Red Wonky Stars quilt

 I am steadily working through collections of blocks, mainly the result of RSC projects.

I had a lot of Wonky Stars in various colours and have been using them up in several little quilts.

Red is this month’s chosen colour so I picked out 13 blocks to make a hospital baby quilt. I chose two cream neutrals from my stash and cut 12 x 4.75” squares. When trimmed my Wonky Stars measured 4.75” square. A narrow neutral border brought the quilt up to the required size of 24” square.

I had a large piece if wavy red striped fabric which I used for the backing and binding.

I machine quilted it and I’m really pleased with the result.

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog.

RSC Strippy Flimsy

 Having sorted through some of my stash fabrics I found a pretty lemon background fabric with flower 💐 sprigs. I wanted to combine it with yet more RSC Wonky Stars blocks and the economy blocks I had in my stash. Initially I had thought I would make a Coin style top but when I started to try that out I didn’t like it so I decided to cut the flower sprigs fabric into WOF strips.

Then I made strips from the Wonky Stars and one strip from the economy blocks. I also made some piano key style strips by adding them to telephone directory strips for foundation. Then I had fun arranging the strips, adding two deep yellow ones with small white dots strips at the top and bottom to make the top longer.

However, I didn’t think it looked finished and it still needed more length so I used a new piece of lemon solid fabric just added to my stash to make a border, narrower at the sides and wider at the top and bottom.

This looks much better and is a better size, measuring 44” wide and 45” long.

Hoping to make a backing and getting the top machine quilted tomorrow. I’ll do my usual Perle hand quilting round the Wonky Stars. 

Linking up with Angela’s RSC So Scrappy blog.

Oh my stars!

 Lots of star blocks this week. 

Firstly some Wonky Stars:

Then a few more Twinkler blocks:

I counted my Twinkler blocks and I now have 72. Need a lot more brown and purple ones to even up the colours.

I finished ofF the 24 padded heart Christmas decorations my Granddaughter and I made:

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog for the 2022 RSC Project.

And finally, some blue RSC sewing.

 Yesterday I finally sewed 5 blue String blocks as a start for my Blue blocks for June’s RSC colour. I chose this block because my blue strings were handy and I had 5 phone book papers already cut to size.

Earlier in the week I continued with my green scraps- Twinkler blocks, Bear Paws and Wonky Star blocks.

Sorry this photo has turned itself upside down!

Along the way I’m sewing up my bonus triangles as Leaders and Enders: this week’s haul.

I’m hoping to sort out my blue scraps tomorrow and then make a few of my regular blocks.

Joining up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC blog  

RSC Child’s Medallion Quilt

 I am always trying to use up odd bits of fabric that have been in my stash for far too long. I had a piece of fabric about 10” square that reminds me of quaint churches and silos in the American countryside. No idea how I acquired it but it’s cute and when I found it again on one of my sorting out sessions I decided this was now the time for it to be used in a quilt.

I have been making Wonky Stars as RSC blocks so I picked out ones that would work with the centre piece and some of the many Pinwheels I made from waste triangles gifted to me over the last few years. 

I think I’ve only made one other Medallion quilt and I really enjoyed making this one. I finished hand sewing the binding a couple of days ago and I love it. It measures 40” square and combines machine quilting, hand quilting with Perle thread and I tied the centres of the Pinwheels with Perle thread.

Centre piece. Do you agree with my feeling of American countryside churches and silos?

Close up of some of the Wonky Stars.

More Wonky Stars. I so enjoyed picking these out of my Wonky Stars stash.

The tied Pinwheel round.

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog for RSC2022.

RSC roundup of the Yellows

 Had a busy week with yellow scraps, adding 2 more Sawtooth Blocks to the ones I finished last week.

4 Twinkler blocks

L

12 String blocks 

18 Little Wonky Stars

And 2 little Ticky Tacky houses

 Now ready for the new colour for April.

Linking up with Angela’s SoScrappy blog.

Last of the Aqua scraps!

 All shades of aqua/turquoise/teal are my favourite colours - to use and to wear! In fact I’ve just realised I’m wearing a teal coloured sweater today.

In between progressing with my Linus Project Round Robin flimsy I have been making a few RSC blocks, using up the last few aqua/teal scraps. Here they are:

6 Wonky Stars, a Fish block and 4 String blocks. Colours are too dark in this photo as it was getting dusk and I had to put the lights on in order to take the picture.

My Round Robin is now finished, measuring 40” square, a nice size for Linus Project quilts and an easier size for me to baste and quilt. Lots for a little person to look at.

In making the Wonky Stars I used some of the RSC blocks I had already made and used lots of the Pinwheels I had in my stash of completed blocks. And it all started with that 10.5” aqua- based piece from my stash.

And a couple of close ups:

So this is next week’s project - to baste and do some machine quilting around the turquoise and outer borders and then a lot of hand quilting around the stars and across the centre piece. Hopefully I will be able to complete the basting and machine quilting so I have my hand quilting ready for Thursday’s Patchwork Group meeting.

Linking up to Angela’s SoScrappy RSC blog.

Patchwork and Quilting has been my therapy and distraction for the past 25 years and in today’s troubled world never have I been so grateful for taking up this hobby. God bless Ukraine and all those innocent people fighting for their country and the elderly, women and children fleeing to other welcoming ones. 

Aqua based quilt is progressing

 At the beginning of the month I found all my aqua/teal fabrics and scraps and put them together in a basket, ready for making into RSC blocks.

One of the pieces I discovered buried in my stash was this 10.5” square of fabric.

Obviously too interesting to cut up so I decided to make it the centre of a Round Robin style quilt. Can’t even remember how I acquired this fabric and it’s definitely time to use it.

I have been making some aqua Wonky Stars so picked out some of those and added a few with different colours to the mix and cut some 1.75” strips of a turquoise fabric with tiny white dots.

 

I framed the centre piece of fabric with the strips and started to add the stars for the next round.

I chose Wonky Stars that had a cream/fawn background but didn’t have quite enough so made another 6 blocks.

Then I added another round using a 3” frame of the turquoise and white dots fabric.

The quilt top now measures 27” square. I had intended to make this into a baby quilt for the hospital but now I’ve decided to keep on adding rounds and turn it into a Linus Project quilt instead. 

Wondering what to use for the next round and I remembered I had a packet of 3” pinwheels stashed away so, as the idea is to use up things (either scraps or blocks) that I have in my stash, I’ve decided to use these.

Here’s some of them:

I’m now laying out 1.75” HSTs from my stash to increase the variety of Pinwheels for the next row.

I’m having such fun creating this quilt, making use of scraps and blocks which have been squirrelled away for far too long. I’ve also enjoyed photographing and recording the process of creating this quilt.

Linking up with Angela’s So scrappy RSC blog.

Sewing purple in June

 I haven’t done much sewing this month as we have had a nice spell of weather so I’ve enjoyed sitting in the garden reading lots of library books. 

But I have made some RSC blocks using this month’s colour purple.

Firstly I was tempted to make some little Flower Baskets which I had seen on Cathy’s blog Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting. Cathy used 2” squares so I worked out how to make them using a cream background fabric, a purple square for the basket and various coloured waste triangles for the flowers and the base of the basket. I’ll add more blocks as the colours change in the coming months and probably continue into next year.

Then I made some more Wonky Stars - I never tire of making these.

And 4 Ticky Tacky houses.

I turned the two Premature baby quilts into fished quilts, measuring 15” x 20”.

I’ve read some books I saw mentioned on various Quilting blogs: 

This is set in WWl and I have the sequel to read too. A good story giving an insight into how soldiers tried to cope with horrific life changing wounds.

And these three:

Sorry this photo is sideways! 

Peter James and Peter May are both authors I enjoy and both books have topical themes. 

Dead at First Sight by Peter James deals with Internet Dating fraud, the story moving along at a page turning pace with a satisfactory ending.

Lockdown by Peter May is very topical as it deals with a pandemic. Apparently it was written before Covid as the author had done a lot of research on Bird flu and decided to base his next book on that theme. However, he had difficulty publishing it as it was thought to be too far fetched! It is surprisingly close to what our world has and is still dealing with during our current Covid Crisis.

Anne Tyler is a new (to me) author. She has written lots of books and I picked this one, A Patchwork Planet, for obvious reasons! I enjoyed it, she has an interesting writing style and her storyline appealed to me. I shall read more of her books, our library has lots more titles.

Joining up with Angela’s So Scrappy blog for RSC 2021.

RSC Bringing in The Reds

 I never have a lot of red in my stash, even scraps, so I always struggle with the Red Month

However I treated myself to 3 red FQs from my LQS and during the week I made 10  Wonky Stars.

14 Easy Breezy blocks,

Looking at the photo I took of all the previous Easy Breezy blocks  I had made, I noticed two sewn together incorrectly so I rectified that:

I also knitted another baby cardigan using up yarn passed onto me and adding a little of my linen coloured yarn in stripes in the sleeves so I had enough to finish the cardigan. Buttons from my stash,  which were passed on to me by my daughter’s  ex colleague when her mother died.

This is going to Great niece Maggie.

Bringing on the Blues

 Blue is my favourite colour so I always enjoy Blue Month on RSC. This year April is for making Blue blocks.

I love these little Wonky stars. I had fun pairing stars to blue backgrounds and I managed to make 15.

This week l also put together the “Cool” String Blocks and created this flimsy.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and we were blessed with sunny weather which had not been forecast. At present we are still under lots of Covid restrictions and two households are now allowed to meet outdoors. Our daughter, SIL and granddaughter only live around the corner and they came round for an Easter Egg hunt. I had hidden the chocolate eggs and the four of them hunted round the garden looking for the little eggs I had hidden. The adults enjoyed it just as much as Annalise. Then we had sandwiches and a chocolate cake I had made. 

Considering how cold it had been for the previous few days it was wonderful to be able to sit outside. I had a Plan B in case it was freezing. The family would come round, we would exchange Easter eggs on the doorstep and I would send them home with a parcel of sandwiches and slices of cake. So much nicer to be able to have a proper picnic!

Linking up with Angela’s So Scrappy RSC 2021.

Happy Mothering Sunday

 Here in the UK today is Mothering Sunday, traditionally the Sunday when girls who were “in service”, that is girls who were maids, scullery hands, in general service, ladies’ maids etc were allowed to go home to visit their mothers. Today we remember our mothers: gifting cards, flowers and chocolates and so on.

Normally for Mothering Sunday we would meet up with our family and either eat out or go to their house for a meal. We are of course still in Lockdown so such visits are not possible. Instead our family arrived on our doorstep ( fortunately they live nearby otherwise that wouldn’t have been possible either, only journeys for emergencies are allowed) and I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers, wine, chocolates, a fragrant room spray, cards from DD and DGD and a lovely framed photo of DGD last Halloween when she came to our house and we made Spider Puddings! Mothering Sunday is the traditional name which I prefer and Caroline  always does her best to find cards that don’t say Mother’s Day. This gets more and more problematical  every year that passes but she found two- one from her and our son in law and another from Annalise.  So, I was thoroughly spoiled! It is very cold today so my husband made cups of tea to warm us up as we stood chatting on the doorstep!

So to mothers (grannies, sisters, aunties, godmothers) everywhere, Happy Mothering Sunday!

Then I spent a happy afternoon sewing with green fabrics for March’s RSC. I was able to use up lots of odds and ends too. The points for the Wonky Stars were waste triangles from my Sawtooth Baby Quilt, the strips for the Strippy blocks  were leftovers from the Spring Tulip QAL which Ann is running on her Fret not yourself blog. And I finished the ends of 4 reels of thread.

So, what did I make? 12 Wonky Stars

4 String blocks, a Ticky Tacky House and another Wonky Star I hadn’t seen when I sewed up the other ones!

The colours are poor in the  last photo because it was then dusk and I photographed it in artificial light. The blocks look more interesting than shown.

So,  a good day for me. I hope everyone enjoyed their day too.

Linking with Angela’s Soscrappy blog.

A new baby, so new quilts

 My best friend Barbara and her husband had another grandson born last Friday night. He is going to be called Seth. Unusual name, keen to know the background to their choice.

I had already made the quilt as they knew the baby was going to be a boy. I wanted to make a completely  different quilt quilt from the one I made for his big sister which was Bonnie Hunter’s Wonky Wishes. So I went back to a design I have used several times before. It’s from a book called Scrap Republic  by Emily Ciers. The pattern finishes at 30” square but I wanted the quilt to be larger so I added a double border which brings it up to 42” square, the size I prefer for a baby quilt. It’s useful to use as a play mat and then when baby is older and it’s safe to use as a cot quilt it can then be used that way too,

I needed to buy new fabric for this gift and found some lovely fabric online. I fell in love with the frog fabric so this became the outer border and backing too. The inner border and binding were made from a lovely green bubble fabric.

I have called it “Playing I Spy in Frog Pond”

A close up of some of the I Spy circles, all echo quilted with two rows of Perle thread stitches.

I like to make a Dolly quilt for baby’s older sister so I made this little quilt for three years old Georgie who is very dolly oriented. As I had made her Wonky Wishes when she was born ( and recently reminded of these blocks by Cathy in her recent post about using waste triangles), I made this little quilt, measuring 22” x 17.5”.

The green bubbles fabric was used in baby Seth’s quilt and I had some turquoise solid fabric similar to the background of the I Spy circles, so I thought that was a nice link. The white and dark blue tips of the stars were all waste triangles from a bag gifted to me by one of my Patchwork Group about 18 months ago. I had real fun making this quilt and I’m glad I decided to go with just two background colours. The star centres were all from my box of 2” squares.

Posted yesterday so hopefully the parcel with arrive today.