October Nights

I love October! It’s been a glorious week weather-wise with warm sunny days, clear blue skies and cool, crisp evenings. Today is cooler with a 90% chance of rain this afternoon (YAY!) and snow likely in the mountains. We are ready! The garden is all put to bed and we *could* consider all our yardwork done. We still do have to cover up the patio furnitures and Bruce will close down the sprinkler system and disconnect hoses. If we do get another nice half day in the next week, we’ll do some final clean-up behind the sheds and spread some mulch. 

I honestly can’t remember how this week sped by so quickly. We did make a trip to Costco, got our Covid boosters and flu shots, and as mentioned we worked in the yard. I had a lot of laundry this week and some fall cleaning. And I’ve been working to hire a permanent bi-weekly housekeeper. Can I get a hallelujah?!? Sandwiched in here and there between all that I got some sewing in. 

This week in the studio I focused on getting some light and bright green blocks sewn to round out a lot of my 2022 Rainbow Scrap Challenge block sets. 

Four Framed Four-patches that will finish at 8” …

The bright green patch in the block in the bottom left really bothers me, but I’m not going to change it. When these blocks are mixed in with all their colored friends, it won’t be so noticeable. 

Next I sewed together last week’s Little Bricks blocks (pattern courtesy of Sylvia at Treadlestitches). Here is the 42x48” flimsy (quilt top):

But then I realized I should sew a few more of these blocks in greens to add into a multi-colored version that I’ll continue working on for RSC23. Eight more Little Bricks Blocks. I loooove sewing them! I’ve got some chunks of green fabrics that I’ll fashion into a suitable backing next week. 

The mess of scraps in green, brown and purple have been officially sewn into a top that measures 38.5x46”.  I don’t know why it looks bowed in this picture. It is square. But I do have trouble reaching up so high to get it on the board. I think I’m shrinking! 

Next came the string blocks. I had to set aside my multi-colored string bin to work on the greens instead. I’ll pick up the multis again next week, but will probably only sew 2-3 sets of 15. That means I will not make my goal of 300 multi-colored string blocks by the end of the month, but oh well. Any that I do sew will be appreciated by Quilts for Kids and will help reduce the string pile! So, here are my green string blocks instead, 3 groups of 15 (6” finished).

Finally, the last blocks sewn were these 4” bowtie blocks. They’ll join the other colors and I’ll continue making these next year until I come up with a plan. 

That’s what I have to show for the past week. I’m linking up to Angela’s blog for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s Scrappy Saturday. 

Next week I’ll get back to sewing *some* multi-colored strings. I also have about 6 green elephant blocks to sew, plus the final Bear Paw blocks, crumb tumblers and a placemat to assemble. But my primary goal is to pin baste between 6-8 little quilts in preparation for a “Finishing Frenzy” in November (or sooner if I can get to it).  But first, exercise!!!

Have a great week!