The Pink Contessa Finish

It's a finish!

The Pink Contessa

40 x 60

I made blocks in June 2025 and stashed them away in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin until last month when I assembled the top and quilted it. This week I put on the binding. 

I know these blocks as a Basket Weave. Once you know the formula for figuring out rectangle and sides for the size block you want you can pretty much use anything for the rectangle. It's similar to making Happy Blocks - figure out size of block you want and then figure out size of center block and sides and you can pretty much use anything for the center. 

With that said...I used I used Moda's free pattern called Contessa.for inspiration only. 

BUT

I didn't use a jellyroll. I used 2.5 inch width scraps.

I didn't make as many blocks. (Pattern is 60 x 70)

I didn't make stripsets of 5 WOF strips (because I didn't have that many in my scrap bin). Instead I made 4 strip sets of 3 or 4 strips and then cut them into the 6.5 inch sections and added  2.5 x 6.5 inch rectangle(s) (from 2.5 inch width scrap bin) to the ends of each section. 

The back.

I quilted it on my DSM with horizontal and vertical lines of red. 

And now it's ready to give a wee one a quilty hug. 

I also made a blue and a green version of Contessa so stay tuned. You might be seeing them soon. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

***

I still have some roses blooming! Maybe I should stop and smell them! 

 

Good News!!

Wooohooo! Things went better than expected with John's surgery and he didn't need the trach so we got home late yesterday afternoon. He is in pain, has hole where jaw bone used to be and is weak because he had little nutrition for a few days but we are home and on the road to recovery and waiting for culture results. 

Thank you all for the prayers, positive vibes, well wishes. 

I did mention I was taking along some yarn to crochet some hats for kids on the Rosebud reservation. I did finish 3 of them while in the hospital. 

I also finished a book - 7 Days by Mike Kraus, a post-apocalyptic/survival thriller. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

August Leader/Enders

Broken Dishes

4 inch finished blocks

I now have 61 Broken Dishes blocks. My goal is 300. I know I have more blocks to add to the mix. I have a box of Broken Dishes in all different sizes. 

You may or may not remember that recently someone sent me a whole lot of 2.5 inch unfinished HSTs and HST parts.  Right now I am working with the HST parts as leader/enders.  I sorted the parts by color and then sorted out pairs. Then I matched up pairs with a similar set of pairs. 

I then used some light pairs within the HST parts to complete the HSTs but quickly ran out of light HST parts. So I have been cutting sets of four light HST parts from scraps with my Easy Angle ruler. This is the kind of stack I have next to my sewing machine for the first round of leader/enders.  When I match up my light HST parts with the ones given to me I match up the corners of light/dark and then sew along the diagonal of the light one. Basically that makes it so I hardly have any squaring up to do. I just need to trim dog ears.  But when I use light pieces from the parts given to me those do need squaring up. 

I've webbed a lot of tops this month so at the end of each column added to the web a set of four HSTs for a Broken Dish block was sewn together. 

Then they go into a bin for ironing and trimming. Then they go through as leader/enders again to make the Broken Dishes blocks. 

These are the bags of HSTs that had papers attached. I have now removed all of the papers and the bag on the left have been ironed. I'm not going to do anything with these until I reach my goal of 300 Broken Dishes. I might need to sort through these for pairs to make more Broken Dishes. However, I think most will go into making the traditional Depression Block to finish at 8 inches. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

***

Packing up today to leave tomorrow between 5-5:30 for a trip to University of Iowa for John's surgery. I expect to be gone for a week. 

Tuesday September 01, 2026

MANDIBULECTOMY

INTRAORAL LESION EXCISION WITH OR WITHOUT ALLODERM

TRACHEOTOMY

Performed by Zaid Al-Qurayshi

 

Hat Tricks

I've been crocheting some hats for Christmas gifts for kids on the Rosebud reservation. I have a bin of old yarn I have been using left over from the days I made things for my grandkids. 

I've been trying different patterns looking for an easy one I could work on while I'm with John in the hospital after his surgery. I usually just take along my kindle loaded with books but sometimes a lot of reading makes me drowsy.  So this time I'll crochet and I'll read. 

I wanted a pattern that could be easily worked without many increases/decreases, row counting, etc. In a hospital I can be easily distracted and lose my place. 

This one was pretty easy. I did add 3 rows of single crochet at bottom for a little band on this one. 

This one is really easy so this is the one I will take along to work on. I think I will take a big skein of yarn like red or black along with little bits of leftover yarns and make the band with leftover yarn and add a couple of stripes around in that same color just to spice things up a bit. 

Can you tell that I like variegated yarns? 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

Rail Fence Top

It's a top!

Rail Fence

40 x 50

The blocks are made of 5 - 1.5 x 5.5 rectangles and came out of a box of 1.5 inch width scraps. 

I completed the block set in March 2025 and they have been in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin since then. 

And now the top is in the TBQP (To be Quilted Pile). 

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Hollow Nine Patch Top

It's a top!

Hollow Nine Patch

52.5 x 73.5

This block set has been in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) since June 2025.  I dug out most of my kiddo sized block sets from my SAR to assemble this month in preparation for a future quilting marathon of kiddo comfort quilts. 

I've made Hollow Nine Patches in this quilt with 4 inch squares. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Another "Gingham" Top

It's a top!

"Gingham"

54 x 72

Several months ago I sorted through a lot of charms/5 inch squares received from others over the years. 

One of the sorts was black, whites and grays. 

I had a lot of squares left over after I picked through them for this quilt. Most of the leftovers are multicolor on black so they are fodder for another quilt someday. 

And sew on...