Moving things forward

 Wednesday morning was finally an awesome opportunity to just sew. No work projects assigned, no interruptions, no appointments.  It felt great to just be creative.

A couple of non-stitching tasks happened first of all.  I cut a set of binding strips for one of the latest Quilts of Valor ready to pick up from the quilter.  The bench pillow is now sandwiched, and ready to quilt.  I'm still trying to decide exactly what that quilting will look like but I have some ideas in mind.  And I pinned 2 pillowcases (for granddaughters), so they could be sewn this week.

The pieces are ironed onto the Saturday Sampler block.  This one will be the centerpiece of this year's quilt, and is larger than the other blocks made so far. This is 18 x 21. There will be some embroidery added to the sewing machine to show thread looping around. There was a curvy decal to iron onto the top area of the machine in the pattern, but I replaced it with flowers cut from the fabric I used in the dress form block from a couple of months ago.  The blanket stitching still needs to happen, and since I'll be using black thread it might be a perfect time to quilt that pillow top while black thread is in play.

Autumn Wonders block #8 has a very interesting visual impact. I wasn't sure I liked it on paper, but I really do like it all finished in red, white, and blue.  This design made me think of sergeant stripes on a military uniform. 

The parts for the fall colors version are cut, but I just didn't get to it yesterday. 

A final decision hasn't happened yet on the outer border on the tree skirt.  I'm still leaning toward the red with the gold dots, as it seems to anchor the whole thing a bit more than the floral.  It will be only about a 3" border so that the tree skirt doesn't get too large.  The floral might be lost a bit if it's too narrow.  The tree skirt is already 38" across without that outer border.

Mid-week catch up

 After a dental appointment in the morning, and a follow-up appointment after lunch with my orthopedic surgeon, I finally got back to my sewing room yesterday afternoon.  

The pine tree blocks are done, and set into the tree skirt.  The first border is on (green) but I'm having trouble deciding what to use for the outer border.

I have 2 fabrics from the same line as the setting triangles - a floral, and a red with tiny gold dots.  Which one would look best?  I used that floral as the outer border of the hexie shaped table topper that I just finished.  But I'm leaning more toward that red.  Any opinions are welcome!!

Design Wall Monday - November 6

 It was a busy and enjoyable weekend, and I think I need to rest up.  Not a single minute of sewing was fit into Saturday or Sunday.  

Guild was Saturday morning and we had 2 gentlemen speak to our group about the nation-wide Sleep In Heavenly Peace program.  They build beds for children, and have a motto that no child should sleep on the floor.  Our guild members were all shocked at just how big is the need for beds in our local community.  And they said they also like to have small stuffed animals to give to the younger kids.  And voila!!!  I will donate the box full of new stuffed animals and dolls, all wrapped in doll quilts I made. 

My husband and I went to a concert in the afternoon - Branson Country Christmas.  2 pm for a concert is just a weird time, but the music was wonderful.  The first hour was all country classics and the second hour was Christmas classics. The fiddle player and the female lead singer were both fabulous.  That early time turned out to be perfect because when the concert was over, we walked across the street to go to a college basketball game at the Corn Palace.  When we aren't at Jackrabbit basketball we do like to follow the smaller local college  (DWU) teams too.  

And after the basketball game we ended up at our favorite Chinese restaurant for supper.  Once we got home we watched the recording of the Jackrabbit football game from the afternoon. 

On Sunday morning I drove into Sioux Falls to present a Quilt of Valor.  This one just happened to be 5 minutes away from my daughter's house, so afterward I stopped in for a quick visit.  Got my grandkid hugs and doggie kisses - and watched the end of the Chiefs' football game with them.

OK - so back to my design wall for this week . . .

These 4 pine tree blocks need to be finished, and then added to their own little project. 

And I want to get this pillow top quilted this week too.  This is a busy week with a dental appointment, a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, and a few other things going on. I'll be happy with whatever I manage to accomplish.

What's on your design wall?

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

RSC23- Week #44

 It's suddenly that "finish up" time of the year.  2023 is going by WAY too fast for me.

Two table toppers just needed binding, and I finished them while riding in the car on Wednesday.  The top one was actually from this summer. Talk about procrastination!  The bigger one is for Christmas, so it's nice to have it done before the holiday season. 

Can you guess what these will be?  The parts for these blocks have been cut out, so it was time to finish these 4 blocks and get them off my cutting table.  The blocks are part of a UFO that didn't even make it on my November goal list because it was totally off my radar.  Now it's back on.  

Two backings were organized for quilts that are ready for the quilter.  One is totally scrappy, and the other is "organized" scrappy.   It's always good to get a quilt to this stage. They are probably the final bigger finishes of the year. 

I'll bet there are a lot more finishes going on in the RSC world . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Autumn Wonders #7

Yesterday afternoon I found myself with 90 minutes between finishing work and leaving for the Jackrabbit basketball game, so what did I do?  I sewed this week's Autumn Wonders blocks. 

This is a fun block and has such movement to it.  I really like both colorways. 

There are only 2 more blocks for this particular sew-along, as Pat Sloan posted a layout for these that only needed 9 blocks.  I haven't decided yet if I'll use her Autumn Wonders layout. 

It was just after midnight when we got home from the basketball doubleheader.  Both the women and men had big wins.  But these games were Exhibition games, and played against Division II (smaller college) teams.  Next Monday they will begin regular non-conference play, and we'll begin putting the miles on again to cheer them on.

November goals

 I need to find a balance in November between sewing something new and fresh, and finishing up a couple of things from the UFO/WIP lists.  Balance is good right?  And this week I need a balance between work and play, because work has taken over this week as I was assigned something with a deadline, and have been working a full-time schedule since early Monday morning.  I'm actually writing this post during my morning break because I totally forgot. LOL

The number drawn for November's UFO Challenge was #9, and I have already finished 2 of the 3 items on my list for that number.  Yay!!  That last project is actually kitted up, plus it's a child sized quilt, so it could satisfy both my need to sew something new AND work on a UFO.

The Giddy-Up Quick Strippee is one of the kits I put together early in 2023 for some quick projects.  This one has a focus fabric with light green background with pink and blue horses. It should make a very cute baby quilt.

On a side note - college basketball begins this week, so you know what we'll be doing for the next 4 months or so.  We'll be leaving about 3:30 to make the drive to watch a Jackrabbit doubleheader. Gotta make good use of our season tickets!  Go Jacks!!  I may take some binding with me to do in the car. 

As for November goals, there are plenty to choose from:

• Saturday Sampler block from October
• Saturday Sampler block from November
• 3 final Autumn Wonder blocks - both colorways
• Giddy-Up baby quilt
• Pillowcases for grandkids (5)
• Binding
• Christmas hexie table topper
• Quilt of Valor
• 4 Christmas hexie mug rugs
• Quilting (on my own machine)
• Sea Otter wall hanging
• Christmas bench pillow

Progress on the pillow top

Happy Halloween!!

My quite large Halloween version of One Block Wonder is hanging in the dining room this month.  I made this one in a class a few years ago, and really enjoy pulling it out to display during October.  It has a panel in the middle, and the hexies were cut from 6 more identical panels.  There are still a few leftover hexie pieces in a drawer.   

The bench pillow top (18" x 36") came together well.  There were SO MANY pieces to cut, but I'm liking the results to this point. I'm still trying to decide how to quilt it.  I had a leftover piece of batting just the right size, but still need to dig out some muslin to back that pillow top before quilting.  

Black isn't usually a color I associate with Christmas, but admittedly it does allow the greens, gold, pink and red to pop.  The kit has more of the solid black for binding but I think I'm going to use a red - maybe even a red stripe.  In the stash I found a subtle green print for that envelop back.  The pattern called for the gold, but the piece wasn't large enough, plus I didn't want a gold back to this.