WIP Wednesday 12.31.2025

 I worked on the flying geese for Kane's Memory Quilt. Purple and blue are his favorite colors, so I went with a few dark purple flying geese and light blue for the sky portion. The other two fabrics were 100% cotton shirts that were included in the bag of Kane's clothes I received for this project. Now to fill in with the light blue sky background.

pattern inspiration:

Sharing today with the Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday 12.29.2025

This morning, I did one of the hardest 'things' I have done. I cut into the t-shirts that my son had given to me. Of course, I cut the first one wrong! The shirts belong to my son's friend/co-worker whose son (age 25) was murdered in Bay City, Michigan in March 2025. It was a case of wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Very Tragic. Kane had moved back to mid-Michigan to try to turn over a new leaf and his life was cut short. I thought I would receive a lot of t-shirts but Kane didn't own very much...There were also 2 100% cotton shirts that I am going to use in the front of the quilt.

This is the pattern I am using as inspiration. Kane's favorite colors were purple and blue and Detroit Lions.

Sharing today with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

SoScrappy Saturday 12.27.2025

Another year of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has come to an end. I finished my rainbow fish earlier in the year but didn't post...so here she is now! I like this one so much that I plan to make my little fish again in 2026. Time will tell if I stick to the plan. <grin>

pattern inspiration: various tutorials on Pinterest

panto: serpentine

Today is also my reveal of my Table Scraps December 2025 Challenge. Each month Joy gives a prompt to use the fabric that is hanging around...either on your table or in my case, the fabric cupboard for a long time. Sadly, Joy is having some health issues and won't be able to continue the Table Scraps Challenge in the future. I want to 'Thank Joy' for hosting this challenge as it helped direct my creations of Meals on Wheels place mats. This month's color is rainbow and the prompt is 'Peace/Give Peace a Chance'. I decided to make a mat for my side table in my hearth room. I thought of 'the Peace sign' but settled on a Dove to represent Peace.

The mat on my table in the hearth room.

pattern inspiration: image found on Pinterest of a dove

Sharing today with SoScrappy Saturday and

Joy at Table Scraps Challenge.

Finish or NOT Friday 12.26.2025

 I finished Cows Crossroads...a little late in the evening. :)

pattern inspiration: Crossroads by Fabric Cafe

panto: serpentine

Sharing today with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday.

Merry Christmas 12.25.2025

 

Merry Christmas to all!

(who celebrate!)

WIP Wednesday 12.24.2025

 I completed the piecing on Cows Crossroads.  I cut the outer border at 3.5 inches to make this one just a touch bigger than the pattern. Now onto making a backing...

pattern inspiration: Crossroads from Fabric Cafe

Sharing today with The Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday 12.23.2025

This is the current state of my design wall. I cut the novelty fabric and pieced the alternate blocks. i was making this lap quilt for DH to use as his work exchange gift. He ended up being scheduled to go to a different plant on the office party day and with that, my motivation for any sewing fled...

pattern: Crossroads from Fabric Cafe

I did finally wash out my snow dye experiment. I'm actually happy with the dye coverage. This one split with a little more red than I wanted. I'm not going to use it as the backing for the Cow Crossroads (above). It does still have a little bit of a smell and is rougher than I like for a quilt backing. I think it will become backing for my Meals on Wheels place mats!

stats: Rit cocoa brown dye sprinkled on top of dry fabric, pile on the snow and soda

         ash sprinkled on top of that. Melted in 48 hours, batched for 72 hours 

         in basement (temp = 66F). Rinsed in cold water, machined washed 

         and dried on hot.

Sharing today with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

Finish or NOT Friday 12.12.2025

My finish today is for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2025. One of the blocks I made every month was the 2025 Stash Buster Challenge block. My blocks are the big 16.5 inch unfinished and I made it in eight color ways. I didn't want a super big quilt nor did I want to make more blocks. I decided to split the blocks into two sets. One set is the warm side of the color wheel while the other set is the cool. I wanted the quilts to be approximately 40 inches square but my backing fabric was only 41 inches wide...so I hacked a little off each side to fit the backing. The quilts are approximately 36 x 41 inches and I will donate them to the local WIC program in the new year.

The Cool set of blocks.

The Warm set of blocks.

pattern: 2025 Stash Buster Challenge block

panto: serpentine

I was gifted yardage of questionable origins. It is spotted black and white cow print but after washing, it still had a lingering odor. So I got some cocoa brown Rit dye, washing soda (aka soda ash) and some snow from our deck. I placed the fabric on a wire rack, sprinkled the brown dye, then ice then the soda ash. I've never done this particular dying technique before so I'm interested to 'see' what happens! 

Sharing with Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday and

SoScrappy Saturday.

WIP Wednesday 12.10.2025

 

Well, the weather got the better of the Howell MelonHeads and we cancelled the Christmas Party. It is better to be safe and warm today!

My driveway before plowing...notice that the road plow left a huge pile of very wet snow!

My husband is out of town at meetings so you know who! had to plow us out. Yup...me...and not a fan of snow <anymore> :) 

10, 175 steps before 11:00 am was the bright spot on this morning's adventure. It started to rain and now it is sleeting and is suppose to change back to snow. I think, perhaps, putting my garbage to the curb (ish) is in jeopardy! <grin>

On the sewing front, I was able to sew together the warm and cold colors of the 2025 Stash Buster Challenge blocks. I was going to 40 x 40 but my backing is only 41 inches wide so I will need to trim a little of the sides. <sigh>

Sharing today with The Inquiring Quilter's Wait Loss Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday 12.9.2025

 My design wall hasn't change in, like forever! so it really doesn't matter 'what this label is'! :)

I'll have to try and work on it after the preparations for the MelonHeads Christmas party it over (party date is tomorrow! Yay!)

pattern: 2025 Stash Buster Challenge

Sharing today with Judy at Design Wall Monday and

Melva's Sew and Tell.