Getting Over the Blues and SAHRR Round 2

This week I’m starting off with my Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) Round 2 additions. Our hostess this week is Kathleen, whose prompt for this round is “Make it a Double”. We could choose any double block (double pinwheel, double churn dash and the like) or use something related to the number two - a “2” itself or two colors, two layers or some other creative variation of double/twin/two. 

My center blocks are very busy. The round I added last week focused on additions to the tops and bottoms only so I could work with a rectangle shape going forward. But I knew I had to build in a simple round for the eye to rest,  just as Mary Engelbreit does with some of her colors around the central picture, some of which got cut off to square up the block or got eaten in seam allowances. 

So I chose to work with two colors. My first plan, inspired by my friend Wendy’s adorable wonky double bar blocks, was to do something similar, making a 2-colored piano key border around. But I didn’t have enough of the right blues in either instance (either block) to pull it off. So, I just made blue cornerstones and added the remaining blue on the center sides, filling in with a two-toned yellow stripe. I’m sorry about the photo quality; the blue in the picture looks almost navy or black, but it’s also a two-toned blue stripe fabric in the same scale as the yellow. I played and played with the saturation and color temperature, but couldn’t get the photo to resemble real life. I think I’ll need to take future pictures at midday on sunny days! 

The photo did show me, though, that the blue ¼” border that got eaten up in the seam allowance is showing through on the yellow striped fabric. I’ll correct that by pressing the seam allowance to the center or open before moving on to the next round. The Princess block now measures 19x26”.

Moving on to the Queen block, I used the two colors in a different way. For the four corners I made half-square triangles with gold and blue. The blue is polka dots, like the red from last week’s hourglass blocks. I’ll give the dots a rest for the next couple rounds!! The Queen block now measures 19x24.5”.

I’m sharing my blocks at the weekly SAHRR linkup at Kathleen McMusing’s blog. Come and check out all the wonderful creations that are growing before our eyes! 

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My week wouldn’t be complete without some Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) sewing, and I had a lot to finish up with the color blue for January. At the top of the lineup was making these three Gameboard Blocks. I don’t know where these blocks originated, but I know that at least two ladies participating in the RSC last year were making them, and I was smitten. 

These will make a fun and colorful quilt, and the blocks will look good without sashing for a simple kid’s quilt. I’m really looking forward to sewing more of these 8” (finished size) blocks. 

I gathered my blue crumbs and made six more crumb blocks at 6.5”. I already had 3 blue crumbs blocks in the Orphanage, and these six will join them there, waiting for when their numbers increase in future years to 15. Then they’ll be passed on to our Quilts for Kids chapter to be included in a quilt kit. 

My final blue project for this month (meaning today, the last day of January!) is sewing up these 6.5” blocks and squares that I cut out at the very start of the month. I was still recovering from my knee surgery then, so cutting and then sewing for long periods of time was out of the question. I cleaned out much of my ugly blues for these blocks, and the rest of the ugly scraps were put in the donation pile for the upcoming Worldwide Quilting Day in March. One quilter’s yucky fabric is another one’s treasure, right?

But I have a backing already prepped, and webbing and sewing this top won’t take long. It can then join the Night Flying Geese flimsy (that I forgot to photograph) and I’ll hopefully be able to pin baste them both in preparation for quilting. 

I hope our friends in the East and Midwest are staying warm and safe. I hear that there are some bomb cyclones due this weekend in the Carolinas. Please take care, my friends. And to our friends in Minneapolis, we’re with you in solidarity. Stay safe and stay strong. The courts are finally speaking out and reining in the lawlessness of this administration. We’ll get through this. 

Have a great weekend. 

More Blue Scrappy and SAHRR Sewing

It’s been a busy week. Unlike those of you in the East, Midwest and South, we sure have had no precipitation to speak of for weeks. It’s scary thinking about what our water situation is going to be come summer, because unless things turn around in the next 2-3 months, even the mountains are hurting for snow. Some ski resorts are hoping they don’t have to shut down early. Having said that, however, I think of the mountain passes I’ll have to drive through come February when my cousin and I take off for a road trip to Western Colorado to handle my late brother’s estate business. And if it’s not icy and wintery in the passes, it won’t hurt my feelings. 

There was a lot of blue sewing this week. I made the second of two Rolling Stone blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s blue January.  The new one is on the left, last week’s is on the right. 

And then I got out my blue strings. As I’ve mentioned several times in the past, I like to sew my string blocks at 6.5” and in sets of 15 because that is how our Salt Lake Chapter of Quilts for Kids uses them in their quilt kits. So, I divided lights from darks and sewed 30 light blue blocks. Here they are trimmed, safety-pinned together into two sets on the design wall. 

I also did 15 darker blue blocks, but those have yet to be trimmed, so I’ll show them next week. 

Oh! I forgot to show you that I did indeed finish up the third row of the wedding quilt I’m sewing for my grandson. Exactly half of the 16” blocks are sewn now. I hope to pick this up again after next week. 

Last but not least (well, size-wise, they are the least) were these five Switchplate blocks. I started these last year, and will finish up what I need this year for a kid quilt. They’ll finish at 3x5”. I could’ve sworn I cut and sewed six of them, but one must’ve escaped. Or was perhaps detained by ICE. 

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And we’re off and running with the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR)!  This week’s first round is hosted by Brenda at Songbird Designs. Brenda called for hourglass blocks. We can make them any size and place as many or as few as we want. 

I always try to make my center square starting blocks evolve into a rectangular quilt, because I prefer rectangular quilts, and so does our QFK (Quilts for Kids) chapter, where these will eventually end up. So, I placed my hourglass blocks on the tops and bottoms only of my two starting blocks. 

First, the Princess blocks. The hourglasses finish at 3”. 

On both blocks above and below, I had to add coping strips (fabric spacers) to the end of each row.  The Queen block, below, has slightly smaller-sized hourglasses, and I set them in a Broken Dishes layout.

There are lots of colors in each of these blocks, and I may try to use most of them at some point in the upcoming rounds; however, I want the dominant colors for the Princess to be pink and yellow and for the Queen to be red and gold.  I think these hourglasses work perfectly with the whimsy of these blocks! Thanks Brenda! Be sure to check out all the eye candy at Brenda’s linkup, HERE. 

And that was my week. There was also physical therapy, grocery shopping, card games at the clubhouse, and lots of talking on the phone to friends and family. So, all in all, Life is Good!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things and SAHRR

Hello friends! I’m back after taking another week off last Saturday. I just had nothing left in the tank at the end of the week and hadn’t taken any photos, so I didn’t post. But I’ve got lots to share and talk about this week. 

January’s color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is blue. I have one (of two planned) Rolling Stone blocks to show you. They’re also called Broken Wheel, but I’ll call them Rolling Stone blocks. Because “I can’t get no satisfaction”. Please tell me you’re old enough to get the reference!

 

It’s not a great picture, but it’ll do. These blocks (I’ll make 20) will finish at 12” for a kids quilt that will finish at 48x60”. I have a ton of blue strings, which I hope to start on in the next week too. 

I’ve also picked out my central blocks for this year’s Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR). Mary Engelbreit released the lovely and bright Queen and Princess fabrics in 2003 (Cranston Fabrics). I found a piece at last  year’s World Wide Quilting Day in March on the free tables. I grabbed it up, seeing 4 pictures, 2 of the Queen and 2 of the Princess. I put it away for this year’s SAHRR. 

Each block measures about 16.5” square out to the yellow. I’m hoping to use some of the blue as well, if I can get enough to show beyond the quarter-inch seam allowance. 

And when I took the fabric out to press it a little for the pic, I was surprised to find that there were a total of 8 panels, not just 4. So I have six more central panels - three additional sets of these two blocks. I have no idea at this point what to do with them all, but a pair may go back to this year’s WWQD, and I’ll first see if Kim or Ruby want any. But then, who knows.

Anyway, the SAHRR is once again being hosted by Quilting Gail, and next Wednesday will kick off our first round. This week we are showing our starting blocks. Check them out here at Gail’s Blog and see the orphan, leftover, or other lovely blocks that the other creators are using to fuel their ideas. 

And speaking of the SAHRR, I am using the gorgeous fat quarter bundle that I won in last year’s SAHRR to make the wedding quilt for my Grandson Easton. I had originally planned to do a Storm at Sea quilt, but after cutting out and sewing one block with my original fabric I realized several things; it’s beyond either my skill set or patience level (or both); the fabrics were boring, and I hated the result. So, on to Plan B, which should’ve been Plan A from the beginning. 

So, I am using instead the lovely Island Batik Midnight Garden fat quarter bundle I won to make a potato chip variation block. 

The blues and greens and purples are the couple’s preferred colors, and these are sewing up like a dream. Here’s the first third of them up on the design board. Disregard the flying geese; I’m still intending to web the rest of THAT quilt this week, too! 

Aaaaaand… my messy side table that is really calling me to straighten things up. 

I’ve been sewing four of the 8.5” blocks into 16” blocks, and will need 30 of those to make a quilt that is 80x96”. Once I sew the remaining four block sets for the third row, I’ll put them away until I finish my RSC January blocks and web that Night Flying Geese top. The wedding is in April, so there’s no need to drop every single thing for it at this time.

I had my 6-week post-op checkup on my knee and have “graduated”. When my sweet surgeon said that, he gave me a handshake and a bag of candy! And he also told me to tell my dear friend Terri (his aunt) to behave. I told him I would tell her just the opposite, and then make sure I was there to see what kind of good trouble we could get into! 

So, I still have 3 weeks of physical therapy left, but we’re now in the strength-building phase. I won’t have my left knee done until fall, because I need to take care of my late brother’s estate, plus I want to be able to swim in the pool this summer. So, fall it is, and in the meantime, cortisone shots in the left knee will keep me running, although not literally. 

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My cousin Dan is coming out from California, and sometime in February we’ll drive out (5 hours) to Steve’s house in Colorado to assess everything for a few days. I’ve been taking care of all Steve’s bills (ouch) because his accounts are frozen. Still have lots of paperwork to handle (Union pension, social security, taxes, sale of the house and vehicles). The pets have all been placed in good homes. Dan and I will retrieve all the papers, photos and personal effects on our first trip. Dan will eventually get Steve’s hotrod, and the two other transportation vehicles have been spoken for. We have a buyer for the house, so I’ll work with a local agent there to handle that sale paperwork. Dan and I (and cousin Julie and her husband David) will visit again in April or May to finalize the house sale and gather up any remaining belongings. 

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I’m publishing this on Friday evening. First thing Saturday morning I have a Block of the Month class, but as soon as I get home I’ll link up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Have a good week!

Last Finish of 2025

Before we rang in the New Year 2026, I was able to finish this Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) Windmills quilt from blocks made this year. It was my 31st quilt finish of the year, of which 7 were Rainbow Scrap quilts. There were probably many more, though, if you count the number of string blocks I made and added to existing fabric squares or single-colored quilts (looking at you, green) when the color-of the month produced enough scraps to warrant its very own quilt right then and there. 

Let’s start with Windmills, though, and work backwards. or in the order that Blogger decides to load them. 

Windmills finished at 48x56”. My bestie Ruby quilted it on her longarm for me when it was still early days after my knee replacement surgery. I don’t think the pattern is too visible here, but it’s a bit easier to see in the photos below. It’s a sort of squareish meander.

I loved being able to use this Tula Pink teacups print for the back, but had to supplement it with a bit of green. That’s OK to me - just that much more fabric gone. 

The previous RSC quilt I showed last week was Weathervanes. Sorry for the bad picture. This was also made from blocks sewn in 2025. Weathervanes was 48x60”.

Paint Chips, my own design, was the third and final quilt I sewed from 2025 RSC blocks. I used 2.5” squares or 2.5x4.5” rectangles to randomly sew these blocks. Actually, I’m not sure if they look more like paint chips or some sort of audio noise scale. Whatever. Another quilt that measured 48x56”.

And two of my favorite finishes this year were never given the dignity of even a meager photo when they were finished. But I do have photos of them basted. Both were the Little Bricks pattern from Sylvia at Treadlestitches. 

Both of these Little Bricks quilts, like all the others shown here today except Weathervanes, were donated to Quilts for Kids, Salt Lake City Chapter. The Little Bricks blocks were blocks made during 2022.

And who could forget the Rainbow Candy blocks? LOL - well, I did for a year or two. But these 2023 RSC blocks were finally made into two quilts in 2025. 

Both quilts were sashed with the most fabulous multi-colored print I bought on clearance at Hancock’s of Paducah and measured 42x 52.

I still have at least four sets of past years’ RSC blocks to complete into quilting tops; night flying geese, split nine-patch, and some bordered economy blocks. The fourth set is one I’m carrying over from last year - the little Switchplate blocks. To those, I am adding the Broken Wheel block, the Gameboard block, and my usual strings and crumb blocks. 

The January color for the RSC has been called as blue. I’m still sorting scraps and don’t have anything to show. In the mountain of blue scraps, though, I did discover 28 blocks cut at 6.5”. I will use those in an all-blue little quilt this month, alternating them with simple blue scrappy 6.5” blocks. I’m cutting alternate block parts now; 9-patches, rail fence, and other simple standard blocks. Going where the scrap sizes and colors lead. I’ll share that in the next week or two.

We’ve made it to 2026 folks. After the hellacious year that was 2025, that is no small accomplishment. I wish you all nothing but good health and happiness - and lots of fun, relaxing sewing time - in 2026.

Linking to Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the first Scrappy Saturday of 2026. Come and see everyone’s lovely quilts on display!