Courthouse Steps Top

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It's a top!

Courthouse Steps

45 x 60

I've been making 7.5 inch finished Court House Steps blocks all year as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project to use scraps from the 2 inch width scrap bin. Earlier this month after I made my yellow (RSC color for August) blocks I noticed I only needed a few more blocks so dug into my scrap bin for scraps to make 8 more blocks. 

Then I assembled a top.

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

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I know Autumn is right around the corner when my Japanese Anemone border bursts into bloom. 

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Oh joy! Julie sent me a colorful box of perle cotton threads and a magical piece of fabric full of hummingbirds and butterflies.  Donna sent me a box of colorful scraps. My little six inch ruler got a work out sorting scraps by width. And I had fun looking at every piece.

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I finished a book! But Not Forgotten by BJ Bourg. It is Clint Wolf Mystery series book 1. There are 38 books in the series. I've started on book 2. 

Some Yellow Scraps

Yellow is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. I added a round of 2 x 3.5 yellow rectangles to the Giant Potato Chip quilt. 

More yellow 2 x 3.5 rectangles as well as pink and orange ones I didn't get sewn together in past months went into Streak of Lightning blocks. 

More 2 inch width scraps went into Courthouse Steps blocks. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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Oh joy! I received THREE boxes of goodies from Ry Lynn. What a treat it was to sort through the boxes of comfort quilt fodder. There's just something about looking at fabric that soothes the soul. I think that goes back to the summers I spent with my grandparents on their farm. I just loved to sit on one of grandma's quilts and look at all the fabrics. Her quilts were made from old clothes and she would sometimes tell me stories about what that fabric used to be and who wore it and what happened one time when whomever was wearing whatever that fabric used to be. Good times! Good memories! Soul soothing I tell you!

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I finished a book! By the River's Edge by Gregg Olsen.  "By the River’s Edge is the astonishing true story of an elusive serial killer, an escape plan like no other, and the women who lived and died on the fringes of the Lilac City for whom justice was at long last served."...Amazon

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Reminding myself to take a deep breath and stop and smell my roses every once in a while. 

 

Using Some Aqua, Turquoise, Teal, Blue-Green Scraps

Aqua, etc. is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

This week while playing with aqua, etc. scraps I added another round to my BIG Potato Chip. It is now 27.5 inches square. 

Buckeye Beauties

6 inch

I have been making these blocks for maybe a couple of years with whatever scraps I have in the RSC color of the month.   After I made these with aqua scraps I noticed I only needed a few more blocks to reach my goal of 108 blocks so...

...I made more blocks and met my goal. 108 blocks will make for a quilt layout of 9 x 12 blocks of 54 x 72 inches.   I happened to have some orange/black and pink/black little Four Patches made when those were the RSC colors this year. I just never got around to making the HSTs for the blocks. 

I don't think I'm going to assemble the top this month so I'll put the block set in my Some Assembly Required (SAR) bin. 

Streak of Lightning 

9 inch finished

A and B blocks

Courthouse Steps

7.5 inch finished

Uneven Nine Patches

7 inch finished

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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John had his PET-C stress test yesterday afternoon. Hopefully the results will see him fit to have his mandibulectomy surgery next month.     My stress test involved the drive into unfamiliar territory over the river and through a detour to the cardiovascular facility branch in Illinois.  

I guess the pre-surgery evaluation team is concerned that the echocardiogram they ordered showed moderate aortic valve stenosis. The reason they ordered the echocardiogram was because they were concerned about the atrial fibrillation episode he had during his April hospital stay. 

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Oh joy! 

I received a box with a beautiful bouquet of floral fabrics from Julie. I'm not sure how she could part with those! John loved looking at each piece too. 

And Sandi sent me a box of goodies too. All kinds of things from backings to batting pieces to scraps and even some roses were in there. 

I am very thankful. And my spirit has been lifted!

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I finished the last three books (17-19) of the David Wolf mystery thriller series by Jeff Carson - Echoes Fade, Silent Country and Windburn.  

In The Pink

 

Snowball Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Pink is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. So I dug into my pink scraps for this week's blocks. I have also made more blocks in past RSC colors of blue, green and red. I have acquired or processed scraps in those past colors and since my goal is to empty the bins of scraps I keep by width by year end I will make blocks in past RSC colors each month if I have them. 

Hollow Nine Patch

9 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares

Uneven Nine Patch

7 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares, 1.5 x 3.5 multicolor rectangles, and 1.5 inch square for center.

Four Patch

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch squares - dark and light of same color.

Buckeye Beauty

6 inches

Made with 3.5 inch unfinished HSTs with black and color of month and 2 inch squares. 

Courthouse Steps

7.5 inches

Made with 2 inch width pieces

Giant Potato Chip

Made with 2 x 3.5 inch rectangles.

Each round is in the RSC color of the month so a pink round has been added. 

Currently it's a 15.5 inch square

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

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Some flowers are starting to peek out of the very wet ground. We have had some much needed rain so I'm hoping to see more color in the gardens in the weeks ahead. Our last frost date is April 30 so the gardens really get into high gear after that. 

Wood Hyacinth (or Spanish Blue Bells) are starting to pop up in spots all over in the gardens.

Dwarf Iris are also popping up here and there. When I go walking through my gardens this time of year it is like going on a treasure hunt to see what I will find. There's 

Daffodils popping up in the cutting garden. I used to have fancy tulips here and after one year I kept having problems with rabbits and deer eating them as they sprouted up so I've been slowly changing this bed to Daffodils since critters don't really bother those. Earlier this year I broadcast some perennial dianthus seeds in this bed so when the Daffs die down I hope to have some dianthus for cutting in this bed too.   

There are different varieties of dwarf and fancy Daffodil varieties in this bed. 

Bloodroot in the cottage garden.

Planting potatoes on Good Friday is a long standing tradition said to ensure a bountiful harvest. I usually try to get mine planted then but I'm a little behind. Maybe I will get to that in the next couple of days if the weather permits. I have my potatoes chitted and ready to plant. I love potatoes! 

Red Scraps

Courthouse Steps

8 inch

Made with 2 inch width scraps

Streak of Lightning

9 inch blocks

Made with 2 inch squares and 2 x 3.5 rectangles

A and B blocks

Top Row - A different Streak of Lightning

6 inch

Made with 2 inch squares. "Streak" in black on white fabrics.

Bottom Row - Puss in the Corner Variation

6 inch

Made with 2 inch squares and 2 x 3.5 rectangles.

Buckeye Beauty

6 inch

Made with 2 inch squares and 3.5 inch HSTs.

Red is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for March.

This week I mostly worked with the red scraps in the 2 inch width bin. The Buckeye Beauty blocks that needed some red HSTs took me into the 3.5 inch width scrap bin for red scraps. So now I will work on reducing the 3.5 inch width red scraps. Stay tuned...

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

Courthouse Steps Log Cabin - A Hand Quilted Finish

 

It's a finish!

Courthouse Steps

60 x 80

I used civil war reproduction scraps to make the blocks.  The top was finished in March 2021. 

I big stitch hand quilted it with pink, brown and ecru perle cotton #8.

The quilting makes a design on the solid burgundy back. And the burgundy solid sure picks up a lot of stray threads!

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Green Scraps

Snowball 9 Patch

9 inch finished

Made with 3.5 inch squares and 1.5 inch corners

Blocks with light and dark corners will alternate in a quilt

Crossroads

7 x 9 inch

Made with 3.5 x 4.5 rectangles. All blocks have brown sashing and red center.

I think I've been making these blocks since 2024. 

After I made blocks using what was in the 3.5 inch width scrap box I noticed I only needed a few more to reach my goal of 81 blocks for a quilt layout 9 x 9 (63 x 81).

So I made a few more blocks from scraps in the 3.5 inch width scrap box and met my goal.

Last year I assembled a child sized comfort quilt with these blocks.  Now I'm going to cross this block off of my list of scrappy blocks I make for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC). 

Buckeye Beauty

6 inch blocks

Made with scraps from the 3.5 inch and 2 inch scrap bins. 

Courthouse Steps

7.5 inch 

Made with scraps in the 2 inch width bin.

Rick Rack Blocks

8 inch

Made with 2.5 inch width scraps.

1 width of fabric makes two blocks. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday