To Do Tuesday

 Today is annual mammogram day, so the only sewing I get done will need to be this morning.  There are a couple of things on my list for this week.

First on my list is to fix my OOPS on this Dutchman's Puzzle.  When I'm in a hurry, the attention to detail slips.  Notice those red flying geese pointing IN?  They are supposed to be pointing out.  The quarters have been separated again, and resewing those together will be my first task today.

Second task?  Figuring out a plan for adding prompt #4, which is Square in a Square.  I have no idea in mind yet.  

What's next?  Choosing some backings and sandwiching a couple of small projects that I plan to quilt myself.  This is Better Together, and I did manage to finish the top on Monday, so it's ready to quilt.  This is about 22 x 34" so it should be manageable.  I have striped binding to add to it once it's quilted.

If I do get this quilted in the next week, then I plan to pull another small item to quilt.  Clearing out some of these projects is my priority right now.  

Design Wall Monday - Feb. 12

 Spring seems to have arrived here in SD - which is not normal for February.  Our lawn is actually green. This is so weird after having snow and negative 45 degree wind chills less than a month ago.

I'm driving a friend to the airport this afternoon.  She probably doesn't need to spend the next 2 months in Florida to avoid winter here in SD.

I'm on a roll with this mini quilt, with most of the hearts made that will frame the love birds. I'm hoping to have this top at least done this week.  

One of the fabric Row By Row license plates has been put to good use.  I put it on the front of a 10" zipper pouch.  This will work nicely for holding my small rulers and other tools when I take them to a retreat or workshop.  I should make a couple more of these as door prizes to give away at the retreat I'm going to at the end of the month.  

What's on your design wall today?

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This n that . . .

Saturday was an awesome "quilty" day, even though no actual sewing happened.  In the morning was the Show n Tell for the 2023 Saturday Sampler.  Lots and lots of really lovely Show n Tell.  And there was a reveal of the new program starting in March.  I even won a door prize!

In the afternoon our Sew Vintage group met.  One of our main discussions was WHY we quilt. Everyone seemed to agree - we love the community aspect as we've all connected with such wonderful people through quilting.  And it's a relaxing creative outlet, give us feelings of accomplishment.  Most of us have a family connection - a mother or grandmother who got us started.  Our group - with ages from 30s to 80s - really enjoys our little quilting community.

I found backings for 2 UFO quilts, and left them in the hands of the long arm quilter.  And as always, I came home with ideas swirling in my head. 

Recently I've been doing a lot of thinking about projects that have been forgotten or neglected.  On my UFO list is a partial set of blocks using some of the Row By Row Experience fabric license plates that I collected over about a 3 year period.  Honestly, I thought I had about 30 of the license plates in a project bin.  LOL  Talk about under estimation!!  I dumped them out of the bin yesterday and counted - 61.  Holy moly!!!  

I had to go back in my blog to find this, but in 2020 I was making these car blocks using the license plates.  There are 7 of them, in various stages of applique.  All are fused on, but not all have been blanket stitched yet.  This project has been on my UFO list ever since, with no progress made at all.  

Hmmmm . . . maybe it's time to keep it on my radar for 2024.  And yes, there are ideas swirling in my head on how to use some of these.

Today I hope to get back to the pink and red hearts for the Valentine project I’ve been working on so I can finish the top before the end of the week.

RSC24 - Week #6

This was a week with lots of sewing time, and I made good use of it.  And nearly everything had red involved in the project.

The Small Heart quilt top is done.  These heart blocks were all made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over the past couple of years.  It's 54 x 56, which will make a good crib size.  The final 2 vertical rows on the right side just needed to be attached to the rest, so it was a quick finish for the week.  Next step is to find a bright happy backing.  There are still a few more Small Heart blocks left in the bin, which will eventually get used in something.

Loose Goose blocks in red - are added to the small but growing collection.  These are the 3 dimensional geese blocks, in 2 different sizes.  

I made several in 30s prints this past week too, and those went onto the Stay At Home Round Robin project to satisfy the Triangle prompt for the week.  One is red.

Two new Night Vision blocks were made, along with the pinwheels from the trimmed corner triangles.  Night Vision has a partial seam, but because the pieces are good sized it's an easy block.  These joined the 3 green versions from January.

Early in the week I had pulled out the bin with 2.5" squares (cut from scraps) and selected a bunch of red ones and made 2 Chaser blocks.  

Then on Thursday I used more of those red squares to make one more Chaser block, plus a Boxed Square.  And I finished another Night Vision (red #3) block.  BTW - Night Vision uses 3.5" by 6.5" bricks of color.  The little triangles trimmed off will become pinwheels too, but didn't happen yet.

Framed Star was block #4 for the Riley Blake Design challenge.  It's by Fran Gulick.  I'm using some of my 30s prints for these blocks.  With only 1 block per week for 16 weeks, it's an easy way to end up with enough blocks for a quilt by the end. 

I ended up making 5 of these 12" vinyl front bags this week, and 4 of them have a lot of red.  I especially like the Valentine one. 

Last but not least, there is some progress on the Better Together mini quilt.  It's my PIG project for February (purchased but not started).  This little quilt has a pretty mix of reds and pinks.  I have some of the hearts made that will surround the love birds in the middle, but have a lot more to go.

The love birds are so cute.  My goal is to have the top done by Valentine's Day.  It's not very large, so it should be a reachable goal. 

Check out what is happening in the RSC world this week . . .
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Two more vinyl bags

Two more vinyl zipper project bags are finished, and these might be the cutest of all of the ones I've made this week.   

The Valentine version turned out so cute.  I had quite a bit of the print, so it's on the back as well as the inside front.  There is still some of it left - maybe enough for a smaller bag. 

This cherry and strawberry print was in my 30s reproduction stash and I couldn't resist pulling it out for this bag.  I used the green gingham that around the zipper on the back too.   The zipper section looks really wonky in this picture, but in reality it's completely straight. 

I've put the vinyl away, and tucked the pattern into the appropriate binder on the shelf.  It's time to get back to finishing some UFOs.  But these bags won't be the last of the new projects I promise. 

Better Together

 Better Together - that's the name of the mini quilt from the Fat Quarter Shop's 2024 Cupid Box.  And I have all of the parts cut, except for the binding.  I'm hoping to get a start sewing this project today. 

Notice the little clips on all the various parts!!  Christmas 2022 our Sew Vintage group exchanged gifts. I received the cutest little clips with wooden circles attached. Each wooden circle has a letter of the alphabet burned into it.  The giver of this gift made these herself.  I use these a LOT when a project has lots of small parts and pieces.  But I believe this is the first time I've used every single clip from A to Y.  The binding would be the letter Z item, but it's not cut yet.  

When not in use, the clips are on 2 laminated old library cards.  There is a ring so the cards hang on the wall right above my cutting table.  Thanks Becki, for helping me keep these little pieces organized.

Small finishes - vinyl project bags

 It was a squirrel I just HAD to follow. I'm so easily distracted.

The 12" vinyl bag with the cocktail fabric is the one I made after our guild class on Saturday.  Then I cut out the other 2 using that cute red truck and American flag fabric.  There was plenty of it left, so I used some of it to make a 10" pouch (no vinyl).  I'm feeling a bit addicted to making these, but will need to buy more vinyl. LOL  I keep seeing fabric in the stash that would be fun to use. There just may be a Valentine themed one in pieces next to the sewing machine right now.  And a vintage-y cherry print one too.  Finishes for today?  Hopefully.

I'm reminding myself that each one of these little bags uses up a couple more fat quarters out of the stash, and more of the leftover batting pieces.  So it's all good, right?  The only thing purchased for all of these was the vinyl - so far. 

In the past month I've now made 3 of the 12" vinyl front zippered project bags, 6 of the 10" zippered pouches, and 1 small tote bag.  On a positive note, that meant 2 kits (tote bag and 1st pouch) that were languishing in a drawer are now pulled out and finished.  The big stack of small batting leftovers has shrunk, along with the stash of zippers that were in a drawer.  Several years ago I purchased a pack of 30 zippers - all 22" long, in a variety of colors.  It's great that the zippers can be cut into whatever length needed.