Halloween fun

I have to share a fun Halloween photo - my daughter and her husband in their costumes.  They both love dressing up for Halloween, and decorating their front porch and yard for the Trick or Treaters.  They get pretty creative.  My 6' 5" son-in-law was perfect as Frankenstein.  I used to always dress up for Halloween at school when I was a high school teacher.

Rain, rain go away

I whined about being in a drought all year - until September, when it started to rain around here.  That is continuing in November I guess.

We did have some really nice days in October, without all the normal wind that usually takes away the beautiful leaves quickly.  But over the past week the rain has moved in again.  I had dumped about 3" total from the rain gauge by Sunday morning.  And then it rained all night Sunday, and more on Monday.  I'm ready for some sunshine!!!

The second version of last week's Blockheads block is done. After finishing this one I'm wishing I had used a warm color where the dark teal is. 

The November star block for Garden of Stars was finished yesterday.  And the parts are ready to go for the next 2 alternate blocks.  These are paper pieced 12" finished blocks. Carol Doak always designs blocks that look so intricate and difficult, but she breaks them down into very manageable sections so they are easy to sew.

While watching the Vikings game on Sunday, I just had to experiment a little.  One reader mentioned doing rectangular Churn Dash blocks, so of course I had to follow that squirrel, right?  From the strip bin I began with this one as a sample to check my cutting measurements. It's 6 x 12 finished. 

I was going to add Churn Dash blocks to next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  But why wait?  The bin of novelty kid prints is very full, so why not work on a donation quilt with 12" Churn Dash blocks, 6" Churn Dash blocks, and now with 6" x 12" rectangular ones. I've pulled several novelty fabrics and began cutting the parts for Churn Dash - and for Windmills or other RSC blocks based on what was leftover. 

Sometimes just cutting up scraps is very satisfying, even if they don't get sewn up the same day.  These will be good Leaders/Enders all week.  Maybe following a squirrel was just I was needing to keep the sewing fresh.

In the meantime, one of my November goals was to donate 2 quilt tops.  I've pulled out 3 child sized flimsies that will be mailed later this week.   When I removed the bright colored Windmill (old UFO) flimsy from the hanger - surprise!!!   Under that one was another Windmill flimsy with all white backgrounds.  The 3rd top is Desert Horses - made a couple of years ago.

There is room in the box for 1 more, so before I seal that box I might choose another one.  These flimsies came off the hangers in the closet in my sewing room - and off the long list of tops waiting to be quilted.  I feel lighter already! 

Design Wall Monday - November 2

We've had such nice October weather this year that I kind of hate turning the calendar to November.  Will it bring us winter?  Actually for now it's just bringing us more rain.

With a fresh new month there will also be new blocks for the BOMs I'm following.  The November block for Carol Doak's paper pieced BOM was posted on Friday, and I managed to print the foundations and cut the pieces that morning.  Now to get it sewn.

I've been thinking about my goals for the month of November, and am starting with this short list for now . . .

• Keep up with BOMs/BOWs
• Marigold
• Garden of Stars
• Blockheads 7
• Finish Saturday Sampler flimsy
• Finish alligator doll quilt
• Assemble 1 new flimsy from RSC blocks
• Make blocks for 
• RSC
• Quilts of Valor
• Choose 2 quilt tops to donate

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #44

Happy Halloween!!

It's college basketball season, so that will be cutting into my sewing time considerably from now until March.  The Jackrabbit women opened the season with an exhibition game vs St Cloud State (Minnesota) on Wednesday evening.  We went a little earlier than usual because I had a Quilt of Valor to deliver in Madison on the way. So we had time to visit some old "haunts" from college days, and had a beer and food before the game - surrounded by lots of Jackrabbit fans dressed in blue and yellow.  

It took me all week to just get the borders onto this quilt top, but I can check it off my list of RSC tops finally.  This is Honey Bees, a Lori Holt block pattern.  I made 2 of each color block each month so there is another block set remaining that I think will just get simple sashing and borders.  This one is 64" square. The layout is from the book Circle of Nine.  And it's Flimsy #24 in the closet now.

I decided that the leftover dog print (recent doll quilt) shouldn't go back into the stash.  Lots of brown in this one worked with a cream scrap in the neutral bin.  Since I just finished binding a Churn Dash quilt using novelty prints, the dog print begged to become Churn Dash blocks.  There is just enough left for another of the 12" blocks, but it will probably get paired with blue instead of cream.   

The only other RSC sewing to report was a bunch of blocks I'm working on to fill out the collections where needed.  I added a grey Gameboard block (top left), which brings that collection up to 20.  A lot more will be needed.  More of the Windmill and Plus blocks were added in a variety of colors, all from the scrap bins.  All of these blocks were cut out and laying on a design board - which is now empty. 

I think over the weekend I should be cleaning up more of the scrappy chaos I've created lately.  Early in the month I stirred up the black scrap bin, and this week I've been digging in the other colors again.    

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

I felt less than ambitious this week.  We had several grey, chilly, rainy days and I found it much easier to curl up UNDER a quilt and read a good book instead of sewing or anything else. Sometimes that's just what the brain wants.

I got the binding done on the Churn Dash baby quilt.  A couple of years ago our guild made 12" churn dash blocks using solids and novelty prints for a New Years Baby project.  I loved making the blocks so much that I made several to give to the guild project, and then just kept making them.  I also made some 6" blocks with scraps and included them in my quilts.  Yes - that is plural because there is another one of these hanging in the closet waiting to be quilted.  And I have a whole drawer full of novelty prints so I'm sure there will be more novelty churn dash blocks some day in the near future.  They are quick sewing, and bright happy sewing.

I worked on the borders for the Honey Bee quilt that was part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.  There is another set of bee blocks and enough of the border fabrics to make another smaller version.

And I got the Christmas block made for this week's Blockheads.  Jessica Rose is this week's designer and she calls this Kindred Rose.  I made it in the 12" size.  The one change I made was to replace the pieced center heart with a fussy cut square.  For the bright version - that isn't made yet - I'll do that heart as the pattern shows.  Getting that second block done is my main goal for the day. 

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

Wednesday check-in

Tuesday didn't provide as much actual sewing time as I had anticipated.

But I did get one of the little doll quilts quilted and binding attached.  That is a good start at least, and will provide some binding to hand stitch in the evening. Maybe today I'll get the second one quilted - in between other things going on.

I did cut the pieces for a few more of the Windmill blocks, and some additional Plus blocks.  Here are some of them.  

My other goal today is to finish getting the borders sewn onto the Honey Bee quilt.  And maybe I'll choose colors for today's Blockheads block.  

I might be getting overly ambitious about today since I have the monthly "retired" group lunch, and then we're heading to Brooking tonight for the first Jackrabbit basketball game.  

This and that

Today is a day I've been dreading for the past month.  Our wonderful cleaning lady is "retiring" to care for her elderly mom, and we're really going to miss her.

She has taken such good care of us for more than a decade.  I'm gifting a quilt to her as a thank you.  She came every 2 weeks for 2 hours, doing the things I'm finding it harder to do.  I'm hoping she feels appreciated for her hard work.

This is the busiest time of year for Quilt of Valor award, so it was perfect timing to receive a completed quilt as a donation.  It's really a pretty one too.  The stack of quilts in my dining room for November awards keeps growing.  We'll be busy.