Pink January Recap, SAHRR, and a Couple New Finishes

This was a fun sewing week, because after finishing all my pink goals for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) and Quilts for Kids (QFK), I got to sew on things for me. But first, let me recap my scrappy pink sewing for January. I’m linking up to the weekly Scrappy Saturday link party.

My square in a square blocks ended up totaling 32 - sixteen pink diamonds framed in black and 16 pink diamonds framed in white. Then there were a mess of string blocks - and all of them went into one of the QFK pink quilts I sewed. They supplemented the 14 or so that I had left over from last year. My favorite blocks are the 12.5” (unfinished size) spring stars, and then to round it out there were 12 small 5.5” waffle blocks that were sewn into three 10.5” square blocks. 

Here are the six pink quilts I sewed from scraps and donated cuts of fabric. The quilts are all finished and labeled for delivery to our local Salt Lake City QFK chapter.

The information about each quilt can be found in my 2021 Quilts tab above under the blog header.

So, what did I do this week, then? First, I finished my table runner for the Table Scraps Challenge. We get “bonus points” (hehe) for including the RSC color of the month. You can see mine does have pink in addition to the red and white heart fabric. My primary goal was to use up this old blue scrap of Pam Kitty fabric that I got once in a grab bag. The blue double wedding ring print was only about 12” by width of fabric and had roses with red and pink in it. So there it is - not overly frou-frou or Valentine-y, but suggestive of it.  I’ll link up to the January Table Scraps link party when it goes live.

And then I sewed together my Beachcomber blocks, but I made a misssssssssnake in the last seam and two yellow blocks ended up smack dab next to each other. So, it has a date with my seam ripper and will have to wait until next week or later for a reveal. It will be a February goal to get that RSC project completed.

Next I finished up this week’s round for the Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR). This week’s hostess, Emily of The Darling Dogwood called PLUS blocks for this week’s round. But before sewing that round, I first had to cure something that was bothering me about my block. 

I know that green and red exclusively looks Christmas-y, even when it’s not intended to be. I thought that by adding a color that appeared in one of the prints, salmon, I could give the succeeding rounds more options. Instead, I think it narrowed my options and did little in the way of contrast. So, with the help of my trusty seam ripper, I replaced the central square in the original center block and replaced all the salmon with navy. Much better.  Here is what my starting block looks like after the fix. Before is on the left, after is on the right.

With that completed, I proceeded to the next round, which were those PLUS blocks. Yes, this should work.

Because I’m not a big fan of square quilts, I decided to make mine rectangular. To that end, I only added the plus blocks along the top and bottom.  The quilt now measures 18.5 x 24.5”, and I’m well set up to play with red, navy and green as I move forward.  Excuse the wonkiness - I should’ve paid more attention to pressing or pinning it up on the board before snapping a picture.

And finally, I did have a finish. I love the zipper blocks that Sally introduced me to (original pattern by Lynn Dykstra of Klein Meisje Quilts).  I’m calling my quilt Zipperumpazoo - after one of my favorite (and my kids’ favorite) books by Mercer Mayer. 

The picture is taken out in the back yard on the lumpy and frozen winter grass. It started raining shortly after I was done, so I’m glad I timed it right! Zipperumpazoo finished at 66x81” and was quilted with serpentine vertical lines. 

The backing came from a duvet cover that Cousin Kim’s daughter Sarah gave her. Kim and I each took one side, so both our zipper quilts have the same backing. I always love a no-seams backing!!

This quilt is for me, and I’ve already started using it to wrap up in while watching TV. Wait, we never (or rarely) watch TV (except currently watching All Creatures Great and Small on Masterpiece) . So, I guess I should say I use it in the evenings when we read, or play/surf on our tablets. 

We’ll see my son Ryan and DIL Kim briefly later today as they stop by to pick up our birthday card and present for their son (our Grandson) Easton. He’s up in Logan, a 2-hour drive, staying at college. Last week he finished all his engineering finals, so he is set to graduate in engineering in May. Then, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, he’ll go directly into the US Navy’s Nuclear Engineering program. We don’t know yet where he’ll be stationed. 

Other than that, nothing else is really new, except that we have started double-masking out of an “abundance of caution”, as they say. Or an abundance of paranoia, since these new more contagious strains of COVID have surfaced in the US. We’re weeks away from getting a vaccine, so I don’t want to blow it now!