December 31 odds and ends

Christmas is in the books for 2024.  We got together with the kids and grandkids on Saturday in Sioux Falls at our older daughter's house.  
 

The 2 tallest grandkids are actually taller than me.  Sophia was leaning forward, and Mason was standing far enough behind me to look shorter.  The twins Olivia (redhead) and Jonah (long dark hair) are almost as tall as me.  Jack (white shirt) still has a ways to go to catch up with everyone.  I had shared this photo with my sister-in-law on Saturday, and she commented that my husband - her brother - looks so much like their late father.  

It was so relaxing to curl up in front of the fire.  Seemed like there was always a warm dog snuggled up next to me or trying to get into my lap.  The grandkids played various games most of the day.  The adults mostly hung out by the fire, watching football and just talking.  The daughters and their husbands all have such busy work schedules and kid activity schedules, so I'm sure it was nice to just relax. 

Our traditional seafood feast was a success again.  Crab, shrimp, scallops - yum!!!  Wish I had gotten a picture of the scallops.  One son-in-law always does the scallops - to perfection!  The other son-in-law steams all the crab out on their patio on his camp stove.  The shrimp, garlic bread, and mac & cheese all happened in the kitchen by my 2 daughters.  There was a hot chocolate station set up all day.  And 3 choices for dessert - pumpkin & pecan pies, and cheesecake.  Truly a feast!!

Imagine my surprise when a box arrived on Friday in the mail.  A HUGE thank you to Nann (With Strings Attached blog) for gifting me this awesome book, and lots of fabric.  I already have some ideas for several of the fabric pieces.  

My UFO project list, and my NEW project list are coming together nicely.  So today will be a sewing day, with more planning for sewing as well.  

Design Wall Monday - December 30

 Suddenly it's the LAST Monday of the year.  Are you ready for a new year?  I certainly am looking forward to 2025.  Not that 2024 was bad, but a clean calendar always makes me optimistic about what might be in the next 12 months. 

I'm participating again in a couple of UFO challenges, including the APQ UFO Challenge.  They used to post a project sheet to fill out, and then draw a number each month, posting in the Facebook group.  But last year they quit drawing a number for the month, so it's up to us to choose.   

I have my list made with 3 project slots per month.  One is a high priority UFO (asterisk) that is also on my PHD (Projects Half Done) list for the local quilt shop.  There is also a second UFO option and a PIG, which is basically something purchased but not started.  So - here are my 3 projects for January 2025.  And yes, of course I'll be working on other things too.

The Batik Hunter's Star is close.  I just need a few more blocks and then finish assembling the top.  I even have a backing all ready for it.  Originally I thought I had a completed flimsy, but as I looked at it more it appears too long and narrow.  So a few more blocks will allow me to fix that.

The Hemingway pouch/bag is the first PIG selected.  I purchased the pattern, zippers, and the pink floral.  The brighter pink is the lining.  Then I bought the purples to make a second one, or two. That is overly ambitious thinking on my part.  So - pink will come first as pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for January.  

The guild swap star is a small quilt, kind of large doll quilt size, so it shouldn't be taking me 3 years to hand quilt.  Even as slow as I am.  That's what happens when I keep setting it aside for months at a time.  It's definitely time to finish it up. 

This week I really hope to get the last 4 blocks made for Saturday Sampler.  I hope to finish the blue/white snowflake mini quilt today or tomorrow.  There is another doll quilt to finish.  And I have 2 quilts to prep binding for.  All in all there is plenty to keep me busy as always. 

I'm linking up with:
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-12-30-24/

RSC24 - Week #52

 Well, we've successfully counted down to Number 52!  I'm excited to begin a new countdown with #1 for 2025.  A whole new year of possibilities, rights?  Thank you so much to Angela for hosting this fun challenge.

I noticed on Thursday that Angela had a post that mentioned PINK for the upcoming January color.  That really made me laugh, because on Thursday morning I had pulled out a small UFO to finish - and it is pink!!  Am I psychic?  This little doll quilt just needed to be sandwiched, quilted, and bound.  The backing, batting, and binding are all from leftovers.  I have a drawer full of leftover binding, and that pink/white stripe had more than enough.

This doll quilt is about 16 x 18 inches.  The pink and pale grey sections were from a leftover strip set I made for some project many years ago.  And there is still  about 20" of that strip set back in the scrap bin to use for something else some day.  Possibly it will end up in a block or two in January.  

I organize collect my scraps in small canvas bins by color.  This one has pinks, coral, and reds, and obviously is overflowing.  I plan to sort this bin to separate the pinks, and have some string blocks in mind.  That's a good plan for tomorrow.  

A few days ago I wanted to do some easy, fast, mindless sewing and ended up playing with the blue, yellow, and teal scraps to make these triangle blocks.  So naturally when I heard pink was our January color, 2 pink ones joined them yesterday.  My plan for these is to make vertical columns using the triangle blocks and alternate them with something colorful. 

I'll also keep making the string bead blocks and the diagonal string blocks (photo from RSC24) for RSC25.  I really need to make a dent in those pink scraps.   

Today we're headed to our daughter's house to celebrate Christmas with all of our kids and grandkids.  It's unseasonably warm and we have no snow, but we'll still have a lovely Christmas together.  

Let's see what else is going on in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge world . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Quiet Christmas

We haven't celebrated Christmas with the family yet, so it has been pretty quiet around here the past few days.  We're looking forward to gathering with the family on Saturday. 
 

All 4 flowers on the taller stalk of the amaryllis are open, and the second stalk buds are beginning to open up.  This flower has sure kept us entertained as we watched it the past couple of weeks.  It's quite an amazing plant.

The photo isn't very good, but the snowman door hanger is all assembled and ready to sandwich for quilting.  I finished this up about 10 am on Monday.  And by 11:30 am I was in the ER once again for another of the SVT heart episodes.  They got my heart slowed down fairly quickly.  But I've decided that I've been in the ER too many times recently when one of the nurses actually remembers me.  The January 7 ablation procedure can't come soon enough. 

My energy level has been pretty low since Monday, so I've been doing some hand quilting and working on a puzzle.  And reading of course.  

We opened up our gifts to each other Christmas Eve after supper.  Dave got me a generous gift certificate to the local quilt shop.  And he gave me a hand written "coupon" good for a trip of my choice, but limited to 10 quilt shops.  LOL  I actually managed to surprise him this time.  My husband frequently stands out in the yard observing the night sky.  He has mentioned how much fun a telescope would be - so I bought him one.  He's one of those guys that talks about something he wants, and then goes out and buys it for himself.  I did have to tell him on Thanksgiving not to order one, but he didn't even guess that the big box he had carried into my office a couple days before that was his telescope.  Now, we need a night sky that isn't obscured by fog and clouds for a change. 

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!

Design Wall Monday - December 23

The amaryllis has begun to bloom. 

On the tallest stack there are 2 really big red flowers, and 2 smaller buds that appear to be variegated red and white.  The bud on the second stalk is getting bigger every day too.  It has been fun to watch this grow.

There was no sewing at all on Saturday as we enjoyed the day at a girls' wrestling tournament, watching our granddaughter.  She placed 3rd in her bracket, so we were very proud of her.  She's a 7th grader, but had never tried wrestling before this year.  But Sunday I spent part of the afternoon at my sewing machine working on the snowman door hanger.

The snowman's body remains to be pieced (today??), and then the sections sewn together.  Finally there will be a border all around the outside.  I'm optimistic that it will be a flimsy by the end of the day.    

And my reward for getting the door hanger to the flimsy stage is this mini quilt.  This one is a paper pieced snowflake that will finish 12" square.  I hope to have this completely done to display for the month of January.  We'll see if I reach that goal.

I may take a bit of a break over Christmas and just do a little handwork.  We aren't doing our family get-together until next Saturday, but there is still plenty to do.

I'm linking up with:
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-12-23-24/

RSC24 - Week #51

EDIT: I'm headed to watch my granddaughter wrestle, so as soon as I post this I'll be in the car headed east.  It will be a "no sew" day.  And that's OK.

There is a really big closet in my sewing room, not a walk-in but it's about 8' long.  That makes for lots and lots of room for fabric storage.  And hanging on the rod above are all of the block sets and flimsies that are part of on-going projects.

I went through the block sets this week.  Each set is clipped to a skirt hanger along with any instructions for making the block.  Some sets are getting close to having enough for a quilt top, and other sets have only a few blocks.  This isn't ALL of the blocks hanging in there, but it does represent some of the ones I want to work on in 2025. 

Photo (L to R, by row): 
* Night Vision - nearing enough for a small quilt

* Brighten - almost enough for a baby quilt

* Buckeye Beauty - just getting a good start on these

* Entwined Star - only about 5 or 6 of these so far

* Make Your Point - tiny blocks, but growing

* String Beads - lots of these

* Facets - there are only 4 of these

* Stashbuster - about 10

* Morning Glory - paper pieced Bonnie Hunter (only 4)

So, these are just SOME of the blocks you might see revisited in 2025.  In some cases, those blocks may become something small like a table runner or wall hanging.  In other cases I plan to make a quilt, but whether large or small remains to be seen. 

 These Diamond Tile blocks (another Bonnie Hunter pattern) have been hanging in the closet for a long time.  The plan had been using them to make a baby or child size quilt.  Looking back in my records, 2020 was the last time I made any.  It's definitely time to use these in SOMETHING.

Ditto with these - called Plaid.  I think these came from one of the Lori Holt books.  There is a pretty good sized stack of these blocks, almost all made with novelty prints for the bigger squares.  

And speaking of novelty prints - there are lots of them in the stash that certainly could provide enough blocks to make a baby quilt. Our guild did baby quilts a couple of years ago using solids plus novelty prints in Churn Dash blocks.  Of course that means I collected solids and novelties.  And I love Churn Dash blocks.  So many possibilities!!!!

Plus - I'm already "on the hunt" for some amazing NEW scrappy blocks to add to the mix for the new year.  I have a couple of things in mind, such as more string blocks.  I tested out a couple of string triangles using my tri-recs rulers.  These are 5" square unfinished, and really could be a mix of "crumbs" and strings.  Any new ways to reduce the small scraps in my world would help, right?

Check out more RSC fun today:
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Tranquility is a flimsy

 Yikes!  This is the biggest quilt I've made in recent memory.  It's 92" square, and I didn't have any good spots in the upstairs to lay it out for a picture.  The wind is howling outside, and I was too lazy to hobble downstairs to look for a spot.  At least now I know the approximate dimensions of my entryway.

Tranquility was a 7 month mystery quilt from Bear Creek Quilting.  The first of each month we got an email with that month's clue.  When we signed up, the fabric requirements were sent out - 1 print, and a light/dark of 2 colors.  I already had the print in the stash, and then bought the 2 golds and 2 teals to go with it.  The number of blocks made each month varied from 4 to 12 of one block pattern.  These are NOT my normal color choices, but I do love the design.  I've cut enough of the leftover dark gold for binding.

For the first time ever, I bought an amaryllis.  And the first blossom is beginning to open up.  I can not believe how fast these things grow.  

The Nantucket bag

One of the small project kits that was on my To Do list for this month was a bag. 

The kit included a mini charm pack, the lining fabric (pink with daisies), the fusible batting, and a zipper.  I bought it at The Pin Cushion locally.  The pattern is a free one to download from Moda called Nantucket Summer.  
https://modafabrics.com/webfiles/fp_NantucketSummer-ZipperPouch.pdf

My goal yesterday had been to get the mini charms sewn together, sandwiched with the batting and lining, and quilted.  Those steps didn't take nearly as long as expected, so I just kept going and finished the bag - all in one sitting.  It took me only a couple of hours total. 

It's an easy pattern and one that I might make again.  It's about the right size for travel size toiletries or maybe all the cords for my devices when traveling.  I'm thinking of making another from a really cute fat quarter rather than piecing the outside.  And it would be easy to adjust the size.  

Tranquility border #2

Seems like my sewing time so far this week has come in small increments.

Tranquility (mystery quilt) has 3 borders to finish it.  The first was a 2.5" strip of the dark teal, and it's all attached.  The second border has the light teal plus those pieced units.  I have managed to sew 3 sides onto the top so far, and the last side is pinned on.  So maybe I'll get that side done today and start on the final border, which is another 2.5" dark teal.

The colors in this photo are not even close to reality.  I took the picture late yesterday afternoon, and it was snowing so the light was pretty dismal.  

A little of this and that

Saturday was a really good day!!  In the morning I attended Saturday Sampler, where we got the instructions for the final 4 corner blocks.  And the Show n Tell was even more amazing than ever.  There were so many projects in the Show n Tell pile that it took over an hour to show them.

At noon the Sew Vintage group met for a Christmas party held in the classroom at The Pin Cushion quilt shop.  This is just the best group of ladies with ages ranging from 30s to 80s.  One gal was unable to attend, and we really missed her.  But we did Facetime with one former member who moved away about a year ago.  It was so good to chat with her and catch up a little.

We always do a potluck lunch, and a small gift exchange.  You know how potluck goes - everything was delicious!!!  And more food than we could possibly get through even sharing with the quilt shop staff.  Our gift exchange was slightly different this year.  We got the pattern last month for the little stockings.  So everyone made one, and stuffed a small gift inside.  We drew numbers to exchange them.  The one I received is that navy blue one in the center.  Inside were some lovely lavender lotion, a purse sized notepad, and a Pieced Tree pattern card for a really cute scrappy quilt.  There were so many laughs that the ladies working up front in the shop wondered what was in our coffee!  

Design Wall Monday - December 16

 I managed to finish up the 6th paper pieced block in Circle of Friends.  It's really nice that there is just one block each month.  I've kept up with this one easily.

My design wall this week has one big project that I hope to push to flimsy stage, and a couple of small projects that I want to begin.

 Tranquility is a mystery quilt that just needs the outer borders.  There are 3 of them, with a wide 6" border in between 2 narrow ones.  I have the first narrow border partially attached.  All of the pieces are cut and ready, so maybe I'll get them done before Christmas.

There are 2 small winter projects that I really want to work on this week too.  The snowman door hanger looks fairly easy.  And the paper pieced snowflake mini quilt is destined for one of the little metal hangers on my fireplace hearth.  

I'll also have the final Saturday Sampler blocks to make, but have until early January to get them done.  And there is a kit for a small bag laying on my ironing board.  I think I have more than enough to keep me occupied.  Now I just need a blizzard to keep me home to sew.

What's new on your design wall?

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Progress is small

 It's been a busy few days again, with card playing Wednesday afternoon, college basketball Wednesday evening, a concert Friday evening, Saturday Sampler and Sew Vintage yesterday, and sewing in small increments in between.

The second version of the Folded Star table runner got to this stage on Thursday.  I had sewn straight lines through each of those "peaks" and straight through the middle.  The next step was sandwiching the backing with the batting.  The final 8 prairie points had the same straight lines sewn through them, with the backing in place so those became the quilting lines through all of the layers.  Binding was the last step to complete this one.

And it's  done!  I like the colors in this one even better than the first one.  

So, 2 small projects done and ready to be gifted, as is the last small project sewn in the past few days.

Olivia wanted a body pillow for Christmas, and her mother asked if I could make her a pillowcase for it.  My stash had a couple of yards of that cute summery print and I think it makes a great pillowcase.  The body pillow is 20 x 54, so this pillowcase is 20 x 60.  

RSC24 - Week #50

It's that time of year to reflect on what was accomplished, and to plan what's on the list for projects next year.  The planning is going to be fun for 2025. 

These are some of the RSC quilts I worked on this year.  The bottom row (elephants, Rainbow Connection, hearts) are all completely finished. One of those has already been donated.  The top 6 are in flimsy form, and the Kitty quilt is in the hands of a long armer right now.  

These next 6 quilts were RSC blocks from previous years, and some of these are also done and either gifted or donated.  A couple of them are hanging in the closet yet however, waiting to be quilted.  

Now, this final quilt is the Framed 9-patch.  I finished the binding last week.  This was not a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project, but it was a UFO that had been hanging in the closet for quite awhile.  And those are always fun to check off the list. 

Check out more RSC fun at:

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/ 

Circle of Friends block #6

 Block #6 of Circle of Friends will be done today, once the paper is removed.

Each month Carol Doak releases a new block on Facebook for the paper pieced Circle of Friends sew-along.  Each block has the same wedge shape at the outer corners, but the rest of each block is unique.  There will be 12 blocks total.  

One of my projects yesterday was to make 2 batches of these Rosemary Spiced Nuts.  I make these every year at Christmas time.  There is rosemary, cayenne, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt in olive oil poured over any combination of nuts you like before roasting them.  We like almond, peanuts, cashews, and pistachios.  Yum!!

No cookies have been baked yet, and I haven't sent out my Christmas cards yet.  But the nuts are made so that's a good beginning, right?

Progress on Tranquility

There has been SOME progress on the mystery quilt Tranquility.
 

The center section is 72" square before adding any borders.  So, it's going to be a really BIG quilt once I get the borders onto it.  Those border pieces are all cut, and the pieced border sections we made in November are all ready too.  

Hopefully I'll have this top all sewn together before Christmas.  

Sewing and un-sewing

 It sure felt good to get into the sewing room again for some stitching time after a fun few days of family activities.

The first of 2 Folded Star table toppers is done.  I used the binding fabric that came with the kit and it's OK.  Those prairie points should have stitching along all the edges according to the pattern, but I decided I really like the 3D effect so they are only stitched down by the straight lines going through the points.

The second one is beginning to take shape too, with the first round of prairie points being pinned into place under that template.  

Since the layout for the Tranquility mystery quilt was released last week I began sewing the blocks into rows.  As I was pressing this last couple of rows my mistake became obvious.  I made these blocks a couple of months ago and can't believe I didn't see the Flying Geese section flying the wrong way when I pressed the individual blocks!!!!

I very carefully used the seam ripper to open up that area so I could turn that unit around to fly right.  Happily it didn't take as much to fix as I anticipated.  

Next step is to get the borders cut and then finish assembling this quilt top.  It will be pretty large, so I'm not looking forward to wrestling with it.  It probably won't happen today as I have other plans - playing cards with some friends and heading to a basketball game.