One little finish

In the bottom of the project box with all the leftover fabric, was a selection of embellishments in little zip lock bags that I must have collected when we were doing the Gingerbread Joy pattern for Saturday Sampler.  The quilt had a red/aqua color scheme.  And there were little buttons just the right color of aqua.  So . . . here she is, all done!!  She's only 12" square, but it's still very nice to have a finish.  

One flimsy can be checked off my To Do list too.  Enough triangle units to make 2 identical runners were on my sewing table, but so far I've only found time to get one of these sewn.  Hopefully this afternoon I can get the other one done and then find batting and backing for them both from my stash.  

The last Wednesday of each month is lunch with the retired group from the school.  Today we're meeting at a little spot - mix of gas station/convenience store/lunch counter - that serves the best Hot Beef special.  Roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, veggie, and dessert.  It's a generous portion meant to fill up the local farmers who frequent this place, so usually a couple of us share a serving.  Yum!!  I'm looking forward to a tasty lunch with my former coworkers.

The 50th college reunion

We had a really good time on Friday and Saturday at our college reunion at South Dakota State University.  We're officially members of the 50 Year Club!!  We got to see some people we haven't seen in decades, and some friends we see much more often.  

Dave had only 21 students in his high school graduating class, and 7 of them went to SDSU.  At the reunion this year - 3 of them were able to be there.  One more - Dave's college roommate and best man at our wedding - had planned to come but something came up at the last minute.  Dave (left) and Gordon (right) grew up a mile apart on farms. Gayla (center) and I met as freshmen because she lived about 6 doors down the hall from me in the dorm.  I didn't meet my husband until the beginning of our sophomore year. 

Dan (left) and his wife were other friends from college, but we do usually see them about once a year. His wife had other commitments for the weekend but Dan actually stayed with their youngest son, a student on campus. 

We posed with the Dirty Lil and Weary Wil statues near the student union on campus.  It's a long story, but the homecoming celebration at SDSU is Hobo Day.  Weary Wil had been a character included in the celebration for decades, and Lil was officially added the fall of 1976, right after we graduated. 

Here we are on May 1, 1976, right before our graduation ceremony.  I think our tassel color was different because I got a BA and Dave got a BS, although both from the College of Arts and Science.  The guy standing on the other side of Dave was one of his roommates, who got an Associates degree so his cap and gown were blue instead of black. 

I'm headed out early this morning to volunteer at the golf course, checking in golfers for a tournament - unless it rains again, which is a possibility.  Then I have a haircut appointment this afternoon.  There might be a little sewing time in between things.  

Design Wall Monday - Sept. 28

I'm hoping this will be a week of small finishes, but we'll see how it goes.  No sewing will happen today.  It was a very early morning as I'm the designated driver for my daughter's first colonoscopy.  Welcome to middle age my dear!  Then I'll come home and go the pinochle group this evening that plays monthly.  

A couple of quilts have been in the hands of a long arm quilter, and I'm anticipating at least one of them being ready to pick up soon. Will it be this week?
 

The gingerbread girl is almost finished.  She still needs some embellishment to make her pretty.  I did find a bow for her head.  But her dress needs buttons or something. 

In the meantime, I'm playing with some new projects that have actually been marinating in drawers for a year or more.  The pattern is Swirling Star by Krista Moser.  I used a Christmas-y batik jelly roll, plus some yardage to cut the parts for 2 identical table toppers.  These will most likely become gifts.  

This cute little gnome project was a laser cut kit purchased a few years ago, probably on a bus trip shop hop.  It's supposed to be a mug rug but I may make it a little bigger.  I have begun blanket stitching the applique. 

And another doll quilt will at least be a flimsy this week - I hope.  I have a basket with parts for doll quilts, as well as a couple of flimsies ready to sandwich.  I want to finish a couple more this fall before donating all of the ones made so far.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #39

It is always fun to get to the end (or nearly the end) of a month and look back at the results of that month's color play.  This week I was really focusing on finishing some UFO projects, but in between those things I just played with the purple scraps.  No real purpose - just playing.  That resulted in some string blocks, one Cheerios block, a couple of Hollow-9s, and 2 more Crackers and Jam paper pieced tiny blocks.  What FUN!!

Looking back at the previous weeks' productivity in purple was surprising.  At this point in the year I'm starting to think about how I want to put some of these block sets together.  Do I want to make a small project?  Or a big project?  Are there enough blocks already for something or do I need more?  Is there a color I'm missing?

And of course we get excited to see what color is next?  

Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been such fun for many years now, and I can't think Angela enough for hosting and encouraging us to play with our scraps.  

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

There are multiple reasons to be smiling today!!  This afternoon we're heading to Brookings for our 50th college reunion.  How did 50 years fly by so fast?

We are actually on campus quite often because we have season tickets for basketball, but we did sign up for a "golf cart" campus tour that should give us a better look at the changes that have taken place in the past 50 years.  And we'll attend a few social events. 

On the quilting front there are reasons to smile too.  There are TWO projects that reached the flimsy stage this week.  Yay!!  Kisses From Heaven has been on my UFO list for several years, and I finally made it a priority. I am in LOVE!!!  It looks just like the picture on the kit package, so I'm very happy with the results.  Now . . . to get it quilted and bound. 

And the second flimsy is the elephant Happy Block quilt.  This is a 50 x 60 child's quilt, and was very fast to put together.  It's a 3 yard option using 30 blocks.  The centers are 6.5" squares and the frames are cut from 2.5" strips. The cute elephant print in the blocks was probably a bus trip purchase a few years ago. The teal and orange were added soon after with a different pattern in mind.  But they all play nicely in this pattern.       

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

Reading & planning

Are you a reader?  I can never have enough books on my To Read list.  Most weeks I read at least 1 or 2 books, with my favorite genre lately being mysteries. But sometimes it's a book completely out of my normal genre that surprises me the most.      

Recently a former coworker had posted on Facebook that her book club was going to be reading Mad Mabel.  Of course I had to look into it, and decided it was something I would enjoy.  And I was right - it was a very interesting read. 

Copied from the Amazon description - "a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who’s not done breaking the rules just yet. "

I've been talking recently about the fact that I do a LOT of thinking about projects when I'm not actually sewing - or reading a good book.  My brain has been spinning away lately with the possibilities around here.  My Monday plan this week included getting a couple of UFOs to the flimsy stage, which I can report has been successful.  Come back tomorrow to see what I accomplished for flimsies.

But my plan also involved doing something with the Christmas-y gingerbread people blocks left over from a long ago Saturday Sampler.  The gingerbread girl block is on the way to becoming a mini quilt.  It's quilted and the binding is attached.  But she needs to be a bit more dressed up - buttons and bows are needed to make her pretty I think.  

I haven't decided yet what to do with the gingerbread boy block or the parts for 3 more that are still in that project box.  So the box has been put away again -  for now, at least until I come up with a plan. 

But of course the planning hasn't stopped for other things - so, what comes next? It was grey and raining AGAIN yesterday morning, which was a good reason to just go downstairs to my sewing room to be surrounded by color.  It was time to put away some things - and choose the next couple of things to focus on. From a basket full of fall kits, these 3 caught my eye first.  I think the little gnome mug rug will be my first choice.  Then I may have to make that hanging towel kit that was a recent purchase from Shabby Fabrics.  

And from a basket of Christmas things, I'm going to do this table topper using a gorgeous holiday batik jelly roll.  Last weekend was Sew a Jelly Roll Day - but I didn't. It's OK to jump into the game a few days late, right?     

Midweek check in

Every day I see a little more progress on this UFO.

So far this week I've gotten the last of the snowman noses ironed on and stitched down.  And now I'm working on the snowflakes.  There are 8 of them around the outside, and 12 more will go into the center area of the circle.  Then I'll have the 8 smiles to add to the snowmen. 

The last of the 30 Happy Blocks have been sewn, and they are also sewn into 6 rows of 5 blocks.  The colors are alternated like this.  I'm confident the rows will become a flimsy by the end of this week. 
 

The other progress made this week was in changing the seasonal quilts and things around my house.  There is more to do, but I'm happy with this little corner of my living room.

Saturday Sampler

Yesterday was chilly and rainy, so a perfect day for staying in the house and sewing. I can check off one of my goals for the week.   

The September section for Saturday Sampler is all done.  In the pattern this unit appeared to use a single background, and a single fabric for those triangles.  I decided to go with totally scrappy instead.  It's kind of strange looking alone, but looks OK with the other units.

There were all those corners trimmed off - and of course they were too big to just throw away.  So all 16 of them are now 2.5" HSTs.  They will end up somewhere eventually. 

Design Wall Monday - Sept. 21

One project from last week saw a little progress, and hopefully that progress will continue this week again.  I want to finish the top for this one by the end of the month.

Kisses From Heaven is getting closer to being a flimsy, but there are still quite a few applique pieces needing to be added.  I've been taking this one slowly, just doing a little of the applique at a time.  I tend to hunch over my machine when blanket stitching, and then my neck and shoulders get stiff.  So, I'm just working on it in small increments.

The Saturday Sampler assignment for September shouldn't take long, and that will be another priority for this week.  The small Flying Geese section (far right above) is actually not done as traditional Flying Geese blocks.  They are just rectangles with triangles side by side. The parts are ready to go for quick sewing.  A few more of the little snowflakes for next month need to be ironed onto fabric and cut out as well. 

These blocks are nearly ready to assemble into a baby quilt top. Just a few more blocks to make. This one might be a good baby gift for the new baby coming to the extended family (great nephew's family) this coming spring.  Once it's a flimsy, I should work on another UFO or WIP, right?  Not sure I could possibly live long enough to finish all of the UFO/WIP projects around here.  But I'm trying anyway.

I'm in the mood to work on some holiday themed things for some reason, but also have a lot of UFOs that need attention.  So . . . maybe a Christmas-y UFO?  These gingerbread people blocks were in a project box. Christmas pillows?  Table runner?  Wall hangings? Several years ago we did a Saturday Sampler called Gingerbread Joy, which was a mix of applique and piecing.  I finished my quilt without using the 5 gingerbread people blocks in the pattern.  These are the only 2 I worked on at the time, and they were tucked into the project box along with all the leftover fabrics.  Time to plan something with these I think. 

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #38

It was mostly in short bursts of time, but more purple came out to play this week.

Most important was getting the Who Found the Catnip block finished.  That middle kitty is the most fun, and nearly used up the little scrap I had left.  I'm in love with these blocks. 

OK - yes, I got totally carried away with the Tulip Swirl blocks.  There were so many pretty purple chunks in the scrap bag and I just kept cutting.  LOL  There is no plan yet for these 4" blocks, but they'll work nicely somewhere.  There are still a few parts and pieces in other colors laying on the design board, waiting to be sewn.  And there is a good sized stack in a small basket ready to become happy scrappy blocks.  

One Snail Trail block a day, and these 4 were finally done and off the design board they occupied.  The top lighter purple is actually a Halloween print.  The dark one here is a batik that looks kind of like corduroy. 

This second dark one is also a batik.  I'm actually surprised at just how much purple I have in my stash and in my scraps.  

In an effort to catch up with the Ticker Tape blocks, I got 5 red ones made this week.  That brings red up to the 9 I want for each color.  A 9th yellow one and 3 more pink ones also were added to the collection.  Since I want 9 of each - for now - I'll keep working on them.  There is a big collection of patriotic RWB Ticker Tape blocks too.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

There are definitely no finishes to report for this week.  One of the downsides to not having lots of actual sewing time seems to be more time to think about projects.  My head has been spinning again lately with ideas about projects I want to make.  It has even been spinning around which UFO or WIP to tackle next.  All year I've been trying to work through fabric already in the stash, so here we go. 

I already had the squares and strips cut for this particular project earlier in the month, and then it got set aside - in real danger of becoming a UFO.  Shame on me!!  Yesterday morning I got half of the blocks sewn, and maybe today I'll get the rest sewn.  The Happy Block pattern is basically a 3-yard quilt, with the pattern being free to download from Maryquilts.com.  It's easy, plus it looks great totally scrappy or planned like this one. 

Notice - both of these center squares are actually pieced because I cut a few of them wrong. Oops!!  But once it's quilted it will be fine. 

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

Noses on snowmen

I finally got some extended sewing time yesterday, and it felt so good to work on multiple things.  And not feel rushed, which was a bonus.  

First things first, I made 2 different Double Sawtooth Star blocks for the Pizza Box Challenge.  These were fun.  I do think I like the lighter background better, but both are pretty.

I also worked on some purple blocks for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but I'll keep those to myself until Saturday. The main blocks I finished were the 12" Snail Trail - in purple. 

Then I was able to get back to working on Kisses From Heaven again finally.  The large scarves were ironed on, and blanket stitched.  The small noses were next.  And maybe this morning I'll get the bigger noses done. That will leave smiles on the snowman heads and lots of laser cut snowflakes. 

Double Sawtooth Star

Sigh, it has been slow going in the sewing room.  LOL  A few minutes here, an hour there - that is how my sewing is going so far this week.

My 30s version of this month's Pizza Box challenge block is done.  This is the 7th block in our series.  I do have some fabrics chosen for a couple of the RWB ones our group is doing for Quilts of Valor, but no cutting has actually happened yet.  I'm hoping today will provide lots of sewing time finally.

Catch up time

Yesterday was a chilly rainy day, which is fine because we need that rain desperately.  It was a good day therefore to catch up on a bunch of things.  I had PT, stopped for a few groceries, and spent most of the afternoon working through a mountain of laundry and an overflowing email inbox.

Remember about a month ago I dug out a bin full of squares of flannel in baby prints, already sewn to denim backing.  I had planned to make a rag quilt many moons ago, but knew that just wasn't going to happen now days.  So I offered the whole stack, and happily was able to mail the box to gal who was interested.

Well, over the weekend, she sent me a photo of quilt #1 she has made. She said she was adding some of her own and working on a second one.  This just warms my heart to see that fabric used, rather than laying in my closet.

I did do a little bit of sewing on Monday afternoon, but have nothing to show for it quite yet.  Maybe today I'll get more accomplished.

Design Wall Monday -

There was no sewing at all this weekend, but I did cut one RSC block out, and did a little sorting of the blocks from the Sew Vintage group.  

The parts are all cut for the purple Catnip block, and this might be the first thing I do today because I'm very excited by these adorable blocks each month.  Right now I'm leaning toward using the Circle of Nine layout to assemble these into a quilt once I have 9 blocks made.  If I've counted correctly this is #8 as I skipped making one during the "pastel" month.

The Pizza Box challenge at Sew Vintage is really coming along.  The very first block of the challenge was this Floating Star, and we have 12 of them collected so far. So pretty! I think we can do a simple light colored sashing with RWB cornerstone plus a nice outer border.  Ella approves.  She spent the weekend with us along with the grandkids.  

Block #7 was introduced by Holly for this month.  This one is a Double Sawtooth Star, and I can't wait to make them.  Holly gave me this block already, and it's really pretty.  I'm making my personal block in 30s fabrics, along with the RWB version for our group Quilts of Valor.

The Kisses From Heaven project will probably be the only other priority project for this week.  The scarves are stitched down on the smaller snowman heads.  The scarves are ready to iron on and stitch down for the bigger heads.  The noses and smiles are fused and trimmed so they can be added next.  And there are a bunch of laser cut snowflakes to add.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #37

This was a crazy week around here, and the weekend will be the same. Two of the grandkids and a dog are staying the weekend while their parents are away.  Dave went to play in a golf tournament all weekend.  During the week I had 2 PT appointments, 2 doctor appointments, 2 grandson football games, and this morning will be attending a funeral rather than going to Saturday Sampler.  Hopefully this afternoon I'll get back in time to drop into our monthly Sew Vintage group.

It was definitely a purple week around here.  Lots of purple came out to play in between other on-going projects.  I can't say often enough that a little time spent cutting parts for these ahead of sewing makes a huge difference in how much I manage to accomplish each week.

There are now 16 Honey Bee blocks, 2 for each month - except for the "pastel" month we did.  Some of my bees already fell into the pastel category.  Now I need to begin thinking about whether or not to divide these blocks into 2 smaller quilts instead of just 1 big one.  That's the direction I'm leaning right now. 

The Scrappy Stars are 9" finished blocks, and I've been making 4 each month.  I must admit that I'm getting excited about putting these together into a quilt - this coming winter.  

So . . . there are lots of colorful Ticker Tape blocks to play with.  I do not plan to sew them together in rows of just one color like this, but it sure helped me see which colors need more blocks made.  I was aiming for 9 of each.  Looks like I really skimped on the red ones.

Only 2 of the Vintage Spools were sewn, and not many RSC blocks have been cut yet for next week.  Cutting is my plan for tomorrow after I've taken the kids and dog back home IF I have the time of course.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday - Sept 11

I know it's very cliche to talk about remembering exactly where we were and what we were doing when certain events happened in history.  I'm old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination, the ending of the Viet Nam war, and of course 9-11. And yes, I certainly do remember where I was that morning, as do most Americans. How has it possibly been 25 years ago already?

I have a NEAR finish to share this week.  Our QOV group had a few RWB Rail Fence blocks left over from a previous quilt, so this spring/summer I pulled out a lot of RWB scraps and made a bunch more Rail Fence blocks (6" finished).  I also made the RWB Friendship Star blocks to go with them, and put everything into a kit for our group.  Deb B took this kit and finished up this gorgeous flimsy.  This may have to be a design we use again.

A small finish of my own can be reported.  I actually finished the binding last weekend on this cute Halloween runner.  This was a kit - although I moved some fabrics around.  The checkerboard was supposed to be the binding.  I used a solid black from my stash for the binding instead. The black print was supposed to be the outer border with a narrow white inner border.  I put that white back into the stash, and then pulled it back out and used it for background in some QOV blocks.  Nothing wasted. 

A medium size finish also happened, with the binding of Snowdrift. It's a 48 x 60 quilt that was a kit from a Sew Sampler box.  The pattern and fat quarters for the blocks were in the kit, and the background, border, backing, and binding came from my stash.  This is another UFO that can be checked off my PHD list for 2026. 

My orthopedic appointment yesterday went well enough.  No surprise that I have a lot of arthritis in my knees, especially that right one that has been painful and swollen.  I got an injection and some recommendations - icing more often, take anti-inflammatory more often, get a "sleeve" to wear on the knee when it's bothering me, and use the cane for extra stability when needed.  Hopefully the injection will help with the inflammation, which should reduce the Baker's Cyst on the back of my knee and reduce the pain. 

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