It's a Finish! Orphan Gabriel

It's a finish! 

Orphan Gabriel

54 x 78

I used 58 six inch finished orphan blocks to make this comfort quilt top back in November 2025. 

I think only three of the blocks were made by me. The rest were given to me over the years by many different folks. 

For this orphan block quilt I made Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) for the alternate block. I had a lot of yardage of the lighter green and combined that with lots of different darker green scraps to make the QSTs. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine with diagonal lines. 

There's lots of green in this one! The backing is green too. And the binding is same fabric as backing. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

It's a Finish! Orphan Elroy

It's a finish! 

Orphan Elroy

42 x 42

It started with these four orphan blocks someone gave me.  The fancy blocks never seemed to go with any of the other orphan blocks I was given so one day in August 2025 I finally decided to use them as the center of a small medallion quilt. 

I'm never good at thinking of what to add for borders on medallion quilts. Nine Patches are pretty easy! I used a constant orange fabric and different green scraps to make them.  I wanted to alternate green and orange corner Nine Patches; however, I did not have enough of the orange fabric to do that. As it is I think I had to penny piece some orange fabric to have enough squares for the Nine Patches all with green corners.

I quilted it on my sewing machine using the points in the center blocks as a guide.  I also stitched in the ditch around the green striped border. 

And I happened to have a backing fabric in about the same colors as the center medallion blocks. I used the same fabric for binding. I thought when I made the top last year I made binding for this top with the same green stripe used in the top; however, I looked in the binding box and it is not there so I guess I used it on a different quilt. So thankfully I had enough of the backing fabric to make the binding. 

And sew on...

 

It's a Finish! Orphan Delilah

It's a finish! 

Orphan Delilah

42 x 56

Top was made in August 2025. I framed 12 inch finished orphan blocks received from others with black and white fabrics.   I quilted it on my Brother sewing machine with swirls.  I bound it with a black and white stripe.

I was thinking I was going to back the quilt with black and white stripe I used for the binding. I wound bobbins and threaded my machine with a light gray thread then went off to pin baste the quilt. When I went to pin baste the b/w stripe fabric I had prepared (and thought I measured before I ironed it) was not quite wide enough. Darn it! Well, I had this red fabric prepared for another quilt so used it instead of the b/w stripe. So....I am so darned mad at myself that with the change of backing I did not change the bobbin thread to red. So the backing clearly shows every place where my old fingers slipped, paused or went off course while quilting- a bumpy ride.    I guess since it is a child's comfort quilt I could always include a little toy car and say the back is a maze, a road for a car. 

And sew on...

***

And these old fingers had to once again replace John's G-tube yesterday. 

***

I'm glad to report that the portable air conditioner I installed is keeping the dining and living room cool! What took me so long?

Circus Parade Top

It's a top!

Circus Parade

40 x 45

I previously mentioned that Jenny B. sent me a box of small blocks. For this top I used some of the 3 inch finished Pinwheels. 

Someone else had previously sent me some different strip widths of the circus parade fabric. 

I added a few polka dots to the mix. When finished a wee one will be able to sleep under the small Big Top. 

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

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Yesterday I stopped to smell a few roses in my garden. I also pulled some nasty weeds. 

And sow on...

 

Orphan Kieran Finish

 

It's a finish!

Orphan Kieran

56 x 72

This month the theme in my sewing space to move UFOs forward is "orphans".  I made this orphan block top back when "orphans" was the theme in November 2025. 

This orphan block quilt consists of 8 inch finished orphan blocks. Most orphan blocks were given to me by others. I used some smaller parts and orphan blocks to make enough 8 inch finished blocks. Then from brown scraps I made Uneven Nine Patch blocks for the alternate block. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine with diagonal lines through the blocks. 

The back and binding.

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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I recently harvested enough garlic scapes from my garden to make garlic scape pesto. 

I waited a bit longer than usual to harvest so tops were almost in flower. Stems weren't as plump as usual because of such hot dry weather but I do like garlic scape pesto so went ahead and made it. 

I don't add nuts. I just use the scapes, parmesan, a little lemon juice and olive oil. 

I make my pesto thick and thin with olive oil later if needed. I just stored it in the empty parmesan container and refrigerated. 

I like it as a "sauce" on pizza. 

I added some chopped oregano and basil from my herb garden and then added mozarella and cojack cheeses as well as a blend of asiago, parmesan and romano cheeses.  Yummy (if you like garlic and if you like cheese pizza). 

I also used the pesto to make a sauce for my chicken breast. To go with I boiled some Yukon Gold potatoes I dug from the garden. AND I didn't take a photo but another "go with" was my first ripe tomato from the garden sprinkled with chopped fresh basil from the garden. Yummy!

I was only able to eat half the chicken breast so cut up leftovers the next day to sprinkle over a spinach and mixed lettuce salad also sprinkled with feta cheese, dried cranberries and candied pecans and lightly dressed with basalmic salad dressing. Yummy!

NOT Disappearing Four Patches

NOT Disappearing Four Patch (ND4P)

From 3.5 inch width scraps - Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of month plus tone on tone (TOT)

9 inch finished

I like the look of the Disappearing Four Patch (D4P) block but I don't like the method used to make it. Rather than make a Four Patch and cut apart, rearrange and sew back together I just cut the pieces and sew them together. 

 Because aqua is the RSC color of the month and because I'm trying to empty a box of 3.5 inch width strips and squares I dug into that box for scraps to make my blocks. 

I'm making two sets of ND4P. This one is made of plaids, stripes, shirtings plus a solid. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

Today is my daughter's 50th birthday! How can that be? 

"I don't remember growing older. When did they?"

 

More Bow Ties

Two Bow Tie Tops

40 x 40

Recently Jenny B. sent me a box of small blocks. I blogged previously about the first Bow Tie top in a different layout made with Jenny's blocks. 

Blues and greens with alternate squares went into this top.

This one has red and orange Bow Ties with alternate yellow squares.

There's no need to tell me I have a rogue block. I already know that!

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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Finished a book! - The Forget-Me-Not Library by Heather Webber. It's not my usual type of reading. It was kind of like a Hallmark movie in print - perfect for when you need some easy reading, a little magic and a happy ending.  I learned a new word I guess is used by bibliophiles but does not yet appear in most dictionaries: bibliosomia - the enchanting smell of old books. I read on my Kindle and when the word popped up I highlighted it to look up the meaning (although I knew from the context). The dictionaries the Kindle uses (Oxford English Dictionary, I think) did not find the word so I later googled it. Interesting reading about the science behind bibliosomia,  Hmmm, now I want to go sniff all the books on my bookshelf! 😊📔