looking ahead to RSC23!

we're still in 2022, specifically RSC22, but already i'm getting excited for RSC23! i'm looking to do some different things this year, as well as carry over one of my projects from RSC22. (the PP schoolhouse blocks with Kona school bus) 

i recently pieced this Rainbow Baby Churn Dash quilt for a (as yet, unknown & unborn) baby from our church family. our sewing group, Scraps to Wraps (S2W for short) gifts each child of our church family with their own quilt on Dedication Sunday. 

i found {most} of these colorful fabrics in the sewing closet at church, and immediately thought of making a colorful churn dash quilt, in aaalllllllllll the rainbow colors. i used Kona snow and lighthouse for the centers. then: it occurred to me that another quilt like this, pieced along with RSC23 could be really fun, too. and since churn dash blocks are one of my favorites, i quickly added this to my List Of Quilts To Piece Next Year. 

and: while I've got 'cha: does anyone have any suggestions for a (quick, fun, easy, favorite) quilt using a charm pack AND a jelly roll? i have a couple of those pairs floating around, and I'd love to use them to their best advantage. any suggestions would be much appreciated!) 

my drawer of 3" squares is still going strong, and not even nearly empty- even after 9 years of RSCing! yes- this will be MY TENTH YEAR of sewing my scraps, one color a month!!! wow! i've seen a few of the RSC blogger friends have done the scrappy hearts block, and made some really pretty quilts. so this year, i'll be making these hearts too. the block is drafted in my EQ program (and of course, you know it's not my original idea- this block, in several variations, is floating around all over the internet... ) and as drafted, would finish at 20" square. 

i'm loving these school house blocks that i started last year.  i'm using Kona school bus yellow as the background, and lots of different, bright and favorite fabrics for the houses themselves. i pieced 27 (?) of these last year, but plan to continue piecing even more this year. i'm thinking i'll make a {long, rectangular} quilt for in our stairwell, with Kona indigo sashing. 

above is another (non-original) block i saw some other RSCers were working on. drafted up in my EQ, it also finishes at 20" square. i'll piece a few of these each month, but not be so very strict about adhering to the called RSC color. i want the flower pot to be colorful, not quite so monochromatic as most of my piecing... 

( i really should try to branch out a little, right?) i already have all the background cut out, and plan on having the brown baskets from *mostly* the same fabrics. and: interesting back story about the brown fabric: i sent some quilts along to the Little Lambs Foundation For Kids, as part of the Hands2Help quilt drive. Mari was in charge of coordinating this year, and i was the lucky recipient of some batting, 2 charm packs, and several yards of  BROWN FABRIC! (which is a color i'm lacking in my stash!) so, obvouisly, i plan to put that brown to good use in these flower baskets, and then i'll have even more quilts to donate...

funny how that works, right? we sew and sew, using our stash and scraps, and then EVEN TEN YEARS LATER, we're still going strong! quilty math is the best math, right?!

 my final {new} block for this RSC23 roundup is Primrose, from Cluck Cluck Sew. we recently had a new quilt shop open up in our area (after several years of NO LQS's) and i made a special stop, looking for Ball blue mason jar colored fabric. i found several very nice fabrics that i'm super happy with, and plan on making several of these blocks each month, featuring all different kinds and colors of flowers. i think i'll keep this quilt for our bed- it will be perfect for summer. this block finishes at 20" X 10", so there will be multiple rows of colorful flowers dancing across my bed! 

and: maybe one more new block for RSC23: sawtooth stars! i forgot how much i love them (they're one of my favorite blocks!) and maybe i'll do a few of them next year, too...

so: what are you working on? what has you excited to sneak away to the sewing room? and be sure to click on over to Angela at SoScrappy and see what everyone else is working on! 

making progress: one stitch, one block, one row, one flimsy at a time...

our life gallops on, one week at at a time (or really, one day at a time, just like everyone else...) and i'm able to spend some time in the sewing room a few nights a week. i appreciate the quiet time, and some time to be creative. i have a few finishes to share this week!

the Shoo Fly {Churn Dash}remains one of my favorite blocks. in fact, i have several quilt tops cut out, and kitted up in this block/pattern. so many variations, and i love this layout especially. (of course, i can't take credit for this clever design. i saw it over at Alycia's awhile ago and it really appealed to me...) 

my Framed 4 Patches danced their way through all the colors of RSC22. (except for brown and black) and i pieced them into a quilt top. 

the Kona colors that frame each monochromatic 4 patch are: black, pepper, ash, snow, charcoal, lighthouse and slate. (or something very similar to those colors... can't remember ATM.) 

if you look VERY CLOSELY, you can see that the first row is in rainbow order. (meaning the colored 4 patches) for the remainder of the quilt, i just made sure that the colors were evenly sprinkled around. this quilt will go into our church sewing group, Scraps to Wraps, and be tied and given as a local donation when a need becomes apparent.  This top seems as if it could be appropriate for a child, or even a teen boy if necessary. 

 one last picture of the Churn Dash quilt. Welly. (short for Beef Wellington) is usually sad when we take Daisy out of the pasture for quilt/miniature donkey photo shoots. he hangs around the fence and bawls. But: he matches the quilt so nicely, doesn't he? he's a curious steer ( i think they all are) and was happy to be included. (i even gave him an apple when we were done!)

COMING SOON: i finished my HST 3/6/9 quilt! i'll get a picture up later today.... 

and of course, as always, i'm linking up to RSC22 rainbow parade over at Angela's blog! 

a little more greenery for the rainbow!

7 green framed 4 patches join the other RSC22 colors. I know I saw this idea (completed quilt?) on another RSCer's blog, so I can't take the credit for this fun block. I'm excited about how it's turning out! 

the kona colors that i'm using are: black, pepper, snow, grey, pewter, ash and coal. 

here are my green (all shades!) blocks of the "Two Step" quilt i started after seeing Jo's quilt awhile back. i guess i found some lonley red, yellow and teal 3" blocks floating around... 

and a new venture for me this year: TRIANGLES! i'm starting to like triangles more and more- i've auditioned a {new to me} blocks for RSC23.

 these triangles are pieced in sets of 3, 6 and 9. i'm already thinking ahead to how i might like to piece this quilt top when we're done with all the RSC colors at the end of the year. 

thanks for stopping by! I read (and appreciate) every comment, although i'm terrible about replying! 

A Pink to Beat Them All...

i've pieced several more of my {Kona school bus} house blocks (finishing at 6") in pinks. i've started on the browns, grays and blacks for November, too. this brings my total up to 12 little houses. 

but who wants to talk about quilts, when we can talk about BABIES! our 7th grandchild (4th granddaughter) was born last Friday!!! She came a couple days early, a surprise to all of us, since my daughter, M, is typically a week late. 

of course, we're all just smitten with baby Sadie Ella, and love her to pieces! 

her baby quilt, Hop Skip, was finished (and washed to crinkly softness) just in time, too! 

M, (Sadie's mama) bought the deer fabric and i combined some muted Kona pastels for a subtle, but cozy quilt for our newest little one. 

Aunts A&B are also always thrilled with a new niece, and we've tried really hard to all be polite to one another and take turns holding the new baby. ha!

Sadie has a big sister, Addie Kathleen (who will be 2 this week!) and i'm sure they'll be the best of friends!

here's the whole family: M and husband K, along with C (5½), L (4), A (2) and newborn Sadie. as you can imagine, their household is busy and noisy! 

in other exciting news: A and B talked me into going with them to a for King & Country concert in Bingamtno, NY. (it happened to be the same day that Sadie was born, and also my first in-person, real live concert. i'll readily admit I had fun, and wasn't as bad, boring or loud as i thought it would be...)

we made a weekend of it, staying overnight in a hotel, and doing some shopping, too. it was  a lovely time, and we made some great memories. 

in more quiting news, A decided that she wanted to make her piano teacher a quilt. (free pattern here) this was truly a labor of love for A, as she really doesn't enjoy sewing. Mrs. Weed has taught  A piano for 7 (?) years, and last week was A's last piano lesson from her for a while, since the Weeds are going to Italy for a mission trip. 

I'm almost done quilting the top, and we'll put the binding on and gift the quilt early this upcoming week. We've found a new piano teacher for A (Mrs. Davis studied at the Cleveland Conservatory!) and we're all confident that although we'll miss Mrs. Weed, A will continue excel in her piano endeavors. 

 and since it's Saturday, and the RSClinky party, I'll close with just a *bit* of green for this rainy May morning: obviously, i have lots of green in my crumb jar, and I'll be busy making some green crumb blocks this week. (in my spare time. ha!) 

Pretty is Pink!

life gets so busy: tasks, responsibilities, jobs, relationships, to-do lists... i really appreciate the direction, creativeness and camaraderie of my RSC friends and sewing! 

13 (Kona) framed 9 patches were completed for April's pink. (a few of them definitely lean toward salmon. there may be a few more salmon blocks lurking in the orange jar; i'll find out when we get there in a few months... 

18 more "two step" blocks joined the party, too. 

crumb blocks: 

Where  I Started (January 2022)

How It's Going (April 2022) 

i discovered Angela's RSC monthly colors in January of 2014. i've been piecing crumb blocks ever since: RSC14, RSC15, RSC16, RSC17, RSC19 and RSC20, only taking a break during the years of RSC18 and RSC21. 

somehow, the jars never get empty! (they do look pretty, though, don't they?!) you can see that even though the colors red, aqua and yellow have already been done for RSC22, there's still some seeds of colorful scraps in there to grow for next year! 

also: looks like i'll be very busy in the months of green, grey and blue! and i didn't even get started on pink yet. maybe this week... i had a {commissioned} wedding quilt to finish, and grandbaby #7 {a girl} will be here in a few weeks. i have her fabric, the pattern and a date with the long arm quilter. i plan to start that quilt today... 

if you have eagle eyes, you'll notice that there are no browns or blacks in the gallon jars on my shelf: TOO MANY! i mentioned in my last post that i had decided to get a head start on Novembers brown/black colors. good thing i have a head start! 

44 crumb blocks of tan, foxy brown, inky browns, black, chocolate and golden browns and this isnt' even a quarter of the scraps, i'd guess! 

when i'm ready to piece the crumb blocks, i sort the color from the jars into monochromatic piles on paper plates. (no picture, sorry. it turned out terrible. but here's how Julie does it, which is exactly how i do it. after the initial sorting of colors, it makes the mindless piecing of the crumb blocks mindless and relaxing.) i had 16 plates of different tans, browns and blacks. if i remember correctly, these crumb blocks are from 4 or 5 of the plates...

thanks for stopping! thanks for looking! thanks for commenting! i read every comment, and *sometimes* even reply! and i'm a faithful, lurky visitor to most of the RSC linkups every weekend! 

yellows, kona cotton solids and a UFO, too!

i'm all done with my yellow and gold for March. in a fit of a brainstorm, i decided to start on the browns and blacks for November: my scrap jars are overflowing, and i enjoy having the mindless piecing of the crumb blocks at the end of a long day... (no pictures of the browns and blacks yet, but soon...)

but, here's the rest of my yellow projects for RSC22. (above) starting on the left of the design wall is the yellow blocks for my Two Step Quilt. Next are the framed 4 patches with Kona neutrals

(i didn't piece any yellow house blocks for March- with the Kona School Bus background fabric, there would not be enough contrast in the colors...) 

the 1930's blocks on the right are an ancient UFO.( i belong to a Facebook group, UFOBingo, and it's helped me get some of my UFOs to the DONE pile!) This month is G-34, and that was my stack of 1930's reproduction blocks. (it's been in the UFO queue for YEARS now...) 

 

this quilt was in the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine February 2007 edition.( I TOLD you it was an old UFO!) i thought it would make a beautiful quilt for baby BJ, and after she was born, we realized that the blue in the quilt perfectly matched her blue eyes... 

anyway, there was SO MUCH fabric left, and i originally intended to make a matching quilt for our bed. (baby BJ shared our room for a while.) but it took me so long, and the baby grew up (she's 14 now!), we moved, and life just moved on while the blocks sat in a drawer in the sewing room. but February 2022 was the time- i got the blocks back out, sat down with my EQ5, and figured out how i wanted to put the blocks together. 

there were so many blocks that i decided to make 2 quilts- very similar, but different. and actually, these are the first "round robin" quilts that i've ever done. EQ5 made the math *almost* painless, and i'm really happy with how they turned out. (both quilts are 76" square)

at the moment, i 'm thinking one of these quilts for B's bed, (eventually) and i'm undecided about the other one. it's a toss up between A, or my daughter-in-law, P. the{machine} quilting will be baptist fan. 

 the above square turned out too big for the center of the second quilt. instead of ripping it out and fixing the *bad math* i just made another center medallion. (which fit perfectly, thank goodness!) 

so now all the blocks are used up (and giving me 2 baby/dolly quilts for my daughters or granddaughters) and a long-neglected UFO has moved forward with some serious progress! 

in which: the blogger starts 3 new RSC22 projects...

yikes! here it is, for all intents and purposes, the middle of February, and i've started 3 new RSC22 projects! (click here to see what all the other colorful quilters are working on) 

 but: in my defense, i'd have to say- i felt pretty scattered and unorganized 6 weeks ago at the beginning of the year, and didn't have a clear idea yet of what i wanted to work on. even though i don't post much (even as often as i'd like to) i do faithfully visit all you guys, and other blogs (and Instagram) nearly every day. it's a source of great inspiration, and now i finally know where i'm going...

on one of my *very infrequent* trips to Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, i happened to stumble across this issis of American Patchwork &  Quilting magazine. i instantly recognized the quilt on the front as one by Jo Kramer. i wasn't interested in piecing the cover quilt, but on a whim picked up the magazine to page through it. 

i was thrilled to see a pattern for a paper pieced house included in the projects of this issue! and better yet- in 6" and 12" block sizes! I've always wanted to do a house quilt, but in 40+ years of quilting, I've never checked that off my bucket list... BUT: here's the thing that was the absolute clincher for me: the solid color is Kona School Bus- one of my favorites!!! 

I'm thinking to make a few houses in the COM each month, depending on how much of that color i have. and also, I'm planning to do this a bit more *fancified* than i might normally- I'm pondering 9 patch sashing and cornerstones (indigo?) and maybe finish this to hang on my stairwell wall. 

so, somewhat impulsively, this project (I'm doing the 6" houses) was added to the queue for RSC22. i ordered 5 yards of kona school bus from FQS, and I'm all caught up! 

still: the 3" squares! another inspiration from Jo was her Two-Step quilt. (i think I've seen a few others around on bloggy land, too) and i thought i'd weed out some of the singletons from my 3" square stash and do one of those, too. i still had lots of the LV 3" squares from the waffle quilts last year, so why not? 

(although, in going back to Jo's post to link up, i see that my memory was a bit off. the blocks are 2/2, not my 2/1 as i've pieced them here. i guess that's why it's called a TWO STEP, right? oh, well...) 

lastly to be started is what I'm going to call a Framed 4 Patch. when i was cleaning off the computer desk, i found a diagram i'd scrawled on a piece of scrap paper, outlining this block. (that means i saw it {was inspired} somewhere from you guys. if this is your design, let me know; i'd be glad to link back and give you credit!) 

i have a "home made" jelly roll of these Kona colors. ( the colors I'm using for the sashing are black, ash, snow, coal, charcoals, titanium and silver. I'm considering adding in expresso to round out the tan/brown spectrum) i thought they'd be perfect to outline the 4 patches in each color of the month. each block will finish at 9", so not sure how big this quilt will end up being. 

finishes and progress!

life has been busy here... a "big" upgrade started here in our house 2 months ago, when the 4ft.  lightbulb in the laundry room died. what started as a quite simple "hey, Dave, can you please put a new light in the laundry room fixture" turned into:

1. buying a NEW light fixture for the laundry room. (in the 13 years since it was installed, those 4ft bulbs became obsolete, requiring another fixture altogether...) 
2. drywalling the laundry room ceiling
3. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the laundry room
4. painting the laundry room ceiling
5. installing new "luxury" vinyl plank flooring in the laundry room
6. closing the access hole between the  laundry room and the master bathroom
7. installing new "luxury" vinyl plank flooring in the mudroom
8. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the mudroom
9. painting all the trim in the laundry room (white)
10. painting all the trim in the mudroom (tan)
11. painting the bathroom ceiling (!?)
12. painting the bathroom wainscoting
13. replacing the sink base cabinet in the kitchen
14. getting a new sink/faucet for the kitchen
15. installing new quartz countertops in the kitchen
16. installing a new granite island countertop in the kitchen
17. finishing ALL. THE. TRIM. in the kitchen
18. painting all the trim in the kitchen (white)
19. painting MORE trim in the kitchen (yellow)
20. i think that's the end of the list... 

so, actually, our *tiny* home improvement project became a lot like the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. (there are several books like that- If You Give A Moose A Muffin... If You Give A Pig A Pancake...) I'm sure you're familiar with these delightful children's books...

anyway- NOT complaining at all! we really stalled out in the home improvement/DIYprojects in the last 10 years or so. it's really nice to have these 3 rooms DONE! 

so: on to the quilty stuff- i know that's why you really came! 

February is aqua- and i have more than i thought... i made all these HSTs, in the "magic numbers" of 3, 6 and 9. (read more about them, and magic numbers here.)

while cleaning/tidying some of my baskets in the sewing room last month, i came across these fabric sayings on a panel. i divided them up into quilty sayings, Christmas sayings and bible verses. i decided to work with the quilty sayings first. 

i remembered that i had some pieces left over from a Kona cotton honey bun after piecing this quilt for my 3rd granddaughter, AK. i thought to improvise log cabin piecing around each saying. again, i used the "magic numbers" theory, cutting each block/rectangle some variation of a 6", 9" or 12" square or rectangle. 

 and finally- here's the shoo fly and donut quilt (one of them) that I pieced during RSC21. it's all finished and on its way to the PA Relief Sale. 

so, now you're caught up on the recent happenings in our neck of the woods. (mostly, anyway!) thanks for stopping by. I'll be linking up to Angie, our hostess with the mostest for all things RSC. and stay tuned: i started a few more RSC projects that I'll be sharing about shortly... 

if you care to see our kitchen in its raw, recently purchased state, and follow along on our progress in fixing it up, just click here. 

and here's a bit of the back story (and cool features!) of our mud room. (just read the first couple posts. they're the most relevant)

a PEARY good time... was had by all...

second son N & family live in a charming Craftsman house in Baltimore. in their back yard is their beloved pear tree- it was planted years ago by previous owners, but N & P really love the tree, as well as the children E & T. we get lots of pictures and updates on the blossoms and pears, and how they're doing. N also has a hive of honey bees.

on a recent visit down to Bmore, N was happy to show me how his bees are doing. i was impressed at all he knew, and how he was very knowledgeable in caring for the hive of bees. we're all looking forward to the day when he has enough honey to share!

currently, we have 6 grandchildren- 3 boys and 3 girls. of those 6 birthdays, 3 of them occur in an 11 day time span! (AND: i think i forgot to mention, but #7 is due early May!) L is the daughter of my oldest son, D, and she starts the party with a birthday on October 30. they live in CA, so we were only able to face time on her special day, but she's sure a sweety! she just turned 3. 

Next up is C. he was 5 on November 4. he's the son of my oldest, M, and has a younger brother and sister L & A. wee baby sister is in the wings, and will be joining us in May. we can't wait! Grammy and Pap gave C a "coonskin" hat. he seems to like it...

here we are at C's picnic- my 2 youngest daughters, A & B, as well as his siblings L & A. 

then, just to keep things interesting, i headed down to Bmore that weekend, to celebrate E, who was also 5, on November 10. if you're wondering why i started this grandchild birthday celebration post taking about N's honeybees, I'm going to tell you! 

E knows that Grammy loves her, and she also knows that Grammy loves to quilt. she asked me if i would make her some pear placemats for their {family hierloom} dining room set. of course, i didn't even have to think about that for one second! i'd be thrilled. 

i dug around in my stash, and found some long ignored and unloved tan plaid; that worked just great for the background. i also found some greens and yellows that would work well for the pears. 

but: such a special project certainly called for some "stash enhancement"! and I was thrilled to find some fabric that was just perfect! (i think you should be able to click on the pictures to supersize them, and see some of the fun fabrics i found) Belle, bees, pears, catapillars are some of the fun elements that made an appearance... 

i used the pear pattern from Lori Holt's book, Farm Girl Vintage. it was a gift from N & P a few years ago, but the first I've used it. (there are lots of fun block patterns in that book; i plan to make a few more blocks/placemats one of these fine days...) 

i made 8 pear placemats (so there would be enough to use for company,) and then i also made 6 "pear blossom"  placemats. using my accuquilt Studio2 cutter and my shoo fly {my favorite quilt block!} die, i loosely interpreted a pear blossom into more placemats. The white and pink represent the pear blossom, the brown is the twigs of the tree and the {Kona stratosphere} is the brilliant blue of the spring sky. 

each placemat finished around 13" X 17" if i remember correctly. i drove down to Bmore to deliver the placemats, and E (and the whole family!) opened them are were so thrilled! i was so happy that E had asked me to make something special for her, and it's also important to me that she know that Grammy was honored to fulfill her special birthday wish! 

we had a lovely afternoon together- not doing much of anything but spending time and chatting. i even got to rock the baby, T, to sleep and hold him during his nap. (he's a chubby, chubby sweetie!) 

thanks for stopping by- and listening to my little tale of grandchildren, pears, placemats and family!