Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Because we had our family Thanksgiving yesterday, my plans for today involve sleeping in, sewing and getting out the Christmas decorations. 

Just a little progress

 

It's not finished, but I can see the finish line from here.  This is the December mini quilt with the spool design.  The main part is now in 4 rows, so once I get a chance to sew those together and then add the narrow borders it will all go quickly. 
 

I really thought I might get it finished on Tuesday, but it just didn't happen.  After my haircut and manicure appointment, I planned to just go get groceries and come home and sew, and make the deviled eggs for Thanksgiving.  Plus we were on the edge of crazy winter weather with 50+ mph wind gusts, a little snow and sleet.  It would have been a good day to just stay home and sew, right?

So instead of going right to the grocery store or doing any sewing at all - I went and test drove a new vehicle.  Isn't that what normal people do in bad weather?  When they have lots of other things to get done at home?  My 9 year old Ford Edge has been having electrical issues for months, in particular with the key fobs.  I guess yesterday was just the day I decided I was tired of fighting with it.  My new RED Ford Escape should be ready to pick up on Monday!!  I'm very excited.  And the sewing will still be here waiting.    

Tuesday To Do list

Today will be pretty busy, with not much time left over for sewing, but maybe I'll get an hour or so late this afternoon.

This morning I'm headed to get a haircut and manicure.  I have a bunch of paperwork to catch up on at my desk when I get back.  And I have deviled eggs to make for our family Thanksgiving, which is tomorrow. Lots and lots of deviled eggs!  Because apparently I didn't make enough last year.  LOL

Yesterday I was up early, and got quite a lot done before noon - in my PJs, which is not normal for me.  The Dresden project is now a flimsy, but I won't be sharing that until the Saturday post of Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's now pressed and hanging in the closet, waiting for its turn to be quilted.  It's not a huge quilt - only about 50 x 60.

All the parts and pieces are cut and labeled for the December spools mini quilt.  It's so handy to use my little alphabet clips and my small design board to keep everything organized.  I even got the row with the bow sewn.  This should be a quick one to finish. 

Another task I wanted to get done yesterday was to cut the pieces for the Splendor 3-yard quilt, and get one block sewn as a test.  The pieces for the half rectangles are cut from fabrics 1 and 2, but not the pieces for the sashing from the 3rd fabric.  

Only one set of rectangles is actually sewn, not a whole block quite yet.  Twelve of the rectangle sets will be sewn like this, cut on the line and pressed to the dark.  The other 12 sets will have the light fabric tilted the other direction.  These will be blocks A and B, with C and D coming from the opposite sets.  

And of course - I wrote my To Do list on Sunday evening, posted it early Monday - and then promptly deviated from that list on Monday.  I hadn't decided whether or not to do the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt this year.  I always save her clues, and sometimes sew along, and sometimes don't.  But I really liked the colors she chose for Lupines and Laughter.  She posted a week early due to her travel schedule, and after seeing this first clue I couldn't resist diving in.  It was a shallow dive with only 3 sets of this first clue.  But I did pull out a few more pinks, blues, and neutrals I can use for a few more.   

Design Wall Monday - Nov 24 - Switching seasons

I've been sewing a LOT of red, white and blue lately and I love those colors.  But it's time to change seasons, and that means red, white, and green.  Time for me to begin some Christmas sewing!  There will still be some other WIPS getting attention this week too, but Christmas will be front and center. 

Using a 3-yard bundle of Christmas fabrics purchased at our quilt show in October made fabric choices easy for this 3-yard quilt.  Choosing a pattern is much more complicated, because I have several of the Fabric Cafe books.  But I've settled on Splendor.  Let the cutting begin!!

The kit for the December spools mini quilt arrived Friday afternoon in the mail.  Because there aren't too many itty bitty pieces, this one should go together quickly.  These all finish about 13" square, and I want it ready to use by December 1. 

There are a couple of Christmas gifts that I want to make, and one of them involves pulling out this Lori Holt book again. 

Another Christmas gift involves this adorable cat fabric. 

Other WIPs for this week? 
** Hemming a pair of jeans for daughter #2. 
** The Dresden project needs the final couple of diagonal rows attached.

** There are still lots of parts for QOV blocks on the design boards that will be perfect for Leaders and Enders.  

** There is plenty of binding waiting as well. 

We're doing our family Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening so our girls' families can celebrate with the other side of their family on Thursday.  We're pretty flexible so I'm OK with any day and time as long as we get a chance to get together.  It was firmly suggested that I make MORE deviled eggs this year than I did last year.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog        

RSC25 - Week #47

It's that time of year when we like to focus on finishes.

Another RSC project is showing progress - the Quarter Dresden project.  Four rows are now assembled, with row 5 sewn but not attached yet.  That leaves 3 to go.  Maybe by next Saturday this one will be a flimsy.  

There is the old joke about "how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!"  One elephant in my sewing room is scraps.  Lots and lots and lots of scraps, no matter how fast I sew.  They multiply at night in the dark don't they?  The main focus this week was a completely scrappy project - organizing, cutting and using lots of scraps from just ONE bin.  Not a rainbow bin of scraps, but red, white, and blue scraps. 

All week I worked on reducing the scraps in the Quilt of Valor scrap bin.  Because I've been very lazy again the past month or so, the canvas cube with scraps from QOV was overflowing and I just kept piling more stuff on top of it anyway.  The yardage in the bin next to it was even a mess.  Time to clean up this whole area so I can actually reach that dresser drawer behind it all.  Sorting and cutting parts for QOV blocks - lots of them - was a daily project the past couple of days. A little at a time, and I'm seeing progress finally.

These are parts for more 4-Patch Fun (Bonnie Hunter) blocks on the small design board.  Because I'm cutting 2" strips for these, the smaller scraps work great.  

Once the 6" units are made, I've been putting 2 red and 2 blue together into 4-sies.  There are 13 of the 4-sie blocks made so far, with the goal being 30.  

Gleam (Cluck Cluck Sew) is a new-to-me QOV pattern this week, and it's a great scrap buster.  I've sewn 7 Gleam blocks (12" finished) from the parts I cut, with many more to go.   So far all have come from that scrap cube.  That QOV scrap cube has been reduced to a manageable level.  It isn't empty, but it's manageable.  

I think my focus next week will be changing over to - Christmas sewing.  

Let's go see what else is happening with scraps . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Finished (or Not) Friday

I did finish some binding last weekend.  One side was done in the car on the way to a swim meet Saturday morning - after daylight arrived.  One side was done while sitting in a lawn chair in a noisy gymnasium at the swim meet, in between events and sessions.  And I finished the last little bit on Sunday morning at home.

This is one of the Churn Dash tops that I've made the past couple of years.  It's 48 x 60, so a nice size for kids.  The blocks are 12" finished, and use a novelty print paired with a solid.  Our guild did several baby quilts with this idea, and I just kept making blocks afterward.  There is one block near the center with 6" versions of the bigger blocks.  This is a pattern I'll do over and over again, and the quilts are great for donation.  When shop hopping, I tend to collect cute fat quarters of novelty prints to use in donation quilts for kids.  

The back on this one is fun, and uses up more leftover backing from a previous project. So bright and cheerful.  And the purple binding was cut from more leftover backing. 

When I finish something, it's nice to reward myself with a new START.  I rewarded myself with testing out just ONE new block pattern that our QOV group might use for a block drive in 2026.  This is a free block from http://www.patchworksquare.com called Star On Star.  This site has a whole section with just star blocks, and all of them have 3 finished sizes - 12", 9" and 6".  I've had the QOV scrap bin front and center this week, so it was a quick detour.

Check out more finishes at
https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Temptation

Do you recognize this box?  It's a quilter's version of an Advent calendar. 

It's this year's Missouri Star Christmas box and I'm having a hard time NOT opening it up.  I'm so very tempted, but have promised myself to wait until Dec. 1 this year.  I've ordered these curated boxes the previous 2 years and it's so fun to have a little something to open each day until Christmas.  Notions, patterns, fabric - lots of fun stuff.  

If I leave the actual packing box unopened, then I have a better chance of not digging into it early.  Both of the previous years I've cheated and opened some things before December.  Will I hold off for 11 more days?

Mid-week stuff

There has been progress with the Dresden project.

The first 3 rows are sewn together.  Because they are on point, the rows are actually done in the diagonal.  The other 5 rows are pinned into the stack and labeled.  Rows 4 and 5 are the longest ones, and once those are done they won't fit on the rug in my sewing room.  The plan is to add a row or 2 each day before working on anything else. 

It seemed like a good day yesterday to do a little more red, white, and blue sewing, and some organizing and cutting too.  And cleaning!!  Underneath the pile on the right is actually a large bin to hold the Quilt of Valor yardage.  Under the pile on the left is a canvas cube holding QOV scraps.  And it's very obvious that the whole mess is out of control - again.  I even discovered some patterns and some random blocks all mixed in with fabric.  It needs some serious attention before it will fit back into the containers. 

I don't have the mess ALL organized and cleaned up, but I did get a fairly good start. The priority for now is to clear out a lot of those scraps by cutting them for more QOV blocks.  Some parts have been cut for more Gleam blocks, and for more 4-Patch Fun blocks.  For Gleam - if I had only 3.5" strips then I cut triangles for the HST units.  If I had 4" I could cut squares to make 2 half square triangles.  The 4-Patch Fun blocks are made from 2" strips - so the smaller scraps get used for them.
  

The Gleam pattern has 4 units that look like quartered stars. Two have light backgrounds, and 2 are reversed.  Each block has just 1 red unit and 3 blue units.  So far I have 4 of these blocks made.  There are enough units made for a couple more blocks.  But the scraps are plentiful so hopefully I'll get enough for a whole quilt just from the scrap bin.  And then maybe the scrap cube will be partially empty, or at least not overflowing.  

While getting some of the mess organized, I was able to kit up the parts for another Quilt of Valor top.  I want to get 3 or more kits put together for our members to work on, possibly at a group sew day. There was a big stack of random 12" blocks, so I sorted out a dozen to make a sampler quilt.  Sashing and cornerstones are cut.  The border on the right side is a Navy themed print donated to us, so this quilt will go to a Navy veteran when it's done.

What else has been going on lately?  We spent Saturday at a swim meet.  Both granddaughters are on the Sioux Falls swim team, and this past weekend both swam at a meet in Yankton SD.

Sophia is 13, and also a wrestler on her school team.  Olivia is 12, and also plays viola in her school orchestra.  The girls had a good swim meet with times improved in nearly every event both days.  We only went on Saturday. 

Tuesday we had rain - and thunder and lightning - a good share of the afternoon.  Our street has a storm drain on each side but both must have been clogged with leaves because this was what it looked like as we left for Brookings about 4:30.  My neighbor said it took the city quite a while to get the drains working again.  Notice how green the lawns are yet.  After that snow we had about a week ago, the grass has turned bright green again.  Crazy weather for November in eastern South Dakota.

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.   

Design Wall Monday - Nov. 17

Ribbon QOV is ready for it's borders.  

There will be 2 borders, and the strips are all cut.  The inner border is cut at 2", and the outer border is cut at 3.5".  I'm excited to get this one to the flimsy stage this week.

Once the Ribbon flimsy is done, it will be time to start sewing the Dresdens into a flimsy.  However, before that can happen I need 1 more block.  Notice the empty spot in the bottom left corner.  I'm sure there are extra blades laying in the project box for another block.  And the black corners are laying on my ironing board.  So this one is getting closer to a flimsy.  

While putting some things away yesterday, these pineapple hexie blocks came to light again.  I had made about a dozen of these many many months ago with no plan whatsoever.  They were just fun to make.  I may try out some hand stitching to sew some of them together to make a table topper.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog        

RSC25 - Week #46

 One more RSC quilt is nearly finished, with only binding left to hand stitch.  We're headed to a swim meet today to watch both granddaughters, and binding is a good thing to do in the car since it will be daylight. 

This is one of the "baby" Churn Dash flimsies that have been hanging in my closet.  It has so many fun novelty prints.  The backing is a crazy bunch of "pies" with every color showing up somewhere in a slice.  The purple binding is cut from leftover backing of another quilt project.  This will be a donation quilt most likely.

The quarter Dresden blocks (another RSC block set) have been blanket stitched and squared up.  I'm using black for the setting triangles to pick up on the black used in the bottom corner of each block. This might be a bit more dramatic looking than most of my quilts.

Let's go see what else is happening with scraps . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Finished (or NOT) Friday - Candy Lane finished

There is a finish this week - binding and all.  Sorry for the poor photo, but the outdoor photos were even worse in terms of color accuracy.

Candy Lane is 48 x 58, and made from a kit containing 5 half-yard cuts.  The pattern is part of the Half Pack Quilts from Sassy Sunflower that I bought on the August shop hop.  This was a really easy pattern, and I'm going to enjoy this as a "couch quilt" for Christmas. The fabrics in it are all metallics, with both gold and silver.  There are snowflakes quilted into it.  And there are snowflakes on the backing I found.

The final block for the Moda Blockheads 6 sew along is done.  This 18" block is Mod Water Wheel by Sarah Thomas.   It went together very quickly, using just HSTs and squares.  Personally, I can see a quicker method using flying geese where those red pieces are, but I did follow the pattern provided. 

One layout option leaves me with 6 extra 9" blocks.  I like how this looks with the 18" blocks in each corner.  I could make a duplicate of one of the 9" blocks and add another row of them right below that center medallion. That would change the quilt from square to a rectangle, which I like better anyway.  Plus several of those 9" blocks already have duplicates, so making one more of a single will be fine.  Another option would be to remove those duplicate blocks and just leave it square.  Hmmm - decisions, decisions.

Thursday afternoon I changed thread to black, and worked on the Dresden project again.  Once all the blocks are blanket stitched with black, then I can do some squaring up before setting them into rows on point.  

This n that

I was missing in action yesterday - at least as far as the blog is concerned.  

I had good intentions on Tuesday afternoon to write a new post and share a photo from the Veteran's Day event where we awarded 3 quilts.  See above.  But, alas . . . when I got home at 2 pm there were 5 trucks on our street belonging to our Internet service provider.  They had a big hole dug at the other end of our block. My husband confirmed we had no Internet (or cable TV) when I walked in the house and by the time it was restored a couple of hours later we were already leaving town for college basketball. 

On the drive home late Tuesday night we caught some glimpses of the Northern Lights, even with lights from traffic all around us.  Based on the photos from around here that I've seen they were really spectacular earlier in the evening.   

And while I'm thinking about lights - here is a really poor quality photo of some the permanent lights in our neighborhood.  After Halloween I switched ours to yellow and blue for our SDSU Jackrabbits.  Tuesday night when we got home our neighbors had changed their lights to red and white - because they are USD Coyote fans.  I love it the rivalry fun. 
 

Wednesday morning 5 of us went to a local school to award 2 Quilts of Valor during their annual Veteran's Day program.  The whole program was student planned, and very well done.  They planned the event for the 12th because on the 11th there was a ceremony renaming a bridge for one of their alumni who died in WW2.  It worked out great because they showed video of the bridge ceremony during the Veteran's program.  We were listed on the program as "blanket donation".  LOL   There was a huge crowd - all of the students in K-12 in that district, all of the staff, lots of local community people, a large group of veterans, and lots of family there for the 2 men receiving quilts.  It was awesome!

I got home in time yesterday to say good-bye to my husband as he left for a quick overnight business trip.  That meant I spent the rest of the afternoon in my sewing room - for the first time since Saturday.  It sure felt good to sit down and just sew.  Four rows are assembled for the Ribbon QOV.  Five more rows to go.

And I worked my way through some of the Dresden blades that were cut.  None of these have been sewn onto their background squares yet, but I may work on them today.  However, before changing to black thread - I'll be working on the LAST red/white/blue block for this year's Moda Blockheads.  

Veteran's Day 2025

 On Sunday, our QOV group was honored to present 3 quilts to veterans. 

These 3 gentleman were nominated by the American Legion in my husband's home town.  They host a community veteran's luncheon annually, and we've been invited to come present quilts for the last 4 or 5 years.  The 2 young men are not only veteran's but currently wear a different kind of uniform - as sheriff deputies.  The man in the middle is a Viet Nam era veteran.  

Today we'll be presenting 3 more quilts at a large Veteran's Day program and lunch here in Mitchell.  And tomorrow we'll do 2 more.