Finished (or not) Friday

 First of all, Happy Anniversary to my daughter and her husband today.  We were on the beach in Jamaica for that wedding 16 years ago.  Now they have 3 kids and 3 dogs to keep them too busy to revisit that beach.

I have 2 finishes this week, because the bindings on both projects were quick to finish in front of the TV this week while I kept that Achilles resting on an ice pack.  

First is Giddy Up - which is only 40 x 55.  It's one of my Go To patterns for a quick baby quilt, and the best thing it uses 1 yard each of 3 fabrics.  I found this cute pink/blue rocking horse fabric in Kansas a few years ago while at a family reunion.  This one is going into the mail soon for a baby gift.  

The more impressive finish - Circle of Friends.  The pattern was a free BOM from Carol Doak, who must be the QUEEN of paper piecing.  On the first day of 12 months we got a new block pattern posted to her Facebook group.  

I used 2 different black prints with colorful sprinkles on the blocks. One has dots and the other has "party confetti".  The confetti print is the outer border too.  Each block has a touch of white somewhere, and each block was made using bright scraps.  Lots and lots of scraps went into this project.  Even the yardage was totally from the stash.  

It's possible the back is even more fun than the front.  Every color from the blocks is in that wild backing, which is why I bought it.  Should I admit that I bought 6 yards of this wide backing?  OK - yes I did, so it will show up again on some Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts in the future.

Today is the day that all the stuff I've collected for the quilt guild rummage sale will be dropped off at the sale location.  Yay!!   I feel like I made a bit of a dent in the over-accumulation of sewing stuff. 

But I wasn't nearly brutal enough in clearing out fabric.  Plus I kept finding interesting things that I do want to finish as I dug through bins and drawers.  There was enough of this cute print to make 2 pillowcases, so I pulled some other yardage from another drawer to add the cuffs.  These are NOT finished, but are pinned and laying on my ironing board to sew up today.  

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

Thursday this and that

 My gardening for this spring is done.  I have 3 flower pots and they are planted.

OK - I will confess - these all contain fake flowers and greenery, with solar lights and a rain gauge tucked in with them. The back deck gets so hot that it's a struggle every year to keep flowers alive.  I ordered these flower "picks" from Amazon and they are supposed to be fade resistant.  We'll see.  The rain gauge is in the pot on the left.  The front porch stays in the shade so this is the 3rd year I've put a fake geranium in that big pot on the porch.  This year I've added additional greenery and red, white, blue twinkle solar lights.  These are all fake, but still look lots better than dying droopy real flowers.

The rest of this post will demonstrate that I'm struggling to focus on any one project again lately.  Actually the decluttering has contributed to the lack of focus because I keep moving things around in the sewing room, and finding things that need attention.  

I'm having a flare of the Achilles tendonitis that plagued me a few years ago.  That means it hurts when I just stand for long periods of time.  Yesterday I worked on the decluttering for awhile, then sat and sewed for awhile - then repeated that process.  Several RSC blocks were cut and sewn as well. 

Some of the Salt Water Taffy blocks have also been sewn, but there are still lots more to go.  Because the cutting was already done I've just sat down and sewn a few when I needed to sit for awhile and let that Achilles rest.  

As I sorted scraps yesterday, I set aside some that were big enough for some Quilts of Valor blocks. Rather than adding those scraps to the RWB bin, I cut them to make 4 more of the Echoes QOV block.  I think I'll sew these up right away today because they are really fast to make with big pieces. 

The tracing has begun for the Beach Bums project.  There are 9 pages of shapes to trace onto fusible.  I'll need to buy more because those shapes won't all fit onto the 2 yards of Heat n Bond Light I just bought.   

 There is a small bin holding various parts and pieces for doll quilts, mug rugs, and placemats that are "in progress". While decluttering in my sewing room this week, several mug rugs were trimmed up and ready for binding.  A few even have binding attached now. That bin is now emptier, and organized.  Plus - I cut batting scraps that were too small for other things into squares for future mug rugs. And I threw away some poor quality batting scraps I found.  Yay for this push to declutter!!! 

 

A big task yesterday was emptying this bin of scraps plus a canvas cube of selvages.  I dumped a bunch of smaller containers into this bin, then worked my way through it.  I need to be even more ruthless but I filled 3 bags (1 gallon) with selvages, so the cube is no longer overflowing on the shelf.  And 2 bags (2 gallon) of scraps - joined the rummage sale collection.  They can give those away, or throw them away.  I even threw away all the really small pieces.  That bin is now empty and on a shelf in the basement storage area - NOT to be refilled with fabric scraps!!!  I promise!!

Midweek progress

Monday was a busy day - with a little sewing and lots more decluttering. 

Sewing this Quilt of Valor star block was the first thing I did in the morning.  The pattern is from Carol Doak, block #8 in her current Starry Starry Night series (Facebook BOM).  It's paper pieced of course.  The sections were all sewn and the paper came off last Friday so it was quick to finish.  She designs the most stunning blocks, and right now they are all stars.

And the second thing I did on Monday morning was attach the binding to another Carol Doak paper pieced project.  This is Circle of Friends, another BOM from her Facebook group.  I'm excited to get this UFO done, and it's one I plan to keep for myself.  Isn't that backing bright and crazy?

Last week I purchased a new small bookcase at Menards that would fit behind the big desk in my sewing room, and tucked at the end of the long table.  They also had the canvas cubes for these, and I chose 2 that were narrower so that I could add some books next to the cube. 

The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon was spent going through my quilting books once more.  A dozen more went into the rummage sale boxes, and I moved all of the paper piecing books I found to the new bookcase - all in one place now.  Also added to the rummage sale boxes were a couple of charm packs, some yardage, and a few other odds and ends. 

My sewing room is still not as clean or organized as I want, but I'm making progress.   

Family gathering & a small finish

 

On Sunday afternoon we gathered with the whole family, for the first time since New Years.  Both families are so busy but we found a few hours to celebrate the spring birthdays. I told my daughters that if one of them would provide the place, then I would provide the food.  We kept it easy - we ordered pizza locally, and one daughter brought a big lettuce salad.  I brought the cake, cheesecake, and ice cream.  

I found myself really looking at the 4 teenagers, and wondering what future careers will each follow. They are looking so grown up suddenly.  The oldest 2 are both currently taking driver's ed and will be getting their first permits in coming days and weeks. The young man sitting next to grandpa had a big week - was a Student of the Month at his middle school and got a wild turkey on his first turkey hunt. The youngest grandson had a spring flag football game to go to late that afternoon.  And one granddaughter has a swim meet coming up this weekend.  Busy, busy, busy!! 

Over the weekend there was a very small finish.  This doll quilt is about 24" square, so it may need a little bigger stuffy before it goes to a child. There are 2 teddy bears in the closet yet, so I'll probably swap one of them for the dog.  The little dog is cute but should have a quilt more suited to his size.  LOL  

So far in 2026 there are 4 doll quilts ready to donate.  Last August I took 12 doll quilts with critters to the local safe house, along with 10 quilts. There are 3 or 4 more doll quilt tops downstairs ready to quilt so I need to get busy on them.  

On a side note - that beautiful yellow/blue/white doll quilt on the back of this child size rocker is nearly 70 years old and is one of my treasured possessions.  My paternal grandmother made that for me when I was really little.  It's all hand stitched.  At a family reunion with my cousins a few years ago I learned that not all of the girls got a doll quilt from our grandmother, and no one else still has theirs.  So it is a treasure!!

Design Wall Monday - April 20

A new week, so some new projects are coming out to play.  The next UFO I've decided to work on is . . . drum roll please . . . Beach Bums!

Beach Bums is a wall hanging, with a simple pieced background and lots of raw edge applique.  I bought the pattern in Rapid City in August 2024.  The pattern designer - JoAnn Hoffman is a Black Hills area designer, and one of the other UFO wall hangings on this year's list is also by her.  At the time I also bought the 3 colors needed for the background, but all of the applique will involve digging deep into my scrap bins.   

And, because all that applique will likely be "putzy" and take me awhile I've pulled a PIG to work on as well. It's a Villa Rosa pattern called Salt Water Taffy, using charm squares and a jelly roll.  Tucked into the project box was even a picture (probably from Pinterest) and some notes for an alternate strip size of 1.5".  I think this will make another good donation quilt.  And it would empty another project box.

Friday morning I had a technician here fixing some Internet issues, so I brought up that jelly roll and stood at my kitchen counter to cut all the pieces to frame the 2 sides of each charm square.  Having all the pieces cut and paired up should make quick work of the blocks.  And there are plenty of the jelly roll left to use for a scrappy binding. 

The mini for the month of May arrived in the mail on Saturday, and this will be added to my To Do list.  Another really cute spool mini, and the 2nd to last one in the series.

I'm testing a couple of new star blocks for Quilts of Valor.  This one is paper pieced so it isn't likely to become an option for our group.  Not everyone wants to do any paper piecing.  But I'm excited to make this one and will use it in a new QOV sampler.

So my plan is to focus on these projects, some binding, and a few additional blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge or QOV.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC26 - Week #16

Another week of playing with pink . . .

One pink finish - the Snail Trail baby quilt from the closet full of flimsies. It's only 44" square, so just a good size for a baby quilt. As I was going through the flimsies on hangers to see which I could donate (unfinished), this one seemed like one that could be easily finished instead.  The blocks and top were done during a pink month a couple of years ago for RSC.  Now the only Snail Trails hanging around are the new ones I'm doing this year for RSC in all colors.  LOL

Four more of the reversed Buckeye blocks were quick to sew this week.  These are 8" finished blocks, and I've been making at least 4 in each month's color so far.

Who Found the Catnip? - such whimsical blocks!!  Wendy Sheppard included this block in her recent book on scrap quilting and it was the whole reason I bought the book.  However, there are definitely other cute blocks to explore in the book. 

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Friday Finished (or not)

Here it is Friday again already!!  Do I have any finishes to report? Yes I do. 

Because I'm one of those people who always has multiple projects in the works, my list making comes in very handy to keep them all straight.  On Monday this week I listed 6 things I wanted to accomplish this week, and I've managed to cross all but one of those off the To Do list.  Yay!!

1. bind at least 1 quilt - YES - pink Snail Trail baby quilt

2. finish the summer banner - YES

3. finish 2 blocks for pizza box challenge - YES - actually made 5 blocks
4.  make some RSC blocks - YES - several blocks
5. cut out this month's Saturday Sampler pieces - Not yet
6. choose next UFO to tackle - YES - 2 UFOs are next up

Two items (1 and 4) on this list will be shared tomorrow on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge post because they are PINK.  Blocks and binding - checked off.  The binding is finished on the pink Snail Trail quilt.  And I've begun hand stitching the binding on another baby quilt.

Here is the little summer banner, all done and ready to hang in my office. I'm so glad I made copies of the pages with the foundation sections for this because I really want to make more of those cute butterfly blocks.  These banners are only 10 x 26 but fit perfectly in that spot in my home office between the closet door and the doorway to the hall.

As for the #5 on the list - I have pulled out the colors I plan to use for those Saturday Sampler blocks for this month, but that won't be needed until early next week.  We have a busy weekend, with the family getting together to celebrate 5 spring birthdays.  No sewing will happen over the weekend, unless it's just a block or 2 for RSC or QOV.  However I'm all ready to go on Monday morning - probably with a new list of things I want to work on.  LOL 

The binding for Circle of Friends has been cut and sewn.  This bright yellow is the same shade as the narrow inner border on this quilt.  Plus there are pops of yellow in some of the blocks.

More yellow binding was made for one of the doll quilts in the To Do pile.  All of this binding will not happen right away, but it's nice to have some things ready to grab as needed.  

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