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Monday, February 17, 2025

Design Wall Monday - February 17

I took the weekend OFF - from sewing, and spent time with friends and family.  

Saturday morning we left the house about 8:00 am to drive to Brookings where the youngest grandson had a basketball tournament.  So we watched his 3rd grade team play 2 games, hung out with the son-in-law in between games, then scooted across town to the Jackrabbit women's game in the afternoon.  That was very handy, as it was the big rivalry game and we wouldn't have wanted to miss the Jackrabbits vs the USD Coyotes.  Jackrabbits had a win but it was a close game.

We got home Saturday just in time to meet some friends for supper and an adult beverage.  We met at one casual restaurant and after eating, we walked next door to a new brewery for one more beverage.  That was fun too.  


And Sunday morning we met our daughter at the interstate and rode to Pierre with her to watch a granddaughter wrestle that afternoon in the state Middle School meet.  Our granddaughter earned a second place medal in her weight class, pinning both the 3rd and 4th place girls.  So it was a good day.


I did sew the binding onto this little doll quilt in the car on Saturday.  And I worked on the binding on a baby quilt in the car on Sunday.  There is only about 18" remaining to be stitched down.  That is the only sewing since Friday afternoon, which means it's time to get back into sewing mode today, before I go through withdrawal.


Carried over from last week are the chevron blocks for Saturday Sampler.  I have only 3 of the 15 left to make.  Then the row of chevrons will get a narrow top and bottom strip.


Also carried over from last week are these Buckeye Beauty blocks for a new Quilt of Valor.  The count is adding up quickly, but it will require quite a few more yet.  So these will be an ongoing project.

There are more things happening on other projects including . . .

*  a backing to piece for a big UFO
*  lots of RSC blocks using blue scraps
*  the 4-patch doll quilt to be quilted and bound
*  some progress on the SAHRR project that has stalled
*  some cleaning/organizing in sewing room
*  new block for this week in RBD challenge
*  work on applique pillow top (yes - it is a squirrel)
*  AND - whatever else pops up!!


Saturday, February 15, 2025

RSC25 - Week #7

It's been bitter cold here this week, so just perfect to hunker down and sew.  With a focus on blue this month I've been working on some Quilts of Valor blocks as well as some scrappy projects.  


  There are 55 of these 8" (finished) blocks now.  I haven't decided yet how I want them laid out, and whether or not to add a border.  They are very addictive to make.


 These string blocks are pieced on muslin foundations, and are squared up at 9.5".  When I opened the project box with the muslin squares I found a partially finished brown one.  I finished that one and added a blue one.  And I sorted out more blue strings. 


Those additional blue strings became 3 more blocks later in the week, in between other projects.  They make great Leaders/Enders.  There are now 37 of them but I'm aiming for 48 blocks total so more will happen.  


The hanger these blocks were clipped to was getting very full, so I've taken 12 of them and begun assembling a top.  


And speaking of Leaders/Enders, I've been working on a Piano Key border a little bit at a time for a scrappy UFO that I want to finish.  Again - all of these are scraps.  


One more scrappy project that surfaced this week - a scrappy 4-patch doll quilt flimsy.  This one is about 20 x 24.  I will dig into the backing leftovers and see if there is something that would work for this and try to get it quilted soon.

I'm linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge . . .


Friday, February 14, 2025

More churn dash

 Yesterday I needed a break from the chevrons for the Saturday Sampler project, so I made a few more churn dash blocks for the baby quilts.


A few at a time do add up quickly.  And I had several fat quarters set aside for these churn dash blocks.  These will go nicely with the more pastel group. 

And I did get 3 of those chevrons made, so only 5 more to go to complete this month's row of blocks.  Maybe today I'll get them done.  Or maybe not.   

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Bags, blocks and binding

Besides working on the Saturday Sampler this week, I'm finishing a few little things, and keeping up with other weekly tasks.  


The first month's row for Saturday Sampler is almost halfway done.  Seven of the 15 chevrons are assembled and all of the other pieces are ready.  I've made a few each day this week, with other sewing in between them.  I have until the 2nd Saturday of March to finish this row, but plan to have it all done much sooner than that.  

Those little coin purses I was working on are finished.  I think I've made 13 of these so far.  All of them are made from scraps, except for the zippers and lobster clips.  But I had those zippers and clips in the stash anyway.   


The 5th block for the Riley Blake Design challenge was posted on Tuesday, and I got this block cut out and sewn on Wednesday morning.  It's called Flower Patch, designed by Heather Peterson.  This was an easy one.  I've been using my stash of Tula Pink fabrics.  The fussy cut center square has a squirrel.  


The binding is prepped for some small projects - a baby quilt and a doll quilt.  First thing today I plan to sew the binding onto the baby quilt so I'll have that to work on in the evenings while watching TV.  The doll quilt binding is actually ready for hand stitching.  

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Snow and sew

 We finally got some measurable snow on Monday.  It snowed all day long, and I stayed in my sewing room most of the day.  


We ended up with about 4" total, and then the cold moved in behind it.  Yesterday morning it was -14 when I got up, with a "feels like" temperature of -36.  And we were much warmer than anyone north of us!  But the sun was shining on all that new snow.  These are the days that I'm grateful that I didn't have to be on the road before dawn for work.


When I picked out the top stitching on each of the coin purses, I managed to make a big hole in the aqua star version.  But the others went just fine. For the one with the hole, I just removed the zipper completely and replaced it with a different outer fabric.  All 5 new coin purses are ready to hand stitch the lining closed, and then turned right side out.  


And I did the cutting for the new Saturday Sampler.  Once the pieces were all cut, the assembly has begun.  I switched the dark brown for the lighter shade so there was more contrast with the chevrons.  One third of the chevrons are sewn so far.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

To Do Tuesday

 Well, one of the first things on my To Do list today is to fix the mistakes I made yesterday.


My big design board had the parts for 4 coin purses, and a bunch of Quilt of Valor blocks.  And I wanted to clear off the design board so I could use it while cutting the pieces for the new Saturday Sampler.  I started by putting the zippers into the coin purses, which only took about 15 minutes.  Except, I forgot to include the lining pieces.  ARGGGG!  I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, but kept sewing anyway.  

I did make the Quilt of Valor blocks however.  So now my design board is ready to lay out the pieces for the Saturday Sampler as I get them cut.  

Monday, February 10, 2025

Design Wall Monday - February 10

A fresh new week, and some new priorities are popping up.


On Saturday we got our first month's instructions for Saturday Sampler.  This year we're doing a row quilt designed by Mariah of Knight On the Prairie.  She is a new young pattern designer who also works at the local quilt shop.  I'm excited about this new Saturday Sampler program because it will be very different from anything we've done before.  This month's row will use 3 colors to make 15 small chevron shapes, and the whole pattern is based on stranded knitting designs.  I'm hoping to have the pieces all cut in the next day or so.


I still have the parts for 4 little coin purses waiting on a design board to be sewn.  The board also contains several more of the red/white/blue Buckeye Beauty block parts.  My goal is to get this design board emptied by the end of the week.  We'll see how that plan goes.


The next prompt for the Stay At Home Round Robin comes out this morning, and I still don't have last week's prompt added.  However, I do have a plan for last week in my mind.  I'm hoping this next prompt will "play nicely" with my plan. 

There are also some blue Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in the works.


On the hand-stitching front I'll be working on a couple of binding, starting with a kid sized quilt that is on my UFO list.  It's a Laurel Burch panel and I used a Villa Rosa pattern called October Sky.  


And there is a doll quilt that is ready to bind.  My plan is to finish at least one doll quilt each month this year.