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RSC2026-last green Feb week

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This is what I’ve spent most of my sewing time on this week. I started the Riley Blake QAL From Our House last year by cutting all the strips for the 20 log cabin blocks in January. I made the first 4 alternate designer 6.5″ center blocks & put together 1 whole block. That’s in the upper left. I became disenchanted with the alternate blocks & it got left behind as a WIP. I really like the pattern & want to finish. Inspired by my continual harping about getting WIP’s done, my quilting partners have been sewing up their purchased kits during their personal sewing time.

We are almost done with our current project of a flag quilt & last week we were discussing our next project. For the first time in all our years of sewing together, we are NOT going to make our own versions of the same pattern. Instead, we are all going to do a previously started kit or project of our own. I thought about what I wanted to do & picked this. I’ve spent the week substituting some other 6.5″ blocks so that there aren’t any duplicates from the original pattern, cutting the center blocks, adding them to bags with the previously cut logs & labeling them so I know what I’m doing. Each week, I can grab a bag, work on a block & get ‘er done!

I got all the pieces cut for my Starlets blocks & they will have to be sewed up today, the last day of green February. At the top you can see the FPP I started last week. I made the 4 A quadrants & still need to make B, C, & D then sew them into 4 shamrocks & turn them into a mini quilt for March.

I remembered I had another kinda green WIP that’s been hanging around for a while. The blocks were all sewed together & I had started hand quilting it months ago but the embroidered blocks are so heavy that the sashing doesn’t hold them. I unpicked & left it. On Saturday, I bought some green thread & did some FMQ with my machine in the sashing in one sitting, made & sewed on the binding, then three TV evenings got it tacked down. So this project begun in 2021 is done & hanging on the wall. I ordered a hanger as soon as I finished quilting & it got here at the same time as I finished binding. Win!

The colors are more vibrant IRL, but you may recall this “County Fair” quilt by Amy Smart from the book, “Scrap School”. It was an RSC2025 project, so you saw the blocks come together. Well, it’s done & I may have a hard time gifting it because I really love it. My quilting partners say I have a big enough house to have quilts everywhere! Hmm. Maybe so……

RSC2026-green Feb week 3

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This has been a successful green month so far. With my monthly WIP finished, I concentrated on some of the other projects. I’m doing Our Town by Material Girl Quilts for the Quilter’s Cove QAL. It’s a free pattern from Covid days when everyone was making little house quilts. I didn’t get the January blue houses done, so made 9 this week. I’m going with scrappy gray roofs & black doors for all the houses & using up charm squares, as this is a charm square friendly pattern. Ditto for the 19 trees required, which is my green for the month. There will be no green houses, because…….green trees.

I worked on the Nine-Patch & Snowball quilt by cutting all the squares & corners for the snowball blocks & making some of them. I made 5 green nine-patches & attached a snowball to all the blocks currently sewed. I also started an FPP shamrock thing that has been a fun diversion.

RSC2026-Feb week 2

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My WIP goal for February is done! This quilt by The Pattern Basket was begun with my quilt group in 2018 & then abandoned by me with two birds left. My partners finished theirs immediately. I should say that the bird house was my own addition, replacing two bird blocks. It’s now with one of my quilting partners for quilting. She’s thinking clouds & aqua thread because the background has aqua polka dots.

This week, I also got started on the Quilter’s Cove QAL. My pattern choice has houses & trees, so I cut out all the pieces for 19 green tree blocks & chose fabric for January’s blue houses. Hoping to get all caught up on that in the next two weeks, plus green Starlets & Nine-Patch/Snowball. Happy Valentine’s Day!

RSC2026-it’s green February

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It turns out that green-centric WIPs are thin on the ground in my studio. So I pulled out an old group quilt project. I hated every minute of these birds & when my partners went ahead & finished on their own, I left it in the box. I don’t know how long ago we did this but it was long before COVID, so…..years.

One of my quilting partners gave me a gift for Christmas of free quilting, so I told her I would get the birds done & have her quilt it. She LOVES the birds, so that will be fun for her. These are the last two birds I needed to do before sashing & border.

I’ve since done a couple other quilts by The Pattern Basket & understand her method of pattern writing, plus I have more experience & all the things that frustrated me back then seemed no big deal now. So these went together quickly. I also got the first two rows sashed this week, but with two funerals this week, one of which included an overnight trip, I didn’t have much sewing time. But I’m thinking that even with the short month, I should stay on track with green blocks & maybe start the houses??

RSC2026-January blues are over

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Rocky Road to Grayson is a blue WIP January finish! First goal accomplished. I started in January 2022, so it’s been around the studio for an age. It took much longer than I anticipated to finish, so I did not get any blue houses made for the Quilter’s Cove QAL.

I got seven full & one half block made for Starlets by Modernly Morgan & 14 string blocks for Stardust. The previously posted Nine-Patch & Snowball blocks round out my goals for the month. So I feel pretty dang good about things, even without the houses.

I got blue binding made & attached to County Fair from last year’s RSC & evening binding has begun.

Since it’s blue this month, I thought I’d report on my orange peels. I’m appliqueing these by hand each Monday morning in my handwork group. I got them all out this month to check on progress. I’m about 2/3 of the way through, so I should finish these up this year!

These charity baby quilts got bound this week & are ready to be donated. The left was made from orphan pieces leftover from the quilt I just finished, & the right was made from a friend’s unwanted charm pack.