Rainbow Ribbons is a Flimsy

Looking for the next thing on my list I could get together and get to the longarm, I threw this Rainbow Ribbons quilt together.  It is now a flimsy.  It's certainly bright.  If I can find enough black fabric, I may put 3.5" border around it to make it easier to quilt.

I also needed to get this off of the area it was sitting on my desk.  I need the extra room to start the 2025 Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt -- Lupine & Laughter.

Updated post:  When I got up to look at my blog feed of the ones I read regularly, I looked at my quilt and realized that the top row is UPSIDE down!  Bummer.  Well, at this point I had already put a black border around the edge, made a back, AND loaded it onto the longarm frame.  Too late...  It's staying this way.  I'm sure it will still make a nice comfort quilt for someone.  Design choice.

This is a blast from the past.  This was a guild project.  We would make circles and applique them onto a square.  Then we could cut them into quarters and sew them back together.  I know this was abandoned because the pieces didn't match perfectly.  This was a group project that ended up in my take-home bin because I was ambitious back then.  LOL.  Now it waits to meet a back and be quilted.  I already have rainbow binding made that I didn't use on my baskets quilt.  Glad I found a place for that.

Summit Stitches QA on the Frame

 I'm experimenting with some free style quilting on this little quilt.  This is my Summit Stitches QA at Humble Quilts.

My loops/flowers/jesters... whatever they are are a varied in size.  I think it will work perfect for this little quilt.  It's dense, which is what I was going for.  I quilted it in a dark blue.  It will finish at 31.5" square.

Some fo my lines cross.  Some are crooked.  But I still like it.  I won't know what I can or can't do if I don't practice or try.  This quilt is made up of bits and pieces of things I just had sitting in bins.  Nothing spent except time -- relaxing time.  Even the batting was bits and pieces.  I picked pieces of batting that were the same thickness (but some were white and some were natural) and pieced them together.  Here's some of the left-over batting pieces.  My batting scraps are seriously getting under control!

Bright 9-Patch Binding in Progress

 I'm excited that this bright green binding is going on my Bright 9-patch quilt.  Although I'm working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery, I still need to keep up on things for my sew-to-go bag.  I love staying busy at school during my lunch and planning periods.

I stepped out of my comfort zone with the bright green, but then when I looked at it again, it brings out the green in the other prints and matches the back.  Green is my favorite color.  This will be fun to hand stitch the binding.  Don't mind that green and purple sticking out on the edges.  That's the left-over frankenbatting made from pieces of fleece.  This quilt is soft already.

More Binding Time & Hand Quilting

More progress was made on the hand quilting of this blue orphan block.  I'm practicing filler lines.

This week I worked on putting the binding on Card Trick.  It's a king-sized quilt. 

Darting Birds was finished this week.  I love the fabrics in this quilt.  It was a Kathleen Tracy QA in her facebook group.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

Summit Stitches QA

 I finished assembling the quilt top for the Summit Stitches QA at Humble Quilts.

Hopefully I'll get it on the longarm this week so that it will end up in my sew-to-go bag.  We only have two days of school the week of 11/24.  It was fun to work with the blue 4-patches I made as leader/enders with no specific home when I made them.  4-patches always come in handy.

The little quilt I was working on with my dark fabrics was finished yesterday.  It is called Darting Birds.  It was a Kathleen Tracy QA on facebook.  I posted about it yesterday on my blog.

Linking up at SoScrappy for the RSC25.

Darting Birds is Finished

The Darting Birds mini quilt is finished.  It was part of a sew along by Kathleen Tracy on Facebook for the Fall of 2025.  I love the bold darker colors I used in this quilt.  I was excited to use fabric I won from  Rouge Quilter, Janet.  She blogs at The Rouge Quilter.    This is my seventh Ravelry UFO Fall 2025 Finish.  

It measures 26" square.  It will find its home in my longarm room once I get a dowel rod to go into the hanging sleeve.  I did try a new hanging sleeve method using triangles that you can read about here.  I love the gold thread that I used in the stipple, free-hand quilting.  The binding was sewn by hand.

This is my 8th Ravelry UFO finish this quarter.

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con double sized quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Bear Claw Mini -- Needs finished hand quilting and binding (very close to being done)

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Old Town -- finished 10/31/25

9.  Pineapple Table Runner -- Completed 10/24/25

10.  Four Patch Fun -- Bonnie Hunter leader/ender -- Continue making blocks

11.  Blue Embroidery Quilt -- sixth finish 11/7/25

12.  HST -- Needs more blocks made and sewn into rows

13.  Tree of Life -- Needs more blocks

14.  Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

15.  Unity Quilt (Bonnie Hunter 2020) -- Needs blocks for the sides to be wider

16.  Card Trick -- Binding being hand stitched in the evenings

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

19.  Fall Table Topper -- Completed 10/3/25

20.  Scattered Stars -- Completed 10/10/25

21.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

22.  Shirting Blocks -- binding almost finished

23.  Pinwheels -- finished 11/14/25. 7th finish

24.  Bright 9-patches -- quilted - needs binding sewn on

25.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

26.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

27.  Rainbow Ribbons -- need blocks completed and sewn together

28.  Kathleen Tracey Fall SAL (Darting Birds) Finished 11/21/25

29.  Blue Orphan Block Table Topper -- 85 percent hand quilted

30.  Summit Stitches 2025 Quilt Along at Humble Stitches (25" square project)

Quilting Complete on Bright 9-Patch

Quilting is complete with this little quilt.  I'm really loving the edge-to-edge design of my new-to-me Circle Lord giant template board calleld Wanders.  It is very forgiving in how it is lined up and quilts quickly.  I backed this quilt with a sized just right scrap of soft seer sucker.

I weirdly selected a bright green dot fabric for the binding.  I've been going out of my comfort zone here and there and I LIKE IT!  Happy sewing!  I'm thrilled I'll have another project to take with me on the go.  These fit in my bag perfectly.  

Brrr.  Quilting in the longarm room is getting cold.  I can usually quilt until Thanksgiving.  We shall see...

Bright 9-Patch on the Frame

The Bright 9-patch quilt is on the frame.  I am using bits and pieces of fleece in place of batting.  I had two customers in the past that actually preferred fleece instead of cotton batting.  My colors are bold enough that I can get away with different pieces.

Binding Making for Card Trick

Card Trick is quilted and trimmed.  Time to make the binding.  I selected this pink print.  After I made the binding I only had a 12" strip left.  It must have been the perfect fabric scrap for it.  Don't you love it when that happens?  It seems to happen to me often.  Blessed!

It will be nice to relax in the evenings and stitch the binding on Card Trick.  I'm getting much more efficient at sewing binding down by hand.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Darting Birds Binding

 This week I focused on finishing the binding on my Darting Birds mini quilt.  This was a mini QA on facebook.  Pattern is designed by Kathleen Tracy.

Above it is in the piano lab at the school of arts.  Students at this school are talented in so many ways.  It's impressive to watch.  One side of the binding is fiished.

Next it went with me to this special K-2 classroom.  Another side was finished.

It won't be long now until this project is finished.  I also had time to work on my blue orphan block project.  I started quilting the border with just little "e's".  I thought I would experiment with a filler by putting lines in them (bottom pic).  I like the border with the filler so much better.  I didn't mark the filler lines.  I'm just experimenting as I go.  I'll just call it "organic" stitching.  LOL.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

RSC25 -- Putting it together -- Blues -- Summit Stitches

 I made a ton of blue leader/ender blocks during our blue months.  I used them to participate in the QA at Humble Quilts.  Today I am assembling the 16-patches.

Linking up at SoScrappy for the RSC25.

Pinwheel Quilt Finish

 This sweet little pinwheel quilt is finished.  It is no longer just a set of orphan blocks.

It measures 29" square.  I logarm quilted it with my new-to-me Circle Lord giant template board called Wanders with yellow thread.  It is backed with a vintage sheet.  The binding was hand sewn.  It does not have a home yet.  It will end up is the "pile".

This is my seventh Ravelry UFO Fall 2025 Finish.  See what the group is doing here.

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con double sized quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together

2.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing sewn and put together

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Bear Claw Mini -- Needs finished hand quilting and binding (very close to being done)

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Old Town -- finished 10/31/25

9.  Pineapple Table Runner -- Completed 10/24/25

10.  Four Patch Fun -- Bonnie Hunter leader/ender -- Continue making blocks

11.  Blue Embroidery Quilt -- sixth finish 11/7/25

12.  HST -- Needs more blocks made and sewn into rows

13.  Tree of Life -- Needs more blocks

14.  Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

15.  Unity Quilt (Bonnie Hunter 2020) -- Needs blocks for the sides to be wider

16.  Card Trick -- On the longarm frame

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

19.  Fall Table Topper -- Completed 10/3/25

20.  Scattered Stars -- Completed 10/10/25

21.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

22.  Shirting Blocks -- binding almost finished

23.  Pinwheels -- finished 11/14/25. 7th finish

24.  Bright 9-patches -- a flimsy -- needs a quilt back

25.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

26.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

27.  Rainbow Ribbons -- need blocks completed and sewn together

28.  Kathleen Tracey Fall SAL -- quilted needs binding finished

29.  Blue Orphan Block Table Topper -- 75 percent hand quilted

30.  Summit Stitches 2025 Quilt Along at Humble Stitches (25" square project)

Card Trick on the Frame

This quilt has been in my to-be-quilted pile for a few years.  The back and frankenbatting is finally made.  It's on the frame.  I hope to get an hour or two at a time to quilt it.  It's getting cold in that room.

I'm quilting it with my Circle Lord giant template board Wanders.  I probably should have picked a pattern with more curves and less straight lines for this quilt.  It's 25 percent quilted.  It will be okay.  They quilt police aren't going to haul me away any time soon.  The pieced back is looking good to me too.

Bright 9-Patches Flimsy

 I turned my bright 9-patch blocks into a little crib quilt.

I think the yellow makes the red pop.  Moving another item from the list to the next step.

And just for fun, here's some pictures of wet chickens just enjoying being outside.

Their run is so muddy.  They get out into the grass for supervised free-range time.

Dora

This weekend I fired up my machine that patiently waits for me to make frankenbatting.  The machine is named after my mother-in-law.  She was an amazing seamstress.  She lovingly left all of her sewing things for me when she passed away.

And yes, I cam up a little short on the frankenbatting.  I had to combine two colors.  I doubt if anyone will notice.  It's the same stuff, but in different colors.

The bobbin case for this machine always surprises me every time I touch the spring release on the right.  I need to remember to cover it with my other hand because it just flies into the air and makes me laugh.  I bet my mother-in-law would be laughing with me if she saw my surprise every time I open it.

Pinwheel Quilt -- Slow Sunday Stitching

 This week I focused on hand stitching the binding onto my pinwheel quilt.

I got a few stitches in the binding before going into the school for work.  I got to work about 25 minutes early because I was a "good mom" today and took our son to the bus stop.  Normally he walks down the 800 foot part of the driveway to catch the school bus.  It was only 35 degrees and windy.  I had him wait in the warm truck until I went to work.

After school my husband called me, letting me know he was having trouble with his work truck.  I drove to the rescue to take him to get parts so that he could work on it along side of the road.  

I am VERY fortunate that my husband is such a patient mechanic.  He LOVES to fix things.  It's a bummer he had to work on it along side the road.  Luckily he was able to limp it to an empty baseball field parking lot.

A few inches here, a few inches there.  I'm so happy I had it with me.  Moving towards a finish.

His simple fix didn't work.  Luckily I'm a AAA member and a tow was necessary.  But look at those beautiful, red trees in the background!  Ahh fall.

Big progress the day I took it to sub at high school.  I had three study halls a planning period, and part of my lunch:

I only have the little bit where the clips are to stitch for the finish.  It wasn't terrible to hand sew through that vintage sheet back.  I'm enjoying shopping for a new thimble on eBay.

I finished the vintage embroidery quilt!

My next project that needs a hand-stitched binding is the shirtings crib quilt.  The binding is on.  It's ready for the sew-to-go bag this week.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.

 

Vintage Embroidery Quilt Complete

 I'm happy to have the final stitches on the vintage embroidery quilt complete.

I longarm quilted it with an edge to edge bubbles design using my Circle Lord giant template board.  It gives it a nice texture on the back.  This is what it looks like after it's been washed.

The quilt measures 78" x 98".  I found a photo online of the package.  It was a kit from Paragon.  It looks really pretty quilted in the hand-quilted suggested.  I just didn't have the time or patience or skills for that.  I finished quilt on the bed is worth ten in the head.

Linking up for Finish (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts.  Check out her amazing Indigo Way!!!

This is my sixth Ravelry UFO Fall 2025 Finish.  See what the group is doing here.

Here's my Fall 2025 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.   Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

2.  Old Town -- finished 10/31/25

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- Needs sashing cut

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Bear Claw Mini -- Needs finished hand quilting and binding (very close to being done)

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Bit Con double sized quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together

9.  Pineapple Table Runner -- Completed 10/24/25

10.  Four Patch Fun -- Bonnie Hunter leader/ender -- Continue making blocks

11.  Blue Embroidery Quilt -- finished 11/7/25  finish #6

12.  HST -- Needs more blocks made and sewn into rows

13.  Tree of Life -- Needs more blocks

14.  Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

15.  Unity Quilt (Bonnie Hunter 2020) -- Needs blocks for the sides to be wider

16.  Card Trick -- Needs quilted

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Sail Away crib quilt -- Blocks need sewn

19.  Fall Table Topper -- Completed 10/3/25

20.  Scattered Stars -- Completed 10/10/25

21.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

22.  Shirting Blocks -- quilted

23.  Pinwheels -- longarm quilted this week -- needs binding made

24.  Bright 9-patches -- Need an alternative block cut (and need to find them!)

25.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop, working on the borders

26.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

27.  Rainbow Ribbons -- need blocks completed and sewn together

28.  Kathleen Tracey Fall SAL -- on the longarm frame

29.  Blue Orphan Block Table Topper -- Needs a quilt back

30.  Summit Stitches 2025 Quilt Along at Humble Stitches (25" square project)

On the Frame -- Shirting Blocks

I added bubble-gum pink sashing and borders to these four shirting blocks.  I loaded it onto the longarm frame.  

I'm using the Circle Lord giant template board called Wanders.  It's a new board to me.  The edge to edge design looks intimidating.  But it is really easy and quilts quickly for little charity quilts like this.  I made a frankenbatting.  I'm quilting it with a rose colored thread.  It will be ready for the sew-to-go bag soon.

Making a Quilt Back for Card Trick

 This Card Trick quilt is hopefully the next big quilt to be quilted.  That means I need to make a big, scrappy, pieced back.

My process is that I wait until my husband and son are occupied somewhere else (like the garage).  Then I put the quilt on the living room floor.  I keep sewing pieces together until it is larger than the quilt about 5" all the way around.  If a scrap is not straight, I rip it to get a nice clean edge.  This in turn makes MORE scraps and gets rid of the big chunks.  Works for me.  Obviously I'm rummaging through the pink scraps.  

Summit Stitches 2025 Quilt Along at Humble Quilts -- Step 2 Complete

 Step two is complete of the Summit Stitches 2025 Quilt Along at Humble Quilts.

Leader/Ender Challenge Fun -- Progress made in October

 This month I made four leader/ender challenge blocks.

Bottom left block has feet and tails!  I love finding feet and tails in quilts.  These four blocks bring my total to 15 blocks made.  My yellow count is 8/pink count is 7.

I stuck to the pink/yellow/neutral color scheme.  Can you tell that I am using vintage sheets as my neutrals?  It think they are super fun!

When making my leader/enders, I usually use them as a true leader ender--meaning I usually only sew one seam and then I go right back to the next project that needs to run under the needle.  Sometimes I do it between block sets, sometimes I do it by binding corners and such.  But it is usually just one seam--maybe it's just two 2" squares sewn together.  This is definitely a long-term project.

I'm excited about the 2025 Four Patch Fun Leader/Ender Challenge led by Bonnie Hunter.  I pulled some more pinks, yellows, and neutrals.  Get all the details on this challenge at Quiltville's Quips & Snips!

I don't know how big this quilt will be.  I will continue to make Leader/Enders until about May or June.  (Bonnie Hunter usually starts a new leader/ender in July.)

Random Blue Blocks Hand Stitching Progress

I made more progress on the random blue blocks crib quilt.

I had a beautiful view of the lake while stitching while our son was magnet fishing.  He found this "trashure".  It's some sort of extension pole that will go on the scrap pile.

Glad we went when we did.  It's starting to get colder.  The docks will be removed from the water soon.  They start letting the water out of the dam here 12/8.  If we have sunny days we dress warm and go look for lures among the rocks mid December.  During 2020 when I kept our son home his whole 8th grade year we went.  I found three quarts of cool lures!  

I finished the hand-stitched binding on my 2025 Bonnie Hunter Mystery, Old Town!

I also started hand-stitching the binding of the vintage embroidery quilt.  Boy do I love these clips!

I better get busy quilting what I can before "longarm season" is over due to cold weather in an unheated longarm room.  I'm really enjoying stitching with a nice quilt on my lap while watching tv.

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching here.