Stash enhancement

With the stash I already have accumulated, I couldn't possibly live long enough to sew it all up. But of course that doesn't stop me from adding to the stash.  I have been trying for a couple of years to be more deliberate about fabric purchases - mostly buying things to finish projects, like backing, backgrounds/borders, or binding.  This year I'm also tracking my fabric purchases again to stay a little bit accountable.

However there is a big statewide shop hop coming up this summer - AND sometimes there is something just too pretty to pass up.  The pink plaid is a fat quarter that I won at Saturday Sampler last weekend.  But the gorgeous batik strip set was something I just couldn't resist.  The colors are so beautiful.  I'm thinking it will need to be used with a dark background no matter what pattern I choose. 

This was an impulse purchase - online.  Fat Quarter Shop does their Liberty Box each summer with the focus being on patriotic projects, suitable for Quilts of Valor.  I think I've bought 2 previous Liberty Boxes in the past.  I splurged on it again this year.  They are a surprise, so you don't know exactly what the project will look like until you open the box.  So, in this year's Liberty Box is a beautiful pattern and the 12 fat quarters needed to make it.  I already have enough white background for it, in the stash of course.  The box also contained beautiful book ends, and a "ruler stand".  All in all, it was a good purchase.

And yes, I've added these all to the stash tracking spreadsheet.  I'll try to share my stash report at the end of this month as we're halfway through the year.  

Shooting Stars

Oops!  I totally forgot to hit the Publish button for today's post.  

I had this image in my head of how different this Shooting Star block might look with the lights and darks reversed.

And the finished blocks met my expectations!  The block was designed by Stacy Hsu for the Blockheads 5 series.  It's a free pattern on the Blockheads site.  Missy picked this star to add to our pizza box challenge. 

My 30s version is cute too, although it might have been prettier with the background more colorful.  Who knows, maybe I'll make another one. 

Design Wall Monday - June 15

Wow - halfway through another month!!  I just have to make a list of things to work on this week, because I have so many things I want to work on including a bunch of new things.  So in order to focus my attention on Works In Progress, I really need that list.

** Saturday Sampler
** Sew Vintage pizza box challenge
**  fix the 60 degree runner
** Rainbow Scrap Challenge
** Garden Star 

We are doing Dresden Plate blocks for Saturday Sampler this time, and there are 3 different sizes to make.  So this week I hope to get the biggest one sewn, but get the backgrounds and blades colors selected for all of the plates. 

I have a couple of tasks for the pizza box challenge, and even though we aren't meeting again until August I want them done and ready to go.  Each month a different member is sharing a pattern for a 12" finished star block with the group.  This is the pattern that Missy shared with us, pulled from Blockheads 5 patterns.  I love it. We're doing a RWB version to donate to Quilts of Valor, but some of us are doing an extra block for ourselves in various different fabric options.  I'm doing my extra one in 30s prints.  For the RWB version I want to do 2 - one with dark stars and light background, and the other reversed.  August will be my turn to share a block pattern with the group, so I need to narrow down my choice and make my sample.

The pieces are cut for 2 more of the paper pieced Garden Star blocks. Even though we have all year to get these 12 alternate blocks done, I'm planning to add 2 more this month to the 2 already done. 

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month we're doing pastels, plus any "catch up" we might need to do from previous month colors. I had good intentions last week to get the pastel Salt Water Taffy blocks layed out into rows, but that didn't happen.  Maybe this will be the week to get it them organized. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

Deck progress

There has been steady progress on our new deck, thankfully.

One young man was the whole demolition crew, and by the end of Day 1 he had removed all of the vertical metal bars from the railing, and nearly all of the flooring.  All the parts and pieces had been put into the trailer in our driveway for the trash and any mess was cleaned up. 

At the end of Day 2 (Friday) he had everything torn out and the space all ready for the building crew to arrive on Monday morning.

By the end of Day 3 (Monday) the 2 guys doing the building had fill dirt added along the house where things had been sinking.  All of the bracing was attached to the house, and the wood was cut for the underneath framing.

Day 4 (Tuesday) saw all the floor stringers done and the beginning of the actual floor of the deck.  

Day 5 (Wednesday) ended with the flooring completely done and the steps partially done.  One of the black posts for the railing is laying near the step area in this photo.  

Thursday was Day 6, and began with a light drizzle of rain.  I wondered if the crew would show up to work on the deck, but they did.  And the rain stopped.  The steps you can't see, but they are done.  And the railings began to go up.  The one lying by the house will actually be the gate.  We put a gate on the old deck to corral the little kids and the dogs, but found it also kept deer and other big critters off the deck.  The raccoons just go over the gate unfortunately.  LOL

Day 7 (Friday) has it all done except for some of the skirting.  The black railings look nice with the warm brown of the floor.  And there are lights on the post caps. The hardware for that gate, and the skirting should all arrive by the end of this coming week so they'll install that when it comes in.  

Now to get everything moved back onto the deck - the grill, the table and chairs, and the flower pots.  Yesterday morning Dave scrubbed the table and chairs so they are ready to replace.  He hasn't decided if he's going to replace all the bird feeders that used to hang just outside the railings.  

RSC26 - Week #24

Today is Saturday Sampler in the morning, and Sew Vintage in the afternoon.  It's my favorite Saturday of every month.

Most of my sewing attention this week has been on red, white, and blue but I did manage to get a little pastel into the mix.  The 6" Mardi Gras blocks came together in pink.  Last month I had cut a bunch of the black and white pieces from scraps, so these were quick sewing.  They are made slightly oversize and then "sliver trimmed" to 6.5".  

A couple of Hollow-9 blocks happened too.  

The Ticker Tape block was a new one last month with orange, so eventually I'll be adding blocks in the other months' colors.  Last week I did 8 pastel ones, and this week I just added these 4.  There were quite a few red, white, and blue ones added to the patriotic stack of blocks however.  For the patriotic ones I'm using white backgrounds only, but on the RSC ones I'm doing a variety of neutral prints as well as white and cream. 

Just a few more string blocks are needed to finish this quilt top. String blocks are so addictive to make. These finish at 6" and have phone book pages as the foundation.  Usually when I make bigger ones I use muslin. It will be 48 x 60 as I have it planned.  But maybe I'll should add more and make it 60 x 72.  I do have a basket full of string blocks in other colors.  Decisions, decisions. 

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

This has been quite a week!!  I'm tired out. 

Late on Wednesday afternoon I was honored to award a Quilt of Valor in Sioux Falls to a Viet Nam veteran.  We moved this award up in the schedule as the veteran is in poor health.  It worked out perfectly because I could go the presentation and then went to watch a granddaughter play softball in a double-header just a few minutes away.  He was so tickled to receive the quilt, and his friends set up a nice little party to celebrate HIM. 

Thursday turned into a long sewing day.  My husband left the house at 8 am to meet both sons-in-law for golf.  They were meeting at a course in between us.  I wasn't invited, so I spent a good share of the day in my sewing room uninterrupted.  Then supper was at a Jackrabbit alumni social event here in town.  It was a pretty good day.

Vicki pointed out yesterday that I've had "pedal to the metal" this week.  That is quite true, with that progress spread out over several different projects.

An actual finish can be reported - this small table topper.  It is the practice block I made before cutting into the kit I bought for a 3-block runner.  The kit project is something I finished right away, and this one was in danger of being set aside with orphan blocks.  But I added the red and white borders, quilted it, and finished the binding in the car on the way to a grandson's baseball game on Monday.

However, the 2nd 60 degree runner I wanted to finish this week didn't go as well.  Oops!!  It's difficult to see in the photo but I had it all quilted and ready to bind when I discovered 3 big pleats in the backing.  Those were completely due to my being in a hurry to get it done.  So I'll be picking out some quilting over the weekend.

Since I was in binding mode this week I dug into my leftover lengths of binding for some mug rugs that were quilted and then added back into the pile.  These little mug rugs are quick binding in front of the TV when I don't have a ton of time.

I did switch to block sewing yesterday after messing up that quilting.  From the RWB fabrics found in that drawer - a partial strip set left over from a previous rail fence quilt.  I added a blue strip to the red/white strips, and cut it into 6" blocks and have added them to a small stack of other leftover Rail Fence blocks in our QOV bin.  They will go into some future QOV.  And more fabric had been used up from the drawer. 

Four more RWB Ticker Tape blocks were sewn from the big collection of parts I cut a few days ago.  These are good Leaders/Enders.

Finally a few blocks were made for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but those I'll share tomorrow on the RSC post.

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

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.