From The Two Inch Width Scrap Bin

 

It's a top!

Courthouse Steps

40.5 x 54

Whenever I am blessed with a box of scraps I go through them with my little ruler in hand and measure the width. Scraps less than 6 inches in width get sorted by scrap width. Any scrap greater than a six inch square gets sorted by color and I call those scrap chunks. 

I was looking at my overflowing 2 inch width scrap bin and decided to make a plan to try to empty it.

The first thing I did was pull out all the longest strips. Most of those were greens and browns. I used the greens and some of the other colors of scraps to make 14 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps blocks. 

12 blocks made a nice sized child's comfort quilt. 

I started some 11 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps blocks with brown and cream scraps. 

I have made the first round on 35 blocks. 

Right now they measure 5 inches. I think I pulled enough brown scraps out of the bin to finish the blocks. If not I will cut 2 inch width strips from brown scrap chunks. 

When I saw the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for January is blue I pulled out all of the blue 2 inch width scraps. I decided to make 8 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps in blue and light neutral scraps. I will make as many blocks as I can each month in the RSC color. 

Before the RSC color was called I played around with some gray scraps. I have seen two different blocks called Streak Of Lightning. One uses squares and 2x 3.5 rectangles and finishes st 9 inches. The other uses 2 inch squares and finishes at 6 inches. I decided they would make good use of some smaller scraps on the bins do added them to my list of RSC projects.

So...with the blue scraps and white and black squares for the "streak" I made 6 blocks.

This is the scrap with my scribbled instructions for the other Streak of Lightning block I saw several places online.

I made four blocks. When I put them up to take a photo I quickly realized a streak was not going to form. I think I need A and B blocks. B needs to be the same configuration but with darks in the light position and vice versa. 

I made a few Easy Breezy blocks. This is an RSC project from last year. I only need a few more blocks to meet my goal. 

I also made some Four Patches with the blue scraps and black. That is in prep for Buckeye Beauty blocks. I need to make some HSTs from blue 3.5 inch scraps so maybe that is the scrap box I will tackle next. The Buckeye Beauty blocks were a RSC project started last year and I think I am only half way to my goal so I will continue to make these from scraps in 2026.

Oh...one last thing with blue 2 inch scraps..I put some aside to make 25 patch blocks. A few months ago when I was working with orphan blocks I noticed I had thirty 25 patch blocks in the red,white and blue orphanage. I made those blocks several times when I had blue scraps leftover from making patriotic quilts. I decided to pull those out and make more blocks and add sashings for a comfort quilt. 

And sew on...

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I have been feeling dizzy the last few days do I have been taking it easy and napping a lot. I finally feel a little better today. Not sure what that was all about!

Hidden Wells In The Rose Garden

 

It's a top! 

Hidden Wells in The Rose Garden

48 x 60

There are a lot of different tutorials out there for Hidden Wells. I looked at several but mostly used the info at the one at the Diamon Naturals blog. 

 I was recently inspired by a Hidden Wells quilt I saw on Stashbusters. I have been working with my rose prints this month and decided to use some of them in Hidden Wells. Normally I don't like to make strip pieced quilts because I find strip piecing rather boring. But with all those rose prints passing under the needle I wasn't that bored. 

I'm glad I gave Hidden Wells a try! 

And sew on...

***

Oh joy! A few days ago Tammy sent me a box of rose prints. I used one of them already in Hidden Wells! 

***

I finished a book! The Nanny Outside The Gates by Shari J. Ryan. It is WWII historical fiction. I like books about survivors- stories about folks who survive horrors of war, domestic abuse, physical and mental disabilities, cancer or other catastrophic illnesses, addictions, etc. 

***

Goals for 2026

Positivity

Gratitude

Celebrate each day

It's A Top! Tussie-Mussies

 

It's a top! 

Tussie-Mussies

60 x 80

The pattern is called Sunburst and is found in the book Making Quilts with Kathy Doughty.

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December". --J.M. Barrie

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alicia Quilts

***

Merry Christmas!

Our day is quiet with just the two of us. We are celebrating this day like we celebrate all others. Well, I guess I am also celebrating with the ghosts of Christmas past today. 

New String Projects

 

My boxes of strings are overflowing so time to do something with them. When I fig into strings I make blocks for a couple of different quilts - at least one that uses long strings and at least one that uses shorter strings. 

With long strings I am making 12 inch Wonky Log Cabin blocks with red centers and half of the block light. I think I might make a bigger quilt with 30 or 35 nlocks. 

I am making String X blocks with shorter strings. Someone gave me those 5 inch squares I will use for the block corners. There were just the right amount of squares so it was meant to be.

Someone gave me twelve 10.5 inch half triangles of a gray floral. I used them as half of a string block and the gray will be a String Star background. I went to assemble the little String Star top and am missing two blocks, darn it. I have been processing a lot of scraps, organizing orphan blocks, parts and partially finished projects from others as well as piecing backings so who knows where my missing blocks are. 

And sew on...

The Cross Stitch Ornies

A few weeks ago I showed a little box of cross stitch ornament kits I picked up from the thrift store many years ago that I was going to work on this month. I haven't finished all of the little kits yet but I am tired of working on the ornaments and have now moved on to work on the embroidery on a pillow - another kit picked up from the thrift store many years ago. More on that later.

I have been displaying the finished ornies in my great grandmother's goofus glass red and green bowl. And that is the extent of my Christmas decorating. 

And sew on...

 

Another Round

I started making Pie Bird blocks back in November. My goal is 35 ten inch blocks. I finished 5 blocks in November and then decided to work on the remaining 30 blocks all at one time. That is so I can process my scraps and cut all pieces for each round of every block. 

Two more rounds to go!

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! At Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

***

Finished a book! The Bookseller of Kathmandu by Ann Bennett. I was expecting  historical fiction but I think it was more of a mystery and love story. I still liked the book. 

***

I was a lucky girl this week. I received a box of scrappy goodness (and yummy sesame seed cookies) from Donna and a box with some yardage, quilt "seeds" with lots of potential and a beautiful handmade card from Linda.

***

My husband John is the oldest of eight siblings. Two of his brothers passed away a few years ago. His sister, the youngest, is now in hospice. She has been battling lung cancer metastatic to brain. Although John has a lot of health issues I am thankful he fought his battle with oropharyngeal cancer many years ago and I still enjoy his company. 

 

Roses In December

 

I have completed my goal of twelve Sunburst blocks that finish at 20 inches.

And I remade the one that I was not happy with because there was not enough contrast. Now they are ready for assembly. 

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December"--J.M. Barrie

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alicia Quilts

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Oh gosh. We had a power outage yesterday for about two and a half hours. And then when the power came back on our router had no power so we had no internet. The tech from the broadband company replaced the router power supply today and now we are back in business. 

Sixteen Patch Finish

It's a finish!

Sixteen Patch

63 x 84

Started December 2024. 

10.5 inch blocks made with 4 inch width strips. I used plaids and florals. That combination reminds me of my grandmother's quilts made of old dresses, aprons, and shirts. 

I quilted on the diagonals through the plaids.

The binding was floral and so was the backing.

And sew on...

Roses in December

 

I have finished a couple more Sunburst blocks. 

And sew on...

***

Oh joy! What a beautiful package of fabric arrived from Barbara!

Quilting

 

I made Sixteen Patch blocks last year with plaids and florals. They have been in my SAR ( some assembly required) bin until last week when I pulled them out and assembled a top. I have pieced a backing and pin basted it so now it is ready for quilting on my DSM. 

Stay tuned...

And sew on...

Boho Dandies

 

Boho Dandies

Blocks 53-69

Goal 225

Traditional block: The Dandy Quilt

Six inch blocks

Started Jan. 2024

Color scheme: scraps of grays, browns, electric oranges, sky blues and saturated purples.

And sew on...

Roses In December

Sunburst 

Blocks 2-5 of 12

In black, red, white and lots of rose prints

20 inch

Pattern from Making Quilts With Kathy Doughty 

I am not crazy about the block in the second pic because there is not enough contrast. I am not sure if I will leave it, take apart and remake with red points, or make one to replace it. 

" God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December" --J. M. Barrie

And sew on...

***

We had snow and bitterly cold temps yesterday. Right now it is -7 with real feel of -24. The house is creaking and moaning and working hard to keep us warm. Yesterday inside temp stayed around 64. Good thing I have some quilts!

Shirtings, Homespuns, Plaids and Then Some

 

I have some yardage of a few different homespuns. I thought I would combine those with some Civil War reproduction scraps and make 12 inch The Dandy Quilt blocks. I really like this block and have made several quilts with it over the years. 

30s repro swapped blocks

30s repro #2

The Dandy Garden

56 Shades of Envy

For a Dandy Veteran

Funny thing...while searching my blog for Dandy Quilts I saw that I had made quite a few blocks with scraps in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) colors of the month in 2022 and never did anything with them. Not sure where I put them. Hmmmm...

Uneven Shoofly

10 inch blocks

Shirts, homespun and plaid scraps combined with florals.

I have a big box of thrift store shirt scraps, homespun and plaids. I decided to make a couple of different quilts with the biggest scraps then after that I will decide on quilts to make with the smallest scraps. Moving forwarded I will probably make these as an RSC project with the floral in the color of the month. I have set aside some floral scrap chunks for these. Then I will combine with any shirtings,etc that are big enough to yield pieces for four HSTs and four 2.5 x 4.5 rectangles.

What looks like Disappearing Four Patch but made without making a Four Patch and cutting it apart. 

9 inch blocks

Shirts,etc combined with solid scraps.

I will probably make these as RSC project with either solid or shirt,etc scrap being the color of the month. Using 3.5 inch scraps to make these blocks.

This is the time of year when I assess all my scraps and decide how to use some of them in the new year. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday