Sweet Violets and The Big Potato Chip

It's a top!

Sweet Violets

43 x 52

Purple is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

A few months ago I sorted by color most of the charms/5 inch squares received from others over the years. I've been trying to use them to make small comfort quilts. 

I cut the border pieces from yardage and I cut the floral squares from a pile of small scrap chunks.  I used most of the violet charms/squares except for a few "wild" ones that will go into a quilt with other "wild" ones. 

I also added a round of 2 x 3 purple rectangles to my Big Potato Chip. I think it now measures 30 inches square. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

The Blue Contessa Finish

It's a finish!

Blue 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. 

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

To make it more fun for kids I put a colorful collection of frogs on back.

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Uneven Nine Patch Finish

Uneven Nine Patch

It's a finish!

42 x 49

It is one of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) projects started this year to use scraps in the 3.5 inch width scrap box. Plus I added 1.5 inch width sashing in multicolor prints. 

A couple of months ago I noticed I had quite a few blocks made so counted them up and divided into piles for two quilts - a kiddo version using novelties and geometrics and a bigger version using all the rest. After I divided them up I made more blocks to add to each pile so I had two complete block sets. 

I assembled the kiddo top in July.

I quilted it on my sewing machine with vertical and horizontal lines. 

There's a sunny yellow backing and binding. 

And now it is ready to hug a wee one. 

And sew on...

***

I don' buy lottery tickets but I did sign up with the Iowa Lottery to get a free ticket every month. It's a different kind of ticket each month. This month I won $20. Usually if I win anything it is a dollar or two. 

***

My grandson, a senior, scored in the top 20% nationwide on the ACT. 

***

John continues to improve. Next we need to work on keeping him from more bronchiectasis flare ups that put him in the hospital with aspiration pneumonia.  And he needs to make an appt. for a 30 day heart monitor to address moderate aortic stenosis found on his echocardiogram.  Thank you everyone for prayers, positive vibes and best wishes. 

***

Finished a book! 7 Days (book 2 of 3 in the series) by Mike Kraus, a post-apocalyptic/survival thriller. Book 3 is due to be released on Sep. 18. I hope it is revealed in the third book what occurred to put an end to the world as we know it!

***

For the second time this year it seemed like a hummingbird was trying to tell me something. I was staring out the deck door planning my gardening chores for the following day. All of a sudden a hummingbird flew up to the widow and hovered in front of me for a while. I decided to grab my camera and set it to auto focus continuous hoping to get a series of photos of the hummingbird. BUT instead I changed the darned setting to manual focus and so didn't get the series of photos I was hoping for.  After saying hello to me she went off and inspected my sorry looking fuschia plant for awhile before taking a drink. 

From Copilot search:

Symbolic and spiritual meanings
In many cultures, hummingbirds are seen as messengers of joy, love, and good luck iere.org+1. Their vibrant colors, agility, and ability to hover are often linked to resilience, adaptability, and the ability to reflect on the past while moving forward scienceinsights.org. In Native American traditions, they are sometimes considered spirit messengers or symbols of healing and rebirth Joyce Elliott+1. A hummingbird following you can be interpreted as a sign that positive energy is near, that healing is possible, or that you are on the right path Joyce Elliott

 

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