Red, white, and blue

I had a couple of WIPs on my To Do list for this week, and made myself a promise to finish those tasks before playing with anything else.  I'm happy to say to both the Buckeye Beauty quilt top, and the row for Saturday Sampler were finished.  

Indigo Way also has 1 border added.  As is, the top is only 51 x 64 and for a Quilt of Valor it needs to be a little larger.  The plan is to add a dark blue outer border.  

And since I'm determined NOT to fall behind with the weekly Blockheads sew-along, more red, white, and blue was on my agenda. 

Sandcastles, by Sherri McConnell is the Blockheads block for this week.  This was another quick block to make.  It's a 9" finished block, and I made 2 versions.  I'm using scraps for these blocks, and will most likely use them in a future Quilt of Valor.  I think there could even be enough for 2 Quilts of Valor.  And because I had the RWB scraps out . . . I kept right on playing with some current QOV blocks.

There is a QOV sew-along beginning on Alycia's Quiltygirl blog and I just HAD to join in.  I have no delusions about keeping up each week.  But I can keep making the blocks for The Ribbon as time allows.  Besides - I really like her design for this quilt.  So far I've made 2 (of 18) of the 25-Patch blocks for this one.  Again, the plan is for scrappy.  These use 2" strips.  

Bonnie Hunter posted her annual Leader/Ender pattern earlier in the month, and I've made a few in . . . red, white, and blue.  She's calling it 4-Patch Fun.  While playing with RWB scraps last week, I cut a bunch of parts for these little (6" finished) blocks and did use them this week as a Leader/Ender in between my other projects. It's nice to slide these through before and after, rather than cutting thread each time I end a seam.  Guess it's time to cut another stack of these.  I layed them out together on the front porch, but also am thinking these could look great used as a border around a patriotic panel.  Hmmm . . .   

Saturday Sampler row #6

This month's row for Saturday Sampler was a little tricky, but it's done.  And I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.  The previous blocks used 2 or 3 of the 6 fabrics, but this one used 5 of them in the blocks.  Next month should be the final row design.  It looks like it's a narrow row, done twice - both above and below this center row. 

Midweek progress

The Buckeye Beauty blocks are now a flimsy.  Yay!!  It's so easy for me to procrastinate on long-term projects, but I finally just dug in and finished it.  There is even a backing selected I think.  I made myself a promise that nothing new could be started until I got a couple of WIP moved forward this week. I can check off one of those now.

Next up is Saturday Sampler.  This month's row has 2 different block designs alternated in the row, using 5 different fabrics.  Block A is all done - 4 of them.  This row is 15" tall, so each of the blocks are 8 x 15. 

Block B has a good start. 

The parts are cut for 2 purple Gameboard blocks for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and there are some 2.5" squares sorted out for Paint Chip blocks.  Hopefully they will all be sewn by the end of the week.

Donations

 

On Sunday afternoon I emptied out the closet where I store quilts that will be gifted or donated, and sorted through those quilts.  There are now 8 quilts ready to go to the local safe house.  And there are also 12 soft little "stuffies" wrapped it a small quilt ready to be donated as well.  

I'm very happy to be able to give these to someone who could use a hug - and hope with the gift of a quilt or stuffed animal they feel that hug. 

Design Wall Monday - July 14

One task I set for myself on Sunday afternoon was to sort through the quilts I planned to donate and get them ready to go.  More on that later this week.   

I'm getting tired of seeing these blocks layed out on the floor.  Are you?  Actually there are 2 rows sewn together so far, but it's time to get this project moved forward to the flimsy stage.  Unfortunately I've been procrastinating on it - and playing with other things.  Someone needs to kick me into gear!!

All of the parts are cut for the new row of Saturday Sampler.  This will be a wide row that sits in the center of the quilt.  I think next month will be the final row.    

The first wide border for Indigo Way is also cut, so this is also on my list of projects for this week.  I haven't decided on the outer border yet, but am leaning toward a dark blue.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog  

RSC25 - Week #27

The second Saturday of the month is always my favorite one because there is Saturday Sampler in the morning, and then our Sew Vintage group meets after lunch.  Yay! 

The only purple thing I can report for this week is a doll quilt using lavender/cream HSTs and squares left over from a backing.  The back of this one is more of that pink print.  The binding is leftover binding, and it's also purple.  It's now wrapped around that cute little pink pig stuffy, and ready for donation.

There is an RSC finish to report however, and I really really really like how this turned out. Pyramids was a block set from 2023.  Each block is made from one large colored equilateral triangle, plus 3 smaller colored ones, and 9 small background triangles.  

The small triangles are sewn into 3 identical units that are the same size as the big triangle.  I saw this block online but with no pattern.  I did the math to make these end up as 12" tall.  The blocks were actually pretty easy to make and all together they made a cute scrappy quilt to be donated.  

One more RSC project is a Work In Progress now.  A couple of the Buckeye Beauty rows are now assembled, and maybe by next Saturday it will be a complete flimsy.  

There is a LOT MORE inspiration out there in the RSC blog posts.

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

The end of a week

I've fallen behind in reading blogs the past few days, and also in commenting or responding to comments on my own blog.  Life happens. 

Monday I played golf.  Tuesday I had appointments.  

Wednesday morning began early as I had to make a quick trip to the clinic for a blood draw prior to my annual physical.  But just before I left we both got phone calls from friends to share some very bad news.  In the tiny rural town we lived in previously there had been a house fire, just 2 doors from our old house.  The husband and wife living there both died in the fire.  We were neighbors for 2 decades, I taught with her for many years at the same school, our kids went to school together, she gave both of my girls piano lessons.  I just had lunch with her 2 weeks ago.  It was just so shocking and so sad.  The loss of these 2 fine people will leave a big hole in the community. 

Honestly, I never set foot in my sewing room Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday this week.  Yesterday morning was sewing time, and I worked on some binding in the evenings.  There will be a UFO finish to show off for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge post tomorrow.  

Yesterday involved making this week's Blockheads block, another 18" block.  It's called Bellissimo Star by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree.  The block went together nicely but there was a lot of waste left when making it.  

I used some of that waste to make a 6.5" block to use as a mug rug.  

One row was assembled for the Buckeye Beauty top, and I made several of the QOV blocks that I had kitted up for Leaders/Enders.  Today I hope to get more rows sewn with the Buckeye blocks.