Twilight Flock Top

 

It's a top!

Twilight Flock

60 x 78

I started making blocks in January 2024. I was inspired by a quilt called Twilight Flock in  From the Cover (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Editors and Contributors). The complete set of blocks has been in my SAR (some assembly required) bin since September 2024.  I decided to dig it out and assemble since I am working with dark neutrals this month and these blocks sure contain a lot of them!

This was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project and I made a few blocks each month from scraps in the RSC color of the month. For the Flying Geese I used whatever 2.5 inch width scraps I had at the time and cut parts using the Easy Angle Companion ruler. 

I used a lot of black scrap chunks to make the rest of the block. 

Yesterday I posted about Basket Weave blocks and this is another example of them. Centers are 4.5 x 6.5 rectangles and the two sides are 1.5 x 6.5 rectangles. 

And sew on...

***

I was late posting this morning because I usually take photos for blog posts a day or two ahead of the post but it has been too windy to do that the last few days. This morning there was a bit of a break so I could take a few photos as soon as the sun came out. I see there are a lot of sticks, limbs, and branches to pick up now. 

The high winds were good for hanging out laundry to dry.  I had to laugh at my husband's shirt when I was folding laundry. I guess we wear things around here until they wear out. The kids gave John that shirt on his 40th birthday and he turned 75 in August. 

***

I am still thankful for nice weather. I still need to harvest a lot of Brussels Sprouts from my sorry looking plants. The deer have eaten the tops and side leaves off all the plants but have left me some Brussels Sprouts to harvest. That is the last thing in the  veg garden to harvest.  They are sweeter after a frost. I have to wait for a hard frost to dig up and store my dahlia tubers. I have been planting a few bulbs too. I add a few each year to a meadow area I am trying to naturalize. 

***

I finished a book! The Secret Keeper by Siobhan Curham. It is a WWII historical fiction about Hollywood's role in the war. The main character is loosely based on Real life model turned actress Aline Griffith recruited to spy as an undercover agent for the OSS precursor to the CIA.  Real life events are woven into the story like the death of actor Leslie Howard. His plane was shot down by Luftwaffe. 

***

Yesterday I received a surprise box of fabric from Teresa. Oh joy! 

Twilight Flock -- Now A Complete Block Set

Twilight Flock

6 inch blocks

Now there are 130 blocks and they are ready for assembly but not sure when that will happen. In the meantime they will join many other complete block sets in the SAR (Some Assembly Required) bin. 

I started making blocks in January 2024 as a RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challege) project. I was inspired by a quilt called Twilight Flock in  From the Cover (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Editors and Contributors).

Since black was the RSC color this month I decided to get out those small chunks of black and get these finished.  I just picked through my little pile of 2.5 inch width scraps for anything long enough for the three geese bodies. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***
CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept.  27 -  Internet quilting friends.  Over the years I've gotten to know many folks I've never met in person better than some folks I have actually met in person. One of those friends was Linda Ashworth. I say "was" because I think she has recently passed away.  I had not heard from her for awhile and had no response to my emails I have been sending since 7/19.  I knew she had been in and out of the hospital with heart problems and more recently kidney problems. Linda blogged at Koshka2 Quilts. She made many donation quilts for babies. Over the years she sent me photos of some babies on quilts she made,  sent me a video of her granddaughter singing in a Christmas pageant and told me of the fun she had making lavendar bags and stuffed fabric heart Christmas decorations with her granddaughter. Along time ago sent me a little handmade drawstring bag all the way from the UK. I keep some hand quilting supplies in it.( When she asked for my addy because she wanted to send me something I told her thank you for the thought but it would be too expensive to send me anything from the UK but she insisted). I know she had a son Christopher who died in a car accident in 1996. She told me the pain never goes away. (That subject came up with the unexpected loss of my granddaughter Kayla).  She liked the Twinkler quilt block and lived in a town with a ruined castle - Kenilworth Castle. She left many a lovely comment on my blog. Since I have not heard from her since July I figured she must be hospitalized once again and not doing well. I was worried about her. Not that I'm morbid or anything...I started looking to see if I could find an obituary for her. I think I have...Linda Ashworth obit.   I'll sure miss our litttle email "chats".  In 2022 she told me her sister Pat passed away and shortly after her sister's granddaughter gave birth to a son, Freddie.  My response and her reply -

> On Thu, 13 Oct 2022, 18:57 , <Cathy> wrote:

>> Thanks for the update, Linda! The service sounds like it was a fitting  tribute. And as the cycle goes...Pat joins the angels and an angel named  Freddie is born.

>> Take care of yourself, Linda!

>> Cathy

On 2022-10-13 3:51 pm, Linda Ashworth wrote:

> Thanks for your lovely reply, Cathy.

> Very apt because the last line of my Eulogy was "May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

> Linda x

So I hope flights of angels sung her to her rest and may she rest in peace. I am a better person for having known her! 

Twilight Flock

Twilight Flock

6 inch blocks

I used some black scraps this week for the wings of the Flying Geese and sides of my Twilight Flock blocks.  As I've been processing scraps I have put any darker 2.5 inch colored strips that might be long enough for 3 Flying Geese bodies in this project bag along with any finished blocks. 

I started making blocks in January 2024. I was inspired by a quilt called Twilight Flock in  From the Cover (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Editors and Contributors).

I think I have 30 more blocks to go for a complete block set. 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Sept. 13 - Money Plant and memories. 

Lunaria (aka Money Plant, Silver Dollar, Honesty) self seeds here and there around here (except where I actually want it to grow). I have a vase of the silvery pods in the house and I have made many wreaths of dried flowers that included Money Plant.   Lunaria is actually in the same family as broccoli and brussel sprouts. Funny thing is that deer eat my broccoli and brussel sprout plants but never bother the patches of lunaria.   I always refer to it as Money Plant because that is what my maternal great grandmother Anna called it. I only met my great grandmother once or twice. Her son Ralph,my grandfather, died before I was born and mom rarely took us to visit any of her relatives. (Mom and Dad were separated and later divorced around this time.) Well, anyway, my visit with my great grandmother was memorable. I was younger than 12 - maybe 11 years old. She died at the age of 89 in 1964 so that's how I know.   Well, anyway, when we visited her at home she was braiding a rug made with strips of old clothing. She had big braided rugs all over the house and I just loved them. She took a little time to show me how she made the rugs. I was fascinated.   She also had vases full of Money Plant all over the house. Again, I was fascinated. She gave me a few seeds.     Later when I got home I really wanted to make a braided rug. We really didn't have any old clothes to use but Dad said I could use a box of old flannel receiving blankets if I wanted. I wanted.   I did make a little braided rug I kept on on the wooden floor on my side of the bed I shared with my sister.   I planted the seeds of the money plant in a bare spot on the side of the house but since I didn't know what the leaves of the plant were supposed to look like and since I was only 11 or so I never did grow any money plants but I never forgot about them. 

Also, hubby finally got his license renewed.  We were afraid he would not get that done before it expired. Since he is over 70 he can no longer renew online. And an appointment has to be made in order to renew.  He can't drive right now; however, he thinks he will be able to do so one of these days so he didn't want it to expire.  Funny thing we always laugh about is that I seem to be a stranger magnet. (We actually call me a "weirdo magnet" but the people really aren't all that weird- probably just lonely). Wherever I go, and I don't go many places, someone always sits next to me and starts telling me their life story.  A gentleman sat right down in the chair next to me and started talking as soon as John's number was called and he got up went up to the desk for the license renewal.   Earlier in the week I took John to his ENT appointment and was in the waiting room and an elderly lady (hmmm, I'm old so maybe she wasn't so old) sat down next to me and started chatting away. Good thing I'm better at listening than chatting.  

 

This And That And Then Some

Orange is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color of the month so I have been mostly working with orange scraps but at times a few other colors of scraps snuck in. 

Cheerios

10 inch blocks

I've been making these blocks from 4.5 inch and 2.5 inch scraps. At times I've had 4 squares in each size in my squares bin to use to make the blocks. 

Wonky Stars

4.5 inch

I've been making the Cheerios with "flippy corners". The cut off pieces are being used in little 4.5 inch Wonky Stars. I cut squares for the blocks from scraps when I can and kit them up with the star points to make them as leader/enders

8 Patches

8 inch 

While I was in the 2.5 inch scraps I made some of these blocks. They can also be made with 4.5 inch scraps. 

Twilight Flock

6 inches

The Flying Geese are made with 2.5 inch scraps with 1.5 inch black sides.

Windmills

4 inch

Last week I made the blocks with 1.5 inch scraps but this week I made them with 2.5 inch scraps. 

16 Patch

6 inch

Made with 2 inch width scraps. All blocks contain green plus another color. 

Coin Strips

3 inch wide made with 2 inch width scraps. 

Various lengths.

I have not been ironing these. I will iron them when I put the columns together. I have a box of them now so maybe I'll be able to make a quilt soon. 

4 Patches

3.5 inch unfinished

Each block contains black, white and one other color. I will alternate these with 3.5 inch solid squares. 

Shoofly

7.5 inch

Made with 4 inch width scraps. I have not had any blocks in process using 4 inch scraps. When sorting scraps I receive from others I've been throwing all strips this size into the box. It is now full so I am working on emptying it now. This is one of the blocks I'll be making to use those scraps. 

Broken Dishes

7 inch

Another block I'll be making with 4 inch width scraps. 

Crossroads

7 x 9

All blocks will have a brown cross with red center. The blocks will be made with 3.5 or 4.5 inch scraps.

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

August 16 - Lyrics from a  song by Rare Earth plays in my head:

I'm using up the time but feeling fine, every day
That's why I'm telling you I just want to celebrate
Oh, yeah

I just want to celebrate another day
Oh, I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life

 

 

The Blues Chapter II

Twilight Flight

Flying Geese

6 inch

I'm still working out in the gardens a lot and helping hubby through his recovery so have not found a lot of time to sew. But I did work on the 2.5 inch width scraps this week and did end up making a few blocks and processing scraps. 

I only had a few dark blues for Geese for these blocks but I did have a few other colors of 2.5 inch scraps I had thrown into that project bag while processing scraps so sewed them up too. 

Windmills

4 inch

Last week I made the little windmills from 1.5 inch width scraps that were long enough and this week I made them from the 2.5 inch width scraps that were long enough. I have a big bag of them so one of these days I should count them and decide what I'm going to do with them. 

I cut up the remaining 2.5 inch blue scraps into:

1. Sets of four 2.5 inch squares - I have two projects that use them.

2. 2.5 x 4.5 rectangles  -- into the Parts Dept. 

3. 2.5 x 3.5 rectangles - coin quilt layout by value

4. 2.5 inch squares - into the Parts Dept. 

5. 1.5 x 2.5 rectangles -- I have two projects that use them

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

 

This And That

Twilight Flock

6 inch blocks

I was busy with my quilting marathon in March so I did not get any Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks made. This month I need to catch up on a few blocks and colors. I made my yellow blocks and had a few other 2.5 inch scraps near my cuting mat so turned those into Twilight Flock blocks too. 

Bow Ties

3 inch blocks

I had red and purple blocks cut but now sewn together. I don't think there will be any yellow ones this month. I don't have that many yellow scraps.  I've been making these for a couple of years and I think now I have over 600 of them. 

Boo Boo Patch

3 x 6

That's my name for the blocks because I made a mistake when making them. I sewed two 1.5 inch width scraps together and mistakenly cut the strip sets apart at 1.5 inch instead of 2.5 inches. Of course I also figured out incorrectly the length of the strip I needed in order tto cut them apart at 2.5 inches too. So Boo Boo Patches is what I ended up with and continue to make. 

Windmills

4 inch blocks

I make these from 1.5 inch width scraps or 2.5 inch width scraps. 

Lil' Baskets

4 inch blocks

Switch Plates

3 x 5 inch blocks. 

9 Patch 

Potato Chip 

6 inch blocks

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 5 -- After a couple of days of snow, rain and wind it was a nice sunny day. Everything that was in bloom before the bad weather is still in bloom! That's definitely a cause for celebration!

Ear worm:

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo

Here comes the sun

And I say, its alright

     ...the Beatles

 

Red Scraps Chapter IV

Twilight Flock

6 inch (finished) blocks

This week I worked mostly with 2.5 inch width red scraps. 

Twilight Flock

From the book From the Cover (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Editors and Contributors)

Monkey Wrench 

5 inch finished blocks

Uses both red 1.5 and 2.5 inch scraps.  

10 inch blocks inspired by a picture in a Connecting Threads catalog. 

9 Patch Blocks

6 inch finished

for a Snowball and Nine Patch quilt.

And sew on...

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

******

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Feb. 23 - I said in yesterday's blog post that I was celebrating early in the day with the Dawn Chorus. But I also celebrated later in the day when I received a beautiful handmade Valentine card in the mail from Linda, an amazing and very thoughtful lady who blogs at Art in Search.

 

Green Scraps Chapter III

Happy Geese

10 inch blocks

Inspired by a picture of a quilt in a Connecting Threads catalog, I made a few blocks last October to see how I liked making them and to see if I thought they might be a good Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. And here we are.   I'm thinking 48 blocks might make for a nice sized quilt. I'm using some very light green florals for the backgrounds for all of these blocks. 

All of the blocks I've made this week used mostly 2.5 inch green scraps. 

In Chapter I  I used mostly 1.5 inch green scraps. 

In Chapter II  I used mostly 4.5 and 4 inch scraps. 

Twilight Flock

6 inch blocks

Twilight Flock

From From the Cover (Quilter's Newsletter Magazine Editors and Contributors)

I did a few sample blocks with scrap I had laying near the sewing machine last December and then decided it would be another good RSC project to use dark scraps plus blacks. 

Happy Blocks

8.5 inch blocks

5 inch centers and 2.5 inch sides. 

Someone sent me some Happy Block border pieces for 5 inch centers. There was quite a mix of prints so I divided them up into different piles for different quilts and I will add to the borders. 

For this one I used the rainbow colored prints and I'm going to use 5 inch tone on tone (TOT) or solid 5 inch squares looking first for squares in my 5 inch squares box.   I will need 20 blocks for this donation quilt. 

This one will be florals in the RSC color of the month and will be a larger sized donation quilt so I'm thinking 30 blocks for this one. 

For this one I cut some prints with small critters for the centers and the sides will be in the RSC color of the month.  I might make two little donation quilts like this with 20 blocks each. 

Monkey Wrench

5 inch blocks

For a couple of years one of my RSC projects was Monkey Wrench blocks in three different sizes - 5 inch, 7.5 inch and 10 inch.  At the end of last year I started putting the blocks together into tops. I made four tops with the 7.5 inch blocks and then looked at the 5 inch blocks. When I counted them I had 203 blocks.   I remembered a big  Little Monkey Wrench quilt I made back in 2015 and decided to make another.   In order to do that I need 288 blocks so I made a few more from my green scraps and will keep making blocks each month until I reach 288. 

Monkey Wrench 

5 inch blocks

Nine Patch

6 inch block

And now I have 220 Monkey Wrench blocks and need only 68 more! 

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

*******

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

Jan. 19 - I paid the last of hubby's 2023 medical bills ! That's definitely a cause for celebration. And I'm hoping he hardly has any medical bills for 2024.  I did catch an error on the part of the hospital - they overcharged me $1,000+ on one bill and it took me forever and many many phone calls and letters to straighten that out. But, thank goodness, they have finally seen the error of their ways and I don't have that headache anymore.