Garden Stars and more red, white, blue

Yesterday morning I had some sewing time, and it was spread over multiple projects.  Another Quilt of Valor was washed and dried as well, making 4 done this week. 

I attached the binding to another Quilt of Valor.  Today I should have time to trim it and begin the hand stitching.  This is the quilt before it was quilted.  It was the most recent QOV sew along hosted by Alycia, called Marching Stars.

The quarter units for a second Garden Stars block were sewn.  The paper still needs to be taken out of them.  Two down and 10 to go . . . over the next 12 months.

The top for the second 60 degree runner is sewn and sandwiched with backing and batting, ready for quilting.  The backing is more yardage removed from the drawer this week, and there is still enough for at least 1 more table runner I think.  It won't take long to quilt so possibly today it will be at the binding stage.

Mid-week check-in

I'm happy to report that 2 placemats and 2 mug rugs have been finished from that first border print, along with the table runner.  That first border print is now all used up.  Yay!!

The 2 placemats are nearly identical, so I flipped one over to show that striped backing from Nann's surprise box of goodies.  It was perfect. 

Next up is the 60 degree runner from the 2nd border print.  This was a smaller piece of yardage, so there wasn't enough for any placemats, but I did cut 6 mug rugs fronts from leftovers.  Hopefully this runner will be sewn and sandwiched with batting and backing this morning.  The mug rugs may wait awhile.

My big task yesterday was reorganizing all of the Quilts of Valor tops, bindings, and backings we have collected.  There are 21 quilt tops in that big bin, plus a number of bindings ready to use. We have 6 patriotic panels to use in more quilts.  And there are some presentation pillowcases.  What you can't see - 6 more tops I paired with backings that are ready to be quilted.  We're fortunate that we have lots of tops ready, because we got 3 new nominations in just this week. 

We actually have an award this afternoon in Sioux Falls for one veteran.  It was a last minute arrangement as the veteran is in very poor health so it needed to be done now instead of waiting until later in the summer.  I'm going to go do that one myself on my way to my granddaughter's softball game.  

Red, white and blue

Another busy weekend, with guild on Saturday and tree trimming on Sunday - with plenty of sewing time in between.  And it's birthday time for both the oldest grandchild and the youngest grandchild.

The tallest one of these 3 teens is our oldest grandchild.  He turns 15 today.  Happy birthday to Mason.  He and his 13 year old twin siblings hauled a LOT of branches while their dad trimmed some of our trees on Sunday.  Grandpa paid them well for their labor.

And the youngest grandchild is Jack, who turned 11 just a few days ago.  Grandpa went to his baseball game that evening.  He had a good game, driving in 2 runs.  We both went to his baseball game last night, and he had another double.

One of the QOV members brought back the quilt she bound for us.  This was actually a top that I made from my own stash.  The Spool blocks were done with strips.  The 2 quilt top kits I put together were taken by 2 members to put together. I got home just in time for our state coordinator to drop off 2 more quilts she had quilted for us.  And yesterday morning our group received 2 more award requests through the QOV website. 

My post yesterday mentioned trying to clear up QOV fabrics.  One of my goals for the week was to make 60 degree runners with 2 border prints I have had for ages.  One of those runners was a finish already on Sunday evening.  These are so fast to make - it was all done on Sunday before and after the tree trimming.  

There was enough of the border print left for 2 placemats and 2 mug rugs.  The backing for these is from the box that Nann sent me last week.  I have them quilted but need to get them all bound yet.    

Design Wall Monday - June 8

The new paper pieced project - Garden Stars - from Carol Doak will have a star block posted each month, and there are also alternate blocks that will separate the stars.  She gave us the pattern for the 12 alternate blocks on June 1 so we can work on those through out the year.  I have my first one sewn, and am loving how it turned out.  I have 2 more of these ready to sew this week.  

The contractors that are rebuilding the deck on the back of our house arrived on Thursday morning, and by the end of Day 1 they had all of the flooring removed except that one little section.  Our very confused cats sat around on that section in the evening, probably wondering what the heck was going on. One guy was back in the morning on Friday at 7:30 and had that little platform gone.  By noon he had half of the rotten stringers removed too. By Friday afternoon it was completely gone and cleaned up.  Today they will begin to rebuild our new deck.   

I don't usually have trouble sleeping, but last Thursday night I woke up about 1 am when a thunderstorm rolled through here.  Then I spent the next 2 hours lying awake, listening to it rain and thinking.  My brain just didn't want to shut down - and it was mostly spinning about how much my sewing room needs some major organizing - again.  Friday morning I tackled one area to attempt to tame the beast.

Part of my problem is an over-abundance of yardage (and scraps) for Quilts of Valor. There is a 2-drawer (deep drawers) unit full of red/white/blue fabric, some of it yardage and lots of good size leftover pieces.  I pulled out one drawer and dumped the contents out on the floor.  In there were these 2 patriotic border prints.  I'm going to use them for a couple of quick 60 degree table runners.  It's time to use these pretty fabrics instead of storing them.

The larger pieces of yardage went into the big tote with other QOV yardage.  I did keep out some yardage that would make better backing than blocks.  Then I began with the chunks of yardage, cutting pieces for various QOV block sets currently in progress.  Depending on the size of the chunks I focused on Gleam, Buckeye Beauty, and Ticker Tape block parts.  Two new Gleam blocks were born from those scraps so far, and there are now 17 of the 30 needed for the quilt top.  And the parts above the block are for Buckeye Beauty blocks.  We already have nearly enough of the Buckeye blocks for a quilt collected from several members last fall, so now the parts are ready for 8 more.  Another step closer to a flimsy.  

And from narrower chunks of those scraps I cut more parts for Ticker Tape blocks. These use 2.5" strips.  There are parts for 24 new ones all clipped into sets, ready to be Leaders/Enders this week while I work on other projects.

The newly empty drawer is now holding backing for various projects I have waiting to be quilted.  There was even room for some leftover backing that will be perfect for smaller projects.  Instead of in a couple of piles on the floor it's now in 1 place.  It even has a label attached to remind me what's in it. Maybe in the next few days I can empty that other drawer, or at least get it better organized. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

RSC26 - Week #23

My sewing preferences tend to lean toward bright saturated colors, but the stash (and scraps) do contain plenty of pastels too.  So far this year I've kind of neglected those lighter shades, until Angela chose them for our June color.  And because I had finished some major goals this week I was able to dive right into the pastels.

The first thing I did last Saturday after seeing we would be playing with pastels - was make 2 Confetti Stars, paper pieced from scraps in the light blue scrap bin.

Each month I've been making 4 Snail Trail blocks from that month's color.  A few of those have already been in the pastel range.  This week I added 4 more in pastel shades of blue, green, and lavender.  An idea crossed my mind that I could divide these blocks into 2 quilts at the end of the year - divided by warm and cool colors, or maybe pastels vs brights.  We'll see how many I end up with in the fall.

A few pastel Ticker Tape blocks happened too.  Because this is a block I just started making in May, the only "bright" color so far is orange.  During this month I'll also go back to some of the previous colors in the bolder shades to add to the collection gradually.  There is a pile of these in patriotic prints going on too.  

A donation quilt project that is mostly pastel is Salt Water Taffy (Villa Rosa).  It's also teetering on the edge between WIP and UFO -  so I added it to my goal list for June to move it to the flimsy stage at the very least.  The blocks had been a Leader/Ender this spring.  Now they are ready for the next steps.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

It's not a complete finish, but it is a flimsy finally.  These were the Moda Blockheads 6 sew-along blocks from 2025.  I wanted to do the sew-along last year, so the QOV scrap bin came in very handy to make these blocks.  There are 3 sizes of blocks in this series - 9", 18", and 27".  That 18" block in the lower right is one I'm planning to use again - somewhere - because I just love it.

This red patriotic print wide back will be just perfect with it.  This is another UFO that is also on my PHD list at the quilt shop.  It will be great to get this quilted and bound so I can check off another project from the list.

Beach Bums is in the hands of a long arm quilter as of this week.  I asked for dense quilting so I'm excited to see what she does with it.  I know it will be awesome.  

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

 

A new project

Since New Year's I've been quite careful and deliberate about fabric purchases.  For the most part I've bought backing for UFO projects, or things that were needed to finish a project already in the works such as backgrounds or binding.  No big purchases have been made for new projects, until this week. 

But I've fallen off the wagon!!  Almost 20 yards of fabric was purchased this week for a new sew-along by Carol Doak.  And YES - it's another paper pieced project!!  Plus it's FREE.

Garden Stars is just beginning this month via the Facebook group.  To join in you need to join Carol Doak Bonus Block of the Month group on Facebook.  A friend in Rapid City and I are both doing this one, although Tina already has her first block done and I kept changing my mind about colors. We'll have fun sharing progress and cheering each other on.  I'm ready to start working on that first block.  

My inspiration is that big floral print from Moda.  And the rest of the colors will be navy and white, teal and mint, orange and yellow.  Because she's introducing only 1 block per month it's very manageable.  Plus she gave us the alternating block design early so we could work on those gradually during the next year.  

I didn't do the most recent BOM with Carol Doak, but I did finish the one before that called Circle of Friends.  My friend Tina and I both made this one too.