Family gathering & a small finish

 

On Sunday afternoon we gathered with the whole family, for the first time since New Years.  Both families are so busy but we found a few hours to celebrate the spring birthdays. I told my daughters that if one of them would provide the place, then I would provide the food.  We kept it easy - we ordered pizza locally, and one daughter brought a big lettuce salad.  I brought the cake, cheesecake, and ice cream.  

I found myself really looking at the 4 teenagers, and wondering what future careers will each follow. They are looking so grown up suddenly.  The oldest 2 are both currently taking driver's ed and will be getting their first permits in coming days and weeks. The young man sitting next to grandpa had a big week - was a Student of the Month at his middle school and got a wild turkey on his first turkey hunt. The youngest grandson had a spring flag football game to go to late that afternoon.  And one granddaughter has a swim meet coming up this weekend.  Busy, busy, busy!! 

Over the weekend there was a very small finish.  This doll quilt is about 24" square, so it may need a little bigger stuffy before it goes to a child. There are 2 teddy bears in the closet yet, so I'll probably swap one of them for the dog.  The little dog is cute but should have a quilt more suited to his size.  LOL  

So far in 2026 there are 4 doll quilts ready to donate.  Last August I took 12 doll quilts with critters to the local safe house, along with 10 quilts. There are 3 or 4 more doll quilt tops downstairs ready to quilt so I need to get busy on them.  

On a side note - that beautiful yellow/blue/white doll quilt on the back of this child size rocker is nearly 70 years old and is one of my treasured possessions.  My paternal grandmother made that for me when I was really little.  It's all hand stitched.  At a family reunion with my cousins a few years ago I learned that not all of the girls got a doll quilt from our grandmother, and no one else still has theirs.  So it is a treasure!!

Design Wall Monday - April 20

A new week, so some new projects are coming out to play.  The next UFO I've decided to work on is . . . drum roll please . . . Beach Bums!

Beach Bums is a wall hanging, with a simple pieced background and lots of raw edge applique.  I bought the pattern in Rapid City in August 2024.  The pattern designer - JoAnn Hoffman is a Black Hills area designer, and one of the other UFO wall hangings on this year's list is also by her.  At the time I also bought the 3 colors needed for the background, but all of the applique will involve digging deep into my scrap bins.   

And, because all that applique will likely be "putzy" and take me awhile I've pulled a PIG to work on as well. It's a Villa Rosa pattern called Salt Water Taffy, using charm squares and a jelly roll.  Tucked into the project box was even a picture (probably from Pinterest) and some notes for an alternate strip size of 1.5".  I think this will make another good donation quilt.  And it would empty another project box.

Friday morning I had a technician here fixing some Internet issues, so I brought up that jelly roll and stood at my kitchen counter to cut all the pieces to frame the 2 sides of each charm square.  Having all the pieces cut and paired up should make quick work of the blocks.  And there are plenty of the jelly roll left to use for a scrappy binding. 

The mini for the month of May arrived in the mail on Saturday, and this will be added to my To Do list.  Another really cute spool mini, and the 2nd to last one in the series.

I'm testing a couple of new star blocks for Quilts of Valor.  This one is paper pieced so it isn't likely to become an option for our group.  Not everyone wants to do any paper piecing.  But I'm excited to make this one and will use it in a new QOV sampler.

So my plan is to focus on these projects, some binding, and a few additional blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge or QOV.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC26 - Week #16

Another week of playing with pink . . .

One pink finish - the Snail Trail baby quilt from the closet full of flimsies. It's only 44" square, so just a good size for a baby quilt. As I was going through the flimsies on hangers to see which I could donate (unfinished), this one seemed like one that could be easily finished instead.  The blocks and top were done during a pink month a couple of years ago for RSC.  Now the only Snail Trails hanging around are the new ones I'm doing this year for RSC in all colors.  LOL

Four more of the reversed Buckeye blocks were quick to sew this week.  These are 8" finished blocks, and I've been making at least 4 in each month's color so far.

Who Found the Catnip? - such whimsical blocks!!  Wendy Sheppard included this block in her recent book on scrap quilting and it was the whole reason I bought the book.  However, there are definitely other cute blocks to explore in the book. 

Let's go check out more Rainbow fun . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Friday Finished (or not)

Here it is Friday again already!!  Do I have any finishes to report? Yes I do. 

Because I'm one of those people who always has multiple projects in the works, my list making comes in very handy to keep them all straight.  On Monday this week I listed 6 things I wanted to accomplish this week, and I've managed to cross all but one of those off the To Do list.  Yay!!

1. bind at least 1 quilt - YES - pink Snail Trail baby quilt

2. finish the summer banner - YES

3. finish 2 blocks for pizza box challenge - YES - actually made 5 blocks
4.  make some RSC blocks - YES - several blocks
5. cut out this month's Saturday Sampler pieces - Not yet
6. choose next UFO to tackle - YES - 2 UFOs are next up

Two items (1 and 4) on this list will be shared tomorrow on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge post because they are PINK.  Blocks and binding - checked off.  The binding is finished on the pink Snail Trail quilt.  And I've begun hand stitching the binding on another baby quilt.

Here is the little summer banner, all done and ready to hang in my office. I'm so glad I made copies of the pages with the foundation sections for this because I really want to make more of those cute butterfly blocks.  These banners are only 10 x 26 but fit perfectly in that spot in my home office between the closet door and the doorway to the hall.

As for the #5 on the list - I have pulled out the colors I plan to use for those Saturday Sampler blocks for this month, but that won't be needed until early next week.  We have a busy weekend, with the family getting together to celebrate 5 spring birthdays.  No sewing will happen over the weekend, unless it's just a block or 2 for RSC or QOV.  However I'm all ready to go on Monday morning - probably with a new list of things I want to work on.  LOL 

The binding for Circle of Friends has been cut and sewn.  This bright yellow is the same shade as the narrow inner border on this quilt.  Plus there are pops of yellow in some of the blocks.

More yellow binding was made for one of the doll quilts in the To Do pile.  All of this binding will not happen right away, but it's nice to have some things ready to grab as needed.  

For more finishes, please visit:  https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

This and that

Isn't it fun to get squishy mail?  

This beautiful fat quarter bundle arrived this week.  My name was drawn for a prize for SAHRR, and it's fabric.  The bundle contains 20 batik fat quarters by Island Batik, full of purples, pinks, and golds. I have no idea yet what these will become but it will be fun to choose just the right project to showcase such pretty colors. Thank you to those who host the SAHRR each year and to the vendors providing prizes.

The summer banner is assembled, quilted, and has a binding attached.  I'm hoping to get that binding hand stitched today so I can check off another finish.

These kits always contain backing too, and often it's just too pretty to use on the back of something where no one will ever see it.  This went into the stash, and I used a leftover piece of light grey for the actual back of the banner. 

The binding is also attached to the next UFO project.  I will get this one trimmed today, and it will be next after the banner.  

At least 1 more drawer in my sewing room is on my agenda today for decluttering.  I'm sure there is more "stuff" that can go into the rummage sale boxes yet. 

Sewing and purging

Tuesday was a pretty good day in my sewing room.  

The sections for the final block in the little summer banner are sewn.  I'll get the paper foundations removed and the 4 sections sewn together this morning.  Then I can get it all assembled . . . and quilted . . . and bound.  I'm glad I made copies of the foundation paper units for the butterflies because I have this urge to make more of them.  

That was the only sewing I did, but I spent a couple of hours going through quilting stuff to donate to the guild rummage sale next week.  This basket on a bookcase shelf was stuffed to the max with patterns.  Now it's only about half full.  I also purged 6 quilt pattern books from that shelf.  

 

I've organized everything purged so far - 1 small box of notions and knick knacks, 1 medium box of patterns and books, plus 1 bigger box of kits and yardage.  This was the pile at noon when I stopped to eat some lunch and then go get a haircut.  

I feel lighter already, and my sewing room is still full to overflowing. I'll tackle another area of my sewing room today . . . after I work on that little banner.  Will it become a flimsy by tomorrow? 

Pizza box challenge

I think I mentioned the pizza box challenge our Sew Vintage group is doing.  We have just 12 ladies in the group, and it's one of my favorite things to do each month.

So, back in February we each received a pizza box from Louise, with a vintage Valentine and a pattern for the first star block of the challenge.  Each month a different member will provide a new star block pattern, and we're all making the blocks (if we want to) in red, white, blue to make a couple of quilts to celebrate the 250th birthday of the USA.  The quilt tops will be donated to Quilts of Valor.

The first month's block was a free pattern from the QOV website that we've actually used in previous quilts.  It's a Floating Star.  The group was encouraged to make the center of the star either white or add in a patriotic print.  Here are the 2 blocks I made - because I couldn't stop with just 1 block.  LOL

In March we received the Ohio Star block from Pam.  BTW - these will all be 12" finished.  I really love all star blocks, but have to admit Ohio Star is a long time favorite.  Again, I made 2 blocks, just because I could use up more RWB scraps.

April brings us to the Lemoyne Star block, shared by Sandy.   One of my goals for this week was to get these blocks done in the RWB, and I can check that off the list.  

I should also admit here that I'm also making the block each month in 30s reproduction prints, so eventually I'll have blocks for another quilt.  Again - because I have so many scraps to use up and because they are fun to make.  The Ohio Star one turned out so cute.

The Floating Star that I had made first has the red floral background with white star points.  It's OK, but just not my favorite, so yesterday I did a second one.  This time I kept that background white.  The center "fruit" print makes me think of a tablecloth my mom had when I was a kid.  I like this second block much better.  

And I got the 30s version of the Lemoyne Star done too.  Now all these blocks are back in the pizza box until next month's Sew Vintage meeting.