Sue

I got some work done on my scrap projects this week: 6 Sweet Kisses in dark green with some light green saved for another month; 1 green twinkling friendship star; 2 green Shine. These are the only greens in the jelly roll I’m using for this project, so I sewed them up.

On the design wall: This is what I’ve been working on mostly the last couple weeks. I have 2 large sections done with 1 more to go at the bottom. It’s Star Trails by A Bright Corner, her new pattern. It’s going to be another masculine donation quilt. At the top are the two Covered in Love Block Drive blocks completed so far. These are excellent as L&E’s. (and scrap busters!)

“Bricks” has its scrappy aqua binding on it & is a finish. This was an RSC2021 project that was a flimsy before the end of the year. It got quilted & bound this year. I got the idea for this quilt from Sylvia, who was inspired by Jo’s Country Junction, who found the idea originated with Julie of Me and My Quilts. I used scrappy light gray squares for the low-volume sections.

This is the first of my masculine donation tops to be completed. It’s from a free pattern called Plus Quilt by Jen Eskridge. Hers is a baby quilt, with some cutting & pasting of her worksheet, I expanded it to 60×70 to fit their requirements. This was quick & fun and used some blue & tan.

I made the pink blocks for Catching Rainbows & more stars for September Sky, both patterns by Bonnie Hunter. I need 53 stars for the quilt & 11 are completed, with all the parts done. With the pink sewed, I’ve accomplished my pink projects for this month! I’m removing the Amy Ellis Dancing Stars from my RSC lineup for this year so I’m down to five monthly projects. More time for squirrels!

Here’s my design wall showing what I got done on pink blocks this week. I did a twinkling Friendship Star block. I made two a month last year & wanted more so am making one a month this year. Below that are the five pink blocks for the Tula Pink sampler. I was a little annoyed that my fabrics weren’t as contrasted as I thought when I chose & cut them. Especially the upper left one. It’s hard to tell the pattern unless you are close up. Grr. The string blocks on the right are the border blocks for Catching Rainbows by Bonnie Hunter. Next week I’ll tackle the actual blocks.

After doing some pink, I wanted to move along some other projects a little bit since it’s only halfway through the month & I have time. So I put together some Rocky Road to Grayson blocks by Bonnie Hunter. They are the blue stars. I have several BH projects going right now & love them, but if you’ve ever made one of her patterns you know that each block requires a lot of piecing. After making lots of the parts, I wanted to make some blocks to feel like I’m getting something done. So I also started sewing together the scrappy yellow stars I’m making for September Sky. The lovely rainbow circles are some progress on Cookie Cutter by Jaybird Quilts with my virtual quilt partner. We sewed all the bottom halves of the circles together & had time to sew 5 whole blocks! That was awesome because, again, it felt like real progress after months of sewing parts. A few more weeks & this WIP will be a flimsy! Hers uses solids like the pattern & mine uses some Tula Pink fabric.

After taking a month off because there were no yellows in the jelly roll I’m using, it was back to ombre Shine blocks. These are the two that can be considered pink. I’ve wanted to make this quilt for forever so I almost squeal each month when I pull down the box & get started.

I cut all the pieces for this Sweet Kisses quilt in January, so now it’s just a matter of pulling it out & sewing up the month’s color. (Same with Shine) I did this last year with a couple projects & it helped me get more done during the year when I only had to cut out a couple projects each month.

I did it! Here’s the top in the final week, #5, of the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine. I finished up sewing the large diamond blocks into the four quadrants with the background triangles, then did this week’s task of sewing the four quadrants together. This was a fun project & I definitely got better as I went along. It’s all bias so one quadrant is a little stretched, but I got the rest done well. I’m so happy to have tried something new, plus used some really old stash fabric that I love.

Having done the border yellow string blocks earlier in the month, I got the actual yellow blocks for Catching Rainbows done this week.

It’s a flimsy! I started On the Move by Melissa Corry as an RSC2022 project but got carried away & kept going on it when I realized how much planning I had to do to make these Spotted charm packs work out. I did the remix on her blog using the Charming Baby Quilts book, so it’s the throw size & will probably end up as a graduation quilt for a niece or nephew. Background is a white Grunge.

It’s week 4 of the Hyalite SAL from Plains & Pine and this week’s task for the lap size was to sew the large diamond blocks into the four quadrants with the background triangles. I got it laid out out on the design wall & one quadrant sewed together (not shown). It’s been a busy week, so the rest will have to flow into the last week of the SAL, which is only sewing the four quadrants together. So I think I can finish on time even though there won’t be any sewing this weekend.

My donation quilting has stalled a bit because I haven’t made quilts the right size, colors, techniques, etc. for various groups. So I’ve decided to be more intentional about what I make. Covered in Love takes tops & other volunteers will quilt them, so I decided to do what I do best: piece. Then I can make patterns I’ve been wanting to try, use my stash, & still feel useful. CIL says they need more masculine quilts so I’m going to focus there. Shopped my stash & cut out this quilt to make for L&E’s. It has gray background.