Strings and things

One of my big priorities this month is to finish the top of a very large quilt (Jackrabbit Stars), but to do that I really need to free up more work space in my sewing space.  To that end, I'm going to focus on getting some smaller projects done first and moved out of the way.  That is because I have multiple projects laying around, as always.  Small project #1 . . .

String blocks are quite addictive to make, and I've done a few bigger quilts over the years with strings.  But this time I used them in a small project. 

It's a doll quilt and 22" square.  Now it's wrapped around a grey teddy bear, and will become a donation to the local safe house once there are "friends" to join this first one of 2026.  Last year I donated 12 little doll quilts wrapped around stuffed animals, all to the safe house.

 

The 3 little kits for 5-Minute Table Runners are also finished.  These really do only take about 5 minutes to sew, plus maybe another 5 minutes to hand stitch the buttons on.  So maybe a half hour was enough to get these done.  Possible future gifts? 

A few sparkly beads have been added to the Valentine mini.  I felt it needed something more besides my simple straight line quilting.  Red heart shaped beads are in those bottom corners.  Clear sparkly little beads are scattered around in the dark red sections.  It's just enough I think.

Design Wall Monday - February goals

I'm setting a few goals - some are on-going WIPs, some are UFOs that need more progress, and there WILL be some new things to work on of course. 

WIPs = Works in Progress

• Jackrabbit Stars - get to flimsy stage (halfway now)
• BH Mystery Lupines & Laughter - get to flimsy stage (add pieced outer border)
• Saturday Sampler - new monthly blocks
• make blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge in new color - GREEN
• finish hand stitching on Sashiko piece
• quilt and bind at least 1 doll quilt (5 tops in the pile)

UFOs = Unfinished Objects

• bind Zipper quilt IF back from quilter
• find backing for Triple Triangle & take to quilter
• take Contessa (brown) to quilter
• finish blocks for QOV Shadow Star (seriously neglected)

NEW Projects & PIGs (Projects in Grocery Sacks)

• March mini quilt (Year of Spools)
• make 5-minute table runners from kits found in drawer (photo above)
• Spring mini vertical banner (kit in drawer)
• March door hanger kit - maybe!!!

Going through a drawer, looking at kits I've purchased in the past and neglected to make - that's a dangerous activity.  There were several projects that really caught my attention, but I think it would be good to start small this month and just see how much I accomplish. 

I'm tracking fabric IN and OUT again this year and really want to be more conscious of what I purchase.  I'm not getting any younger and the stash is huge.  LOL  My spreadsheet says I've purchased more than I've used (+9.25 yards), but part of those purchases were backing for quilts.  And I have a couple of things close to finishing so that will help my numbers.

IN = 19.75 yds

OUT = 10.5 yds

Teal blocks

For several years I've played along with one particular online monthly scrap color challenge, and this year I'm adding another one.  

https://conniekresin.com/2026-january-color-of-the-month/

Connie, at Freemotion By The River, has chosen teal as the January 2026 color.  She has already announced red will be the color for February.

I used up a few teal scraps to add these blocks that will fit right in with the other color challenge, where I'm working on various on-going blocks sets.  There is the Scrappy Star in teal and black, a 6" Friendship Star, and the 6" Hollow-9 block.  There are a few blue Scrappy Stars also hanging on that hanger for the other color challenge, so the teal one will join right into that set of blocks.  There are lots of Hollow-9 blocks in various colors in a basket from last year.  The Friendship Star joins a forgotten set of colorful blocks in both 6" and 9".

RSC26 - Week #5

It's hard to believe we're 5 weeks into the new year already.  And it's time to retire the blue scrap bin even though it sure doesn't seem any emptier than it was 5 weeks ago.  But like most everyone else, I'm excited to play with a new color. 

The main blue project this week has been this one - Jackrabbit Stars. It is a little more than halfway to the flimsy stage. Showering Stars is the pattern and it's assembled in vertical rows that are 90" long.  

Lots of blue blocks happened this month - Honey Bees, Give It a Whirl, Hollow 9, Reversed Buckeye, Scrappy Stars, Snail Trail, and Vintage Spools.  Some light blue string blocks, a couple of random blocks, and a couple of blue UFOs kept me busy too. 

Lots of Quilt of Valor sewing happened in January too.  These blocks will all be on-going. Most months involve QOV sewing for me. 
 

One final dig into the blue scraps, and I ended up with 4 more blue string blocks.  Paired up with some lime green blocks already made, this will become a future doll quilt.  It's 18" square as is, so I will see what I have in either green or blue for a little border.  I have blue binding for it that is in the leftover binding drawer. 

Let's go see what everyone else is playing with this week . . . and find out what color comes to play in February. 

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Friday finishes (or Not)

Small finishes are so satisfying. The St Patrick's Day table runner is finished, along with 2 matching mug rugs.  With small finishes in mind, the next step was seeing what else was lurking in my stash that could be quick finishes in the next couple of weeks.

One drawer that just contains kits yielded a couple of PIGs for the month of February.  There were 3 little kits for 5-Minute table runners - 2 for Easter and 1 Halloween version.  I think these were purchased either on a shop hop or maybe during Crazy Days a couple of years ago.  Time to get them out of the drawer and finished soon. 

As for any big finishes - not yet.  But, I'm on the last side of the binding for a UFO quilt, and making progress on another large project.  So it's all good!

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

SAHRR Round #2

The Stay At Home Round Robin prompt for Round 2 was "seeing double". Kathleen McMusing was the designer this week. 

After a lot of thinking, I decided to keep things simple this week, and to give the eye a chance to stop after a very busy round.   So I added a simple double border.  The border around the center block is dark purple.  The new  double border is a dark aqua/blue, and then a dark fuschia. Now I feel like the third round can be more dramatic again. It's about 26" square at this point.

Check out the Linky Party to see what other Round 2 ideas have been shared.

https://kathleenmcmusing.com/

Progress

Progress is continuing on the Jackrabbit Stars project.  It's about halfway to the flimsy stage. Two more strip sets need to be made for the other 2 stars.  Each of the 4 stars will have those "trails" to make them Showering Stars, which is the pattern name. 

No additional progress on this project will happen today.  I'm attending the monthly get-together of the retired group from the HS I taught at for 2 decades.  And then we'll be headed to a Jackrabbit basketball game.  But maybe I'll have a little bit of time to work on some Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks that are cut out and ready to sew.