Thursday, January 15, 2026

Legos

Legos



It is made of 1.5 inch squares and 1.5 x 2.5 inch rectangles.

I quilted it on my sewing machine with swirls in light green thread.

I pieced the back with two different fabrics of similar color. 

And sew on...


***

Today will be a "crappy" day for hubby John as he does his colonoscopy prep. I get my turn next week. 

***




In memory of an angel, my granddaughter (right), who passed away unexpectedly of "probable cardiac arrythmia" on this day four years ago at 17 years of age. I miss her so much and think of her every day. 

Kayla Marie
December 7, 2004 - January 15, 2022

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR) 2026

 

I wasn't going to write a blog post today but noticed it is time to show our center blocks for the 2026 SAHRR. 

I am going to make two child's comfort quilts with a Raggedy Ann and Andy center. 



And I'm not sure what size comfort quilt this will be. This is a 14 inch orphan block that was given to me that I will use for the center of this third quilt. 


And sew on...



Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Little Baskets

 


Little Baskets
4 inch finished
Goal of 110 blocks met!
Started February 2023

I should have counted blocks before I made these last two batches because I have actually exceeded my goal and have 125 blocks. But that's okay because I think some might be a little wonky. 


I started making Little Baskets to go with some fabric I had with Little Baskets. And I had the book Scrappy Fireworks Quilts by Edyta Sitar with a pattern for Lil' Baskets Quilts that I liked.  I did not make my Baskets the same way she did.  There's more than one way to skin a cat, you know. Weird idiom. Who would even want to know one way to actually skin a cat? 




Well, I was going to use my basket fabric as the border, side setting triangles and alternate squares for the blocks but I see now I don't have enough so I had just enough of a brown with red flowers to use for alternate squares. 

Now...some assembly required. 

"Itty bits, fiddly bits" has been the theme in my sewing space this month to move UFOs forward. I still have lots of bits!

And sew on...


****

Sheesh, I can't believe I slept 11 hours. That rarely happens!

***
Today is oldest son's birthday. I can't believe he is 52 years old today. Gosh, mentally I still feel like that 21 year old I was back then. Physically, everything is just a little saggier. And some things creak. 

***
I finally have replaced my laptop that died this summer. I have been using my husband's Kindle Fire tablet to get around. I just hate touchpads and like to sit and type like the wind at a proper keyboard. I'm getting used to Windows 11 and all it's weirdness with wanting to put everything on Onedrive which I don't want. And I don't need synching up to anything because I rarely even use my phone. My camera cable no longer works to upload photos so I had to buy a card reader since laptop came without one and that is how I have uploaded the photos. But then again the darned photos are on Onedrive and I want them on my local PC.  Then I have extensive family history files, photos and docs...most research done before there was an Ancestry.com and DNA to do all the work for me...and my FamilyTreeMaker program (that I bought as a DOS version way back when and have upgraded along the way to FTM 2005) no longer works with Windows 11. It barely worked with Windows 10. So, I think I had all my family history files backed up to an external drive and I have purchased a new genealogy program called RootsMagic 11. So I'm getting used to that and want to better organize my family history files, photos and docs and then write stories about some of the folks I remember and stories about some of the things that have been passed on to me ("stories about stuff"). I wanted to get all this done before gardening season kicks in but now it is time for winter sowing. I am hoping to do some of that today. 

***
Oh joy! I received a surprise package of scraps from Dawn! It was so fun to sort through all the pieces and think about what they will be when they grow up and become a quilt.


Sunday, January 11, 2026

Slow Stitching

 


String Star
I finally have a quilt in the hoop so I can do some big stitch quilting in the evening before bed. 

Quartet of Birds
Crewel embroidery decorative pillow. I am working on the third of four birds. 

Binding
Both of those slow stitching projects have been on hold while I hand stitch the binding on my Lego quilt. 

And sew on...






Saturday, January 10, 2026

From the 3.5 Inch Width Scraps

 

d
NOT Disappearing Four Patches
9 inch

I like the look of Disappearing Four Patch blocks but don't like to make blocks and cut them apart to make another. So I just went straight to making the end result.  I will be making these from 3 inch width scraps of solids and thrift store shirts/plaids.

Streak of Lightning
9 inch blocks

I have quite a few pastel 3.5 inch strips in my bin so decided to make these blocks - a third version of blocks called "Streak of Lightning" that I am making this year.  This SOL needs an A and B block.

Last week I was also working with scraps from the 3.5 inch width scrap box that I hope to empty by year end.  From the remaining blues I cut bricks 3.5 x 6.5. Then I cut squares and rectangles 2 x 3.5 and 1.5 x 3.5.   After that I pulled out the small pieces in the box no matter the color and cut squares and rectangles. My goal was 120 -1.5 x 3.5 pieces for the next round of Pie Birds.

And now maybe I will go dig into my 2.5 inch width scrap bin to see what blue treasures I have in there to work with. 

And sew on...



Friday, January 9, 2026

Old Italian Quilt Blocks



 Old Italian Blocks
3 inch 
I now have 369 blocks toward my goal of 540. 
I think at this point I may have to recount to be sure of how many blocks I have. 


I started making these in 2023. 

The Old Italian blocks are a "cut and shuffle" type block- stack up 6 squares (I'm using 5 inch), make a few cuts, shuffle around the pieces and then sew together. I used a tutorial found at My Joyful Journey that includes instructions for X blocks in other sizes as well as the 3 inch. 

I now have gathered together several sets of six 5 inch squares and hope to make my goal soon. 

And sew on...

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Double Four Patch Finish

It's a finish!
Double Four Patch
48 x 60

This is a "pieces and parts" quilt. Last year I received a bag with some completed 4 inch finished blocks, some completed 2.5 inch four patches, 2.5 inch squares in each of the three colors and a baggie of 1.5 inch squares plus some extra fabric in each of the three colors. There were also enough 2.5 inch width strips of yellow to use for binding. 

I constructed more blocks.

I had fun looking at all the little things that can end up in a 1 inch square.

I quilted it on my sewing machine on the diagonals through the little four patches.



The back.


And sew on...


***

Finished a book of the magical realism genre - The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. It was very light reading for a time I felt like I needed some magical realism. 

“It’s all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.” – Charles de Lint

“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” – J.K. Rowling