are all cut for the Town Square quilt with the Blue Jay print.  Sewing those strip sets together will be a quick process, and then I can cut the sub-units from them.  

The other cutting that happened yesterday was for Candy Lane, a 48" x 58" lap/throw quilt.  When I was on that one day Shop Hop last month, I purchased a kit that came with a free pattern.  The kits were all done with 5 half-yard cuts, and then we could choose from a selection of different quilt patterns designed specifically for the half-yard packs.  My fabric pack kit has a white/cream/gold Christmas-y fabric line from Robert Kaufman called Holiday Flourish - Snow Flower.  It has a touch of sparkle and metallics.  

Sassy Sunflower is the company, and you can check out the fun options at this link.
https://sassysunflowerquilts.com/half-pack-quilt-gallery 

Remodel progress

 Remodeling is one of those things I have always dreaded.  But I have to admit that this one has mostly gone better than I expected - other than the water line breakage. 

This is the BEFORE picture from Thursday morning . . . a one piece tub/shower with a big over stuffed linen closet to the right.

During picture #1 . . . once the tub and surround was broken up and gone, we were left with this.  There was a bit of plumbing updating done, and that led to the water line issue.  The water was turned off for 5 hours, and then they turned it back on Thursday afternoon.  On Friday morning I got up early to do some laundry before the installer arrived and discovered water running in the laundry room - through the floor and into the basement bathroom and furnace area.  GRRRR!  The plumber came back and found the broken water line was going to my dryer for the steam function.  He fixed it all and we began the drying out process.  I'm happy to report that my dryer seems to be working.

The contractor doing the installation asked if he could work over the weekend, even though it was a holiday weekend. That was OK with us, and he got to work - replacing all the old pink fiberglass insulation, adding some new 2 x 4 bracing in the wall, and starting on the Onyx.  It looked like this by Friday evening.   

On Saturday the grab bars and interior shelf were added, along with a decorative tile band around the top.  At the end of each day everything was neat and clean too.

And by Sunday night the glass doors were installed, plus all the grout and wall repairs to the sheetrock was done.  We still have to repaint of course, and this morning the plumbers are coming back to install the shower fixtures.  I'm looking forward to using this. 

I spent Monday morning going through all the stuff that was in that linen closet, threw away a lot of crap no longer needed, and then put the reduced amount of stuff back into that linen closet.  It's much better organized now too.  I told my husband he doesn't need to buy deodorant or cold packs (for sore muscles) for a couple of years.  Same with sun screen - I must buy it every time I see it.  Old bottles of sun screen have been tossed too.  

Now I can get back to my sewing routine again.  

Design Wall Monday - Sept 1

Happy Labor Day!!

A new week and a new month all at once.  I'm working on a plan for September projects of course, but I know there will be plenty of red, white, and blue again.  

The 14th block pattern was released last Wednesday for the Moda Blockheads 6 program.  I did manage to get both Carousel Waltz (Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms) sewn on Friday afternoon while staying out of the way of the contractor installing our new walk-in shower.  This is an interesting block and I really like it.

Over the weekend, a Quilt of Valor flimsy was finished.  It's 60 x 72, and used Rail Fence blocks our group did as part of a block drive.  Then a few added applique stars, and a couple of side borders finished it out.  This turned out great in my not-so-humble opinion.

The next QOV top I'm going to work on is the Spools blocks.  I made all of these blocks using my own QOV scraps and stash, and the rows were pinned a couple of weeks ago. Now it's time to get those rows assembled.  

 

The new color for Rainbow Scrap Challenge is actually 2 colors - pastel blue and green.  I looked to see what kits or UFOs fit that description and realized that the blue jay 3-yard quilt is a good option.  I already had the blue jay print cut into the squares needed, but found a good light blue option while on that shop hop.  So I'll be working on this one, which you may notice is the same pattern (Town Square by Fabric Cafe) as the "whales" quilt top I did last month. 

I really wanted to play with something totally new on Sunday, so I made a new fall table runner with pumpkins.  The pattern is one of the Riley Blake Quilt Seeds by Lori Holt.  I just made 2 of the pumpkin blocks and then separated them with 3" of background.  It was a really quick project to sew.  

My To Do list for this month includes . . .

• Keep up with the Blockheads weekly blocks
• Bind the Sunflower wall hanging
• QOV Spools - get to flimsy stage
• Blue Jays 3-yard quilt - get to flimsy stage
• piece backing and take the Lone Star quilt to be quilted
• Blue table runner (Tim Holt prints)
• quilt & bind pumpkin table runner
• lots of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/