Design Wall Monday - December 8

What a difference a week makes!  We've had lots more snow.  Snow days are perfect for sewing.  The guild Christmas party was Saturday morning, and we broke up early because several inches of snow had fallen in 2 hours.  We got about 5" total here.  Plus a little more came on Sunday afternoon. I'm pretty sure we've already had more snow than we saw all of last winter.  

The Countdown to Christmas box from Missouri Star has yielded some fun and interesting things so far.  There is a charm pack with a pattern for cat and dog shaped mug rugs, and the acrylic templates were included  There is a coffee mug - already added to the 3 I've already collected.  A small binder with storage sleeves inside will hold charm packs and applique temples.  

There is a pillow pattern along with the plastic alphabet templates needed to applique the WELCOME or any other word onto the pillow.  There is even a package of fusible to use.  The charm pack from earlier in the week could be used for the pillow too.  So that covers the first week of surprises.

All of the blocks for the snowman 3-yard quilt are finally sewn, pressed, and trimmed.  Now I can just focus on getting them into rows - and in the correct order.  The goal is for this to be a flimsy by the end of the month.  

I'm getting a late start on the grandkids' pillowcases this year.  The math/science print has been in the stash for awhile.  The NASA prints are newly purchased.  These will be good for 2 of the boys I think.  

The solar system fabric has also been in the stash for a couple of years.  It's time to use it up.  The black print and the tan one are some options for cuff colors.  I haven't decided yet which one I'm going to use.  

The swimmer print will work for cuffs for both of the girls because both are swimmers. 

One other plan for the week is to continue working on the clues for the Bonnie Hunter mystery.  We've seen 3 clues so far, and I have a good start on them.  The colors really make me think spring.  And it's a nice change up from red, white, blue or some of the darker colors I've been sewing with lately.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC25 - Week #49

Do you panic this time of year?  I don't even have a ton of holiday events to attend, but I'm feeling a little panicky about how close we are to the end of the year.  Maybe I was feeling extra "behind" since I was sick a couple of days this week and felt like I had gotten nothing accomplished at all. Friday was finally a good day for sewing with few interruptions. 

The only RSC sewing that happened this week was putting 8 of the 4-Patch Fun blocks together into a zig zag layout.  I started thinking that the zig zag would show up better if I put a neutral strip between each vertical row.  That required digging into the neutral strings bin. 

So I partially opened some seams yesterday and inserted a 1.5" x 6.5" strip next to each block.  Another row of blocks on the left was added too.  Now I'm seeing the zig zag emerging.  I don't have enough blocks yet for a whole quilt, so these will continue well into 2026 for RSC.  I'm happy to have a plan now.

The scrap bin with all of the odds and ends from Quilts of Valor was overflowing, and I worked hard last month to use up enough of those scraps to at least fit into the bin.  Yesterday I dug back into it for this block.  It's called God's  Eye and was a free download from www.patchworksquare.com that I used in a recently finished project.  Now I remember why I thought it was a pain in the butt to make.  The instructions were fine, but putting it together and getting it to lay flat was a bit frustrating.  If I ever make this again I think I would press all of the seams open to reduce that bulk more.  It's now in the QOV "sampler" stack of blocks so it will get used in a quilt eventually.  But it will NOT have any twin siblings any time soon. 

The neutral, pink, purple, and blue scrap bins are stirred up now too.  That is because I'm playing along with the current Bonnie Hunter mystery.  I don't plan to make mine full sized, but it's always fun to play along and see how it goes.  Clue #3 dropped yesterday morning, and it really only took me about half an hour to make 1 set of each size HST in the clue.  I'll do more over the weekend most likely.  I'm aiming for roughly half the quantity of each clue. 

Let's go see what else is happening with scraps this week . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Catching up

Wow - I just lost a whole day and a half.  Tuesday morning I did some laundry and baked gingersnap cookies in the morning.  By noon I felt so tired and sat down in the recliner for awhile before going downstairs to sew.  I ended up sleeping off and on most of the afternoon and evening.  Wednesday was mostly lost as well. The only reason I had a blog post on Wednesday was because I wrote it while baking cookies Tuesday morning.  I had a fever, couldn't get warm and ached all over.  Thursday I woke up feeling mostly normal again, although still very low energy.  I'm still catching up.  

My new Ford Escape was ready to pick up Wednesday afternoon, and my husband was a good sport and went to get it.  Yesterday morning I was thinking that I kind of hate to take it anywhere right now because I don't want it to get dirty. Since the snow our streets are a mess.  And then - my husband took it and went to the gym yesterday, and to run errands.  We also took it to Sioux Falls last night to go to granddaughter Olivia's orchestra concert.  So much for keeping it clean.  LOL

A quick update on Wednesday's post . . .  The correct name for that center block is "God's Eye", and I downloaded it from www.patchworksquare.com .  The pattern has instructions for 3 block sizes - 16", 12" and 8".  Now I really really want to make that center block again - but in red, white and blue in the 12" size.  

The last time I was in my sewing room was Monday.  Hopefully today I'll finally get back down there to sew.  I'm feeling the withdrawal.  

A small finish for the week

The binding is finished on Eye of God - which is lap quilt or wall hanging size.  Maybe even a good size for a baby quilt.  It's about 40" square.  

That center star block was called Eye of God, and was a free block that I downloaded from somewhere online.  It was actually quite tricky to put together without losing the points.  The polka dots around it are bowtie blocks.  And that lime green does NOT glow in the dark, although in this lighting it sure looks like it would.  

As I finished up the binding for this one, I got to thinking that maybe I should make more lap quilts and donate them to nursing homes here.  Hmmm . . .

Today is supposed to be the day I can finally pick up my new car.  We'll see if that actually happens today.  I'm getting very impatient with the wait.  

Tuesday - this and that

My morning routine is just that - a routine. I tend to be up earlier than my husband and I take my first cup of coffee to my home office.  I can sit quietly at my desk, enjoy my coffee, read some blogs, and watch the activity at the bird feeder.  The landscape is white and clean looking after the snow we got this weekend.  

The birds are usually pretty active in the mornings around that feeder outside my window.  The past week or so we've had blue jays, juncos, chickadees, woodpeckers, and some tiny birds that I don't know the name of.  Wish I could get a good photo, but they are awfully fast to fly off.  And since those blue jays showed up we haven't been seeing any cardinals.  CORRECTION: one male cardinal showed up this morning. 

So, since it was December 1 there was the first package to open from the Missouri Star Countdown to Christmas box.  Gift #1 was a very cute panel and a pattern to use with the panel.  The pattern has either a wall hanging or a table runner option with snow globes.  So cute!!  I'm thinking table runners will be my choice.  

A little more than half of the blocks needed for the snowman quilt (Splendor) are sewn, but still need to be pressed and trimmed to size.  I've been using the pieces cut for the Bonnie Hunter mystery as my Leaders/Enders while working on the snowmen. 

I was all excited about picking up my new car yesterday.  But now they are saying it won't be ready until Wednesday.  And since my old vehicle now belongs to the dealership, I feel a bit at odds without a car to drive for a whole week.  

Design Wall Monday - December 1

Another new month already!  And I didn't come close to checking off my goals from the last one yet.  But that doesn't really bother me because the important things WERE checked off - like my son-in-law's Lone Star wall hanging. 

My December goals are a bit more deadline oriented, but the list is pretty short.  

• Finish the Christmas gifts I've begun
• 2 table runners
• pillowcases for grandkids
• secret gifts
• Finish flimsy for snowman 3-yard quilt (Splendor pattern)
• bind Eye of God lap quilt  (only 1 side remaining)
• bind the 2025 Saturday Sampler
• bind Orange blossom wall hanging
• a few RSC or QOV blocks as Leaders/Enders
• Make my 2026 UFO and PHD lists 

The project box for the Dresden Fans quilt was emptied now that it's a flimsy hanging in the closet, making way for something new.  So what new project is in the box?

I've been on the fence about sewing along with Bonnie Hunter's current mystery quilt, Lupines and Laughter.  Every year I download the mystery clues, whether I play along or not.  I really like the colors this year, so I'll do it but on a smaller scale.  Last week I made 3 sets of the clue #1 blocks.  And I've cut out parts from scraps for a few of the clue #2 blocks.  Right now I'm thinking I'll do half of the units she calls for, and then after the reveal I can decide if I want more or not.

BTW - I managed to hold off on opening anything in the box (Jenny's Countdown to Christmas 2025).  I did remove it from the shipping box yesterday afternoon.  

 Lots of anticipation for opening the first item this morning while enjoying my first cup of coffee, and reading my favorite blogs.  I'll try to remember to share some of the box contents each week on here.  Item #1 is in that red envelope on the right.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC25 - Week #48

The Quarter Dresden project is now a flimsy.  It isn't huge - just 50 x 60.  But I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  It's pressed and hanging in the closet, along with the leftover grey background - just in case.  The project box has been emptied and will have a new project take up residence in the box soon.  

It's time to take stock of what RSC block sets are remaining in the closet, so plans can be made for how to proceed with each set.  These are not all of the partial sets from this year and even from past years, but it gives me an idea of what is there.  Continuing block sets into the next year never bothers me. 

Some of my day yesterday was spent taking down some fall decor and putting up Christmas.  My cardinal tree stays up all year in the dining room as I just enjoy the cardinals that remind me of all the friends and family no longer with us.  I changed out the quilt, and hung the cardinal quilt for the Christmas season.  And one of the new table runners is on the table.  The big Christmas tree in the living room is partially decorated. 
 

But the stockings are all hung.  That new stocking I made for myself is likely to stimulate a bit of teasing from my girls.  It's twice as big as everyone else's and the toe is pointing the opposite direction.  Oops!!  LOL

Let's go see what else is happening with scraps . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/