Orphan Kieran Finish

 

It's a finish!

Orphan Kieran

56 x 72

This month the theme in my sewing space to move UFOs forward is "orphans".  I made this orphan block top back when "orphans" was the theme in November 2025. 

This orphan block quilt consists of 8 inch finished orphan blocks. Most orphan blocks were given to me by others. I used some smaller parts and orphan blocks to make enough 8 inch finished blocks. Then from brown scraps I made Uneven Nine Patch blocks for the alternate block. 

I quilted it on my sewing machine with diagonal lines through the blocks. 

The back and binding.

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

***

I recently harvested enough garlic scapes from my garden to make garlic scape pesto. 

I waited a bit longer than usual to harvest so tops were almost in flower. Stems weren't as plump as usual because of such hot dry weather but I do like garlic scape pesto so went ahead and made it. 

I don't add nuts. I just use the scapes, parmesan, a little lemon juice and olive oil. 

I make my pesto thick and thin with olive oil later if needed. I just stored it in the empty parmesan container and refrigerated. 

I like it as a "sauce" on pizza. 

I added some chopped oregano and basil from my herb garden and then added mozarella and cojack cheeses as well as a blend of asiago, parmesan and romano cheeses.  Yummy (if you like garlic and if you like cheese pizza). 

I also used the pesto to make a sauce for my chicken breast. To go with I boiled some Yukon Gold potatoes I dug from the garden. AND I didn't take a photo but another "go with" was my first ripe tomato from the garden sprinkled with chopped fresh basil from the garden. Yummy!

I was only able to eat half the chicken breast so cut up leftovers the next day to sprinkle over a spinach and mixed lettuce salad also sprinkled with feta cheese, dried cranberries and candied pecans and lightly dressed with basalmic salad dressing. Yummy!

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

 

Green Scraps

Uneven Nine Patch

7.5 inches

Made from 3.5 inch squares

Four Patch

6 inches

Made from 3.5 inch squares

Hollow Nine Patch

9 inches

Made from 3.5 inch squares

Waffles

5 inch

Made from 1.5 inch x 5.5 inch solid rectangles and 1.5 inch squares

Puss in the Corner Variation

6 inch

Made from 2 x 3.5 inch neutral rectangles and 2 inch squares

After I made blocks with green...

...I noticed I only needed 10 more blocks toward my goal of 108 blocks for a 9 x 12 (54 x 72 inch) layout. So I made more blocks with squares I had cut. 

Now I have met my goal of 108 Puss In the Corner Variation blocks! 

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday where the color of the month is green!

 

It's A Top! Orphan Kieran

It's a top! 

Orphan Kieran

56 x 72

For this top I used 8 inch finished orphan blocks that were darker colors. I had 19 blocks given to me by others and made up another 13 out of a lot of 4.5 inch blocks I had on hand like HSTs and four patches. 

I made 31 Puss in the Corner blocks with brown and cream. I pulled 4.5 inch brown squares for the centers from my squares bin. I had some 2.5 inch width bits and pieces left over from making Quarter Stars in a bag that needed to be cleaned up so I cut the Puss corner squares from those pieces and also had some brown 2.5 inch squares in my squares bin. 

And sew on...

A Few Aqua Scraps

Buckeye Beauty

6 inch finished

Buckeye Beauty

6 inch finished

Puss in the Corner

( aka Easy Breezy)

6 inch finished

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

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

Finished a book! Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops by Jen Campbell. It was a quick read and good for a few smiles. If I wrote the book I probably would have called it Stupidest Things Customers Say In Bookshops. 

Heavy rains coming so I guess I won't be out in the gardens today. I might be forced to do a little housework then reward myself with some sewing time. 

A Puss In The Corner Finish

It's a finish!

Puss In The Corner aka Uneven Nine Patch

42 x 60

The six inch blocks were a 2021 Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. I made the top in May 2022. 

I alternated blocks with light centers and corners with blocks with dark centers and borders. 

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

The back - a gardening theme.

The binding is a brown and white big stripe.

And now it is ready for giving.

And sew on...

****

Rain today (thank goodness) so I will spend a lot of time in my sewing room instead of in the gardens. It's all good. I am thankful I have a lot of hobbies to keep me busy and happy.

I received a big box of treasure from Linda - precuts she cut. Some squares in different sizes and some strips. Stay tuned for what I will make with them. I have a few ideas in mind for some fab comfort quilts.  I am thankful for friends who keep me supplied with scraps I pay forward in quilts.

Chantal sent me boquets of fabric roses. She knows I love roses. For the last few years I've worked with roses in December because I like that quote by JM Barrie - "God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December."   I am thankful that a few friends send along boquets of rose fabrics from time to time. 

 

It's a Finish! Even Nine Patches in Uneven Nine Patches

Even Nine Patches in Uneven Nine Patches 

or

Puss in the Corner with 3 Inch Nine Patch Centers

It's a finish!

59 x 72

Finally I have a finish! This one has been pin basted for quite awhile. This time of year I spend more time in the gardens sowing than I spend in the sewing space sewing.  So all month long I've quilted on this one on my DSM a little at a time. 

This quilt started with some swapped 3 inch nine patches. Long ago I used to belong to a group that swapped the little Nines quarterly. I've used them in several quilts over the years but still to this day have a small bin of them.  

I added sashing between the blocks that made little Nine Patches with light corners.  I finished the top back in 2021. 

I quilted it on my DSM (Brother PQ1500SL) with diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines. 

The backing and binding are the same fabric. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

May 4 - I've been seing a fox on my property off and on for awhile now. To me that is a good thing because I was thinking it would take care of some moles and voles and mice and rabbits that do damage to my gardens. Then one day I saw two foxes in the early morning when I looked outside my deck door. They were in the bushes in front of the tumble down barn. Maybe they live here. If I'm going to have varmints around I prefer fox now that I don't raise chickens anymore. 

May 5 - Oh, what a beautiful day!  We have had such beautiful weather for several days. I have most of my veg garden planted and seeds sown.  I just have to plant the tomatoes I started from seeds and am hardening off now as well as a few squash and cantaloupe seeds.  I've also sown a few seeds in the cutting garden like zinnias, sunflowers, calendula and planted some delphinium, foxglove, larkspur and love lies bleeding plants I started from seeds early in the year. 

May 6 - Received a box of this and that! Oh, what fun! I have taken a picture and since the theme this month in my sewing space is "WITB and SAR" - the WITB being "What's in the Box/Bag/Bin" I will work on making blocks/tops and document what I made from the contents in the box to share in a later blog post. 

 

May 7 - Rain! I was trying to get a lot of my seeds planted before the rain. The gardens needed it and it showed. And because of the rain I was able to spend a little time in the sewing space as well as catch up on some housework. 

May 8 - Sun came out and dried up all the rain and I did a little more planting. Finished sewing binding on a quilt! And I finished another book -- Secret Photograph by Siobahn Curham. It is a WWII historical novel set around true historical events in WWII Paris and resistance fighters who photographed some of the horrific events that took place like children thrown from a window during an orphanage raid. 

Shirts and Giggles - A Finish!

It's a finish! 

Shirts and Giggles

76 inches square

hand quilted

vintage inspired

This is the vintage quilt that inspired me to make my own version. I saw it on Ebay a long time ago.

Made from men's shirts from the thrift store (Shirts) and some 1930s reproduction prints that remind me of my grandmother's dresses (Giggles). 

Broken Wheels, Flying Geese, Puss in the Corner blocks. 

I finished the top back in 2019.

Big stitch hand quilted with blanc perle #12.

The backing and binding.

The crocus were blooming in little patches in the lawn (where the squirrels must have scattered them over the years) near my clothesline a few days ago. Now you can see what's on the ground near my clothesline and I think there is more predicted for today. Well, at least I know Spring is trying to sprung!! 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework