Easter quilts

My house looks ready for Easter thanks to having some quilts to decorate with.

The newest table runner is done.  I may switch out the buttons used for eyes because I personally think the ones in the kit are too small.  This paper pieced kit was a fairly recent purchase that I didn't want to stick into a drawer to be forgotten.  Shabby Fabrics has such cute small paper piecing kits available. 

My mother's treadle machine is a good spot for a runner.  This Easter runner is one I made several years ago, along with 2 more for my girls.  It is a simple applique on an ombre fabric.  There wasn't a pattern but I saw a similar one at a quilt show and just went home and sketched out that silhouette.

The dining room table was loaded down with Quilt of Valor paperwork until this week.  Now it is cleared off and looks like spring.  This bunny table topper was a kit purchased at the local quilt shop, maybe 15 or more years ago.  The bunny face and ears are fuzzy.  I wonder where I might have put that pattern because the bunny is so cute with those big floppy ears, and the 3D bow tying them together.   

And last year I added the Easter door hanger. This was the first of the seasonal door hangers I've made and possibly is my favorite so far.  It's all applique.    

RSC25 - Week #12

Creative time this week saw a real mix of projects.  Two quilt tops were assembled using blocks that were already made.  One of those was a Quilt of Valor that I posted about earlier in the week.  The other is a Baby Churn Dash, in a somewhat girly colorway.  This is actually the second quilt top to come from these blocks.  The remaining stack of the blocks are more boy-ish colors, and that is on my To Do list for next week.  One by one, I'm getting some of the blocks sets from RSC made into tops and out of the closet and project boxes.   

Our guild used this idea for New Years Baby quilts a couple of years ago.  Each block is a combination of a solid and a novelty print.  And the blocks are 12" finished, or 6" finished.  I love making Churn Dash blocks so after making a bunch for guild, I've just kept making them.  The novelty prints are fun to shop for, and I've collected a lot of them on various shop hops.  Time to make use of them, right?

In between quilt top assembly I worked on a variety of current RSC blocks as Leaders/Enders.  The Gameboard blocks are totally scrappy.   

It's really easy to pull from the scrap bins to make these as the largest pieces are 2.5 x 4.5.   The squares come right out of the bins of squares already cut into 1.5" and 2.5".  So far I've only made 2 each month.  These will finish at 8".  I see that in that light blue block from last month I have the checkerboard turned the opposite direction as the rest.  Oops!  

Two more of the Travel Stars have been added, using yellow for the star points.  The centers are 6" squares shared by various members at guild. I've made 3 or 4 quilts using those squares over the years and there are still a LOT more squares to play with. 

And now a Public Service Announcement - there have been squirrels causing chaos this week again in my sewing room.    

Squirrel #1 - I've been seeing a lot of the Anita's Arrowhead blocks online lately.  It's an oldie but goody.  Since I've made it one of my missions in 2025 to reduce the number of projects lying around in bags, I searched for the bag I knew contained the pattern (downloaded ages ago) and 5 fat quarters I had planned to use including a yellow one.  Found it in a drawer!!  

That yellow dot has blue, green, orange, and brown in it, and there was a fat quarter of each in the bag.  Each fat quarter is just right to make 4 blocks.  Paired up with some neutral print backgrounds found in the stash provided a good start on what could be a small donation quilt.  Once the 4 yellow blocks were made, I moved on to the blue ones.  

Since taking the first picture I have the green, brown, and orange blocks almost finished too.  I'll have the blocks finished today - 4 of each color.  And assembling them into a lap quilt top will be one of next week's goals. 

 Squirrel #2 - Of course you know how easily I get distracted.  Since I've been sewing quilt tops from various RSC block sets, it was time to come up with some new ideas.  I've been online looking for more ways to use scraps in particular.  And I came across a cute Dresden idea.  It was fairly easy to pull out anything in that yellow bin that was at least 3" by 6.5" to use for the Dresden blades.  I used the Easy Dresden ruler to cut 20 of them from yellow scraps in only about 15 minutes.

And in about 30 more minutes I had pink blades and blue blades cut as well.

  The plan is to use 5 blades in each block, and set them onto a grey background.  The blocks would be set on point, so the Dresden blades point upward.  I might change those circle pieces to black, instead of the colors.  But we'll see how it goes.  

 Check out more RSC projects at . . .
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

It Takes Two

With 3 small projects waiting to be bound, it gave me plenty of handwork to keep me busy in the evenings.  This one was finished while watching Survivor on Wednesday evening.

The Valentine wall hanging was the first of the finishes.  The pattern is It Takes Two, from the 2022 Cupid Box by Fat Quarter Shop.  The top was put together in January when pink was the color of the month for RSC.  I have a shelf with a quilt hanging bar in my living room, just the perfect size for wall hangings.  This is where It Takes Two will most likely hang for February next year.  For it's photo I just pinned it to the current one.

The long arm quilter did a really small design that I love.  It has hearts and flowers swirling around edge to edge.  I'm so glad I had it quilted professionally, rather than doing something really simple myself.  

I really like how the hearts are arranged in this pattern, so it could be made again sometime.  It would make a very sweet baby girl quilt.

Next up for binding - the Easter table runner, and a doll quilt. 

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/