Kits and design boards

The sorting and reorganizing in my sewing room is on-going, and also still in the "making a mess" stage with fabric management in particular.  Right now I'm drowning in red, white, and blue fabric for Quilts of Valor.  That is partially due to very generous donations of fabric we've received.  I'm trying to pare down the patriotic fabric a bit so that it all fits into 2 bins, which isn't going to be easy.  Even with all the cutting I did on Monday I'm not even close to getting it all into those 2 bins.  

This bold flag print was asking to be used in fairly large pieces, not cut into small pieces.  My first thought was the 2026 QOV block for the block drive - Echoes.  There was close to 3 yards of this, in various size chunks so I think it was from a backing. 

In June I handed off (to one of our members) a kit using previously made Echo blocks plus a patriotic panel.  At our August meeting I'll be able to hand off this kit for 48 Echo blocks.  I enjoy cutting, so didn't mind using part of my Monday afternoon to prep the blocks.  All of the block pieces are cut and packaged in a gallon Ziplock bag with the block instructions, ready to go.  Laid out 6 blocks by 8 these will make a nice QOV.

I also went through some of the scraps in the bin and pulled out chunks that would work for current QOV block sets - 4.5", 3.5" and 2.5" widths at least.  The 4.5" strips could be cut with my Easy Angle ruler for Buckeye Beauty.  The 3.5" strips work for Gleam. And the 2.5" strips work for Ticker Tape, Rail Fence and for the squares in the Buckeye blocks.

The Rail Fence block set currently has 80 blocks (6" finished).  Without borders a QOV would need 120.  But in a past QOV we replaced some of the Rail blocks with star blocks, so I am playing with 6" Friendship Stars.  

A blue binding for my Blockheads quilt (also RWB) was cut, and is prepped for the quilt.  I need to trim that quilt and then can add the binding. Maybe today?

More Buckeye blocks are now cut and ready to sew for the RWB Buckeye Beauty quilt that has 6 rows assembled so far.  And a few block sets for Gleam are also on that same design board, up in the left corner.

And more 2.5 x 6.5" sections are cut for the Ticker Tape QOV.  Most of them still need the white squares yet. But that is a different scrap bin.  LOL

So, 3 of my design boards have been reloaded with RWB parts.  The other 2 design boards have some aqua parts for Rainbow Scrap Challenge sewing.   

Totally scrappy Pineapples

No sewing happened at all on Tuesday except for a bit of handstitching to finish one little project.  In the morning I volunteered at the golf course to help check in 60 teams for a senior golf tournament.  That is down from 70 teams last year, probably due to guys cancelling due to the extreme heat.  In the afternoon I washed and dried another Quilt of Valor, and then delivered some quilts and unquilted flimsies that will be used on a float this Saturday morning.  It's rodeo week here in Mitchell, and one of the quilt shops is doing a float for the parade with a Quilt of Valor theme.  

The shop windows were painted for the rodeo week store window competition.  The quilt block is done with little dots, and the whole block is exploding like fireworks.  And look at the green grass area - done with block designs.  These are SO cute!!

This little Pineapple table topper is finished - finally.  It's just another example of seeing something online that I wanted to make, and then figuring out HOW to make it because I didn't find a pattern that provided what I wanted.  No paper piecing is involved here, just lots and lots of 1" strips.  Each block began with a hexagon.  Each round has white alternated with colors.  There is a total of 7 blocks here, with 1 in the middle and 6 surrounding it. There are 4 more blocks that I didn't use here, so maybe in the future they will become something too.

There is no binding on this one.  The front was layered right sides together with the backing, over the batting.  I sewed around the outside edge, trimmed, and turned it all right side out.  A little slip stitching closed that opening.  Back and batting are all scraps as well.  

You can't see it in the photos, but I kept the quilting very simple.  There is a diamond quilted into the 3 larger white areas near the center.  And there is stitching in the ditch all the way around the outside edge - 1 row inside.  

Farm Girl Vintage

After several years of languishing in a project box, these blocks have finally become a finished quilt.  Yay!!

This is Farm Girl Vintage - the 12" block version.  It's 75 x 87, so a fairly big quilt.  A few years ago I used the barn block and animal blocks to make a quilt but then the rest went back into the box.  Now that box only holds the "kitchen" blocks.  Some day I'll figure out what I want to do with the pie, fruit, mixing bowl, etc.     

Design Wall Monday - July 13

I've fallen off the wagon thanks to Crazy Days here in town.  The guilt is minimized however by the great price discounts on all of it.  And I have a purpose or plan for most of it.

I have a weakness for fat quarters so of course a few pretty ones had to be included with my other purchases.  Backgrounds for future projects always makes sense, and 2 yards of a red patriotic print will fit right in with my QOV sewing.  There was a kit for a cute Valentine table runner that I couldn't resist.  And - an impulse purchase was a grab bag.  Inside the grab bag was a $10 gift certificate, some fabric samples, thread, a tape measure, 3 Villa Rosa patterns, a book, and a few other small items.  Plus I won a fat quarter with the cutest little gingerbread men at Saturday Sampler.   

What is on my design wall this week?  Still finishing up a couple of Works in Progress, some Rainbow Scrap sewing, some QOV sewing, along with binding some small things.  The binding on Farm Girl Vintage will be finished too.

I am finally going to cut the parts for the next UFO on my list.  There are 2 projects on my 2026 PHD list that hadn't even been started yet.  One of those will move to the "cut out" stage this week hopefully.  Maybe it will even get to the sewing stage.  Windy Days is a free pattern from Tilda's World.  My plan is to make a wall hanging. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #28

This week flew by with less sewing time than usual, but there are still a few aqua things to share in spite of that.  And a few things included scraps of other colors as well.

My design boards were full of pieces cut for several different RSC blocks this week, which meant it was very quick to sew a whole bunch of blocks.  Two Snail Trail, 2 Scrappy Stars, 2 Vintage Spools, a bunch of Ticker Tape and Tulip Swirl blocks, plus 1 more Crackers & Jam block - all happened in short bursts of time during the week.  

And it's time to reload those design boards for next week.  I'm ready to cut the pieces for the catnip block with the 3 cats sitting side by side.    

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

I'm ready for Saturday Sampler tomorrow . . . with all of the large applique all stitched down with a grey thread and blanket stitch. 

There are several whole Dresden Plate blocks, plus a half and a couple of quarter plate blocks.  This was much more time consuming this month compared to previous months.  But it's good to have them done in time for Saturday Sampler.

And there are several large snowflakes also stitched down.  I'm glad I went with the blanket stitch on these even though all the turns and twists made it slow going. 

Farm Girl Vintage should be done in the next day or so.  I'm currently hand stitching and close to turning the corner for the last side of the binding.  This will be a good one to check off the UFO list as it's big - and has been languishing for several years.  

I'm still trying to have some discipline, and not begin anything new until more on-going projects are done.  TRYING is the key word of course.  In my cleaning/reorganizing efforts I came across another "nearly" done project.  It's a small table topper made with 1" strips.  All it needed was a back, batting, and quilting.  Stay tuned . . . it's sandwiched now, so maybe I'll get this one done this month too.   

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

Catching up

Monday was a non-sewing day except for a little binding in the evening. Tuesday yielded a little time in the morning.  Wednesday there was a bit of sewing time before heading to PT and then grocery shopping.  Hopefully today I'll get back into the groove.

I did some cutting for Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks in aqua. A couple of Snail Trail and Ticker Tape blocks are on the design board.

And I quilted and attached binding to the 2 placemats using the South Dakota fabric.  Guess that means more binding coming up . . . right after I finish binding the Farm Girl Vintage quilt.  I've just turned the corner onto the last side of that big quilt.