RSC and Other Things

After such a great run on getting my Uptown top sewn together, there was only a little machine sewing this week. Part of the problem has been I can't seem to find the right backing fabric. I still need to cut and sew the borders on to enlarge it to queen-size. The borders will be the same dark green as the setting triangles which is also the same green used in the all the blocks.

Last week's Red Threads embroidery block was pretty intense. I didn't finish it but I have downloaded this week's. It's really sweet -- a mother & baby horse. I'm looking forward to stitching that one up. Not to mention finishing up The Old Mill embroidery from this week. Pictures to follow when finished, of course.

Twilight Stars is staying on track. Here are this week's blocks. I still have a few weeks to catch up on one day from when we were on vacation.

What good is a week if I don't start a new project? Oh my, I can't believe I put this pressure on myself!!! Lol! At Quilt Club at my LQS, I bought a Valentine's Day table runner kit. It's a nice size -- about 12" x 48". Here's a shot at the background. There are still four red hearts that need to be fused down in the center of the blocks.

And because I almost ran out of handwork to keep my hands busy during Mom's twice/week P/T and once/week hairdresser appointment and also while watching the Australian Open tennis tournament, I started a wool applique pillow. Bought the kit several years ago. Wouldn't it be nice to have it finished in time for Valentine's Day?

It's almost time to bundle up to get Gracie out for her walk. Last checked, it's 2 degrees and quite frosty outside (Feels Like -15 degrees). We haven't really had much snow -- maybe a total of a little over an inch? -- but the cold has lasted so long that the pond is quite frozen over. Gracie doesn't mind the cold but she gets a little impatient at how long it takes a human being to get ALL the clothes on before leaving the house!

Have a lovely weekend. We're supposed to warm up finally and actually get into the 40s this week. Break out the bermudas! haha!

Linking up with all my RSC friends on Angela's blog SoScrappy HERE. Take a peek and see if you can find some inspiration!

RSC #2 and Little Doll Quilt Beauty Shots

Angela chose dark & bright greens for our January Rainbow Scrap Challenge color. I pulled out my bin of green strings and decided it would be good inspiration pictured in my heading. I would like to make Bonnie Hunter's Pine Tree Point pattern, table runner size though. That is one goal for me this month. I need to make it happen ... er, at least get a start on it.

Last week I mentioned that I also wanted to get my Uptown blocks put together. I got the dark green setting and corner triangles cut out one afternoon and then I thought I'd get the blocks laid out. I won't be able to lay it out exactly like the antique quilt that it's based upon because my first 12 applique blocks have one background and the other 8 have another background. This situation arose because I ran out of the first background fabric.

Next I gathered up the 12 leaf blocks. Oops! I completely forgot that I was thinking about making the leaves scaled a bit larger than the original. Now I notice that I did exactly that on 3 of the blocks but the other 9 are the original size. I got out the pattern to see how I could arrange both differences (backgrounds & leaf sizes) into something that looks like I did it on purpose. Then I started arranging blocks.

Disregard the line -- it's the edge of the rug

OK, that looks good. Then I started sewing the blocks together.

Polly-approved!

The blocks are all sewn together. I hope to get the rows sewn together this week!

Another goal I had was to donate my doll quilt, which I did on Monday. Before I did though, I took some Finish Photos.

First finish of 2024!

Such a sweet little quilt. The finished size is approximately 13.5" x 18". Sewn with partial seams, so fun!

I finished this week's two designated Twilight Stars blocks from the Primitive Gatherings QAL.

And I also finished this week's block from the Red Threads SAL.

I'd say that pretty much sums up my week. Hope you had a productive week as well!

Thank you, Angela, for hosting our linking party HERE!

First RSC and FNwF Post of 2024

Happy Epiphany! We went to bed while the snow came down. The meteorologists promised not too much. Woke to a beautiful winter wonderland without too much snow on the ground. Here's a picture I took this morning on my walk with Gracie.

The snow brought out the husky in Gracie. She loved it this morning, romping around everywhere!

But I digress. This post is all about quilting. Cheryll in Australia hosts Friday Night with Friends every first Friday of the month. You can see what the others got done HERE. I did manage to slip away last night and have a date with my sewing machine. Previously I had put together a sweet little doll quilt. I decided it was time to get it quilted up. I'd like to turn it in on Monday during Quilt Club at my local quilt shop. It started like this ...

Look at this sweet fabric I was given quite some time ago. I thought it was perfect for the backing!

I quilted it with the familiar serpentine quilting, going along the twelve block seams and then diagonally through the blocks. After searching high & low, I found the navy piece of fabric that I used for the block centers. There was plenty left to do a sweet binding. When I shut down  my machine, I was at the point ready to hand-stitch down the binding. I know what I'll be working on today while I wait to see if the snow melts and the rain begins as promised by the weather folks.

Angela, our Rainbow Scrap Leader, has chosen bright and/or dark green for our January color. If you look carefully in the photo above, you will see some bright and dark green fabrics! Win-win! You can see more "green posts" right HERE at our RSC Linky Party. Feel free to join in also. There's always room to see what you're up to as well!

I would like to get another set of pineapple blocks completed this year to go with the ones from RSC2023. Because I don't want to make green pineapples (I'd like mine fully ripe, please! Ha!) I will try to get some of the tops cut so I don't have to scramble around when I'm sewing my colorful pineapples. I also want to make a few table runners and table toppers this year. I've got an idea using dark greens for my first one so I plan on working on that this month.

Do you remember these Uptown blocks? I plan on trimming them down all 32 blocks, making the setting triangles, and sewing this top together this month. The triangles are cut from the same dark green fabric you see in the photo above so I'll be in keeping with RSC.

I think that's a wrap. Stay warm if you're in the Northern Hemisphere and keep the A/C blowing if you're in the Southern Hemisphere!

There Goes September AND October!

Started: October 2, 2023

September has come and gone and I have no finishes to show. What the heck happened? My sister came and we even spent two days sewing at a retreat center together! Oh well.

Here in Illinois we had the All-Illinois Shop Hop running from August through September. I managed to get all the stamps for my region. My completed passport went out in the mail Friday. I would like to mention that, after visiting a nice quilt shop in Columbia IL, Mom, Fred, and I went to a restaurant called Reifschneider's for an early dinner. What a surprise to find that we were there on a Tuesday and the special of the day was: 6oz sirloin, dinner salad, and mashed potatoes for $12.95. What a deal!

My hands haven't been 100% idle though. I have to confess

Finishing this post today, November 11:

Update: I won a Regional Grand Prize on the All IL Shop Hop again this year. You may remember that last year I one an AccuQuilt Baby. This year I scored a Janome Serger! It was donated by Times Square Quilt Shop in Jacksonville IL and I'll pick it up soon. Last year's prize was donated by A to Z Quilt Shop in Quincy IL. At least this year's travel to pick up the prize is a bit closer.

So what have I been up to? I finished all my blocks for Uptown. They need to be squared up, the set-in triangles cut, and then the top sewn together. Here's a photo of the last block. I ran out of bigger pieces of red fabrics used in the previous blocks so in this block, where I used red it was supposed to be blue and where I used blue it was supposed to be red. Looks fine and the quilt police didn't even raid my studio! Lol!

In September I started another quilt with Sentimental Stitches called Red Threads. I'm using brown thread instead so I'll have to come up with a different name for my quilt. It consists of 49 embroidered blocks which we get a new pattern every Friday. Here are a few that I've completed although many need to be pressed.

My Favorite So Far

Just this morning I put the tops on my RSC turquoise pineapples. Geez, they were started in September!

From This ....

To this!

Twilight Stars Sew-a-Long with Primitive Gatherings is still going strong. Here are a few pictures of new stars recently made.

Made These at Kinderhook Retreat in October

Oopsy Doopsy!

That's a Better Star on the Left Now

I found an old project from 2005 or 2006. All it needed was to be quilted and bound. It has Insul-Bright inside so you can place a hot dish on it. I think I'll use it this Thanksgiving for the mashed potatoes!

Very Old Kansas Troubles Fabrics
Finished at Kinderhook Retreat

Back Side to Show the Fancy Machine Quilting Stitches

I used my Accu-Quilt Baby to cut out two quilt tops, one for me with my fabrics and one for Vickie using her fabrics. We joined Sharon, who had cut out her own quilt top, and then all three of us sewed our tops up at Kinderhook. All three look different and mine is definitely not photogenic. It's actually kind of ugly looking, isn't it?

Sharon's

Vickie's

Mine

Of course another Chubby Charmer had to be made. Here is the Fall version for my daughter. The fabric line was Fall Frolic by Moda, I believe.

Polly Needed to Check It Out When I Got Home

That pretty much catches you up on my sewing endeavors. Last month we did our annual Fall Family Visit and I'll catch you up on another post. This one has gone on long enough. Did you make it to the end? Congratulations! Hahaha!

Sharing with my RSC friends on Angela's SoScrappy blog.

August FNSI -- Going Around in Circles

This weekend marks Friday Night Sew-In with my global friends. Wendy from Sugarlane Designs organizes this group every 3rd Friday of the month. You can catch up on all the doings HERE if you like.

As for me, I decided I wanted to finish up the July block for the Uptown sew-along. Here's how I started Friday afternoon.

I could easily tell that it was going to be sloppy in the middle. Others had commented that it was a difficult block. I had decided it would be OK to get the outside looking decent and then do what it takes to get the center right. What do you think?

Ta! Da! Looking like it was meant to be! Ha!

While I was at it making circles for centers, I decided to also finish up the Dresden plate block from EPP Club at my LQS.

Very productive weekend. Thank you, Wendy, for gathering us up once again. See you next month!

A Closer Look & RSC Purple Finished

 What a week! I got Mom's Christmas laundry all caught up the other day for starters. That included six sets of bedding and towels for five. Pretty much consumed one whole day. Other than that, summer has returned in a red, hot minute. Last week we were lucky to get to 75 degrees. This week we're all around 90 by day and poor Gracie has had to endure almost 70 on her morning walks. Watching Roland-Garros inside most of this week has not produced one iota of guilt due to the heat. However we've been busy getting things in order around our house because my brother & his wife are driving Mom home from NC today! On top of that, they're bringing their 6-month-old German Shepherd. He's adorable (of course!) but he's still a puppy and he's going to be so much entertainment for Gracie! Oy! I'll keep you posted about all that energy! And I'm sure there'll be pictures!

Last night was Friday Night with Friends. Always fun to catch up with some of my cyber friends. So what did I work on? I've kept up pretty good with the Uptown BOM. This block-of-the-month started in January 2022 and I've stayed true to it until April when I was gone for more than half the month. It is my goal to get myself caught up again. I had started on the April block a bit ago but last night I put the final stitches in it.

Uptown - April Block

After that, I pieced the pattern together for May and then I printed out & pieced together the June block. With company coming in today, I probably won't get back to then until next weekend.

Also behind due to the April travels was RSC purple. I put the tops on my purple pineapples finally! I think this is going to make a very fun quilt! The June Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been determined to be light blues, That should make more pretty pineapples!

Speaking of light blue, I'd like to share with you a finish. May I present Oh My Strippy Stars, a QAL with Carole at From My Carolina Home.

Carole ran this during National Quilt Month in March. The challenge was to find a jelly roll that has been gathering dust and a yard of background fabric. She promised to teach us something new in the process of making this quilt. Who could resist? Not me!

The jelly roll I used was definitely an oldie. The line was Sunshine by April Cornell of Moda. The jelly roll was so old (How old was it?) that it was offered pre-pinking the edges!!! I'm pretty sure I bought it when I was working at the quilt store in Troy, Sweet Annies.

The original directions called for 16 blocks but I decided to make 25. After all, they were so much fun to make and I had plenty of fabric! The learning experience was making the 2" finished HSTs that make the star points. Usually you would use 3" squares but we were using 2-1/2" strips from the jelly roll. Carole showed us how to use the Tucker Trimmer ruler after sewing a jelly roll strip to a background strip along -- wait for it! -- BOTH edges forming a very long tube. Plus there was very little waste.

The pattern and directions are still up at the blog's site. Check it all out HERE. The directions are very good. They even include how she quilted it on her longarm with only a few stops. Well, you should know by now that I had to try that out too!

Oh My Strippy Stars set up to longarm quilt

Close-up of the quilting in one block

Beautiful backing was part of the Sunshine line

Close-up of some quilting from the back

My quilt ended up measuring 52" square. I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 batting. It is soft, pliable, and wonderful. The quilt is currently hanging over my couch in the den. This finished quilt will also be reported on my PHD progress report. While it was actually a new start, it was also 100% finished which gives me extra credit!

Linking up with SoScrappy for RSC, Gone Stitchin' for FNwF, and Quilting Gail for PHD. Whatever is on your agenda for this weekend, ENJOY!