A red, white, and blue day

 Monday morning my focus mostly stayed on red, white, and blue.  One project is now a flimsy, and a couple of others are seeing definite progress.

Ribbon is a Quilt of Valor pattern designed by Alycia.  She did this pattern as a mystery sew-along.  It's such a striking design.  My version is what I would call "controlled scrappy".  The checkerboard blocks all used blue-on-blue prints with scrappy white backgrounds.  The red hourglass blocks used red-on-red prints with scrappy white backgrounds.  This flimsy is ready to pair up with some backing and go to be quilted.
https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Moda Blockheads 6 just ended, and I chose to sew along this year using red, white, and blue so I would end up with another QOV top.  With this layout I had 6 blocks left over, because we made 2 of some.  But if I made one more block, then I could use them ALL by adding another row right under the center medallion.  

So, that is what I did - this is a second version of one block.  Now I have the perfect number of blocks needed to assemble this quilt top without leaving any orphans.  Now that the blocks are done I will assemble the top later in the month.  First I'll need to make space on my "design floor", which is currently holding a non-QOV project.  

The next priority QOV project on my list is Shadow Star.  This one has all the parts for the stars cut, but only 3 blocks have been made.  I need 9 blocks for the layout I've chosen.  It was a 2024 project that was abandoned for no good reason.  Time to get this one closer to the flimsy stage too. 

Because I work on so many QOV projects, my red and blue scraps are totally out of control again.  And the stack of RWB test blocks and orphan blocks also gets deep pretty quickly.  If I'm testing out a block pattern I want to try, I often use RWB scraps, so the block could be used for QOV at some point.  After the holidays, our little QOV group will be ready to do another block drive, and hopefully have a sew day again.  The stack of orphan blocks and test blocks should produce a couple of quilts I can "kit up" for a sew day. Plus there are some panels gifted to our group that I plan to kit up for a sew day.  I actually enjoy cutting and kitting up projects almost as much as sewing them.  

I've also been researching ideas for new blocks for QOV, and one of them that caught my eye was the Gleam pattern.  Gleam is by Cluck Cluck Sew, and can be purchased on Fat Quarter Shop as a download.  I really like this pattern. 

So of course I've been playing with scraps with Gleam in mind.  These made good Leader/Enders during some other projects lately.  I've sewn together some "quarter star" units for Gleam blocks using scraps from previous Quilts of Valor.  I need to reverse the placement of the squares and HSTs for the next ones I make so that the color becomes the background and the neutral is the star.  

These could be a good scrap buster for both QOV . . . and for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge in a whole rainbow of colors.  

There are lots of non-patriotic projects that will take priority for awhile, but it's nice to have some of these things organized and on the To Do list.