Goodbye to January ~ dark and bright blues

 This is the last Saturday in January...next week starts the color PINK for February! I was able to get my 4th button block in blue finished.

These are 6" finished blocks. All four together:

Now to pull out the pink scraps and see what buttons I can make for the February RSC!

Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @SoScrappy

A Finish, SAHRR - Round 1

 Saturday morning (my time), I took a class with @Craftymonkies. This was the 4th class I took through them. Craftymonkies is a great way to attend classes with teachers from all over the world via Zoom. I love this forum. If you have never heard of them, you should check them out on IG!

Saturday's class was taught by the talented @victoria_vanderlaan. Her class is called Use Your Intuition and her unique, nature-inspired stacked technique of building your quilt was something I never tried before. It is a improv method. 

By the end of class I had this small quilt put together.

I wanted to make it a bit larger so I auditioned a few pieces of fabric in my stash. 

I thought this piece worked well and didn't take away from the actual piece.

I cut the borders and sandwiched the quilt with more of the same fabric for the backing. I kept the quilting simple with straight lines about 1/2" apart.

I rotated the piece because these reminded me of flames. I needed to make a decision on whether to bind or face my quilt. I squared up the quilt and then decided to face the quilt using the technique from @cottonandbourbon on IG. 

Finished size approx. 20" x 24"

backing

I will do some more of this method and try to change up the shapes. I will play and see what happens!

Linking to Off the Wall Friday, Finished or Not Friday, Patchwork and Quilts, Free Motion Mavericks and Friday Foto Fun. 

Linking to Favorite Finish @Meadow Mist Designs.

Today also announced the 1st round of this year's SAHRR hosted by Roseanne & Sue @HomeSewnByUs. They chose the spool block as their choice for round one. 

Here is my block.

My quilt measures 18.5" after this round. 

I'm linking to the Linky Party for Round 1

SAHRR 2023

 This is the 3rd year for SAHRR (Stay at Home Round Robin). This challenge was born out of the COVID years. A team of quilters heading by Gail @QuiltingGail, announce a weekly challenge for each round. Starting with a center block (either new of orphaned) - Week one and continuing for 6 weeks of rounds. 

It is your choice on how to interpret the rounds and how you choose to make your quilt. There are really no rules to follow as it is your quilt!

This year I will start with an orphaned Halloween quilt block that I made back on 2012 for the Wicked Blog Hop. I am not a big Halloween fan (although my opinion has changed a bit since my grandson was born) so I don't have any Halloween quilts. I made one of the blocks from the blog hop into a wall hanging for my daughter but the rest are in the orphaned basket. 

I picked this haunted house block as my center block. It is a 12" block.

Even though I am not a Halloween fan, I do have a fat-quarter bundle of Halloween fabric that I won many years ago and a few other pieces. We will see how this goes as my schedule is pretty full. 

Looking forward to the next clue.

Linking to Quilting Gail

Stop by to see how others are starting their SAHRR this year!

RSC Buttons

 I was able to make 2 more blue button blocks this week! My goal is 4 per month or 1 a week. These blocks sew together very quickly! I think it may have taken me longer to pull the fabric scraps and cut the pieces! 🤣

 I am ahead of the game because this is Week 2 for Scrap Happy Saturday! One more block to make!

I am linking to Scrap Happy Saturday @So Scrappy. 

I started a new quilt that I purchased fabric for in August on our trip to Missouri Star Co. The pattern, Harmony and Light, is from Christina Cameli @afewscraps that was free through Quilting Daily. I purchased ombre by V & Co. in a variety of colors. 

I realized I was a bit short so after searching online, I found some more (this is an older line of V & Co ombre) on Etsy and ordered it. My package was sent out and the tracking notice came that it was delivered! I was excited and as soon as I came home from work, I checked my mail! It wasn't there. What! So I contacted USPS and made a report. (this isn't the 1st time this happened). To my surprise, my local PO called the very next day and said they would keep tracking my package. My mail carrier was so very helpful and sincere. She tried over several days to retrieve the package from the house that it was delivered to (1558 instead of 1358) keeping her supervisors and me informed of her attempts. Yesterday, she finally had the package and went out of her way to hand deliver it to me! It gave me renewed hope for USPS as my 1st package was never retrieved.  

Since it is January, I thought I would show you my December calendar journal. I'm not sure if I showed every month (I'll have to go back and take a look) but I did keep up and have 2022 completed.  I will continue with the calendar journals in 2023!

For the last 2 years, I have watched my grandson, Magnus, 1 or 2 days a week to help out my daughter and son-in-law. During this time we have had many adventures together and created a undeniable bond! Here are a couple of pictures from out latest adventure to a local library.

maze board-quite the concentration!

ball machine-so much fun!

gear board-another fun activity

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to babysit our granddaughter, Freya for several hours while her mom had a photo shoot and dad had a dr. appt. Now that Freya is just about 8 months, it is so much fun to watch her discover and play! She is a sweet girl, easy to smile with her big, blue eyes. She loves to try new foods! No baby food for this girl! She wants what you have. Watch out, she may steal right from your plate! Here are a couple of pictures from our time together!

the fabric ball I made for Magnus when he was a baby, 

the booties I knitted for her.

tried to capture a selfie

loves these waffles

Looking forward to more one-on-one time with her as she gets bigger!

First Finish of 2023!

 Today I present my first finish of 2023! Originally, I was hoping that I could have finished this quilt before the holidays, however, although it was pieced, I simply ran out of time without making myself crazy! I'm calling it Big Red Truck. 

I started with a holiday panel I bought last year at the end of the season sale. I watched this video by @Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Co. on How to make an Attic Windows quilt using a panel. Every panel is different, but I was able to glean the information I needed to start my project. I divided my panel into 9 window panes. This took a bit of figuring out because I didn't want to 'lose' too much of the snowman. 

I really like the 3D effect of this quilt. 

I used some green holly fabric that I had in my stash for the borders. I like how it coordinated with the holly at each corner of the panel. 

I quilted the window casing and trim with straight lines in white and brown to match. In the window panes I randomly FMQ a stipple pattern in white. It really adds to the snowy scene! The borders were also stipple quilted with green thread to match the holly. 

I had another green holly print in my stash that I used for the backing.

For the binding, I found a piece of fabric in my stash that was cream with a green and red 'plaid' pattern. I like how it frames the quilt! 

This quilt finishes at 51.5" x 59.5"

The only purchase for this quilt was the panel in early 2022! Yay for using up some of my Christmas fabric! I'll keep this quilt out to enjoy for the winter months with my snowman collection!

I'm linking to Finished or Not Friday @AlyciaQuilts, Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Fun Friday Foto @Poweredbyquilting

The new year brings a new RSC! I was able to finish all 3 of my 2022 RSC quilts! See them here, here and here! 

I decided that doing 3 blocks each month was a bit much so I will be making only one block this month. I have chosen to make button blocks. I will make 1 block a week (4 total blocks) in the color of the month. January's color is blue (dark and bright blues). The blocks are 6".

The inspiration for this came from this rug which is in a classroom that I substitute teach in. 

This reminds me of all the buttons in my grandma's button box that I used to love to sort through so many years ago. Now my grandson loves to play with my buttons! Linking to Scrap Happy Saturday@SoScrappy

This is a good start to 2023! Happy Quilting!