My Disappearing Hourglasses are ready to assemble. It turns out I only have 16 squares in the layer cake. Now I’ve cut 2 of them wrong. The first one I made a pinwheel, but didn’t notice until I cut it. That’s OK – I’ll just have one block that is not a star. However the 2nd block I miscut and I won’t be able to use. I guess I’m making a smaller quilt.
Meanwhile, my Riviana blocks continue to accumulate as leader/ender.
and I still need to bind Eclipse and Scrappy Bargello.
It’s late Thursday afternoon. I received a call Wednesday from my LQS asking me to cut more shop hop block kits, so that’s all I did yesterday, but prior to that I was working in my 2 1/2″ scraps. I contained my strips, then started in on my bricks and squares. I really thought I had a “ton” and needed to find a pattern to use them up. (No, I have not finished Scrappy Bargello).
After separating the squares from the rectangles it’s not as overwhelming, but none the less, I’ve found two patterns.
The first the potato chip block. All rectangles. I started pulling the light rectangles. I need 180 light rectangles and I only have 90. I’ve bagged them, putting them and the pattern in the box for later.
I regrouped, and looked at my squares. This is a take on a free Fat Quarter Shop table runner. I’ve pulled yardage for the background and stared sorting the squares by color. As I needed to clear the tables to work on the shop hop blocks, I have no idea if I have enough squares precut. For now, I’ve put the pattern in the box and the yardage back on the shelf.
Which brings me back to Scrappy Bargello. The shop hop blocks are kitted and will be taken to the shop in the morning, so this evening I plan on working on this quilt and continuing Rivianna as my leader/ender. Who knows, I might even get Eclipse bound this weekend.
My quilting goals for March start with binding Eclipse. This was on my February list, but I ran out of time.
The quilt of the month is my Disappearing Hourglass. I would love to have it finished by the 16th.
The 2026 Brandon Quilters President Challenge is pillowcases. I’ve had these cut out since 2018 and haven’t got them put together. Now is the time.
While I’m piecing on the machine, I’ll move Riviana forward as my Leader/Ender project.
Handwork Tuesday will continue.
One hoop of redwork – I didn’t realized how far along I was on this panel until I folded it to take this picture.
I have 9 stars cut out, ready to go. I’d love to get 10 stitched for my Star a Day quilt.
On my hexie project, I need to finish the neutral row, add a row of blue hexies then attach it to the center.
4th Saturday BOM
The goal is to get the next block done and attach this section to the first section.
5th Sunday/Monday
This month there’s an “extra” Sunday and Monday. As near as I can tell, I just have this Ribbon Star block to piece then the center star before I can start assembling the quilt.
It’s a lot, but I will be going to a 2 day retreat, so I don’t think it is impossible. But first – I’ve got to make some binding!
First a Handwork Tuesday update. I stitched a few more hexies. I should have been working on my Star-A-Day. I still have a few days to get this month’s star completed.
No, I do not have the border on Eclipse. This is not hard, but I got distracted by the Disappearing Hourglass.
This year’s continuing segment is disappearing blocks. In February I presented the Disappearing Hourglass. My sample blocks used 6″ squares cut from scraps, but I have a 28-piece layer cake that I want to use.
I bought 2 1/2 yards of Grunge in Paper White to use for the background and an inner border and made my first block last night.
I followed the Missouri Star tutorial which mean all my edges are on the bias. I just have to be careful not to stretch the blocks when I’m handling them. This block came out at 11 1/2″.
My final report is that Riviana is being assembled. I made “thousands” of HST as my leader/ender project starting in August 2022. I can’t remember If I finished making them the end of 2023 or 2024. but I knew I had misplaced 60 HST. which put a damper on things. Apparently I’ve made extra HST, as still have enough to finish the quilt. So now I’m using the split 9-patches as my leader/ender. This could take a while.
I’m a little all over the place this week. In the top left are my Rivanna 9-patch units that I’m building as my leader/ender. The green and white comes from stack of scraps my sister left for me. We are doing an on-going series of Disappearing Blocks at the Quilters By Hearts Desire Meeting and this month is Disappearing Hour Glass.
The pink, lavender and white is Eclipse, 5 yard quilt that I enlarged. I really would like to get it finished this week, but I’m not holding my breath.
The turquoise and gray is the 2nd section of Just Takes Two. It’s hanging out as a reminder to work on it this upcoming 4th Saturday.
Finally in the middle is my hand work hexie project. It doesn’t looks like much now, but I promise it’s going somewhere. – slowly. I have hexies cut that I need to prep for the section I’m working on. It’s actually pined on the wall in the wrong location, but that’s where it fit.
These are not my quilts. My sister came to visit to use the long arm and stay with me after surgery. In the 3 weeks she was here she put in 1,064,708 stitches on the longarm and used 25 + yards of batting. With the exception of the table runner on the right which just needed binding, the rest were quilted and bound while she was here. Two of the t-shirt quilts (the one with the pink shirt and the one with the ‘safety’ shirt) were pieced. Additionally, she quilted & bound the table runner shown below.
So, what have I been doing?
Over the weekend, I finished piecing the squares for Eclipse. I have 2 rows sewn together. I hope to get it finished this week. I also pulled out Rivanna and I’m piecing 9-patch sections as my leader/ender. Once Eclipse is a top, Rivanna will become my main project and the Color/Netural 9-patches will slide back as my leader/enders. I just have blue, turquoise and purple squares to go.
On the handwork front, I added the blue hexie to the ‘wing’ and attached the wing to the center. I need to find a different size needle to work with that doesn’t stress my hand. The next time I pick up this project I’ll be prepping the hexies. Over the weekend I cut more light, pink and blue. I have enough green to make the round. I just need to decide if I’m going to do the round, or do another ‘wing’.
I also need to deal with this pile of fabric. It’s stuff my sister left for me.
I have a number of project which are in Works Slow Progress – simply because I’m not working on them. I also like to make lists and plans which I may or may not follow through with. It’s perfectly OK when it comes to my quilting. Life happens, I get distracted. But I really would like to start to make progress on a few of these. So I have a few ideas.
Tuesday was picked because I have quilt guild meetings and Bunco on Monday’s. Also I enjoy watching TV on Tuesday night. If CBS changes the day the NCIS franchise airs, this day may move. So what am I going to work on on Tuesday? One of 3 projects. My Redwork Winter Wonderland, the current panel I’ve been stitching on forever is shown above. I have 2 more panels to stitch after I finish this one before I can start piecing the top. I started this quilt in 2007. My goal for 2026 is to finish this panel.
Next up for Handwork Tuesday is my Star-A-Day quilt which I started back in September 2014. I just checked and I have 103 stars done (this is a old picture). I would like to get 2 stars done a month. I need to find the journal I started when I started this quilt.
My final Handwork Tuesday project is my Hexi quilt. There’s just one issue I’m not sure where the bag is that it is in. I need to find it sooner than later because I would love to significant progress on it this year and I am demonstrating this a a quilt guild meeting later this year. I started this quilt in April 2014.
I have several BOM which have way more than 12 blocks. I want to take one day a month to simply make progress on these quilts. First up is Just Takes Two. I think there are 29 more blocks, plus the border. I started this in 2012. 
With 77 blocks made I’m just over halfway done with this block a week quilt I started in January 2007. This is Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler.
I want to make every block from Bonnie Hunter’s Addicted to Scrap quilt, then combine it into a single quilt. If I have counted correctly there are 92 blocks and I only have 18 made. I started this project February 2021.
I have quilt guild or Bunco on the first 3 Monday’s a month, so when we have a 5th Monday it’s bonus time. These are some of the blocks from my Star Studded BOM started October 2019. As near as I can tell I just have the center star and maybe one more to go before I can start assembling it. Even if I only work on it the 5th Monday (March, June, August & November), I think I can finish the top by the end of the year.
I hope that Handwork Tuesday, 4th Saturday BOM and 5th Monday Bonus allows me to make progress on some of these Works in Slow Progress. With the exception of Star Studded, I do not anticipate finishing these tops this year. After all I have other quilts I want to finish this year!
Last night I kitted up the rest of my Twirling Leaves block and cut the background fabric.
Tonight I plan to piece the blocks, but I’ll wait to do the peel back until all the blocks are made so I’m not constantly changing thread.
Bonnie Hunter released this year’s mystery colors a bit early due to all that is happening in her life. Lupine & Laughter. I love lupines. I like the color palette. Will I do the mystery? Who knows, but the Half-Rectangle Trim Tool will be here on Monday.
I saw a quilt made up from this pattern when I was at the quilt shop in Kansas City, but they no longer had the pattern. I checked with my local shop and her sources didn’t have it so I ordered Grand Prize from the Villa Rosa Designs website. It was in the mail I picked up at the post office this morning. Now to dig through my panels.
The time simply has gotten away from me. Between work, quilting and filling in at my friend’s shop, blogging has fallen to the bottom of the list of things to do. First up, the August Stash Report.
The Stash Report
Fabric Added Since Last Report: 13.759 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 194.442 yards
Fabric Used Since Last Report: 32.67 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 147.139 yards
Net Fabric Stash: 47.303 yards
So did I meet the the August Goals? Some of them.
This is my Vintage Christmas Sampler by Kansas Troubles Quilters. I caught up, got the borders on and even got it quilted over the long weekend. It was promptly put in the stack to be bound and I started Monterrey Medallions. There are 4 different blocks in this quilt – the center star, Woodpile, Floating Stars and Jacob’s Ladder blocks. The floating stars are up next.
So what’s on the agenda for September?
I’m thinking some of this is not going to get done this month.
I’ve finally gotten to some of the binding. It’s not all done, but I’ve finished a few. First up is Cairdeas. This wall hanging was done in commemoration of my trip to Ireland in June with Bonnie Hunter. She designed this quilt, and the pattern is available in her on-line store. I started the embroidery in Ireland June 14th and finished the binding August 4th. It measures 24 1/2 x 25 1/4 after washing.
Up next is the Christmas Star Swap quilt. In April 2019, I attended a quilt retreat and some of us swapped blocks. This quilt was on my 2023 Brandon Quilters UFO list. This quilt finishes at 74″ x 93 before washing. The quilting is a combination of ruler work — 1 1/4″ and 3/4″ circles using the Handi Quilter Swiss Cheese ruler, free-motion continuous curves in the chain, and computerized motifes-Feathered Square 3 which I divided in half for the white areas and used who in the pieced blocks, and Christmas 2010 Border and Boder Corner by Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio. It took about 6 bobbins of Glide 40wt in Pistachio.
Kimberly is my most recent finish. I started this quilt at the MQA Summer Gathering and finished it August 21st. The quilting motif is Liberty. I used 3 bobbins in Glide 40wt in Mercury. It measures 65 x 82 1/2.
