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

Four Patch and Rails Top

It's a top!

Four Patch and Rails

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 quilts I can make to empty the box. 

For this quilt I picked out all the browns, oranges and yellows as well as a few lighter neutrals. Everything in this quilt came out of the box so there's a mix of fabrics. I think almost all of the scraps have been given to me by others. 

After I pulled out the pieces I had to work with I divided the scraps into the piles long enough for a rectangle 4 x 7.5 and piles of pieces enough for a 4 inch square. I then divided each of those piles into lights and darks.  That gave me an idea as to number of Four Patch and Rails I could make and size of comfort quilt.  With these colors and fabrics I thought a larger comfort quilt would be better than a child sized comfort quilt.  Any of the colors less than a 4 inch square went into a baggie and back into the box for a Coins quilt to be made later. 

I still have more pieces in the 4 inch width scrap box so stay tuned for another top soon. 

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. This top - Four Patch and Rails

And sew on...

***

Oh joy! I received a box of beautiful fabric goodies from Barbara yesterday. Oh, I especially loved the rose themed fabrics! You know I love roses in any form!

***

Looks like another day without rain so I'll be out in the gardens most of the day. The soil temps are still not even up in the 60s yet so I've been waiting to plant my cucumbers and squashes and some flowers that germinate best in warmer soil.  Yesterday I spent most of the day planting my dahlia tubers. Dahlias are not hardy here so I have to dig up and store those for the winter. Since I'm getting older I might have to invest in some big pots for them so I don't have to do so much digging. But digging and planting Dahlia tubers is definitely a good work out. I feel it all over today!

 

Greek Key Flimsy

It's a top!

Greek Key

54 x 72

What was in the bag in the box? 

I started working on these nine inch finished Greek Key blocks a few months ago because I had accumulated a lot of red 1.5 inch width scraps.  Now that bag of red scraps in the box of 1.5 inch width scraps is empty. My goal by year end is to completely empty the 1.5 inch width scrap box. 

I had almost enough scraps in my bag. I cut my scraps from longest strip down to shortest strip before I started making blocks. So I had a pile of 1.5 x 9.5, 1.5 x 8.5 and so on. When I got to the shortest lengths I had run out of scraps so had to cut a few 1.5 inch width strips from red scrap chunks. I was not going to use the "Merry Christmas" scraps but finally decided it's a scrap quilt and anything goes. 

I have a green one with light green and a brown one with creams in the works.

And sew on...

***

The rainy days have ended so for the next couple of days I will be back in gardening mode so may not get much sewing done. 

 

Sixteen Patch Finish

It's a finish!

Sixteen Patch

40 x 50

I started making blocks back in 2024. I wanted to use a little pile of red, blue and yellow novelty scraps. 

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

I've been in gardening mode but it has been rainy the last couple of days so I put in some time at the sewing machine and did a little (very little) housework. 

The back.

And sew on...

***

There's not only BIG creatures on the quilt back. I spied a giant creepy looking moth on my back door today.

An image search gave me the feedback that it is the Giant Silk Moth, Antheraea polyphemus

It's about as long as my finger and evidently has a 4-5 inch wing span. 

AI Overview:

Based on the image provided, here are some details about the creature:

• This is a Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus), a species of giant silkmoth known for its large size and distinct eye spots on its wings.
• The large, feathery antennae visible on the top of the head indicate that this specific individual is a male.
• These moths are widely distributed across North America and are harmless to humans.
• Adult Polyphemus moths do not have mouths and live for only a few days to mate, relying on energy stored from when they were caterpillars.
• ***
• I finished a book! The Child Without A Home by Ann Bennett. It is a WWII historical fiction inspired by the lives of the forgotten orphans of WWII and the "wolf children" or "wolfskinder. "
• "Forced to flee then-East Prussia to Lithuania at the end of World War Two, these orphaned German children survived hunger, cold and the loss of identity. Their fate has remained long overlooked by the German government."
• 
  
• "Wolfskinder" - German children orphaned after World War II in East Prussia, an area bordering the Baltic Sea that had been German territory between the two world wars and today corresponds to parts of Russia, Poland and Lithuania. The total number of wolf children can only be estimated. Some say there were up to 25,000 of them roaming the woods and swamps of East Prussia and Lithuania after 1945. Russians were forbidden from taking in these "fascist children."

"The kids were told to go to Lithuania where there would be food. If they were lucky, the "Vokietukai," or little Germans in Lithuanian, passed through villages with sympathetic residents on their march to the Baltic states. These locals would put out buckets of soup in front of their doors. If the children were not so lucky, residents would set their dogs on them."

After I finished the book I did more research  and found some very interesting true stories of some of the "Wolf Children". 

 ***

Oh joy! I received a box of fabric goodies from Ry Lynn! I have gone through it all and I already know what comfort quilts I will be making with some of the charm squares.