RSC Week 19 - Orange - An RSC FINISH - BOM 2026

Remember '70s has moved from my UFOs/WIPs list (UFO #14) to FINISH! 

I got the idea to make a quilt in orange & brown in May 2023. That year/month, orange was the RSC color as well. Who does not remember the 1970's when orange and brown were popular? I think I had enough of these colors at that time! Orange is not amongst my favorite color, but if I had to choose between orange and pink, I know I would have a big problem! LOL

I have to say I like how this quilt turned out, mixed with Moda Marbles Steel and Slate blues. Such a pity Moda doesn't do these two colors anymore. 

The idea was to make it entirely in orange and brown, but I ran out of Moda Marbles Chocolate Brown. I didn't have any other brown to match and I didn't want to purchase more fabric (and pay a fortune in shipping!). I had to come up with another solution and ended up with the Steel and Slate blues, which was just enough! 

Sashing, or no sashing, I thought? 

I decided on sashing. The only fabric I had enough of, was one in orange/yellow, also used for a few blocks. It was not enough for the outer border. I found a very dark brown in my stash, which was just enough too! The binding has some tiny lighter brown flowers. 

I love pieced backings, but for this quilt I fell in love with this 108" wide backing from Rubin Design Studio (eQuilter) and had to purchase it! It fits perfect in the colors.

How to quilt a quilt, is always my question. 

For this one I went for custom quilting each block. It takes more time to quilt, but I love the look when it's done. 

First blocks made: May 2023

Flimsy / Thread basted: Jan / Febr 2026

Started quilting: Beginning April 2026

Finished: May 5, 2026

Hours of machine quilting + burying thread tails: 39 hours

Threads used: 

King Tut: 911, 992, 930, 1029

MasterPiece: 168, 180

Size: 70.25 x 59 inches / 178 x 150 cm 

A Quilting Life's BOM 2026 - May

was posted this week

An easy block to make

Testing Serpentine stitches

Quilting the Zip Quilt today. 

My goal is to finish this one by end of May.

It has been nice and sunny all week

...this is what we woke up to this morning; dark, dreary, rain. 

Don't even see the mountain in the distance. 

We took advantage of the nice weather and did quite some yard work

These are pink guavas. On the photo they are still a bit 'green' (not 100% ripe). We have to pick them before the birds and fruit bats eat them! 

Ripe pink guava

Linking up with 

Angela at SoScrappy (RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge) 

Melva Loves Scraps - Sew & Tell

Small Quilts & Doll Quilts - OMG (One Monthly Goal)

RSC Week 9 - March is Yellow

HAPPY MARCH!

It's the first Saturday in March and many of us are ready for RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) show and tell. Angela at SuperScrappy has chosen YELLOW  for spring! 

I prefer doing the RSC blocks at the beginning of each month, after Angela has chosen the color. When they are done, I'm 'free' to do whatever. 

My goal this year is to finish some UFOs, so let's see how that works out his month. 

I had almost forgotten I'm doing Pat Sloan's '182 Day Solstice Challenge'! 

I started the BOM in May 2024, and you can see the blocks here, here, here, and here. 

The blocks are different sizes; smallest are 12-1/2", biggest is 32-1/2", and a few other sizes in between. There are 19 of the smallest size - 12-1/2" - I made 13 last year. 

I have put off the bigger blocks, waiting for the 'right' color. 

Solstice, what color comes to your mind? I'm thinking Summer Solstice; YELLOW! 

The center block is called 'Among the Stars'. 

Summer Solstice & Stars = YELLOW! 

Among the Stars - Block 9/25

Block measures 32-1/2" / 82.5 cm square

I kept it to SPRING

Spring fever - block 17/25

Other yellow scrap blocks

Coffee with Dad - 4 blocks

...and it happened I had a yellow cat too! 

5 Scrappy blocks

Does any of you know what this block is called? 

2 blocks for Eclipse

(House cores are calling, I'll make a few more later)

Linking up with Angela and RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) 

Rainy and windy all week while cyclone 'Garance' was in the area. We got 'cyclone warning class #3', which means most of the island were shut down. Its center passed about 136 miles / 220 km to the west on the nearest point. Yesterday the cyclone warning was lifted and we had the most cyclonic conditions with gusts up to 62 mph / 100 kmh with heavy rain and thunderstorms! Go figure! The neighbor island Reunion got it very bad as it passed very close to the coast with gusts at 142 mph / 230 kmh.

 

RSC Week #16 - End of Yellow... Almost

...at least for me!

I have a small finish

The table topper got black border and binding, Grunge Onyx Black

The hot pads, placemats and coasters are quilted and binding added to the front.

Round hot pads and coasters

Square placemats and hot pads

Both fabrics have some blue / turquoise and I found this Moda Marbles Key West Blue 9880-49 in my stash. I had a look at the new Moda Marbles color chart and it looks like it has been replaced with 9863 Turquoise.   

The bindings need to be hand sewn or machine sewn to the back. I do not have matching thread at all, either too light or too dark. 

Need to purchase a small spool, but that has to wait some days. Usually parcels to Mauritius transit through Dubai Airport. A few days ago, Dubai got rain worth of 2 years, in about 24 hours! Streets flooded, airport flooded, flights cancelled, everything to a standstill. Airport is still disrupted after the storm. Parcels are usually shipped UPS, I wonder if the company is redirecting flights to other airports. 

Yellow yardage and squares are stored away for this time. 

This weekend I'm actually working on a UFO! Part of it is quilted and before I continue, it's time for an afternoon CUPPA. Thunderstorms this morning and torrential rain expected, meteo says. Perfect sewing weather! 

Fascinating scenery this morning. If you look closely to the right, you'll see a faded

 second rainbow.

Linking up with Angela and the RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge

FF-UFO 2024

 First Finished UFO 2024! 

I had this Patriotic Table Runner already thread basted (last year). 

Last Sunday, I decided to sew all day and I did all the quilting! Straight seams take time and are a bit tedious, but to finish an item, it has to be done, right?! The binding was done the next day, and voila! Finished!

Available in my Etsy Shop 

....and don't you think this little bugger showed up?!

It was hidden on the chair, in between other projects.

It's a small wall hanging I started last year. It's almost done; the gnomes need a nose each. Why on earth does that takes months to fix that?! Another UFO to the list!

I've just finished a custom order 

 1 table runner and 2 round table mats, on its way to the US.

You may have seen on the news Reunion Island and Mauritius were hit by cyclone 'Belal' some days ago. This is from Port Louis Monday this week; torrential rain caused flooding

...and the clean-up started two days ago. 

Fortunate, no damage to our property, except water in the lower ground floor, but that happens every time we get heavy rain. 'Belal' passed about 90 km / 56 miles to the south of the island, highest gusts 124 km/h (77 miles/h) measured here in Quatre Bornes. 

Cyclone season is officially from Nov 1 to May 15. Fingers crossed there won't be any hits to any of the countries in the Indian Ocean! 

 

Basket Blocks, Over the River and Cyclone Freddy

 Thank you everyone for your input on the basket blocks (previous post)! It really helps getting others opinion. 

I've been pondering what to do and in the end I decided to rip off the outer rectangles and replace them with Moda Marbles / neutrals.

This is how they looked like...

.... and how they look now. IMO, the rectangles were too busy. Now they actually look like baskets, don't they?! :)

A few more. The colors on the right one looks a bit washed out, brighter in real. 

This is my favorite so far. The colors are blue/greyish, really beautiful. Unfortunately I don't have more of the dark and light blue, they were part of a layer cake bought years ago. The dots fabric is part of some fat quarters I have left, may make something in blue and not include this one in the basket quilt. 

I'm still into PINK, but that will be for the Saturday post! 

I've totally forgotten to show progress on 'Over the River' stitchery

This is approximately half of the first section. 

My goal is to stitch a little bit each day, so far so good. Jocelyn over at Canadian Needle Nana is working on another gorgeous Crabapple Hill design; 'Snow Days'. Be sure to check it out here.  

Cyclone 'Freddy' paid a visit last weekend + Monday. It was a powerful cyclone with gusts ('eye'/center) at 225 km/h - 139.8 miles/h when it past North/Northwest of Mauritius late Monday afternoon. Fortunate it passed ('eye') about 140 km /  87 miles off the coast. We had gusts of 126 km/h - 78 miles/h, so it wasn't that bad. No damages to our property or in the area (we are about 50 km / 31 miles South from the Northern coast) High waves and storm surges mostly where the reef doesn't protect, and some huge trees down. Another cyclone is formed, but trajectory shows it heads South before it causes any danger to the Mascarene Islands.  
 

Sunday, Torrential Rain and Progess on a UFO

 It's the end of the rainy- and cyclone season, or 'summer' as the locals call it. We have had a couple of cyclones that came pretty close (the eye). Fortunate not much damage to our property, except some banana trees that went down and a huge branch off a tree in our garden. Lots of rain which is very good for the water reservoirs. At the second half of March we got some sunny days and we were able to spend four days doing some long overdue yard work, before it started raining again! Since Thursday we've had heavy / torrential rain, which has caused floods and roads closed in some areas. One place recorded 241.8 mm / 9.5 inches in 24 hours. Not so much where we live, but still a lot. Right now (Sunday morning) it looks like it's going to clear up a bit, but heavy showers are still expected. Just read we've got one months rain in two days. 

In such weather, what else to do than hunker down in the sewing area (dining room) working on a UFO, other items and my ODG (one-day-goal). I don't remember if I mentioned it earlier; one of my goals this year is to make one 36-patches quilt block (2.5" squares) each day. 

So far, so good; I have accomplished January 31 blocks, February 28 blocks and March 31 blocks. From earlier I have December 2021 31 blocks. I've already done 4 blocks for April. Did you do the math?? 125 blocks x 36 = 4500 squares pieced together! It HAS made a dent in the boxes; reduced from 5 to 3 and soon there will be 2 boxes only. I have also made two twin quilts using 2.5" squares. I'm beginning to run out of red squares - as if I don't have more uncut! LOL   

Here they are, Dec 2021, Jan, Febr & March 2022.

I drafted the above paragraphs yesterday (already Monday morning). Now I'm going to tell you what I did yesterday; I worked on bindings! Not my favorite thing to do, but it has to be done. The one to the left is the UFO; vegetable wall organizer.

Binding is tread basted to the table runner and the two kitchen organizers. The backing is from my stash.

I love using up fabric (these from the same fabric line), which resulted in eight place mats! 

There will be four round place mats. Isn't this fabric yummy? 

..and four square place mats

How come there's one orphan tomato panel left?!

 

What can I turn it into? I think I know; a small wall hanging? Any other suggestions appreciated.  

Curfew UFO Sewing

Hello everyone! 

I hope you all are safe and staying at home sewing in this crazy CoVid-19 times. Mauritius has been on lock-down for some days (except grocery stores, supermarkets, bakeries etc), then curfew and from today there's a 7 days complete lock-down (curfew) all over the island. 

I've been stuck at home since last Thursday (when I had to get some groceries). I've been busy with this and that, finished a few items for my shop (no photos yet). 

As most of you know, I love log cabin quilts. Recently I have finished two scrappy log cabin quilts, you can see them here and here. Yesterday I worked on UFO #1 (13) I've been piecing the blocks for some time, can't remember exactly when I started, maybe 1-2 years ago.

1-2 weeks ago I decided on a layout and yesterday I first pinned the blocks together and marked each row

.... and voila! 

Here it measures 64 x 64 inches (162.5 cm square). After I took the pic, I added one row to the top and bottom (64 x 80 inches / 12.5 x 203 cm). I've yet to decide if I want to stop here or make it larger? 

I think this one is going to be another favorite! I just love, love, LOVE this design, and of course; it looks even better when scrappy! :) 

I've made my very first wedge place mats! 

This is the fabric that has been in and out of the shelf umpteen times. Earlier this year I finally decided what to make (link) From the fabric I had, I've made 1 tea cozy + coasters, these and four other place mats. 

This is what is left of those fabrics, cut into squares, strips and rectangles. 

More squares for scrappy quilts! :) 

I'll never get tired to this view, every day is different 

(Sunday, March 22, 2020)

Such a glorious morning (Friday, March 20, 2020)

HAPPY QUILTING - STAY AT HOME! 

This and That

Hello everyone! 

 I hope you all had a nice Easter. No public holidays here, just normal days for us. 

How are you doing and what have you been up to recently?

First days of this week have just flown away. Today is actually the first day this week I'm not going anywhere! It's raining too, so what's better than playing with some fabrics and a little bit sewing?! 

Thanks for your comments on the daisy blocks! Since my previous post, I played around a little bit and decided to make three more blocks of each and turn them into two different table runners and table toppers

As most of you know, quilt fabrics etc are not available here and has to be purchased mostly from the US. I prefer to use unbleached cotton batting, but since it is a bit 'yellow-ish', I prefer to use white (bleached) for items where I use white fabric. I thought I had enough left for these items, but not so lucky. More on the way and I should get it by middle May. I didn't find anything suitable for backing in my stash and found an excuse to order! Haha! It should be delivered by end of next week, I hope! 

I have a soft spot for everything COFFEE where coffee fabrics are included as well! :) Last week I received these yummy coffee fabrics

Actually I needed one of these fabrics to finish a table topper. How come the other two ended up in the shopping basket too?! LOL

I was quilting happily away today, was thinking I can finish this table topper...

Nope! That didn't happen! Take a look at the spool! About 3.5 x 12 inches left to FMQ and ran out of thread! UGH! OK, no problem, I ordered more about 2 weeks ago and should get that parcel by next week as well! 

I love to use up bits and pieces of fabric and I've made two zippered pouches / makeup bags for the upcoming Christmas Show in Vadsø, Norway.

I was hunting through part of my stash for hook and loop tape the other day. I found it, but what I also found was these treasure boxes! :)

The one to the left contains 2" and 2.5" squares. The other one contains the same, but also some stripes. I have to admit it; I have lost control on how many boxes I have with pre-cut squares! Maybe this is a hint that I should 'attack' some of these squares and turn them into quilts?! :) 

I finally received these yummy fabrics yesterday! 

It took 40 days!!!  (USPS with International tracking) 16 days from date of shipping until it actually left the US! Then transit through Germany and UK before it arrived here and 10 days at the Customs! I went to the Customs to pick it up yesterday, at least I got some minutes city dose! :) 

I also have to mention I didn't buy these fabrics only because they are yummy! :) I'm going to use them for two advent calendars! 

'Winter' is finally here! ...in spite of 'Kenneth' and 'Lorna' spinning northwest and northeast from us and will not influence the Mascarenes, according to meteo

 Quilts are out for the nights! It's time to LIVE again, not only EXIST! Feels good! :) 

HAPPY QUILTING!

Some NewFO finishes in February

Those of you who read my blog regularly, know that we have had a lot of rain this month. Then we had two sunny days and guess what happened yesterday; rain in the morning! Yesterday I started working in our 'jungle' garden early, to avoid the heat later in the day. I managed to do quite a lot, before it started raining.... Oh well, it is the rainy- and cyclone season, so what else to expect?! :)

 

All the rain means indoor activities; sewing. If you read my previous post, you know I have been working on some UFO's and even finished two.

I always get a bit bored working on UFO's... well, not exactly because they are UFO's, but I think the finishing process is a bit boring... I love to cut fabric and sew the small pieces together! The boring job has to be done to get a project done, doesn't it?! :)

 

I'm quite sure these bunnies have been playing hide and seek with me! It's soon Easter, so no doubt! :) I finished it (the binding) beginning of January. Then I was going to take photos of it, but as I can recall the weather wasn't the best for taking photos, so I put it away. Out of sight - out of mind. It reappeared when I had to move the finished quilt tops (UFO's), it was hiding under all the UFO's!

 

 

Aren't those bunnies cute?

 

 

Quilting; the squares are cross-hatched and I've done FMQ on the borders/stripes. The quilt is washed to get the lovely crinkled look.

 

 

The Easter / Spring table runner I started earlier this month, is finished.

 

 

Lots of fun doing the set-in pieces. The stems on the lilies were supposed to be fabric, instead I used ric-rac. Love how that turned out.

 

 

As you may have noticed already, I have done the quilting different this time. I have used patterns from The Electric Quilt Company's Quilting Design (printable stencils). It's the very first time I'm trying it and I love the result. What do you think?

This is the center piece.

 

 

The piece under the basket... a leaf pattern too.

The daffodils triangles are FMQ.

GOSH how wonky it looks! It doesn't look that bad in real! :0 I'm using a wide angle lense on my camera, which creates funny photos sometimes. :) If you take a look at the table runner, it looks like it is wider on the middle, doesn't it?  

 

 

... and a teapot cozy to match the table runner...

 

 

I still have some pieces of the daffodils fabric left, so there's a chance for a couple of mug rugs! :)

 

I worked on the pink baby quilt yesterday afternoon. The quilting is done and now it is ready for the binding. Not sure what I'm going to work on now... I will continue with the UFO's, but in between some NewFO's! :)