Weekly progress and 2 finishes

Last weekend I had made a list of projects I wanted to move forward, and there has definitely been some good progress made on most.

This week's block for the Riley Blake challenge is done.  Block #6 is Starburst by Amber Elliot.  Those purple star points could have been more easily made using a tri recs ruler than with the technique in the pattern.  However, not everyone would have that ruler - I do - so the pattern used oversize rectangles resulting in a lot of fabric waste.  But I followed the directions just as the pattern called for.

On the Stay At Home Round Robin I've been stuck with absolutely no ideas for Rounds 3-5.  But this week I had a thought on how to do Round 4, so I'm skipping Round 3 for now and may add it later.  Round 4 was to use "slashed" blocks.  I did long strips with random slashes added for 3 of the sides.  Round 5 is a Quarter Log Cabin.  My plan is to do a row of colorful versions across the bottom. I'll need to do some math to figure out how many and what size to make those Quarter Log Cabin units.

*  a backing to piece for a big UFO - Done & dropped off to be quilted

*  lots of RSC blocks using blue scraps - a few blue blocks made

*  the 4-patch doll quilt to be quilted and bound - DONE

*  some progress on the SAHRR project that has stalled - 1 round 
*  some cleaning/organizing in sewing room - very little cleaning

*  new block for this week in RBD challenge - DONE
*  work on applique pillow top (yes - it is a squirrel) - DONE

*  AND - whatever else pops up!!

The binding was completed on 2 baby quilts in the last week.

It was quilted with a bright variegated thread that really shows up nicely.

This is a Villa Rosa pattern called October Sky, and a Laurel Burch panel with a fun jungle theme.  This one is going to be a baby gift for a coworker of my daughter.

The other baby quilt that is finished is a Quick Strippie, using 1 yard of 3 different fabrics. It has the cutest little birds wearing hats, carrying umbrellas, and flying around in the sunshine.  It's a free pattern you can download from Mary Quilts.

 https://maryquilts.com/quick-strippie/    

One last bitter cold day yesterday, and hopefully we won't see those below zero temperatures again this winter.  We even stayed home from the Jackrabbit basketball game on Wednesday night rather than be out on the road when the wind chill in negative 30 or worse.

A new pillow

A new pillow is gracing my family room sofa for February.

This is the squirrel that I was following, and it was a quick finish.  The pattern is actually for an 18" pillow but I cut it down to 16".   It does still need a 16" pillow form to really fill it out, but I had a 14" one in the closet so that will do for now.  The applique was a little "putzy" to cut out all those tiny holes scattered among the hearts.  I made the decision to not do any stitching around all those pieces after fusing them down.  

Instead I did matchstick quilting, every half inch to hold everything down.  The envelope back is a fun heart print fat quarter that was in the stash.  Even the background was in the stash.  I bound the pillow with the same pink as the heart applique.

The pattern is Forever Love by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.  It was offered free on her blog last week through February 16, but can be purchased online now.  I follow her blog, so was quick enough to download it while it was free.  Lucky me!! 

A small squirrel and small finish

A squirrel has crossed my path, and of course I had to chase it.  

It's a small squirrel . . . but could get kind of messy.  It involves lots of small cut-outs, and was traced onto fusible before ironing it onto the pink fabric. 

There was a small finish - actually more than one - that I'll show off today.  The 4-patch doll quilt is all done.  The pink squirrel above was sitting on this little doll quilt and you can see I used some of the leftover cat backing I have.  The quilting is just simple diagonals through each of the 4-patch units.

This doll quilt is 24" square, and is the 6th one I've finished so far this year.  I've challenged myself to make at least one per month using up orphan blocks and leftovers.  There were still 5 of those 4-patch units in the bag.  Since they are just 2.5" squares, I zipped my seam ripper through them, and dropped those squares into my bin holding that size.  They are more likely to get used from the bin than in a bag hiding in a drawer.  

The other finishes are baby quilts that I finally got bound, and I'll share those another day.

Tuesday To Do

 

I'm happy to check off the first item from this week's To Do list - the Saturday Sampler row.  This year's project is a row quilt, and this is the very first row.  There are 15 chevrons plus the spacers to make a row approximately 58" wide.  I'm ready for next month now.

It was so bitter cold yesterday, and I spent most of the day in the basement sewing.  Once the Saturday Sampler row was finished, I worked on sandwiching the doll quilt and even got some of the quilting done on it.  But the afternoon was mostly taken up with piecing the backing for a huge UFO quilt.  I'm hoping to take it to the quilter tomorrow. 

Design Wall Monday - February 17

I took the weekend OFF - from sewing, and spent time with friends and family.  

Saturday morning we left the house about 8:00 am to drive to Brookings where the youngest grandson had a basketball tournament.  So we watched his 3rd grade team play 2 games, hung out with the son-in-law in between games, then scooted across town to the Jackrabbit women's game in the afternoon.  That was very handy, as it was the big rivalry game and we wouldn't have wanted to miss the Jackrabbits vs the USD Coyotes.  Jackrabbits had a win but it was a close game.

We got home Saturday just in time to meet some friends for supper and an adult beverage.  We met at one casual restaurant and after eating, we walked next door to a new brewery for one more beverage.  That was fun too.  

And Sunday morning we met our daughter at the interstate and rode to Pierre with her to watch a granddaughter wrestle that afternoon in the state Middle School meet.  Our granddaughter earned a second place medal in her weight class, pinning both the 3rd and 4th place girls.  So it was a good day.

I did sew the binding onto this little doll quilt in the car on Saturday.  And I worked on the binding on a baby quilt in the car on Sunday.  There is only about 18" remaining to be stitched down.  That is the only sewing since Friday afternoon, which means it's time to get back into sewing mode today, before I go through withdrawal.

Carried over from last week are the chevron blocks for Saturday Sampler.  I have only 3 of the 15 left to make.  Then the row of chevrons will get a narrow top and bottom strip.

Also carried over from last week are these Buckeye Beauty blocks for a new Quilt of Valor.  The count is adding up quickly, but it will require quite a few more yet.  So these will be an ongoing project.

There are more things happening on other projects including . . .

*  a backing to piece for a big UFO

*  lots of RSC blocks using blue scraps

*  the 4-patch doll quilt to be quilted and bound

*  some progress on the SAHRR project that has stalled
*  some cleaning/organizing in sewing room

*  new block for this week in RBD challenge
*  work on applique pillow top (yes - it is a squirrel)

*  AND - whatever else pops up!!

I'm linking up today with:

https://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/ 

https://songbirddesigns.blog

RSC25 - Week #7

It's been bitter cold here this week, so just perfect to hunker down and sew.  With a focus on blue this month I've been working on some Quilts of Valor blocks as well as some scrappy projects.  

  There are 55 of these 8" (finished) blocks now.  I haven't decided yet how I want them laid out, and whether or not to add a border.  They are very addictive to make.

 These string blocks are pieced on muslin foundations, and are squared up at 9.5".  When I opened the project box with the muslin squares I found a partially finished brown one.  I finished that one and added a blue one.  And I sorted out more blue strings. 

Those additional blue strings became 3 more blocks later in the week, in between other projects.  They make great Leaders/Enders.  There are now 37 of them but I'm aiming for 48 blocks total so more will happen.  

The hanger these blocks were clipped to was getting very full, so I've taken 12 of them and begun assembling a top.  

And speaking of Leaders/Enders, I've been working on a Piano Key border a little bit at a time for a scrappy UFO that I want to finish.  Again - all of these are scraps.  

One more scrappy project that surfaced this week - a scrappy 4-patch doll quilt flimsy.  This one is about 20 x 24.  I will dig into the backing leftovers and see if there is something that would work for this and try to get it quilted soon.

I'm linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge . . .

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

More churn dash

 Yesterday I needed a break from the chevrons for the Saturday Sampler project, so I made a few more churn dash blocks for the baby quilts.

A few at a time do add up quickly.  And I had several fat quarters set aside for these churn dash blocks.  These will go nicely with the more pastel group. 

And I did get 3 of those chevrons made, so only 5 more to go to complete this month's row of blocks.  Maybe today I'll get them done.  Or maybe not.