RSC25 - Week #33

Meet Ella.  Ella is a really good girl, but misses her people already.  

We're dog sitting for a couple of days while our younger daughter's family goes to a funeral out in Pierre.  Luckily we are right on the way so they could drop her (and her stuff) on the way through.  They will pick her up tonight when they are heading home.  She's a "Velcro" dog - sticks close all the time.  So I'm guessing that she'll follow me downstairs today when I go to sew for awhile. 

Not much time was spent in my sewing room this week.  But I did visit 6 quilt shops on a shop hop, and I've been working on some binding in the evenings.  And of course I'm dreaming up new projects to keep me out of trouble.  LOL

One of my favorite RSC projects this year has been Night Vision.  I got it back from the quilter this week, and now I'm ready to bind it.  

 

One of the things I bought while shop hopping was binding strips, already cut.  They were in a scrap bag bin, and I picked up 2 bags - yellow and this red.  I used 7 of the 9 red ones for this quilt.  It has a fun purple backing, so with this binding it makes me think of the Red Hat Society ladies in their purple and red.  

Last week I had made some aqua 4-Patch Fun blocks, and cut pieces for some other previous colors.  This block is Bonnie Hunter's leader/ender pattern for this summer and I've already made a lot of them in red, white, and blue.  And now the rainbow has come out to play.  These do make great leader/enders as you work on bigger projects rather than cutting thread between blocks all the time.  From the colors I had cut, only the purple ones remain to be sewn so far.  Then I'll dig back into the scrap bins to cut some more in other colors.

The flimsy for Town Square is done.  I took it out onto the deck for a photo and the dappled sun/shade has an interesting effect on color of course.  But there is a LOT of aqua in this, or maybe it's more of a turquoise.  The cute whale print has several shades of aqua. 

Let's see what else is happening in the RSC world . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Shop hop goodies

The annual Quilt Dakota Shop Hop is going on right now, and I actually won a prize just for registering my shop hop "passport".  My prize was dropped off at The Pin Cushion for me to pick up, which I did yesterday.  Each shop also has you register for weekly drawings when you visit, and there are special prizes when you have visited 10 shops, and again for 20 and 30.  That's a lot of incentive.  

I was expecting maybe a small fat quarter bundle or something, but HOLY COW!  A layer cake of Kaufman fabrics in reds, blues, and pale greys - just perfect for a Quilt of Valor.  A jelly roll of gorgeous neutral batiks.  And a kit for an Elizabeth Hartman quilt called Lookout.  

There are over 40 quilt shops in North AND South Dakota that are participating in the 2025 Quilt Dakota Shop Hop in August.  Before Wednesday I had only gotten to the 2 shops here in town, but that number has grown with the 6 shops that Jo and I got to this week.  

We met up at 8:30 am with coffee and our shop hop passport booklets in hand, and headed east on I-90 toward Sioux Falls about an hour away.  I even had a list of things I wanted to look for to finish out some projects. We began the day by dropping off 3 big heavy seedless watermelons at my daughter's house (in Sioux Falls.)  We live in an area known for fabulous watermelon. Once those melons were handed off to my grandkids and I petted 1 dog - we had the rest of the day to shop.

Every shop is so different, and we both agree that it's really fun just to see the different samples in the shops, how things are displayed in unique ways, and the styles of fabrics carried are different too. Great selections and such friendly staff at every shop.

We visited all 3 shops in Sioux Falls before lunch - Quilters Headquarters, Jaqueline & Joyce, and Dutch Rose.  After getting some lunch we headed south on I-29 to 3 shops that Jo hadn't been to before.  Sew Storm (Alcester, SD), Shanty Stitchers (Beresford) and My Timeless Day (Canton) are all in a row of small towns along I-29.   

My haul includes 3 patterns, a variety of fat quarters, 2 neutral Christmas-y backgrounds for a Christmas project I have planned, 2 blue batiks to use with the blue jay print for the next 3-yard quilt, a couple of yards of fun prints, and a Halloween panel.  

Also - there is one kit. I couldn't resist a Sassy Sunflower "half pack" - and you could choose which free pattern to use with the kit.  Each kit contains 5 coordinated half yard cuts for a nice size throw quilt.  I chose an elegant metallic Christmas line with gold and silver on white.  Jo bought one with rich colors and picked a different pattern.  We're both excited to see how each quilt comes together. 

One of my best finds was 50% off yardage at one shop.  They had a horrible storm a couple of weeks ago, and rain water seeped into one area getting lots of bolts of fabric wet along the selvage edges.  It was not stained - just a little "ruffled" along the selvage edge, and the owner suggested getting it washed right away.  I got 6 yards of a nice dark blue print fabric for backing a project and washed it right away Thursday morning. It's just fine. 

So - a total of 6 shops in 1 day and lots of fun!!

Road trip

 

Yesterday was a fun day on a road trip with a quilting friend.  The Quilt Dakota Shop Hop is going on all of August.  We left town at 8:30 am and returned at 6 pm.

** 278 miles

** 6 fun quilt shops

Blockheads #11

 One of my Sunday tasks was to finish up that big block from this week's Blockheads post. 

This block is 27" finished.  It's called Folk Star by Lisa Bongean.  There are 72 HSTs in this one, which definitely took me some time.  The HSTs were each trimmed to 2" square.  After seeing these posted to the Facebook group I found myself wishing I had chosen some different fabrics in the star itself.  It's OK as is - but not exciting.

While in red, white, blue mode - I think this is the layout I'm going with for the Rail Fence QOV with the stars added.  As I picked up each row and pin (numbered pins) I had to make sure these all turned the correct directions - reds up or pointed right.  Not that I'm looking at the photo, this one may be too narrow.  Hmmm . . . maybe a long red strip added to the left side, and a blue strip added on the right?  

Donations

The large pile of donation quilts and stuffed animals that I put together in July has now been taken to the local safe house.  There were 10 quilts, 12 stuffed animals wrapped in their own quilts, and 5 draw string bags filled with travel size toiletries.  

Because the safe house was moving from their old building into this new bigger facility, they had put a hold on receiving donations of "things" until they were actually moved in.  So I waited, and yesterday morning I finally got things dropped off.

I even got a quick tour of some of the "public" areas - kitchen, playroom, conference room, etc. which was really nice.  They had an open house about a week before moving in, but I hadn't gone that day.  So I was tickled when offered a quick tour. 

Once I got home I refilled my car - with all the stuff I'm taking today to my daughter's house for her rummage sale this weekend. 

Design Wall Monday - August 11

 On Saturday the final row pattern for Saturday Sampler was shared.  There will be 2 identical narrow rows, and then we can assemble the flimsy.  Show and Tell will be in October at the Saturday Sampler session.  

This month's row design involves lots of flying geese.  The pieces are all cut and ready to sew this week.  This will be my top priority. 

Second priority this week is getting the 2 narrow borders onto the Whales 3-yard quilt.  The blocks are all sewn into rows, so the borders will bring this to the flimsy stage.

In between these 2 main projects there will be more Leader/Ender stitching.  I've been sewing these blocks (4-Patch Fun) in red/white/blue for a future Quilt of Valor, but decided to dig into the scrap bins and add some in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors too.  4 aqua ones for this month are done.  One purple, and 4 each of yellow and pink were kitted up on the design board.  One of the yellow and 1 pink are now sewn.

I'm not planning for this to be a very productive sewing week as it's going to be kind of busy.  Monday one of the grandkids will be here.  Tuesday I'm taking a load of things to my daughter's house in Sioux Falls for her rummage sale.  Wednesday I plan to do some shop hopping with a guild friend.  And either Thursday or Friday the plan is to get together with some friends for an afternoon of cards.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog  

RSC25 - Week #32

Aqua came out to play this week, with 2.5" squares being used in Paint Chip and Hollow 9-Patch blocks.  So far these are in the lighter "sea glass" shades, but I'm sure I can find deeper teals for next week. 

I've been doing these 4-Patch Fun blocks in red/white/blue to use in a future Quilt of Valor.  This is a 6" (finished) Bonnie Hunter leader/ender pattern, and they add up quickly when used as leaders and enders.  This week I decided to make some in RSC colors as well.  These 4 aqua versions are the first ones so far. 

Two aqua string blocks happened too.  These also finish at 6", and are pieced on phone book pages.  I haven't removed the paper yet.  

The only bigger project with aqua that I've worked on this week is the Town Square 3-yard quilt with the cute whale print.  The colors are way off in this photo - it's navy and turquoise surrounding the whales in the squares.  All 12 blocks are done, but only half of them are sewn into rows.  Finishing this to the flimsy stage will be a goal for next week.

Let's see what else is going on in the RSC world this week.

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/