RBD blocks

 Update on the granddaughter - she went home from the hospital yesterday finally.  She spent 9 days in the hospital after her appendix ruptured last week.  Those infections are difficult to control, but we hope she's firmly on the road to recovery.   

The 9th block in the 2025 Riley Blake challenge was posted on Tuesday, and I managed to get it sewn on Wednesday morning.  

The wind was howling all day yesterday, so I hid out in my sewing room from 9 am to 2 pm.  Much progress was made in getting another flimsy assembled, this time from some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.   But I finally HAD to venture out to pick up a prescription and get groceries.  At least there was no snow coming with that wind.  Just dirt blowing.  

Mid week check-in

Well, there has been more progress . . . 

The Quilt of Valor blocks are all assembled into a flimsy.  I'm really happy with how these blocks look.  There is no big hurry about getting this one quilted yet, as our group is in good shape with finished quilts for now. 

The Hemingway bags are very quick to make, with the hardest thing about it - getting that zipper pull onto both ends of that zipper.  The zipper is actually made by separating and only using 1 side, so the pull needs to go back on those ends after it's attached to the bag.  It either goes smoothly right away (big bag) or requires lots of aligning, tugging and cussing (little bag).  I finally got that small one going and finished that bag too.  The bigger of the 2 will hold an iPad.  The small ones are perfect for ear buds or cords.

Another doll quilt is now quilted and the binding is ready to attach.  I also quilted that little Easter table runner, so while in a quilting mood this seemed like a good one to do at the same time.  That means there are now 3 small projects with binding to hand stitch.

Declutter report and a finished quilt

First of all - thank you all for the good wishes for my granddaughter.  She seems to be back on the road to recovery thankfully.  She might get to go home by the end of the week.

My To Do (quilting and other things) list for this week is seeing some things checked off already, and it's only Tuesday.  Yay!!  And as soon as I drop of the latest box of "declutter" items, I can check one more thing off the list.  

One box of "stuff" is ready to go.  Every little bit helps, but I have a long way to go on this decluttering journey.  Thanks Joy for being my Declutter Buddy!!

A big quilt can be checked off the UFO and PHD lists.  Tranquility is 93" square and heavy, heavy, heavy.  I took it to The Pin Cushion on Monday to let them check it off the PHD (projects half done) challenge.  We put 12 projects onto that list at the beginning of the year, and turned it in at the shop.  I now have 4 projects checked off.  The first 3 were smaller projects, so getting this BIG one done is very satisfying.  It will be set aside to be a future gift.  

On Monday I took 2 boxes to the post office to mail.  Both boxes contained quilts I made as gifts.  This quilt is headed for Texas.  It is a graduation gift for my great-niece.  She is an equestrian, so I knew this panel would be perfect for her when I saw it.  In the box with the quilt is a set of 2 pillowcases made of cowboy boot fabric plus the teal used in the quilt.  I can't wait to see her reaction.

The second box held a baby quilt headed to Georgia for the first baby of a great-nephew.  I couldn't find my picture of the finished quilt, but here it is before quilting.  This pattern was Ebb Tide by Villa Rosa.  The lion print is so cute, and this pattern really allows a fun print to be the star of the show.  

The little Easter table runner is a flimsy, ready to quilt.  I even have it sandwiched with a batting scrap, and the backing from the kit.  A striped binding is cut and waiting as well. There is also a doll quilt all sandwiched for quilting.  Maybe both will happen this week. 

Design Wall Monday - March 17

Welcome to another Monday!  What a difference a week makes!  Sewing is good therapy when you are worried about loved ones and have no control over things.  So I have a To Do list for this week that includes new projects and UFOs that need attention.

The second row for Saturday Sampler is complete.  These blocks went together so nicely, but I see this row is slightly longer than Row 1.  However, I also see that the points where the blocks meet do not touch, so I'm going to take a little deeper seam allowance - if needed.  That is something that can be done when all of the rows are done.  If the shorter one needs a tiny spacer instead that can happen too.

One new project is a small Easter table runner kit.  It's paper pieced and has 2 Easter eggs plus a bunny.  Remember how about 18 months ago I swore I was done with paper piecing?  Well that has certainly proved wrong.  I've really been enjoying the small paper pieced projects.  I want to finish this runner before Easter. 

One egg is done (blue) and the pink one is partially done.  I should have the runner at the flimsy stage by the end of today.

There is another small project that needs to be finished - a Hemingway bag made from a blue Aboriginal print.  This was on my project list for February when the RSC color was blue.  I had the fabric all cut, sandwiched, and quilted before setting it aside to work on other things.  Actually there will be a large bag and a smaller one that is made from the triangle cut off the large one.  These are really quick to make, so there is no excuse for not finishing them, right?

There are 2 sets of blocks that are ready to become finished quilt tops.  I need to finish adding the last 3 rows to the Quilt of Valor I've been working on.  And there is a set of Churn Dash blocks ready to become a baby quilt or maybe 2 baby quilts if I have enough.   

One UFO that needs attention . . . Tranquility.  I've been dreading the task of binding this big quilt because it's so heavy.  I worked on the binding Saturday and Sunday evenings while watching TV, getting nearly halfway around. Whew!!  This one will be set aside for a possible wedding gift.  

And there is also a wall hanging that is ready for its binding, so that will be next in line for hand stitching.  This is the wall hanging from the 2025 Cupid Box.  

A contractor is coming today to do some measuring in our master bathroom.  We plan to replace the old tub shower unit with a walk in shower.  

And after that I hope to go visit the granddaughter again in the hospital - if she feels up to visitors.  She had some big setbacks over the weekend as they can't seem to get the infection under control from that ruptured appendix.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/  

RSC25 - Week #11

What a busy week!!  And a little bit of yellow came out to play.

One yellow Night Vision block was made, along with the bonus pinwheels.  There are 28 of these, and 2 more sets of the black and white pieces remain in the project box.  I haven't decided yet what color needs to be used for those last 2.

One more Travel Star block is made, using yellow for the star points.  That rubber ducky fabric in the middle is so cute.  There are still a ton of the 6" squares remaining in the project box, so I'm sure at least 1 more will get made with yellow this month.  I haven't counted these blocks lately, but there is a good sized stack of them.  

Make Your Point is a flimsy finally.  The piano key border was a Leader/Ended the last couple of weeks until I had enough. This is wall hanging size (36 x 40) and completely scrappy.  The squares and rectangles in it were all cut at 1.5" and the triangles in the pinwheels are 2.5".  So there are a lot of really small pieces in this one.  This was so much fun to make.  It all began with those 16-patch units left over from a different quilt. The pattern was a free one found on the AOQ website.

The Riley Blake challenge block for this week was a quick one, and I even used yellow. 

Check out more fun projects at Rainbow Scrap Challenge . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Sewing and cutting

EDIT:  We visited the granddaughter in the hospital yesterday evening.  She's well on the way to recovery from that ruptured appendix, although boredom has set in.  A couple more days of IV antibiotics, and she should be able to go home to finish recuperating.

Good progress on various projects has been made this week so far.  I've been trying to add one row to the Quilt of Valor each day.  And I'm up-to-date on the Riley Blake blocks.

Block #8 for this week of the RBD challenge was a really quick and easy one to make. This is Bowdacious by Karen Walker.  Don't you just love that name?  

I'm pleased with my fabric choices for the most part.  There were 3 Tula Pink fat quarter bundles in the stash and it was time to make use of them.

The binding is all prepped and ready to attach to Tranquility.  It was a mystery quilt from Bear Creek Quilting last year, and is 93" square.  Huge compared to some of the other projects I've been working on lately.  There are 3 really big quilts on my UFO list this year.  This is the first one to be quilted.

The pieces are cut for a couple of other things . . .

**  Saturday Sampler row #2
**  Easter Egg table runner (kit)

Some sewing should happen this morning, and then this afternoon I have my annual mammogram scheduled.  Due to my family history of breast cancer I'm very motivated to never skip this.  My girls are also keeping up with their mammograms.  

This and That

Tuesday and Wednesday turned into busy days around here.

Today is granddaughter Sophia's 13th birthday.  Those kiddos just grow up way too quickly don't they?  She has a laser tag party with friends planned for the weekend I think.  We had some quality time with her last weekend at the basketball tournament.

On Tuesday afternoon our other granddaughter Olivia ended up in the ER with severe dehydration from the stomach flu.  Turns out my daughter's Mom Radar was on target, because it was a ruptured appendix, not the flu.  So Olivia will be spending a few days in the hospital getting IV antibiotics after her emergency surgery. 

About the same time as the ER visit, I was attending the "encore" session of Saturday Sampler.  It was actually kind of funny that at least 6 of us who normally attend on Saturday mornings were there Tuesday because we had missed the Saturday session.  We're doing a row quilt this year, and we got the pattern for Row 2.  We'll make 5 of these Stranded Cross blocks for Row 2.  It was really interesting to see the beautiful color combinations everyone used in the first row.  We must bring the completed row each month to get the next one for free.  Hopefully I'll get a start on the blocks today. 

The Saturday Sampler sessions are always fun - beginning with Show n Tell, where attendees can show any projects they finish or are currently working on.  It's always amazing to see other quilter's projects.  Then the shop does Show n Tell with new products, and announcements about upcoming workshops or events.  And they give away a couple door prizes, usually fat quarters.  If you brought a project to show, then you get a door prize ticket.  I won this beautiful butterfly fat quarter.  This one is too pretty to cut into small pieces, so it might have to become a bag or something similar. 

The March block for Circle of Friends is done.  I'm happy with my color choices, but less than happy with how those purple points met up.  I've been a fan of Best Press for years to help blocks lay flat and smooth.  But I tried out a new product - Flatten - and it is just as good, maybe even better.  Notice that bottle?  The scent in this one is Wild Mint.   

Yesterday I did a lot of sewing - in between chatting on the phone and FaceTime with Olivia.  She is getting very bored in the hospital.  

The last 2 piano key borders are assembled and ready to attach to the scrappy Make Your Point quilt.  Two more rows are sewn for the Buckeye Beauty Quilt of Valor.  The parts are cut for this week's Riley Blake block. 

And I picked up 2 quilts from the long armer on Wednesday afternoon.  The binding strips for both were cut and waiting, so I need to sew them together and press.  My goal is to bind the large quilt before the end of the month.