Design Wall Monday - August 31

Over the past few days I've been contemplating my goals for fall, with way too many ideas floating around in my head again.  So, I'm going to just come up with some goals for this week, and let the rest keep floating for now.

Salt Water Taffy is halfway to being a flimsy.  Five of the 10 rows are all assembled so far, and this will be my first priority this week. I even have a plan for the 4 extra blocks.

The second project I want to finish this week is this little Halloween table runner.  This was a kit purchased when granddaughter Sophia was shopping for Halloween fabric for her own quilt. The Pieced Tree pattern card was included in the kit. Digging into the drawer full of Halloween fabrics I found this leftover backing, and it was just the right size for the runner.  It's all sandwiched and waiting for an idea of HOW I want to quilt this. 

Another priority this week is the paper pieced Garden Stars block for September.  It's only 1 block for this month, although I might get another of the alternate blocks made too.  

Tracing onto fusible is done on the snowman appliques for Kisses From Heaven. The kit contains laser cut snowflakes to use, but the snowmen parts all needed to be traced onto the fusible by hand.  This project is the last thing on my PHD list that hadn't even been started yet.  I think I've been afraid of the whole "circle" thing, and that would explain why it's been in a drawer for nearly 10 years.  Now I can iron these onto the fabrics in the kit.  I don't expect to get any sewing done on these this week, but will be very happy if all the parts are ironed onto the fabric.  
  

Last, but not least - the yellow scraps have been put away and the purple ones have come out for September's rainbow fun.  A few of the RSC blocks are kitted up and ready to sew - Buckeye Butterflies (3), Tulip Swirl (4), Ticker Tape (2), and for 6 Mardi Gras blocks not shown here.  Welcome to September!!

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

Saying goodbye to August

This was my August goal list from the beginning of the month . . .

• Ongoing Projects - UFOs & WIPs
• Keep up with Saturday Sampler - DONE
• Garden Stars block #1 (paper pieced) - DONE
• Quilt & bind the Windy Days wall hanging - DONE
• Quilt & bind at least 1 WIP project
• placemats DONE (2 RWB placemats)
• table runners - DONE (1 runner)
• doll quilts - NO
• blue SD lap quilt - NO
• RSC blocks in yellow - DONE
• QOV blocks - DONE
• kit up another QOV for group - NO
• NEW Projects
• online mystery - Meadow Mist - monthly clues - DONE
• autumn mini vertical banner - DONE
• SOMETHING with denim? - DONE (Tilda/denim pillow)

In the spirit of my own accountability, I'm happy to report that I've used more fabric than I've purchased in 2026.  It's not a lot, but it is going the right direction.  I hope to keep that trend going through the fall and winter.  

RSC26 - Week #35

Yellow . . . such a cheerful color to play with this month. 

Who Found the Catnip came together quickly since all the pieces were cut and arranged on the design board in the correct spots.  

The 4 Snails Trail blocks are finished.  I chose 2 yellows that were buttery, and the other 2 are more on the gold side.  The one bottom right looks almost brown in this photo.  That wasn't my intention so we'll see how it plays with the other colors. If I have to replace it with a brighter color it isn't the end of the world. 

Going through the 2.5" square bin, I realized that I didn't have many yellow ones left. There were enough for just a couple of Hollow-9 blocks.  The bin is nearly full yet, but just not with yellow.  I think I used most of them up when I finished the blocks for the Hollow-9 quilt a couple of months ago.   

A few Vintage Spools have been finished this week too.  Notice, there is a little purple in these as well to ease into next month. 

There has been a squirrel trying to get into my sewing room the past couple of days. I blame Pinterest.  While looking for something else this week, I came across an awesome scrappy quilt made with a variation on the Potato Chip blocks.  It had a black center square, and only 1 round of "chips" in colors.  The blocks were separated with a narrow black sashing and colorful little cornerstones.  Ironically I had just been "gifted" with nearly 2 yards of a black solid fabric, and obviously Pinterest heard me thinking about how I would use that black.  And I already had an overflowing little box of the chips cut from project leftovers.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or Not) Friday - Very small finishes

EDIT:  The eye procedure went well yesterday, but it was good that I had written this post early.  Blurry vision was the norm for awhile.  And happens again each time I put in the ointment needed for the next week.  But that's a minor inconvenience.

This week, there are finishes but I warn you - they are small.

The autumn themed mini banner is done.  It's only 10 x 26 - small. I now have 4 seasonal banners, and they fit perfectly hanging on that narrow space in my home office. I may need to eventually add a couple more to the collection for specific holidays. 
 

Have you tried the Diamond Dot craze yet?  I just had to dive in this summer and give it a try.  One of my friends has done dozens of various diamond projects large and small.  Both of my granddaughters love doing these too.  I began with some Patriotic greeting cards decorated with the diamonds in mid summer.  Then I saw these cute 4" snowman on Amazon, and couldn't resist ordering them. For the past couple of weeks they've been on my desk.  A couple of hours here and there - and Voila!!  

Currently they have a little lobster clasp from the kit so they could be key chains, but I'm planning to change those clasps to ribbons and hang them on the Christmas tree instead. I still don't think I have the patience to do really large projects, but now I'm confident I can do the sewing themed picture I got last winter as a Secret Santa gift. 

I have 2 quilts ready to bind, so maybe next Friday will have some bigger finishes to report.    

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

What's next?

Two rows are assembled for Salt Water Taffy, out of 10 needed.  I'll continue plugging away on those rows.  I've promised myself it WILL BE a flimsy in a few days.   

Next project?  I cut the pieces for this super simple Halloween table runner while Olivia was sewing a couple of weeks ago.  I'm going to sew this together this morning.

Then this afternoon I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist.  The tentative plan is for her to open up a clogged oil gland on my right lower eyelid. I had the same procedure done about a year ago on the left eye.  She will have numbed my eye, so most likely I won't be doing any sewing or reading for a few hours. 

Mid-week

Today is a monthly lunch with former coworkers - retired of course.  Last month we got a new member of the group who is newly retired.  And now I feel really old because she was one of my own students (high school).  She did retire a bit younger than most of us, but still . . . it makes me feel like time has gotten away from me.

The procrastination on Salt Water Taffy has ended.  The blocks have been layed out, rearranged, and now are pinned into rows.  There were 84 blocks, which means I have 4 left over - plus a bunch of the solid jelly roll strips.  Some of the strips could possibly become a scrappy binding. 

Progress is steady on the paper pieced fall mini banner.  It has a turkey and 2 acorn blocks, all in a 10 x 26 vertical banner.  I've reached the quilting stage. which will be kept very simple.  The binding in that dusty purple in the turkey feather.  I hope to get it bound today, but probably won't hang this one up until October since it has a Thanksgiving vibe to it. 

This kit had a lot of extra fabric in it.  This is all leftover, so it will go into the brown and orange scrap baskets.  None of these pieces are large, but they're too big to just throw away.

The yellow version of Who Found the Catnip has been cut out, and arranged on a design board now that the paper piecing isn't on the board.  If I had been thinking I would have cut the pieces needed for next month's purple block at the same time.  It's almost September after all, so I could have saved some time. 

Gifting quilts

I love being able to gift one of my quilts to someone, and always hope they enjoy and use them.

My closest cousin had an important birthday this weekend, and I had made this quilt especially with her in mind.  I'm so glad it arrived in the mail safely, and that she likes it.

The pattern was for the local Saturday Sampler program, designed by a local pattern designer (Knight on the Prairie) and called Stranded on the Prairie.  It was designed with stranded knitting in mind, so I knew I had to make it for my cousin.  She is a very talented knitter, and does a lot of stranded knitting.  She and her husband are also talented gardeners, and she is calling it her Coleus Quilt because the colors match the massive coleus plant in their yard.  

Happy birthday cuz!!

Design Wall Monday - August 24

A new week, and the last full week of summer. Yikes!! Some region schools have started already, and others will start this week. The big deal in town this week is the Corn Palace Festival, an annual event with carnival rides, carnival games, and  food trucks, all lined up on the streets around the Corn Palace.  The Corn Palace will host a couple of concerts later in the week.  

My plans for the week include the monthly lunch with the retired group from school, a couple of PT appointments, an ophthalmologist appointment, and some sewing of course.  The main sewing project will be the autumn mini vertical banner.  

These mini banners are paper pieced, and I did get all the parts cut and labeled with the stickers from the kit.  Shabby Fabrics make their paper pieced kits so easy to use.

It's also time to choose another UFO to move forward.  I really need to get Salt Water Taffy back out, because the blocks are all made.  The blocks just need to be assembled into a flimsy and then there could actually be an empty project bin.  I've really procrastinated on this particular project all summer.  

There are so many UFOs, and WIPs and new kits to choose from but I do have one final item on my PHD (Projects Half Done) list at The Pin Cushion - also not started yet.  They challenge us each year to put 12 items on our list, with each finish checked off moving us toward a reward at the end of the year.  So far I've finished 10 of the 12, have #11 in the quilting queue, and #12 sitting in a project box.  It's a kit for a round quilt, with snowmen and snowflakes appliqued all around.  Maybe - IF the first 2 tasks get done this week - I can at least get this kit onto my September To Do list. Maybe I can at least get the applique traced onto the fusible.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #34

Friday was mostly a sewing day.  It felt so good to be in my sewing room for more than just a few minutes.  The hubby left in the morning for a golf tournament, so I had total peace and quiet to do whatever I wanted.  And it didn't involve laundry, cleaning, or grocery shopping.

Originally I was going to make the beehive blocks during the yellow month, but for right now I've just made the 2 bees.  I might still decide to do a beehive but we'll see.  The bees themselves are just too cute. 

A few Ticker Tape blocks were born. Luckily I have a bunch of these cut, and the pieces clipped together in a small basket.  They are quick for when I just have a few minutes.

Each month I've made 4 Scrappy Stars blocks, and the yellow ones were finally finished yesterday.  I've had them cut out for a couple of weeks but just got around to sewing them.
 

One design board had the yellow Snail Trail block parts layed out, but only one of them has been sewn so far.  The other 3 will hopefully happen next week.  Today I plan to cut the parts for the yellow Catnip block and maybe some Vintage Spools with yellow.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

There just wasn't much time for finishing projects this week, but that's OK because spending time with friends and family is more important.

On Saturday I stopped at Hobby Lobby on my way to pick up my granddaughter.  The plan was to pick up a 24" pillow form to use in the denim and Tilda pillow.  Of course I couldn't leave Hobby Lobby with only the pillow form!  A cute little grey elephant stuffy and some fall silk flowers came home with me too. 

The binding is on 2 more placemats.  These used more RWB leftovers, but didn't even make a dent in the RWB scraps unfortunately. 

That's it for finishes this week!  

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

Poking along

Wednesday morning I had PT, but had a little sewing time once I got home.  This morning I also have PT, and then I'm hosting cards this afternoon.  But I should have a little sewing time in between PT and cards.

The first priority yesterday was finishing the 4 Dutchman's Puzzle blocks for the Marigold mystery.  These are 8" finished. With these 4 blocks joining the 5 star blocks already done, I'm caught up with the August prompt for the mystery.  

I also worked on the yellow Honey Bee and yellow Scrappy Star blocks that were already cut out, and waiting on design boards.  Progress was made on them.  A little sewing time today and tomorrow should finish these up.

And I got a start on the 12 blocks for August's Saturday Sampler prompt.  These finish at 6", but I'm trying to make sure none are identical so I'm poking along slowly on them. 

Progress

While my granddaughter was sewing a couple of recent days, I did some prep work on a couple of my own sewing projects.  One task was prepping more of the small snowflakes (about 3") I'll be adding to my Saturday Sampler in a future month.  They had to be traced onto the fusible, and then ironed onto the fabric before cutting them out.  This month's assignment will be some fairly simple blocks, but I haven't started those yet.  

The Marigold mystery (Meadow Mist) for August has us making 5 sawtooth stars, and 3 Dutchman's Puzzle blocks.  My stars are done.  

Back to routines

After having 3 of the grandkids here for a few days, we're back to our usual routines - golf for grandpa and sewing for grandma.  Pretty predictable aren't we?

The boys fished every day, sometimes twice.  LOL  And they played golf. 

Olivia sewed with me Sunday and Monday.  Her very first sewing project was her pillowcase, and then she began working on a table runner. She sewed it and she quilted it herself, but I did do the binding for her.  She did a really good job on all of it.  My daughter said when the grandpa dropped the kids off at home she put her pillowcase on her pillow, and the table runner on her nightstand.  So I think she was pleased.

The final project Olivia worked on was a doll quilt.  The flimsy is all done, including the borders.  So I'll find something for backing and binding and then this one will go into the donation box with a stuffie.

Design Wall Monday - August 17

Wow - how can we be halfway through August already!!  Summer flew by like always. 

On our road trip to Omaha, granddaughter Olivia picked out fabric for her first sewing lesson with grandma.  She is a huge animal lover so this dog fabric isn't surprising. 

She did a great job on her pillowcase.  She started on a second project - a table runner.  Maybe we'll work on it a little more today before they head home.  

My own goals for the week are pretty fluid for right now.  But I do know that finishing the August blocks for the Meadow Mist mystery is my first goal.  I have some yellow RSC blocks cut out and waiting to be sewn.  And then I need to work on this month's Saturday Sampler blocks.  We'll see how the week goes.

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog 

RSC26 - Week #33

There was little time for sewing this week, except for this 1 block for Marigold, the mystery project from Meadow Mist.  I have the August blocks all cut out, but this is the only one that I actually sewed.  I'll have a little time to sew this morning hopefully before I go pick up a granddaughter this afternoon.  

Some time for cutting RSC block pieces did happen however.  The parts are all cut for the 2 Honey Bee blocks.  They are on a design board - waiting for time to sew.

And the parts are cut for all 4 of the Scrappy Stars blocks. 

We'll have 3 grandkids here until Monday.  The boys plan to golf and fish with grandpa.  And Olivia and I will do a very first sewing lesson with the fabric she picked out on our Omaha trip this week.  We'll begin with the pillowcase, and if there is time - and she likes sewing - we'll work on a table runner she picked out.

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

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Finished (or not) Friday

I'm home!!  It was so nice to get away for 3 days!  We did some fun things, and also just relaxed and enjoyed being away.  The purpose of the trip was to attend the Lindsey Stirling concert, and that was fabulous of course.  If you just want to see my ONE small quilting finish, scroll to the end of this post.  LOL

Monday morning we left Sioux Falls, and made 1 stop in Sioux City on the way to Omaha.  The Sioux City stop was Heart and Hand Quilting to have Olivia pick out some fabric for her first sewing lesson that will happen this weekend hopefully.  We also popped into a nearby book store (Book People) and a coffee shop.  Then it was on to Omaha.

One bonus was staying with my niece and her husband. We spent one afternoon and evening in their pool, and sitting on their patio.  Temps were in the 90s with really high humidity so that pool was wonderful.  They have waterproof playing cards, so we played cards while floating around.  Olivia is a swim team kid, so she really enjoyed that pool.

Tuesday morning we went to a wildlife "safari" park just off I-80 west of Omaha. Parts were drive through and other parts were walk through.  The animals were all native prairie species such as elk, pelicans, bald eagles, deer, bison, etc.  Then we visited the Strategic Air Command museum, followed by Baker's Candies.  The SAC museum is a place I've visited before and would go again and again as it's fascinating.  The candy shop - enormous and definitely a fun and tasty stop.

Then we braved that heat and went to the Lindsey Stirling concert.  The concert was at an outdoor amphitheater, and our seats were wonderful.  However it was still 93 degrees and sunny and HUMID when we arrived.  That was the sweatiest crowd of people I've ever been in I think. The venue allowed empty clear plastic water bottles to be brought in, and had free refill stations set up all over.  Thankfully.  Once the sun went down it was better, but still so hot and humid.  

Heart and Hand Quilting in Sioux City is close to the interstate so it was an easy stop on our way south.  I've stopped there many times over the years on road trips.  Olivia picked out a couple of dog prints to use for her pillowcase.  And I found some Sasquatch batiks to use for a project that is floating around in my brain.  There were a couple of cute table runner kits and some fat quarters that came home with me too of course.  I've added all of my purchases to the "fabric IN" column on my stash tracking spreadsheet. 

And - here is my one finish - the Tilda and denim floor pillow.  The binding was done in the car on the way to Omaha.  It's 24" inches square so I need to get a pillow form to put inside.  The back is done with an "envelope" so the form can be just slipped in easily.  The binding on the Windy Days wall hanging was begun while sitting around at my niece's house, but isn't finished yet so maybe next week there will be another finish to share.

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