Reading & planning

Are you a reader?  I can never have enough books on my To Read list.  Most weeks I read at least 1 or 2 books, with my favorite genre lately being mysteries. But sometimes it's a book completely out of my normal genre that surprises me the most.      

Recently a former coworker had posted on Facebook that her book club was going to be reading Mad Mabel.  Of course I had to look into it, and decided it was something I would enjoy.  And I was right - it was a very interesting read. 

Copied from the Amazon description - "a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet. "

I've been talking recently about the fact that I do a LOT of thinking about projects when I'm not actually sewing - or reading a good book.  My brain has been spinning away lately with the possibilities around here.  My Monday plan this week included getting a couple of UFOs to the flimsy stage, which I can report has been successful.  Come back tomorrow to see what I accomplished for flimsies.

But my plan also involved doing something with the Christmas-y gingerbread people blocks left over from a long ago Saturday Sampler.  The gingerbread girl block is on the way to becoming a mini quilt.  It's quilted and the binding is attached.  But she needs to be a bit more dressed up - buttons and bows are needed to make her pretty I think.  

I haven't decided yet what to do with the gingerbread boy block or the parts for 3 more that are still in that project box.  So the box has been put away again -  for now, at least until I come up with a plan. 

But of course the planning hasn't stopped for other things - so, what comes next? It was grey and raining AGAIN yesterday morning, which was a good reason to just go downstairs to my sewing room to be surrounded by color.  It was time to put away some things - and choose the next couple of things to focus on. From a basket full of fall kits, these 3 caught my eye first.  I think the little gnome mug rug will be my first choice.  Then I may have to make that hanging towel kit that was a recent purchase from Shabby Fabrics.  

And from a basket of Christmas things, I'm going to do this table topper using a gorgeous holiday batik jelly roll.  Last weekend was Sew a Jelly Roll Day - but I didn't. It's OK to jump into the game a few days late, right?     

Midweek check in

Every day I see a little more progress on this UFO.

So far this week I've gotten the last of the snowman noses ironed on and stitched down.  And now I'm working on the snowflakes.  There are 8 of them around the outside, and 12 more will go into the center area of the circle.  Then I'll have the 8 smiles to add to the snowmen. 

The last of the 30 Happy Blocks have been sewn, and they are also sewn into 6 rows of 5 blocks.  The colors are alternated like this.  I'm confident the rows will become a flimsy by the end of this week. 
 

The other progress made this week was in changing the seasonal quilts and things around my house.  There is more to do, but I'm happy with this little corner of my living room.

Saturday Sampler

Yesterday was chilly and rainy, so a perfect day for staying in the house and sewing. I can check off one of my goals for the week.   

The September section for Saturday Sampler is all done.  In the pattern this unit appeared to use a single background, and a single fabric for those triangles.  I decided to go with totally scrappy instead.  It's kind of strange looking alone, but looks OK with the other units.

There were all those corners trimmed off - and of course they were too big to just throw away.  So all 16 of them are now 2.5" HSTs.  They will end up somewhere eventually. 

Design Wall Monday - Sept. 21

One project from last week saw a little progress, and hopefully that progress will continue this week again.  I want to finish the top for this one by the end of the month.

Kisses From Heaven is getting closer to being a flimsy, but there are still quite a few applique pieces needing to be added.  I've been taking this one slowly, just doing a little of the applique at a time.  I tend to hunch over my machine when blanket stitching, and then my neck and shoulders get stiff.  So, I'm just working on it in small increments.

The Saturday Sampler assignment for September shouldn't take long, and that will be another priority for this week.  The small Flying Geese section (far right above) is actually not done as traditional Flying Geese blocks.  They are just rectangles with triangles side by side. The parts are ready to go for quick sewing.  A few more of the little snowflakes for next month need to be ironed onto fabric and cut out as well. 

These blocks are nearly ready to assemble into a baby quilt top. Just a few more blocks to make. This one might be a good baby gift for the new baby coming to the extended family (great nephew's family) this coming spring.  Once it's a flimsy, I should work on another UFO or WIP, right?  Not sure I could possibly live long enough to finish all of the UFO/WIP projects around here.  But I'm trying anyway.

I'm in the mood to work on some holiday themed things for some reason, but also have a lot of UFOs that need attention.  So . . . maybe a Christmas-y UFO?  These gingerbread people blocks were in a project box. Christmas pillows?  Table runner?  Wall hangings? Several years ago we did a Saturday Sampler called Gingerbread Joy, which was a mix of applique and piecing.  I finished my quilt without using the 5 gingerbread people blocks in the pattern.  These are the only 2 I worked on at the time, and they were tucked into the project box along with all the leftover fabrics.  Time to plan something with these I think. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #38

It was mostly in short bursts of time, but more purple came out to play this week.

Most important was getting the Who Found the Catnip block finished.  That middle kitty is the most fun, and nearly used up the little scrap I had left.  I'm in love with these blocks. 

OK - yes, I got totally carried away with the Tulip Swirl blocks.  There were so many pretty purple chunks in the scrap bag and I just kept cutting.  LOL  There is no plan yet for these 4" blocks, but they'll work nicely somewhere.  There are still a few parts and pieces in other colors laying on the design board, waiting to be sewn.  And there is a good sized stack in a small basket ready to become happy scrappy blocks.  

One Snail Trail block a day, and these 4 were finally done and off the design board they occupied.  The top lighter purple is actually a Halloween print.  The dark one here is a batik that looks kind of like corduroy. 

This second dark one is also a batik.  I'm actually surprised at just how much purple I have in my stash and in my scraps.  

In an effort to catch up with the Ticker Tape blocks, I got 5 red ones made this week.  That brings red up to the 9 I want for each color.  A 9th yellow one and 3 more pink ones also were added to the collection.  Since I want 9 of each - for now - I'll keep working on them.  There is a big collection of patriotic RWB Ticker Tape blocks too.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

There are definitely no finishes to report for this week.  One of the downsides to not having lots of actual sewing time seems to be more time to think about projects.  My head has been spinning again lately with ideas about projects I want to make.  It has even been spinning around which UFO or WIP to tackle next.  All year I've been trying to work through fabric already in the stash, so here we go. 

I already had the squares and strips cut for this particular project earlier in the month, and then it got set aside - in real danger of becoming a UFO.  Shame on me!!  Yesterday morning I got half of the blocks sewn, and maybe today I'll get the rest sewn.  The Happy Block pattern is basically a 3-yard quilt, with the pattern being free to download from Maryquilts.com.  It's easy, plus it looks great totally scrappy or planned like this one. 

Notice - both of these center squares are actually pieced because I cut a few of them wrong. Oops!!  But once it's quilted it will be fine. 

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

Noses on snowmen

I finally got some extended sewing time yesterday, and it felt so good to work on multiple things.  And not feel rushed, which was a bonus.  

First things first, I made 2 different Double Sawtooth Star blocks for the Pizza Box Challenge.  These were fun.  I do think I like the lighter background better, but both are pretty.

I also worked on some purple blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but I'll keep those to myself until Saturday. The main blocks I finished were the 12" Snail Trail - in purple. 

Then I was able to get back to working on Kisses From Heaven again finally.  The large scarves were ironed on, and blanket stitched.  The small noses were next.  And maybe this morning I'll get the bigger noses done. That will leave smiles on the snowman heads and lots of laser cut snowflakes.