A Churn Dash Theme

My monthly mini is something you may have seen before. It was Pam Buda's Circa 1880 Club's Small Quilt for August, in 2019.  I had the top finished in September of that year, and it has been waiting ever since to get quilted and bound.

When I finished the top I posted this about it, "I really messed with the value placement on this quilt, making some of the churn dash blocks sink into the background, while others stand out. A few of the bits of fabric had to be pieced in order to be large enough to cut out the piece I needed. Three of the sashings were pieced. I wanted it to appear to have been made from a scrap basket, where choices were limited. I also slipped a little churn dash block into the center. I had fun playing with this one."

This gives you a little better look at the quilting. It is mostly ditch stitching (as usual), with a rope pattern in the outer border.

You can click to enlarge for a better look.

And here is a glamour shot just for the fun of it. I'm linking with Wendy, The Constant Quilter, for the list of other Monthly Mini-acs. Check out what the others have done.

In keeping with the Churn Dash theme, for Chooky's Churn Dash SAL, I have all the blocks made, and sashing, cornerstones, and setting triangles cut. It is all up on the design wall, awaiting assembly.

Technically, this should have been a finished top by now, but it just didn't happen. However, during a Zoom with Chooky a week ago, she admitted hers wouldn't be finished either. I don't feel so bad now, and I will shoot for the end of November to have this a flimsy. I love the scrappy goodness of this quilt. The blocks were cut from scrap baskets, using 4 different neutrals as the backgrounds. Only the sashing and setting triangles were cut from actual yardage. I have enjoyed making this!

I haven't been active on the blog this month, but I did join in with Chooky's Zoom last week--three different times. Just popped in and out when I could, and saw a different group each time. But I only remembered to take a photo once.

What an encouraging, supportive, funny and talented bunch of quilters from around the world! I appreciated the help in selecting the setting triangles and cornerstones for my Churn Dash quilt. If you are a blogger and want to join in, follow Chooky's blog (link included above) and you will see when she has a Zoom meeting of the Chookshed Stitchers scheduled. Then you will be able to request an invite. Rumor has it there may be another one soon.

I am trying to be really good and obey the sign I put on my sewing room door. It reads: NO NEW STARTS! I have so many UFOs and WIPs, so I will still have a regular monthly mini, and plenty of other projects to fill my time. But it is so hard not to join SALs from favorite bloggers and designers. 

November is one of my favorite months--the month of Thanksgiving. I am very blessed, and I count the friends I have made through this blog as one of the many blessings I treasure.

Until next time, 

Be grateful and be kind!

Janet O.

A sunset after a snowfall on October 26th.

September Monthly Mini

I am so pleased that I am not posting this minutes before midnight on Monday. I took the last stitches in the binding on this little quilt while watching our local college football homecoming game on TV with hubby and my sons and DIL. The quilt finished at 9"x10", and each 9-patch finishes at 3/4". I am linking up with Wendy (constantquilterblog)  and her monthly mini links for September.

This had its beginnings when I had leftovers from the little quilt I made for a swap with Kris (lavenderquiltsblog) in early 2018. This one is a reverse of the value placement of Kris' quilt. It has been languishing in my sewing room for almost a year, waiting to be quilted. I had started quilting it months ago, but didn't like how it was looking, so I set it aside. Needing a monthly mini in a hurry (no surprise there), I unpicked the less-than-pleasing quilting and tried again.


This is the view of the quilting from the back. Better than my first try, but still not my favorite.  I was okay with it until I put that swirly border on. I should have practiced more, but I was not going to unpick this baby again!




Other than a bit of work on my Circa 1880 quilt, the only other progress for the entire month is that I finished up the piecing of the Circa 1880 club small quilt for August (we get a new small quilt pattern every other month). 

I really messed with the value placement on this quilt, making some of the churn dash blocks sink into the background, while others stand out. A few of the bits of fabric had to be pieced in order to be large enough to cut out the piece I needed. Three of the sashings were pieced. I wanted it to appear to have been made from a scrap basket, where choices were limited. I also slipped a little churn dash block into the center. I had fun playing with this one.

We have had a very wet weekend and Saturday morning I picked 4 pints of raspberries in the rain. I couldn't bear to see them go to waste and if I waited for the rain to stop in a few days, many of them would have been overripe and mushy. I love picking berries and I love rain (we live in a high mountain desert where rain is a welcome blessing most of the time), so I enjoyed the experience--except for the rain that ran up my sleeves whenever I reached for the berries on the taller canes. It is my Dad's patch, and I had helped him care for it the last few years of his life. I have tried to keep up with it since he passed almost three years ago
This evening my DIL made a gluten free/vegan lemon poppyseed bread with a lemon drizzle. We sprinkled our slices with fresh, rain-kissed berries and it was YUM!

I'm feeling an urge to play in the plaid fabrics from thrifted shirts. Maybe a baby quilt is in my near future--just for fun! I pulled a pattern today and I've chosen the shirts I want to use. We'll see if anything comes of it.

Until next time,
Janet O.