Holiday Time & RSC/PHD

The holidays are just about here and all the festivities are about to kick in. I've been cleaning, shopping, planning meals, decorating, writing cards, organizing, and preparing handwork for quiet family time. Of course the Parcheesi board will be brought out too! My brother, wife, and twins arrive this evening. They'll stay overnight at Mom's before heading over to the airport to pick up their son and settling in for a few days at the in-laws. My daughter arrives tomorrow with her two kitties. Gracie and Polly are looking forward to their company! Ha! They'll be staying here with us. Then mid-week my brother's family returns to us for a couple days until after Christmas brunch. Sarah leaves the following mid-week. Oh my! Busy! Busy! And it's all WONDERFUL!

Down to business now. I did not earn my PHD (Projects half Done). Not only did I not finish all of my projects, but I didn't finish all that I started during 2021. Guess it's back to the class room for me. I'm happy to say that I did manage to finish 5 PHD projects and several others. Here they are:

Table Scraps

Reindeer Frolic Wool Mat

Table Scraps

Table Scraps

Tiny Tuesday RSC Finish

Snowmen & Churches

Shark Bite

Halloween BOM top

Christmas Wool Mini

Positivity

Halloween Apron

Boo #2

Mini 10-Minute Table Runner

Hope (pattern by GEDesigns)

That's it from me for 2021. I doubt I'll have any other finishes and I probably won't be posting much until the new year. I'm working on  my RSC2022 list as well as my PHD2022 list -- hope springs eternal, doesn't it? Maybe next post will bring you knit finishes!

Until next year, I wish you the very best holiday season and I'm looking forward to a fabulous 2022. Thank you for following me through the year, inspiring me with your projects, sharing tips you've learned along the way. I hope you found some inspiration here as well and enjoyed my posts.

I'll continue to link with Angela at SoScrappy for Rainbow Scrap Challenge, Gail at QuiltingGail for Projects Half Done, and LeeAnna at NotAfraidOfColor for I Like Thursdays in 2022!

RSC End of Light/Bright Blues?

Oh wow! We are getting close to the end of the light/bright blues and I guess I didn't get much sewing time this week. Seems like ra lot of time spent on doctor's appointments with hubby's upcoming surgery. Now we're planning a couple of trips so not much time for May either probably. Oh well, that doesn't stop me from life.

On the RSC front, I did manage to sew this sweet block. I knew when I made it that the background fabric would go wonky but I didn't mind. I thought it went beautifully with the light blue fabric I had already chosen.

I didn't finish my table mat (yet) this month. My inspiration came from the book "Returning to Temecula" by Sheryl Johnson. I figured the Nine Patch Posey would use up a lot of my 1-1/4" scraps.

Inspiration

Here's my version. As you can see I didn't get the appliqued center done nor the quilting. Oh well. Currently it measures approximately 16" x 20". Maybe I'll spend a little time finishing this one up but too late for the Table Scrap Challenge. Boo! Hoo!

I'll be preparing for our trip and packing this week. Probably not much going to happen next week in the sewing room. In the meantime, I'm linking with Angela and friends at SoScrappy!

March Table Scraps Challenge

Joyful Quilter's Table Scraps Challenge is a good exercise (for me anyway) to come up with a quilted SOMETHING. The rules, um ... read that "suggestions", are simple.

1. It must predominantly use fabric the color of the monthly Rainbow Scrap Challenge. March's color was dark to medium green.
2. The quilted project should be something involving a table. Examples given were table runners, table mats, placemats, mug rugs, ... you get the idea, right?

So what did I come up with? Well, since March's color was green and March's holiday was St. Patrick's Day, I started thinking shamrocks. While browsing blogs one day, someone (and I can't remember who -- so sorry!) posted all kinds of facts and freebies concerning St. Patrick's Day. One of the quilt block patterns was Little Clover by Jane Alexander for the Splendid Sampler. You can find the link HERE.

So I knew I could use up some green scraps with this one so I made my four little 4" blocks. Jane set her blocks in a swirling manner. I was about to do that when, browsing blogs another day, I got a brilliant idea after seeing Bonnie Hunter's Tulip Time. Inspiration hits when you least expect it sometimes. Now I knew for sure how I wanted to set the blocks and how I wanted to finish my project. Next step was to figure out my border width for a finished size to accommodate what I had in mind.

So here it is: my Shamrock Table Mat. It finished at 15" square and is scrappy in every sense of the word, truly reflecting a Bonnie Hunter style.

A couple of close-ups are always appreciated, I'm sure.

One little clover with hearts quilted in the leaves

Swirliness quilting in the center

Wavy quilting in the borders

Of course a picture of the back. I used up a bit more of the shamrock fabric. Note: it's starting to lose the musty smell which pleases me!

Quilting on the  back

One last photo or two from the photo shoot. I think the little mat is a beauty and it fits my table perfectly. Many thanks to my math teachers! Haha!

I'm definitely ready for St. Patrick's Day 2022!

Linking up with all the other Table Scrap Challenge quilters. You can find the Linky Party HERE at Joy's blog, The Joyful Quilter.

WOOFA(P) & PHD

The first of March means it's time to look back to see what was accomplished in February. Short month. Some progress but nothing monumental. I will be linking up with Quilting Gail for the PHD (Projects Half Done) and with Cheryll at Gone Stitchin' for WOOFA(P) (Work On Or Finishing A ... UFO (Project, Pattern, Problem, etc.). Both are designed to get us quilters on the right path to a completed project!

So what did I work on? I finished the wool mat project Reindeer Dance, which had been started in January. It hit a standstill when I ran out of the embroidery thread and had a little difficulty finding the same thread. You can read all about this project HERE.

While I was waiting to locate  more  of the needed thread for Reindeer Dance, I started another wool applique pillow titled Peace Love Joy. It, like Reindeer Dance, was purchased some time ago from Primitive Gatherings. The top is now completed. Just needs the zipper sewn in and backed. Of course then it will need a pillow form stuffed inside. I'll get it all done this week! For now, here's a picture of the finished front.

The Joyful Quilter presented a challenge to us for 2021 called Table Scraps. Each month, using the designated color of the month from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, we are to make a table runner, table mat, mug rug, etc. February's color was yellow so I made a 17" square table mat using a new-to-me ruler. I think it turned out adorable and I love it! The back of it is a yellow print with little bees! You can read about the progress of this mat HERE.

For both WOOFA(P) and PHD, these count as starts & finishes. However, none of these were on my official PHD list. I don't have anything finished for that list but I did make progress on two of the projects. I worked on Awesome Land. It was nothing but a pile of blocks from RSC2020. I've started sewing on scrappy background sashing pieces.

I also worked on the 2020 Twisted Mystery quilt. I made 48 total of these units.

I started 52 of these. I think I have 18 of the 52 sewn but still need to be trimmed up.

Progress on Shark Bite was made. I picked out the fabric for the backing! Isn't it gorgeous? To get Shark Bite to the finish line is the goal for the 2021UFO Challenge, due in April. Just getting it layered up and basted will be a job inself! Ugh! Here's the backing I'm planning on using.

So let's see. I started a project in January and finished it in February. Started a project in February and finished it in February. Started a second project in February and it's basically done. Maybe 97%? I also made some headway on two of my official PHD projects and got the backing picked out for a third. Really not too bad for such a short month.

See you in a month with hopefully some finishes!

Nearing the End of Yellow

Today & tomorrow. That's all there is to the little month of February. It may be small but it packed a brutal punch in the weather department. The Midwest had so much snow and bitter cold, but we made it! Just around the corner is March and Angela will announce the next color in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. So what did I work on this week? Not a whole lot to talk about.

I played with a new ruler, Mini QCR (Quick Curve Ruler), that I got for Christmas from my BFF. I saw a pretty sunflower block in the book using the same ruler so I thought it might be a good small project to try my new toy on. After all, sunflowers are yellow and February's color is yellow ...

This is what it looked like three days ago.

We progressed to this stage by Thursday evening.

Last night we got to this and obviously it's not quite done. I'll have that last corner stitched down by tonight! This Sunflower table mat measures about 17" square. It's the cutest little thing!

I had a lot of fun playing with the quilting. I went fairly heavy because I wanted it to lay very flat. Not too many bumps. Wouldn't want to spill coffee on it because my cup upset due to an unexpected "puff"!

I found the binding fabric in a bin of scraps that I bought off a relocating quilter. Any idea what it is? Here's a close-up of the texture of this fabric and a better picture of the actual color. Oh! Did I mention how soft it is too? I never would use it in a quilting project but the color was perfect and I'm only using it on the binding, right?

Besides sharing with Angela and my fellow RSC quilters, I'm also sharing this on Joy's Table Scraps Challenge!

I have one more yellow block to sew and I'll be officially done with yellow. March 1st isn't until Monday so I do have ALL weekend to finish my Sunflower binding and get that last block sewn together. Wonder what color March will bring?

Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for RSC and Joy at TheJoyfulQuilter for Table Scraps Challenge.

Have a fabulous weekend!

January PHD Report

I'm very happy to say that I've actually made progress on my projects this first month of 2021. I don't usually focus so steadily. Which is why I signed up once again for my PHD! Hahaha! So let's begin.

I started a new project ... see what I mean about "focus"? Lol! Anyway I started this little wool pincushion in January and finished in January. It was a kit from Primitive Gatherings.

Unfortunately I started a second wool project but it got sidelined when I ran out of my thread. I'll get more thread and finish this month, fingers crossed!

My main focus for January was to get Tiny Tuesday finished. This quilt was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt where I made the blocks all during 2019. Finally! Here she is!

On January 1, she was 100% pieced and partially quilted. Now she is 100% finished right down to the label. You can read more about her and see close-ups of the blocks & some of the quilting HERE.

One of my blogging friends, The Joyful Quilter, put out a challenge for 2021. She named the challenge Table Scraps and we just need to make something for a table. It can be a table runner, placemats, mug rug, whatever. She asks that you keep it in line with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge's color of the month. January was PINK. I made three place mats - one for my hubby, one for my mother, and one for me.

So, one UFO completed and two projects started in January AND finished in January. I'm glad I'm recording this for posterity because it'll probably never happen again! Haha! See you March 1 with my next PHD update!

Tiny Tuesday, Table Scraps Challenge, WOOFA, and the End of Pinks

I hope I got your attention with that long title! I think I'll start from the end. You don't mind, do you? Ha!

First up are two more Irish Courthouse Steps. These are for RSC2021 using pink!

Next I frantically finished up my Table Scraps Challenge with Joyful Quilts. I was planning on doing a different project but I got bogged down with life. Then I saw a Valentine's Day pattern by one of my designer friends "Sewing With Susan" so I ordered up her pattern "2 Hearts as One". I got the PDF and you can find it here. I love QAYG patterns and I got to use more of my pink scraps! This is one place of 3 I plan on making. This is the completed one. The others are very close ....

(Just a little background: Susan is the one that got me hooked on playing with Dresden Plate patterns! All of her patterns are very detailed and I doubt anyone could go wrong making any of her patterns!)

Now for my Ta-Da! Tiny Tuesday is 100% finished FINALLY! If you recall, I started it in January 2019 with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge family. It was my first year joining and Angela said she was going to be posting directions for tiny blocks every Tuesday in January through October (?). Then it was up to us finish it or quit at any time for smaller quilts or just do whatever pleases us. She's still got the links for this one on her SoScrappy blog HERE.

Anyway, I got my blocks done but didn't know how I wanted to finish it. The individual blocks finish at 4" and then, after laying them on point or straight, they became 7" finished blocks. At the time I had a stack of 44 blocks which would make a weird-sized quilt. I ended up making 4 more blocks for a 6x8 layout. I decided 42" x 56" wasn't large enough for me so I grouped four blocks together with a tiny sashing and 4-patch unit. Then I grouped the groups into a 3x4 layout with wider sashing and 9-patch units and added a border. Tiny Tuesday now measures 52" x 76" which is good to me!

UPDATE: This was also my WOOFA project. I had my nose to the grindstone for just about all of January working on getting this one done. Happy to say I managed!

If you want to stop reading right here, that's fine by me. It's going to get picture-heavy as I show off the  blocks and then some of my impressive (HA!) quilting next. It you don't quilt, you may not be too interested but I'll leave it up to you.

So let's get started. Here are all of my blocks, four at a time:

Aren't they so pretty? We learned all kinds of techniques: simple piecing, complex piecing, applique, reverse applique, paper piecing, pretty much everything!

Now for some pictures of some of the quilting. I quilted each block differently using thread to match the main color. The frames of the blocks on point have a triple-petals design and the straight blocks have a loopy design in their frames. I used the 3-4-5 quilting motif in the borders. It goes like this: Bernina Stitch #4 which automatically (on my machine anyway) sets the width to 5 and I manually change the length to 3. It's a bit organic yet holds the seams nicely and if you stray a little it just blends right in! For now enjoy a few of my favorite quilted blocks from the back.

Hearts & Squiggles with a lacy edge treatment

Definitely organic circles quilted as I ditch-stitched! Lol!

Wonky Star in a Star

Block Name: Multiply Block
Quilting Name: Big fish eating smaller fish eating smallest fish!

So glad I quilted in his chest feathers!

Butterfly and Organic (yes, again with the organic!) Spiral

If you stayed with me this long, congratulations! I enjoyed this entire quilt journey. Tiny Tuesday will always be a favorite of mine for so many reasons. Thank you, Angela, for the idea, the patterns, and of course all the colors!

Linking with SoScrappy and the RSC2021 quilters, TheJoyfulQuilter and the Table Scraps Challengers, and with QuiltingGail and the PHD2021 quilters!