Sue

I have begun a 12-month church service mission working with FamilySearch.org that requires me to donate 12 hours/week from home. I’m happy about this opportunity but it is definitely cutting into my sewing time & I’m still adjusting. So all of you who have commented on my prodigious output can feel better that I’ll be lucky to get my projects done each month for the rest of the year. LOL Next year’s RSC plans will have to be more limited. 🙂

But what did I get done? Well, lots of aqua cutting to get ready for sewing. Tedious but necessary. This represents a bunch of blocks ready to go, so that feels good.

I sewed 3 Moda Blockheads 2 blocks, although the one on the right has a caveat. I sewed it last week with another shade of aqua instead of the white print. Every time I saw it on my design wall, I was irritated with how there wasn’t enough contrast & finally decided to pick it apart & re-make it. I cut the white print, used one of the aqua prints & sewed it together. But I was so tired when I sewed it, that I spun my 4 patches & made a totally different block! So now it’s Sue’s variation. LOL LOL

I hate to admit this, but we’re all friends here, right? I started a new quilt! Even though I’ve been swearing I would not. My local quilt store was having their big summer sale & I decided to just save some money on something I really wanted to begin. I’ve had this pattern & Melissa’s templates for a while, waiting for some WIPs to get done before I started it. (See, I have self-control!) But sale fabric!! So I bought what I needed, cut out all the squares & rectangles, cut a few of the curved pieces, pinned them while watching TV, & have been putting them under the needle here & there. My curves are not too bad & getting better. It will take me a while to finish, but that’s how I roll, it seems.

Inspired by Diann at Little Penguin Quilts, in 2021 I made this top as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge that year. Somewhere along the way it got quilted, but has been hanging in my studio closet waiting for binding as I got carried away with newer projects. In a frenzy of binding-making a few weeks ago, I got one made for this quilt, sewed it on & put it in the queue for evening hand-binding. Finally, it is a finish! I’m calling it “Zig-Zag”. (So original, I know.) It may be a future graduation quilt, or turn into a donation, if it sits around long enough.

July finishes out purple with Moda Blockheads. I finished all the ones I want to do from Set #1, so these + the aquas & teals are from Set #2. I only need 5 more blocks to finish up the layout I want to do.

Another finished small banner for my sideboard. True, it was after 4th of July, but it’s still July & my goal of a new one every month has changed to one every other month this year & then I’ll fill in the other months next year. It’s all good.

This was my big goal for this week: getting the top done for my auction quilt & getting it to the quilter. Done! I really power-sewed to get it all done, but I had it ready when I got the text that my others were done so I could pick up & drop off. This turned out really well, so I hope it makes some money for Primary Children’s Medical Center in December.

Now for some purple sewing! Got my Scrap Stash Plus blocks from Quilty Love done & there are only aqua & teal left from the jelly roll I cut up in January, so hopefully that’s the August color. Then I can put one of this year’s projects together. I also got my Strippy Slab Star made & again this month, I made some string blocks for future donation while I had the string bin out.

I got a donation WIP ready for my quilting partner to quilt for Joyful Welcome, a local group we donate to that gives quilts to new moms in hospitals that are teen or unwed. I still have several of these cut & ready to sew with various donated fabrics. It’s a quadrant of Quilty Love’s Star Pop 2 pattern.

Below is Melissa Corry’s Scraptastic Stars. I’m getting so excited to get this to a finish by the end of the year. I had planned at the beginning of the year to make 9 blocks & have a smallish square, but on recent reflection, I want a longer lap quilt, so need 12 blocks. Choice: make a couple extras this year to get it to the finish line in 2025 or let it drift to the first part of 2026’s colors? Not sure.

The top are my County Fair blocks by Amy Smart & I’m also getting excited to get this one put together at the end of the year. The 2.5″ square rail fences are a continuation from last year’s RSC projects, so some day I will have to throw them all on the wall & see what I have!

I started sewing the previously cut auction quilt for Festival of Trees, so maybe in a couple weeks I’ll have a flimsy to show. Our theme this year is 12 Days of Christmas.

Not very fun but necessary for finishes, right? I made eight bindings for quilts hanging in the closet ready for them, or currently at the quilter, or hanging in the queue to go next. Two were sewed onto quilts so I’m hand sewing them in the evenings.

But this IS fun! I finished the large potion bottles for June, then the Frightful Fun! BOM cat block for July dropped, so I just went ahead & made it while the FPP mess was all over. It’s big: 18×18. I’m not squaring up any of these until I get the finishing directions, so yes, there’s a little wonkiness on the edges. Only two more blocks to go, then I can put it together. Can’t wait!