SAHRR: The Last Two Of Five

It was so windy outside this morning so I didn't think I would be able to take photos today of the last two Stay At Home Round Robin quilts I finished up yesterday.  I found a little break in the winds when I went out to feed the barn cats so grabbed the camera before the winds start up again. 

 I  am participating in the 2025 Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR).

As I mentioned in a previous post...

I am going to use the weekly prompts to make 5 kiddo sized row quilts. 

The prompt this week for round 6 is "kite units". 

This one started out with race cars as the center. 

I decided that the race cars needed some strings of pennants on bottom...

...and top. They look like "kite units" to me! 

This one started out with a piece of border print with scottie dogs and flowers as the center. 

I added 9 inch Kite Blocks (aka Periwinkle or Hummingbird blocks) to the bottom. 

And now I have five comfort quilt tops for kids. 

The other three tops got too long to make it to round 6. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

SAHRR Round 6 Linky Party

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REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Today is my grandson's 16th birthday. I witnessed his birth. What a joyous day! Time flies. 

 

February Fodder

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

"Strings and Things" has been the February theme in my sewing space. Fodder is my "and things". 

Over the past year I've been emptying little baggies of this, that and the other thing. Some baggies have come from others and some are of my making. A lot of the baggies have had HST parts in them. As I sew them together I throw them into little boxes kept near the ironing board. I just never get around to ironing them. So this month I did some ironing and some trimming.  

These are 6 inch finished Broken Dishes blocks made of 3.5 inch unfinished HSTs.  Whenever I make Quarter Square Triangle or Flying Geese blocks I use the Easy Angle Companion ruler to cut parts. Since I don't like to waste the first and last cuts on a strip of fabric at the beginning and end of the strip of fabric I use the Easy Angle ruler to cut HSTs. 

If I have four HSTs the same I usually turn them into Broken Dishes blocks. I have a whole box of Broken Dishes in different sizes - quilt fodder. That's where these will go. 

More six inch Broken Dishes.

And even more six inch Broken Dishes. 

Someone sent me these HST parts - yellows matched up with what looks like crumb pieces? I made the HSTs and then turned them into Broken Dishes. Can't remember the size. 

Those Broken Dishes are now going into the grocery bag of orphan blocks and parts that have yellow and/or orange in them.  The bag is pretty full now so maybe it is time for an orphan block quilt. 

4 inch finished HSTs in lime green and orange.

 I made QSTs for a Bramble Bloom quilt and these were the HST parts cut from the beginning and end of strips used to make those QSTs. 

More HSTs left over from making Bramble Bloom QSTs. These are green and pink. 

I have many more not shown here. Most are in multiples of four. I was going to make Broken Dishes blocks from these but decided to wait on that. I might want to use them in some other way. 

For now they are going into the shoe box of orange, lime green, and pink 4.5 inch width scraps left over from making Bramble Blooms tops.   I also have a bag of scrap chunks in the same colors. 

Four Inch Broken Dishes

I think these are some of the Easy Angle cuts (combined with neutrals) that came from making Flying Geese for my Twilight Flock blocks. 

These will go into my box of various sizes of Broken Dishes blocks. 

This little pile of 3 inch HSTs came from cutting corners while making Pineapple Quilt blocks. 

Those HSTs will go into the box of red, white and blue orphan blocks and parts. I think it's time for another orphan block quilt. That box is full of goodies.

Little QSTs. Sometimes made from binding joins and other times from waste triangles. I trim off the dog ears but otherwise don't care if they are wonky. 

They are joining in with others in a box of wonky little QSTs. Someday I will make a quilt from them inspired by a vintage quilt. That lone star is the center for the medallion quilt. 

This month I also emptied a Banker Box sized box (held reams of printer paper) of quilt back trimmings. Anything wider than six inches got put with scrap chunks organied by color. Some multicolors or big prints I put in a separate box to use for quilt back inserts or scrappy bindings. 

I have a little flat now of those trimmings - 1.5, 2, 2.5,3,3.5,4,4.5,5 and 5.5 inch width strips. They will now join others of the same size. I have quilt blocks going for almost all those sizes. I also ended up with some strings (less than 1.5 inch or wonky) and have already used some of those in this month's string quilts. 

I've got more foddering to do. 

And sew on...

 

Roses in December : A Hand Quilted Finish

Roses in December

86 x 103

It's a big stitch hand quilted finish! 

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December" - Sir James Matthew Barrie (author of Peter Pan)

I finished the top back in December 2021. 

It is a free pattern called Rustic Autumn.  

I've been big stitch hand quilting it all this month for a few hours each evening. Every so often I stop and do a few hand exercises for arthritis. 

I used perle cottons #8 and #12 in a variety of colors. 

I just did some simple quilting with no marking. I didn't use a hoop to quilt this one. 

We had some below zero temperatures for several days and this old house was a little chilly so it was nice to have the quilt on my lap while quilting. Plus I could enjoy looking at all the roses. Too bad they don't make "scratch and sniff" fabric! Then I could stop and smell the roses too. 

"God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December".  And when my memory fails I guess I'll have quilts so that I might have roses in December. 

For the backing I used a wide sateen that I bought a long time ago with a 40% off coupon at JoAnn's. I know I bought it years before I retired and I will have been retired 8 years at the end of this month. I just loved it because it had roses but at the time I didn't know what I was going to use it on. 

Of course if it has roses and it is hand quilted this one is a keeper. I think it will go on my bed for awhile. 

And sew on...

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Grow - We had beautiful weather yesterday - in the 50s. I went out and tried out my new little chain saw that can cut wood up to six inches in diameter. I cleared away a lot of fallen limbs from mulberry bushes that grow up wild along the fence line between my cottage garden and our field on the other side of it. I also cleared away quite a few wild and invasive honeysuckle branches along the fence line. I love my new little chain saw! I also looked around and marked out a few beds in my new Perky Goth/Moon Garden where I'll be planting mostly black and white flowers with a few pops of pink. I have some black, white and pink poppy seeds I can sprinkle in that area any time now. Poppies like cooler weather.  I also have some black and white pansy seeds I can sprinkle out too. 

Treasure - I received a box of treasure from Nann. I had so much fun sorting it all. 

 

My Top Has Spider Webs All Over It

Spider Webs

54 x 75

It's a top!

I started making these blocks last year.

As the strings got a little shorter and skinnier I used them to make a Spider Web blocks.  I  used that black with multicolor in all of the blocks. I bought a few yards of that fabric for backings when I made Friendship Star quilts for my granddaughter's friends after she passed away. I liked it because it was black/rainbow multicolor with peace signs. I didn't notice when I bought it online that it also has marijuana leaves on it. I didn't end up using it as backings for the quilts for Kayla's friends. And I don't to use it in any quilts for kids so this will be a comfort quilt marked for adults. Anyone who gets it will probably think some old lady made the quilt and didn't know those were marijuana leaves. And maybe an older recipient might not know those are marijuana leaves. 

I've made several Spider Web quilts using different methods but I like Bonnie Hunter's method the best.

Peace out!

And sew on...

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***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

After days of below zero temps and snow it was up into the 50s yesterday so I put on my boots and took a walk around the yard. The ground is still frozen and there were puddles everywhere and it was muddy everywhere else but it was nice to be out walking in the fresh air dreaming of spring growth. 

I did do a bit more winter sowing of seeds -- this time I planted in milk jugs. I forgot to take a pic of them on the deck after planting. I will probably do more planting today.  From the pic above I didn't end up planting the Canadian Milk Vetch and Tall Thimbleweed seeds because I need to scarify those seeds and I didn't want to go looking for sandpaper to do that. Since I had milk jugs ready for planting I planted Indian Spring Hollyhock and Black Gem Cornflowers instead. 

 

String Star Top

String Stars

48.5 x 65

It's a top!

It is already 39 degrees this morning so I popped out for a bit to take a photo of the top on the clothesline but it is pretty windy so the top just wanted to dance in the wind. That left me with a few blurry shots. 

I used Corey Yoder's templates for the Stars. 

Previously I used the same tutorial and templates to make a String Star quilt inspired by a vintage quilt. 

"Strings and Things" has been the theme in my sewing space this month to move UFOs and scraps forward. I started making these string stars last year. 

I have a page at the top of my blog with some other quilts I've made from strings if you are interested. I probably have made more than that but don't always remember to add them to the page as I make them.

And sew on...

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Finished a book! Cold Threat -- Ellie Kline Series: Book Three by Mary Stone and Donna Berdel. It is a psychological series thriller -the third in the series of fourteen. Ellie Kline is a Charleston PD detective who investigates cold cases. She is the victim of one of those cold cases. And now after all these years the evil "master" has been identified but he got away so he can keep the series of books going. 

 

 

SAHRR:Three Down and Two To Go

Yippee! It finally warmed up into the double digits with wind chill also in double digits so I ventured outside to the clothesline for some photos. 

 I  am participating in the 2025 Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR).

As I mentioned in a previous post...

I am going to use the weekly prompts to make 5 kiddo sized row quilts. 

The prompt this week for round 5 is "half log cabins".

Last week one of my five row quilts was long enough after round 4. 

This week I added half log cabins to 2 quilts and now they are long enough and out of the game. 

The last prompt for round 6 comes out tomorrow and hopefully after that you will see rounds 5 and 6 on my remaining 2 of the 5 quilts that are still in the game. 

Under Construction

I had just enough of a print with construction vehicles digging around in dirt that I cut into 4.5 inch squares. Then I dug around in my brown scraps for anything that looked like it might pass as dirt and cut 2.5 inch rectangles - fourteen 2.5 x 4.5 rectangles and fourteen 2.5 x 6.5 rectangles.  Then I made fourteen half log cabin blocks.  Seven blocks went into a row for the top and...

...seven of them went into a row on the bottom. 

Now I have a top 42 x 60 so I'm stopping here with this one. 

Elephants on Parade

I had a little shoe box with small scraps of black and white fabrics. From that I pulled some 2.5 inch pieces to cut 20 -- 2.5 inch squares for my starter square of the half log cabins.  I cut 1.5 inch strips from a couple of different white scraps for my second round of the log cabins. And then I pulled more scraps from my shoe box of black and whites to cut 1.5 inch rectangles for the final round of the 4 inch finished half log cabins.   As an added bonus I emptied the shoe box. I sorted all remaining b/w scraps by width and put them into my boxes of scraps sorted by width. 

Then I added a row of half log cabin blocks the top and...

...and to the bottom. 

That also makes this a 42 x 60 inch top and it won't need anything else added. 

Basket Orphan Blocks

30 repro scraps

As a reminder this Basket centered top is also out of the game. It finished last week at 40 x 57 after round 4. 

The two remaining tops are ready for round 6 that comes out tomorrow. Stay tuned. 

And sew on...

SAHRR Round 5 Linky Party

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

Now that it has warmed up into double digits I'm feeling ready for some more winter sowing! 

I was kind of bummed out yesterday when I looked out my kitchen window at the area where I sowed my native wildflower seeds a few months ago and saw three huge deer running through. They do so much damage!

Singing The Blues - Verse IV

Sawtooth Stars with Orphan Block Centers

(Orphan Curtis)

10 inch blocks

I now have 12 of 24 blocks

Last year I was cleaning out a box of  inch width scraps and made 10 quilt tops. This was one of the tops that didn't get finished. I did set aside in a ziplock bag enough 5.5 inch unfinished orphan blocks and 3 inch width scraps enough for star points.  This month I pulled out the orphans that were matched up with blue scraps for the star points. I'm using the same background on all blocks in the quilt. 

Four Patch

5 inch

Made with 3 inch squares. 

I have 45 blocks and 96 is the goal. 

Sixteen Patch

10 inch

Strip pieced with 3 inch width novelty scraps.

I'm using only reds, blues and yellows. 

I have 10 out of a goal of 24 blocks. 

Someone gave me ten 25 Patch blocks made of 2.5 inch squares.  I decided to make 14 more blocks for a kiddo sized top in a 4 x 6 layout. At first I thought I would make enough for a larger quiltt of 48 blocks but I've used up most of my 2.5 inch squares.  I did go through my squares to see if I had enough for a blue block. After that I went through the squares to look for 25 of the same color and made those blocks. 

So now I have 16 blocks. 

And now I'm thinking I might alternate the blocks with 10 inch Sawtooth Stars and go for the goal of 48 blocks - 24 Stars and 24 Patches. 

Bits of Bricks

From a Youtube video. I rarely watch them because my computer takes forever to load them and then they are sometimes broken up; however, someone sent me the link so thought I would check it out. 

These units finish at 2.5 x 8.5 and consist of two 3 x 6 inch rectangles. 

The units get staggered a little so there are no seams to match.   I will be adding a 3.5 inch unfinished scrappy border. 

I made a few last year to use up some 3 inch width scraps. 

I made these units this month with blue and pink 3 inch rectangles I cut last year. 

I haven't trimmed off the flippy corners yet so they wouldn't stick to my little batting covered cutting mat so I could take a pic. I'm going to use those waste triangles as some points on Wonky Stars. 

I now have 48 of 84 units. 

I still have blue scraps and have pieces for more blocks cut from mostly 3.5 inch width blue scraps so I think I will be Singing Verse V of the Blues next week

And sew on..

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday