A Small Plus (Mind Your Busyness)

 

It's a top!

A Small Plus

(Mind Your Busyness)

43 x 43

Mottled shade and wind made it difficult to take a good photo.

I started making these blocks back in July 2025. (On that post you can see the actual color or lack of color in the blocks). I had a little box of pastel scraps and someone had just given me quite a few low volume 4.5 inch squares so I decided to make a few plus sign blocks. (Also on that July 2025 blog post I mentioned I had a case of poison ivy. Funny thing...I now have a bad case of poison ivy!)

So...I made 15 blocks and decided I did not like them so put them away for a rainy day when little Cathy wanted to play. I'm not really a fan of pastels or low volume to begin with but this girl who loves scrappy and busy quilts decided these blocks were too busy for me. (Maybe I should have named it Mind Your Busyness???) 

Well, here we are today. Since the "color" of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) is pastel I decided to pull out these blocks and do something with them. I made one more block and added some light gray sashing to corral some of that busyness and now I have a little comfort quilt top and an empty little bag of blocks. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts. 

***

We are supposed to get some rain the rest of the week through Wednesday as well as temps reaching 100. We can use the rain because the ground is like cement and anything in bloom has very small flowers probably because according to drought maps our area has been abnormally dry. I can do without the high temps especially since I don't have a/c and with rain there will be humidity. 

***

I finished a book! The Bible of Blackwater County by Jenny Cafaro. Inspired by the story of her great grandmother " The Bible of Blackwater County is a Southern Gothic historical fiction novel that tells the story of Bessie Winter, an Appalachian woman navigating trauma and survival during the Great Depression." 

It's A Flimsy!

 

 

It's a flimsy!

48 x 60

These are 12 inch blocks made with 4.5 inch squares and 4.5 inch width scraps.

I decided on a red, yellow, orange color scheme with low volumes. 

Most of the HSTs came out of the Parts Department as well as all of the dark and light squares.  I just had to make 20 more HSTs to make a total of 80 needed for 20 blocks. And I had to make 20 QSTs - one for each block. 

This is the third scrappy quilt I have made with this layout. 

I finished a blue one using 4 inch squares, HSTs and QSTs. 

I finished a larger top using 4.5 inch parts but haven' quilted it yet. 

Someone sent me an inspiration photo they said was found on Pinterest. I was inspired by the photo to make some blocks from scraps.

I later used Google Lens to track down further info about the photo and found it pinned on Pinterest and the maker on Instagram. I'm not on Instagram but could see enough info about the quilt to see that a Finnish lady has a pattern for it called "Busy Quilt" if you are interested in a pattern. I'm not sure what size her blocks are or what size squares, etc. she used to make her quilt. 

And sew on...

I finished a book! Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady. "The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins - and WWII Heroes".

***

Oh joy! I received a surprise package of scraps from Sandi today that made me smile! 

***

I'm still itching and scratching all over with poison ivy. And I thought I avoided a patch of it when I was out gardening. This year I sure have seen some ginormous poison ivy leaves popping up here and there. I've put clear plastic over some of it hoping to solarize it to death.

***

It's A Flimsy!

 

It's a flimsy!

56 x 70

I'm trying to empty a box of 4 inch width scraps that I have accumulated over the years from others. I usually have a couple of Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects going for each width of scraps but sometimes I just have so many odd lengths of different colors so I decide to just see how many comfort quilts I can make to empty the box. 

For this quilt I just used 4 inch squares. All came out of my scrap box. I arranged diagonal rows of colored squares and alternated with low volume squares. 

My box of 4 inch width scraps is a large flat rate USPS size.  

So far I've made the following tops/block sets with scraps in that box:

1. Yankee Puzzle Top

2. Yankee Puzzle #2 block set of 48 blocks

3. Blue/Orange Four Patch Top (also used orange solid)

4. Basket Weave (also used orange solid)

5. Four Patch and Two Rails

6. 29 Wonky Stars (for an ongoing Wonky Star project)

7. This top - Squares on the Diagonal 

I still have pieces in my box of 4 inch width scrap so guess I need to make some blocks and/or another top! 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

***

I'm still mostly in gardening mode and have been spending most of my time out in the gardens. 

I've been harvesting lettuce, spinach, mustard greens for salads. One of my fav salads has mixed greens, candied pecans, feta cheese and dried cranberries tossed with a little balsamic vinegarette dressing. Sometimes if I have left over chicken breast I toss that in too. 

  I also harvested some sugar snap peas and had them lightly steamed for dinner along with a sweet potato and pork chop.

***

While out in the gardens I found another critter I've never seen before.  I guess it is an Eastern Eyed Click Beetle. I guess it is a good guy so I let it go on it's way. 

***

I finished a book! Mercy Falls is the sixth in the Cork O'Connor mystery series by William Kent Kruger. Most of my reading takes place in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. Sometimes I get up to go to the bathroom and can't get back to sleep and other times I talk in my sleep and wake myself up and can't get back to sleep. 

***

Oh gosh, I have a bad case of poison ivy!

Sixteen Patches (Top #3 of 3)

 

It's a top!

Sixteen Patch Sashed

42 x 62

This month I've been working on emptying boxes. I have a lot of them full of this and that cluttering up my little sewing space. I had a small box of Sixteen Patches and Four Patches made of random 2.5 inch squares. Most came from other folks and have accumulated over time.  I decided to see how many Sixteen Patches I could make with the Four Patches.   Then I decided to make them into three different comfort quilts for kids.  I sketched out my three different quilt ideas and was short 2 Sixteen Patches so made a couple from my 2.5 inch squares. 

Besides Sixteen Patches I used orange fabric for sashing because I was given a bolt of it. I am not really a fan of orange; however, I have found it to be a joyous color and perfect for a quilt to comfort small folk. 

So now I have an empty box of Sixteen Patches and parts and I have three comfort quilts. 

Sixteen Patch and Stars Top #1

Sixteen Patch Strippie Top #2

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

The herbaceous Peonies have been in bloom for awhile and I haven't even found time to cut any yet to take into the house for John to enjoy. I have a large vintage bowl and pitcher that looks splendid filled with peonies. Maybe I will do that today. 

I have white ones...

....light pink ones...

...and dark pink ones. I have had them for many years so have divided my patch many times.

So I have patches of peonies here, there and everywhere. These are in a corner of my veg garden.

I have a few roses in bloom too. The flowers sure are smaller than usual. I know the deer have been munching on leaves and branches so I finally got around to spraying Bobbex on all of them yesterday. Bobbex is made from natural, non-chemical ingredients such as fish meal, fish oil, garlic, cloves, and putrescent eggs and sure does stink but it does keep deer from munching. And after initial application I only spray new growth every couple of weeks. Rain does not wash it off. 

I also think the roses are a little stressed by the weather. We had cooler than normal temps for so long and the last week or so we have had temps in the 90s. I am even stressed by those changes in temps! I also need to fertilize all the roses. Maybe today. 

And sow on...

Sixteen Patches (Top 2 of 3)

 

It's a top!

Sixteen Patch Strippie

40 x 61

This month I've been working on emptying boxes. I have a lot of them full of this and that cluttering up my little sewing space. I had a small box of Sixteen Patches and Four Patches made of random 2.5 inch squares. Most came from other folks and have accumulated over time.  I decided to see how many Sixteen Patches I could make with the Four Patches.   Then I decided to make them into three different comfort quilts for kids.  I sketched out my three different quilt ideas and was short 2 Sixteen Patches so made a couple from my 2.5 inch squares. 

For this little Strippie quilt I made four rows of five Sixteen Patch blocks and alternated with three rows of 4.5 inch width strips of a very colorful geometric print in the middle of orange 3 inch width strips. 

Then to top (and bottom) it off I added 1.5 inch width strips. 

So, this is top #2 of 3. I hope to complete the other top this week but no guarantees...I'm still in gardening mode and have a lot to do outside. I love flowers as much as I love scraps!

Sixteen Patch and Stars Top #1

Stay tuned!

And sew on...

Sixteen Patches (Top 1 of 3)

It's a top!

Sixteen Patch and Stars

40 x 56

This month I've been working on emptying boxes. I have a lot of them full of this and that cluttering up my little sewing space. I had a small box of Sixteen Patches and Four Patches made of random 2.5 inch squares. Most came from other folks and have accumulated over time.  I decided to see how many Sixteen Patches I could make with the Four Patches.   Then I decided to make them into three different comfort quilts for kids.  I sketched out my three different quilt ideas and was short 2 Sixteen Patches so made a couple from my 2.5 inch squares. 

This little quilt alternates the Sixteen Patches with Sawtooth Stars. I have a bin of 4 inch finished orphan blocks (again, most given to me by others over time) and found enough scrappy little Windmill (Four Patch Rail?) blocks to use for the Star centers. Someone gave me a bolt of orange fabric so that made a nice background for the Stars. 

I dug into my box of 2.5 inch width scraps for the Star points. I cut the orange Flying Geese bodies from orange using an Easy Angle Companion ruler and cut the Flying Geese wings from 2.5 inch width scraps long enough to cut 8 triangles with the Easy Angle ruler. 

So, this is top #1 of 3. I hope to complete the two other tops this week but no guarantees...I'm still in gardening mode and have a lot to do outside. I love flowers as much as I love scraps!

Stay tuned!

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

***

I finished a book! - Blood Hollow by William Kent Kruger. It is book 4 of 22 of the Cork O'Connor Mystery series.   After reading a WWII non fiction and a WWII historical fiction book (mentioned in previous blog posts) I needed a little lighter reading.   

 

Cheerios and Stars

Cheerios

10 inch 

Made with 4.5 inch and 2.5 inch scraps

I've been making these blocks from scraps since 2024. It has been one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects. I think near the end of 2025 I divided up the blocks I had made into 4 comfort quilts. I have finished and already donated the two child sized quilts - a green one and a red and yellow one. I have a complete block set of blue, pink and purple blocks that needs to be assembled into a top. And finally I have this one - yellow, orange and brown.  I need a few more blocks for a 50 x 70 inch quilt.

Wonky Stars

10.5 inch

Made with 4 inch squares and 3 inch squares cut on diagonals. 

Scraps from the 4 inch width and 3 inch width scrap boxes I am trying to empty.

If you follow my blog you know I have been working to empty a box of 4 inch width scraps and have made several tops so far.  I now have completed 29 Wonky Stars from the box of 4 inch width scraps and that's all of the scraps in that box that are long enough to make Wonky Stars. From now on I am going to make the Stars from scrap chunks in the RSC color of the month. And then at some future date I will divide the blocks up into different comfort quilts. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday