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.  

Design Wall Monday - Nov 10

Winter came to visit this weekend. We woke up Saturday morning to this.  We got about 3" of wet heavy snow, which is melting now and soaking into our dry ground.  The moisture is much appreciated, if not the cold temps.

There is one small finish to report before the week begins. The Bah Humbug pillow for Christmas is done, and I even had an 18" pillow form for it.  The expression on the face of the cat is why I bought this kit in the first place.  The only quilting on this one is stitching right up around the applique.  I replaced the wool backing in the kit with a Christmas print from my stash.  The red binding came from the left over binding drawer.

It's Veteran's Day week, so it will be busy and very inspirational.  We awarded 3 quilts yesterday at a Veteran's luncheon in a nearby small town.  Three more will happen at a large Veteran's event tomorrow here in Mitchell, and finally there will be 2 on Wednesday morning at a Veteran's program at a nearby high school. I'll try to share some photos near the end of this week from those events.  

There is a lot of binding to do.  Candy Lane quilt is nearly done.  There are 5 placemats ready for binding.  And the binding strips are cut for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  

I'm hoping to get a few more of the Dresden blocks made, to get closer to having enough to assemble the quilt top.  Green and orange blades are cut and ready to sew whenever I do manage to get some time this week.

Because of all the patriotic quilts happening this week, I plan to get back to work on some Quilt of Valor projects that are WIPS in my studio.  One project is pinned into rows, and the other needs more blocks made.  And there will be one final Blockheads block posted on Wednesday.  Mine have been red/white/blue, so that makes 3 Quilts of Valor projects going on at once.  Not to mention a stack of orphan blocks left from previous QOV.  Oops!!  Maybe there are 4 patriotic projects going on. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog        

RSC25 - Week #45

 One little pile of scraps did not end up in the scrap bins!  Yay!!

Remember those orange batik pieces trimmed from a big quilt project in October?  I cut them into Dresden blades - only 3.5" long.  Those blades have become the bright element needed on an otherwise boring UFO.  The various green batik stems and leaves were also left over from that recent quilt, and the brown batik was in the scrap bin.  All have been fused on and blanket stitched with black thread.  It's ready to quilt. 

The background on this wall hanging was a kit purchased on a shop hop several years ago.  The pattern is called Feel the Churn - and it's just a simple big churn dash with a 6 x 6 set of squares in the middle.  But it was all blacks and browns on cream.  I knew it needed something added to be more interesting, so it was sewn and just hanging in the closet as a UFO for a few years.  Now it's a flimsy - and a marriage of UFO and scraps.  

Another set of RSC blocks is receiving attention.  And look . . . more Dresden blades and more black thread.  There has been an obvious theme this week.  LOL  These blocks were begun early in the year and then neglected.  Three purple blocks took shape this week from blades already cut and laying in the project box.  That box also held all the 10" grey background squares.  

These 19 blocks have now been blanket stitched.  There are still 5 more (2 teal, 1 yellow, 2 blue) ready for blanket stitching, which is what holds the pieces onto the background square.  There are still more random colors of blades in the box.  

A bunch of green blades are cut but not sewn yet.  I'll cut some orange ones over the weekend, then I can work on those blocks next week.  I'm excited for this RSC project to start looking as I imagined at the beginning of the year.  

There are plenty of leftovers of Tula fabrics from a project earlier in the year.  I used a few to make a very sweet 18" block.  This is Prairie Lily from Lori Holt's book Prairie Home.  I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but it did use up scraps.  

What other fun projects are happening in the RSC world?

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or NOT) Friday

I actually HAVE finished and nearly finished projects to share today.  The past couple of Fridays it was more of a progress report on NOT finished things.
 

The Lone Star wall hanging for my son-in-law is all finished.  My daughter wanted to honor his Native American heritage with a star quilt.  We shared lots of pictures back and forth online until deciding on this spinning version of a Lone Star.  In hindsight, I'm wishing I had used the black as the background, and added one more bright color.  But it did turn out very pretty and it's quilted with a gorgeous variegated thread that really pops.  I love the texture of the quilting too.  Mariah did a beautiful job quilting this for me. 

In the "nearly finished" category is Cactus In the Cabin.  It's a flimsy and 85" square, after adding the 6" black borders all around.  Green batik binding strips are cut and hanging with the flimsy but I may wait until later this winter to get this one quilted. 

Also nearly finished is the Bah Humbug pillow.  I need to finish hand stitching the edge binding, and find an 18" pillow form for it.

I'm linking up with Finished Or Not Friday . . .
https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

Blockheads #23 & more

Yesterday's calendar included the monthly DAR meeting, with a Quilt of Valor award as our program.  We meet each month in the local Carnegie Resource Center, which of course is a historic Carnegie library building.

The building is really beautiful, and is now the home of a lot of original Oscar Howe art.  And it's the home of the local historical and genealogical organizations.  It's open to the public in the afternoons for research or to enjoy the ever-changing displays of local history.  When you walk in the front door and look up - there is a huge dome covered in original paintings done in the 1940s by Howe as part of a WPA project. Framed Howe paintings hang on the walls below the dome all around the balcony.  

Our QOV group has been asked to do a quilt award each year at the chapter DAR November meeting, as an annual event.  In return they give us a donation. This gentleman is a Korean War veteran.  As always it was an honor to be involved.  

This week's Blockheads block is another 18" one, and I'm guessing that next week's will also be 18".  I've resolved to NOT start playing with layouts until I have all the blocks done.  And next week should be the final block release.    

This is Criss Cross Applesauce by Laura Muir.  It was a good opportunity to use a bigger print in those large corners.  

Yesterday afternoon I managed to get the back put onto the Bah Humbug pillow.  Hopefully I'll have a finish to show soon.  And I cut binding for 2 of the projects just picked up from quilters.  My plan today is to get the binding attached to at least one of those projects.  

Midweek stuff

Two evenings in a row with college basketball has taken it's toll on my ambition levels this week.  Luckily I had picked up 4 smaller projects from 2 different long arm quilters over the weekend, so there are some easy things to get done.   And hey - binding can be done in the car while it's still daylight.  

The Candy Lane quilt is all trimmed and ready to bind. The quilting on it is really beautiful - with snowflakes and swirls.  The picture is the back and it made me think of those frost designs that sometimes form on windows. 

I'm working on the binding for the Lone Star quilt for my son-in-law.  It's wall hanging size, so shouldn't take long to do.  A finish will be shared later in the week. 
 

Bah Humbug is one step closer to being finished.  It's sandwiched and quilted - sort of.  I ended up just stitching tight up against the applique with black thread.  And I zig zagged around all 4 edges because that grey linen was fraying every time I touched it.  Next step is to make the envelope back and bind it.  Maybe I can get that done in the next day or so. 

I keep thinking ahead to what new projects I want to start this winter.  I just can't help myself.  The Bonnie Hunter mystery will begin later this month.  I don't always make the whole quilt, but do usually play with the blocks at least.  But I really like her colors this year, so maybe it will happen.   January will bring a brand new Saturday Sampler locally, and I have my fabrics all gathered for it.  There will be a new Sewcialites sew along (online) starting after the holidays too.  I am definitely thinking about playing along, but maybe just with the tiny blocks (3") this time.  A couple of new block patterns for Rainbow Scrap Challenge are hanging on my bulletin board.  At guild on Saturday I picked up a pattern book from the giveaway table.  And the mail brought 2 new things last week - a book with patterns to use with panels, and a pattern for a possible future scrappy quilt.  My head is spinning and the new project (Shiny Object Syndrome) list is much longer than my life expectancy!  

From the bay window in the kitchen we have a great view of our tree filled backyard, and this time of year the big maple tree right off the deck is really spectacular.  I told Dave yesterday morning that it brings me joy to look out and see that tree.  One other thing that makes me smile is the little grey kitty sleeping on that chair to the right. This is one of the kittens from last spring.  He won't let us get close, but he does sleep on the deck a lot lately.  We haven't seen his litter mate for several days now and I think he's feeling lonely.  

Another lovely tree is the birch outside my office window.  Notice my hubby hanging up the bird feeder he had just refilled.  Right before he went out to fill the feeder there was a blue jay out there.  We hadn't seen a single blue jay all summer, but now in the last week we keep seeing them.  Two were even on the deck a couple days ago, boldly stealing kibble from the cat food dish.  My morning routine involves bird watching from my desk with a cup of coffee in hand, and blog reading on my laptop. 

Process and progress

I've said many times that my inspiration often comes from the quilting blogs I follow, and from other social media.  Other great sources of inspiration are the quilt guild I belong to, the monthly Sew Vintage group I enjoy, and from the wonderful people in the quilt shops I frequent.  Creative inspiration is all around me on a daily basis.  

This last week or so I've been feeling "reflective" about my creative process, and then - like my mind was being read - bloggers have been talking about process online as well.  My own creative process involves making lists, checking things off and then wandering away from that list every time a new "squirrel" crosses my path.  Since I'm a computer nerd my lists are on a spreadsheet that is open on my laptop all the time.  I have a different tab for various lists - and yes, the worksheets are color coded and are set up to count things automatically.  Paper copies of some of the ongoing worksheets allow me to write myself notes.  Nerd alert!!!!  

Pat Sloan's newsletter on Sunday touched on list making.  She said "lists soothe my soul", and that it provided "structure".  YES - I'm right there with her.  I have multiple lists going at any one time - for quilting, for upcoming events, for grocery shopping.  I've always been a list maker for work, and for home. And I set Reminders on my phone to remind me about items on those lists.  LOL  Providing structure, and then the satisfaction of checking off the things that are finished, all soothe my soul too.  Above picture -  is a paper copy of this year's UFO Challenge sheet on the clipboard on my desk.  This began years ago with the APQ UFO Challenge, but has continued even after they quit drawing a number each month.  I have 3 items listed for each month, including a "Pick a PIG" which is my way of rewarding myself with a new project (squirrel) each month.  And under that top sheet on the clipboard - the PHD (Projects Half Done) list for the local quilt shop.  And BTW I've finished all 12 items on that PHD list this year again.  That's 3 years in a row!!

Leanne at Devoted Quilter has a weekly WIPS-B-Gone email newsletter, and yesterday it was about SOS/FOMO.  SOS - Shiny Object Syndrome.   SOS, squirrels - it all applies to my process as well.  My desk currently has a little pile of sticky notes and printed pages for projects that I want to make.  The basket next to my chair in the family room has a couple of new pattern books I've recently purchased.  The bulletin board in my sewing room has more sticky notes and printed pages.  Every single day I feel like I see another SHINY OBJECT that I want to follow.  

So, my process is a mix of focus and organization - and going off on a bird walk at any moment.  And I'm really OK with that.  My adult daughters however are terrified that I'll die and leave a mountain of unfinished projects laying around.  Most likely they have good reason to be afraid of that scenario.  LOL