RSC26 - Week #46

It's Saturday Sampler and Sew Vintage day today.  The best Saturday of the month!!  At the Sew Vintage group we will be getting another new star block pattern.  And at Saturday Sampler we should be moving on to the final month's instruction.  

A few RSC things were on my To Do list for this week, but with Veteran's Day/Quilt of Valor activities I didn't get very far on anything else.  It is OK to just move things along to next week's To Do list.

I did decide on a plan for the Tulip Swirl blocks.  The sashing will be a dark blue, with scrappy cornerstones - possibly little Hourglass or little 4-Patch blocks.  I'll audition some options for those cornerstones this weekend.

The Churn Dash blocks are coming along nicely too.  The frogs and bugs did make fun blocks to add to the mix. The barnyard animals worked out nicely too.

I'm more than halfway to having enough for a child's quilt. This isn't the actual layout, but it gave me a clear idea of how many blocks are still needed for a 4 x 5 layout. Mixing the sizes is turning out to be a fun plan.  There are still more "critter" scraps and chunks waiting to become more blocks.  This one should make a good boy quilt, and I hope to finish the top by the end of the month.  There is a girl flimsy using the 12" and 6" churn dash blocks - hanging in the closet already.  

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

It has been a mostly red, white, and blue week around here.  And that will continue to be the case well into December.

Thursday morning I prepped 3 more Quilts of Valor to be sent off to the long arm quilter.  We have a good number of quilt tops done, and plenty of backings for them. But as we've awarded so many lately, our pile of finished quilts is nearly gone.  Isn't that a great problem to have?  It means we're honoring a lot of veterans. 

Photo borrowed from Corn Palace website

This has nothing to do with quilting, but . . . it's the time of year when the outdoor murals on the Corn Palace are changed for a new year.  For 2026 the them was the 250th birthday of the USA and the murals were awesome.  The new theme for 2027 is Safari, and the crew is getting close to finishing up one of the big front murals.  The lion is very majestic.  And the process is always fascinating.  The 12-14 colors of corn, plus various grasses are grown locally especially for this purpose.  The corn cobs are cut lengthwise.  There is a "paint by number" paper layout attached to the building, with the colors written into the spaces.

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Quilts of Valor

Yesterday, for Veteran's Day, I was able to attend 2 events to award Quilts of Valor.  I can't say often enough what an honor it is to be able to do this small thing for veterans.

The first event was a Veteran's Day program at a local small school.  Two of us went and one veteran was honored with a quilt in front of a very large crowd.  That school always has school on Nov. 11, and always has a program to honor our military.  The students are involved in program whether it was providing music or speaking, and the community is invited to attend.  Every student went through the line of veterans at the end, and shook the hand of every veteran.

Then 4 of us went to the annual community Veteran's Day luncheon put on by all of the local veteran groups.  They've invited us to be a part of their event for several years now, and they provide nominees to receive the quilts.  Three veterans were happy to be wrapped in their Quilts of Valor.  There were several hundred people at that luncheon, served by boy scouts in uniform and 4-H kids.  

Hopefully I won't have to wait too long to get pictures from the other school event that I wasn't able to attend.  And we have more QOV awards this weekend.  

Veteran's Day

Thank you to ALL who've put on a uniform to serve our country!!

I've shared this photo before - of my dad.  Along with all 5 of his brothers, my dad served in the military.  I've been doing some research on his unit, but have a lot of gaps to fill in.  I do know he was only 19 years old when he jumped from an airplane behind enemy lines into Germany late in World War II.  I've always had a hard time picturing my quiet father as a paratrooper.  He rarely talked about anything related to the war.

My living room floor has been the ideal spot to organize all of this week's Quilt of Valor quilts and paperwork. Labels and paperwork are all ready to go.

At 9:00 this morning, two of us will be at a high school to award a Quilt of Valor during their annual Veteran's Day program.  I think doing this at a school sponsored program will have a great impact on the kids attending.  And the wife of this veteran was one of my students over 20 years ago at this same high school, so it will be special for me.

When we finish at the high school we'll drive the 20 miles back to Mitchell to award 3 more quilts at the community Veteran's Day luncheon here.  We've been happy to be a part of that program here for 6 years.  Usually we have about 5 ladies there to help with the award.

One other QOV will be awarded at another high school that morning.  Two more at a college football game on Saturday.  And 3 more on Sunday afternoon at a small town Veteran's Day community luncheon.  And there are 2 more that we're close to finalizing award dates and places.

Then our group will need to focus on getting more of our QOV tops quilted and bound so we're ready for additional nominees in the near future.

One house made

I always know that pieces that are cut less than an inch, are going to try my patience when sewing them into a block.  And I wasn't wrong!

This week's Blockheads block is a delight for the eyes, but a pain to sew.  I chose to leave off the 32 Flying Geese border for the Christmas version.  The house section in the 18" block pattern came out at 12.5" without those borders.  That's the size I'm making all of the Christmas blocks. The hardest part was making the window units with 7/8" cuts and getting them to line up properly.  

So far we have 5 blocks, which I'm satisfied with.  I'm digging into the Christmas scraps as well as some fat quarters I've been hoarding.  

The Bright (Tula & Kaffe) version of the block is going to finish at 24", and I'll be doing those borders.  Picking my fabrics has been a challenge.  I think that Kaffe print at the top will be the roof of the house, with the actual house done in that purple.  There is a similar piece that has yellow, orange, purple that might be even better as the roof.  I've been looking at the Facebook group for inspiration as others post their finished blocks. 

Decisions, decisions . . .  

Design Wall Monday - November 9

This will be a crazy busy week, with Veteran's Day and various other things going on.  But I did some prepping over the weekend so that even small chunks of time can yield some productivity this week.

The Marigold Mystery is a BOM, and it might actually take me all month to finish the November instructions.  Last week I cut all the strips needed to turn the blocks from 2 months into spools.  I got the spool pieces sewn onto the 4 Dutchman's Puzzle blocks, and hope to get the 5 Sawtooth Stars finished up today.  The blocks were 8.5" before the spool parts.  Then there are a smaller sized set from a different month to turn into spools.  Note: the navy blue is the overall background of this quilt. 

Sunday cutting produced more of the novelty print Churn Dash parts.  Frogs and bugs should make cute blocks.  And there is a set with farm animals cut out too.  That green frog print might be close to 20 years old, and there was enough to actually get all 3 sizes.  I've been choosing prints with a "critter" theme for this one.

This may be a week where I fall behind on the weekly Blockheads blocks because I've spent too much time deciding on sizes and fabrics.  This is a really great block, but it has made some decision making a priority before cutting or sewing.  Because I'm making all of the Christmas ones in the 12" size, I've decided to leave off those tiny Flying Geese.  It will just be the house.  But for the Bright version I decided this is going to be one of the two 24" blocks, so the Flying Geese won't have to be quite so tiny.  I'm still waffling on color placement for the Bright one.  And on Wednesday the next block will be released.  I need to get busy!! 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #45

This week had 2 non-sewing days, so I didn't get any more block sets assembled into tops.  But I did some block making to fill out sets that needed additional blocks.  

Because I've been making Windmill blocks again this fall, it was easy to just donate the 2 older Windmill quilt tops already hanging in the closet to be finished by someone else. Now the new blocks will continue to add up until I have enough of them.  Right now I have 34 blocks, sewn into 17 pairs.  I'll need a lot more, so these will continue into 2027. 

I've begun sewing the Tulip Swirl blocks (4" finished) into blocks of 4. So far there are 10 blocks, but there are tons more of the individual units in the basket.  I'm thinking about sashing these blocks but haven't decided on a color yet.  Any ideas are definitely welcome!!

And then there are the Churn Dash blocks - not following the RSC monthly colors, but definitely pulling from scraps left over from other quilts. 

After last week's comment about rectangular Churn Dash blocks, you know I just HAD to play with that idea this week.  Thanks Cherie - I've had fun with these!!  There are more in the works yet, and I haven't made much of a dent in the novelty print left overs. Based on how much of the print I had, I could make all 3 sizes or just 1 or 2 of them.  The big ones finish at 12" square, and the others are  6 x 12 and 6" square, so they all can be used together.  

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

This is a NOT finished kind of Friday, but I have moved forward a little on a couple of projects that are on my November goal list.

I can check off the Garden of Stars BOM for November.  We only need to make 1 paper-pieced star block each month, so this is pretty manageable.  There are also 13 alternating blocks, and I have 6 of those done so far.  

Another BOM that I'm doing is the Marigold Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs).  The November instructions were posted yesterday, and I have the parts all cut.  The sewing has begun, and maybe will continue today.  Each of the last 3 months we've made different pieced blocks.  This month we're turning them into spools.  My overall background will be that navy blue, and the spool tops are the pale blue.  I have 4 of the 8.5" blocks turned into 12.5" spools so far, with 5 remaining.  

Then there are some 6.5" blocks that will also become spools this month.  The cutting of the strips needed was definitely the most time consuming part of this task.

Another thing to check off my goal list for the month is donation quilt tops.  I have way too many flimsies hanging in the closet, waiting to be quilted.  So I've chosen 4 of them to donate to a good charity group that will finish them to distribute, and the box is now packed to mail.  These are all small to medium sizes.  The 2 Windmill tops are 45 x 54.  The Desert Horses (top left) is 40 x 46.  And the Woven Hearts top on the right is 60" square.   

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Loss of momentum

I'm going to blame this on endless days of rain.  I've been on a roll lately and have lots of productivity to show for it.  But yesterday I think I hit a wall - and never even stepped foot in my sewing room.  The day wasn't a total loss however.

The local DAR group (that I belong to) nominates and hosts a Quilt of Valor award at the November meeting.  This navy veteran is a retired teacher from the technical college here, and also a busy volunteer at the Carnegie Resource Center where we meet.  As always it was an honor to be a part of this wonderful program.

And when I got home yesterday afternoon - I sewed the labels onto 4 more Quilts of Valor that will be awarded on Veteran's Day by our QOV group.  There are 3 more quilts in the pile in my dining room that still need their labels.  Maybe that will happen today.

Halloween fun

I have to share a fun Halloween photo - my daughter and her husband in their costumes.  They both love dressing up for Halloween, and decorating their front porch and yard for the Trick or Treaters.  They get pretty creative.  My 6' 5" son-in-law was perfect as Frankenstein.  I used to always dress up for Halloween at school when I was a high school teacher.

Rain, rain go away

I whined about being in a drought all year - until September, when it started to rain around here.  That is continuing in November I guess.

We did have some really nice days in October, without all the normal wind that usually takes away the beautiful leaves quickly.  But over the past week the rain has moved in again.  I had dumped about 3" total from the rain gauge by Sunday morning.  And then it rained all night Sunday, and more on Monday.  I'm ready for some sunshine!!!

The second version of last week's Blockheads block is done. After finishing this one I'm wishing I had used a warm color where the dark teal is. 

The November star block for Garden of Stars was finished yesterday.  And the parts are ready to go for the next 2 alternate blocks.  These are paper pieced 12" finished blocks. Carol Doak always designs blocks that look so intricate and difficult, but she breaks them down into very manageable sections so they are easy to sew.

While watching the Vikings game on Sunday, I just had to experiment a little.  One reader mentioned doing rectangular Churn Dash blocks, so of course I had to follow that squirrel, right?  From the strip bin I began with this one as a sample to check my cutting measurements. It's 6 x 12 finished. 

I was going to add Churn Dash blocks to next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  But why wait?  The bin of novelty kid prints is very full, so why not work on a donation quilt with 12" Churn Dash blocks, 6" Churn Dash blocks, and now with 6" x 12" rectangular ones. I've pulled several novelty fabrics and began cutting the parts for Churn Dash - and for Windmills or other RSC blocks based on what was leftover. 

Sometimes just cutting up scraps is very satisfying, even if they don't get sewn up the same day.  These will be good Leaders/Enders all week.  Maybe following a squirrel was just I was needing to keep the sewing fresh.

In the meantime, one of my November goals was to donate 2 quilt tops.  I've pulled out 3 child sized flimsies that will be mailed later this week.   When I removed the bright colored Windmill (old UFO) flimsy from the hanger - surprise!!!   Under that one was another Windmill flimsy with all white backgrounds.  The 3rd top is Desert Horses - made a couple of years ago.

There is room in the box for 1 more, so before I seal that box I might choose another one.  These flimsies came off the hangers in the closet in my sewing room - and off the long list of tops waiting to be quilted.  I feel lighter already! 

Design Wall Monday - November 2

We've had such nice October weather this year that I kind of hate turning the calendar to November.  Will it bring us winter?  Actually for now it's just bringing us more rain.

With a fresh new month there will also be new blocks for the BOMs I'm following.  The November block for Carol Doak's paper pieced BOM was posted on Friday, and I managed to print the foundations and cut the pieces that morning.  Now to get it sewn.

I've been thinking about my goals for the month of November, and am starting with this short list for now . . .

• Keep up with BOMs/BOWs
• Marigold
• Garden of Stars
• Blockheads 7
• Finish Saturday Sampler flimsy
• Finish alligator doll quilt
• Assemble 1 new flimsy from RSC blocks
• Make blocks for 
• RSC
• Quilts of Valor
• Choose 2 quilt tops to donate

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #44

Happy Halloween!!

It's college basketball season, so that will be cutting into my sewing time considerably from now until March.  The Jackrabbit women opened the season with an exhibition game vs St Cloud State (Minnesota) on Wednesday evening.  We went a little earlier than usual because I had a Quilt of Valor to deliver in Madison on the way. So we had time to visit some old "haunts" from college days, and had a beer and food before the game - surrounded by lots of Jackrabbit fans dressed in blue and yellow.  

It took me all week to just get the borders onto this quilt top, but I can check it off my list of RSC tops finally.  This is Honey Bees, a Lori Holt block pattern.  I made 2 of each color block each month so there is another block set remaining that I think will just get simple sashing and borders.  This one is 64" square. The layout is from the book Circle of Nine.  And it's Flimsy #24 in the closet now.

I decided that the leftover dog print (recent doll quilt) shouldn't go back into the stash.  Lots of brown in this one worked with a cream scrap in the neutral bin.  Since I just finished binding a Churn Dash quilt using novelty prints, the dog print begged to become Churn Dash blocks.  There is just enough left for another of the 12" blocks, but it will probably get paired with blue instead of cream.   

The only other RSC sewing to report was a bunch of blocks I'm working on to fill out the collections where needed.  I added a grey Gameboard block (top left), which brings that collection up to 20.  A lot more will be needed.  More of the Windmill and Plus blocks were added in a variety of colors, all from the scrap bins.  All of these blocks were cut out and laying on a design board - which is now empty. 

I think over the weekend I should be cleaning up more of the scrappy chaos I've created lately.  Early in the month I stirred up the black scrap bin, and this week I've been digging in the other colors again.    

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

I felt less than ambitious this week.  We had several grey, chilly, rainy days and I found it much easier to curl up UNDER a quilt and read a good book instead of sewing or anything else. Sometimes that's just what the brain wants.

I got the binding done on the Churn Dash baby quilt.  A couple of years ago our guild made 12" churn dash blocks using solids and novelty prints for a New Years Baby project.  I loved making the blocks so much that I made several to give to the guild project, and then just kept making them.  I also made some 6" blocks with scraps and included them in my quilts.  Yes - that is plural because there is another one of these hanging in the closet waiting to be quilted.  And I have a whole drawer full of novelty prints so I'm sure there will be more novelty churn dash blocks some day in the near future.  They are quick sewing, and bright happy sewing.

I worked on the borders for the Honey Bee quilt that was part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.  There is another set of bee blocks and enough of the border fabrics to make another smaller version.

And I got the Christmas block made for this week's Blockheads.  Jessica Rose is this week's designer and she calls this Kindred Rose.  I made it in the 12" size.  The one change I made was to replace the pieced center heart with a fussy cut square.  For the bright version - that isn't made yet - I'll do that heart as the pattern shows.  Getting that second block done is my main goal for the day. 

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Wednesday check-in

Tuesday didn't provide as much actual sewing time as I had anticipated.

But I did get one of the little doll quilts quilted and binding attached.  That is a good start at least, and will provide some binding to hand stitch in the evening. Maybe today I'll get the second one quilted - in between other things going on.

I did cut the pieces for a few more of the Windmill blocks, and some additional Plus blocks.  Here are some of them.  

My other goal today is to finish getting the borders sewn onto the Honey Bee quilt.  And maybe I'll choose colors for today's Blockheads block.  

I might be getting overly ambitious about today since I have the monthly "retired" group lunch, and then we're heading to Brooking tonight for the first Jackrabbit basketball game.  

This and that

Today is a day I've been dreading for the past month.  Our wonderful cleaning lady is "retiring" to care for her elderly mom, and we're really going to miss her.

She has taken such good care of us for more than a decade.  I'm gifting a quilt to her as a thank you.  She came every 2 weeks for 2 hours, doing the things I'm finding it harder to do.  I'm hoping she feels appreciated for her hard work.

This is the busiest time of year for Quilt of Valor award, so it was perfect timing to receive a completed quilt as a donation.  It's really a pretty one too.  The stack of quilts in my dining room for November awards keeps growing.  We'll be busy.

Design Wall Monday - October 26

Life is good!  We had a whole week of mostly beautiful fall weather last week.  The fall colors are near peak around here.  And our feral cat clan appears happy and healthy.  

We attended an all-school reunion on Saturday evening in our previous hometown. My in-laws, my husband, our kids and all of their cousins attended that school, along with lots and lots of other extended family.  And I taught there for 18 years too. It was a smaller than usual attendance, but it was an enjoyable evening.  Four years ago there were 10 first cousins at the alumni reunion. but this time only 4 were there - my sister-in-law Kathy, my hubby, cousin Anita, and cousin Gene.  

And BTW - college basketball season has begun.  We attended a doubleheader on Sunday for the local DWU Tigers.  And on Wednesday we'll make the first drive to Brookings for Jackrabbit basketball.  

Another new week, and it will soon be a fresh new month too.  My goal list for this week isn't very long, but hopefully will contain some finishes again. When the list has binding on it, I can be very optimistic about finishing something.  All of the other fun things going on over the weekend meant there was no sewing time, other than a little binding.  I hope to make up for that in the next few days. 

• finish binding the Churn Dash baby quilt (a UFO)
• quilt and bind 2 doll quilts
• Honey Bees quilt top needs borders
• make more blocks for on-going projects
• Blockheads (week 4)
• another alternate block for Marigold
• Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks

I really want to get both of these doll quilts to the finish line, so they can be paired up with a stuffy and donated soon.  The tops were already done, and I finally got them sandwiched with batting leftovers and backing leftovers.  The quilting will be kept simple.

Blockheads for week 3 was this Game Day block by Sherri McConnell.  My Christmas version is the 12" size, and the bright version is the 9" size.  For the Christmas blocks I'll be doing a scrappy background to go with the scrappy Christmas fabrics from the stash.  But for the bright set of blocks I'm going to keep the background the same, which is a neutral slightly on the cream side of white.  Wednesday will bring us the Week 4 block.  What will it be?

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #43

Where has October gone?  I know there is still a full week to go, but . . . suddenly we'll be turning the calendar page again.

Buckeye Butterflies is now a flimsy.  The blocks finish at 8", so the flimsy is 48 x 64 which is a nice size for snuggling under on the couch.  I played with the idea of adding borders, but decided I like as is.  There are 5 blocks left over from this set, but hopefully they will find a home in some other project before too long.

I have some small baskets holding the smaller RSC block sets.   Just a few more Vintage Spool blocks were added to their basket this week.  That top left one is actually navy blue, but the other 4 used black or dark grey scraps. 

Ticker Tape was a new block this year that I began making after seeing variations online.  I actually have 2 sets of these going on.  One set is reds and blues with scrappy white backgrounds for a future Quilt of Valor.  But the other set has been an ongoing RSC block in the whole rainbow.  These have been going into a little basket as the collection has grown.  Now I've counted them to see which colors needed more blocks. 

Following a lot of time taking inventory of RSC block sets this week, I decided to revisit a couple of block patterns that had been in Time Out for quite awhile.  Parts were cut for Windmill and Plus blocks and used as Leaders/Enders while I worked on other projects this week.  There were 15 of the Windmill blocks on a hanger in the closet that were left over from a previous quilt.  Now there are 8 new ones on the hanger too - all cut from scraps.  Fourteen of the Plus blocks have been added to that collection.     

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/