New Starts

New start...

Wonky Stars

10.5 inch finished

Made with nine 4 inch squares and two 3 inch squares cut on the diagonal.

The plan is to first use pieces in the 3 and 4 inch width scrap boxes and then move on to scrap chunks. I decided to use 4 inch squares for the background because that can be cut from a width of 4 inch fabric with only a little piece left over.  

For now I am going to make them in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) colors of the month. At year end, until I'm tired of making them or when I have piles of them I will just see how many blocks I have and divide them up into comfort quilts. 

Wonky Shoo Fly

4.5 inch finished.

The trimmings behind the Wonky Star points and the itty bit of the 4 inch width piece that was left over from the Wonky Star background was perfect for making Wonky Shoo fly blocks. All I needed to add to the mix was nine 2 inch solid squares. 

The Wonky Shoo Fly is NOT a new start. I have a little baggie of them I made in the past. I have a lo of small pieces of solid fabrics so I am thinking I will process some of them and get ready some sets of nine 2 inch squares. 

Rail Fence

8 inch finished

Made with 1.5 inch width scraps. 

All will be made with pink plus one other color.  I noticed I have accumulated quite a few pink 1.5 inch widths of fabric (WOF). Time to use them. 35 blocks will probably make a nice little comfort quilt. 

And sew on...

 

A Wonky Log Cabin Flimsy

It's a flimsy!

Wonky Log Cabin

48 x 60

This month's theme in my sewing space to move things forward is "strings, crumbs and fodder".  I had a couple of overflowing boxes of strings and after last month's quilting marathon and all the quilt back trimmings my string boxes runneth over. 

I started these 12 inch finished blocks last December and made six of them at that time. This week I added 14 more blocks to the mix and assembled the top. I used mostly brights and novelties as well as low volume  strings to make the blocks and all have 2.5 inch red square centers. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

In The Pink

 

Snowball Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. So I dug into my pink scraps for this week's blocks. I have also made more blocks in past RSC colors of blue, green and red. I have acquired or processed scraps in those past colors and since my goal is to empty the bins of scraps I keep by width by year end I will make blocks in past RSC colors each month if I have them. 

Hollow Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Uneven Nine Patch

7 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares, 1.5 x 3.5 multicolor rectangles, and 1.5 inch square for center.

Four Patch

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares - dark and light of same color.

Buckeye Beauty

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch unfinished HSTs with black and color of month and 2 inch squares. 

Courthouse Steps

7.5 inches

Made with 2 inch width pieces

Giant Potato Chip

Made with 2 x 3.5 inch rectangles.

Each round is in the RSC color of the month so a pink round has been added. 

Currently it's a 15.5 inch square

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

Some flowers are starting to peek out of the very wet ground. We have had some much needed rain so I'm hoping to see more color in the gardens in the weeks ahead. Our last frost date is April 30 so the gardens really get into high gear after that. 

Wood Hyacinth (or Spanish Blue Bells) are starting to pop up in spots all over in the gardens.

Dwarf Iris are also popping up here and there. When I go walking through my gardens this time of year it is like going on a treasure hunt to see what I will find. There's 

Daffodils popping up in the cutting garden. I used to have fancy tulips here and after one year I kept having problems with rabbits and deer eating them as they sprouted up so I've been slowly changing this bed to Daffodils since critters don't really bother those. Earlier this year I broadcast some perennial dianthus seeds in this bed so when the Daffs die down I hope to have some dianthus for cutting in this bed too.   

There are different varieties of dwarf and fancy Daffodil varieties in this bed. 

Bloodroot in the cottage garden.

Planting potatoes on Good Friday is a long standing tradition said to ensure a bountiful harvest. I usually try to get mine planted then but I'm a little behind. Maybe I will get to that in the next couple of days if the weather permits. I have my potatoes chitted and ready to plant. I love potatoes! 

From Fodder To Flimsy

It's a flimsy!

Happy Blocks

42.5 x 42.5

Fodder - n. raw material, as for artistic creation.

This month the theme in my sewing space to move things forward is "strings, crumbs and fodder".

A long time ago someone gave me some frames for 10 Happy Blocks - two 5 inch pieces and two 9 inch pieces of matching fabric.  I've kept the pieces in a baggie and decided I should empty that baggie. I decided I needed 25 blocks in pinks and blues for a small comfort quilt. 

I looked through my 2.5 inch width scraps for frames for 15 more blocks. 

Fodder

Then I looked through my 5 inch squares and 5 inch width strip pieces for center squares. 

Then I made blocks. 

And assembled a top. 

And sew on...

***

If it isn't one thing it's another. 

Our mailbox and the neighbor's mailbox were run over by something big last night. I picked the mailboxes up out of the ditch and left the neighbor's box near the posts. I put their very wet mail that was also in the ditch back in their mailbox and went into town very early this morning (6 am) to get a new mailbox and post. 

It's A Finish! Peaceful Pineapple

It's a finish!

Peaceful Pineapple

68 x 68

The pattern is Shiloh from the book The Best of Fons and Porter Scrap Quilts and was inspired by a civil war era quilt in the Smithsonian. 

In 2023 when hubby was in and out of the hospital and I had to stay close to him while he was recouperating I looked through a bunch of quilting books and bookmarked and then started several quilts.   This one was started in December 2023. 

This was one of the quilts that I thought would work well with some patriotic print scraps. After I used up most of those I added in other red, white and blue scraps. I finished the top in June 2024.  I didn't think the name "Shiloh" fit my quilt so I first started calling it "Patriotic Pineapple" since it is a Pineapple Log Cabin quilt in the patriotic colors of red, white and blue. Later I looked up the word Shiloh and saw it was a "Hebrew name meaning peaceful or tranquil" so liked "Peaceful Pineapple" for the name of my quilt. 

I big stitch hand quilted it with blue and white perle cotton #8.  I started the hand quilting back in February when the theme in my sewing space to move UFOs forward was "Log Cabins and variations". 

And I've been working on it while once again hubby is experiencing health issues and pain. I've been trying to get help for him and coordinate care between dental, medical and oral surgeons and am growing increasingly frustrated. The words "osteomyelitis, osteoradionecrosis of jaw (ORNJ), bone fragments" describe what he is currently dealing with. 

Binding the zigzag sides was not fun but I finally got it finished too.  

The back.

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

I mentioned that my husband is once again experiencing health issues. He can't talk because of his jaw problem so I've been doing all the talking for him and a lot of talking I have been doing! I mentioned my frustration and I have to say one way I deal with that so I'm not angry (which is not good for my health) all the time at the sad state of healthcare(less) today is to sew or read or garden. 

I'll give one example of what I deal with...

Hubby can't swallow and has a G-tube. Whenever doc prescribes something new I always say "do you remember he has a G-tube so it needs to be in liquid form or able to be crushed?".  Then when I pick up a new prescription I always ask the pharmacist "can this be crushed and put in a G-tube?".  "Yes" is always the reply and I get a look like I'm crazy to ask.   Then I get home and read the drug insert and see "do not crush", "do not put in G-tube".  Oh, the frustration! 

***

On another note Kathy S. sent me a surprise box of goodies. Going through scraps is another good way to soothe the soul! 

It's a Finish! Orphan Justine

It's a finish!

Orphan Justine

36 x 48

The top was assembled last November from orphan blocks with mostly purple with touches of yellow and orange. I put some smaller blocks together into larger blocks and framed some blocks so all of my blocks finished at 12 inches. All of the blocks were given to me by different folks.

I quilted it with swirls on my sewing machine. 

The back and binding. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

***

A little quilting marathon is going on here in March . Soon I will have boxes of comfort quilts to send off to two of my favorite charities that provide quilts for kids  - Wrap-A-Smile  (WAS)  and      Quilts Beyond Borders.  (QBB).

Wrap-A-Smile (WAS) partners with Rotaplast International.

 Rotaplast International, Inc. is committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities.

Quilts Beyond Border (QBB) quilts go to many different initiatives both foreign and domestic...foster care, refugees, Indian reservations, orphanages, women's recovery centers...you will just have to go read the QBB blog because I can't remember them all.

****

A few things are starting to pop up in the gardens. And a few things like my tulips are being eaten by rabbits and deer. We could use some rain because the ground is very dry. I see some predicted for the week starting on Tuesday. 

Species tulips

Rhubarb

One sedum that hasn't been nibbled yet. Deer and rabbits must have not seen it while on their rounds. 

You can't see them very well but his is my new bed of black and white Tulips in my Perky Goth/Moonlight garden. They have been eaten down by deer or rabbits. I hope to get out to spray with Bobbex today before the rains come. 

Iris Reticulata (Dwarf Iris)

Scilla has popped up all over the place. 

Another type of species Tulip. The critters missed eating this one!

Crocus around one of the little Gazing Balls the fairies put there. 

And sow on...