RSC blocks

One of my goals for the week has been accomplished - the light blue "Home Is . . ." block.  

As I finished this block, I was being critical about my fabric choices.  Seeing it by itself I questioned whether it was too light.  But next to the other 3 previous blocks it looks fine.  What is my final plan for these?  I have no idea yet, but I love the blocks and it will be fun to come up with something as I have more blocks.  This house block is part of Pat Sloan's "Home Is . . ." online project, and she has a wonderful quilt layout designed.   

 

The Tulip Time parts and pieces that were kitted up over the weekend are now sewn together.  This is section #15 so far.  These sections are about 13" unfinished.  This picture is an interesting study in how poor light impacts the colors in a photograph.  That upper right tulip is really a rich gold, and the lower right tulip is a much brighter aqua.  

Now that the tiny little pieces of the tulips are off my sewing table, I can pull out Laundry Line again and play with those little tiny pieces.  Note to self - the next project needs to have big pieces!! LOL

To Do Tuesday

 My goals for this week are simple - forward progress, even if it's small steps.

Goal #1 is quilting the Bee Patriotic mini quilt.  I had a big enough piece of that backing and batting trimmed from a recent quilt to use on the back of this small (about 26" square) quilt.  And yes - it's the same fabric I used as the border.  My plan is to just do some simple stitch in the ditch quilting.  

Goal #2 is making the blue "Home Is . . ." to join the pink, yellow, and green ones already made.  These blocks just make me smile because they are so cute.  

Goal #3 is to make at least one new section to Laundry Line.  That is the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots that I was working on, and then set aside.   It's in danger of becoming a UFO, so it's time to get back to working on it. I only have one of the blocks sewn, even though they are ALL cut out and ready.

And Goal #4 is to catch up with the Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.  I only made 1 of last week's 2 blocks, and 2 new ones were posted yesterday.  This week's blocks are #29 (Economy) and #34 (Flock).  So, I have 3 blocks to make this week to be caught up.  I can do it. 

Design Wall Monday - April 12

One of my very favorite “quilty” activities has been attending the monthly Saturday Sampler at The Pin Cushion.  I've been doing them for many, many years now.  The Show 'n Tell was always fun and inspiring, the shop would introduce lots of interesting new fabrics, books, tools, and the block demo has taught me so many new techniques and improved my skills.

I sure miss those face-to-face Saturday Sampler mornings, and am hoping that with the vaccinations progressing we'll be able to meet in person again soon.  In the meantime, the shop is posting videos on Facebook and we pick up our month's instructions at the shop.  I'm sure I've mentioned before that we are working on a mystery based on Lori Holt's book Quilty Fun. 

I've chosen to use my 30s stash for this one. So it will be bright and cheery.  Each month we get 2 "sections" to sew.  This month we did tulips and snowballs.  The tulips were fast and the snowballs definitely took awhile to get those little corners all done.  

One more project has also become a finished top.  This is Roll On, and was made with a couple of 30s charm packs from my stash.   It's a baby quilt and may end up getting a border of some kind eventually, or it may get quilted as is.  For now it's hanging in my sewing room closet. 

What is on your design wall this morning? I'm linking up with - 
https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Odds 'n Ends

 Yesterday was our twin grandkids' 8th birthdays and we were fortunate enough to spend part of the day with them.  Olivia got her ears pierced for her birthday, and I got to go along.  A very special opportunity for me.  Jonah was thrilled because he received lots of "weapons" for his birthday - nerf guns were popular.  There were lots of doggie kisses at their house.  And hugs from all 3 of the kids - absolutely priceless.   

It also meant I didn't spend much time sewing, although early in the morning I did kit up the pink and cream Brick Street project, and some Tulip Time blocks.  So - the nicest of days, with a good mixture of sunshine, family, and sewing.  Life is good. 

I sewed one of the Tulip Time blocks last night, but the other 3 are ready to sew later today.  My plan is to make at least 4 per month so that I can put together one of the "quad" sections. By the end of the year, I might have enough quads to make a quilt.  Maybe . . . but there's no rush on these.

On Friday morning I joined the ranks of the fully vaccinated.  I had no side effects from either shot, other than a mildly sore arm.  My husband will get his second shot next Friday.  It makes me feel like the world is slowly returning to some kind of normal.  

Ohio Star and a Quick Strippee

Two UFO projects are finished. Yay!!  

The Ohio Star quilt was an RSC project from last year, plus a couple of extra blocks made this year to make the quilt a bit larger.  Star blocks are my favorite kinds of blocks and you just can't beat the Ohio Star for simplicity.  This one is bright and happy.  A few "reversed" blocks are included where the star is white instead of the background.  Currently the plan is for this one to be gifted to a new graduate.  

The other finish this week was the Flamingo Quick Strippee.  This is the same pattern as the grey and pink version with sheep in the wide sections that I finished a couple of weeks ago.  I've actually made several of these as baby gifts over the last few years.  So fast and so simple.  It's another one of the free patterns from Mary Quilts.  Just check the menu on the right side of her blog.  

Both of these quilts used the same wide backing - that I've used on previous quilts.  It works great for any bright scrappy quilt.  It makes me think of fireworks but on a white background.  Watch for this fabric to appear again, because I just used it for a border on a table topper that is in the works.  

I'm linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge today: 
https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Inspiration is everywhere

 I follow several quilting (and genealogy) bloggers, and they are such sources of inspiration for me.  One of the quilting blogs I read nearly every day is Mary Quilts.  She mostly makes donation quilts, or quilts for family, and I love that she so generously shares her ideas, including where she gets her own inspiration.  A few days ago she posted a picture of a quilt top she had just finished called Brick Street.  And luckily for me she also shared the book where she found the pattern - Fast & Fun 3-Yard Quilts.

I kept thinking about that book, and after a very brief search I realized that I had it.  Oh my goodness, there are some fun and easy patterns in this book!!  And each pattern takes 1 yard each of 3 fabrics.

The picture in the book shows a couple of pink prints - and it suddenly came to me that I have some pink print fabrics in my stash.  Remember that little collection of forgotten fabrics I recently came across?  I'm very excited, because there is enough of the bottom 2 fabrics to use for the bigger block sections.  And in my drawer full of neutrals there was a very pretty cream piece that will work with them as the sashing.  All of the remaining fabrics were fat quarters, which are now back in the stash.

I'm hoping to get this project kitted up over the weekend.  The blocks are done with width of fabric strip sets. So it won't take long to cut those strips and get them organized.  I think this will make a very pretty lap quilt for a future donation project AND it makes good use of fabric that has been neglected and forgotten for way too long. 

Since I was looking at Mary's blog for inspiration, I also remembered one of her free instruction sheets that I had printed and hung on my bulletin board recently. Rectangles!!  This will be the ideal design for another PIG project.  The PIGS are "projects in grocery sacks", and just means I have a kit or collection of fabric hanging out waiting. I'm very determined to work on reducing the PIGS this year as well as the UFOs - because they are calling to me.  

One of my project boxes held this bright 1/2 jelly roll and a couple of yards of a black print for a background, but I wasn't sure what pattern I was going to use them to make.  I just knew they made a good combination.  Well, now the Rectangles pattern in tucked in the project box.  This quilt is also made with strip sets - 18 of them.  And since this jelly roll has 20 strips it's going to work perfectly.  Another project to kit up over the weekend, simply by cutting the black strips.  

Thank you for the inspiration, Mary!!    

Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks

 This week's challenge blocks in the Farmer's Wife Sampler book are #25 and #26.  Cups and Saucers is #25, and I have it done.  Isn't it interesting to see how simple some blocks turn out to be, when they look complicated?   Turns out this one has flying geese, half square triangles, and a square. Easy peasy!  In the book, the picture of this block had 2 fabrics with almost no contrast, but I chose to have lots of contrast so the design really shows up nicely.  

The second block for this week is Cut Glass Dish and it contains 24 tiny HST (1.5") plus 3 larger squares.  That one will be a bigger challenge, plus I'm still trying to decide how I want this block to look because I'm not sure I like it as is. 

Here is the picture of the block from the book.  Notice that all of the HSTs are pointing the same direction.  But in my humble opinion, the HSTs on the right side need to point the opposite direction so that the center squares show up better.  Or maybe the squares just need to be a more contrasting fabric.  This block needs some contemplation.