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.

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. 

Shadow Stars finish

Look what is all finished!!  This is Shadow Stars.

This was a UFO, and can now be checked off the list.  I think this one will be donated to our QOV group.  I may just display it in my own house through July, but then it can go to a deserving veteran. 

 Because this month's RSC color is "pastel", I did some digging in the 3.5" square bin.  There are 2 different Vintage Spool blocks, but the straight one uses a 3.5" square for the center of the spools.  I've pulled several pastel squares, and then dug into the string bin for spool tops and bottoms.  And the white/cream bin for background scraps.  I have the parts cut for 7 of these spools with pastels. Leaders and Enders as I work on the next project.

I'm working steadily to assemble the Moda Blockheads 6 blocks into big sections, and then those sections will be ready to be a flimsy.  I did a lot of rearranging of the blocks after taking this picture.  This is another UFO, and another that most likely will be donated to the Quilts of Valor group once it's finished.

Our Attack Cat fell asleep on the job!  We call her Tortie, because she's a tortoise shell color, with a mostly white tummy.  The feral kitties that have adopted us feel pretty safe on our deck, but still won't let us touch any of them. That safe feeling will come to a screeching halt this morning because the contractors are scheduled to start our deck replacement - unless it's raining.  We need the rain, but I really want this project to have no more delays.  We've been putting out food and water on our front porch for the past week so they get used to looking there too when the deck work is happening.  

A little of this and a little of that

It was a busy fun weekend.

On Saturday a couple of us from our QOV group went to a family reunion to award Quilts of Valor to 2 brothers.  What a charming couple of gentlemen!!  We both got hugs from them.

Earlier in the day (Saturday), a box was delivered to my house.  It was a surprise package from Nann at With Strings Attached.  She knows my passions so well - books and fabric!  A book of stories about South Dakota, a mystery, and a pattern book.  There was also a little collection of red/white/blue fabrics that will work beautifully with our Quilts of Valor projects.  Thank you Nann!!  You know I'll enjoy all of these.  

On Sunday evening I met my younger daughter at a small town dinner theater.  The evening was a Mother's Day gift from her.  The play was terrific - a murder mystery comedy with lots of talent.  The meal was excellent too!  About halfway through the first act, people's phones began alerting to a tornado warning for that county.  At intermission the staff gave us instructions of where to go if the sirens would go off in that town.  I'm happy to say the show went on without any danger.  The thunder was loud, and water was over the curb at the street as we were leaving, but no hail or tornado.  We got wet getting to our cars but nothing worse. 

Design Wall Monday - June 1

With the beginning of June, it's time for a new goal list.  The first item on the list is another UFO project - the Moda Blockheads 6 project from 2025.  

The blocks have all been done, but I wasn't happy with my fabric choices for that center block. The center medallion block is 27" square and needs to make a statement, but as you can see from my original layout it doesn't look like it fits with the other blocks.

This is what it originally looked like.  That beige print was not a good choice as the pinwheel gets lost in there.  The block needed something more bold to fit in with all the rest of the blocks in the series. 

So, I spent maybe a half hour picking out the seams around those beige sections.  A good seam ripper is worth it.

The beige pieces are now replaced with a bold flag print and I like it much better.  Now I can begin assembling the top this week.

I did a LOT of cutting on Saturday afternoon, some with patriotic prints and some with pastels for June's RSC blocks.  These will give me plenty of Leaders/Enders to use in between things this week. 

The rest of the June goals are typical . . . so I'm skipping most of the details.

** Try NOT to acquire a lot of new fabric
** keep up with Saturday Sampler
** make new blocks for Sew Vintage (Pizza Box Challenge)
** RSC blocks in the June colors (pastels)
** bind a UFO (Shadow Stars QOV)
** finish the guild DIY Round Robin wall hanging
** take a couple of small things to long arm quilter
** assemble flimsy for Salt Water Taffy quilt

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #22

A new flimsy has been born from Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  The block pattern is called Give It a Whirl, and definitely has been one of my favorite RSC blocks to make.  The flimsy is 48 x 60, so a nice size for a kid's quilt or a couch cuddler.  

Because I was finishing up one set of RSC blocks, I've been testing some new blocks.  This is Ticker Tape.  Only 6 orange ones have been made so far.  These are 4 x 8" finished, and look great lined up vertically or horizontally. The fun thing about this block is that they can be made using squares and HSTs for that color area- very scrappy - or with strips.  For RSC I'm going to use strips. So far I haven't gone back to any of the previous 2026 colors, but I'm excited to make some in whatever color we're doing for June. 

This week I also made more Ticker Tape blocks in patriotic prints from a bunch of strips in a bag of QOV scraps I was recently given.  These should be a fun QOV.

One of the other "new" blocks I played with this month is Confetti Star.  It's a 6.5" paper pieced scrappy block.  Only 2 orange ones happened so far, along with 1 green one and a red, white and blue version.  My plan is to use scrappy neutral prints for the background. 

Reflecting on the whole month of orange sewing . . . was very satisfying!  This is the point in the year when we have lots of color variety to begin playing with layout ideas.  But as always, I'm ready to dig into a new color for June.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/