RSC26 - Week #7

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Today is Saturday Sampler in the morning, and Sew Vintage in the afternoon.  Our Sew Vintage group is having a little party, and a Valentine mug rug exchange.  And my "Valentine" guy is taking a buddy to the Jackrabbit game today because I don't want to miss Sew Vintage.  LOL

Lots of green was under my needle this week.  I had cut the parts for various blocks over the weekend, so this week it was quick to sew those up.  That particular design board is empty now, and waiting to hold parts for next week's projects.

The Hollow-9 blocks are made with 2.5" squares, and they make the perfect Leader/Ender in between other sewing.

The Snail Trail blocks were added to the brown and blue ones on the hanger.  The current plan is to make 4 of each color.

And finally - there was this one.  Yes, I admit it was a squirrel.  It's so adorable, so how could I resist this one?  There is a blue one for January still in the "pulled fabric" stage.    

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

A finish, SAHRR, and a flimsy

It's Finish (or not) Friday!!

The baby quilt is ready to ship to Colorado next week. Light icy blues, purples and pinks in every shade, and lots of neutrals make up this color palette.

It's actually half of a Bonnie Hunter mystery from this winter, Lupines and Laughter.  As soon as I saw the colors I decided to use it as a baby quilt for my nephew and his wife.  That way I only needed half as many blocks.  Their baby girl is due in March.

This week's prompt for Stay At Home Round Robin was to play with curves.  She gave hints about using curved piecing, yo-yos, or even a print with curves in it.  I woke up at 5:30 am yesterday morning and had been dreaming about this project.  So before I forgot what I had pictured in my head - this happened.  I appliqued circles onto 2 white borders. The other 2 white borders are cut but I'm going to wait until I see what next week's prompt is before ironing on any more circles.  The other 3 corner blocks are ready to add then too.  I had to fight a breeze to get this photo on the front porch. It really does lay flat.  

It always feels good to put the last stitches into a quilt top, or the binding.  And this one is BIG, so it feels extra good to have the top finished.
 

The pattern name is Showering Stars, but I used the licensed mascot print for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits in the centers of the stars.  So it seems appropriate to call it Jackrabbit Stars.  The pattern has a 16-patch scrappy center in those stars.  But one of the ladies at The Pin Cushion used college t-shirts as the star center for a friend.  That gave me the idea to use the Jackrabbit print. 

My husband and I, plus one daughter and a few other relatives are all alumni.  My plan is to give him the quilt in April for his birthday.  Might have to give him just the top if I don't get it all quilted and bound.  I tend to do the binding in the evenings while watching TV, but I don't want him to see it, so another plan may have to be made. 

Check out more Finishes (or Not) . . .
https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

More progress

Yesterday gave me more uninterrupted sewing time and I made good use of it.  First of all . . . the big blue and yellow quilt top I've been working on is now 2 complete halves.  Today it will become a finished flimsy, and I think I found a good backing option for it.

Binding has been added to the Lupines and Laughter baby quilt.  And I put a triangular label into one corner that I will write on.  Hopefully I can ship it to Colorado next week so it arrives before the baby girl does.  

And I cut the pieces to make 4 more Echo blocks for Quilts of Valor.  This is the free 2026 block drive pattern on the QOV website.  

More progress

Yesterday morning I had 3 hours of uninterrupted time in my sewing room.  I spent it working on the Jackrabbit Stars project.  

That gave me the focus time I needed to get the final strip set and other pieces done - in the correct order - to make the last star section.  That 4th star section is done, and the 3 long (90") sections that go on either side are pinned and ready to sew.  Now that the hard work is done, it's time to get this one done.

I'm really hoping to get this to the flimsy stage by Friday. The first half has been done for over a week, but I've gotten distracted by other things while working on the other half.  

A squirrel?

Sooner or later a squirrel was bound to cross my path. You knew that, right?  

I've often said that I get most of my quilting inspiration from the online quilting world that I follow.  This new block is a perfect example.  And yes, it's a squirrel I just HAD to play with.  Do you follow Pat Sloan?  I follow her on Facebook and also get her weekly emails.  I've done some of her sew-alongs over the years.  Sometimes they are totally free, and sometimes there is a book or pattern purchase required.    

Currently she has been doing a sew-along using a book called Scrap Quilting With Wendy Sheppard.  The book has several different interesting patterns perfect for scrappy sewing.  For Pat's sew-along several blocks are being combined into a sampler.  And ONE of those blocks has really caught my eye.

It's called Who's Found the Catnip?  I just couldn't resist it.  It's only 12" x 10", not a huge block to make.  It took just 2 hours to cut and sew.  I'll go back at some point and make a blue one for January. I'm in love!!!!

Design Wall Monday - February 9

Last week I think I spent more time on genealogy research than I did in my sewing room most days.  I'm trying to nail down some details to add a second Revolutionary War "patriot" to our family info for DAR.  It appears I also found at least 1 British sympathizer.  Fascinating info is available online these days.

On Friday I managed to get the 3rd star section made for Jackrabbit Stars.

This quilt is made using 4 long vertical sections with a big star and then the "trail of sparks".  My main goal this week is to get that last section done and have this project pushed to the flimsy stage.  I can tell already that I have enough of the fabrics left to make something else in the future - pillowcases or another quilt - using an easier pattern.  

It was a busy weekend, with almost no sewing time.  Saturday morning was guild, then we left to pick up 2 grandsons to take to a Jackrabbit men's basketball game.  Sunday afternoon there was a Quilt of Valor awarded. 

 The guild began our DIY Round Robin this month with Round 1 introduced.  The plan is to use SQUARES in some way this month.  Mine has simple 4-patches in the corners. I shared mine as an example of what they can do, but I'm anticipating some of our members will be much more creative than I was. I took 2 past SAHRR projects with me as more examples of how they can just make this their own.  

And today the plan is to enjoy an afternoon of cards with friends.  But some cutting for Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks did happen in between other things.

Going through the 2.5" square box yielded enough green ones for 2 Hollow-9 blocks.  I know that I had used up most of the 2.5" green squares when making some projects last year.  The parts for a couple of the reversed Buckeye blocks came from the green scrap bin.  Not very many larger pieces remain in that green scrap bin anymore. 

For the 12" Snail Trail blocks I needed bigger pieces.  I have a big bin full - OK, overflowing - of fat quarters that have been "hoarded" for too long.  So, I dug in to find some neutrals and some greens.  The parts for the 4 Snail Trail blocks for this month are cut and ready to go when sewing time pops up this week.  And the remains of those fat quarters will go into more RSC blocks coming up.  

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

 

SAHRR

Adding a new round for SAHRR can be a challenge.  Last week's prompt told us to be inspired by the animal world.  So many options came to mind and were then eliminated.

I dug through my pattern books, but came away with no real inspiration.  But a little web browsing finally gave me a plan.  A site with free paper piecing patterns provided me with a couple of options to try out.  

Half an hour was all it took to make 4 paper pieced Birds in the Air blocks for Round 3.  These will finish at just 4",  and I'll have to keep that size in mind for the next round. 

Instead of making entire rounds or just doing 1 or 2 sides, I decided this week only corners will be added to my SAHRR.  The link to the site I used is here. 

https://www.generations-quilt-patterns.com/free-paper-piecing-patterns.html

AND - I'm linking up today with The Darling Dogwood's Linky Party for the Round 3 additions to SAHRR.