Cherries galore

Another chunk of fabric in the novelty prints bin caught my eye last week, making me pull it out for another look.  It's interesting what we find in the stash while looking for something else.  I'm pretty sure I purchased this cherry print fabric when I was in Door County a few years ago.  
 

There is enough for a Suitcase block, but I also decided to make a Zipper block and a Windmill block while I had it out.  With leftover 2.5" squares I made a couple of 4-patches.  I have a little bin with 4-patch blocks collecting.  

Tuesday was quite a productive day.  I had PT in the morning, got groceries on the way home, baked a batch of cookies, and got in a little sewing - all before jumping in the car to go to a Jackrabbit women's basketball game.  The plan had been to play cards and have a cookie exchange with some friends today, but since one of the friends is under the weather we've postponed it until next week.  The cookies will go into the freezer, so we don't eat them before then.  Today may turn into a sewing day.  

Tuesday mish mash

 I'm absolutely NOT a morning person!  I'm a night owl, typically tucked into bed reading late into the night.  My early morning blog posts are usually written the night before and scheduled to post in the morning.  My punishment for going to bed early on Sunday night?  Being wide awake at 5:00 am on Monday morning.  Ugh!!

Too much coffee, and possibly not enough sleep - for me - leads to frantic and not necessarily productive activity.  And a mid-day crash in energy.  A little sewing happened, then some holiday baking, changed sheets on 2 guest beds, worked on Christmas cards, laundry,  and nothing actually was finished, except the laundry.  

I did pull out another RSC set of blocks to see how close I might be to having enough for a quilt.  The Windmill block set definitely needs more blocks.  There are 34 here, but since they are 7" blocks it wouldn't be nearly big enough to be useful.  It could benefit from a better distribution of color too.  This might be a good donation quilt, and one of the local groups would like twin size quilts.  So this will remain in my RSC plans for 2024.

After looking in the sewing room closet, I started making a list of the blocks I've been working on.  For 2024 it makes sense to finish up some of these block sets.  In a couple of cases, I think I will take the blocks hanging in the closet and add them to donation quilt tops waiting to be quilted, and make those tops larger.  An example is the Rainbow Connection.  

Sunday afternoon was a Quilt of Valor award. This veteran received his quilt at a big family celebration in Sioux Falls.  I took this photo of him with his wife and adult children.  This lovely quilt is one of the quilts our group received from the regional coordinator in Wisconsin.   

Design Wall Monday - Dec 11

 Another week closer to the New Year - Yikes!!

We received the final set of instructions for the 2023 Saturday Sampler on Saturday morning.  It has been a fun mix of pieced and applique blocks.  The pattern is called Spooling Around.  The final "block" is a set of 8 spools.  Then some trimming of the applique blocks will make the center of the quilt ready to assemble.  Yay!  In February there will be a Show n Tell for any completed quilts or tops. First however, I need to make those 8 spool blocks. 

Two last pillowcases for grandsons are on my To Do list for this week.  These will go into their Christmas stockings - my tradition every year.  I was asked how many years I've been doing this, so I had to really think about it.  The oldest will be 13 in June.  I think I started making pillowcases for him when he was 2 and moved into a toddler bed instead of a crib.  I do know at first I often made seasonal themed ones for each kid - Halloween, summer, Christmas etc.  And those were given out "whenever".  Probably about 6 years ago I started putting them in their Christmas stockings each year.

Parts for more of the Indigo Way mystery Clue #3 are laying next to my sewing machine.  Some are sets of 4 matching blocks, and some are sets of 6 matching blocks - just as her instructions said.  When there are 4 of each it's easy to imagine them going into blocks, but the sets of 6 have added more mystery to the mix.  Part of the fun!!

See more design walls at;

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Pillowcases & Quilts of Valor

The 5 grandkids each get a new pillowcase in their Christmas stocking every year.  This year the oldest grandson will receive 2 pillowcases.  

 

He has a double bed now, and a bedroom painted in Houston Texans colors because that is his favorite team.  So it seemed appropriate to make him a pair of pillowcases with a more grown up feel but still showcasing his team.

This afternoon, one final Quilt of Valor will be awarded for 2023.  There are still about 9 requests pending, but they'll have to wait for 2024.  

RSC23 Week #49

Friday morning included some awesome sewing time, uninterrupted. A little scrappy fun was had while I was getting a couple of scrappy projects organized for 2024.

 These Boxed Square blocks were made for RSC23, and the box seemed to be getting pretty full.  Time to count them and see if I have enough for a quilt top.

If the rows are layed out 8 x 10, then the finished quilt would be about 48 x 60.  These are only 6" square (finished).  Turns out that 10 more blocks will be needed for that layout.  In the bottom of the box are a lot more black and white fabrics, and I have a whole box full of colorful 2.5" squares for the center.  So maybe I'll just continue making these blocks for RSC in 2024 and this one could be made even larger than originally planned.  

The flamingoes in sunglasses was purchased several years ago on a trip to Florida.  My husband had a work meeting in Vero Beach, and I had a red convertible.  That meant I could explore to my heart's content, which involved at least one quilt shop.  I used it in a baby quilt for a gift at the time, and then the scraps have appeared in several scrappy projects.  

After making the suitcase block plus this Windmill block with the flamingoes, there is still nearly a half yard remaining for future scrappy fun.  

Scraps were also used to make this block for Quilts of Valor - the blue, the red, and even the background came from the scrap bins.  I have a LOT of red/white/blue scraps to use in various blocks, and this has been a new favorite.  I'm calling it a 4 Square Star, but it was called a Friendship Star variation on the website.  https://www.patchworksquare.com/  This site has many many free block patterns to search through, including a whole section of star blocks.  Hint:  use the down arrow at the top right to search the site.  The left side links take you out to other sites.  

One bigger finish for this week was this Christmas tree skirt.  No scraps were harmed in the making of this project.  But it did create a few new scraps. 

This 6" mug rug actually came from the tree skirt leftovers.  Because of the shape of the tree skirt there are some fairly substantial pieces cut from the corners that are quilted, and those are going to make good mug rugs too.  

Let's see what other RSC things are happening . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

Tree Skirt

The Christmas tree skirt is a done deal.  I think it turned out pretty well considering it was a "design as you sew" kind of project.

I used a pattern I had for the pine trees, then just added a center square the same size, and setting triangles on the sides.  Two borders finished it off.  My friend Carol quilted it for me before I cut the opening or the center hole.  

Can you see the quilting?  Carol did such a great job on this with red/green variegated thread and the design is Christmas lights.  So cute and really shows up nicely on the polka dot back.  It shows up quite well on the front side too.  

Grand-dogs

This picture was taken last year between Christmas and New Years - with the 5 grandkids and 2 "grand-dogs".  Olivia and Sophia are on the left side with Ginger.  The boys (Jack, Mason, Jonah) are on the right side with Samson.  Both families are dog people, and my girls blame me because after we moved from the farm into town (when they were 4 and 7) I always said NO to getting a dog again.

Ginger and Samson belong to my older daughter's family.

Ella joined our younger daughter's family this summer.  She is a rescue dog - mostly Boston Terrier, and very sweet.  The vet thinks she is 3 or more years old, and is pretty well trained.  She snuggled with me a lot on Thanksgiving Day when we were there.  She weighs about 30 pounds.

And this past weekend Newt joined the other household.  He's also a rescue and is 7 months old, so not full grown yet.  He's a very handsome boy, and seems to be getting along just fine with the 2 dogs already in the house. His adoption info indicated he needed to go to a home with other dogs, because he needed to learn to BE a dog.  

He is pretty nervous yet - strange smells, strange sounds - but getting lots of love from everyone.  I guess the robot vacuum sent him scurrying into his kennel.  

So - I don't need a dog of my own because I can get all the doggie loving when I visit my kids!