Finished (or not) Friday

Some weeks I have complete finishes to share, some weeks there are quilt tops to share, and then some weeks there is nothing to share.  There is a Quilt of Valor finish and 2 quilt tops to report for this week.

This is a sampler quilt with a mix of scrappy blocks I had made as test blocks for future projects. Some of the blocks were from various sew-alongs when I wasn't planning to make the entire project but wanted to play along a little.  I like to do those test blocks in red, white, and blue because then they can be used like this.  Simple sashing, cornerstones, and an outer border . . . and Voila . . . a quilt is born. 

And there is a QOV top that has finally reached the flimsy stage after sitting in a project box for over a year.  Shadow Star is unusual for me as it's not scrappy.  It used 3 fabrics only.  I really like how this turned out, but am still thinking it needs another outer border, not too wide but not too narrow.  I think I have enough of the red to do that, so for now it's hanging in the closet while I think about it. 

 Another flimsy finish for this week just needed an outer border.  This is my 2026 Stay At Home Round Robin project and is 50" square. I usually prefer rectangular quilts, but this one just wanted to remain square.  That wide border is the bubble print that I purchased this week while shopping with a friend.  The print picks up all of the colors in the quilt.  It should make a good couch quilt.  For now this one is also hanging in the closet until a backing is found and a quilting plan is made.

Check out more Finishes (or Not) today . . .

https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/  

Progress on 3 fronts

Wednesday was a really good day with LOTS of sewing time.  Some progress can be reported on 3 different projects.

First, I finished blanket stitching around the circles on the Stay At Home Round Robin project.  Once that was done I cut the border and binding strips.  That means It's one step closer to a finish.  I hope to get those borders on this morning and have a flimsy.

The next task was attaching binding to another UFO - Triple Triangles.  Since I finished hand stitching the binding on a Quilt of Valor on Tuesday evening I was ready for more binding. 

Once those 2 tasks were done, I returned to the Shadow Star QOV.  The last 4 blocks were finished, and I've begun to sew it all into rows.  Again - I hope to get this one to the flimsy stage today.

In between these projects I've been working on some red Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  Those will be ready to share on Saturday.  

Just can't stay home

Tuesday began as a stay-at-home-and-sew kind of day - until 9:30 AM.  Then a friend called to ask if I wanted to ride along as she went to a quilt shop about 90 miles away.  Duh!!!  Of course I said yes, and she picked me up an hour later.

It was a good day for a road trip.  She had looked in both of our local shops for very particular fabrics for a graduation quilt with no luck.  But today she found what she was looking for at the shop, and I found what I didn't know I was looking for. LOL  Actually I took along my 2026 SAHRR project to look for a border for it.  The last prompt was "Quilter's Choice", and I had decided my choice was just one wide border.  But nothing in my stash looked right.  That fun bubbly print will now be the final border, and that purple stripe peeking out on the left will be the binding.  So - success was had.

But of course I couldn't stop there.  The fabric for another 3-yard quilt (for a kiddo) came home with me.  And I curated a small stack of random fat quarters, including some neutrals to replenish those in the stash.  This yardage was added to my stash report promptly, on the IN column.  Hopefully most of will go on the OUT column soon too.

Once finished shopping we went to lunch and then headed home.  A fine day!! 

Shadow Star QOV progress

Shadow Star is the UFO I decided to move to the flimsy stage this month.  A couple of blocks had been made when I began this project, with the rest of the block parts all cut out.  Then it all went back into the project box over a year ago and has been neglected ever since.

Do you ever set something aside so long you don't remember what the plan was?  I was thinking there would be 12 blocks with maybe sashing, cornerstones, and a simple border.  But luckily I had a book in the project box with a layout marked.   

                   

Circle of Nine is a really amazing book, showing ways to lay out sets of 9 blocks in interesting ways.  I've used it before, and even had a couple of sketches inside with ideas I had worked on to use different layouts.  Now I'm really excited to get this one rolling along again. 

There are now 5 completed 12.5" blocks for this project.  I need to trim those 2 sets of flying geese units, and then the final 4 blocks can be assembled.

This is the layout I had marked in the book. The red star fabric will be those gold spacers, with the blue used in those corners and for binding.   

Monday - catching up

I can't remember the last time I didn't have anything at all to post for Design Wall Monday.  But that's the case today.  Being gone for 5 days - even when we're only 75 miles from home - takes it's toll on routines. We left Wednesday and got home last night.  College basketball conference tournament time is our annual "thing".  It was fun - but exhausting. 

The Jackrabbit men lost in the first round unfortunately.  But the SDSU Jackrabbit women upset the #1 team from NDSU to win the conference tournament title.  That is 4 years in a row as Champs!!

Now that we're home I have lots of laundry to do, and will need to get groceries at some point today.  But I do plan to take my coffee to my happy place (sewing room) for a little while this morning to play with fabric. I was going through withdrawal.    

RSC26 - Week #10

Not the most productive start to the red month, thanks to coming down with a nasty cold.  And for being gone to college basketball tournament since Wednesday afternoon.

But I can share one RSC finish - Zipper!!  I made the blocks a couple of years ago, assembled it into a flimsy in 2025, and now it's finally done. Yay!  This will be a donation quilt.  It's 56 x 84, made with blocks that finish at 8 x 12 as they all use 2.5" strips.  But the blocks could just as easily be made with 1.5" strips for tiny blocks or wider strips for BIG blocks.  Very versatile, and a block pattern I know I'll use again.

There was very little sewing done this week but I did play with red strings a little bit. These don't require much brain power so are ideal for sewing when I was under the influence of cold medicine. Brenda from Conquering Mount Scrapmore does a lot of video tutorials on free blocks.  Last week she was sharing about these diamond shaped string blocks.  Her blocks had the strings going the long way on the diamond, but I chose to do mine across.  The 6.5" square string blocks are for a WIP that I have been working on. 

One set of binding strips are cut and ready to add to another UFO quilt.  Cutting strips was also an easy thing to do when feeling a bit foggy.  LOL
  

Two sets of red binding are ready to hand over to QOV members to bind a couple of quilts recently back from the quilter.  And the parts for 1 new red Snail Trail block are ready to sew.  Next week will hopefully be more productive.  

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or Not) Friday

I finished binding the Zipper quilt last weekend, so I can happily check this one off the UFO list for this year.  That makes 2 done, and lots more to go.

Zipper was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project a couple of years ago, with each block using 2.5" strips.  These were really fun blocks.  And they can be made bigger or smaller without needing any fancy math skills.  That's a win, right?  And Zipper will be donated. 

Check out more Finishes (or Not) today . . .

https://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/