Some Quilt Finishes and More String Blocks

Before I dive into my sewing and quilting for the week, I have some good news. We had a sum of money deposited into our account by the Veteran’s Administration! I think Bruce was approved for Vietnam-area disability benefits (not to be confused, I’m learning, with ongoing healthcare benefits. We were denied the healthcare benefits, as previously whined about, hehe). Anyway, we have not received anything in writing from the VA detailing the payment made or the monthly benefit amount, but we expect it hopefully next week. It is most welcome, even if it appears to be less than what we were initially told to expect if approved. Time will sort it all out.

Now, on to sewing. This week, I finished the quilting and binding of the last two Community Quilts as organized through Jo at Jo’s Country Junction blog. These are the last two that were generously donated by Susan L of Iowa. I saved the best for last, and these two were absolutely delightful to quilt and study.

The first one is a girly Rail Fence quilt. I had to quilt this one in loops and hearts. 

Truly, the pictures don’t do these quilts justice. The fabrics in the rail fence have sparkles and just radiate spring joy! 

The second one is a masterwork of scrappy piecing. I love the navy polka dot fabric that sets the blocks off to perfection! I quilted it with a basic stipple.

Thank you for entrusting me with these beauties, Susan. They will be donated to the Salt Lake Chapter of Quilts for Kids at our April workshop. 

Now it’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge time and I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday. The last block of my monthly makes is the one I call Paint Chips. Here are the five of these 8.5” (unfinished) that I made in yellows. 

And here are all three of the colors for this year so far. I wanted to see what these looked like together, and I am pleasantly surprised at the pattern that results. It’s better than I had hoped. Naturally, more colors and blocks will look better. And I have no idea what the actual finished pattern will be. I see so many possibilities. Oh, and the pattern of color and neutral varies from block to block. 

A quick note - if you didn’t see my (rare) mid-week post, I joined up with the final Parade of Quilts for the 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin. My post showing and describing the quilt is HERE, and the quilt parade, which I highly encourage you to check out, is here at Gail’s blog. 

Cathy’s 2025 Stay at Home Round Robin Quilt

And let’s not forget the strings! I finished the last twelve 8.5” string blocks, which I call Nann Strings, after my friend Nann of With Strings Attached, who came up with this block and sewed a stunning quilt. 

Here are my blocks slapped up on the design wall. I’ll sew them all together next week. 

I recently acquired some fabulous scraps from a Friend With Very Good Taste (Wanda). I’ve spent some - but not nearly enough - time this week fondling and sorting them. I started going through my quilt kits and trying to match up fabrics with them. But I’d see one fabric, dive through the kits searching for something in those colors, then get distracted by another kit or fabric. Before long, I had piles and fabrics and orphan blocks everywhere on tables, chairs, the floor and also draped over the sewing machines and ironing board. It was such a chaotic mess that I realized I was never going to make any progress that way. So I put it all away and have devised a plan to move it all out to my kitchen island and go through it methodically there. That kitchen island is so big, that I’m afraid Trump is going to want to take it for its strategic value, hehe! Kidding. Sorta. 

And speaking of the T-word, here’s a cute picture I borrowed from former Labor Secretary (under Clinton) Robert Reich. Some women attorneys from Tennessee are commenting on the leaked military attack plans and other facepalm actions of the T regime: 

Have a great week, friends. And if you can’t do that (because you read or listen to the news), then at least stay healthy and safe! xo

Reveal of Stay at Home Round Robin Quilt

This year I participated once again in the annual Stay at Home Round Robin design challenge. I love this challenge and this is the 4th time I’ve participated.

My quilt will be donated (most likely) to Quilts for Kids. It started out with a donated orphan block, the classic “Card Trick” block. I switched out the green “card” for purple to match the novelty print of vegetables (I had one yard) in my stash. From there, I followed the weekly design prompts/challenges from Gail and friends. Here is my finished quilt.

My friend Ruby is holding up the quilt. We opted for the shadows because the sun was so bright and the trees don’t have their spring leaves yet. 

The pic below shows the simple checked backing and binding. 

I took my time on the quilting - done on my domestic Bernina - and showed that a couple weeks ago. But here is a repeat of a couple parts as a refresher. 

Above: leaves and curls in the center before the first stop border. Below: simple loops in the stars.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and thanks to all the ladies who hosted the Stay at Home Round Robin this year. And if you’re a quilter, I encourage you to visit the final quilt parade link party HERE to see all the wonderful interpretations of this fun quilt-along! 

Busy Week

Busy week. Duh. Who doesn’t have a busy week (unless they’re on vacation)? But this was an UNUSUALLY busy week, so I’m sticking with my unimaginative post title. My brain is fried. I need one of the kitties to curl up in my lap and purr. 

Darla here, at your service!

Last week started with a bang - Worldwide Quilting Day. Cousin Kim, Ruby, Ruby’s sister Cathy and I attended the festivities at the Sandy City Senior Center, a large venue that accommodates a good crowd of all ages. There were over 150 attendees, judging by the numbers on the tickets for the door prize drawings. Both Ruby and sister Cathy won some fabric prizes. Kim and I weren’t so lucky, but we definitely scored at the Give and Take tables. Actually, it was more than a few tables. It also included dozens of boxes as well as a piano and bookshelf covered in books and patterns. Oh my. It really was quite spectacular!

I remembered to snap a couple pictures later in the day after the incredible potluck lunch. The pix don’t capture the crowd well, because things were beginning to wane by then.

Looking across the room to the stage/stash area. Ruby in the foreground, talking to Kim

View from another angle. Kim in foreground, hand sewing a quilt binding.

And here are some of the scraps and pieces I scored in the Give and Take area, photographed once I got home.

The two green fabrics at the top right are larger cuts of 1.5 - 2+yards.  The rainbow and striped fabrics could make great borders or bindings for Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts. Most of the rest were smaller pieces to flesh out my thin scrap bins. And those flamingoes!! I don’t know what I’ll do with that piece yet, but I love it so much! I may just have to keep it just to gaze upon, LOL!!

I also fell in love with this yummy Mary Englebright fabric panel. It’s got four repeats of these two squares. I’m thinking it would make two fun girl quilts in gold, blue, red and other accent colors. That pink and red checkerboard block border is screaming to be repeated in a quilt border. I’m sure wishing there were 48 hours in a sewing day!!

My sewing for the WW Quilting Day consisted of string blocks - both Nann Strings (with the black centers) and some 8.5” string blocks - a new, larger size to help me whittle down my huge bag o’ strings faster. I laid the two styles out (below) on a whim, but they’ll actually be used separately. 

On Sunday, Ruby and Kim came over to sew, as we usually do on Sundays. We call it the Church of Bernina. I sorted my scrap haul and got everything put away. 

On Monday, I had a mammogram in the morning and then HOA meetings in the afternoon. Although it was St. Patrick’s Day, it was too cold to wear my new Kelly green short-sleeved blouse. But I managed to avoid Bruce pinching me when I told him I’d had enough pinching and squeezing at my mammogram appointment to cover me for the day!!

On Tuesday I had Weight Watchers in the morning, then got to sew in the afternoon. Here are some crumb blocks I got sewn for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s color of the month, yellow. They measure 6.5”, unfinished. 

On Wednesday, we spent most of our time going back and forth to the DMV for Bruce. It turns out the letter revoking his license was sent automatically by their system before it could be recalled. So he could’ve been driving. But, because of the CLL diagnosis last summer, his doctor reported (in an annual letter required for amputees) that his health had declined. That meant that, by law, Bruce was required to take another written test (which he aced) and a driving test, which he failed. He had another appointment set up to re-take the test, but then that evening he said he didn’t want to take the test or even drive anymore. He is voluntarily giving up his license and will use the future scheduled appointment to get a State-issued ID card instead. Bruce said he’s just not confident behind the wheel anymore, and tends to get confused easily. I’ve noticed that, too. So I’ll support him in this personal decision. 

That means that we will sell our second car, a 2021 Nissan, once my son Shane is done borrowing it while his car is having a new transmission installed. 

On Thursday morning I helped with some HOA issues that sprang up, and the afternoon was spent blissfully playing cards with my girlfriends at the clubhouse. Boy, did I need that fun time!

Friday was just grocery shopping, food prep, and finally more sewing time!!

I finished the quilting on my Stay at Home Round Robin quilt, got it trimmed and the binding made. Today, Saturday, I’ll sew on the binding to finish it up. If it’s sunny, I’m hoping to take it outside for some glamour shots before Monday’s final reveal in the link-up next week. But for now I can show you some of the quilting I did on my DSM (domestic sewing machine - a Bernina 570). 

Inner panel; a pattern of curls and leaves.

On the row of Friendship Stars I did simple little loops.

Next came a round of fat “l” loops:

And then some basic stippling:

And finally, on the outer border I decided to do a hybrid motif of  swoops and elongated loops. 

I’m calling it a hybrid motif because I do loops al the time, but I’ve never done feathers. I thought maybe this design (which I was practicing on my pillow one night with my finger as I was trying to fall asleep) might be a good halfway point between a loop and a feather. I’m trying to work up to practicing feathers!

So, that wraps things up for this week. Next week will be slightly calmer. I hope. I hope your week is calm, too. And a good one!

Worldwide Quilting Day!

Today, March 15, is Worldwide Quilting Day! It’s as popular in my book as yesterday, Pi Day, was! We will be celebrating the latter on Sunday with a slice of Cousin Kim’s Coconut Cream Pie, which she makes every year. But today, Kim, Ruby and Cathy (who is Ruby’s sister) and I will be attending the Worldwide Quilting Day festivities at the Sandy City Senior Center. It’s our third year going, and there are always more than 100 people there - men and women of all ages. We’ve got our potluck dishes all prepared, our sewing projects for the day ready to go, and our machines packed. Hopefully I’ll remember to take pictures so I can share them next week.

I had a lot of good time to sew this week. I really enjoy doing these little switchplate blocks, which finish at 3x5”. It will like take a gazillion to make a kids quilt (OK, I’m exaggerating slightly). If I make enough small ones this year, I may try them with larger scraps next year. 

And knowing me as I do, I’ll probably lose patience before hitting the gazillion (actually 170) mark and I’ll end up cutting some fun fabric into alternate squares of 6.5x10.5”).  I’m linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

In my quest to finish my first-ever Halloween quilt for myself, I’ve set a goal of making two Halloween blocks for each of the first 8 months of the year. The blocks for March are two of the four bat blocks that will grace the corners. This is my adaptation of a bat block by Nadra of Ellis and Higgs.  I adapted her pattern to fit into a 2.5” grid. My bat has more zig-zaggy underwings than hers. My arms probably do too! 🤣🤣

I did finish up the yellow string blocks I started last week. There are 32, pictured below in two pinned groups of 15 (on the left side, fanned out) plus two singles. 

The two pinned groups of string blocks are packed and coming with me this morning to WW Quilting Day, where our chapter of Quilts for Kids will also hold a workshop. I can turn in the strings and the little quilt shown below to QFK. 

So, I finished this quilt. It was donated, along with two others still to be quilted; by Susan L from Iowa. She sent them to me in the fall of 2023 (just before we began packing for THE MOVE) last year as part of the Community Quilts program run by Jo of Jo’s Country Junction. I hope to have the next ones finished later this month. 

Thanks for your contribution, Susan!! 

Well, it’s time to get ready to leave for WW Quilting Day. My right eye has gotten wonky (blurry) lately.  I’m thinking it may be a cataract forming. I hate to drive with my eyes like this, but luckily Ruby will be driving us today. However, I’m doing all the driving for Bruce and me because the Utah DMV took away his license. We got a letter this week saying he failed to come in to a meeting (annual requirement for amputees).  But, we didn’t fail to come in - it’s just that the earliest appointment they would give us is on the 19th! Right hand, meet left hand. We’re hoping it’ll all be straightened out at that appointment. And when that’s settled, I can go to the eye doctor to see (no pun intended) what’s going on with my eye. Wish us luck.

Sunshine in my Sewing Room!

In my sewing room is pretty much where the only sunshine around here was located this week. That’s because I’ve begun sewing on my yellow scraps. Angela called yellow for our Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for March. What a cheery color to work with when it’s gloomy and rainy or snowy outside!

Although I did quilt one quilt top this week, I’ll save that for next week because it’s not yet bound or labeled. Instead, I’ve got some yellow scrap blocks to share. 

Nine flying geese blocks ar 6.5”, unfinished:

And two Weathervane blocks in yellow and gold. These finish at 12”.

I really enjoy making these blocks!

Although I’m almost done with my yellow strings, I’ll wait until next week to show them once they’re actually complete. And thank you all who commented on Bruce’s denied Veteran’s Administration benefits last week. We will likely try again in a few months, now that we’ve completed our 2024 taxes. We’re not going to hold our breath, though. With this new nightmare (the clownish Trump regime), nothing is certain. 

Have a great week!

The Scraps Come MARCHing In!

Welcome to March! I always love March because we usually get our first real taste of Spring. Never mind what the calendar says. The sun shines warmer and at a higher angle. Days are noticeably longer, daffodils and other bulbs begin appearing and birds that have been gone for months are back, chirping their little heads off. It seems that with every passing year, I appreciate to a greater extent all the little things that Mother Nature gifts us with! 

First, some random disheartening news for us. The Veteran’s Administration turned Bruce down for benefits after 8 months of calls, exams, tests, forms, etc. Not because he didn’t quality physically - he did. Two of the three cancers he’s had in his adulthood are directly attributable to his service in VietNam in 1972 (the chemical Agent Orange): (1) the sarcoma in his right arm that we fought with surgeries for ten years and eventually led to the amputation of his arm in 2020, and (2) his current CLL - Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. We were rejected because we “make too much money”. Two monthly Social Security incomes and his RMD - Required Minimum Distribution - required minimum monthly withdrawal from savings of all seniors 75 or over.  Well, crap on a cracker. Luckily we have excellent (read: costly) private health insurance, but we just feel like we got the middle finger from Uncle Sam. Thanks for your service, Bruce, but don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Oh, and you will be owing us all the copays for the dozens of exams and tests we put you through over the last eight months before we got around to simply checking your income level. Insult, meet injury. It’s been a tough week. 

But enough whining. As always when the going gets rough, I turn to sewing. Fewer calories than alcohol, and a lot more fun. Cue up the soothing instrumental music (reserved for particularly stressful times) and sew the afternoon away….

The first goal this week was to put the final border on my SAHRR (Stay at Home Round Robin). This week’s hostess was Emily from The Darling Dogwood. Emily called the kite shape. I’ll admit that I love that shape but took the easy way out. I only put the kites in the four corners of the final border so that I could frame the quilt with a solid(-ish) border. Here’s the finished top.

The top now measures 46.5 x 58.5”. This time I tried to pin the quilt neatly to the design board. Of course, I had to pin it sideways and then rotate the photo, but that’s just how it is. And trying to pin it straight obviously doesn’t work for me, LOL!!

Now, we have until March 24 to finish - quilting and binding - our tops. The final linkup will take place then, and I’ll be participating. Pictures and links to come at that time. It’s been another fun challenge, and I’d like to thank all the ladies who hosted this year’s challenge. They put in a lot of work! 

Those who’ve read my blog for any amount of time know that I adore sewing string blocks. One of my goals this year is to sew ten (8.5”) blocks with black centers every month. I call these Nann’s strings, because she introduced me to them. My blocks are sewn in 4.5x8.5” halves, and then two are sewn together to make an 8.5” block. It turns out that after two months sewing these between other projects, I already have 30 blocks! Yep, I loves me my strings!

I’ve also been sewing two 12.5” Halloween blocks every month in 2025. At this pace, I’ll have all 16 sewn by the end of August. September will see me add them to the Haunted House panel, and then do some custom quilting it. I hope to have it all ready to use by October 1. I’ve always made Autumn season quilts, but this will be my first Halloween quilt. 

Here are the four total blocks I have so far.

And these are the two I did in February. Try to ignore my awful orange spikes. Remember the galloping horse rule!! 

With a new month comes a new color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. For March, Angela has called for us to dig into our yellows and enjoy their cheer! I’m down for it! On Friday, I spent a pleasant afternoon sorting the scraps, making piles, and cutting out my RSC blocks for the month. 

All I can say is that the string pile in the bottom right corner doesn’t look as big in this picture as it is in real life. I’m hoping to get 30-45 blocks from it. I can hardly wait to dig into. 

Today Bruce and I plan to go on a long walk and then maybe have a coffee date at Barnes & Noble. I’ve got beef and chicken strips marinating for fajitas tonight, so the remaining prep will be easy. Other than that, you can find me in my sewing room. 

Have a good week, friends!

PS. To my dear friend TW (you know who you are), I’m so sorry I forgot your special day. You are always in our thoughts and hearts. We’ll call you this week to catch up.

A Drive-By Post

Yikes! I usually write my blogpost, or a good portion of it, on Friday evenings so that I can just touch it up and publish on Saturday morning. But I totally forgot last night. So here I am, scrambling to get something written before flying out the door. Ruby and another of my friends from the neighborhood (Maureen) and I are all heading up to Park City to play at the Habitat for Humanity. That’s where, every Saturday morning, H4H has huge box loads of clothing for $2-3. This is all new, current stuff - Amazon overstock. If you’re interested in knowing more or seeing pictures, let me know. 

But let’s get to business.  This week in the Stay ar Home Round Robin, our hostess, Brenda at Songbird Designs, is hosting the fifth round. She called for Log Cabin blocks.  This is what I came up with for this penultimate round:

After last week’s “framing” round, I wanted to include just a little bit more background white in this round. The 3” round boosted the quilt top measurements to 38.5”x50.5”. Remember that this is a kid quilt, so I’m not going for BIG or too much white!that bottom border is really bugging me, so I plan to trim a bit  from the white - it looks too “eased in”. I’ll recheck the measurements and fix that this weekend before the sixth and final round is called on Monday.

I’ve planned this orange fabric that I’d like to use as my primary color for the final round. We’ll see, though, what our prompt will be.

For the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I finished six flying geese blocks (6.5”) using blues, the February color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I’m also working on 6.5” blue crumb blocks, which I’ll show next week along with my update on the black-centered half-rectangle string blocks. Oh! And I still have to complete two Halloween blocks next week to keep up with my plan of two per month. I’ve got those all cut out, so the sewing should be relatively straightforward. 

Next Monday is also our February HOA Board meeting, and it will be my first time presenting as Treasurer. But I am prepared. And then on Tuesday afternoon (after my Tuesday morning Weight Watchers workshop), the HOA Board has a legal seminar to attend. But hey - after that, my week is FREE - FREE I tell you!! I plan to cloister myself in my sewing room and not come up for air until Thursday or Friday-ish. Wish me luck!