Singing The Blues With A Top

It's a top!

Singing The Blues

54 x 72

A big star center with a musical themed collage...

...and blue charms (5 inch squares) accumulated over time from others...

...make a nice comfort quilt. 

And sewing those charms together randomly is nice mindless sewing for when I just want to listen to those marbles rolling around in my head and for a rainy day when little Cathy wants to play.

Hmmm...there sure seems to be a lot of Elephant butts in there. I didn't realize when sorting or sewing squares. I forgot to tell myself  "no ifs, ands, or butts"

And sew on...

Monday Musings at Brenda's Songbird Designs

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When it is not raining I'm usually in the gardens more than the sewing room. 

Basket Flower 

Coreopsis

Rose

Sugar Snap peas

Roses

Clematis

Martagon Lilies

Daylily

Lilies

Rose

Penstemon (Beardtongue)

And sow on...

 

It's A Top!

It's a top!

Quirky

49 x 63

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 comfort quilts I can make to empty the box. 

For this quilt I used the blue, pink and purple pieces in the box. 

I made 7.5 inch unfinished Four Patch, Two Rail and Rail and Two Squares blocks...

...and I added in some saturated purple 7.5 inch unfinished squares.

Then I randomly sewed blocks together.

*** Edited to add...this morning when I went into the sewing room I found another row for this quilt under some other tops I had webbed together. So when I get that row added to this top it will be 49 x 70.  Sheesh!

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

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The box of 4 inch width scraps I've been working from is a large flat rate USPS box. 

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 added orange solid)

4. Basket Weave (also added orange solid)

5. Four Patch and Two Rails (brown, orange, yellow)

6. 29 Wonky Stars (for an ongoing Wonky Star project)

7. Squares on the Diagonal 

8. This top

I still have pieces in my box of 4 inch width scrap so guess I need to make some blocks and/or another top! 

 

99 Pastel Charms Top

It's a top!

99 Charms

40.5 x 49.5

I was reading about Nancy's (Grace and Peace Quilting) lovely project in memory of her husband.  One of the baby quilts she is making is called 99 Charms and was inspired to make a few for places I donate baby quilts. 

I have accumulated a box of charms (5 inch squares) given to me by others over the years. Maybe it is time to work on emptying the box.  Since the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) "color" of the month is pastels I pulled out 99 pastel charms...

...and made a top.

The theme in my sewing space this month to move UFOs forward WAS "reproductions"; however, with hubby's health issues and surgery pending and lots of doctor appointments an hour away I decided to change this month's theme to "free range" meaning "as I wish" which means "mindless" sewing for now.   Also a lot of John's family will be in town for the annual family reunion campout in the county park down the road.  Also I still have a lot of gardening tasks to do.

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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We are finally getting some rain!!! 

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I probably won't post anything tomorrow but we will celebrate our 53rd wedding anniversary! Oh gosh, how can that be? 

Sunrise, sunset 

swiftly fly the years,

one season following another,

laden with happiness,

and tears.

 

A Small Plus (Mind Your Busyness)

 

It's a top!

A Small Plus

(Mind Your Busyness)

43 x 43

Mottled shade and wind made it difficult to take a good photo.

I started making these blocks back in July 2025. (On that post you can see the actual color or lack of color in the blocks). I had a little box of pastel scraps and someone had just given me quite a few low volume 4.5 inch squares so I decided to make a few plus sign blocks. (Also on that July 2025 blog post I mentioned I had a case of poison ivy. Funny thing...I now have a bad case of poison ivy!)

So...I made 15 blocks and decided I did not like them so put them away for a rainy day when little Cathy wanted to play. I'm not really a fan of pastels or low volume to begin with but this girl who loves scrappy and busy quilts decided these blocks were too busy for me. (Maybe I should have named it Mind Your Busyness???) 

Well, here we are today. Since the "color" of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) is pastel I decided to pull out these blocks and do something with them. I made one more block and added some light gray sashing to corral some of that busyness and now I have a little comfort quilt top and an empty little bag of blocks. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts. 

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We are supposed to get some rain the rest of the week through Wednesday as well as temps reaching 100. We can use the rain because the ground is like cement and anything in bloom has very small flowers probably because according to drought maps our area has been abnormally dry. I can do without the high temps especially since I don't have a/c and with rain there will be humidity. 

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I finished a book! The Bible of Blackwater County by Jenny Cafaro. Inspired by the story of her great grandmother " The Bible of Blackwater County is a Southern Gothic historical fiction novel that tells the story of Bessie Winter, an Appalachian woman navigating trauma and survival during the Great Depression." 

It's A Flimsy!

 

 

It's a flimsy!

48 x 60

These are 12 inch blocks made with 4.5 inch squares and 4.5 inch width scraps.

I decided on a red, yellow, orange color scheme with low volumes. 

Most of the HSTs came out of the Parts Department as well as all of the dark and light squares.  I just had to make 20 more HSTs to make a total of 80 needed for 20 blocks. And I had to make 20 QSTs - one for each block. 

This is the third scrappy quilt I have made with this layout. 

I finished a blue one using 4 inch squares, HSTs and QSTs. 

I finished a larger top using 4.5 inch parts but haven' quilted it yet. 

Someone sent me an inspiration photo they said was found on Pinterest. I was inspired by the photo to make some blocks from scraps.

I later used Google Lens to track down further info about the photo and found it pinned on Pinterest and the maker on Instagram. I'm not on Instagram but could see enough info about the quilt to see that a Finnish lady has a pattern for it called "Busy Quilt" if you are interested in a pattern. I'm not sure what size her blocks are or what size squares, etc. she used to make her quilt. 

And sew on...

I finished a book! Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady. "The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins - and WWII Heroes".

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Oh joy! I received a surprise package of scraps from Sandi today that made me smile! 

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I'm still itching and scratching all over with poison ivy. And I thought I avoided a patch of it when I was out gardening. This year I sure have seen some ginormous poison ivy leaves popping up here and there. I've put clear plastic over some of it hoping to solarize it to death.

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