HST Four Patch Block Set Complete

HST Four Patch

8 inch finished

Black multicolor scraps and solid scraps

I now have a complete 63 block set. 

Dark (or light or both) neutrals is the October Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

I made 32 blocks last October 2025 when the RSC color was neutrals.  

A few days ago I had 50 blocks and now I have met my goal. I think I will set them aside for now and maybe assemble later in the month or put in my SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin.

And sew on...

***

Gosh it sure seems to have been a busy week. On September 30 I had to take hubby an hour away to appts. in IA City at the Univ. of IA hospital and clinics.   He had an appt. with another doctor in IA City on October 5.  I hate that I drive an hour, have an appt. that lasts 15 minutes and then turn around and drive one hour back home.   Then I've been having PT on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I have gone into town several times for prescriptions and for groceries.   One of John's prescriptions is Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic for his bone infection. He was on tablets at a cost of $25.  When Infectious Disease renewed the prescription after we visited them on the 30th they prescribed oral suspension Cipro. When I went to pick it up I had to refuse it. The oral suspension version was over $400 !!!!!!!  So I had to get that straightened out so he could continue with the tablets.   

Well, in between all that I did do a little sewing a few mornings and a lot of gardening in the afternoons. The weather had been BEAUTIFUL! 

I received a couple of different bulb orders yesterday; I ordered them all with sales or coupons in July. 

These are the ones I am planting in my Perky Goth/Moonlight Garden (aka Kayla memorial garden). I am planting mostly black, white and pink flowers in the garden. 

This is the area I planted today with bulbs. I just mixed a lot of bulbs together and threw them out and planted where they landed. Most of the green ground cover in that area is wild violets. 

I planted:

3 Camassia Leichtlinii Pink Stars

5 Allium Nigrum Silver Spring

10 Daffodil Pink Charm

10 Tulip Danique

5 Allium Starlight

10 Daffodil Blushing Belle

25 Narcissus White Petticoats

There's a climbing rose on that trellis to the left of the bench. Near there I planted two Fritillaria Persica (Persian Lily).  

I still have more bulbs to plant in other areas in my Kayla Memorial garden. But that was enough for today. I am very thankful I was able to get out and do that much.

And sow on...

 

Dark Neutrals

HST Four Patch

8 inch finished

Dark (or light or both) neutrals is the October Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month. 

I made 32 blocks last October when the RSC color was neutrals.  My goal is 63 blocks. I now have 50.

Whenever I receive scraps from others one of my sorts of scrap chunks (greater than 6.5 inch strip and less than a FQ) is solids and another sort is multicolor blacks. I have accumulated quite a few scraps since last year so it looks like after I finish my HST Four Patch blocks I have more than enough multicolor black for a couple more quilts. Maybe for one I will use black multicolor for Happy Block centers.  Time will tell.

New Start with browns

Overlapped Stars

Inspired by Lynn's (Klein Meisje Quilts blog) Overlapped Stars 

Lynn generously shares her construction methods.

A few months ago I sorted boxes of charm squares/5 inch squares received from others over the years by color. I counted the squares in the brown pile and I have more than enough to make the Overlapped Stars. 

I have other dark neutral projects to work on the month but for now this is my focus. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

Health Updates

I mentioned a few blog posts ago that I visited the doc for pain that started in the neck and after a few weeks progressed to most of my body. High ESR results (inflammation marker) led to Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) diagnosis, prednisone and physical therapy. Prednisone immediately relieved the pain; however, in the meantime other lab tests (positive ANA and high ANA Titer - more markers for inflammation) led to a referral to the rheumatologist for further testing. The rheumatologist appointments are 4-8 weeks out so not sure when I will be seen. In the meantime I will stay on prednisone and continue with PT. I'm just glad I don't have much pain at all anymore and can still take care of John, garden and quilt. I was at the point where I could hardly make it out of bed in the morning but now once again life is pretty wonderful.

As far as my husband John's health...he had appointments at Univ. of IA clinics on Wednesday (thank goodness I could drive an hour away and push him around in a wheelchair). He met with infectious disease doctor about the latest culture results that came back on the necrotic and infected jaw bone (effects of past radiation for cancer) he had removed in September. He has been on one antibiotic since April and that will end mid October. They added a different antibiotic after results came back on bone removed during surgery. Now the latest culture results reveal yeast infection (Candida) in the bone and so they have prescribed an antifungal for a year. Evidently it takes a long time to get rid of infections in bone. 

***

Garden Updates

I'm delighted that I still have some roses in bloom! It is about time to put them to bed for the winter. After a couple of days of heavy rain I hope it is dry enough to work outside for a bit today.

Oh gosh! I was really surprised to see a big bloom on a Dinner Plate Hibiscus I started from seed this year. I didn't think I would see blooms until next year!

HST Four Patch Finish

It's a finish!

HST Four Patch

50 x 70

Made with 3 inch width scraps. I have it on my UFO list as a new start in 2024 and as a flimsy in 2024. 

I can't find a photo of the 2024 flimsy but I do see a post where I was making blocks in 2024.  It is one of many quilts I was working on to empty a box of 3 inch width scraps that is still not empty. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine with horizonal and vertical lines. 

It has a scrappy binding...

...and a wild and crazy backing. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

Polymyalgia Rheumatica. I'd never heard of it until Tuesday after a call from the doc office.  I've had neck pain since end of July that started as a burning sensation then developed into pain so severe I could hardly move my head. I did some neck exercises and massager. I put on ice bag. I put on icy hot. I took tylenol. Pain was worse when I got up in morning and I had a difficult time sleeping. I thought it was stress related.  Pain moved to upper legs. I could hardly get out of bed, sleep, brush hair, etc.  Sometimes I felt tingling on my scalp and feet. It was hard to tell if it was joint, muscle or never pain. And finally the pain spread to upper arms. Again, pain was most severe when trying to sleep and when I got up in morning. After a few hours pain lessened.  

Finally I called doc office on Monday and got in an hour later. Xrays showed a little degenerative disease disorder on C6-7 but doc said that shouldn't be causing all that pain. They drew blood for lab tests. On Tuesday nurse called to say my ESR, an inflammation marker, was very high. ESR is a marker of inflammation; however, it is not specific as to what causes inflammation. Doc thought Polymyalgia Rheumatica and prescribed prednisone for a week as well as physical therapy. I'm to call doc back on Monday to let them know how well prednisone worked. If it doesn't nurse said I would be referred to rheumatology.  I'm glad to say that after 4 prednisone pills I'm feeling pretty good. I'll report that to doc on Monday. I started PT on Wednesday, the same day I started the predisone.  I have also looked into foods to eat for an anti-inflammatory diet. Actually, it looks like I pretty much already have a diet like the ones I've seen - Mediterranean and DASH. 

The rain finally stopped and I was able to go out and do a little gardening yesterday. If it hadn't been raining the last week or so I might have been out gardening and attributed  the leg pain when it started to over doing it out in the garden. 

So, sorry if I haven't answered all comments lately. I just haven't felt much like sitting at the computer for very long. 

 

This and That and a Few Other Things

This week I made a few more HST Four Patches. I had a small bag of black multicolor 4.5 inch width pieces left over from making several different quilts I want to use up. I decided to make these blocks from any pieces long enough. I also have a little box of solid scraps I'm using.  I was working on these blocks and a few others in October because the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color was dark neutrals. 

Someone sent me a baggie of blue waste triangles. I sorted them into groups of eight matching or similar. 

I grabbed a few 4 inch width scraps long enough to cut eight squares for Wonky Star backgrounds. I also found s few four inch blue squares for Star centers. Sixteen blocks will yield a small quilt 42 x 42.

I ironed some of my October leader/enders. Some 2.5 inch HSTS in baggies from previous projects or from others  got made and trimmed and then made into Broken Dishes blocks.  I have a box of Broken Dishes blocks in many different sizes. Someday when I run out of HST parts I will dig into the box and make some quilts.

More Broken Dishes in different sizes and Wonky QSTs that need dog ears trimmed for my Medallion quilt collection. 

More Broken Dishes and a couple of QSTs that were a little wonky for the orphanage. 

Dark Neutral Goodies

 

Dark Neutral is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month so I dug into the dark neutral scraps and added blocks to some of my collections. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday